Sunday, March 20, 2011

I went into school on Friday to teach the grade three class I had been asked to teach.  When I talked with Karen, the woman at the school who takes care of the supply teaching situation at the school, she told me that she had asked for me first to cover that class.  I told her that I really appreciated that - I am hopeful that I will get some more jobs this way - it sure is nice knowing ahead of time that I have a job the next day.  Most of the students knew me from last year which made things a little easier for me and for them, too, I think.  I found that they did a little testing of me for the first part of the day (as usual, it was mostly boys, although there was one girl who wouldn't be quiet!), but after the first break, things got much better.  I found that once they saw that I had certain expectations and consequences, they seemed to be okay with doing what their teacher expected of them.  I left my card for the teacher, so I hope she will call me again.

Dad spent the day at the Family History Centre.  He spent some time updating the centre's computers and some more time working on his own Family History.  He has been able to get more of his own family history done because of the indexing members have been doing and because information from the website http://www.ancestry.com/ is now available for free at the Family History Centre.  Indexing is when people take the films or written records of government censuses, etc. and put them into databases which can be searched online.  Dad is really excited about being able to add more information to his family line.

After school, Dad and I both went to get our hair cut at 'Cut It Out Christa'.  She is a hairdresser who was recommended by my friend, Rosalea, and she is very good at what she does and the price is really good for HB ($20. for me and $15. for Dad).  I had my hair cut by her just before we came back to Canada and it was in need of another cut, as was Dad's.  We were both in and out in 45 minutes and she did another great job of my haircut and her new assistant did a nice job of Dad's.  I really like the way I can say to her 'just cut it off about this much (using my fingers to show her how much) and she can do a great cut without any other instructions.

After that, we went to a restaurant to celebrate my birthday.  The restaurant is called 'Hoolihans' and it's the same restaurant we went to for Dad's birthday - if it's your birthday, you get your meal for free.  I had the special - curried chicken and potatoes with rice - and Dad had the chicken and king (large) prawns stir fry.  We also shared some bruschetta.  I was so happy that I could get the curry meal as Dad doesn't like it so we never have it at home.  It was really really delicious - it wasn't too spicy, but it had tons of flavour.  It was such a yummy birthday meal.  Dad really enjoyed his meal, too - he said his meal was excellent.  We told the waitress to let the chef know that the food was outstanding and the presentation of the food was really nice, too.

When we got home, we had a very large piece of pavlova.  Dad had gone to the 'Cheesecake Shop' during the day today, and it was waiting for us when we got home from our evening out.  I knew that he was buying the pavlova, but what I didn't know was that he had bought a large WHOLE pavlova (I thought he was getting a half pav).  Needless to say, the pavlova was super delicious!!! :-)  It was a lovely evening for my birthday. :-)

On Saturday, we drove over to Maryborough (about half an hour away) to check out a couple of furniture stores there.  They have sister stores in Hervey Bay, but the ones in Maryborough are bigger and have different stock than those stores in HB.  We saw a really nice loungeroom set, but it's quite expensive and we don't know if we want to spend that kind of money on a set which will rarely be used.  We found some rocker/recliners we really liked, but again they were quite expensive, so we are waiting on purchasing them at the moment as well.  We are thinking of driving to some bigger cities to see if we can find anything else we  might like.

We had our, um, I mean MY scooter delivered today.  Terry brought it up in a van and, after getting it off the van and pushing it into our garage, he put it up onto it's stand and then showed us where different things were on the scooter.  After he left, both Dad and I sat on the scooter (still on the stand) and started it.  It was fun sitting on it and we can't wait to get on with learning how to ride it.  Dad is going to call the guy tomorrow who will teach us how to ride and then test us and set up a time for us to do that.  We won't be able to do it for a few weeks, however, as the showgrounds which he uses as the training area is being used by the city for the next few weeks.

At 3pm, we went to the chapel to attend the baptism of a young woman (perhaps in her early 20's), Nicole.  My friend, Robyn, and I are going to be Nicole's visiting teachers, so it was really nice to be able to attend this special event in her life.  There were quite a few members there for the baptism to support Nicole, so that was nice to see as well. 

