Addictions...

There is always a method to my madness. Sometimes it pays to be a little cryptic as the best move is not always laying all your cards on the table at once. A story for another time, maybe.

I have been a fan of Chris Rene for a while. There is something about his song "Young Homie" that really appeals to me. I am not sure that it would have appealed to me in the past but age wisens even the hardest of souls.

There is something to be said for the idea that "life is short, you gotta live it long" and "if you wanna build your love up, put your hate down". The idea of seeing peace signs as I turn around translates for me into wickedly coordinated handshakes with youngsters looking to belong and to be part of something bigger than themselves, "it takes education to change your reputation". 'Can you feel me?'

I overheard something recently that I find to be one of the funniest things. Whenever I listen to people saying that 'youth is wasted on the young', I can't help but have a little chuckle to myself about the cynicism embedded in that very idea. The very simple reality that we most often neglect is that it is these very experiences that we get, or have, when we are young that creates the individuals that we grow and become. Youth is what makes the young wise as they age.

Sadly, some of us lose our battles with our addictions. Then, others of us grown because of those addictions and grow out of them. We then have a responsibility to share those experiences and make the lives of those that follow us easier, choices wiser, and lives longer.

There is a reason I returned to my roots and to teaching; to make a difference, to facilitate change, and to share experience. The rewards far outweigh the sacrifices as there is nothing quite like seeing the door open and a young person stride through that door into the brave new world of education, renewed reputation, and opportunity.

Addictions are easy; life is hard. Despite my addictions, I love life!

The Colly Crew on ABC TV's 7.30 Program...

The Colly Crew are moving onwards and upwards. The things that we do are being recognised as making a difference. They are being recognised as allowing for change. They are being recognised for creating opportunities. And, they are being recognised for opening doors.

The Colly Crew grew out of a program called "Step-By-Step". It is a hip hop based program designed to engage kids with school and their education. It is worth noting that Collarenebri is a small, very rural and remote community. The school is a central school and there is a significant local Indigenous community with a very rich history. Consequently, the program is often referred to as being an Indigenous hip hop program. For me, perhaps a community hip hop program is a more accurate reflection of what we are actually doing.

About the program. There are elements of literacy and numeracy, but it is more than just about literacy and numeracy it is about understanding how the choices we make impact upon our lives. It is about how we can take control of our lives and make smarter decisions and achieve those things that perhaps others in our families have never had the opportunity to do. Any teachers out there looking for a spoken word, performance poetry, rap unit of work that incorporates what we have done so successfully in this program let me know, we are always happy to share.

I am not sure how to embed just the video. Nevertheless, the link to the 7.30 Program and their report can be found here.

I encourage you to watch it.

All feedback is accepted. I am sure that there are those out there who love what we are doing and are amazed by it. I am also not naive enough to believe that absolutely every single person out there is in favour of it. Keep it civil though.

An Easy Saturday Morning...

The first week of Term 2 is done and dusted.

I was up early this morning, for no particular reason, and decided I might write a post or two. So, it was off to the study, grab the laptop, back to the kitchen to make a Chai Latte, and then outside to sit on the porch in the brilliant morning sun. The mornings are cold, perhaps brisk is a better choice, but the days have been very warm for this time of the year.

Unfortunately, the sun was a little too brilliant this morning and sitting on the porch in the designer sunglasses did not do the trick. There was too much glare and I could not see the screen (which sort of gives one a slightly different take on the idea of 'touch typing').

Instead of blogging, in my disappointment, I opted to water the lawn. Although, it is fair to say that what we have at the moment resembles more of a "patch of bindies" than it does a flourishing landscaped country lawn and garden. The standard joke between us, Dyah and I, is that by the time we have a beautiful lawn and garden to enjoy we will be on the move to somewhere else. I guess though this is the nature of teaching and seeking promotion while living in Teacher Housing. But, we are not complaining as we live in a very spacious four bedroom house and pay AUD 12.50 per week.

The point of this post is just to ramble (some might say, prattle) on about not much at all.

