Farewell Ebba and Frederick

Three months ago Rob and I met Ebba and Frederick - two lovely, polite, shy backpackers from Sweden. They had come to the island as part of a project by IBIS to employ backpackers in order to supplement the islander staff. They would be staying in the unit in front of ours and would later be joined by other backpackers - Georgina, Yves and Nikki.

When I met them, Ebba was very shy and spoke a little English. Frederick - who had lived and studied in the States for about six month last year - did most of the talking in a very charming American accent :-)

Soon after they arrived Rob and I left TI for Brisbane - Rob to receive treatment for his back and I to be with Phil. We came back two and a half months later.

And we came back to a house full of young people from all over the globe - Belgium, Canada, England - and our original couple from Sweden. I'm on record as saying that we were a bit iffy about the backpacker thing - but let me tell you - we love it now. These gorgeous young people are very likeable, fun, respectful and have become part of the family.

So it was with heavy hearts this morning that Rob and I said farewell to Ebba and Frederick. Three months have passed all too quickly and now they're off onto the next leg of their journey. Last night we took them to Green Hill to watch their final sunset on TI and afterwards we all shared a casual meal at the unit.

Farewell dinner for Ebba and Frederick - we kept it vegetarian in their honour :-)
Houseparent Rob at the head of the table
Nikki (right) talking to Leanna and Dan who are the new kids on the block

Sunset on T.I. as seen from Green Hill



A very dapper looking Rob at Green Hill Fort

 I know eventually the other two - Yves and Nikki - will be leaving - I don't want to think about it. It wasn't part of the deal or planned in any way, but Rob and I have become sort of house parents to these kids. We have grown quite fond of them and this morning was proof of how attached we have become to these wonderful young people.

Ebba wants to know when we're going to Sweden. We're not sure - but one thing is certain - whenever we do there will be a very warm welcome waiting for us .... from our handsome Swedish "son" and his beautiful girlfriend - our very sweet, and now not so shy, Ebba.

Ebba, Frederick and Rob at Green Hill

Life is good.





Ailan Kores - what an experience!

I don't know where to start. Do I start from when Rob and I walked to Anzac Park and were met with the most amazing site - food stalls; tents; people strolling through - chatting, meeting friends; family groups sitting together on the grass - an atmosphere of friendship, fun, anticipation.

Anzac Park looked a treat

Do I start from when Rob gave me a good-luck kiss and I went backstage to wait for our big moment? Alison our choir director gathered the choir and took us through a few warming up exercises ..... la-la-la-la-la-la-la :-) 

We had to stop then because the children's choir was about to take the stage - and didn't they do themselves proud? In fact one of their songs was the Taylor Hick's hit "Do I make you proud?" - yes kids, you did :-)



Alison conducting the Youth Choir

As with any special event there are always formalities - and thankfully these were kept to a minimum. The governor, Penelope Wensley, officially opened the festival.

From left to right: Governor Penelope Wensley, Deborah Conway (concert organiser), Bishop Mabo, Mayor Pedro Stephens (addressing the crowd) and the MC - sorry don't know his name but he was good :-) 

Do I start from when we walked onto the stage and took our places and felt the buzz of a performance about to start? "Torres Strait is our home ....." the chorus of our opening number "Green White and Blue" sung by the composer Cygnet Repu - a stirring song that warmed up the crowd and got us all in the mood. 

Cygnet Repu, composer of "Green, white and blue"
See the woman in yellow to the right? Well that's me behind her - I'm wearing green

The rest of the evening flowed just as we had rehearsed and after each song or hymn I felt uplifted and happy.



Soloists: Gregory Moore, Shelli Hulcombe, Brett Holland, Kathleen Lamont
Conductor: Peter Morris

Not very clear but this is me in full singing mode - pink glasses and all :-) I'm behind the singer in the yellow dress. The woman in front of me to the right, with the frangipani in her hair, is Rosie Barkus. Rosie designed the floral backdrops and the motifs on the female soloists' costumes.



The choir of the Torres Strait and the Queensland Youth Orchestra

 

The green dress complete with frangipani hairpiece

Apparently during the night my face flashed up onto the big screen a couple of times. I was told that I looked like I was enjoying myself - I was !!!!! I had an absolute ball :-)

Last night was an experience - another wonderful Thursday Island experience - something I will never forget. You know what I'm going to say next don't you?

Yes ...... life is good.

Rehearsals

Do you remember in March this year I posted a blog - "Calling all singers" - where I told you how I had joined the choir? Well that concert - Ailan Kores - is finally going to happen this Sunday, 17th July, in Anzac Park.

We have been in intense rehearsals since last Sunday and from tomorrow night we will be practising on site. This will be an opportunity for sound checks, and technical checks and we'll be given direction on how to come on stage, stand, sit and exit. Our final dress rehearsal is on Saturday night.

We-sound-fabulous!   :-)

The Queensland Youth Orchestra and 6 soloists will join us - the combined choir of the Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula, and the Torres Strait Youth Choir - about 40 voices all up. Our repetoire is a combination of local hymns mixed with devotional pieces from European composers, such as Bach and Handel.

