Indelible Adventures: Falling on my feet...

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As some of you know my first career out of University was as a teacher in Australia. When I went to university I had idea what I wanted to do, I mean - who does at 17? All I knew is that I loved sports and was reasonably good at them and so followed my nose eventually graduating with an Education degree majoring in Physical Education and sports medicine.

Now what to do with it… It seemed as though there was a natural progression of teaching in the public school system. This is where the wheels fell off! My first couple of years was spent teaching at the elementary school level - all I can say was that I was uninspired and began regretting my choice of courses at University. Especially those first three years, as a newly graduated teacher I found myself teaching at three different schools in three different parts of Victoria (state). My first school was on the border with another state so very remote, the second year I spent as head teacher of a two teacher school on the edge of the Wyperfield National Park (desert) and my final year in the western suburbs of Melbourne, which by the way sounds great until you hear that I was only one of two male teachers on staff (the other being the principal).

I was desperate for a change and so when the end of the school year came I tendered my resignation and moved to Darwin in the Northern Territory – if you'd like to read the full story of my drive to Darwin see my post “Surviving the Stuart” for the full adventure.

I arrived into Darwin on Saturday night and by Monday morning had decided to drop my resume off at the Northern Territory Teaching Service in the hope of picking up a few days of emergency teaching while I figured out what I was going to pursue. The definite plus of living in Darwin was the consistently hot and perpetually summer like weather that blessed these climes – Darwin is a mere 12 degrees south of the equator, and on a very similar line to Caracas, Venezuela and the equivalent of living in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Perfect from my standpoint!

At 7:00 am Tuesday morning the phone rang, and dragging myself out of bed answered only to find that a local high school needed me for the day. Fortunately the school was less than 10 minutes away and so was out at the school by 7:30 am. Not a lot of choice in terms of clothes as its so hot and humid in January (wet season or monsoon) so shorts and a golf shirt were just fine.

After meeting the assistant principal he outlined that he’d need me for the week… I asked him why given that it was only the second week of the actual school year only to be told that the other teacher had lasted a mere five days before going on long term disability for work related stress. Either the students were going to be insanely difficult or something else was going on... I guess I'd soon find out!

My first day was a mixed bag of classes, some social studies, art, science and a physical education class. The remainder of the week followed a similar pattern and I quickly developed a rapport with a few of the other teachers, and in particular the physical education faculty who were all young and similar to me.

Sure enough the following Monday morning the assistant principal called me again and said that he needed me for another week as they were still down a teacher. By the end of the week he asked me in for a chat and enquired if I was looking for a full time position…

My mind flashed, but given the welcoming experience by the students and faculty at the school I said that I was interested. The next morning he had all the paperwork drawn up ready for me to review and sign. Although I wasn’t aligned to a specific faculty I ended up with the Phys. Ed team, which was perfect, especially since I ended up teaching a large number of Phys. Ed classes and coaching a number of sports teams.

I quickly developed a great network of friends, joined a new football club, began playing touch rugby with the guys from school in a social league and took up windsurfing. I’d always wanted to learn to windsurf and after taking a couple of classes I began going to the beach after school and renting a board, and if I timed it right with the guy I rented my board from I could be out on the harbour by 2:45 pm zipping across the waves. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that school ended by 2:30 pm each day...tough life I know!

What wasn’t to like? Here I was living in a hot tropical climate, steps from the beach and playing a ton of sport with a cohort of other young, single teachers. I was living the dream!

Strangely I had fallen on my feet once again, which as I look back on it's become a strong pattern in my life. Is it my self belief that enables me to be successful or is it something more innate in that I follow my instincts and things just seem to turn out okay. I'm not going to question my approach but it does make you think doesn't it?

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“Hanoi Posting” A series of fictional micro-stories by Terence Wallis

Come visit "Hanoi Posting" at its new home!

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This week's photos are from my trip to New York.

Enjoy!