Right... Well, a lot has happened in the past year! I'm going to try to recap. I know I'll leave a lot out, so bear with me as I bring this blog up to date.
Most recently, I've gotten to experience the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb! I did the climb on 2nd January 2009. Woo-hoo!!! My BridgeClimb ticket was a wonderful Christmas gift from Judith. I had gone on for ages about how I wanted to do the climb, but I hadn't yet taken the initiative. Well...I've done it! I realize this is old news to some of my "readers", but it's never going to get old for me! ha ha ha... I go across the bridge nearly every morning, as I have to commute to work in the City. It's one thing to see the harbour in the morning, as the sun has just risen--it's a very different thing to ascend the bridge at night, and see the city so brightly lit from the bridge summit! I have to say, I was captivated by the beauty of the city from the top of the bridge! Here's the official "Tara ascending the Harbour Bridge with the Opera House in the background" photo:
And, yes...my nose is red. It was an uncharacteristically cool evening anyhow, but it was even colder on the top of the bridge with the breeze off the water PLUS I had gotten sunburned the day before.
I am a big fan of volunteerism. I love getting out and getting my hands dirty, and making a positive contribution to society at the same time! I've recently begun volunteering at the Matthew Talbot Hostel, which has been very interesting! For those of you who are not familiar with it, the hostel is for homeless men. It's the first port of call for many who have just gotten out of jail, those who are down on their luck, fighting drug addictions, or for men who have disabilities of psychological disorders. I've found volunteering there very fulfilling. It's nice to acknowledge folks who are so often disregarded daily. You see many people averting their eyes as they pass the homeless on the street--I can try to help them feel more accepted through a smile and kind word. It's not much, but hopefully it makes a difference.
One of my dearest friends has given me a great theatrical opportunity! As most of my friends are aware, I am an arts junkie. I ADORE the arts! I've dabbled in most areas--a bit of music, a bit of drama, a bit of writing, a bit of drawing. Drama was one area I thought I would only experience from the audience---until Jenelle invited me to read for a play she's directing! We'll be performing in the Short & Sweet Festival, Seymour Centre venue, from 28th to 31st January. I hope my Aussie friends who read this are able to make it!!!!
is online at : www.shortandsweet.orgIn October 2008 the University of Sydney Anthology was published! I was really fortunate to have a poem published in the anthology. Below is my invitation to the launch:
As those few friends who read this will already know, I've been staying very busy of late. I suppose this isn't really a "new thing"---I've always been considerably more disciplined and rather happier when I have heaps to do. I say "more disciplined" because I find I am a case-in-point poster child for Parkinson's Law. I will allow a simple task to take hours if it's the only task I must complete. On the otherhand, if I have twenty things to do, I'll work dilligently to ensure each task is allocated a reasonable amount of time to reach completion. This is something I've had to work on A LOT. I'm not a naturally efficient person--but I've become more efficient through necessity, I suppose.
Work...
I've been at the University of Technology, Sydney for the past year and a few months. I've absolutely loved it there! My co-workers in the Careers Service have been absolute legends. I really owe a great debt of gratitude to my dear friend Erin for helping me get the job in the first place! Picture it: Sydney, 2007. I had signed up to work through a recruitment agency, and I'd just come from a sort of "assessment process", wherein I was put through a battery of skills/competencies tests. I had to touchtype (which I do anyway), enable macros in documents, create databases, etc--and all of this was assessed via a computer program. It was terribly unnerving, as I hate being assessed. Actually, I hate knowing I'm being assessed. At any rate, I'd gotten my score of Intermediate on all the processes, so I was hired by the agency and was told I would be dispatched the following Monday to a random office in the CBD. I was then told that I would likely be dispatched to a different office each day, and that I might not know until the morning of where I was meant to go. Now, don't get me wrong--I love a bit of spontaneity--but I don't love not knowing where I'll be working. I had known that Erin worked in the Careers Service at UTS, but I didn't want to ask her about jobs, as I felt that would be exploiting our friendship. As luck would have it, on the evening after my recruitment agency visit that I was to meet Erin and her husband for dinner in Chinatown. During dinner, I lamented the fact that I would be working at a variety of random offices. Erin informed me that she had a position opening in her office, and that I should come by there to interview for it! We chatted about it, and I decided to go for it and, well...the rest is history!
Sadly, though, I'll be leaving UTS on Friday, 16th January, as that's the date of my contract expiration. As I'll be in Sydney until 18th March, I sought other employment to tide me over. That's when another friend came to the rescue!
I'm so grateful to Beverly for putting my name into the hat at her workplace for a temporary full-time position as a magazine assistant. I begin on 19th January, so I'll have more to say about that job once I've actually begun in the role!
It's not really "work", but my voluntary position at Abbotsleigh School is still in place. I realize I had not begun at Abbotsleigh prior to my last blog entry, so this may be new to some folks! Abbotsleigh School for Girls is a private institution on Sydney's North Shore (where I live). It's a very prestigious girls' school, so being offered a position here has been a real privilege. The whole thing came about when I thought I might not have a renewed contract at UTS. When my first contract was about to end, I began frantically searching for a new job. I found a "boarding resident assistant" position at Abbotsleigh posted in our Careers Service vacancies database. As some of you may know, I'm planning a career in community development--particularly in youth education program design. I thought working at a school would be ideal for that! I had previously been volunteering at Undercliffe Public School as a literacy tutor, and I knew that continuation of that connection to schools would only be beneficial.
