Sunday, April 15, 2012

Well, I am sad to say that our vacation is over - well, mine is anyway - school starts again tomorrow.  I was planning on doing some school work during the week, but I didn't get to it until Friday. :-)  It was just so nice to be able to relax that we kept on doing it. :-) 

On Monday, my friend, Robyn and I went visiting teaching together so we had a lovely time chatting with our friends and leaving them a message about Easter.  On Tuesday, Dad and I met up with Robyn and Geoff for lunch at the Kondari Hotel (where my friend, Denise, took me for lunch last week) and  we had a delicious roast pork dinner with orange cake for dessert (including a salad bar and all for $8.90).  It was really nice to go out and spend more time chatting with our friends.  After lunch, we went out back of the hotel to see the turtles in the pond out there.  We spent a while just enjoying being outside near the water and in the lovely warm sun. :-)  After that, Dad and I went down to the beach for a walk along the water - it was a perfect day for doing that.  We went back to the beach on Wednesday morning hoping to enjoy the morning on the beach.  We were there for about half an hour (reading and doing puzzles) when we decided to go for a swim in the ocean.  Just then, it began to rain (rats!), so we had to pack everything up and come home. :-(

On Thursday, Dad and I did Meals on Wheels and things went much more smoothly this week compared to last week.  The people are so appreciative of us bringing them their meals and it's so nice to do this for them.  We spent the afternoon doing home teaching and visiting teaching and in the evening, Dad went to his SES meeting and I worked on my talk which is going to be on Mother's Day.  Friday, Dad went to the Family History Centre and I went and had a spa pedicure and manicure with Robyn.  I had received a gift card from two of my students at the end of the year last year for our grocery store.  I told Dad that I was going to use the money from that to do something for myself and a pedi/mani was my choice (I did have to put in a little bit more money to pay for it :-)  It was so amazing to be spoiled for an hour - I chose a rust coloured nail polish (pics underneath the blog) - and I can't wait to do it again (likely in another year or so :-).  When I got home from that, I worked on school stuff, getting ready for tomorrow (my first day at my new contract in Kindergarten).  I am sure that I have way too much stuff, but since the teacher wasn't really sure about what she wanted me to do, I figured I would get tons of stuff organized and then see what she wants me to do from that and then I will know better next week what to get organized.

On Saturday, it was great to talk with and see all my beautiful grandchildren (oh yeah, and you girls - .  Dad had to go and do recertification with the SES - it was about providing basic emergency life support which includes performing CPR - you have to recertify every year for this.  Dad said that there were about 15 people there and the fellow who taught it is a doctor and a member of the SES, so he volunteers his time to do this refresher training.  Dad said that he found the training an excellent refresher of the emergency skills.  While he was doing that, I worked more on school stuff.  At 5pm, our friends, Geoff and Robyn and Alistair and Haidi came over to our house for dinner.  I didn't time things very well and so we didn't eat until 6:30pm, but that just gave us time to talk while we waited.  We had a roast chicken dinner with mud cake and ice-cream for dessert and had a wonderful time eating and chatting with our friends. 

Today was Conference Day at church - General Conference was actually on March 31st/April 1st, but because of the time difference between here and North America, we usually download the Conference from the internet and watch it the following Saturday/Sunday.  But, this year, Easter was the following weekend and so we watched Conference this weekend.  It was wonderful to listen to all the talks and especially to hear our prophet speak to us - it was a very uplifting Sunday for us. :-)

