Ballarat - a former gold mining town / Ballarat - die ehemalige Goldgräberstadt

Friday afternoon, February 29th, right after school we hopped into the car and drove off to an ITF weekend in Ballarat, 1 ½ hours west of Melbourne. Our host family, Wayne and Lynn, had a house in the countryside, in the middle of a little forest, where you could watch kangaroos in the mornings and at night. Their three kids had the same age as ours and so obviously they had a great time. We spent a lovely (sorry, this is my Australian slipping in) evening with Wayne and Lynn and when Wayne suggested moving the TV and the beer outside to watch the Footy game from the hot tub, Mark was more than happy.
As Ballarat is a former gold mining town and famous for its open-air museum “Sovereign Hill”, we met up there with the other ITF's on Saturday morning. It’s built like a gold mining town out of the 1850’s. Everything is done just like during this time period, down to the artists who act out little plays here and there throughout the day. It’s really well done and there are horse carriages, bowling alleys, candy shops, pharmacies, school rooms with strict teachers…., the kids even got to dress up like in the 1850's. And at last we even got to wash gold. We spent the entire day there and decided at the end to come back another time. There was still so much to see and we couldn’t do any of the mining tours because of my foot.
The former ITF teachers from Ballarat organized a barbeque in the evening. All the exchange teachers had to sing their national anthem. As I was the only Swiss (Mark was unfortunately no help), so I needed quite some wine beforehand to get over it. Now I have to teach Mark the Swiss anthem as there will be more occasions like that! It was great to see all the exchange teachers again after my abrupt departure last time (… in the ambulance).
On Sunday, we went to a wild life park where we finally saw some kangaroos and got to feed them. The feeding of the crocodiles was luckily done by the park ranger but even though, our hearts sometimes seemed to stop.

Am Freitagnachmittag, 29. Februar sind wir gleich nach der Schule ins Auto „gehüpft“ und losgefahren. Wir hatten uns für ein Wochenende mit dem ITF in Ballarat, ca. 1 ½ Autostunden von Melbourne entfernt, angemeldet. Unsere Gastfamilie, Wayne und Lynn, wohnten in einem Haus auf dem Lande, in einem kleinen Wald gelegen, wo sich sprichwörtlich die Kängurus gute Nacht sagen. Sie hatten drei Kinder im gleichen Alter wie unsere, was natürlich genial war. Die Kinder verstanden sich auf Anhieb und auch wir verbrachten einen gemütlichen Abend mit Lynn und Wayne. Als Wayne dann den Fernseher nach draußen trug und Mark einlud, sich den Football Match bei einem Bier vom Hottub aus anzusehen, war Mark natürlich nicht mehr zu halten.
Da Ballarat DIE bekannte, ehemalige Goldgräberstadt Australiens ist und sich das Freilichtmuseum „Sovereign Hill“ diesem Zeitabschnitt widmet, trafen wir uns mit den andern Austauschlehrern am Samstagmorgen vor den Toren dieser bekannten Touristenattraktion. Sovereign Hill ist als Goldgräberstadt im Jahre 1850 nachgebaut. Von A bis Z ist im Dorf alles authentisch, auch die Kleider der vielen Schauspieler, die sich im Dorf bewegen und immer wieder kleine Szenen aufführen. Natürlich sind da auch Kutschen, Pferde, Schulzimmer mit strengen Lehrerinnen, Goldmienen, Süssigkeitenläden, Apotheken… Es ist wirklich ganz raffiniert gemacht und die Kinder wurden sogar in Kleidern von 1850 eingekleidet. Was am Schluss natürlich nicht fehlen durfte, war das Goldwaschen. Wir verbrachten den ganzen Tag dort und entschieden, zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt zurückzukehren. Es gab noch so viel zu sehen und wegen meinem Fuß verpassten wir auch die Minentouren, die wir unbedingt noch nachholen wollen.
Am Abend war dann von den ehemaligen Ballarat ITF’s ein Barbecue organisiert. Die Austauschlehrer mussten dann alle ihre Nationalhymne singen, was mich als einzige Schweizerin natürlich etwas stresste (Mark war leider keine Hilfe). Aber dank viel Wein überstand ich auch das (wenigstens laut war’s). Es war toll, nach meinem abrupten Abgang beim letzten Treffen (mit der Ambulanz…) alle wieder zu sehen.
Am Sonntag war dann noch ein Besuch in einem Wildlife Park angesagt, wo wir endlich Kängurus von nahem sahen und auch füttern konnten. Das Füttern der Krokodile überließen wir aber dem Parkranger. Und trotzdem stoppte uns manchmal fast der Atem.

