Well, where to begin…

Perhaps with apologies for the belated update to my blog! Who would have guessed that working up here would have meant I have less time than in Sydney!!

SO my adventure began on the 16th of January with Dad and a friend Jo. Jo and I tried hard to find some outback nightspots… As we hit Katherine (NT day 3) we were resigned to the fact that we would have to settle for deserted towns with very interesting characters inside their pubs. Dad didn’t exactly attract the fellas either!! After returning home from the golf club (down a few beverages) at 10pm Jo and I could no longer take it. We snuck out of Dad’s cousins house (where we were staying) and headed for a night out on the town. Needless to say we found some nightlife… Nice to know I almost went a week without a night out on the town! Just weaning myself off.

We got home at 6am our departure time from Katherine was 6.30am. So yeah… Dad was first, in fact the only driver for the day. I woke up to take a photo at the WA/NT border… and that was about it…

Arrived in Warmun... quickly off the Broome the next day for a conference. Not bad! All food, accommodation (in a resort!) and a bottle of wine a day included. I apparently have a week induction to look forward to at the end of the month too! This one is at an even more flash resort! Loving it…

You actually look forward to these little staff development days. Teaching here is hard. Most of my students are unable to read. There were many good reasons that I chose high school over primary, all of them I am experiencing out here!

Literacy is full on we have to teach it 2 hours a day, that is a fair chunk of the day. Kids arrive any time after 8am. Day 2 of teaching I didn’t have anyone for an hour and a half, I was sure I was a failure… Needless to day they started turning up and I had record numbers! 6 students!!!

I have slowly built a clientele… 14 have showed, 11 are attending regularly at present (by that of course, I mean the past two days!) Our main aim is to try to get the kids to school so I am going bananas trying to make school a pleasurable place to come. I mean I don’t blame the kids if I had the choice school would have taken a backseat when I was growing up too!

If you can see through the disappointments, setbacks (computers, electricity etc.) and hard work, teaching out here is really rewarding. I am overjoyed each time one particular student appears in my room, he hasn't been to school longer than a day or two for 2 years. He has missed only the first day of school this term.

I am loving it.