Sunday, April 8, 2012

It sure is lovely being on holidays this week - it's been a bit of a busy week and a bit of a lazy week.  On Monday, I went out for lunch with some friends from Kawungan School - a  few of the teachers were getting together for a teacher's birthday (who I didn't know) and one of the teachers asked me if I would like to come, too.  So, since food and chatting are two of my favourite things, I went along and had a lovely time.  When teachers get together, most of the talk is about school, of course.  I added some to the conversation, but most of the time, I just listened.  On Tuesday, my friend, Denise, from church took me out for my birthday.  We went to the same restaurant which Dad and I had gone to for my birthday - the Kondari Hotel.  On Tuesday, they have a special for $8.95 which gets you a roast dinner (we had pork), all-you-can-eat salad, and a dessert (cake with cream).  The meal was really delicious and filling.  Denise and I had a lovely long chat while we ate.  Afterwards, we went out back to the pond to check out what was there.  As we walked down to the pond, all these turtles (about 30 of them) came swimming over to us.  Denise thinks that people must feed them and so, when they see people coming down to the pond, they all swim over.  They were small turtles and so cute looking up at us from the water.  That night, Dad and I went to the Bishop's for dinner - I had talked with the Bishop and his wife on Sunday to see if we could come and visit on Tuesday to home teach them (Dad and I are home teaching companions) and Diana invited us for dinner - always a nice thing. :-)  We had a great time chatting and eating with them - Diana is so funny and both of them are so easy to talk with.  We had a really good discussion about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and I mentioned how comforting it was to know that I would see Poppy again because of what Jesus did.  It was really good to have such a nice gospel discussion.

On Wednesday, I went visiting teaching with Robyn.  Her companion has moved and my companion is away for a couple of months, so we decided to combine our lists and be companions for now.  I just love visiting teaching - it's great having some time to get to know the sisters better (just don't have time on a Sunday, especially with being in Primary) and also to have a gospel discussion about the message of the month.  We visited with four sisters (two of them are mother and daughter) and enjoyed ourselves very much. 

On Thursday, Dad and I did Meals on Wheels and what a shmozzle that turned out to be.  Since it is Easter weekend and no deliveries were going to be made on Good Friday, we had to deliver two meals to some of the people.  That would have been okay, but they also said that the desserts would be different for each day, but had put down that the dessert for Thursday was chocolate mousse, but we figured out later that it was actually Friday's dessert, so a couple of people at the end received the same dessert for both days (I figured that they could handle that, though :-)  Also, because of the double meals, we got away more than an hour later that we would usually do, so some of our clients were a bit concerned about whether we were coming or not.  We finally got done and with only a couple of uh-ohs, so we were pleased about that.

After that, we went to see a camping trailer which we had seen advertized on the internet.  The trailer was a 2006 model and they were asking $18,900 which was definitely above our budget, but we really wanted to look at this kind of trailer as it is so easy to put up - takes about five minutes.  This trailer was first owned by a couple who had to sell it after a few years as one of them got ill.  The couple who own it now have had it for about a year and they had found that they weren't using it as much as they thought they would.  We absolutely loved it - it was in immaculate condition and had some extras which would add to the experience of camping.  I would have loved to have bought it right then and there, but of course, we didn't.  We  are seriously thinking about it, although there's no way we could offer anywhere close to what they are asking.  We are kind of hoping  that no-one else will want to buy  it and that this couple will want to just get rid of the trailer and accept our offer - we will keep you posted.

On Friday, Dad and I had the best lazy day ever - we never even got out of our jammies all day and most of the day we spent in bed, mostly doing crossword puzzles, reading or being on the computer - it was such a wonderfully lazy day and very much wanted and needed. 

We had decided on Saturday that we wanted to get out of the house and go for a drive somewhere.  We originally were going to go for a river cruise on the Mary River in Maryborough which is about half an hour from HB.  However, we ended up driving down to a place called Nanango (about 3 hours from HB) to see a camping trailer (like the one we had last in Canada).  My friend's sister was selling it and, although they weren't at home, they told us that we could go and have a look at it.  We were excited to see it as it was up for sale for only $3,800 and we figured that we could buy this one and have it until we retired and then we would buy a nicer one to travel around Australia with later on.  It was a lovely drive down there and, on the way, we stopped at a little town called Goomeri (pronounced G-mary) where we had a most delicious hamburger with fries at a local take-away.  The trailer itself was quite disappointing - it was really old and it showed in a lot of ways.  If we had bought it, we would have had to put in a lot of work to make it ready to use. 

