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

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.