How you going?

I had a really rough day on Friday, so I came home and decompressed in my room. My energy and mood was off for some reason so I wasn't in the best state to take on such demanding students so I lost control of the classroom. It's important to recognize that I will have off days and my lessons won't go as planned sometimes. But I've had the weekend to shake it off and recover.

Friday, after school, I was invited to go out with Helen for her friend, Sarah's, birthday party. I had met Sarah once before watching Bride and Prejudice, an Australian reality tv show based on the premise of couples who want to get married but their parents' don't approve. Phillipa, a friend of Helen and Sarah, is on the show. She is 40 and engaged to be married to a 21 year old. She met him when he was 18. Yuck. Helen and Sarah wanted to see how awful she looked on tv so we've been watching it every Monday night, hence how I met Sarah.

Sarah's birthday party was lovely! I met so many wonderful women and had great conversations. Here's me, Helen, and Sarah accidentally coordinating in green!

Saturday, Helen and I went to the beach. I actually have applied for several temporary positions within the HSE district and received an interview for one of them! So I read "How to Ace your Teacher Interview," on the beach. After the beach, we went for a drive in the hinterlands. Absolutely beautiful countryside.

We then met up for drinks with her friends Gary and Vee. Gary owns the surf school I took my first lesson at. They were great people and we had a lot of fun!

As we were walking back home later that night, I noticed enormous birds swooping around the neighborhood. I asked Helen what they were and she said they were bats! I had never seen bats that large in the wild before! Crazy! I love bats though, I think they're very cute.

Today, Sunday, I got up early and went to the market. The market travels from city to city and happened to be in Byron Bay that weekend. There were so many vendors and hand crafted items. I was able to buy a lot of gifts for my family back home! Every vendor was super friendly. I notice that it's common to ask, "How you going?" not "How are you?" It's part of that "give it a go" attitude I suppose! It reminded me of the farmer's market in Fishers or the Rhapsody in Green in Elkhart. It was a fun time but I was HOT. I feel like everyone else around me is fine and I am just sweating bullets. I must be acclimating to the weather.

I then went straight to the beach to dive in the ocean and rinse off. Then I read a book and snoozed in the shade. It was a perfect day!

the rest of the night I worked on my Banksy presentation for Year 9. I think they'll like it. I think what I'm really good at is engaging kids in my presentations through questioning instead of just talking at them. Hopefully it goes smoothly tomorrow. Definitely have to have an attitude check with Year 7. Just gotta go in with a fresh, open mind and try not to dwell on the past!