First Day at Work

---

I had my first day at work yesterday, for Motu Weka - the local neighbourhood centre.
As it's school holiday the programme is a little different to the usual after-school routine.
We had a small group of eleven kids aged 6 to 12 between three adults. The low numbers were a gift of the original plan for the day being a trip up Mount Arthur for a day in the snow... I guess most parents didn't think that was such a great idea after the storms we've had recently. As it happened, the snow was too deep to try to get the vans up the hill - they're pretty ropey - so the consensus was that we'd opt for the softer option of a walk in the park. Abel Tasman National Park, that is, on a day like no other. Not a cloud in the sky, just a light breeze, temperatures that were comfortable provided we had a layer or two of merino on us.
We started with a couple of hours of drawing and talking at the centre before we left. I think that's more along the lines of what goes on during term time, which is absolutely fine by me. At ten we piled into the vans and headed north up to Marahau.
Before we hit the Coast Track we visited the local gallery at Marahau and played with the ice that had formed in the ditches. Then we set off up the track to Tinline Bay, and easy half hour stroll into the park. We had a range of kids with us and I ended up on rear duty accompanied by an eight year old boy of a heft that made it hard for him to keep up with the other kids. I charged him with the duty of helping me make sure none of the littlies got left behind which I think made him happy about having a job that kept him at the back, rather than his lack of fitness.
On the whole, the kids were a good group, easy to keep track of with three of us grown ups on duty. Only a couple have behavioural problems which were mostly negated by being out in such beautiful nature. I was accompanied by Paul Taxi, a friend from the tree walk whose reference helped me get the job in the first place, and Suntah, the other male carer. I was pretty quickly pegged for a soft touch, I think, and gradually accumulated more and more bags from kids who were "tired" (the littlest were genuine in this) or had "sore shoulders/feet". By the end of the walk a couple of hours later I had five bags slung on my shoulders and arms and two fairly permanent new friends called Kenneth (talking absolutely non stop from start to finish, mostly about Dukes of Hazzard movie and hot dogs/burgers for dinner) and Siobhan who was a divine and cuddly little girl very fond of making raucous honks which are apparently her impression of a signet. Paul just laughed when I walked out laden with baggage. I guess I'll learn to be a bit more staunch after a few more outings.

---

Comments

[nikki]

perfect job
seems like the perfect job for you em and great that they think you are a softie - why would you want to be anything else?? hope you are not too cold - pressies hopefully sending next week - too out of control this one xxxmum

[connie]

Oh how I wish to be with Nature more
Natural landscapes and animas make me smile. It's great to see someone loving their job so much to blog it like this. I thought the Mongolia blogs were amazingly wicked and they're an awesome step away from my office ; ) Keep it up, Great Stuff!