Sunday, April 29, 2012

What a week!  Sometimes I just don't know what to do about teaching in Hervey Bay - sometimes, I really enjoy it and other times, I just want to get out of it.  On Monday, Dad and I were doing a crossword puzzle in bed when I got a phone call some time between 8am and 8:30am from Kawungan asking if I would come in for two hours for Luise.  She has a lovely grade one class, so I do enjoy going in there.  But, it was so late that I didn't know if I could make it on time.  Luise had been given a doctor's appointment in the morning at the last minute and so I said 'yes'.  I didn't even take time to wash my hair and was at the school within half an hour.  I had a lovely two hours in her class and told her that she can be away any time she likes. :-)  BUT, then on Tuesday, I got a call about 8am to go into teach a grade two class at Torquay.  I have never had that class, but I was worried as I had been told by one of their teachers that they were feral (which means challenging - although Dad says 'nasty' :-)  Well, there were 24 kids and about 16 or 17 were fabulous, but the rest were not and it made for a very hard and stressful day.  So much so, that I told Dad that he had to take me to get a 'Magnum' ice cream bar after school. :-)  Those ice-cream are so amazingly delicious and really take away the stress.  I had my contract day of teaching on Thursday and everything went well on that day.  So, I don't know where my head is at right now re: teaching - on the good days, I am so happy to be in that profession, but on the 'nasty' days, I just want to go back to RJ Lee to teach.  How frustrating not to love what I am doing these days after having so many wonderful years of  doing what I love.

Dad spent the week doing stuff around the house and, of course, doing his volunteer work.  He spent many hours one day mowing the lawn, trimming it and spraying it with fertilizer and weed control.  He was quite done when he was finished.  On Anzac Day (Wednesday), Dad went to help out with traffic control with the SES for the Veteran's parade.  When the SES were getting their assignments from the #2 guy at SES, he told Dad that the #1 person (a woman) at SES wanted him (Dad) to carry and lay the wreath from the SES up to the cenotaph.  Dad was very pleased and honoured to be asked to do this.  There are pictures at the end of the blog which were taken by an SES volunteer and by the local newspaper.

We were going to go to the beach on Saturday, but it turned out to be a very rainy day and so we ended up staying inside.   I love living by the beach, but when I work so much, it turns out that I don't get to go as often as I would like.  So, when we get a day to go and it rains, it's so disappointing.

Church was going as usual on Sunday when, during our Sacrament meeting, our Bishop and his first counsellor got up and went to the back of the chapel. Dad turned around and said that they were going down to help Brother Pearce who appeared to be slumped in his chair.  He is an older gentleman whose wife died last year.  They took him into the family history room and called for an ambulance.  Both Cherylyn and Trudy (sisters who are nurses) went into the room as well to assist.  Dad went back to ask Alastair (a psychiatrist with basic medical training), the first counsellor, if he would like him to continue with the meeting and Alastair said 'yes'.  So, we continued on.  Part of the way through the second talk, Bishop came to the front and asked us all to vacate the chapel.  As we were doing this, the paramedics came into the chapel to attend to Neville.  A few minutes later, they came out with Neville on a stretcher and took him to the hospital.  We all came back into the chapel and Bishop cancelled our Sacrament meeting and Alastair ended the meeting with a special prayer for Brother Pearce.  We are all worried about Neville and will continue to pray for him.

So, that's our big week - some good, some bad, some happy, some sad - sounds like life, eh?

Dad walking the parade route behind the Emergency Services cadets (newspapter photo)

Dad walking the parade route in front of the Emergency Services scouts (newspaper photo)

Dad walking up to the cenotaph with two Emergency Services cadets.

Dad laying the SES wreath at the cenotaph.

A moment of silence and respect.