Learning Mandarin, Teaching Language and Generally Being Inspired

I can't believe how much Mandarin I can speak and understand now. It's a very weird thing for me to say, given that I had zero desire to learn Mandarin and the classes I took were only for a week, but here we are. 

2026 started with an opportunity to attend the Comprehensive Input Down Under conference which was being run at South Bank for a week. Comprehensive Input (CI) is a teaching method for language based on the premise that language is acquired by listening and reading to compelling, comprehensive inputs in the target language. It's how we all learnt our first language, so why not use it for a second, or any additional language for that matter? 

Obviously there is a difference in development levels, if you are comparing a baby or young child learning a language to a teen or adult. For the latter you can add the development of different skills, and you have a first language to map onto. But still, listening and reading - that's the way to go. 

I've been teaching using a CI method since I returned to the language classroom in 2024, but it was largely based on my own guess work (after seeing my kids acquire language) and things I'd listened to in podcasts. Not a lot of direct training in the field. A whole week of conference about that with teachers from all over Australia and presenters from around the world was an opportunity too good to miss. 

Along with all the usual conference type offerings - key note speakers, workshops and presentations, this conference also ran Language Labs. This was where two teachers (Spanish and Mandarin) would teach a class of "students" using CI methods every day for the week. We had about three to four hours of classes every day. The teachers attending the conference could sign up to be students in the class, or attend as observers in the room. 

I really wanted to get the experience of what it's like being a student, and despite being really keen to learn more Spanish, I figured the Mandarin class would give me a better understanding of how to teach an Asian script. More practical for my Japanese setting.  

When the conference rolled around in mid January, a full week before any teachers were due back in the classroom, I was a little bit second guessing my decision to attend. So hopeful that it was going to be great, but also aware of the huge time commitment. But the conference did not disappoint. Far from it. Even when we were on day three and I was expecting to start fatiguing from all the brain use, we were so motivated and excited by the learning and connections that it was amazing. 

Along with learning so much about how to teach with a CI approach, I was also lucky enough to make great connections with other teachers. An Indonesian teacher I met on the first day who came down from Agnes Waters to attend was staying with her daughter a few streets over from me, so we ended up being bus buddies. The two Japanese teachers from Genesis (where I've taught previously) and I also ended up connecting and sharing our love for Jesus. 

I can't even say how encouraged I was by this full week of fantastic professional development. So ready to head back to the classroom and put it all into practice. And I'm still going over my new Mandarin vocab in my mind, and listening to Taiwanese dramas on Netflix to see if I can pick out the words. Language learning really is so fun, and I get to teach it! 

Teacher Training Program: Trip to Kanazawa and the Finale

[Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4, if you need a catch up or for pre-reading]

This should be my last post about the Teacher Training Program I attended while in Japan this year. It was nearly seven weeks long, and honestly, I came away from it feeling so rich. My Japanese language skill improved so much, but I also benefited so many other ways. Getting to know people from all over the world, hearing how life is in their countries and classrooms. All of the Japanese cultural experiences that we got to do. Even a day trip to visit a Japanese high school and talk to students and teachers. The fact that all of it was covered by a grant, so we didn't pay for any of it. Not only the lessons (twelve students to a teacher is a pretty great ratio!), but the resources they gave us too; text books, cultural books and other items. What an experience. 

I also just felt really privileged to be an Australian. And an English speaker. Everyone else there had learnt English as a second language, and then Japanese on top of that. A fair few people had another language or two up their sleeves as well. I was in awe of them, but how lucky are we to naturally speak the language that so many people have to learn as a necessity to communicate outside their home country? Such privilege.

Anyway, to top off the amazing experience we had, the last week included a one night stay at Kanzawa, which was a three hour shinkansen ride across the country. I'd never been to Kanazawa, so I was pretty excited to go. Most of the other teachers had never ridden the shinkansen before, so they were so keen for that too. It was great to catch their excitement. 

Kanazawa actually gave me Brisbane vibes as we got off the train and walked to our hotel. The streets were wide and so were the footpaths. The buildings around us in the city were really similar to Brisbane size. Not like the immensely tall and over crowded Tokyo skyline at all. Sure, there were Japanese style buildings, but when there is spaces for trees on the side of the road, I'm feeling much more like Australia than Japan. 