Mark here. Yes, I've been neglecting the Blog. After school, it's Miller Time (or better put, VB time), time to kick back by the pool with a beer- no worries, mate. Certainly not yet Blog time. It really works! After only a few minutes, all the day's stresses start to get washed away (by the pool water or the beer?). But that's all the time I have. Time's up, time to start my second job of househusband. Swaying only slightly, I proceed to see what I can do about dinner. Thanks to some friends incl. teachers from my school and the kids' school, we often have something in the fridge or freezer that only needs heated up. Nag the kids to set the table, do half of it myself in the end, eat, nag the kids to clean up, do half of it myself in the end, help Noemi read a bit, nag the kids to get ready for bed, end up getting them ready myself, put the girls to bed, read them a story, not yet Blog time, sing them a song, come downstairs, check emails quickly intending to start on the Blog, walk past the TV, switch it on, vegetate for half an hour, read a bit, go to bed (I'll get to that Blog tomorrow). Morning: get up at 6:45, make lunches, clean pool, nag kids to get their clothes on, eat breakfast etc. I think you get the picture: it has been very busy. Finally a 3 day weekend and I'm able to update the Blog.

Marianne is getting very mobile on her crutches and has been able to help out more and more. School is going better and better. Starting to establish relationships with the students, getting to know where everything is, who to talk to about what, etc. With the help of a fellow teacher who can weld, we also solved the problem of a school without hockey nets- I need my hockey nets. Welded 2 old metal table frames together to get a metal frame box, sawed off the bottom front piece, added some netting and voilà. So we made 2 of these for a cost of about 100.00 each (they would have cost 750.00 each from the local distributor). I ordered in some balls that I needed incl. a Tackishy ball, so now all we need is some quality uni-hockey sticks and I can introduce all my favourite games to my new school.

Last week on Thursday, March 6th, I took the boys' volleyball team to the district finals for the day, which we won. Each grade has district competitions in practically every sport incl. table tennis, tennis, and cricket to name a few. The winners then go on to the Zones, and then to the State Championships if they win the Zones. This system of interschool sport, with so many sports to choose from, means that there's a space for practically everyone to give a sport a go. It also makes the PE class more meaningful (there's a reason, perhaps, to be practicing the badminton smash). Lots of kids are also involved in after school sports, especially swimming, Auzzie Rules Football (AFL), cricket and basketball.

The students in my PE classes have been showing up in their shorts (the first few weeks I had a lot coming in their jeans) and have stopped trying to listen to their MP3 players or play with their mobile phones in class, so it gives a whole different feel.

Teachers who are sick, or need a sick day (you are allowed to take 5 a year, no questions asked) are covered internally using an 'Extras' system. Since teachers are required to be at school from 8:45 to 3:10 (the full school day) regardless whether they teach or not, teachers who have spares are always to be found. One teacher is given the job of 'Timetabler' and he comes early and organizes the extras, giving teachers with spares extras to cover for missing teachers. There is, of course, a limit to how many extras a teacher can be given (about one per 2 weeks). If given more than your allotment, you will be paid for the extra work. Full time here is then 23 lessons per week at 50 minutes per lesson plus the 'extra' every two weeks. It's nice not having to be at school at 7:00 in the morning! I usually ride my bike to work along the river, which takes about 20 minutes.

