Working Sunday

Just finished setting one test paper. There is one more to do this week. I just used the paper I have set 3 or 4 years ago and modified a bit so it took me just a short time to complete it. Great! It's not good to be old, but at the same time it's really good to be experienced. Actually the more experienced I am, the more I like my job. I have accumulated lots of teaching resources. As I really understand and know everything well, I can be more efficient and I can just keep doing my job better and better.

It's easier to do my job well than please a man.

October

I thought if I wrote in English, I would write more coz it's easier to type. I could just come here to leave a few lines every day. How long does it take? 10 minutes? 15 minutes? Sure I could spend 15 minutes a day to write something here. However the fact is that I just could not keep up. I got really tired in September.

I know October and November are gonna worse. Lots and lots of work is waiting for me. And my wedding is coming. Just thinking about that stresses me out!

Today Adrian looked so nervous and worn out. But he still made himself to choose our wedding bands with me. We didn't do any research. We just popped in the shop and checked for awhile and done! We chose them. That's it. Really efficient.

Cute baby

The baby gal came to our home with my brother today. She has such big and sparkly eyes. She is really adorable. When I was holding her in my arms, she was stretching her arms and legs, moving a lot, really active. SMACK SMACK SMACK I couldn't help giving her lots of big big kisses.

In progress

Okay, our wedding plan has finally made some progress. I have chosen my dresses, one white wedding gown, and one pink party dress. I never thought of pink. I always believe blue or green or champagne gold would be really nice on me but surprisingly, I look gorgeous in that pink dress. And this pink doesn't make me dolly at all. Plus, it's quite sexy!!!

We have also chosen the design for our invitation cards. It looks really plain and neat and stylish. Next Saturday we can see the layout, and hopefully the cards can be finished printing in one month.

Now I can kick back a bit, stop being so stressed and worried.

Friday lesson

That cocky and evil French woman is back, and our French lesson was like hell again.

Wondering

Sometimes I can't help wondering whether Adrian has stopped loving me. I asked him and he ensured that he does. Then he talked to me and comforted me in his gentle voice. I feel better. I feel being loved again.

But I know soon he will be so moody, so quiet, so impatient to me that everything around us becomes so gloomy. I will again feel so alone. I will again worry about our relationship. I used to think my future husband would be an upbeat person who would brighten up our days with sunshine smiles.

School days

There is a British girl in my grade 3 class; She is so adorable and smart. I love talking to her. And there is a girl from Egypt, who looks really pleasant and dependable. One grade one girl gives me a hug every day. There are also many children who are so bubbly and so happy. When I read them a story, they are all attentive and looking and listening and even laughing.

I was right when I chose to be a teacher!

One first graders

I was teaching a grade-one kid to do spelling practice. I wrote the words on the blackboard clearly by showing my class how to trace every letter on the red and blue writing lines which are always used for younger children to practice handwriting. Then, every kid in class was asked to copy them on his book. That kid, no matter how many times he tried, kept making mistakes. The words were either on the upper line, or under the lower line, just never between the two lines. I kept rubbing out his mistakes and I even wrote a sample one on the first line for him to follow. He tried but he couldn't do it even though it was so simple. 'Not like this. Please look carefully,' I rubbed out the mistakes again and maybe it's too frustrating for him. He cried and cried.

Even though after I told him it's okay, it's not a big deal and I know he is trying, he just kept crying. It broke my heart. Some kids are slow. Some kids are fast. Some are smart but some just need more time to learn. I know, one day, and some day, he will finally do it. Just take things easy. They are small. It's really not a big deal if he can't write nicely, now or even in the future. Actually I even believe that it's not a big deal at all even if you can't spell. Computers are gonna do all the work for us.

Now I keep reminding myself to be more, much more patient with the first graders. My goal is not to get the kids to learn, but to make them love to learn.

Busy Busy Busy

I am back to school and I am back to my busy and bustling working life. I made up my mind to write an entry every day but for the last two weeks, I haven't even got time to go on the Internet, except for frontierville. It is too addictive, even Adrian is kind of obsessed with the game.

