Tasmania Day 6

So, I also learned that Ken was in a terrible car accident in Sydney a few years ago that put him, paralyzed, in the hospital for two years, and unable to walk for another year after that. Now he's always on painkillers, but you honestly wouldn't be able to tell. Also, I learned that Joseph, the 7 year old who I swear is brilliant, was completely shut off when he arrived... no laughs,smiles, cries, talks, nothing. It's amazing how the environment was welcoming enough to get him out of such a shell.

I had been curious for a bit about how Lizzy made money, and Peter explained to me that a lot of her horse work is about training endurance horses, which she sells. Also, taking in Foster kids comes with heaps of money -- more than you necessarily need to take care of them. Interesting. I suppose though that constantly having WWOOFers also helps, since they're essentially free labor, disguised as people spending time doing something new, people needing a 2nd year visa, and small families coming for the experience and their small daughters' need to see horses.

I also learned that Shota was a hairdresser by trade and got a trim/styling this morning as a result. The hilariously dead  bits on the bottom of my hear fare finally gone now. HE only cut off what was necessary and it was the most gentle hair experience i've ever had.

Once I went in, I gave Annalise a very long (and probably torturous for her) piano lesson. We went through all of her books, and then I tried to teach her the pink panther song which mostly led to me writing really shit sheet music for her to use.

After I was to help Caden with reading, but he was uninterested and ran away, so I did math with Annalise. Apparently in hoe schooling they never do sciences, and seemingly not much math either... I taught her long division and a bunch of pattern finding techniques. Lunch was ham toasties and some ramen noodles. I learned a bunch about Shota's girlfriend whilst eating. It's unbelievable how little he has been able to speak with there throughout these past 10 months of his traveling, but even more amazing how they left. Apparently she was with friends and lost a bet or dared to say hi to some guy. It was Shota. She is a masseuse. I suggested they open an epic spa, but I don't think it translated well. He's pretty good at english and Kohei's also getting there (they've only been learning for 10 months!). Peter said he's only recently begun thinking and dreaming in english (instead of Dutch, though eh also speaks French German Italian and Portuguese).

After lunch I did the dishes (again, holy dishes) and then swept their dirty fucking massive van.

At 4 it was off to the bus station (me), library (Kohei and Shota (Peter stayed back because there were only 12 seats)(for internet)) and irish dance (kiddies). Goodbyes were cute and I got a massive group picture first. Weird place, but overall a good experience. Now off for my weirdly short stay in devonport!

Actually, I forgot one thing. I learned a lot about hair during my haircut.

• My right side is shorter than the left because I play with it more
• When hair is wet, the cuticles are bent, so it's way easier to damage
• Thou Shall not sleep with wet hair nor brush wet hair