Hello all!

So! The school holidays were great. I loved seeing all my friends, but am sad that now I'm gone again. It was actually rather exhausting, but completely worth it. Next time we'll be in Perth will be for the school holidays and we'll have more time for seeing people.

Our last few days in Perth consisted of (1) me breaking the laptop as the fan needed cleaning (boy did it need cleaning!). I did everything quite well, but the screen decided it didn't want to work anymore (which is apparently a common problem). (2) The wedding of two of our friends in Abany, which I'm very glad we made it to! (3) Spending time with 3 fantastic friends of ours as we all stayed at a house of one of their parents. (4) Catching up with more friends over the wedding weekend and (5) rushing back to Halls Creek that Sunday. We caught a flight out of Albany to Perth, then a flight from Perth to Broome, then had to pick up our car from the service centre we'd left it at, fill it up with petrol, buy a jerry can and fill that up and try to get to the next road house before it closed so we could fill up and make it home. Unfortunately the road house closed (half an hour early too!), but our jerry can brought us in with petrol to spare!

Since returning to Halls Creek, things have been pretty ok. We're still in the hotel, and who knows when we'll be moving in to a house. Things have been better with friends. Term breaks makes it easy to see how things have improved. For example, last term we didn't know anyone and were starting from scratch! This term we know people and had already started making friends. Already improvement! Yay!

I'm settling into my new role as science teacher. I settle for mediocre when it comes to my teaching practice, which isn't great, but it gets the job done. Recently my team leader came in to support me in a class which made me super aware of what I was doing, which meant I had my A-game on. And it really showed! I think I ought to be doing that regularly when teaching, behaviour issues magically clear up.

I've been quite sick for over a week. Two Fridays ago I was very tired and went home. I continued being tired all week until the following Friday when I developed the flu. I have the flu :(. I went back to work today because I'm sick of being sick damnit! It wasn't too bad, but now I've got a headache and am quite tired. Oh well.

Today our new computer arrived. IT's an Asus Ultrabook and is very flash! I managed to convince James to do a bit of research into computers and he decided on this one. It's refurbished, so we got it cheaply, but all up very nice. And I'm on now typing this up. Yay!

So that's all my news, methinks :)

It's LJ time!!!

So, we're currently in Perth on school holidays and it's LOVELY! It's lovely seeing all my friends again and talking to them and just feeling like I can emotionally relate to people once more! It's been pretty hard up in the Creek. Making new friends in hard. Wah! It's definitely getting better and easier and all that, but it takes time and I'd been getting a bit weary emotionally and spiritually because of it.

We've been doing lots of shopping! YAY! I bought pants and cosmetics and a fancy clock for our friends' wedding this coming weekend - which I'd looked EVERYWHERE for that kind of clock and couldn't find one that was (1)nice looking, (2)less than $400 (not that that was our budget, but all the ones I found were that price!!) and (3)shipped to Australia/was already in Australia. But today, success!! Mind you, it is "damaged" (it has no glass to guard its face), but that meant it came in under our budget and it still looks perfectly good! I was SO excited when I saw it in store at the price it was at. SO. EXCITED. So, Kieran and Anna, if you're reading this, your clock is very close to perfect, but you can't return it if you hate it ;)

I've been catching up with so many friends, which has been great, but also wearying to see so many people in such a short space of time. Yesterday after church I kinda crashed. I was so tired all mid-arvo that I ended up having a nap late arvo and sleeping through another friend-catch up :(. Which I'm quite sad by. But I desperately needed to sleep/space out.

We are staying with James' family, which is going rather well. No ill feelings between me and the in laws, So yay for that! There's a display village down the road from their house, so today we had a wander through the homes. They were all very nice and impressive, as display homes should be. One was completely ridiculous! Super big, few bedrooms, loads of miscellaneous rooms, wasting precious space. But most were quite nice. It's very unlikely that we'll ever buy a house though.

The easy way to live this life would follow this plan: Both James and I would work very hard at our jobs in the Creek. We wouldn't have children, but just work hard for several years. It'd probably take 5-6 years of both of us working in order to buy/build a house outright with no mortgage. Then we'd start having children, James would work so we'd have basics like food and could pay bills and life would go fairly well for us financially. But that's not our plan. Our plan is to start trying for a family now, so we're only living/saving 1 income. James'd work for fewer years, then go to Theological college and we'd subsist on our savings. Then we'll go into missionary/ministry work.

