Introduction!

Hello everyone! Welcome to my Australia blog!!

When I headed down under for three months, my mom suggested that I write in a journal. I thought about it, but also thought it was unlikely that I would write on paper every day. So, I'm writing in a new fangled journal!
Knowing me, you would expect something a little more clever or at least punny for my title. Unfortunately, that's all I have.
I'm staying with a couple named Jocelyn and Rick as well as with another student teacher - Kylen! She will also be writing a blog, so when she does get it set up I will be sure to add a link to it!

I'll be staying down here in Melbourne for three months. Although it is a beautiful summery heat wave back at home, it is in fact winter down here! However, winter in Melbourne is akin to early spring or mid-autumn in the great pacific northwest.
This morning it looks like it's going to be a beautiful day; I would be surprised if the temperature got below 15 celsius. (I'm learning conversions....slowly). My dear supervisor Kevin equipped us with his business card which, on the back, has a conversion scale for temperature as well as distance, and a little rhyme to help us with the weather:
30 is hot, 20 is nice, 10 is cold, and 0 is ice!
I can say that I will for sure be using this when I get dressed in the mornings.


Where we live is about a half hour out of the 'City' (which is what they say meaning downtown). But we live on a huge main road with tons of bus lines and stuff on it. Today I'll be spending sometime figuring out the buses and schedules and routes and stuff. 

My school is about a km and a half down the road, so I'll be walking out there today, but Jocelyn says there are some shortcuts that she'll show me. 

Right across the street is a huge shopping center complete with Target and Safeway! hah. So that made us a feel right at home. Also around are McDonald's, Subway, and Burger King. However, the owner of burger king down here didn't like the name, and decided to name it after himself and it's called 'Hungry Jacks' with all the same meals and foods and icons. 

Um.....can't really think of anything else right now, other than that I have to verbally remind myself to look to the right first before I cross the street - neither Kylen nor I got squished yesterday, so we're taking that as a good sign. Driving is absolutely terrifying down here - most of the time we're in the car I have to close my eyes! Haha.

Also - We have been told that tipping is not a widely used practice down here (I support this!). Coffee shops require almost no tipping, unless you have truly, truly exceptional service, and waiters in nicer restaurants are the only ones likely to get tips regularly.

Some terms I have encountered already that are sure to cause some confusion:

'Arcade' - a small hallway of shops off the main street, kind of like an indoor alley. We're told that the best shops are in the arcades and not on the street.

'City' is used referring to downtown.

'Casino' is a bit of a derogatory term down here - they refer to it as an 'entertainment complex'

'Chase' - a mall, like the shopping center across the street from us

'Bowls' - is the same as boules, and apparently it's an old people sport, according to Jocelyn, but they do do ten-pin bowling as well.

'Barrack' - rather than support a team (like Australian football, football, rugby, etc), you 'barrack' for them. Don't say 'root'; that means someone very inappropriate.

That's all for now; I'll be heading off on an exploratory walk right now to find my school. Although Kevin is dropping us off at school on Monday morning, it's entirely up to us to find our own ways home:D

I'll be adding pictures, etc. later, and will hopefully stay focused enough to write on here regularly! Good luck to me, and thanks for reading!

-Megan