1 May, Sydney - Macquarie University

Today I led a seminar with faculty from the Translating & Interpreting program (which houses the Auslan program as well as numerous other spoken languages). Our topic was online learning and we had an excellent discussion about what is "state of the art" in the U.S. for interpreting education programs. We also talked about the specifics - what are best practices, what's happening with today's students and social media, how we help them focus on the task, etc. I explained the Intro to Interpreting course I'm going to "flip" in September, talking about the limitations of time, accurate assessment, etc. I also shared a bit of the work I did for LaGuardia Community College (Language in Use).

Helen Slatyer (temp coordinator of T&I since Jemina Napier left) is very interested in exploring possibilities with me. She was pleased to hear that I visited the International StudyAbroad program yesterday and is hoping we can do "something" together...perhaps begin with having our students engage? The program is for graduate students but she is going to send me info on the course options, and we hope we can make something happen.

Thanks to Della Goswell for being such a great host!

Two photos of the seminar and one of the library (notice that stunning blue sky!!!)

I'm addicted!!

Flat White - the coffee is beyond yummy!! It's really like a latte but better. I think it's the creamy milk....sigh. They're everywhere. Even the 7-Eleven at the corner has a machine that grinds the coffee for EACH cup. Yesterday - first time ever - I had 3 cups of coffee....let me re-phrase that, I had 3 flat whites. This morning, the young woman at the "Grinders" across the street knew what I wanted as I walked up to the counter; she told me, "decaf flat white" and I smiled the smile of a contented woman!!

I may never return to Starbucks.

A day at the Beach

Sorry Folks, I have been neglecting my blogging duties -- but I have been busy. For the past few days I have been traveling around Sydney via busses, trains, and ferries (my apologies to Steve Martin and the late John Candy). On Sunday, I visited the Royal Botanical Gardens and the "Government House." The Govt House is the governor's place of business. Interestingly, the current governor is a woman (the first) a non-Brit (the third) of Lebanese descent, non-military (only the second, she is a physician), and appointed (as opposed to elected) by the Queen. (Picture 1). After that I walked around the famous Sydney Opera House.

Yesterday (Monday), I spent the day going to Manly Beach. It is a 20 minute ferry ride to Manly, a cute little seaside town (very touristy) located on a peninsula between Sydney Harbour and the Pacific. On the way back to the ferry, I had to stop off at a local microbrewery to try one of their local brews (yum!). I am also including a couple of picture from the ferry of Sydney and a photo of the huge face at Luna Park amusement park.

Today, I am spending the day with Chris at Macquarie University. I am including a photo taken by Chris of the wooden eating utensils used here in an effort to support sustainability. Very interesting!

Well, that is it for now. (Sorry, I have not figured out how to integrate the narrative with the photos yet so you will just have to scroll down for now).

Til next time, Rick from Down Under

29 April, Sydney - RIDBC

So this is the first day - here's a photo to prove I'm really here at the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children. This is the administration building.

30 April, Sydney - Macquarie University (MQ)

This is my second day on campus, courtesy of Della Goswell who teaches in their Auslan interpreting program (and is also working on her doctoral degree). Yesterday I met her students, here on campus for a 3-day "block" on medical interpreting. Eight of them come here once a term and then return home to do online work. Interesting, Della said all of their students already have Auslan skills and are actually working interpreters. Their motivation to be here is high, needless to say. I observed 2 one-hour classes: one from an audiologist/interpreter and he explained what to expect when interpreting an audiology session; and one from a physician/linguist who reviewed terminology...what terrific resources! I then led a short discussion on Discourse Analysis; the students were great - and had, by the way, read the Discourse Mapping chapter I wrote with Betsy Winston and the chapter on the research on educational interpreters in Ohio that I wrote with Rico Peterson. Nice to chat about those topics.

Today I was able to meet with a few folks from the MQ Study Abroad office about RIT students. Before I left home, I chatted with Jim Myers, RIT's Associate Provost of International Ed and Global Programs. RIT doesn't have a university contact here in Australia, but students do express interest in doing a semester abroad here...maybe something will come of my meeting.

Had an opportunity to meet Trevor Johnston here at MQ; he is doing amazing work with Auslan, creating a corpus for research among other things. He also introduced me to some software to analyze signing - they use it for analyzing signers and for interpreting students. I'm very interested in this for my students...will follow up on this for sure.

And then we went to dinner: Della, Trevor, Helen (who administers the program), Rick and I - to the Balmoral Beach House. It's a beautiful old beach house, restored and now a restaurant...palm trees abound! A lovely evening.

The campus is very nice (www.mq.edu.au) approx 30 minutes outside Sydney but only 15 minutes from RIDBC, through the 'burbs. The info says they have 32,000 students but it doesn't seem overwhelming. There are nice open spaces like a park, nice trees, great food choices at the student "hub", and - of course - great cafes in many of the buildings.

The Day After ANZAC Day

Today it is my turn to post a message on our blog. (It is my first time.) Yesterday was ANZAC Day here in AU and in NZ. There were a number of events starting with a dawn service and parades followed by other more frivolous activities. Chris and I got up early to catch the public transportation into Sydney's Central Business District (CBD), unfortunately we quickly discovered that due to transportation issues we would miss the bulk of the activities. So rather than get down to the CBD late, we decided to catch our breath and enjoy ourselves around the campus.

