Adventures in Hervey Bay: October 2010

October 31, 2010

Happy Hallowe'en! We actually had kids come to our house tonight - we were really surprised. Only one student at school mentioned he was going out for Hallowe'en and none of the teachers mentioned it at all. We were under the impression that it wasn't really done here. There were costumes for sale in the stores and some candy for sale, too, but it wasn't really talked about and no ads on tv, either. It turned out that only six kids came to our house. We don't know if that has to do more with the fact that we live out of town or that it really isn't done much period. I will ask the teachers at school tomorrow how much it is done here.

Yesterday we had a really lovely relaxing day here in Hervey Bay. We started out by sleeping in 'til 9:16am - what a great way to start the day since we are usually up by 6am when I am teaching. We Skyped with Terri-Ann for about 90 minutes (the boys were already in bed) which was really nice (the talking bit, not the boys in bed bit ). We love Skype and look forward to doing it with the rest of you at some point, too! After lunch, we went down to the beach and spent the afternoon there. We set up our chairs under a tree - some backpackers had the NERVE to sit under OUR tree, so we had to make do with another one. :-) As soon as we had set up, we went into the water and boy, was it refreshing - actually, it was COLD! :-) We stayed in for about five minutes and then decided we would rather be sitting in the warm air. Dad bought some camp stools for us to use at the beach so we were very comfortable with our feet up on them as we enjoyed the sun and the books we were reading. We did take another short dip in the water part way through our time at the beach - very refreshing! :-) Dad and I both agreed that we have to stop taking the beach for granted and get down there more often.

Today at church, I had a meeting with our Branch President and he has called me to be the Primary President. I thought it might be coming since our current Primary President is burned out (she's been in the calling for six years), but I thought that since we travelled so much, they might call someone else as President and leave me as the first counsellor. So, I will be sustained next week and then have just one more week after that before we head back to Canada for two months. Also, today, we found out that our branch is going to become a ward which is very exciting to everyone here. We will also, along with Bundaberg, become part of a stake. The stake centre is in a city called Nambour which is about 2 1/2 hours away and stake conference will be transmitted via satellite into our chapel. The first one will be on the third Sunday of November so we won't be here for that, but when they have the next one which I'm guessing will be in six months, Dad and I would like to travel to Nambour to see what a stake conference is like here in Australia.

Just a note about our 'getting healthy' plan - it's going really well to date. I have lost 21 pounds so far and Dad has lost the same. We are finding that exercising is really making the difference and we are making sure that we get out and get some every day (well, not on our 'day of rest' - Sunday :-) We either go for a walk or a bike ride. This week, we are also going to start doing some strength training exercises. We hope that we will be able to continue on this plan while we are in Canada, so please don't offer us any fatty foods or desserts when we are there. :-) Actually, we don't eat any fast foods anymore because our tummies just can't handle it. We rarely have any desserts, but if we do, we try to make it low fat and try to fit it into our eating plan. We are looking better and more importantly, we are feeling better. :-)

October 29, 2010

We're going swimming tomorrow! :-) Just thought I would put that in since I got an email from Uncle Kenny telling me that it had snowed in Barrie last week. :-)

Nana will be pleased to hear that we have FINALLY had our wills written up - well, they are in the process of being done. We went to the lawyer's yesterday and spoke with the girl there. We had a lot of questions for her especially since we are in Australia and you girls are in Canada, but we were assured that with the way technology is today, there were no issues at all.

We went to see a woman at H & R Block today to find out how to do our taxes since Dad is earning money in Canada and I am earning money here in Australia. We were with her for almost two hours talking about how to file our taxes here. It turns out that it's a lot easier than we thought it would be. The cost of her services was covered by the money we are receiving back from the government here, so that was good, too. We will likely use her services next year as well, just to make sure that we have understood all the ins and outs of the income tax system here. Hopefully, after that, we will be able to do the returns on our own.

We didn't get our exercise in last night because we still had three movies to watch (they had to be back today) - Dad and I watched one and I watched one while Dad was out at his weekly SES meeting. We watched 'The Kite Runner' together - it's about a young boy growing up in Afghanistan who then moves to the U.S. when war breaks out in Afghanistan - he then returns to Afghanistan as an adult when a close friend dies. It is a very good movie, but it is very emotional - it was hard to watch some of it as I have a hard time watching movies which show how badly some people treat others - I won't be reading the book as I think it would take too much out of me. I really prefer to watch movies which entertain me rather than ones like 'The Kite Runner'. While Dad was at SES, I watched 'My Sister's Keeper' - another really good movie, but also very emotionally draining. So, I was wiped out by the time I went to bed last night (emotionally speaking).

I was called this morning by TRACER, the company which calls supply teachers to fill in for absent teachers. Unfortunately, I couldn't take the job since we had the appointment with the woman at the tax office (and that HAD to be done today), but at least I now know that Tracer has my phone number. Since I hadn't received any calls up to that point, I wasn't even sure if I was in their system to be called. Hopefully, I will receive a call or two next week. I was asked today (at Kawungan) if I would take over Jane's class (another grade two class) on Monday, so that's great as the kids in that class know me a little bit. I also have Terry's class on Friday, so one more day of supply teaching this coming week would be good. I would like to aim for two to three days of supplying each week when we come back from Canada (and the new school year starts).

October 27, 2010

It's been a busy week even though I am done with my teaching contract. I have been going into school each day for a few hours just to get the kids caught up on one assignment I was having them complete. Sixteen out of twenty of the kids have completed the assignment other than the editing - I will go into the school for some time during the next two days to give the students time to finish it so that it's ready for marking.

