So many fun things to do...

Hello friends! Life here in WA is clipping right along. I can't believe we have been away from home for around 50 days already. Dave and I have enjoyed getting to know all our bright, fun, and adventurous CSB/SJU students. Dave is doing a great job teaching the seminar class and generally doing everything in his power to help them along.

I haven't put out a post for a couple of weeks because, as you will see below, we have been busy!

Perth

A 20 minute commuter train rides gets us to Perth, the 4th largest city in Australia.

We went on a fun but strenuous walking tour of the sights in Perth (http://www.ohheywa.com.au) as part of our orientation activities with the students. Our guide was very knowledgable and taught us a lot about the historic buildings you see mixed in with the modern architecture. I was impressed by the murals and street art in Fremantle, but that was just a warm-up for what we saw around Perth!

We found Dave's classroom,

where he was happy to find his favorite piece of high-tech teaching equipment- an overhead projector!

The room is in one of the many historic buildings on campus. I hope we don't have to open and close the door very often!

Orientation week wrapped up with a surfing lesson at Scarborogh Beach, just north of Fremantle. If you have ever watched surfers on TV and thought "That looks easy"... it's not. But everyone had a blast trying! 

After an hour and a half fighting the waves to get out far enough then bobbing around trying to catch the right wave at the right time, we were exhausted! We didn't learn to surf but we did learn:  to respect the mad skills and effort of people who can, that jellyfish stings feel like poison ivy, and that if any of the students refer to Dave as 'The Big Kahuna' they are being ironic. In his defense, I think the sun-hat slowed him down. 

Perth...

view from overlook at Kings Park.

On our next venture into Perth we went to Kings Park, a 1,003-acre park which includes a large war memorial, botanical gardens and many lovely shaded grassy areas where people can gather for picnics or just to relax in the beautiful setting.

Two thirds of the grounds are conserved as native bushland. Just as the animals in Australia are so different from almost everywhere else, the flora is unique too. We were able to really appreciate how different an Australian forest (the bush) is from a forest in Minnesota as we hiked around the park. I really liked the dry pine/eucalyptus scent in the air.

Cheers for now, mates!