Woo for Balgo updates! I cannot believe how fast the week has gone which is very scary as it makes the time I have left here smaller and smaller. But I suppose the business and absolute chaos of the past few days are testament to why the time has just sped by; I don't feel like I've stopped to take a breath for a few weeks now and only just found time to go to the gym. I love keeping busy!
Henry's birthday ended up as a grand celebration and I hope Mr. 19 had a lot of fun. We had a big dinner at the Parish House and with Sophie and I on cake duty (Sophie just kind of sat around and licked the bowl but yay for teamwork!) the occasion was set to be grand. However, with us two girls rather amateur chefs, we brought in the expert baker Lindsey who made us an amazing icing and rescued the cake when I attempted to apply the icing. Full credit to her, it looked amazing and luckily for me, tasted great. Judy went all out, cooking not just Shepherds Pie but an absolutely massive apple cake which really filled the party crowd up after dinner. We all staggered home at the end of the night clutching our food babies and promising never to eat again. You know it's a good dinner when you can't eat anything for the rest of the week!
The worst part about Henry getting all these presents was that amongst the pile, there was one from my lovely Sydney friend Julia Brand addressed to none other than myself. So I think it was kind of hard for Henry to tell me that he had opened it up thinking it was for him knowing that I'd be kind of devastated I didn't get to open a present on a day that wasn't even my birthday. But oh well, he got to open it and I got to keep all the quirky things inside, including a bar of soap and a scrubbing brush (you trying to tell me something Julia?!) as well as some Chamomile Tea that is meant to replace all the coffee I drink. It's quite nice, but nothing beats the soothing coffee smell!
With Mr. James Camden crashing our classes this week to make sure we were doing a decent enough job, it was kind of awkward for me when he had just turned on the video camera to capture some amazing footage for the promotional STM video and I managed to make a student cry. And she didn't just cry, but sat there bawling for ages, shoving me away whenever I attempted to comfort her. So embarrassing. I don't know what I even did! I think I may have kind of growled at her and another girl for fighting over the memory cards they were both setting up, but I wasn't mean or anything. Anyway it came off that I was the most evil teacher in the world and I hope JC deletes any evidence of me being awful and scary like before word gets around that I'm not as great as all the other kids think. At least I hope they think I'm awesome; it would be heartbreaking if they thought otherwise!!
I've been really lucky to be spending the whole day with my favourite class; Primary C. With Adrian in Melbourne and Kane taking over Secondary Class, he needed an assistant so Henry took the job and I shuffled from B to C. It's really good as I run the 'Fun Group' with the kids so do games like Memory Cards and Go Fish with them all. And they let me play, but I think my competitive steak is showing a bit especially when I abuse my role as the teacher to cheat and therefore be the winner. The kids are doing really well in their literacy time and Julian, Frena and Danille have been demonstrating their writing and sentence construction skills over the past few days, writing on small whiteboards and sharing their stories with the class. We're all super proud of their efforts.
Do you know the very successful popcorn lady who lives in Balgo Top Camp? I do, and boy does she make amazing popcorn, when the machine doesn't decide to conk out. That's right, the machine is working again (round of applause!!) I spent a good few hours last night making enough bags of popcorn to sell at the disco which is tomorrow night. The kids show no sign of getting sick of the healthy treat however soft drinks were taken off the selling menu during school time anyway because their was a strong connection between the days we sold the drinks and the hyperness of the kids later that afternoon. Now we sell icy poles which I'm sure have just as enough sugar in them but they seem to be kind of ok with them. Me and Sophie also made pancakes this afternoon for the Primary B and C classes so we really are excelling in all areas of the cooking department.
I better leave it at that as I have suddenly developed a sudden urge to go back to my childhood knitting days and knit something hideously bright pink. I've also heard from a very reliable source (Grey's Anatomy) that it is a good way to improve hand coordination for doctors so while I've got plenty of time I may as well get started on that area ASAP.
You cannot believe how fast the week has gone and I cannot believe I am behind in responding to your blogs. You are writing them quicker than I can read them.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you ensured Henry’s birthday was a wonderful celebration and I hope you did spoil him rotten. What a huge amount of prezzies he received. How many will he need to post home in December because there is not enough in his luggage limit to bring back himself? How lovely of Julia to send you up soap and a scrubbing brush. Does this make you wonder if your housemates have been winging about your body odor?
How funny to read you made someone cry when James turned on the video camera. How much did the boys pay your student to cry on cue? I laughed so much –teacher Steph you’re so nasty. Did you know you are supposed to boost students moral not diminish their self esteem by cheating during a game of Go Fish or the Memory Game. I think I need to start calling you “Wicked Steph!”
Love you more but!