Almost Easter...But where are the Children?

With the holidays now three days old, I already am having difficulty enjoying them. The reason why? I miss the kids!! Since school broke up, I’ve hardly seen any around. It’s ridiculous. They should be around to make me laugh at them. They should be making me yell at them to get down from the roof. I should be asking them to use their manners when they get breakfast off me in the morning. I should not be missing them! Even today when we drove around looking for kids to get us to help with the Easter Crosses (later on in the blog) we only found five! It’s very sad indeed.

With no children to entertain/yell at/help/be entertained by, I put my efforts into things just as exciting. Like cleaning the staff room which I discovered I was very good at because not only did I clean, but probably sorted through twenty years of accumulated junk and filled a whole back of a ute with rubbish. It was incredible what was in there! I managed to pretty much empty the room and it now looks way less cluttered, which is really weird because until I saw the finished product yesterday I always thought it was pretty neat. It looks even more awesome now because Brother Rick and the guys moved some stuff around, things that have been in the same place for at least twenty years so that’s going to trip a few people out and we put a couch in. It’s not just any couch, but a SOFA BED! We’re kind of keen on seeing if any of the teachers take to having naps between their DOTT time and are considering, just to mess with everyone and keep things interesting, setting up the bed so the teachers come in on the first day of Term 2 to discover Luurnpa Catholic School is encouraging nap time. I certainly wouldn’t mind if that was the case!

Yesterday was Friday, but not just any Friday. It was GOOD Friday J To keep things festive, Meg the Youth Worker and ourselves make bush crosses with five kids (the only kids in Balgo we could find after driving around for ages!) We collected a whole heap of sticks and the less artistic people (Meg, Ale, Henry and myself) took to making them into crosses while the more artistic people (the kids) painted them. However for some kids, keeping the paint on the crosses was too boring and they took to painting ‘gloves’ onto their hands and then punching all the other kids. In the end, all the kids were absolutely covered in paint and had to take turns having ‘showers’ under the tap outside the Church. We ended up making about twenty crosses and placed them around the tree where the cross would be placed in later that night.

Julian with his 'gloves'

At least Kingston put his 'gloves' to good use

Fighting...this is what happens when making things gets boring

My favourite! By Aaron

Azarious

Our crosses around the Jesus Tree

While we were making crosses, I heard this guy yell ‘Stephanie!’ Because no-one in Balgo knows me as anything other than Steph, or Napaljarri, I turned around interested to see who was there and saw this really familiar looking, really tall and really grown up teenage boy who looked about fifteen. I politely asked what his name was because I honestly had NO idea who he was. He goes ‘It’s me, Francis!’ I immediately realized and gave him the BIGGEST hug! Francis was one of the first Balgo boys to board at La Salle and when he came was this tiny kid with a huge smile and a really high squeaky voice. He’s really good friends with my brother and took to school in Perth really well. Anyway between the time I graduated and the time I saw him today, I swear he’s grown two feet and morphed into an amazing young man. He is so polite and gentle and it was great to see him. Apparently my brother is MUCH taller than him so it’s a worry that AJ has grown since I left. Year 10 boys should just stop growing! Francis is so funny and it was great to see him. I cannot get over how different he is, from the little Year 8 boy to the young man. It’s so good to see the Balgo boys from school around!

The Good Friday mass was very different from home, but very beautiful. It is pretty much the Stations of the Cross service and the Adoration of the Cross service merged into one but with a variety of cultural practices also fused into the mass. We began with the Stations of the Cross where one person held up every station and it was explained what it was first in English and then in Kukatja. Holding up the Station picture was a representative of a family in Balgo and Cathy Lee, one of the Church leaders would say a prayer for their family and a variety of others so eventually every family in Balgo plus the workers and volunteers was prayed for. I found this to be very personal and unique. In the past, the Stations were done so that a different Station was at a different house so the congregation moved around the community. But to simplify things and because April is very hot and it was quite difficult getting the elders around it’s been slightly altered to a much easier method of doing things.

