Ministers, Memory Loss and Plaster

So even though I’m a complete blogaholic, this post is proving to be particularly hard for me to write. It’s looking like it may be a very long one and I’m fighting against a lot of factors that would force most bloggers to shove the laptop to one side in defeat. But I’m no ordinary blogger and having left you hanging without an update since Sunday (sorry!) I’ll put my extreme tiredness and half a plaster cast on the right arm to one side for now, swallow the pain from my aching bones and tender muscles and get those fingers typing! Plus, I’m as stubborn as all hell and am ignoring all advice from the doctor to not put any strain on my wrist (apparently typing is strain, pft!!) Confused? Everything kind of ties in and will make sense soon; I’m just practicing the art of suspense!

On Tuesday, Primary D and the Grade Seven students from Secondary went to Mulan to compete in the Eagle Cup, a sporting tournament between Bililurna, Mulan and ourselves. Boys played football and girls played basketball and from what I’ve heard, everything went incredibly well. Actually it went more than well; the students came home with not one, but TWO trophies! Both teams had won, victors against the others and were super proud of their efforts. Even today, I still had super excited kids coming up and telling me that they won the Eagle Cup. It’s a huge achievement and we’re really proud of the students.

Luurnpa Catholic School has for some time now been getting ready for a visit from the WA Minister for Education, Dr. Liz Constable and the director of the Catholic Education Office, Mr. Ron Dullard. Some serious time and effort had gone into planning for the visit and the big day really did sneak up on us as the term has really flown by. For these reasons, it was really a frantic few days that have just passed us by. Therefore, it came as no surprise to me when at 1.30pm on Tuesday afternoon, I found myself arming the fifteen students of Primary C with a bucket of water, scourers, sponges and instructions to clean the school. Arming my own self with a spray bottle of detergent, we scrubbed and washed the outside walls of the middle primary, administration, entrance and library. Honest to God, NEVER AGAIN! Apparently by law we had to provide the children with gloves (something about harsh chemicals and delicate skin) and the kids were more keen on blowing them up and making glove balloons (probably my fault, I showed them that trick a few weeks earlier) or filling them up and making a right old mess. It was a nightmare and I was so glad when the school bell rang half an hour into our cleaning signaling the end of the school day. However once my frustration had subsided and my patience came back I admired the work the kids had done. It was really quite impressive and there was an evident difference, the red dirt lacing the yellow walls less obvious or completely elbow greased away! Woo Primary C :)

Wednesday morning. Truth day. The Minister and CEO of the CEO were due to fly in at 1.45pm, only fifteen minutes before school ended and they had a very tight schedule. We were therefore lucky to utilize the morning and iron out all the creases to ensure Luurnpa looked absolutely fabulous. My job was dressing the children and with the community aware of the importance of the visit, family members flocked by the dozens to buy uniforms for any students who didn’t already own them or who needed new ones. I lost count of how many trips I did to the uniform store room but eventually almost all the kids were looking extremely smart. The few kids without uniforms were given lovely yellow La Salle College shirts that had been donated, not only stroking my La Salle College Middle Swan pride but with Mr. Dullard a founding student of the school, a good way to impress with a smile.

We all agreed that living in the Kimberley meant that nothing would ever occur on time and therefore the visitors would most likely not arrive until after school time. Mangarri time was therefore extended and with a lot of extra time on my hands, I did a spot of baking for the dinner that night. In one hour, I made FOUR cakes! Well, three of them were packet cakes but they still take effort and it was for me quite an achievement. Luckily I made a lot because one of them fell apart when I tried to get it out of the tin and crumbled everywhere. It was a terrible shame, but for someone who forgot to have lunch yesterday, a welcome source of food!!

Mmmmmm. Cake

Our visitors arrived at 2.40pm and were there long enough to see all the students looking lovely in their uniforms before shooting off to visit the newly opened Trade Training Centre. The kids were all so well behaved and were easily fallen in love with by the Minister who presented the school with two AFL footballs much to the joy of our male students (the girls wanted basketballs). Their departure gave us a good fifteen minutes to quickly set up for afternoon tea which many community members were attending and it went off with only a few spillages (one on my behalf, forever the klutz). The Minister proved to be very welcoming and seemed genuinely interested in the Share the Mission Program, pleased that there were so many young people working at our school. Woo for STM!

All our students (except Primary C, not in this shot)

Quornetta, Renelle and Darian from Primary C

Primary D

The Minister throws Croydon one of the footballs. He was best on ground at the Eagle Cup the other day

Luckily the visitors had a decent sunset when they visited The Pound. Here was the view from just outside the school.

