One Day to Go – Goodbyes, Discos and Massive cards!

I awoke this morning with a funny feeling.  Of course I knew that it was the last full day I’d be spending in Balgo for a while (I saw a while because I know I’ll be back eventually!) but still couldn’t understand why I wasn’t mentally prepared for leaving. It’s almost as if my mind and body are wired to accept a holiday at the end of every term and recognizes that I’m leaving for a short while, but probably are not keeping up with the calendar and realizing that this is for quite some time. Even packing up my room and saying goodbye to everyone today hasn’t fully hit home and I wonder how long into me being back in Perth will I finally realize this year is up.

For the last time this year I served breakfast to the kids and made everyone’s day by giving out milo as well as weetbix/spaghetti. The kids were a bit annoyed when I told them to wait five minutes for breakfast and kept stirring the food, before finally realizing I’d turned the wrong hot plate on. Of course, I made up for this rookie mistake with heaps of extra milo and spaghetti and for lucky Jake, milo milk with his weetbix. Like WOW! Super cool.

The kids knew we were leaving this week, and I had so many asking me when. Chris especially was so persistent with finding out an actual time and I wondered if he was counting down the hours until Balgo was Share the Mission-less and while it cut me deep at first, I realized it was just one of those cute Balgo kid things that can either be super offensive or super cute. I went with the super cute option this time around, especially as he was extra nice to me all day, making up for all those times he was a little too cheeky.

I think it’s probably a good time to be leaving Balgo. The flies are so plentiful it’s impossible to breathe in heavily or with ones mouth open (swallowed two in three days, so gross!), the grasshopper plague is just coming in, the camel is learning how to open our gate and worst of all, the Primary A kids have discovered I am ticklish. It was a very painful mangarri time as I attempted to enjoy some quality time with them all only to be poked and prodded by tiny fingers finding their way into every ticklish spot I knew existed, and some new additions. Never before have I been so glad to hear the school bell!

Teeny tiny finges in ticklish places a second later...the pain!

As this was our final assembly Angela blessed Ale, Henry and myself while the school sung the blessing song over us. Having said goodbye to so many people throughout the year using the blessing song, it being my turn is quite surreal. I thought I’d put the lyrics up, and although I can sing the Kutjaka version I have no idea how to spell the words so will just do the English part.

‘May the blessing of our God be upon you.

The blessing of the father and the son.

And may the spirit of god, the spirit of love,

Be with you all your days’.

 The first verse in English and Kutjaka is sung over those been blessed, and then the last verse in English is sung over everyone. It’s a very special song and as it concludes mass, I usually have it in my head for most of the week, getting rid of it on Friday and picking it up again on Saturday night. At least it’s a nice tune!

Jenny kicked me out of Primary C during the last hour of school and I used the time to wash the bathers and towels of all the kids, as I was closing the pool for the summer that afternoon. The reason for my enforced departure became clear when I opened the door slightly to put something in and Antonio looked at me with wide eyes, jumping an absolute mile before hurriedly covering the piece of paper he was coloring in. He was so funny and cute, but ten minutes when I came back in for good later saw the reason for his surprise and worry about me coming in early. The students had written individual farewell cards and messages for me and stuck them all over a massive piece of card, before drawing around everything and covering the page in stickers and drawings. It was absolutely beautiful!! I was so moved by some of the things the kids had written. Antonio said that the class believed in me (awwww) while Frena apologized for sometimes being too much of a smarty pants and making me grumpy at times. Very sweet. They were stoked when I gave out some basketball shirts donated by Ms. McKay back at La Salle, saying they were ‘so deadly’. Thank you Mc.Kay!

Looking super trendy in their shirts!

My beautiful card <3 now rolled up safely in a mailing tube in my suitcase.

After some frantic packing and cleaning I trekked across the road to the school hall for the final disco of the year. It was the first time we had had it inside for the year and it worked a lot better, especially as the kids were all contained in one small area and the disco lights shone off every wall giving the ultimate disco experience. A whole heap of glow sticks were given out and of course the kids went crazy for those, making all sorts of cool things out of them. Shania even made a super cool flower with Lily, totally better than anything I used to make when I was their age. It was so great seeing heaps of the kids at the disco that I hadn’t seen at school during the day and a time for me to say my final farewells. I’ll miss them all incredibly!

 

Francis, Jean Claude and Danielle enjoying the fresh air.

Urla on the monkey bars.

(Panning. Mr Gill would be so proud of my skills!)

Jayden, Isaac and Renelle.

Such a cool flower!

Jake on the monkey bars just as the sun sets.

Dinner with the Brothers officially concluded the year in Balgo and we were bid goodbye with a lovely blessing Brother Lou wrote. Finishing with a lovely dinner really was the way to go and Lou really did provide us with an amazing and delicious feast, fit for kings. I’ll very much miss our ritualistic Tuesday night dinners with the Brothers; what an inspirational and wise group of men!

The plane tickets are printed, the bags are almost packed, left over clothes and food are ready to give out to the community and post is ready to be sent. I think we’re almost ready to go, physically, but mentally I don’t know when we’ll ever be ready. It’s providing to be harder getting the brain to fully comprehend that yes, I’ll be gone this time tomorrow but hopefully it kicks into gear soon. I cannot believe that this is my last post from Balgo. Who knows what exotic place/airport I’ll write from next?!