Vanessa Amorosi

Friday: Feck the literacy interviews, something more important came up. I was driving to school this morning when I heard on the radio that Vanessa Amorosi was coming to Warrnambool tonight. The theatre here is about the same size as the Solstice in Navan, so not a chance of getting a ticket. I drove around about twenty minutes before the concert started and found a parking spot just outside-a good omen. The 'sold out' signs were up and had been for weeks aparantly. She is huge in Australia. Anyway, I had come all this way (all of a half a mile!) and decided to ask at the box office. They just happened to have one. I couldn't believe my luck.

Well, Vanessa arrived out in her Lily Allen boots and I did not know what to expect. But she rocks-far more Suzie Quatro than Lily Allen. Her hair was very Toyah Wilcox. Brilliant singer and a great entertainer. Don't you just love 'Absolutely Everybody'? , the melody, the rhythm and particularily the lyrics.I queued for an hour afterwards to get her signature and she even posed for a photo. What a screen saver to have. I was so excited that I forgot to ask for a hug!

I have been commissioned!

Thursday: There was a mass in the afternoon for all the Catholic schools in the district. I joined in the choir, did a reading and met loads of people. I am never going to remember their names-even the woman who promised me Saw Doctor's tickets. TMI. But I do know where she lives! Anyway, after communion all the new teachers were invited around the altar where we were prayed for and welcomed into our schools. It is called comissioning and is done every year. The mass and the chat afterwards really brought home to me the tight bond and support structure that exists among Catholic schools.

I sat in on one of the literacy interviews today-more info tomorrow. Still a bit of information overload and just not enough time to take everything in. I am really enjoying the people I work with and the freshness and fun associated with this new experience. It is hard work though.

The Saw Doctors!

Wednesday: Can you believe it, I just found out that the Saw Doctors are coming to a small town about 20 mins away on March 6th! This just keeps getting better and better.
Literacy interviews in school for the next three days (more info tomorrow). 'Proper school'starts on Monday next.

Australia Day

Tue: hard to describe what exactly it is. It is of course their national day celebrating the discovery of Australia by Captain Cook but it doesn't take the form of parades and formal events. It is a day off work when the whole country has a 'barbie' and 'tin-on'.
I live in a close of about twenty houses and was invited to a barbie by friends of Mark and Margaret. Three famiilies got together and we feasted from about twelve until six. Many of the other neighbours dropped in for a beer and I got to meet all of my neighbours and their kids. (I must have been introduced to a couple of hundred people in the last three weeks and at this stage I can't even try and remember a fraction of them.)I am getting in on the lingo and really enjoyed it when someone dropped a glass and everyone shouted 'taxi!'. (Make a comment if you want me to explain.) Great food, great company and a great day.

School starts.

Monday 25th: In school by eight. Welcome Breakfast at nine. Met all staff and even though I had met a good few last week it was strange. Went around to talk to as many as I could just to bring myself up to speed. Too much information so I wrote down as much as I could and let the rest go. No harm to know what it feels like to be outside your comfort zone. Problems with the building project, a plethora of timetables and all the bleeden' acronyms (SELL; EMU; NAPLAN; VELS;LOTE;POL etc.)People looking to me for answers and all I have are questions! Staff meeting at two. Deputy (Carmel) chaired the meeting and I had a lot of time for Q&A. Very helpful. If first impressions are lasting then it was all good. The staff are very conscientious and enthusiastic. I look forward to working with them and hope that I don't make too much of a mess.

Was working late when a call came from the alarm company to say that the alarm had not been set. Took that as a sign to go home!

Tower Hill

Sunday: Same time mass but a different choir. Unusual. Watched tennis and cricket on TV and went to school for a few hours to prepare for tomorrow, all staff start tomorrow but the pupils do not come in until Wednesday. Went via Tower Hill-beautiful views.

chores

Sat: Caught up on chores. Beach for an hour. Swimming gala 50 metre pool in a town of 32,000 people. Could not start lawnmower so did not cut grass but did water grass and flowers.

