Will You Marry Me?

G'day mates! I have been learning so much during my last week in Oz.

Today at school we honored ANZAC Day which stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. ANZAC day is probably Australia's most important national occasion. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. We had a whole school parade and each class decorated wreaths. Our class wreath was filled with poppies which are the flower that bloomed after the bloodiest war, many said it was showing re-birth of the field of blood.

I have been teaching a lot..which is wonderful! My teacher has been great working with me. Today Mrs. Knight had hot maths, an enriched math class that I usually go to with her but instead I stayed back to teach our class maths. Tara, an experienced reading interventions teacher was our sub and gave me some great feedback...7 pages worth! She was fabulous and we had a great discussion afterwards, she made me feel so important and I appreciated her feedback so much!

I received my first "goodbye gift" today! One of the girls thought it was my last day today...when I told her it was not my last day she had a huge smile on her face and said, "Really?! YAY!" I said she could wait to give me the gift on Friday, my official last day but she wanted me to have it straight away. At the end of the day she asked if she could watch me open the gift and I am so glad she did! First of all, she made me a beautiful card that I would love to frame it is so gorgeous. She said I was the best teacher in the world and wishes I could teach her forever. HA! Then I opened the gift and it was a hand painted wine glass! There is a cute little teacher on it and then on the opposite side in glitter letters it says, " MS ANDERSON YOU ROCKED IT DOWN UNDER IN 2012." I LOVE IT. I almost cried... her mom made it for me! I cannot believe how generous these families are. Now, I am hoping I can get it home in one piece...I would be devastated if it broke.

Now a little story..Saturday while Lynda and I were sun bathing and reading the latest fashion magazines I had to laugh at my horoscope because it said I was to go on a blind date on the 21st.... well, on my way out of school...one of the teachers came into my room and said she has been dying to know how old I was....22...and if I had a boyfriend....no. Turns out she has a 22 year old son that I would be "perfect" for and she is kicking herself for not asking me before so we would have had a chance to actually go on a date. She even asked for my cell phone number.. which the only phone I have here is my pre-paid that coincidentally ran out of minutes on Monday. Anyway, the point of the story is how funny it was that Lynda and I just read my horoscope and then something like that almost* came true. I would be a little hesitant to go on a blind date in Australia...and Brad would probably scare the poor guy at the door ;)

I made my family tater tot hotdish tonight... famous MN meal! They would call it potato gem hotdish here... but everyone loved it! I was happy to make them a meal that they have never tried before.

While sitting at the lounge tonight with the family Coleby decided to propose to me. He said he loved me and no longer wants to be just sister and brother.. or as he would say it, "sista and brudda." Cale was not going to let this happen and grabbed my hand and asked me for my hand in marriage as well. These boys are way too precious. Can I please bottle them up and bring them back to Minnesota with me..? (A blind date and two proposals...where did this come from!?)

Other than the big proposal(s) it has been a pretty relaxing evening. Tomorrow is a public holiday (yes, we are just returning from a two week holiday..so what?!) so there is NO SCHOOL! Lynda and I are planning on it being nice out so we can have another day at the pool.

Hope everyone who was at the Hepola wedding made it back to their destinations safe and sound! I am dying to see pictures and hear stories!! I see Cory, Camille, and Doug busted out the air guitars...love it!

Have a good day everyone! Excited to catch up with everyone at home! I bought TIMTAMS to share :)

Cheers
Mel xoxo