Yes, I would like to fly to Ngukurr in a light aircraft and visit the community ( Read more... )

Emily: Can I have another coffee please?

Caleb: Another double ristretto flat white?

Emily: Yep.

Caleb: Is that your third?

Emily (sheepishly): Yes.  Is that bad?

Caleb: No way.  That's awesome!!

Some of the boys from Wudi shot a female kangaroo in the holidays and so brought the orphaned joey back to school, to be cared for by the Tiger Lily House girls.  Rachel and Chloe brought it over to visit me the other day: this tiny, cute creature called Josie.  I loved it.  The girls amused themselves with my phone and laptop, as usual, and we ( Read more... )

I saw two thought provoking signs in Sydney.  The first was outside a church in Leichhardt.  Instead of advertising the upcoming sermon, the notice board read:

Return Stolen Bibles Here.  No Penalty.

Hmmm.  What did that mean?  Were people really stealing bibles from the church - and was the church really asking for their return?  Isn't the whole ( Read more... )

Wednesday nights Liz and I organise a soccer game on the oval for the students.  When we started it - originally for the girls only - a few kids would drift over, maybe four or five, and grace us with their presence.  Liz and I amused ourselves with kicking the ball back and forth inbetween times.  But now that it's an established practice, we have ( Read more... )

Working here is like being in this ongoing game where you are not allowed, ever, to show that a student has 'got' to you.

If someone swears at you, don't react.

If they threaten to punch you, or hit you, or throw a chair at you, don't react.

If they lock you in your caravan, so that you have to wait 45 minutes until Mum comes to call you for dinner ( Read more... )

I think that Territorians like to mess with your head, really.  They have weird signs around the place ( Read more... )

Holidays began yesterday at Woolaning and now the school is quiet and empty.  I have devoted today to pottering and odd jobs, before heading into town tomorrow to pick up Tim (HURRAH!).

I must say, school is full of surprises.  Monday morning at staff meeting, someone says, 'We need to drive the students to the Student Centre for music lessons today ( Read more... )

Well I'm here in the sunny Northern Territory, where you can drive fast and the news is big.

Headline news, from Friday's paper:

Woman finds Snake Skin in Chip Packet (apparently a big deal, it put her off potato chips completely).

And from yesterday:

Flying Car UFO over Darwin - they even had a photo.

Other than that, I'm at the school, I'll be ( Read more... )

Sitting at Island, writing studies for Mayfield in a last-minute-ish kind of way ...  Marina is back from Melbourne, as is Will, Andy comes in for his flat white, Scott drops in to chat with Dane, David-who-wears-no-shoes walks past ...

Ah, so familiar.