Australian Open TENNIS

Friday orientation finished at about 2.30 so went to the 35 floor of the Sofitel Hotel to see the view from the loo. Then tennis until eight. Thirty eight degrees and very uncomfortable but I did get to see Serena and Venus Williams play, so some things are worth it. Then walked for 30 mins to car, like making my way from Croke Park to Glasnevin. Found it but it was a great help having been in Melbourne in 2007. It is not a difficult city to find your way around. Three hour drive home. Turned on telly to find tennis match starting at midnight!

Mary

Thursday 21st: Finally met Mary Kelleher the organiser of the exchanges (ITF) in Victoria. She is very pleasant and had a great days orientation organised. She even had a police officer there to talk to us about driving in Victoria. I was dying to tell him that I was an expert having done the famous HOOK TURN in 2007 and also incurring two speeding fines then also (or was it Gerry?) Anyway, I resisted. The acting general secretary and various others from the DEECD made excellent presentations and we were wined and dined. There was a picnic in the park afterwards orgised by the International Teachers Association (ITA). There are fourteen fellows in all, some secondary and some primary, one each from England, Scotland, The Free State, Switzerland, USA and the rest from various parts of Canada. All nice folks, even if they did make me sing Amhrán na bhFiann in the park afterwards. I am hoping that we will all be able to stay in touch and support one another. More tomorrow.
Phonerd two principals from 2007 from Melbourne to meet up tomorrow but they were away, so I will probably head back to Warrnambool early tomorrow. Sorry now that I did not get a ticket for the tennis tonight.

Mary and Joseph

Wed 20: Met Fr Bill and had a good chat. It will be nice working with him. Phoned about teacher registration:it will be posted out tomorrow so I will have it in time (just) for next Wednesday. Good days work done. Email came about €7,500 of a grant from the Catholic Education Office (CEO) for an NAP-that’s me! After all my research for the dissertation last year, I finally get to be one. I now intend to write my Fellowship Paper on the Mentoring of NAPs in the Catholic schools here. Had planned to do a comparative study between the role of SNAs and Integration Aides but now that I am here the other makes more sense. I have been assigned a mentor and will also be attending the induction sessions.
ITF orientation tomorrow and Friday so had to go to Melbourne. I felt like Mary and Joseph (except that I am not pregnant) as there was not a bed to be got in the place, due to the Australian Open tennis. Dejavue Gerry? Saw a nice hotel, expensive enough, and arrived to find that it is quaint (i.e. dodgy) but I have no other option as there are no stables nearby! I will be sleeping with the laptop under the pillow though.

Head and Shoulders

Tue 19th: Met with deputy (Carmel)who was a great help with timetables and other practical stuff. Furniture for office arrived, Mark has gone to a lot of trouble to have the place in shape. All Aussie schools have been given Federal money to invest in infrastructure-more anon. Met Di Westbrook the support person for Catholic Schools in the area, who made me feel very welcome and was very interested in finding out more about Speech and Language Classes and Classes for pupils with Autism.

Getting back to the heading: Don't know that you can get them at home but I just bought a massive bottle (750 ml)of 'Head and Shoulders'-"I didn't know you have dandruf, I don't!"

Went for a hair cut and got scalped: "I didn't know you had hair, I don't!"

Mo chéad lá.

