We’ve just been drowning in a sea of work this week. Admissions tests have created a few mountains of pain on my desk at school and though it is anathema to me, I even went in on the weekend, did some work there and brought some papers home! This is not good! Memories of Grammar test and report time came flooding back and it was an unpleasant memory to say the least. Cass was a great support to me and read out endless lists of numbers while I graded the papers.
I set off to school this morning early, with a firm plan to prioritize my jobs and then methodically and quickly attack them one by one. This afternoon I’m pondering why I don’t do this more often! My desk is polished clean, revealing a panorama of Merewether beach that I haven’t seen for months and the task list, while not completed, has certainly diminished. I wasn’t going to write at all this week, morosely thinking that I had far too much to do. Not only can I write, but a heavy weight seems to have been lifted off my shoulders….I must do the same thing for the next few days. One reason to get things done has been the looming and distasteful prospect of going on the annual 3rd grade camp this Thursday and Friday. Although just two days and a night, most of the team hate it with a passion and I find it quite the worst time of the year. We have cabins of a fashion, but they’re stinky, little, non-ventilated holes and sharing with another adult who you barely know and a fidget of squirming over-stimulated little kiddies is definitely not my preferred accommodation! I’ve never been a camper and I think this experience over the last 4 years has completely cured me of the vague, fleeting and romantic visions I have of this pursuit. Give me my own bed, or at least my own room, any time you like!
I could wallow in misery for the remainder of this letter, but, as always, it is certainly all relative. Taking a reality check, both Cass and I often comment that the worst days at work here probably equate to an average day in our previous working lives. Talking generally about lives, we sometimes find ourselves marveling at the distinct two lives we lead. Our Newcastle life is as far removed from our Taipei life as it could possibly be. We have a group of close friends here whom we know well and enjoy, yet it’s great to arrive back in Newcastle every six months or so and people have barely noticed you have gone. When we think of what we’ve done and where we’ve been in those intervening months, it boggles the mind. Our home here, with cats and friends and work and play is becoming more real for us than our time back home: people expect us to be here, while we get a stronger impression each time we’re back in Australia that we’re just visiting. Weird eh? However, that doesn’t mean we’re not coming back!! We often talk about our return and what we’ll do etc………..it’s why we’re here.
The Pointy Hat Surf Club is going from strength to strength! The boys have embraced the concept and we’re having a lot of fun with it. If you haven’t seen it yet, or want an update check this out. We got some fantastic surf on Saturday, sandwiched between a flat Friday and Sunday. The surf is so fickle here; I suppose that’s why we drive the winding mountain road for an hour each way as often as we can…..just in case it’s going off! The Pointy Hat boys are meeting at Aaron’s tomorrow night where they will be presented with their hat. Ross and I nearly gave a street seller in Jinshan the other day a heart attack when we bought a dozen of them!
Well, just four more blogs before I have a couple of months off. Cass and I can nearly taste that Ridge Street burger and that Australian Chinese food!!