Yesterday afternoon (noon - 3pm), I supply taught in one of the other grade two classes. What a difference between that class and Bronwyn's class - I would take Bronwyn's class any day of the week. This class couldn't stop talking - at one point, I said to a group of girls that maybe I should change their seats around - she said that the teacher had let them choose their seats - I couldn't understand why - they weren't getting any work done sitting in their chosen groups. Tracey, the teacher, had told me that if this one boy, Tyler, did nothing, that was okay. Unfortunately, he also chose to do somersaults in the classroom, shout out, mimic me, and even hit me once in the knee. I told him, in no uncertain terms, that if he did that again he would be gone. When I talked with Tracey today, she told me that she thought that if she was going to be away again, she would ask his mother to keep him at home. He did at one point tell me he was on medication, but it obviously wasn't working - or maybe it was and he is just worse if he is not on it. Anyway, I was glad to be out of there - I certainly earned my money yesterday. I have another supply day on November 5th lined up in another grade two class and I hope that experience will be much better than this one was.

Dad spent the day at the Family History Centre on Monday - they had quite a few people come to do their genealogy on that day, so that kept him somewhat busy. He also received an email from a friend in Canada who is in the airline business. In the email, the fellow told Dad that he was now working for a different company and that this company was looking for airplane inspectors on planes which this company leases to airline companies. Dad sent this company an email today along with his resume to see if they could use him here in Australia. We'll keep you posted if Dad hears back from this company.

We had the missionaries over for dinner last night - Elder Wong and I beat Dad and Elder Lock in a game of cribbage - we told them last week that we were done with being nice and letting them win and we were going to win this week - so we did! :-)

Dad just sprayed another spider - they are the creepiest things here - they are called huntsmen spiders - they are brown and they run across the floor. Dad bought this machine that sends out soundwaves which are supposed to annoy spiders so that they won't come in the house, but obviously it's not working perfectly. :-) We have rarely seen them up 'til now so I don't know if it's because of the warm weather or what. Dad is going to spray the outside of the house and on the floor between the house and the garage again.

We have been watching movies again - we rented seven this past Friday and so far we have watched four of them. "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" (6.0), "16 Blocks" (7.0), "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls" (6.0) and "The Manchurian Candidate" (8.0). We have three left to watch tomorrow: "My Sister's Keeper", "As Good As It Gets", and "Kite Runner". I haven't read "The Kite Runner" yet and it is on my list, so I hope watching the movie won't ruin the experience of reading the book.

We were both able to do 'Meals on Wheels' again today - I haven't been able to do it while I was doing my contract teaching, so it was good to be back again. I was welcomed back by some of the people there - it's so nice to be appreciated. I enjoyed chatting with our 'regulars' - they are such nice people and are really grateful for what we do - and we are very happy to be doing it for them. :-)

October 24, 2010

It's been a very relaxing weekend - mostly. Yesterday (Saturday), we got up early and were ready to head out at 7:15am. Our branch was doing tree planting for the local council. Fifteen people showed up to do the planting and it only took us about 1 1/2 hours to complete the task. The fellow in charge showed us what to do (dig a hole, put the plant in, put the dirt back around the plant, leave the pot upside down by the plant) and then we went to it. Dad and I worked together - he dug and I planted. Once we were all finished the planting, we had to water the plants and pick up all the pots. I was wondering why we had to meet up so early to do the planting, but I figured it out by the time we were done with the planting. By 9am, it was quite warm out and since we were expending energy doing the planting, we were sweatiing quite well. Dad and I really felt good doing the service project - the fellow in charge said we were the only church who had volunteered to do the tree planting and said that we could come back and do some more in a couple of months so that we could finish up planting in the area we did yesterday.

After the tree planting, we went grocery shopping and then spent the rest of the day/afternoon relaxing at home. We took our computers and magazines outside and sat on the patio chairs and then out in the sun - another lovely day and it was fabulous being outside and enjoying the sun and the fresh air. Around 5pm, Dad and I went for our daily exercise which was a walk today. Dad has mapped out a route for us to try and finish within 30 minutes. It's a 3.5km route and right now we are doing it in 35 minutes. We are going to continue to walk the route and try to speed things up a bit each day until we reach our goal.

We spent the evening doing some more relaxing - life is so hard here in Hervey Bay. :-) We rented 7 movies on Friday night and decided to start watching one last night. We chose to watch 'Austin Powers' and, although we stopped watching the movie because I was too tired to finish it, I can't see yet why it has received such good reviews. I haven't found the first half hour that funny - hopefully, it will pick up when we start watching it again.

Today was our Primary Sacrament presentation and it went fairly well, over all. Three of the kids wouldn't do their parts, so the leaders had to sub for them. The young women also joined us in the singing - we really needed them as the kids don't know the songs as well as they should have. We had about a dozen kids there today which is probably the most we have ever had at one time. The presentation itself ran fairly smoothly and we heard positive reviews about it afterwards, so that was good to hear.

At 4:30pm, we were back at the chapel for the missionary fireside. When we got there, Dad was asked by Elder Lock who was leading the fireside and Dad told him that Chris Vakas was supposed to be doing that, he thought. Chris wasn't there, so Elder Lock asked Dad if he would conduct the meeting. Dad also had to speak during the fireside. The first speaker was Ashley and he spoke about Joseph Smith's first vision - he spoke for about ten minutes and he did a great job. Ashley is an 18 year old boy in our branch who is quite shy, so I am sure that it was difficult for him to give the talk, but he just got up and did it, which was great! Dad spoke about the authority and organization of the church and did a really good job, too.

We spent quite a bit of time cooking/baking this weekend. We made pea and ham soup, Italian vegetable soup, brownies/cupcakes (for the primary children after the presentation), and two chicken dishes. I just love doing the cooking (I'm not really into baking) and everything we cooked this weekend tasted really delicious! We have been inputting the information about the food we have been eating into an internet site and I am still eating a little more than I should (calorie-wise) and so I am still tweaking my eating plan. I want to make sure that I eat two fruit and vegetables each day. I know that I should be eating more vegetables daily, but since I am not a vegetable person, I figure if I eat at least two servings per day, that's not too bad.

