Sunday, October 14, 2012

This past week at school has been quite good - it started off a bit rocky with the kids having had two weeks off school - but by Wednesday, they had settled nicely back into a routine.  By Friday, I was really tired and weary, but when I was on my way to meet up with my friend, I thought to myself that although I am so tired and worn out from the kids, I can't think of anything else I would rather do as a career.  I absolutely love teaching and helping children learn.  It's amazing to me that both Dad and I have been able to/ and continue to work in careers that we love so much.  We feel very blessed. 

On Thursday, I had another appointment with my doctor - here, you have to get a doctor's appointment to get the results of your tests - seems like a waste of time to me (and of course you have to pay for the appointment), but I did get all good news.  I have to go and get a breast ultrasound tomorrow and then the results from that and the mammogram I had will be sent to my doctor - so that will mean that there will be another trip to the doctor to get the results of those two tests.  I also made an appointment for the 23rd of October to have him check out the bump on my head.  He wants to cut one open and take out what's inside and have it checked out (he's pretty sure it's just fatty tissue like Dr. Nixon thought) - I'm not looking forward to it, but the one on top of my head is getting quite big now, so it's probably a good idea to have it taken out.

On Friday, I met with my friend, Chantelle, after school for an iced chocolate and a chat.  Chantelle is the young teacher who I taught with last year in Kindergarten and who stayed in our house while we were gone.  We had a lovely talk - she is being transferred next year to a place nine hours away from HB.  It will be good for her to get her 'country teaching' done (every new teacher is supposed to do some teaching in a country town for three years during their career).  We will certainly miss our house-minder. :-)

On Saturday, after General Conference (they download the videos of General Conference here which was actually last weekend, and we watch them the following weekend), we met up with Robyn and Geoff at a local restaurant called 'Hogsbreath Cafe' to celebrate Dad's and Geoff's birthdays and our anniversary.  Dad and I wanted to see if they had a good prime rib like 'The Keg' - there really isn't much of a selection of nice restaurants here in HB.  When we went in, the music was really loud - we asked our server if she could lower the volume and we were told that she couldn't as it was part of the contract of being a franchise.  None of us like to have loud music playing when we are trying to talk with each other and I did ask Robyn and Geoff if they wanted to leave and find another place to eat, but they decided that they would stay.  Dad had a lobster/prime rib dinner and mine was a ribs/prime rib dinner.  Although the food tasted good, I thought mine tasted more like a steak than a prime rib - and I love prime ribs, but steaks are only so-so.  Dad thought his meal was delicious.  I don't think that we will go back there, though - the music was too loud and the food is quite expensive.  We decided that we will go out as a foursome for a really nice dinner three times a year: in March to celebrate Robyn's and my birthdays, in June to celebrate their annniversary and then in October like we did this year.  We are going to have to do some research to find a really nice quiet restaurant in HB - Robyn and Geoff only go out as much as we do and usually they go to the 'Boat Club' or something like that (similar to a cafeteria style restaurant) and that's similar to what Dad and I have gone to in the past.

Dad got  his contract in the mail from 'Queensland Aerospace College' (his new employers) this past week - it was a large package, but Dad said it seemed like a pretty standard contract.  It took him a couple of days to get it all read and then signed and sent it back to them on Friday.  His official starting date of his contract will be November 1st.  He's really looking forward to going on the course to Melbourne at the end of November.  I was going to go with him, but when he asked his boss if I could go, he said that they have no issue with wives going with the instructors at any time (which the wife of the instructor of this course will do), but that since this instructor will be bringing his wife and they and Dad will be staying at the company condo, the boss thought that it might be too crowded for me to stay the whole three weeks.  He said that he thought that it would be fine for me to stay there for a few days, but  not longer than that.  I decided that I didn't want to spend the money for the flights for just a few days, so I will be on my own for those three weeks.  Thank goodness for technology - we can Skype/phone during the time Dad is in Melbourne.