We spent the evening just hanging around home.  Dad and I are so busy during the week that we really enjoy having our Saturday evenings  free to just 'do nothing'.  Of course, we really didn't do 'nothing'.  While we had the tv on, we were both doing things on our computers.  I was planning a primary lesson as one of the Primary teachers had told me this afternoon that she wouldn't be able to be there on Sunday and Dad was doing research online.  It was a lovely relaxing evening. :-)

This morning, we had an early interview with our Bishop to renew our Temple recommends.  Our recommends had expired while we were in Canada (neither of us was happy about this as we don't like our Temple recommends to expire), so we wanted to renew them as soon as we could.  We both 'passed' our interviews and so now have to have the second part of the interview with a member of the Stake Presidency who will be visiting our ward next week.  It will be nice to be able to go to the Temple again - we are hoping to be able to go to the Brisbane Temple soon. 

Our Sacrament meeting theme today was about revelation.  The speakers talked about how revelation is communication from God to his children and that we can all receive it.  A few things which we were reminded about, however, is that to receive revelation we have to keep the commandments, go to the Lord in prayer, and to listen carefully for the 'still small voice'.  Once we get our revelation, it's also important to follow the promptings which we receive.

After all of our meetings were over today, Dad went to choir practice and I conducted a meeting of the Primary presidency for our first meeting since I was called as the Primary President.  Now that we are back in HB, I wanted to meet with the women in the presidency so that we could all be on the same page with things that are/will be happening in our Primary here.  I wanted to start some new initiatives and my first counsellor and secretary are new to Primary, so I wanted to make sure that they knew what their duties were and also for all of us to work together to come up with ideas and questions we had about how to run the Primary program here.  Our Stake Primary Presidency is coming up next weekend to meet with us and so I wanted to have this meeting before then so that I could contact our Stake Primary President about any questions ahead of time.  We met for about 90 minutes and were able to get a lot done which was great. 

I spent the afternoon/evening working on Primary stuff - making sure that I rewrote my notes so that I had in my mind what emails I needed to write  and to whom so that I could get answers to the questions which arose during our meeting today.  Dad spent the time doing stuff on the net.  It's been a really relaxing day for both of us which we will need since the 'madness' starts again tomorrow.

My birthday pavlova

My supply teacher card

Me on my scooter

Me on my scooter

My scooter

My scooter's dashboard

My scooter

My scooter

Thursday, March 17, 2011

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.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

On Friday, I spent another day with the grade one class and we had another good day.  I couldn't believe what the teacher had set up for a supply teacher to do - it was almost a regular day - I only did that with someone who I knew knew the kids and my routine.  Anyway, things went pretty well again - I had to talk with a couple of the kids, but nothing major.  One of the boys asked me if I could come back on Monday instead of his teacher.  I asked him why and he said his teacher was 'mean'.  When I asked him how she was mean, he said that she made them work hard. :-)  I told him that that was her job and another student piped up and said that his job was to learn.  It was nice that the kids liked having me in there for the two days.  I took some time after school to do some marking and some tidying up.  When you are teaching grade one kids, there is no down-time during the day and so there was no time for me to do much of anything during the day other than to teach.

Right after school, Dad and I went to the motorcycle dealership to pay for my scooter. :-)  It was so exciting to be able to say 'it's all mine!'. :-)  Dad  talked with the guy who is going to give us lessons and he said that his schedule is pretty flexible and to call  him as soon as we have our learner's permits.  We will be studying the manual tomorrow and  going to write the test on Tuesday after school.  We are hoping that we can get the lessons on Saturday - the guy thinks that if everything goes according to plan, he should be able to teach us what we need to know and give us the test all on one day. 

After that, we went to our friends, Rob and Rosalea's place - they have sold their house and are renting another house in Hervey Bay for six months and then are heading to Western Australia which is where they came from before Hervey Bay.  Dad had been with them all day helping them to load the moving van at their old place and unloading it at the new place.  The missionaries also worked with them all day.  When we got to their place that evening, we helped them unload boxes at their new place.  I was helping Rosalea set up the kitchen and Dad helped Rob and the missionaries unload the truck again.  We had pizza for supper and then did some more work on the house.

Yesterday morning (Saturday), we went to Rob and Rosalea's old house to do some more cleaning (me) and loading and unloading (Dad).  It took ages for me to clean the kitchen completely and then to help Rosalea with cleaning the floors, baseboards and walls.  We also spent some more time sorting through things at their rental house again.  It was a full day (10am - 6pm) and it really helped Rosalea to be less stressed, so I am really glad that we could help our friends out.  We were able to get all of their stuff to their new house and to completely clean out the old house.  So, now, all they have to worry about is cleaning the outside yard area. 

We were so tired after all our working yesterday, that we stopped at McDonald's for supper - a very yummy Big Mac :-) -  and then came home and crashed on the couch and watched some tv.  By 8:30pm,we were both really tired and so we picked ourselves up and went off to bed.

