2 month musings....

It has been another month since I have posted anything, and time is just flying by! I'm wondering when things will slow down a bit, but I'm not sure they will. I think it's safe to say, that after 2 months of being down under, we are just starting to find a bit of a groove. Last weekend, we met with other Canadians who have exchanged to New South Wales, and one of them repeatedly said that settling in was taking longer than she expected. I remember that one of our good friends who lived and taught in Hong Kong for 3 years said that we should expect to feel settled in about 3 months time, so the fact that we are starting to feel settled after 2 months is probably a good thing! Anyway, I thought I would dedicate this blog post to sharing a bit of what day-to-day life looks like for the Poettckers, and some observations we have made along the way. ***Disclaimer: Observations that we have made may include sweeping generalizations and personal opinions. One may liken some of my generalizations to saying things like, "All Canadians are so polite and accommodating." Or, "All Canadians say 'Eh' and 'Hoser'." So please take my generalizations with a grain of salt, and take them for what they are. My second disclaimer is that this blog post may seem tedious and boring to some. If that's the case, feel free to scroll through the photos and move on. I promise not to get offended (because I won't know). To the rest of you who have many questions about what the heck we are doing here, enjoy! That being said, let's get started.....

On A Day in the Life of Down Under Poettckers:

5:30 am - Kevin wakes up (the crazy man wakes up this early in Canada as well) and has quiet / meditation time

6:30 or 7:00 am - the rest of us lazy bones wake up

7:15 am - Kevin rides bike to work

8:30 am - I drive Josiah to school and the kids get started on homeschool

12:00 or 1:00 pm - lunch break for the kids and I

Between 1:00 or 2:00 pm - kids finish homeschool

2:30 pm - I leave to pick Josiah up from school

On the Kids:

Other than the very exciting above activities, Calla is enjoying musical theatre in her drama club once per week, Rylan is enjoying archery club and youth group weekly, and we are all enjoying attending a small group with one of the churches in town on Wednesday evenings. I'd say it's the highlight of our week. The hosts of our small group live on a hobby farm and the kids spend the few hours running around outside with a bunch of other kids of all ages. They love it! And I quickly had to let go of my fear of deadly snakes slithering through the country when I realized that there are also 3 year olds running wild through the property. (Side note: I feel my fears are warranted, as the hosts casually told 2 stories of not one, but two, venomous brown snakes being found swimming in their pool. One of which was caught and killed in a net by their 14 year old son the day we came over.) As far as how our kids are doing, I feel I have to brag a little. Kevin and I have been so amazed at how brave and flexible they have been. Jo just marched right into his school, not knowing a soul, not knowing the school, not having his siblings with him, and having a different accent than eveyone else. He hasn't looked back. In fact, he often tells us that he thinks that things in Australia are way better than Canada (except for the pizza, because the pepperoni doesn't taste right). He also constantly corrects us by telling us the proper Aussie words for things (ex. tissue instead of kleenex, bin instead of garbage can, bag instead of backpack, drink bottle instead of water bottle, toilet instead of bathroom, joggers instead of runners, bubblers instead of water fountains, and the list goes on and on). Calla is also doing well with working hard at school (although, as I predicted, I think mainstream school is more her forte than homeschool). She has been really brave with meeting new friends and trying out drama club. As our most shy kid, and as our kid who seemed to struggle the most with our big move, she has been able to cope and adjust so quickly. We are proud of her and how hard she has worked! Rylan has also shown his bravery in a big way. We dropped him off at youth group a couple of weeks ago and our heart strings were tugged pretty hard, as he did not know anyone (except for meeting the youth leader), he was one of the youngest there, and it was his first time attending any youth group. He had a blast! He has such a positive attitude and that aspect of his personality has shone even brighter over the past couple of months. He very often tries to find the positive in each situation and verbalizes it. We have appreciated that so much. All in all, I would say that our kids are thriving here, and that has gone a very long way in helping Kevin and I through the changes and bumps along the way. 

On School:

Homeschooling is going well. The kids and I worked pretty intensely over the last month to catch up after being 3 weeks behind, due to our holidays in January. I really don't like being behind in things, so I admit that I pushed them pretty hard, and it was not always fun for the 3 of us. I am happy to say that we are taking it easier now, and enjoying it more. We are doing a homeschool program that is run through the kids' school at home. It has been great, as they are using the same curriculum as their school at home, and we will be able to smoothly (that's the hope) transition them back to school when we return to Alberta in January. The lessons and plans are all done for us, so I just basically organize, supervise and help them as they go along each day. 

