Archive for 11/10/2009

Slap…Mosquito

30/10/2009 Joh family, home, relationships

Mosquitos have invaded my world. They are everywhere. Today was muggy and hot and amongst all the activity of that last day before the four day break, there were many minor irritations.

Tonight when I finished work, we went for a swim. It was divine. A hot muggy day meant the enlivening thing to do was to be in the water. We have the beautiful children this weekend. I was amazed at the number of able bodied parents content to watch their kids swim. I couldn’t have sat by a pool watching on a day like today. We swam and then famished we got chips to eat in the park. The park exposed to much skin to the blood-suckers so we moved our feast home.

After dinner we went for a walk to get ice creams. It was a major slap fest. The mosquitos were buzzing with every step we took.

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Afternoon Walk

27/10/2009 Joh gratitude, health

After school today we went for a walk down the street. I love afternoons like this. The rain we’ve had has made the creek alive and the grass green and the afternoon lights it up.

We came across a bewildered traveller from Korea (can’t remember whether it was North or South). He was looking for a town 30 minutes drive away, standing on the edge of the highway. We explained to him that he couldn’t walk there and pointed him toward the railway station. I gave him my phone number in case he was stranded.

The afternoon sunlight was beautiful and the walk along the creek, even with the magpies threatening to swoop, was the highlight of my busy day.

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Monday

26/10/2009 Joh travel, work

When I was on camp last week I changed my alarm from 6.00 to 7.30. I didn’t want to wake the kids up that early! Thursday and Friday mornings I woke up by myself before the alarm was needed, so I didn’t really bother to change it. This morning though, when the alarm woke me, the rush began.

I had an excursion today to Tarra Bulga National Park. I hadn’t prepared the night before because I was tired. So I was in a big rush. I had to get lunch to take with me and I missed breakfast because I simply didn’t have time. It’s was so busy with camp last week that I hadn’t prepared properly for the excursion and had left it till this morning.

I arrived in morning briefing just on time and waited for someone to start before being told that it was me. My turn had come up to chair the meeting. After giving the staff their usual 30 seconds to read the bulletin, I launched into a conversation with another teacher about the day ahead and had to be interupted to be reminded that everyone was waiting for me to continue.

Despite my disorganised beginning, the excursion, which had been very well prepared and planned by the teachers who had organised it, went off without a hitch. I work with some great people.

The trip to Tarra Bulga revealed to me the extent of our local bushfires. It was a horrifying sight and the bus driver who lives out that way took us down his street to show us the rebuilding. He said that 40 % of the people whose homes burnt down won’t be returning. The ones who were have new homes well underway.

The park itself was still as I remember it from my trip with Andrew years ago. The kids enjoyed the day and learnt a lot. I was surprised that although it is less than an hour away from where we live only a small number of students had visited before. It is a beautiful place. The air is different.

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Teachers and Social Networking

25/10/2009 Joh learn, work

In QLD teachers have been banned from contacting students on social networking sites. This bothers me. There are so many things I see as wrong about this stance.  Students can run into trouble online. There are no adults in their lives giving them any feedback about the publishing they do online. I have attended a number of talks on cybersafety and cyberbullying. I read numerous blogs about education and using social networking software for educational purposes. This just reeks of people who don’t know what they are talking about wanting to control something they have limited understanding of. 

I think inappropriate behaviour is not acceptable anywhere, banning useful tools is not going to stamp out inappropriate behaviour.  Teachers have the potential to set an example online as they are expected to at school.

 Michael Carr-Gregg at one of those talks last year said the internet was like the Wild West where the children were there with no adult supervision. These restrictions placed on teachers could discourage teachers from the learning and participation they need to effectively guide students. A fellow staff member attended a cybersafety course recently and told me they were advised not to talk about online participation if they had no experience of it. Students would see right through it. Makes sense doesn’t it?

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Touch Footy

23/10/2009 Joh health, relationships

I’d love to say I played touch footy last night, but truthfully I had a little dazed run around the grass, for very short periods. Darin and I have joined the ‘social’ touch footy competition. He managed to play for almost the entire game. It was my first experience of the game. I liked it and once I get to know what I am doing I think I could get into it. It would also be good if I were fit enough to run for more than 5 minutes. I did manage to hang onto the ball long enough to get ‘touched’. The first half I passed the ball as soon as it reached my hands, like a hot spud. Good to have some fitness goal though :-)

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Home Again

22/10/2009 Joh gratitude, home, travel, work

It was beautiful weather at Tamboritha. The creeks were full and flowing with the melted snow. We walked to Thomastown on the first day. The water was freezing, not that I wet more than my feet. It was numbing.

I rode the horses morning and afternoon on Tuesday. We rode through the bush and along the creek on the plains in front of the hut. It was sunny and the air was crisp. They were perfect conditions. I was at the back of the line so I missed a lot of the little thrills experienced by the kids, they certainly shared them that night in the huts in front of the fire. I laughed till tears rolled down my face and my stomach hurt. It still brings a chuckle thinking of some of the reactions of the students to their first horse ride.