Today at church, everyone was so happy to see us again - I got lots of hugs and the Bishop even welcomed us back in Sacrament meeting.  The members asked us how things were with our new grandson and how things were with Grandpa Martin - it was so nice to be back in our ward and to know not only how much we were missed, but that the members were thinking of us and our family while we were away.  Our speakers in Sacrament meeting today spoke about sharing the gospel with others and setting a good example.  Personal examples were given about how just one little seed planted can lead someone to activity in the gospel even if it's years later.  All four people gave really good talks.

Right after Sacrament meeting, I headed off to Primary.  All the class teachers were here today, so I was able to sit and talk with my secretary about things that she had done in organizing things for Primary while  I was away.  When the classes were over and 'Sharing Time' began, Leanne, our new Primary Music Director, started off with singing with the kids.  She is a music teacher (her career) and so she was amazing with the kids - keeping them focused and interested - I knew that she would be great when I asked for her to be in that position - I am really glad that I was inspired to call her to that position.  Things work so much better when I let Heavenly Father guide me. :-)  I gave the 'Sharing Time' presentation today - I showed pictures of various prophets, had the kids tell me what they knew about each one of them (from Adam to President  Monson) and then we sang a verse from the song 'Follow the Prophet' about that particular prophet.  The kids were really good at keeping focused during the activity so I was really pleased.

Dad and I spent the rest of the day doing what we do every Sunday: rest. :-)  We are very good at that, I must admit.  :-)  It rained like crazy later in the afternoon and Dad went out to look at the rain cuz it was raining so hard.  While he was out there, he noticed that one of the rain gutters was overflowing and then when he looked at the bottom of the rain gutter, he noticed four little cane toads in the puddle of water.  It was so cute (not the toads - they're creepy), but just that they were sitting in/under the water and not moving out of the way.  I took some pics and have attached them under this entry.

Four little cane toads sitting in the overflow from the gutter

Thursday, March 10, 2011

It's great to be home, but what a busy time it's been since we got back!  I supply taught for Bronwyn yesterday and had a great day - she really does have a lovely class this year which she deserves after the classes she has had for the past two years!  I really enjoyed teaching them for the day - I even got lots of hugs at the end of the day - even from some of the boys. :-)  It was fabulous being in the classroom again - I love teaching and I love grade two!  While I was in the classroom, Karen (the woman at the school who is in charge of supply teachers) came in to me and asked me if I could come in today for a new grade one teacher in the school.  I said 'sure' and went to talk with the grade one teacher - she told me what I needed to do today and also told me that she would be away tomorrow as well. 

I am tired tonight, but it's not from jet lag - I haven't been affected by that at all, which has been great.  But, working with a class of 21 little six year olds is enough to wear me out. :-)  The students were pretty good at  working, but boy, could they talk.   There were a couple of issues: Ashley started the day out crying, but by the end of the day, I had her smiling.  Leyton apparently is a little naughty boy, but he wasn't too bad for me.  I did have to talk with him once about doing what I asked him to do or he would give up free time next time - he put away his toys then.  An older student came in at the end of the day and asked me how he was and how many strikes he had received.  I was a little surprised because he didn't seem to behave in a way that would require strikes and the student seemed surprised when I told her that he didn't get any. 

At the end of the day today, I went in to speak with Karen to see if I was supposed to be coming in tomorrow for the same teacher and she said that the last time she'd talked to the teacher, she was going to phone 'Tracer' (where you phone when you need a supply teacher) if she was going to be off tomorrow.  I realized that she wouldn't be able to ask for me as I had put myself down as 'unavailable' for the week.  So, I had Dad drive us straight home after school today and put myself back on the 'available' list.  I also put in a phone call to someone at 'Tracer'.  They called me back later and I asked them to check my availability and to see if the teacher had called in for me.  She had and so this woman put in that she had talked with me and I was assigned to the grade one class again.  YAY!!! 

After that, Dad and I went in to the motorcyle store where our scooter is being held.  Unfortunately, Terry, the guy who is handling our purchase, was not there today and so we have to go back in there tomorrow to finish up the paper work.  Dad also talked with the guy who teaches people how to ride scooters/motorcycles and we are hoping to get lessons soon.  We have to get our learner's permits first, but Dad says that it's easy to do that.  He's looked at the practice tests online and they only give you five questions that directly relate to riding motorcycles/scooters if you already have a car license. 

Dad went back to SES tonight - they did a review of using ropes for safety when you are on a roof - using the harnesses and how to attach the harness to ropes.  Dad said there were tons of newbies there tonight.  It seems that ever since the floods, people have been signing up like crazy.  The 'oldies' were happy to see Dad back again. 

