Today was one of those days where I definitely feel like I'm in Australia, and feel so blessed to be here. It was Refugee Day at the school, where they celebrate their refugee student population with a lunch-time school carnival. It was also casual day for the students, and any teachers that wanted to go along with it. It was definitely different seeing all the boys wearing normal clothes. Unfortunately, I forgot and still wore dressier clothes, but this might have been a good thing -- without their uniforms, there'd be no telling me apart from the students (except by my accent, which one of the year 5's made a point to mention to me this morning).
I spent most of my morning in the year 5 class, where they were working on a religion project. They had to come up with their idea of what Jesus would be like if he were to come into the world today. I couldn't help but think of the Alan Jackson song, which has a chorus saying, "If Jesus walked the world today, he'd probably be a hillbilly." None of the boys chose to make Jesus a hillbilly, but it was interesting to see Him wearing a baseball cap bearing the label "God", a jersey for the Adelaide '36ers soccer team, and then riding a scooter. I followed up this class with one that was a bit more orthodox -- I'm working with Maria to teach her year 10 RE class for the next 3 weeks. Today was the second day of the class, and Maria and I split the teaching. It went pretty well; the boys are still on the unresponsive side since the new semester just started, but I think it will be good. I really enjoy teaching the older kids; it's a lot different than the primary classes, but I do like the challenge.
Lesson five ended early so that the school could head outside for the extended-lunch festivities. The main part of it was an Australian "sausage sizzle" and they had some foreign foods around as well. All over the soccer field they had a bunch of different events going on -- soccer games, taekwondo, and different types of dancing. It was so funny watching all the reception/kindergarten boys having a blast dancing together! Probably the coolest part of the event was seeing how all the students and teachers got along -- this day definitely shows how great a community Blackfriars has. There's such a vast age range at the school, and yet everyone came out and got together to have some fun today. I'm so glad that I get to be a part of this community for my time here!
I finished off my school day in the year 2 class. They were all excited to see me, and I was just as excited to see them. For the first part of the lesson, they were watching The Lion King again, which I was more than happy to watch with them. After a bit, they headed to the gym with the other primary school boys to practice for their arts performance tonight. The year 2's were performing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," which was really fun to watch. The boys were all really into it, singing along and doing all the sound effects and their own little dance motions. So great! I also got to spend some time with my year 2 buddy Tommy. He's such an awesome kid! He loves to drag me all around the class and hang by my side every time I'm in the room. The fact that we have the same first name and favorite color makes him really excited, too -- and he loves my cross necklace, hinting that I should give it to him. I don't know about that, but I am searching around to buy one for him...
After school, I made my way around the Adelaide Central Market and then headed home. I got a bit of an Australian surprise with dinner: what else were we eating but kangaroo! I had mentioned to Brett that I might like to try it, so Reegan went to the supermarket and bought some (yup, you can do that). I felt a bit strange eating an animal that I've been so excited to see down here, but I figured I had to try it. It was actually pretty good -- a lot like steak but with its own unique kick.
what does kangaroo taste like?
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