O Holy Day!!!

When Jesus, the King of Kings was born in Bethlehem, he was born in a stable. In a place humble and lowly, he did not despise our lowly birth. And who were the two groups who were visited by heavenly hosts to tell them about the wondrous event. Three Kings or wise men- high born people, learned, wise, and esteemed: Salvation can be seen and was seen by those who are great. And the other extreme. Humble shepherds, those who serve and tend the animals- to a certain extent the low-born. And yet united together they came to worship the King called by heavenly hosts. Salvation is available to all, near and far, high and low, no matter what their background:

Jesus

Eternally

Saves

United

Souls!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!

Strictly ballroom!

Tomorrow is la Finale of Strictly Come Dancing! For the first time since I have ever watched it, I can't decide who I like best! I've always had a favourite. I didn't see the first series so I can't comment on that. Second one, Aled was my favourite, Third, I liked Colin best. But it's a good thing I haven't got a favourite as they don't usually win!! (except Connie for 'Maria!'). I really really like the series, it's just amazing to see the commitment the celebs make to the dancing and to see their progression over the weeks. And best of all, they are dancing my favourite dance tomorrow, the Quick-step!!!! If someone could teach me the Quickstep, I would be very happy!!!

Beautiful Clouds

Round-robins

I seem to have read a lot recently about those letters you get around Christmas time informing you of what various people have been up to across the year. Pomgirl has provided a hilarious counterpoint for the stereotypic type of letters, which would certainly make for interesting reading!
However, I have to say that one of the lovely things about advent-tide and the run up to exciting time of Christmas itself is the promising thud on the door-mat of cards and letters. I wait gleefully for my mother to finish reading them (sadly, they are usually addressed to her- but I get to read them!) and greedily find out what people have been up to during the year. The majority of people who send them to us are really funny and have us in fits of laughter! We hear of exploits of new children who have been licking snails and decorated a carpet with nappy-rash creams. We can sympathise in their losses and rejoice in their joys!
Just now, we got a letter through the door from someone my mother worked with in the 70's, who she probably hasn't seen for that long, but it's lovely to hear what people have been up to. The aforementioned person, being up to date with our news in return has asked if I would like a Thai flute which he has had for a long time since his children aren't really into world music, which is incredibly kind, considering we have never met!
In this time of e-mails and blogging, the arrival of a tangible letter seems all the more exciting. Even if it is a duplicate sent to umpteen men and their dogs, someone somewhere has thought about you and has sent something in the post to you. It's not a VISA bill, it's not an offer for a new credit card that you would never need, it's not some mail-order catalogue, it's from a person who has thought to send you their news! And it's rather nice to have a brief window into the life of someone you might not otherwise get to see very much due to the busyness of life!

On that subject, I haven't really got around to sending Christmas cards to people this year, the student life has rendered me incapable of such organisation, but I have managed to make 25 minature christmas cards thus far from various recycled things and a little glitter and a dash of sequins. In fact I am rather pleased with them! (will post if I have time to find camera!) They are to be sent to the lucky recipients in the surplus of unused offerings envelopes from last year (tis a bit wasteful if you choose to give once a month to have all those envelopes!).

Anyway, I have to dash, am off to play at a school carol service!

Write soon,

Kx

Gone!

So ATSE is now over! Lions and tigers and bears oh my, I have a lot of stuff to write up this weekend- woe is me! Today was interesting. The complete and utter lack of sleep I've had this week (due to not being able to motivate myself to start planning before 8.15ish each night) caught up on me this morning. Soooooo sleepy today.
Had a bit of a disastrous morning. I left the house at 7.40 in time to catch a train, laden with many bags, but when I got to the station, I did my automatic, 'just check my ticket is in my bag' routine, to discover I had left my handbag (with phone, keys, purse, ticket...) at home. So I waddled back down the road with my many bags, and was greeted by an amused mum. So I legged it (as fast as one bearing a trolley-bag, 1kg of biscuits, presents and handbag) could go. As I climbed the hill to the station, I looked to see if the 7.54 was coming. Nothing in sight. I went into the station. Monitors were completely blank. It had just turned 7.54, so I had no idea if I had missed the train or not. No station staff. No announcements, no visuals. It reached 8.05 and finally a train came into the platform (no idea what train it was) it was stuffed like a turkey, no room in the train for Kezzie. It left, I was bereft. Texted my teacher then phone died. Finally train came in at 8.10ish. Squeezed on. At the next 2 stations, people stuffed themselves in ridiculously so the driver attempted to shut the doors around 6 times (If I realised that I am holding people up, even if I am late I will give in and get off. But then I didn't know where they needed to be). But they didn't. Eventually somehow the doors closed. But then we sat for 10 mins between stations in our cramped positions. No announcements. And this happened twice with 2 other stations. No announcements whatsoever. We eventually reached my designated station having taken 3 times the amount of time it should have taken. I arrived at school just before school started- grr. I understand that trains are late. As Chris's recent post 'A graded scale of sorry' there is no doubt that trains will be late. I live in London, I am lucky to have frequent transport links. And they usually point out that we are ever so sorry blahdiblah. That's fine, at least I know what's happening. But there was nothing, no announcement, no visual representation, no staff to ask. At least the automaton gives you some idea of ETA!

Following my late arrival at school, first thing I took my small group (only 4 of them thankfully) for maths. Since it was Friday, I could choose exactly what I did with them, so I decided to combine the two things I wanted to check they were sure of: Word problems and addition and subtraction and devised two pages of word problems using their names, trying to link these to their interests. And put their photo on the page (which they loved!!!). I have to say that bribery works. M. and L. were so excited at the prospect of earning 3 points, that they stayed focused for an entire hour and got loads of questions done! (They earned 2 as they had done 2/3 of the questions). They really liked the questions and as it was wet break, M. even asked if she could do more over break. She also came up to me in the afternoon and asked if she could complete it! S and A worked slower and had some confusion over using counting on the numberline for addition! But, they worked solidly and I was pleased with them. After break I watched the EMAG co teach a lesson which was enlightening. After lunch, I attempted to teach science. I say attempted. I was trying to teach why we have the seasons. They really really didn't get it. Using their ideas from my previous lesson I attempted to address these. Lots of htem had the idea that we have more daylight in the summer than winter because the Earth rotates slower in the summer. I reminded them of how many hours in a day, and thought they got it. But one girl came up to me half way through and said 'But I don't understand why the tilt causes different day-length, I thought the slowed down?'. I admit that the cumilative effect of sleep deprivation had caught up with me and I was desperate for my class mentor to come and rescue me, but she was occupied. They were quite disruptive, which I realise of course is because they didn't get it. Oh the joys of reflective teaching- you can get something out of every lesson!

We started talking about next term's planning. I am going to have to take 80% of classes. It's a bit scary. My school mentor gave me my evaluation sheet. She's given me goods for most of the standards except for planning and organisation (surprise surprise) and monitoring and assesment which were both satisfactory. All food for thought!

Tomorrow, I have a lovely Christmas concert: All sorts of songs. I have to sing 'Oh Holy Night' and play the 'Snowman' on my flute as well as the chorus stuff. Yay, looking forward to it!

Bis bald!

*One of the girls bought me a Christmas present! How cute!

You know when you've been tagged

Rach tagged me, so here's an attempt at restricting my word count!...

1. Yourself: disorganized
2. Your girlfriend/boyfriend: Vacant
3. Your hair?: in need of attention (I tried to think of one word)
4. Your mother?: unique
5. Your Father?: precious
6. Your Favorite Item: pajamas
7. Your dream last night: none
8. Your Favorite drink: tea
9. Your Dream Car: solar-powered
10. The Room You Are In: lounge
12. Your fear: heights
13. What you want to be in 10 years: family
14. Who you hung out with last night?: Me
15. What You're Not?: wide-awake
16. Muffins: triple-choc!
17: One of Your Wish List Items: new piccolo
18: Time: 10.05
19. The Last Thing You Did: ate
20. What You Are Wearing: comfy
21. Your Favorite Weather: spring
22. Your Favorite Book: I capture the castle
23. The Last Thing You Ate: Phish food
24. Your Life: busy
25. Your Mood: sleepy
26. Your body: mine
27. Who are you thinking about right now? evaluation
29. What are you doing at the moment?: avoiding
30. Your summer: lazy
31. Best part of your life: church

I choose to tag Welshy and Sarah

Prepare for a Blogathon!

