Part 5: Weekend fun!
I am so surprised how much I love it out here! Way more than I thought I would. It is only early days, but quite honestly it has been a great experience so far. I am nearly one week into my adventure teaching in a remote school of WA, and I am already thinking of returning or staying a little longer. We will see!
The great thing about living in a small community, is you get to know the people around you really well. There is a sense of anonymity in a big city, which can be good sometimes too; but generally for me, I am very social and like spending time with people having a good time. Who doesn’t?!
My weekend started off really well with a run, and then I came home and painted all morning. My walls are starting to fill up with beautiful colourful art which makes me feel very happy. I have also started bringing in more plants from outside, aka branches of leaves for colour and energy. They look amazing. I love our beautiful trees out here.
You would not think much would grow out in the middle of Australia, with its harsh hot climate, however you are wrong! There is an abundance of green, twittering bird life flying from tree to tree, singing to one another calls of glory. Underneath the ground here, there is a huge oasis of water. Sometimes, when there is a drought in other parts of Australia, there is always an abundance of water, due to this epic underground reserve. So cool!
I played some tennis with my work colleagues the other day too, which was so much fun! It has been ages since I played, although I really enjoy my tennis. I wore a fly net over my head as the flies were quite sticky and annoying, even though it was a little hard to see through the net sometimes! Afterwards we all went to cool off in the pool across the road. I swam some laps and we all just lolled around, enjoying the refreshing cool water. I love having full access to the pool, for free, whenever I want, isn’t that incredible? There is that free word again…! Lol!
I am really enjoying my free time and space to pursue my creativity. I have been really motivated to paint and draw and have recently finished a series of insects, and two self portraits. Next I will attempt some landscapes, there are so many good ones around here. I have also been reading a lot more too. I was given a book to loan about a young girl who escaped North Korea, I am finding it fascinating. It is great to have some more free time to read and relax, and not rush around to all sorts of places, like I normally do in Perth. I don’t have a car here, so that makes my life different. I walk to places and I have found a new friend who has a spare bike, we are planning to go for a bike ride in the next few days.
So last night I was invited up to see the sunset from an impressive mountain range just outside of Warburton called Mount Talbot. We drove out on a ruggard and rocky four wheel drive track, up and down and around and finally up to the summit of this hilly range. Crickets were flying into the car, big giant green ones and a big black and yellow one, and then we went through a giant spider web and a big scary spider grabbed onto the front antennae of the car. Incredible! There it clung for the remainder of the journey, traumatised by its displacement, and making me jump and feel quite skittish in the car. I could see it staring at me, it was literally that big. Lol.
As I looked out over the majestic landscape I felt happy, I felt elated, and I felt blessed to experience such a beautiful place. As I swatted away the flies and sat on the rock a little away from the prickly bushes, I saw the sky change colours from pinks to yellows to smokey grey blue, like a painting coming alive. I felt so inspired and plan to do some landscape paintings next. We sat on the rocks, and drank juice, and ate nuts and talked about life, it was great! It turns out my new friend and I had met many years ago, a brief encounter, but he remembered me and seemed to recall some of the stories I babbled on about. Synchronicity, or just the fact the world is a small place? We also have a mutual friend in Perth who made contact with me again recently, so that was nice. I took some great photos up there and will post here for you.
And then…I discovered my new friend likes to play GAMES!!!!! YASSS (fist pump, jump for excitement, followed by evil giddy laugh!!!!)And he had a cherry ripe! It just kept getting better and better! So he came back to my place, and we played Dominoes, then Scrabble, then some Yahtzee (they all deserve capitals that is how fun they are). It was great fun, I smashed him at scrabble, he smashed me at dominoes (beginners luck), and he marginally beat me at Yahtzee, but we only had one game… so there definitely needs to be a re-match. Like today. Lol!
This morning I am playing tennis again at school then back into the pool for a swim. I am also planning to do some more art today and then there is aqua aerobics on today too! So busy! I will also jam in some time to read. Probably a siesta too… How good is my life?
I am hoping next week at school will all run smoothly. The kids have been great so far, I really have enjoyed them. They are so different to city kids. No mobile phones or computers, for a start, which is GREAT! They are very aware, have good energy, and so far have been very affectionate. I like their random hugs!
Hope you have enjoyed my blog so far. Much more to come! Any questions for me?
Anit in Warby xxx
Live Your Truth 
Wow Anita! I can’t believe how things have changed for you! So far I’ve only seen Parts 4 and 5 but I’ll catch up as time allows. I love your enthusiasm and it all sounds so interesting! I’m a huge admirer of Aboriginal art and greatly enjoying the colourful works that you’re including in your posts. Fantastic!
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Thanks so much! So glad you are enjoying my articles. Yes it is a very interesting experience that is for sure!! Much more to come too… x
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