Teaching is always fun, but absolutely not marking or setting tons of worksheets or dull and boring paperwork. The sad fact is: they come as a package. You cannot just pick one from the others. I need more time and space to plan my lessons, but so far I have been stuck with lots of paperwork or administrative work. I am tired and it's only September.

Lazy Sunday

I am crazy. I have been playing Frontierville a whole day. The game is really addictive.

Little Lennon

I am addicted to a Facebook game called Frontierville.

My brother took his little angel back home. She is very adorable. She is so small, the smallest new-born baby I have ever seen. She is more than 1 months old now, but she still weighs less than 5 pounds. I love her!

Her English name is Lennon, which is actually a boy name. Lennon, looks so much like Lemon, as she was named after Lemon, my brother's beloved cat. The cat died just a new months before she was born, so in memory of her, we call our new angel Lennon.

First Working Day in August

I had grade 1 summer class today. I was so tired after the class. The kids were too active and sometimes so clueless. I guess I need some time to adjust.

It's so good that I got a new supply French teacher. She is such a pleasant lady who articulates clearly and seems enthusiastic to teach. She is way better than that rude and cocky woman who always looks like hating to go there for us. But the nice lady only teach us for 4 weeks. I missed the first lessons, and there are only 2 more to go. I really don't want that cocky woman back. Anyway it's good that I don't really need to see her for the whole term.

Back to Hong Kong

We woke up before 4 to catch 4:30 coach to the airport. Luckily our hostel was just opposite the stop. We needed not wake up too early. That's one good thing about Transit Backpacker after all.

I forgot to mention that I found old Daddy Long Legs in a second-hand bookshop at Salamanca Place yesterday. Since we had quite a lot of time at Sydney Airport for the next connecting flight, I finished reading the whole book. It's short anyway. I bought a watch at Victoria Secret at the airport. Well, actually Adrian paid for it. He gave me such a gorgeous gift. I can't wait putting it on (I need to fix the strap first).

I am so happy now. I am even happy for tomorrow school. Yup I start working tomorrow, right after I come back, but seeing the kids is good. I am ready to meet some smiley and silly faces. Even planning for the next school year is good too. I feel so much like working for the good and fun school year. Maybe I am transforming into a more hard-working person. A good summer trip really helps freshen me up!!!

Seafood Dinner

We didn't have a big plan today. What we did was just hanging around and being laid-back. We visited the Tasmania Museum and we looked around in shops. We had nice meat pies at Banjo and fresh oysters at Mures. The high was our dinner, an expensive dinner at a well-decorated (like a real old ship) and luxurious restaurant which was called The Drunken Admiral. It served the best seafood chowder, so rich, so yummy and lots of ingredients. Then came fat juicy king prawns. Yum!!! Last we had a big pot of mussels, very fresh with wonderful sauce. So, at last, we had a very nice dinner as the closure of our trip. A wonderful closure of our wonderful trip.

Snowy

Today, we joined a day tour and we got picked up at 0750. The guide is called Jeremy, a fun and handsome guy, and we have people from Spain, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Shanghai and even two others are from Hong Kong too.

We first stopped off at New Northfolk to buy our lunch and then went ahead to Russell Fall on Mount Field. Then, we went up the mountain, and the higher and higher we went, the more and more snow we saw. When we were quite high, there was lots of snow. So much snow that really out of our expectation. In fact, snow has not even come across our mind. It was so fun hiking on the mountain covered with snow. My feet dipped deeply in the snow and it's hard to pull them out. We were having a wonderful walk on the invisible trails (coz what u saw was only snow) on the snow summit. Everywhere was pure white. Snowy, icy and clear. It's really really beautiful. I love it.

Then we went to see some Tassie animals in the wildlife park: koala, Tassie devil, wallaby, kangaroo, wombus, quoll, and we were supposed to see platypus, but we were not able to. They were not in the mood of meeting horrible humans.

Later we went to Mount Wellington and looked at the view of the sea and the landscape at the lookout. And it's a bit too foggy as if we were on the paradise or over the clouds.

