job offer!

i don't have much time to write, but wanted to let everyone know that i have been offered a position as a french teacher at a private, all-girls school in perth! i had an interview last thursday and then went back yesterday to meet with the head of department (hod), who interviewed me in french. i thought both interviews went quite well and was really excited about the position, but of course having no teaching experience for a while (and none in perth), i had no idea what my chances were of getting the job. then, later yesterday afternoon, i got the call from the deputy principal to say that they are offering me the job, which starts in february of 2008 (the beginning of the school year here)!! and get this... they have also asked me to help lead the girls' trip to france during one of the term breaks!! i don't think i could have been more pleased!! so, thank you to all of you who were sending those good vibes, thoughts and prayers during those interviews - i have no doubt that they really helped!

i will fill in more of the details soon, but first things first - i must finish up my master's in the next 3 weeks!

catch up day

another month has passed by, which means i now only have one more month of school left! can this really be right? i still feel like i just started my master's a few months ago. i think all the traveling has made this year fly by faster than usual. and maybe it has something to do with living in a new country or something, too. :) everything is going well though. my work schedule at university records is perfect right now - they are so flexible over there so i can really just decide for myself how much/little i work each week. i am usually there tuesday, thursday and fridays, so monday and wednesdays are my days devoted to doing school work, as well as at least part of the weekend. i have been meaning to get some pictures of our trip to queensland (now a month old) up here, so i am hoping this facebook link works. we had an amazing week in cairns, filled with a visit to one of the oldest rainforests in the world, scuba diving at the great barrier reef, and a historic train ride into the rainforest-filled mountains, with a skyride back down. we also had a layover at ayer's rock (uluru) on our way back from cairns - we rented a car so that we could drive out and hike around the base of it. it is located right smack in the center of australia, and there is definitely not much else around. it was quite a memorable experience, flying in right next to the rock - it literally is a giant in the midst of nothingness.

interesting turn of events

my original plan ever since arriving in perth was to try to find a job (part-time) in the schools while i was studying in order to get to know the system over here and find out if i would like to consider a full-time teaching position after completing my master's. everyone i have talked to in western australia (some that i had barely even met) immediately would comment on the shortage of teachers and how they would expect me to find something very quickly if i wanted it since they are just in such high demand. well... my hopes were definitely shot down because that certainly has been a bit of a stretch. after jumping through several hoops already just to have my 'overseas qualifications' for teaching reviewed by the western australian college of teaching (wacot), i just learned last week that i must also have a criminal background check done back in the u.s. and sent over here (i guess i should have assumed this would be necessary, but i've been out of practice). after finding out that this could take up to 16 weeks, and that you really can't teach anywhere (even substitute) without that wacot registration, i decided to redirect my efforts of looking elsewhere for work. well, as luck would have it, jason and i had plans to have brunch last sunday with my friend meg and her parents. she and her parents have just been so wonderful to us in this transition. kate (meg's mom) actually works at the university of western australia and after talking about this whole nightmare of a process to transfer my teaching credentials over here, she offered to have a look at the university to see if there was anything i could do over there temporarily. i could not even believe this, but just three days later, she called and said she found something for me! then, yesterday i went in for an informal interview and secured my pay, schedule, etc and i am now officially employed!! i have to say, it is certainly not my 'dream job' as i will be working in the university records department, mainly scanning student records and documents in to their electronic database, but it pays pretty well and it's only 3 days a week, so i'm happy! the other plus side of the deal is that since i will now be "staff" i have the opportunity to eventually look for other jobs within the university that may suit me better and apply internally. hooooray!

off-roading adventure

our most recent adventure this weekend definitely warrants a place on this blog. we decided to really test the limits of our new 4wd and head up the coast to a spot where the paved road ends and the only way to continue is by traversing a great stretch of sand tracks and dunes, and drive along the beach in some places! we unfortunately forgot our camera but the photos here are most likely the same places we went. i would have loved to have more, though. the spot where our offroading adventure began was just a few miles outside of the town of lancelin, about 2 1/2 hours north of perth. the first area we got to was filled with sand dunes and was a very popular spot for dirt bike riders to practice their death-defying stunts. again, wish i had a picture of this - it was so cool. the dunes a little further down were reserved for sandboarding. again, i had never really seen this before, but it reminded me of snowboarding except on sand. we also saw others just purely sledding down the dunes. i guess that would be what people do in winter since there's no snow! as the 4wd trail continued, there was less dirt bike traffic (and traffic in general, since only 4wd's can go past all of that - yeah!). keep in mind, we only had a rough map of the trails and with so many of them winding in and out of one another, we quickly gave up hope of following the map and just decided to follow our noses instead. we made our way to the beach where we had to maneuver our way through some pretty soft sand (we didn't get bogged though) and were able to park and go for a long walk along the deserted beach. even for it being winter here, we actually had really nice weather on saturday, with plenty of sunshine. on our way back just before the sun set (around 5:30pm!) we were able to see about 6 wallabies, which i initially mistook for kangaroos until we then saw 3-4 kangaroos alongside them and i could see that the wallabies were slightly shorter and chubbier. we also saw an emu - for those of you not familiar with these, it looks sort of like an ostrich. i was amazed how close we could get to these animals without them really running off. the kangaroos and wallabies would hop across the road, then just stop and stare at us for a while! i'm used to the deer in northern minnesota, where you only catch their little white tails jumping off into the woods! anyway, that pretty much sums up the little adventure. we are very happy with the performance of our little x trail. she is going to serve our off-roading needs just fine!

