Sorry for the long wait, I have been busy with my KCV project which was due
last Friday. Here is (finally) another very long post about the past week, full
of new experiences, typical Australian things, and a LOT of fun!
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| Emu, at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary |
Touch; one of St. Hilda's co-curriculars.
(First, a co-curricular is a sport or other activity you do after or before school, it is compulsory for every student to do a certain amount of co-curriculars each year.)
We thought it would be nice to get some exercise and to join a team here so, Monday morning Imogen and I came to school at 6:30am, for touch football try-outs. We dropped our bags at the gym, and we joined the rest of the girls. We walked over to the sport pitches across the road, and we immediately got started. First a warming up. The running part first, which went quite well, nothing special. However, when we finished running, we started throwing the ball (it was a rugby ball). I had some trouble adjusting but in the end, this went quite well too. After the warming up, we started with the real game. It was a disaster. The referee constantly stopped the game for Imogen and I because we kept doing things wrong. It is such a different game than hockey, the sport we do at home. Eventually, try-outs were over, and we knew that touch wasn't exactly our thing. So, now we are applying for basketball (take two).
Even though I am the worst touch player in the whole wide world, I still enjoyed it and Imogen and I had a good laugh.
PC, CLD, CSP; unknown subjects at St. Hilda's.
Pastoral Care (PC) is every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It is a 20-minute class before "morning tea" (morning tea is at home called small break). In that time you can discuss ideas, problems, and just random things you want to tell your classmates. By the way, those classmates aren't all from your own year (so in my case year 11). They come from middle and senior school (so that is year 7 through year 12), in such a way that everyone is mixed up. Also, your classmates all come from your house (I am with "Melaleuca house"). I will explain the house system to you later. I think those 20 minutes every second day are very good, because you won't only get to know girls in your own year, but girls in each year of middle and senior school.
Character Learning Development, or CLD, is a class in which you learn about all different things such as how to study, how to create different perspectives on things, etc. It is a useful class, but I think, that at our school, those things are already mixed in with other subjects, so we aren't missing out on that.
CSP (Core Skill Practice) is something which might be very useful if we would have that as a separate subject. This class prepares the girls here on their "OP's" or as we call it: "eindexamen". At the RLW, this class is mixed in with other subjects (just like CLD). However, it might be good to have a separate class for this, to learn different ways of how to prepare for the final exams. At St. Hilda's though, Imogen and I do our own work during these periods, because obviously we don't have the same final exams so it is practically useless for us.
The above are the subjects that I follow at St. Hilda's, that we do not have at the Rijnlands. However, these aren't the only different classes they have. They also have hospitality (which is a cooking class), business (which is comparable, but not exactly the same as, economics), engineering (something like "techniek"), and many more.
House shirt day.
Friday, was house shirt day. You guys probably have no idea what that is, so first I'll explain the "house system" to you.
At St. Hilda's, you have three different houses called Karragaroo (yellow), Banksia (red), and my house: Melaleuca (blue). Especially during sport contests, everyone in each house races against the other houses. So, simply said, St. Hilda's has three different clubs in school.
So, back to Friday, everyone had to wear their house shirt. The Karragaroo girls wore yellow shirts, the Banksia girls wore red shirts and the Melaleuca girls wore blue shirts. This wasn't just some random day. Next week, on Valentines Day, there is Swimming Carnival, and everyone had to support their house by wearing the house shirt.
Sleepover.
After house shirt day, I didn't go back to Noaka's, but I went to Kona's and Imogen's place. As I told before, there is no WiFi at Naoka's house, so, as soon as I got there, I went all out ;).
I got to meet Kona's family, and they are very friendly! They live in Southport, about ten minutes away from school (by car).
(First, a co-curricular is a sport or other activity you do after or before school, it is compulsory for every student to do a certain amount of co-curriculars each year.)
We thought it would be nice to get some exercise and to join a team here so, Monday morning Imogen and I came to school at 6:30am, for touch football try-outs. We dropped our bags at the gym, and we joined the rest of the girls. We walked over to the sport pitches across the road, and we immediately got started. First a warming up. The running part first, which went quite well, nothing special. However, when we finished running, we started throwing the ball (it was a rugby ball). I had some trouble adjusting but in the end, this went quite well too. After the warming up, we started with the real game. It was a disaster. The referee constantly stopped the game for Imogen and I because we kept doing things wrong. It is such a different game than hockey, the sport we do at home. Eventually, try-outs were over, and we knew that touch wasn't exactly our thing. So, now we are applying for basketball (take two).
Even though I am the worst touch player in the whole wide world, I still enjoyed it and Imogen and I had a good laugh.
