The most emotional month I have had in a VERY long time...

Welcome to March!!

Boy let me tell you it has been one bumpy ride.... All I can say is sorry PETE!! I have been an emotional puddle of salty tears for the majority of this month…

The month started off strong, I had my first interview for a teaching position on the phone and then as soon as I hung up from that interview I got a call for an interview for a different school. We scheduled that one for March 13th. 

The rest of the week leading up to the interview was a bit of a roller coaster that plummeted off the tracks at the end...It started off with a call to teach again, same school as before, this time grade 4’s. The call came through at 8:30 and school started at 8:50… fun right?! Well I got there and there was nothing for me, no plan, no keys, nothing…. After some initial panic and then a quick talk with the deputy as well as the next-door classroom teacher I made the day work… They were amazing! The best class and we had so much fun. (This is the start of the roller coaster where you are enjoying life as it is climbing up and up and you get to look around at the view)

The next day I got a call to go back into that same grade 6 class that nearly broke me! Oh boy! But of course I took it. (This is when the roller coaster drops and you scream but it is still fun…) At around 2 in the afternoon I started to realize that maybe the brakes on this roller coaster were quite possibly broken. The Students had chewed me up and spit me back out again... it was tough. I was reminding myself that I have had no time to make connections; I have to accept that there is just no respect in the classroom (to one another or the teacher). And most of all remember that I am a SUBSTITUTE… and this is how I remember peers in middle school treating them… so I guess it’s fair?

I felt like I exhausted every resources or tool I had to try and get through the day, and when I brought it up with their vice principle I got a "oh we will handle it when their REAL teacher is back".  Needless to say, it has just been absolutely nothing like what I expected... To cut a long story short… this is where the roller coaster went off the tracks and SMASHED into a wall…. (With me still on it). Other events unfolded and it took everything out of me… to the point where I should have been nervous/planning/excited about my interview yet all I could do was curl up in bed a cry. 

Thank you to Mom, Rach, Kayla and Kerissa for being a shoulder to lean on...With the help of technology! 

After Mom helping me get my head in the right spot for this interview I went in and ABSOLUTELY CRUSHED IT!

I had never felts so on top of the world when walking out of that interview…. It wasn’t necessarily that I was a perfect candidate to interview, but more along the lines of I could really be myself and talk candidly and freely. It just went amazing and it felt like a school that really believes in everything I do.

I was very hopeful and YET trying to keep my excitement under control because if anything it could just be my first interview of many, many more to come.  

HOWEVER…

I was pushed into recovery from my roller coaster crash and pulled out of my Eeyore rain cloud by receiving the BEST PHONE CALL EVER.

THE JOB IS MINE!

So… the deets…. It is a grade 4 class starting April 16th after their Easter Holidays and I will be finishing off at the end of the school year on December 6th. I am beyond excited and also nervous in a good way. I get to meet the class for 3 days before the holidays start and work with their existing teacher on Monday the 26^th through to Wednesday the 28^th. So we will just leave that little nugget of gold as it is… and ill update as more news arrives!

Other News…

ED SHEERAN CONCERT TONIGHT!! The 12-year-old fan girl inside of me is doing back-flips!

Until Next Time… and hopefully less emotional and more positive….UGH ADULT-ING IS HARD!

Cheers

-B

Part 2

January

Lets see……… I attempted to recover from Christmas holiday chaos at work by working more…. All while waiting (very impatiently I might add) for my teaching license to get approved… But I applied right before school holidays started and I figured not a lot of approval work would be getting done in December.

I got the amazing news that I could teach in Australia just before school started up! By this time I was more than ready to get the show on the road… considering I left Canada at the absolute worst time……SO MANY TEACHING POSITIONS… (what was I thinking!!)

Throughout January (once works slowed down) I had some pretty cool experiences… My lovely friend Mic took Pete and I out for a beach day while it was 40 flippin degrees!!! And the trusting, sweet soul that he is let me drive his big beautiful truck on the beach!! I WAS SO NERVOUS! It was really neat… kind of felt like driving on snow… but at the same time worrying that a giant wave was going to come and I would get us bogged in the soft sand… needless to say, driving on the beach is now ticked off my bucket list!!

I also experienced my first Australia Day (not sure how I feel about celebrating it yet, but hey each country has their skeletons in their closets… we all know Canada has a fair few). That was a good one too, spent the WHOLE DAY drinking in the pool in January…. still weird!

Umm and yeah that is about it for January other than it being HOT and humid and I whined and complained a lot….. And spent the majority of my time in my undies… (When I wasn’t in public that is!)

DA DAN NAHHHH February… Birthday Month!!

To kick off the month I had a once in my lifetime concert experience! The one and only ROGER WATERS! (Pink Floyd member…. For those who do not know the legend!) It was AMAZING and sappy ol’ Brenna over here cried at the first strum of the guitar that kicked off the concert…I was so happy that my dad took the time to instill great music into my life and it brought back loads of memories!!

We also were blessed with a new member of the family (a little nephew)…. He surprised us by coming 3 weeks early but I think it is because he couldn't wait to meet the world and his lovely mamma and daddy!

After all that excitement more kept coming!!

