Tasmania Day 5

I woke up to roosters before 5am. Holy roosters, but all in all very comfy night. I reiterate, electric blankets, awesome. The day started off with rain on rain on rain. I went to the WWOOFer cabin for toast, nutella and apples. The day actually ended up being pretty emotionally difficult and thought provoking, but I'll explain. So, at wish, I went to the house to see what I was to be doing. Since the outdoor gardening work was a. not necessarily desirable, and b. possibly not possible due to the rain, Lizzy said she'd figure it out, but for he time being it would be nice to help Caden and Joseph read.

I was with them for 2.5 hours, still not finished with one short book, mostly because I'm relatively certain Caden is dyslexic. Joseph was a surpassingly able reader for 7, but I felt terrible struggling with Caden. I was first blaming it on homeschooling, but after a bit noticed a lot of the mistakes would suggest dyslexia. I don't really know what to do since Lizzy and home rules seem pretty static.

After that, I gave Annalise a piano lesson for 30 minutes. She's really pretty good, and I just helped with counting and technique, which made a huge difference. Then, I went to the cabin for lunch, armed with a massive homemade loaf of bread and apples. After realizing that the tomato, piece of cheese and carrot I took out of the fridge were not provided by Lizzy but actually purchased by Kohei and Shota, I felt terrible and the questions started. I was curious firstly about what they were given (some bread, some spreads (not the nutella), cheap tea, cheap coffee, and apples, when they had). I couldn't imagine living off of only that, especially wen dinner is another mass produced item for them. We also had chats about how weird it is that Ken and Lizzy sit in another room whilst eating the same foods. I was told about a medieval room they have which would fit everyone easily, though is rarely used. Apparently the kids only sometimes have friends over, but it's usually only for birthdays, and ten then, there's a cake and present, but no real giving of the present (sounds unimportant, i know, but like, imagine a birthday without singing?)

The whole day it seemed like homeschooling wasn't actually happening, which kind of bothered me. (Joseph was home sick; he's usually at school) I was pretty reflective/depressed at how weird it was here after lunch and went back in to do heaps of dishes. I met Ken at this point (finally). He seems pretty cool, and was born in Arkansas. Other than that, I didn't learn much.

Post dishes I sat down with Jabus, Caden and Joseph and asked if they had art supplies, because it occurred to me that out of school it's possible they get no art exposure. All there was was some paper and a few broken crayons (this makes these people sound like hobos; not the case. it's a lovely home, just no art shits). I explained to them the game where you draw a picture and pass it to someone else and they have to turn it into something different. Though the rules were seldom followed, it was a ton of fun and got them all focussed and creative. Annalise joined in at a point too.

Lizzy asked me if I wanted to cook anything for dinner and I told her I'd bake a dessert if I could, so I spent a few minutes and picked a chocolate cupcake recipe. As I was getting everything together I n noticed Pearl and Tristan had wandered in and asked to watch, since they had cooking in school and loved it. I told them they couldn't' watch because they'd be too busy helping me. With my new found sous chefs, cupcakes [heaps] were made and we all got chocolate sick before dinner.

I learned a lot about them whilst baking as well. Pearl (and her brothers) see their father occasionally and have had horrible experiences (could showers, bad treatment) in other foster homes. Peter and I were chatting about this later and he told me that all he knew was that the father had some sort of health condition that limited him. Tristan speaks with his dad every Monday and has also had bad experiences, but that's all I pulled out of them. Everyone seems happy though where they are now, and it's such a crazy concept to me. When I asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, as well as working for a specific animal saving organization Pearl told me she wanted to be a mother, which surprised me even more. The rest of the cupcake making fun was in my saying tomato differently than they do ad learning that when things get expensive, they say prices are dear.

After cupcakes I had a shower and came out to see Tristan just starting HP6. We chatted a bit about that and then spaghetti and meat bits, some fries, and a bit of lettuce made for dinner. Dessert was a success and I joined in with some shitty reality TV programs. Oh! but not before I saw a massive zucchini in the kitchen and got a house tour from pearl. Then back to the WWOOFer cabin for more yarns (and tea).

More facts gained:

• Peter
• used to drink 25 cups of coffee each 
• son had a coke problem and he got him to stop after 72 hours straight talking to him
• daughter (photographer) was prescribed drugs by a shrink but after giving her a joit, she's been better than ever before
• ran a crazy underground parties
• 24 year old girlfriend, but it's been difficult to keep it while he's so out of touch
• lost all money, but never been happier
• Shota
• hair dresser (i'm getting a haircut tomorrow!)
• street dancer- danced in sydney opera house
• here for his 2nd year visa