Kyle Goes to School

G'day Mates
Taree High School is the name of the school I will be attending this year. In Australia there is no middle school. The primary(elementery) schools go up to year 6. Then the kids go to high school in year 7. I'm in year 9 although I'm an average age for starting year 8. I chose to go into year 9 because when I come back to the states, I would rather be a half of year ahead of my friends than a half of year behind. Also, I will be able to finish high school early and hopefully do a running start college program.
The schedules here are heaps(a word that all Aussies say a lot) different and heaps more confusing. It is based on a two week rotation, and then starts over again. I have 8 classes total, and 5 classes a day. This means I attend classes 5,6 or 7 times every two weeks. I go to my electives less than my required classes. This semester I have 4 electives and 4 required classes. My electives are wood shop, skilled games, computer graphic design and metal shop. My required classes are english, science, PE/health and maths(the letter "s" is put at the end of math here).
At my school, we have carnivals throughout the year. Last Friday was our swim carnival. It was very interesting and the kids really got into it. One thing they did was dressing in crazy outfits in their house colours.(yes, that's how colors is spelled here) and making up crazy chants to cheer on there team and pump up the crowd. At Taree High School there are houses (such as in Harry Potter). The houses are named after rivers near by. There is the Manning, Hooke & Peel. I am in the Hooke House and our colour is green. The carnival went all day and there were many events. There were all of the strokes, for every year, in two different lengths (50 and 100 metre's(yeah it's spelled right)) and then all of the relays.
The school is about 15 kilometre's away from where we live in Old Bar. So I catch a bus to school.(the same bus as in the picture) They are huge, air conditioned, single seated, cushioned seats, city buses. And it picks me up right on the street we live on. The only problem is that after school I have to wait 30 minutes until it comes to the school.
Here I wear a uniform to school. For normal classes, I wear what is in the picture with the grey shorts and white shirt. For sport, I wear what is in the picture with the black shorts and the gold polo shirt.
I have met many friends here who have shown me around campus and Old Bar. Some of them I go surfing with on weekend mornings. I now have a friend in every class so I am never alone, and they help me know what to do because some of my teachers talk with a really strong accent.
I really enjoy recieving e-mails so please feel free to e-mail me any time you like. my e-mail address is ksteen93@yahoo.com.

~Kyle