Tuesday, August 2, 2011

There really isn't much to write about today - basically things have been going the same at school with me - still trying to get used to all the extra stuff expected of teachers here (paperwork) on top of meetings (2 hour long ones every other week) and the principal checks up on us to make sure we are having them.  And all that is on top of having to deal with the behaviour issues and large classes (23 five year olds) which is actually a lot of work - and then put it together with all day school for five year olds (they really need to nap :-)  and it's even harder and more wearying work.  Chantelle and I were saying just yesterday that we think that school should end at 1:30pm here (that's the time of their second break here - we start school at 8:50am here and have our first break at 10:50am which goes for 40 minutes, our second break from 1:30pm - 2:00pm and school ends at 3pm). 

Dad's been busy with census stuff - it's basically taking up most of his time now.  He has been visiting with his collectors when they have needed help, helping them over the phone when there are problems, and checking in with them via texting to see how many homes they have managed to do.  One of his collectors is almost finished and she has the largest number of houses to go to - almost 600.  There have been some people who have refused to do the census (which is against the law and punishable by large fines) or have made complaints against the collectors (totally unfounded).  Dad's collectors are doing really well in the delivering except for one man, but he told Dad that he will be out every day this week and assured Dad that he will get it done in time - they have until Sunday night to complete their workload.

We have new missionaries in our ward now - Elder Paki went home (his two years was over and so he headed home to Melbourne today) and Elder Richardson got transferred - so we have two new young men.   We met Elder Johnson on Sunday - he is from Calgary and is a Flames fan - YAY! :-)  The other Elder, Dad has met, but he can't remember his name.  Dad took Elders Paki and Richardson to Maryborough to catch a train to Brisbane yesterday and picked up the new missionary.  We will have them to dinner next week and start to get to know them.

I still have my raspy throat and blocked ear - it's driving me crazy now - I told Dad that if things haven't changed by Sunday, I am heading into the emerg to see what they can find out.  We have tried to get an appointment with our doctor, but it's just about impossible and both times I have been to emerg on a Sunday afternoon, it's been very quiet  and I have been able to get in pretty quickly, so we'll see what happens.  It sure is hard to read many books to the children, though, with this raspy voice - today I had to ask my TA, Sam, to read a story to the kids during their fruit break.  They are not allowed to eat inside like I used to do with my students in Canada, so we go outside and sit on the pavement and we read a book or two to the kids while they eat their snack.

That's it for the past two days - not much going on - probably not much for the rest of the week, either, but I will be sure to write anyway - I sure don't want Krystal to be able to call me a 'slacker' again. :-)