All In:The Aussie Adventure

ART!  A piece of art in the art gallery at St. Lucy's I love art. Someone's art is a window into their soul. The Rosella Class has art on Monday mornings with the art teacher Marci. Each week the kids have a new exciting project or medium to work with. I have really enjoyed catching a glimpse into the minds of the boys in my class as we worked on their masterpieces.  St. Lucy's is extremely lucky to be equipped to have a kiln in order to fire clay. The kids in my class rolled out clay using rolling pins and then etched designs into them. Each student created their own design, but food was a popular subject! My buddy Harvey worked with a volunteer to make this apple (his favorite type of juice) on his clay slab. Clay was extremely fun and constructive to work with for the kids. Some of the students have some strong sensory needs and clay is a material that they can mold in their hands and feel the ...

Becky and I had the unique opportunity to be invited to a special event here in Sydney. On Tuesday the 13th of June we both went to Santa Sabina (a private school in Strathfield) for a Veritas Dinner. This post is a rundown of that experience along with a short post about something really cool that St. Lucy's does.  Santa Sabina Veritas Truth. The motto of many institutions is Veritas. The search for truth is something that we all undertake at some point in life. Honestly, in my humble opinion, we are always looking for our own truth. I know I currently am. The Veritas dinner is an event that happens roughly four times a year at Santa Sabina College in Strathfield, NSW. The attendees are all people who are connected to the Dominican Sisters of Eastern Australia and the Solomon Islands and their guests. The sisters invited Becky and I to come and join them. When I asked my host mom Helen what a Veritas dinner was like she described it as a gathering of frie...

I honestly don't know where the time has gone. Although my stay at St. Lucy's is temporary, the memories and lessons that I learn will be permanent. I truly hope that I am making a positive impact in the lives of the students and in the St. Lucy's environment. I have spent three weeks in the Rosella classroom and counting. I have entitled this post with a focus on three P's, and I chose to do this because I have seen some really great things happen when prayer, patience, and perseverance are used. Prayer God Our Maker God our maker and friend,  We love you And we thank you for loving us.... Every morning and every afternoon, the children gather together and say this prayer. The prayer is a sweet prayer that is simple to say, easy to sign, and powerful for the children and us all to remember. As a school with the Catholic and Dominican foundations, the children are in a learning environment that does an extremely good job at reminding them of who they ar...

I know I talked about cooking last time, but this was too good to pass up! Pies filled with minced meat! My lovely class of Rosellas truly love food and cooking so they were eager to share some classic Australian food with me. They've been offering me Vegemite since Day 1 (I think I'll continue to dodge that one for now) but today, the kids got to do some more intricate cooking! Today the class split up and worked on cooking 2 different foods: Pavlova and Meat Pies. We divided the boys up based on their interest in the type of food! A soft meringue topped with cream and fruit! So myself and the head teacher, Vanessa, took four of the boys into the kitchen to make the pies. (I have more pictures of that process than the other because I wasn't there for that!) Michael, Luke, Leif, and Lachlan were all very excited to make the pies with the special pie maker! Notice the safe way the pot handle is turned! After washing their hands, each of ...

  A Class Of Energy, Joy, and Light for Five Weeks Rosella: One of six species of Australian parrots. They inhabit forests, woodlands, farmlands, suburban parks, and gardens. Rosellas have long broad tails, patches on their cheeks and are very colorful. While that is all well and good, the word Rosella means a bit more than just the parrot. The Rosella Class is the classroom where I am spending every Monday through Friday at St. Lucy's! St. Lucy's School As most of you know, I will be spending several weeks at St. Lucy's. St. Lucy's is a lovely school founded in the Dominican tradition and is where classrooms are filled with students of many different disabilities and ages. St. Lucy's is a primary school which in Australia means that the students are in years K-6. St. Lucy's was originally founded as a school for children who were deaf or had hearing difficulties and developed into a school for children with any disabilities more r...

Featuring: Matty, Ella, & Brynn  So I'm writing this up as I can't fall asleep due to excitement about leaving tomorrow along with the little voice in my head telling me that I forgot to pack something.... Finals week was lots of fun, which we established is possible, I had meals with people I loved, took a selfie with my favorite Ray worker Dot and then came home to LI! On Monday my mom had a little get together so people could say goodbye.  Here is a collection of the questions that my little cousins and brothers have asked me. "You're leaving on Sunday, for college?"-Ella Close, Ella. Close. In case you all don't know, I am leaving the U.S.A. on Wednesday, May 17! I will not  be heading to Providence College just yet, I am headed to Sydney, Australia! Well... first to Newark, NJ; Boston, MA; San Francisco, CA; and then   Sydney, NSW, Australia! It's quite the trip so I'm bringing a lot to keep me entertaine...