Hospital appointment / Spitaltermin

Friday, February 29th I had to go back to the hospital - I was supposed to get a new cast. People had warned me that waiting times of up to 3 hours were nothing out of the extraordinary, so I was prepared. But, oh wonder, I was being called after only waiting for 1 ½ hours in a freezing cold waiting room! The doctor removed the stitches and told me, I would get a walking boot instead of a cast. I was not supposed to put any weight on it, though, and would have to come back in 4 weeks time to get an x-ray done. As we will be in Sydney, though, in 4 weeks, and still on the road in 5 weeks, it will now be 6 weeks till the next appointment. You can only get them Friday mornings and if that doesn’t suit you, too bad…
Luckily, an exchange teacher’s husband is a physio and he showed me some exercises I can do to keep my leg muscles strong. So I’m working hard on that. He’ll come by next week to show me some more exercises I can do in about 3 weeks time to improve my ankle’s flexibility (I can open the walking boot and even take my foot out, but I haven’t dared to do that yet). So I will be able to speed up the recovery without actually putting weight on the leg.
The physio at the hospital had discharged me without giving me any advice or exercises - even though I had asked her several times. ASKING QUESTIONS - this is anyway something that seems to be vital here. Information doesn’t flow easily at all. But as I’m a very curious person from nature, I tend to bombard any doctors or nurses that cross my path until I find out what I need to know. And so far, that has helped me a lot.


Am Freitag, 29. Februar musste ich nochmals ins Spital. Ich sollte einen neuen Gips erhalten. Ich war bereits vorgewarnt, dass Wartezeiten von 3 Stunden nicht ungewöhnlich sind… aber nach 1 ½ Stunden im eiskalten Wartezimmer kam ich wunderbarerweise bereits dran. Der Doktor nahm die Fäden raus und entschied dann, dass ich einen „Walking Boot“ erhalten sollte. Ich dürfe aber in den nächsten 4 Wochen kein Gewicht drauf legen und müsse dann wieder für ein Röntgenbild vorbeikommen. Da wir in 4 Wochen aber in Sydney sein werden, und in 5 Wochen immer noch unterwegs, kann ich erst in 6 Wochen wieder zu einem Check und so verlängert sich das Ganze wieder mal. Diese Untersuchungen werden nur Freitagmorgens vorgenommen, und wenn man dann nicht kann, Pech gehabt… Aber glücklicherweise ist der Ehepartner einer kanadischen Austauschlehrerin Physiotherapeut. Er hat sich angeboten, mir einige Übungen zu zeigen und so bin ich nun fleissig dran, meine Beinmuskulatur zu trainieren. Nächste Woche wird er vorbeikommen um mir noch mehr zu zeigen, auch wie ich dann in etwas 3 Wochen langsam die Flexibilität des Fussgelenkes wieder trainieren kann (ich kann den Walking Boot öffnen und sogar ganz abnehmen, wenn ich will, habe mich bis anhin aber noch nicht getraut…) So kann ich, auch wenn ich kein Gewicht drauf legen kann, wenigsten den Rest des Heilungsprozesses beschleunigen.
Die Physiotherapeutin im Spital hatte mich entlassen, ohne mir irgendwelche Tips oder Übungen zu geben. Und dies, obwohl ich mehrmals nachgefragt hatte. FRAGEN STELLEN - dies ist sowieso etwas, das hier lebensnotwenig zu sein scheint. Die Informationen kommen wenn überhaupt nur sehr zaghaft. Da ich aber von Natur aus gwundrig bin, löchere ich jeweils alle Ärzte und Krankenschwestern mit Fragen. So habe ich schon VIEL gelernt und habe Sachen rausgefunden, die mir sonst nie erklärt worden wären.