The second week at Phoenix Academy was waiting for me. Fortunately, school finished already at 1:45 PM. Sarah, Beni, Jenny and me went to the travel agency in order to rent a car, as we wanted to make a trip to Monkey Mia over Easter. But there was no way to get a car and of course also no accommodation. So we decided on a whim to join a trip to the southwest, Albany and surrounding, they offered. It is the same trip they offered at Phoenix, so there will be probably some other mates from school joining us. I am sure, that is going to be a great trip. The weather should be fine, but a little bit cooler than it’s actually in Perth. After a refreshing drink and some shopping at Woolworth I went home.
Saturday, 11 AM, I caught the bus at Dianella plaza and later the train from the city to Fremantle. I had an appointment with my friends from school for Lunch. We were recommended to go to the “little creatures” restaurant. I tried kangaroo, it was quite tasty. After a short walk through the town and the market, taking some photos, we caught the train back to Perth. It was planned, to spend the afternoon again on the Cottesloe Beach. But the weather was not as good as expected, windy and cloudy. So most of my mates decided to go home for doing homework. Me and Daniel went out at Cottesloe, but decided after a walk along the beach that it was definitely no beach time today. At least I took some good photos. Back home, I did, what everyone was doing, homework.
On Sunday it was tennis time again. Kon picked me up soon after breakfast. We were only 4 players, so it was a little bit more intensive than the week before. We played for about 2 hours. Back home, I wanted to continue with my homework, when suddenly my friends called me to ask whether I would join them on Cottesloe Beach. The weather was beautiful again after the cloudy Saturday, so that I couldn’t resist to get my swimming stuff ready and take the next bus and train to Cottesloe. It was cool (although it was hot), to enjoy the afternoon with my new friends.
Sarah and Beni, two schoolmates from Switzerland which whom I spend a lot of my spare time
Telling you in my last post about this turbulent Monday which the devastating thunderstorm, leading to damages running into millions of dollars, the rest of the weak was quiet – at least concerning the weather.
From Tuesday to Thursday nothing special happened. School is quite tough, especially with the daily 3 hours homework I am not used to it any more (it is quite a special situation being in the role of the student again instead of standing in front of the class;-) ). But we’ve got a really good class and Rhonda, our teacher, does her job very well. On Wednesday I went with Sarah and Beni, two Swiss schoolmates to Hyde Park, a nice little park with a lot of different birds and funny trees. And of course, it was a welcome cooling, walking around in the shade of the trees (the temperature is still around 32 degrees in the afternoon).
Friday was quite an easy day. We went together with the other Cambridge class and our teachers to the city for a little sight seeing tour on which we had to find several spots on our own. In the early afternoon, after school had finished, we took the train to Cottesloe Beach. A beautiful place, the sea and the beach are very clean and there were only few people (I expected more crowd to be there). The sea was quite fresh, but just perfect concerning its temperature. Back home, I enjoyed a delicious Moussakka (greak speciality) Evi had cooked for us.
You might have heard about the heavy thunderstorm, which hit Perth last Monday. I am still fine, but more about it later.
Last Sunday I played some tennis in the morning with Kon (Jims Brother) and his friends. We played 3 against 3 - that was fun, but not really exhausting. For the beginning it was ok, just to get some practice again. The balls are heavier to hit - you can feel the higher air.
In the afternoon I went with Jim and Evi to the Kings Park again to enjoy the beautiful weather and the nice view over the city. After a sight seeing tour I finally knew where to catch which busses to get to school and back home.
On Monday, school started. Arrived at Phoenix Academy, we were given a short tour through the campus before we had to write the Cambridge entry-test for the rest of the morning. There are 14 students in my class, from La Réunion, Germany, Italy, Colombia, Korea and especially from Switzerland. “We” are the biggest fraction, although not everyone speaks German (which is anyway forbidden in the classroom, otherwise you get caught by the yellow duck…).
By the time school finished, we have been talking in the backyard, while suddenly a heavy thunderstorm moved on. I decided to leave, after a lightning hit somewhere nearby, producing a blackout at school (also concerning the wireless lan). Waiting for the bus, it started first raining, then hailing. I stood under the shelter of the station, pressing my hand against my ears in order to not to get deaf, because the hail stones of golf ball-size were producing an unbelievable noise. I’ve never experienced that before. After a few minutes everything around was white, covered with hail, the street was flooded completely. Totally soaked, we finally got into the arriving bus. The driver told us, that there were hailstones of tennis ball-size in other places and cars with broken front-windows…
Fortunately we were not hit that much, but there was no way coming through downtown, water covering the streets a meter thick or more…. It was just devastating and the traffic broke completely down. In the next bus, on the way home I’ve been standing for more than an hour on the same spot. Finally I decided to get out, walking towards home. After walking for a while, outside the city, the traffic was running again. So I finally got a bus home (after a 3-hour-journey, which usually lasts 30 to 40 minutes…).
Saturday morning Jim showed me their house and garden. They have a beautiful and very clean house. In their garden they grow Mango, Avocado, Oranges, Mandarins and a lot of flavours and other vegetables. A bit later, Jim took me with his car for a first ride. He showed me the first part of my way to school and also the Galeria shopping center. We went to the supermarket in Dianella where I could by a few things I needed. Back home, Evi had already cooked for us. She is a real good cook (how it was to be expected- she is Greek.) I also got to know Jims brother Kon with whom I will play tennis from time to time and Marco, one of Evis and Jims sons. Anthony, the son of Marco, was also there. After dinner, we had to take Jim to his lawn-bowl-match (It’s like Boccia, but the balls are not round but egg-formed). Later in the afternoon we went to Jims bowling again to see the last ends. In the evening, I went with Marco and Antony to Perth, Kings Park. The view from the memorial of WW1 was great. Still feeling the jet-lag I went to bed early again.
