Valentines Day this year had my family out on a walk around Sydney and me in an orientation event with current and past exchange teachers. It was fun to meet others in Australia on their exchange year as well as a number of Australian teachers who spent 2013 in Canada. We met with some folks from the NSW Department of Education and Communities, had a talk from a Sydney policeman about safety, and an environmental educator about wildlife and safety.

During breaks, and over the weekend, we shared a bit about our new communities and schools, what we have done for travel so far, and what we have planned for the rest of the breaks. We also talked about some of our challenges: getting around, connecting with colleagues, managing classes, learning new systems, etc. None of the challenges are insurmountable, and we acknowledge the challenge as part of the exchange experience. Someone said something like, “I didn’t come here to have the exact same experiences I do at home!”

The NSW Teacher Exchange League was awesome putting together some activities for families while we were in meetings, and the harbour cruise was a terrific time. We had more time to visit, sight-see, and had a shore lunch at Clifton Gardens before heading back to the harbour. Sunday they organized some other events but we had a few things to do before making the long drive back home.

We did encounter a road closure on the way home and learned that there was a fatal collision between two vehicles. Gave us about three extra hours drive home to think about how much we have to be thankful for. To top it off, we had a close-up encounter with a koala, a spectacular sunset behind cloud-shrouded hills near to home, and we didn’t hit any of the many kangaroos alongside the road.

Life is good.

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Australia Day was a couple of weeks ago and celebration plans were in high gear while we were in Canberra. Stages were being erected at Parliament and signs warned people of impending traffic changes. The show promised a long list of Australian entertainers and personalities jam packed into an amazing fun day.

We thought about staying and taking it in, but we had been on the road living out of suitcases for more than a month and we took the long drive back to Coonabarabran.

On Australia Day we drove out to Baradine’s morning ceremony in front of the community’s hospital. People found shade under a couple of canopies, or here and there under nearby trees and listened to speeches honoring some of the people that make these small towns work: the hospital volunteer, the group that fund-raised and negotiated a building to house a child care program, the promising young star athletes, and more. While Canberra acknowledged the high-profile achievers, in small towns across the country, communities gathered to recognize their own. It was really heart-warming.

After the speeches everyone had some bread and butter with honey, and a slice of cake with tea, coffee, or juice. It was also a nice opportunity to meet up with some of the folks I would be working with this year before the pressures of school started. It wasn’t fancy, but it was very personal, and we loved it.

In the evening we attended Coonabarabran’s celebrations in the park and listened to speeches honoring some of their great people. A community band entertained us with music and the Rotary men cooked up some sausages on buns for everyone after the ceremony. I really do love these kinds of things – there’s lots to love about community coming together to celebrate what is great about their home and the people that live there.

So we didn’t see fireworks, or hear any famous singers, or party with thousands of people in some iconic setting, but we did experience some real heart and soul of Australia Day in our own way with some pretty great folks and are glad we did!

Public Domain Photo source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Geraet_beim_Optiker.jpg

First week (and a short week at that) is done and I am wiped. It’s early days, of course, in this teaching exchange experience, but getting my head wrapped around everything is very taxing. There’s new curriculum, program acronyms, unfamiliar planning and assessment practices, not to mention a lot of names, personalities, and a new timetable to get used to. Even a different length period means getting used to pacing a class differently.

I really want to understand why things are the way they are. The well-understood philosophy in my home school division in which I have worked for so long is, of course, the lens through which I see educational issues. This last couple of weeks I’ve been working hard to develop a second lens with which to understand my new professional environment.

Prior to the start of school I flipped through a lot of stuff in the office trying to understand what I was even looking at, often without success! It was rather like looking at pieces of a thousand-piece puzzle without the benefit of the picture on the box. Now, thanks to my fabulous Aussie colleagues, I have some context which is enough to get me started and gives me enough understanding to know what questions to ask! I really appreciate their patience and support as I adapt myself to this new system.

image source: http://milestomes.com/?p=464

A couple of years ago I wrote about my sense of teacher professional growth over ones’ career. In a new situation we simply mimic processes while reflecting on its’ meaning and analyzing the results. Through that experience we developing understanding and underpin these processes with a philosophy to guide our practice. I feel a bit like I’ve been punted back to the starting line again, but it is exciting, and it’s challenging, and it is a bit of a puzzle…

and I like puzzles.

Eden, NSW

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Not a box store or shopping mall in sight. Great little home-grown stores.

Eden is a coastal town in New South Wales similar to many of the others we passed through on the Great Ocean Highway in Victoria. We stayed here for a couple of nights and enjoyed what it had to offer: the Killer Whale Museum was filled with great fish stories, first hand accounts of life on the ocean catching tuna and other things. It’s hard to imagine how enormous the blue whale is – there is a set of jaw bones which are well over 7 meters long!

We had our first pies for lunch at a little spot on the main strip and rather enjoyed them. Also stopped at the grocery store and butchery to pick up food to barbecue at the motel that night. Finding that the restaurants are pretty expensive so we’re having more picnic lunches and making use of the many barbecues at the motels, parks, and rest stops.

The drive to Canberra from Eden took us a kilometer up in elevation to a spectacular place called Pipers Lookout. We drove through clouds on the way to the top and were in awe of the amazingly huge trees and lush foliage. Sun shining through the mist made it feel otherworldly and we spent a fair bit of time just poking around, exploring, and breathing in the rich, humid, rain-forest air.

Australia’s national capital, Canberra, was a neat experience too. We visited the parliament (briefly) and saw the stage setup for Australia Day celebrations. The National Museum of Australia was a great spot filled with amazing stories and artifacts. The building and grounds are as amazing as the contents. Remarkably, entrance to the museum was free making a bold statement about public access to national treasures, history, and culture. Was easy to spend the whole day there and we did, stopping for a nice meal at the cafe overlooking Lake Burley Griffin, the Commonwealth Bridge, and the powerful Captain James Cook Memorial fountain shooting a jet of water up to 140m in the air. Definitely another one of those times when we marveled at where we were, what we were doing, and counting our blessings.

The following day we visited Questacon, Canberra’s science centre. I love how the centre is divided into themed galleries: one on measurement, another on the Earth, another on movement, etc. Carlen and I got brave and tried the 6m Free Fall onto a gently sloping slide. Another excellent space with lots to see and do. Easy to spend the day here too.

Eventually we packed up and headed home stopping in Orange for some Indian food and groceries arriving back home in Coonabarabran shortly before midnight. Reflecting back over the last month we’ve been to Vancouver, Beijing, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and lots of little spots along the way. Hardly seems real, and we’re grateful for the experiences, our health, and the wherewithal to make it happen.