Nash Bash - Volunteering At A Rugby Tournament!!!

Volunteering while in Australia has been a very rewarding and a great learning experience. On Saturday the Nash Bash came to Lennox Head and a small group of us went there to help out. This was a 35 and older rugby tournament that consisted of  7 rounds with two games going on at once. The games were for fun and most of the time they didn't keep score. It was also a charity event that raised money for a family with a recent loss and the men simply were there to have a good time.

Rugby is quit intense!!

When we first arrived at the event we got right to work...selling raffle tickets to win a tray of prawns! The event was small so after a few times around the crowd selling tickets, everyone got to know us pretty well!



First time selling raffle tickets to win prawns!!!





Second time selling raffles!




Getting ready to draw the winning ticket!!!


Our next working experience at the event was to take port out to the players. At each half time two of us would take a tray of port to the players. It was sort of like being the water girls...only it was alcohol instead of water! The Aussies know how to drink and have a good time that's for sure!

Filling up cups with port for the players

Handing out the port!

The Guys were so friendly :)

Throughout the entire day we were given free food and drinks. It was pretty nice to have free champagne, wine, beer, soda, water, and some sausage off the barbie! Couldn't have asked for a better concession stand.

Free Drinks!

More free food :)

We got to know everyone so well and the tournament was pretty laid back. So laid back that I got to do a play on the field with one of the teams!!! After this I talked with one of the players and made a deal that if I went to the pub at 8:30 I would get a jersey...of course a group of us went to the pub and got some free jerseys! I also got to do the kick off  in the final game! It was extremely exciting and the team I kicked off for...won! Not that they kept count of who won and who lost...but I still found it exciting! :)

Shoey...this is the player who gave me his jersey :)

Playing Rugby with the big guys!!!

My Jersey and the team Ball :)

Heading to the pub

Rugby Guys

The band

The Guy who wanted a BSU shirt...it was a little small but he though it was soooo exciting lol

Shoey after he gave me his jersey!



Bartender took us home



In the end the day was a success and gave us another view of the true Australians! I cant get enough of the culture here...it is so happy, welcoming, laid back, and fun!

Daily Life Update

Life here in Australia is going GREAT as usual. Classes are running smoothly and in my free time I'm enjoying all that Australia has to offer. Kayaking on the lake, spending time on the beach, trips on the weekends, volleyball tournaments, family dinners every Sunday, and of course working on homework. My favorite part about Australia is the laid back culture of daily life. There is no rush to get things done and I love the no worries motto.

Australian Life and Culture class is still as interesting as ever. This past Monday I had a presentation over Uluru and Kata Tjuta (which I visited over SB). I worked with two other girls and we presented for 20 min discussing the Anangu people (Aborigines in the area), Geography, plant and animal life, and sacred area of both places. I think we did fairly well and had a presentation that interested our classmates. The only thing left in this class, besides turning in our finished portfolio, is to have a final test in the class that is 40 multiple choice and 4 short answers. So paying attention in this class is a MUST! And to be quite honest...in a three hour class its hard to concentrate for that long.

Wildlife biology started out with a weekend field trip that I wrote about in my last blog but the actual lecture part of the class hasn't started yet. We are suppose to have class every Wednesday but this week it was cancelled. Our professor seems pretty cool and has a lot of interesting characteristics which makes him fun to talk to. I think this class is going to be pretty interesting. Our final grade in the class is based on a paper and presentation...the topics are up to us but have a few small guidelines. Doesn't seem to hard!

World Literature is the class I have on Thursdays. At the beginning of the semester I hated this class and the teacher. We were basically thrown into a class where the teacher had a bad image of Ball State students work ethics and gave us no hope in passing the class with a grade above a C. Not to mention the ridiculous amounts of novels (3 all around 300 pages) and other readings (usually 2 each week between 10 and 27 pages) we had to finish each week for the class. (Remember we are here for three months and go on trips each weekend) It was overwhelming and seemed to be an impossible task however, this weeks class proved all of my fears wrong. I actually enjoyed the class for the first time! It was easy for me to relate the topic and book to psychology and give my perspective on the authors intentions through that. The teacher was impressed and liked the fresh views I threw out! He also explained a few things about the class and readings that made everything seem a little more simple. It was refreshing. Now all I have to do for the class, besides read the weekly readings, is to read a novel and do a presentation over it and write the final paper. I'm less stressed about the class and don't feel so overwhelmed about it.