It was 7.20am this morning and my class teacher phoned me to say that she had forgotten to tell me that she was away this morning because of an appointment, and was slightly concerned that the school may have forgotten to book someone to cover the morning 2 sessions. So, ever so slightly apprehensive I wended my way to school.

I arrived at school, and as it turned out, there wasn't a teacher booked, but I was asked if it was ok that a teacher would be doing her planning outside as I took the class.

So they came in. I admit I was a little bit nervous because the previous day both my teacher and I had been stuck on a train, and I only arrived at 8.50am, and I looked after the class during registration (with the deputy Head being wonderful there) and it had been mayhem with parents asking questions about school trips and home coming time etc etc. But this morning, they came in, they sat down and they read absolutely silently! I couldn't believe it!
So I gathered my thoughts and at 9.15 I got them to shut their books. And then, I used a warm-up starter for Literacy that a lovely teacher at my observation school pre-PGCE had used. I took a word from the Rude dictionnary and asked them to make a meaning out of it. (Anyone who heard about what I talked about in my interview will know all about this). Then they did it in groups, then presented them to the whole class and we declared a winner. It worked, and I think they liked it, except for two kids who don't like each other having to work together. Then I did a quick intro and recap of what we are doing 'rewriting Black Beauty for a younger audience', got them thinking about continuity, importance of spelling, using a dictionary to check spellings they think might be suspect, simple sentences, omission of connectives and set them to work. I then went around trying to point out what people needed to change, think of in a different way, encourage and support the use of dictionaries. It was quite manic, but generally as a rule, when I stopped them and let them know my expectations and the fact it was too noisy, they generally obeyed. I also demonstrated drawing a simple horse to two girls who managed to get the point I made about flowing lines and definite shapes. They were a bit of a pain at the end, so I used the happy-about them staying in at play-time threat which seemed to work. Luckily I had our lovely LSA for the second half of the session to assist me. Then I went to cover my teacher's playground duty (there were other TAs on duty, so I wasn't doing it on my own which would not be good in terms of the law!That's a Standard that I can fulfill- knowing the law!).
After break, I kept hoping that my teacher would be back as I find Maths (especially when I am not sure what it is about too much) really scary. Sadly she wasn't so I started my Mental Starter which was a lovely 'Beat the Click' courtesy of Primary Ideas which was ok. Then began introducing the teaching. I found it quite hard! I set them off to work investigating 3D shapes drawn on dotty paper and copious amounts of Multilink. I found the classroom management alot harder here. Luckily my teacher arrived some time a bit later and helped me with the confusion of where the hidden cubes in the picture might be. I survived.

In the afternoon, we had a bit of a manic time trying to get the scanner to work (this was the main point of the latter half of my ICT lesson) during Silent reading. It didn't. Then I introduced the DT/ICT topic of designing a symbol of peace/unity/friendship by looking at what symbols are and where we see them. I think I taught them several things, including how the Swastika has been around for 3000 years, and different symbols for Christianity other than the cross, though I made a misconception about the crescent moon and star being a sign of Islam as the picture was on a Turkish flag and a girl in my class corrected me. I then modelled what I might do for my symbol and why. This was fine, and they ended up producing some FANTASTIC symbols to represent their aims. My favourite was a Tree with two squirrels in. His explanation was beautiful.
The ICT part of the lesson was fraught. I took my group off to show them how to use the digital camera and got them all to take pictures of their accessories. This took ages. Then the computer refused to register my memory card on the USB when we were trying to download the photos onto the computer. So I had to do it in the classroom. And then returned to the kids, and had all sorts of difficulties trying to upload photos onto their web-pages. But we did it. And I introduced some of them to 'Paint' which they hadn't used before.

Sadly, I waited ages for my teacher to talk about planning, as she was doing extension classes, and then everyone wanted her attention, so I had to wait a while and we didn't get to plan for long.

The Head Mistress found me after school and thanked me for working beautifully with the kids in the morning, which was a lovely confidence boost, considering I didn't realise that anyone (except for the teacher planning outside) was keeping an eye on me!

It was a long day, but I survived! If only I felt so positive about this planning which I am currently procrastinating over!

A mathematical equation for Wednesday

27 children + 5 adults + 1 science museum = complete, utter exhaustion x10 to the power of 9

Let me in!!!

An ill wind that blows no one good...

Funny incident in the classroom this morning. SOMEONE in the classroom was consistently passing wind all day. It was quite unpleasant. At one particular time in our maths lesson my lovely teacher stopped the class and said something along the lines of 'Look children, if you need to fart, please can you go outside to do it'. This caused hilarity for everyone. Apparently when you are a teacher the smells make their way towards you. Good warning.

Why are things like passing wind so hilarious to children (and me?!)? I always wonder why some cultures have a different reaction to the production of bodily gases. In Indonesia, everyone burped without embarassment or any reaction. In Britain it is rude. I wonder how the different reactions came about?

Week 4, going, going...

I have 3 days left at school, and SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo mucho to do before I go!

Today I did a Running Reading Record with my child in Y1, which was interesting experience and I also did writing miscue with her. It was hard-work getting her to keep writing, and I didn't quite keep to the rules, as I kept encouraging her to write more, and sort of giving her ideas, as she kept stopping, but it was a good learning experience. AND it means I have done all my stuff for my English essay!

Maths is another issue. I don't know if I have enough material to write my essay. Wont go into it.

Having looked at my last 3.5 weeks, I have actually not done a huge lot. There are constant interruptions in class, I have a lot to learn, and I just get home and want to collapse- I really dont want to be doing copious amounts of work, but I have to try. But I don't know how well I am coping with it. Like tonight, I came home, and I ate dinner, and chatted to another student on the phone, and my sister. And I just really feel like I just want to sleep. I just find it so hard to concentrate.
We are not at school tomorrow as we are out on a trip all day. This will be a fantastic experience, though does not bode well in terms of my profile of teaching I have done, as it is another day out.

I seem to sound really negative on my blog at the moment, I don't mean to, but it's just mad mad mad! There are times when I think, why?

I survived my whole class observation last week, though my time management leaves a lot to be desired. Hmmmm, worst thing to have to teach on your first whole class maths teaching? Problem solving!
Monday I was supposed to do mask-decorating for my ICT lesson, and I had a big lapse in confidence and felt like it wouldn't work. My class-teacher was wonderful and let the whole class do it. Thank heaven for that!

Let's hope I survive this last furlong...

And to make myself feel better, and to bring us back to all things fluffy in true Welsherella style:
Marshmellows, chocolate cake, fluffy happy thoughts, holidays!

Oh and...
Deck the Hall with boughts of Holly (it's Hall singular!)
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Tis the season to be jolly
Fa la la la la, la la la la.

So many tasks, so little time to do them...

I'm reaching mid-point of week 3 of my placement, and can't quite believe it has gone so quickly and I have soooo much to do still!

I'm finding it quite hard to get the majority of my directed tasks done. I have taught 3 linked English sessions to a small group which is fine, and now out of the way. I was observed by my college tutor and it went quite well, with some good food for thought. She made me re-order my folder quite a bit though. She's coming back this Friday to watch me do some whole class maths. I am scared! Basically, today, I took my first mental/oral starter. It was on Factor-pairs, and it went ok-ish, but I felt there was still a bit of confusion and I was not clear enough. Though when we set them off thinking about creating a word problem involving the factor pairs, they performed to the challenge really well, and it was lovely to talk to some of those who would not usually participate voluntarily so much in class, and be able to say "FAB! You must tell the class!". Also, I am not sure how good my discipline is. I was also hoping to teach my small group (one of my directed tasks is to teach a small group for maths three connected sessions), which I had planned for. However, we didn't actually get to the individual activities. So, I missed that opportunity. Still, I thought, I have two days, and hopefully could do the rest on Friday after my main-observation. However, then we're probably not having maths tomorrow, because of a performance we have in the afternoon, so that's a write-off. Then, we may not be having it on Thursday for another reason, and then it's Friday. And I only have a week left to do all my directed tasks.

