Another day at Gospel High

Bula! Erm ... that's about all I know so far in Fijian language. Sorry! I will try to learn some Fijian language next week & will share with you all on this blog. Being deaf I dont have much of an ear for new spoken languages ... But I am picking up the Fijian Sign Language quite well - I love it!

Anyway, it's been another great couple of great days at the school. But we are exhausted at the end of each day as there is so much to take in - new school ways, new culture, different curriculum, different accents, different sign language etc ... Absolutely exhausted by the time I get home.

Last couple of days, I have begun to introduce drama to a group of students. (By the way each class has about 40x students or more!!!) I've also begun exploring some poetry using the 5 senses. And today some printmaking on fabric - a Fijian print used on wedding dresses here. Next week, I'll be taking over quite a few classes teaching my very own poetry, drama and art classes. Wish me luck!

The photos I have attached today are some photos of deaf students, hearing students, my excellent Aussie sign language interpreter and my Indo-Fijian Teacher Mentor who is just wonderful.

My interpreter & I have been requested to do some training for Fijian Sign Language Interpreters - so that will be happening in a week or so. That should be fun. I can see they need some help but otherwise the deaf students are so smart so they must be doing something right.

I finally met my Aussie deaf friend's deaf Fijian boyfriend here at the school today ... I am looking forward to having him show me around Suva soon.

I finally got my timetable sorted today. Phew! That took some work!!! The concept of timetable seems somewhat abstract & vague here - perhaps due to Fijian time being so laid back! Furthermore, each class is only 35minutes here - lunch break just 30minutes which is apparently very generous here in Fiji as most schools only have about 20minutes for lunch. School classes here involve 10x lessons a day!!! Oh my too many classes & not much time to go into any depth. Indeed, my art classes will have to be short - not much time to set up & pack up paint materials etc. Gulp! (I thought you Aussie teachers & prac students might be interested to know this).

Enjoy the photos. I'm off to meet my friend from London today for a drink at a hotel & later eat a curry. As the political situation here is a bit tense - I've been warned not to walk anywhere in the evenings. I've been told to get the security guard at the curry place to wave a taxi down for me & my friend - to get back home safely. Lots of mugging & theft here so we have to be very cautious. So far so good & I'm feeling quite okay ... Just people here are getting a bit concerned because there has been a couple of death threats to the Australian High Commission here (not far from my house)! Oh well it makes life interesting eh!

Bye! Have a nice weekend everyone!