Just a quickie - Ooowagadoodoo is the capital of Burkin Fasa (which used to be Upper Volta... which doesn't help at all, especially since I don't know where Lower Volta is...)
Am off to the Hunter Valley on Sunday - maths, wine and weekends at the coast. Not a bad little job.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
So just what is the capital of Burkin Fasau?
No really.
Funnily enough, Jamos knew the answer to that one so I am now able to offer a shiny new penny to the first person to correctly spell answer the question...
That was one of the better questions from the trivia night. Problem with public servant trivia quiz's is that they seem to assume 1. you are accomplished in both obscure and popular political history and 2. the mean age of the audience is 50.
It was a pretty trivial night. But hey, at least we got two bottles of wine for the best dressed table! (we wore tie-dyed lab coats and big red wigs)
EVENT REVIEW: Micheal Franti & Spearhead
Bloody good. Bloody hot. Bloody sweaty. Most memorable moment? Watching a 50 year old woman 'shake her groove thing' to reggae inspired, politically controversial music. And outlast most of the 18 year old uni students.
Funnily enough, Jamos knew the answer to that one so I am now able to offer a shiny new penny to the first person to correctly spell answer the question...
That was one of the better questions from the trivia night. Problem with public servant trivia quiz's is that they seem to assume 1. you are accomplished in both obscure and popular political history and 2. the mean age of the audience is 50.
It was a pretty trivial night. But hey, at least we got two bottles of wine for the best dressed table! (we wore tie-dyed lab coats and big red wigs)
EVENT REVIEW: Micheal Franti & Spearhead
Bloody good. Bloody hot. Bloody sweaty. Most memorable moment? Watching a 50 year old woman 'shake her groove thing' to reggae inspired, politically controversial music. And outlast most of the 18 year old uni students.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Free at last, free at last...
Well, am finally back in ACT. Suffering post-tour-itis (basically jet lag, but rather than depending on time zones it depends on time away)
Am currently trying to avoid actual work by reading the BCS website. Yes, that's right. That's how desperate I've become. But it's become strangely addictive, a salve to my restlessness...
So rather than keep looking over my shoulder and getting yelled at for reading that, I'd much rather be looking over my shoulder and getting yelled at for blogging.
Am off to the DEST trivia night tonight. Apparently there is a prize for fancy dress. We found this out about half an hour ago.
I suggested robots because it's written on a box under my desk. Damn.
Am currently trying to avoid actual work by reading the BCS website. Yes, that's right. That's how desperate I've become. But it's become strangely addictive, a salve to my restlessness...
So rather than keep looking over my shoulder and getting yelled at for reading that, I'd much rather be looking over my shoulder and getting yelled at for blogging.
Am off to the DEST trivia night tonight. Apparently there is a prize for fancy dress. We found this out about half an hour ago.
I suggested robots because it's written on a box under my desk. Damn.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
New you (Nguiu)
Am on Bathurst Island still, an impromptu reorganisation meant that we've spent three nights in Nguiu. There is a group of Yr 12 boys from Melbourne visiting as well so tonight there was a concert outside by a local band, B2M. They were really great, and a couple of the guys had gorgeous voices. When they started, they had a 3-string guitar and a keyboard with 4 working keys so they're harmonies are fantastic. Was a good way to spend a balmy Tuesday evening.
The wet is definately coming - it's not stupidly humid yet but there is a definate change in the air and you can feel the moisture sticking to your face. It's apparently a lot earlier than normal but don't think we'll get caught in any storms... although I could be wrong. It just feels like normal tropic humidity at the moment. But am hoping that I bought two more shirts at any rate....
The kids have been great. The highschool mob were really good - some of them seemed to have a fantastic ability to pick up the patterns and shapes underlying many of the puzzles. Their spatial skills were pretty good. Today we did the primary school kids and I had the T (kindy) to Yr 3's in the morning. The little kids were great, had lots of fun and they did ok. Taught me a new Tiwi word - Kali Kali (means come here).
Get the feeling that a couple of the Yr 3 boys are going to be in trouble later - a fight broke out and one of them picked up a bit of wood bout 70cms long and tried to hit another kid with it while we were in the middle of the session, and there were a couple of Yr 6/7 kids trying to convince them to leave school with them. There is also the great Redskin conspiracy - a box of Redskins were taken (you'd think the culprit would be pretty obvious...).
The island itself has a really good vibe but like any community it's got it's own problems so the band started with the purpose of encouraging the kids to make positive choices. Their songs are all about drugs, alcohol or being together as a strong group.
The bridge session went well - one group built a great bridge and the kid was so proud of himself. The principal ended up looking after it so it wouldn't get wrecked.
So we wandered down to the art gallery and met a painter there called Alan. He was in the middle of finishing a painting of a stingray that he started two weeks ago... he started it as a dugong but it didn't seem right so he changed... and then he found out about Steve Irwin dying. He dreamt about it the next night and all the colours, the picture, appeared to him. So he's painted it pretty quickly. Then he started telling us how to cook stingray, the best bits to eat... was pretty interesting. Will head back tommorrow to buy a couple of things before we catch the ferry across to Paru, where (hopefully) the principal of Milikapedi will be waiting. Met someone from there today whose brother died recently and the funeral is on Friday so we're going to catch up on Thursday.
All in all, a pretty good week despite actually arriving on the islands without any equipment.
The wet is definately coming - it's not stupidly humid yet but there is a definate change in the air and you can feel the moisture sticking to your face. It's apparently a lot earlier than normal but don't think we'll get caught in any storms... although I could be wrong. It just feels like normal tropic humidity at the moment. But am hoping that I bought two more shirts at any rate....