After the Stations was the Adoration of the Cross. Each member of the congregation received a strip of white ochre on their forehead and then walked up to pay their respects to the cross. While this was being done, the Church leaders wailed to represent that Jesus had died; wailing being the primary method of displaying grief in an Aboriginal community. The community then had a chance to share their own experiences of Jesus in their lives or say something about the importance of Good Friday and in such a spiritual place there were many stories. My favourite was this very wise gentleman whose name escapes me (which is really annoying because I remembered it up until now) who walked around carrying a rubbish bin on his back saying that all the bitterness and spite between others in Balgo belongs in the bin, just like our sins because Jesus came down to rid us of our rubbish. It was put in a very concise and moving manner and I very much appreciated his words. We also had a few people explain the paintings that they had completed for Easter which were all amazing! I love the traditional methods of painting out here and would have brought the whole art centre if I could afford it! The congregation then moved to place the cross in a tree where it will remain until tomorrow night; the same tree where we placed our bush crosses around. It was a very moving service.

One of the Easter paintings, this one by Fatima Lulu

I can't remember who this one is by but I love it! It is the story of Jesus from the Last Supper to the Sunday when He rose from the tomb. It's really cool because I can actually see the story coming from this.

Another painting, this one was amazing!

There were PLENTY of kids at mass! It was almost as if they all slept through the day and came out at night which is probably right because they all had plenty of energy, running around and playing all sorts of games. An hour after mass had finished when we went off to dinner at the Brothers, they were still going!

I received a massive surprise at mass tonight. I turned around after mass had finished to see Father Leonard, the chaplain from La Salle! Considering he was meant to come up with the La Salle kids on the trip that was unfortunately cancelled only made it even more of a shock seeing him in Balgo of all places. He explained to me that he had been asked to be the priest in Billilurna for Holy Week which is about an hour and a half away and on the other side of the Sturt Creek. Luckily he and the Principal of the local school had managed to go through the flooding and come out here and it was great to see him. A few of the Luurnpa students who had gone to La Salle for a bit like Kion were stoked to see him. Kion ran up to him and goes ‘Father, Father, remember me? I went to La Salle!’ He was so proud of that, it was the cutest thing! I love seeing people from La Salle up here; if anyone from school is reading this PLEASE COME UP MORE OFTEN! Because you’ll LOVE it!!

Francis, Todd, my Skin Brother, Father Leonard, another student from La Salle who I have not yet met, Bother Rick, Angel and me stading in the front like a stunned mullet!

I’m looking forward to mass tonight when the Father John Easter Bunny hands out the Easter Eggs. All the kids today kept asking me ‘are we getting chocolate tonight?’ They were all very disappointed when I told them no, not until tomorrow. I think Father is bribing the kids to increase their attendance at mass!

Thanks Mum for the Easter package I received today. Thanks to Brother Rick for breaking into Brother MJ's mail bag with me to get it! And thankyou Sara for more junk food and the great movies. Happy almost Easter everyone!

The reasons why you ALWAYS carry a camera in Balgo

I know, I just posted like two hours ago, but after having a mental fight with myself as to whether or not I should take my camera on a walk to The Pound, I'm glad I chose to. Because I snapped the below 'Only in Balgo' pictures and just HAD to blog them. They are the reasons you always have a camera on you at all times in Balgo.

This is what the kids do during for fun. They ride the camel. She doesn't seem to mind, in fact I laughed at the casual way she was just strolling around with Noah perched on her back and all these kids following her. Noah is the same child who fell off the roof and broke his arm a few weeks ago, and only last week was riding the camel when Jellybean bolted, ran through a house, ran through a door, ducked under the doorframe and unfortunately Noah wasn't looking and copped a big metal frame to the forehead. Yet he's back on two days later. Gotta admire his courage!

The following photos were taken out at The Pound. No matter how often I go there, I am always amazed at how beautiful and vast it is. Especially at sunset when the colours are at their best. The sky was beautiful tonight!

So, that's why you always carry a camera in Balgo! Because it's impossible to share memories with others and make them out to be THIS amazing!

Schools Out, Scream and Shout!

Yes, I just quoted High School Musical. And yes, I know how lame I am. It won't happen again...I just couldn't resist that title!

Yesterday was the last day of Term 1 at Luurnpa Catholic School which meant that for those children who did choose to come to school for the half day that we had classes going for, videos, pool time, sport and computing were on the cards. Unfortunately due to a severe case of what I refer to as the-doctors-have-no-clue-itis, I was made to enjoy a mandatory morning at the clinic where I received not one, but two courses of antibiotics. Yum :/ I have noticed that the doctors here don't tend to diagnose; instead, they just give you lots of medicine in the hope that whatever you have will go away, before it gets worse enough to warrant a flight out of here! I suppose that in this environment, waiting to determine the cause of ones ailment can really have quite severe consequences if it gets worse due to not just the germs and infections here in Balgo, but the sheer isolation! Better to be safe and take the pills than be very sorry!