Speaking of which, I have to read a couple of books this weekend. Therefore, blogging seemed like a legitimate reason to not get started on that task straight away. I am reading "Tomorrow When The War Began" by John Marsden. I have read it before, and have recently acquired a copy of the film (note to self: watch the movie this weekend as well) as well as an audio-book. I am teaching this to Year 9. In my search for materials I have learned that there is not a whole lot out there in cyberspace that matches the description of "unit of work", please steal me, and use me as you like. However, there are some good resources out there that I will use as a basis of creating "my own" unit of work for this novel.

The Tomorrow When The War Began unit of work leads into NAPLAN for this cohort and then extends beyond it. So, it seems the first couple of weeks will be devoted to activities and tasks that set the students up for a better understanding of language conventions and the like. The medium will be this novel.

The other book I have to read is one that I have not read in the past, "My Girragundji", by Meme McDonald and Boori Pryor. It was the book of the year for younger readers in 1999. I am looking forward to reading this one.

Anyways, off to read while watching cartoons, Yo Gabba Gabba. Will is now awake and raring to go.

Some Graduation Photos...

Well, I have now officially graduated from the University of Western Sydney with a Master of Teaching (MTeach) degree. The next box to tick is a professional competence one with the New South Wales Institute of Teachers. With a bit of a luck I should have satisfied all those requirements by the end of 2011.

It would be nice to say "thus begins the next phase of our journey", but the reality is that the next phase actually got underway back at the beginning of February 2011 when we arrived at Collarenebri and I started teaching at the Central School.

Chew Volume 2: International Flavor...

This is the second installment of the soon to be cult graphic novel / comic series "Chew". I have never been a huge fan of comics. I have always loved good cartoons though and I am a fan, still, of "Thunderbirds". However, I am a fan of the work of John Layman and Rob Guillory.

I am not sure that the second installment was quite as good as the first. But, after a while and having digested it a little more, it certainly is one that grows on you. I guess the biggest challenge that Layman and Guillory face in the second go round is keeping it fresh. Once you get your head around the idea of cibopaths then the story runs the risk of just being a run around on the gratuitous violence front with some cannibalism thrown in for effect. Yet, to Layman's credit and Guillory's mastery of the art, this story is anything but a boring and bland cop story.

International Flavor takes Tony Chu to a small island in the middle of nowhere, Yamapalu (Western Pacific, if I recall correctly) whose claim to fame is a fruit that tastes like chicken, the gallsberry. The second installment introduces a few new characters and kills some of them off as quickly as they arrived. International Flavor leaves several of the previous story plot lines unattended and introduces a few new ones as well. The reality, much like a soap opera, is that the first two installments have introduced a lot of plot lines and subplots that can provide myriad of material for several installments to come. Interstingly the most obvious arch-rival to Tony Chu in the series plays an insignificant role in International Flavor as Mason Savoy has seemingly fallen off the face of the post apocalyptic bird flu world.

The other character in this story that has a really interesting back story is Amelia Mintz. Mintz is a saboscrivner. A saboscrivner, you ask? A saboscrivner is a person that writes so accurately about food that those people reading the review actually get the taste sensations associated with that food. Amelia Mintz is a Ciboscrivner which means she combines the talents of both a cibopath and saboscrivner.

All-in-all the second installment was worth the money to buy it and was well worth the read.

It is kind of hard to write a review without spoilers. Maybe the next one needs to have a spoiler alert.

Jozef Wadecki: Doing Poland Proud on the Gymnastics Front...

If you have not worked it out yet, it is school holiday time. I have a couple of weeks off, sort of. I am preparing a presentation abstract for a conference in August. It is also an opportunity to do some blogging. Although my personal blogging is for fun and to humour myself by ranting and railing on whatever takes my fancy or posting the weird and wonderful I discover while surfing the internet. Blogging is something that I am going to start doing with my students. The plan is to set up unit related blogs that the students contribute to and use to work through the unit of work.

Anyways, on my travels today, I came across this video of Jozef Wadecki doing a tumbling run. Awesome!

Australian Aboriginal Proverb...

"We are all visitors to this time, this place. 

We are just passing through. 

Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love... 

and then we return home."

