Australia - By Holliewood

Hey up there fella's, gooday mate, how ya doing?  I am having a fantastic time in Sydney.  This is such a good experience in a lifetime :D for me.

What I like most about it most here is that we have a swimming pool  in our yard.  I like the beach but not the ocean because animals pee in it.  I like my school but I like my school back home too.  Some of my favorite subjects at Abbotsleigh are Christian studies, French and music too because before violin practice we get to play  other instruments too.  In chapel I got to say  a prayer.  It was about being sorry that we dont act the way God would like us to.  I was really nervous. I had stage fright bad.  I like that we have morning tea.  Morning tea is a snack between breakfast and lunch.  I like going to the computer lab during lunch and lunch is half an hour.

I miss my family and friends in Raleigh.  They always call it America here.  I miss my best friends Sierra and Kate.  But I always have friends at school to cheer me up when I feel homesick.   I miss Goldfish.  I miss Cheese Nips.  I miss Bojangles and Chick Fila. 

I love that a bunch of celebrities come here.  Especially country ones and sometimes pop ones.  I saw Justin Bieber.  We were like 20 feet from the stage. 

peace out!

warm regards,

Holliewood

Mean Girls: Part 2

The reprieve from the mean girl lasted only a couple of days for Hollie.  She told me last week that she was trying really hard not to cry, but it was becoming harder.  And then she said that this girl made her feel like "a loser".  Oh HELL no!  I was at my computer emailing the teacher immediately.  I explained the situation, gave a couple of examples, and asked her these types of things were handled at school.  She responded almost immediately, and asked for a meeting in person.

We met yesterday.  I am not the first mother to come forward with a complaint about this child's behavior (shocker).  Hollie's teacher has spoken to the school psychologist and they are going to start working with the girl on behavior.  In addition, she will keep an eye on Hollie, since she knows this is going on.  She was really struck by the example of the girl sending Hollie to the wrong room for after school care, because she recognized that this took some planning / thinking ahead rather than just spouting off some nastyism on the playground.

I am happy with the actions that are being taken, and hope this will all resolve quickly.

Mean Girls

Drop a new boy in the mix. Friendships will be made and life will move on without a hitch.  But drop a new girl in the mix and drama is 100% guaranteed.

I mentioned in an earlier post that Hollie was being picked on at school.  Hollie has an archrival, and I'll just call her MG for mean girl.  After the first few incidents, Hollie told me that she was being especially nice to MG, even complimenting one of her art projects in front of the whole class.  This is when I told Hollie that she didn't have to be nice to someone who was not nice to her.  Her response was that if you are nice to someone, usually they will be nice to you.  Well, it was a good effort, but it didn't work.  MG sent Hollie to the wrong place for after school care, threatened her over a pencil (serious stuff), and says nasty things to Hollie on a daily basis.  A few days back, I picked up Hollie from school and she was positively beaming!  She said "Mom, Guess what I did?  I stood up to myself!".  I congratulated her, and held back from correcting her grammar in this momentous moment of hers.  She was so proud of herself, and told me that she had been acting as though she didn't hear MG when the comments were made.  She also told MG no, when she tried to trick Hollie into getting the wrong violin book.  Again, serious stuff.  But, while the item itself is not a big deal, standing up for yourself is.

I refrained from making any comments about MG, much as I wanted to.  Hollie needs to come to these things on her own, and I hope that I can guide her through these things without putting too much emphasis on the person, but rather the behavior.  Anyway, mean girls are a dime a dozen, and there will be many  more behind this one.

I am just so proud of her for dealing with this as she has.  Oh, and since she started acting this way - not one incident with MG.  Go Hollie, Go Hollie....

Hollie - Year 2

Hollie attends Abbotsleigh Junior School, which is a stone's throw from Knox.  This was one of the big factors in  picking Abbotsleigh.  There was another school that I liked more, but Jeff liked Abbotsleigh more and I couldn't dispute the convenience of the kids going to school so close together, and the fact that Abbotsleigh has an early learning center that Brynn could possibly attend.

Abbotsleigh is an all girls school from K ("Kindy") - 6.  There are two year 2 classes, each with a max of 22 kids.  Hollie is Ms Southen's class.  I wonder what kind of person it would take to be a teacher at an all girls school.  Props to that.

Hollie has declared herself the smartest person in the class ( I don't know what to do about her lack of self confidence).  I don't think learning will be an issue for her at all.  Socially, I am not sure.  The girls don't seem too nice, and there are a few who have been quite mean.  Hollie was hit in the face on her second day.  It did not deter her enthusiasm, though, so I didn't make a big deal about it.  One day in the parking garage ("car park") during carpool, I saw a girl spit on another girl, pull her hair, and punch her.  Really???  I don't think this behavior is reflective of Australians, but I wonder if it is Abbotsleigh, or if it is the nature of an all girls private school.  Hollie, meanwhile, tries to make friends with everyone, even those who are mean to her.  I tell her that she doesn't have to be nice to people who are not nice to her, but she insists that we should always be nice and that usually if you are nice to someone else, they'll be nice to you too.  Can't argue with her positive attitude.

Of all the things at school, Hollie's favorites are Christian studies and the after school program.  She loves anything to do with Christianity.  She walks around singing gospel songs.  She asks questions constantly about God, Jesus, heaven...Not that they are all profound - "Can I take my ipod charger to heaven?".  But she has asked me about souls, and what do they look like?  How will Grandma Hollie recognize her when she gets to heaven?  Do they sell Gelato there?

We enrolled Hollie in the after school program for a couple of days each week so that she could meet more people.  When school ends at 3, they have afternoon tea, then do homework.  Afterward, they go outside for a sport or do arts and crafts.  At 5pm they have another tea, that is like a small meal.  Then the girls do another activity like computers or reading.  She really loves it and gets mad when I arrive to pick her up too early.

Last week, on Hollie's homework sheet, one of the items was to bring in News, and speak on it for 2 minutes.  So that happened to be the day that Bin Laden was killed.  Since it was all over the papers, and she was interested, she decided to go with that.  Turns out that News means something different here, at least in the school.  News is like show and tell.  The goal is to get the girls up in front of the class and get them used to public speaking.  Now we know, and today Hollie was going to talk about a Barbie in news.  Lesson learned!