The first day we were there, we did a Japanese sweets making experience, which was fun (and delicious) and then a gold leaf workshop. Kanazawa is famous for gold leaf but doing the workshop (where we decorated a plate with some designs) was possibly the most stressful twenty minutes ever. The gold leaf was so thin that even breathing was a hazard when you picked it up and tried to place it on the plate. Thankfully the staff at the workshop were there to fix (or "cure" as they said in Japanese) our mistakes. 

The rest of the first day was wandering around and exploring. I did go to the castle before I found my way to the local Pokemon centre for this photo and had some delicious tempura for dinner (while messaging back and forth with Steve who was sitting in various waiting rooms getting x-rays on his hand). 

The next day we started in the famous gardens in Kanazawa and saw this (again iconic) lantern balanced precariously on two legs after an earthquake broke the other. It was a hot day, and our group split up to go and explore. 

I tried to go to a kimono store, but sadly found it was closed on a Wednesday. So instead, I took a bus to a very fancy library. From the outside it looked like a regular building and I was initially worried I'd gone to the wrong place, but once inside; stunning. The whole Library was designed in a circular way, with four levels going up, and mezzanine floors floating around. There were break out spaces on the corners and lots of hidden nooks to study, sit or just enjoy the library vibes. 

I couldn't get enough of it, but I also didn't want to be annoying taking photos. You'll just have to go see its beauty for yourselves! After wandering around there for a bit, I took the bus back to central Kanazawa  and visited the samurai district. Lots of old style Japanese houses all built up together next to each other behind walls with lovely tiled roofs. 

I visited this Samurai house/museum which had a beautiful garden and lots of spaces to sit and take it in. Because gold leaf is so iconic in Kanzawa, you can get it on a variety of foods, including ice cream, so I had a hojicha (roasted tea flavour) ice cream with gold leaf. Actually delicious. 

Then I wandered around the city some more, through these lovely red tori gates and then back to the station and hotel to pick up bags and get onto to the shinkansen. 

It had been a rich little trip away, even though I was worried for Steve for large parts of it. Back at the centre in Kita Urawa, we had a few wrap up classes, mostly giving lots of feedback on the program and reflecting on our learning. There were also a few karaoke sessions together and planning for our final graduation ceremony and breakup party. 

The graduation ceremony was appropriately formal and Japanese. We all went an bowed when we received our certificates and were experiencing lots of mixed feelings that it was all over. Excitement, relief, pride, sadness, it was all going on. 

After the official ceremony, we had a break up party. Mostly just some snacks and drinks and people taking loads of photos with everyone. Then we had about a half hour of performances. A number of people got together for different things. Class 3, that I was part of, wanted to sing a Japanese song. I had said I'd play guitar for them, but when they chose the song (tegami, by Angela Aki), it was a very piano song. So I figured out how to play the piano part instead. Honestly it's been soooo long since I've played piano let alone for something like this, but I practiced like mad in the week and a half that I had leading up to it, and I was really proud of our performance. 

Then Wine-san from Myanmar did a dance, and a group of people from Class 2 did a mash up dance (lots of Indian moves). I got up and taught everyone how to do the Heal and Toe, which was lots of fun. At first people had no idea what we were going to do but ended up getting into it. It was great to see people from 33 countries all dancing something so iconically Australian. Everyone in the room was dancing and I wish I had a video of it. 

The last group I accompanied on guitar this time, some people from Class 1 singing a BTS/World Cup song: "We are the Dreamers". That was really fun because I helped them translate the chorus into Japanese so we sang it in English and then Japanese. 

Then it was over. We had the rest of the afternoon to pack before people started leaving for their flights home the next day. Carlos from Mexico would be the first to leave at 4:30 in the morning, but technically, I was the first to go on the Monday afternoon. I was wondering when would be the best time, but in the end, I just said goodbye to people I saw on my way out and handed my room key in at the front desk. It was about 2pm and they were shocked and immediately went to get the coordinator (Mori-san) and some teachers to say goodbye. They were worried there wasn't people to say goodbye, but I was fine. I don't need fuss!

