Even though by the time I actually get to school and post this awesome blog post it will most certainly not be the middle of the night, I am indeed dedicated enough to bring to you all the latest news in Balgo at this mighty fine hour. Well, I don’t know if dedicated is the right word; perhaps madness is a better fit. What am I doing up at this ungodly time of the night you may ask? Silly me decided to go to bed really early to try and get up at a decent hour in the morning (before 11am) to FINALLY go to the gym after not going for near on two weeks due to illness. I was actually so excited I went to bed just before 8.30pm to try and be up by 7am and make use of the morning hours I usually sleep through. But then I woke up at 11.30pm and have been awake ever since because I just can’t sleep!
So what does one do with all that spare time? I started by packing for Broome. We leave at sunrise on Thursday morning and I decided I’d get a head start on all that so I wasn’t leaving it until the last minute, which I usually do. Then packing got boring so I thought I’d bake something to have for the road trip. Yes, I do my baking at 3am. I’m just like Izzy Stevens from Grey’s Anatomy although not as hard core. While I was waiting for the cookies to cook, I thought I better alleviate the pressure all our dirty dishes are placing on our sink and I got as far as filling up the sink before I remembered the reason why we have so many dishes; the shop has been closed since Saturday morning and we ran out of dishwashing liquid on Saturday afternoon. Nice. Now while you all enjoy your slumber I’m being the committed blogger you love and getting ready to upload one of the coolest posts around. Just wait, it’ll be awesome!
I still really miss all the kids! Even when I’m walking around Balgo it feels like a ghost town because I only see a few kids every now and again chasing the camel instead of the whole community and there don’t seem to be any children running around and screaming ‘Hi Steph’ from down the road as I walk back from school, which is a daily occurrence. They have the most amazing eyes; not only can they see someone from a mile away but they can tell who it is, whereas I have issues just trying to spot the person despite the fact that I have 20/20 vision for long-sightedness!! Often I’ve been out on hunting trips with a few kids and they’ve pointed out bush turkeys, horses or other things that are difficult to see even close up, and they can see them miles away! It’s absolutely incredible! However with the whole ‘the kids are missing’ thing, one thing I noticed was that there was stacks at the Easter masses. It was almost as if they are going into hibernation during the day and come out at night which is possible because me, Henry and Ale all saw a torch light being shone through our window from the vacant block next door so that theory is possible.
We had the most beautiful mass this evening out at the Lookout at sunset. I’m really liking how Father John is not only into having mass outside, but at the most unusual and spectacular locations. We then had a BBQ afterwards where Sister Nola’s rissoles and homemade rolls were a huge hit. It was nice just to chill in a lovely location with people that we have become really comfortable around; the Brothers Rick, Marty, Michael (MJ) and Lou, Sister’s Nola and Alice
I saw my first Balgo snake tonight! And I’m excited about it as well because it wasn’t a poisonous one; just a black headed python. Judy was telling me about the fiasco that occurred last night outside the Parish house when a few of the kids found a snake in the dark and were quick to seek help, fearing it to be a dangerous one. They discovered it to be a massive black headed python and marveled at the size of the animal. Judging by how big this one was, it could possibly be the same one. I like having the pythons around; it means less mice. But I’m not looking forward to the day I see a poisonous one! Daniel, the lovely man I said had some amazing things to say at mass the other day (yes, I remembered his name!) said that he would love to eat it the python they found but seeing as it wasn’t dangerous and didn’t pose a threat to anyone couldn’t bring himself to kill it. Apparently one can eat the poisonous snakes as long as they correctly sever the head from the body. I’m totally keen to try that, along with goanna one day.
Henry lost our lizard today. Rodriquez disappeared this afternoon while Henry was sitting next to his container editing his photos, so we’ll blame him. It’s very sad because for the few days he was a resident here, he made us happy and I know he will always be eternally grateful to us for not only saving him from the pool but giving him a home while he recovered. Even though we were going to release him back to the wild today, it’s sad we weren’t able to say goodbye properly. We’ll miss you Rodriquez!!
For the past two days I have attempted to bring you all a video of a tour around Luurnpa, taking advantage of the fact that there are no kids around to crash the movie. The first video was too large and the file would not upload so I tried another take and spent an hour waiting for it to upload before being told there was an error. So instead I’ll do a photo tour; not as brilliant but still mighty cool. Being the time saver I am, I’ll write the descriptions now and add photos in the morning. Just making sure you don’t forget that I’m such a dedicated time saver of a blogger and that it’s still the middle of the night!
A photo tour of Luurnpa Catholic School
This is the front of the school. As you can see, it’s lovely and green thanks to all the rain we received in the wet season. Oh, and the fact that we don’t pay for water here in the Kimberley
Here is the red gate that I have a daily fight with every time I try to come into the school after hours. It usually involves a five minute wrestle with the padlock before I can get in, but I’m getting into the hang of smoothly unhooking it from the door. For those that know the incredibly un-co me, you’re probably not surprised that I can’t even unhook a padlock from a door. Not much has changed since I left Perth
Here is the amazingly clean staffroom. You can tell a red-headed 18 year old female cleaned it recently (there’s only one of those in Balgo, I’ve heard she’s awesome!) Note the lovely couch that adds a relaxed look to the room; more so when it’s unfolded out as a bed.