The kids have been great. The highschool mob were really good - some of them seemed to have a fantastic ability to pick up the patterns and shapes underlying many of the puzzles. Their spatial skills were pretty good. Today we did the primary school kids and I had the T (kindy) to Yr 3's in the morning. The little kids were great, had lots of fun and they did ok. Taught me a new Tiwi word - Kali Kali (means come here).
Get the feeling that a couple of the Yr 3 boys are going to be in trouble later - a fight broke out and one of them picked up a bit of wood bout 70cms long and tried to hit another kid with it while we were in the middle of the session, and there were a couple of Yr 6/7 kids trying to convince them to leave school with them. There is also the great Redskin conspiracy - a box of Redskins were taken (you'd think the culprit would be pretty obvious...).
The island itself has a really good vibe but like any community it's got it's own problems so the band started with the purpose of encouraging the kids to make positive choices. Their songs are all about drugs, alcohol or being together as a strong group.
The bridge session went well - one group built a great bridge and the kid was so proud of himself. The principal ended up looking after it so it wouldn't get wrecked.
So we wandered down to the art gallery and met a painter there called Alan. He was in the middle of finishing a painting of a stingray that he started two weeks ago... he started it as a dugong but it didn't seem right so he changed... and then he found out about Steve Irwin dying. He dreamt about it the next night and all the colours, the picture, appeared to him. So he's painted it pretty quickly. Then he started telling us how to cook stingray, the best bits to eat... was pretty interesting. Will head back tommorrow to buy a couple of things before we catch the ferry across to Paru, where (hopefully) the principal of Milikapedi will be waiting. Met someone from there today whose brother died recently and the funeral is on Friday so we're going to catch up on Thursday.
All in all, a pretty good week despite actually arriving on the islands without any equipment.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Long Way to Tipperary (and Bathurst Island apparently)
So to finish the last post...
Tipperary Station was built in the early 80's by a millionare who had watched 'Out of Africa' and colonial histories waaaay too many times. He spent $70 million in 70 days fixing up the station so it looked like something out of a movie - long verandahs with wooden double shutters, brass fittings and palm trees. All very picturesque, not all actually useful. For example, the school (which looked great) had no staff toilet, no wet room but a huge hall (for 12 kids) with a tin roof and no insulation (in the NT). No-one was allowed to park on the grass and there were sprinklers going constantly - all very green and lush to this native Canberrans eye.
Then of course he lost it all in the great stock market crash of 1989 and he had to get rid of the zoo... he couldn't afford to keep his menagerie of wild animals so the NT government had to take over paying for their food. He was later accosted at the airport with a gun... (thanks Sara for the research ;o)
Tipperary was eventually bought out by a couple of new people, one of which is apparently one of Australia's most expensive QCs. So it's been redone, it's all very nice and pretty. Home to 150 people (apparently cattlemen and mechanics but i prefer to believe they are mostly gardeners, cleaners and cooks). And on another note, it was a bit of a shock to see fat kids again (and i'm being generous by saying fat) but it may have something to do with the fact they all get free meat.
Anyway, the school went well. It was all boys in the afternoon so sat at the computer and showed them illusions and Julian Beever pavement drawings. Was a fun afternoon actually.
Then we set off down the road, Rich driving and worrying the whole way (I mean honestly, who needs to see around corners anyway and how often do 4WD tip over?) and we made it to Darwin a couple of hours behind the other team. We did stop on the way to help an old fella who had about 6 kids in the back of his station wagon. He'd run out of fuel so we gave him 10L of water... not really a solution but at least they had something to drink while they waited. So thought that would give us some good karma....
Hmmm...
Weekend was good actually. Caught up with Kimiko and John who I haven't seen since June when they decided to drive around Australia anti-clockwise. It's pretty cool that we managed to meet up in Darwin - just missed them in Katherine by about 10 minutes and thought that might of been my only chance. So we went to Parap markets, had a cup of tea on the lawns of Parliment House... was a nice weekend. And we had a fantastic dinner at Thailicious on Mitchell St, very good menu and not too expensive.
Then today we jetsetted off to the islands... which is where i was crossing my fingers and hoping my karma would kick in but apparently I used it all up in managing to score some new Bollywood movies. We arrived too late, and while we managed to get across with our clothing ect we had to leave the maths puzzles behind. As in our entire program. The reason that we came to Bathurst Island and why I get paid every fortnight. So now we are sleepin on the floor of the school we were suppose to run workshops with and we have nothing. So it's been moved to Wed, we're heading to Milkapedi tommorrow and hopefully our puzzles will turn up in the morning. It was a calculated risk and I took it because they (the plane company) assured me it would come across with us. Didn't pay off. Damn.
Was a teeensy (lot) stressed at the time and will feel better once I have a couple of boxes in my sight.
Poor Rich - it's his birthday and I think i made his homesickness a bit worse. I'm bit excited bout the whole island thing and once I've sorted a few things out tommorrow am sure it will be great. Wandering down to the local art gallery tommorrow and catching the ferry across the strait. And back in 5 sleeps!
Tipperary Station was built in the early 80's by a millionare who had watched 'Out of Africa' and colonial histories waaaay too many times. He spent $70 million in 70 days fixing up the station so it looked like something out of a movie - long verandahs with wooden double shutters, brass fittings and palm trees. All very picturesque, not all actually useful. For example, the school (which looked great) had no staff toilet, no wet room but a huge hall (for 12 kids) with a tin roof and no insulation (in the NT). No-one was allowed to park on the grass and there were sprinklers going constantly - all very green and lush to this native Canberrans eye.
