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27 April 2008 07:37 pmThis weekend has been brilliant. Why? Because I've done not much of anything.
Life over the past three weeks has been manic to say the least.
Three weeks ago today, I was in Poland. A day later, I was in Germany. I was chaperoning a school trip of year 10 and 11s, focusing on WWII sites. We saw the Jewish quarter of Krakow, Auschwitz, and the conference centre in Berlin where the "final solution to the Jewish question" was arrived at over an hour and a half by a bunch of Nazis glugging cognac who adjourned the meeting early for the lovely buffet lunch that was being put on. This was a decision that led to the death of millions, and it was settled by a load of half-cut assholes in little to no time. The whole trip was brilliant, but exhausting, both mentally and physically.
A week ago Friday, I was in Cameroon, Africa. I had an 18 hour turnaround from Berlin to Buea, Cameroon. I had been there for ten days with my father, who was there on business. I was there for a laugh. We had been in the airport for seven hours, when we were informed our flight had been cancelled and we wouldn't be flying out until Sunday late at night. It took a great deal of yelling and flapping my arms and looking distressed, with a dash of lying thrown in, to convince the Air France people (who I will never be flying with again if I can avoid it) to switch Dad and I to a flight that got us back to the UK late afternoon Sunday. Cameroon was amazing and exhausting in equal measure. As was the case with Kenya two and a half years ago, the culture clash made me feel as though my skin had been stripped off and I was wandering around stripped down to my bare bones. But the emphasis is on the amazing.
Over the last week, I taught ever damn day, even though I had had zero time to prepare and catch up. I was 24 hours from Cameroon to the classroom as of Monday morning.
And this weekend? Little enough work, lots of lounging on the couch, seeing friends, doing laundry, napping, and otherwise actually catching up with life. There's been sunshine and relaxation and, generally, life has been great over the last two days.
Mind you, I've marked all of 6 books of the 30 I brought home, did very little lesson planning, and am otherwise getting behind professionally. But, still. The mental break was desperately needed this weekend.
Life over the past three weeks has been manic to say the least.
Three weeks ago today, I was in Poland. A day later, I was in Germany. I was chaperoning a school trip of year 10 and 11s, focusing on WWII sites. We saw the Jewish quarter of Krakow, Auschwitz, and the conference centre in Berlin where the "final solution to the Jewish question" was arrived at over an hour and a half by a bunch of Nazis glugging cognac who adjourned the meeting early for the lovely buffet lunch that was being put on. This was a decision that led to the death of millions, and it was settled by a load of half-cut assholes in little to no time. The whole trip was brilliant, but exhausting, both mentally and physically.
A week ago Friday, I was in Cameroon, Africa. I had an 18 hour turnaround from Berlin to Buea, Cameroon. I had been there for ten days with my father, who was there on business. I was there for a laugh. We had been in the airport for seven hours, when we were informed our flight had been cancelled and we wouldn't be flying out until Sunday late at night. It took a great deal of yelling and flapping my arms and looking distressed, with a dash of lying thrown in, to convince the Air France people (who I will never be flying with again if I can avoid it) to switch Dad and I to a flight that got us back to the UK late afternoon Sunday. Cameroon was amazing and exhausting in equal measure. As was the case with Kenya two and a half years ago, the culture clash made me feel as though my skin had been stripped off and I was wandering around stripped down to my bare bones. But the emphasis is on the amazing.
Over the last week, I taught ever damn day, even though I had had zero time to prepare and catch up. I was 24 hours from Cameroon to the classroom as of Monday morning.
And this weekend? Little enough work, lots of lounging on the couch, seeing friends, doing laundry, napping, and otherwise actually catching up with life. There's been sunshine and relaxation and, generally, life has been great over the last two days.
Mind you, I've marked all of 6 books of the 30 I brought home, did very little lesson planning, and am otherwise getting behind professionally. But, still. The mental break was desperately needed this weekend.
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