I find it a struggle sometimes because it would be EASY to go with the first plan. It's comfortable and secure. It's easy to say we'll work a lot first and then have a cushy future. It's harder to go with the more difficult kids-now-no-house option. It's way more uncertain. But the fact of the matter is that our priorities lie in that direction. Mission work is more important than owning and having the stability of a house. Children are more important than any amount of money we could save, or luxury we could enjoy by me working. It's hard to consider that future we're deciding on and part of me is annoyed for it. But I trust that it's worth it.

Maybe God will drop a few hundred thousand dollars in our laps and we could afford a nice house. But we won't hold our breath :)

I bought some new tea from T2 today and James has said he might like to start appreciating tea. This makes me happy and I think we need ANOTHER trip to T2 to buy him some more tea and maybe even a special teacup just for him! James doesn't agree. Lol

Good Feelings
So this week started off great! I am finally happy to be living in Halls Creek. I feel settled with the people I'm working with; with the work I'm doing with the kids; with Bible study and church. Just settled. I could see myself living here for our projected maximum length of time, 4 years. While everyone else was suffering for Monday-itis last week, I was happily happy. Lalala, I'm working and happy to be here. Yay!

I've got a sweet routine down at school now, I feel organised and have direction! One of my kids has been making leaps and bounds in her progress, and that has encouraged me with everyone else too! Surely if she can learn to read good, everyone else can learn to read good and do maths good too! Enthused!!

I've been feeling good about the friendships I'm forming too. I'm not as KEEN BEAN as I was at the beginning because I feel that I know these people now, and they know me. We might not have DEEP and MEANINGFUL friendships, but that's ok. We're on the way over time and I feel we've made a good start.

We're going to Perth for the school holidays in 2 weeks. I'm very excited to be seeing family and friends! YAY!!!!

Bad Feelings
There's an emotional issue I'm grappling with that'll be be friends locked because it's quite personal. But it coincides with our trip to Perth over the holidays. So while I'm eagerly excited for that, I'm also sad for this other thing.

I've just been down about that thing in the past couple of days. :(

Other Things
I've discovered that regular exercise is good for my knees. James and I have been sick over the past couple of weeks, so we haven't made it to the gym. TOTALLY COINCIDENTLY *cough*, my knees have been hurting more than usual. So we went back to the gym yesterday and are hoping to get more gym time in this weekend. Yay not-hurting knees!

Usually when I'm sick on a work day, I'll just call in sick and that's that. Having rested all morning, I'll feel pretty good by afternoon and start wondering why I called in sick! I should have just pushed through the work morning and gotten paid. Why did I call I bother calling in sick? Some sick person I am, feeling pretty good! Pft!

 

So this weekend I was sick. It was a long weekend too, so I had extra recovery time. This morning I'm feeling less than average, but I figure that I'll be fine by the afternoon, so I'll just push through. BLAH!!! I'm feeling light headed, faint, my hands are shaking. I'm not nauseated or headachy. But something's definitely up. So at recess I decide I'll go home when my DOTT (duties other than teaching) starts, just before lunch. I have a meeting just before that and though it went well, my hands were still shaking and I felt really ... REALLY! the whole time. It's like, I was more ... more. You wouldn't figure I was sick by my general attitude of exuberance. But I'm also trying to fight off this fainting-feeling too. I'm not are I can easily explain it :/

 

So anyway, I'm home now. I think I'll call in sick tomorrow and not try to push through the morning. I felt like falling down as I was trying to find James so he could give me the car keys. When I did eventually sit down to wait for him to finish class, my breathing was quite shallow and fast. More shaking and faint-feeling. But yay for resting at home. Maybe if I'm good, James will buy me more timtams! ;)

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So, we're now half way through term. That went by SO fast! I'm still feeling like I'm making this up as I go along. Every so often, a teacher will over me some advice on what to be doing differently and I jump on board with that. But I get the distinct impression (have been told directly) that I ought to be forward planning to target all the students I'm working with. But I have NO idea how that's going to work out. I'll try to have a quality sit down with my team leader to grill her on all of that. Hopefully I can then be meeting the expectations of my job and doing it well. I really want to so this well!

