I hope this doesn't sound trite, but I have a hard time coping sometimes with being away from my family, and that's in Edinburgh, hardly a remote location... I think you are doing remarkably well and I really admire you for doing it, and staying on. I know you make a difference to your students.
(Also, I would freak completely if my broadband died... *g*)
And a question for you - are there many other communities near where you are, or is it just the one? The son of some people I know is teaching in Australia, and it sounded similar to your experience...
The nearest community is 45 minutes away, and then it varies from that to up to three hours. The only map I could find. I'm the green dot on the far right.
Have you been there longer than the store managers?
Are the kids getting any better at understanding the Western concept of time, as something to be parcelled up into chunks which are then given purpose, which they 'should' adhere to? How's the communication coming along?
It sounds like, in some ways, the non-urban areas are overlooked and forgotten about..? Or is there an attitude that if they made regular delivery runs to nearer outlying areas, they'd have to make them to all the outlying areas?
2. Not really --- but you have to understand, Miri, it's not a 'kids' thing, it's a whole Anangu thing. The communication is going along slightly better, I'd say. It's honestly hard to tell. I understand my students more because I'm more used to the way they say things. We practice oral language every day.
3. I guess it's because we're not just non-urban - we don't have bitumen, remember? It's sort of divorced from everything... the store gets a delivery once a week. This is why I don't quite understand why my much needed pens take over a month.
Stupid question, maybe, but where are you ordering your classroom supplies from? Could you use the same wholesaler as the local shop? I'm surprised that the school as a whole doesn't have a stockroom full of supplies, anyway. I would've thought that, being slightly isolated, your school would've taken my grandmother's generation's (ie. lived through WWII) approach to stuff: always have twice as much as you need.
(I can see how budget constraints might make this difficult. Also, storage space. Also, worrying about having easily-stolen new items permanently stored on the premises.)
Ordering them from an education resources place that's meant to be reliable. My supplies aren't the kind of thing the store brings in, sadly. (No, they don't sell colour pencils. Yes, I can see why that would perplex you, but, uh... you really have to picture a giant shed with some freezers and makeshift aisles with tinned goods - and at one side, clothes and motor oil and other sundry items - that's the store.)
I'm not sure why the school doesn't stock up on those things either, to be honest. It's a bit of a nightmare.
We get fresh vegetables and fruit once a week, and as with anything, some of them are storeable and some of them aren't. They tend to run out. Same with fresh milk. The bread is frozen, which is why I've been trying to make my own.
There's a large garden in the nearest community, but no-one here has gardens. It would be a lot of work and there's a sort of apathy and disregard for the future within Anangu culture. (It's not really apathy, it's just hard to describe exactly what it is. Things don't get done.)
Yikes! You know, it seriously sounds like an adventure, honestly, all of the things that you have to cope with. I've never lived more than an hour's drive away from a major city, and even then, small towns can seems so barren and devoid of resources...
I do hope that things go better for you, and that the supplies get there in time... And thank you so much for sharing with us, it really is fascinating.
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(Also, I would freak completely if my broadband died... *g*)
And a question for you - are there many other communities near where you are, or is it just the one? The son of some people I know is teaching in Australia, and it sounded similar to your experience...
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Are the kids getting any better at understanding the Western concept of time, as something to be parcelled up into chunks which are then given purpose, which they 'should' adhere to? How's the communication coming along?
It sounds like, in some ways, the non-urban areas are overlooked and forgotten about..? Or is there an attitude that if they made regular delivery runs to nearer outlying areas, they'd have to make them to all the outlying areas?
Reply
2. Not really --- but you have to understand, Miri, it's not a 'kids' thing, it's a whole Anangu thing. The communication is going along slightly better, I'd say. It's honestly hard to tell. I understand my students more because I'm more used to the way they say things. We practice oral language every day.
3. I guess it's because we're not just non-urban - we don't have bitumen, remember? It's sort of divorced from everything... the store gets a delivery once a week. This is why I don't quite understand why my much needed pens take over a month.
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(I can see how budget constraints might make this difficult. Also, storage space. Also, worrying about having easily-stolen new items permanently stored on the premises.)
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I'm not sure why the school doesn't stock up on those things either, to be honest. It's a bit of a nightmare.
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(The comment has been removed)
There's a large garden in the nearest community, but no-one here has gardens. It would be a lot of work and there's a sort of apathy and disregard for the future within Anangu culture. (It's not really apathy, it's just hard to describe exactly what it is. Things don't get done.)
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I do hope that things go better for you, and that the supplies get there in time... And thank you so much for sharing with us, it really is fascinating.
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It is an adventure.
Thanks so much :)
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