Letter to Students 01 December 2008

Dear Reader

“A pinch and a punch for the first of the month, no returns!”  Did you say that this morning for the first day of the new month?  I try to remember to pinch and punch one of my children at the beginning of the new month, but I so often forget!  Do you have a custom at the beginning of the month?  I heard them say on the radio that it is officially the beginning of summer, and it is going to be a long, hot, dry summer, but I think they forgot to tell Dunedin!  It is grey, wet and cool, and feels more like the beginning of winter!  However, the rain is good for the garden as we have not had much rain, so I will not complain! 

What did you do this past weekend?  Han and I went up to Christchurch on Saturday morning as my only nephew got married on Saturday afternoon at a beautiful vineyard, just south of Christchurch in a place called Templeton.  The weather was perfect, with the sun shining on the beautiful bride and groom.  The wedding took place in the garden, and we stood around on the lawn as the couple exchanged their vows.  There was a horse and foal in the paddock behind us, and two swans swam on the pond to the side.  There was also a fountain, and it was such a romantic place to get married.  I got married outside in a friend’s garden, and we were lucky to have a beautiful day as well. 

My husband, Han, used to live in Christchurch, and his mother still lives there.  We stayed the night with her, and then came back to Dunedin yesterday with my mother in law who will stay with us for a month.  We arrived in Dunedin just after lunch time, and picked up our son and two grandchildren.  That evening we invited our family to dress the Christmas tree, and I cooked a big meal for us all.  Twenty four people sat around two long tables, and we had such a wonderful night.  Everyone helped decorate the tree, and I felt in seventh heaven.  Shahan is leaving for China on Thursday, and this was her farewell party as well.  It was fabulous to have Han’s mother with us as well, as she lives alone and hadn’t seen some of her great grandchildren! There are so many now and she gets confused as to who belongs to whom!  We have decided to make this our special Christmas dinner as all the family can not join us on Christmas day.  However, dressing the tree was very special, and the big tree looks wonderful in our lounge. You will have to come and see it!

I am looking forward to seeing you and sharing your news.  Let’s have a great week, and please write back to me.

4^th December, 2008

I wrote the above, knowing I was going to teach the Upper Elementary class, which has some students who are working up at the Pre Intermediate level and wanted to challenge them, while allowing everyone to understand the gist of what I did in the weekend.

It is now Thursday morning, the day when we say farewell to Shahan, our seventeen year old treasure who is leaving for China tonight.  We will check her baggage in for the international flight which she will take from Auckland, and then have a meal together before saying “take care.” I don’t like to say ‘goodbye,” as there seems to be finality associated with it, and I know that we will keep in constant contact until the day Shahan returns to us, be it perhaps briefly.  Shahan is going to work in a preschool in a “small city” of five million people, outside Shanghai, and she has a one year contract which can be renewed.  I am so proud of her in so many ways.  After a challenging year, she is off to experience life in a totally different culture, as she did when she lived in Japan for six months last year, having received a Ministry of Education scholarship to study at high school in Nagano.  This time, through an agent called Belinda whom I met in Kunming in July, Shahan has accepted a position working for Belinda’s brother.  Hu Chen and I stayed in Belinda’s apartment with her husband, and really felt at home in this chaotic city.  Not that I am usually at home in chaos, but I loved the spirit of the people, and enjoyed the fabulous eclectic range of food. No doubt, Shahan will have times when home seems a long way away, but the incredible set of experiences she will no doubt have will stand her in great stead for her future life.  My advice to her is to live each day as it comes, and not to ‘forward worry.”  I know this is easier said than done, and I know that I also need to heed this advice at times! 

Jan is in the office as I write, and he reminded me of the conversation I had in the car with my grandson as we travelled through BroadBay on our way to town on Sunday. 

In preparation for the big dinner on Sunday, I returned to town with my grandchildren to do some grocery shopping in the afternoon.  As we looked across the harbour, My five year old grandson, Arlo, yelled out that there was “a tournado of birds, as pointed to e two unusually big flocks of sea birds gathered on two sides of Turnbull’s Bay.  I marveled at his descriptive language. “Out of the mouths of babes…”

On Monday afternoon, that day in which the heavens opened and the skies seemed to cry all day, I slipped on the footpath and hit my head on a concrete wall in Bath Street.  In true heroic style, I held on to my wallet, but I felt rather inelegant as I lay sprawled on the pavement.  My eyes met those of a woman crossing the road, but she continued on as if I was not part of her reality.  Han wondered if it was my ego which was dented more than my body, but every part of my left side bore the signs of a body having landed heavily, and my head hurt from the jolt it had received.  I squatted with my head down for a few seconds, but when that attention seeking behaviour brought no one to my aid, I made my way cautiously to the car where I burst into tears on telephoning Karina.  Han wondered why I didn’t phone him, but I actually thought it wasn’t that serious to warrant contacting him.  Han found out on Friday that he was selected as the new full time counselor at LoganParkHigh School, and I know how busy he is.  We toasted his success on Friday night when I made a Japanese meal, and I am so delighted he has found a position which he loves, and one in which he can have such influence in the lives of youth.  Han worked with juvenile delinquents for ten years in the 1990s, and created a learning environment second to none.  London House, as he renamed the dilapidated Activity Centre, became a model for others working with disadvantaged youth where Han combined learning through the Correspondence School with group therapy in the afternoons.  Being a registered psychologist enabled him to empower students to face their problems and move on, something that was not able to be replicated when he left.  However, back in the school system, he is again able to work with youth with problems, and he has his old spark back in his eyes.  For a number of years, Han has been in private practice, and although he enjoyed it, he much prefers to work in a team with peers who are working towards the same goal of educating New Zealand’s young.

On Tuesday, although I felt like death warmed up, I came into work as Karina had a migraine, and Hu Chen was ill.  I thought I could battle through the day, but when my colleagues told me my eyes looked funny, I reluctantly agreed to see my doctor who diagnosed concussion.  For the past two days, I have tried to slow down, with moderate success!  A former Japanese student of mine, who studied with me fifteen years ago, is visiting Dunedin, and yesterday I took her home for lunch.  There was a glorious break in the clouds, and we sat overlooking the garden as we ate lunch.  In the afternoon, Shahan and I collected the photos from Sunday evening, and sat in a pub reliving the evening in our minds.  A former Dutch student happened to be passing, and I invited her to join us for a drink.  The spontaneous side of my nature should sometimes be curbed as I knew that Shahan wanted to spend this precious little time with me alone.  I apologised later, but find it hard when I see other young people on their own.  I know how tough it sometimes is, and I hope that people will look after my children in the same way I look after those who cross my path.

Usually I video the dressing of the tree, but I didn’t have my video camera at home this year.  To make up for this, I took lots of photos, and I have put a selection in with the card which Han and I have written to Shahan.  Sometimes words flow, but today I seem bereft of appropriate words, and will put it down to my concussion.  I certainly find I am having to work hard to formulate my sentences, and seem to be acutely aware of what I am writing.  Without the flow, I feel I am removed from my body, watching what another being is writing for me.  How odd!  The staff say my eyes look funny, and Amber says my refusal to slow down is another side of my obsessive personality.  She says it in the nicest possible way!

I must close this letter now, and head off for my last lunch with Shahan for a very long time.  I look forward to catching up with you, and hope that you have a great weekend.

Love

Sharron