This is where the homeschooling magic happens.

As mentioned earlier, Jo is LOVING school. His favourite day is Friday, as it is Sport Day. We still haven't fully interpreted what actually goes on during Sport Day, but it sounds like it involves fun games. Here is Jo's Sport Day uniform. He gets to wear his joggers (runners) instead of his all-black shoes. 

Another musing about school in Australia is that little parts of it feel slightly military-like. For example, the first thing the kids do in the morning is gather outside in a big group for morning announcements, etc. They all line up, and if they break the line, or misbehave in some way, they are called out in front of the whole group. This happens at Kevin's school as well. Here is a photo of the morning gathering in Jo's primary school.

And the ceremonious raising of the flags.

Uniforms are very important as well. Even the public schools have uniforms. And if you don't adhere to the school uniform dress code, you go home. I actually really like school uniforms - no worrying about what the kids are going to wear, no arguments about what the kids are going to wear, and it kind of levels out the "cool" factor a bit as well. I mentioned the outdoor lifestyle of schools in my last blog post. The schools here are made up of multiple buildings, as opposed to one big building, like the ones in Canada. So there are virtually no hallways. You can see the bubblers and Jo's classroom, along with where he keeps his bag. 

Another observation: kids are kids are kids. At our orientation to our exchange that we had in Edmonton, we were actually told that Aussie kids (generalization alert!) may tend to be a bit more wild and unruly than Canadian kids. Kevin may tend to agree with this statement with the specific population of kids that he is working with (I will let him elaborate more on his job if he so chooses). Maybe the feral kids in Australia tend to be more feral than the feral kids in Canada?????? I don't know. What I do know, is that the kids I have met seem to be like regular Canadian kids with awesome accents. And, the kids I have met have been incredibly kind and welcoming to our kids. 

On Dubbo:

To be very honest, Kevin and I had some hesitations about agreeing to our exchange when it was proposed to us, due to the location. When a Canadian thinks of an adventure in Australia, he/she likely thinks of beautiful beachside locations. Dubbo is a country-city, located a 4.5 hour drive inland from the beach. It has a population of about 40 thousand people, and is a major service centre for the surrounding area, and called the gateway to the outback. This did not sound super glamorous to us in the beginning. We also made the great mistake of reading online reviews of Dubbo. A word to the wise - don't believe everything you read online! After reading online reviews, Dubbo sounded a bit (generalization alert!) like "white", working class, redneck country, that had a lot of crime, to put it bluntly. I am very happy to report that this is absolutely NOT true. Dubbo is a lovely small city with heaps (Aussie term) of services. There are lots of shopping options (including two shopping malls), heaps of restaurants, and loads of things to do for all types of interests. Dubbo is quite mulit-cultural as immigrants who come to Australia are usually moved west to avoid over-populating the already heavily populated coastal cities. And the attitude towards immigrants seems to be very positive; at least among the people we have talked to. I have heard a number of people say that Dubbo becoming more multi-cultural has been really good for the community. As far as activities go, there are plenty. From the outdoor enthusiast, to the concert goer. Now that we are feeling more settled, we look forward to exploring more of these activities. 

On Aussies:

I have really enjoyed Aussies so far. (Generalization alert!) I have found them to be friendly, super helpful, and funny with their Aussie senses of humour. We are learning all kinds of funny Aussie expressions from our new friends here (ex. try to figure out what in the world these things are: double plugs, blueys, smoke-ohs, utes, servos, maccas, arvo, eftpos, etc. etc. etc.). Most explanations include a joke and a laugh and a statement about how Aussies shorten words into sort-of nicknames. Well, let me just correct them once more and say that not all of their so-called shortened words are actually shorter. :) All that to say that I have not met one unpleasant Aussie yet. I'm sure they exist, but not in my mind. Also, we have been reminded time and again what a small world we live in. We have done some purchasing of things on a website called Gumtree (very much like Kijiji) and have met a number of people through it. Everyone seems to know someone in Canada. One woman I met has a sister that went on a teaching exchange in Calgary and in Chatham, ON. Both places I have lived within a 45 minute drive to. 

On Shopping:

I am not a shopping enthusiast myself, however, I will attempt to answer some questions you may have. Lots of people tend to ask about prices. I have found that grocery prices are quite similar to Alberta prices. I find that cheese is cheaper here, and cereal is more expensive. Really, it's 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. I am loving the local produce, as well as the creaminess of dairy. Ginger beer is a new favourite treat. As far as other shopping goes, it is quite similar to Canada. Instead of Walmart, there is Big W and Target. Instead of Home Depot, there is Bunnings.....and the list goes on. Stores are similar, and prices are similar. Eating out, on the other hand, is more expensive, but no tipping.