Today was a lovely way to end the week - it was an Easter Sacrament meeting today and it was nice to listen to the talks reminding us of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us and of the gift of the resurrection for all of us.  We were invited over for dinner to Leanne and Bill's place which was a nice way to end  the day - their two teenage boys were there along with two church friends and we ate and chatted for a couple of hours before heading home.  This coming week is going to be another one which will be a little bit busy and a little bit lazy - we are both looking forward to it.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

It's been a good week for me, but not so good for Dad.  Let's start out with Dad - he went for his interview on Thursday and was sad not to 'go on' to the next stage to get a formal interview.  When he got there, he found out that he was one of ten people selected for interviews that day.  He was told that 300 people had applied for the two positions and that 20 had been selected for the interview process.  He said that of the ten in his group, there were only a couple of 'older' people - those were dressed well like Dad (who was dressed in nice pants, a short sleeved shirt and tie) and the young ones were dressed in jeans with either a golf shirt or t-shirt.  They asked each of the ten to take three minutes and talk about themselves and then they divided them into small groups and asked them to work as a team to come up with ten things they would take with them if they were on a deserted island.  Dad's group came up with very serious things on their list (like food and water), but some groups came up with less serious things, like their favourite football team or their dog.  After their lists were presented, they chose five of the group to move on to formal interviews, but Dad was not one of them.  All of the five people chosen to go on were young (three males and two females) and either were not working or had had many jobs.  This job was only three hours per day, so Dad was surprised that these young people wanted to work at a job with limited hours.  Anyway, he was quite disappointed that he didn't get the job - he's never not gotten a job he applied for before - but, like he said afterwards, there is another job out there which he is supposed to get.  It's just hard (and somewhat frustrating) not knowing where it is or when he will get it.  We are going to do some searching this week including going to a 'headhunter' company for professionals to get their thoughts on where to look for a job in HB.

Now, for some good news  - I was offered a one day a week contract at Torquay State School for this term (ten weeks).  I was actually offered the position for all year, but I told them that I was going back to Canada in June and so wouldn't be available to do it after this term.  I also told them that I had been offered a four week full-time contract in September/October at Kawungan.  For the one day a week contract at Torquay, I will be working on Mondays with Pam who is a Prep teacher.  I met with her this past week and she wants me to work with her bright children to help them to go beyond the kindergarten curriculum since most of them have come to school with a lot of what they need to know or can show me with little help what they know.  She gave me an outline of what they are going to be teaching their classes this coming term and I will be looking over that in the next two weeks (we are on holidays right now) and doing some planning on how I am going to 'stretch' these children.

I was also offered a ten week position in grade two for next year.  I think that I mentioned in my last blog that I had run into a teacher called Mel Cooper last Saturday on my way to vote and she asked me if I would take on her class next year for the first term (she just needs some time off, she said).  She works three days one week and two days the next.  This past week, when I was in at Kawungan, Karen (the person  who does the hiring for contracts) officially asked me to cover for Bronwyn later this year.  I was expecting her to ask about me about taking Mel's class, too, but she didn't.  When I came out of Karen's office, Barb, one of the vice  principals, told me that I needed to get an interview so that I could take Mel's contract.  I couldn't understand that as I had taught for 22 weeks at Torquay without needing an interview.  Barb told me to call this woman at HR which I did.  She told me that I could actually teach for 1 semester (half a year) without getting an interview so I could take Mel's contract, no problem.   So, that was good news.  Then, the woman told me that it would be a good idea to get the interview, though, as if the contract was extended, I wouldn't be able to take it unless I had the interview.  So, after the holidays, I will be talking with Neil, vice principal at Torquay, about what questions might be asked during interviews - he actually interviewed Chantelle when she graduated from university. 

I also worked three days this week - one day at Kawungan in grade one which was a really nice day; and two days at  Torquay - Thursday I was covering for teachers for planning time: kindergarten, grade 4/5 (didn't like that one much) and grade one; on Friday, I was covering for teachers who were in a meeting - grade one (a lovely class) and grade two (a challenging class).  It's been great getting so many days' work right after getting back from Canada - let's hope it keeps up - I would love to get three days a week work - the other two days I would be volunteering as I told both Bronwyn and Chantelle that I would come in to their classrooms once a week.

