Fiona's Letters TAFE Motor Mechanic Training Course for Girls Week Eight Hi Everyone, Hope everyone had a great Easter and aren't regretting their chocolate consumption. My niece, Julia, excitedly told me that she saw the Easter Bunny but she doesn't know what he looks like. That's a 3 year old's logic for you :) I will start with the Itchy & Scratchy absentee excuse for the week (get it out of the way early on): food poisoning. ("Dunno what I ate or where from but, geeze, I was crook!"). Another short week to throw things out of kilter but we're back to normal for a week as of tomorrow. After that we are slated for 2 week's worth of work experience (we only have to do one week as the first week is actually TAFE holidays but we're allowed to get as much work experience as we can and I figure an extra week won't hurt). I'm still anxiously awaiting word back from a local mechanic I went to see so if I don't hear back soon, I'll be scrambling madly to find someone else who will take me in. A few weeks ago, I was calling the car dealerships in Parramatta to try and line something up but, basically, they're not really interested in taking someone outside of a high school program. That's what the polite ones (who bother to return my calls) tell me, anyway! They're all a bit thrown by a woman calling up as well - it's very much a boys club but that was to be expected :) After a few calls, I started to sound like a broken record - just how many times can you explain that you are not actually a high school kid and that you are doing a serious pre-apprenticeship course? It's difficult trying to sound enthusiastic after a while - especially when you've had to go through the receptionist, etc. before you get to the right person. Anyhow, keep your fingers crossed for me and I'll let you know next report what happened. The NRMA site has the story regarding the course - I meant to mention it last week but I forgot, so apologies for that. No pictures - it's just a press release but you can see it by going to: http://www.nrma.com.au and put your cursor on the 'member's centre' icon. Select 'media releases' and then select 'media release archive'. Scroll down the page until you get to the ones dated 15/3/2002 and you will see one titled "12 Women On Their Way to Becoming Mechanics". It's not terribly exciting but at least we rate a mention :) This week's topics included some workshop activity instead of classroom theory. Each of us was handed a square of steel and we had to measure out a key arrangement on one side and a matching slot on the other. The idea being that when the steel plate is cut in two, the top half - with the key - will fit into the bottom half - with the slot. Mine needs more filing to fit all the way in as it's a little too tight but, otherwise, it's not too bad for a first attempt at measuring, using a hacksaw and the files. Not exactly ready to reproduce car parts, as yet, unless you want them all to look like a square piece of metal with funny square shapes cut in them. Don't call me, I'll call you. Back to the electronics lessons this week and the teacher thought he had a student who was really picking up on the subject matter extraordinarily quickly. Until I explained that after 11 years of dealing with electronics, I kinda picked up a few things via osmosis. He thinks it's great - he'll be asking me for backup from now on. Me and my big mouth hahahahahaha. He did wonder why my revision sheet was completed and everyone else was, as he put it, 'using invisible ink' and looking lost. I'm actually finding it a little tricky as most of what I know is learned instinct now but I don't actually know the full theory behind it all so I am learning a lot anyway. This week's wish (for me) is to be taken seriously instead of some girl who wants to know how to change a tyre and check the oil so I expect everyone to send me some positive vibes! That's fair - I can't be doing all the work, you know :) OK, have fun everyone and I'll catch you soon! Cheers! Fi xx ;) Go to first page - Index - Next page

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