I'm actually so relieved I had the freedom to leave that way (rather than having to have a flight booked and airport transfer organised), because I saw the videos the next day of everyone else leaving. Even Carlos, who was up at 4 in the morning for his departure, had almost everyone else there as well, giving hugs and waving goodbye. Every person until Laura from Cuba (last to leave on Wednesday) got a huge farewell with lots of extended crying and waving. I'd consider myself in touch with my emotions and I'm fine to cry, but definitely sure I don't need all the extra drama. 

And then it was officially over. Time had gone so strange while I had been away each week at this course and we were really racing towards the end of our Tokyo time. Even when we finished, I didn't have heaps of time to process because once I was back in Tokyo, it was only four days before the girls finished school, and we had a stack of things to sort out. Glad I can type it up now and I'm honestly so thankful for the whole thing. If I ever got the chance to apply again (which I can do in five years time), I totally would, but I also don't want to take a space of someone who possibly needs the experience more than me. 

Teacher Training Program: Expo

More updates on the Japanese language program that I got to do with 32 teachers from ten other countries (here are part one, two and three if you need them). One of the hands-on learning experiences we had to do was present an Expo. We were allowed to choose whatever topic we liked and then work with a group to come up with some kind of presentation. 

There were people performing dances, or telling others about fashion and sharing local cuisine. Just like a regular world Expo, the focus was sharing things that were unique to your country. Some of the groups focused on one country - like the group of Indonesian teachers who all performed an Indonesian folk tale for us. Other groups were made up of people from a variety of countries - like one of the dance performance groups with a representative each from Myanmar, Cuba, Morocco and Algeria. 

Dance group from Indonesia

I really didn't mind what I did, since Australia is such a melting pot of culture anyway, so I ended up joining in with two other teachers who wanted to talk about the oceans around their countries. Celine from the Philippines and Cynthia from Indonesia and I had a great time working together. 

Umi-Gumi; the Ocean Group

All of our team work and then the presentation were done in Japanese. We had three sessions leading up to the Expo day as well as a full day of preparation before the event. It was pretty big and a lot of work. If you opted to perform on the stage (like the dance groups, or the drama groups) you had to prepare a short information speech to give as well. For the people who made posters, we also had to organise a speech explaining things, but didn't have to give it on stage. We just presented on the floor to whoever came to view our exhibit. The plus side was not being on the stage, the down side was that we had to do it three times over. 

By the third time, we were quite confidently giving our speeches and sharing the information, so that was great. Achievement unlocked I guess? So thankful when that was over though! Our poster was pretty awesome. Celine had a big vision for it to be 3D (possibly inspired by her love of BTS and their song 3D), and we had a lot of fun putting it together. I suggested the origami animals and promptly made quite a few to give it that extra something. They came in handy when I was describing the oceans of Australia and warning people to be careful of all the dangerous animals that could kill you. Visual aid is always good right?

It was so cool on the day to see everyone dressed up, and many people in their country's traditional clothing. It does make me a little sad that Australia doesn't have something, but I also love how multicultural Australia is so I don't mind that much. 

After my group presented their poster in the morning session, we all watched the stage performances for the middle and afternoon session. There were a number of extra roles to help run the day, tech people and MCs to keep everyone on time and things moving. I had to MC the afternoon session, but thankfully that was only two performances and the final remarks. Still don't love having to talk with polite language since I'm so bad at it. 

Ai-san and Carlos-san checking the tech was all going to work. 

And here we are celebrating the fact that it's all over and we made it through, thanks to Aiman-san with his excellent selfie taking skills. 

Teacher Training Program: Japanese Culture

I've actually finished up my teacher training program (read the intro here and part two here), but I've got lots of things to remember about it, so here we go down memory lane. In between all the classes that left us feeling challenged and also exhausted (see an actual shot of us in a ten min break between lessons below), we did loads of cultural stuff. 

Some of it was just around the area we were staying, like the day we did "orienteering" in the local area, and other parts were learning about Japanese houses and etiquette for the optional homestay weekend. I really liked the focus the teachers gave on asking us to notice differences and then push ourselves to wonder why the differences exist. It was a great reminder in the world of social media videos that often complain about the differences in other cultures, or languages for likes and views that we could be different.  

