2009

It's not quite over yet, but this year has been... woah.
This time last year I had *just* received my first full time teaching post and if you'd told me then where i'd be at now I'm not sure how I would've reacted.

Some parts of this year have been absolutely amazing... others have been shocking moments that I'd rather forget forever. Others still have been tremendous learning curves both professionally and personally.

Overall, I'd still say it's been a great year... though the most accurate adjective would be INTERESTING...

Best Bits
TERM 1: Things were going well and i was honestly LOVING my class of year 7s and felt good about the whole thing... it was going to be a fantastic year.
The Pre-Wedding Surprise Party put on by the kids of 7B. There was a slushee machine!!
OUR 4th OF JULY WEDDING!!! best day of our lives. enough said.
BUYING OUR HOUSE (just those two points alone smell of 'great australian dream' coming true in the space of about 6 weeks)
YEAR 7 CAMP. I can honestly say I loved every minute of it, it's just a shame that things took a turn for the worse at work the very next day.
MEETING MY 4th COUSINS... the timing was brilliant, they came into my life at a time when I really just needed someone to talk to about everyday stuff, to distract me from the bad stuff that had just happened. (Not to mention that they are fantastic people and i love them to pieces)

Big Achievement
Sticking out my job for as long as I did. Considering the factors that stacked up against me to make things rather miserable for me for a while there, I did well most of the time. So yes, I TAUGHT A YEAR 7 CLASS FOR THREE TERMS and the majority of my kids learnt many new things with me and just loved me to pieces, I know this for sure so I know I must've done SOMETHING right.

Big Curveball
Aforementioned Great Australian Dream came under attack when I abruptly left my teaching career behind. There was an on/off period of unemployment/casual work and I started studying a Certificate III in something completely & awesomely different.

Another Big Achievement
Kicking the black dog's butt. While it could be argued that i was suffering from a work-related depression of sorts for awhile there, the "true" depression that plagued me in 2007 & 2008 did NOT make its way into 2009. I wouldn't let it. So even when things were incredibly crap... even when I had left my job, even when i was painfully unemployed, even when things just weren't stacking up for me and it seemed I'd been dealt an incredibly unfair blow, i didnt let it get me down.

I'll probably add another similarly themed "2009" post before the year is through... it will be more of a highlight of the little moments that made this year just awesome in its odd way.