Week Twelve Term Four

Don and his family.

Tow prep kids who liked to follow me at recess time.

The teachers sending off the grade 6's.

The grade 6's releasing balloons with their wishes inside.

The lunch provided by the admin.

The party continues at Leora's house.

Nigel having too much fun.

Leora and Adam, who hosted.

Claire and I share one final moment.

December 19-20th

The last two days of school. Monday about a third of the kids didn't show up because they already had their reports and a number of them go to France or somewhere else for the holidays. There is no PA day here for teachers to clean up their rooms or close for the year, so I gave Claire the day off and took all of the remaining kids from both of our classes and showed them the movie Holes, which they loved. We spent a bit of time comparing the movie to the book.

Don, Nigel and I went for lunch again at the Chinese restaurant and this time we were joined by Jim. We had a good yack about the school and all of our plans.

At the end of the day they had an assembly to send off the grade sixes. The teachers lined up on two sides as the students came down between us and shook our hands as we congratulated them. Then they performed two dances they did at their graduation last week. Then they released balloons that had their wishes for the future inside.

That night Don invited me over for dinner one last time with his family. It was great to see Veronique (Vera) again and their children Alex, Christopher and Jennifer. We had a good time talking about travel and school over dinner.

Tuesday morning Claire finished up a couple of things with the kids before recess and then we had our final team planning time after recess and basically everyone went and finished up in their rooms. Then the kids were dismissed at lunch time and the administration provided a lunch of wraps, desserts and wine. After the lunch some of the staff participated in a Kris Kringle gift exchange like my Boxing Day Party.

I took advantage of the time and drove to the Avenue Bookstore to spend the gift certificate that the parents gave me. I bought three books that I have to find space in my bags for. Then I drove to Vicroads to get information on how to sell my car in Brisbane.

The final event was a staff party at Leora's. It wasn't well attended but was fun. It was a cool night but after Anne-Cecile pushed Nigel in the pool a few others went in. Claire showed up just before I left and we had one last chat and hug. I will miss her, she was a great working partner.

That's it! The teacher exchange part of the year is over. I can't believe how fast the last term went by. I enjoyed my time here although I wouldn't want to work here full time.