A New Beginning

It's the end of the holidays and 2 weeks since my last post. I finished that one with 'What a difference a week makes', well things keep on changing.

The best news of all is that we have finally sold our house. We switched to a local agent, they had one Open Home last Sunday and we had signed an unconditional contract by about 6pm. What that actually means is that the first contract we signed which was conditional on the buyers selling their own house now has its clause come into effect. This gives them 7 working days to go unconditional themselves. So come Thursday we're expecting to find out whether or not we have sold our house to the first buyers which would mean settlement date is the 3rd August or the second buyers which would mean settlement date is the 7th September. Either way IT'S SOLD!!!

Now we just have to find a place to rent inside the school zone that our daughter is wanting to go to next year.

So that's been the major news of the holidays, other than that it has been a case of finishing off school stuff, clearing out my classroom, giving back my PowerBook and iPod (sniff sniff!), trying to find a place to rent, checking with the bank and lawyers that all documentation has been filed, and spending time with the kids.

To that end we went on our 'Mystery Drive' on Friday. Thankfully the weather turned it on for us and it was a beautiful day. We headed inland to Darfield before making our way through the Rakaia Gorge and onto Methven where we enjoyed lunch in the van consisting of hot chippies, muffins and mandarins. The kids enjoyed being so close to the snow-covered mountains and there was even snow lying on the side of road left over from the previous week's dumping. All in all it was a great way to finish off the holidays.

And tomorrow I start my new job. Who knows what exciting adventures that will bring? I gotta say I can't wait to start, I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve. Bring it on!

Of Phones and Jobs and Holidays

Well the iPhone has been launched in the U.S. and early reports suggest that it will live up to the pre-release hype. A few minor issues seemed to have arisen, but overall the response and reviews seems to be mostly positive.

Of course all this means little to us Mac fans down under, as we have no idea when or even if we will see it down here. If the iTunes Store is anything to go by, I certainly won't be holding my breath for one.

So I made it through to the end of the school term and what a final week it was. On the Monday we had our Religious Education Review and we were all very nervous as the reviewers observed our lessons, asked us questions and interviewed children, parents, board members and even our priest. However it all came out good.

Tuesday saw us hosting approx 30 children from Our Lady of the Snows School in Methven as well as about 10 teachers/parents/helpers. It was a great day had by all as we showcased our Pacific heritage and the children all got along really well. I'm sure it will be day they all remember and I know the St James' children are looking forward to the return visit which I think will included a trip to a dairy farm. The day ended wonderfully with the OLS children joining our children in a Samoan sasa.

Wednesday was relatively normal, however on Thursday I had a job interview at CPIT for a position as Macintosh Systems Administrator. The interview involved approx 15 mins of proving that I can find my way around a Mac, followed by a 3-person panel interview which lasted about 50 mins. I felt it went quite well but you never can tell with these things and they said to allow 14 days before I should hear anything. Back at school that afternoon I received a phone call from Michelle at the agency to tell me I was their preferred choice and just needed the referees reports to confirm that I was OK! Man what great news that was! I was like a kid at Christmas!

Friday dawns wet and windy which doesn't bode well for the Mission On launch that our school was hosting that day. However before the Minister of Health, Pete Hodgson arrives I get the phone call from CPIT to formally offer me the position, which after calling back later in the day to discuss what the package entailed I happily accepted. So with that out of the way I got on with the Mission On launch which included a school welcome for the guests, a range of activities for the kids including a Hip Hop Dance workshop, a cooking demo, skipping and other games based around health promoting activities and eating. All in all it went off very successfully considering we had to move all the activities inside the classrooms. The kids finished off the term on a high note and got to take home lots of healthy recipes and cool gear like skipping ropes and t-shirts.

So now we have the school holidays - 2 weeks off - and I need to finish off all my assessments for end of term and clear out my classroom, ready for the new teacher. School has been really good about letting me go, the fact that I've effectively been on a term by term contract means that I could leave without having to give too much notice anyway, but I know it will be a pain to have to find a replacement at such short notice.

What a difference a week makes!