It is important to learn something new every single day. It keeps the mind fresh and active. I found this proverb on a bookmark. I post it here because it says a lot about how I want to live my life "to observe, to grow, to love" and perhaps I would add "to teach, to develop, to facilitate opportunities". Yet, the reality is that we all are just passing through and at some point we return "home".

Let's Talk Recognition...

National Reconciliation Week will soon be upon us (27 May - 3 June). It is hardly surprising that I am more aware of events in the Indigenous calendar than I have been in the past. The "more aware" is an increased awareness before the fact rather than watching the news and going "oh yeah, it is Reconciliation Week". I work in a school that is a touch over 90% indigenous, and loving it!

The theme of Reconciliation Week this year is "Let's Talk Recognition". Recognition can happen in many ways, and let's face it we all love to be recognised. However, a key part of recognition is to ensure that the "First Australians" are recognised in the Australian Constitution.

If you want to check out what is happening during Reconciliation Week, then head here.

But on the recognition front, check out the Colli Crew...









Enjoy

Talk Of The Town -- The Colli Crew...

I have only been teaching for a short period of time at Collarenebri Central School. However, in a term I have had the opportunity to be involved in many great projects and activities. One of the proudest and most enjoyable moments has been the "raps" that the Colli Crew have been making with the expert assistance of Toby Finlayson of Desert Pea Media and the dedicated staff of the school.

I have included the link her and embedded the video for your ease. However, please clink on the link and go to the You Tube video and watch it there as often as you like. Here is the video.



This is destined to be "our" best rap yet. The reasons are simple: the message is real and it is timely.

On a personal level, it has been very rewarding to see these young people come out of their shells and commit themselves to something that is so much bigger than themselves. It has been fantastic to see how these young people have responded to the internet / YouTube fame that they have encountered. It was, and is, rewarding to watch these young people grow and develop as they start to realise that the world is there and opening up before them.

Superb effort and my whole-hearted congratulations to all those involved.

I am proud to have been associated with the project.

The Chew: Taster's Choice Review...

I really enjoyed this comic / graphic novel. I know that I am supposed to be reading Chew: Taster's Choice (Volume 1) as a potential text for my more senior students. However, it really is a collection of comics bound into a book. Nevertheless, I am totally committed to the idea that the genre is one that can be a successful addition to the units of work that I have been teaching. In any event, I sat down and read the whole thing in one sitting. It was a lot of fun.

Using Chew as a text has some potential pitfalls that I am going to have to address with both my Head Teacher and the Principal at some point. The language is sometimes at the outer edge of what might be acceptable. Yet, the reality is that I just taught a novel to my Year 10 cohort that had plenty of English's finest swear words. So, I am confident that I can get around that one.

However, a more pressing issue might be the basic premise of the comics themselves. The series follows the career of a Philadelphia police officer, Tony Chu. Chu has an interesting gift, he is "cibopathic". If you are wondering what that is, then wonder no more. A cibopath has the ability to extract the memories and histories of whatever they eat. Yes, whatever they eat. In a funny twist of fate, the only thing that Chu can eat and not have the instant "life-long history lesson" is beets.

So, here's the thing, I am wondering how my principal is going to go with the idea of teaching a graphic novel where the hero is a fella who has a habit of dining on all manner of things, including suspects, in order to find the truth. I am not at all worried about the Head Teacher, it was the Head Teacher who gave me Chew and asked me to have a read of it and see what I thought as a potential text.

Tony Chu is an interesting character, there is much conflict about him and within him. Simply, there is much to study and work with. However, the character that I found myself most drawn to was Special Agent Mason Savoy. Savoy is also cibopathic and is the mentor figure to Chu at the start. There are only three known cibopaths in the world of Chew and the fact that two of them are working together seems destined to give rise to conflict that allows us, the reader, to explore the basic tenets of good and evil.

Aside from Chu's and Savoy's abilities, the other over-arching theme of the series is a global disaster in the form of avian influenza (bird flu) that kills some 23 million Americans and more than 119 million worldwide. The dire predictions at the time suggested such an occurrence was possible. So, it is fun to read about the consequences in this form.

