Little Buddha

I've wanted to post on this for a while, but I've kept musing on it until I could figure out what my actual thoughts are.

I've been working as a Casual Relief Teacher in a Special School for the past term (as well as another mainstream highschool), and my experience there has been invaluable.

I walked in on my first day as green as it gets, nervous about the kind of student I would be working with (I've heard many stories from my wife who is a Speech Pathologist working in education and my brother who is an integration aide in a Specialist School - one step lower functioning than my school) and wondering about my purpose in such a place. I quickly came to realise in my first hour that children with autism are not at all scary (at least the ones I am working with), even when they are throwing things around the room in a tantrum, picking their nose until it bleeds, smacking themselves in the face, squeezing the crap out of another autistic child (pinching) or even screeching at you at the loudest decibel level they can muster.
I also quickly cam to realise that children with special needs can be as, if not more, adorable than 'normal' children. Each child has such a unique personality.

On my second day there, I met the child that has been my favourite (even though we're not supposed to have fovourites - it's impossible not to) ever since. I love this kid - he is absolutely adorable.

Let me paint you a picture:
A rotund Asian boy squats in his chair, peering down at a puzzle beneath his eyes. His eyes are a little too slanted, and upon further inspection I can see that he has actually fallen asleep again (succumbing to his narcoleptic condition). I walk over to him and kneel beside him.
"Wake up, Wei Yin!" I whisper with a smile, gently nudging him behind his left shoulder. "Look! Let's do your puzzle!"
His eyes open gradually, and without a smile he looks at me in acknowledgement. I hand him a piece from his childrens' puzzle.
"Where does this one go?"
He scrutinizes the puzzle board, and can't quite decide on the right spot for the truck-shaped puzzle piece he now has in his hand. He drops the puzzle piece on the board, reaches over to me and forcibly places my hand over the puzzle piece.
He looks at me. I know what he's trying to do, but I play dumb - I want him to do it. He picks up my hand and drops it on the piece again. I pick it up and put it back in his chubby, olive fingers.
"Come on, Wei Yin. You're clever, I know you can do this."
He grips the piece, looks at the board and spots the right slot in less than a second, his hand pushing towards it without a thought. He struggles with the exact positioning for a moment and then slides the piece cleanly in.
I give him a huge grin.
"You. Are. Wonderful! Well done Wei Yin!!!"
My joy spills out into my arms and give his shoulders a congratulatory squeeze as my face and words convey my pleasure in his work.
His face lights up. Where once there was a look of casual contentment, now there blooms a huge smile. His huge chubby smile beams up at me, and then he grabs my head either side with both of his hands. He pulls my head closer and closer to his own, until they are touching, and he holds me there, beaming with joy, looking at my eyes.
For the rest of the day, we were best of pals. He continually amazed me with how smart he is. He can't talk, he manages to fall asleep while walking around a basketball court and he tries to get everyone else to do everything for him, but knows his way around Windows XP as well as anyone I've ever known. He can spell. He can write. He listens and understands everything you say to him. And he still remembers who I am whenever we see him in the playground.

This kid is one of the most special kids I've ever has the pleasure of teaching, and this school has so many just as special kids who are special in their own completely unique ways. I hope I can have the opportunity to encourage kids like that all the way through my life.

I think this is the primary reason why I teach. I love to make people feel good about themselves. I love it. And I seem to be able to do it best with kids. I want people to be able to feel like they can do things, and that their worth is immeasurable. I think I've just defined my life's mission statement.

Do I Keep It?

Do I keep this facial hair style? Chrystal thinks I look creepy. I reckon a change would be nice, but I'm not sure what to do. Suggestions?

Update-a-thon! ('A-thon'?? What is that?)

Ok, I'm gonna post some stuff about stuff, so get ready.