Many of the works have been translated into Western, Central and Eastern language groups as well as Yumplatok which is the island Creole. Our final song - "The Allelulia Chorus" - sung in language is spectacular.

Last night we were given our costumes. The women will wear skirts and tops that reflect the Torres Strait islander culture and we are in a mixture of colours - green, blue and yellow. The men will wear shirts in similar colours and dark pants or the traditional island wrap around skirt.

Our very own Rosie Barkus has designed the screen print for the soloists' costumes. As well as being a local artist and a member of the choir Rosie has also created the designs on the stage backdrops.

Today and tonight the technicals guys were setting up the lights and audio fittings and the stage has been constructed. There are 3 shipping containers full of equipment that has to be unpacked and installed.

But what has me very excited is that there will be a live webcast direct to GOMA - Gallery of Modern Art - in Brisbane starting at 5.30pm. So you can either go in and watch the performance on the big screen or log in at home. I'm hoping that my family will tune in at some point to watch - to see where I live and how much I'm enjoying myself.

Sunday night will be a festival - the Queensland Music Festival - in which we will celebrate "the unity and diversity of the Torres Strait islander culture".
 
Life is amazing.

NAIDOC Celebrations

This week is NAIDOC week - National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee - and is celebrated every year from the 3rd-10th of July. It's a wonderful opportunity for Indigenous people to come together and acknowledge important dates in their history and the contributions they have made in building our great nation.

Last night Rob and I had the privilege to attend the 2011 NAIDOC celebrations at the PKA hall. IBIS had a table as they are one of the major sponsors along with the shire council and various other businesses. It was a formal occasion where members of the community were acknowledged and presented with awards for their achievements in sports, the arts, education and community works.



Traditional decorations made with palm leaves



From left to right: Niko, me, Rob, Lamar at the IBIS table. As you can see "black tie" covers all dress on T.I.

The evening began with welcome speeches by the mayor and guest speakers, then followed a power point presentation of the history of NAIDOC. I found this quite emotional - while looking at the images of the young aboriginal men, so full of hope and potential, for some reason I started to think of my brother Phil and I found it hard to not cry. He's with me all the time.

We were then treated to a performance of traditional dancing before being served a traditional dinner - seafood, rice, pork, corned beef, potatoes and vegetables followed by simple sweets of baked egg custard and sago pudding. The food was plentiful, tasty and enjoyable.

Traditional dancing - a regular feature at most occasions :-)

Tasty kai kai - and lots of it 

After dinner the awards were presented as well as awards for Youth, Elder and Person of the year. This final award was won by Matilda Loban, one of the teachers at Tagai high school. Matty and I worked together in the staff room in G Block when I was teacher aide there last year - a beautiful and deserving young woman :-)

Matilda Loban receiving her award for Person of the Year

The evening ended with what islanders do best - dancing - led by the newly crowned King and Queen of NAIDOC. It was wonderful to see everyone - elders included - get up and enjoy the music which, by the way, was not traditional - very 60s and 70s - very danceable :-)
 
I feel so lucky to be living here and to experience events that normally I would not even know about or be aware of - and that is such a shame. Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander history is so rich and I feel privileged when I'm invited to share and celebrate with them the many occasions that make up the Thursday Island calender .
 
Life is good.

A bit of temp work

When I got back from Brisbane I knew that I would have some time on my hands before I started work at the school. So I did a walk around to a couple of businesses on the island to ask for a bit of temp work.

The hardware store was looking for a casual but she needed someone to be on call to work until Christmas, not just for the next three weeks. I then walked across to Ilan Café to see Mikey - we’d spoken last year about the possibility of me working with him but it never came to fruition - and then I got a job at the high school, so it didn't matter anyway.

Mikey greeted me warmly – as usual – and I asked did he need any help for the next couple of weeks. Yes, he could use some help, he’d call me. And he did :-)

So Monday morning at 10am I walked into Ilan Cafe ready, willing and able to do the coffee shop waltz. Having had my own catering business in the past I immediately felt at home behind the counter and in the kitchen.

First things first - wash up. Then look around to clear tables. Meanwhile John, the barista,  was calling 'drinks out' so deliver the coffees etc. Mikey was busy in the kitchen preparing and plating up his delicious lunch menu which, once ready, he announces by ringing the bell. It's go go go - and it's fun fun fun :-)

Then as suddenly as it starts it slows down and by 2.30pm we have stopped serving, tables are cleared of centre pieces, cakes covered and put away, washing up is nearing completion, floors are swept and bucket of soapy water is at the ready for the final mop down.

At 3pm we sit - or in my case I flopped - and we choose something delicious from the kitchen for "lunch". By now though I've consumed about 3 cappuccinos so while I'm not starving I could do with some food to soak up the caffeine :-)

Ilan Cafe is a little oasis on T.I. It's part of the Gab Titui Cultural Centre and Mikey has made it into the type of meeting place that we all flock to when we want to chill out and experience something different. Mothers with babies and toddlers love it as Mikey provides cushions and mats so they can sit on the grassed area and enjoy the coffee shop experience while their children play.