We changed our soggy socks at the hostel and then had a real spicy spaghetti bolognese and a very yummy seafood pizza which was called Seven Seas. It smelt so much of clams, mussels or oysters, very fresh. That Italian restaurant was called Little Italy.

Back to Hobart

When the curtain was drawn open, there was a huge green meadow in front of our balcony. Some sheep were wandering. We drove about 3 kilometers to the reception house to meet the farm owner Tim and Jane. They were really friendly. We were served tea, coffee and self-made scones. Then Tim took us for a short farm tour. His two shepherd dogs took hundreds of sheep to greet us. They were really good helpers on the farm. We also saw lots of baby lambs and their mothers, and even one was giving birth. We visited the shearing barn. I have to say it was quite smelly.

After that we drove to Richmond. It was a nice small town but since the weather was cold and rainy, I just wanna stay inside our car. So very soon we left Richmond and headed for Barilla Bay for oysters. We hoped to get some fresh oysters before returning to Hobart. Unfortunately, we were informed that all oysters were sold out. We had to find our ways back to city without yummy oysters. In order to make up for the disappointment at Barilla Bay, we went to Mures for a really nice seafood dinner.

We found Transit Backpackers and stayed in their double room. It wasn't a very special backpacker hostel but we have spent quite a lot on farm accommodation so we have to be on budget now.

Curringa Farm

We woke up with the beautiful animal sounds, frogs croaking and chickens crowing. When we opened our cottage door, we saw Mody sitting on the porch and lots of turkeys marching just outside our cottage. In front of us was a huge piece of meadow with many sheep enjoying a lovely Sunday. Wow, what a beautiful scene. Then the farm owner Louise let us feed the 2 baby lambs. They are gorgeous. They sucked the milk out of a bottle. Then we fed the chickens, ducks, goats, a donkey, a rabbit and a pig. We played with the baby lambs, two shepherd dogs, and two cats including Mody. We smelt like animals and our hands were full of their saliva, and we were so happy. The farm was such a blast.

Before heading for another farm, we first went to a limestone cave, Marakoopa Cave. The limestones form a really amazing scene there. The formation was such a wonderful handicraft from the nature. Breathtaking! At the end of the cave tour, the guide turned off the lights and then we put up our heads and we saw ...... lots and lots of glow worms above like a starry night. I will never forget that scene. Impressive and beautiful!

When we were at the cave, we saw some signs of other attractions, and we decided to have a look on the honey farm and the salmon farm. They should not be far from the cave but the GPS led us the wrong way which took us much longer time to the destinations. So when we set off to the farm, it was quite late. It took us 3 hours to go and the sky was getting dark on the way. Beside the narrow driving path were big pieces of wild and undeveloped land. A part of our ride was surrounding the Great Lake. There were no other cars, no houses, no humans, no animals except one or two dead wild hares on the road. The road was so winding and narrow and being alone on the huge land was quite scary. Imagine if we had an accident, dunno how long it would take for others to find us.

It's really not easy to get to Curringa Farm in Hamilton but thank god, we made it. We were so tired and when we opened our cottage door ... Wow!!! What a deluxe farm cottage with beautiful interior design. Open kitchen and open bathroom. There was a bath tub next to our queen sized bed. Oh! That's really sexy. First thing we did there was quickly removing all our clothes and take a romantic bath together.

Brickenton

It's such a nice Saturday morning, of course we've got to go to Salamanca Market. It is open on every Saturday morning and the market is really big with a large variety of products and foods. We bought a lot of stuff, mainly souvenirs for family and friends. Then we went to rent a car as we were heading for the farms which were far from the city. Adrian drove for 3 hours including the wrong way that GPS led us, and then finally reached the beautiful farm, Brickenton. The farm owner greeted us with two big dogs and two baby lambs which were born a week ago. The lambs were already very active and they loved sucking our fingers!!! Lovely!!! And then we met Mody. Mody is a cute kitten which stays around the cottages. It's so gentle and so lovely that totally captures our hearts. In the farm, we can walk around anywhere we like, and it's huge. We can go to the big meadow and watched the sheep. They, including their droppings, were scattered around the field. I need to walk really carefully and we did have a nice country walk.

