Eric is currently in Colorado. Isabel and I had the chance to talk via Skype and FaceTime with some friends back home. I thought I'd answer some of the questions we've been asked.
What's your favorite thing about living in Australia?
I love listening to people speak here. I love the accent and the words they use. The Australians notice my accent and sometimes look at me funny when I don't say things quite the way they do. For the most part, we understand each other, but there are occasional moments that get "lost in translation."
I also love exploring a new area - restaurants, beaches, forests, wildlife, places to go.
Do you have a car?
Not really. We have a membership with a car sharing deal. There are many cars located throughout Melbourne. There is one car just across the street. Unfortunately, it's never available when we need a car. But there are other cars a short walk away. Each car has a scanner that will unlock the car when the membership card is swiped. Keys are in the car and away we go!
I will probably go the entire year without driving. I'm just too nervous about driving on the other side of the road. School, grocery store, beach, library and several public transportation options are within a 10-15 minute walk away. Eric drives on the weekends when we want to get out of the city.
Isabel, how is school?
Isabel attends a public primary school. Children in years prep through year 6 attend primary school and then go to college. College is for years 7 through 12. American translation: children in kindergarten through grade 6 attend elementary school then go to middle school and then high school.
There are no school buses here! Most everyone lives close enough to walk or ride bikes. However, there are several cars at drop off and pick up times and some kids even take public buses to get to school. For field trips, the school rents nice coach buses.
Her school is fairly big with over 700 students and about 4-5 school buildings. Isabel's classroom is in the oldest building, about 100 years old, and on the third floor. There is no school cafeteria. The kids eat lunch is their classrooms and hot lunches are delivered by a local restaurant. They can even have sushi on Wednesdays.
The school year goes from the end of January to about midway through December. The school year is broken into 4 terms with a two week break between terms and about a 6 week break for summer. Isabel is currently in the 4th term of year 5. She is one of the youngest in her class because the cutoff date for school is in April. She will attend the first half of year 6 before going back to Colorado.
Is school easier or harder?
Math instruction is not as far along as the USA curriculum. They just finished a unit on addition and subtraction in her class. Isabel reports that in other subjects its about the same.
They spend more time in school learning and playing sports. In August, they spent two days on a big house sports competition. It was mostly track and field activities. They split up the kids in grades 4-6 into 4 different houses. Isabel was in the Gordon house. It reminded me of the houses in Harry Potter. Most Friday afternoons, are spent playing sports. Isabel is currently learning how to play sofcrosse which is a version of lacrosse. She's also learned how to play some new sports: footy (Australian Rules Football) and netball (similar to basketball).
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Cheers!
~ Heather
No comments:
Post a Comment