The Final Week in Australia

This blog has been one of the harder blogs to write because my time here in Australia is just about over.  I apologize for its length but I think sometimes I write these blogs more for me than for you the reader.  You have been warned.

On Monday after work I headed over to Ivanhoe to meet up with Danielle and Zane for our last meal together.  The three of us have done several things together and Danielle and I had a great weekend away together too.  Dinner was good, and the company was awesome as always.  I did my best to keep the tears back as we had our final hugs.  It was a tough good bye.

Danielle and I one last time together

(Until we visit each other in Canada)

Tuesday at work I was given three hours to organize and tidy my room while other teachers taught my class.  I worked hard to get my exchange partners storage room well organized (I’m hoping she’ll be happy with what I’ve done), and I did the last minute things around the school.  When I had my students we worked on class awards.  Each student wrote three awards for three other students in the class.  It was all done in secret though (no one knew who was writing awards for them) and I even provided them with stickers to decorate the awards with.  Tuesday evening I headed into the city and did some more shopping for people back home.

Looking up Bourke Street Mall

Wednesday was a super, well organized craft/song rotation day for the prep to two students.  The children were divided into multi-aged groups but the groups sizes were kept small because the specialist teachers were involved too. In my classroom we were making Christmas Bell ornaments and the largest group that past through my room was 12.  It was a really relaxing way to spend the day, and enjoy the children of the school in smaller sessions.  After two and a half hours of rotations we all met in the gym and then Santa Claus showed up.  Everyone got to visit with him and he provided a chocolate Santa to each of them.  Then the party began and the kids feasted on all the treats they had brought from home.  After school I went for coffee with Valerie, a teacher from school.  She shared a bit of her part of Melbourne with me.  It was really nice to be able to chat with her one on one without the distractions of work.  It was a really good visit.

Thursday we had another busy day at work, but managed to sneak in a bit of movie time for the children too (thanks Praniv for bringing in the Mr. Bean DVD).  After work there was the official school goodbye get together in the staff room.  A lot of people are leaving the staff this year – two are retiring, five have taken jobs at other schools, and I’m heading back to Canada.  It was a pretty sad time as staff members spoke kindly about those that were leaving.  Di spoke about me and presented me with my gift. It was quite funny actually because I had been approached earlier in the week about my gift.  They didn’t want to get me something that would add weight to my luggage (trust me I did that all by myself) but they needed some information from me in order to provide my gift.  Can you guess what my gift was?  It was a voucher for my transportation to the airport in the wee hours on Monday morning (I didn’t want to ask anyone to have to drive me so early in the morning).  Too funny eh yet so practical.  It was also very generous considering I’ve only been there for one year. I was supposed to speak to the staff but I just couldn’t do it and I knew that it would just open up a flood of emotions and tears.  I did manage a thank you but that was about all I could do.  After the staff get together Julie and I headed to Victoria Street for some Vietnamese food.

Friday was the last day of work and it was a really emotionally tough day for so many reasons.  The tears started first thing in the morning and they were on and off all day long.  While I’ve complained about many things about the teaching aspect of this year, I have met and made some really good friends too.  Many have been so generous towards me all week long.  I’ve received cards with kind words and I’ve been blown away by the extremely thoughtful gifts that they have individually presented to me.  Each one, as they presented my gift, would make a comment about its weight and that hopefully it wasn’t too heavy.  It made me giggle.  The gifts mean a lot to me though and I know the memories of the friendships will be with me forever.  (I’m pretty certain I WILL have some Aussie visitors in the next year or two too).

The last day with my students was also pretty tough.  At the end of every school year I have a hard time saying goodbye because I make so many great connections with my students.  But typically in Canada I know I’ll see most of my students wandering the school the following year.  Obviously in Australia I may not ever see them again.  Throughout the week I was presented with hand made cards and books, and some very thoughtful “Aussie” gifts from my students.  Both the children and the parents wrote some really kind words in my cards too.  My class and I had a really good final day.  It started with our class awards ceremony and it was so cool so see their faces when their names were called up to receive their awards.  It was great to hear the good that the children had written about one another.  We did some other fun activities and the children watched a bit more of Mr. Bean.  It was a day full of hugs and tears.  Finally at 1:15 we met outside for our final assembly. We said goodbye to our year sixes and goodbye to the staff.  The school year was officially over.

The empty classroom part one.

The empty classroom part two.

After the assembly the staff met in the staff room for the year end luncheon. It was a catered affair with a wide selection of tasty foods.  By this time in the day I was pretty quiet and feeling very emotional.  This was it, the end of the school year in Australia.  A lot was going through my mind and I really couldn’t talk because I knew that if I even tried to open my mouth that I would cry.  Saying goodbye to so many good people, and such wonderful students made me cry.

As most of you are aware this has been the most stressful teaching year of my life.  Obviously some of the stress came from the fact that I was in a foreign country without any family or friends, without any of my teaching resources or colleagues, in a system that is quite different from what I left behind.  But children are children and I can teach children in all situations. My biggest source of stress was from the school itself, and the amount of change it went through during this one year.  It wasn’t a “normal” year for this school.  They haven’t had a “normal” year since their last long term principal left just AFTER the paper work for this exchange was signed off.  This school has been in disarray for the past 18 months and I got to be part of 12 months of it.  My exchange partner picked a good time to go on exchange, and I was the unlucky one to work through the turmoil.  Knowing that this stress was finally over made me cry.

There are still many more changes to come for the school under the leadership of the latest long term principal but thankfully I don’t have to be around for them. I managed to get out of the school with a tissue or two left, and no bruises from the big hugs I gave and received.  I spent the rest of Friday night dealing with my luggage.  I can’t believe how much I’ve accumulated this year.  I’m supposed to leave things behind so that I can make room for the new things but I’m not ready to part with most of my stuff.  I did give away some of my clothing and shoes to one of my students (yes, she’s a big (not heavy just big in size) girl and has the same size feet as mine) but I still have way too much to pack.  So, Friday night I filled another box to post back to Canada.

Saturday I was up early and met my first Aussie friend for breakfast.  Tim is my exchange partner’s friend that picked me up from the airport when I first arrived back in January.  It was really nice to catch up with him.  From there I snooped in the “hood” some more before I returned home for a few hours of cleaning.  Saturday night I headed down to Elwood to have an amazing roast lamb dinner with all the fixings with Julie and her family.  It was a wonderful way to spend my final Saturday night in Melbourne.

Julie's daughter Ella, being Ella ;-) ,  and I

Today, once this blog is written, I am taking myself out for brunch again.  I have some places around the city that I want to visit one last time.  I have the last bit cleaning to do and the last bit of laundry.  But really, I’m just about ready to start my journey home.

If you’ve read this far then you really must be reading my blogs.  Some of you have asked me if I’ll keep writing my blog when I get back to Canada.  Part of me would love to and another part of me isn’t so sure.  So I’m curious if any of you would keep reading this blog even when the Aussie fun and adventure is over.  Feel free to post a comment, or just e-mail me directly.