Pencil to Paper

I was teaching 6th grade today, and we watched one of those current events news programs for kids. One of the stories was about how there is this one man who is trying to bring back the art of letter writing by going into schools and doing workshops with the kids. It seemed kind of sad to me, in that letter writing was a life skill that was taught to us in school. Even if people write emails more than hand-written letters, it's a skill to be able to write a half-decent message that gets your point across, or entertains, or persuades, or whatever. Kids these days learn about persuasive writing, but it's more like a monologue or a speech. I asked the kids in the class if any of them ever write for fun - whether their thoughts, stories, whatever. Literally, one girl raised her hand. I  asked if anyone ever wrote a letter (or email) to someone they know for fun, and one other girl raised her hand. 

As someone that enjoys writing for fun, and someone that has had to do it a lot in college and for communicating in different jobs, I wonder what the future of writing will look like for these kids when they enter the workforce. Maybe they're right to an extent, in that the skills people will need are changing. But, the art of writing is certainly still important, even if it is mostly for online communication and publication. If anything, it's more important when you have to carefully choose your words for short bursts of information (which I'm guessing lots of people don't put as much careful consideration into before they click post or send). Also, people still send cards for birthday and to thank people, etc... right? Am I the only one? 

Anyway, I hope that this classroom is not indicative of most classrooms out there, although I fear it could be. Lots of kids don't ever just sit with a pencil and paper for much time anymore. All I know is, Penny is (so far) one of the few that do. I hope that doesn't change. 

Making the Most of our Last Weekends Here

It was a busy weekend! 

Saturday, we went to a going-away party for an American friend at Petersham Park. This friend has been living in Australia for 12 years, and it's funny to say bye when we will be in the same country soon. He will be living on the West Coast, so we won't see him all that often, but there's a good chance we will meet up with him somewhere, sometime, in the states. We will always have a certain kinship with him, since he is a dual American-Aussie citizen, just like us. It was a super windy day, but it was a nice kid-friendly atmosphere, so Penny had lots of little familiar playmates running around too. 

We spent a lot of time outdoors on Sunday as well. In the morning, I went to see my "mums group" for the last time at Sydney Park. It was nice to see most of them one last time, and to see how all the kids are developing into their little toddler personalities. Even though they are all the same age, the are so different. 

After that, We took the ferry to Manly and met up with some friends. We managed to trade-off on a SUPboard and play a little bit of SUPball. Penny had fun splashing in the water (it's a harbourside beach, so there aren't really waves) and also enjoyed a very short ride on the SUPboard. We then enjoyed sitting on the grass with some friends afterward, having some snacks and drinks, and I got to sneak away and eat my favorite meal from 4 Pines brewery one last time. Penny was able to toddle around and play, and make some friends too.

We are in the midst of planning our pets' travel back to the states. Apparently, they are going to leave a day before us, they have a 24-hour stopover in Doha (of all places?), and then they arrive a day after us in the US. During the stopover, they get to go into a boarding facility where they have more room to roam outside of their travel crates. They will have travelled to the middle east before anyone else in our little family has.

Every day I get rid of more stuff or arrange for someone else to take furniture or kitchen items off our hands. The move is slowly, but surely, coming together.

Moving Prep Update

I'm happy to say that we secured a spot for Penelope at a small daycare center for when we move back to the US. This was my main concern, since it's hard to find a spot without being able to physically tour places in person, and with most places having waitlists. Luckily, my in-laws were able to help us check out a place. It's hard to know if it is somewhere we will stay longterm, but at least we have something for when I start work, and we can see how it goes. 

So, of the main big things I needed to organize - Penny's daycare, my work situation, and finding us somewhere to live longterm - I'm 2/3. The finding somewhere to live longterm thing is going to take some time, and we have to be a little more settled back home before we can take the steps towards finding a home to buy. So, I'm pretty happy with where we are at the moment. The next main thing to do is slowly get rid of our stuff here. 

I played frisbee for the first time in a few months last night - the first time since battling shingles. It was a tiring game, especially because we had no female subs, but it felt good to be back on the field. I know Mike and I will both miss our leagues here when we move back. We aren't sure how much we will continue playing back in the DC area. It will depend on how many of our friends are still playing, and how hard it is to work it into our different work schedules and locations, and Penny's schedule.  