I got my first call to substitute teach! It was a super late call, and I was nervous and running around like a chicken with my head cut off. But I got to the school with about 40 minutes to organize my self and read the teachers notes. Grade 6 class and for the most part it went sweet. I got lots once… and had to ask another teacher for some directions because all the classes are separate buildings here…. We had a pretty good day and I only had to raise my voice once… you know pushing the Sub is just what you do… especially in grade 6…

I missed the call for the next day and was super pissed at myself…. Phone will never go on silent for bedtime again!!

But they called me Tuesday afternoon and asked if I would cover the class for the rest of the week because the teacher was out with a concussion… Chalking it up to 4 full days substituting!! (Happy Dancing)

Wednesday was AWFUL! And they almost made me cry (not in front of them of course… Must. Not. Show. Fear!) However as soon as they all left for the day I was pretty down hearted… I had some lovely words of wisdom from one of my mentors as well as, a quote popped up from J.K Rowling that helped… “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.”

Thursday I went back in their pretending like nothing at all happened… they weren’t absolute rude, disrespectful, little shits… no not them!!!….. And we had a great last 2 days of working together.

From then I haven’t received any more calls but they have only just been at school now 6 weeks… so I am hopping after Easter break the calls will come.

For my birthday I spent it with some of Pete’s family. I drank wine and ate cake and was with family…. It felt just like a birthday at home… except for the fact I was in shorts!!!!

The Saturday after my birthday Pete and I celebrated just us, with markets, more wine, and ribs! All and all a great birthday!

We also booked tickets home for Ms. Amy McCallum’s Wedding!!!

ANDDDDDDDD……. to finish of the spectacular month….. Pete got a job and had his first day of work using his Graphic Design degree!!! WOOOOOO!

Needless to say February was good!

 And we are all caught up, until next time… (hopefully not that long of a break)  

Xoxox

-B

Long Overdue Collaboration Post (November/December)

So, I promise I haven’t been ignoring you all. Two/three things have stopped me from writing a blog post. 

1. My computer isn’t really mine anymore… 

2. I have been flat out busy! 

And 3. Not much has happened to be honest.

I am going to break this post into two separate posts for the sole purpose of not killing you with length.

November 

Has come and gone. During that month work really started to pick up, I got a lovely Brisbane visit from my friend Natasha and…. drum roll please…PETE GRADUATED!! Yippy! Now we both have student loan debt…let the EVEN less of a social life (If that was possible) begin, because we are stinking broke!

I had a wonderful family catch up with Chase as he traveled my way on his visit to Australia. It was great to hear my own accent again!!!

We had lots of beach days and few hikes; all and all November was a success….

See why I didn’t write…. Not a lot happened…

DECEMBER!!

I started blasting Christmas music from about November 20^th. I decorated with some lights and stockings annnnndddd watched a boatload of Christmas movies (I was trying to counter act my anti Christmas spirit due to the hot weather and lack of snow) IT WORKED. I even made (well tried to) make Pete watch A Muppets Christmas Carol, a number 1 classic that you cannot have Christmas without… and let me tell you it did not fly. HE WAS NOT A FAN just makes me wonder what kind of sick childhood he had without the Muppets in his life (no offence to you Helen J)…. Needless to say I will be watching that one alone in the years to come!!

Other than that December was an absolute blur…. I was working doubles 6/7 days a week and trying to stay hydrated.

We had a lovely Christmas though, with the whole family spending time in the pool and watching cricket (which I surprisingly enjoy).

Oh yeah!

Our house flooded and I cried at work!! How could I’ve forgotten!!!!

Lets begin from the beginning shall we… like most people we all have fears, most of you know I have A LOT, deep water, the dark, scary movies and thunderstorms just to name a few. Well living in hot, humid Australia and being afraid of thunderstorms don’t really mix…. So here is what happened, we had about a week or so of stinking hot weather, now up until this point there had been some storms and I survived but nothing quite like this. I left Pete and his friend Parker at home drinking beer and went off to work, it was a Saturday night and the restaurant was full! Now as the storm clouds and the rain started to roll in, like any good server would, I warned my tables of my fear…. Telling them that if I squealed their table just to ignore me and I would be fine! BOY WAS I WRONG!!! So the storm was in full force, lights flickering, huge cracks of thunder and massive bolts of lightning shooting across the sky. As I was at the service pass grabbing food that was ready to be brought to a table THE BIGGEST CRACK OF THUNDER I HAVE EVER HEARD SHOOK THE WHOLE RESTAURANT. I let out this strange yelp/scream/squeal, the chef kind of laughed and carefully took the plate to the customer and hardly made it back behind the bar before I BURST into tears!

After many laughs from the kitchen and staff… this is where I stayed for the rest of the night. Breathing heavily, shaking and trying to keep myself together. Pete sent me a message knowing I would be in all sorts of trouble asking if I was okay and informing me that they were up to ankle deep water. GREAT! I stayed behind the bar until the restaurant settled down (with no outside seating there is no need for four servers) then I headed home… when I got there it looked like the outside was inside…. But the boys had cranked up the punk rock and kept the water and damage under control!

Needless to say that was an experience….

thankfully we had videos to show the owners, the came and cleaned the gutters… and fingers crossed we haven’t flooded again… I also haven’t cried at work again… Winning all around!

Tune in shortly for January and February’s minimal adventures…

Cheers

-B