Upside Down and Backwards

Our Trip to New Zealand

kpitman22 — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 11:43:50 +0000

We spent the last week driving around the South Island of New Zealand. We drove over 2000 km in just under 7 days and saw some pretty amazing sights along the way. We took over 1000 pictures and have picked out a hundred or so of our favorites to share. You can find them here.

Banyule Primary School

kpitman22 — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 05:23:32 +0000

Click here for pictures

A Weekend Trip to the Dandenong Ranges

aprilpitman — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 15:09:29 +0000

For the Queen’s birthday long weekend we decided to take a weekend trip. We rented “big bird” (the name of our rented car) and headed off on Saturday morning. We took a ride on Puffing Billy, saw the spectacular view from Sky High Mt Dandenong and then explored the treasures at Carribbean Gardens and Markets. To see some of our pictures click here.

Teaching Practicum

kpitman22 — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 15:08:04 +0000

For the last 3 weeks, I’ve been doing my teaching practicum at Kingsbury Primary School. I’ve been teaching a grade 3/4 composite class. Composite classes are very common in Australia due to the nature of their curriculum and it’s been challenging to work with two different grade levels at once. For the last 2 weeks, we’ve been doing a learning unit on fashion and how it’s changed over time. Last week, we had a fashion parade for the students where they were asked to come into school wearing a costume or fashion from a specific decade. Some of the pictures from that day are here.

An Ode to Jessica

aprilpitman — Mon, 24 May 2010 07:17:43 +0000

On this very special day (if you count the time difference between May 24th in Melbourne and May 24th in Kingston it is really a 38 hour birthday) I would like to recognize one of the most special women I know. Despite the fact that all of Canada will be celebrating with fireworks I feel that this is not enough. Hopefully, this blog post, enjoyed by a handful of readers, will bring the recognition she deserves.

I wasn’t really sure how to start this off but then song lyrics just came to mind. I think it’s only fitting to include these lyrics by the brilliant Michael W. Smith…

Packing up the dreams God planted
In the fertile soil of you
I can’t believe the hopes He’s granted
Means a chapter of your life is through

But we’ll keep you close as always
It won’t even seem you’ve gone
‘Cause our hearts in big and small ways
Will keep the love that keeps us strong

And friends are friends forever
If the Lord’s the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
‘Cause the welcome will not end
Though it’s hard to let you go
In the Father’s hands we know
That a lifetime’s not too long

To live as friends
And with the faith and love God’s given
Springing from the hope we know
We will pray the joy you live in
Is the strength that now you show

We’ll keep you close as always
It won’t even seem you’ve gone
‘Cause our hearts in big and small ways
Will keep the love that keeps us strong

Though it’s hard to let you go
In the Father’s hands we know
That a lifetime’s not too long
To live as friends

No a lifetime’s not too long to live as friends

I hope you have the tune to this song in your head…cause I know I do.

Seriously, Jessica you have been such an awesome friend to me. Thank you so much for your love, support, encouragement, and all that good stuff. When we hang out it’s always easy. I never have to think of the next thing I’m going to say to keep the conversation going or be worried that I’ll say something to offend you. Best of all we enjoy doing the same things…which usually includes anything lazy.

Thank you for your spiritual encouragement and accountability. I know that you will be honest with me and I can count on your for solid biblical advice.

Thank you for having a relationship, getting married and having kids before me. It’s allowed me to learn from you and know that my freak outs are just normal.

Thank you for not expecting me to call all the time or respond to emails in a timely fashion. You accept me for who I am and never take it personally. You are an amazing best friend!

Here’s a picture I took for you at Philip Island. It’s entitled “Hot Stuff at Sunset”

And another picture I took for you. Sorry I look so tired it was taken after work. Also you may notice that the picture is drawn with only the colour purple…that’s your favourite right?

And let me just finish off by saying…Jessica, a lifetime’s not too long to live as friends!

Love you, Happy birthday!

April’s Birthday

kpitman22 — Sun, 23 May 2010 00:11:45 +0000

Tuesday was April’s Birthday, so we threw a surprise party for her with a Canadian Theme. To see some pictures, click here

Phillip Island

aprilpitman — Sun, 16 May 2010 02:04:56 +0000

Despite being told by many Aussie’s that there isn’t much to see on Phillip Island and has recently become a tourist trap we decided to go check it out anyways. We picked up our trusty bright yellow Honda Jazz and off we left for our 2 hour drive to Phillip Island. We visited Panny’s Chocoate Factory, the Koala conservation, the Nobbies and the highlight of the trip The Penguin Parade. The day was awesome with the Penguin Parade as the highlight. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take any pictures of the fairy penguins…sorry. To see our pictures click here.

Latrobe Baseball

kpitman22 — Sun, 09 May 2010 13:50:19 +0000

Some pictures taken from Kyle’s baseball game in Ringwood. Click here.

Panoramic Shots

kpitman22 — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 08:13:45 +0000

We’ve stitched together some Panoramic Shots from our trip so far that look pretty cool. Click here to see them.

How to Choose a Footy Team 101

kpitman22 — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 09:10:17 +0000

One thing that has been stressed to me over and over again since we’ve arrived in Australia is that it is extremely important to have a rooting interest in the AFL. For those who don’t know what the AFL is, it’s a professional Aussie Rules Football League. There are 16 teams in the league, and most of the teams are from local suburbs in Melbourne, while the remaining teams are from coast cities, such as Brisbane and Sydney. Everybody has their own team to cheer for and they are extremely passionate about their team.

Both April and I have been asked a few times who are team is, and since I had no prior knowledge of the sport or its affiliated teams, I decided that I needed to dig in and do some research. I borrowed a model from Bill Simmons from ESPN, who chose an English Premier League Soccer team using a predetermined set of criteria and input from fans all over the world (see the article here).

I came up with my own criteria and did some backbreaking research to come up with a team. April decided that she would just cheer for the team who was the biggest rival of the one I chose. Seems fair enough, she’s had to do a lot of real work while I’ve had it pretty easy.

I laid all of my criteria out on to a spreadsheet and ranked each team according to each criteria. The team that ranked the best in a specific category received 16 points, while the lowest ranked team received 1 point. I added up all the points for each category, and the team that received the most points is the one that I ultimately chose.

Click here to see the fruit of my labor (i.e. download the spreadsheet, complete with commentary).

In the end, the Carlton Blues won out, so I am now officially a Blues Supporter.

There are allegedly two teams who are rivals of Carlton: the Collingwood Magpies and the Essendon Bombers. Since everyone apparently hates Collingwood, April will be cheering for the Essendon Bombers.