John Layman tells a great story and Rob Guillory's artwork is amazing. Even if I do not teach Chew, I am committed to teaching graphic novels this year, but truth be told I will be arguing for Chew to get the nod. In the end though, no matter what the decision is, I am off to Dymocks tomorrow to see if I can find anymore in the series. I am hooked, and looking forward to what happens next in this storm of a post-avian flu apocalyptic world.

Graphic Novels...

I am thinking of teaching a graphic novel unit sometime this year, perhaps even next term, but it is finding one that the students are really going to get into and enjoy. I am currently reading "Chew, Volume 1: Taster's Choice" by John Layman and Rob Guillory. I am enjoying it much more than I thought I would.

I am not resistant or reluctant to new methods of getting the students to learn the knowledge that they need to be successful in their post-school endeavours. However, I do envisage that there may be some interesting discussions about the value of using "comics" to teach English and literacy.

I used a graphic novel version of Macbeth once to teach a Year 9 English class where there was a variety of literacy skills presented. The key to teaching a graphic novel is very much ensuring that everyone is involved and providing extension activities for those who find the graphic novel format an easy alternative to the classic "here's a novel, now read it" method. Yet, my experience tells me to date that no matter what one chooses there is always going to be myriad of learning styles. Thus some are going to love the graphic novel and others are going to hate it.

Any suggestions on how to teach the graphic novel as a unit of work for years 9 or 10 will be gladly received. I will be sure to post updates on how the unit unravels (in both the positive and negative senses or the word).

Term 1...Done & Dusted!

Well, Term 1 is done. It has been a long term in both the literal and figurative senses. In the literal sense it has been an 11-week term instead of the usual 10. In the figurative sense, it has also been long as teaching every day gives rise to new and different challeges every day. These challenges arise irrespective of the fact that the students stay the same.

Nevertheless, when it is all said and done, the term has been an excellent one. I have learned much and I think I have taught much. And, hopefully, the students have learned much.

One of the perks of teaching is that I now get to enjoy two weeks worth of holidays with my family before having to front up and do it all again (the holidays can't end soon enough).

We, at Collarenebri Central School, have just completed another rap in our "step-by-step" program. So, keep your eyes and ears peeled for that to appear. It is likely to be our most controversial effort to date, but it also sounds like it might just be our best.

Indonesian Nationals and Foreign Spouses...

Whenever I have had an extended break from posting I always feel the need to apologise for my absence. I am not sure why that is. Maybe it is that I really enjoy posting odds and ends on my blog, and the fact that I have been way so irregular in doing that probably bothers me more than it bothers anyone else. But hey, duty or work calls and I have been busy doing the thing that pays my bills.

However, it is Saturday, there is only one week of Term 1 to go before the school holidays kick in, and it has been a particularly lazy Saturday to date. And, aside from a need to mow the front lawn, a lazy Saturday it seems destined to remain. That said, I have installed and set-up a new Canon Pixma MG6150 printer on our wireless home network. For the technologically challenged like me, even in a "move mouse and click" environment it was quite an achievement.

So, enough of the beating around the bush, on with the show!

It was with some interest that I read in The Jakarta Globe today an article about a draft bill and changes to the immigration law. I am particularly interested in the changes that will impact significantly on the foreign spouses and children of Indonesian citizens. My interest is personal, I am a foreign spouse and Will is the son of an Indonesian and Non-Indonesian parent.

Perhaps a reality check in the environment of euphoria is needed to start with. I really do not want to be a wet blanket and smother everyone else's fun here or to be the party-pooper, but the argument that the draft bill allows mixed-marriage families to stay together is rather simplistic. The truth of the matter is that the procedures for foreigners married to Indonesians and living in Indonesia are onerous. In fact, they are quite painful at times. They are also very expensive. But, to suggest that they are the sole source of families coming apart as the argument that the current changes will enable families to stay together has that logical fallacy feel to it.

From a personal perspective, the idea that my wife can sponsor me to live in Indonesia is a plus. The fact that Will would now be able to qualify for permanent residency if we opted for only Australian citizenship for him is a plus. Nevertheless, the current laws and regulations allow for Will to be a dual citizen until he is 18 and that seems like the best deal for him. The process of getting Indonesian citizenship for Will though is much easier outside of Indonesia than it is while in Indonesia.