Oh, and then there's the child literacy study in KS1. Well, I am supposed to do informal reading, observing Literacy, doing Reading conference, writing conference, running reading record, writing miscue. I should have been doing this every week. I did the observation and informal reading with my child the first week, and then she didn't come to school for the last week because she was ill. So on Monday I thought, "Ok, I am going to have to see if she is there, and then choose another child. And she was away, so I chose another child instead and just went straight in and did my reading conference with her on Monday. I went back today, and lo and behold, she is now off sick and my first child is back! AHRGH!!!!!!

BMI tasks, just have not even happened. Music teacher was off sick for 2 weeks, so I didnt see any music. She's now back, but my class wont have it tomorrow because of the performance. I meant to watch Yr1 this afternoon, but it clashed with my teaching science so I missed that.
The Science lesson went well today. I enjoyed it and I think and hope that the kids did too, and now they know the massive difference in size between the Sun, Moon and Earth.

I had to help supervise Infant art-club this evening with a lovely parent. Oh my! They are crazy! One child said to me: "Stop being so strict" - and "You can't tell me off" as I was trying to stop his mad escapades. We had to send it home in the end which was horrible, but we really couldn't not work with him there as he was just wild. It didn't help that he did not know us too well, so there was not much we could do.

All in all, it's a bit mad.
It would be an understatement to say I am finding it hard. But when I actually get to teach and do group work, it's fab. It's just all the horrid directed tasks, which are just so hard to do. I am still not sure all the time, that I will be able to get through it, but I am hoping and praying.

Summary of last week (can I think of a title? No!)

I taught my first whole class bits of lessons last week. 15mins on PSCHE on Thursday. Went ok, my class teacher wasn't there, but the lovely Supply teacher said she thought it was good so that was ok. I then inadvertantly supervised the two 20min ICT lessons on Thursday afternoon (as you can only have half the class at a time.) First half was fine, but second half I had the problem child (he can be so nice) and I didn't send him back to the classroom for talking too much so it was a bit of a nightmare.
Friday, I taught RE in the afternoon for 1/2 an hour (planned at lunchtime) as my teacher needed to observe me doing something. It was sooooooooooooooo scary. I just felt it went awfully. Oh, and my voice gave out at the end. Hmmmm. My teacher briefly said she thought it went well, but we haven't fully gone through it yet. I do have to keep remembering that I am a trainee and so things aren't going to be brilliant at the start.

It was a bit of a manic week, and I am rather tired, but at least I survived it. Am wondering how on earth I am going to do it all day every day in the summer. Also really dreading going back to school tomorrow, and wishing I could be just doing some sort of job that doesn't involve thinking, but I know that's just the fear emerging. Am I the only one who has permanent PGCE depression or is this something all trainee teachers go through? I am sure it's most people!

Last night, I took part in a recital at church in aid of Tearfund. It was lovely, and considering the shocking lack of practice I did for it, it actually went really well. As per usual, I avoided the famous composers and did some more unusual stuff! It was a real privilege to take part with such amazing performers. Plus there was lots of cake, which is always good.

Ok, I am putting off my writeups, so I had better get on with it.

A moment of beauty

I admit I have been feeling restless, aimless, listless and so on for the last couple of weeks or so, in my everyday life, in my prayers, I've been a bit lost and separate, and I haven't been able to function properly, it's not something I could really put into words and I have been feeling a bit gloomy about it. During church service today, I was feeling somewhat the same, though as we sang 'Light of the World, Here I am to worship' and 'O Lord hear my prayer' I felt a sense of peace and a feeling that I should go to the park after church. So duly, I walked towards the park with a sense of lightness in my step, singing 'here I am to worship'. As I walked through the park, I felt an overwashing of peace, of relief, of safety, of unspeakable joy as I surveyed all the beauty of creation. As I walked, it grew and I breathed, like I haven't breathed in weeks. As I stood on the bridge and basked in the beauteous sunshine, I felt loved and content. As I walked off the bridge, I stopped. I stood silently, then looked up into the sky. And there in my direct eye line was a white cross. Two planes had seemingly passed through each other's flight paths perfectly perpendicularly- I stared at it in awe. And as I looked, and the planes continued their journey, making the cross ever larger across the sky, a small white bird flew across the sky through the cross, I watched it before it disappeared behind the trees. And I looked back to the cross, which was growing ever greater, the planes were out of sight and it filled the sky...

Of his kingdom there will be no end.

As I walked towards the gate, I glanced back to the cross which though it had moved across the sky, remained constant and steady. The sky was full of all sorts of clouds, great and small, those gleaming with sunshine.

How glorious is your name over all the Earth.

Purrfect

Play with the kitty!

Back to school...

I start at my school placement for four weeks as of Monday. We spent last Monday there as a visit day. I must say I am very excited about my school placement, it's a lovely lovely school and the staff are amazing, my mentor is fab as is my class teacher. I am with Year 5. It's an unusual school, in that it is open plan. My classroom is possibly the smallest classroom I have ever seen- it's not big enough to swing a cat (sorry Connor, not suggesting that I would swing you or any of your esteemed colleagues), but on the plus side, the kids don't really roam about, they aren't too noisy and it's cosy. They are trying to get a new building though, so hopefully at some point, there wont be the problem. Again as in my Observation school, it's one form entry. The coolest thing is, that my class learn French! Oh, and every child is allowed instrumental lessons, and there are loads of art projects going on.
The class love reading. They were given half an hour to read their books after lunch and I was watching and all were engrossed except for two boys who tried to distract each other. I can't wait to talk to them about why they like reading and what they like (tips for recommending books for my future classes). They are slightly mad in a lovely way too!
However, recently I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything I am going to have to do in these weeks, though I realise that there is no point in getting worried about it, and having fear. I have been watching one of my favourite films tonight, The Princess Diaries and Mia is fearful about being a Princess and she is going to refuse the title. But then she reads a letter written by her father to her before he died:

"Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all. From now on, you'll be travelling the road between who you think you are and who you can be. The key is to allow yourself to make the journey".

from Princess Diaries, (Disney film) from the books by Meg Cabot

I think that is very valuable advice. It's no use getting bogged down in things, but to trust that it will be ok, get on with it, and know that the end is more important than that which we fear. Hurrah for Monday and hurrah for new teaching placements!

The day of three rainbows...

It was a really gloomy day at primary school. We had been doing some rather uninteresting work and it had been raining all day. But then as we were coming out of school the sun had made his welcome appearance in the sky. And the sky was illuminated with not one, not two, but THREE rainbows, there was even the inkling of a fourth. They were all parallel with space between them in the sky. The first was the brightest rainbow I ever did see, the second was a little paler but still brighter than most rainbows you see, the third was like a normal rainbow and the fourth was a slight teasing on the horizon. I remember being filled with absolute delight and awe. Had I come out a bit earlier or later, I would not have seen them. But they brightened up that day in a magical and unforgettable way...

Fast forward 15 years and here I am at University. We were studying 'light' in this afternoon's science session and looking at what would be appropriate to do with primary children and starting points for science lessons. It was extremely informative. We got onto the subject of rainbows and how we might explain to a primary child about rainbows. Refraction isn't actually in the primary National Curriculum and it would be inappropriate to go into it in too much technical detail (can be an extension activity), but if a child asks you (like occured with a grown-up 'child' in our lecture!) about how they are made, what would you say? In our group, we decided:

What is the weather like when you've seen a rainbow? (coax them towards rain and sun if not forthcoming). We need certain conditions to produce a rainbow. If you look at a drop of water (may want to demonstrate) it actually looks like a beautiful crystal (I have sat mesmorised watching small droplets of water drip of my fingers) and if the sun shines in a specific direction through the rainbow, the rain does something to the light and produces a rainbow. It can only happen if the light hits the raindrop at a very special specific angle, so that's why we don't always see rainbows and they are such special and rare things. It was something along those lines, but we hoped it had given a fair idea (if it came up) but not too much to confuse?

The main point of this blog was to say, that I haven't seen a rainbow for years, I might even offer a decade per chance. Is it because there aren't so many, because London has become so pollutedor because I have lost my childhood eyes of delighting in this wonderful phenomenom? Where can I see a rainbow again? I really would like to...