I also missed the 'Yay for Holidays' Balgo disco that Meg and Dallas, our Youth Workers organised. I was meant to be helping cook the sausages but was ordered to stay at home by the boys who were pretty certain I'd cough all over the sausages, the kids, or both and infect the whole of Balgo. So I chilled on the couch and watched The Island which was one of the movies my Human Biology teacher Mr White raved about last year during one of our weekly period long class discussions about the best movies around. I must say, he was on the ball with this one. I miss those random off topic discussions in Human Biology however no matter how off topic our class was all the time, we still managed to rank in the top 5% in the state! Oh dear, now I'm off topic!

All our teachers managed to pass the Sturt Creek yesterday safely so that's good news for us when we try and cross it with the school bus next week. Our trip is fast approaching and we're getting pretty pumped. I'm really quite excited for the drive out as well; it'll be great passing through all the Kimberley towns, like Fitzroy Crossing (hoping to see a Crocodile there!) and the infamous Halls Creek. It should be fun :)

Balgo today is deathly quiet because of a funeral for a Balgo woman held in Mulan (not a good choice of words there but I'm going to go with it because it is seriously eerie how quiet it is!) We had a chilled morning and brunch with Brother Rick before heading out and completing a variety of odd jobs around the place; I'm in the middle of cleaning the staffroom while the boys are taking rubbish out to the tip. They've seemed to enjoy the tip a lot more since they discovered a stack of metal baseball bats in the sport cupboard and a whole heap of abandoned cars around the corner of the dump. The effort they've gone into smashing the cars is imprinted on their bats; cuts and chips line the whole length of the metal and they both look kind of broken looking. Needless to say, I tend to stay away from the tip. The last time I went it was to try and jumpstart Brother Rick's car just after sunset and it ended up with us pushing it until it started (Little Miss Sunshine flashback going there). Anyway the mozzies are terrible around there and I got eaten alive. With all these mosquito borne viruses going around here at the moment (Murray River Encephalitis just put a Balgo cop on life support in Perth) I'm staying WELL away from any Mozzie infestations because even aeroguard doesn't deter these stubborn buggers!

Back to the sweeping and mopping I go, and then I'm off to explode a volcano with Tip and Kaea! Yay :)

Steph-proof no more!!

I did the stupidest thing today. Like so stupid that if there was an award for the biggest idiot in the world, I would surely be the top contender. I managed to absolutely shatter the screen of my shockproof-waterproof-scratchproof-virtually Steph proof until about two hours ago phone. DOH! I seriously don't know what happened. One minute I was holding it in my hand and the next minute it was falling, falling and then bouncing along the floor. When I went to pick it up I wanted to cry! WHY ME!! On the upside, I am SUPER lucky we're going to Broome next week because although they can't fix it there, they are able to post it to Sydney where it will be fixed and probably take about six weeks to get back to me. I just have to buy a really cheap $49 dollar blue tick mobile for now which while it can't do all the fancy stuff like Skype and eBay (seeing as eBay is blocked on the school computers that's going to be really annoying) I'm just happy I can use my Sim card and Cap instead of buying credit. Oh, but I have to pay a hefty $218. Nice. Totally not my day!

  

At least when I break something, I break it well! (That was less consolating than I thought it would be!)

Outside the world of the ever so clumsy Steph, the teacher Steph enjoyed a lovely day with 12 students in the whole school. The rest of the kids went to Mulan, about 40 minutes away for a funeral. However when Brother Rick came back only two hours after he left, we discovered the funeral has being postponed until Wednesday. Luckily the children must have stayed in Mulan

Tip and Kaea, the kids I hang out with after school and I made a volcano last week and after we declared it was dry enough to paint, we attacked it with red and orange paint. Then the boys decided to paint their hands and touch every bit of paper insight, paint their arms red so it looked like they had been hurt trying to catch 'the baddies' and make the water that their mum had put out to wash their hands paint red also. It will be super fun when we explode it tomorrow :)

Old Balgo

Today Brother Lou, Brother Marty, Sister Alice and some local ladies Helen and Imelda took Alejandro and myself out to Old Balgo. Unfortunately Henry was sick and stayed home instead; karma for always picking on me I believe! It was a bumpy drive out and one I had done with Brother Michael a few weeks back, this time being easier as the tracks were dryer and passable. Old Balgo, or Old Balgo Mission was the second site for the Balgo Kukatja people to live on, the first being closer to Mulan and the third the current community we live in today. The community was run by the Nuns and it was during the years where the children were removed from their parents and families and placed in dormitories; however while the children slept in stone cottages their parents were never far away sleeping in tents. The buildings we viewed today were only part of the old community. Brother Marty was saying that the boys dorms and the places where the elders slept were about a kilometer away due to the strong belief in keeping boys and girls segregated at all times.