We were busy socially this past week as well.  On Wednesday night, I went out for dinner with the grade one teachers from Kawungan - just a sort of end-of-the-term dinner - it was nice to hang out with the teachers (Dad called it 'networking' :-)  On Friday night, we had some friends from church over: Robyn and Geoff and Allison and Graham.  We started off our evening drinking juice in our 'wine glasses' on the patio - it was such a lovely day and it was nice sitting out there on our comfy patio set and just chatting with our friends.  On Saturday night, we went over to Robyn and Geoff's for dinner with a new couple who came from Darwin to HB - Jan and Gil.  While we were chatting, we found out that Gil and Geoff knew a number of the same people from when they lived up north in Queensland - such a small world, it is.  I am looking forward to having more dinners with more people in the next two months.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

We have had a really good week this week - a lot of positives. :-)  On Monday, I volunteered in Chantelle's class.  She has 29 children in her class (which is nuts), so I have offered to go into her class each Monday (if I am not called in to work) to help her out a bit.  She had me working mostly with the children doing language and math centres.  I also helped get some things ready for the rest of the week.  All the people who saw me at the school were really glad that I was back and available to supply teach.  Then, on Wednesday, Chantelle wasn't feeling well and so she requested me to come in and cover her class.  Since I had been in on Monday and knew the kids (and they knew me), the day went really well.  On Thursday night, when Dad and I were grocery shopping, we ran into Louise (grade one at Kawungan) and she told me that she wished that I had taken her contract last year as her room was a disaster when the teacher who did cover her contract left.  Louise told me that she was so glad that I was back and available to supply teach as they had had some dregs when it came to supply teachers this year.  It was nice to feel so wanted!  Then, I was called again to work on Friday at Torquay - to give Chantelle and Libby (grade one teacher) some coverage for planning time which they had missed.  I knew most of the grade one children in Libby's class since they were in Prep last year and so it made it an easier day for me than it might have been.  That's the great thing about getting lots of work in one school - it makes it a good day for both me and the kids.

I went into Kawungan (where Bronwyn teaches) on Tuesday to let her know that I wouldn't be able to come in and volunteer for her on Friday, and while I was there I spoke  with Karen who is the woman who books the supply teachers and contracts for the school.  We had a little chat and I told her that I was available to supply and to please keep my name in mind.  The people who saw me there were glad to see me as  well - it's nice to be loved. :-)  Karen called me on Thursday and left a message asking me to call her about taking a contract.  I decided to go in there on Friday to talk with her and she asked me if I would like to take Bronwyn's contract - four weeks in September/October.  Bronwyn had already asked me if I would like it and so I told Karen 'YES!'.  She looked at the other contract positions coming up and asked me if I would do grade four (I said 'no thanks') and also asked me about doing 'special ed' - I told her that it would be good to try some supply days in there first before I decided on that one.  While I was there, Fiona (grade one) saw me and said that she thought that I was at Torquay and so had thrown my card out.  When she realized that I was available to supply, she was so happy and asked for another one of my cards.  Also, while I was there, Barb (one of the vice principals) heard my voice and came out to see me.  She asked me if Karen had asked about contracts and I told her that I had been asked about Bronwyn's.  She said that there must be more I could take and she went in to talk with Karen.  She later told me that I should put myself down as available only to work at Kawungan. :-) 

Dad's good news this week is that he applied for a job while we were in Canada and he received an email this week asking him to come in for an interview this coming Thursday.  The job is working at the Hervey Bay airport doing various things outside on the ramp and sometimes possibly working inside the terminal as well.  Dad is quite excited about it and has done some research about the company so that he can answer questions during the interview.  Dad sat in on some interviews when he was working for Air Canada so he has some idea of the questions he might be asked on Thursday. 

Dad and I did 'Meals on Wheels' on Thurday morning and it felt good to be back helping to deliver meals.  The people we deliver to are so appreciative of our assistance which is really nice.  Dad also went to SES on Thursday evening (they were really happy to have him back) and they did a mock search looking for casualties from a bus accident.  The 'casualties' had wandered away from the bus and it was up to Dad and his team to find all of the casualties.