PC, CLD, CSP; unknown subjects at St. Hilda's.
Pastoral Care (PC) is every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It is a 20-minute class before "morning tea" (morning tea is at home called small break). In that time you can discuss ideas, problems, and just random things you want to tell your classmates. By the way, those classmates aren't all from your own year (so in my case year 11). They come from middle and senior school (so that is year 7 through year 12), in such a way that everyone is mixed up. Also, your classmates all come from your house (I am with "Melaleuca house"). I will explain the house system to you later. I think those 20 minutes every second day are very good, because you won't only get to know girls in your own year, but girls in each year of middle and senior school.
Character Learning Development, or CLD, is a class in which you learn about all different things such as how to study, how to create different perspectives on things, etc. It is a useful class, but I think, that at our school, those things are already mixed in with other subjects, so we aren't missing out on that.
CSP (Core Skill Practice) is something which might be very useful if we would have that as a separate subject. This class prepares the girls here on their "OP's" or as we call it: "eindexamen". At the RLW, this class is mixed in with other subjects (just like CLD). However, it might be good to have a separate class for this, to learn different ways of how to prepare for the final exams. At St. Hilda's though, Imogen and I do our own work during these periods, because obviously we don't have the same final exams so it is practically useless for us.
The above are the subjects that I follow at St. Hilda's, that we do not have at the Rijnlands. However, these aren't the only different classes they have. They also have hospitality (which is a cooking class), business (which is comparable, but not exactly the same as, economics), engineering (something like "techniek"), and many more.
House shirt day.
Friday, was house shirt day. You guys probably have no idea what that is, so first I'll explain the "house system" to you.
At St. Hilda's, you have three different houses called Karragaroo (yellow), Banksia (red), and my house: Melaleuca (blue). Especially during sport contests, everyone in each house races against the other houses. So, simply said, St. Hilda's has three different clubs in school.
So, back to Friday, everyone had to wear their house shirt. The Karragaroo girls wore yellow shirts, the Banksia girls wore red shirts and the Melaleuca girls wore blue shirts. This wasn't just some random day. Next week, on Valentines Day, there is Swimming Carnival, and everyone had to support their house by wearing the house shirt.
Sleepover.
After house shirt day, I didn't go back to Noaka's, but I went to Kona's and Imogen's place. As I told before, there is no WiFi at Naoka's house, so, as soon as I got there, I went all out ;).
I got to meet Kona's family, and they are very friendly! They live in Southport, about ten minutes away from school (by car).
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| Kangaroo, at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary |
The next day, we went to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, where we would meet
Naoka. When we walked into the sanctuary, the first thing we saw was a woman
holding a snake. First I was little bit scared, but I eventually touched the
animal!(I am very proud of that haha) We got to hold a koala, hug kangaroos
(and watch tree kangaroos!), watch emus and other birds, and see a crocodile
show. It was quite special, how the kangaroos and koalas weren't scared of you
while you were hugging, and holding them. They were so soft and sweet. It was
very touristy thing to do, and it was great.
After we had gone to Currumbin, Naoka and I caught the bus to Pacific Fair, where we went window shopping. We met up with her mum, and later on got picked up by her dad.
After we had gone to Currumbin, Naoka and I caught the bus to Pacific Fair, where we went window shopping. We met up with her mum, and later on got picked up by her dad.
Birthday girl.
This morning (Sunday morning), we went out for breakfast because it is Marcella's birthday (Marcella is Naoka's sister). Breakfast was delicious and I really enjoyed it.
While we were talking about my stay here, I realized that I am about to start my fourth week here, and that means that I am almost halfway through my exchange here! I cannot believe how fast time flies by, and how much I have done already. I have a ton of new friends, it feels like I have a second family, and I have experienced so many new things. I do miss home, but it is AMAZING here, and I would never, ever have traded this for anything else. I am so grateful for the fact that I've been given this opportunity. Thank you!
This was it, but coming week there will be more reading material for you. I will write soon.
Loulotte
This morning (Sunday morning), we went out for breakfast because it is Marcella's birthday (Marcella is Naoka's sister). Breakfast was delicious and I really enjoyed it.
While we were talking about my stay here, I realized that I am about to start my fourth week here, and that means that I am almost halfway through my exchange here! I cannot believe how fast time flies by, and how much I have done already. I have a ton of new friends, it feels like I have a second family, and I have experienced so many new things. I do miss home, but it is AMAZING here, and I would never, ever have traded this for anything else. I am so grateful for the fact that I've been given this opportunity. Thank you!
This was it, but coming week there will be more reading material for you. I will write soon.
Loulotte
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