We went to both sessions of General Conference on Sunday - the way they do it here is that they play the first session from 9am - 11am, take a half hour break to eat lunch and then watch the second two hour session.  I loved the talks which were given (on Saturday as well).  I love our Prophet - he was telling a story about how the jumbotron at a youth conference wasn't working and it needed to work for the presentation which was going  to be given that day.  After many tries to get it working, someone decided to ask the youth to pray that those who were trying to fix it would be able to figure out what was wrong and fix it.  He said that 3,000 youth got down on their knees and prayed sincerely for assistance.  It was such a spiritual experience, President Monson said.  The problem was solved and the person fixing it said that they were so lucky to find the problem.  President Monson made a sound like 'hmph' - it was such a funny sound and look as if to say 'yeah, right - luck - NOT'. :-)   I love being spiritually fed at Conference.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

It's been a great week for my second week of holidays.  We started our week off going over to our friends, Robyn and Geoff's for dinner on Monday.  They had been away for a couple of weeks and so they wanted to catch up with us - it's so nice having such good friends that both Dad and I get along so well with.  We borrowed their trailer and brought it back home. 

On Tuesday, we headed off to Brisbane - we were so excited to be able to get away and to go to the temple.  We stayed at a 'Big 4' campground which is very much like a KOA campground.  This campground had a number of cabins and semi-permanent trailers along with spaces for tents and camping trailers.  The one we borrowed from Robyn and Geoff is like a big tent with a bed which is raised.  The campground had a pool, a games room, a playground and a camp kitchen.  We did all of our cooking in that kitchen which was really nice - two fridges, barbecue, stovetop and microwave.  It was so relaxing at the campground - we read, we did crossword puzzles, we swam, we ate and we played games - it was so nice after being so busy teaching for those two weeks and Dad doing his four day course the week before that.  The weather was perfect, too - beautiful blue sky and the sun shining down - ahhh - life is good. :-)  One thing we noticed is that it was still cool at night and so we need to remember to bring our track suits next time we go camping for after the sun goes down.

We loved going to the temple - we were able to go on Wednesday morning and evening and Thursday morning.  There were a lot of people there and they ended up having to bring in extra chairs each time we were there.  It is such a wonderful place to be and it's so peaceful and gives one time for contemplating and being apart from 'the world'.  Dad and I loved it so much that we have decided to make it a monthly trip.

When we arrived home, Dad had an email from the company who has hired him.  The fellow said that he was just waiting for the head of the company to come back from teaching in New Zealand so that he could sign Dad's contract and send it on.  So, Dad should have the contract in his hands later this week - he is really looking forward to seeing it, getting in the training later on this year and to begin working for the company next year.

We had the missionaries to dinner on Friday and then on Saturday (after spending the afternoon relaxing outside reading), we had Robyn and Geoff over for dinner along with another couple, Lyn and Dan.  They had been to Canada for a month in July and had gone on the 'Rocky Mountaineer', to the 'Calgary Stampede' and on an Alaskan cruise.  All four of us (Dad, me, Robyn and Geoff) all want to do this trip and so we had asked Lyn and Dan to come over for dinner and to bring their photos and videos of the trip.  It was great getting to know Lyn and Dan better and to also see/hear about their trip.  We all are really keen to go on that trip even more now.  The scenery was incredible!

It's hard to believe that my two weeks of holidays are up and that I am going back to work tomorrow.  The madness begins again! :-)

Below are pics from where we were sitting on our patio enjoying the blue sky and warm sun. :-)

Sunday, September 20, 2012

Although I have been on school holidays, it's been a very busy week.  I have already posted about the first half of the week on my last post, so this one is from Thursday.  I spent about four hours on Thursday at Kawungan school.  My friend, Sandy, who teaches grade two and has the classroom next to me, was going into the school and she had the code to turn off the alarm on our little block. Sandy and I get along really well, so it was fun as well as productive getting our plans sorted and picking up supplies so that I could get some things ready at home this coming week.  It felt really good to be able to get so much done - I really like being as prepared as possible ahead of time. 

