Crazy day

It has been one of those days. I even completely mixed up times at work, and forgot tea break until I stood there wondering where on earth the children were, and realised I was an idiot. Sigh. I seem to have been moving at the speed of light all day. The inspectors have been and gone, and hooray, the school is OUT of special measures, so that is a dramatic improvement. Tomorrow will be celebration time.
Then I came home, and managed to have a coffee and chat to Mum for a few minutes, before I had to go and collect the new allotment key, pay the annual rent for the allotment, which is all of £5.00. Yes. FIVE pounds for a year. And go and feed Louise's cat. Then to David's school in the next town, about 12 miles away in rush hour traffic for the parent teacher conference. 3 teachers in 15 mins. Then home in more foul traffic to drop the car, and throw myself into Jean's car which had already been packed with the craft fair things in it, and go and do her school craft fair. Home at 10 and I am ready for bed. I don't think I sat down after 8am. I need to relax in a nice hot bath. One more book could well be about to be drowned.

Hmmmmm

Okay, I confess I do all these things when I see them on blogs, but never post them. However, this may make those who know me laugh. A lot. BUT........ I am calm and much quieter these days. I am changing all the time. That goal of serenity I had when I was very very young, just might not be as far off as I thought after all.

You Are Sunrise

You enjoy living a slow, fulfilling life. You enjoy living every moment, no matter how ordinary. You are a person of reflection and meditation. You start and end every day by looking inward. Caring and giving, you enjoy making people happy. You're often cooking for friends or buying them gifts. All in all, you know how to love life for what it is - not for how it should be.

What Time Of Day Are You?

Inspectors

We have survived day one of the inspectors, though not without incident. Purely by accident, one managed to be drenched by a malfunctioning tap in a lesson, and left at top speed, unimpressed. Oops. I wasn't in that class, but the girls reporting the event were a little shell-shocked. But then, we all know accidents happen. Wrong day and wrong time and wrong place. A well developed sense of humour might have helped a bit.

Go and read Mel's Missing : Baby Jesus post. I was rolling around here. She has a wonderful way with words, and I guarantee you will howl with laughter too!

I am running so far behind at home at the moment...... I need to get sorted and try to restore some order to the tip, and hopefully this weekend will get some things done. And I must get out the Christmas stuff too, though that may have to wait till next week. Ummmm, this weekend , I have just realised is not blank in the diary. It is packed. In fact, most of December looks the same. And I still have to get Mum to Switzerland for Christmas with Marge sometime. Anyone know how to multiply oneself? Cloning...... but that would take too long. So WHAT am I doing on the computer when there is so much to do???

Books (and other bits)

Barb has a book thing on her blog today and as everyone know how much I love reading, I thought I would do it too. (with apologies for the paraphrasing)

1. Where do you buy your books? Online, secondhand or from Big name stores?Anywhere and everywhere, but I do like to browse and touch the books and read the backs, so I prefer real shops.
2. If you buy on line, which do you prefer - Amazon, B&N or Christian stores online? Amazon. Never heard of the B&N one. England has other shops.
3. Do you put your name in your books? If so, bookplate or stamp? Usually, I write my name, the year and place I am living in it.
4. How do you feel re loaning your books to others? No problem lending them. I am quite happy to lend any to friends if they want to borrow them
5. Do you ever highlight or mark your books? Not usually, unless the book is educational
6. How often do you visit your local library? Not for a long time. I will be though. Soon. (Guilt)
7. Do you collect any certain kind of books? No. I have a collection of craft books, but they are older now. I buy the authors I love, and I love biographies. Any books. I have far too many. My mother always said you could never be lonely if you had a book to read.
8. What do you do with a book you no longer want? I give them away, take them to the bookbank or throw them into the recycling bin (if they are drowned ones...see no.10)
9. Do you list or catalogue your books? You have got to be joking.
10. Any other weird habits you would like to share? I am uncomfortable in homes where I can't see books anywhere. I read in the bath (and drown books regularly), and when I travel, I have to have enough books with me to last a millennium, just in case. i always need to know i have books waiting to be read in a pile somewhere. I am weird like that!

Other bits........