Again, on the personal perspective. It is pleasing to see that the Indonesian government has finally recognised that there are foreigners who marry Indonesians for all the right reasons and establish roots in the country and establish lives there that are not always so easily packed up with the purchase of a ticket to another country. It is also a pleasing development that the draft bill seems to provide for foreign spouses to be sponsored by their Indonesian partner rather than rely on the sponsorship of an employer.

These developments have been a long time in the making. They have been on the table and in discussion for many years. In fact, I had discussions about these very amendments when we were living in Indonesia. We have been back in Australia since 2009. Come to think of it, in about 14 days we would have been back in Australia for 2 whole years. Time flies!

The changes are not enough to warrant an immediate "pack-up and go" for us. But, the truth is that it does, or at least will, make it easier for us to contemplate a move back to Indonesia in the sooner rather than later sense. However, there are no immediate plans for a return for any other reason other than a holiday this year or in the next 3 or 4. Yet, if someone was to offer me a great package deal for a job teaching at a school in Indonesia, then who knows...

The Colli Crew - Change the Game...

Working in a small central school like Collarenebri Central School provides so many opportunities to do things and be part of programs that are integral to creating and sustaining change in the lives of the children of the community. The YouTube video above is one that we worked on for just a couple of days with the students.

Needless to say, Toby Finlayson of Desert Pea Media is a real talent in getting the kids to develop their own ideas into something as powerful as what you see above. He has also done an excellent job in producing the video.

Yet, the project would never have come to fruition without the dedicated support of the school through the Principal, the Assistant Principal and the Aboriginal Education Officer.

Ultimately, though it is the students who make the whole thing work. Congratulations to them all.

May this be the first step in "changing the game" for these students.

Feel free to share the video. Feel free to contact me if you are interested in finding out more about the "step-by-step" project that this is part of. And, feel free to contact me if you would like to set up a video conference or some sort of exchange of idea, such as a video conference, and I can put you in contact with all the right people.

Enjoy.

Teaching: 9 to 3, And Taking It Easy...

It is always with a chuckle that I listen to people saying how easy it is to teach and what a cushy gig it is. After all, as a teacher you only really work from 9am through to 3pm, and you get all these holidays as well. The chuckle is that these people have absolutely no idea what it is to be a teacher nor what is involved in getting the "job" done. I always encourage others to pick up the torch of education and come on board and illuminate the lives of our future leaders. My selling point is always, "where else does one get to shape the future of our world?"

Teaching is not a 9am through 3pm gig. It might be, give or take, the time that you are face-to-face with students. But these hours do not include the time one spends preparing lessons, researching material and content, working out ways to engage students, ongoing professional development and learning, behavioural management of students, and after-school activities whether they be staff meetings or sport and homework centre for the students. It really is a case of "only if". Only if teaching was a 9 to 3 gig how nice would that be?

The beauty of teaching for me is a many-faceted thing. There is no denying that there is a lifestyle choice in that I can have a little bit more control of my out of school time. For example, from 8.00 through 16.00 I am pretty much in school for meetings, teaching,and more meetings. However, after those hours if I want to spend time with my wife and son, I can. If I do spend this quality time with them in the afternoon and early evenings, then it is in the full knowledge that any research and lesson planning or other preparation that needs to be done will be done so after that. When one asks around it is probably not going to be all that uncommon to find teachers still putting the polish on lesson plans or detailing with administrative stuff late into the evening.

All that aside, the motivating factor for me to get into formal teaching was a desire to make a difference. I have been in the school that I am in now for a very short period of time, but I already feel that I am starting to make a difference. Over time I am confident that this difference will become substantial. As I said, what other profession gives you the day-in, day-out opportunity to shape the future of the next and succeeding generations. Magic!

Oh well, time to go...there is lesson planning to be done and some polish to be applied based on "things" that have happened today. Always thinking, always adapting, always learning.

Ho hum...

Late Night Collarenebri...

