We will be celebrating our first Australia Day tomorrow, which is very exciting. Flag covered beach chairs, umbrellas, cakes, beach towels, coolers etc have been prominently placed in all the stores and people have been getting geared up for their traditional sheep based meals (snags or chops) for weeks now.
Interestingly, Australia Day does not mark the first day of Australia's independence (which is what I figured it would be). That day was January 1, 1901. I guess they figured holding a big party on January 1st might not be as well received? Can't imagine why.
January 26th marks the day in 1788 that the first British ships arrived in "New Holland" and planted a flag for Great Britain to found a penal colony, umm, I mean a fabulous new colony! So it basically marked the start of permanent European settlement in Australia. You can probably image why the Aboriginal people of Australia often refer to this day as "Invasion Day".
At the end of Mass today we were delighted to join in with the singing of "Advance Australia Fair", their national anthem. They sang it with a great deal of pride.
Here is link to a nice rendition of it.
Interestingly, Australia Day does not mark the first day of Australia's independence (which is what I figured it would be). That day was January 1, 1901. I guess they figured holding a big party on January 1st might not be as well received? Can't imagine why.
January 26th marks the day in 1788 that the first British ships arrived in "New Holland" and planted a flag for Great Britain to found a penal colony, umm, I mean a fabulous new colony! So it basically marked the start of permanent European settlement in Australia. You can probably image why the Aboriginal people of Australia often refer to this day as "Invasion Day".
At the end of Mass today we were delighted to join in with the singing of "Advance Australia Fair", their national anthem. They sang it with a great deal of pride.
Here is link to a nice rendition of it.
I also started work last week, doing three days of Positive Education Training. I must admit, I was unsure of what I was getting into on the first day, but I must admit, I genuinely enjoyed and got a lot out of Pos. Ed. training.
They do Pos. Ed. training with all the new staff at all the campuses. This includes maintenance and grounds staff, teaching faculty, cleaning and dining hall staff, admin and support staff, music tutors... everyone. It was a great way to get to come to understand the underlying ethos of the school.
Interestingly, it is very similar to what we want to get across at Brentwood College and the University of Pennsylvania lab they worked with to develop this programme is run close in hand with a lab Brentwood has looked at working with when it come to GRIT - or as Pos Ed calls it - resiliency. Regardless, it was a fun three days and I'm trying to put some of the things I learned from it into practice in my own life.
Below is a news story about it from Euronews. The guy named David Blott was my small group leader - incredibly charismatic guy.
They do Pos. Ed. training with all the new staff at all the campuses. This includes maintenance and grounds staff, teaching faculty, cleaning and dining hall staff, admin and support staff, music tutors... everyone. It was a great way to get to come to understand the underlying ethos of the school.
Interestingly, it is very similar to what we want to get across at Brentwood College and the University of Pennsylvania lab they worked with to develop this programme is run close in hand with a lab Brentwood has looked at working with when it come to GRIT - or as Pos Ed calls it - resiliency. Regardless, it was a fun three days and I'm trying to put some of the things I learned from it into practice in my own life.
Below is a news story about it from Euronews. The guy named David Blott was my small group leader - incredibly charismatic guy.
During these meetings I met some really nice people, including a guy whose friend (near Lake Tahoe in California) has a log house built by the guys on the Timber Kings show on TV. If you haven't seen this show, it's one reality TV show I actually like as they create beautiful log homes in William's Lake, BC that are then shipped all over North America and put up on site. The house of his friend (an Australian) will be featured on an upcoming episode.
Staff meetings start on Tuesday-Friday and then the following week students start arriving! The time has come. Cross your fingers that I do a good job.
Staff meetings start on Tuesday-Friday and then the following week students start arriving! The time has come. Cross your fingers that I do a good job.