I emailed my Christmas newsletter (the one daughter made look so classy and professional ) to our friends and family yesterday, and I am really glad I did it now. I have had some lovely responses to it, but reading them closer to Christmas would not have been the best of ideas. So the timing was right. Christmas lights are starting to go up around the village now, and I imagine this weekend will see a lot more going on display. It is still so warm, though, and it feels weird to not be wearing jackets and coats at the end of November.

The inspectors arrive at the school tomorrow, and today was just crazy, especially as the intranet crashed, and none of the teachers could access their lesson plans etc. And there is a real possibility that no school computers will work tomorrow, which should make lessons somewhat... er... "interesting", shall we say. Now, when I think that when I started school, we still had pens with nibs, and inkwells and blotting paper........... chalk and blackboards and dusters and knuckles rapped by rulers......... and slide rules and log books..... I realise I am talking a totally foreign language here of course, but somewhere out there there has to be SOMEONE who also remembers all these things!

Challenges are good

I am here. I am still sane. I am still happy to go to work in the morning, even though today was trial by fire really. Today I met the class from hell. Or rather, a "challenging bunch of kids" with multiple problems. Domino effect in action. I spent the greater part of the day trying to help where I could, while at the same time trying to work out alternative forms of teaching which might possibly reach kids like these in my head. (An academic conundrum for me). This is not part of my job description, I hasten to add, but there has to be a way to connect with them that works.

The people I am working with are lovely, and are all so determined to make a difference, and there is a lot of laughter and support among the staff, which is good. I am just wondering how long it takes to become frustrated, disillusioned and to want to give up trying. Maybe I have a naive attitude to it all at the moment, but I look at these 13 year olds, and wonder what on earth lies ahead for them. They don't care. Thank God, there are people out there who do.

Somehow Mum managed to trip the electricity to all the plugs in the house while I was out, and didn't know how to get it back on, so had to wait till I got home this afternoon. She has now had a lesson, and has the phone numbers of people around to help if it happens again. In a way, she is the one whose life is changing the most, as I am not around the house during the day any more, but she always manages to keep busy.

Odds and ends

Today it was 16 degrees in Engelberg. Nothing wrong with that???? Well yes, there is. Engelberg is high in the Swiss alps, and the ski season started today. It is nearly December. In 3 weeks time, the ski jumping world cup is in town, as it is annually, and it is too hot to snow, or even make artifical snow. This is not good. According to our papers, Austria and Switzerland have a real problem with the warm weather and lack of snow and the ski season starting. And the next 3 days are all due to be 13 degrees or higher.

I did another craft fair today, which was fun, although the weather was so diabolical that few ventured out. Torrential rain then wind then more rain. Now, of course, there are clear skies. It is the middle of the night.

Bekah is reading beautifully. I babysat for the babes tonight, and she read me her school books. How did that happen?? She is growing up too quickly.

And something is giving me pause for thought. From when I was young (many moons ago) I have always said I would never teach. Had no desire to teach. Would do anything except teach. Didn't want to teach. It has always been the ONLY thing I would never consider. I always acknowledged that I would probably be a very good teacher. But me? Teach? No way. So why do I hear this faint laughter in the back of my mind? Am I imagining it? I have this vision of God rolling around, clutching his sides laughing, and saying...."Finally, finally, after 31 years, she realises what she was meant to do". Hmmmmm. I am not ready to admit anything yet. How long was Moses in the desert? 40 years. I am not there yet. My head hurts just thinking about it.

Day 1

Starting a new job on a Friday is an excellent idea. You have the weekend to recover! It is, at least, better than waiting for the new week to arrive and worrying. I had a good day. The people I am working with are lovely, and I really enjoyed my day, bewildering though it might have been. The school is being inspected next week, so everybody is focussing on that, but I told them I require L plates to wear for those days. I do not need any inspector thinking I know what I am doing after only a couple of days!

This week I am fairly certain I will be in the textile and woodwork departments, as that is where there is the greatest need for extra help, and I had a ball in a carpentry lesson today. Once the boys realised that I actually knew how to use a saw, and to help get their lines straight, I was away. The time flew by. And I had fun!