OK, so the hazy moon was bothering me. So, I went out and took a few more photos. I am not sure that this is much better. Although, confession time, I did do a few things different. The first one was a "portrait" shot with some flash involved. The second one was done at a much slower shutter speed and with the use of a tripod.

The third one is my study at 10.45pm. This was taken from the road. If you are wondering, Collarenebri is at least 75kms from the nearest town of any size and more than 140kms from a reasonable-sized town. That said, we are about 95kms from some good opal country up at Lightning Ridge. Anyways, there is not much traffic, so I set the tripod up on the road and took the photo. The photo is not bad considering my very amateur status. I am posting it for no other reason than the Free Papua Flag that you can see hanging from one of my bookcases.

Papua Merdeka! Free Papua! (But I digress)...

 

I should add that I am using a little Casio point and shoot job, an Exilim. Good enough...

Collarenebri Central School -- Generation One -- Closing the Gap...

If you watch one thing today, then watch this.



This is why I came back to teaching.

This is a rap that Collarenebri school students put together. It has become a very highly acclaimed piece of art. They performed it last year at the ARIA ceremony at the Opera House down in the 'Big Smoke' (aka Sydney). They have received numerous requests to perform it elsewhere.

My personal view is that these students need to be nominated for a ""Deadly". A Deadly is an award for excellence. In some forms of Aboriginal English the word deadly means excellent.

We are going to be working on a new rap this year. Hopefully, we will work on new raps every year. The students love getting involved and it has been a very positive influence on the students, the school, and the community as a whole.

The video is courtesy of Desert Pea Media.

All of these students remain in school.

Enjoy your weekend.

New Moon...

More from Collarenebri.

This is from a little earlier this evening. There is a fair bit of cloud in the sky at the moment. At least this is my excuse, and I am sticking to it, for the hazy looking new moon. It is already 9.30pm here and it is still a little humid and still pretty warm. It has cooled off a little from the peaks earlier in the day though.

My second week at Collarenebri Central School is done and dusted. I am really enjoying it out here. To be honest, I am enjoying it much more than I thought I might. The students are great, the staff is excellent, and the community is very supportive.

A new moon for a new beginning.

Enjoy your weekend (one and all)...

Why Teach?

I have always been a teacher, the only difference now is it is a bit more formal with a Masters degree and a professional qualification. I have often been asked why I do not blog more about my experiences. The reality is that I work in a really small school in a really small town and my students, like anyone else, are entitled to a little bit of privacy. I also believe that building rapport and respect with students requires a certain amount of trust, and to blog about that seems to violate that trust in my mind.

I will say this though. My current crop of students from Year 7 through to Year 11 are an excellent bunch. Hopefully, I will be able to impart some knowledge and hopefully I will be able to do that in such a way that is engaging and fun.And, just maybe, they might all learn a thing or two that they did not know previously.

In a more general sense, I am going to write about my own struggles and challenges. For example, working in a school that is Smart Board ready and having never been trained on how to use a Smart Board at university.

The school where I work is committed to professional learning and professional development. So, it is quite a relief to know that the professional support needed is just a few steps away with a knowledgeable executive team of many years experience.

Yet, on a personal level, professional learning and development aside, a real challenge in a small school is maintaining high levels of engagement in small classrooms of students with a variety of learning styles. If anyone is looking to find a location where there is little or no pressure on keeping class sizes small, then head to a small rural or remote school. I have classes ranging from 3 students through to 12 students.

The reason I chose to teach was a simple one, and for me it was a real "no-brainer", if you want to make a difference and influence the future, then you teach. I always get a chuckle from the saying "those who can, do; those who can't, teach!" Because any teacher out there worth their salt knows that teaching is a much more difficult skill than just fronting up each day and going through the motions. Quite simply for value to the community teachers are exploited and under-valued in the extreme.

Teachers teach for many reasons, but one thing that I have found common to all that I have met is a belief that it is a noble profession that can facilitate positive changes in the lives of those that we encounter in the classroom. That facilitation might not simply be teaching a young person to do calculus or something about English or history, it might be providing them with the self-belief and confidence in their own ability that they can make a positive contribution to their community or the world.

