Mild Panic T Minus 22 days left of placement

Hi Everyone!

Yeah, it's starting to sink in that I'm past my half-way point on my journey. My placement is supposed to be 60 days and I'm already on day 38, leaving only 22 more days of placement, roughly one month.

I'm really feeling like part of the team at work. I am getting to know the local organizations, the acronyms and the people. I am able to provide information to others and understand what they are talking about. It's a really good feeling.

I have settled in with visiting clients at their homes, bringing them to their appointments, working with translators, and getting clients referrals to other organizations who can help them.

What I have not been working on as much as I would have liked is the immigration issues facing Australia. They are quite heated here at the moment. The official opposition is grumbling (kind of like they do back home about anything the government does) about how this current government has relaxed the rules and regulations around "boat people" and immigration in general to a point as to essentially have open borders. I really don't see that, as Christmas Island, the detention centre, is filled to the brim with people awaiting visas. So much so, that they had to bring in something like 200 supplementary bunk beds.

It is my belief that the upsurge of asylum seekers has more to do with the current political unrest in the world, rather than the Australian Government's policies.

I have even heard about a ship off of Vancouver filled with asylum seekers. Yet the article didn't say where they were being held or what was to happen to them. I guess the Canadian government likes to keep such things quiet, whereas, at least here in Australia, people may or may not agree with it, but the media tells of how many people were on the boat, what happened to the boat and where they came from and that they are going to Christmas Island for "processing".

All very interesting, but I've only been keeping an ear open for information rather than collecting it, as I felt I would be doing. Perhaps, as my eyes are often bigger than my stomach, I've tried to bite off more than I could chew.

I'll leave it at that for now.

Hugs to all back home!!! I miss you very much!