I am pleased with my progress in the classes here and feel like the rest of the time here is going to go by quick! I have already read 2 novels for my Australian Life and Culture class and parts of 2 others for World Literature. I have about 4 weeks left in this dream land and I am already dreading the day I have to say goodbye. I am really excited for my trip to New Zealand at the end of the trip and plan to do as much as possible when I'm there. So far I am looking into skydiving and ice climbing! If I have to end this amazing journey...I'm going out with a bang!!

Wildlife Wildlife Wildlife!!!

On Friday our professor took the whole group to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary! The day was basically full of hands on experiences with true Australian wildlife and three high ropes courses that tested our agility, strength and endurance.

Ridding the train through the sanctuary!

Hand feeding the Kangaroos :) :) :)

THEY WERE SOOOOO CUTE!

The baby Kangaroo was my favorite!

HOLDING A KOALA!!!

HEHE super cute kangaroo :)

They fed the Pelicans and Eels!

I had to hold the Crocodile :) he was a little feisty!

The group ready to do the ropes course!

Our awesome super attractive jump suits

Loved the ropes course :) climbing through tunnels and shimmying across wires...tested our endurance and team work!

We even got to swing on ropes and land on nets...I didn't make it this time :( so the guy had to help me haha

The weekend, Sat-Mon, was then spend at Woody Head for our wildlife biology class. This was our first field trip and was a great deal of fun! At first, when I found out we were not actually camping, I though it was a bit of a let down but in the end it wasn't a bad trip. We spent three days and two nights there with our wildlife biology professor doing hands on learning.

On day one we packed up the bus and the whole class of 17 students headed off for our weekend adventure around noon. As usual we started the trip without the knowledge of how to get there and as usual we arrived late but, as the Aussies say, No Worries! We met up with our professor and everyone unloaded at our camp site/cabin. I roomed with one of my usual roomies and we stuck together most of the trip. After unpacking and getting settled into our rooms we all gathered on the porch to discuss the plan of action for the weekend. Then we enjoyed some free time roaming around the camp until we started in on some work. First on the agenda...Set Traps! Our goal was to set a handful of traps to catch rats and other small marsupials. In the traps we put a handful of leaves (to keep them warm), a peanut butter and oats ball (to lure them in), and then we covered it with a plastic bag (to keep it dry). We places the traps about 10 meters into the woods and marked the spot with neon orange ribbon. After setting the small traps we went to another location to set up a bat trap. When all of the traps were set we all split up into small groups (mine was a group of four) to do some bird watching. It turned into a friendly competition to see what group had the biggest list and our professor collected them at the end of the weekend. Dinner consisted of Australian steak, sausage, chicken, bread, salad, and potato salad! They were not expecting us to eat as much as we did! 17 hungry Americans can go through a lot of food! When dinner was over our professor showed us a bat that our trap had already caught. It was quite small and we were not allowed to touch it because they are known to have rabies but I was allowed to touch its wings...they were very thin and felt like a rubbery tissue. Then it was time for lecture. Our first wildlife biology lecture was all about snails and was conducted by a post grad student doing his studies on snails that was with us for the weekend. It was a pretty interesting and insightful presentation and especially helpful for us on the next part of our trip...Spot lighting! We all piled into three cars are drove to a secluded spot. Then we got our flashlights out and some had huge spot lights. The goal was to shine the lights into the trees searching for eye shine. We didn't have much lunch in the trees but we did find some interesting critters. We found a semi snail...which we learned about in the presentation earlier in the evening, an endangered frog, and a huge spider. By this time I was exhausted! Some stayed up playing card games while others, myself included, headed to bed awaiting our early morning wake up call.

Our Cabin!

Our room :)

Our first trap setting lesson :) here we go!

Getting my first trap ready!

Heading into the woods to set the traps!

My second trap!

As if we were not seeing enough wildlife on this trip...wild kangaroos were chilling in the back yard!

The bat traps

On day two we all crawled out of bed at 6:15am to check the traps. Lucky enough 8 of the 25 traps were full. Some of the rats were large and others small but the smell was always horrendous! To get the rats out of the traps our professor put a plastic bag over the opening, opened the door, and shook the trap and out flew the rat! We identified them and let them go after recording all of the data. After checking all of the traps we reset them and headed out for another go at bird watching. This time we walked along the beach and rocky shores. I slipped on a rock and got my shoes soaking wet! I wasn't to happy about it :( By this time we were starving so we headed back to the cabins for some breakfast and a warm shower. Again the professor didn't think we would go through so much food and later had to make a run to the grocery store for the next few meals. The rest of the day was ours to spend as we pleased! My roomie

Our professor shaking the rats out of the traps

This was a big guy! and very smelly...YUCK!

On our free time...I decided to climb some rocks :)

Born to Climb!