On Saturday, some friends from church and I drove down to a city called Gympie (about 1  3/4 hours from HB) for a Relief Society Anniversary social.  A woman from  our ward started off the social by talking with us about 'Are you keeping it REAL?'  Each of the letters stood for something which made it easy to remember.  R = religion (are you living your religion - saying your prayers and reading your scriptures).   E = eating and exercising (very important to take care of your physical body).     A = attitude (have a positive one including about yourself).  L = let it go (let go of the past [forgive and forget] and embrace the future [move on]).   After that, we had a lovely dinner and sat and chatted with each other - it was nice to have some time to get to know the sisters more.  We were all commenting about how we don't get to talk with each other much on Sundays and how nice it was to sit and relax and chat at the social. 

We topped off our lovely week with a wonderful day at church!  We are looking forward to another good week this coming week!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Here is my first blog entry after returning from our trip to Canada.  We started our journey back at 6pm on Monday, March 12th with a ride to the airport from Jennifer.  Everything went smoothly at the TO airport - both Dad and I received first class seats for the leg from TO to Vancouver.  That was nice as Dad and I were both able to get a good sleep on the lie-flat seats.  When we were in Toronto, we were told that only one of us would be able to get upfront on the way to Australia (it was Dad's turn), but then, when we got to Vancouver, we were told that one of the seats up front was broken and so Dad had to go into the back - that was disappointing.  We were given three seats between the two of us, though, so we were able to get some sleep on the way from Vancouver to Sydney.   Once there, we were able to get onto a flight to Brisbane at noon.  However, we were told that the two flights from Brisbane to Hervey Bay (HB) that day were full except for one seat.  We kept our fingers crossed that someone wouldn't show up so that we could both fly to Hervey Bay that night (it was Wednesday by this time).  The first flight was completely full and so we kept waiting around the Brisbane airport.  When it came near time for the final flight (at 7:30pm) that night, the passenger service agent gave Dad two tickets to the Brisbane-HB flight and we were so relieved!  After landing in HB, we caught our usual shuttle right to our front door.  We were SO happy to be home after such a long trip! Chantelle had gone shopping and left some food in the fridge for us to  have for dinner when we  arrived home.  Both Dad and I jumped in the shower to get fresh and clean after our long trip, and after a yummy supper of a meat, cheese and tomato sandwich, we fell into bed and had a lovely sleep. :-) 

Thursday and Friday were spent resting up.  We did some grocery shopping, went to the library, and went for a lovely walk along the beach - I had really missed the ocean!  The water was incredibly warm and I wish that we had brought our swimsuits to go for a swim - we will get to that one day this week for sure!  Saturday, I went with three friends from church to a Primary leadership meeting just over two hours from HB.  My friend (and counsellor), Maureen drove and it was a lovely drive - Maureen has a top of the line in comfort Toyota and so the trip didn't seem so long since we were so comfortable.  The meeting went well and we all came away from it with some ideas to help make our Primary run more smoothly.  Today (Sunday), has been a lovely day (birthday).  It started out by us going to church of course - we got so many hugs and people telling us how glad they were that we were back - we felt loved! :-)  After church, we had our friends, Robyn and Geoff over for a late lunch.  Dad barbecued some chicken and we had salads and vegetables on the side.  Dad had also bought a pavlova for my 'birthday cake' and we enjoyed  that for dessert.  It was a lovely way to end my birthday! :-)

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Wow, the time is going so fast these days - I can't believe we will be back there in two weeks.  School is going really well - the children are loving the Christmas activities we have been doing - we will do them for this coming week as well - the last week will probably be mostly playing and watching videos (along with catching up on things they might not have finished).  The teachers still don't know what they are going to be teaching next year - and the contract teachers have no clue where they are going to be (like me).  Pam, the other Prep teacher, was offered a permanent teaching position up north, but she turned it down, so she is hoping that she will be teaching Prep next year at this school even though it will be a contract position, but even that isn't for sure as yet, which is frustrating her like crazy.  There have been a lot of children who have registered for Prep next year, so there might even be four Preps or a Prep/Grade One split next year.

