Quilt Extravaganza

Today Laetitia took me to a quilt show in Cleveland. It was held at the Redland Performing Arts Centre (in the same place, I think, as my Senior Dinner back in 1991). Some of the quilts were amazing—intricate details, creative ideas, all kinds of sizes and patterns. My personal favourite was one made by a mum for her son. It had these fantastic comic strips with the boy being a hero, along with exciting designs of space travel, dragons, and fishing (apparently the five-year-old boy likes going fishing).

But an additional highlight of the day for me was seeing there an old English teacher from high school, Anne Green. (Hmm, and here I need a Shakespearean quote about teachers or teaching. Ideas?)

Reflections on Easterfest 2010

Laetitia took me to Easterfest this year. She's a regular goer, since before it changed its name, and has been wanting to take me along for years. This year I finally let her take me along.

We camped with friends from Mackay, in a borrowed tent. Well, when I say “we camped”, actually only Laetitia camped in the tent. I found on the first night that I was getting an allergic reaction to something in the tent, so I spent the nights in the car instead. But it was good to be in the midst of hundreds of tents, with many friends around. I especially enjoyed the discovery directly across from us of the tent of Benoir (I hope that spelling's right), one of the leaders on the year 9 camp I went to not long before Easter!

I also enjoyed running into so many friends walking around at Easterfest—old friends, new friends and students. With special thanks to Lily for the warm welcoming greeting within barely a minute of entering the gate!

But the point of Easterfest is the music, so I'd better say something about that, hey?

First let me start with what I didn't like: Too much noise without musicality, mostly from one tent in particular. But there were plenty of very good alternatives. I liked Sons of Korah, of course, and Newsboys on the main stage (even though there's only one Aussie left, and he's apparently not an original member either). Also enjoyed some of the other groups on the main stage (though not all of them). But I think my favourites were the “smaller” (lesser-known?) artists in venues like the YWAM Chai Circle, with its lovely relaxed atmosphere and intimate setting, and the jazz in the Hammered Silver tent. Bel Morrison and her band made some awesome music in the YWAM tent—and I'm not just saying that because she's my friend! They played really well together, with delicacy and musicality and, well, just actually listening to each other and playing as a group instead of trying to drown each other out like so many others.

I also enjoyed sessions by Jeff Crabtree and Steve Grace in the Vision Arena. Steve Grace in particular inspired me to think quite differently about how to be generous with some of my gifts.

So, overall, a positive experience, but I'm still not sure I want to go back next year. Cold, crowds, and uncomfortable nights are less than enticing.

It's been a while… Sorry.

I've been so busy. And I haven't written here for ages. But my head is buzzing with ideas—not just for here, but also for my photography blog. And although I'm still vacillating, I think I really do want to sell my photos.

School has been … full-on. I'm now teaching year 12 Physics (in addition to the year 11 class) instead of year 7 PE. Which I think is an improvement! I'm enjoying the rotation through the classes in year 10 Science; I'm getting to know all of the year 10s (well, three classes so far, and the last class next term).

I've also enjoyed being a leader on a Scripture Union camp over the winter holidays. And last weekend Laetitia and I went up to Mackay for the Student Festival of Fashion—and to see old friends. Catching Bel Morrison at our church there was a special surprise!

Should I write more detailed posts about any of these? Let me know…

Year 9 camp

Just got back from three days in the bush with seventeen year 9 boys (plus a year 12 mentor and two camp leaders). Can you imagine spending three days with a group of teenage boys and no showers?

It was actually quite fun. The camp was at Meebunn-bia (which means “in the company of an eagle”) near Rathdowney, and the place is run as an adventure camp. Our year 9 cohort was split into five groups (three of boys and two of girls). My group did quite a bit of hiking, as well as a hoop pine climb, belayed-climb-based obstacle course, high ropes courses and a 150 metre flying fox. Many of the boys found it quite challenging—facing their fears as much as the physical aspects. Camping overnight meant making tents out of two tarps and a rope between trees, and preparing and cooking dinner with food they'd carried up on their backs. Toilets were a mix of hole-in-the-ground and composting toilets.