October 21, 2010

Last night, we went to Santini's for our anniversary. We were the first people for dinner - they don't open until 5:30pm - but, by the time we were done, the place was one third full. We started off with a delicious garden salad with a light oil/balsamic dressing. The waitress then brought us our main meals: Dad had beef tortellini with a bolognese sauce and I had curly green fettucine with chicken pesto sauce and we shared an order of garlic bread. They had two sizes of the main meal: entree (smaller) and main (regular size) - Dad and I decided to go with the entree size and it was quite enough. Both Dad's and my meal were totally delicious! We enjoyed all parts of our meal and ate slowly so we really relished the food. :-)

When we were done, we went to see if The Cheesecake Shop was still open (it was) and we bought a small pavlova for dessert. I couldn't wait for us to get home so I could eat a slice. It was soooooooooooo yummy - with strawberries, peaches, pears and kiwis on top - and the cream.......mmmmmmmmmmmmm. Dad and I only ate one third of it last night, so we can enjoy another slice tonight and one tomorrow night. What a lovely treat! :-)

The past two days have been quite good, both at school for me and for Dad. I have been mostly working with the 'low' children at school - Chantelle has a handle on the class and hasn't needed me to handle either Ryley or Travis (although I have spoken with both of them a few times over the past two days, but mostly in passing and it seemed to be enough to settle them down). It's been nice to be able to work with the children who need me the most, although both Taleighya and Hayley have needed speaking to - Taleighya about doing her best work and Hayley about acting her age. I made the mistake of telling Taleighya yesterday that she would stay in for recess if she didn't get her work done - she didn't care as she doesn't particularly like going out for recess since she doesn't have any friends. I told her today to go back to the classroom since she wasn't working and sent her work with her. After a while, I guess she figured that she wasn't going to get my help and so she got to work and completed the task I had given her. When she came out to show me, I praised her for getting the work done and talked with her about the importance of always doing her best. The next task assigned to her, she got right down to work.

I stopped by Bronwyn's house yesterday after school to set up a time to meet with her and tell her what's been going on at school. While I was there, she gave me a beautiful glass necklace she bought in Venice. It's very colourful and it will go with many of my tops. I thought that was very thoughtful of her. She also told me that Leanne, our VP, told her that she was very pleased with the way I have taken over the teacher role in the classroom - she told Bronwyn that everything had been very seamless going from Bronwyn to me. Bronwyn also told me how pleased she had been that I had been able to take over the class - it was so stress-free for her knowing that I knew the kids and that I knew what was going on in the classroom. I was really happy to hear that Leanne was pleased with my teaching - hopefully, that will lead to more jobs in the future. I am going in to speak with her tomorrow about how the hiring process works in Hervey Bay.

Bronwyn came into the school today to see how things were going and to get a report of where we were up to in our teaching. We sat with her for about two hours and caught her up on what's been happening in the classroom while she has been gallivanting around Europe. She seemed pleased with what she saw happening in the classroom and with what we told her. I told her that Chantelle has been doing the majority of the teaching and so she, Bronwyn, could do some one-on-one assessment when she came back - she seemed really pleased about that.

I feel a little sad that it's all coming to an end - although it's been challenging at times, I really do love being a teacher and helping children learn. I love watching them take in what I am teaching them and then them showing me what they have learned in different ways. I love integrating my lessons over various subject areas - I haven't done as much as I would have done in my own class, but it's still been a really good experience for me. Bronwyn told me that there is a grade one teacher who is planning on taking long service leave next year and that I should go and talk with her and let her know that I would be available to cover her if she would like. She might have someone in mind already, but I figure it won't hurt to go and speak with her, so I will do that tomorrow. I will be spending some time next week going into Bronwyn's class to finish up some work with some of the students so that Bronwyn doesn't have to worry about it. And Tracey, another grade two teacher, has asked me to come in and cover for her for the afternoon on Tuesday. But, sometime this week, I plan on having one completely lazy day including a really good sleep-in. :-)

October 19, 2010

Happy Anniversary to us! :-) We both had a really good day today - me at school and Dad running around like a little chicken with his head cut off. :-)

All of our students were here at school today, but maybe the extra day off made a difference because all of the 'challenge' children were manageable today. Ryley even earned three stamps today (one for each session) which really pleased all of us. I worked a little with Travis today and he seemed pleased with the little bit of time I could give him. I spent most of the day working with small groups or one on one with students. It is so nice having two teachers to twenty students - too bad we couldn't have it like this all the time.

I went into talk with Leanne, the VP, today to see if there were any other contract positions coming up beginning next week and she said that she didn't know of any. She told me that they were very pleased that I could work for them for the past five weeks and asked me if I had enjoyed myself. I told her that 'most' of it had been enjoyable. :-) For the next three weeks, I will just see if I get any supply teaching jobs - if not, that's fine, too - I won't mind having some downtime. :-)

During the day, Dad cleaned the house, did a little grocery shopping, did a couple of errands, mowed and trimmed the lawn and got dinner/dessert ready early. Phew!

After school, Dad and I took a 6km bike ride around the area we live in. We even rode into the Anglican College to see if the kangaroos feeding on the grass there would hop away if we came near them. There were about ten of them on the grassy area of the school when we started riding up towards them - as we got closer, half a dozen of them hopped away, but four of them just stood there and stared at us as we stood there. It was so cool to be so close to them - next time we go for a ride, we are going to take our camera with us to get some photos of them - we will post some on here when we do that.

We had the missionaries over for dinner tonight - it seems that Tuesday nights have become our 'usual' night to have them over. We made tacos for them (well, Dad made them) and they really like them, as did we. We made them a white cake with chocolate icing for dessert (well, Dad made it) which they also liked (and took the rest home - Elder Lock said he was going to eat it for breakfast :-)

We will celebrate our anniversary tomorrow by going out to dinner to an Italian restaurant here in town - we are really looking forward to it! AND, we are NOT going to count the calories from the virgin pina coladas or the pavlova which we eat tomorrow.

