Hey Hey and a Big G'Day to you all,

It's difficult to sleep. It's so hot at the moment. I'm sick of trying to find cool spots on the bed so I thought I'd drop in and stay awhile. Soon I'll be leaving my little Tianyang with not only my travel pak but everything. I'll make the ten hour journey to Yangshuo, drop my bags off, play through the dark hours and sleep during the light. It always seems to turn into Stephen King's 'Salems Lot' when I arrive in Yangshuo.

Anyhow, after leaving Yangshuo and going overland to Kunming and heading north I will at some stage have to return to 'Salems Lot' (Yangshuo) to collect my bags and make the journey to my new school. Soon I will be jumping around before fresh new happy faces. Inside I still feel I needed one more year here in Tianyang. I promised myself when I came here I'd stay with one school for three years.

The reason being...to watch the Grade 3's grow and mature into Grade 5's. They teach me sometimes more than I can teach them when it comes to Teaching and being a teacher.

I had an awesome moment with one of my Grade 4's last week. Her name is Anna and she's one of the moodiest students I've ever met. One of my favourites too. She tries so hard. Her English is better than most but she makes it hard for herself by trying too hard and frustrating herself. When this happens we go though an 'I don't like Shane' period. A day or two later the 'I like Shane' smile appears and she bounces around the school yard saying 'I like Shane' again.

The other day she came into the office for a chat before class. I asked her what she was doing on the weekend. He answer was many sentences all joined together and freely flowing. She didn't even realise she had done it until she finished. She went quiet and then laughed and ran out of the office. A minute later she ran back in, gave me a huge hug and said 'thank you, we talked' and ran off laughing.

I guess thats the kind of thing, or the stage I was about to enter, when more of the students actually 'got it'. I could see it beginning to happen all around me. Another few months and I would have seen, or heard for a better word, the results of much of my work from the past one and a half, or by then two years. I really believe I am a person or a teacher who won't want to go from school to school every year. For me it won't achieve anything.

The future holds what it holds, time will always tell it's story.

Keep reading and follow me through to the next part of my adventure.

Beers N Noodles to ya, it's time to find cool patches in my bed again.