*Photo provided by the exceedingly wonderful Freefoto.com

The Magic ruler!

There’s one (may appear rather shallow it has to be said) common bond (aside from all the obvious education links!!!) between children and those returning to education. The joy of new stationary! Aside from my selection of beautiful floral, rainbows and patterned folders, there’s the magic ruler. Courtesy of Tescos, it’s the loveliest ruler ever! It’s 30cm/12 inches of concertina-ed rainbow! With two way hinges, it folds into 12 pieces- either
exhibiting even or odd numbers depending which way you fold it. It can be bended, wafted, rolled up, folded in various ways, and is in 6 attractive bright shades! Only troubles is, I find myself occasionally distracted by it. One of my fellow Peeg students (lovely lovely lady) today, absentmindedly (I could tell from the glazed facial expression! I am quite sure I wear the same expression when mesmerised by said ruler) grabbed it during our lecture/lesson and was totally concentrating on it for several minutes, intent upon folding it into specific shapes. It made me smile. And the ruler has been admired much. It’s hilarious!

Stationary envy ensues. Like a sheep, I now really want a stripy pukka pad.

(Thankyou Freefoto.com !)

Danau Batur

This is one of the first pictures I took when we had reached the peak of the volcano in Bali. How awesome is that view! I still can't believe I climbed it!

(Part of my professional development is learning how to upload photos to the net. Admittedly Blogger has made it very easy, but still at least I am doing it.)

Sophie-pops

Isn't she gorgeous!

What to do...

I had a little bit of a stress last night. I managed to achieve very little on my study day yesterday and was really starting to panic, and really had a bit of a 'ahrgh!' to one or two friends. It seems to take me so much more time to do things than it should, and I feel rather behind with things. However the aforementioned friends offered me a little advice, and considering one was at a party, and probably was a little tipsy, I thought they did well, and I'd hope that somebody might get something from the things I have listed below...

1. I fear failure, therefore I procrastinate so I don't have to risk failing, and can blame it on my lack of work done.
2. When at home for the day, I should work as if I was at Uni. Sit at the desk and do work, even if I daydream- just sitting there will make me do something!
3. I lack a designated deskspace (I use the table). Not quite sure how to solve this one in my little house
   
4. Set myself realistic targets, prioritise tasks
5. Realise that perfection is impossible. Only one person has ever managed perfection
6. Get confidence!
7. Tick things off as I do them
8. Ask for advice
9. Set deadlines, set a designated amount of time for each task.
10. Listen to 'The Muppet Show' song played live down the phone on tenor sax by a guy dressed as Paganini wearing 18th century costume and white-painted face (Ok, maybe this one was just a lucky one-off!)
11. Finally, the obvious one- pray!
    

My favourite jokes...

Inspired by Welshy I thought I would share the jokes with the world that most amuse me*.

Ahem...


What do you call a cloud with legs?


A Sheep!



Aaaand....


What do you call a sheep without legs?




A cloud!

I would tell the one about the hills, but that would take far too long.


* You are not allowed to mock me for my poor taste in jokes.

Global footprints

I was thinking of not blogging anymore. I read something which made me think about whether I should be blogging, and made me think that perhaps it was a rather egostical thing to do and questioned whether it was something really I should be using my precious time with and as a Christian. However, I do think that as a relatively new Christian, I have been greatly encouraged by the blogs of other Christians, young and old, and I have learnt a lot. (That saying, most of the blogs which I really like, aren't really blogging much at the moment! Come back!!!). Also, any opportunity to talk about Jesus has got to be a good thing, though of course, I am aware that it can sometimes be taken in the wrong way, I could be wrong and misleading in my understanding of the Prince of Peace.
I am still unsure of whether I will do it so much, but will contemplate more.

Again, I have been contemplating my environmental impact on the planet, and our stewardship of this amazing world, and how we treat this privilege. Through our Geography introduction in the Foundation subjects, we had a look at our global footprints, you can do the same here for either your self, your school, your organisation etc and I recommend it. To be honest, I always thought that I was very environmentally conscious, but I have still have so many ways in which I could improve. And though many may cry 'what can one person do?', I always remember that many drops make an ocean, though it will be hard to change those ways in which I still lack. There are great sites for encouragement and tips on the internet- I particularly like a year of generous living (introduced to me by Rach). It's no good to say that these things don't matter- they do.

Twas a tumultous weekend for me. You learn new experiences through your life. I am feeling very much in need of the Father's comfort and care, and he is with me. What would I do without him?

Never despair

In suffering, let us learn wisdom
In poverty, let us gain heavenly riches
In failure, let us see a different path
In illness, let us see hope
For no matter what trials we see
Our beloved Father sees us through
For he died upon a cross
And nothing I face can compare to that
And when others might give in, alone
We have a friend upon a throne.


I am really blessed. I have not really seen much pain in my life, I have not encountered many of the trials that those I love have encountered, it's important for me to remember that. Yet, I know that, what ever I might suffer, he suffered more. Our God is not aloof, he is not someone who we cannot come close to, he does not ignore our pain. He knew pain, he suffered a criminal's death, though pure and innocent. And he has come into his glory- given sovereignty over heaven and earth. Faith is being sure of what we hope for and being certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11). How can I despair, knowing the hope of his promise. How can my soul despair? He is there, to be found if we truly seek him. And if all else is torn away, taken, all seems lost? He is our hope, there will always be Him. He is, and was and shall ever be.

Right decisions

I don't know if this is because I only had 3.5 hours sleep last night due to trying to get my school experience write-up and portfolio finished (mental note to self- USE the self-study day to do work, not to work elsewhere) but I was just feeling really unsure about whether I was doing the right thing today. Can I really be a good teacher? Will I be able to cope with this workload? Am I organised enough? Am I analytical enough? I found that I did not have a lot to say in the debriefing session, and felt like there was a lot I didn't understand. It is incredibly different to a music degree. I really need to hone my observation skills and focus on analysing the lesson in more in-depth areas. I just suddenly felt rather out of my depth today. I felt that this was what God was calling me to, but today, I just feel I've wasted the last month not doing what I should be doing, and wondering if I will catch up or not? I'm not being very coherent here, but just about to go to bed, but I would appreciate if anyone had any thoughts.

On a positive note, I get to have a go on an interactive whiteboard tomorrow! Smartboard here I come!

I'm an eensy-weensy bit excited!

This probably sounds like a little boast, but I don't mean it to, I'm just rather excited and want to BEAM on blogger! I forgot to mention yesterday that my old boss received the first copy of his book on violin-making which he has been writing for the last three years, it had its big launch in the summer and now the books are ready for their sale. Anyway, it looks fantastic, and it's so amazing to see that it is finally finished and in print, because I've seen it (and did a tiny bit of transcription for it) over the last couple of years, and...

my name is in the acknowledgements!!!!!!!!

School experience...

It's over now, and I have the weekend to prepare my portfolio for showing on Monday. It's been a very useful experience and I really enjoyed it. It was write-up day today, but I actually went back to my old work to cover for the day as my successor has left unexpectedly. It was really lovely to go back there and see people and the double takes that everyone did when they saw me made me smile! It felt very weird also, but nice weird!

Anyway, back to school...
The contrast between classes was very pronounced. Year 3 were absolutely lovely and I really loved working with that class. Year 5 were horrid!

I read some of 'Bad Becky' to Year 3 at the end of a numeracy lesson, which went surprisingly well considering I only had a few minutes to prepare. They laughed at all the right points, and seemed to like it when I did 'angry teacher' voice and 'simpering Araminta'.

The school has a really good policy of insets every week, where a different issue is covered- which was great, as one was on Phonics (my knowledge is presently limited) and the other was on the use of ICT for SEN pupils, which I hope that my school will offer when I am on my next placement.

On Thursday we had a visit from a Theatre duo who did a production of Rama and Sita which was great- I've seen (and taken part in!) a variety of productions of this story (including watching Rama and Sita - the Panto in Indonesian!), though it was weird to see it without any Kecak! (which by the way we are doing in the Barbican foyer on Saturday pre-concert if anyone wants a laugh?)

