Skool Placements (Plus Scars from the Past)

So this week events haven't been as much fun as in previous. Yet underneath its otherwise con temporarily bleak surface lurks the potential for explosive excitement.

Well with that overall imaginative opening let's jump into some of the events as of late. First though we have a follow up to our last update.

War Wounds

Well you'll recall that I mentioned after my most excellent beach excursions two weeks ago that I'd gotten a "little" sunburned. Well here in this terrible pic you get a bit of an idea of how bad

(Though it's hard to make out the base of my neck has nearly 2nd degree burnage. Obstructing your view is the intense glare of the same UV radiation that did this too me outside. Without the protection of the Ozone hole down here all in New Zealand must respect and obey the sun! Otherwise it'll burn you like this, and too boot FOLLOW YOU INTO YOUR ROOM AFTERWARDS AND TRY TO DO IT AGAIN... all while you're trying to take a pic of those wounds!!!)

Now for those of you out there who might worry (especially Mom) about this occurring again not to fret. I've just purchased amazing spray on sun screen that works as well as normal, but is WAY easier to reapply then normal.

Courses

Skool itself has been going now for 4 weeks, and has only been getting more intense. Here are the first posted pics of the Dunedin College of Education (or sorry since Jan. 1 and the merger the University of Otago College of Education). We've thus far had courses as varied as Maths (down here Math is pluralized always), Science, English, and Professional Development. More are on their way for next week and beyond as well...

Placements

As of this week (week 4) we've also been out on our first outings to not one, but TWO kidling schools. The first one we went to was to teach a short math lesson to a couple kids (it also resulted in our first homework assignment I JUST finished!). The second has been to circulate around the operations of an active school, and observe the workings in and out...

New Peeps

As of this week we've also had a number of people moving in for the upcoming (next week) start of the real school year down here. Turns out we had a good full month head start on everyone else, SLACKERS!

So that has resulted in my meeting and hanging out with a bunch of new people. Like Peter up here above. He's a Economics PHD entering a Law degree, and is a very cool guy...

Exploration

Despite the fact that after 1.5 months my immediate surroundings here in Dunedin are now all but familiar there is still plenty of new things and places to see (I'm restricted to the Northern Core of the City for the most part). I've taken a proactive approach to learning the new wild life around me with the purchase of three books. For this Red Billed Seagull above (which despite its pesty life style I think is still a beautiful bird) I have a bird guide to Dunedin. I now also have a guide to Estuary environments of New Zealand for my beach outings (and Crab hunts... I now know the identity of the mystery crab!). Lastly a chance encounter with a nicely illustrated and cheap guide to sea fish now have a book for when I go diving too...

So all in all things are going fine down here. Undoubtedly my next posting should (hopefully) be more exciting then this transitional one...