People of Kintore

December 13, 2015

People of Kintore - Inkajilly and Mayana......best friends aged 9 or 10, it changes every time I ask them to remind me - sometimes they are even 14! They often check in with me at childcare and are always at the pool. Inkajilly is cheeky, with a wild mop of short curly hair. Mayana is shy with short straight hair that is nearly to her shoulders. Inkajilly is fascinated with the crystal bracelet I wear that has amethyst, rose quartz, citrine and a green stone (I'm not sure what it is). She also loves to chat about nothing in particular while she is hanging with me at the pool. Mayana is a good swimmer - maybe a future Olympic champion? Mayana often swims up to me under water and grabs my leg thinking that it is hilarious to scare me. Then she hangs off my shoulders until i throw her into the air to make a big splash. When the girls check in with me at childcare, they usually ask me for a piece of fruit so they always do a job for me (hanging towels out to dry, wiping table for breakfast, taking the bikes outside or putting the books and puzzles out) then they choose a piece of fruit and go off for the day until I see them again at the pool. These strong girls show huge potential as future Elders of the Kintore community but ultimately it is the job of current Elders to choose future Elders, not mine. Look out for the names Inkajilly and Mayana as successful Indigenous Women.

More weather

 

Dec 4th and 5th , 2015

I have just been informed that due to severe weather in the area where the satellite thingy is, in far north Western Australia AND SE Asia, my internet might go down for up to a week.
It is also going to be very wet Sun, Mon and Tues therefore we might be isolated by road for a while.
I am stocked up, the childcare centre is stocked up and the store has a 6 week supply.
Interesting days......It is good practice for a zombie apocalypse

Dec 05, 2015

Massive dust storm from the North West, now a thunderstorm and it’s raining, smells so good, a different rain smell to the city……… "Out on the patio" – GangaJang

 

Dogs

Dec 03, 2015

Not such a good day in Kintore today.

A dog - one of many in the community came into the childcare yard looking for food. It was so malnourished that it squeezed through the "dog proof fence".

I asked the owner to send the dog home saying that it’s not safe for dogs to be in the childcare centre ( I witnessed 7 dogs attacking one dog in the entrance way last week).

The owner of the dog threw rocks at it to get it to go home. This is a standard practice here.

The frightened dog tried to squeeze through the dog proof fence while having rocks thrown at it. It was screaming in fear and pain.

I was reduced to tears while walking across to the store to post up some notices and I thought of how my dog Dexter would not survive a day here.

The camp dogs - mostly dingo crosses would have him for breakfast.

To all my dog lover friends, please send cyber love to the dogs out here. They are treasured family pets, treated really badly but are loyal to a fault.

I really miss my Dexter boy

 

       

 

 

 

  

 

Shopping two ways

November 30 2015

SHOPPING........the usual process for a bulk shop is to order from a wholesaler who puts your order on a pallet on a refrigerated road train. The road train comes every Wednesday fortnight via various communities on the way so leaves Alice Springs early Monday morning.

That means that my order has to be placed by the Wednesday before, to allow for sourcing, packaging and delivery to the transport company.

I have recently ordered fresh pre packed salads, avocado, asparagus, brocolini, cherry tomatoes, apples, oranges, pears and mangos - all sourced from either Perth, Adelaide or Alice.

Ordering for one and keeping it fresh is tricky so lots of thought involved.

I have also ordered some meat that is individually portioned and vac sealed frozen for freshness.

Sooooooo looking forward to a meal of tandoori lamb cutlets and green salad which those who know me well know that to be my all-time favourite meal - after Linda Mcdonald s gnocchi and cheese scones.

 

The truck takes several hours to unload and on that day I will drive to work so that I can drive my pallet home and get it into the fridge ASAP.

 SHOPPING in the local store is a whole other matter.

Timing is crucial. I usually only shop there once a week on a Friday.

I get a weekly treat of a cookies and cream magnum ice-cream to eat on my way home.

BUT even in the air-conditioned shop the magnum starts to melt very quickly.

Normally I would start to eat it while waiting in the checkout, then present the wrapper to pay for it but the shop managers prefer you don't do that because then the kids copy which creates an issue of stealing.

So I time my ice cream shop with precision.

Any junk food is not sold before 2:30PM (after school) so at exactly 2:31 I am at the ice-cream cabinet and at 2:32 I am at the checkout ready to pay and at 2:33 I am out the door eating my ice-cream.

Any earlier I cannot buy and any later I cannot enjoy because it is melting into nothingness because of the queues of kids stocking up before they go to the pool.

 I will never whinge about shopping at Coles again - unless it is the 2 days prior to Xmas at Casey central whilst still doing renovations and it takes me 45 minutes just to get out of the bottle neck car park as it did last year

Its the simple things........

Nov 25, 2015

So many great things happened to me today.
I finally got my goggles in the mail, I got a new kettle - Ive had to rely on microwaving water for morning coffee and my neighbour Ryan the pool guy bought me some home-made chocolate mousse that has no sugar and no dairy or egg but it was to die for.
It was so good that I parted with 3 treasured Lindt balls in exchange.
I forgive Ryan the pool guy for comparing me to his mother (he is only 23).

End of year clean up

Nov 24, 2015

End of year clean up.......cleaning up the storage shed and cupboard for the end of year and to make it easy access for Vacation Care contractors who will replace me while I am having a holiday.

Most people in early childhood can relate to the mess to tidy after a years’ worth of use.

Most early childhood educators will relate to the dust, to the countless Lego blocks in the wrong container, the puzzles with missing pieces........and the surprises that they find that they have been looking for all year.

Can you relate to family of geckos that have set up house in a box of craft supplies? They scared the crapper out of me when I disturbed them.

I also have these living at my house.

They are called Girty, Flirty, Twirty, Swirty Ghecko.

They eat the nasty spiders and annoying flies.

  Not sure I want to tackle the shed now after the giant red back I found outside today - not to mention the deadly snakes.
 Put simply if I was bitten by one of those, I would not survive

                 

"aaarrruugghhh"

 

 

Interactions with the locals

Nov 21, 2015

I have had only positive interactions with the Traditional Owners of this land.

Feedback this week from a Federal Government Public Servant called Bob who checks in on remote communities to ensure that the people are happy with the services they are being provided was positive.
Bob said "The people like the "new childcare boss".
I am not comfortable with that name as my role is to mentor the people who use this service so that when my contract is finished, I can walk away and leave the children's services running independently.

However on a more intimate level, the women and children; and even some men that I have daily interactions with now call me Kungka (koonga) which is a name of respect given to older women who are married with children.
Even more pleasing is that my team of women have given me a skin name which means that I am now welcome in their community. I can’t pronounce my skin name or spell it yet but when I can I will post it here.
Yesterday at the pool I had a long conversation (3 minutes) with a very handsome and animated teenage boy who "wants to be on Home and Away".
He admired my bracelet of crystals and I admired his wrist band of the aboriginal flag colors.
He told me that his dreaming animal was a green snake and that his mother gave him that dreaming animal.
He asked me what my dreaming animal was?
I said I would ask my mum and let him know.
He was pretty impressed that I knew what the colors on the Aboriginal Flag symbolised.
He said "you're good whitefella".
Im not sure what that means in the mind of a 13 year old Pintubi male who has not yet gone through men's business but I think it was his way of saying that he like me.

 After a very hot week that has challenged me in many ways (average temperature being 42 since Monday), I still feel that I am really finding my niche here in Kintore.

I am unable to post images of the locals on here but these images also add to me finding my niche here in Kintore

     Magnificent sun sets and

 

     red dust corrugations