Then of course he lost it all in the great stock market crash of 1989 and he had to get rid of the zoo... he couldn't afford to keep his menagerie of wild animals so the NT government had to take over paying for their food. He was later accosted at the airport with a gun... (thanks Sara for the research ;o)
Tipperary was eventually bought out by a couple of new people, one of which is apparently one of Australia's most expensive QCs. So it's been redone, it's all very nice and pretty. Home to 150 people (apparently cattlemen and mechanics but i prefer to believe they are mostly gardeners, cleaners and cooks). And on another note, it was a bit of a shock to see fat kids again (and i'm being generous by saying fat) but it may have something to do with the fact they all get free meat.
Anyway, the school went well. It was all boys in the afternoon so sat at the computer and showed them illusions and Julian Beever pavement drawings. Was a fun afternoon actually.
Then we set off down the road, Rich driving and worrying the whole way (I mean honestly, who needs to see around corners anyway and how often do 4WD tip over?) and we made it to Darwin a couple of hours behind the other team. We did stop on the way to help an old fella who had about 6 kids in the back of his station wagon. He'd run out of fuel so we gave him 10L of water... not really a solution but at least they had something to drink while they waited. So thought that would give us some good karma....
Hmmm...
Weekend was good actually. Caught up with Kimiko and John who I haven't seen since June when they decided to drive around Australia anti-clockwise. It's pretty cool that we managed to meet up in Darwin - just missed them in Katherine by about 10 minutes and thought that might of been my only chance. So we went to Parap markets, had a cup of tea on the lawns of Parliment House... was a nice weekend. And we had a fantastic dinner at Thailicious on Mitchell St, very good menu and not too expensive.
Then today we jetsetted off to the islands... which is where i was crossing my fingers and hoping my karma would kick in but apparently I used it all up in managing to score some new Bollywood movies. We arrived too late, and while we managed to get across with our clothing ect we had to leave the maths puzzles behind. As in our entire program. The reason that we came to Bathurst Island and why I get paid every fortnight. So now we are sleepin on the floor of the school we were suppose to run workshops with and we have nothing. So it's been moved to Wed, we're heading to Milkapedi tommorrow and hopefully our puzzles will turn up in the morning. It was a calculated risk and I took it because they (the plane company) assured me it would come across with us. Didn't pay off. Damn.
Was a teeensy (lot) stressed at the time and will feel better once I have a couple of boxes in my sight.
Poor Rich - it's his birthday and I think i made his homesickness a bit worse. I'm bit excited bout the whole island thing and once I've sorted a few things out tommorrow am sure it will be great. Wandering down to the local art gallery tommorrow and catching the ferry across the strait. And back in 5 sleeps!
Thursday, September 14, 2006
It's a long way to Tipperary...
'No it's not, it's just down the road'...
After Pine Creek, we wandered down to the Douglas Daly region, which is about 300km south of Darwin still. Earlier in Week One, one of the teachers had raved about the Douglas Daly Hot Springs, billboarding them higher than the Mataranka version, so of course it was our first stop over...
Umm, no. There's only about 3 square metres of water that is actually warm and of course that's where everyone sits. The rest of the creek is pretty damn cool. The Hot Springs themselves start further upstream but it's closed to white folk 'cause of cultural and conservational reasons - it's a sacred ceremonial site for the local Wagiman women. Also, the water can get up to 60 degrees and they don't want people hurting themselves.
Of course, none of that daunted the other maths team. They ignored warnings of quicksand, laughed at comments about scalding temperatures and jumped straight into the section that was supposedly off limits. Then they say they realised their 'mistake' on their return.
We then drove 17km along a dirt road with 5 river crossings (well, puddle crossings but damn it, its the best we've gotten all tour) and headed to Butterfly Gorge. It's a pretty short walk but steep, and the change in terrain is pretty marked - bush/rainforest to sandstone rubble. Then you walk/slide/crawl down the side of the hill and arrive in a gorgeous swimming hole. There are trees growing out of the rocks and butterflies live in the area. Very pretty, probably one of my favorites so far.
Then Douglas Daly, which was a tiny school of 6 kids. Had a headache (again) so the end of the day was bloody torture. But got through it, popped a few pills and then headed down to the local 'club' (which was basically an open shed with a drinks fridge) and watched a bit of telly (-as an aside, EXTRA's is bloody funny ;o)
Then headed off to Tipparary. R! was singing the song 'It's a long way...." and one of the kids from Douglas Daly piped up with 'no it's not, it's just down the road'. Anyway, visited the Arches (again, a gorgeous swimming hole. The NT is blessed with amazing swimming places... and crocodiles. So I guess it's a bit of a trade off.) and then made it to Tipperary...
Which is a story in itself that I shall save till tommorrow when we hit the big city lights of Darwin.
After Pine Creek, we wandered down to the Douglas Daly region, which is about 300km south of Darwin still. Earlier in Week One, one of the teachers had raved about the Douglas Daly Hot Springs, billboarding them higher than the Mataranka version, so of course it was our first stop over...
Umm, no. There's only about 3 square metres of water that is actually warm and of course that's where everyone sits. The rest of the creek is pretty damn cool. The Hot Springs themselves start further upstream but it's closed to white folk 'cause of cultural and conservational reasons - it's a sacred ceremonial site for the local Wagiman women. Also, the water can get up to 60 degrees and they don't want people hurting themselves.
Of course, none of that daunted the other maths team. They ignored warnings of quicksand, laughed at comments about scalding temperatures and jumped straight into the section that was supposedly off limits. Then they say they realised their 'mistake' on their return.
