Year End Staff Party

With just one week to go before we leave WA, we had a chance to spend an evening with Pinjarra staff at the year end party.

Fund raising and fees are used to fund the entire do for staff (reasonable charge for partners), so with all your booze and food paid for, many staff take advantage!

We were lucky that the venue was at the local cricket club - so we were able to walk and not have to worry about 'drink driving' (that's the Aussie term for DUI or drunk driving). In the end, we actually were given a lift home by Paul Mitchum and his wife (and daughter) which was a nice bonus.

We are told that not as many people attended this year since it was held a week prior to school end. Sounds like some people don't want to show their face after the party :-) At any rate, there was still a good turn out and those in attendance had a great time (at least we did).

Given Mike's passion for music, he supplied the music for the evening. He and Kyle headed over early to set up and make sure all was in order (and grab an early beer). As you can see, it did get people up dancing. It was good to burn off some of the alcohol and calories that had been consumed!

And as seems to be an Aussie tradition, there had to be a certain amount of bared flesh. While some of the boys had fun dropping each others drawers (you can ask Monty about the unintentional full Monty - apparently he needs tighter elastic on his boxers :-), they also had a full out streak fest on the cricket field later in the evening. Too bad the lights on the field were not on!

And finally around midnight, the bar staff had had enough of us, and the booze tab had run out. So we all headed off - several staff continued on at Players - a Mandurah bar, but knowing our limits, we very maturely headed home - after all it was hard to pass up a drive home!

First Farewells & Round 'Em Up

As we continue our 'last time' events, it naturally includes seeing people for the last time. The Exchange Teachers of WA farewell BBQ was this past Saturday, and we could not miss this one. The host exchange group have been amazing in their support and effort put into arranging events on our behalf.

Ted and his wife Wendy hosted the farewell event. The food was fantastic and most of the group made it out. There were '2 up' demonstrations for those who missed the Kalgoorlie trip, and each teacher was presented with their own 2 up betting stick. 2 up is a pure form of gambling where you bet on the outcome of a toss of 2 coins. I spoke more of it back on our Kalgoorlie posting (click to refer back if you wish).

So we had a bitter sweet evening comparing notes and saying farewell to the many new friends we have accumulated over the year. As Ted said when we first met: "We meet at the start, and at the end of the year. In between we will cross paths at several of the organized events. If we see you at every event, we know something is wrong and if we don't see you at any events, we know something is wrong." Our intermittent crossing of paths with this group has been very much a part of our successful exchange experience. They truly have been an exceptional set of hosts and their dedication to our welfare and enjoyment has been most appreciated.

On Sunday, we headed out for some more 'local' experience. A teacher at the school had told Mike of the 'Camp Draft' which was running this weekend. So Mike & I ventured out to check what a Camp Draft was all about.

Along with several thousands flies (look closely at some of the photos - the inside of the loud speakers as a prime example), we watched the competition in Coolup. There are several categories, but we only witnessed the Novice competitors.

As we were standing trying to figure out the process, a local cowboy kindly explained the rules for us. Each cowboy/cowgirl in turn takes their go. They are first in a corral with 8 cows. They must identify which cow they are going to isolate to compete with. They then must separate that cow from the herd and force it out of that corral into the bigger arena.

Once in the big arena, they must lead the cow around a set of posts in a figure 8, and then back up around through two other posts all within a 40 second time limit. They are judged on their work in the first corral, their horsemanship in manipulating the cow in the main corral and on their success on guiding through the posts.

Many are eliminated by failing to isolate their cow from the herd, or from failing to guide through the posts. The skill of the cowpokes was very impressive and it was all very entertaining. True Aussie cowboys/girls in action. Apart from the odd over zealous face slap to swat the flies, and a cow running into the fencing (it's actually soft fencing - tough cloth stripping), there were no incidents.

And as mentioned in my last post, the posting on what we'll miss from here is still to come.

Party Hearty Monty Style

This past weekend we hosted a party for the Pinjarra staff as a thanks for all they have done for us. My co-workers will be happy to know that my project management skills continue to get a work out between planning parties and our trips! So I spent the week cooking and baking and cleaning and shopping to prep for the party - a week where I actually was kept busy!!!

After everyone had eaten their share of chili with the fixings, we set them to work. The theme of the evening was Canada naturally. In keeping with the Aussie tradition of Quiz Nights, we had created a Canadiana trivia quiz. Expecting some real history, sports and trivia geeks in the crowd, Mike had created some challenging questions. But the 'ringers' didn't make it and as a result many of the questions were a tad difficult - which made for some creative answers!

As expected, many Aussies are up on Canadian music and movie stars, but they are perhaps a little less knowledged in the French and Inuit Canadiana. There were some interesting definitions for Metis, tuque, mukluks. Metis is neither a wine nor a venereal disease, poutine is not a pillow nor a toilet and mukluks are not a moose. I certainly had fun marking the score sheets though!
In the end, they all got to learn a little more about Canada - perhaps more than they wanted to!

In the end the 'Double Up Ya Bums' won the contest. The 'Strip Club' team managed to sink to a convincing last place - so they got to wear their Aussie tattoos to advertise their true Aussie colours.

In keeping with the theme, everyone had to bring something Canadian. There was a wide variety of content. We had several Canadian music CDs as well as comedy routines. There were several Canadian clothing items including hats, ski goggles, t-shirts and sweaters. On the consumable theme we had maple syrup and Canadian Club. We even had a custom Canadian Power Point presentation! And finally, we had a live rendition of 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' which we all joined in with having been supplied with the lyrics. Even Gordon Lightfoot would have been impressed.

People also brought appetizers and the makings for B52s - both which were a big success and much appreciated. And in keeping with the Australian tradition of consuming substantial volumes of beer and wine per capita, we managed to overload our recycle bin (which is substantially larger than the Canadian version I might add) with empty bottles (they don't return them for refund down here).

Kyle also had his social activities this weekend - out most of Saturday (to avoid the party of course) and Sunday with friends. And so another week passes!

We are now in the last week of the 3rd term. Once again, we'll be off on a two week break starting this weekend. We are off to Bali on Saturday. Mike & Kyle are very much ready for some real R&R having been at school for 13 straight months at this point (every time they get a 2 week break I keep them very busy). I'll try to do a post before we head off with some details.