mike.andrewartha

2008 Tue 28th Oct Time flies when you are having fun

Posted by Mike on 28 October 2008. There are 69 comments.

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What a week and its almost the end of my stay here argh... doesn't time fly when you are having fun! This week hasn't been as action packed as other weeks but still a lot has happened so I will try my best to give you a good run down...

Monday 20th: On Sunday night Red mentioned that the seniors class was heading on a trip to Desert Park in Alice Springs so I asked T.J. and Ned if I could possibly tag along as adult help, that was fine so we all piled onto the bus and headed into town. Travelling in the old school bus along the corrogated, dusty road was exciting to say the least especially when we came back as we hit a few dust storms and the inside of the bus filled with dust. Once we got there we just missed the bird feeding exhibition which I heard was really good so ended up watching a movie about the outback in an ampitheatre and then started wandering with the kids around each area, looking at and listening to exotic birds and other desert creatures. It was really interesting for me but from what I understand, some of the kids had been there a number of times and so it was kinda boring for them... but I'm sure they still got something out of the trip. They started to get a bit ratty after lunch but after they all recieved head sets with recordings for each part of the park, this quitened them all down and the rest of the afternoon went really well. I was amazed at how aware they were of their surroundings, they could easily pick out lizards in the grass and small birds in the trees and know what they were (part of living in the bush I guess). Caught some of the kids throwing stones at some birds (luckily they didn't bring their slingshots with them hehe). Once we were back on the bus and heading home, part of the deal was to stop off and buy something from the shop. One of the student teachers bought a couple of bottles of fizzy drink to share around... well that plus the heat and not enough water ended up making the boys go all silly and start fighting down the back of the bus (some of them had way too much... it was kinda like they were drunk haha). It was an interesting ride home and proved that giving fizzy to kids isn't something you should do, especially on school trips.... however it is a really good social experiment so teachers, if you do have a boring school trip and want to liven it up a bit then be my guest hehe.

Tuesday 21st: Started in Yvettes class taking as many kids as I could for reading. It was really cool to sit down individually with each child and get them to read one or two books and write a little report about how they were going with their reading. In the afternoon I ended up helping Kumen, (an Aborigional teacher from next door) create a powerpoint presentation for her studies on the recent community races.

Wednesday 22nd: The class was really disruptive today for some reason which made things hard for Yvette having to growl at the kids quite regulary. As it was a new class, I was still learning the kids names and trying to get a feel for the class so it was also hard for me to try and help out so I thought it was best if Yvette dealt with the discipline. Todays lineup was Maths, reading and then religion in the afternoon. Alicia came into to the class room to run the accelerated reading program and even commented on how they were really difficult they were today. After school I spent sometime helping Red with his geneology program and taught one of the religious sisters how to record using her new vcr/dvd player. Brother Red has been at the community for 13 years and has a passion for driving the school bus and Geneology. He has kept track of the ancestory of the main families in the community for years, its always interesting to look for certain kids who are at school and see who they are related to, then see that some men have had kids to multiple women and vice versa. What the records do tell you is that everyone is related in some way in the town so you do have to be careful who you make enemies with.

Thursday 23rd: The children seemed to be a lot more settled today, however there were a few absent and there seemed to be rumours of some families taking kids into town so there were a few missing from school. Math was first, continuing from yesterday with their two times tables and then writing after smoko. They were given a new sentance to write out from the book that they are reading called "Mr Winterbottom" and I made sure that each of them finished writing it out (even if it was a bit of a struggle sometimes) and then before lunch I gave out a couple of awards to our kids at the school assembly. In the afternoon it was religion and they had to create a picture based on the bible verse that Yvette read out. After tea I had planned to hang out at "The Club", drum for the kids and get them to dance but it was closed for cleaning so I ended up spending a while listening to the local band who were practising near the Club and was also invited to Kelle's place for a drink so chatted to both Yvette and Kelle for a while.

Friday 24th: Today started as usual with reading and maths but after smoko it was time to party as it was the birthday of 2 kids in the class, however only the birthday girl showed up (the boy was either at home or in town still) but the party went on. I bought my drum to school so the kids played on that for a while and we also had party games like musical chairs and statues (the game where the music stops and the kids have to stay still till the music starts). Although Yvette had forgotten the birthday cake it didn't matter as there were heaps of party treats, cordial and smiley iced biscuits which Yvette had made (I haven't had iced biscuits for ages... they were soooo good!). I hope to help update the school website next week and had a small meeting with Tom to kinda kick start this after school and then it was off to the brother place for a lovely feast of Fish and Chips and a beer or two :-)

Saturday 25th: Woke up very early to catch the tour bus to Uluru (Ayers Rock). I treated myself to a tour last week as it was something that the brothers here recommended I do (especially as I had come all the way out here and they were unable to take me out there themselves. The trip was well worth it! Although it was kinda expensive and they made you pay for breakfast and lunch, the bus was big and comfortable, met some cool people along the way and saw some amazing scenery so that made up for the extra cash spent! Along the way heard a singing dingo, saw Mt Connor, Uluru cultural centre and Ayers Rock itself. Then walked up to a spring next to Uluru and saw some old rock paintings. Then finally travelled to Kata Tjuta otherwise known as the Olgas and watched the sun go down at the Uluru sunset viewing spot. Ayers Rock shone a brilliant red, it was absolutely amazing to see! The temperature got up to 41 degrees outside the bus that day, it was really hot. Movie on the way back on the bus: The Dish. Problem was the dvd was scratched and the dvd player wasn't working properly either... another thumbs down to AATKings, however instead saw a few kangaroos on the way back and fell asleep on the bus. Ended up also playing a game of pool at the short stop at one of the outback pubs on the way back with Nick from Denmark. Sunday 26th: Woke up early and headed back to Santa for Church. Ended up going 'bush' with T.J. and about 7 local young guys for lunch. Saw some kangaroos, wild horses and a couple of camels. The local scenery was sometimes very bleak (i.e. lacking in 'bush') but lots of very beautiful rocky hills and great 4 wheel driving terrain. I love 4 wheel driving, the thrill of the unknown bumps and ruts... so much more fun then driving on a straight sealed road for hours and takes much more skill to navigate some of the twisted driving tracks, however corrogated roads arn't fun at all. What is funny is that the locals don't always have 4WD cars but still head out to catch kangaroos and other 'bush tucker' in their sturdy holdens and fords... would make for some very interesting driving!