We are all too familiar of the lines: “Life is short”, “Life is full of surprises”, life is this and life is that. However meaningful, we can not fully understand what it really means until it happens to us.
Life just threw a very cruel surprise at us. I will not write about it now.
I will be out of the loop for a long time.
I can’t believe it’s the 29th of November already. I did not plan to write a blog today but I have to now as I don’t want the November archive to be empty.
I noticed that when the children are watching a movie on television, they just click away during commercials or on parts that are boring to them. They seem to just watch half- heartedly not really processing the messages it convey.
Once we were watching Ritchie Rich, a movie about a very rich boy who has everything that money can buy. His parents own a large company and can get him any toy that he fancy, he even had his own amusement park. Inspite of that, Richie was very unhappy. He met a group of children who play baseball. He befriended them and invited them to his huge, huge place and let them play with his toys. The children were so excited and Richie was very happy that he has friends to share his toys with.
(Every now and then Jakov would quickly click to other channels then back but stay longer during the commercials.)
Now there was this evil character, his dad’s right hand man. He planned to kill the family by causing an accident on their private jet so he could get the company for himself. Richie was supposed to be in the plane too but something happened and were not able to go. He heard the news afterwards that his parents were dead. He was shocked, devastated, and very confused.
Jakov changed the channel and I was furious, “put it back”, I demanded. “Mum, that is the time when they put the commercial on.” “No, it’s not, put it back, NOW!”, I insisted. He did and it was a commercial.
“How could you, Richie’s parents died. It is very sad, isn’t it?”, I asked hoping to start a conversation about feelings. “Seriously mum, there’s football in the other channel”, Jakov said. Do you want to watch this movie, I asked. They both said yes so I declared, “You chose to watch the movie, so we watch the movie. Try to think and follow what is happening in the movie. No jump clicking between channels, so I will hold the remote.”
“His parents did not die, they were in a life boat”, Vera blurted. I gave her a how did you know look. She explained that they have seen part of it few weekends ago during the commercials when they were watching a different movie. “But we did not see the beginning and the ending.”
“But those were the important ones”, I explained. We watched the movie, and talked during the commercials. In the end of the movie, the parents came back and the evil one managed to bring the family to a mountain vault where the family hid all their treasures. To his disgust, all that was in their were old furnitures, family albums, all “family treasures”. When asked about their other treasures, the family declared that those belongs to the bank.
I like children’s movies better that adult ones. It has more substance and the movie makers really make the effort to sell to the kids. The graphics, the sounds effects are all very exciting and the use of technology make it even more fun and entertaining. I watched Harry Potter series with the kids, Shrek, The Lord of the Rings, all worth watching.
We stayed at home during the school holidays as Jack was not feeling well. He changed the roof in the barn and was planning to turn one part that used to be for the horses into a pethouse. Since we don’t keep horses, we are going to use that shelter for pigeons, guinea pigs and rabbits for the kids. He must have strained his back while doing it. He was “not regular” in the last 2 weeks, had tummy aches and his back was getting worst. Everything is on hold now until Jack is feeling better.
We went out on Friday the 13th. Vera, Richard and I went shopping as I was going to send a package to the Philippines while Jack and Jakov went to the library. The kids and I went ten pin bowling the week before and they did not want to do it again that day. They did not want to go to the cinema either. So, we just had lunch at Forster Memorial Services Club, went grocery shopping and headed home.
We arrived home at around 5:30 pm. I was alarmed to see that the big padlock at our gate was cut- off and saw a tin of coca- cola tossed just in front of the gate. I then noticed a big dark smoke coming from the bushes, on the next hill passed our house. We all agreed that there must be a bushfire and that the fire brigade accessed our property to get to it. As we approached the house, we saw blinking lights from the fire brigade truck, in the next hill , still part of our property.
Jack changed quickly and went to see what’s going on while I rang our neighbour, the Garnett’s in “Bella Vista“. Jan told me that they too were out to Forster and arrived home at around 3:00. They noticed the big smoke and from their house (about 1 km away) it appears like the smoke is coming from our house. They rang us but we were not answering. I usually set the telephone to forward calls to my mobile phone but I had forgotten to set it that day. Michael rang the Pacific Palms Fire Brigade. They were very impressed as the brigade arrived within 20 minutes. They cut the padlock to gain access and got into the business of firefighting right away.
