Pittsburgh, PA, 12.35pm, Tuesday 22nd March. By Max.

Yesterday Ethan and I went to Aaron and Jeremy's school to see what it was like. We got up at about 7.00 in the morning and got dressed and had breakfast. Then we put on our shoes and walked out the door to the bus stop. It was pretty exciting going to school on the yellow bus.

When we got there I followed Aaron to his grade 2 class. The entire school was indoors and it had a cafeteria. When we got to his class we went in after putting Aaron's backpack in his locker.

I sat at a desk next to Aaron's. I was introduced to Aaron's teacher, Mrs Parreaguirre. I started off by showing all of the kids where I was from and what it was like there. Then I sat down at my desk and did some of my homework. Next I sat down on the floor in a group and learned about mapping and North and South America. After that I went to the library and looked at a book with Aaron.

Then we all went outside to lunch and I spent my playing time with Aaron running away from my 'fan club'. Next I went into the cafeteria and ate my vegemite sandwich for lunch.

When I came back to class the kids asked me questions about Australia like: 'What do you do in your spare time?' or 'What sports are in Australia?' or 'What are some Aussie foods?' or'Do you have Nintendo DS in Australia?' and much more. Then we did a matching sheet (which mum and Mrs Fresh had made up), where you had to match the Aussie words with their American words for the same thing. Their favourite one was 'Sloppy Joe' which for us is a jumper and for them is a loose meat and onion food thing. Once I had told them all the answers I did some more of my Australian homework. Next we went to computer class and leaned about Cyber safety, who to talk to and who not to talk to. Then we went back to class, got our bags and went out the door to join the bus lines so we could catch a bus back home. When the bus arrived we got on and went to our stop where we got off and walked back to the Fresh's house.

Once there we unpacked our bags and went outside to play a fun game of cricket with Aaron, Jeremy and the neighbours who we taught how to play. It was so much fun. Once we had finished cricket we went inside and had dinner. After dinner we went back outside and played Zombie Tag which is exactly the same as tip but if you get tipped you're a zombie too. We played that for about an hour till we stopped and played basketball with the Fresh's and Andy (one of the neighbours). When it started to get dark we went back inside and got into our P.Js, read a book together and went to bed.

Max

me getting on the bus (in black)

Ethan on the bus

the front of their school, they have 700 kids there from K to year 5