Notice that handwriting? That’s totally mine!! Not only do I get to come into the staffroom, but I get to write on the boards! How cool is that?! I remember when I was at school the staffroom was always a scary but mystical place where I always wondered what happened behind the ‘No students past this point’ sign on the door. Now I reap the benefits of the tea, coffee, milo, biscuits, computers during break and most importantly, my very own pigeon hole!
It has my name on it and everything. Very exciting! I love being considered a staff member. Note the first aid book in there; I cannot wait to get our clinic started up this term.
Here is the photocopying room. Thanks to Steve for showing me how to photocopy the first week I was here because that was actually one of the things I was worried about; breaking the photocopier. I’ve only ever caused one paper jam which is a BIG achievement for someone like me. However it did take me six weeks to learn which printer to print to. Sooo not technologically savy! And Dad, please, no wise cracks about me getting the IT award in Year 8; that was such a fluke!
Through the staff resource room is our library. It’s very well stocked and beautifully decorated. This is Brother Martin’s role at Luurnpa and one he is a great fit for. He is so knowledgeable and wise and the perfect librarian. We also have our staff meetings here (which I can totally attend because I’m a staff member, woooo!)
This is our Mangarri room. It’s where the sandwiches get made by Brother Rick and Anthony and where I get them ready for distribution to the classes in the mornings and cut up the fruit. We also serve the kids breakfast from here in the mornings. Note it’s cleanliness; another clean room brought to you by Stephanie. Also note the disgustingly large stack of Weet Bix in the corner. Blurhg! I may grimace at the sight of them but must admit the kids LOVE them, so I can’t complain that they eat their brekky all up.
This is where the kids have their brekky.
Here is our current Kindy/Pre Primary/Year One (Primary A) room. I won’t take a picture from the inside because we’re in the middle of moving to the new Primary A room. This block will be turned into a school hall or something like that which will be great for assemblies and such.
Here is the new Primary A playground and just beyond that the almost completed Primary A room.
This is the Primary B room. It is where Maggie teaches the Years 2-3 students. As you can see, it’s very colorful and is decorated with the class motto; Smart and Strong, because that’s what all the Primary B kids are.
This photo is in every room and I absolutely LOVE it! It’s a picture of Jesus meeting the children, the children all being Indigenous. It’s amazing to think that the Aboriginals of Australia existed 38,000 years before Jesus; it’s even more incredible to think that there were people around so far back then!
This is Steve’s room, and the room I’m in during the morning before Mangarri. It’s the Primary D class (Years 4-6) and is really filled with a great bunch of kids who all gel really well together and get along great. They are referred to as ‘Steve’s Mob’ and with Steve being a Kiwi, it’s not uncommon for the kids to go up to him like ‘Bro, bro, look at my work!’ They’ve all picked up his slang which I think is really cute.
Here is the computer room. We also have computers in most of the class rooms. Every class has an hour or so here each week learning computer skills with Robert. They’re getting really good at typing and using the mouse, but no-where near as good as they are playing games!
We’ve reached the best room in the whole school; Jenny’s Primary C Class (Year 4). It’s the class I spend the most time with and I’m in here every afternoon. They are the best bunch of kids and we’re often the largest class in the school because everyone’s just loves Primary C! I don’t know how you can’t; Henry is also there in the mornings with Jenny and Mindy and then I replace Henry in the afternoons so they’ve got an awesome staff lineup.
The best part of the room is the Word Wall which Jenny made. It’s a list of the Top 100 words and the students have to try and climb the Wall every morning. If they get the word right they can keep climbing until they get one wrong. Danielle, Sherelle, Lyn, Jilara, Freena and Julian all finished the 100 words and were presented with a book in recognition of their achievement. Everyone loves it so much so Jenny added another 100 words; however Freena and Jilara have finished THEM as well. Some of the other teachers have even put their own word walls in their rooms because it’s just that awesome!
My keys aren’t working for the next two rooms; the Cooking Room and the Secondary class which is really annoying but I’ll just describe them in mammoth detail for you all. The Cooking Room is currently filled with all the clothes from the container of donated goods as we try and sort everything out to try and give to the community. There is just so much which is great, but I have no idea when we’re going to finish it all. When it’s not being used as a Share the Mission store room it is sometimes used on Fun Fridays when some classes get to do cooking. The secondary room is just next door and is a classroom for all those in Year 7 and above. Students from the secondary class may also school in Perth
Here is the pool, Henry’s pride and joy. We have the big pool for the Primary B, C, D and Secondary classes and the little pool for the Kindy kids. Again, it’s great we don’t pay for water here because a lot of water goes in and out of it!
This is our basketball court where we have assemblies after Mangarri time. We put nets on the rings about three weeks ago and are amazed they’ve stayed on since then. The kids are keen basketballers and AFLers here, but don’t tend to play much else. The boys really want to introduce Rugby and I keep telling them that this is WA and we don’t tend to follow stupid sports like that but they’re deadest keen. Epic failure is imminent.
Just a few photos of the yard. It’s so green and lush here even in the dry and reminds me of an oasis, especially as the red dust seems to refrain from entering the school in large quantities.
So that’s Luurnpa J I hope you enjoyed that virtual tour. It’s now 4.56am, the birds are chirping and I’m keen on walking out to the Lookout to see the sunrise. That sounds like an awesome way to begin the day! Below are some photos from this morning; once again the photos do not do it justice! I don't think I'll ever get sick of the Lookout.
Don't miss me while I'm in Broome. I left you with a long enough post to satisfy you all until at least next Thursday. Look forward to another super long post explaining our awesome adventures on the coast!
