What a week

I haven't had much time to sit down in front of a computer this week. Which is rather sad, as I would love to update this blog with all my success stories.

Well, for all my lack of flowing converstational German, I am getting to grips with DIY skills, which have been much used lately. A letent muscle is being flexed, and beginning to bulge (though I'll try to smudge over some of the unsightly 'learning curves').

Yes, newly married, and building a nest is a laborious task, but it is bearing fruit.

• No longer do we sleep on an air matress. Now we rest our bodies on a bed (orthopaedic matress is doing me/my back a world of good)
  
• Eating from our laps is now a distant memory. We have bought a table, and more recently (today!) installed a fold-up table that fits comfortably into our cosy kitchen
• No more do we need to look at clothes strewn across the floor for lack of storage space. They now have a home in the newly installed cupboards.

This sounds so ordinary; for us it has been an evolution in being. From hobbling, eating lap-to-mouth or being flat on the floor (literally) to now having this 'conversion experience' (of the indoor kind, of course) is utterly amazing. Funny how you learn to appreciate the simple things for a prolonged lack of them!

And through it all I have been learning DIY tricks: from reading the brochures, to yesterday's input from a family friend, who has passed on a few of the basics of how the electrics work. This last bit was most helpful with informing me how electric cabling is usually laid. Which should hopefully mean the likelyhood of electrocution has now been minimised, if not eliminated. Interesting to think of what might have been. (Though, I still have some reservations... as I got about 75% of what he said. I know for sure he said don't do standing in a bucket of water... but about the main electric box ,that was way over my head).

I wish I could say the end was in sight. For now, though, I have consolation in having had time to reflect on these momentus changes, and how this space we live in is becoming a home.

There will be more on the basics of human existance to come.

Alien in Deutschland

The Alien has landed

After being in Germany for over a month now, I had a moment this evening where I felt I was home. And where does this new sense of belonging come from, I hear you ask.

Yes, good question, considering that I have found my limited German vocabulary a hinderance in stricking up converstations with strangers in the streets. Added to that, even if my German was even somewhat short of perfect, it would still be considered highly irregular to talk to a stanger.

So, now that you have some idea of the confinement of my present state, you may be heartened to hear that it was at an evening of live music, performed by 'The Big Band' (a group of voluntary firefighters who happen to have spare time to practise orchestral style music with a very trendy Pop and Jazz influence). If anything, hearing "Rocky's Ready to Fly Now" gets me in the mood.
Gloria Garna's "I will survive" was the cherry on the top. I sure do hope so.

So, hearing a whole range of tunes helped me realise I'm not so foreign anymore. Happy tunes are hopefully gonna get me through my happles bumbles.

Hope springs eternal.

a lot of hard work

So, first day back at school after a two week break.

Walked in to school this morning feeling cool and relaxed.
Walked out 10 hours later feeling totally aware of how much more there is to get through.

Organised chaos, that's really what it is. Unfortunately I am more prone to indulging the later rather than the former (yes, they end up being two separate and distinct entities in my classroom).

Well, these are the last few months of self inflicted pain that I ever hope to enjoy.
I have to admit that working with children is a really rich source of experience of life and how it is perceived. Just all the ongoing micro-management and multi-layered planning. It does my head in.

Well, so glad I could have a moan. I guess the one great thing about all this is that this public confession will be accessible for years to come (no chance of accidentally losing it, really).
Because I do know I will look back on this time with a sense of nostalgia, time having taken of the thorny pricks of all the painful daily events that somehow leave scars, or at least drain energy.

Not sure if anyone else will read this, but if you do consider teaching as a front-line occupation. It is a war, and you fight for education with your life!

"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." --Derek Curtis Bok

If you like this qoute and the picture, you will find much more at:

http://allforthegreatergood.com/turn_the_page.html

What day is it?

What a blogger!?!?

I'm heading into the flood... trying to swim into the current of this internet connectivity ocean.
It's one wave after another. My master plan isn't perhaps as ship-shape and seaworthy as may be necessary to navigate the way ahead, but I have launched the ship.
This little rant is I guess the beginnings of my confessions of fumbling along like a dog capsized and beating it's paws in the air to generate some movement.
To all professional and no-longer amateur bloggers, I look to you with reverence... and a wagging tail.
I'm hoping just a bit of exposure will be the kick start into the art of using words powerfully.
But I must confess making them accessible and presentable is still a concern. Have to work on making the freestyle a lot more polished.

