Well, Term 2 came and went and though I felt more settled, I also felt busier. Busier with work, busier with visitors… busier in a good way. But too busy to really set at the blog. My wife also refuses to write (understandable, this was my undertaking and I should be the one under the gun). All that said, it has now been about 10 or 11 weeks since my last post. In that time a lot has happened, but for the sake of getting it up soon, and then hopefully getting up a post on our most recent travels soon, this one will be presented in brief details.
Term 2 brought us two visits from afar. The first was Kelsey Sage, who I taught three times at Brentwood and coached for three years in rowing. I also work very closely with Kelsey’s mom Debbie, as she is my boss and one of my co-coaches on the rowing team. Kelsey spent the year (I think she just left) in southern Queensland, Australia (Toowoomba to be exact) as a gap student at a school there. She spent a week with us at the end of the break/start of Term 2 and it was wonderful to see a familiar face and share stories about our Australian adventures.
Term 2 brought us two visits from afar. The first was Kelsey Sage, who I taught three times at Brentwood and coached for three years in rowing. I also work very closely with Kelsey’s mom Debbie, as she is my boss and one of my co-coaches on the rowing team. Kelsey spent the year (I think she just left) in southern Queensland, Australia (Toowoomba to be exact) as a gap student at a school there. She spent a week with us at the end of the break/start of Term 2 and it was wonderful to see a familiar face and share stories about our Australian adventures.
We also had an early Term 2 visit from two of Ulrika’s siblings. Sasha and Tom came to visit for about 10 days (it seems so long ago). As you can see from the pictures, the kids were happy as clams to have their Auntie Smasha and Uncle Bomb visiting and their departure came far too soon. But we got to spend a fun weekend in Anglesea (on the Great Ocean Road) with them courtesy of the Chaney clan (check previous post) and Ulrika took them on a whirlwind tour to the 12 Apostles.
We can’t wait for more visitors this term. Yeah for grandparents!
We can’t wait for more visitors this term. Yeah for grandparents!
Around the time of Tom and Sasha’s visit, we celebrated Anzac Day. This is the equivalent of our Remembrance Day in Canada. ANZAC stands for the Australia New Zealand Army Corps and were named such because Australia and New Zealand traditionally fought together in war, and certainly did in early wars, such as World War I. Anzac Day is celebrated on the day that the Anzacs landed in Gallipoli, Turkey - 100 years ago this year. Gallipoli was Australia’s Vimy Ridge (except a loss rather than a win) in that it showed their increasing independence from Britain and how proud and brave they were as a unit. Australians are very proud of their veterans and military past and almost every town you pass through has a war memorial of some kind. The school held a beautiful service which did a great job of honouring those who were lost in war without glorifying war itself. Being a 150 year old school, there were hundreds on their honour roll and a small wooden cross was pegged into the ground to commemorate each one of them. It will be a ceremony that I will remember for a long time.
The school itself has a Gallipoli oak tree planted just outside the chapel on campus. The acorn from which this tree was started was brought back to Grammar and planted by an Old Grammarian who fought in Gallipoli. The acorns from this tree were harvested in the lead up to the centennial celebrations and planted at schools across Australia. Truly an amazing tie to history and the country.
Geelong Grammar is very good with supporting students and teachers to get out of the classroom for learning and early in the term I took my Year 10 students on an excursion to a local beach town, Barwon Heads. I can’t tell you the joy I got out of this excursion which involved walking beaches in the area to explore coastal change. What a day of weather we had for this trip. Along with another teacher, I also took my Year 8s to a couple of local farms to investigate land management systems in the local area. In a few weeks (Term 3) I’ll be taking my Year 11s into Melbourne to do some work on urban planning and urbanization. I love getting out of the classroom to learn with the kids and am truly enjoying teaching geography this year.
The school also opened a new building on campus this term. They call it “The SPACE”. School for Performing Arts and Creative Education. It’s not its own school, just a building. But it is a cool building! It replaces their old play house and the main hall has seating for roughly 800 people.
Over exeat weekend (mid-term) I ran The Great Ocean Road Half-Marathon. I trained well for it, but was forewarned by other runners as well as the elevation map provided on the website that this wasn’t the flattest half marathon course in the world. It basically involved and immediate 1.5k climb, undulating hills for the next 4km followed another fairly steep 2.5k climb. When you are 6’4” and roughly 200lbs, a hilly course is not an advantage. That being said I knew what was coming and paced myself early and the view from the top of the hill, and really, the view for most of the run, was worth every bit of the pain and suffering that hit me in the last 2km of the race. Thank goodness for the “lollies” at the finish line. Oh, did I mention after you cross the 21.1km finish line there is another 2.3km to run to the formal finish line? What fun.
We were at the start for sunrise and were done by 9am. Though I was far from breaking any speed records, this was a great experience as the ocean was flat, the surf was breaking, the sun was out and the temperatures were perfect. I was also met by my family and some friends at the finish line and me and Anna Borthwick (who also ran the race, mentioned heavily in earlier posts) had a wonderful walk back in the ocean to Anna and Andrew’s cottage which overlooked the race course and the ocean. There we rehydrated with water, then champagne and filled ourselves with a tasty and much needed lunch. I’m glad I had Monday off… I was hobbling around like an old man!
We were at the start for sunrise and were done by 9am. Though I was far from breaking any speed records, this was a great experience as the ocean was flat, the surf was breaking, the sun was out and the temperatures were perfect. I was also met by my family and some friends at the finish line and me and Anna Borthwick (who also ran the race, mentioned heavily in earlier posts) had a wonderful walk back in the ocean to Anna and Andrew’s cottage which overlooked the race course and the ocean. There we rehydrated with water, then champagne and filled ourselves with a tasty and much needed lunch. I’m glad I had Monday off… I was hobbling around like an old man!
There were lots of other adventures over the term, but many of those just involved watching our beautiful children continue to grow (too quickly) and spending wonderful time as a family and with good people around our school and Geelong. We have booked our tickets to come home (Ottawa/Manitoulin) in December and sadly the calendar shows us it is less than 5 months till departure. That being said, there is lots to do before then, with another 2 weeks off coming at the end of September and a 10 day school trip to the far north for me in just a couple of weeks, the adventures continue.
Now, for some random/cute pictures of the kids. Once gallery for Cormac and Stella each and then one for the family for good measure.
Now, for some random/cute pictures of the kids. Once gallery for Cormac and Stella each and then one for the family for good measure.
Now for getting to the post about our last holidays!