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WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama and inhabitant Prime Minister Julia Gillard couldn't feature sufficiency most the near friendship between their digit countries during Gillard's prototypal White House meet Monday. But on digit supply there was no ordinary ground: vegemite.

Obama winced at the plain mention of the inhabitant matter adhesive when a enrollee asked most it during a classroom meet the digit body conducted. "It's horrible!" the chair declared.

Gillard displayed whatever diplomacy befitting a concern cheater on her prototypal pedagogue tour, calling the supply "a lowercase taste of a sectionalization between the chair and I. I fuck vegemite."

Obama and Gillard began with a more traditional approach on Monday. They held a private gathering and then a relatively news-free appearance before reporters in the Oval Office, proclaiming cooperation on the struggle in Afghanistan, change and security. But then the chair took the maturity rector backwards to school.

The digit took a quick agency activate to Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va., to mix it up with an 11th grade story class. Obama had utilised the school as the site of a national come on education, and Gillard is Australia's past activity rector and was fascinated in attractive a countenance at U.S. activity methods.

Plus, the stake had a political purpose: Keeping Obama on his month-long communication of activity modify as concern events labour absent at his time.

What followed were whatever amusing, and at times instructive, exchanges among Obama, Gillard and the 20 or so story students they confronted.

Gillard administered what she called a "pop quiz" to the students with questions ranging from the accumulation of state — digit enrollee pretty much nailed it at 21 meg — to the rules for "Australian rules football," the unclear edition of climb played in Australia.

"It's hornlike to understand," was digit student's attending most the sport.

That led Obama to divulge that Gillard had brought him an inhabitant climb and had modify kicked it around the Oval Office, and "almost poor a bust of Lincoln."

Turned discover the chair was meet kidding most that one.

When Obama and Gillard solicited questions for the maturity minister, a assistance effort up.

"My family and I hit been wondering this for a lowercase while. What is vegemite?" a enrollee earnestly inquired, provoking the leaders' difference on that high-stakes issue.

There followed questions most past high in Australia, the differences between the activity systems in state and the U.S. — turns discover there are a aggregation more schools in the U.S., but both countries deal kindred goals toward boosting underperforming schools — and whether basketball is played in Australia.

It is. Not only that, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who was along on the tour, actually played there and claimed to hit been the directive official for quaternary years.

Obama had been scheduled to meet state terminal year, but the activate was twice canceled because of husbandly priorities. In salutation to a discourse from an inhabitant reporter Obama said he hoped to movement to state soon, but he didn't give a specific timetable.

As reporters were being ushered discover of the classroom, the teacher, Collette Fraley, upraised a discourse that could hit provoked an interesting response. She asked Obama and Gillard to talk most what it was like for both of them to be "firsts" — Obama as America's prototypal black president, and Gillard as the prototypal woman maturity rector of Australia.

Obama said he'd move to answer until reporters were cleared from the room, leaving his salutation unknown.

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