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.