Sometimes I make the silly assumption that everyone is automatically up to date with my life and then I look back and realise I haven’t even announced the biggest news I have had all year. Here goes.

I AM MOVING BACK TO MY HOMETOWN TO RETURN TO PRIMARY TEACHING.

There it is. This is something I really didn’t see coming. Long story short is that I knew right from the beginning of the year that high school teaching was not for me. I missed having my own classroom. I missed spending all day with the same kids and I missed being able to set me own timetable - I mean seriously who schedules 2+ double periods of maths with the same kids on a Thursday afternoon? So in Term 1 I applied for transfer. 

At the time I had been given a tip from a previous contact about a teaching job an hour from my hometown in a Band 5, two-teacher school. Unfortunately, due to HR it didn’t pan out even though the school wanted me. Luckily I had also put down additional schools as back-ups. I just had to chose schools that were in the Central QLD region and were worth more transfer rating points (i.e. more rural/remote) than my current school. I received my second preference of Moranbah. 

At first I was very surprised. I never thought I would be heading back to my hometown. An even bigger surprise? I am teaching at my old primary school! I have so many ties to the school. I went there from pre-school until it was time for high school. I even went there for year eleven work experience! It feels very surreal to think I am heading back but I am also excited. After all, this is the place that inspired me to become a teacher. 

One side benefit of moving back is that I get to go into teacher accommodation. Last week I found out that I will be in C Grade accommodation. It is a two-bedroom duplex that I will be sharing with another teacher. It is small and very old but rent is only fifty dollars a week. I am hoping to save up for a house deposit while I am out there. 

we were studying Shakespeare. My teacher was a self-proclaimed Shakespeare nut and yeah she was pretty good in most areas. Then we came to Romeo and Juliet. She was attempting to explain the story to the class and was getting the whole thing wrong. Me, quiet 15 year old me who very rarely spoke during class, was forced to call her out on it at which point she sarcastically said "well why don't you tell the story." So I did. The look on her face was priceless. She tried to save her dignity by interrupting me at several times and inserting lines or what she thought happened at that point, and every single time I had to tell her she was wrong.

I was her favorite student after that.