Looks like I've lost most of my readers

Guess that's what happens when one posts only once a month, or posts boring items.

I so wish I'd had a camera when I saw that rainbow the other day.  It was during the last period of the day, during the last 10 minutes or so.  My students try to be cool but all of them were pressed up against the window behind my desk (it's the only one that's not at the top of the walls in the room) and making little sounds of awe.  It was a nice way to end the day, even if there was a headache involved.

I'm leaving in a couple of hours for the year 8 PGL trip.  Students call it "Parents Get Lost" but it really stands for Peter Gordon Lawrence, the guy who started these adventure trips.  10 staff, and 92  twelve-year-old kids. 

What was I thinking?  I have two weeks off, and even though my two pals are coming next weekend, I could have jetted off to Spain or Greece or Italy... where it's warm... but no.  I volunteered for this. 

Just think though, no matter what, I will remember this weekend.  It's a way to get to know the kids in a  way I don't at the school.  We don't have trips like this at home.  Yeah, there's sixth grade camp, but that's about it.  As a teacher, I've not done something like this.

So, next week, I'm going to a wedding, and a going away dinner.  Means I won't be going anywhere too far away.

Made my reservations for return home the other day as well.  It's a little disappointing; my visa was messed up a bit, and I have to be out of the country by the first of August. I'm supposed to have 14 days from the last day of work (the 20th of July), but for some reason only got 10.  Now, I've been told I just have to be out of the country by the first, but I can come back in as a regular tourist.  I'm not so sure about that.  See, my plan was to take a trip after school got out, come back, get packed up and come home. Can you just imagine me coming back from a relaxing week on the coast of Italy and being told I couldn't come back in to England?  I've got five bags of stuff; probably more by the time I leave, so it's not like I can just take it all with me.

Grr...  I go back to La Colina on the 17th of August, so I've got a very short summer this year.  Still have to buy a car, and get back into the swing of Santa Barbara things again too.

Whatever.  It's all good (that's me trying to be positive). 

The forecast for the weekend is rain and some snow, if you can believe it.  I bought waterproof pants (bottoms... "pants" here mean underpants), yesterday because it's an outdoor adventure camp.

Pray for mild weather please.

migraine

Fucking hell.

I know, swearing? 

I've had this damn headache since Saturday morning.  I really thought it had gone this afternoon, but no.

It was only a respite from 3 to 8...It's back, and I can barely focus.  Yeah, like I'm going to mark papers tonight.

I saw the most brilliant, vivid rainbow I've ever seen in my life

So the weather here's not all bad.

15 degrees today

Only one degree away from 60 fahrenheit! I don't think it's been above 60 degrees since September.  I actually wore capri's and no socks today.  I might even go wild soon and paint my toenails again.  You never know.

Mom is sending me three new pairs of trousers I ordered from Ebay.  I've been wearing the same black ones three times a week because they're the only ones that fit me properly.  I can only hope this weight stays off once I get back home to the land of driving my own car again.

Heading up to the 7-month mark; quite shocking really how quickly this is going.  School is just as hard as ever, but it's as if I hit a wall a few weeks ago, and now it's all good.  Well, "good" might not be the word, but not so difficult either.  I realize I can't be the teacher I'm used to being, and I'm not beating myself up over it anymore.  Do the best I can with what I have; can't be asked to do more than that.

Having said that, back to marking the millions of papers I have.

Love you all, you cheeky monkeys.

A month

That's what's gone by since I wrote last.  Oh, I have good intentions, but they are just paving the road to... you know what I mean.

K. and C. came for a visit, and it was good.  We were the London Tourists.  The best was going to Dans Le Noir, a completely dark restaurant.  The waitstaff is all blind as well, and it's to raise awareness of disabilities.  You don't even know what you have ordered, since there are just four choices: Vegetarian, Meat-based, Fish-based, and Chef's surprise.

I ordered Chef's surprise, but they mixed up our  orders.  K. had a horrid head cold, and she couldn't really taste anything as well as not see it, so it was a bit of a bummer for her.  After we finished, we found out what we had eaten.  She had ordered the meat-based meal, but I was the one who ate it.  It was good too; steak and turkey and some chicken.

Now, she got my plate, and actually ate without knowing it, Antelope and Kangaroo.  Can you believe it?  All she could tell was that it was "meat," and that was because of its texture.  How funny is that?  And given how often I go hunting, how soon will it be before I have a chance to eat anything like that again?

Anyway, it still was a great experience.  Something I would not recommend is the Windsor Castle/Stonehenge/Bath in-one-day coach trip. Now, that was exhausting, and we didn't spend long enough anywhere.  It was a long day, and just when we got interested in something, we had to move on.

M. and T. are coming to visit the second week of April, so I'll be able to do the tourist thing once again.  I'd really like to go somewhere outside of England again, but I don't know how to fit it in.  I found out today that I must leave the UK by August 1st; that's when my visa expires.  This whole time I thought that I had 14 days after that to get out, but it's not the case. I teach until the 20th of July, so that only gives me 11 days.  However, I can leave and then come back as a tourist. At least that's what I've been told. 

I don't know what to do.  I have to be back at work on August 17th back home, and I want to have a bit of time to myself to get used to being back home before jumping right back into work... honestly, I don't quite know what to do.

See?  That's why I've not been writing.  Nothing above is of any interest other than to me.  Navel gazing I think it's called.

What's happened?  Where's the wry and witty girl I once was?