Around the early sixties, water around Old Balgo began to become less and less and the people became very sick, dying in large numbers. It was decided to relocate to another settlement about 30kms away where water was plentiful and the weather was not as harsh. The people therefore abandoned their homes and trekked to what they now refer to as Balgo Hills, so named because of the abundance of hills and plateaus around. I have here with me a beautiful Dreamtime story about Luurnpa, the Magical Kingfisher that saved the ancestors of the current Kukatja people and will share it with you because it really does explain a lot. I wish I could show you the pictures as well because the children illustrated the book and it’s really super cute!

Luurnpa, the Magical Kingfisher

A Dreaming Narrative belonging to Bai Bai Napangarti

In the Dreaming, Luurnpa, the magical kingfisher was living on his country in a high cave. The cave, or Pirnki was on the eastern side of a place called The Pound.

For a very long time a large group of Kukatja people had being living nearby.

They had plenty to eat and drink.

But then came a drought. The rock holes ran out of water. So did the soaks.

The people became very, very thirsty. Their mouths became dry. Their bodies became weak.

All around, the people were shaking with thirst. They cried, and sang out for Luurnpa, the magical kingfisher to come and save them.

They thought they were going to die. Poor things!!

Just as they were about to give up, Luurnpa flew down.

‘If you come with me, I’ll show you where to find the special water in my magic rock hole’.

Using his beak, Luurnpa picked up the dying people one by one and placed them carefully on his back.

Then he flew off with all the people on his back, to the special water in his magic rock hole and the people drank from it.

They drank big mouthfuls of water until they were no longer thirsty and they became strong.

The people stayed there on that land.

Those people were the first Kukatja people, our ancestors.

Today we are still here, on the same land.

And this is why Luurnpa, the magical kingfisher, will always be a special bird for us.

I absolutely love this story. The kids all know it and often when they see a bird, they’ll point and say to me, ‘Look, a Luurnpa bird!’ This is why the school is named Luurnpa Catholic School because of the significance of the Luurnpa bird to the people.

Old Balgo was absolutely fascinating! We saw the remains of the Church, the convent, the girls dorms, the bakery and part of the hospital. It is amazing to think how isolated these people were. Sure, people would say that those in Balgo today are isolated, but back in the Old Balgo times horses were used to get around, there was no air con or heating and running water was non-existent. It really was a different way of living, and for me it would be difficult but for the people, that’s what they enjoyed. They thrived off knowing they were using their land to survive and acknowledged the fact that when they had no more water, it was time to find a new home. For me, that’s a beautiful thing and I love how the people here love and care for their land.

The Bakery

Part of the old Church

The girls dorms and the Convent

The doorway of the girls dorms looking through to the school

The chapel of the Convent

The School

Part of the hospital

The dorms

Every time I go out on a bush trip, Cathy Lee tells me a new Dreaming story which I love. She told me that the hills around The Pound were formed because the Emu used to be teased by the other birds because it only laid a few eggs at a time. One day the Emu got really angry and stole all the birds’ eggs and hid them around The Pound. Over time they became a part of the land and formed into the large hills that dot the area. With that said though, I don’t like the fact that the majority of stories are about payback however I understand that this is important to the people; if one is wronged retribution must be sought.

So many people have asked me how I survive as a teenage girl in Balgo, without all the personal luxuries of home. It’s a question that has sort of made me wonder a bit as well and one I have discussed with some others to better understand. Myself and Lane, a lovely lady whose kids I look after in the afternoons after school, were talking about how we’re examples to the community. Lane told me that some people come here and don’t shower, get haircuts, shave, wax or use any form of toiletries to ‘fit in with the locals’. It’s both something we agreed kind of defeated the purpose of being here. The local people have been the target of countless programs to improve their personal hygiene and by having white people come in and accept the fact that not looking after one’s self is ok kind of defeats the point. Therefore, I always endeavor to make myself look clean and tidy because even though I live in the desert in the middle of no-where, I show others I respect them by making myself look respectful. It’s kind of hard to explain but it’s important to me to do that. I do take advantage of things like dinner at the Brothers and Mass to get out of my grungy clothes and into something a little bit more lady like. I also do things like straighten my hair and paint my nails every now and again, not to look good but to make myself feel a little bit like a woman again, which is hard when you’re living with two boys in Balgo. Here there is no need to be fashionable or wearing the latest clothes but for yourself, you’ll wear something nice every now and again just for a change. I hope that explains it all a bit!

