DAY 6 and 7 - A Day of Remembrance (Belgium)

The 11 and a half hour day began with a few life lessons needing a refresher course.  We had a female room not set their clocks correctly and were quite late for breakfast.  The kids were astounded to see a different range of cereal than what they have in Australia.  I knew them from back in Canada.  We had some Coco Puffs, Sugar Crisp, Honey Crisp and a wide variety of meats instead of the usual Australian meals they get at the school.

"Oh my god!  It turns my milk into chocolate milk!"

Welcome to the world of travelling experiences, ASSG.  There were many more for them to have this day.

We journeyed across many different cemeteries looking for Australian soldiers from our research and family records.  I was basically taking pictures of graves with surnames of people I know back home in the hopes that they have some relation and can locate the final resting place.  It's a giant long shot considering more than 10 million people died in the Great War, but you never know.  We visited Hill 60 and found a couple "souvenirs" to take on the plane.  We also stopped near a ridge where Mal's great uncle was killed in action.  It was emotional to see.

Our trip continued back to Ypres to visit the Flanders Fields Museum and learn more about the war itself.  Students were treated to the sights of many artifacts, uniforms, images and stories from the diaries of fallen soldiers.  It was emotional and somber for them as they watched a variety of films depicting the events one would go through during these times.  I hope that they can appreciate the sacrifices even more and gain a better love for some of the educational courses related to history.  We (history teachers) don't intend to bore.  We just have a passion for honouring the past.  I purchased a poster of John McCrae's poem for my classroom.  HELLO TAX CLAIM!  I also grabbed a book of soldiers and their poetry.

We travelled to many cemeteries that paid honour to not only Australians but Canadians and Germans in their respected monuments.  I am thankful for whoever asked the driver to stop so I could grab a picture of the Canadian monument and for the extra bit of information the kids learned about Canada in the war.  I know this is primarily an Australian history trip so it felt quite good.  We made our way to a tavern that pays tribute to the Australian forces.  An amatuer archaeologist by the name of Johan has been excavating remains of the Great War and putting them together.  He is famous for finding the lost brother of John Hunter.  We were given some items from him and we paid a donation and signed a petition for Julia Gillard to get a memorial built in the honour of the Hunter brothers here in Belgium.  School captians, Gemma and Cody, thanked him and we made our way to Tyne Cot cemetery.  It is the largest in Passendaele with over 12,000 graves and 35,000 names of unknown graves on a wall in the fields of the battle.

The groups are gelling together in a funny way.  We have created names for some groups such: as Mal Schneider's Malfunctions, Tracy Meteyard's Pinecones, Cathy Allingham's Hamsters, and Mr. Sokolowski's "Socks and Undies".  Sam Kelly's small but energetic group of Gemma and Kym refer to their leader as Auntie Kelly.  I guess we can say they are Kelly's Kids.  The bus has the ability to create many eccentric moments of teenage humour towards the driver and the tour guide.  John and Mark (guide/driver) are basically Johno and Marco.  We also know each student by their type of laugh.  Majella's guinea pig and Charmaine's Mariah Carey impression are the favourites.  I swear Charmaine will shatter a wine glass or two when we get to Paris.  There's never a dull moment with these students. They bring the life into any situation and never refrain from being outgoing and out of the box.  After a few Belgian waffles and another round of chocolate purchasing we headed for dinner at a local restaurant.

We ended our day with a trip back to the Menin Gate for the "Last Post" service.  Cody and Gemma (School Captains) as well as Shelly Clark and Kellie Healing produced wreathes and flowers to the memorial with other representatives from other schools and clubs.  They made ASSG proud with their demeanour, poise and grace.  Each step echoed with the practise of marching for ANZAC Day.  The synchronized bow was also a little Souls flare that provided the movie we made with that extra sort of respect.  Good on ya!