After our first cultural experiences of yukata wearing and fuurin (glass wind chime) blowing, the next one we did was furoshiki. Furoshiki is a reusable cloth. The name comes from furo, meaning bath, and shiki which is like to sit. Traditionally, people would wrap up their bath things and clean clothes into the cloth and take it to the onsen to get clean. There, they would unfold their furoshiki, have their bath and when they came out, would sit on the furoshiki to finish getting dressed. 

Now days, furoshiki can be used for all sorts of things and come in a large variety of sizes and patterns. I've even made my own furoshiki before and I use them all the time in Australia. We had an intro session on furoshiki and then a hands on practical workshop to practice using them for all sorts of things. It was really great. 

We also did a shodo, or calligraphy, workshop. This was again, a very practical workshop where we learnt how to use the equipment and practice writing with the calligraphy brush and ink. I had done this before when I went to school in Japan way back in 2004, but it was great to practice again. 

After we practiced the different techniques using the kanji for eternity, we wrote a kanji of our choice on a fan to take home. I wrote frog. 

The last thing we did was a group poster with a Japanese phrase on it. We were invited to make it creative and given a number of coloured paints as well. Our group chose the Japanese saying "七転び八起き" which translates to "fall down seven times, get up eight." It's a "never give up" type of slogan. 

Pretty proud of our handiwork, though I think working together as a group was harder than actually doing the art. You think it's hard when you all come from the same place, but throw in people from five different countries with their own cultural styles a language barrier and a time limit and then you've got some work to do! 

Our art was hung in the foyer of the Japan Foundation Centre where we were in Kita Urawa, along with our classmates work. It will stay there for a year I guess, until the next summer teacher training program comes along. 

The last thing we got to do (for this post anyway) was see a shamisen performance by a world renowned shamisen player, Nobuto Yamanaka. Shamisen is a Japanese three stringed instrument which was amazing to see played so well. I could have listened for ages to all the different sounds and songs this master was performing for us. He also played shakuhachi (a wooden flute), and had a variety of shamisen for us to see. 

At the end, we got to play a little bit ourselves, so here I am playing my three notes on the shamisen. 

Finally, you might have noticed I have been wearing yukata in a few of these photos. That's because it's summer here and the right time to wear them! I wear yukata all the time back in Australia, so I figured, why not in Japan as well! I may have collected a few new ones at this point in our stay, so I just wore them when I felt like it. At first, people were shocked and confused (much like Australia), but then it was normal. 

What I wasn't expecting, was for other people to join me. A number of the ladies at my course asked me about wearing them, why and how etc. I just encouraged them to give it a go. Yukata are clothes, and there is nothing stopping you from wearing it if you want to! I was honestly so excited to have a number of the other teachers start wearing them too. Especially the teachers who said to me that they didn't think they could do it, and then were wearing them the next day. 

Didn't consider myself an influencer until now. 

Teacher Training Program: Motivational Articles

Back in June I talked about starting a teacher training program for Japanese teachers, which you can read about here if you need a refresher. It was a bit of a whirlwind, and time did all sorts of wibbly wobbly tricks while I was there. Sometimes it was so fast, and others it felt like it would never end. 

After the first week, we really got into studying Japanese. We had been split into three classes of different abilities and we all studied different topics. I don't think I realised that at first, just assuming we were all doing the same kind of thing at our various levels. Kind of silly in hindsight. 

The first real piece of work that my class did was to consider why we were teachers. What was it that made us want to teach in the first place. Why did we keep coming to work each day now? We spent a whole week on this one topic. Our first lesson was talking about it with each other, then listening and reading examples of other people's stories. Finally we had to write our own article in Japanese. It was a pretty organic process, since we learnt new words and terminology as we progressed through speaking, listening and reading about the topic, and then had to use it in our own articles. 

I was really surprised by how my own answer to these questions changed over the week. I think teachers are often asked this at the start of a motivational speech, or some PD when the new school year begins, but we are only given minutes to answer, and then whoever asked it has moved on. And even if you've got a good answer, because you've got to summarise it into 30 seconds (or less), it feels much less impactful. My initial reason for becoming a teacher was a fairly selfish one; wanting to do what I liked to do (music and Japanese) and tell others about it. So different from why I'm doing what I'm doing now! 

