Days 7,8, 9- First Weekend in Perth

My apologies for not updating my blog quite as frequently. I was out exploring all of what Perth had to offer! Let's see, we will begin with Friday!

Friday 2/3/12

This is completely irrelevant to the post, but here they write their dates backwards from us. Rather than 2/3/12, they write 3/2/12, the third of February 2012. I constantly catch myself thinking, "is it March already?" Anywho, onto Friday's activities. It was a dreary morning filled with rains and thunderstorms. It did get better because I was able to skype with Will and Chelsea who were back in Birmingham. The kids came back and seem much more relaxed on day two. Maybe it was getting back into the routine, but they were quite calm compared to day 1. One thing I have noticed is that it is not considered offensive if the students use terms we may consider profanity, such as "damn" and "hell." The kids quite often say "bloody hell, I don't want to do this." This will take some getting used to... Throughout the day I was able to observe my Year 8's on various lessons and am starting to get to know them a little better. Melody placed me with my target student "Frank" and I will be working with him more next week. A funny story that happened in school on Friday were my spelling skills. One of the students asked how to spell the word color. I proceed to spell it "c-o-l-o-r." My teacher let out a big giggle and said "no, no, no, it's c-o-l-o-u-r." She understood completely why I made the mistake, there are a number of words spelled quite differently here than back in the states!

After school, Chelsea and I planned to meet in town for some dinner and drinks. Janette, Steve, and Ryan took me into the city mall which is very nice! We were absolutely starved by the time we met up with one another and trucked on into the first place that wasn't covered with people. We ate at Sixth and Moonspence, a local pub, which was nothing to write home about... After dinner we decided to just wonder a bit. We ended up in a little bar known as "Boeheme." It was rather swanky and we were a bit under dressed for the setting but we decided to give it a go. Chelsea and I were sitting there wondering what we should do next when we finally got up the nerve to just go up and ask someone, I mean really when are we ever going to see these people again? Might as well just look like a tourist and ask! The table we approached seemed very relaxed as we introduced ourselves. We then asked what we should do while we were in the city. They let out a giggle and said "we're from Ireland" in thick Irish accents. Chelsea and I have had quite a few laughs that the first people we approach in Australia were Irish!! After Boehme we went and "watched" the cricket game at a little bar called the Brass Monkey. Another thing that is quite funny to hear people say is "Mobile" rather than cell phone. When I say cell phone to others they look at me like I am from ancient history!

Beer of Champions, apparently it's pretty low dollar beer here. 

Saturday 2/4/12

After finishing up some things around my place, Chelsea and I made the trip back to Sorrento where she lives. She has been such a HUGE help learning the bus system, not sure where I would have ended up without her.We decided to make a little day trip to Fremantle which is quite a lovely suburb of Perth. Fremantle, or "Freo" as the locals like to call it, is one of the oldest cities in Western Australia which is quite evident through all of the lovely architecture. We had a delicious lunch at a little cafe and then began exploring all of the shops and everything else this quaint town had to offer. We made our way over to a local microbrewery known as "Little Creatures" for a beer tasting. Our beer guide was very nice and even sat down with us to tell us what to do and what not to waste our time doing. He also taught us some more Aussie lingo! Apparently a "bogan" here is a redneck, low life so to speak. Can't wait to use that one back home!! We made our way up to the strip of coffee shops and stopped and had a latte and then it was time to head back in and catch the train. 

Beer tasting menu at Little Creatures.

My favorite of course was the "Bright" ale

Freo 

We are definitely making a trip back to ride this bad boy! 

Heavenly Thai Chicken :)

For those of you who may ever be in Australia, take your passport with you EVERYWHERE! Especially out to the nightclubs. Chelsea and I had planned to have a night out on the town, but with my passport back at my house, that wasn't happening. We decided to cook a nice meal and keep it low key. We planned for weekends ahead and are even looking into going to New Zealand together! Her host family came back from a movie and let us sample one of their fine wines. Her family is very entertaining and offered to take us around the city for a couple of trips! 

Sunday 2/5/12

After a nice, relaxing evening Chelsea and I awoke to a lovely breakfast prepared by her host family and then we were off again. This time we went down to Cottesloe Beach and lounged around in the sun, ate a quick lunch at a local pub, and just enjoyed being out in the nice weather. One thing I have noticed is the service here is not as up to par as it is back in the states. Servers and bar tenders hourly wages are quite high, so they don't have to work for tips. Which explains why you wait 20 minutes for a glass of water... Later we went into the city to see what sort of information we could find about our travels. Once I got back home, by myself on the bus might I add :), I went on a nice run along the river path. The weather was absolutely perfect, it couldn't have gotten any better. I also hung my first load of laundry out to dry. I must admit, it has been quite some time since I have done that instead of tossing them into the dryer... Tomorrow will be a real test to see how well the kids get back into the swing of things. This week, I will be able to work more with my student and start knocking out some assignments. I even get to teach my first lesson on Friday! I can't wait :) Miss you all very much and thank you for the nice feedback! 

I didn't even get the third plate in the picture that was filled with sausages, eggs, and yummy bacon :) 

Cottesloe Beach 

Pretty amazing running path, if I do say so myself