You all didn’t pray hard enough!! Our planned trip to Halls Creek got cancelled on account of a closed Tanami Road, thanks to some pretty intense rainfall. The original plan was to have the teachers who were attending the PD go during the week, and then the rest of us would go up in another car so we could enjoy a staff dinner together. Unfortunately, the plan didn’t happen. Rick, Robert, Mary, Jenny, Mindy and Steve were lucky enough to be chauffeured Kimberley style by plane to Halls Creek, the five hour bone rattling journey taking a mere fifty minutes with a spectacular view. The absence of such a large chunk of staff really did throw out the week and I can’t believe almost a week has passed since I blogged. I suppose I better attempt to get you all up to speed!
Because of sports in Billiluna, we didn’t have that many students on Tuesday, as well as Monday. With the Kimberley being so gun ho for any kind of sporting events, most of Balgo had trekked the 80kms down the road to witness the local teams vying for basketball and football titles. While Billiluna tripled in size, Balgo probably lost about 70% of its population and driving through it on Sunday night was eerie; no-one was around! The only Primary C students to grace us with their presence were Shonielle, Antonio, Cherie and Frena, all quite chuffed to be the ‘only kids’. We attempted to stick to a routine designed for at least eight students but decided that making lessons up on the spot was probably the best idea and the kids enjoyed one on one lessons with each teacher. Jenny and I used the time to get the classroom prepared for the end of the year and after a bit of window washing and cleaning. Of course, I had already gotten the Christmas Tree up and decorated the day before, pretty early but it really did brighten up the classroom. I was stoked when Jenny presented the kids with a Christmas Activity book that they could complete over the next few weeks. If there’s one thing I love, it’s Christmas. Not Christmas Day exactly, but the lead up to the 25th. I can’t really describe this obsession of sorts, but I think it comes from my mum turning our house into the North Pole come December the 1st. Every surface is transformed, red felt and white tulle below every snowman, every Santa, elf, sleigh, and all things Christmassy. Only the inside is decorated and since we were younger Mum would video us decorating the Tree, the most important piece to our little Christmas wonderland. While I’ll miss the decorating this, the camera will not be! Antonio, Frena, Cherie and Shonielle kept getting me to help them with their coloring and other activities, and of course I complied. It really was quite therapeutic and relaxing just coloring away and over the week I made my own creation, a Christmas tree on paper that I could hang up in my room and make it look just a little bit more festive. Quite good too, for an individual who lacks serious artistic talent!
I don’t remember much of Tuesday afternoon, for quite an embarrassing reason. I was playing basketball with Joan, Bonnie and Keisha and the netballer I am made me rather uncoordinated and goofy when making the attempt to switch to a faster paced sport. I was trying really hard, but got distracted and missed Keisha throwing a ball at me. I turned around just as it smashed into my nose, ripping my neck back and giving me a very bad headache. While the kids laughed, I wandered off rather dazed in search of an icepack for my nose, hoping that it wouldn’t bleed or bruise. When class resumed, Jenny sent me home, somewhat aware that I was rather confused and a bit spacey and I think it probably was the right idea. I fell asleep, not good considering I could have been slightly concussed and woke up just in time for dinner with the Brothers who kept giving me funny looks all through dinner. I must have been a real sight! That’s the last time I attempt to play basketball.
As Maggie was sick on Wednesday, KP brought the Primary B kids into Primary C and we enjoyed a day with a lot more kids than usual, all of varying ages. I enjoyed being able to work with many students that I only really ever get to play around with and got to see a different side of them, as did they with me. We ended up having 19 students in total in the one class, fortunately with five teachers so the workload was spread around quite a bit. It was also good for the Primary B kids in Grade 3 to have a day in an older classroom, the place they will be spending most of their time next year. They were very much mentored by the current Primary C class and it was great to see everyone working together to make the experience as good as possible. After only having a few kids in the class for the past few days, such a big mob was so much fun!