Dinner was at 7pm and I was heading home to get some things out of the way when Cathy approached me with some car keys and a need to be driven home. I jumped at the chance, not just because Cathy is so awesome and knowledgeable and I love our conversations but because driving the troupie is just so fun!! However driving Cathy home then turned into driving down the Mulan road to this place where there is good wood so I drove quite a bit down the very bumpy road with the sun on the windscreen and the windscreen itself caked with dirt (the wipers were empty, huge challenge!!) for a while until we reached the spot, pulled a few dead branches off trees and scoured for more wood and then enjoyed the journey back to Balgo. All the while, Cathy was telling me about her son who was turning 18 this year and wanted a troupie for his birthday. An ambitious request!

Dinner went off without a hitch and the staff of Luurnpa really did put out a magnificent spread considering we live in the middle of nowhere and make do with basic supplies. We had a big turnout and took advantage of the newly renovated old Kindy classroom turned school hall to host the meal. It was a lovely occasion where we took advantage to not only enjoy the company of all our community friends and acquaintances but actually have a say in what our school and community needed that the government could provide. It was a real honor to also be personally asked my Mr. Dullard to mention the health need of the school and I spoke of the need to have the resources to tackle the simple health issues of our students that are too small for the clinic but prove to be a distraction to the learning experience of our kids. The Minister agreed and it was great to have someone that can help the situation acknowledge the probem.

When the night was winding down, both Sophie and I realized that the visitors would not get a proper chance to visit the classrooms and being so proud of our school, in particular Primary C, took them around the campus with particular emphasis on our favourite class. They were certainly impressed by all our space decorations and the huge array of art that lined the walls and even more so when Jenny walked them through all the educational activities that were set up. It was so good that after all the effort that went into making the school look extra special, it was all seen anyway.

Side note; never wear professional looking shoes for the whole day after your feet have been accustomed to thongs and sand shoes for four months. It’s a painful experience!

At 6.00am this morning when my alarm rang, I regretted immediately been such a nice person as I had volunteered to help Donna and Sophie cook breakfast for our visitors and about fifteen other guests. I managed to make it to the parish house at 6.30am and with half an hour before the guests arrived, took charge of the tomatoes and the toast while Donna managed the eggs and Sophie manned the bacon station. It was a great effort and the spread was absolutely fantastic, very much liked by the Minister and Mr. Dullard who thanked us all before jetting off to their next destination. As soon as all the formalities had concluded and before starting on the dishes, Sophie and I pounced on the leftovers, the smell of the cooking food stirring up our hungry tummies. It was all so good!

School started at 9.00am today, forty minutes later than usual to make up for the extra time yesterday. Been on breakfast duty today I went immediately from cooking bacon and eggs to getting weetbix ready for hungry students, a much easier duty. The kids were all as tired as we were and everyone lumbered with bleary eyes through the school day, me been especially happy when the last hour was spent in the Foxtel room watching Ratatouille with Primary A and Primary C (try spelling that without Googling it first, I have never seen so many vowels in a row!).

I was walking across the oval today when a motorbike blazed past, picked up one of the kids and sped off. Seeing that reminded me that I’ve been hearing the unmistakable sound of a trail bike all day and have come to the conclusion after seeing three more kids riding around on the back of it that it’s the new community attraction. Last month it was riding the camel, this month it’s the motorbike! Just one more thing to laugh about and something for the kids to enjoy.

So I think that pretty much ties up everything that I mentioned in my opening paragraph. Except the cast on the right hand. Well, it’s less dramatic than it sounds and pretty much adds to the whole ‘Steph is the biggest klutz in Balgo’ theory. Sometime last night I injured my wrist and been so busy, I didn’t notice until I went home, sat down, took a breath and had a chance to realize that there was a strong pain in my arm that I could not account for! No matter how hard I racked my brain, I could not remember hurting myself! This was even more awkward to explain to the doctor this afternoon when I went to get it checked out. Telling him I wake up with cuts and bruises all the time that I don’t remember getting didn’t add to my case. Because they lacked a wrist strap, I now have half an arm in a plaster slap and the rest all bandaged up and without an X Ray, a fracture can’t be ruled out. That would be awkward; breaking my wrist with no idea on how it happened. The diagnosis for the time been is an STI (Soft Tissue Injury, I questioned the unfortunate abbreviation as well and made sure it was clear on my chart it was the less awkward of the two STIs in the medical world) so fingers crossed it’s not too serious. Worst thing is that the doctor laughed when I said it was a good enough excuse to avoid the gym, saying I could still do leg exercises. Damn!

It's so heavy, my right arm will be so tank when I can take it off

Anyway, it’s super early but I’m absolutely exhausted so will enjoy a lovely long and interrupted sleep before the shenanigans of Friday tomorrow. Woo for the weekend, this week has gone so quick!