October 18, 2010

Wow, it's been a few days, eh? Not much has been happening, but I will fill you in on what's been going on here in beautiful Hervey Bay (and I promise to write more often from now on). :-) Friday was a really good day at school - would you believe it, five students were absent and four of them are my challenge children - Ryley, Travis, Sean and Kurtis were all away. Sean and Kurtis just whine a lot and won't 'give it a go' (an Aussie saying meaning 'give it a try') and that's annoying, but they aren't behaviour problems like Ryley and Travis. But, having those four away made our classroom so much nicer to be in. When I saw them away, I actually wanted to do some teaching, rather than letting Chantelle do it all.

Our weekend was full of relaxing - well, my weekend was. :-) Dad spent Saturday with his SES friends. They were doing parking control in a small town about half an hour from Hervey Bay. It was a day of activities to raise money for the local athletic programs (eg: recreation centre) - there were markets, food tents/stalls, horse races, games, kids' play areas, auctions, etc. Dad spent about 7 hours there and only came back at 3pm because the local SES leader called them back because there were callouts going on here in Hervey Bay (big storm from the previous night so there were fallen trees all over the place) and she wanted a back-up team in case they were needed (fortunately, they weren't needed).

I was going to spend part of the day cleaning, but when I looked outside and saw a blue sky and the sun shining, I had to make a choice. Let's see: inside and cleaning or outside reading - it was a hard choice (yeah, right! :-) NO, I DID NOT CHOOSE TO CLEAN. :-) It was a glorious day and I enjoyed being out there in the sun and fresh air - it really is a beautiful place to live here.

Saturday night was spent relaxing in front of the tv. We have found a show over here called 'Air Crash Investigations' which we enjoy watching (Dad especially) and I love watching a show called 'The Bill' (a British show) and so that took up our evening. Dad also found time to work on his talk for next week's missionary fireside - he is doing it on the authority and organization of the church.

Sunday - another relaxing day - was spent at church (we had a practice for the Primary presentation which is next week). When we got home, we had lunch outside and we spent the rest of the day outside relaxing. Dad worked on his talk for a while and I read some magazines. I have attached some photos of the beautiful day that it was.

Today, Dad spent the day at the Family History Centre - pretty routine, he says. For me, it was a Pupil Free Day (which means no kids - yay :-) We spent most of the day doing team planning - not that interesting for me since I am not part of the team on a full-time basis, but very good for the team as a number of questions were answered and some assessment tests created. There are a lot of expectations of the teachers here and more seems to be being heaped upon them. I know that I don't want to teach full-time here. I am going to go into the Anglican College next week to see if they need any supply teachers. I am also going to talk with the VP at Kawungan to see if there are any other contract positions coming up in the next three weeks and/or at the beginning of the new school year at the end of January 2011.

Dad and I have decided to plan ahead of time what exercise we will do each night and so we went for a good brisk walk today. Tomorrow, we will do our strength exercises and also hopefully go for a bike ride. We have both hit plateaus in our weight loss and I think that it has to do with not being consistent with our exercising. I thought that since writing down our menus works for our eating plan, that if we wrote down our exercise plan, we might be more likely to do it. Wish us luck! :-)

This is the view from my chair which was on the grass - I was enjoying the warm sun.

Dad sitting on the patio working on his talk for next week.

The view out the side of our backyard.

The incredibly beautiful blue sky!

The sun shining over the fence of our backyard.

October 14, 2010

Just a preamble to this blog entry - I am ranting about two kids at school - just a warning! :-)

Two very different days - Wednesday and Thursday - different in name and different at school this week. Yesterday (Wednesday) was a horrible day - today was much better. I am very tired (frustrated, worn out) and Dad said today that maybe I'm meant to stay part-time rather than going full-time. Not that I was thinking of going that way (full-time).

I am not doing much 'teaching' these days as Chantelle wants to do most of it so that she can get a good handle on what it's going to be like for her when she gets her own classroom. I have been spending most of my time either doing paperwork or marking or doing things with kids one-on-one. I have spent some time the last couple of days photocopying things for Travis - the little boy in the class who is 8 years old, but acts more like five (academically, as well). Just to give you an idea about how he acts - he told me today that he has no friends - that's because he acts so immaturely that none of the boys in the class want to play with him.

Anyway, back to yesterday............Ryley had issues in the first session (so no stamp) and then did fine in the middle session (mostly taken up by swimming lessons) and then messed up during the third session. He was acting so immaturely that he was huddled up on the floor - I asked him to pick himself up and do whatever he was asked to do at that time - he continued to lay on the floor and so I picked him up and put him outside the classroom and told him that he could stay out there until he could act like a grade two child. He took off outside and, after telling Chantelle that I was going to go to talk with the V.P. about him, I started heading off to the office. Ryley was just outside the portable door (which is where I knew he would be) and I walked right past him pretending that I didn't see him. He called out to me and I told him that I knew where he was, but that I didn't have any idea what to do with him anymore and asked him what his thoughts were. I guess he was a bit shocked that I wasn't going to give him a lot of my attention and after a quick chat, he came back inside and settled down. I did tell him later that, although I couldn't give him a stamp for that session, I was proud of him for coming in pretty quickly once we started talking.