We had our dinner in the nearby town Longford. The restaurant was called Sticky Beaks. Nice and cozy and warm!

Bruny Island

Today, we joined a day tour to Bruny Island. Traveling the island coast by cruise wasn't very easy as the waves were very strong, the sea was rough and our cruise was really bumpy but the scenery was really spectacular. The cliffs, rocks, caves, seagulls and seals really made our day. It's really good to get closed to the natural environment.

P.S. I got seasick and threw up today!

1461 Days!

Finally we have arrived at Tassie. First of all, even before heading for the hotel, we went to an oyster farm gate called Barilla Bay which is located near the airport. So on the way to the city centre, we dropped off there to get some really fresh cheap yummy oysters first, and then continued our taxi ride to the city. By the way take-away oysters are so much cheaper than dine-in, so we had a big oyster feast at our hotel, Rydges Hobart. We are gonna stay at Rydges for 2 nights as it is included in our travel package. The place is actually very nice, kind of classic and old style. The suite is much bigger than we expected. The beds are really comfy. In the afternoon, we had a good walk to the main shopping and dinning street, Elizabeth Street. We booked our day tours at the tourist centre and then had a seafood dinner at a boat restaurant at the waterfront as celebration for our fourth anniversary.

Looooooog Flight

What do I do during a long flight? I usually get ready with a book, a magazine, like Cosmopolitan, and this time I take my French textbooks with me so that maybe I can spend some time on revision. I bring along Lonely Planet or other travel books in case if I am really in the mood for that. I check the entertainment guide immediately once I get on the flight to plan which movie I am gonna watch. And of course, I write my journal too. But for me, or for most people, the best time killer is to sleep it thru which really makes a long flight short. I tried but it was quite hard to take a nap comfortably and now unfortunately I am wide awake in this dark cabin while everybody including Adrian, is dozing. After this entry, I am going to read Cosmopolitan and maybe try to get some sleep again later.

Ready for a Journey

We are packing. We are stuffing clothes and other stuff into this sky blue suitcase. This new suitcase is bigger than the one I used to carry during my old journeys, as the new one is used for containing stuff of 2 persons, a couple, more than just an individual. Yes, we are a couple, 2 persons together forming one unit. During these 4 years, we've got more and more things designed or used for a couple; we share a suitcase, a camera, a wardrobe, a bed, an apartment, and so on. Sometimes I have this strong feeling that we are not 2 isolated individuals who are independently working on their own life paths anymore; we are a pair from 2 integrated into 1. Yet, sometimes when people refer us as a couple, I want to tell people so much that I stay as an independent single person, who thinks and acts without influences by a partner. Well, sometimes I just don't want be seen as a half out of a pair. But now looking at this beautiful new suitcase, I am so overwhelmed with love and feel so good about us as a couple!

A Good Beginning

Today is Monday, a beginning of the week as well as a beginning of my new journal.

I will be in Tasmania with Adrian in 2 days. I should be swallowing lots of travel information but just dunno why it turns out that the most exciting part of trip planning now suddenly becomes stress to me. I just couldn't gather myself to work on the preparation. Maybe my PMS turns me into a paranoid person, or I am just so broke that everything requires money gets on my nerves. Anyway, we will have fun. We always have fun together in new places.

The world is in a mess, natural disasters here and there, floods in Central Europe, floods and landslides in Pakistan and China, raging wildfires in Russia, big ice islands breaking off a glacier in Greenland. These involve countless of deaths and injuries now or in the coming future. Is it a result of global warming? Is it a result of our damage to earth? The news keep reporting those horrible disasters from various places around the world and I feel really really depressed and doomed.

It's too hot in Hong Kong. You only need 5 minutes to walk around outside, and then you will be all sweaty and restless. I really need to go somewhere much cooler, like Tasmania! And I am really going. Hurray!!!