One particularly interesting thing for me was my focused observation on two children. It's surprising the amount of time they can spend off task. I was also amazed by the amount of attention both my children received from the teacher (who did not know I was observing the child- I'd make a good spy!), and indeed the incredible skill the teachers have in making sure that they make it round to all the children. I really warmed to the children that I observed- they were both really lovely children. I worried that perhaps my observation was slightly too detailed in the wrong places i.e.
"9.17 R fiddles with jumper, picks nose and eats it whilst still listening". Child no.1 yawned an incredible 8 times in 15 mins.
Child number two pulled out her ponytail and redid it 7 times in 5 mins!

One thing I encountered which I haven't met for a long-time (adults don't notice!) was the fact that children seem to pick up on my 'left-eye vision' problem (I only have partial vision in my left eye and it sometimes does a little wandering on its own, though not too much!) Some children when I talked to them would look behind them to see if I was talking to someone else (the problem of not being acquainted with everyone's names) and it took a while and a good-deal of pointing to get them to register that they were the focus of my attention. Some kids in one class (the usual naughty wannabee-comedian types) would look at my eye and snigger and whisper to each other. I suddenly wondered how I might address this with my pupils, as another popular reaction is for people to say 'what's wrong with your eye?'. I figured I might play on the Harry Potter link and pretend I am like Mad-Eye Moody with a magical eye that is watching their EVERY move even when I am facing the other way! Or maybe not!

If I am honest, what I am finding hard is actually being motivated when I come home to get straight on with my work and write-ups. I feel utterly exhausted when I get home, so I really just need to make myself do it. Does anyone have any tips?

Confession time: I am mean :(

As Welshy recently blogged, I am feeling a bit guilty and ashamed at myself. I shouted at Katy our white cat. It was earlyish on Sunday morning and I had gone into the conservatory to get the washing out the machine to hang it up. And left the door open.

Now as I hung, I noticed a distinct lack of white cat, though I had not heard the cat-flap go and she'd meowed at me as I went out there.
And I realised she'd got in the washing machine clinging to the clothes that were in there. I was so shocked at the thought, how if I hadn't noticed, I would have just shut the door and she'd have been stuck in there that I yelled at her. Then she wouldn't get out, so I had to haul her out of the machine with socks and stuff attached to her claws. She's always had this fascination with getting into small spaces which she shouldn't go into, anytime I've left my filing cabinet open, she's climbed in a drawer and crept into the backbit (though with her size now, I think even she would struggle to do that). Anyway, I felt really bad about shouting at her, I shouted before thinking, and I would like to here register my sorrow and regret...

Circle Time

I had my first KS2 circle time today, and it was lovely. What a good idea, and I enjoyed being part of it. One of the activities was to say 'I would like to be...' and you could say what you would like to be (profession, animal, etc etc). I said that I would like to be a teacher so I can have a cool class like them. There were lots of teachers and Scientist. However, the following are the ones which I thought were really memorable and really lovely:

I would like to be...

... a cooker because I like cooking.
...a scientist cheetah because I'd like to be the fastes scientist in the world.

and my personal favourite:

...a pink peacock, because they are really pretty.

My first Haiku!

falling leaves swirl in the whirlwinds

leaves litter the lanes

scarves fly in the gusty winds

I may have got the syllable thing wrong (is it 7.5.7 or 5.7.5? I must try to find out), but it was one of the tasks of inset, and I was quite pleased with mine, even if it is wrong (and therefore is not a Haiku!)

Cryptic confections

1. Wobbly infants

2. Wise Guys

3. Edible fasteners

4. Nine, ten, eleven

5. Occult perhaps

6. Home for alcoholic dentures

7. Fallen fruits

8. Sport for Princes

9. 100% metal

10. Tartan Granite

11. For being good children

12. Miscellaneous blacks

13. Royal Herbs

14. Mother’s local

15. Endurance test

16. Nearly between two

17. Pirate’s loot

18. Bovine peepers

19. Belly dance perhaps

20. All sorts of girls

This was a quiz we had at a party. It was great fun, though there were some tricky ones as they weren't all current sweets. For those unfamiliar with British confection A quarter of... may be helpful. I got 12.5/20, 50%. Would I get a level C in GCSE confection?

Observation day 1 survived!

I had my first day at school today and it wsa great, but I am sooooooo sleepy!

It's a lovely school, only 1 form entry. It has 97% EAL (I think) and 90% are Bengali. I was in wih Year 2 today and it was a great experience. Lovely children, and it benefits from having less children in the classes in some cases. There are only actually 19 in the class, and it is amazing how quiet they are in relation to other schools I have been in. That 11 children less makes all the difference. And the classroom seems so much more spacious. I think there are instant tangible benefits in smaller class sizes. I observed literacy, Numeracy, story reading and the end of a science lesson.

Also, there's a great acting Head master and it's fairly easy to get to. Pity it doesn't have a school field. I think that's one thing that it is a shame that inner-city schools really would benefit from. I feel so privileged remembering Barley Lane's massive field!

I had to get up at 6am this morning and my oh my was that a shock to the system! HOW do you do it every morning?????? Mind you, I didnt get to bed till midnight, due to printing my proformas. Oh how I long for my old fast laser-jet, double-sided all-singing, all-dancing printer at work. It certainly had its moods swings, flashing angry orange lights when I tried to re-use paper, chewing up documents and generally acting like a spoilt child, but it was soooooo easily! Come back, all is forgiven!

We managed to be good and get hold of the policy file and selectively photocopy (double-sided of course) those policies that were most integral, so it was a positive start to the week. Tomorrow, I am with Year 1 and then Nursery- May the Lord help me! Ahrgh!

The night before...

...can have two meanings!

Last night was our harvest supper, and I was kindly offered the task of making Chilli Con carne for 20. Hmmmm, well I've never made it before and I am a bit of a paranoid cook. Always think I am going to get it wrong! Oh, and compounded by the fact I am convinced that all things start at 7.30, not 7 (due to being a musician). So it was 7.09 and the chilli looked rather red and liquidy and tomato-heavy), so I left it to simmer (what temperature IS classed as Simmering? I always think it is 4-5) went and threw on a clean top (because onions and mince are soooo not a particularly endearing smell to be wafting in pleasant company!). It was all a bit worrying carrying a large jam-pan full of chilli slop-carne along the length of the street sans lid. I liked it very much, but then in general have the consistency of an ox! However, it was a success and kind people reassured me as to the taste of said carne. In fact, I have heard no news of deaths, violent reactions or dodgy stomachs so I think I may even try cooking it again. Twas a lovely evening all in all and we sang a lovely new latin American sounding version of 'We plough the fields and scatter' and yours truly led a rhythmic samba percussion interlude and got the folks on their feet congaing round the room (except David, you were just sitting there! Just realised that- how did I not notice?!!!). It was a lovely evening and was certainly thought-provoking as we considered the mental effects of malnutrition which can result in in alcoholism and wife-beating as well as all the physically obvious effects, and the work of TEAR fund in Bolivia is amazing the difference it can make to the lives of poverty-stricken South-Americans.

I got home to face the carnage of having left the kitchen for later. Herumph! And then made Barbara's birthday card. But such was the state of my fatigue, I did not notice that I was decorating the envelope, not the card. I almost cried! However, a good night's sleep prompted the move to cut the said envelope and stick onto a larger card: hurrah!

So it's 11pm, and I am trying to print out my observation pro-formas for tomorrow. They're almost done! Yes, tomorrow, I go to my first school. It's in Bethnal Green (however nearest tube WOULD have been Shoreditch- grrr) and involves a fairly perilous journey in terms of having to read a map and negociate a number of twists and turns on the trail. Oh and I have to be there at 8am!!! Worried? Meeeeee???



Nope!