Monday 18th:School starts next week so I am in this week to get ready. On Monday next the staff come back (many were in today) without pupils, Tuesday week is Australia Day and the next day the kids come back. It feels for me that August has been moved to January. Offers for University places were even made today.
I arrived in school to see that there were books and furniture in the middle of two classrooms and a teacher wondering when her room would be ready. Great-normality! So I had to get on the phone to find out when the painters were coming, but first had to find out who to phone. Then the data cabinet and server had to be relocated but where to? More phone calls but from the secretaries office as the new furniture for the principal's office had not arrived. More phone calls about that. Then decide wher and got a price for the reloacation of the data cabinet and all the wires etc. but couldn't give the go-ahead until I found out where the money wouuld come from. Did that and the job was started today and will be finished tomorrow. Then four pallets of boxes arrived which were the books and requesites for all the children and teachers- all individually boxed. The pupils are charged a flat rate and everything is got through the school. All pupils get the same so there is no re-using of books from last year. The downside is that there is wastage of second-hand books but the upside is that from the first day each pupil has absolutely everything. All the boxes were laid out in the GP Room by myself and the secretary (Margaret) for collection, next week, by the parents. Met the caretaker (Trevor) and four of the teachers and had a good old chat with them all. Did I mention that there is a building project? well there is and I had another first-I saw a builder in short pants! I noted that he was not wearing a high-vis vest nor a helmet-no Health and Safety raids here. Mary Hallisy would love it here. There was no electricity in one section of the building due to the extension, all the normal stuff that happens in Ireland during an extension and refurbishment. I loved every minute of it and can't wait for tomorrow. There is going to be so much stuff that I am unfamiliar with this coming year, that I am enjoying every moment of the 'familiar'.

Coats and Jumpers

Sunday 17th:Went to mass in St. Joseph's. Really like the choir. After the recessional hymn when people had started walking out they sang "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Mes. My kind of choir! Again struck by the absence of kneelers in the pews:It's all stand or sit, no kneeling. As I said last week everyone goes up the middle and down the side for communion, but I did notice that there were stewards who went to the top of the side aisle to usher people back down and up the middle. The congregation in the middle waited for the side lot to go first. There was also a baptism but part of the ceremony took place before the First Reading, it was very obvious that this was all part of the community celebration, there was even a 'community' witness as well as the sponsors. Many people had jumpers and coats on as it was 18 degrees and cloudy today. The priests are 'changed' in January and have their annual retreat next week, so it is not just the schools that go from January to January.
I went for a long walk by the beach and got caught in the rain. I was sorry that I did not bring a coat or jumper. Since I came, apart from two days, the heat has not been oppressive. There is a sea breeze most evenings and some days have a nice breeze also. There has been a drought for about ten years in Victoria but Warrnambool has a good bit of rain. At least the flowers (as in a lot of flowers!) are happy. Warrnambool is growing and attracting many new businesses due to the fact that they have plenty of water.

Australian Telly

Sat 16th. I just have terrestrial stations. There is a lot of sports especially tennis and cricket which are in season, at the moment. Two channels show quite a bit of news and films in many different languages to cater for the diversities in culture in Australia. There is a terrestrial channel in HD which covers only sports. The adds are loud (picture Harvey Norman) but I have to say that even in his own homeland Harvey takes the prize for the most annoying add on telly. I don't know about you but I am dying to tell him where to "Go Harvey Norman, Go!" On a serious note there is a very scary add on the dangers of sunbathing which shows the melanoma getting into your bloodstream and as the add says "You haven't even started to burn yet." Don't know if there is any point in going to the beach seeing as I cannot swim due to the rips or even tan myself.

Spent a good bit of time on this blog and gave up on Google earth and links. Much easier on Google maps. Maybe I can let people see the blog now that it is a little more respectable.

Ruth Brooks

Friday: Finally got to go to Portarlington and met Ruth and her two kids (Dylan &Hayley) and one husband Garry. They live in Melbourne but have a summer home in Portarlington.
I passed through a town named ‘Colac’ which sounded like a medical condition, but then I suppose that ‘Portarlington’ must sound like a medical condition to an Aussie!
Interesting to hear from Ruth that women in Victoria do not get paid maternity leave. They get 12 months unpaid. Nice steak in the Grand Hotel followed by invitations to meet again. Returned (three hour journey) at 11.45 pm. Called John. Call from Fiachra. Great to hear from home. Bed. Full night's sleep-oh bliss.

January 14

Thursday: Quiet day today. Spent a lot of time learning how to use Picasa and how to upload photos to this blog. Very time consuming, think I will create online albums instead. Phone calls home and housework! Decided not to visit Ruth as it was overcast. Tomorrow inshallah.