Friday was another day of doctor's appointments.  The first one was an ultrasound and yes, having to hold a litre of water for over an hour is not a fun time. :-)  The doctor was really nice and chatted while he did the ultrasound.  I was never so happy to get to the bathroom afterwards, though. :-)  After a quick trip to the chapel to open up the Family History Centre, we went to my second doctor's appointment which was a skin check - and it was exactly what I thought it was - the doctor checked over every inch of my body for moles - every now and then he used what looked like a jeweller's spyglass to look at something closely.  He said there was nothing for him to be concerned about which I was really happy about. 

Whenever this doctor has to do something where the patient has to undress, he has a nurse come into the room.  The one on Friday was the same one who had come in when I had my pap smear last Monday and so she and I chatted while the doctor was checking me out.  I asked her why she was there and she said that she is usually typing up whatever the doctor is concerned about re: the skin check, but she didn't have to do anything with me (she did type up one thing at the end when I told the doctor that Dr. Nixon in Canada had taken care of one mole, so the doctor here wants to keep an eye on it).  I think it's also protects the doctor from anyone saying that something inappropriate happened, but of course, they didn't mention that.

Yesterday, we spent the day helping the Gilbert's move - since the Gilbert's are not residents of Australia and have a South African driver's license, they have had difficulty renting vehicles here in Australia for some reason.  So, they asked Dad if he would rent the truck and drive it from their present house to their new house.  I spent most of the time helping Haidi clean out their garage - they had a lot of boxes in there and I managed to help Haidi 'throw out' a lot of stuff - she was even telling others how good I was at helping her to cull things. :-)  I told her that Jennifer was the queen of culling and that I had learned a lot when we had to decide what to bring and what not to bring to Australia. 

Today Dad and I had to give a talk in Sacrament meeting.  My talk was on how we can always have the spirit to be with us and Dad's was on faith.  Both talks went really well - we had both practised them a number of times so that we were able to look up a lot of the time as we gave the talks.  Dad and I were both told by a number of people how much they enjoyed our talks.  I told them that I was very grateful that we have lds.org to go to on the net to get copies of talks from the church magazines because that's where I go to to get a lot of what I talk about in my sacrament meeting talks.  I got very emotional when giving my talk - the spirit really touched me and I love that feeling. :-) 

Dad and I are going to the temple this week - I am so excited - we haven't been able to go to the Brisbane temple since we have arrived here.  I was told today that it is a beautiful temple (aren't they all? :-)  We are planning on borrowing our friends' tent trailer and staying at a 'Big 4' campground which sounds and looks  a lot like the KOA campgrounds over there.  It will be nice to get away, relax and spend some time in the Temple. :-)

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Time sure gets away from you sometimes, eh?  Well, it has from me since we have returned home from Brisbane.  My second week at school went very well again - the kids are getting used to my way of doing things (a little different from Bronwyn).  There were a number of children away this past week, though - there was some kind of bug going around - plus, a few went on vacation early.  So, on Friday, I only had 12 children.  I couldn't do any teaching, really, so we spent the day mostly doing fun stuff - painting, reading, cleaning up the classroom. :-)  I have spent this week planning for the two weeks after the holidays.  I went into school today to do some prepping and to get some supplies which I will sort out at home. 

On Sunday, we had our first run-through for the Primary Sacrament meeting presentation and it went quite well - I was really pleased.  The three children who can read were away, so we had others reading their parts (just to get an idea of the timing) and the other children parroted what the grown-up sitting with them read from the script.  I photocopied the presentation and drove around town on Tuesday delivering the scripts to the Primary children.  I am just hoping that they all show up for the next two practices.

Monday, my first day of vacation, was spent going to doctor's appointments - my doctor is getting all sorts of tests done since I am a new patient - so I have been to get blood tests, did the mammogram and pap smears, and have to go tomorrow to have an ultrasound of the uterus/ovaries area and also to have a skin check.  I haven't had a skin check before, but I am guessing it has something to do with checking moles, etc. as Australians are very susceptible to skin cancer as so many of them spend a lot of time out in the sun.  The only thing left to get at the doctor's is a physical - phew, I will be glad when it's all done, at least for another year.  It is good to know that the doctor is being very thorough, though.