Teaching is like a tree

We've had a lovely day today so far. It was Collaborative learning day and we've been working on projects in small groups. My group's job was to make a representation of 40 years in the teaching profession. After a brain-storming with mind maps, we made a tree collage from magazines (as teaching is an ever-expanding profession, putting out new branches, it's an ever-changing cycle and it produces young off-shoots etc etc) and included words connected to teaching like ‘inspire’ ‘inform’, ‘the future’ as branches and all sorts of curricular links cut out teaching images, collected leaves from the park made speech bubbles. At the roots, we put a little door which opened and inside was a teacher leaping out. There were people (representing teachers) sitting on branches, children leaping out. I even made a mini notepad and pencil for the Art branch!
It looks FAB and we are really pleased! Not bad considering our magazine resources were 3 cooking magazines, a home magazine and Timeout! My group were all very inspired and creative people! Plus, we finished early, so we're all going home now! Hopefully someone's taking a photo, so I'll try to post a picture!

Now got to do my analysis from the day and finish my maths audit at home. I've suddenly found that I am horrendous at maths! The algebra isnt so bad, but I think I will need some help to be able to explain maths concepts when it comes to it!

Tomorrow we get to meet our mentors from our schools we start at next week to do our 9 days of observation. It’s very exciting and I can’t wait to find out where I have been placed!

Doctor WHOOOOO????

This may be a cause of embarassment for myself, but hey, I'll admit it. During my big tidy-up over the holidays, I came across around 50 or so issues of Doctor Who magazine which I had neatly filed into a box file. I started liking Doctor Who in 1996, when the Paul McGann movie came out, as I watched it, and decided that it was wonderful and I really really wanted to see more Doctor Who. And so it went on from there: I began reading DWM, got many videos, wind-up Dalek, Dalek polly-pocket etc. And I forgot to mention the really embarassing part, which was my 15-year old self's big crush on Paul McGann. I thought he was amazing and incredibly cute! And it was largely thanks to that that I joined the ranks of 'trainspotter' (I do not mean any sort of negative connotation here). Well, anyway, times have changed, and I realised that perhaps I really didn't need all these magazines cluttering up my very limited space available. But just before I bagged them up for E-bay prospectives, I had a glance through them, and remembered THOSE letters. Yes dear reader, I only went and sent not one, but TWO very embarassing letters to DWM, declaring my love for said actor, and saying how I cried at bits in the movie. And at the respective times of publication, I was so pleased that my letters had been published and showed everyone! They even published a picture of Paul McGann in a heart-shape next to my letter saying something like "Kerenza loves Paul" or something embarassing like that! Oh my, after reading them, I absolutely cringed and ran around the house screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!". How could I do such an embarassing thing?!

2006, and I love Doctor Who still, though thankfully I do not have the big crush on the man himself (though David Tennant is rather foxy!) and yes, some of the storylines have made me blub again (after all, who could fail to be distressed during Badwolf, Parting of the Ways and Army of Ghosts & Doomsday). However, I must say, that I am very pleased that Captain Jack is to come back in Torchwood . Because he is rather cute. It has been very nice to see him on "How do you solve a problem like Maria". (Still cannot believe the contestants got to kiss him!!!!). I look forward to Series three lots!!! It's also very nice that kids of this generation are seeing and loving Doctor Who. It is highly amusing that my 15-year old sister is exhibiting the same signs as I was, 10 years on about Doctor Who. I wonder, if in 10 years, she will find old copies of DWM and cringe about letters she might send to it?

Houston, we have a problem

I've forgotten how to write formal essays and present tasks. How can I get used to writing without exclamation marks?


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fruit fact

This year has been the year of the plums. The weather conditions we have experienced this year seem to have been ideal for the growing of the purple beauties, as my experience of picking them in Gloucester and home have proved.
However, I am rather impressed as the plum tree in our garden has this year yielded 250 plums! Not bad for a tree shorter than your average 11 year old!

Afghanistan and the property cult

As someone who would always prefer to do ANYTHING else (read, watch Friends, wrench eyelashes out..) other than watch the news (I do realise that this is a bad attitude to have, but I happen to like my spectacles. They are a nice shade of rose...), it would be unusual for me to blog about something I've seen on the news.
However, the BBC showed a story about Afghanistan today and how Condoleezza Rice was saying that troops really need to finish the work that they are doing there otherwise the problems will never be resolved. I've not really thought about the whole situation until last night when a missionary worker came to talk to my church about her time spent there (she has now moved elsewhere). Apparently 95% of Afghans think it's a good thing that the troops are there and really want the process to continue. I was struck by how beautiful a nation it is, so green and verdent in places, full of streams of water, and how what is seen in the media rarely reflects this. There are so many possibilities for Afghanistan, they used to have a prolific export industry in dried fruit, it would be wonderful for it to regain some of this past success. The soldiers actually have created a lot of jobs for people living there, as have NGO's. I really hope the regeneration can continue in peace.

The second story to capture my attention was a talk from a man Martin Lewis (I think?!) about the property ladder. He believes that we have been hypnotised as a nation into believing that we must get on the property ladder. I agree. People are getting into serious debt in order to obtain what they think is a sure fire way of making quick money. And I am not denying that it is. But I really feel like it's become an obsession- everyone is so transfixed with it, and I find it really irritating and worrying! As the guy said, people are getting out of their depth (some people) because they are gambling on the house rising in value (once they have paid their mortgage in 25 years). And anyone who says that they know that houses will increase cannot be certain, can they? How will they know that? We can't be sure about it. And how will people afford the (possible/probable) interest rate rises? I know that people say renting is equivalent to throwing your money away, but unless I was really certain I could afford it (with any nasty shocks having a contingency plan), I would not purchase.
I say NO to the property cult!!!!

Day Two...

Day two is over. We've been studying science all day. It was a lot more interactive than yesterday, and we had to do some simple science experiments in the afternoon. Now, I absolutely detested science practicals at school (particularly senior school), largely because alot of them involved dealing with scary chemicals or even scarier bunsen burners, and a Year 5 experiment involved me getting an electric shock (or involved me pouring things down the drain that I really wasn't supposed to. Impressive though very embarassing that I managed to get through 5 years of senior school science and get AA for GCSEs and not touch a bunsen burner) So, those familiar feelings of dread emerged, though I consoled myself that a) this is primary science and b) how dangerous could it get in a lecture hall where the materials to be used were in a small tray?
Well our experiment was to do with investigating which part of the hand or arm was the most sensitive, and largely involved me sitting with my eyes shut obediently with arm outstretched whilst various materials (sandpaper, sponge, wallpaper, sugar paper) were brushed against various parts of my hand and arm. We then evaluated our responses. It might seem a simple experiment, but it made me realise exactly how important science is as part of the curriculum, as it is an ever expanding and even simplistic sounding experiments can bear fruit that you may not consider. It's great that kids today will have so much more practical experience and may not fear science like me!
There seem some nice people on the course, though I haven't really got to know any particular people especially well yet (not after two days!). I really enjoyed the company of two girls Aisha and Ossab two girls I worked with today.
Anyway, I'm off to do some work!

Some fascinating facts...

I received these as an e-mail and I thought they were absolutely fascinating. I do not know who found these out or wrote them, but whoever you are, they are very interesting! Be warned, if you are trying to avoid doing work (you know who you are!), they may take a while to read!

1. A rat can last longer without water than a camel.
2. Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks or it will
digest itself. 3. The dot over the letter "i" is called a tittle.
4. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down
continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.
5. A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.
6. A duck's quack doesn't echo. No one knows why.
7. A piece of 2x4 is really 1-1/2 by 3-1/2.
8. During the chariot scene in "Ben Hur", a small red car can be seen
in the distance.
9. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily worldwide!
10. Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants.
11. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were
made of wood.
12. The number of possible ways of playing the first four moves per side in a
game of chess is 318,979,564,000.
13. There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange, purple and
silver.
14. The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan".
15. The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin in World War II killed
the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
16. If one places a tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion, it will instantly go
mad and sting itself to death.
17. Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to s-l-o-w film down so you
could see his moves.
18. The first CD pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the
USA".
19. The original name for butterfly was flutterby.
20. The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law
which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your
thumb.
21. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for
automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was Victrola, so
they called themselves Motorola.
22. Roses may be red, but violets are indeed violet, not blue.
23. By raising your legs slowly and laying on your back, you cannot sink into
quicksand.
24. Celery has negative effect on calories. It takes more calories to eat a
piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with.
25. For fun, Charlie Chaplin once entered anonymously a "Charlie Chaplin
look-alike contest", and won third prize.
26. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.
27. Sherlock Holmes NEVER said "Elementary, my dear Watson".
28. An old law in Bellingham,Washington, made it illegal for a woman totake
more than 3 steps backwards while dancing.
29. The glue on Israeli postage is certified kosher.
30. The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often
stolen from Public Libraries.
31. Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because
passing wind in a space suit damages them.
32. In the movie Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart never said "Play it again
Sam". What he said was "If you can play it for her you can play it
for me, so Play it".
33. It is impossible to lick your elbow.
34. A crocodile can't stick its tongue out.
35. A shrimp's heart is in its head.
36. In a study of 200,000 ostriches over a period of 80 years, no one reported
a single case where an ostrich buried its head in the sand.
37. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
38. A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
39. More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a
telephone call.
40. Horses can't vomit.
41. The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the
toughest tongue twister in the English language.
42. If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a
sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die. If you
keep your eyes open by force, they can pop out.
43. Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a
million descendants.
44. Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear
by 700 times.
45. If the government has no knowledge of aliens, then why does Title 14,
Section 1211 of the Code of Federal Regulations, implemented on July 16, 1969,
make it illegal for US citizens to have any contact with extraterrestrials or
their vehicles?
46. In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.
47. 23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on
them and photocopying their rear ends.
48. Most lipstick contains fish scales.
49. Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.



