Togs and Saussage Sizzles

After another week of school, it was finally Friday morning, and the day of the Swimming Carnival. When we came to school, everyone gathered at "the Oval" (a sports pitch at the school campus), and the roll was called. It was amazing to see everyone being dressed up in their house's colours. Everyone in my house was dressed blue and white, had coloured zinc all over their faces, blue bows in their hair, and blue floaties and swimming caps.

Swimming Carnival, from left to right: Candice, Imogen, Phoebe, Charli, and I

Right before we all left the Oval, each house did their war cry. My house was first, and we stood there in a huge circle. The seniors in the middle shouted:
"Melaleuca! Are you ready?"
Everyone in my house replied:
"Are we ever!"
Then we started jumping up and down, and all together we yelled:
"Blue White Blue
Hocka-tika Hocka-tika Karra-jarra Hah
Karra-jarra Hah Hah Karra-jarra Hah
Boomericka Bositicka Loo Doo Hoo
Melaleuca Melaleuca Blue White Blue"

Melaleuca Mafia

Ready, Set, Go!

After us Karragaroo house did their war cry, followed by Banksia house. When everyone was finished, we left for the swimming pool. The Swimming Carnival was ready to begin.

When all the girls were seated, the races started. The incredibly good swimmers with their unbelievable dives and perfect techniques amazed me. The races were divided in different age groups and types of swimming (e.g. butterfly, back-stroke, freestyle, etc.). First you heard a buzzer, all the girls put their hands up in the sky. Another buzzer, the swimmers got ready on their blocks. A whistle, and they all dived in the water while the supporters, with their hands still in the air, swung down their arms and said "whoo" as the swimmers hit the water. Then, the supporting began. All the houses sang songs and yells to support their contestants. "We've got spirit, yes we do! We've got spirit, how 'bout you?" the houses shouted against each other in-between all their different yells.

When the "professional" races ended, the participation races started. Everyone had to swim, so that includes exchanges. We changed into our togs (they were St. Hilda's one pieces) and lined up for the race. It was hard not to start laughing, since everyone was wearing those ridiculous swimming caps.
Everyone just wanted to get to the other side of the swimming pool to earn points for their house (you didn't have to win to get points). Even though it wasn't much of a competition, I really enjoyed it. The participation races went on for an hour or so, and when this event had ended as well, there were House relay races.

Throughout the day, they sold sausage sizzles, smoothies, and chocolate Valentine hearts (since it was Valentines Day). We had two breaks, between the swimming races so we could have morning tea and lunch.

The day ended with a Fun race between the daygirls and the boarders. This was a relay race too, but every person or group of people from each team had to swim in another "style" than the previous swimmers. This was definitely the best event of the day.

It was such a great day; everyone was so into it, all dressed up and supporting their house in the loudest way possible. The atmosphere was very positive and it was all ‘round awesome!

New posts coming soon :)

Loulotte

Co-curriculars, unknown subjects, kangaroos and koalas

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!

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).

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.

 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

Maps

Upper diagram: Map of Brisbane and Gold Coast. Lower diagram: Map of Australia.




Here are a couple of maps so you guys know what I am talking about whenever I mention towns or cities.

Sun(burnt), sea and the beach; living the good life

This past weekend Imogen stayed with Naoka and I. We started the weekend off with visiting a beach about 10 minutes drive from our place called Cabarita Beach. Then we headed down to the beautiful Byron Bay (see map). To finish the weekend Naoka and I are staying in Miami at her mothers house- one street from the beach!. The weather has cleared up a lot, and it is bright and beautiful.

Cabarita Beach.
On Saturday morning we packed up our sunscreen, sunglasses, hats and umbrellas and headed down to Cabarita Beach with Marcella (Naoka's sister) and Hudson (her nephew). It was really pretty; bright sun, white beach, and big waves. The sea here is very different to the North Sea at home: the currents are stronger and the waves are ginormous. If you don't know what to watch out for, it can be very dangerous. In the beginning, I especially found the strong currents quite scary. The sea isn't always that rough though.

Byron Bay.
We came home from the beach around lunchtime. After a good meal, we all jumped into the car and went to Byron Bay. Byron is a very famous town known worldwide for its beaches, people and general atmosphere. We initially went there to have a look at the Artistic Markets. There were lots of stands where sellers sold the most random things. For example, there was a stand where they sold massage oil candles. Heat up the candles, and when the wax melted it turned into an oil, which could be used for massaging, as a moisturizer and even to help with sunburn (which I think could really help Imogen and I). Also, there were lots of stand which sold different foods; Balinese, Greek, Japanese and many more.
When we had seen all the stands, we walked through the streets of Byron and we had dinner back at the Artistic Markets. Before we left, we went up to the lighthouse of Byron (the most easterly spot of Australia). It was beautiful, and we went for a walk down to the car. As we walked, we saw the sunset and the most incredible view, and we obviously took lots of pictures.

Miami.
The next day, we went to Miami, where Naoka's mum lives. As we were waiting for Naoka's mother to pick us up, we went for a swim at the beach again. This might not have been the best idea, because my sunburn got worse... I still had a great time though, especially because the sea was a lot less rough than the day before. Afterwards, we got picked up by her mum and we drove home. For dinner we had the best Thai food ever! I went for an evening beach walk, where again the sunset was beautiful. When I got back home, Naoka and I had a night swim and we went to bed. 

My weekend was great, and I can't wait for next weekend!

Loulotte