First Post Down Under

Just as the title says, this is my first post inside Australia, pretty exciting! I originally thought I would be able to post everyday and post pictures frequently. As you can tell that will not be the case. However, I will try and post as much as possible, the only place I will be able to access the Internet is here at school. So Mon-Fri 8-3 and then if I am able to stay afterwards. Since today was my first day of school this is my first post. I live quite a distance from the school, so coming here during my off time is out of the question. Fortunately, I get a ride from my housemate Gav who teaches at the same school as I do, so I am on his schedule rather than mine. No worries though he is very helpful and I'll figure a way to keep the updates and hopefully pictures coming!

With that information out of the way, I am having a blast! We came into Perth as a large group on a series of wonderful flights. The traveling was really good. I have been keeping busy traveling a bit to beaches, malls, restaurants and other places. I am spoiled by my host family in every possible way. I have experienced wonderful food, met amazing people and kept very entertained. If I could explain how Australia is, I would say it is just like the US, but with everything tweaked just a bit. For example, the date is written Day/Month/Year. So the numbers are all the same as we are used to, but the order is just changed a bit. Basically, everything is fairly easy to understand, just an American has to be used to the slight adjustment. The language here is fun to understand, it is quick and words are abbreviated. Very rarely do Australians say full words. We tend to get teased a bit when we enunciate our words, it is quite hilarious.

As I said before I have done many things, some of them you can take a gander with the provided links. Gav and Nes (my host family) have taken me to many places such as Scarborough Beach (http://scarboro.info/) where I swam next to a surfing footy (Australian Football) player, Chad Fletcher, who has played for the West Coast Eagles. (http://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/) This team would be equivalent to our Detroit Lions and having the same troubles this year as Lions fans are used to. Oddly enough, they won the Premiership Cup (Super Bowl) last season but lost some great players to be where they are now. Gav is a huge Eagles fan, which is very cool to sit next to on the couch during a game. Speaking of sports I also have been able to watch some Cricket games, where Indians (Citizens of India) dominate the sport. Very interesting sport. Our whole CMU group went to Rottenest Island (http://www.rottnestisland.com/en/default.htm) and stayed overnight there. We had a blast doing tons of bike riding, sight seeing, snorkeling and learning about the history of the island. It is sort of like our Mackinaw Island in the sense of it is touristy and a cool different place, but the two have their own personalities that are very different. As a group we all had a blast and look forward to our next excursion together, which is coming up this weekend. We all bring different personalities to the group that fit together well, like a puzzle.

Today (Thursday, May 1) is my first day at school. It is pretty exciting. I have met many people today and plan to keep that up. The physical education department is awesome, very inviting and I look forward to working with them. I have a large amount of learning to do, considering their major sports here are footy, cricket, rugby and net ball. All of which I had no clue about before this trip. I love the challenge and should be well read once I am able to teach.

I feel tremendously fortunate for all that has happened so far, I've experienced a great deal already and look forward to what is to come. If anyone has a preference to what they would like to hear about, feel free to let me know. I feel like I am unable to cover everything in these posts, but would like to tailor this to you and the rest of the readers.