We then drove 17km along a dirt road with 5 river crossings (well, puddle crossings but damn it, its the best we've gotten all tour) and headed to Butterfly Gorge. It's a pretty short walk but steep, and the change in terrain is pretty marked - bush/rainforest to sandstone rubble. Then you walk/slide/crawl down the side of the hill and arrive in a gorgeous swimming hole. There are trees growing out of the rocks and butterflies live in the area. Very pretty, probably one of my favorites so far.
Then Douglas Daly, which was a tiny school of 6 kids. Had a headache (again) so the end of the day was bloody torture. But got through it, popped a few pills and then headed down to the local 'club' (which was basically an open shed with a drinks fridge) and watched a bit of telly (-as an aside, EXTRA's is bloody funny ;o)
Then headed off to Tipparary. R! was singing the song 'It's a long way...." and one of the kids from Douglas Daly piped up with 'no it's not, it's just down the road'. Anyway, visited the Arches (again, a gorgeous swimming hole. The NT is blessed with amazing swimming places... and crocodiles. So I guess it's a bit of a trade off.) and then made it to Tipperary...
Which is a story in itself that I shall save till tommorrow when we hit the big city lights of Darwin.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Pine Creek Gap
Had the final weekend and said goodbye to Jan's B&B, which was a pretty good home for a weekend or two. Had a sinus migrane since Thursday and it was worst on Friday (while trying to manage a group of 20 excited primary school kids) and Saturday (while at Katherine Gorge so had to sit quietly in the canteen while others went to lookout... although Jamos did take pity on me and once the Nurofen kicked in we wandered a little bit to a beach and played Poohsticks so wasn't too bad in the end). So am exhausted now.
This morning we headed off to Katherine Gorge for a 7am breakfast cruise. We went up the first two gorges, walking past some artwork on the side of the Gorge by the Jawoyn people. They put in a claim for the land in 1971 and got native title in 1989 (or around there) and now they are responible for maintaining the park and run the tours.The breakfast was nothing specatacular and Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) was nice... but i think i preferred Porcupine Gorge in Hugenden (QLD). But I wish I had the time to do an overnight canoe up the river and camp - it wouls have been gorgeous (he) to canoe along the Gorge early or late before any of the other boats arrived... and I haven't been kayaking for ages. Something to do if I ever come back this way.
So then we headed off to Edith Falls, and went for a quick swim. There are freshwater crocodiles in the area but they tend to run in the other direction - and while they can get up to 2m long, they aren't as aggressive as saltys. It was pretty nice - again, the water was amazingly clear. Never thought of the NT as a premier swimming place but it's great - particularly because it's all freshwater so you don't get the salt up your nose.
Then we got to our next stop - Pine Creek. Bit bigger than i imagined but the school only has 50 kids from Transition through to Year 6 so it's still tiny. Visiting school tommorrow and will stay here tommorrow night as well.
Try to post again soon.
Net
This morning we headed off to Katherine Gorge for a 7am breakfast cruise. We went up the first two gorges, walking past some artwork on the side of the Gorge by the Jawoyn people. They put in a claim for the land in 1971 and got native title in 1989 (or around there) and now they are responible for maintaining the park and run the tours.The breakfast was nothing specatacular and Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) was nice... but i think i preferred Porcupine Gorge in Hugenden (QLD). But I wish I had the time to do an overnight canoe up the river and camp - it wouls have been gorgeous (he) to canoe along the Gorge early or late before any of the other boats arrived... and I haven't been kayaking for ages. Something to do if I ever come back this way.
So then we headed off to Edith Falls, and went for a quick swim. There are freshwater crocodiles in the area but they tend to run in the other direction - and while they can get up to 2m long, they aren't as aggressive as saltys. It was pretty nice - again, the water was amazingly clear. Never thought of the NT as a premier swimming place but it's great - particularly because it's all freshwater so you don't get the salt up your nose.
Then we got to our next stop - Pine Creek. Bit bigger than i imagined but the school only has 50 kids from Transition through to Year 6 so it's still tiny. Visiting school tommorrow and will stay here tommorrow night as well.
Try to post again soon.
Net
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Barunga and beyond
Well, Baruga CEC (community education centre) as a school was ok. Baruga CEC as a place to stay... well...
As I said in my last post, we were thinking that we could bunk with a teacher - who hadn't been told and unsurprisingly had a few things to say about the situation. So we stayed in the kitchen, with an industrial fridge that had a correspondingly loud industrial fan system. Oooo, and the light.
But the main problem staying there was that it seemed to be the local meeting place for all the local males between 16-25. And our toilet/shower was across the other side of the oval. So I avoided having a shower but eventually was driven across the oval for other requirements... a few comments but nothing much. Then while i was in the (bolted) receptacle, someone was hitting the ground and wall with what sounded like a metal pole and although they didn't really hang around, needless to say i didn't feel particularly great about it. So i brushed my teeth in the kitchen sink.
The day itself went pretty well. As always, the kids were loads of fun and they focused pretty well. The principal forgot that Auskick were turning up so at lunchtime the local coppers turned up and ran the kids through a few excercises, played British bulldog and a game of AFL and we expected them to come visit the Maths Squad after. Then we waited. And waited. And looked outside as another group, the Sunshine Health group, cut in on our racket.
The kids up here have to do exercises and every morning their routine involves washing hands, coughing and blowing their nose because a lot of them have severe snot issues. No, seriously. Snot everywhere on some of these kids. And unfortunatly, an excess of snot in your head can lead to conductive hearing loss, which means the kids have periodic hearing loss - so you can imagine how much that would screw with their schooling and other things.
So yay for the Sunshine Health group.