My Thoughts

The past two weeks or so have been a challenge. I’m grumpy, then sad, then hopeful, but mostly just tired. Maybe I’m going through a second adolescence? I’m definitely ready for some warmer weather. The days are getting longer, bit by bit, and I heard a bird singing this morning; little things like that keep me going.

Right now though? I’m thinking a lot about our responsibility to ourselves. What do you believe in? What do you teach to your children? Do we teach them to be honest? To stand up for not only themselves but for others?

Over on Tornwordo’s blog, there’s been a bit about being honest when someone else makes a mistake. Torn and I know each other very well, and basically agree to disagree on this topic. If someone makes a mistake, we realize it, and make a profit from it, is it acceptable to not say anything? I don’t think so.

Several years ago, a friend of mine bought two large bottles of Tequila from Trader Joe’s and was only charged for one. She happily walked out of the store, knowing that she was undercharged. That’s stealing as far as I’m concerned. Just because she didn’t intend to steal it, doesn’t mean she’s absolved from being guilty of the theft. Yeah, yeah, yeah, shoplifters are much worse, they cause more financial damage; the corporate mark up is ridiculous, etc. All excuses. Those shoplifters, and the corporate big wigs don’t have to sleep with you at night, you do.

A couple nights ago, on the bus home from work, two 13-14 year-old school girls got on the bus. They were followed by a yelling, foul-mouthed girl and her posse of about six other teenagers. She looked older, perhaps around 16-17. She wasn’t wearing a school uniform like some of the others. She had some beef with one of the school girls, and was haranguing the smaller one: “I’m going to kick your fucking ass! You God damn piece of shit! I know where you go to school! I’m going to wait outside for you there!...” and so on. You fill in the words, with every third one being some curse word. The school girl was in tears, had her head down and was saying nothing. Foul-Mouth kept on going, leaning over other passengers, with her little minions laughing away at the show. I was appalled.


Not one adult said anything. The bus is set up with two long rows of seats facing each other on each side of the bus. Foul-Mouth’s chest was in a man’s face who was sitting next to the small school girl, and her ample behind was in the woman’s face who was sitting next to me. Silence, and looking anywhere but at what was taking place.

Wait. Did I say no one said anything? That’s not true. No one else said anything.


I listened to this for about a minute or two, and then went into teacher mode.

“That’s enough!” I hollered at Foul- Mouth. “You are a very tough girl, everyone on the bus knows that now, you’ve made a girl cry, I hope you feel good about yourself. Please sit down and shut up!”

Of course, that just made her direct all her nonsense at me. However, my saying something, woke some other people up, and then some other adults started telling this bully of a girl what to do and where to go. She did back off, slightly, but at least was no longer screaming at the little girl.


Funny thing was, I got off the bus to do some errands, and an hour later, went to the bus stop to catch a different bus home. Lo and behold, there is Foul-Mouth. All alone, no posse this time, and just looking like a regular girl waiting for the bus. I started laughing to myself, thinking how differently we act when we are alone or with others. She said nothing to me. Wouldn’t even look me in the eye. All because I spoke up.


Later, when I told some of my British friends about it, they all said I needed to be more careful; that people were getting knifed for saying less. There’s always a story about this or that person being beaten because they told some punk to stop swearing or tried to step in to stop a fight. Everyone is scared here. It’s crazy. Yes, there are stories of this, but it’s rare; that’s why it’s a news story. You don’t hear ones about how a person helped someone out of a jam, or spoke up for another, because it’s not interesting.

If adults don’t speak up when they see kids or teens acting like this, those teens will learn that being a bully works. What was that little girl on the bus thinking, while Foul-Mouth was threatening her, and the man sitting next to the little girl said nothing? What kind of example does that set?

Yes, my mouth has gotten me in trouble. I usually speak before I think. Someday, I might find myself in some trouble because of it.


I’d rather take that chance.

Snow pictures

Okay yeah, I know... but I get behind, and there's so much to say, and Bejeweled Blitz to play on Facebook...

Here's some pictures  I took today; school was let out at noon because of snow (about a third of students never showed up at all), so I was able to take some photos during daylight.  It really came down today.

These two flowerpots had the beginnings of green shoots in them... don't know if they will make it through the cold.  It hasn't been above 38 degrees since December 17th.

                                     

More backyard... cool looking, but not so inviting.

                                     

This is the view from my backdoor.  These trees are in the cemetery that's just a few doors up from the purple house.

That's the chapel at the same cemetery.  It looked magical in the snow.

 

If you click on this, it should enlarge.  I just thought it was so lovely, like a photo negative with the black and white contrast.

Oh yes, it was cold, very cold.  I'm forgetting what my feet look like in sandals.  Or if I have a neck anymore. The thing is, it's been a very long time since I've actually been outside while it's snowing.  Snowing hard. 

And I can admit it, I did do one fabulous pratfall.  Oh, it was a good one.  I was waiting at the corner of the sidewalk, because a truck was having a hard time getting off of a side street.  The road was icy and at a slight incline, and the wheels just kept spinning.  It was big, a recycling truck I think.  Anyway, the guys were all out pushing it, and finally it got onto the more main road, one that had been "gritted."  I smiled at them, took a step off the curb, and I tell you, it was just like a cartoon.  My feet both flew forward from under me, I got quite a bit of air, and then, blammo, right down on the keister.Good thing I've got padding.

Really, that's why there's no school tomorrow, the ice.  The snow is difficult, but the ice is dangerous.  It's supposed to get into the low 20's tonight, and with all the snow and slush from it, tomorrow is going to be horrid. Everything will be frozen. 

Except me.  I'll be here, in the house, lesson planning, marking papers, and drinking hot chocolate.