New Beginnings in Perth

The COST (Consortium for Overseas Student Teaching) coordinator & his wife picked me up from the airport on the 26th. I spent the night with them in their no-air-conditioned-house. Not many people have air conditioning & if they do, they usually don't turn it on. It's really something to get used to. Anyway, they are such nice people. They got everything together for me: took me to the bank, Post, gave me a cell phone (let me know if you want the number...), & fed me. We sat outside at Hillary's Marina for lunch with Millea (a COST student from Ohio) & the mum she's living with. It was 91 degrees but everyone acted like it was 65. Weird. That is one word I can use that they understand. They use it all the time. I moved in with my family the same day. Their house is SO nice & the family is great. My room is perfect. Mel got everything together for me. She even bought me an ironing board & iron!
Today was my first day teaching. YIKES. The school I am working in is only 5 years old & is currently using half of City Beach's old high school. So, at the moment, it isn't very nice. All of the primary (elementary) classes are combined. We had an assembly this morning & the principle celebrated having over 100 students (1st through 12th!) So it's a SUPER small school & staff. The students, as well as the staff, are from all over the world. We have 17 students in my classroom (grade 1 & 2). Sadly, I only have 1 Australian student. Everyone else is from Holland, Germany, England, Scotland, America, Spain, Indonesia, Malaysia... I think that is all of them. It is amazing to be exposed to so many cultures, but it is QUITE overwhelming. Hopefully tomorrow wont be so hectic. I just have to work on these names... I mean the only 3 I've heard of are Gabriel, Kyle, & Beau. My teacher also told me I need to prepare a 6 week "topic" on plants-- doing 1 hour lessons each day. Talk about jumping into it. So I guess I'll spend most of tonight planning.
Even though we both speak English, I am constantly asking people what they are saying. I mean all of their words are different (but similar). Whenever I turn around people are asking me "How you going" instead of "How was it" or "How are you" or something. Also, everyone here LOVES Obama. I even saw a painting of him hanging in the window at some sports store. Australians have strong opinions about America. One told me we are the butt of all their jokes. Also, they always say "That's OK" when you say "Thanks." And the boys asked me tonight if I wanted a biscuit, which is a cookie. Pretty much they abbreviate everything. Girls... you would all love it! Another culture thing... They all LOVE the Simpsons. Everywhere I turn people are talking about them or referring to them. We watched it tonight. So weird. But it's awesome getting to see how an Australian family lives. This is definitely better than renting out an apartment and Mel is an AMAZING cook. I definitely look forward to dinner.