On Tuesday, Dad got the call he's been waiting for about the job he interviewed for - he was so excited about what the guy, Chris, was saying on the phone, that he kept giving me the 'thumbs up'. :-)  It was so great to get some good news re:  a job for Dad - he is very excited to start on this new adventure!  He will be travelling down to Melbourne at the end of November for three weeks to sit in on a course - it's a course about the A330 airplane - Dad has a license on the A300, A310, and the A320 and some experience with the A330, but hasn't got a license on it.  So, Chris wants Dad to sit in on the course (like auditing it) so that he can learn the differences of the A330 (so he can eventually teach the course himself) and also Dad wants to see how the instructor (who's been teaching for this company for nine years) teaches.  The company will pay for Dad to fly down and back and also will put him up in the company condo in Melbourne.  He is going to ask if I can join him - I hope they say yes - Melbourne is a beautiful city and I would love to spend some time touring it.

Yesterday, I went  out for lunch with my friend, Haidi.  She and three of her children are going back to the UK for an extended vacation, possibly leading to them staying there (being joined by her husband and two other children who are staying here til the end of the year to complete their high school education).  We had a great time chatting with each other and eating a good meal, as well.  I'm sad for me that she is leaving, but I am happy for her as she feels that the UK is her home (even though she was raised in South Africa).  It sucks making new friends and then having them leave - first Julianne left so that her husband, Clive, could get more work, then Rosalea left to be closer to her granddaughter, and now possibly Haidi.  I had so many friends in Canada that there was always someone to hang out with, but of course, it took me years to make that many friends.  I am glad that Robyn and Geoff have no plans to move out of HB. :-)

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

I have been so busy with teaching and so tired from teaching all day - that's why I haven't written until now.  I love being back in teaching mode - doing all the planning is exciting to me - I definitely am meant to be a teacher - it's totally in my blood. :-)  I am teaching a grade two class and there are 21 kids in the class.  There are two little monkeys, but the rest are quite good.  There are more girls than boys which suits me well - having said that, there are some sweet boys and some annoying girls in the class. :-)  There are so many things that the government is telling us to teach now (explicit lessons have been given for language and math), that I feel that there is so little of "ME" in my program.  This is nice for me right now with doing a contract position for just four weeks, but I am not sure I would be a fan of it if I was permanent/full-time.  Teaching is taking up pretty much all my time.  I get to school around 7:30am and am usually there until between 4:30pm and 5pm each day.  After dinner, I usually spend between 1 1/2 and 2 hours doing more school work.  It's a lot of work and it's tiring, but I wouldn't give it up for anything. :-)  Other than school work, the other thing that keeps me busy is church - on Sunday, I typed up the Sacrament Meeting Presentation which the Primary children will put on in October.  We usually have 11 children in Primary, but two of them (both of who can read and know the songs) are leaving for England before the presentation - so, we are really going to find it hard, I think, to make it work, but we are going to try.  We are going to have a run-through on Sunday to see how the children cope with what I have prepared for them to say and then make a decision on the final draft of the presentation.

Now for Dad - he has some good news - we think. :-)  He is still waiting for a phone call to 'seal the deal', but he feels very hopeful - and very excited.  He drove down to Brisbane this morning (3 1/2 hours) to have an interview with a guy who owns a company which teaches aircraft technical training.  Harry (the owner of the company) and his son interviewed Dad (for 1 1/2 hours) and Dad reckons the interview went really well.  He said that they sounded like they wanted to hire him, but be thought that they might need some time to figure out when they could use him, when he could get some training he would need, and also to give him some time to get his ABN (Australian Business Number).  Basically, he would be working as a contractor and so he would bill the company every time they use him to teach and then that means he would have to pay his own taxes.  Dad has also been busy with church stuff - mostly getting his lessons together to teach on Sundays.  He also has been busy working on things around the house and at the Family History Centre. 

We both need a cruise to go on to get a rest.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Our weeks are becoming very predictable - busy and restful - and I quite like this routine. :-)  I didn't teach on Monday again and I could easily get used to that.  I did teach for three days this week - Tuesday and Wednesday I taught in a Prep class at Torquay - I was teaching with Sam who was my TA last year - she could easily run the class on her own - sometimes when I am in there, I almost feel like she should be the teacher - she has 26 years of experience as a TA.  There are a few challenging children in that class which makes for a tiring day - I wish that I could just teach those other 20 lovely children who want to listen and learn. 