The beach was beyond beautiful...but they did call it shark bay so we didn't go to far into the water haha

Loved the rocky beach and ocean spray

Day three was another early morning start the check the traps. We didn't catch many bats again due to windy weather but the rat traps were mostly full. A small group of us checked the traps and our professor followed in a car to collect the traps and data. The trap that I just happened to check had a snake wrapped around it...which I didn't notice until my had was on it...touching the snake! I calmly backed away and called for help...I was NOT about to get the trap now! It amazes me how the one person on the trip who is terrified of snakes...gets all the scary encounters with them. I am not enjoying all these snakes! But any ways...I recovered from the snake encounter and we headed back to the cabins to pack and clean up. Our bus was suppose to pick us up after breakfast...but when it was about 30 min late we called and found out that the bus never left to pick us up. So instead we headed to the beach and waited an hour and a half, playing cards, napping, and eating of course!

In the end it was a decent weekend and a beautiful place to wind down and relax!

Volunteering at an Aussie Elementary School

Volunteering at Bangalow Elementary School was one of the best experiences I have had while volunteering on this trip! We went to the school on Tuesday and there around 9am to meet the principal. He was very nice and welcomed us by giving us our schedule for the day and telling us about his school. There are about 200 students that attend the school and about 14 adults/teachers present each day to care for them. This is an average size for a primary school in Australia. The students also wear uniforms here...its is not mandatory but all of the parents make their children anyways to reduce competition and bring all all of the children to the same level.

Our day started out in Kindergarten. They started class with a singing role call and a few other songs. Then it was time for PE...their PE seemed more like preparing the children for future cricket players rather than getting them active. They tossed bean bags to the children and taught them the correct way to catch the bean bag. then the children were instructed to do other developmental activities with the bags such as, tossing it into the air and catching it, tossing it and clapping then re catching the bag, tossing the bag between hands, and a few more. We assisted the children that were having a hard time and encouraged the ones who had mastered the skill.

Next on our schedule was playing bingo, coloring, and reading. We split up the class into groups and each of us got a small group for about ten minutes. Then the children would rotate to the next activity. I had the bingo activity! The kids were all pretty nice and had a lot of fun...remembering that they were not allowed to make much noise. The school is very big on keeping the children in order and quiet...at least I though so...

After Kindergarten and lunch was over we headed to the fifth grade class. I was not exactly ready for this huge jump in age and activity level! The stage 3 class was rowdy to say the least...they immediately bombarded us with question after question. Some of them silly, some serious, and other rather inappropriate. But it was fun to answer their questions and laugh along with them. When the teacher tried to get the class under control it seemed to be an impossible task! She tried to continue a lesson on fractions and we were instructed to walk around and help anyone who needed assistance however, all of the kids wanted us to help so they could talk to us. The teacher didn't seem to mind much and after math time we headed off to the library.

The library assistant was much more strict with the stage 3 class! Teaching them manners and turning on a video that updated the kids on current news in the world. I never had this in my schooling and I though it was a great idea to teach children at such a young age about the world and its current issues.

Recess was next and we spent it in the teachers lounge hearing all the gossip going on around the school...it was entertaining.

After recess we moved on to first stage class. In this class we each got some one on one time with two students to teach them how to read. These students that we got to tutor were kids that have been having trouble with reading and need a little extra attention. This was the perfect job for me! I know how it feels to be a slow reader and have difficulty learning so helping the kids out was a lot of fun. We picked out six words to teach the kids and by the end of the session they had to know the words. I turned learning into a game for my students. We layed out the six cards and I could call out the word and they would find it. Once they found the word they flipped the card over until all of the cards were flipped over. Then the student would randomly flip the cards over again and have to read the card to me. If they had trouble with a word we sounded it out together and came up with a way for them to remember it...making silly sentences or breaking the word up into two. We played a few more word games and then the student was finished and could return to class.

I really enjoyed tutoring the students and they seemed to feel very comfortable with us as well. We returned to the classroom and assisted in helping the students write about a picnic they went on. It was a lot of fun! Stage one is probably my favorite age group to help with. They listen and are very interested in learning but sometimes needs a little bit of encouragement.

School was finally over around 3pm when our professors wife and our grad assistant picked us up. We then headed back to camp to continue our volleyball tournament that we started yesterday. My team one the first round but lost in a close game in the second round. I was a little disappointed that we lost but I was more than satisfied with my performance thanks to all of the compliments I got for my improvements. When we first started the volleyball tournaments I wasn't very good at the game but after playing each week I have gotten better and better each week...this week I felt like I helped my team out tremendously! Its a great feeling to work at something and see your own improvements and get recognised for them! The championship game is tomorrow.