When Jack arrived, he said that the bush fire is at Bill’s property and at our property. Since that part of our bush is damp plus the wind blew towards Bill’s, our property has very minimal damage. We didn’t worry as much as the bush fire is so far away from the house and our immediate surrounding is clear of trees. Jack further said that they took water from our dam in that paddock and the fire is under control. Jack was impressed with their professionalism and commended their firefighting gears. What impressed him more was that their chief was a young woman. He said that firefighters from Coomba Park were there too.
Before dark, I told Jack that he should go up there with sandwiches and cold drinks but he kept on telling me not to worry about it. Vera said that fire fighters are always prepared and have plenty of food supplies. She said that a fire engine went to school one day for a demonstration and they were allowed to see what’s in there. She insisted that it has a special compartment for food supplies. Remembering the tin of coca- cola at the gate helped me stopped worrying about it.
At around 8:00 pm, they passed by. I can’t believe there were 2 huge trucks in there and 4 cars. It was weird to see a lot of strangers passed through our backyard like that, we are not used to it. One of the guys stopped and told Jack that some of them will come back in the morning to check on the fire. They did come and that day the fire was completely gone.
Jack went to inspect the area the next day. Few fences were burnt and need to be replaced. He will have a big job ahead of him plus he will have to fix our private road. Our road is not really meant for huge trucks so he will have to do some maintenance work on it.Jakov is a constant companion of Jack now around the farm, they will get busy once Daddy is feeling better. First thing comes first though, the pethouse will have to wait.
It is now October 23, 2006! Where are all the days gone? It is scary how quickly time passes and now more than ever do I become increasingly aware of the line “time flies”.
My best reminder of days gone by is through the children. The children are just there and they seem to be just the same but there are days when I get the shock of my life.
Imagine my dismay when I first realised that Jakov has become way taller than I am. He is only 12 years old and he keeps on growing practically each week. I completely agree when Jack said that Vera who is now 11 will soon be taller than me too! Vera and I have the same shoe size now. She sometimes borrow my sandals which is really, really cute. I let her enjoy it while she can as next year I’m sure she will have a bigger size.
Richard is only 3 years old, it is a relief that it will take few more years before he overtakes me. It is inevitable though that one day I will end up to be the midget in the family.
Other reminder of the days gone by is through the language that children use. They have a richer vocabulary now and I am sometimes in awe as I watch them grow. Once, Jakov, Vera and I were outside rinsing sheets by hand (washing the Filipino way), when we heard something fell in the kitchen. I rushed inside and found out that Jack accidentally dropped Vera’s mug on the floor breaking it to bits. When I told Vera about it, she asked which one, and I answered the one with a goose design. “Ahhh, that’s my favourite one!”, she exclaimed, and with a wicked smile on her face she said, “Can I sue? ”
Once, she volunteered to toast bread for breakfast. When asked to put the toast on the table, she said, “wait up, it’s still loading” (A computer term which means to wait while the request is on process).
Jakov is a voracious reader, he reads anything: books, magazines, pamphlets; any paper that he can put his hands into, he reads it. Which is good. Jakov can now assert himself and expresses his opinion in many issues. It is a bit tricky sometimes coz during these years in their life, I feel like I need to take the time to explain things with great care or they can challenge your point of view or question your authority as a parent. “Do this because I said so” doesn’t work anymore.
I recognise the fact that since he is young and his mind has the capacity to absorb and retain information longer, there are times when he knows things that I know nothing about. As a mother, I always believe that I am the ones who have to nurture them but now he is no longer just the receiver of information . There are many instances when I have to listen and learn from him. I know that that time will eventually come but I didn’t think it would come too soon. Talking to Jakov these days feel like talking to a young adult, he amazes me at times.
In December, Jakov will turn 13, I will have a teenager … hooray!!! Vera will follow soon after that. I am bowled over how times went by and my imagination can’t resist going overdrive, flabbergasted at the prospect of witnessing fast- paced changes especially with the children in the next five to ten years.
