Christmas Island adventures

Hello

I've been here on Christmas Island for over a week, and haven't blogged yet. So here goes...

I'm teaching English six days a week at the main centre, teaching 5 one hour classes of 20-30 students each. So that's most of my time, and it's mostly confidential what happens there, so not a lot I can blog!

I will say this though: I'm really loving it. The students are all really lovely and so glad to be getting taught English, they all smile and shake my hand as they arrive and clap at the end of the lesson! So it's quite an encouraging classroom to be the teacher in!

The organisation I'm here with is called ALIV, and the other volunteers are just so cool... we're living in two next-door houses and it's always madness here, with people coming and going all day and night. Us teachers are out from 7.30 til 5, and the others are sometimes allowed a sleep in til as late as 10 but are often not home til 9.30pm. And that doesn't mean the teachers get it easy...we're often planning for the next day when they get home!

We get one day off each week, and the last one we went exploring. The island is absolute paradise, with amazing tropical rainforest, birds, beaches and blowholes. The water is warm and crystal clear, as is the night sky (except when it's raining torrentially, which is often this week!). We went to a place called Dolly beach which was your quintessential desert island beach, with coconut trees and a stream flowing down from a spring (the spring water tasted amazing, as did the fresh coconuts)

So that's life here in a nutshell...teaching in the detention centre most of the time, with occasional excursions to idyllic tropical paradise. What a strange life I'm leading!

Oh, and one more story. I went 4wd-ing in the rain at 6am today, and someone complemented me on my driving skills. High five!

Until next time...peace