On Climate and Outdoor Fun:

This is where the similarity ends with Alberta. Everyone asks us how we are handling the heat. I can tell you that we are truly loving the heat. It is a novelty to us, just like the snow and cold snap in Alberta is a novelty to our exchange partners. 40's and high 30's are hot, for sure, but it just feels so good and therapeutic to feel the heat on our skin. The last couple of weeks have cooled down a bit, and I have begun to think that 30 C is the perfect temperature for a high. Dubbo is a very dry place, so the heat feels quite nice, and the nights cool down to about 18 C nowadays, which is also lovely. The climate here has also confirmed for me that I love dry climate. I am not a rainy-day kind of girl. The sun and lack of humidity feels heavenly. Plus, that means that we can enjoy many hours of outdoor time throughout our days. I love it!

My happy place is my birthday gift from Kevin - my hammock.

With this climate comes eating outdoors on our patio. 

On the very hot afternoons, the kids have spent hours in our air-con playing Lego games. I really think that they are at perfect ages for this move - Rylan isn't too cool for playing Lego games, and Jo is just old enough to join in. 

With this climate, we are so excited for the biking potential. Kevin loves his bike rides to and from work (a dream of his to commute by bike), and we are pumped to use the many bike paths around town, as well as the mountain bike trails that are a few minutes drive from us. We spent some time and money on finding decent used mountain bikes and a bike rack for the rest of us last weekend. We made it on one family bike ride so far, before I discovered the evils of catheads (nasty thorns that grow in some of the grasses here).  I made it a measly few hundred metres from our house before my tube was busted by my tire being peppered with a few of them. 

The evil cathead.

I visited a bike shop where a very helpful Aussie gave me the step-by-step process to protect our bike tires from the nasty things. I will let Kevin master the process starting with my bike this weekend. I also asked my new Aussie bike friend why in the world I see people walking around town and in the shops with bare feet (yes, even big burly men and children), when the evils of catheads and bindy grass (look it up) are lurking about. He says that these folks have developed such hard callouses on their feet, that they do not feel the catheads or the melting heat of black asphalt on their feet. (Funny fact: uniforms are uber important to Australians, but shirts and shoes seem to be optional at the local grocery stores.)

Us, enjoying our bikes before the evil of catheads.

Another advantage of the climate is the growing season. We are experimenting with a little veggie patch while we are here. In the background you will see some of our laundry. We have no dryer, along with many Aussies. That would not work too well in Canada!

On Parks:

Aussie parks are pretty awesome, and many seem to include a very fun zipline. Here are a few photo examples, and demonstrations of the various ways to ride a zipline (the kids wanted me to include their demonstrations).

Just about every park we have gone to has free gas BBQ's like this one below. What a great way to encourage community and an outdoor lifestyle. Just another thing we love!

As far as parks go, we are super excited to start exploring more of the many national and state parks NSW has to offer. We are suited up with most of what we need for camping, and look forward to trying out Aussie camping and hiking. During our city camping experience last weekend in Sydney, we discovered that there is a more annoying bird cry to be woken by than our Canadian crows - cockatoos! Oh they are beautiful, but their calls are AWFUL!

On Critters:

Before coming to Australia, I'm a little embarrassed to say that I would sometimes lay awake thinking about the scary critters we may encounter here - mainly spiders. I am happy to report that we have not had any spider encounters at our house. Our exchange partners spray their house yearly, so whatever creepy crawlies we have encountered have been dead, or on their way out. We have seen some really cool critters lately, but were not able to provide photos for your viewing pleasure. I saw a giant green praying mantis and the kids saw and held a stick bug. We have also seen a couple of cockroaches (they are NOT my favourite) and Kevin has a family of them in his classroom - ewwwww. I was able to see a couple of possums in our campground in Sydney last weekend. Sadly, the kids missed them as it was in the middle of the night. So far, I'd say that the interesting and cute critters we've seen have outweighed the scary and icky creatures we've seen. 

Here is a little video of some roos the kids and I encountered at a park the other day. If you listen closely to what Calla says, you'll know why we are all laughing. 

Phew! That was a marathon. I've been meaning to write this post for a while, so I had a lot pent up. For those of you who made it to the end - Bravo!