It's all happening in 'Alice'

Well, a few things have happened since last I wrote and that includes the opening of the Beijing Olympics. How amazing was that!! That aside there is plenty happening here in Alice Springs. One of the things that Warwick has been doing on his one day off per week is volunteering at 'Adelaide House'. This building was the first hospital in 'Alice' and was built by the Rev. John Flynn who began the work of the Australian Inland Mission and went on to be the brains behind the beginnings of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Adelaide House is now a museum and is looked after by the JohnFlynn congregation and a faithful band of volunteers. I am now helping with that as well and when we were there last Monday week we were very surprised to meet up with an old aquaintance from our days in Fiji, Rev Chris Meneilly from Melbourne. It was great to catch up with him and he was very keen to come and have a look at the college, which he did and he also gave devotions to the boys.

I started my tutoring last Thursday night and that went ok. The girls were sweet and VERY shy but the boys kept sniffing loudly and making other horrible noises and used about half a box of tissues in 10 minutes!!! I guess I'll get used to that! Warwick now has 18 boys under his wing and I can tell you it's a mad scramble at shower time!! Most of them are loveable rascals but there are always a few in any group who really try your patience. There was a BBQ breakfast a week ago as it was a long weekend here - the boarding staff were warn out by the end of the weekend. Warwick had 3 of his boys run off after the movies over that weekend. They were apprehended by the police in no time and all had their own clothes confiscated for the rest of the week. All they were allowed to wear was their school uniform so they'd stand out as having done the wrong thing!

I joined a small group of the Acapella choir that I am singing with at a launch for the Alice Springs Desert Festival last Friday. We sang 2 things and that was my first performance with the group. It went well and we also sang at the Old Timers Fete yesterday which was fun. The crowd seemed to love our music! This fete is a real institution here in 'Alice'. Thousands come and many thousands are raised - $63,000 actually!! I worked on the Babywear stall and we made $1,500. Warwick helped on the Satay Stall which the church runs and they made $1,200. Not bad!! 'Old Timers' is the Nursing Home at which I work and it is operated by Frontier Services of the Uniting Church.

It's Warwick's 65th birthday on Thursday and I'm taking him to the Australian Ballet on Thursday night. Yes, even the Australian Ballet makes it to 'Alice' - well actually it's not the main company but it's still great that the people up here can experience ballet of that standard.

That's it for now........................

Settling into 'Alice'

Well, we have been in 'Alice' for 2 weeks now and I have settled in to life and very much feel a part of the place once again! I have received a very warm welcome here at Yirara College and have already taken on a small job - that is tutoring 2 evenings per week. The students do homework from 7-8pm Monday - Thursday evenings and different teachers come in to supervise this. They also need people to do individual tutoring and that's what I'll be doing. It is a very warm and friendly community here at Yirara and everyone has certainly made me feel welcome.

The first week we had a few of the boy's boarding staff in for dinner and the night before the students started coming back (which was just over one week ago), most of the boarding staff (both boys and girls) went out for dinner and went ten pin bowling afterwards. A lot of fun!! The countries represented were Ireland, Papua Guinea, Germany and Tonga and of course Australia. Warwick now has 16 boys in his care and a lively bunch they are!! I have been into the Dorm a few times to help out with devotions and sorting out socks and jocks. Last Saturday night I actually helped out at a Round Robin Basket Ball event which was held at the large indoor sports arena in town. It took a while to settle the boys down after that!!

I have started working at 'Old Timers' - a Nursing Home operated by Frontier Services of the Uniting Church. I have worked there on previous visits to Alice Springs and it was good to go back and meet up with staff and residents that I knew before. The Fete is coming up on 9 August and this is a BIG event here in 'Alice'. I have also joind a Belly Dancing class and an A Capella choir. The latter just comes together at this time of the year for the Alice Springs Festival coming up at the end of September. It is conducted by a very charismatic black man from South Africa and hence we do a lot of African songs which is wonderful!! I have a lot to pick up on - I just hope that I can learn it all in time! They are performing at a few things, including the fete, leading up to the festival but the main event is a concert in Trephina Gorge which sounds fantastic!!

This week we also had the pleasure of having friends from home, Peter and Helen Sharoff here for a meal and to have a look at the set up at Yirara. They enjoyed interacting with the boys and Pete handed out some Guideon New Testaments and gave the boys some devotions which was great. Until next post............