Last week of term

The boys have their first game of soccer on the 30^th of March. We will miss this game, as we will still be on holidays, for Spring Break, but training started this week. Ryan trains on Tuesdays 5.45-7pm, and Luke trains on Mondays and Wednesday 5.45-7pm.  They are playing the same as they would have back in Australia – Ryan 4v4, and Luke 6v6, with a goalie.  Ryan really enjoyed his training, and is looking forward to the soccer season starting.  There are lots of different sports on offer, so it is a good way for them to meet other kids.  So far, they haven’t met anyone from their school who is playing soccer, so it will be a whole new lot of kids.

On Thursday, the boys had the day off, as it was parent/teacher interviews. The teachers have 15 minute time slots between 7.30am and 7.30pm, and there is an online schedule which you go in and choose a suitable time.  The school requests a certain number of parents to bring in crock pots full of spaghetti, and salads, and you can sign up for this online also.  It is a pretty good system for the teachers, as they get all their interviews over in one day, but a pretty big day!  When Phil had his parent/teacher afternoon in February, the parents provided chili for the teachers as well.

We were really happy, as both Luke and Ryan are doing well at school.  We have found that they both seem to be ahead of grade in their reading.  With math, Ryan seems fine, but there must have been a bigger jump for Grade 2, as Luke has missed out on some math which we are doing some catch up work on.  We spoke to some people who have exchanged between Australia and the US, who had found it similar, in that they seem to do harder math here at a younger age. I am sure it all levels out eventually.  Ryan has to work on his handwriting – he is a bit messy!

This is a photo of the boys school, taken when we first arrived.

We had guests for dinner on Thursday night, and I tried to cook something Australian.  Apart from a BBQ, I was struggling for anything typically Australian, but ended up making Tandoori Chicken and salad, and we had the pappadams which I had recently found.  They were excited, as they had never had that before, and we had a yummy apple crumble for dessert.  The boys played outside for most of the evening, as it wasn’t too cold, so it was very pleasant. 

Phil had a pupil free day on Friday, just before Spring Break.  The boys had a pupil free day, so we planned to tidy up and pack, and then go to the Recreational Centre for a swim.  We had tidied, and were about to go to the Rec Centre, when Phil got home from work about 11am.  Everyone at work had been telling him that there was a snow storm coming, with a lot of snow expected.  If we didn’t get across the mountain on Friday, it was unlikely we would get across for the weekend, so we madly packed suitcases and the car, and were on the road by about 1pm.

We caught up with Lindsay and Sharon, some other exchange teachers from Australia, in Grand Junction that evening.  When they came over the mountain, about 3 hours after us, there was snow and ice, and not very pleasant conditions.  We were pleased that we had left when we did!  The drive also gives me a chance to catch up on my blog, which has gotten a few weeks behind.  I can sit and type in the car, until the battery runs out J