Penny is starting to say a lot of command phrases, like "sit down", "lie down", "hold it", "got it", "eat it", etc. It's interesting to see how her language development evolves. She continues to enjoy her daycare here, music/movement classes at the local community center, and playing in all our small local playgrounds. She is blissfully unaware of all the changes that are about to take place in a month, even though I talk to her about them occasionally. She is currently crazy about The Wiggles, eating mini pancakes, helping put laundry in the basket,  and giving any visitors cups of tea from her tea set. 

The Ghosts of Octobers Past, Present, and Future

This October has been relatively boring, when I look at our recent posts, partly because I was sick for several weeks, and partly because we have a toddler and little getaways are trickier than they used to be.

Looking back at old October blog posts from a few years ago...

2014 - Driving the Great Ocean Road, Skydiving over Wollongong, Mixed Nationals Tournament in Townsville and Magnetic Island

2015 - Sculpture by the Sea, Mixed Nationals Tournament in Adelaide

2016 - Mixed Nationals Tournament near Sydney, Cousin Lizzy's visit, Byron Bay, PAX Aus

We have had some busy Octobers. As our time winds down here, it's kind of anti-climactic. There's nothing wrong with that; I think maybe it's indicative of the fact that in our first few years here, we didn't know how long we would be here. So we took every chance to go to new places and explore Australia. Now, after six years of being here, we have been to every state and territory and met all of our live abroad and travel experience goals, and then some. We have made many new friends, and some of the closest ones have already moved out of the area. I wish there was some way we could have one big reunion before we go, with a lot of the ones that have left, but we will have to find some other way to make that happen. We are hoping to have a nice little send-off with the friends who are still here.

The one thing that is driving me crazy about moving back is trying to set up childcare for Penelope when I return to work full-time. There are still a lot of possibilities, but no one definite thing that is happening. We are fairly sure that even if we don't have something worked out immediately, we will be able to scrape together enough help for the first month or so. That's not good enough for me, but I continue to search and follow up about waitlists. Obviously, people move all the time and are able to make it work, so surely we should be able to. It's just a busy and competitive area, so almost anywhere that is worth it has a waitlist, and those could mean you have a spot tomorrow or never. I'm suspicious of anywhere that doesn't have a waitlist, but when you need a spot you need a spot I have a high standard for early childhood education, being an educator, and I would hate to have to send our child to a place that isn't great, just because we have few options. Hopefully, everything will resolve in the near future. 

I've been listening to some "This American Life" podcasts, to remind myself fondly of some of the "American-ness" we will be returning to. Even though we are kind of in this limbo state where we are preparing for this big move, and I can't process much beyond the move until it has happened, I'm looking forward to what will be next after it. We will be able to spend a lot more time with family without having to travel so far to see them. We can actually use our vacation days for vacations. We will be able to reconnect with old friends. Penelope will have a lot of playmates through our family and friends, and I think the little social butterfly will enjoy getting to know everyone.  I will have a more consistent job than I had in all of my six years here. While I pretty consistently had work here, the work was very different from day to day and I traveled all over the Sydney area. The variety was great, and I learned a lot, and now I can appreciate the idea of working at the same place every day. Like, the simple idea that I can leave an umbrella and other personal items there to use whenever I need them at my work, rather than being a bag woman and carrying everything I might need with me at all times, sounds pretty nice. 

I've been told that when you move abroad, and then move back, you go through all the same culture shock and adjusting all over again, even though it's back to a familiar place and culture. We have that to look forward to.

Shingles Update Update and Melbourne

Man, shingles takes forever to really go away. Even the worst of it has been over for a little while and I'm no longer contagious, there is still lingering pain and tingling in the nerves in my scalp and around my right eye. Sometimes, the odd sensations makes it hard to sleep. Literally, it can feel like a little worm is crawling around under my skin, and I want to scratch but get no relief even if I do. Sometimes it feels kind of numb. I'm also slowly weaning off of steroid eyedrops to make sure that my eye fully heals and has no lasting damage. The irony is, if you're on steroid eyedrops too long, those can damage your eye too. 

