Darwinian announcements

Hi folks,

The news is this: I am not going to Curtin. Neither am I staying on this wonderful island. Instead, I'm going off to Darwin detention centre instead.

Yes, I know what you're all thinking. How many changes of plan can their be? Is he really going to Darwin or will it change again in the next few days? Only time will tell.

On that note, my projected departure date is Tuesday, although it could easily be Thursday, and possibly even Wednesday. This will not be finalised until Monday, or possibly Tuesday. I think you're starting to get the picture...

Darwin will be a new exciting adventure, I'm sure. I'll be catching up with a few volunteers who I met here and are now in Darwin ahead of me. But the biggest thing is that I'll be starting up the English programme there, and hopefully ESL people after me can carry on the legacy. For this task I have at my disposal 2 weeks (yes, Cilla and Dan, I'll be home by the 12th) which will be quite a ride, I'm sure.

In other news, I went to West White beach today with two of my teacher buddies. It's a 40 min walk down and back, plus we snorkeled for about about 40 mins down there. In other words, we walked back to the road at 6ish, meaning in the dark. But let me just say this, the sunset and the schools of fish were absolutely incredible, and it was so weird to walk back to the detention centre to get the bus home with officers and interpreters, such a stark contrast (not that the officers and interpreters are ugly, just that the detention centre is so close to absolute paradise and yet so far away...)

Ok, well this is my news today. I'm not exactly looking forward to leaving, because it's going to be so hard to say goodbye to my students. But for the next few days I'm going to savour every moment.

Peace,

Johnny