Ilan Cafe - John (left) and Mikey



The very relaxing and beautiful garden at the Gab Titui Ilan Cafe

Yesterday, before it got too busy, I spent a bit of time in the kitchen helping Mikey do some prep - and I loved it. I didn't realise how much I've missed working in that environment - there's something about all that stainless steel :-)

Did I say I was starting work at the high school? Ummm .....

Life is ..... like a cappuccino

A productive weekend

Some times Saturday mornings are just slow. After breakfast and regular chores, a phone call home for a chat, it was then time to get Rob away from the bookwork and catch up for a coffee at Uncle Frankie's.

Saturday morning at Uncle Frankie's

After a yummy lunch prepared with love Rob and I relaxed and watched a Doc Martin DVD, and even though we'd seen some of the episodes it was still fun. Watching DVDs on a Saturday afternoon - after a nice lunch - makes you sleepy, so one by one we all nodded off - first Kacee, then Rob, Zoe followed suit and, as much as I tried to resist, I soon assumed the position and missed the end of the last episode on the disc.

Nothing much productive there - but wait, there's more.

That little power nap gave us both a surge of energy so the afternoon saw us doing a backyard blitz on our little patch of land. What started as a "wouldn't it look nice?" chat turned into a couple of hours of action as Rob and I - and Kacee - shovelled, raked and layed bricks around the front steps.

Before

During

Yves and Kacee admiring our work

After an afternoon of working in the yard and being pleased with the end result, a night at the pub seemed a fitting reward for a job well done. The Fed was actually hosting a trivia night and Rob had organised a team from IBIS - so he and I together with the backpackers and Jo and Mark (the store manager and her husband) - we came, we saw and we conquered.

The night kicked off with Rob winning a meat tray. Nikki scored the next prize by winning at a game called "heads or tails" - she won a Torres t-shirt. And as the victorious team we came home with a slow cooker and a bottle of Canadian Club.

While enjoying a drink in between games Yves mentioned that he and Nikki were going fishing off the wharf and did Rob and I want to join them? Yes - of course - what a lovely thing to look forward to on a Sunday.

So again, after a quick power nap, Rob organised lines, bait and buckets while I looked after sunscreen, bottles of water, chips and biscuits in case we got hungry while pulling in schools of fish. It seems though that only Nikki was to experience the thrill of reeling in a catch - much to the chagrin of Yves and Rob who, although they did manage to catch something, it was just not edible :-)

Fishing off the wharf



Dinner!

Did she catch something?!?

um ... but, we can't eat it :-(

We rounded off the weekend with a "reef and beef" BBQ. Nikki's fish provided the "reef" and Rob's winnings from the night before gave us the "beef". And wasn't there a bottle of Canadian Club in amongst the prizes too? You betcha :-)

Rob and I are loving our little backpacker family. While fishing off the wharf I started chatting to a little girl who had wandered over for a look. She asked was that my husband? - yes, are they your children? - no I answered, but they're like my children. No, said Yves, we are your children.

Life is good.

The Coming of the Light

Today - 1st July - is a very important date on the Thursday Island calender. On July 1st 1871 Anglican missionaries landed on Darnley Island (also known as Erub Island) and introduced christianity to the good people of the Torres Strait.

The Coming of the Light Festival is a day of symbolism, commemoration and thanksgiving. The day starts with a procession from the beach to the Anglican church to recreate the landing of the missionaries onto the beach and their walk through the bushes until confronted by the islanders.

Bishop Mabo and clerics getting ready for the procession

The Coming of the Light procession from the beach to the Anglican Church

Arriving at the church

Once at the church there was a re-enactment of the meeting between the two groups. If you can imagine, the islanders - never having seen a white man - were afraid of the people with the pale skin and put on a show of strength with their spears. But eventually they were won over by, of all things .... cigarettes. So by acquainting them to the joys of tobacco, the missionaries were then able to introduce them to the joys of Christianity.

Winning over the islanders

Following the re-enactment Bishop Mabo led the procession into church where the celebrations continued with prayers and island songs.

Leading the procession into church, praying at the Coming of the Light monument

We then walked to Anzac Park where the festivities continued. There was lots of food - kai-kai (pronounced kye-kye) singing and dancing.

Lots of kai-kai

Preparing kai-kai in Anzac Park

Dancing in Anzac Park to celebrate the Coming of the Light

Star of the Sea residents Margaret (in green),  Anna (in yellow) and Arthur (background in wheelchair) enjoying the festival

While it's not a public holiday as such, it is a bank holiday and there are calls for TI residents to petition the mayor to declare it a public holiday for the Torres Strait only.

IBIS did not close so Rob met me for lunch - the park is only a minute away from the shop. There was such a great atmosphere I called him up and suggested he come down. By the time he got there I'd caught up with Jan and Colin - they're enjoying the company of their daughter and son-in-law who are visiting from Tully for a few days.

So the six of us sat on the grass and enjoyed kai-kai, music and fun as we too celebrated with the islanders the Coming of the Light.

Life is good.