Anyway, I was also really proud of the writing that I did; the whole article in Japanese! So I wanted to put it here to remind me. Not only of why I'm motivated to do what I do, but also that I can write all of this in Japanese! It's easy to feel like my language is slipping away when I'm not using it as much back in Australia, but hopefully this gives me the nudge that if it was possible once, it's possible again. All I have to do is keep showing up and moving forward. 

Why June was so Busy

It's nearly the end of July, and I can't believe how quickly time is flying past this year. Is it all the snap lockdowns? Is it the growing children, or the extra curricular activities of said children? Maybe it's just life and I'm caught up in it. I don't know, but I've been meaning to tell people about our June and I figure I'd better do it now, before it's August and feeling so long ago. 

June. 

June had two weddings, a school fete and Rachel's Birthday, all in consecutive weekends. 

This summary seems like I'm making a big deal out of just a few events, but hear me out. It was busy. 

The first wedding was in Sydney; on a Friday. And don't forget COVID, and potential border closures. Do you see some stressful choices now? It wasn't so bad, we flew down early Friday morning, got picked up by family and went to a wedding. It was a lovely wedding, if absolutely freezing outside, and I did get to wear a pretty fabulous cape. The wedding party were obviously very close friends (tears in several of the speeches (from the guys) and lots of laughter too) and it was easy to join in their fun. 

Steve and I danced, and I reflected that it had been at least five years since I had been to a wedding where I had felt whole and well. The last two were not as pleasant (nothing to do with the actual wedding though!) and had shaded my impression of weddings slightly. It was a delight to find that getting dressed up, eating delicious food and being with people I loved all night was a perfectly enjoyable way to spend my time. It made me even more excited for my sister's wedding the following weekend. 

We stayed the night in Sydney, saw more family the next day and then flew back to our girls. My parents had looked after them in our absence and we stayed with them that night too, rather than try to organise coming home late. Extending our weekend slightly, but it was worth it for the good night sleep. 

The next wedding was Fiona's! So so thankful that there had been no COVID cases in Brisbane. Melbourne had had an outbreak and Queensland had closed the border, but most people were able to come and there were no crazy restrictions in place. We were all unbelievably thankful. Again, it was a busy day (albeit without a plane flight), a beautiful wedding and lots of dancing into the night. 

The next day, the newly married Fairbrother's continued the celebrations and we all visited their new house. I say "we all", but please don't imagine that it's just our family. It was everyone invited to the wedding and more. Big parties and busy days. Lots of fun, but I was happy to get home again that night. 

Then came the biggest week of June ever. I mentioned the school fete at the start of this post. What I neglected to mention was that it was I, who volunteered to coordinate said school fete. I had an amazing team, but I also did a lot of work in the lead up. The three weeks prior to this, I had spent probably 15 hrs a week sorting out the fete, and now, it was really crunch time. I was at school so much I feel like I almost became staff. 

In the middle of this week of concentrated fete preparation, I also had a job interview. Not the best timing, but more on that later. Suffice to say, it was a surprise and an accident, but I walked out with an earlier than anticipated return to teaching. Back to fete for now. 

All week I woke up thinking about the fete, and fell asleep planning to do lists that I could complete in the morning. Fete was all I did, every moment, and Steve is an absolute saint for listening to me brainstorm every tiny aspect of it. Fete day came and I was at school at 6:45am. I didn't leave until 6:30pm. What a day; I was so proud of it all. 

It was fabulous, and successful and huge. The community came out in force. Again I was so thankful for Queensland's COVID response and how we had no community transmission so we could actually hold this event. There was stuff we could do better, but over all, it was amazing and I was super proud to be a part of it. Proud and exhausted to the bone. 

I did nothing fete related on the Sunday, but Monday morning I was back at school sorting stuff out. I nearly left in tears thinking it would take me all week to put stuff back where it belonged, but thankfully, it didn't take that long. Maybe three full days of sorting and returning and I finally became a somewhat normal human being again. My fete report was 10 pages long. It had been a huge event. 

