Good things in term 3

I’m a first year teacher teaching in the outback. Term 3 was a series of ups and downs but I wasn’t so harried so I had time to enjoy myself and be present. Here are some good things that happened in Term 3.

Variety Bash

The Variety Bash is a charity event where drivers travel around Australia to raise money for disadvantaged children. Anyone can participate in the Variety Bash, as long as they raise $7600 and have a car that is 30 years old. The cars usually get outlandishly decorated for fun and the participants dress in costumes. This year, the group travelled from Melbourne to Darwin. They visit rural towns along the way and my town was one of them.

The children look forward to the event as the Bashers had visited the town before. They bring in a lot of business to the town and it’s good to meet new people. The group stayed in the caravan parks, motels and in people’s homes. I would have liked to have hosted someone but I didn’t have a spare bed. My school hosted the group for breakfast…. all 300 of them. I volunteered to help with breakfast. So on a cold Saturday, we served hot breakfast items such as eggs, bacon and savoury mince as well as toast, muffins, cereals and fruits.

The cars were beautifully decked out, each one having a theme and most seemed to be sponsored by companies. Most of the Bashers were in costume much to the delight of the children. It was like trick or treating in reverse as the adults were dressed up. They handed out treats to all the kids who had come and the children walked away with bags full of goods. Some kids had two or three bags. The kids received sweets and toys. I was given a usb in a shape of a racing car and stickers!

Career Week

The last week of school was career week for the high school students. The juniors had an in school incursion where people from various professions came to visit them. They also visited places in town and did work experience. I was lucky enough to accompany the seniors on a four day excursion out to a major city.  Some of the kids had not much exposure to the outside world and they had their first experience going to restaurants and hotel. We spent our time looking over the universities and colleges as well as taking tours of some companies. It was also a shopping trip as well as we stopped over at malls to have lunch. The children brought a lot of money with them to buy things they couldn’t get back home. On the trip,  I experienced laser tag for the first time! It was fun and I loved running around.

Wedding

I was invited to a country wedding for a staff member. She had a barn wedding and it was gorgeous.  The wedding was held in the backyard followed by a reception in a barn.  The barn was beautifully decorated with fairy lights and there were hessian table settings to suit the country theme.

I am looking forward to next term which will be final one for the year.  I’m looking forward to the end of year activities like Christmas carols, prom and graduation.