Jenny left for Halls Creek on Wednesday afternoon leaving KP, Sanjay and I with Primary C and thankfully a whole heap of lesson plans. We managed seven students, but they were fired up after the sports and it might as well have been seventeen!! I did enjoy some funny moments with a few of them, including Antonio. Jenny had made a new stick for the word wall, a long pipe covered in bright gold contact and Antonio had gotten a hold of it earlier in the morning. He pretended to have a sword fight with me (he won, I was unarmed) and when I got my teacher voice on him and put it away, I thought it was for good. Not to be. I sat down to read with him and forgot a pen, so ran to get one quickly, tripping over the stick that he had inconspicuously placed beside my chair. Of course, he laughed and quite enjoyed the slapstick comedy of sorts and I had to as well, proud of how sneakily he had done it!
Because of sports in Billiluna, we didn’t have that many students on Tuesday, as well as Monday. With the Kimberley being so gun ho for any kind of sporting events, most of Balgo had trekked the 80kms down the road to witness the local teams vying for basketball and football titles. While Billiluna tripled in size, Balgo probably lost about 70% of its population and driving through it on Sunday night was eerie; no-one was around! The only Primary C students to grace us with their presence were Shonielle, Antonio, Cherie and Frena, all quite chuffed to be the ‘only kids’. We attempted to stick to a routine designed for at least eight students but decided that making lessons up on the spot was probably the best idea and the kids enjoyed one on one lessons with each teacher. Jenny and I used the time to get the classroom prepared for the end of the year and after a bit of window washing and cleaning. Of course, I had already gotten the Christmas Tree up and decorated the day before, pretty early but it really did brighten up the classroom. I was stoked when Jenny presented the kids with a Christmas Activity book that they could complete over the next few weeks. If there’s one thing I love, it’s Christmas. Not Christmas Day exactly, but the lead up to the 25th. I can’t really describe this obsession of sorts, but I think it comes from my mum turning our house into the North Pole come December the 1st. Every surface is transformed, red felt and white tulle below every snowman, every Santa, elf, sleigh, and all things Christmassy. Only the inside is decorated and since we were younger Mum would video us decorating the Tree, the most important piece to our little Christmas wonderland. While I’ll miss the decorating this, the camera will not be! Antonio, Frena, Cherie and Shonielle kept getting me to help them with their coloring and other activities, and of course I complied. It really was quite therapeutic and relaxing just coloring away and over the week I made my own creation, a Christmas tree on paper that I could hang up in my room and make it look just a little bit more festive. Quite good too, for an individual who lacks serious artistic talent!
I don’t remember much of Tuesday afternoon, for quite an embarrassing reason. I was playing basketball with Joan, Bonnie and Keisha and the netballer I am made me rather uncoordinated and goofy when making the attempt to switch to a faster paced sport. I was trying really hard, but got distracted and missed Keisha throwing a ball at me. I turned around just as it smashed into my nose, ripping my neck back and giving me a very bad headache. While the kids laughed, I wandered off rather dazed in search of an icepack for my nose, hoping that it wouldn’t bleed or bruise. When class resumed, Jenny sent me home, somewhat aware that I was rather confused and a bit spacey and I think it probably was the right idea. I fell asleep, not good considering I could have been slightly concussed and woke up just in time for dinner with the Brothers who kept giving me funny looks all through dinner. I must have been a real sight! That’s the last time I attempt to play basketball.
As Maggie was sick on Wednesday, KP brought the Primary B kids into Primary C and we enjoyed a day with a lot more kids than usual, all of varying ages. I enjoyed being able to work with many students that I only really ever get to play around with and got to see a different side of them, as did they with me. We ended up having 19 students in total in the one class, fortunately with five teachers so the workload was spread around quite a bit. It was also good for the Primary B kids in Grade 3 to have a day in an older classroom, the place they will be spending most of their time next year. They were very much mentored by the current Primary C class and it was great to see everyone working together to make the experience as good as possible. After only having a few kids in the class for the past few days, such a big mob was so much fun!
