Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Last Day at Greenwood P.S.

Today is definitely one to remember. I’ll start this post off by talking about yesterday first. The day started off pretty normal but the kids were just coming up to me and smiling and then walking off giggling and Liv said, “Miss Boehme, I am very excited about something that is happening today” I didn’t really know how to respond but I was thinking they were planning something pretty special. During morning news, Kerri-Anne’s class came into our room and all the kids yelled Surprise! It was funny because I didn’t really know what they were surprising me with so Kerri-Anne said, “who would like to tell Miss Boehme why we are saying surprise?” Of course, Danny was the first to put his hand up and he said, “We would like to have a surprise lunch for you because we are going to miss you when you leave.” It brought tears to my eyes and I knew that I couldn’t lose it then because I still had another day! Anyway, the day was pretty cruisey and we had a lunch with TA 8 and 9. TA means teaching area and they say that instead of room number. It was a lovely lunch and all of the kids from both classes brought something in for it. So that was the highlight of yesterday but then today was a day of many tears.
This morning Kerri Anne picked me up as usual and we headed to school for the last day of the term. I made some Star Student Certificates for the kids for being such great students for me and I put some sparkly pens and cool erasers in a bag for them, which they loved! It took a while for me this morning to print them, cut them and laminate them. They were on A5 sheet of paper which is about ½ a sheet. Anyway, the morning was easy peasy because the kids made Easter baskets for the Easter bunny to come this afternoon. Tanika wrote me a note that said, “Miss Boehme, I’m not sure if they have Easter in America but Happy Easter anyway”. So after the morning of Easter card making and all that, we had morning tea. This was the first break down of three that I had today. They had decorated the staff room in Australian flags and had Aussie animals and everyone was in there to have a farewell morning tea for me. It was lovely and so nice of them. So we are just happily eating away and chatting and then Ian, the principal, gets up to say a few words. As he is talking, I just can’t hold it in and I am trying my hardest but I start crying and then when I am saying a few words I start crying even more and then the staff start crying and it really made me realize how they have been my family since I have been here and I really will miss them a lot. I have spent majority of time at the school because we usually get there at 7 am and don’t leave until after 5 most days. I have had pilates with them every Tuesday, been to a staff dinner, and of course Friday afternoon drinks is always special. I have enjoyed getting to know all of them, but I have spent the most time with Kerri-Anne with car rides, trips to the shops, and road trips with her brother, Mat. She has been my Aussie BFF and I am so thankful that I have met her. I reckon we will stay in touch and maybe she’ll come to AL one day! So after morning tea I went to each of the classrooms to say good bye to the students. I went to the Year 6/7 class first and as I was saying good bye to them I started crying again. I don’t really know why because I haven’t spent much time with them at all, but Georgia and Luke are the Head Girl and Boy of the school and I have gotten to know them pretty well because they are the student leaders. Luke brought me a box of chocolates and a card and Georgia came to say good bye again at the end of the day. They are wonderful leaders and I am so happy I got to meet them as well.   I guess seeing them in the class brought the tears to my eyes, but when I said my goodbyes to the other classes, I was alright. But then when I came back to my class, they presented me with quite a few gifts. They all signed a uniform shirt for me, the framed a class picture, and got me lots of Aussie Souvenirs. I was crying as I was opening the gifts and Owain said, “Miss Boehme, you need to stop crying because you’re going to make me cry.” They are such a wonderful class and it makes me teary eyed typing this and thinking back on the last 12 weeks with them. I am so thankful that I decided to come here for my student teaching because I have gained so much more than I would have if I stayed in Auburn. Not that I wouldn’t have loved it, I know I would have, but I have learned so much more being here and I feel like I have grown from this experience.
I have just finished packing most of things, and I am looking forward to relaxing tomorrow before I have the longest day of my life. Tomorrow I am meeting Kelsey in the city for breakfast. I don’t know if I told you about Kelsey but I met her on the plane ride over here. She has just recently graduated from Notre Dame and is studying at University of Western Australia for her masters. We sat next to each other on the plane ride over here and exchanged contact info so we could stay in touch while we were here. We haven’t been able to see each other again but we are planning to do so tomorrow since it is my last weekend. She will be here for the next 2 years and will most likely move here because her boy friend is here. She came here in 2008 to study abroad and met him here and decided to do her masters here. Pretty cool story. Anyway, I’m having breakfast with her and then meeting Kerri Anne for lunch then having a BBQ at Jan’s with Tracy’s family and then John will pick me up at 3:30am for my flight home!
I think this will be my last post until I return to the states. I hope you all have enjoyed reading about my adventures in WA. Thank you all for your love, prayers, and support. Love to all.
Psalm 107:8
P.S. Can you figure out this code?            9.71520.1325.1415195.169518354.

1 comment:

  1. Tomorrow!!! And for the rest of the day I will probably be trying to figure out the code. LOVE YOU!

    ReplyDelete