Hello!
Wow – filthy filthy weather today! Whose grand idea was it to drag 100 students to Tasmania in winter?? haha
Lucky I planned a market/shopping day! Got a puncture on the way home (thank goodness not on the highway at 110km/hr but at a spot where I could pull over and find a place to call for help!)(What a pain!!!)
So now all is quiet, the hordes are fed and some asleep!
I am enjoying the peace before heading to bed with a book!
Yesterday afternoon we headed out to Black River Beach to see something different and do a bit of a scavenger hunt.
I collected Fiona and her dog, Alice to come along for the ride. Fiona just had her carpal tunnel done so is stuck on her property for a while so thought she would enjoy a change of scenery
Um… the reaction of the girls to Alice was a bit worrying! They completely freaked out and there was a LOT of screaming from the back of the car when they saw her! (Mind you – they are IN the car and Alice is outside!)
They are not animal people although they have warmed to Pip (Peggy especially, but not sure how Pip feels about her obsession with him. So far he is tolerating it beautifully – she keeps putting her face too close to his, but he hasn’t hissed yet, which he is apt to do to over-friendly strangers because he is frightened. I will have to remind her again about Pip’s Personal Space haha)
When we got to the car park they flatly refused to get out of the car! Oh dear!
I had to be quite firm with them and finally got them to understand that Alice would go on a leash and they were certainly not sitting in the car after I had driven all the way out there! We hadn’t brought along a Velociraptor after all!!
Fiona kept Alice at a reasonable distance and as the afternoon wore on, the girls ended up quite close to her without really noticing (unless she barked, which was a pants-wetting level offence!!)
Fiona’s husbands is a teacher at one of the local schools who has some of the students, said in his agriculture class none were brave enough to pat the little woolly lambs and were totally freaking out about the chickens! (Well… fair call on the chooks – they ARE like mini Velociraptors I reckon!) Clearly pets and exposure to animals is not more the normal like it is here.
I have worked out that the girls work and interact a lot better with set directives and instructions. Ask them to ‘choose’ something and you could be there forever. (I became quite good friends with the chocolate shop lady today as I was in there for an hour while choices of what to buy were dithered about and phone calls made back home etc etc – not kidding. It was that long!!)
SO – I wrote up a list of 25 objects for them to collect while we were on the beach. Each item has a certain number of points.
It kept them amused!
We have yet to inspect their treasures, as we were home too late to do anything with them, so will save that as an after school activity when its not hurricane weather outside.
Fiona donated a cute prize for the winner so I am looking forward to wrapping that event up!
All the beaches at the moment show signs of the wild weather with so much debris washed up! Collectors delight! Fiona found a nice bit of driftwood that we brought back for her garden.
Starfish was on the list! This one was collected by Tiffany – its going to stink so bad by the time we get to looking at their stuff haha
This is the lovely little scallop shell I found before I washed it off
It really was great to get out for the afternoon. When the weather is rough most of the time, its good to catch a break!
I can’t express how much I want to take this particular bit of wood home…
Well, all good things must come to an end – at 4pm the chill is creeping in and its time to head home!
Time for me to snug Mr Pip up into his bed (I have his hot water bottle in there warming it up because he is not spoiled too badly or anything!), put another big log on the fire and go close my eyes!
This parenting gig when you suddenly have four teenagers in the house is a bit of a shock to the system! 😀
Cheers!
You are one brave soul!!😀😀sure hope you can retrieve that drift wood. Soooo pretty! 4 teens is really something. Glad Fiona could get out with you. Keep calm and KEEP ON LOOKING AFTER THE TROOPS. LOVE LINDA
haha – I expect there is a lot more of that driftwood under the sand!! I suspect its one piece I will have to admire where it is! I went back to bed today!! I was so tired! 😀
Now I am taking it easy until pickup time where I might do some more cooking this afternoon with them. 🙂
Having grown up on a farm with my nose in everyone’s fur and face, I was surprised to hear of their fear of animals. Do they have pets at home or are animals that rare to own? I had hoped by the end of your story you would have great news about the girls warming up to Alice – I know I would have had fun with her. Such a beauty!
The extreme reaction is what surprised me. They are, after all, 14 not 6!! From what I could understand, some family members have dogs… but maybe smaller. Fiona sat with Alice at the end of the day to see if someone would be brave enough to come and pat her. In the words of my niece “Yeah-Nah” 😀 Not a snowballs chance in hell!! 😛
Oh well… And yes, Alice is a beauty!! 🙂
I remember going to summer camp when I was around 15. They put us all on a bus for an outing away from camp & as we drove through the countryside of rural Appalachia (North America) one girl from NYC screamed over the cows. Being a country girl myself, cows were an every day thing to me. I could not imagine the excitement over seeing a cow in a pasture. Every cow we passed, which were quite a lot, she screamed with excitement. I guess most things she saw were amazing to her….like me standing in a city & staring at the tops of skyscrapers in awe.
But dogs are everywhere aren’t they? Though I have heard that some Asian cities have lots of wild dogs running lose that can be dangerous. Maybe they were taught to fear them. What a great experience they’re getting with you!
I am laughing at the girl screaming over the cows!! So funny! I remember the first time my long term Japanese friends visited Australia. Mari laughs and says they have so many photographs of cows! The excitement did wear off after a while and the number of cow photos dropped off somewhat!
I am not sure about this overreaction to Alice! Apparently they do have family with dogs – although maybe a small one, but when we asked if they liked animals – in the general conversations of me trying to get them to talk, the answer was ‘so-so’
Lisa- you get the Host of the Year award with the full ceremony too!! Glad you persuaded them out of the car in the end 🙂
My daughter has a friend with a cultural aversion to dogs and she wouldn’t go to a sleepover at a mutual friend’s house because they have a pet dog. No chance of getting her to our house then!
I am having a laugh – my full award ceremony will be to drop them off to their bus early next thursday, then come back to bed and not move for the rest of the day!!
Gosh this is hard work! haha. They don’t work up much enthusiasm about anything or volunteer thoughts. Pretty much same lukewarm reaction to everything from the food to the beaches to the presents – the prize I gave out for the scavenger hunt got a thank-you but nothing else of enthusiasm and has been left downstairs forgotten!! I tell you… its uphill work! The kitchen stuff is the most successful of the activities with more animation, but there is a lot of extra time where I have to carry the conversation/activities etc which is a bit tedious after a while! Apparently I am not the only one having the same issues! I guess you get out of it what you put in and I suspect these kids are socially a little young to really appreciate or make the most of this experience. I am sure they are having a good time, but – getting your head out of your phone to look at whats happening around you in a different country might be a start!! Oh well… its an experience for me thats for sure!! 😀