Kelly the Canuck downunder

Have made it through my first two days of teaching with a glazed "dear in the headlights" look, I'm sure. I am still quite tired, though it is much better, and there is much to soak up that is different as far as scheduling, curriculum, etc. Still enjoying the weather though...I will get back to that (it's in the mid 30's today).
The school that I am teaching at has about 900 students from over 40 different cultural backgrounds, so very different than Churchill. I have students in my classes from Scotland, Ireland, Somalia, Bosnia, Kenya, Burundi, Japan, China, Burma, New Zealand, India, etc, etc. I had a student ask me today if I was from Scotland (they thought I sounded Scottish). Some of the students are newly arrived (within last few months) and some sound very Australian and have been here for years. They are all interested in learning about Canada and how the school system works there....."Is it more strict in Canada Miss??" "Is it snowing in Canada right now Miss?" Very polite students, and quite curious. I am really enjoying them and all they add to the classes.
The staff has been very friendly, but to be honest, I have been too busy at work to really speak with anyone, other than a few in my department office. Today I taught 6/6 classes, and it was full-on! Some days you don't have a section of time off except for lunch, which I have been working through. Very helpful staff though, with some offering to share resources or unit plans. The school is undergoing a huge transition at the moment, and is having 11 million dollars being put into it (it has some specialized programs such as music, aboriginal programming, etc.) so about 1/3 of the school is under construction, and is closed off at this time. Portables have been set up to deal with this, and they are air conditioned, thank goodness. I teach 2 of my classes in different portables. The area of the school is quite large, and I am running from class to class not really sure of where I am going yet!!! There is much outdoor space and that is really nice. Presently there are bulldozers, workers, chain link fences, etc. on site, which will most likely be there until I go...it is a big undertaking. This makes it hard to teach as some rooms don't have boards or anything in them (the resources have been packed up in some cases), but I am managing and things are starting to reappear, as if by magic.
I still have lots on the go socially, with invites from co-workers, friends of the family, family, the exchange foundation in Adelaide and others that know previous exchangees! I'm sure this will start to fall off once the novelty of the "Canadian" wears off. I will just have to keep surprising them so it doesn't get stale!

Off to take a stroll on the beach...have to figure out how to add photos from this computer...hmmmm...