Catching up with old friends

Wed. 13th: Came across an old email from Ruth the Sec of Victorian Principals’Association (VPA) from ’07 asking Gerry and I if we wanted to call in to her summer home on the way back from Warrnambool. I emailed her to ask if the offer was still on the table. To cut a long story short, she has invited me to visit with her hubby and two children tomorrow. It in Portarlington, about three hours away. Looking forward to catching up.

When Gerry and I visited Warrnambool in ’07 we stayed with Howard Looney who had been our VPA guide when we visited the state schools. I had been in touch with Howard up to about six months ago but had not told him about the Exchange. So I just arrived at his door today and to say that he and his wife Di were surprised is an understatement. He is still in shock even after two hours of chat and catching up. It is amazing that I have ended up living in a town that I had already visited and where I knew two of its citizens! Is ait an mac an tsaoil!

Extreme and Severe Fire Danger Day

Tue 12th: Rain and 21 degrees. Eugene Dalton of a local Primary School (Our Lady Help of Christians) called and brought me for a coffee and tour of Warnambool. We talked (or should I say I) a lot of shop. It is really interesting to compare and contrast the two systems. For example the recent controversy between the snow closures in Ireland and the local equivalent: Eugene explained that yesterday was an “Extreme and Severe Fire Danger Day” which meant a Code Red Alert. No fires allowed to be lit by anyone anywhere in the area. Within the area there are “Bushfire Danger Schools” i.e. not all schools, usually schools that are not in built up areas. These schools are notified by The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) that they must close. No choice. They do not have to make up the days. So if we were open yesterday we would have been closed! (‘Summer holidays’ don’t finish until the 27th, but I am due in on 18th.) Plenty of advance warning and no discretion.

Koroit

Jan 11th:43 degrees. Waited until mid afternoon to visit St. Patrick’s School Koroit, where I will be working. Walked up and down the main street and could not believe the number of Irish connections from Mc Nally's Garage to Mickey Burke's Pub.They even hace a statue of a Spud Picker to commemorate the Irish connection. Koroit has taken over the Irish. Went to the school to check that the carpet was replaced in Rooms 1 and 2. The workmen were just finishing up when I got there. School is a lovely new building built in 1996. There was a ‘seanscoil’ out the back which was used as an art room. Admin area (Offices, staff room, teachers’ workroom, sick bay, assembly hall) to the front and most classrooms were to the back. Area cordoned off in play area for a just-started building project. Out of the frying pan and into the fire! Plenty of space, in particular the admin areas, considering that there are only 141 pupils in the school. The school was across the road from the church, but this was not open. Did not call to see Fr. Bill as it was his day off.

January 10th

Went to mass in St. Joseph’s. The church looked like many an Irish church built in the early twentieth century. Parochial House looked simailar also except that it had a veranda. Mass was similar. Congregation tended to stand more than they knelt. Great choir and many of the congregation sang along. At communion everyone seemed to go. They went up the middle and down the sides, even if they were at the front of the side pews. Choice of both bread and wine. Enclosed congregation area at the back which included an area for serving light refreshments. Not used-I should have told them that I was coming!
Too hot to go out. Watched American football on the telly and went to the beach after four. Spent a nice relaxing few hours there, again due to the evening breeze. Watered the grass and flowers-a lot of flowers.

January 9th

More shopping and exploring local area. Met neighbour Anita and her son. Everybody here sounds like Nadia! 39 degrees. Cooler in the evening. Walk on the beach-nice breeze.

January 8th

Went to visit Margaret, the school secretary for dinner. Dinner was preceeded by some work. The school had lost a child with special needs which had effected their budget. Two Integration Aides (SNAs) were being cut from ten hours to seven hours per week. I also needed to find an extra hour for the numeracy co-ordinator and three and half hours for the school secretary. The whole budget is done on a programme called SAS 2000 and everything including teachers’ and Integration aides’ salaries is paid out of the budget. I very quickly had to familarise myself with the overall budget and in particular Column S, Column N and EMU. (don’t ask!) I managed, with Margaret’s help to all of the above and even found money to keep the integration aides’ hours. All within a budget surplus of not less than 10%. Feeling of achievement especially as the whole concept was foreign to me. I do prefer, so far, the Irish system where all salaries are paid centrally. Less work and responsibility.