By: Vera Olano Pekich
On the 28th of September, Years 3 to 6 went for an excursion to Raymond Terrace. We left at 9 o’clock. We took two buses, stage 2 in one and stage 3 in the other. The trip to Raymond Terrace took 50 minutes. We arrived at Raymond Terrace at 9:55. We started at the bowling alley. We had to be in groups of eight to play. My group had Troy, Eve, me, Letisha, Mick, Torey, Beccy and Natalie. Eve won the game and I came second. Lots of kids bought lollies from the candy store there but me. I didn‘t feel like it coz I had a big breakfast. We finished at 11:33.
Next we went to McDonalds for lunch. I sat next to Eve, Nat, and Beccy. Mr Backhouse gave us all five dollars to buy our lunch. I got a happy meal. For dessert most people got coke, fanta or strawberry flavoured slushies or snow cone. We then left to go to the Aquatic Centre.
At the Aquatic Centre, Mr Backhouse hired a jumpy castle in the big outdoor pool. We stayed there for fifteen minutes longer than we were supposed to because we liked it so much. I liked the deep end the best because we could do bombs in the water.
We left Raymond Terrace pretty late and some people nearly missed the early bus! It was a very tiring but exciting and fun day and I wish I could do it all over again!
By: Vera Olano Pekich
On Friday, the 14th of September, the entire middle school group went to Chinatown in Sydney. I woke up very early, ten to five! We picked up Eve at quarter to six. We arrived at school at six o’clock. When I arrived, I found out that I was in purple group.
When the buses arrived at school every one was excited. The buses had seatbelts, a television and even better- their very own toilet. When I got on the bus it looked so comfortable. Groups purple, blue and yellow went on one bus while black, green, white and maroon went on the other. We departed fifteen minutes late.
On the way, we stopped at the rock near the Tea Gardens turn off to pick up some students who lived at Tea Gardens. We also stopped at Raymond Terrace to pick up Ms Branda and Ms Lister. We watched Jackie Chan Adventures and the classic version of Looney toons on the bus trip.
We finally reached Chinatown at thirteen past eleven. All the groups split up to explore Chinatown. We went through markets, underground tunnels, shopping malls and much more. It was good that no one got lost or left behind.
For lunch we went to a Chinese restaurant called Yum Cha, The Emperor’s Dish. We were only allowed to use chopsticks so we could learn other cultures (and for others entertainment). We were told that its bad to cross your chopsticks because that’s how peasants eat and that we also shouldn’t pick up our chopsticks with our left hand because that’s the hand that the Chinese use to wipe their bottom with.
After lunch, the purple group went to the art gallery. It took a long walk to get there too. We learnt that when rich people died in China, their family and slaves would be buried next to them ALIVE !!! We also learnt how to do Chinese artwork with only a brush and black paint, I think it is called calligraphy.
For afternoon tea we stopped at the park. When we had to take a photo and we left our food on the ground, the birds nibbled part of our afternoon tea. We then went to explore again after.
While we were exploring, we got to go to the water park. It was so fun but everyone got soaked. There was a candy store very close to the water park so lots of students bought lollies. I wasn’t able to buy anything because I forgot my wallet at home. Amber felt sorry for me so she bought me a packet of skettles.
The last thing we did in Chinatown was going to the Chinese gardens. We saw lots of large fish in the ponds and while we walked around, Chinese music played. After that we had a chance to go to the toilet.
We then hopped back on the bus. Same as in the morning, purple, blue and yellow groups went on one bus while black, green, white and maroon went on the other. The bus I went on was one hour ahead of the other one. When we went onto the freeway we watched a movie called “Mrs Doubt Fire”.
We dropped at McDonalds for dinner at around six. Mrs Osbourne let me borrow some of her money and I got a happy meal. The other bus then over took us.
We dropped Miss Branda at Raymond Terrace, Mrs Guthrie at Nerong and some other students at the rock near the Tea Gardens turn off. We were supposed to be at school at 20 to 7 but instead we arrived at EIGHT THIRTY!