morning visitor

many people who know me would say that i am not a very squeamish person and can easily handle disposing of the occasional bug that finds its way into the house. i also have no problem whatsoever with pretty much anything that crosses my path in the great outdoors (spiders, snakes, mice, etc etc). i will admit, though, that i am not as used to the bugs, lizards, etc of australia, which i believe are generally bigger than their counterparts in north america. anyway, it's usually just when things from the great outdoors find their way indoors to surprise me out of context that i succumb to that stereotypical female reaction of screaming at the top of my lungs. so, as you're probably guessing, that in fact happened first thing this morning (before even making my coffee!) when i was about to fill the brita water pitcher in the sink and found a little gecko (like the geico gecko!) doing laps around the sink (i obviously startled it out of its gecko slumber). jason quickly came to the poor fella's rescue and tried setting it free outside the kitchen window, at which point the little guy actually gave jason's finger a bit of a hug and tried to resist its return to the cold morning air. it was quite cute, actually.

i also thought i'd attach a few pics of the new car, which we are absolutely loving! we're already planning our first road trip for this weekend up the coast...

new baby, new car!

in case anyone is actually still checking this blog, i thought this was an opportune time to get it back up and going. we have now been back in perth for a week, after our travels to the U.S. over the past 6 weeks. i'm still gathering all the pics from our time in Minnesota and Baltimore, but you can find most of them on this picasa web album. i also have a few pieces of great news:

- first and foremost, my new nephew, anderson clarence stark, was born yesterday, july 31 at 9:21am (central standard time, U.S.A.) and weighed in at 9 lbs. 1 oz. and 21 inches long! heidi (mom) and the baby are doing very well. jon (dad) said that big brother jackson (6 yrs. old) was very interested in anderson right from the start and had fun getting a surgical mask and gloves from the nurses to help "examine" his new baby brother! here is the picture jon sent us just today (i'm sure more will follow soon - right, jon?)

- our second piece of news is... we just bought a car today! we are so excited about this purchase especially since we have been totally reliant on public transportation and/or friends picking us up over the past 6 months, so this will surely bring our quality of life up to a whole new level. we are mostly looking forward to having the chance to get out and explore the area beyond perth that we've heard so much about. the car is a silver 2005 nissan x-trail (a small/mid-size suv, complete with 4wd). it only has 23,000km (~15,000 miles) on it so it looks and feels pretty much like a new car!

- second semester is off to a good start so far, too. i'm taking only two classes right now: one is 'educational policy & practice' and the other is 'global english: current issues in TESOL' both of which are going to be very interesting and keep me plenty busy over the next 12 weeks. in addition to these classes, i will be writing my major paper (a shorter version of a thesis) which, if all goes according to plan, should be done by this november.

i will try to keep this updated more regularly now, so keep reading!

a simple saturday

those who know me well, know that i'm always a fan of keeping things simple and low-key. so, i was especially content during this week where i find myself jason-less (he's in san francisco for a conference) to have a saturday that was simply lovely. it started at this adorable little cafe, tarts, for a breakfast with my friend meg and another girlfriend of hers. ever since parting with my beloved neighborhood coffee/wine bar, metropolitan (in baltimore), it has been difficult to find anything that comes even close to filling its shoes. but i have to say the food, ambiance and (most importantly) coffee was impressive at this unique spot. in addition to serving breakfast and lunch, it also sells artsy cards, gifts, soaps and fun little treats! ok, so it may be a little more favorable to the females than the males, but i think the food and coffee still draw a mixed crowd of folks. alright, so i'm done with the restaurant review now, but the lovely day continued as meg and i went and hung out at her parent's house. they live in one of perth's nicer suburbs that i hadn't been to yet - it has one of the best views of downtown perth from across the river. for all you celebrity stalkers, it also happens to be heath ledger's old neighborhood - we even saw the new house his dad is building! after some good chatting time with the parents and reading the paper, we then went and saw a funny and entertaining french film, "mon meilleur ami" (my best friend). i have had great success in seeing plenty of french films here - this is the 4th one i've seen since in the 4 months i've been here. if you're interested in french film as much as i am, here are the others i've seen that you should check out: "dans paris" (inside paris), "la tourneuse de pages" (the page turner), and "familia," a french-canadian film. it's great that a city as small and isolated as perth still has such a strong appreciation for culture. well, that brings my summary of the day to a close. ahhhh, i wish all saturdays could be this delightful!