We made it. After three great weeks traveling through New Zealand, Patrick and I have started to settle in Adelaide, South Australia. We have successfully mastered driving on the other side of the road and the other side of the car. We still occasionally wash the windows trying to indicate a turn. We are usually 10 kilometers under the speed limit regularly, which I am sure will change as we get more comfortable.
Geographically, Australia is about as large as the continental United States. It is a large place with a majority of the people living in coastal areas. It has 8 states. It has a population of about 20 million people, most of which live in the major cities of Sydney and Melbourne. The middle of Australia is largely desert, but has many mining resources. The British settled Australia eradicating much of the Native population similar to the US. Today there is a large immigrant population from Asian countries such as India, Vietnam, and China. New immigrants from African nations and the Middle East are also arriving.
The staff at the school has been very welcoming, inviting us to bar b and tea (dinner). They have enjoyed educating us about Australian wine. We have not been unafraid to try. The Australians as a whole are very proud of their culture and rightfully so. They live on an extremely interesting continent geologically speaking. The animals and plant life are rugged and diverse and have evolved to meet limited rainfall. Australians are wonderful at offering advice on the most beautiful places to visit and what to do there. They are very open at opening their homes for guests to visit. Many love to make typical Australian fare available for a guest to try. Kangaroo is not as common as chicken or lamb, but is served occasionally and not bad. Best according to Australians served rare. Asian food is also readily available in larger cities.
Australians enjoy sports, playing and watching. Their athletes have celebrity status, but do not make as much money as in the United States. The most popular sports watched in South Australia are cricket and Australian rules football. Rugby is also very popular, but not in this state. Other sports that are common are netball, which is like basketball but without the backboard. Swimming, soccer, skating, surfing, windsurfing, and bicycling are also popular with kids and adults.
Schools are so different yet so the same. The Australian educational system is state run like the United States. The state of South Australia has similar problems as the US, dealing with new immigrants or lower performance in lower socioeconomic status areas. They do not have standardized tests for all grade levels. They do have a large tests for students at the year 12 level. Schools have similar kinds of activities that are available for students in the states, sports, student government, a few clubs. One striking difference is that teachers are not required to keep students after school to work. There are tea breaks and lunch breaks during the course of the day and teachers actually all have off at this time to socialize and meet. Most Australian teachers socialize, but occasionally they discuss curriculum, planning, and issues. They are not expected to meet with students at this time as it is determined to be the teachers' time.
