Shepherd's Outback Adventure: March 2015

March 21st

Hello everyone! Greetings from Sydney. I think I start off every post with saying "time flies by", but I guess it really does. I found myself the other day starting to panic a little because I realized we were more than half way finished with our stay here. As much as we miss our life, family, friends, school, house and dog, at home, we have really come to love our time here and have all adjusted very well. Chris and I joke that we think we were Australian in a past life. We have always both felt a connection to this place and just really like the pace of life here. As most of you know, we are not the "fast paced" type of people:) We had to get some cough medicine at the pharmacy the other day, after dropping the kids off at school. The store hours are 9-6. We waited by the doors till 9:15, and still no lights on or sign of movement. Chris and I had to leave because we both had someplace to be, but we just laughed and thought it must be a good surf morning. I know for some of you back in the states, this would drive you nuts. I won't mention any names:) Anyways, with this being said, we have all just adjusted much better than I even anticipated. The girls especially have surprised me. I was worried about them leaving behind most of their belongings, besides clothes and pillow pets, and moving into a much smaller living space, without being able to run into their backyard and jump on the trampoline or hop on their bikes and ride around the block. But, if nothing else this experience has brought them closer together as sisters and friends, and they are more creative with their time. As I am writing this, they just all woke up, and are all huddled together on one bed, watching a how to draw a panda video on my phone, and drawing it. We have also come to trust them to venture to a near by park on their own, so they enjoy doing this as well.

As I mentioned in the last blog, the girls were deciding on a few after school activities to participate in. As I guessed, Skylar and Kylie chose surfing and Danika and Kendall chose a kids meditation class and ballet. Chris and I decided to have them all take swimming lessons, not only to help them become better swimmers, but because we love the pool they take the lessons in. A lot of kids here take swimming lessons, but most choose the indoor facilities with the heated pool. But there is a place called, Icebergs, down the street from us, and the pool is on the ocean. All the water in the pool is ocean water. I have pictures below. We just thought this would be an experience that they would not get back at home. Needless to say, sometimes they are a bit freezing, especially if it is windy and rainy during a lesson and summer is coming to a close, but they now wear wetsuits to help they stay warm.

Skylar and Kylie absolutely love surfing. I have watched a few lessons and I think what they like most is they paddle out with the group on their boards and then they all hang out on the boards chatting, waiting for the next big wave. Danika and Kendall really enjoy meditation and ballet. These are both held at Bondi Pavilion, which is right on the beach. It is very convenient because I am able to get the older girls settled at surf lessons and then take the little girls to theirs. The meditation teacher, Zoe, is so energetic and fun. She is great with the girls. She has them do a craft and then teaches them something about meditation and then they lay on mats and she tells them a story. Kendall always falls asleep. They also are enjoying their ballet class as evidenced by Danika always jumping around and twirling. Most of the classes are coming to an end with only 1 or 2 more sessions left. We will have to decide if we start another term or not. I know the older girls will want to do surf again.

School is going great. They enjoy all of their classes and are having a lot of fun. The homework is the same each week which is nice because we know what to expect. A lot of it is online so with one computer, we need to make sure we start early in the week so each child has computer time. They all have online Math homework, where they log in and complete their tasks for that week. They also each have a spelling list and then need to complete 2-4 spelling activities each week. These activities are chosen from a list of 30 that they are giving at the beginning of the year and include such things as writing definitions, sentences, creating a poem with spelling words etc... Then every other week they have writing assignments. The older girls have to write essays (persuasive letter, speech, narrative...) and Kendall does a project called "Surprise Me". This is where she has to learn something new and then write about it and tell about it to her class. Her first one was on how to train an elephant, since she did that in Thailand. They do not have any books to carry back in forth, only one notebook that they complete all assignments in and turn in on Friday. They are also expected to read 20 minutes a night and log their Reading. We have also been keeping up with are U.S. studies, especially Math, so that they are not behind when we return. We found a Russian cello teacher, which is great, so Skylar is able to continue with the cello. The girls are enjoying some different classes that they do not have back at home such as garden and kitchen. They have these once a week and are cooking up some great dishes while using some of the herbs that they help grow in the garden. They are less enthusiastic about dance classes. They have learned the tango, which is fun, but do not enjoy dancing with the boys:). They did teach Chris and I how to tango though. They also have gymnastics, Italian and Philosophy. For those of you wondering, like my dad, yes they do also learn Science, Social Studies and Government.

The two older girls had their school trip to Canberra for three days. We equipped them both with cameras so they could take lots of photos to help them remember this experience. Well they did take lots of photos, but I guess these days you need to specify to kids that pictures of the sights are just as important as selfies. So when I downloaded their photos, to see all of the interesting places they went to, I instead saw a lot of them and their friends making weird faces, most of which were blurry:) What are you going to do? I guess these are memories to them. As Chris would say, "It's not wrong, just different!" They were able to tell me about their trip though. They went to the Australian War Memorial, the Parliament House, Museum of Australian Democracy, a Discovery Center, Electoral Education Centre, the Royal Australian Mint, which is where they make the money and a place called Questacon, which was their favorite place. They were able to tell me all of this because they read it off their itinerary and then said, "it was awesome, we had so much fun! Now we are going to the park to play." So this is what I know about their 3 day school trip:)

Chris has been staying busy with work as February was his busy time especially with all the traveling we did in December and January. He had several large groups of students arrive and everyone got moved in and settled without any major complications. We had thought about trying to take one small trip each week while the kids are in school to go explore, aka "date day", but have only managed to do this once:) We did have fun though. We went hiking along a secluded part of the Sydney Harbour shore and then swimming at Neilsen Beach in the Harbour. Pictures are below. The beach has a shark net in the water, so I did feel a bit more comfortable. Hopefully we will fit a few more in before we need to leave, but the time between drop off and pick-up at school goes really fast.

I had my first, "girl's night out" in Australia. I had known one of the ladies, Natalie, prior to moving here and she invited me to go out with some of her friends. We had a great time! I guess it goes to show, no matter where one lives, a night out with good wine and a fun group of girls is always good for the soul!:) Chris and I also had an evening out with parents from Kendall's class which was a lot of fun. Great group of people. We have been trusting Skylar to babysit some on the weekends, so Chris and I have been exploring the local cuisine. Yummy food and all within walking distance!

The kids have a two week mid-term break coming up for school so we will be going to the South Island of New Zealand. Chris's parents will be coming to Sydney for a few days and then all eight of us will spend two weeks exploring New Zealand. Chris is doing all the planning so as usual none of us know what to expect from this trip.

Life continues to treat us well, hope it is doing the same for all of you. We heard winter was brutal in the states, so we were happy to miss that and hoping you all are enjoying some spring sunshine. I had hoped that the girls would be able to do their own blogs once we got here, and I even got them all set up for them, but unfortunately, computer time is precious around here for homework, so I am just doing the blogging for all of us. I have learned a couple things this past week, 1) if a loud siren is going off at the beach, and people are quickly fleeing the water, it is not a weather alert. It is the shark alarm, meaning one has been spotted in the area. This is a good thing to know and one we learned firsthand:) 2) When walking along the street, be careful of grabbing onto the street posts, because you never know what will be on them. See picture below:)

As always, love and miss you all! Keep us posted on what is happening in your lives.

Love the Shepherd Family