I've started leading Sunday School. Last week'we had 5 kids. This week we had 17. OH MY FREAKING GOODNESS!!! And I had a cold. I'm pretty sure that God gave me strength to pull through and that he worked in the kids so they'd cooperate. I've no idea how it managed to pull together, but it did, and was amazing. I was told this morning that sometimes we get 50 kids coming along. I don't know how that's going to work. On one hand, it's a huge blessing to teach all those kids about Jesus. On the other hand, this church doesn't really DO rosters. Or much forward planning. I think I might need to have a chat to some people about getting regular helpers who aren't white-teachers and getting them on a roster, trained and able to teach a small group of kids. What a huge task! Please pray that God will sustain and strengthen me to do this.

I've been feeling much much better about the friends issue. While I was feeling all horrible and bad at the start of last week, a few people noticed and cared. We had a couple over for dinner last week and I really enjoyed getting to know them. I'm really thankful for how things have been going in that department. God is so good to provide us with friends.

And some of our friends have recently moved out of their apartment and into their house! I am very happy for them as they were having a terrible time in the hotel. You can read more about it here This makes me look forward to eventually moving in to our own house one day. I am thankful that their good news hasn't made me sad for me, as I was expecting. Maybe that'll come soon, but I hope not.

I think that's all our big news. Please pray for Sunday School, my health and give thanks for us making good friends! Thank you

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I am so so sad. and I cannot even tell you why.

 

I got drunk yesterday, hoping it would make me happy. but it only did for a little bit.

 

no one's dead. not sad because of anything like that.

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So now I'm at the start of week 4! Hello everyone!

So what has been the low down so far?

I have a filing cabinet. Not a desk though. Apparently that'll be coming soon. Who knows how long "soon" is. But I have a place to chuck my stuff that I can lock. I was pretty happy about that. I have been pulling some kids out to do work with them. So far I'm totally just making it up as a go along, trying to get a feel for what they can do/what I can do with them. So far a typical session looks like this:
1. Read a book with them
2. Get them to identify sight words
3. Ask if they know [this] word (a repeated word in the text, or one that's easy to sound out)
4. Read the book, this time with them reading aloud the sight words and couple of extra words we've identified and me reading all the other words.
5. Repeat step 3.
OR!! If they have trouble sounding out a word, get into the phonics of it. What sound does "th" make? What words can we find that in? Let's say those words together! Oh look, it makes 2 different sounds. One sounds like "v/z" and the other sounds like "s/f"! Fancy that!

My diary and filing cabinet is very colour coordinated with retroactive notes in it to record the work I've been doing, rather than comprehensive lesson plans (who can plan when the kid might not even be there!?) So I've been settling into that kind of role so far. There's more professional development for me to come and I'm looking forward to getting my head around the ATAS role even more when that comes. I'm pretty happy with how I've been working so far.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow we have a Kagan PD, so we missed out on the morning service at church and have a couple of student free days. It's a pretty cool thing, this Kagan thingo. I rather like it, except more of it is suited to whole-class set ups and cooperative learning (a kind of group work with important, distinctive differences). Anyway, this led to us going to the evening service at the people's church on Sunday. There were definitely less people and it was WAY more casual, but it was really good and I super enjoy going! I couldn't really understand the talk at all, as the speaker was speaking with a very thick Aboriginal accent, and mostly in a kind of creole. But what I could understand was good, and the music was sung with loads of gumption by everyone. All the songs were done in a kind of country-style due to the guitar playing. But it was very encouraging to be a part of this church that is otherwise so foreign to me!

I've also volunteered for the kid's church and hopefully will be starting that up next week. I hope to get a few Indigenous volunteers to help each Sunday that can be trained to help leader too. Then we might even be able to run 2 groups to cater to age differences. There's about 20 kids from 1-12yrs old, so that'd be really good.