School breaks up on Tuesday for two weeks. Woooo holidays J after Easter we’re hopefully going to go into Broome for a week with Brother Rick so I’m really looking forward to that. Everyone is sort of exhausted after such a long term; twelve weeks is FAR too long! We’re lucky because we skipped the first half of term so have only been here for six weeks which is good because we’re not feeling it like everyone else. But still, it will be good to catch up on the R’R for a few days.

Anthony left for a two week holiday in Melbourne on Friday and he lent the boys his playstation which has turned out to be the worst thing in the world! The boys did not get off the couch yesterday and I cleaned the house pretty much by myself because every time I’d ask them to do something, they’d say ‘Yeah, next round, promise!’ Yeah nah guys. It was quicker to just do it myself!! But it was good when they awoke from their FIFA induced coma to discover I’d washed their sheets, vacuumed, mopped, dusted, cleaned the bathroom and kitchen and rounded up all their balls and placed them in the ball pit. I won’t be cooking dinner for a while!

Oh, and I totally forgot to put this picture up!! Last week in Primary C computing we had to draw a picture on paint of our house. I drew my home back in High Wycombe!

All those quirky things!

I've found myself saying 'Only in Balgo' quite a lot after seeing certain things or being in a unique situation so I compiled a list of all those little and seemingly insignificant things that make Balgo different. It's probably going to be a constantly growing list as I come across more and more things!

Only in Balgo is there a town camel that crashes mass, comes into our backyard at night and is usually followed around by ten kids.

Only in Balgo you walk around with a big stick at night just in case you come across some of the less friendly dogs.

Only in Balgo do you have people left, right and centre trying to give you free puppies.

Only in Balgo is one grateful to have red kitchen tiles to hide the red dust.

Only in Balgo do your white socks turn orange after one wear.

Only in Balgo does everything shut down between 12 and 2 for lunch.

Only in Balgo petrol is $2.30 per litre.

Only in Balgo do you get excited when it's not raining on Fridays, so there is at least some chance that the mail plane will land.

Only in Balgo you'll receive your mail a month after it was sent.

Only in Balgo does school end at 2pm.

Only in Balgo do you celebrate mass with just as many dogs as people.

Only in Balgo will you watch horror movies with the Parish Priest on a Saturday night.

Only in Balgo do the Pre Primary kids climb the roof and manage to lock their teacher in the classroom.

Only in Balgo is it ok to give kids almonds as treats because not one person in the community has a nut allergy.

Only in Balgo is it possible to hear the news of the town faster than it develops!!

Only in Balgo will you become aquainted with the cop shop through a friendly game of cricket.

Only in Balgo do you get excited when fruit and vegetables are airlifted in.

Only in Balgo will you hear a four year old say 'may God bless you Miss' when you give them a sandwich at Mangarri time.

Only in Balgo does the weather go from rainy and 20 degrees one day to sunny and 35 the next.

Only in Balgo is it a twelve hour drive either way to the next major town (Broome or Alice Springs).

Only in Balgo do the people who eat the most fruit and vegies and take their vitamins (me) end up constantly sicker than those who don't (the boys!)

Only in Balgo do the kids go absolutely crazy on the Ides of March.

Only in Balgo do you drive three hours there and three hours back to watch your local boys play an away game of footy.

Only in Balgo is a visit to the doctor and all medication you need free.

Only in Balgo (the desert) are you waterlocked by flooding.

Only in Balgo does a five year old bring an owl to school.

Only in Balgo do they sell a whole kangaroo tail in the shop.

Only in Balgo will you have to rub mud all over yourself just to swim in the Lake.

Only in Balgo is the Royal Flying Doctors Service plane loud enough to wake up the whole community.

Only in Balgo does one get referred to as Napaljarri, or another cool skin name.

