It has only taken me two weeks to successfully post but it's finally up! The first two weeks in Sydney have been a whirlwind of mastering public transportation, taking classes in leadership and political science, and adjusting to my teaching internship. We are living in the suburb of Waterloo in fairly nice apartments so the moving transition wasn't too difficult. I am about 15 minutes from the main train station so I hop on a bus to get there and from there I am free to explore Sydney. My internship is in a suburb called Newtown, a very chic/grunge city filled with students from Sydney Uni and lots of artists. So far I have been solo teaching in a combined 3-6 grade classroom (it is simply exhausting!). The kids are wonderful though and I am planning a lesson for them on the difference between the Australian and US holidays and their historical origins.
In our first few days here we managed to see a lot of Sydney. We took a ferry around the Sydney Harbour on a ferry and spent some time in Darling Harbour at the Sydney Aquarium. Pictures from the ferry ride and the aquarium are below:
SHARKS!
PENGUINS!
I FOUND NEMO!!!
We also went on a hiking trip with everyone from the program (around 50 students, most of whom are from the University of Minnesota) to the Blue Mountains. Fun Fact: The Blue Mountains aren't actually mountains but rather plateaus. It is a lush area with gorgeous waterfalls and a long aboriginal history. The three peaks in the picture below are of the "Three Sisters". The aboriginal story says that there were once two tribes in the Jamison Valley between the mountains and that they were constantly feuding. In order to stop the constant feuding the chief of one tribe agreed to marry the three beautiful sisters of his tribe to three brothers from the other tribe. The three brothers were awful, cruel men and the sisters did not want to marry them. On the day of the wedding the father of the three girls felt sorry for them and said that he would rather have his daughters turned to stone than force them to marry the three mean brothers. Thus the father turned his daughters to stone and they have been there ever since. Once we had hiked to the bottom of the Jamison Valley we were told we would be getting a ride back up. We all had the idea that we would be taking the gondola ride....which would have been scary enough for me since I'm afraid of heights....but instead we went, facing backwards with a small net for safety, on the steepest railway in the world. I actually believe that my heart stopped for a moment during the ride.
Here is a video of the frightening adventure!
We haven't been to an opera yet but I have seen the opera house up close and personal. There is a lights festival going on right now and at night the opera house is illuminated with really funky light projections! Here are a few pictures from the festival:
This weekend we went out to the pubs.....there is a HUGE pub culture here and our professors plan to hold class at the pubs. Most of the pubs are called Hotels, for example "The Strawberry Hills Hotel", is one of the ones we ventured to this weekend. This is because there used to be a law in Sydney that in order to serve libations they had to provide a bed as well. Despite the huge pub culture they also have very strict laws on drinking so we are staying safe down under! We also went out to Manly Beach on the ferry this Saturday but just as we arrived the clouds rolled in. There was a food and wine festival going on with lots of people and great music.
I will write more very soon.....seriously this time!
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