Occasional Notes

What was supposed to be Wednesday's observation got rescheduled to tomorrow.

Upside: more time to plan it, which I just spent ALL of today doing.

Downside: if it hadn't been rescheduled, it would have been over by now and I wouldn't have had to think about it anymore. And because I just gave up all of today to plan it, I didn't get any of my GCSE marking done, which is what I MEANT to spend all of today doing.

Aiyi.

Anyway, Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! I am cooking up a feast next weekend, including pumpkin pie, in honour of the event. I would have done it this weekend, but I went down to Battle of Hastings annual recreation on the actual site of the original battle yesterday. It was lovely -- beautiful weather, fun and frolic, all the iconic moments re-enacted before my very eyes.

I took tons of pictures which I will be using to teach my little year 7s about the battle this year.

I have acquired a particularly virulent strain of the plague which had me curled up under the covers in jeans, thick socks, a long-sleeved top, and a sweatshirt earlier. Every time I got up, I started shaking with cold, so I spent most of the afternoon there. My mother called from Canada and told me to take something to lower the fever, which has helped, but I still feel disgusting. BF is looking after me and making me bland food and bringing me glasses of water, which is helping.

And at the end of a gorgeous weekend, in which BF, myself, and some friends headed up to the British Motorcycle Federation's annual massive event. There were motorbikes and people racing mopeds in stupid outfits and a Wall of Death and bands and barbeques and all sorts.

Tucking back up into bed now. I do not intend to come out until tomorrow afternoon. I have already emailed my cover work in to school. So there.

This 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.

BF and I went to France during the half-term break, where we both picked up a wicked flu bug that I am only just starting to get over. It might have helped if I had admitted to still being sick and staying home from work a day or two to recover, but that would be far too sensible and rational, so I have continued to drag myself in.

In other news, I have reports due for my Year 8 students on Friday, not to mention the fact that I am a Year 8 Form Tutor and will be responsible for editing the subject reports of my form kids the week after. At about 10 subject reports for each of the 30 kids in my form, that's about 300 individual pieces of paper.

My only consolation is that this is the biggest round of reports that I have to do this year. Once I get through this, it's clear sailing through to summer.

As well, my massive order of Russian mysteries and trashy romances arrived from Amazon this morning. As soon as I get two classes worth of reports done, I am going to reward myself with an hour on the couch with a book and a cup of tea.

I have gotten to the point where I haven't posted in long enough that now I'm not posting because I am overwhelmed at the thought of trying to update adequately.

I have therefore decided to do my best to collapse the last month or so into a point-form list.

( the list )

On that note, dinner is on the table and I am off. Will certainly make an effort to update more frequently. And in better prose, more detail, and proper grammar.

Oh, dear.

Very tired.

The hot weather is bringing out the worst in my kids. We are in the middle of exam revision, which even I find to be equal parts boring and stressful and I'm not the one sitting down to write an exam, and the combination of the heat and the emotional turmoil is proving too much for their squishy little brains. Almost every class this week has felt like an uphill battle.

There was a chair thrown by one student at another student yesterday.

Added to that, we had a Parents' Evening last night that was my busiest yet. I teach 99 students in the year group that was coming last night (yes, exactly 99, and I counted), and 22 of those I teach both History and English, so I had to do double duty with them. I had a massive line at my table from fifteen minutes in that didn't disperse until almost an hour after it was supposed to end. Only I and the Head of Year were left at the end. I would have snuck out a little bit earlier -- the Parents' Evening was already scheduled to be three hours long, and I stayed for another forty-five minutes beyond, which brought me to a total thirteen hours straight in school -- but my table was positioned in such a way as I would have had to sneak past the line of waiting parents to get out.

There were a couple of parent interviews where this setup made me feel distinctly trapped. It's all very well to have your back to the wall, but that's only a comforting position if you also have a clear path to the door. And parents kept sneaking up from the side, anyway.

So.

Anyway, one more day. I can make it through one more day, can't I? Yes. Then it is half term and I get a whole week to nap, excepting the overnight trip up to Cambridge I am taking to get stuck into the Stead papers again. But, no. Mostly sleeping. And riding my bike. And getting caught up with work that I've been letting slide all this term because I've been just so tired all the time. And geeking out over movies with the BF. And seeing the friends that I've let slide for as long as I've been letting the work slide for much the same reason.

I am looking forward to it immensely.

Just need to get through tomorrow.

Am, sadly, returned now from Paris. School starts again tomorrow, which means I have an extremely large amount of work to do today.

I am having a little trouble getting going on it.

As such, have concieved of the following plan.

I am going to:

1. Shower.
2. Pack a lunch.
3. Pick up my bucket of work.
4. Go sit in the park to do it.

I feel that this is an excellent plan and will get started on it immediately...after I finish my coffee.

My sister arrives in twenty-two hours and forty minutes!

Or, um, so.

Approximately.

lazlet has run to the post office, leaving me alone with her house and her cats and other things. Including her computer. I have THREE SECONDS until she gets back and we leave for a wild weekend of cycling and fun with the_oscar_cat and kx.

Therefore, I will be brief.

My second term of teaching progresses apace. My two momentous pieces of news are as follows.

First, I was finally observed by my head of department and it went really, really well. Of course, I feel like a complete fraud because the students never behave as well for me as they did while he was sitting in the back of the room, but there you go.

Second, there is a field-trip taking place over February half-term break for the older kids -- Year 11s, I think -- to Boston and New York. The one other female staff member in my department was set to go along to supervise. Unfortunately, due to family health issues, she had to back out and they've asked me to go along instead as they need a female member of staff along to chase the female students of of the women's toilets and the like.

So, yay.

Oops, there's lazlet! Must go.