Decided to move base to Katherine, bout 45min drive away, rather than stay in Barunga. Got to drive to Beswick tommorrow morning where i'm hoping to meet someone who can tell me about the spirits that live in the sky and remove the livers of babys when they scream - i guess it's the traditional way of explaining SIDS. Saw a painting of them and the local artist lives in Beswick so will try to track him down.
Oh, and am gonna steal one of Rich's ideas and post my own little riddle...
How can you add two to eleven and get one?
As I said in my last post, we were thinking that we could bunk with a teacher - who hadn't been told and unsurprisingly had a few things to say about the situation. So we stayed in the kitchen, with an industrial fridge that had a correspondingly loud industrial fan system. Oooo, and the light.
But the main problem staying there was that it seemed to be the local meeting place for all the local males between 16-25. And our toilet/shower was across the other side of the oval. So I avoided having a shower but eventually was driven across the oval for other requirements... a few comments but nothing much. Then while i was in the (bolted) receptacle, someone was hitting the ground and wall with what sounded like a metal pole and although they didn't really hang around, needless to say i didn't feel particularly great about it. So i brushed my teeth in the kitchen sink.
The day itself went pretty well. As always, the kids were loads of fun and they focused pretty well. The principal forgot that Auskick were turning up so at lunchtime the local coppers turned up and ran the kids through a few excercises, played British bulldog and a game of AFL and we expected them to come visit the Maths Squad after. Then we waited. And waited. And looked outside as another group, the Sunshine Health group, cut in on our racket.
The kids up here have to do exercises and every morning their routine involves washing hands, coughing and blowing their nose because a lot of them have severe snot issues. No, seriously. Snot everywhere on some of these kids. And unfortunatly, an excess of snot in your head can lead to conductive hearing loss, which means the kids have periodic hearing loss - so you can imagine how much that would screw with their schooling and other things.
So yay for the Sunshine Health group.
Decided to move base to Katherine, bout 45min drive away, rather than stay in Barunga. Got to drive to Beswick tommorrow morning where i'm hoping to meet someone who can tell me about the spirits that live in the sky and remove the livers of babys when they scream - i guess it's the traditional way of explaining SIDS. Saw a painting of them and the local artist lives in Beswick so will try to track him down.
Oh, and am gonna steal one of Rich's ideas and post my own little riddle...
How can you add two to eleven and get one?
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Everybody's happy, just swimming in the (thermal) tub
In a belated post (which is my usual style), we visited Mataranka Primary School yesterday. The kids were ok but the teachers were great and invited us around for dinner. So we went and visited the touristy thermal pool called Rainbow Springs and then ducked out to this Queenslander just around the corner. Chickens, rabbits, horses, cane toads... this place had it all as well as about 20 kids running around and funnily enough no adults seemed game to claim them as their own darling offspring. Was great - and then we were entertained to a slide show by an up-and-coming palentologist who had a set of dinosaur slides and one of those plastic projectors - and he could name just about every single one (and they weren't your common, everyday variety of dinosaurs... no triceratops here)
Then back to Kindergarten today and the kids were great - it helped that there were only five of them. So spent an hour with them, ducked off to Bitter Springs which is the more naturalistic thermal swimming spot in Mataranka, and took videos of us swimming underwater. Have i mentioned i love my camera? Was using it to take photos of underwater handstands on Monday afternoon and everyone was looking at me odd, then someone asked if it was my camera and whether it should be in the water... And the pools were so clear. Also, they are this deep opaque blue colour because of all the limestone dissolved in it - the water is about 30 degrees and feels disturbingly like Erindale Pool (and the southsiders will know what i mean)... there were a LOT of kids at Rainbow Springs...
Well, spent the morning swimming in thermal springs and lunching at the old Mataranka Homestead so I guess it's only fair that we arrived at a school that didn't remember we were coming, hadn't organised accommodation and then procceded to upset half the staff by telling them they had to billet us... so we just said we were happy sleeping in the kitchen. It's a very big kitchen so it's not like i have to curl up on top of the stove so it should be fine. The only thing that worries me is that when we arrived there had just been big fights at the school so half the students had left and the teachers were wondering whether we should be there or not...
Am now at Barunga, the aforementioned 'confused' school. Should all be fine, not sure how tommorrow will go since today was by all accounts a bit of a shocker so will be interesting to see how many kids turn up and what happens during school. As long as no-one riots because they can't make a square with the 3 red pieces, it should be fine.
Oh, and R! the guy i'm working with keeps sneakily putting photos on his blog. I'm too busy doing real work but check his out.. and then you can all tell me how much better his is and how i never ring my mother and that i've been looking a bit pale lately and so on and so forth.And will try to get a link to the Cow-orker site...
love ya and leave ya,
Net
Then back to Kindergarten today and the kids were great - it helped that there were only five of them. So spent an hour with them, ducked off to Bitter Springs which is the more naturalistic thermal swimming spot in Mataranka, and took videos of us swimming underwater. Have i mentioned i love my camera? Was using it to take photos of underwater handstands on Monday afternoon and everyone was looking at me odd, then someone asked if it was my camera and whether it should be in the water... And the pools were so clear. Also, they are this deep opaque blue colour because of all the limestone dissolved in it - the water is about 30 degrees and feels disturbingly like Erindale Pool (and the southsiders will know what i mean)... there were a LOT of kids at Rainbow Springs...
Well, spent the morning swimming in thermal springs and lunching at the old Mataranka Homestead so I guess it's only fair that we arrived at a school that didn't remember we were coming, hadn't organised accommodation and then procceded to upset half the staff by telling them they had to billet us... so we just said we were happy sleeping in the kitchen. It's a very big kitchen so it's not like i have to curl up on top of the stove so it should be fine. The only thing that worries me is that when we arrived there had just been big fights at the school so half the students had left and the teachers were wondering whether we should be there or not...