THEN, Adam told me that he, Caitlin, and Jeshua had received 20 stamps for their booklet and wanted to know what their prize was going to be. I told him that I don't do 'treasure boxes' (not something I believe in), but that I would give them half an hour of free computer time. Travis, who has about nine stamps, all of a sudden had a temper tantrum (luckily not with kicking and screaming). He would not follow instructions and just kept saying he wanted to go on the computer. I asked him to sit down and he wouldn't (so frustrating having to deal with defiant children when I have never had to deal with it before in my 14 years of teaching)! After trying a few things (none of which worked), I thought that maybe it would make a difference if he had to go and tell his mother that he was not listening. Guess what? He just stood there in front of his mom and wouldn't tell his mother what was going on even with prodding from me and her. He just stood there with this smirk on his face (I think he was loving all the attention). That just annoyed me even more! THEN, his mom said if he went back into the classroom and did what he was supposed to do, she would have a surprise for him when he came out (that annoyed me even more!). I told him, when we got back inside, that if he ever had another tantrum, I would take a stamp away from him - he was a bit shocked about that.

Between the two of those boys, I was just worn out - it takes so much energy to deal with children who are like this. And, having not had any experience with children like this, it's taking it's toll on me as I learn strategies to help them learn to make good decisions with regards to their behaviour - it's very mentally draining. I'm not sure I'm cut out for teaching at this school. Well, that's what I was thinking yesterday.

Today, things were much better. Ryley actually had two good sessions (and the third session, he only acted up near the end of it). The thing is that he knows, when I ask him how he did, when he has 'messed up' - so, although he might whine a little, he understands why I can't give him a stamp for that session. Travis was back to his usual self - he had a good day - I told mom that - she must have told him that if he had a good day, she would make him something as he asked for it (I couldn't understand what he was saying as he has speech problems) and she told him that she had made biscuits (cookies) for him. I would rather he 'behave' because of respect for the teacher, but I guess I can't complain too much if it works in the classroom. He is away tomorrow, so I am hopeful, it will be another good day!

Okay, I think that I have vented enough - sorry girls. :-)

After school today, I was so tired, I didn't even have the energy to go for a walk. So, Dad and I just sat in our family room and read the newspaper with the tv on in the background. After about an hour, we had a game of 'Loser Crib' and, while we were doing that, I looked outside and said to Dad that we should be outside in this beautiful weather rather than inside - we could even have had our dinner outside. We really need to get a nice outdoor set - including a nice chaise lounge that we can laze on while we read and enjoy the beautiful outdoors in this beautiful country. Now, that sounds relaxing! :-)

October 12, 2010

It was great to talk with you guys this morning - I'm just sorry we couldn't see anyone - our internet connection is sometimes sporadic, but it's so expensive to go to any faster speed, so we have to make do with this one. It sounds like your Thanksgiving was lovely - I'm looking forward to having some turkey when we get back to Canada.

Yesterday was a really good day at school - I was worried about Travis after last Friday - when I got to school, I saw Travis and had a chat with him about his behaviour on that day and he assured me that it would not happen again - and it hasn't for the past two days. I also spoke with a kindergarten teacher and a grade one teacher and got some work from them which I can photocopy out for Travis. For the past two days, I have worked on some math and language tasks with him at his level. I even gave him a different spelling list for this week - the first list of words probably at a beginning grade one level - and he got four out of five which made him feel good - hopefully, being able to do work at his own level will allow him to feel some success.

Chantelle, my student teacher, is finding that she is really tired and we were talking about why that is today - she decided that it's because, since she was last teaching in the class a couple of months ago, Ryley and Travis have moved into our class and both have so many issues that they have upset the applecart, so to speak. It's amazing how a couple of kids can really change the dynamics in a classroom. We had a big discussion today at recess as to why there are so many issues with these kids at this school. We had a really interesting conversation coming up with a variety of reasons, mostly to do with economics and lack of respect for education/teachers.

We had the missionaries over for dinner tonight - had shepherd's pie for dinner (a new recipe and our favourite so far for this meal) and played a game of cribbage (which Elder Wong and I let Dad and Elder Lock win - again :-)

Oh yeah - yesterday on the way to school, we were driving along and all of a sudden a kangaroo and its joey hopped across the road right in front of us. It surprised us, but it was so cool to see - especially seeing the joey cuz it's rare to see one that is so young. Dad said on the way back home, he had one kangaroo hop in front of him up the road and then when he got closer to where that kangaroo had crossed the road, two more crossed in front of him, and one of them was almost on top of the hood. Today, when he was picking up the missionaries to come to our place for dinner, he pointed out a number of kangaroos which were in the field of the private school near our house - they are often grazing on the grass there around 5pm. Just as Dad was slowing down to let the missionaries see the kangaroos, he noticed a mother and it's joey on the other side of the road. I love this country. :-)

October 10, 2010

The Sabbath day - a lovely restful day - definitely my favourite day of the week! :-)

Today was General Conference Sunday and we spent 4 1/2 hours at church. The way they do it here is that we watch the first session from 9am - 11am and then eat snacks/lunch for half an hour and then watch the second session from 11:30am to 1:30pm. Here are a few snippets which spoke to me as we listened:

Henry B. Eyring
- we need to be content with the things the Lord has given unto us
- you have a lack of faith if you do not trust God

Boyd K. Packer
- the Lord votes on one side, Satan votes on the other - it's your vote that counts

Mary N. Cook
- do not do anything you would not want your children to do
- be an example of faith: read the scriptures, pray - especially to your children
- the scriptures safely guide us on the path to eternal life

Dallin H. Oaks
- there are 2 lines of communication with God: personal (prayer) and priesthood (prophetic leadership)
- the Holy Ghost is the means of communication from God to us
- we all need a personal testimony of truth

President Thomas S. Monson
- it's important to express gratitude
- remember to give thanks for the blessings we receive
- don't grieve for what you don't have, rejoice for what you have
- cultivate in your hearts an attitude of gratitude

David A. Bednar
- the church is true because it is the Lord's church
- the Holy Ghost will teach you what to do and where to go
- follow the Spirit of the Lord and you will go right

