Sydney and Alzheimer's.

The kids and I are in Sydney and are juxtaposed between the joy of fresh air plus western supermarkets and the anguish of living with Alzheimer's. It is really tough to put it mildly.

I am stuck in the suburbs this week...I have not been to a mall in many weeks :(
Next week I should have a hire car and have some time out with the kids:)
And maybe some shopping time............

To end on a positive note, I got my uni grades:- two High Distinctions (the highest grade) and one Distinction (2nd highest grade). I have added a Science Communication major to my B.E.D degree, I will eventually be able to teach science and information tech/communication from year 1 through to year 10 as well as all primary teaching.

Sambolo Sanitarium

We just got back from a wonderful 4 day weekend at Sambolo.
We had Christmas carols, decorations, crackers and dvds!

I really needed a chill out!

Jakarta has been driving me crazy the last few weeks, probably why I haven't written too much on the blog lately......

• The lack of any wine under $50 a bottle,

• alot of imported foods gone,

• Exponential price rises across the board,

• The blonde tax.........times the price by 1000 for the 'bule' (westener) mentality,
  

• Trades people who fix a leaky toilet by painting the ceiling.

• Doing all the washing, cleaning, ironing, cooking etc in a 3rd world country while working part time and studying full time----very different to doing it in Australia.
  

(yes, I have no staff........January I will be looking for some help)

I do not like to feel so negative!

I need a break so I can come back and rediscover all the joys of Indonesia!

The kids and I will be spending a few weeks in Sydney over Christmas, we all can not wait to go to a supermarket and gaze at all the available foods (we will feel at home as the local fruit shop sells imported tropical fruit including durian!)

The six seasons!

I mentioned back in November that we were starting class focus on the six seasons...yes there are six seasons, well at least if you are in my classes lol.
Here in the tropics, it is hot and wet or hot and dry. For the kids who have grown up in this part of the world, spring, autumn and winter are unknown seasons.
We have had the best fun learning and researching about seasons and making our display.
It is a big concept for the kids to grasp that December is winter in the Northern hemisphere and summer in the Southern.

Our next bit of end of year fun was 3d snow flakes. I found the instructions on Becks blog last year, but I can't find the link now:(

Here are instructions from another source)

I can not tell you how many of these cute things I have made, how many instruction sheets I have handed out, how many have been made in the playground or at kids homes.........but I would guess at thousands! We have found that using recycled paper makes a great looking snowflake; woman's magazines and newspapers work well. In Australia we will be buying some red and green paint and splashing old newspapers to make snowflakes then decorating with them.