Am now at Barunga, the aforementioned 'confused' school. Should all be fine, not sure how tommorrow will go since today was by all accounts a bit of a shocker so will be interesting to see how many kids turn up and what happens during school. As long as no-one riots because they can't make a square with the 3 red pieces, it should be fine.
Oh, and R! the guy i'm working with keeps sneakily putting photos on his blog. I'm too busy doing real work but check his out.. and then you can all tell me how much better his is and how i never ring my mother and that i've been looking a bit pale lately and so on and so forth.And will try to get a link to the Cow-orker site...
love ya and leave ya,
Net
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Katherine Kalamities
He He (apologies for the title, i think it's hangover from the last party invite I got... the people involved know what I'm talking about)
Well, finally made it to Katherine. And it wasn't a sure thing...
We left Darwin with two spare tires. Last Thursday, we literally ripped the insides out of out back tyre. Luckily, I was only doing 10km/h at the time so there was no huge problem except for the bloody flies. And the fact we couldn't find the jack handle. And my girly arms are incapable of unscrewing a bolt as thick as my finger. But we managed to fix it and get to Pigeon Hole school, which was good.
The school itself was nice and quiet, the teachers decided to have a slack day and we were left to basically run the school for 4 hours. Interesting... then we packed up, headed back down the road (this time avoiding the road we'd blown our tyre on) and made it onto the Buntine Highway. Where we punctured our front tyre. Thank god I'd booked two spare tires (the other team only has one so they would have been royally screwed at this point because there is no reception in this area).
And besides, it was the friday after the royalties from the local gold mine had been paid so all the residents of Lajamanu were heading towards the 'local pub' at Top Springs (actually about 300km away) for a big night. We stopped there for lunch and got recognised ;o) so now we are celebrities in the remote communities.
Had a nice relaxing weekend in Katherine. Staying in this great townhouse/villa BnB place, if anyone ever comes would highly reccommend it.
Could write more but feel bit bad using work modem for this. I updated/fixed the last post so will try again soon.
Net
Well, finally made it to Katherine. And it wasn't a sure thing...
We left Darwin with two spare tires. Last Thursday, we literally ripped the insides out of out back tyre. Luckily, I was only doing 10km/h at the time so there was no huge problem except for the bloody flies. And the fact we couldn't find the jack handle. And my girly arms are incapable of unscrewing a bolt as thick as my finger. But we managed to fix it and get to Pigeon Hole school, which was good.
The school itself was nice and quiet, the teachers decided to have a slack day and we were left to basically run the school for 4 hours. Interesting... then we packed up, headed back down the road (this time avoiding the road we'd blown our tyre on) and made it onto the Buntine Highway. Where we punctured our front tyre. Thank god I'd booked two spare tires (the other team only has one so they would have been royally screwed at this point because there is no reception in this area).
And besides, it was the friday after the royalties from the local gold mine had been paid so all the residents of Lajamanu were heading towards the 'local pub' at Top Springs (actually about 300km away) for a big night. We stopped there for lunch and got recognised ;o) so now we are celebrities in the remote communities.
Had a nice relaxing weekend in Katherine. Staying in this great townhouse/villa BnB place, if anyone ever comes would highly reccommend it.
Could write more but feel bit bad using work modem for this. I updated/fixed the last post so will try again soon.
Net
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Brick bridges and blown tyres
Apologies for yesterday's post - i cut, pasted and then a random pixie jumped on the keyboard, overpowered me and deleted everything I'd written... or something like that. Didn't find out till Kuminjay -aka R!- told me... and then i didn't have internet access for a week... so here's a belated edition...
So left Lajamanu. It kind of grew on me over time, a bit like a foot fungus (he he, that was more for the boom boom than an honest appraisal). As the guys at Darwin CSIRO said, it's a rough area and there were multiple things happening in the community that meant the kids were disrupted - it would be a pretty tough gig as a teacher but they are sometimes the most rewarding because when a kid comes back at lunchtime and decides he wants to spend it building a bigger, stronger, tougher, leaner bridge... it's kind of cool. Then he wanted to test it so we went outside and tried it, a few other kids came around and decided they wanted to test bridges too, and so it kind of grew into an informal bridge building workshop.
Once they'd mastered the art of suspending a toy truck above the great divide, they decided to move on to measuring jugs... then buckets with water... then, with a few minutes to go, the original bridge-enthusiast managed to combine two previous ideas and balanced a brick. (I have a photo but the work CDMA modem isn't the best way to upload photos)
I also bought a picture from the middle school boys. They are hosting a cultural festival next year so they've started painting a whole pile of things and selling a few pictures for fundraising. So I had to negotiate a price with a couple of the boys. They wanted $350. I managed to talk them down to $25. What can i say, they drive a hard bargain ;o)
The road out of Lajamanu was a bit bumpy. I fell asleep once we'd left the large collection of solar panels just outside the town and woke up to the sense that we were ski-ing rather than driving along the road. And we continued to slide right off the edge of the road - which was preferable to the other option - braking, flipping over and being trapped on a dirt road literally in the middle of nowhere.
