An Action Packed Start To The Journey!

Hello!

Its been a week and a half since my last post an heaps has happened since then! So sit back and enjoy the reading show!

Our first full day at Balgo consisted of spending some time with each of the classes, with the aim of finding one or two that particularly appealed to us and selecting those classes as the ones that we would be working closely with these next 10 months! 

From day one I was certain that i wanted to be at the Trade Training Center because working with older kids is something I am good at and I believed I have much more to offer them than I do the Primary kids. In saying that however it was hard not to fall in love with the little kids who were so damn cute and energetic(energetic not always being a great thing). 

I got to accompany Primary B and Primary D on their little community service initiative to the local store to 'Clean up Australia'. They had the area outside the store looking very clean! 

Primary B and D in action! Also posted up on my Instagram! Follow me: manchild94

So the week past eventfully with Luke, Joel, Mitch and myself being thrown from class to class and by the end of the week, we all in our own minds had a rough idea about what classes we wanted to work with. 

Workimg at the TTC meant that I had to make breakfast for the Trade Training kids and luckily for them i felt like making pancakes and scrambled eggs on most mornings! :)

On the Thursday night, the staff officially welcomed us by having a 'Shared Meal' in which staff members brought along food and we all had dinner together and got to meet and talk to the staff. Then on the Friday night we had a games night to raise money for the Grade 5's trip to Melbourne in 5 weeks. The night involved Table Tennis and other fun games and we were all happy(especially Brother Rick) with the amount of money that was raised for the trip.

The weekend was incredibly uneventful as I began to realize that apart from the school and the store, there wasn't much to do to pass time in Balgo. So we spent a lot of time in the pool and in our air-conditioned homes relaxing! Needless to say I was very happy when Monday came along! 

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were again days where we were able to try and re-try each of the classes. I would do breakfast for the trade training kids in the morning, then go to one of the classes at the school for the morning session, then go to another class for the afternoon session. By Thursday I had tried all of the classes and I knew for certain which classes I would be happy to work with. So on Thursday night we had a meeting with Brother Rick and Darren and we all told them our preferences. I will be working at the Trade Training Center in the mornings and at Primary E(Seniors) in the afternoon. I was very excited to start work on Friday knowing that now I could start getting to build stronger relationships with the students and be able to help them as much as i could.

And so, another school week passed and again, we had another fundraising activity set up and organized by AJ. He had put together a rather extensive Trivia competition and had invited people from the clinic and the store so there were quite a few new faces. The night also had a masterchef competition with which i entered a Thai Green Curry! However it was outdone by Cassandra's AMAZING Lasagna! I think her Italian heritage definitely helped her out there!! I also had the pleasure of co-hosting the trivia with AJ! Mainly because i love to hear my own voice i think and it wouldn't have been fair on any teams without me on their side! ;) The night was a successful one with AJ's initiative raising $900 for the kids Melbourne trip! and there was a very generous donation from the parish of $200! Great job! Whoop whoop!

Saturday came along and Cassandra and I smashed out a one hour workout at 6 in the morning which was an awesome effort! For me anyway! haha

Our humble desert gym!!

Saturday night AJ organised a Karaoke night which was fun! I did a shocking rendition of George Michael's 'Faith' but i made up for it with my amazing dancing...

Sunday passed pretty uneventfully apart from our amazing session in the pool in which i slept on an inflatable doughnut!

Oh yeah and Darren said he would give me $25 if i licked the bottom of my foot which was pretty rank seeing as it was dirty but i did it and made an easy $25! Gosh my life is good ;)

Then along came today! I started off at Trade Training which gave me more opportunities to get to know the kids there and we had a lot more students show up then what Darren expected so he was in a good mood!
Then i spent the afternoon with Seniors and they were swimming for the first half hour which was easy! 

 Then we did some PATHS(Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies) which is a program that teaches and supports positive thinking and conflict resolution strategies for the kids instead of the normal argue and fight solution. 

So that pretty much sums up my first week and a half out here and Balgo and i am loving it! If the rest of the year is like that then bring it on!! :D

Talk to you soon! <3