Feels bizarre that I’m already writing me 3rd week blog! The time here seems to be going too quick!! I guess as they say, time fly’s when you’re having fun and a good time and I can certainly say I’m enjoying every moment of being over here and especially my placement!
Thursday as usual was the start of this week, I was on day shift with Urte. As usual with the day shift we had to give the homework folders our for each lesson and collect them for the Boarding Students here, which is a pain, when you want to try and be on time for any lesson you’re planning on helping out with that day. During the folder work and after lunch, I spent my time in the Prep and Primary area, with the Prep and Year 1 students. Helping them out at the end of the day to take them to their buses is most probably the funniest but also quite stressful times of the day, when you’re trying to make sure they get the right bus and the walk to there making sure they all stay in line.
Friday I was on day shift again, however instead of spending it all in Primary, I spent the morning before lunch in middle school, as some of the classes in that area are constantly growing and some of the kids can put up quite challenging behavior when they want to. I spent the first couple of hours in Miss Mawire’s class, mainly focusing on helping out a specific student who wasn’t doing any work, until I sat down with him and then he started doing it, with some help and motivation. It’s great when you can get a student who doesn’t try in class, who you know is really a good student, to do their work, without any mistakes especially! Next me and Sarah-Louise went to a different class to help out with maths, its a big eye opener into how these children have lacked so much education, these are middle school children, pretty much Year 8ish ages who’re doing maths work similar to that I had done in my Primary school days. It’s such a shame that a lot of them don’t want to change this either, because they don’t have many role models to aspire to and look up to from their communities, as within these communities education isn’t something that is pushed forward and the importance of good education isn’t told to this kids during their growing up back at home.
Saturday started off quite late, with us all having a bit of a lie-in, before everyone chipping in and making an early afternoon ‘BRUNCH’! Which was actually pretty good and filling haha! We then went into Cairns later on in the day, for a couple of quite drinks, with the sea and sun in view, which was quite good to watch. The bonus was it was Happy Hour where we went and you could also get good quality pizzas for $5aud!!
Sunday was our usual pretty much lazy day, where we just use it to talk to people from home ect.
Monday, we ended up traveling up to our Wangetti Campus, which isn’t currently open as a school at the moment, to set the place up for a memorial that was taking place the day after. There’s some great sites to see along the way, especially when driving right by to the beach front for quite a while! 
They day was pretty intense, moving and arranging 200 chairs, so Morag (our mentor) decided that we were allowed a bit of time to chill afterwards and to go into the swimming pool, which was pretty nice, especially to cool down in the heat! The worst part of this day for me, was having to move 3 plants, with heavy pots from the bottom of the school site, up to where the memorial was taking place, mainly because the tires on this thing we were using to move them was flat and ripping, and it was all uphill, so I was relieved when I put the 3rd one down and was told to leave the rest for some other people to do later on in the day 
The day seemed to go pretty quick, but then again so are most of the days now 
Tuesday, we were able to go to Wangetti again, but this was to help out with the memorial, making sure the guests were ushered to their seats, that there was a constant flow of cups of water coming out to all the guests before the memorial started and also part way through. The memorial was for Lewis Griffiths a pretty well known person here in Australia! He done a lot of work with the Aboriginal culture, helping get a lot of what they wanted across through the use of the media. It was great to be part of this day, because we got to hear bits and pieces of stories his friends and families told about him as a person and also the work he done. What was even more fascinating to see, was the white Australian culture and also the Aboriginal Australian cultures coming together to remember Lewis and the great work he done. A group of students and 5 other volunteers were serving the buffet food out to the guests, whilst I was left in charge of taking picture of the students as part of their Hospitality course, which was pretty good.
The Hospitality students and other volunteers working at Wangetti for Lewis Griffith’s memorial service!
Wednesday, I was on boarding and Club & Culture. In club & Culture, I went to cooking again and helped students make stir fry and I’ve gotta say they done a pretty good job at it. Then boarding started, which was actually the best boarding shift I’ve had to date! It went pretty quick, as there was constantly things to be doing and it makes it better now as I’m starting to get to know more of the students here, which always makes things easier!
Today, I was on day shift again, which consisted of the folder work and then I went to Miss Mawire’s class for the first part of the morning. Then I spent the afternoon in the Prep and Primary area like most afternoons, when I’m on day shift. I first helped out in a class with a new teacher who was teaching her 2nd lesson here to this particular group. It was a hard lesson to get through with a student who didn’t want to participate in the lesson and spent it putting all the books of the shelves on the floor and then I ended up having to constantly take the student off the top of the shelf as they kept climbing on it and then off tables, which was really hard work! After lunch it was good to see the same student actually doing good work for part of it. Due to me helping out with this specific classes in Prep and Primary it’s meant the students have got to know me a bit, so they actually listen when I tell them to be quite and to sit properly (a big percentage of the time) and the teachers trust me with them. It’s great with this age range as you can be silly and have a laugh with them, whilst also being able to maintain a lot of their respect.
As I say every week, I really do enjoy my time here at Djarragun and already knowing I finish here in June doesn’t sound appealing at all! I’d actually love to work in a school with children like that here, because even though it’s challenging, the rewards you can get from the work, when someone does something right ect are priceless! I’d definitely recommend any person to look at doing some form of voluntary work during their life, especially young people who are finishing college, A-levels or University, you can learn a lot about yourself, but also the skills and everything you can learn from being at any placement and the memories you have are worth so much! Not only is the personal experience great, but it’s also great when you can write on University applications about your GAP Year, whether your yet to go on one before Uni, or on your CV when applying for jobs, especially with how competitive it is in many societies to get a job in today’s economic climates around the world, doing something like a GAP Year can make you stand out from everyone else who’s applying for that same job :) Anyway enough rambling on for this week, thanks for taking to time to read my blog/’s.