In that week post the fete, when I was still running around cleaning things up, I was also getting ready for Rachel to celebrate being seven years old. I guess I'll do a blog post about that eventually too. Saturday she had school friends over for fun and food, and Sunday we had family over for more of the same. It sounds like a lot, but of all the things in June, most of all the fete, there was actually not too much to do. Bit of cooking, bit of organising, but mostly, just having fun. 

Again we were thankful for the lack of COVID restrictions, which was not to continue. Monday rolled around and we began our first day of school holidays. My last week actually, of not working. The job that I accidently got would begin the very next week with staff week, so my rest time from the busy June and things starting again was drastically shortened. 

So the job. Friends of mine work at a Lutheran Primary school in Bethania, and mentioned the music teacher there was going on maternity leave in term four, and would I consider the contract? Three days a week, for 18 months. Sounded like something I could do. I had been doing a lot of music relief in term two, and my plan had always been to go back to part time teaching next year, so starting a term early didn't sound too bad. I'd have term three to recover fully from the fete and enjoy my last term of gap year before really heading back to the classroom. 

So I gave them my resume and got a call to come in for an interview. Which I did. And they liked me, and wanted to offer me the job then and there, start date: 5th of July. For those playing along at home, this is not term four. Turns out, the contract was from term three, and they didn't end up interviewing anyone else. I had a lot of turmoil considering the job the first few days, but when they offered it, it would have been ridiculous to say no, so I said yes. 

It was sooner than I wanted, and further away than I wanted, and probably a day more than I wanted, but it was a good job, at a small school with a great music program and resources, and really, a half hour drive against traffic is not the end of the world. I just had to adjust after 8 years of working from home, or only ten minutes away. I don't know why God had given me this opportunity now, when I was not expecting it, but it would have been nuts to say no. 

So I enjoyed the last week of holidays with the girls and Steve before I went back to work before they started term three. We had some COVID cases and a snap lock down of three days, which turned into four, and the rainy rainy weather made everything pretty bleak. But Sunday came, and the sun did come out again. Masks are still mandatory, but new cases haven't risen, so we are all thankful to be where we are now. 

And I'm thankful to be out of June, and into July. Nearly into August really. It's been chaotic and fast, but what isn't? I was saying to Steve that I really want the girls to start piano lessons, and I feel like I've just been waiting for the right time, when we have a bit more space, or breathing room to think about it. The reality is: that there's never going to be a right time for that. There will always be stuff on, things to do, and events to plan. There will always be life to live. So we either fit it in or put that dream on the shelf for now. 

I'll let you know what happens. 

Thanks for stopping by to find out why I was so MIA in June, and why it's taken me a few weeks to get my feet under me again. 

What We Did in the First Wave

This feels a long time ago now, and I was considering not bothering to reminisce, but now that a second wave in Brisbane feels just around the corner, I'm taking the time to remind myself it's not all bad. 

And it really wasn't all bad. I know we fared pretty well given that both Steve and I continued working, while others around us had hours cut and jobs lost. Our girls are old enough to amuse themselves and adventure together, so they weren't under our feet demanding to be entertained. The unbearable heat of Brisbane summer had given way to cooler days which were prefect for pretty much everything. I know having an education background also helped me deal with the reality of home schooling, while others around us tore their hair out at the thought.

It wasn't all sunshine and happiness, but overall there was just a lot of good times. The uncertainty we are feeling now as we wait for the contact tracing and test results of thousands of people around the city to see if the latest outbreak will be contained is pretty daunting though. Perhaps it was naive to think that we could ride it out, once that the initial outbreak had been quelled, just by keeping our distance and washing our hands really well for the next year or two. It's hard not to instantly give in to the doom of another wave, of exponential spread, lockdowns and unkowns. 

So here I am. Looking back on the highlights of the First Wave. The "What we did in Iso" as it were. I hope you enjoy this too, people of the internet, and that it reminds you too; it's not all bad. 

Since I was home schooling anyway, I decided now was the time to really invest in the girls Japanese learning, so I taught them their hiragana. We also did various random vocab words, sang Japanese songs and read Japanese books. But a dedicated part of each morning's "school work" was Japanese focused hiragana. I'm actually so thankful for that opportunity, because I might never have thought to do it otherwise. 

Part of the girls school work was story telling, so we made puppets and drew a background and wrote stories to act out. Such an easy way to make literacy fun, and involve lots of fine motor skills, recycling principles, creativity and imagination. 