And we didn't hit any termite mounds (despite R!'s protestations that they are the same as ants, i would beg to differ and ask what species of ants build 2 metre tall towers that face magnetic north... and he would probably reply termites since they are a species of ants and things would quickly degenerate from there so i'll just write TERMITES AREN'T ANTS and leave it at that.) Oh, I should mention here that he really isn't a bug person, but he's not as bad as my other colleague M! who bought a tent to set up inside school libraries so that the bugs couldn't get her at night. And i have photos of that too but again, see above :o(
But we're all fine. Wasn't as bad as the time R! was driving in Wagga Wagga and a bus almost ran us off the road. I was sitting in the passenger seat watching it get closer, and closer, and closer.... oh, and the time we almost ran into a truck in Batchelor 'cause R! didn't give way... wait a minute, i see a pattern evolving here...
In comparison to Lajamanu, Kalkaringi is a huge change of pace. Partly because it feels much more like the schools back home, but probably more because only 5 of 15 students actually turned up (possibly because the mine company is paying out royalties in Lajamanu which is why it was so crazy there or the sorry business happening all over this area or because the fishing was good... who knows...) We managed to keep the kids engaged for over an hour doing maths puzzles. Tommorrow we do the little kids which should be fun - they are harder (especially because many of them haven't learnt English properly yet) but they are easy to entertain.
So have one more day here and then we're off to Pigeon Hole - possibly. News is that an old man died and there may be sorry business happening so it's possible the school could be closed. Hope not - would like to visit and see just how wrong all my assumptions are yet again.
Hope alls well down Ngunnawal country.
Nettles
Monday, August 28, 2006
Desert Mob
The school here is pretty big, over 100 kids, so been a busy day. And we're going back for more tommorrow.
Some of the kids are from the desert country so they have blonde hair when they're little. Looks like they bleached it but it's natural. As they get older, their hair gets darker so the seniors start dying their hair - gets a bit hard to tell whether it's bleached or natural. But they are gorgeous.
Also, we found out in the middle of a lesson that Richards name is Kuminjay (spelt as pronounced) which basically means taboo. Someone from the community named Richard died in the past few years so that name can't be used anymore. So he was going to call himself Tuco. But now he's stuck with Kuminjay (and apparently doesn't want to be Richard anymore)
Every school out here is completely different, depending on the community and the principal/teachers in charge. Lajamanu is a dry community and at the moment there is an influx of visitors so the school has had a few brand new faces in class, kids come along to visit. Well, there's not much else to do here, school is a viable option.
Richard is getting a painting done by a woman called Lilly who lives in a caravan/humpy just down the road. Get to see it tommorrow - am hoping to get the middle school boys to paint me one 'cause they've been learning and some of their stuff looks pretty good. Will see....
Off to Kalkaringi tommorrow afternoon, not sure what to expect but that seems to be the theme of this tour - never know what exactly it will be like, where we're staying or what will be happening. Am enjoying the freedom :o)
till then,
Netski
Some of the kids are from the desert country so they have blonde hair when they're little. Looks like they bleached it but it's natural. As they get older, their hair gets darker so the seniors start dying their hair - gets a bit hard to tell whether it's bleached or natural. But they are gorgeous.
Also, we found out in the middle of a lesson that Richards name is Kuminjay (spelt as pronounced) which basically means taboo. Someone from the community named Richard died in the past few years so that name can't be used anymore. So he was going to call himself Tuco. But now he's stuck with Kuminjay (and apparently doesn't want to be Richard anymore)
Every school out here is completely different, depending on the community and the principal/teachers in charge. Lajamanu is a dry community and at the moment there is an influx of visitors so the school has had a few brand new faces in class, kids come along to visit. Well, there's not much else to do here, school is a viable option.
Richard is getting a painting done by a woman called Lilly who lives in a caravan/humpy just down the road. Get to see it tommorrow - am hoping to get the middle school boys to paint me one 'cause they've been learning and some of their stuff looks pretty good. Will see....
Off to Kalkaringi tommorrow afternoon, not sure what to expect but that seems to be the theme of this tour - never know what exactly it will be like, where we're staying or what will be happening. Am enjoying the freedom :o)
till then,
Netski
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Lajamanu
Just arrived in Lajamanu, a community on the edge of the Tanami desert. Lots going on here, there is sorry business 'cause someone died last week, the footy is on and the state-wide testing has just finished, as well as it being the week of the annual get-together for local (ie, less than 200km apart) schools...
I've had a busy week as well, didn't have reception for parts of it and didn't get a chance to blog so here is a quick update:
1. Found the Lost City of Litchfield. (For future explorers, it's down the 4WD track marked 'Lost City'). Was a gorgeous collection of sandstone, all weathered down with trees growing through the stones, archways and towers.
2. Swimming at Wangi falls, Florence Falls, Buley... all disgustingly picture-esque. Like being in a NT tourism ad. Replete with fish, hot pools and waterfalls. And I got paid while driving through it all :o)
3. Rosella cheesecake. Yes, thats right, they make cheesecake out of rosella's out here. And if you're having the same reaction i did, then let me assure you that rosellas are small flowers as well as brightly coloured parrots.
4. Croc-Spot Night cruise - Yay! Got to see the crocodiles that live in Katherine River (as well as unlimited sausages and wine ;o) was a very happy girl. The dominant male hurt his foot a couple of days ago so we managed to get pretty close while they were feeding him. Poor bloke, still has to defend the territory so dragged himself up onto the sand and over the logs with a dogdy leg.
The kids have been varied - ranging from a kleptomaniac pre-schooler to a Year 11 student who build a bridge by stickytaping about 50 straws in a big bundle (which broke almost instantly once the truck tried to drive over it) to a group of 8 8-15 yr olds who haven't had much schooling (and hence reading/numeracy levels of about preschool kids) who sat down and actually loved the puzzles, even the number ones ;o)
It's been a pretty good week, it's tough being out of range and wanting to talk to people, got things to organise re: real estate and other things as well but guess thats the flip side to this job. Makes having a life in Canberra a bit harder than normal.