Larry R. Lawrence
- parents are responsible for the physical and spiritual protection of their children
- parenting is not a popularity contest
- always be prayerful when it comes to protecting your precious children
- follow these 5 righteous patterns: family prayer, family scripture study, family home evening, family dinners, one on one interviews with your children

Mervyn B. Arnold
- give love, time, testimony of the gospel, set example to work hard, be honest, pay your tithing, go on a mission, get married in the Temple, endure to the end
- we are free to choose, but not free to choose the consequences of our actions
- commandments are not given to restrict us, but to bless us and protect us

M. Russell Ballard
- he spoke of being 'in bondage' to addictions and that through fervent prayer you can find a way out of bondage
- express faith in Heavenly Father by asking Him for help in overcoming any addiction
- Philip 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

President Thomas S. Monson
- obeying the commandments brings safety and peace
- in your homes should be love, kindness, courtesy and the Spirit of the Lord

Dad and I were very uplifted by the messages which we heard during the past two days from the various speakers in Conference. We look forward to receiving the November Ensign and being able to read the messages which were given yesterday and today.

October 9, 2010

I was very tired when I woke up today - I couldn't get to sleep until 2am last night. Let me have some venting time if you don't mind. Grrr. Yesterday was not a good day at school and I even thought for a minute that I would like to go back to Canada and teach my little lovelies at R.J. Lee. They were such great students (in general) - respectful towards me - and the parents respected me as well. It's so different here with some of these kids - let me fill you in on what happened yesterday to make me think I should look into teaching at the Anglican College (private school about three minutes from our house).

Travis is a new student to our class - he started a couple of weeks before I began my contract teaching job. He is very immature - acts more like a three year old - and he is intellectually low - more like a kindergarten aged child. He seeks attention - he loves to help, but does it mostly at inappropriate times. He has always been compliant up 'til yesterday. He just lost it - there are a number of thoughts why, but I think the most likely is that he was having a tantrum and the way he showed it was to go completely against what I was asking him to do: he was playing with something while I was talking with the class at the carpet. When I took it off him and asked him to stop, he picked it up again. When I asked him to go to his desk, he refused. When I took him by the hand and led him back to his desk and told him to stay, he got up right away and followed me back to the carpet. When I went toward him again, he just ran away. By this time, I had had it and just left him and thought I would deal with him after the class was sent back to their desk. To make a long story a little shorter, when I went to take him to the vice princpal's office, he ran away from me and I wasn't going to chase him. I went to the VP and told her what had happened and she said that she would find him and keep him in her office for the rest of the day.

I was up 'til 2am with all this going around and around in my head. I have never in all my teaching years had any student be defiant and now I had two in three weeks. It's very draining and I do not like it at all. I have been thinking about it since yesterday - and I can feel my blood pressure rising as I am typing this - and I have come to some conclusions as to why this would be happening in my classroom when it's never happened before when I was teaching at R.J. Lee. The children at R.J. Lee came from families who were either in the middle socio-economic class or whose parents lived in a house with more than one family in a really nice area of town. The students' parents were very respectful of teachers and passed that onto the kids. The parents were very hardworking people and had a very good work ethic. Because the parents worked so hard, the grandparents often took care of the children before and after sdhool and often the grandparents let them do whatever they wanted, but when it came time to listening to the teacher, it was expected that they would show that respect. Now, I am generalizing of course, but for the most part, that's the way it was. Now to the parents of this school - again, I am generalizing, but it will give you some idea of what I am dealing with. A number of the parents of the students in this school are 'on the dole' meaning they are on unemployment and since you can stay on it for life here in Australia, they pretty much do. The respect is not there from the kids (for the teachers) and the parents let their children do what they want (or don't have consequences for inappropriate behaviour) - I even had one parent ask me to tell their child to go to bed when they are asked! Also, it seems to me, that a number of the families have issues of some kind. When I see what kind of lives many of these kids have, it makes me want to remind you girls of the wonderful life you had growing up (as Dad and I did) and hope that you appreciate the way we raised you to show respect, take responsibility for your actions and to have a great work ethic.

I am not sure what I am going to do about the Travis situation. I don't want to go back to the VP until I have thought out some possible solutions to this problem. I am going to speak with Travis on Monday and let him know the consequences of his actions. Also, if he has another day like Friday, I will be calling in his mom to let her know what's going on. Anyway, I am not happy about going into teaching this class - there are other issues with kids in the class, but it seems like I am going well in helping them to learn to focus, listen well and to work well. I am not doubting my teaching ability - 14 years of good results helps me to believe that I am a good teacher. But, I am unhappy about being unhappy going to school - I have always been passionate about teaching, so it bothers me that I am feeling so down about going into this class. I know that if they had been my students from the beginning, that things would be different and I know that I only have two weeks to go with this class, but I would still like to enjoy it - it's amazing how two students can really mix things up. Oh well, two more weeks, swimming lessons most days and a student teacher to help out - I can look forward to those things anyway. And enough venting, I think.

Today started out lovely with a Skype 'visit' with Terri-Ann and my boys. :-) We didn't get to talk with the boys for too long - our connection wasn't too good and the boys really needed to go to bed as they had been out all day and hadn't had a nap. So, we had a little chat with them which is always fun. Then, it was off to bed for them and so Terri-Ann and I had a really nice chat (as we do every week) and got caught up (although the poor girl had to listen to me vent about those 'feral' students ('feral is an Aussie term which seems to mean something like mean brats). It's great having such great technology that we can see each other and talk at the same time across thousands of miles. I look forward to this standing date each week.

