This has been a very busy week for both of us. It didn't start out too well on Monday morning. I got a phone call from TRACER which is the Hervey Bay supply teacher call-out system, but by the time I heard the call and answered it, the call had gone to the answering machine of the phone. I had Dad check the number and it said 'private caller' so we figured it might be TRACER. I found their number and called them back to tell them what had happened as I figured that the call had probably been because Bec wanted me back again. The woman who answered the phone put me back on the 'available list' and then hung up before I could ask her if someone had asked for me. A lesson learned, but what an expensive one to learn. :-) Dad found out that my phone's ring length had only been set for 15 seconds before it went to voice mail and so he changed it to go to 30 seconds hoping that would make a difference. So, I just spent the day volunteering in Luise's class - she teaches grade one and she is the teacher whose class I am going to take over when she goes on long service leave in late October. She runs her class similar to the way I do so I think it will be easy for me to take over and for the kids to be able to adjust to me.
Dad spent the day at the Family History Centre and the workers/patrons were very glad to have him back there. He was able to do a lot of clearing out of old paperwork and to help a patron who was stuck with her family history. After school, we came home and studied for our motorcycle/scooter test. We had to read the manual which was 100 pages long - it took ages for us to get through it and then we took some online practice tests. Since we have a car license, we only have to answer five questions relating specifically to motorcycles. Dad went through a number of tests and came up with nine different questions. So, after I took a couple of the online tests myself, I checked out the nine questions Dad had typed up and got them all right. We both felt good about taking the test on Tuesday after school.
I got a call on Tuesday morning to supply teach for Tracey who teaches grade two and I know her really well from last year - I supply taught for her last year as well. Her class was pretty good, but there were a few monkeys mixed in there. I found that the further the day went on, though, the better they followed instructions, so we ended up having a good day. When Dad picked me up from school, he told me that he had already taken the motorcycle test and passed. Dad drove us to the licensing place and I took the test. There was only one question that I wasn't sure of, but I remembered something from the reading and so put down the answer I thought it was - and I passed! :-) So, we both now have our motorcycle learner's permits. :-)
After that, we went to 'Fantastic Furniture' to look at a variety of furniture that we still need for our house. We chose a bedroom suite that we had looked at before and liked. We also chose two single beds, three mattresses, two recliners, and two three-seater couches. We didn't buy them - we just got a quote and decided to look around some more at other stores. We really do want to make a decision soon - at least for the main bedroom suite and the reclining chairs.
Yesterday, I didn't get a call from TRACER so I went back into Luise's class to volunteer again. She had me working with a few of the academically lower children and I enjoyed doing that - I really enjoy being able to help them learn and love the way they get excited when they 'get' something. Dad had an appointment to get the car serviced and, thank goodness, everything was fine with the warranty even after being away for so long. They were really good to us there and we really appreciated it. So far, in the 18 months we have had the car, we have driven about 8,000 kms - not too bad - although, really, we have only driven the car for 12 of those 18 months since we spent six of the last 18 months in Canada.
Dad and I drove to 'Barbecues Galore' to check out an outdoor set we had our eyes on before we left for Canada. It turned out that the set we wanted was on sale - and they had chaise lounges we could purchase which matched the set. The seats are so comfortable - they have a material cover which can be removed - and the pattern of the material is really nice. They have to order one up from Brisbane so it will likely take a week to have it delivered. So, next week at this time, we will be outside every day enjoying our beautiful new outdoor set. :-) When we get it, I will take some pictures and attach some to one of my blogs. After that purchase, we went to another couple of furniture stores, but couldn't find anything that we really liked.
I got into school today and found out that Luise was away, but she hadn't asked for me to cover her class. I was a bit upset and confused about this, but I soon got over it. Hopefully, she will explain to me why she didn't ask for me. The supply teacher who did get the job was at the school last year on contract in a grade six position, so I don't know if Luise knew her and asked for her or just didn't ask for anyone. Anyway, I ended up spending the day in Rachel's grade one classroom. She is taking off some time later this year for her long service leave and I was hoping that I would be able to get that contract, but she said that she is getting a friend of hers to cover her time off. I was disappointed about that, but what can you do. I did some assessing of math and social studies with her students. One of the boys asked me if I was going to stay cuz he thought that 'working' with me was fun. :-)
Last night, Dad made up some business cards for me - they are to give away to teachers so that they can ask for me if they want a supply teacher. It has my picture on it along with my name, Education Queensland ID number, my phone number and email address. I gave them out to the grade two teachers today as well as a couple of grade one teachers. I will give out some more tomorrow to the rest of the grade one team and hopefully the Kindergarten (Prep) team since I know one of the Prep teachers. I also got a call today from TRACER after school and it was to supply teach for a grade three teacher tomorrow, so I will leave her my card as well. I will see how things go for a while just supplying at Kawungan. If I don't continue to get three days a week of supplying at that school, I will go to two other schools in Hervey Bay where two of my friends work and see if there is a chance I could get more work at either of those schools.
Dad has been really busy working hard at home for the past two days. He had so much paperwork to do - he's worked on it for ages and he still isn't finished it. He also cleaned the house today which took him most of the morning. Since he works so much in the office at home, I suggested we go out today to buy a nice chair for his computer desk. We went to a variety of stores and finally ended up at an office store where we purchased a very nice comfortable adjustable swivel chair for Dad - he's really going to enjoy sitting in that compared to the kitchen chair he has been using.
Dad went to SES tonight - they had three stations there tonight and they did the stations in groups of four. The first station was a review of generators and flood light use. The second station was a review of using walkie talkie radios. The third station was a review of care of ropes and knot making. The meeting went for the whole three hours and Dad enjoyed the whole three sessions as he enjoys reviewing these things - he's been away from it for four months and so it's good to have review time of these skills, he says.
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