Drawing around shadows of various toys (mostly dinosaurs). This is maths, because then we measured them and graphed them. Also good for hand coordination and strength. Sorry, my educational background is really showing off here. 

I had seen these butterfly wings scrolling through Pintrest one time and tucked it away for "one day". That day was now. I had lighting gels from Reverse Garbage on hand from another kids activity that I'd taken to play group and I made the black outline shapes by painting pages from an old calender one of the playgroup ladies had given me. 

The girls glued the colours on and then we laminated them for stability. They look pretty magnificent in the sun. 

The girls played with boxes. A lot of boxes. I don't know why Rachel is making the face she is making in that picture. We also built a lot of cubbies. And a tree house, but you know about that already. 

Easter rolled around and we made an Easter Garden, thanks to one of the lovely ladies from church dropping us the stuff we needed. I did lots of sewing (here and here) and cutting of fabric just for the sake of cutting fabric I think, and to give me something to do, rather than think about the "what if's". 

We went camping in the backyard. Gosh this was fun. Someone in our community was giving away their enormous 12-man tent earlier in the year and we had been lucky enough to nab it. Given all the time we had around the house on the weekends, and over the Easter break, we decided to set it up to see how it went together. The girls slept out there for two nights, I did one with them, but it was super windy and the tree house is very noisy when it is getting blown around. 

And what is a tent in the backyard with out a little campfire to go with it? We have since found out that our little fire-in-a-wok to cook marshmallows was not exactly legal, so we won't be doing it again, but it was fun for the couple of nights that we did do it. 

See that photo in black and white along with a ramble about photo challenges and other photos that show things we did during iso in this post here. 

We played games. Some more interesting than others. Lots of games of Spot It and Sleeping Queens, but also King of Tokyo and Carcassonne. 

Sophie learnt to ride her two wheel bike at our local netball courts. I will be honest, I never thought it would happen, so I'm so thankful that COVID-19 gave us the time and space to do it. It is still amazing for her to have that much more freedom, her world just got bigger. We spent so much time at those netball courts actually, and still do. I almost hope that no one ever decides to refurbish them and use them for anything else. 

We were out most days, either on wheels or walking. Lots of walks around the neighbourhood. People had chalk out everywhere and just down the road from us were people arty enough to pull off some fun Bluey characters on their footpath which were pretty impressive. 

I did lots of face painting, and we watched musicals with the girls. Most notably, The Phantom of the Opera, which was a bit of a milestone I guess. Phantom was the first musical I saw live at QPAC when I was only six years old. I know the soundtrack by heart. Even though we weren't seeing it live, it was great to be able to share it with the girls. They both thought it was too dramatic. 

I learnt to make origami elephants. Because, why not? We also did lots of cooking, reading and gardening. 

So it's not all bad. And if it happens again, we will survive it too, just like we survived the first time round. Hang in there people. 

And wash your hands. 

My apoligies for never posting... I get busy you know!!

So I've been working my butt off at school making resources in every spare moment that I have and trying my best to learn the 340 names of the kids that I teach. Honestly, it's great to be able to go to the same school every day and follow kids up and know what to expect. I really enjoy being able to go from start to finish with teaching, so getting to start and then give tests on stuff that i've taught has been really exciting.

I spent a bit of time making my classroom look fun - kudos to everyone at musical who has helped colour something in during rehursals. You guys are legends. :D The amount of stuff that has to be made as a first year teacher is incredible. Thankfully (as long as I don't loose anything) I'll only have to make this stuff once.


Repunzel is the most fun I've had on stage in ages. Honestly, it's great to be able to get up and sing my heart out. :D I love it. The people are stellar too. We have a great cast - I've made numerous cakes for people's birthdays and things. Yay for the excuse really. :) Only 8 shows left now, so we are on the down hill run.




I feel like there is not much else to update in my life at the moment. God really takes care of you in the busy times. I was at church the other day when they made the point that in the stressful times the first thing we often decide to cut out is our time with God - which should be the last thing we cut out - especially in the stressful times. It is so true. Even though I've been sick, sleep deprived and tired - God is still providing for me in so many ways. I love it.