Well, there we go. If you like watching development, follow this space!

Goodbye Weekend

Sunday nights are the hardest nights of the week!
(is that a song or something!)

I feel like the weekend has only just got under way.
There was a bit of Six Nations rugby to see, some great football results to totally open-up the premier league, and the work that sat in the corner of the room taunting me.

However, I will have to attend to these things in a few minutes, after I have posted one more epitaph that could go on my grave, but which will be applicable for my poor, tired out body by the time it gets to bed much later tonight:

'Here lies a poor, spent man!'

I just hope the next line will be
'Rest in peace'
rather than
'Rest in pieces'.

I am still feeling a lot of pain in my shoulder, and I have now worked out why. That pile of books in the corner of the room is actually quite heavy, and I must have taken too much of a strain in bringing it home from school. Brilliant. I have the wounds from my efforts to get things done... hopefully the results are soon to follow.

I guess if I am to find my role model in teaching, it would be Don Quixote. What a legend. This guy is the real deal (yes, I have secret ambitions of being purely a drama teacher... and chasing windmills/ evil wizards and serpants of sin on the side. On guard!)

Well, hopefull the tune and the wind rushing through my hair will help me get through this long night.
Indeed:
'Onward to glory we go!'

the lights are going out

It's that time in the evening when it isn't... by that I mean it is already early the next morning.
So far nothing has happened, but a lot is about to change.

Yes, that could mean many things, but for one, it was almost the fact that the computer was about to be sent to sleep, because my foot somehow kicked at the cable. I heard the 'frizzy' sound of the light, but luckily nothing more happened.

But it is a surprise I am still sitting at the computer, with no more constructive signs to show for my hours of whittling away the time in front of this monitor. I now realise that I would be a dreadful candidate for taking over the world (if ever there were a TV show, 'Who wants to be a World Dictator', I feel I would be eliminated in the first round. I have the conviction and believe I could be the best man, sorry, person, for the job, however, I feel I lack the willpower to get to bed at the appropriate time, so as to wake up fresh and rejuvenated the next morning ready to tackle the problems of making life more pleasant for the 7 or so billion people who look to me for inspiration.
So, I have crossed World Leader off the to-do list.

While I'm at it, I believe I should be honest and knock off Spiritual Guru too. Sitting around doing nothing doesn't cut it for serious contemplation points, I believe. Unless of course... and here I digress to explore the possibilities of starting an internet spiritual community. Sounds spooky, doesn't it. O well, maybe this is what humour is aimed at - the region in people's beings that longs to be part of some acceptable, no judgement laden sense of belonging to a wider community.

I am touching on the idea of community because I have been disturbed by the killings of young people by young people, the most recent being in Willenden in Germany. It must most certainly be the case that these youngsters do feel totally disconnected from family, community and reality. But working with kids you get the feeling that there are so many pressures that they are going through. It is sad though, that there is a serious lack in communication. As much as I value the contribution of technology to the advancement of society, I would like to say that I do believe our modern societies are seeing much more dysfunctional and disconnected individuals being produced, because there are no longer the people or communities on hand to physically be present for their upbringing. I know it is really cool that we can update our moods, hunger pangs, new acquisitions or even happy feelings at any time of the day... but so much of this new hyper connectivity, is causing a new hyper dis-connectivity for the presently developing generation who don't get enough time being around people - just being people.

I say this because I am working in the Education Sphere, and my main activity is to prove that I am effective at keeping myself occupied for as much time as possible. Thus, my responsibility is to perform all sorts of important and highly relevant tasks ceaselessly.
What's worse, I know parents are having to work longer or harder... and just don't have the time to be with their families. What are communities, anyway? Real communities.

OK, back to this morning. Yes, it most certainly is time to throw in the towel. I am sure there will be more to share with the world, yes, to which you too most critically belong, and the time will come for me to share more humble thoughts of how to add a smile to people's dials.

Sleep peacefully

J