Jenny left for Halls Creek on Wednesday afternoon leaving KP, Sanjay and I with Primary C and thankfully a whole heap of lesson plans. We managed seven students, but they were fired up after the sports and it might as well have been seventeen!! I did enjoy some funny moments with a few of them, including Antonio. Jenny had made a new stick for the word wall, a long pipe covered in bright gold contact and Antonio had gotten a hold of it earlier in the morning. He pretended to have a sword fight with me (he won, I was unarmed) and when I got my teacher voice on him and put it away, I thought it was for good. Not to be. I sat down to read with him and forgot a pen, so ran to get one quickly, tripping over the stick that he had inconspicuously placed beside my chair. Of course, he laughed and quite enjoyed the slapstick comedy of sorts and I had to as well, proud of how sneakily he had done it!
'Justine, why are you wet?'
'I stuck my head under a tap!'
'I stuck my head under a tap!'
Can't argue with that!!
I got fought over at recess by Bonnie, Joan, Chloe and Justine. I was playing a ball game with Joan and Bonnie, older girls in Primary D and then decided to ‘share myself around’ and headed over to play with the Primary A girls, Chloe and Justine included. This did not go down well and for a good five minutes, the four girls in question tugged at every part of me attempting to sway me this way or that. It was quite cute and rather lovely to be fought over but Joan and Bonnie eventually relinquished me to the young ones. I was about to give Justine a piggyback when I turned around and found her soaking wet! Turns out she had gotten hot and put her head under a running tap, quite smart really but there were no piggy backs for a girl absolutely dripping!
That afternoon, after I finished a bit of painting I headed out to the basketball court for what Anthony referred to as his ‘Master Plan’. The attendance at after school sports had been a bit low and he was trying to find something really exciting to vamp it up and get more kids involved. He eventually settled with a water fight, good in theory but then he went as far as to say teacher’s verses students. That was the less cool part, seeing as Anthony, Henry, Ale and Xavier the Youth Worker were the only ones brave enough to partake. With the center line dividing the court and two balloons only a round, the game was set to be a lot of fun, but I didn’t count on certain students aiming at me constantly. For example, Delwyn, the kid in Primary D that Anthony works one on one with was dead set on hitting only me with the water bombs. He would line me up and wait until I had my back turned or least expected it, then he would POUNCE with deadly accuracy and I would walk away dripping. It didn’t help that my aim was shocking and other kids took advantage of my need to come closer to the line in order to throw to get me. We had a few rounds and I managed to practice a bit so by the second last, my aim was quite good. Robyn, a Primary B student had her back turned so I took it as my chance to get her, and did I ever! A water balloon exploded right in the nape of her neck and the look of shock and horror on her face was priceless!! Until she started to cry…then it just got awkward!
That afternoon, after I finished a bit of painting I headed out to the basketball court for what Anthony referred to as his ‘Master Plan’. The attendance at after school sports had been a bit low and he was trying to find something really exciting to vamp it up and get more kids involved. He eventually settled with a water fight, good in theory but then he went as far as to say teacher’s verses students. That was the less cool part, seeing as Anthony, Henry, Ale and Xavier the Youth Worker were the only ones brave enough to partake. With the center line dividing the court and two balloons only a round, the game was set to be a lot of fun, but I didn’t count on certain students aiming at me constantly. For example, Delwyn, the kid in Primary D that Anthony works one on one with was dead set on hitting only me with the water bombs. He would line me up and wait until I had my back turned or least expected it, then he would POUNCE with deadly accuracy and I would walk away dripping. It didn’t help that my aim was shocking and other kids took advantage of my need to come closer to the line in order to throw to get me. We had a few rounds and I managed to practice a bit so by the second last, my aim was quite good. Robyn, a Primary B student had her back turned so I took it as my chance to get her, and did I ever! A water balloon exploded right in the nape of her neck and the look of shock and horror on her face was priceless!! Until she started to cry…then it just got awkward!
Turns out that Henry had just got get in the shoulder and unbeknown to me she was walking away after she had been struck once. I literally got the poor girl while she was down! Oops!! But I gave her a hug and she soon got over it, getting us back in the last round, involving all the teachers standing in a small circle with the students throwing water bombs at us from all sides. Again, Anthony’s idea, but I doubt he expected it to hurt as much as it did. An unexploded water bomb actually can cause bruises; I AM PROOF! We all finished an awesome game wet, but smiling and laughing all the way home.