On Thursday, I did my regular contract day at Torquay, but it was different that day as Pam asked me to take over the whole class while she did parent/teacher interviews.  I was very surprised that it would be okay for her to do this, but I don't know if the admin knew what she was doing or not.  Chantelle was fit to be tied when she heard what Pam was doing - she couldn't believe that Pam would have the nerve to use me to teach her class while she did parent/teacher interviews during the school day while all the other teachers at the school had to stay after school to do their interviews.  I was miffed that she didn't leave me a plan for 90 minutes of math she wanted me to do with her class.  Her class is  challenging and so I didn't want to try and do 90 minutes of math with the whole class, so I planned out five activities which they could rotate through and that worked really well.  A couple of teachers made comments to me again about how well behaved the children were with me teaching compared to when Pam has them - it made me feel good to be recognized for having good classroom management skills - that's the hardest thing about being a teacher, I think.

On Wednesday evening, I went to a local restaurant to meet up with some people who were interested in being part of a book club.  Two british women decided that they wanted to start one up in order to have a bit of an adult social life and read and discuss books.  There were twelve women and one man who showed up and I think it's going to be a really good book club.  The two women who are leading the club came with a synopsis of six books which we could choose from to be the book for the next meeting.  The choice ended up being a book by an Australian author called 'Traitor'.  I talked with the group about how the book club ran in Bolton and they are sad that I will not be there to share my experience in our first book club discussion.  I did tell them how it used to work and when I got home, Dad looked up on the net to see if he could find some questions that the club could use at the next meeting - I sent them off and the women were really pleased to have a way to begin the discussion next month.  I'm looking forward to being able to attend the September meeting.

I took Friday off work and Dad and I spent the day getting things organized around the house so that we would be ready to leave on Monday.  However, after speaking to the HR woman about the job which Dad applied for (and really wants), we decided to wait another week before we come back to Canada.  It was a bit disappointing as I was really looking forward to getting back there and getting some cuddles in with my lovely grandchildren (oh, and hanging out with my girls, too, of course :-)  and also to going to Paris with Krystal on the following Saturday.  But, Dad really wants this job - he will find out this coming Friday or the following Monday if he has been successful in acquiring an interview or not.  We are keeping an eye on the flight loads between here and Sydney - if they get busy, I might fly out to Sydney on the morning flight on Monday - if Dad hasn't heard by then, he will stay behind until the 6pm flight (if he doesn't get an interview).
This job would be perfect for Dad, he thinks, so we'll hope for the best - but, on the other hand, if he gets the job, he won't be able to come back to Canada and that will be sad for him and for you guys.

On Friday, we met up with our friends, Robyn and Geoff, for lunch at 'Hogsbreath Cafe' - it's kind of like 'Kelsey's' - Dad and I both ordered a wrap (chicken for me and beef for Dad) with curly fries.  While we were there, the sister missionaries called us to see if we were still going to be in town on Saturday and if we were still planning on coming to the baptism on Saturday.  When Dad hung up and told us what they had said, Geoff said that I was doing a talk on faith and repentance and I said that no, they had asked me (last Sunday) to welcome the boys to Primary after  their baptism.  After both of us going back and forth a bit, I began to wonder if what Geoff was saying was true.  On the way home, I called the sister  missionaries to check out if they were thinking that I was giving a talk - sure enough, they were.  It's a good thing I listened to Geoff! 