and lastly...



50. Over 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow.

Day One

So, the day that I have been anticipating for well over 9 months has finally arrived. I am here at the Institute of Education beginning my PGCE! We've had a lovely day so far, and met some nice people, though it was very much like the first day at school at first. What are we, the students of 2006 feeling right now about our course? Well according to our getting to know you exercise:

"Excited but apprehensive"

The schools in my cluster group seem to be mainly in Enfield or Tower Hamlets (the latter will be much better for me, so here's hoping), and only two schools in Essex which is a little sad, but I hope it should be ok!

I am organised, I am efficient...

...I am off to complete some work....

Where have I been?

Only 10 days until I start my PGCE. Am feeling vastly underprepared at the moment, as the tidying of my room and house has been like opening a can of worms, and is still continuing since my last blog, but I hope things are improving, well I can definitely see my bedroom floor now, and several bags of stuff have (and are to) left the house. Am awaiting the arrival of my laptop, which is kindly being lent to me by my dear sister, and I hope then, that things will improve!

However, I had a lovely time in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire last week or so. Kath's new flat is fantastic and even has a larder, and the village she's moved to Chadlington is simply glorious. It really does seem to have everything. After intense painting sessions on Saturday, Christine, Andrew and Matt arrived from London and joined in the fray. At long last, we stopped for dinner, a lovely beef stew served on a makeshift table crafted by Christine and myself (consisting of a cardboard box, a shoe box and several catalogues, nicely hidden by a table cloth. After dinner, we got out the crafting materials and between us, improvised an impressive 12 wedding invitations for Christine's wedding, all incorporating the theme of silver organza, pink and hearts.

As we went to sleep on airbeds, I was in the same room as Christine and Andrew, and caused myself considerable pain by trying to smother my laughter into my pillow at the prolific and varied variety and indeed sheer volume of Andrew's snoring (I mean, wouldnt it scare you if someone was laughing manically in the same room as you trying to sleep?!)

Sunday morning, I skipped off to church in the village, which was actually a baptisimal service in the gardens of a wealthy Chadlington inhabitant as opposed to the church, with a baptism in the swimming pool. It was a lovely and blessed experience which I felt priviledged to be at, and certainly the first time I have ever had communion by a swimming pool! I then had the opportunity to talk to some 'villagers' over tea and even discovered a lady whose daughter is studying at the IoE!

Sunday night Kath and I returned to Gloucester where I stayed until Monday afternoon, returning to London laden with green gages, plums, beans, tomatoes, peppers, beetroot, apples and courgettes courtesy of the cheap, delicious roadside organic shop. I also enjoyed the priviledge of meeting a cat called Lola!

Thursday was lovely as I spent a lovely afternoon playing flute quartets in Danbury, which was a blessed relief, as I have barely touched my flute all holiday and really needed to!

Monday was the Music Camp 150th Anniversary, where I saw many friends, sang Mozart Requiem, a lovely Haiku by Vonnipops and even played my flute in Schubert's Unfinished. I realise that the title probably gave it away, but I was surprised to turn the page at the end of the Second movement and find that was the end- DOH! Seems like they had a fab time, and I was sad to have missed the rendition of Zadok the Priest on kazoos!
Right, I must go back to tidying, oooooh, and Neighbours- I could get used to this holiday lark!

Off to Coventry tomorrow to see Rach!!!!!! Hurrah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A feeling of HORROR, of DISMAY, of SHOCK, of feeling like a MONSTER

So it all began last night, during my crafting material audit. This was a none-to-unpleasant side-effect, sorry necessity of stopping the stampede of entropy taking over my house (It's either the mess or me). I released a large box which was full of random craft items which has been lurking under my bed, along with various other large boxes stuffed miscellaneously around the house (this aside to the more organised craft supplies) and started to sort them out on the living room floor. This included colour coding all scraps of card and paper and bits (usually cut from a pretty piece of packaging, or a tissue box...) into folders. And I felt completely overwhelmed, as I have far more materials than any large colony of crafters could want for an entire life-time, and filled with horror at the level of THINGS which I have. I got rid of loads of stuff, but still there's stacks. And I have to admit it:

I....


AM....


A...


CRAFT MATERIALAHOLIC.


Please, please, please, if you are ever near me when shopping, or speak to me, if I display any intention whatsoever of buying craft materials, STOP me. Do whatever neccessary, just do not let me near any more.

AHRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

However, it isn't all bad...

Becaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaause:

"Mummy's taking me to a Spa tomorrow,
Spa tomorrow, Spa tomorrow.
Mummy's taking me to a Spa tomorrow,
We can stay all day.

We're going to a Spa, Spa, Spa
Ladi da da da
Smug, yes we are, are are
We're going to a Spa, Spa Spa!!!!!!!!!"



Oh, and also am off to Gloucester and some random village in Oxfordshire for the weekend to stay with lovely Kathy, to enjoy lovely countryside, decorate her new flat, walk, make wedding invitations (legitimate excuse for buying specific craft materials earlier). Yipppeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Fear

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahrgh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There was this one time at band camp...

I have returned from another magical week at 'Band Camp'. It was different from other times but still good fun. Highlights include:
- An After Cocoa performance of Fanfare for the Camper Van , that famous Copland fanfare as you've never heard it arranged for handchimes in honour of the first outing of Beryl Jones new camper van. Having spent a happy hour chatting to Beryl in said camper van I can deem it worthy of such an honour.
- Sitting singing one to a part madrigals in a glade (not a dell or a copse, but definitely a glade) with several lovely people. Listened to by a wandering Monkjack. It reminded me of just how much fun singing can be when not in a large choir!
- Listening to a beautiful After cocoa performance of some Vaughn Williams and Finzi songs which were sabotaged by some randy Gliss-glisses (edible doormice) who were indulging in some rodent action in the rafters of the roof. I'm not sure if Mrs Gliss-gliss was too happy about this, as she was squeaking and scampering around in some very alarmed manner for some minutes and seemed ready to leap off the rafters. I had to sit with holding my nose and mouth to ensure that no laughter could erupt from me. Felt rather like a time bomb.
- Going to church-in-the-park on Sunday for a beautiful peaceful 8am service with my friends. It's a stunning exhibition of the beauty of God's creation. We returned to the cards to find them surrounded by amorous cows who had been licking the windows.
- A blessed time singing songs of praise with Oliver, Juliet and Robin- amazing!
- Telling someone that I liked around 3 years ago that I once liked him. Have never done that before and feel remarkably at ease now. Hope he doesnt think I still like him!
- Noticing for the first time, how beautiful moths can be. There was one who had markings rather like a Mr Kipling bakewell tart and another metallic looking one.
- My showing of bravery when confronted with arachnids. I woke up to find a large tabby spider poised above me in my tent. I shooed her out and only uttered cries when she leapt back in again. Firmly ejected her (Alive- I don't kill them) under the side of the tent. (Unfortunately it ended when confronted with 3 VERY large black evil looking spiders on the last night when there were only 10 of us left, as I moved my towel, I screamed so loudly it was heard from a distance away. Ah well)
- A Touch of Venus by Kurt Weill. Fantastic show. For any snobs who think that only Weill's German works are good- you are wrong! Oooh and some fantastic 'modern' art work was produced for the set!
- Playing Stravinsky's Song of the Nightingale everytime the flute had any birdy flourishes a very melodic bird outside responded. I experienced reactions similar to the Gliss-gliss episode.
- Singing Scheiber Yugoslavian folksongs with Tom and Schutz Sacred works. Beautiful beautiful beautiful!!!
- Getting to wash up the bowls and spoons from the making of chocolate profeterols for 110 people. You can imagine the amount of residue chocolate and cream!
-'Trying' to play 2nd clarinet for Tschaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet overture. It all started so well...