So, I applied to work at Abbotsleigh. I received a phone call from the Head of Boarding at the school and scheduled my appointment for an interview. The very next day I was called in to a meeting with my boss at UTS. He said they would like to extend my contract another 12 months! I was so happy! I had made up my mind that I would decline the Abbotsleigh position and continue on at UTS. Judith and I were chatting about the options en route to the Opera House the night of my contract extension. She said I should go to Abbotsleigh and see what they can do---she thought maybe they could work around my schedule. I did as she suggested. I ended up a volunteer, which has been great!
I ended up living with, mentoring, and tutoring Year 7 boarding students for a year. It was really a wonderful experience. The girls were absolute gems. Granted, sometimes they tried to push the boundaries, but the good times far outnumbered the negative ones. I'm including two photos from the experience below. The first one is a shot for the Pikeville College alumni magazine. The second one is a group of the girls and me on the night of our house Christmas party. It was the last night I would be working with that group of girls (it was their last week as Year 7 students). They gave me a memory book for Christmas. It had me teary, of course! For the first two months of this term (starting the end of January 2009) I'll be mentoring and tutoring a new group of Year 7 girls.
In December of 2008 I became a Rotarian under the classification "Foundation Alumna". I remember being at the house in Glebe (where I lived before moving to the North Shore) when the president of the club rang me with my invitation to join. I was absolutely touched to think that they would consider me a good candidate for induction into the Rotary Club of Balmain! I really have to say, though--I couldn't imagine joining another club in Sydney. Balmain was my host club when I was an Ambassadorial Scholar. I'm including below a photo from the Rotary Club of Balmain's birthday night. It's generally customary for the oldest serving members of a club to cut the club birthday cake, but this year they bestowed the honor on the three newest members. Pictured with me are Jenelle Pearce (drama teacher and actor) and James Vickery (CEO, IKnowIT). Jenelle was my first sponsored member, and is also one of my very best friends.
Speaking of Jenelle...
Shortly after her induction, Jenelle and I developed what has been adopted as an annual Balmain RC project. Known as Project Creative Awareness, the project brought together students from five schools in the Leichhardt Municipal Council Area. There were 37 students participating in the event, which took place on the 14th of June 2008.
Project Creative Awareness is a youth development and international awareness initiative developed by the Rotary Club of Balmain. The project was designed to achieve the following aims:
· To provide student participants with a forum for the discussion and consider of issues of global and environment importance.
· To provide student participants with the opportunity to practice their respective arts (i.e., drama, literature and art) within a supportive environment under the guidance of qualified educators.
· To provide student participants with a chance to showcase their artistic works in a public venue.
· To raise funds for polio eradication through the donation of funds generated (i.e., admission fees, the auctioning of student work, and miscellaneous donations) to the PolioPlus Fund.
NOTE: 100% of funds raised will go toward the PolioPlus Fund
The day was great! Jenelle taught drama workshops, Julian Wrigley taught art and Judith Ridge taught literature. The kids attended their chosen workshops throughout the day. In their workshops, students created artistic works reflecting their perspectives on the importance of a variety of issues (e.g., literacy development, sustainability, climate change, clean water, peace/international relations, etc). The kids left at around 4 p.m. and returned with their parents, who were treated to a champagne and canapes reception. Following the reception, we had gallery displays (in the Sydney College of the Arts gallery!), a drama performance, literature recitation and certificates ceremony. At the end of the evening, parents purchased their children's artworks, with all funds raised going to the PolioPlus fund.
We were REALLY fortunate, as we received sponsorship from the Sydney College of the Arts (with an in kind donation of venue hire) and Tilly's Art Supplies (with the donation of canvases and other supplies).
I'm including below a photo of the Project Creative Awareness participants.
I cannot believe I haven't been on here since my trip to Melbourne! My gosh---it really has been ages! I'm not going into great detail, but I will say I adore the city of Melbourne--it's really lovely, and the folks are great. I had been toying with the idea of going to Victoria, but I kept putting it off. One night, I had a random spark of spontaneity and got online to book a trip with JetStar! While in Victoria, I toured around Melbourne and I went on a tour of the Great Ocean Road. Talk about AMAZING!!! I'm including some photos from my Melbourne trip below:
The Twelve Apostles:
Something very important to remember:
Lock & Gorge:
Where I Stayed:
The Famous Flinders Street:
The City of Melbourne from the Eureka SkyDeck:
I'm having a really hard time searching back through my memory to what I've left out. I know there's still heaps to cover, but I think that this post will end here for now.
Until next time...
2 comments:
If only I had known you were living with young girls....I could have told them of some of your exploits in your younger days, many of which they could have surely used as blackmail.
Welcome back to blogging!
Oh, my god! You used VarsitySkeeterPeg initials!
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