Practicum

I was really looking forward to my two weeks of prac starting next week. It’s not going to happen. Apparently there were too many of us for placement in Launceston. Once having made the decision to postpone my prac until the end of this year instead I wrote an email to the placement office on Sunday just gone.

It’s now Tuesday morning and I thought I better check the email had been received so I rang. So glad I did, she was about to send my name out to a school as a potential student, no guarantee as yet. I then had to make the decision all over again, but decided that my original decision to postpone was best for now. So, prac will wait for four months, I will do it up here in Victoria, I get two weeks of holiday and my family get me for an extra two weeks (including school holiday time). Much less stressful than wondering whether I was going or not.

Uni 2010

I’ve finished Uni for 2010. Yay!!! I actually did it. I haven’t got all my results back yet, but am thinking that if I judge by the ones I have got back already that I should pass. This means I’m 3/4 the way through first year. Not bad, not bad. I’m happy at this point to say I have approximately (depending on life, the universe and everything) five more years of study to go and then I will be a teacher. It seems like a long time, but in fact that last year was phenomenally quick.

What I’m more scared about is the fact that I have about five months off between semesters and my brain might turn to mush in the middle of that and I’ll have to work out how to use it all over again come end of Feb 2011. However, a voice in my head, and it sounds a lot like Marco, is saying, “That’s February Amanda, worry about it then.” It’s really sad when the voice in my head uses my full name. I think it might mean I’m really in trouble… you can decide if it’s because the voice or the name.

Image: br3akthru / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Dig Tree

The Dig Tree by Sarah Murgatroyd

I’m really liking this account of our bizarre history.

To stress or not to stress…

It’s the last week of Semester 1 for me. This time next week I will be traveling into Melbourne to do my exam. One of my girls asked me whether I would now be a teacher, the joy of an innocent mind.

The question, to stress or not to stress? I go through bouts of both. They tell me stress is a good tool for getting the adrenalin pumping through my veins, so I’ve made that my plan. I feel happy with the knowledge I’ve retained, but still wonder if it’s enough, and have thoughts like “Aghhhhh I haven’t done enough!”

I will therefore let the waves of stress come, use them as best I can (hoping they don’t get the better of me), and breath for the 4 weeks I have until it all starts again. Maybe I should just look forward to having a clean house and being able to catch up with friends for a coffee. Nice.

Birthday’s are Great!

My new phone

Ha ha!!! Said like you’d imagine Wesley in the Princess Bride would say it.

It was M’s birthday yesterday and I got a new phone too. How cool is that; I get presents on someone else’s birthday. Although, with this present we’ve got to pay the bill at the end of each month. Oh well.

Now the joy of working out how to do all the cool things I can with this new gadget!

BTW he also got guitar hero Van Halen, and I made cheesecake; for all of you who were worried about making sure he felt special.

Week 4 and still excited

I’m really pleased to let you all know that I’ve reached Week 4 and I’m still liking this Uni thing. I know that I haven’t yet had to put an assessment in (that will be next week), and no exams as yet, but I’ve been anticipating some greater anxiety than I have been going through (on a % scale I would say I’ve been at around 20% stress levels, and was anticipating somewhere around 90%). I can honestly put it down to the great start UTAS have given me. Their UniStart course was really well done, and in particular, my tutor was great (Thanks Peta!).

Part of my joy is that I received credits for electives in Year 1 and Year 4, which basically gives me the equivalent of 1/2 a years worth of work done (noice!). Yay for Bible College Diploma’s!

I will also be a class helper as of Tuesday this week in a Primary School. No real teaching yet, but I am really looking forward to seeing others do it, and helping the children with their work.

PS: If you don’t know me and you are wondering why I use a lot of paragraphs in my typing, then just know that I’m typing exactly the way I speak, and I speak with paragraphs. Oh well, we all have our own odd behaviours (but I tend to like mine ).

The start of something new…

Wow, it’s now late Feb 2010 and I haven’t blogged for what seems like ages. I’ve been on a trip to the top end, got through Term 4, had  a great Christmas at the beach with my family and, well, my family, have changed jobs, and lost a job, and am now looking for another job, sent both children off to school, and have started University for the first time in my life in my 4th decade of existence (no I’m still in my 30′s for those who are having trouble calculating that). I will breathe now as that was a long sentence with really bad grammar.

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My new Tent

After waiting a month for a tent I bought on ebay, and then receiving the wrong tent, we were looking forward to physically shopping for our tent for the Sept trip to Arnhem Land.

So today we went to Anaconda , just to look. We thought they had run out of our chosen model of tent, but in the back we found an ex-demo model for a very, very beautiful discount.

Now I have a tent that both M & I can fit into! YAY!

Perspective

I love when you have those aha moments, when the perspective allows you to gain freedom and reclaim joy where things may have seemed hopeless. Most of the time the situation doesn’t actually change, but simply the outlook adjusts your world view.

Life is not about how much is going on around me, that would go on no matter what. It’s what I do with what happens around me that makes  it possible to keep stepping forward with a smile, or to feel the need to simply sit and cry, or sometimes to do a little of both.

What I find hardest to do, but so easy when I remember to do it, is to remember that no matter what happens, I’m never alone. The beauty of being a Christian is that I know where ever I am, whatever is going on, whatever I think of myself, that no matter what, God loves me and thinks I’m great, but more importantly, God loves whoever is around me and thinks they are great too. My job, is to love him back and accept his perspective, even when I can’t fathom it.

Thanks God.