I am back teaching high school now. However, it is with a great deal of pride that I look back and remember a few past students who have gone on to make very significant and positive contributions to their communities.

I am looking forward to the challenges that will present themselves irrespective of whether they be creating programs of study that are engaging and fun for students who might not have ventured far from where they were born or showing them that there is a whole world beyond Collarenebri that is awaiting their arrival. The good fortune for me is that these students are already recognised and accomplished (having attended the Arias and all -- I have not attended the Arias!). So, the challenges will be for me and not my students.

Teaching is not an easy gig, but it is a worthwhile one, and one that is destined to be rewarding.

Collarenebri Thoughts...

The big move took place starting on 25 January 2011 and culminated on 26 January 2011 with our arrival in Collarenebri. As poor excuses go, this is why there has been a dearth of blog posts, and the fact that it has been more than a week since we went into the local Telstra retailer to get a landline and internet connection set-up. The landline works, but we are still waiting for WiFi modems and the like before an internet connection starts to happen. Telstra if you are wondering is the only provider that has any service in Collarenebri so the choice is limited.


School starts tomorrow (4 Feb 2011). There are no students, it is a pupil free day. We actually are starting a week after everyone else. We get what is called “heat week”. Heat week is an extra week of holidays to compensate for the extreme temperatures this time of year. And, the temperatures are extreme. Each day since we have been here has topped out above 37 degrees Celsius. A couple of days were 44 and 42 degrees Celsius respectively.

So, it is pretty easy to see where heat week gets its name from. With electricity prices as high as they are, and talk of further increases, it is a scary proposition to be contemplating using the air conditioner. Unfortunately, the house is centrally cooled. So, turning on the aircon is not as simple as going to the one or two rooms with air conditioners. Although, I must confess, I do get a “climate allowance” as part of the conditions of employment at this particular school.

What we are thinking we might miss is the luxury of clean water. The water is pumped out of the local river. Because of the recent flooding in Queensland, and the movement of that water down through the river system to here, there is a lot of debris in the water and this gives it a nice brown tinge. We have tank water now. It required us to get a new pump as the previous one had gone missing. Unfortunately, the tank water only comes through one tap in the kitchen. So, we have invested in a water cooler / dispenser and buy drinking water. It seems a safer, albeit expensive, option considering Will.

The house that we are living in is pretty good. There are a few minor things that need fixing up but, considering we pay negligible rent as it is ‘teacher housing’, there are no complaints. Although, the front and backyards are a mess. There is next to no grass but there are plenty of bindies and weeds that look like they have monstered any grass that once existed right out of the place. I am not sure how long the process is going to be in order to get on top of the bindi problem, but let the battle begin!

Funnily enough, (or is it not funny at all?) one of the best way to get rid of the bindies is to water and the grass begins to re-establish itself and the bindies get bundled out of the way. However, Collarenebri is still under water restrictions. The “funny”, if it can be so, is t that one of the reasons we came so early was that the roads into Collarenebri are supposed to be cut by flood waters. However, this has not happened yet. So, the funny  is that there is a lot of water in the rivers surrounding the town and there are water restrictions in effect. Yet, as I have been walking with Will as he peddles his trike around the block of an evening it is hard not to notice that some people have got some excellent lawns happening and they always seem to have the sprinklers running.

However, having spoken to the general assistant at school the other day, the only way to seemingly get good grass is to flood the area you want the grass to grow. It is so hot and dry out here that even if you flood the area you want the grass to grow, the area will be bone dry to touch on the surface with in a dozen hours. Nevertheless, there are plenty of good cotton and sorghum crops around...mental note on needing to plant hardy flowers, fruits, veges, and grass varieties.

Anyways, back off to reading a book...Jessica Watson’s “True Spirit”. The little solo sailor has gone on to become Young Australian of the Year. It is not a book that I would have seen myself picking up off the bookshelf in a bookstore and parting with my hard-earned cash for. But, I am enjoying it. It is an inspiring tale and well worth the read. It is a good thing that I am going to be teaching it. Because if it had not been thrust upon me this way I would not have read it. And, I can comfortable say I would have missed out on something special.

Gotta go...