Broome

The good part of being only 2 hours east of Broome, means it's an easy trip into town for weekend visits.

Plus the beach is there so more incentive for several visits throughout the year, I can see frequenting there quite often. 

I went into Broome last weekend and it was so good to get to go to Target and a few other shops that we don't have here in Derby. Such a help to buy things that I either forgot to buy, need or can't buy here either.

The weather was of course very hot when I was there and I was quite disappointed that the temperature of the beach water was likened to that of a bath! I was so dying to jump in for a refreshing cool off, but ah not to be. Luckily a cold shower awaiting me when I returned to the room I was staying in for the weekend. The water at Town beach was a most beautiful blue colour and was just a stunning sight all around. I am very fond of Point Gantheaume, which was my first point of call upon arriving. Just amazing!!! Photos cannot do justice at all, you'll just have to visit for yourself! I would've preferred to spend more time walking around up there and exploring, but it was very very hot and I just needed to be in the cool air con and have a bit of a rest after the long drive.

If you've never heard of or used Air BnB, I highly recommend it. Was great to find a very cheap room to stay in. All I needed was a bed to sleep in and a shower to wash and it was perfect. With the long drive, open and unfenced roads, it is not advisable to drive back from dust onward, so an over night stay was what I needed.

The first 2 weeks

School has been a bit of a blur. So much to do and learn every single day. It is a complete sidestep from regular classroom teaching. I learn something new about the system or the kids or my planning every day.

I already have two home visits planned for in the next 2 weeks which will be really exciting to actually go and visit new places and to actually get to meet some of my students and work with them face to face as a posed to via the internet.

The whole internet system, I've found out, can be the most frustrating part of the whole process. Connection issues, microphone issues and typing issues are frequent and more often than not are completely out of our hands and we just have to find a way to work around it, which can be tricky at times.

The way our system works is that the children get their work in advance to complete as they would during a normal school week. So I have had a bit of a freak out trying to understand what they are working on and what was actually sent to them for the year from last year's teacher. I've also had to be conscious about planning for the term because anything I want to do on the air lessons that requires the students to have something specific like a worksheet needs to be planned well in advance to be sent out to the students. Some times mail will arrive to them in a few days, others in a few weeks. It all depends on the weather on whether or not mail planes can get to them Some have PO boxes in town here and can only get in every so often, so if that happens then it can take a while for things to reach them.

Weather is also another issue which creates problems with our technology, the slightest cloud coverage can knock people offline or just generally cause whole power outages. It's also why our travelling to see the kids can be restricted too. If the road is impassible then we simply cannot get out to see them.

The great part was having one of my students coming into town yesterday and getting to meet her. This was a massive 1 up in my planning and understanding of her learning which has been super helpful in terms of my future planning for her teaching and learning, which will benefit her immensely.

I am so interested to see how assemblies are run through our school when our first one of the year happens on Wednesday. It's so strange to picture how it works, but will be really cool at the same time. I already had a brainwave during the week of what I'm planning for my class to do for our assembly at some point in the year so hopefully that runs smoothly.

I have so much information swirling around in my head it's a bit overwhelming and a bit of a blur, but I know it will all start to make sense as the year continues.

So I arrived.... 2 and 1/2 weeks ago....

Well the day came for the 3am wake up call to catch the 5:55am fight, the only flight, into Derby.

I was wondering how small that plane might be that I would fly on and was rather relieved when walking out onto the tarmac to see, what I would call, a normal sized Virgin plane. Thank god!

All I could think about was how hot the air was going to be that would hit me upon walking off the plane. Would I perhaps be sitting next to one of my new colleagues, also new to the school, who I knew would be on the plane too? How was I to recognise my new boss at the airport as I had never even met him before?!

Was lucky to have an entire 3 seat row to myself on the plane, which provided me with a somewhat uncomfortable area to rest for about 20 minutes... even with that much space it just wasn't possible to get in a decent sleep.

And so the flight landed and out in the hot air I went to make my way into the very small airport.

I met my new colleagues and we made out way to one of the school cars for the 30 minute drive into town. It was rather just a blur of information he was telling us about the school, the town and his recent year off overseas. All I can remember was trees, green and red pindan (red dirt) everywhere!

I also found out I was fortunate enough to be with a mobile phone company who does not provide any coverage whatsoever in Derby! Fun times!!!

Got the house keys, found out where my car was to pick it up and went for a visit to the house.... Not quite what I was expecting, but it will just have to do. The day ended with knowing that my furniture and boxes would be arriving the next day.

When we don't have our things in town or delivered yet then we are placed into a hotel until they are delivered. So spent the rest of the night and the next day using the internet and my new, working, sim card to get in contact with my own phone company and the one that works here to actually get disconnected out of my nearly finishing contract and transferred onto the newer network instead... I am so sick of being kept on hold with these people! Very annoying, but we seemed to get there eventually!

It really is very hot up here! Was so good to get all my stuff delivered... Although the first few hours were spent scrubbing and cleaning floors, shelves and cupboards that should have actually been clean before I moved in! I refused to put out any of my things onto dirty shelves until I knew they were clean. Also made use of the wrapping paper from the boxes as covering for the shelves in the cupboard, so that helps a little.