November 14, 2010

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. :-)

November 11, 2010

I miss teaching - I mean I REALLY miss teaching!!!  I know that Dad and I are meant to be here in Hervey Bay and we love living here in Hervey Bay, but it's hard not being able to teach as much as I would like to be.  I am feeling a sense of loss today - I think it's hit me a bit hard because I have not been called in to teach at all this week.  When I emailed with the VP at Kawungan three years ago, she told me there were tons of supply teaching jobs available at Kawungan, but it seems that things have changed since then.  It happened like that back in Canada with teaching jobs, but not with supply teaching - there were always jobs going in that area. 

I know that since we are meant to be here, that things will work out, and it's only been this week when I have been able to supply teach and haven't been called.  It's just hard not being called in and doing what I love to do.  When I get back to Hervey Bay in January, Dad is going to make  me some business cards with my picture on it and info (phone number, email, etc) on it as well so that I can give it out to other teachers at Kawungan and at other schools in the area as well.  I am going into the Anglican College (private school) tomorrow to talk with them about supplying for them in the next school year and I am also going to talk with Leanne, the VP at Kawungan, tomorrow about other teaching opportunities which might come up at Kawungan in the new year.  I am also planning on volunteering in the grade one classes at Kawungan come the new year.  I will do all I can do and then have faith that I will be able to teach more come the next school year which begins in late January.

November 10, 2010

Wow, the time has gotten away from me again - I will have to do better in writing these blogs, won't I? :-)  Well, the big news actually happened to day - we bought a SCOOTER - a BIG one - 125cc - like a small motorcycle, but it's an automatic!  We knew that we wanted to buy one, but we were going to wait until we got back from Canada.  Today, the guy from the Honda dealership, Terry, called us to say that they had sold one and that two other people (from NSW) had been making enquiries about the second one they had.  Since we had shown interest and they would really like someone riding it around in Hervey Bay, he thought he would call us and tell us about a deal which they were having - the would pay the registration fee, the taxes and third party insurance for six months.  We were so thrilled as this made the price much more affordable and we jumped on it.  We were over there this afternoon and signed on the dotted line.  We told them that we were going back to Canada for two months and they offered to keep the bike in their store if we just put a deposit on it.  That way, it won't get registered until we get back (saves us paying for two months of registration and insurance when we are not going to be here).  I can't wait to learn how to ride it and start riding it around town.  I have to buy a helmet and gloves as well when we get back.  Here comes a motorcycle momma - well, a scooter momma anyway. :-)

On Sunday, I was called  as the new Primary Presidency of the Hervey Bay branch (soon to be the Hervey Bay ward).  A first counsellor was also called - Maureen Hensley - and my second counsellor, Debbie Davis, was recalled.  The teachers remained the same as did the nursery leader.  I have asked for a secretary to be called and a pianist.  I am working on getting someone called as Achievement Girls and Cubs leaders and an assistant nursery leader as well as a Sunbeam (3 year old) teacher.  I also need a chorister to lead the children during singing time.  The previous Primary President told me that she will stay  on and help with Primary while I am gone.  It's going to be quite busy when we get back until it's up and running smoothly, but we will figure it out especially since there are good people working in Primary.

We spent Tuesday cleaning the house - I wanted to make sure that it got a good clean before we head back to Canada.  I even did the windows throughout the whole house - how's that? :-)  It actually felt good getting it all done - it's easier when there's not as much furniture in the house.  We asked our friend, Rob, if we could use his trailer to take back the furniture which friends had loaned us - he graciously agreed to loan us his trailer and himself to help Dad load and unload all the stuff.  We bought my two friends who loaned us the stuff a miniature chocolate variety pack each to say thanks - we really appreciated them loaning their items to us so that we could take our time to find what we wanted and buy them at a good price. 

A serviceman also came to fix our rainwater pump - it had been leaking (not working) since we moved into the house.  The company which manufactured it went out of business and so someone else had to be found who would service the pumps.  Finally, someone was found and we asked if they could come and do ours first since we were leaving for two months and would be gone during the time the guy was going to fix all the rest which were broken.  The guy took about an hour to fix it, but it looks great and works even better.  Dad says he loves the sound of the pump working - it means we are saving money because our own rainwater is being used now instead of city water.  Rainwater, in the tank, is used for the toilet, the washing machine and outside water use, so it's going to save us a lot of money now that the pump is working.

Tomorrow, if the weather holds out, we are going to spend some time at the beach - we want to get in some more beach time before we have to come back to the snow. :-)