The end of another era

I was completely unprepared for the feelings I felt on my son's Valedictory Assembly last Friday.

As we were sitting there waiting for the proceedings to start and watching the Graduation DVD, I felt sorry that the class of 2010 was leaving Doncaster Secondary College and had nothing nice to greet them goodbye. All the school had to show was a pitiful collection of horrible photos, half of them with mobile phone quality and completely unflattering. Non to mention that my son was only on one of them. I felt embarrassed that the event was so poorly prepared. Maybe is because I am so involved in grade 6 Graduation and we do so much for our grade 6's I felt like secondary students deserve much more.

El viernes fue la ceremonia de Graduacion de mi hijo y me di cuenta que no estaba bien preparada para los sentimientos que evoco. Tal vez porque las diferentes etapas fueron transcurriendo de a poco, la culminacion de las clases, los examenes... fue como que la ceremonia llego de golpe y sin demasiada preparacion.

Mientras estabamos sentados ahi esperando que comenzara y mirando un DVD, me dio lastima que la clase de 2010 terminara y lo unico que el colegio tuvo para mostrar fue una coleccion pesima de fotos, la mayoria sacadas con calidad de telefono mobil y en la que solamente 1/3 de los alumnos estaban representados. Me dio como verguenza que el evento estuviera tan mal preparado. Tal vez porque al yo estar involucrada en la graduacion de los chicos de 6to grado y con todo lo que hacemos para ellos, creo que chicos de la secundaria merecen mas.

The thing is that when the English teacher read her speech it really touched me. She gave the students some advice and the one that stuck with me and thought was very valuable was this: She said: "people tell you to do everything in moderation, I tell you don't. Passion is what makes you reach higher and further, doing things in moderation only leads to mediocrity and a mediocre life. Take some risks." I thought that was something. I could feel the tears welding in my eyes and in a flash I saw my son's last 6 years go by so quickly. It is now time to start something new and I hope it starts brightly.

La cuestion es que cuando la profesora de Ingles leyo su discurso, realmente me toco. Les dio 3 consejos a los alumos y uno de ellos me parecio tan valioso. Les dijo: " todos dicen que hagas todo con moderacion, pero yo les digo NO, hagan las cosas con pasion, porque con pasion es como se llega mas lejos, hacer todo con moderacion solo conduce a la mediocridad y a una vida mediocre. Yo les digo que tomen riesgos..." Me encanto eso. Ahi se me llenaron los ojos de lagrimas y en un flash vi pasar los ultimos 6 anos. Ahora es hora de empezar algo nuevo y espero que empiece brillantemente.

Loving Julia Stone at the moment

Angus and Julia Stone

Angus & Julia Stone - Big Jet Plane - Rolling Session #12

- Watch more Music Videos at Vodpod.

Veggie Patch

It's so nice to be connected with nature in this way again. I haven't done it in a long time and I am enjoying it greatly. We have planted lettuce, basil, tomatoes (cherry and normal), cucumber, eggplant, parsley and hopefully our "zapallito" seeds will sprout. It's so nice to see the plants develop and become strong. My potted plants are also looking healthy, now that I have the time to dedicate to them, and the garden is bursting with flowers. I will take pictures regularly to show the growth of my veggies.

Es tan lindo estar conectada con la naturaleza de esta manera otra vez. No lo hago desde hace mucho tiempo y lo estoy disfrutando mucho. Plantamos lechuga, albaca, tomates, pepinos, berengenas, perejil y tenemos esperanzas que las semillas de zapallito salgan. Es re lindo ver las plantas desarrollar y ponerse fuertes. My plantas en macetas tambien estan luciendo saludables, gracias a que ahora tengo tiempo de prestarles un poquito de atencion y el jardin esta explotando de flores. Voy a sacar fotos regularmente para mostrar como crecen las verduritas.