The students verse...
..the teachers!
Evander lines on up...
...and gets me!
I manage to get Darian.
Frena had one more left. I told her she could get me and stood there with the surrender pose. She then proceeded to get Henry. Ha.
It was a case of Thank Gosh It’s Friday when the last day of the working week came around. Due to a lack of staff, we were finishing at 1pm, an hour earlier and it couldn’t have come sooner! The day was quite tiring and I was glad when I was able to walk out to The Lookout and take a moment out of my day to sit and relax. I was just sitting on what I refer to as The Edge of The World, checking my emails and Facebook (basically just for the satisfaction of knowing I check such medial things in such fabulous places) with headphones in when suddenly out of nowhere a plan flew right over me, so unbelievably low I reckon the pilot would have been able to see what was on my phone screen. I was absolutely flabbergasted, especially because it really did come out of the blue. I felt like I was in the middle of nowhere, where civilization could never reach me. Then I remembered that a, I had reception, b, the airstrip was about 300m away and c, Balgo was a mere 2kms away so really, my virtual world I had created had completely been disproved just by this plane. But truly, what an amazing sight; the modernism of the aircraft juxtaposing with the rugged and aged landscape, a brilliant photo if I had the opportunity.
It was the first of many goodbyes also on Friday as Brother Marty and KP left Balgo for varying adventures. KP told me this had to make the blog, especially as she discovered it online the other day and spent hours reading it from the beginning. I hope you’re reading this KP!! I really do hate goodbyes, but know that in all likelihood, I’ll see many of those I’ve met here again. It’s good to know that I have a place to stay if I ever travel around Australia; I think I know someone in every place simply from this year!
It was the first of many goodbyes also on Friday as Brother Marty and KP left Balgo for varying adventures. KP told me this had to make the blog, especially as she discovered it online the other day and spent hours reading it from the beginning. I hope you’re reading this KP!! I really do hate goodbyes, but know that in all likelihood, I’ll see many of those I’ve met here again. It’s good to know that I have a place to stay if I ever travel around Australia; I think I know someone in every place simply from this year!
I did try very hard Stephanie for you to get to Halls Creek one last time but perhaps the rain was needed more than your trip to Halls Creek.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been very pleasant being light on students. At least it gives you time to get more done in the classroom so you are not inundated with last minute chores in the last days of school.
You will be missed this year assisting with the placements of all our decorations but the house will be very festive by the time you get home. Perhaps I sound a little childish when I say I get very excited when the house changes into a Christmas wonderland. I just love it so much. I just need a bigger house to put all my Christmas trinkets around. They have multiplied over the years haven’t they? Please expect a call once we hit 1st December as we need you to be a part of our Advent tree.
For someone who wants a career in the medical profession, you should already be aware not to go to sleep if you have had a knock on the head or in the face.
Gosh, you are a little klutzy aren’t you? Getting hit in the face with a basketball then tripping over the “word stick” would have been a sight to behold by the youngsters. Of course the children would laugh, who wouldn’t. We all did when we read it. ILY!
You are so mean! So what if Justine is dripping wet. The weather is sizzling and sultry and I would have thought you could have done with a cool down during the day. I think it was a rather smart move for Justine to soak herself.
I love the thought of water bomb fights but not the pain they give when they strike the body. How cruel you were to pick on little Robyn…and make her cry. Mean Steph! I am pleased to see she recovered quickly and now she will have great memories of you all.
When you have spent so much time with people and you have to say goodbye it can be so difficult. The friendships, emotions of joyous times and challenging moments you share unite and form bonds that can last a lifetime. Enjoy the times you have shared regardless of whether you will see them again or not. To KP and Brother Marty, you are the first of many I need to thank for looking after my girl while she has been in Balgo. God Bless!
ILY
STEPH THATS SO COOL!! I wish we had water fights when we were at school haha :)
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