A few Saturdays ago, we had Matt's Bucks Day. It was fantastic! We began the day with a trip to the local waterskiing club, where Matt's then-future-father-in-law and family friend drove us up and down the river for hours and hours. Personally, I got up on my first attempt, but just couldn't manage to hold it for more than about 5 seconds. It was surprisingly hard to keep your balance I found, not sideways, but forwards and backwards. The rope would get slack and you would fall either forwards (and get a face full of water) or backwards, either way ending your joyous skid-fest in a barrage of water, filling your every orifice.

Matt was a pro, and this is what he would've looked like if he had a moustache.

After waterskiing, we went into Lygon Street for dinner (a place synonymous with Italian dining, for those who live outside Melbourne), and had some very authentic pizzas at a place called La Spaghetteria.


From there we went further into the city to an Irish pub called The Irish Times for a stout or two (suggested by Alex Marriot). It was an awesome little bar with a really nice atmosphere, and we found a booth and drank to Matt's marriage.

Then we moved on to a place called the European Bier Cafe, where I was able to order my favourite beer in the world (a Belgian beer called Hoegaarden White). Here we partied the night away, dancing like nutters to the tunes of a cover band (man, they played some great songs) and fully going mental. Matt really got into it, dancing and singing along with the rest of us :)


Skip a couple of weeks along (to March 4th), and then we have Matt and Kathryn's wedding. What a special day. I was honoured to be the best man, and apart from almost getting the groom run over by a train, I think I did ok. The above photo is all I have of the wedding so far (c/o Guru's site - he's editing the wedding), because the camera is at my in-laws' at the moment, but it was such an amazing time).
Memorable moments:
- standing at the altar next to Matt (the same altar where I was married two years ago) and watching his beautiful bride walk down the aisle.
- listening to Andrea sing incredibly during the signing of the register (what an incredible voice - you could have recorded it and sold millions).
- delivering as many sandwiches/drinks/cakes into the hands of my charge (ie. the groom) in the afternoon tea as he mingled with congratulators.
- posing for an awesome photo where we mimicked a car breakdown (Kathryn was told to look annoyed and we all watched on as Matt had his sleeves rolled up, trying to fiddle with the engine of a beautiful antique car).
- going crazy on the dancefloor with a quality crowd.

All in all, an absolutely wonderful time.

A few days ago, me and my family went to the final dress rehearsal of the Commonwealth Games (yep, they're being held in Melbourne for those who've never heard). It was, in a word, BORING. If we didn't get free tickets, we wouldn't have gone, and if we knew it was going to be so tedious, we probably wouldn't have gone either. It was kind of a poor man's Olympics really: a situation where the budget really wasn't that big (and you could tell), and you probably wouldn't have wanted the budget to be bigger because there's better things for a nation to spend their money on. The highlight, other than having some lovely together time with my family, was a bunch of people skating around with oversized sparklers on. Otherwise it was cold.

We had a LAN last Wednesday! It was awesome, running from 9am to 11pm the same night. The venue was perfect, the crowd were enthusiastic, the computers ran without a hitch (as usual).
On the left here we have Marcus (rear - Mr. Sven) and Will (front - loves his sniper). On the right we have Caitlin (rear - that's right, a girl! very quick to pick everything up, you should be proud, Revhead) and Josh (middle - also Revhead's offspring, also very quick to pick everything up), and then Neale (front - my brother in law :)).
This is a pic of almost everyone. The total other attendees were: Mic (my bro), Brent (other brother in law), Michael, Guru, Carl, James and Sam popped in for a bit too.

In other news:

- I had a job offer, which was then retracted, and it makes me a bit sad to think about it.
- I took my youngest bro-in-law out for a Tim-Tam iced chocolate the other day (mmmmm....) and we spent about an hour walking around the toy section of Target pressing every button we could find (he's so funny).
- I played the World of Warcraft boardgame with Guru, King Kohl, Josh, Casey and another guy the other day - best board game ever.
- can't wait for the school term to start back again so I can start working! I'm doing CRT (Casual Relief Teaching) for a few of the schools around my area, which I really enjoy doing.

Over and out.