January 7th

Shopping for groceries. Had a steak in Warnambool Football Club. Main source of revenue is a gambling room full of one-armed bandits. Cricket club also shared facilities. Drove to surfing beach for a walk.

January 6th

Slept from 11.30 to 2.30. Set clock. Tour of old town. Absence of multi-national companies. Real Australian experience. Donnelly’s restaurant, O Halloran’s Real Estate, Tír na nÓg health store, the Seanachaí Bar. The Irish are taking over Warrnambool!
Sign in shop window that said:
“Don’t be a tosser. Bin your butts!” I presume they meant cigarette butts.
Drove around beach area. Slept badly again.

January 5th

Slept until 6.30pm. Missed tour with Laura. I am living at 12 Kingston Close, Warrnambool, Victoria 3280, Australia(click for map and picture of house)The house has four bedroom and is spacious in an American sense with walk in wardrobes and larders. Lovely house and beautiful gardens with lots of flowers.
Went out in car and nearly got lost.
Met neighbour Allan (with two 'l's). He gave me advice about being caught in a 'rip'. Apparently you don't try to fight it but swim with it until you get outside it. Then you swim around it to safety. Alternatively you put up your hand and the lifeguard will see you and rescue you! Not sure if I will be going swimming for a while.
Did some unpacking. Missing family and friends. Phoned home. Went to bed after midnight but did not sleep all night. Read two books.

January 4

Booked Victoria Hotel on internet for €80. Central location. Skybus to Whitecross train station and then minibus transfer to hotel. Quaint and small room. Interesting to read on a book outlining the history of the hotel that in 1934 exchange teachers from England stayed there. Must mention that to the International Teacher Fellowship (ITF) which only dates back to 1971. This is the group whaich has facilitated my exchange, along with the International Section of DES.
€10 call card for 2,000 mins to Ireland. Slept until 10.30. Booked out. Had breakfast in Tropicana Juice Food Bar on Elizabeth Street, where Gerry and I had eaten manys a breakfast in March ’07. Still the best breakfast in Melbourne! The Asians are taking over Melbourne! Went to train station to book ticket for Warnambool at 18.36. All day tram ticket for €6.50. St Kilda, took the tram in the wrong direction. It stopped and the driver went to the other side of the tram. I asked “Does this tram go to St. Kilda: It does now!" Excellent system of trams around Melbourne. No flags or life guards apparent at beach. On train to Warnambool, you have to book in heavy luggage and collect from back of the train. Ticket €26, First Claaa €32. Laura at station. Tour of Warrnambool and also house. Arranged to meet at 4.30 next day for further tour.

January 3

Tour of Dubai in minibus. Took three hours. The Indians are taking over Dubai. Everywhere we went there was also Indian music. Affluent and cosmopolitan. All 1,860 bus shelters are enclosed and airconditioned (click photo collage to enlarge), all thanks to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (peace be upon him).Bought a camera in Jumbo Electronics for DR1,150, including bag and twice 8g memory cards. Call, from Laura who had arrived to collect me in Melbourne Airport, I gave her the wrong date. Booked my baggage in Etihad downtown office Dubai all the way to Melbourne. Bus to Abu Dhabi. 14 hours (almost) flight. Food not great. Slept a little and read a lot.

January 2

Arrived in Abu Dhabi. Shared a taxi with three others, one a teacher from Tallaght (Jackie). Booked city tour and river cruise. Browsed shops. Amazed at content of adverts and lack of covering on females in comparison to Saudi. Nice to hear and practice some nearly forgotton Arabic. Sense of adventure and of being on holidays. Night tour was nice but the food was not great and got cold quickly. Good ompany of retired Italian diplomat.

January 1

Arrived at airport at 6.00am. Flight diverted to Shannon. Checked in and out and to hotel by 12.00. Lunch at 1.30. back to airport at 7.30. 2.5 hours in Q. Boarded @11.00. Took off @12.15.