As far as friendships go, I think I'm super sensitive to everything that goes on. On one hand, Bible study last week was REALLY good and encouraging!! I felt a lot better about those relationships. On the other hand, that didn't lead to the leaps and bounds in close friendships like I was secretly hoping for, and that feels discouraging. Which I think is a problem with my own expectations. There was a geek themed party on Friday night we were invited to, so James went as greek and I went as Sikh (both of us playing on the theme). It was good fun at first, but as the night went on I felt a little on the outer. I felt I was outputting a lot of energy, but didn't feel much of a reciprocated input. Which, again, I'm new, I don't have a long-term-friendship-foundation with most of these people and they're still getting to know me. I understand. I get it. But I was still discouraged.

But then today, I feel fine about it all. My emotions are swinging a lot around that issue and again, I'm very sensitive to what's going on. People are very friendly at times, and then not friendly at other times. And it's hard when we're all in this same small town together. My work collegues are also my friends and there's no one else. We see each other 5 days a week and more when we all want to be social on the weekend (or have PDs scheduled). I'm still adjusting.

Finally, we moved some furniture around the room on Saturday. We also gave some of out junk "homes" around the unit. So now I feel that this space is more "ours" than it was before. We've taken some ownership over it and have made it a little into a home. And that feels good. The tv-table is now a desk, it's now in the corner and the lamps on it provide warm lighting for the lounge-area, instead of the cool, white down lights in the ceiling. Our fridge magnets cover the fridge, as do old letters, cards and wedding invitations that somehow didn't get packed in the removalist's truck. I covered a bedroom lamp with a patterned sarong we bought in Bali on our honeymoon last year, and that makes the room warm and orange. Dim lights are the go for me at the moment. But all of this helps me to feel more settled in this space. Even though I don't have all my STUFF, it feel like MY space, not just a hotel I'm staying at for 3 months. So yay for that. :)

Half way through week 2! It's going pretty well, I reckon.

On Monday and Tuesday I tested a bunch of middle primary students, who hadn't been tested last year. It was a good start as I get great opportunities to meet students and start forming relationships. A lot of what we were told on the PD last week was that these kids are "beautiful" and I have mixed experience with that. On one hand, they're little rats and horrible scoundrels. On the other hand, the exact same student can also be cute and sweet and even, beautiful. I wish I could download a work ethic into them. But I can't. And when they're being cheeky, or when they're humbly pleased with themselves for achieving a task, they're beautiful. And I love being 1-on-1 with them. It'd be too much if I had a whole class.

I was helping out in a class all day today and the teacher was AMAZING!! He had high energy and enthusiasm and patience ALL DAY and he was bloody fantastic. He has stuff to learn still and he is still wrangling behaviour management practices in, and he's still figuring out how to actually get to the teaching part of being a teacher (because they don't sit still or listen). But he's fantastic at building rapport and a positive classroom environment.

I don't think I could do that. And I'm happy to say I'm quite happy doing ATAS and, boy did I dodge a bullet!

Bible study was last night and it was encouraging. But I have an unfortunate discerning homunculus that cannot be gagged. Which meant I was questioning pretty much everything everyone said all the time (including myself). Being discerning is good and I'm pleased to say I agreed with 99% of what was shared. The 1% was not important stuff AT ALL. But it was exhausting and got in the way of actually engaging properly with the people, relationally. And I'm missing my bosom buddies back home. Though I actually don't think about it, because when I do I get sad. So I just never think about my friends back home.

I hope you friends back home understand. I love you. Yes, you.

I hope that over time, my discernment homunculus will quiet down, and that shared experiences and conversations mean that friendships can grow a bit. I'm very thankful to have made a couple of friends that I would call close friends. And that's a real encouragement. But I feel a bit on the outer of the Bible study group still, and that's always a hard feeling. I hate feeling this way! I've felt this way back in Perth too. So it isn't a new feeling, just new people. And there are less people to feel on the outer with.

But anyway, this is a lot of typing. Given that that's my only problem, I would call myself blessed. Things are looking up and life is going pretty good. Except for my prayer life, which is flagging. And I'm feeling a little down. Which might have something to do with the aforementioned friendship problems. Making friends is hard! WAH! Anyway. The end :)

A whole week since updating! Woah!