The rest of the morning and the first part of the afternoon was taken up by going to the chapel to watch last Saturday's broadcast of General Conference. There weren't many people there today which is pretty typical - there will be a full house of people there tomorrow. We enjoyed listening to the speakers today and I took some notes - I will share a few of them here:

Rosemary M. Wixom
- The world will teach our children if we do not

Claudio R. M. Costa
- Heavenly Father communicates with us through our Prophet
- the Prophet will never lead us astray (I love that one!)
- the Prophet tells us what we NEED to know, not always what we want to know

David M. McConkie
- 'The How of Learning' - what matters most is the attitude and spirit by which the teacher teaches

D. Todd Christofferson
- Life offers you two precious gifts: time and the freedom of choice of what to do with your time

Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf
- Learn to see yourself as God sees you (a daughter/son of His)

Gerrit G. Gong
- Your testimony, when nourished, will keep you safe

Richard G. Scott
- 4 Principles which bring peace and happiness: faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, obedience, service

We are looking forward to hearing more wonderful messages tomorrow.

We brought the missionaries back home with us after Conference to have dinner with us. It's always nice to have them over and to feed them. Dad barbecued hamburgers and we had wedges and corn on the cob - yummy. We played a game of cribbage - Elder Wong and I let Elder Lock and Dad win. :-) After Dad drove them home and came back, we watched a show called 'Air Crash Investigations' and then three British detective shows. A lovely day all up! :-)

Octobe 7, 2010

Happy Birthday to Dad. :-) We were able to go out this afternoon to celebrate (right after school) before Dad had to go to SES. We chose to go to a local Irish restaurant/pub (Hoolihans) for a very early dinner (4:15pm) - we haven't been there before, but they will give you a free dinner (main meal) if it's your birthday, so we figured it was a good time to try a new restaurant. We started with Garlic and Mozzarella bread. Then, I had the Donegal's Irish Stew (Tender Braised Lamb with Onions, Carrots, Celery & Potatoes served over Mash with Soda Bread) and Dad had the Dublin Coddle (Thick Beef ‘n’ Sage Sausages served on Mash with Onion Gravy & Vegetables). The mozza bread was really delicious and both dinners tasted fabulous! The prices were pretty good, too, compared with other restaurants we have been to, but the food is way better than what we have tasted at other places (although we haven't been to too many others). We will definitely recommend this place to others.

Dad has gone off to SES now and I have been being very lazy tonight, just watching tv and answering emails and writing this blog. It's been a full-on day today at school and so I have enjoyed totally relaxing and doing nothing this evening. Yesterday, I was so positive with regards to my angry little student, Ryley - today was a challenging day. He was being very obstinate today - twice Chantelle asked me to come and deal with him. Just when I thought things were looking up, he said he was going to run away from school. I finally went to get the principal to talk with him as I was all out of ideas. The principal was able to get him to come back to class and make better choices. I talked with the principal to see what he did and said and he did and said the same things which I had done and said and yet he had a better result - I think it might have had to do witth the principal being male. Ryley had a great second session, but then stuffed up again during the third session. We'll have to see what tomorrow brings, but I am not too crazy about expending so much energy on one student - I do have 20 other students to worry about - he might have to miss more recesses before he figures things out.

I was really pleased to be able to go to the Curriculum Development meeting today. We talked mostly about the NAPLAN test (grade three test), the results, the questions which the students did not do well on, and how to take the results and work with them to help the students become more successful at the test. I think teaching to the test is not good teaching, but I wouldn't say anything in front of the V.P. :-) We also talked about other things we could do in the classroom to help the students be more successful in areas which they are struggling - the grade threes particularly don't do well in spelling and so the school has decided that the spelling program in the school is going to be downgraded - as in, the grade three program will now be done in grade two, the grade two one will now be done in grade one, etc. I can't see the sense of expecting so much from these kids, but that's the way that the education system seems to be going in this country.

October 6, 2010

Wow, I can't believe how fast the time has gone this week! But, school has been pretty good so far, so I have been very happy about that. :-) I was worried about whether the students would have reverted back to their chatting mode after my working so hard with them for the two weeks before holidays. But, they have pleasantly surprised me - although, I still have to occasionally remind them to listen. It's been great having Chantelle, our student teacher, in the classroom. She and I are sharing the teaching of the class which also means sharing the planning and preparation of materials for the lessons. That part has been great cuz it's meant that I have been able to spend less time at school and less time prepping stuff at home. I actually got to read the newspaper Monday and today after school - what a treat! :-)

It's been great working with Chantelle - it reminds me of working with my friend, Priya, who was once my student teacher and then became a colleague (I went to my principal and told her that Priya was amazing and that she just HAD to hire her - fortunately, the principal listened to me). Chantelle and I work really well together - after school, we reflect on the day and talk about behaviour issues and how best to sort through them. We talk about a variety of solutions to things which come up during the day - Chantelle has the planning bit, preparation bit and teaching bit down pretty well - the part she struggles with (and we all do at some point) is the classroom management bit. It's the hardest part about teaching for me. I am still learning and I bet that most teachers do as the students change each year. I had to take Ryley out today as he was not making good choices and I didn't want Chantelle to have to deal with him as well as the other 19 students which were here today. Ryley is OCD, ADHD and has anger issues. He and I have slowly formed a rapport with each other and I am learning to 'pick my battles' with him. He will talk with me now about things which have set him off and I am learning how best to help him to do what he needs to do. Although it's been a bit challenging dealing with him, it's also been rewarding in that I feel that I am reaching him.

Today, I spoke with Leanne, the vice principal, about getting some professional development at the school. The grade two teachers are doing some curriculum development tomorrow afternoon. I was originally set to cover Tracey's class (another grade two teacher) tomorrow, but she has the week off (her father passed away) and there's a supply teacher in the class for the week. So, I asked Leanne if I could come to the curriculum development tomorrow (unless she wanted me in the classroom with Chantelle). She said I was welcome to come to the curriculum develpment meeting and I was so pleased when she said that. I really want to learn as much as I can about how education works here in Queensland. When I told Chantelle and asked her if it was okay with her, she said that it was fine as she wanted to find out if the kids would be the same when I wasn't in the room. So, I think it will be a good experience for both of us.