Kim (Eve’s mother) drove Jakov and I home and on the way we saw a hare running in front of the car. Kim went slowly until it ran across the road. We arrived home at nine forty and I slept like a baby that night.
The end…
By: Jakov Olano Pekich
It was a cold Thursday morning when I was woken up to go to school at the extremely early time of 5:05am. We had to be at school by 6:30am to catch the bus to go to Sydney.
When we got to school we were put into our morning groups. I was in green group. I sat next to Michael on the bus. We would have little competitions like who could undo their folder the quickest then put it back to normal again. If we weren’t having these competitions, we would be watching Pirates of the Caribbean, the movie that was playing in the bus.
At Sydney we drove near Chinatown. Chinatown is a pedestrian street with only a few small cars coming through. The buses wouldn’t have fit. We had 20 minutes to explore the street. A couple people went to Paddy’s markets across the street. Others went through Chinatown. Along the way we saw a man selling toy monkeys.
At 10:30 we went to the Emperor’s Garden Restaurant. We were going to have our “brunch” there. At first they served some prawn and egg balls inside rice paper. Then lots of other food we had never had before. Brad, Mat and I had half a glass of soy sauce each. Soy sauce is the saltiest, bitterest food I have ever had.
Next our group escorted by Miss Branda went to the Chinese gardens. Our tour guide was Brendon. We were doing a sort of treasure hunt. Brendon explained to us that the treasure hunt was designed for younger children, because it was usually younger children who did the tour. At the end we got all the clues, it didn’t take very long, and Brendon read us the story of the Chinese zodiac.
Then we had to walk all the way to Hyde Park. Along the way, Trent’s dad came and we went to this place where you walk through the hall with water spouting out at you.
Then we were put into our afternoon groups. I was in Yellow group with Miss Lister. We went to the Art Gallery. We looked at these pictures of Ned Kelly, as well as a fabulous tapestry of him on a horse. Then we went to the Chinese exhibit. There were samurai swords and a document of what Chinese characters looked like in the past. Then we had to wait for the bus to arrive. I was dared to stack a cigarette bin on top of a normal bin. Mat then realised that it looked like Ned Kelly, so we took a couple pictures of our “statue”.
The bus arrived half an hour late so we had to rush. Unfortunately we were caught in peak hour traffic. It took one hour if I’m correct to get out of Sydney. On the way, we went past Warrawe Public School.
On this bus trip Michael and I came up with other competitions. These included who could make their seat go down the furthest, who could pull out their seatbelt the fastest and who could head butt the seat in front of us the fastest. If we weren’t doing this we were watching the movie Are We There Yet?
We got to school at 8:30pm, which was actually 2 hours later than planned. In the end it was a really fun trip and I would definitely go again.
By: Vera Olano Pekich
Eve is my best friend we have been best friends since 2002 so we’ve been friends for four years. She lives close to my house and we visit each other a lot.
Eve and I met each other in 2002 in year 1. We went on the same school bus and started to talk to each other a lot. We then became best friends ever since. We laugh a lot about small and the most random things.
I like Eve because she is hilarious. She is also very caring and is a good role model. She doesn’t mind new things and she is very helpful.
We have lots of things in common. We both like the bands “The Veronicas“ and “Green day“. We both like shows “Dancing on Ice“ and “The Simpson’s” on t v , and Pirates of the Caribbean on the movies. We are the same age. We both love seafoods and we‘re both interested in scoobies.
At home we talk on the telephone a lot about the most random things. Even if we see each other 7 hours a day every school day, when we come home we always miss each other.
We have been friends for a long time and I reckon our friendship will never fade.
The End!!!!!!!
By: Vera Olano Pekich
Country and city are both great places to live but there are a few downsides to both of them.
Firstly, country has way more fresh air, water and food plus there’s more privacy and you stress less. But in the city you’re closer to things like stores, petrol station, ambulance, and fire brigade. There are also museums, fun parks and you can have more of a chance to meet celebrities. In the city, you have more hang out places like cinema, bowling alley, disco, shopping centres and much more. But also in the city, people can get very angry from work. In the country, it’s a closer community and you basically know everyone. In the city there isn’t much friendship between each other because they’re too busy.