So on Monday we moved into our apartment at the hotel. We have a bedroom, living room, kitchen and dinning room now. There's a washing machine in the bathroom and a dryer that does a great job of heating, but not so great job at drying. It tries though, poor dryer! We also have a dish washer, which is cool! We had some friends over for dinner on our second night to celebrate, and we ate not-pub-food! Yay! It's nice to cook again and eat our own food the way we like it. I don't have my cook books yet, so I'm just sticking to easy stuff I know well, instead of getting adventurous like I'm kinda used to. But then, it's not as though I have a billion different food shops in a 20min driving radius in order to get obscure items, so it's just as well.

For Monday-Wednesday, we had PD, and that was alright. A lot of being talked at and a few interactive things for our Stronger Smarter thing. It's aimed at Indigeous kids, to help give them self respect and pride in their education, hoping to boost attendance and results and generally put them in a better position to succeed when they eventually leave school. Most people at the school are super committed and optimistic about helping these kids, so I'm pretty happy to be working in this big team. There was also stuff about talking positively and constructively, rather than complaining in the staff room all the time. I was a bit confused at first, because the way they mentioned itm sounded like we were expected to bury our heads in the sand whenever something negative came up. But it's not that, it's about making those conversations constructive.

So school officially started on Thursday. ATAS won't start till this week (and even then, not in an official sense), so last week I was making resources for most of the day. I kid you not, I got mild RSI in my arms from the repetative actions on the guillotine and stapler! It was kinda funny till I got home and couldn't do other things, like out a pot of rice in the microwave because it hurt A LOT to lift slightly-heavy things. Lame!

My desk is in a wet area. It's a bit open and probably busy, but I have a desk!! Apparently I'll also get a computer! The principal has told me that he's ordered in new colourful desks and filing cabinets to go in that space, for my use with the kids. Cool beans!! I'm pretty excited about that. But knowing Halls Creek, these things won't come in for a while.

Things are definitely going well things week. Moving into the apartment has helped, starting at the school and getting assistance has helped, buying things online has helped, receiving our first paycheck has helped! But I think mostly time has helped me get used to change.

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SO!

 

I was a bit teary previously with the housing situation. And it still is sucky. But it's much better now. Things that have helped include; buying clothes on the internet (necessary clothes like underwear), finding out that other people are in similar boats (misery loves company), and a little bit of time. I was more teary about it than I expected to be. We visited a couple's house this arvo. Their stuff hasn't arrived, but they've got the keys to their place and it's ready for them to move in. I was happy for them, and they've got sweet digs, but I was a little sad for me. But I'm doing OK for the most part.

 

Other things that make me sad include not having a class of my very own. Most student teachers are just hanging out for the day when they get their very own class. But alas, not for me *sadface*. I'll be doing this Aboriginal Tutorial Assistance Strategy (ATAS) instead. That means I'll have a small number of kids I'll work with to boost their literacy and numeracy. I think it'll probably be more rewarding and I'll enjoy it more, but it's not my very own class of my very own damnit! Expectations are nothing like I expected! If I think about it too much, I feel quite jaded about it all!!

 

Good news!!! Church this morning was great! Most people stuck around for ages to chat, an Indigenous man led the service and I agreed and was edified by pretty much everything he said, we did communion and sang OLD songs with gusto! The talk left a little to be desired, but it was from the Bible and was generally encouraging. On the whole, it felt a little bit like home and family, which is such a great feeling to have! Most of the white, Christian teachers go there too, which is cool!

 

After church we were invited to lunch at someone's house, so we went along for that. I felt a bit on the outer, as many of them had gotten back from the holidays and were catching up/had established friendships. But they were mindful of including us and I hope to be close friends with these women in time. I guess I was envious of their friendships more than anything and was super aware of my efforts to fit in :P. oh well. On the whole it was nice and I have positive expectations.

 

Good news, but not as awesome as the above good news: I figure out how to wirelessly connect the internet to the laptop via the tablet. Photos will be flooding here soon! Yay!

 

To sum up: God is preparing us to bear with unfavourable change. By the time we're 80, I ought to be quite used to this ;). But God also provides for us where it matters. And I am very thankful for that!

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