It was good to see some of the boys really growing as they faced and overcame their fears.

Term 1 at a new school

Phew! Term 1 is finished.

My new school is quite similar to the one I left in Mackay: both Christian, about the same size, K-12. If anything, the students here are more obedient, although not necessarily less lazy.

I'm teaching Physics and Maths A in year 10 and 11, plus an odd mix of other things - year 9 ICT and Christian Foundations, and a year 7 PE class!

I'm not sure what else to talk about here, so feel free to ask questions…

Renting a house in Brisbane

To all those well-meaning people who told me that the rental market in Brisbane has become “pretty bad”, and that it is now “quite hard” to find a place to rent, I have one thing to say: With all due respect, you have no idea!

I went to Brisbane for a few days last week, to look for somewhere for us to live in 2010. I spent most of my first day there, Wednesday, driving around Kingston, Loganlea, Waterford and Loganholme getting rather demoralised because the only place I managed to see the inside of had mouldy ceilings (we're trying to escape all that!). Nevertheless, on Thursday I started in Eagleby, and I found three places that would suit us very well and a handful of others we could live with, scattered around these suburbs. On Friday I saw yet another really nice house.

So we put in applications for our favourite four to three real estate agents, and I flew back to Brisbane on Saturday with a reasonable hope that we'd be approved for at least one of them. Today (Wednesday) we were approved for the place I saw on Friday, in Loganlea. We've just signed the lease (by email-print-sign-scan-email back, because the quality is better that way than by fax).

Seriously: If you want to experience a hard rental market, move to Mackay. It took us two months to find a place to rent here, and in the end we only got this house by word of mouth, not through real estate agents or advertising. (And if you want to see just how bad renting can get, try Moranbah, where a three-bedroom house costs at least $600 a week.)

However, I am glad I went to look during the week. On Saturday morning I inspected a house in Loganlea. We had to go through in groups of three because the tenants were still there. I was in the second group. There were still people driving up when I came out! (In comparison, when we first moved to Mackay, Laetitia was going through rental houses in groups of about ten, and there would be at least four such groups looking at each place.)

Thank-yous after three years

Perhaps one really does have to leave to get people to actually say “thank you”. Certainly I've received more thanks than usual at the end of this year.

My fellow maths and science teachers signed a card for me, and pooled contributions to get me a gift of a couple of games: Tantrix and Rush Hour. The former I'm enjoying already; the latter I plan to use in my classroom. Both are about building logical and spatial reasoning skills.

I also received many thank-you cards from students. I thought I'd share a few of their nice comments. They have honoured me greatly with their kind words.

In first term this year I taught Maths B in year 11, but then the classes were reorganised and I switched to teaching Maths A instead. There were a few students in that Maths B class who I continued to help with their maths in after-school tutoring—and many other times when they asked! It seems some of them still think of me as their maths teacher:

I was a private maths tutor to one student since the end of last year. In our tutoring sessions, as well as working on maths, we discussed many topics including dealing with stress, time management, careers and life after school, … and we prayed together.

When I was studying to be a teacher, I was warned that I wouldn't see some of the best fruits of my work for years. Here's (part of) a lovely letter from one student who I first taught two years ago, and then again this year:

But I will finish with a short note written for me at the end of the last day of school. Rushed, unprompted, but so meaningful to me:

On practicum during my studies, my mentors and lecturers were always commenting on my apparent passion for my subject. I really wanted them to be commenting on my love for my students. But it's very hard to build up that kind of relationship in the context of a four-week prac. Now, three years into my teaching, and with God's constant help and guidance, it seems I'm finally getting somewhere.

Thank you, Father, for an amazing three years. Thank you for all that you've taught me about being a good teacher. Thank you for the lovely encouraging words from my students. Thank you for allowing me to be such a big part of their lives, and for encouraging and growing their passion for and enjoyment of learning through me.