I start teaching tomorrow.  I haven’t been able to post much this week as I’ve been busy with the school conference, including a lovely dinner out last night.  By the time I got home, I was a little done in.  It is now not so hot but rather humid, a bit like our summers in Ottawa.  Last night’s events were held at the old city hall with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres on the civic gardens right outside the hall.  All kinds of delicacies, champagne, assorted drinks.  Dinner was an elegant affair with a small appetizer and a steak or chicken main course.  I was good, I had only one glass of champagne, lots of water and no dessert.  There was a bit of a talent show and mostly people stood outside to cool off in the evening breezes, which were not plentiful.  You will see from the pictures that everyone wore their best bib and tucker.

My new mate Barb. Notice the similar haircut. She gave me a gift certificate to try her hairdresser.
Sunnie, Len, Marie - conference dinner. Marie is my mentor at school. Sunnie is a good mate of Donna's.
Jenny is another French teacher and tour guide par excellence!

Today was a full meeting and prep day.  I got my schedule which shows I teach 5 different classes, 6 periods each over 10 days, 50 minutes each period.  Sounds like I have nothing to do, but they have assured me that I will be assigned extra classes (on calls in our language) and assorted yard duties.  Tomorrow, I plan to arrive about 3 hours before I actually teach (no kidding!) and try to get my compas working so I can find my classes without too much trouble.  My classes are all over the school and one course can be in 6 different locations over that 10 days.  I’ll be hustling!  Maybe I’ll lose a pound or two???

I’ll write more tomorrow and post some pictures of the dinner later.  In the meantime, Leon has been driving around while I am at work and finally found those roos he wanted to see.  Of course, he couldn’t get the camera out fast enough to prove it!  I’ll be glad to post those photos when they materialize.

rain storm front window - Friday evening

On Friday night, we had a huge rain storm, and again on Saturday.  I’ve never heard thunder like that before.  I think a neighbour may have had a wire or a tree drop on their property as the firetrucks were out front and a few other trucks were leaving the area later.  Quite a few trees fell on roads because of the winds.  It was the tail end of the big cyclone that hit Queensland 2 days earlier.