In the city some people live in fear from so much crime and violence. People also have more chances of getting robbed. But you feel much more safe in the country from crime. In the country though if you’re far away from school, you don’t have to get to do as much extra out of school activities such as dramas and plays with other classmates and you can’t hang out with other friends who live in town.
Also, in the country you can keep more pets and can go bush bashing without neighbours complaining about it. But in the city you don’t need to take care of much space and you don’t need to bother burning dry areas in winter. In the city you always have to ask landlords and neighbours about building stuff around your house.
In conclusion both country and city are great to live but I believe that country is much better to live.
By: Jakov Olano Pekich
On the 26th of August, me and 6 other team members went down to present our answer to the TOM challenge at the University of Newcastle. To do this, we had to practice for 5 weeks to answer the challenge, and then prepare a script, paint the backdrop, make costumes and finally rehearse.
On week 1, 9 people were trying to get into the Tournament. They were Luke, Alana, Samantha, Mary, Briana, Chavez, Jake, Jess and I. In the end, Chavez and Mary gave up their positions.
We were given a choice of 3 challenges. They were the Language Literature challenge “Floored By Tragedy”, the Social Sciences challenge “Trick or Treaty”, and the Maths and Engineering challenge “Birds of Baradice”. In the end everyone but me chose the Language Literature challenge.
In week 2, we had to solve our problem. The problem was that a flawed member of the royal family has a complication and this affects the whole kingdom. We had to make a 10 minute play about what happened using the conventions of Greek Tragedy, as well as including up to 3 well known literary characters. We used the idea of reference to the gods, the wearing of masks, cross dressing (only men were allowed to act in Greece during the ancient times, female parts were done by men with fake breasts) and real time acting. This meant that for every second that passed in the actual story, a second passed in our play. We had multiple ideas, such as, the royal chicken gets run over, the king is assassinated and the Oracle is revealed as a stoner. We went with the stoner idea. The original story was about how a time traveller reveals to the public that the Oracle was a stoner. Then in the community there are two sides: the supporters of the Oracle and the supporters of the stranger (time traveller).
In week 3 we needed to assign parts and connect these parts with the selected literary characters. We found that we couldn’t assign enough parts with the current story line, so we made a new one. In this one, Zeus turns the king, the Minotaur from Picasso’s Guernica painting, psycho, in the process making the villagers (Eleanor Rigby from the Beatles, Sophie from the book “When Sophie gets angry, really, really angry“, “Oedipus” from Antigone, and one like Miss Gee from that poem (who was played by me.) making them seek the advice of the Oracle, also from Antigone, who was still a stoner. In the end the stranger kills the Minotaur, turning the village into a suicidal frenzy.
In Week 4, we had to paint the backdrop. It had a suicidal tree, a wrecked temple and sun with a light bulb in its head like in Guernica.
In week 5 we finalised the script. It had all our little jokes in it. We also made costumes. One of the conventions of Greek theatre is that only men could act. Most characters had fake breasts. I refused to do so, being Miss Gee who in the poem had a tumour, I pretended to have a tumour.
On Saturday the 26th was the big day. When we got to the Uni, Briana, Luke, Jake and I waited at the cafeteria where we should all meet, but the others never came. Luke’s Dad got a map and finally went to the venue. As it turned out, we waited at the wrong building.
As soon as we got there we had to do the Spontaneous challenge. We had four minutes to decide between 2 and 5 words in a list to make a headline. We chose Large, Stranger and World. In this type of challenge no points are awarded for our 1 min presentation. Just how we worked together and the words we chose. We got bonus points for not using the word giraffe. When we did the actual presentation we had no mishaps. No forgotten lines, nothing, until the end. One of my parts was to fall down and play dead but when I did I fell onto a chair. Mum said that all she heard was the thump. I couldn’t see passed my mask!
In the end, Hunter Valley School won and got honours because they entered 2 teams. Afterwards we all met at McDonalds and watched the movie about the play that Miss Stewart, our facillitor made. Then we all went home.
