Another week

Welcome to the world, Brianna Michelle Joyce!

What exciting news to wake up to this morning! It’s a weird thing when all your old mates are either contemplating names, or contemplating schools… Seems like most of my friends have either got married, got engaged or got pregnant this year - what a year I picked to be away! Wonder if that means next year will be totally event-free? Somehow I doubt it.

Well we said goodbye to another bunch of girls this week – Grade 12s finished their exams, and finished school. It’s going to be an empty old school the next 5 weeks. Very hard to keep the girls motivated. And the teachers! I’ve lost my computers and my library classes because so many teachers have no classes any more so they needed to spread out the remaining ones. More non-teaching periods, more time to use up so I can avoid sitting in the staffroom. Aside from being hot and kinda boring in there, it’s also mosquito heaven, and I’m fresh meat. But luckily the tropical-strength Aeroguard seems to work a little better than Rid (Brand Power, here I come). You know you’ve been here too long when the smell of the insect repellant seems a lot more familiar than your favourite perfume.

Got all dolled up for the Melbourne Cup this week, even wearing black and white feathers in my hair in place of a fancy hat. Got quite a few quizzical looks in the staffroom til I pointed out that this was yet another great Aussie holiday I was having to be school for (my first day of school this year was Australia Day)(didn't point out that today was only a holiday in Vic either!), so I was going to celebrate it anyway. And the girls thought it was pretty cute to see me excited about something that was my culture (although I'm sure some of the ones who aren't in my class and therefore didn't get an explanation of the feathers thought I was trying to be a bird!). And I got the big TV in the AV Room all ready for the big race at 3.20, and the staff were all coming to watch with me. And then i realised at 2.40 that I'd forgotten about it being daylight savings back in Oz now! Doh!!! I bolted over to the TV, only to see that the race had been run, and there was a microphone being pushed in a jockey's face as the rain was streaming down. But, at least the right horse won - Dad had placed a $10 to win and $10 each way bet on Makybe Diva for me - so even if I missed the actual race I could go round telling everyone proudly that my horse won!

Had a nice relaxing day today lazing by the pool at the Holiday Inn. Rick had a meeting there at 2 this arvo, so he nicely came and picked me up this morning for coffee (or milkshake in my case) at his favourite hang-out (the café in Foodworld – he’s known there by name, and I joke he should just bring a pillow he’s there so often) before heading off to the hotel for a swim, and later leaving me to lie back on a lilo under the shade of a frangipani tree while he toddled on down to the café there (yet another coffee!) for his meeting. Hard to beat, really.

Going for a drive up to Sogeri in the mountains way behind our school tomorrow. Sister’s been promising me this trip since I first arrived, and she figured she’d better make good on it before the rains come and the road is washed away. Should be fun, though apparently the road is windy, and Angie’s a bit of a lead foot. Might be saying my Hail Mary’s on the way back down… Will let you know how it goes.