Cold November

Cold November.Tomorrow is the Melbourne Cup again. If I am not mistaken I started this blog on a Melbourne Cup day 2 years ago. It is amazing how much of my life is here now. I always knew it was important to keep a journal, cause our brains really hold so little, but it was too hard trying to write "the slow way" (handwriting) and I never lasted more than a couple of weeks. I know now that keeping this blog has been such a good decision and it has been a great journey in many ways. It has helped me with my focus, my writing, my photography, my IT skills and more importantly my memories.

Noviembre frio. Manana es la "Melbourne Cup". Si no me equivoco empece este blog hace dos anos en la Melburne Cup. Es increible cuanto de mi vida esta aca. Siempre supe que era importante mantener un diario, porque el cerebro realmente puede guardar tan poco, pero siempre me resulto dificil escribir "de forma lenta" (a mano) y nunca dure mas de un par de semanas. Ahora se que mantener este blog fue una decision buenisima y un trayecto positivo en tantos aspectos. Me ayudo con mi foco, mi escritura, my fotografia, mis habilidades con la computadora pero mas importante, me ayudo a retener memorias y a recordar momentos.

For Inspiration

Finishing Secondary School

My son finished secondary school on Friday. Now it's time to study hard to get into uni, but the highlight was Friday night when the school held the Formal Dinner and Dance for the students at Flemington Racecourse. The weather was awful, rain, wind, hail and cold, which did not allow for a lot of outdoor photography. So I couldn't get a variety of images of my 18 year old dressed in a suit and tie, but he still looked gorgeous and he accepted to pose for me and even put one or two "model-like" faces for my amusement. I can't believe Anton is so grown up! It's so hard to let go and to start treating him like an adult.

My hijo termino la secundaria el viernes. Ahora es hora de estudiar para entrar a la universidad, pero lo que se destaco esta semana fue el Viernes a la noche cuando la escuela realizo la Cena Formal y Baile para los estudiantes. El clima estuvo de lo peor, lluvia, viento, granizo y frio, por lo que no permitio mucha fotografia al aire libre. Asique no pude tender una variedad de imagenes de mi hijo de 18 anos vestido de traje y corbata. Esta hermoso y acepto posar para mi y hasta puso un par de caras de modelo para mi entretenimiento. No puedo creer que Anton este tan grande! Es tan dificil verlo tan grande y tratarlo como un adulto.

Los Primos

All together. The next generation.

Karaoke Night

Muy divertido estuvo la noche de karaoke para celebrar el cumpleanos de mi suegra, Susana. Mi cunado se compro un set the karaoke y despues de cenar nos reunimos en el living para cantar. La verdad fue desastroso pero super divertido. Es increible que de las paginas y paginas de canciones que habia y que yo pensaba que sabia...solo 2 salieron bien de principio a fin. Es un experimento interesante ese...cantar una cancion de principio a fin sin equivocase la letra y la melodia. Con mi cunado Alejandro logramos un temazo: You give love a bad name (Bon Jovi), con Andrea cantamos Money, Money, Money (Abba) sin errores y con Ricky Smoke on the Water (Deep Purple)! El resto salieron de terror. Pobre mi suegra que no habia letras en castellano, excepto los coros de The Cup of Life (Ricky Martin). Los vecinos estarian rogando que nos quedemos sin voz y nuestros hijos tambien.

How much fun it was last night! We had a karaoke night to celebrate my mother in law's birthday. Mi brother in law bought a karaoke set and after dinner we gathered in the living room to sing. The truth is that it was a disaster but incredibly funny. It's amazing that page after page of hundreds of songs I only really knew a few from beginning to end. Only 3 songs turned out fine. It's an interesting experiment, cause one thinks one knows all these songs, but to sing them, on the mic, without mistakes and sticking to the melody, from beginning to end is nearly impossible. With Alejandro (mi bro in law) we succeed with "YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME" Bon Jovi, with Andrea it was "MONEY, MONEY, MONEY" Abba and with Ric it was SMOKE ON THE WATER Deep Purple. The rest were so bad that are not even worth mentioning. I feel for my mother in law cause all the songs were in English, the only one she could join in was The cup of Life by Ricky Martin. The neighbours were praying that we lose our voices and so were our kids.