Summer Winds are a Blowing!

The past few days have hinted the return of summer. As August comes to a sudden end, the once frigid winds blow in that summer smell that I always associate with Christmas. The weather is heating up, the pool is back in action and icy poles at the end of the day are a definite need, not a want. I take relief knowing that I’ll leave Balgo before any of the 45°C heat begins, however loving the wet season more than anything else hope that a few decent thunderstorms blow in before school breaks up at the end of the year and I fly home, 101 days from now. I cannot believe how fast the year has gone. It feels like only yesterday I was celebrating 101 days here, and now I’m on the finishing slope. Luckily there is still a lot of time and a lot of things to be done so I know I’ll be kept busy and will leave knowing I achieved a lot.

The warm weather also brings the threat of snakes and we had our second snake sighting this morning. The first was just a black headed python that Henry spotted outside the school however things jumped up a notch today when some of the kids spotted a King Brown snake, one of the deadliest snakes not just in Australia but the world. It brings back memories of my Dad almost stepping on one when we were camping once; he didn’t see it because a, he’s blind and b, he refused to use a torch because he wanted to ‘walk with the aid of the moon’. Epic fail, thank gosh Mum has her head screwed on tighter than Dad and was walking behind with the torch. ANYWAY I am now getting the habit of taking my torch with me everywhere after 4pm, because I often go to school when it’s light, look around not much later to discover everything is dark and then have an awkward stumbling walk back home aided only by the light of my phone. Being so far away from emergency medical facilities, a snake bite out here can easily be deadly so we’re all super cautious in the hotter weather.

The staff of Luurnpa had a Professional Development day on Saturday focused on behavioral management and restorative justice. All of this was very interesting and it was insightful to be on the other side; I previously associated PDs to mean a day off school but I suppose things differ once you’re listed on the ‘staff’ side of a school! The PD was really the first time a formal event of sorts was held at the newly opened Trade Training Centre and for most of us, the first time we’d seen past the gates and the lovely sign. It really is a fantastic building and has a lot to offer the young people of Balgo, Mulan and Billiluna. With the formal opening and walk through today, a lot of prospective students checked out the place where they can gain certificates and further education to aid their prospects in the workforce.

Sister Alice has moved her work from the shed behind the Brothers house to the Trade Training Centre. She runs painting sessions with many Balgo ladies and they put designs onto calico bags, selling them to tourists and members of the community. I was chatting to Alice the other day and she convinced me to come and buy something before they all ran out because next week the ladies are beginning on silk paintings which I know will go even quicker! So I wandered over to check out their work during Mangarri time and was absolutely amazed at what they have done! Along with the bags (I brought one but it took a lot of self control to not buy them all!) they have painted designs onto white shoes which look stunning however are probably best placed on a mantle top than worn in Balgo. It was so great to see the ladies whilst they were painting and the intense concentration that went into every dot, stroke and colour choice. I wish I could paint!

The beautiful bag. By Imelda

The description of the painting

Anthony got back from World Youth Day last night. He spent the whole day travelling in from Broome and although absolutely exhausted, managed to stay awake enough to catch up with all the Balgo gossip. It’s great to have him back and hopefully on the weekend will be moving into his new house, which used to be Sister Alice’s work shed but has been refurbished into Anthony’s house, splendidly by Jim who worked tirelessly to complete it. The studio room has now a bathroom and two bedrooms and looks very comfortable. It’s just off the school and been right next to the pool, mangarri room and computer facilities is in a prime location! I feel a little less alone having a fellow ranga around, even though the Spanish sun has turned Ant’s hair a bit more brown than it should be!

As one person comes back into Balgo, two are leaving and with Vin and Judy’s last day not far away, I finally finished their farewell presents. There’s a bit behind them, but basically Judy helped me with my knitting and basically re-taught me everything I’d forgotten. Every time I went over there, her and Vin kept asking me how I’d gone with it so I’m giving Judy the first thing I ever knitted (a scarf, so dodgy!) and I made Vin, the very devoted Richmond fan a much more improved scarf in black and gold. It’s so good to have finally finished them and knowing that they’ll mean something to someone makes it all worthwhile. Here are pictures of the scarves and I’ll hopefully get some of them on Vin and Judy tonight at dinner.

Strangely, Vins scarf (probably three times in width compared to the other one) only took me a week and a half to make. The other one - a month!

I went home for lunch yesterday and was walking on the road from school to home when I looked up at the basketball court to see the camel just kind of chilling there, but giving me this INTENSE stare! It was so scary; I thought he was going to be charged by my ranga hair and stampede towards me. Luckily nothing like this happened; we just stared at each other and squared off for a while. The camel scares the living day lights out of me now that I’ve seen its true side!

We had a very exciting thing happen today; a FIRE DRILL! All the staff knew it was happening sometime this week but no idea when. Camille and I were working on our literacy groups in primary C when we heard a funny sounding alarm. It took a while to decide if it actually was the fire alarm or just an alarm and after sticking our heads out the door to double check, walked the kids quickly but calmly to the evacuation area. Almost every kid was accounted for but Henry was no-where to be seen! Rick had told him to hide so we could practice attempting to find a missing kid, but then we realised that one of the Primary B students had run away just before the fire drill so it turned into a real event. Henry wasn’t found and only returned to the evacuation site after Ale called him – we all declared this to be VERY unrealistic but accepted it anyway. Then eight minutes after the alarm went off the fire trailer rolled into the school. This was basically a big water pump on a trailer pulled by Dallas and Xavier that’s used in the case of a Balgo fire. The funniest part of the drill was when Robyn, in Primary B just casually rocked up to school without a clue what was happening. The look on her face was priceless! It ended up being a very successful drill and Luurnpa Catholic School will pride itself on excellence in safety based on today.

Lastly, I made sock puppets today with four very good children who have come to school early for ten days! Last week the class was learning about procedural texts and the example given was how to make a sock puppet. Therefore Jenny and I agreed that to try and get the kids to school early, I would make a puppet with those who got ten stickers on their ‘Coming to School Early’ chart. Antonio, Frena, Julian and Tegan all got ten stickers so we headed out and made some funky looking puppets. It was a big gooey mess in the end but a lot of fun and we’re hoping to eventually put on a show with the puppets in the future. It’s all fun and games at LCS!

Julian, Frena, Antonio and Tegan making their puppets

Tegan, Frena and Julians Sock Puppets