My flat is warming up

I am happy to say that I have now been able to move into the rest on my flat! For the past month or two I have spent most of my time in my bedroom as the place where I slept and did my preparation for lessons. The only heater that worked was in the bedroom (thank goodness that was the one that worked) which meant with the dropping winter temperatures, the kitchen and lounge were too cold to spend any length of time in. After about a month of my initial complaint, the heaters were finally fixed and I can sit on my couch and do my work there. I have also given in to the pressure of having a TV and paid my license fee (£130 a year!). I enjoy catching up on the programs here (I have 4 whole channels to choose from!) but I still refuse to watch any of the soaps like Emmerdale, East Enders and Coronation Street.

It took me only about 6 weeks of constant phoning and listening to busy signals, but I now have officially applied for my National Insurance Number – like a SIN back in Canada. The application had to be done in person, took about 30 minutes to complete and meant I had to be out of school for half a day. I still have to wait six weeks before I should start anticipating having the official documents finalised. They sure like their red tape here. I found out yesterday on the news that in Norfolk, in order to do any organised performance, including carolling, you need to apply for a license and pay £26. More red tape! Thankfully I don’t live in Norfolk.

As I forge through my first year as a teacher, I am realising there are a lot of aspects to teaching that they never really prepared us for in University. One thing I am really appreciating now is how difficult the last weeks of classes before a break is for a teacher. This is the time of year where illnesses are moving about the school, hitting students and staff. Many students are already “tuned off” to lessons. Many of them, including those who normally behave well, think that since it’s only a week before the break that there should not be any learning happening during the class. Some of the students are acting up more than normal, too. Added on top of that, I have some serious marking to do in the next little while that threatens to eat up some of my holiday time. And don’t forget the extra Christmas functions with the school and outside of school. I can’t remember such a busy and stressful Christmas – and it’s still over 10 days away!
Speaking of Christmas, I am getting excited about my Christmas plans. I have been invited by people at the London Mennonite Centre (where I stayed for my first week while here in the UK) to spend Christmas with them. I will stay in London from the 24th to the 26th, which will be both an eventful and relaxing time. I have also booked my flights to and from Germany afterwards. I will be visiting some friends I have made while in Switzerland and Germany as an Intermenno Trainee five years ago. It will be good to catch up and strengthen these friendships. Funny thing is that I told people back in 2001 that I saw myself returning to Europe within 5 years. Well, it looks like that prediction will be fulfilled! I know my flights and roughly who am visiting when, but there are still a lot of gaps. After the completion of the term I will have about a week to fill in those gaps before I go. But for now I want to focus on the task at hand. I hope I have will able complete the week still with a smile on my face!

Kevin
P.S. I have added a counter since the beginning of December 2005 just so I have an idea how often the site gets visited. It's higher than I anticipated! Thanks for your interest.
kevin