School is back in session, but I only taught one day this week. It was good to be back even though I got a lot of funny looks and questions from kids. It doesn't look like I was sick; it looks more like I got into an accident or a fight. 

We went to PAX AUS in Melbourne this past weekend. It was less fun for me this year, still dealing with shingles issues, and Penny having a not-quite-ear-infection (clogged ear/sinus, but not infected). I'm glad I went because we got to see a friend who had moved away, and spend short quality time with the cousins, but it was all pretty exhausting. Mike got to have a little more fun than I did, which is fair since it was also his birthday weekend. The only fun I really stole from him was his actual birthday dinner. We were all supposed to go out for lobster ramen to celebrate, but Penny was not feeling well, so he stayed back so I could go with our friend to get the amazing lobster ramen. I felt a little guilty, but he cares less about food, and got to game all day and then again after the dinner when I came back, so I don't feel that bad. Sometimes, parents have to share the load somehow, even on a birthday weekend. We kind of owe him a special dinner with all of us. 

We were all supposed to go away again this coming weekend for the Div II Nationals tournament in Nelson Bay, but after this last weekend I decided I couldn't do it - juggling Penny, shingles pain, and going away the second weekend in a row. So Mike will still go to play with his team, but I will hang back and just have a quieter weekend with Penny. 

This is not how I wanted to spend my last months and weeks here. I hope that all the symptoms go away soon. The best I can do is just relax whenever I get the chance, and less stress should theoretically help.

A couple of our regular shows are back after what seems like forever. None of them seem as captivating as they were a few seasons ago, though. I'll still watch, but we are kind of looking for that next big exciting drama/hilarious, relatable comedy. 

I can hear Penny and Mike outside, which means I have a few seconds to warm up dinner. 

Shingles Update

I'm finally starting to feel better even though I still look like Quasimodo. The symptoms have peaked and are now slowly subsiding. Even though this is not how I wanted to spend my school holidays, I'm grateful that I didn't need to miss any teaching days, and that we have been able to send PJ to daycare for a few extra days so I can recuperate. 

I don't wish shingles on my worst enemy. I think what made my case particularly bad was that before I had been diagnosed, I thought it was a normal rash, and applied steroid cream. It probably would have been a bad case anyway, but the steroids definitely inflamed everything more and increased the swelling. So, lesson learned, I'm never putting steroid cream on my face again, and only going to use it sparingly in the future. 

Shingles is the Worst

I have suddenly found myself dealing with a very bad case of shingles that affecting an area of my scalp that's about as wide as my hand, and swelling my right eye enough that I can barely open it a tiny slit. It's uncomfortable, to say the least. The whole thing can be quite painful at times. 

I'm very grateful that my two visits to the emergency room have cost less than the uber and cab rides to and from the hospital. One "good" thing about this particular health problem is that they quarantine you, so you get ushered back to your own room at the hospital pretty quickly. I've just had to pay for several prescriptions. I'm on quite a cocktail of antiviral meds, antibiotics to prevent infection, and some painkillers. I'd trade the painkillers for some better anti-inflammatory treatment, but they won't give me anything for the inflammation until I can see the opthamologist to make sure that if I get a steroid it won't actually make it worse. I don't like the idea of pumping my body with so many kinds of medicine, but when you're dealing with a highly contageous disease that could have very disastrous effects on the longterm health of your eyes, you take all the meds. 

The first time I went to the hospital, I had to bring PJ with me in the middle of the night because Michael was out of town for work. She was better behaved than one would expect, and enjoyed the novelty of it for the most part. She knows that I have a "boo boo" or a "hurt" on my eye, which she points out when I'm holding an ice pack on it, and she seems otherwise undisturbed by my monstrous appearance. Luckily, her daycare provider has been happy to accommodate if we want to send her for extra days. 

I can't help but think of how my experience with this disease would be different in the US. I would have had to pay a lot more for the medical care. However, we would have had more family help with Penelope. Thankfully, at least, Mike is back from his work trip.

At this point, I'm concerned that it could last several weeks or even longer. It will definitely makes it hard just live my normal life and work, see friends before we move overseas, and makes it harder to prepare for the move. Please send healthy thoughts my way!