So I survived the first day of orientation, and induction etc. And I am not running screaming for the hills just yet. And I am looking forward to Monday, so that is good. It certainly won't be boring. And thanks so much for all the lovely messages I have received. It is so good to know that people care.

A UK Thanksgiving

Well, I am having my own little thanksgiving party. That is me, coffee and chocolate. Today I went for an interview and got the job, and I start tomorrow. No letting the grass grow under my feet in any way here. I cannot tell you how many application forms I have filled in and sent off, and how few even bother to acknowledge your application or send an email to say you did not get the job. BUT...... I have a job. I am indeed thankful, and it is a case of right time, and right place. And right friends.

I will be working in a local secondary school, and have no idea what I will actually be doing. That sounds quite bizarre, but that is because they have a number of posts going, and want to see which is best suited to my skills. So they will be trying me out in different places I think. I will expound more when I have an idea myself. Learning support, learning mentor, then there is the fact that I have a degree in history, and can sew and do carpentry, and they are short of textile teachers and DT staff, so heaven knows. Probably a bit of each. And I like kids.

This week, I decided to stop worrying about finding a job, pray and leave it to God to sort, and then walk through the door that opened first. This is the door. I am walking through it. So I am on an adventure. And the best is that I get to have the school holidays to spend with my son, and that is very important at the moment. He won't be home for many more years. Just one and a half now before he is off to uni.

So, today I am truely thankful for:

1. A job that challenges me
2. An income
3. The support of friends and family
4. Encouragement
5. A God who has great plans for me and whose timing is always perfect

Wonderful documentary

I have just watched the Young at heart Chorus documentary filmed by a British company on Channel 4. This is an American choir, or chorus, made up of men and women whose average age is 80, who love to sing, but not Gershwin or golden oldies, but ROCK! They are absolutely wonderful. They tour the world. Check the website out, and get to see them if you can, and I guarantee you will never moan that you feel old or tired again. I also want to prance across a stage singing rock hits when I am 80 odd. I feel it is the least I can do, and as some kids said after a concert, they look like they are all having fun. That is just the way it should be. And when they sang in a jail, the inmates (all young men) were blown away too.

Right then. That is settled. I will become a rock star when I am 80. I have decided. And I think we could start practicing now. I never had any intention of aging according to the rules. I am making them up as I go along. And I can get to tour the world too. Who needs knitting and afternoon naps.

Christmas

Well, I am reading all about turkeys and pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving, but here we do turkeys for Christmas. So what do Americans eat for Christmas? More turkey? I don't think I could face 2 in 2 months. And all the leftovers. In actual fact, I have no idea why we eat turkey at Christmas. In Europe they certainly don't, and my brother-in-law is more likely to cook lamb. In Europe it is all about Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day is fairly normal. Christmas in an Alpine village is worthy of a post of its own.

We don't have Thanksgiving here, and I have said before that it is the one holiday I think the whole world should celebrate too. We all have so much to be thankful for after all. But in case I forget, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates it this week!

When we were children, in South Africa, we were always convinced we would be the only children in the entire world with no tree, because my father used to bring ours home late in the afternoon on Christmas Eve. The excitement was unbearable, and the fear he would forget! We used to sit on the pillars at the end of the driveway waiting for his car to appear, hopefully with a tree strapped on the roof. We would decorate it and then after we had gone to bed, he would do the lights and we would creep through in the morning and the room would be full of twinkling lights and parcels. Magical.

In England, the trees go up round the beginning of December, and so do the house lights, which seem to multiply by the year. Given that the houses are very close to each other, it can be a very bright affair. Advent is important, and my sister in Switzerland, Mum, when she was in South Africa and I used to light our advent candles at the same time on a Sunday evening, in 3 time zones, so we shared the feeling of being together though so far apart.

And there is Christingle here too at the start of December, although I had never heard of that before we got to England. We collect money in a special envelope for children who are in need, and during the Christingle service, everyone gets a Christingle. It is an orange (the world) with a red ribbon around it (blood or love of Christ), dried fruit on 4 cocktail sticks (the 4 seasons and fruits of the earth), and a white candle in the centre (Jesus, the Light of the World). It is a lovely service, especially when the candles are lit during it.