Hello! Can you believe it’s April already? It is spring up where you are, but I am in Australia, down at the bottom of the world, so it is fall down here. The leaves are starting to fall off the trees. It’s getting to be a little cooler, but it is still very warm in the days. Because we live on the coast in the middle of the continent, it won’t get really cold at all in the winter. I’m happy about that!
Grandpa and I went to the beach on Saturday. This beach was called Bondi beach and it was really pretty.
We ate a picnic lunch in a little grassy area by the beach. I, unthinkingly, tossed a piece of bread crust to a little bird by the picnic table, and bam, within seconds we had tons of seagulls descend on us, screaming like banshees and fighting for one tiny piece of bread. It was really funny; funny enough we kept throwing crusts to them for repeat performances!
We walked around town too and I took a picture of a chemist’s shop. In the US we call it a drug store, but in Australia it’s either called a pharmacy or a chemist’s shop. There aren’t any stores over here like Walmart or Target in the US where you can buy groceries, drug store items, clothes, car stuff, paint, and all the things you can get in one store in the US. You have to go to different stores for most everything.
I’m sending you a picture of a Tasmanian Devil we saw at the animal park a few weeks ago. I felt sorry for this little guy, he was so bored that he just ran around and around in a circle in his little cage area. In the wild, Tasmanian Devil’s sleep a lot in the day and go out hunting in the night, but in a zoo they don’t get to live like they do in the wild and this little guy looked like he wanted to be free. Here’s a link you can go to to learn more about Tasmanian Devils:
The most exciting thing that happened to me this week is that I got to meet the young man who plays the part of Simba in The Lion King. I was setting up in my classroom in the downtown building we teach in when I heard a man’s voice singing a song in the kitchen part of our building (it’s right by my classroom). When I went to check it out, this is who I found:
Ginger beer is the same thing as Ginger Ale is in the US, except it has a lot stronger ginger flavor than the US version. Some brands here even have pieces of ginger floating around in the drink. That’s way too much ginger for me, but I like this brand, it’s not quite so strong. My stomach didn’t feel too good today, so I drank some ginger beer and it felt better!
One last thing: in Australia there are three types of geography they talk about: the coast, the bush, and the outback. Do you know about the restaurant in the US named Outback? Look at this map of Austalia and see if you can figure out which parts of the land are the coast, the bush, and the outback.
The coast is, of course, the area that borders the ocean. Sydney is on the coast. You don’t have to drive very far from the coast until you come to the bush. If you look at the pictures I posted last week, you can see some examples of the bush, we were in the bush when we went to the mountains. The bush is not far from the coast, only about an hour or so drive out from the coast. It’s called the bush because the land is covered with all kinds of bushes and all kinds of trees. The outback is the middle part of the country. The outback is a great big desert with rock formations, kind of like the place we were last Thanksgiving when we took family pictures in Las Vegas. The outback here doesn’t have very many plants that grow there and it’s really, really hot and doesn’t have much water, so not very many people live there. Most of the people in Australia live in the coast area or in the bush area. Mostly in the outback there are big sheep ranches and not very many people. We have not driven out as far as the outback since we’ve been here. Maybe someday we will, but not for a while I think. We have lots of places to see right around Sydney.
Have a happy week.
We walked around town too and I took a picture of a chemist’s shop. In the US we call it a drug store, but in Australia it’s either called a pharmacy or a chemist’s shop. There aren’t any stores over here like Walmart or Target in the US where you can buy groceries, drug store items, clothes, car stuff, paint, and all the things you can get in one store in the US. You have to go to different stores for most everything.
I’m sending you a picture of a Tasmanian Devil we saw at the animal park a few weeks ago. I felt sorry for this little guy, he was so bored that he just ran around and around in a circle in his little cage area. In the wild, Tasmanian Devil’s sleep a lot in the day and go out hunting in the night, but in a zoo they don’t get to live like they do in the wild and this little guy looked like he wanted to be free. Here’s a link you can go to to learn more about Tasmanian Devils:
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com.au/kids/animals/creaturefeature/tasmanian-devil/ If the link doesn't go to the part where you can see the video, click over to the part that says 'video and sound'.
The most exciting thing that happened to me this week is that I got to meet the young man who plays the part of Simba in The Lion King. I was setting up in my classroom in the downtown building we teach in when I heard a man’s voice singing a song in the kitchen part of our building (it’s right by my classroom). When I went to check it out, this is who I found:
His name is Graham and he has the most wonderful singing voice ever! After I talked to him I found out he is a professional singer and right now he is playing the part of Simba; the Broadway musical is playing here in Sydney for the next couple of months. Luckily, I bought tickets to go see it when we first got here. Grandpa and I are going on April 22. Just think, now I will know the star of the musical! He was embarrassed to have me take his picture because he was just at the institute talking with the missionaries and wasn’t thinking that anyone there would want to take his picture. I will get another picture of him in a couple of weeks when we go to the production and he is dressed up as Simba. I can’t wait to go to the musical and see him singing on the stage. He is very, very nice.
Those of you who have read any of the Harry Potter books will know what this is:
Those of you who have read any of the Harry Potter books will know what this is:
Ginger beer is the same thing as Ginger Ale is in the US, except it has a lot stronger ginger flavor than the US version. Some brands here even have pieces of ginger floating around in the drink. That’s way too much ginger for me, but I like this brand, it’s not quite so strong. My stomach didn’t feel too good today, so I drank some ginger beer and it felt better!
One last thing: in Australia there are three types of geography they talk about: the coast, the bush, and the outback. Do you know about the restaurant in the US named Outback? Look at this map of Austalia and see if you can figure out which parts of the land are the coast, the bush, and the outback.
The coast is, of course, the area that borders the ocean. Sydney is on the coast. You don’t have to drive very far from the coast until you come to the bush. If you look at the pictures I posted last week, you can see some examples of the bush, we were in the bush when we went to the mountains. The bush is not far from the coast, only about an hour or so drive out from the coast. It’s called the bush because the land is covered with all kinds of bushes and all kinds of trees. The outback is the middle part of the country. The outback is a great big desert with rock formations, kind of like the place we were last Thanksgiving when we took family pictures in Las Vegas. The outback here doesn’t have very many plants that grow there and it’s really, really hot and doesn’t have much water, so not very many people live there. Most of the people in Australia live in the coast area or in the bush area. Mostly in the outback there are big sheep ranches and not very many people. We have not driven out as far as the outback since we’ve been here. Maybe someday we will, but not for a while I think. We have lots of places to see right around Sydney.
Have a happy week.
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