Finally, the day arrived when Jenni and I would be able to start working with School Industry Partnerships. Our first activity was a site visit to Mother Teresa Primary in Westmead. Jeannette picked us up bright and early and drove us through the city and out to the school.

The school was pristine. That’s probably because they have banned rubbish bins. Everyone had to take their own rubbish home each night. The result is that most people pack their lunches in Tupperware containers and then pack their waste in it to carry it home. The kids were adorable and all of them work cute little floppy hats. Jeanette told us that was because of an ongoing effort to prevent kids from getting skin cancer and they were required to wear their hats until they left primary school.

Jeannette had to leave us there and John picked us up for the drive to the office in Penrith. We met Ian and had a quick lunch at a local Thai place before we went to visit Jamison High School.

It was really interesting how similar the Australian high schools are to the ones in the states! We had a quick talk with the principal before the assistant principal led us on a tour of the campus.

Jenni decided to add another activity to our next day’s presentation which would involve a multidimensional art project, so on our way back to Sydney, Cheryl stopped at a local dollar store. And by dollar store, I mean a store where things are less expensive than most stores but still more expensive than the states! We stocked up on pipe cleaners, glitter, glue, pipe cleaners, and googly eyes.

The drive back took a while so Cheryl passed on dinner and Jenni and I went up to our luxurious suite and ordered in pizza, one with cheese, one no cheese. We are international business consultants, it’s what we do.