Now, the good news is that many of the activities were televised including the annual ANZAC rugby game. Chris and I have never watched a rugby game before, but once you understand the rules (via Google) one can see how it can become addictive. For those of you who have never seen it before, rugby is a cross between sandlot football and Greco-Roman Wrestling.

I am attaching a picture of me on the campus from our walk yesterday. The weather continues to be wonderful with sunny skies and temperatures in the low 70s. For those of you in Rochester, if you have forgotten, that big yellow thing in the sky can make for a wonderful day.

We have now just returned from the "Foodies Market" in the CBD where we got to enjoy some very interesting and delicious foods. Well.., that's it for now.

Rick

p.s. And below my picture is a photo of Chris's latest purchase. :-)

we're really here

It's Wednesday evening and we've had great fun - yesterday and today. We can take the local bus to the river ferry for a one hour trip to the harbor. Yesterday when we came around the bend and under the bridge - wow!! I finally believed that we're really here!! We walked around the harbor, ate lunch...and the weather....it's in the low 70s and sunny...perfect for us (even though many locals are walking around with polartec and sweatshirts).

This morning we went back again and walked up one of the bridge pylons. We had no desire to do the "bridge climb"; we enjoyed it all and had a late lunch (Rick had fish and chips) at a cute little bar.

Photos are of us are on the ferry (see Opera House in background), at the harbor, and one of us on top of the pylon. Oh, and the one of me at the fence with the Opera House...many years ago my cousin Tony and his then bride, our dear Marsha, came to Sydney. When Rick and I visited Tony last Christmas in Florida he showed us old slides so - I may not be dressed as stylishly as Marsha was - but I did try to re-create the event ;-)

Safe, sound and tired

Arrived in Sydney approx 1 hour late--what a loooong flight! Glad we took the advice of my colleague (Bill Clymer) and upgraded our seats. Our section was not completely full so both Rick and I had empty seats next to us. We napped and watched 4 movies--whew. Trudy met us after we went through customs, got our SIM card for our phones, then she drove us through the Sydney morning rush hour. It's weird sitting in the front passenger seat--I felt weird but didn't know if it was the jet lag or the driving patterns!

We've settled in to our great little flat (actually it's not so little) and walked around a bit this afternoon. The weather here is beautiful--blue sky, sunny, warm--especially considering it was snowing when we left home at noon on Saturday! Temps this week will be in the mid 70s. The campus is lovely, and Rick saw 2 cockatoos fly by this afternoon.

Early to bed tonight for sure.

Chris

Waiting in LA

After 8pm west coast time. Flight from Dulles was great
Hoping to leave on time

our travels

	Dates	Action	Presentation Request
	Saturday 20 April	BOTH leave Rochester 2:35PM Leave Dulles 4:55PM  Leave Los Angeles 10:10PM	*** below means “free day” (3 links for more info: ANZAC, Uluru, and Tranzalpine train)
	Monday 22 April	Arrive Sydney 6:30AM
	Tuesday 23		***
	Wed 24		***
	Thurs 25	ANZAC day	***
	Friday 26 Saturday 27 Sunday 28		*** *** ***
	Monday 29 Tuesday 30 Wed 1 May		Informal meetings Discourse Analysis Education workshop
	Thurs 2 Friday 3 Saturday 4*** Sunday 5*** Monday 6 Tuesday 7 Wed 8***	BOTH fly to Auckland, NZ	TRAVEL DAY Informal meetings *** *** Myths, K-12 research Six Mirrors ***
	Thurs 9 Friday 10 Saturday 11 Sunday 12*** Monday 13 Tuesday 14 Wed 15***	BOTH fly to Melbourne RICK – Flies to Alice Springs/Uluru	TRAVEL DAY  Discourse Analysis Six mirrors *** Informal mtgs Informal mtgs ***
	Thurs 16 Friday 17 Saturday 18 Sunday 19***	CHRIS flies to Perth	TRAVEL DAY Informal mtgs Discourse Analysis ***
	Monday 20 Tuesday 21 Wed 22 Thurs 23 ***	RICK – flies to Adelaide CHRIS flies to Adelaide	TRAVEL DAY Myths OR Discourse Analysis K-12 research ***
	Friday 24 Saturday 25 Sunday 26 ***	BOTH fly to Sydney	TRAVEL DAY Discourse Analysis ***
	Monday 27 Tuesday 28 Wed 29***		Six Mirrors Discourse Analysis ***
	Thurs 30 May	BOTH fly to NZ - Christchurch	PLAY
	Friday 31		“
	Saturday 1 June		“
	Sunday 2	Tranzalpine train to Greymouth	“
	Monday 3	Greymouth	“
	Tuesday 4	Train back to Christchurch	“
	Wed 5		“
	Thurs 6		“
	Friday 7	BOTH fly to Sydney
	Saturday 8	BOTH Leave for home…wow!! arrive Rochester 11:30PM

04/11/13