Dad has spent most of the past three days working on downloading the General Conference broadcast (which happened in Salt Lake City last weekend), converting the files to a DVD format and then burning them onto DVDs. It's taking ages for this to get done - he's working on it to be ready for this Saturday as we are viewing the conference at that time. We will be going on Saturday from 11am to 1pm and then 1:30pm to 3:30pm to watch last Saturday's sessions of conference and then on Sunday we will watch last Sunday's sessions of conference from 9am - 11am and 11:30am to 1:30pm.

I went visiting teaching yesterday with my companion, Robyn. I love visiting teaching - I always have. I love getting to know the sisters better and in an informal setting. I love talking with them, too, which is something we don't really get to do too much of on Sundays. We like to go on Tuesday nights cuz that is when Rob, Rosalea's husband, is out at the chapel for Young Men's/Young Women's and we can sit and have a good chat with Rosalea without Rob around. :-) We always have a long visit with Rosalea - and last night was no exception -we were there from 6:30pm to 8:30pm - Rosalea, Robyn and I are all good at talking :-) but Rosalea also seems to need to talk a lot about her life with us - like she doesn't have anyone she feels comfortable doing that with and she also knows that anything she tells us won't go any further.

Tonight, Geoff (Robyn's husband) had arranged for he and his home teaching companion, Luke, to come to visit with Dad and me - when 6pm came, in walked Geoff and ..............Robyn. Imagine my surprise when I saw her come through the door - Luke had a family situation he had to attend to and so Geoff had asked Robyn to come with him to visit with us. We were really pleased to have a chance to visit with the two of them - they are becoming good friends of ours. They are leaving on Saturday to go to Ireland until the middle of November - we will be crossing paths on the way to Sydney as they are arriving back in Hervey Bay, so we won't be seeing them until we get back in mid-January.

I bought a book when we were back in Canada called 'Isaiah for Airheads' by John Bytheway. It's based on the chapters of Isaiah Nephi quoted in the Book of Mormon. We are reading Isaiah in the Bible and it's hard to understand it sometimes. This book is FABULOUS in helping us to understand what has been written in the book of Isaiah. John breaks it down so that we are learning about what each verse (or couple of verses) mean. We have read two chapters so far and it's been so much more enlightening having this resource. He makes it so much easier to understand, so we are really glad that we have bought this book. I will talk more about what he tells us in a future blog.

October 2, 2010

It's been a busy, but lovely day today. Dad and I headed out at 10:30am this morning on a drive up to a place called Woodgate Beach with a stop at Burrum Coast National Park. The park was actually the reason we went up there. I wanted to go for a drive somewhere and this park has a number of walking tracks in it. We got there around noon and the info we had found on the net said that the walk around the Banksia track would take 2 hours - it took us 1 1/2 hours.

It was a really beautiful walk, too - we walked along a dirt track through the trees. The sky was blue (with a few clouds) and the sun was shining down. Just after we started on our walk, we saw a couple of kookaburraas in the trees - we took some pics of one cute bird which is at the end of the blog. There were supposed to be some wildflowers in bloom along the track, but we only came along one (near the end of the track). We also saw some different plants along the way (pics at the end). The one thing we didn't see was a snake, so I was grateful for that. :-) It was great to get out in the fresh air and to get some exercise at the same time. Dad and I really enjoyed being out in nature and chatting as we walked along. It was so peaceful out there - I have always felt that way being in nature. We had such a wonderful time out there, that we want to do some more walks like that - and soon.

After the walk, we drove into Woodgate Beach to look around - it was one of the places that I had checked out housing in when we were looking to settle in this area of the country. It's a lovely little town - very small - mostly seems to be holiday housing - the closest city is about half an hour away. As we were driving into the town, we saw three kangaroos right on the side of the road eating grass. It was so cool - I still can't get over it when I see them right in front of me. :-) I asked Dad to pull to the side of the road so that I could watch them and get some photos (at the end of the blog) - we sat there for a few minutes just enjoying watching them. We had to drive on as we needed to be leaving Woodgate just after 2:30pm. After stopping to get some lunch which we ate by the beach (pics at the end), we started driving back along the road beside the beach and saw the same kangaroos in the front yard of a house eating grass. There were kids playing a ball game just around the corner and the kangaroos were just eating away like it was nothing for them to be in someone's yard. What a treat for us! :-)

When we got home from our trip, we started cooking lasagna right away as we were having guests for dinner. We weren't sure if Rob and Rosalea were coming, but we knew that Robyn and Geoff were coming for sure and we figured that having lasagna would mean there would be enough for six if Rob and Rosalea came. W have had lasagna the way they make it in Australia and we don't like it (they put in a white sauce with the cheese) and so we made it the 'Canadian' way - and it was a hit. We really enjoyed our evening with our four friends (yes, Rob and Rosalea showed up) - after eating (at our lovely new table) we sat around and just chatted for about an hour and a half. Rob and Rosalea had to leave early as Rosalea hasn't been feeling well lately, but Robyn and Geoff stayed on for a bit. I asked them if they played games (euchre, cribbage, etc.) and they said that they did - I told them about doing that with Nikki and Ron for years and told them that it would be great if they could come over again for dinner and play games with us. It's great to have made friends here that we can feel so comfortable with.

We are watching another movie right now - 'Dreamgirls' - 7.5 on our scale (8.0 for me and 7.0 for Dad). Yesterday we watched two more movies - 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure' was a 6.75 (a 6.5 from me and a 7.0 from Dad), but the best movie we have seen thus far is one called 'Changeling' - what an amazing story (and it's a true story, too). I would highly recommend it to everyone (although it IS about a mother whose son goes missing so Terri-Ann and Krystal, you might not want to watch it as it might be too emotional - but it's also about other things that were happening at that time in America (the late 1920s). It's a very powerful movie!