Dad's week was pretty normal - worked in the FHC, did Meals on Wheels, and SES (filled sandbags all evening).  We have been going out almost every day and walking or bike riding - and it feels really good when we do.  It's been quite hot here (humid, too - yuck), so we've been trying to go later in the evening.  We either walk or bike ride down just past the private school around the corner and down the road from our house or we walk around the neighbourhood (there's a street next to us that has quite a slope to it so we get a good workout going on that street - it's a crescent - and sometimes we go around it three or four times).  I have been doing well in my 'summer slimmers' group at school - I am coming in 2nd (grrr) and have lost 6kgs so far.  Dad and I have been eating well, along with the exercising so that's really helped.  I am hoping to keep going with the healthy eating and exercising while we are staying at Jennifer's. 

Dad and I were invited out to some friends' for dinner on Saturday night - Dan and Lynne invited Dad and me and our friends, Robyn and Geoff.  Dan and Lynne live by a river about half an hour from here so they have a great view from their home.  It was so nice to have time to chat with everyone in a relaxed setting.  We had a very simple dinner (roast chicken, ham, salads) and I brought a frozen cheesecake for dessert (no, Dad and I didn't have any).  The best part of these get togethers, though, is just getting to know people better.  Dan and Lynne are about the same age as Geoff and Robyn (about 13 - 15 years older than us), but we all get along really well and we had a really nice time just chatting around the table.  We have been invited to a dinner at the Bishop's house this coming Saturday where we will have another chance to get to know some other members of our ward - we are looking forward to having people over to our house more often when we get back from Canada.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Another good week - I'm beginning to like this feeling. :-)  I was busy at school this week - I am trying to get a whole bunch of assessment done for the end of the year.  Sam (my TA) has been busy helping me do the assessment as well - I don't know how I would do this without her.  Right now, many of the children are doing grade one stuff - I have divided the class up into three groups: 13 who are doing grade one work, 7 who are struggling a little and 3 who are struggling a lot.  We only have three weeks left and, although that might sound like a long time, it really isn't with all that I have to do between now and then.  I also have parent/teacher interviews this coming week - I have to make myself available every day from 3:15pm - 6:15pm - I don't mind doing that as that's what I used to do in Canada, but over there, I got a day off in lieu, but here you get no days off.  On Thursday, Chantelle and I met up with Bronwyn (the grade two teacher I did the contract position for last year - Chantelle was her student teacher).  We met at a little cafe on the beach - I got an iced chocolate (thought I would try something new, but basically it was a chocolate milk with whipped cream on top).  We all had a great visit, though - Bronwyn reminded me that if I do not have a job in September next year, that she is taking four weeks off again and I could have that contract if I wanted to.  We still don't know what we are doing, but at least it's good to know that I have something to fall back on.

Dad's week was a bit more exciting than mine.   On Monday, he bought some insulation and installed this in the attic.  On Tuesday, he bought some dirt to be spread around the perimeter of the house.  On Wednesday, he put three bookcases together.  On Thursday, he did Meals on Wheels and SES and on Friday, he worked at the Family History Centre.  On Saturday and Sunday afternoons, Dad drove the SES four wheel drive jeep which towed a Santa's sleigh (trailer) owned by the local Lions' Club.  Each year, the Lions' Club sells Christmas cakes and puddings and they ask other volunteer organizations to tow the sleigh and sell the cakes (those organizations involved then split the proceeds of the sales).  These sales will be continuing throughout December, but since we are not going to be here for the rest of the days the SES will be selling these cakes, Dad volunteered his services for both days this weekend.  

Yesterday (after having a very short Skype with Terri-Ann's boys and a very long Skype with Terri-Ann - lovely), Dad and I drove to the beach - what a lovely way to spend a Saturday. :-)  This time we took a picnic lunch so that we could stay longer than we did last weekend.  We had put on our sunscreen before we came down (yes, we learned our lesson from last week) and set up our chairs and stools under a tree and began reading our books.  After a while, we went in for our first swim; then, lunch; then, more reading; then, another swim; then, more reading.  We had to leave around 2:30pm so that Dad could get ready to go do his SES driving - we had a really wonderful day at the beach, though - we might just have to do it again next weekend. :-)