The night sky was clear and there was no moon on Monday night giving the stars the best opportunity to show themselves. I felt really lucky to enjoy such a view. The second night the small sliver of a moon and the lightest clouds gave a different view, no less enjoyable.

I am so glad to be back from camp. I’m tired.  I love being home and I missed Darin. It was probably the longest length of time we’ve been apart since we met! My parents are home from their Winter nomading and it was great to see their tanned faces again. Knowing it was possibly my last year 9 camp at Tamboritha, I appreciated the environment and the conditions have never been better.

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New Moon in Libra – Sunday 18th October 2009

17/10/2009 Joh astrology

Make a wish on the New Moon in Libra to do with partnerships. Yasmin Boland has this great article about how to make new moon wishes. Mars moved into Leo today, and will stay for an extended length of time. Astrogrrl discusses how this move will impact in this post.

I have spent most of the day untangling the strings of a kite and untangling my own feelings and thoughts in typical dark moon style. It’s been a big week for me in lots of ways. I am off to Tamboritha with the year 9s, probably for the last time on Monday. We are running things differently at our school in 2010 as far as the year 9 camp experience goes. I feel too tired and unwilling to give up the peace of coming home each night, but once I am there, I’m sure it will be ok.

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These Days…

13/10/2009 Joh health, home

We have laptops in many classes now. There is so much to teach about using the Internet. This week we had a learning experience about Twitter. Some students were using it as though it were a private chat room. I guess because all their usual chat channels are blocked by the schools ‘protection systems’ it was too much to expect that given a way to communicate with one another, they would be able to resist! Never mind they are sitting in the same room… high tech note passing, yet pretty silly when they realised they had potentially shared their notes with anyone online who’s interested. The more I use technology in the classroom, the more I believe that the fear of computers replacing teachers is not in the near future. Young people may not fear technology, yet there is so much they need to learn about socialising, reputation, logic, the list goes on and on…..

I had a tense meeting after work. Before I went, I said to Rhonda “I’m going to shut up. I’m not going to say anything, I’ll let others have a go this time.” Famous last words. I find it so frustrating when people are full of remarks about things until given the opportunity to speak to the person in charge. So I can’t resist saying what’s on my mind, when others seem unable to remember what they think.

After school was a lot more pleasant on a lot of levels. I got to spend some time with the Wii Fit. It was the first time for a little while that I made progress towards my goals, so that felt good. I’ve been conscious lately of letting some healthy habits slip.

Tonight we registered to play touch football socially. I am not sure if it’s such a good idea now. I’m feeling particularly unfit. I will give it a try though. It looks fun. Maybe it’s what I need to get fit!

Kate my little sister called last night from Berlin. She is having a ball and has been through Bruges and Amsterdam. I had to cut my chat with Wilma tonight short because a delicious meal from Darin had arrived on the table and I wasn’t going to let it wait.

My daughter has just sent me something she has written tonight that is one of the most precious things I have read for a long time. Her expression never ceases to delight me.

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Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray

12/10/2009 Joh reading, relationships

I tried to read this book years ago, but it made me angry. I decided to revisit it when people around me kept referring to it. I heard the title about five times in a week and felt it was a sign. I got it from the library during my long service leave. I’m not sure what plugged me in last time. This time I read it, there were things that made sense. There are still some fairly difficult things for me to fully appreciate. I have accepted men and women are different and sometimes what I think I am communicating is not the message received and vice versa. I finally finished most of it though and returned it to the library last week. Now when someone refers to it, I’ll have a chance of knowing what they mean.

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Why So Fast?

11/10/2009 Joh gratitude, home

Weekends just fly by lately. This one was no exception. Yesterday was a leisurely day. We had brunch out and had a bit of a stroll around the shops. I love Traralgon’s shops because they aren’t all in a centre devoid of natural light and air.  I heard a rumour, JB HiFi are planning a local outlet, so that excited me. We watched an old Dave Hughes DVD in the afternoon. We talked about going for a drive, yet didn’t get around to it.  

I have read and napped both days. Darin watched some of Bathurst, but could be lured away from the TV at times :-) . We did a little housework, although there’s not much to do with only two adults here most of the time and Darin sharing responsibility for household stuff. I cleaned out one of those cupboards I’ve been avoiding cause I know everything would fall out if I opened it.

We went for a drive to the Quarries today. I remember we went there for Christmas family gatherings with mum’s family when I was a kid. I had no idea where it was though. We found it on the other side of Briagalong. It was sunny on the way there but there were dark clouds on the range and even a patch of snow. On our return drive the rain caught up with us. I must remember to take our camera. We tend to only bring it when we have the kids.

Tonight we went for a long walk around town. I haven’t been exercising much lately and I am feeling it. I feel better already. I love our life together.

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