One Month...
Looking at my last post it is exactly a month since I last wrote something here. Maybe its a bit of being able to connect with friends on Facebook, maybe its a bit of laziness, and maybe its a bit of life seems to be repeating itself this year, and I don't think I want to repeat the same posts about the the same events, but a different year...
Lately I have been feeling really tired. I thought for a while it was the readjustment to the time change, but now it can't be that. Don't know what's going on with my body right now, but it does seem to crying out for exercise. I am trying to respond with my yogalates (my abs hurt from that today!), and waiting for it to get light enough to walk to school in the mornings - give that a few more weeks. I think I just need to start walking at lunch too. But I will start Friday and Monday Yoga at school as well. The boys will start swimming lessons on Saturdays and Thursdays. I just feel like something more active needs to be happening in life right now. :-)
Stress at work is low, even though we have reports due next week. My students are so focused on their unit of inquiry about Space, Earth, and the Universe, that I have little concerns about the work as a whole. Next week we will go on a two day retreat in the mountains to prepare our central idea for the Exhibition that the kids will have to begin working on in March. That will be a bit stressful, but a bit of a ways off.
I'm already talking with the secondary staff about my new position next year - seems like it will be 7th grade Humanities and 10th grade pre-IB History, plus probably a smattering of English Lit for the 7th graders. By the way, I have agreed to stay two years instead of one, so that I can get re-experienced in the secondary level. It's strange to realize that I have 7 years of secondary experience, and this year marks my 7th year inElementary! It's time to switch back, or probably be stuck in Elementary forever. :-) Not a bad thing, but I think I do enjoy secondary more. But the next two years will be the real test of my mettle - 7th grade is probably one of the most difficult groups to teach. Luckily most of them know me from last year, when I was their 5th grade teacher - that might make it a bit easier....
I am already starting to think about summer and think that it will involve more travel this year. I will definitely be going to the Principal's Training Center to begin work towards a Principal Certificate - that's in London. I might also have to go to a training session for the MYP in Basel, Switzerland. My friend from Canada, will be traveling to Latvia too, and we will try to travel around the Baltic and Scandinavia a bit, while stopping at the beach house in Melluzi for regular stints of relaxation and the beach air. The boys will be mostly with their Dad, but it appears that when with him they will probably be spending a lot of time in Jurmala down the road from me, making visiting with them easier. I will miss them a lot, but they deserve quantity time with their Dad too, and I need to use that time to load up on Gita time as well.
Last night I stayed up late to watch the inauguration and was glad that I did. The boys fell asleep right before Obama gave his oath - 10:00pm our time. Obama is what the world has been waiting for a while. I hope that he can manage the burden that the world wants to put on him. I am glad too, as although I am not an American, I am all too often lumped in with them. That damn American accent is hard to get rid of! I can at least hope that the view of Americans will improve over the next four years.
Lately I have been feeling really tired. I thought for a while it was the readjustment to the time change, but now it can't be that. Don't know what's going on with my body right now, but it does seem to crying out for exercise. I am trying to respond with my yogalates (my abs hurt from that today!), and waiting for it to get light enough to walk to school in the mornings - give that a few more weeks. I think I just need to start walking at lunch too. But I will start Friday and Monday Yoga at school as well. The boys will start swimming lessons on Saturdays and Thursdays. I just feel like something more active needs to be happening in life right now. :-)
Stress at work is low, even though we have reports due next week. My students are so focused on their unit of inquiry about Space, Earth, and the Universe, that I have little concerns about the work as a whole. Next week we will go on a two day retreat in the mountains to prepare our central idea for the Exhibition that the kids will have to begin working on in March. That will be a bit stressful, but a bit of a ways off.
I'm already talking with the secondary staff about my new position next year - seems like it will be 7th grade Humanities and 10th grade pre-IB History, plus probably a smattering of English Lit for the 7th graders. By the way, I have agreed to stay two years instead of one, so that I can get re-experienced in the secondary level. It's strange to realize that I have 7 years of secondary experience, and this year marks my 7th year inElementary! It's time to switch back, or probably be stuck in Elementary forever. :-) Not a bad thing, but I think I do enjoy secondary more. But the next two years will be the real test of my mettle - 7th grade is probably one of the most difficult groups to teach. Luckily most of them know me from last year, when I was their 5th grade teacher - that might make it a bit easier....
I am already starting to think about summer and think that it will involve more travel this year. I will definitely be going to the Principal's Training Center to begin work towards a Principal Certificate - that's in London. I might also have to go to a training session for the MYP in Basel, Switzerland. My friend from Canada, will be traveling to Latvia too, and we will try to travel around the Baltic and Scandinavia a bit, while stopping at the beach house in Melluzi for regular stints of relaxation and the beach air. The boys will be mostly with their Dad, but it appears that when with him they will probably be spending a lot of time in Jurmala down the road from me, making visiting with them easier. I will miss them a lot, but they deserve quantity time with their Dad too, and I need to use that time to load up on Gita time as well.
Last night I stayed up late to watch the inauguration and was glad that I did. The boys fell asleep right before Obama gave his oath - 10:00pm our time. Obama is what the world has been waiting for a while. I hope that he can manage the burden that the world wants to put on him. I am glad too, as although I am not an American, I am all too often lumped in with them. That damn American accent is hard to get rid of! I can at least hope that the view of Americans will improve over the next four years.
Comments
We recorded the inauguration and watched it as well- was so nice to see. Amazing to me how Repubs in the States are still reacting to it as a bad thing- I just cannot imagine feeling in my head and heart that Obama was a bad thing for the US or the world. Of course, he is also not some savior that will fix everything with a nod of his head. I also hope that people will not be too quick to judge- which of course, especially the disgruntled Repubs, will be. :(
For the record, perhaps because I only came to know you in the States, I feel like, you're going to have to either deem yourself a "third culture kid" or call yourself an expat Latvian or a world citizen- because I have a really hard time thinking of you as Australian. How old were you when you left Oz? How long since you actually lived there? I've been gone from the States for 6 years and definitely already feel very apart from being American- like, its only a passport, kind of thing. Anyway...
I saw in your blog that you would be moving up too. We tend to return to the jobs we are most comfortable with and best at. :-)
Everyone here says, but you are such a good Grade 5 teacher, why are you changing... I think to myself, but you haven't seen me as a Social Studies/History teacher - there I'm even better!