Meeting My New Class at Monash Primary School, Monash, Canberra --9-17-96

Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 04:02:41
Subject: Meeting my New Class

Canberra, Australia
Tuesday, September 3

G'day, Mates.

Today I drove with Mr. Rogers to Canberra, ACT, Australia. ACT stands for Australian Capital Territory and is like the District of Columbia in the United States. It is the Capital of Australia and has Parliament House, which is like the United States Congress, where they make all of the national laws. It is a very pretty and modern city, with wide boulevards and lots of trees.

The reason we came to Canberra is so I could meet my new class at Monash Primary School, which is in a suburb of Canberra... like Clayton is a suburb of St. Louis. When we drove up to the school I was really excited to meet my new class.

The teacher of my new class is Mr. Wilson. He is a very nice man. I think I'm going to like being in his class. When Mr. Rogers and I walked into the classroom together, the whole class was sitting together on the floor waiting for us to arrive. It made me feel so special. (Mr. Rogers tells me that I AM special!) They were just as excited as I was.

Mr. Wilson's class at Monash Primary are year 2 and year 3 students. Their ages are 7, 8 and 9 years. Two of the students in Mr. Wilson's class gave Mr. Rogers Aussie, a very special little koala bear, to take back with him to Ms. Preston's class at Glendridge Elementary School in Clayton, Missouri.

Mr. Rogers had grown very fond of me, however, and told the children that he was going to be taking a trip around Australia and that he really was hoping they would let me go with them. Even though I really wanted to get to know my new classmates, I agreed to go with him if he could convince Mr. Wilson's class to let me go with him. Well, Mr. Rogers asked their permission, and they gave it, so my new friend, Aussie, and I are now taking a 2-week tour around Australia with Mr. Rogers. Mr. Rogers tells me he will take us around Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Melbourne before I go back to stay with my new class at Monash Primary School. He tells me that we'll have some interesting adventures... which I promise I'll write and tell you about. We have taken some nice pictures of my new class, Mr. Wilson, and the principal of the school, Mr. Owen Savage. Mr. Rogers tells me that when he gets back to the United States he will put all of the photographs together in a nice album and send a copy to my old class in Clayton and also my new class in Monash.

In the meantime, Aussie is teaching me how to speak Australian, which sounds different than what we talk like in St. Louis. The first thing he told me is how to say hello: G'day, Mate... which sounds to an American like me something like "G' Die, Myte". Of course, Aussie tells me that I'm the one who talks funny... not him. I'll tell you more about some of the differences in my next letter.

For now,

Good bye to all my friends in Clayton, and all my new friends in Monash!

Woodsy