I felt much better about my teaching prospects after being at Kawungan school today. Bronwyn asked me to come in for a 'morning tea' in my and Chantelle's honour (Chantelle was Bronwyn's student teacher and was with me for three of her six weeks of placement). Before I went to the Year 2 block for 'morning tea', I stopped by the office to talk with a few people. I first stopped to talk with Barb who is one of the V.P.s. Bronwyn had suggested to me that I speak with Barb about the 'computer guy' position which will begin in late January (the new school year). Bronwyn thought that maybe Dad would be interested in applying for that position if he was qualified for it. Barb said that she didn't know much about the position and that I should talk with Karen about it. Karen is the admin resource person and so I went and had a sit down chat with her.
Karen told me that the position wasn't officially coming out for another week or so, but she sent Dad an email with an overview of the position and some information about an 'orange card' which you have to have to work for Education Queensland in the IT department. Dad read over the requirements and it depends on whether they ask for someone with a degree/diploma or just someone who can prove they can do the job. Karen said that when the position came out, she would email Dad a copy.
I also spoke with Leanne, another V.P., about jobs for next year. I told her that I knew from talking with her before that there were no jobs available for this coming year, but I wanted to know if there were any contract positions that would be coming up at the beginning of the year. As it turned out, no teachers from Prep - Year 3 were going to go on long service leave at the beginning of the year, but there were three who are taking off in the second half of the year. Two of them have actually applied for the time off and Leanne penned my name in beside those two. One of them, Luise, who is a Year 1 teacher, is taking off the whole fourth term (October to December) and I have already spoken with her and she has okayed me to cover her. The second one is a grade three teacher who I will speak with when we get back in January. She is taking off in June/July. Since I worked in Bronwyn's Year 2 class and supplied in the other Year 2 classes, I will know most of the students in the grade 3 class, so that should work out really well. The third teacher who is taking time off is in grade one and I have already told her that I would love to take her class while she goes on leave in August/September. I will volunteer in the grade one classes beginning in February (when I will likely not get any supply jobs as it's the beginning of the year) and get to know the grade one children, teachers, and the program - that made such a difference when I did that in the grade two classes this year. I also asked Leanne to take down my email address just in case something did come up (even part-time) which I would like her to keep me in mind for.
After speaking to those people (and getting hugs from Leanne and Jean (one of the secretaries) and lots of best wishes for my trip back to Canada, I went to Bronwyn's classroom. I got lots of hugs from the kids (who just happened to be signing a card for me :-) Once they were all out for recess, Bronwyn, Chantelle, and I headed over to the Year 2 block. There, on the big table where we all sit, was quite a spread for our 'morning tea' - cookies (including Tim Tam's), nuts, cheese, crackers, vegetables and dip and the best of all, a delicious pavlova. :-) Bronwyn is so kind to me. :-) All of the grade two teachers had signed a Christmas card for me which was really nice to receive. Bronwyn also gave me a really beautiful Thank You card and a great gift: a key chain which has a digital photo frame (it can hold over 100 photos). I love it and told her that I would put my scooter key on it. :-) I felt very appreciated which was nice. :-)
Dad brought me home after the morning tea and I spent the afternoon cleaning - so much fun - NOT! :-) I was able to finish all the inside cleaning and when Dad got home, we both cleaned all the outside windows of the house - he did the upper parts of the windows and I did the lower parts. :-) Then, we both worked on sweeping/hosing off the grass clippings (from my mowing) off the patio. It took us a while to do all that cleaning, but everything looks great now and it's ready for us to leave (other than one final sweep/vacuum on Monday evening).
Yesterday, I got my hair coloured and cut. I went back to Christa who cut it last time and she did another great job. I told her that I wanted highlights put in and she put in red and blond ones. I then asked her to cut it and she asked me how I wanted it cut. I told her to do whatever she wanted - she had done such a good job last time and so I trusted her to do the same this time. The only thing is that she likes to put 'gunk' in my hair. She put something in just before she dried it and then something else after she was done drying it. I really don't like stuff in my hair, but I didn't worry about saying anything since I knew that I would be washing it out this morning.
After my hair cut, Dad and I came home and just relaxed for a few hours. We know we are going to be busy once we get back to Canada and so we are taking some time to relax before we head back there. After lunch, we went down to the beach and had a lovely hour long walk along the edge of the water. There were tons of people there yesterday - must have been some people in the caravan parks coming up for the weekend. The water was cool when we first put our feet in, but the more we walked, the warmer it became. We really love walking on the beach - it's so peaceful walking along the edge of the water and listening to/looking at the waves. We walked 3kms in total - great exercise and fun to do - can't beat that, eh? :-)
Today was our last day as a branch here in Hervey Bay. The District Presidency came down from Bundaberg to speak to us. Everyone is really excited about the coming changes. We don't know who the Bishop will be (it might just be the Branch President becoming a Bishop) so there is some speculation going on. Everything will be found out next weekend when they hold Stake Conference. Dad and I will have to rely on our friends, Rob and Rosalea or Robyn and Geoff to tell us what happens. I had a meeting with the Primary leaders today to sort things out for the two months we are gone. We are going to make changes when I get back, but I figured it would be best to leave things as they are while we're gone. There was a branch luncheon after church - we brought fresh vegetables and dip - most of the people brought sandwiches, party pies and desserts. It was a really nice time for everyone in the branch to eat and chat with each other. :-)
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