Hope everyone is happy n healthy - am loving the NT and tommorrow am gonna see if i can get the kids to take me out stomping in the desert.
I've had a busy week as well, didn't have reception for parts of it and didn't get a chance to blog so here is a quick update:
1. Found the Lost City of Litchfield. (For future explorers, it's down the 4WD track marked 'Lost City'). Was a gorgeous collection of sandstone, all weathered down with trees growing through the stones, archways and towers.
2. Swimming at Wangi falls, Florence Falls, Buley... all disgustingly picture-esque. Like being in a NT tourism ad. Replete with fish, hot pools and waterfalls. And I got paid while driving through it all :o)
3. Rosella cheesecake. Yes, thats right, they make cheesecake out of rosella's out here. And if you're having the same reaction i did, then let me assure you that rosellas are small flowers as well as brightly coloured parrots.
4. Croc-Spot Night cruise - Yay! Got to see the crocodiles that live in Katherine River (as well as unlimited sausages and wine ;o) was a very happy girl. The dominant male hurt his foot a couple of days ago so we managed to get pretty close while they were feeding him. Poor bloke, still has to defend the territory so dragged himself up onto the sand and over the logs with a dogdy leg.
The kids have been varied - ranging from a kleptomaniac pre-schooler to a Year 11 student who build a bridge by stickytaping about 50 straws in a big bundle (which broke almost instantly once the truck tried to drive over it) to a group of 8 8-15 yr olds who haven't had much schooling (and hence reading/numeracy levels of about preschool kids) who sat down and actually loved the puzzles, even the number ones ;o)
It's been a pretty good week, it's tough being out of range and wanting to talk to people, got things to organise re: real estate and other things as well but guess thats the flip side to this job. Makes having a life in Canberra a bit harder than normal.
Hope everyone is happy n healthy - am loving the NT and tommorrow am gonna see if i can get the kids to take me out stomping in the desert.
Monday, August 21, 2006
First Day, First School (part 2)
Well, that was a day and a half....
Woke up at 6:45 this morning which was lucky 'cause the school principal turned up at 6:50am... Richard was still in his sleeping attire, I'd managed to sneak into the disabled toilets a little earlier but after sleeping on the floor without any sort of mattress I was ready to get up. That's my own fault for leaving the mattress at Mum's place.
Kids started arriving bout 7:15, school bell went at 8:15 (again at 8:25) and most of the kids had turned up by then. Started puzzling at 9, Rich did the older kids and I took the primary school kids... realised about ten minutes before starting that I didn't have some of the stuff to work with - for example, we were placing counters on a 3x3 grid so each row/column/diagonal had one of each colour. So first, i had to get the kids to draw a grid. Which they did to varying degrees of success so it wasn't too bad but some of the kids struggled to put a counter on a severly narrow column... but the other workshop went well by all accounts.
Building bridges was great! They all managed to stay up and hold at least 200ml of water - a couple were solid as a rock and filled the truck all the way up! I think we had the boxes too close together so the bridges didn't collapse as often as i'd expected/wanted. Much more fun to destroy their hard work. Hey, we aren't here to bolster self-esteem, we're here to teach maths!
So after a hard day puzzling, we're off to Bachelor Area school. Hopefully i can buy a pillow (yes, i forgot that too, it's been one of those fortnights and now i'm finally catching up i'm realising everything i missed... d'oh)
Be good
Woke up at 6:45 this morning which was lucky 'cause the school principal turned up at 6:50am... Richard was still in his sleeping attire, I'd managed to sneak into the disabled toilets a little earlier but after sleeping on the floor without any sort of mattress I was ready to get up. That's my own fault for leaving the mattress at Mum's place.
Kids started arriving bout 7:15, school bell went at 8:15 (again at 8:25) and most of the kids had turned up by then. Started puzzling at 9, Rich did the older kids and I took the primary school kids... realised about ten minutes before starting that I didn't have some of the stuff to work with - for example, we were placing counters on a 3x3 grid so each row/column/diagonal had one of each colour. So first, i had to get the kids to draw a grid. Which they did to varying degrees of success so it wasn't too bad but some of the kids struggled to put a counter on a severly narrow column... but the other workshop went well by all accounts.
Building bridges was great! They all managed to stay up and hold at least 200ml of water - a couple were solid as a rock and filled the truck all the way up! I think we had the boxes too close together so the bridges didn't collapse as often as i'd expected/wanted. Much more fun to destroy their hard work. Hey, we aren't here to bolster self-esteem, we're here to teach maths!
So after a hard day puzzling, we're off to Bachelor Area school. Hopefully i can buy a pillow (yes, i forgot that too, it's been one of those fortnights and now i'm finally catching up i'm realising everything i missed... d'oh)
Be good
Sunday, August 20, 2006
First day, First School
Just arrived in Beluyan (bout 1.5 hour drive from Darwin, to the left, 15k from the coast) and we've been pretty well looked after. Sleeping on the library floor but they have a 80cm tv here so gonna spend the night watching Scrubs and Blackadder.
So not much to really report at the moment. Tommorrow is the first day of indiginous workshops which should be great, my past experiences with aboriginal kids tells me it's gonna be tough work but rewarding.
Borrowed Jamos' camera till mine shows up so will hopefully get a chance to upload some photos this weekend ;o)
So not much to really report at the moment. Tommorrow is the first day of indiginous workshops which should be great, my past experiences with aboriginal kids tells me it's gonna be tough work but rewarding.
Borrowed Jamos' camera till mine shows up so will hopefully get a chance to upload some photos this weekend ;o)
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