Postcard from er- Essex

I'm back and alive! Hurrah! No time to blog on the last three weeks, but sufficed to say that they were great! It's the lunchbreak from our kids summer mission- and I've been out to buy bamboo cane sticks from Homebase for this afternoon! It was a fab morning so far, my first time as a fully fledger team leader (I was one last year, but one of my assistants last year was a headteacher, so you can imagine, I was amply aided!), and my lovely two minions (Hmm, I like that word too much- I mean it in the nicest possible sense- I usually prefer to myself as a minion at work- ooooh, no work yeh, just remembered!) are being great! Please if any of my correspondents are in the habit of praying, please pray for energy, enthusiasm, patience, creativity, love and compassion and safety at all times for our mission!

Lots of love,
Kezzie xxx

Bali week 2

At last, managed to make it to the internet for a while!

It's Sunday again and I really wanted to go to church, and had found an advert in the paper for a seven-day adventist church which seemed to have a service at 11am (in addition to the 9am service advertised, which I didnt wake in time for). Very excited, as have not either experienced a service of this type or an Indonesian service. However, I got very lost trying to find it (it seemed so easy from the map), and then all of a sudden, feeling very hot and flustered, I chanced upon a building with a cross on top!!! I made my way there, at 10.45 to find that it was a catholic church, and I had missed mass, which was 9-11am. A very nice man, told me when the next service would be. It looked very different inside, I was very sad to have missed it. Then I had a wander around for the next 10mins, trying to find the church I had the address for, eventually I chanced upon a protestant (feels weird saying that word- I never use it in UK!) church, adn had a quick chat to the men who were there, who told me I had also missed their service, which was also 9am!!! They gave me a kind of parish magazine which I shall peruse later! They then directed me to the Adventist church (not at all obvious, down a side street), and I arrived- unfortunately the paper was wrong and there was no service at 11am, but there was one on Wednesday. So I didnt manage to make it to church this morning, but at least I now know where the catholic, protestant and adventist churches are in Denpasar!!!!

Anyway, enough of my wafflings, it's been a great week thus far. We've had rehearsals every day, and the group has managed to reduce our 'faffing' a great deal, so time has been used productively. Our leader, Pak Susila was pleased with us, and believed that we were 'ready' for our performance. The big day itself was yesterday, and all seemed to go well except that a number of the group were feeling a little unwell (most of them went to the same restaurant, whilst Kathy, Matt and I went to another one on our own). We had a lazy morning (to our shame, Liz and I awoke at 11am!!) and then departed for the art centre at 3pm. Our rehearsal was watched with much interested by Balinese, and Andy's famous piece 'Pig' met with raptuous applause, even in rehearsal). During the 3 hours between rehearsal and 8pm performance, after a delicious dinner of Nasi Bungkus (literal translation: take-away rice: actual one- white rice, with satay something or other, piece of chicken, some veg and noodles), the prep began. Each female was made up by a Balinese lady, with lots and lots of make-up and then our hair was made into a coifed up-do with flowers in our hair also- this took around 20 mins). As most of the group do not where make-up this was met to a certain extent with horror and I admit to feeling rather like a hideous china doll, yet it looked fab on other people, so I can only conclude that to oneself, one appears hideous, but the exterior effect is good. The hair however (if we pretend no hair spray was involved!) was beautiful though! Our sarongs were also tied for us (as my usual attempt is a rather bedraggled mess!), and since I was a drum player, I managed to get mine tied loosely to allow the facility to sit cross-legged, which was a relief as most of the other girls were finding breathing and sitting difficult!

The performance itself was well received, and the Wantilan was full of very appreciative and receptive people (Balinese can be very critical of gamelan performances and are not afraid to boo and jeer if something is not in order) and many of the group were on a massive high after the performance. My only slight personal dampener for the experience was the dead-leg i had after the first Gong Kebyar set which was totally unexpected and I physically just couldnt walk off the stage properly! In an attempt to walk normally I tried to pretend it wasnt happening, but in my numbness put the entire weight of my body onto my bent big toe (as cannot tell what you are doing when dead leg!) felt something give way, and then scraped it, almost knocked a gamelan instrument onto myself and generally looked in pain! In the end, I gave up trying to hide it and was aided off the stage by our suling player!

We havent actually done a great deal apart from the rehearsals, but have seen some fantastic performances, particularly the Gamelan Jegog (massive Bamboo gamelan from Negara in West Bali) and Gamelan Cendana who performed for us, and eaten some delicious food. I had a lovely experience returning to the warung (eaterie) in the market, I used to eat in all the time. The lady who owns it called out my name as did her husband and was genuinely pleased to see me. I had my favourite dish, Cap Jai (no one makes it like her) and had Avocado juice to drink, which was amazing!!! It's still the same!

I haven't really had much chance to talk to Balinese friends about things, apart from very superficial level conversation, but it's been really lovely to see people. It was weird at first to be back here, but now it feels like I have been here forever!

I made a little realisation in my head. Sin is like a mosquito bite. It's always around, and there's always the possibility of getting more. You really really want to scratch it, and it's so hard to resist, and at the time it feels great to scratch it, but afterwards it scars and taints you for ages and the long term result is never good. I am finding it hard to resist both, and feel like a horrid person at the moment, please pray for me in respect of both the metaphor and the reality!

Anyway, back to positive things, Just went shopping for Daniel's birthday party. I have two large bags full of stuff (lots of snacks, presents, toys etc) and the whole lot came to the equivalent of only 8-9 pounds! Amazing!!!!!!

Oh, and for the record, no cockroaches in my room! It's very nice and very clean!

Postcard from Bali!

Bali is great so far! The weather is great! It's not as hot as I remember (thought it isnt the rainy season, which is humid hell! There's a nice breeze and the shade is fine!)

We've got a lovely place to stay in with nice room, swimming pool, great bathroom and even a fridge and TV in our room. I am used to having a real basic room in Bali (that was still great!) so it is a great surprise just how nice it is! Today, I got up, had a swim, had breakfast, then we got a Bemo (public transport) to the Arts centre and everyone else is watching a performance whilst I went to visit my old Landlord and his family and bring them some Toblerone! It's so nice to see them! And I found that I am still pretty fluent in Indonesian if the people just give me a chance and talk to me in Indonesian and not English! I may go and watch the Bamboo gamelan in a minute with the others!

The Flight was mad! I hardly slept at all, but it was ok! And they brought us Beechdean ice-cream (they sell it in Regent's park- it's made in the village where Music camp is!). The food was lovely and I had some lovely games of scrabble (after frantic searches, I found the travel one at last in one shop in the Duty Free!).

We have rehearsals every day, but they are fairly late so that's great! We're supposed to be watching some performance after the rehearsal this evening, which I am sure will be fine, though I enjoy playing more than watching!

Things seem more expensive this time, though I know that what I pay is still very little and that prices have gone up! And also, even if they overcharge me a bit, they certainly need the money more than I do. It's amazing how some people survive here- they earn so little.

Haven't quite escaped from work yet, as I had to speak to David at the airport, as he didnt know how to apply for an Export License, so that was quite funny. He was most apologetic! It was lovely to speak to him, and both of us were amazed at my knowledge regarding export licenses, in the absence of documents in my view! There's a thing!

Anyway, must dash, will have some lunch in the internet warung, then go and watch the performance!

Sempai ketemu lagi!