Another day Volunteering with the Kiddies!

Today I went back to Bangalow Primary School to volunteer for the day! We had the same schedule as the previous visit so not much was different. I still enjoyed my day and this time took some pictures!!

Bangalow Primary School Volunteering!

Administration Office

Ground Art Work

Kindie Room



In kindie we helped the kids with their reading skills




Hall in the Kindergarten and Stage 1 building



Most halls are outside

Fun Cow!

One of the outdoor meeting areas



Garden Center



Stage 3 class room

School work hung up in the class

They know a lot about the rest of the world...its part of their curriculum to learn about world news

Library

Stage 3 kids at the library

Today they learned about Anzac Day

Library

Tutoring the stage 1 kids

The only problem I had with the kids all day was at the end of the day when I was tutoring a little boy (5 or 6 years old) in reading. He came out of the class room in a pretty foul mood and didn't want to talk about it. I explained that we just had a few games to play and then he could go back to class. After a few minutes of working on some new words the boy got extremely upset and started saying he couldn't do it and didn't want to do it anymore. Then he started to cry with his head down. I moved to be on the same side of the table as him and proceeded to calm him down and reassuring him he was doing great. When he calmed down a little we started back in the game and I rewarded him with lots of high fives! He started to cheer up when I reversed the game and made him be the teacher and I pretended to be the student. I guessed most of the words wrong (apparently he was to smart for me!) and he enjoyed correcting me. He finished the lesson in a great mood and even gave me a hug before running off to class :) Its moments like this that make me want to work with children in the future!!!





The group chilling in the teachers lounge!

After Volunteering we stopped by the Macadamia Castle to get some ice cream :) and then back to Lennox to do some hw and relax.



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!