Only in Balgo is your name changed to Kumunytjayi (Kum-an-jai) if you have the same name as someone who has passed.

Only in Balgo is Alice Springs referred to as Kumunytjayi Springs.

Only in Balgo is there a super scary looking blue eyed dog that creeps me out!

Only in Balgo do you have to keep your flour, rice and sugar in the fridge to keep the bugs out of it.

Only in Balgo is a tube of Pringles $8.14.

Only in Balgo do you top up your power credit like you top up your mobile credit.

Only in Balgo can the kids do backflips of a stair a foot high.

Only in Balgo does a kid fall off the roof, break his arm and go back on two days later.

Only in Balgo does the same kid ride the camel, get knocked out when the camel goes through a metal doorframe and ducks but he doesn't and gets back on two days later!

Only in Balgo do you hear kids running on the roof while you type.

Only in Balgo does a baby cry and receive a bottle of coke to nurse.

Only in Balgo do you refer to a lizard as 'cute'.

Only in Balgo do you wake up with a sugar headache from too much cordial and coke compared to a hangover after a wild Saturday night of Karaoke.

Only in Balgo do you feel at home before your suitcase is unpacked.


'I love you Steph'

I struggled through today with a massive head cold however fortunately my classes were filled with amazingly well behaved children. It also helped that the school only had fifty kids in it; the secondary kids were on a bush trip and for some unknown reason the other kids decided to have a day off. For all us teachers hanging out for the holidays, that was a welcome breather. However, for a few reasons I kind of felt really special today.

In my Primary C class, there is a beautiful boy called Francis who, like all the other kids often do, will often run out of the class for unknown reasons. Today though, I managed to coax him back inside with a story and to let him calm down a little bit we sat outside in the sun and read about 'Mr Tickle'. Francis sure did like the part where every time Mr. Tickle tickled someone, he got a tickle from Miss Steph. He then went inside to complete five pages of his Jesus Story book in record time. I felt good knowing that I was able to help Francis when he most needed it and show him that you don't need to run away in order to escape a situation.

The second time I felt like the most special person on Earth was when I went over to Lane and Anton's place, who both work in Balgo. Every afternoon I do some fun games with their boys, Tipene who is four and at Kindy in school and Kaea, who is the most confident and articulate two year old I have ever met. Anyway Tip hurt himself pretty bad yesterday so I thought I'd cheer him up and we'd all have a bit of fun. So last night I started making a paper mache volcano as I was teaching the boys about volcanoes last week and showed them a few Youtube videos of the exploding vinegar/bicarb soda ones. When I took it over today and we started making it, Kaea looked up at me with his big brown eyes, put his hand on my shoulder and goes 'I love you Steph'. Awwww! My heart literally melted, it was the CUTEST thing! I also felt super sad because Lane and Anton  both work for Palyalatju which has now closed down, forcing them to relocate to Queensland in two weeks. I am super going to miss those boys, but am sure we'll have some great volcano making time in the future.

I am also very happy to announce that as well as lettuce, celery and garlic, the store also has EASTER EGGS! Which is very convenient seeing as today I made a Easter Egg basket in Primary C and that got me a little bit sad because I'm sure the Easter Bunny is not going to fly up from my home in High Wycombe (hey Mum and Dad) just to hide Easter Eggs in my garden on Sunday week. So now I have a whole heaps of Easter Eggs in my Easter Egg basket, making the house look a tiny bit festive for next Sunday. Super awesome.

The boarders from La Salle fly into Balgo tomorrow. I'm sworn to secrecy though because for Joan, Chis and Antonio, they aren't aware their brother and sister Mandy and William will be surprising them at 3.45pm tomorrow afternoon with their presence in Balgo. Their Mum told them they're flying in next week so I'm pretty keen on driving down to the airstrip just to see the look on their faces when the plane lands tomorrow. Joan, who has been chosen to go on the Primary D trip to Melbourne next term and I sat down this morning and made a list of what she needs to pack, and what she is hoping to buy. She couldn't understand why she needed to buy a handbag in Melbourne, not listening to me when I said it was the handbag capital of Australia. I know she'll regret it when she's older. But it's nice to have a little sister type person around that asks me all the girly questions and begs me to braid her hair. Too cute!

Well, I'm going home to cook rice and buttered chicken, the ultimate comfort food. Be amazed, I cooked the most amazing rice last night AND turned the hot plate off. I bet you're all gobsmacked right now, because the boys sure were :) go me!!!