On Saturday at 1pm, we went to the baptism of Jeremy and Douglas (8 and 9 years old) - there were about 20 people there and it was so nice to see the smiles on the boys' faces as they were baptized.  It took me back to my own baptism day (many years ago :-)  I can't remember a lot about that day, but I still remember the feeling I had when I came up out of the water - it was like a heavy load had been lifted off my shoulders - I will never forget  that wonderful feeling.  The talk went well - Dad and I both searched for articles about faith and repentance on the internet and Dad found two great articles which had been in The Friend magazine.  I spoke right to both boys and made sure that my talk was at their level - they both watched me the whole time I talked so I guess it was interesting enough for them. :-) 

That evening, we went to Robyn and Geoff's for dinner - they also invited another couple from church, Fiona and Randall.  We had a lovely meal (roast chicken with veggies and mini pavlovas for dessert - sorry Nana :-) and we had a really nice time chatting with everyone.  Having these dinners really gives us a chance to get to know members of our ward better and I am looking forward to having more dinners like these when we get back from Canada. 

Dad and I both handed over the reigns  re: our callings at church today.  I gave all my stuff to my first counsellor in Primary - she was great last time we left at keeping things rolling in Primary and it's great to have someone who I know will run things smoothly while I am away.  I had organized things for the months of June and July and she will just have to sort things out for August (although I did do have a tentative schedule for that month as well).  Dad teaches his priesthood group every Sunday and those lessons will now be taught on a rotation basis by all members of the group.  People were sad to see us leaving for such a long time and they were all saying good-bye to us and wishing us a safe trip and a happy time with everyone in Canada.  It's so nice to be so loved in our ward. :-)

Sunday, June 3, 2010

A busy week, but with two days off (sort of).  I was hoping not to have to work again on Monday and I didn't have to - it's always nice having a three day weekend. :-)  Dad and I spent Monday and Wednesday (didn't get called in that day, either) doing errands like shopping, etc. plus we both also got our hair cut.  Dad needed a trim and I wanted more hair cut off (now it's quite short) - just getting tired of the long(er) hair and told Christa (hairdresser) to cut it off - I just tell her to cut and she always does a nice job - plus, her prices are really good.

I worked Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.  Tuesday was at a school I actually haven't been at this year, although I was at it last year a few times.  The deputy principal called me and asked me to teach grade 4 - before I could say to him that I don't do grade four, he told me it was for a class which has two teachers teaching both classes together.  The husband was going to be out of the classroom and so I would be teaching with the wife.  I actually worked with her before and it was good, so I said yes.  It was an easy day, actually - she taught most of the time and I just assisted her by helping out with the kids once they started working.  Thursday was my regular day at Torquay and things went pretty much the way they have for the past six weeks.  Friday, I was in at Kawungan in a grade two classroom.  Lisa was a prac student (student teacher) who taught most of the day and things went well except for the one boy who has been suspended more than he's been there, I think.  He's the one who tipped over his desk last time I was in.  I had to call the deputy principal twice about him and both times she came down to talk with him.  There are a couple of other kids who are annoying, but for the most part, it was a good day.

Dad and I spent Saturday afternoon shopping - regular grocery shopping and also shopping for a basket which is being passed around in Relief Society.  It's supposed to be an opportunity for us to get to know the sisters in the ward better.   I received the basket last week (from a secret sister) and so it was my turn to fill the basket for the sister whose name I picked from a sealed envelope.  I didn't know much about this sister other than she grows flowers, so I called a friend who I knew would know something about this sister and she gave me a ton of ideas to choose from.  It took us longer to find all that I wanted to get (plant, scarf, stationery and handkerchiefs), but it was relaxing and gave Dad and I lot of time to chat while we were driving and shopping. 

We had our friends, Robyn and Geoff over for dinner Saturday night and also invited Christine and Chris (the people whose granny flat we stayed at when we first got here) to join us.  Dad barbecued lamb chops (and we also had corn on the cob, jacket potatoes, salad (which Christine and Chris) brought over) and apple pie and ice-cream for dessert).  The meal was delicious and we had a really nice time chatting with each other.  When we have people over, we always go and sit in the front room after dinner - it's about the only time we use it - the chairs/couch are so comfortable.

Since we are not sure when we are leaving HB (we hope to leave a week Monday, but with going stand-by, you know how that never is a sure thing), so we said our good-byes to our friends at church (other than Robyn and Geoff who we will get together with later this week for a meal) - we know we are going to be missed and it's a nice feeling to know how much people care about us in this ward.

I have included a pic of our new tv unit underneath this blog.  Loving my new unit! :-)