I'll have more time

When our head teacher asked us to state our preferences for work this coming semester (July-December), I wrote something along the lines of "more work or no work" (not in those words, of course).

Working two and a half hours a week meant being away from home for five hours , not to mention preparation, marking and administration (all unpaid). To be perfectly honest, working for that amount of time was really not working - it was just an unwelcome interruption to my "real" life!

Now don't get me wrong, I love teaching - ask any student who has been in my classes or workshops - but I was getting quite fed up with the half-a-day-week thing!

So, I asked for work on two (preferably consecutive) days - or no work at all (give my hours to someone who really needs the work).

And my answer came back last Friday (the last day of the last semester):

... we are not able to offer you a teaching program in Semester Two 2011.

You know, first my heart sank and I felt like crying; the feelings of rejection threatened to overwhelm me!

I went straight out and told WM; he smiled and said, "well, that's what you wanted, isn't it?"

And that was that: I'm unofficially 'retired' - at least for the rest of this year!

WM doesn't expect me to look for other work. And DD just might need help with two boys sixteen months apart!

God is good!!

Australia in the Round

Yesterday, another teacher and I took our (adult) students to the Blue Mountains village of Glenbrook to view Aitkens' "Australia in the Round".

We travelled by train from Blacktown to Glenbrook then walked for ten minutes from the station to the gallery. The gallery is at the rear of The Blue Mountains Cafe and Gift Shop, in Wascoe St.

Our students are unlikely to travel to some of the places shown in the paintings - some are 4,000 kilometres (2500 miles) from where we viewed the paintings - so it was good for them to look at landscapes they would never see otherwise.

Uluru (a.k.a. Ayers Rock), Northern Territory
from http://www.visitbluemountains.com.au/

But, what was more impressive and educationally perhaps more useful, at least from my point of view, were the simulated landscapes, complete with fauna and flora, in front of the paintings. Real red dust had been brought from Central Australia. Animals had been carefully "stuffed" (apologies to any taximdermists out here) and posed realistically. If the students had been quiet (which, of course, they weren't), they would have been able to hear the soundtrack of nature - Australian style.

kookaburra (a.k.a. Laughing Jackass)
from http://www.aitkenspanorama.com.au/

Photography was not allowed in the gallery so I have downloaded some photos to share with you. These photos do not show the real beauty of the paintings but they do give you a glimpse of what we saw.

from http://www.aitkenspanorama.com.au/

the Jamieson Valley
from http://penrith-press.whereilive.com.au/

I am a strong believer in copyright and uphold the right of the artist (Falk Kautzner) and Mr Aitken (the owner of the gallery) to not allow photos to be taken in the gallery. I also uphold the rights of photographers not to have their work claimed as my own. However, I have no qualms about using these photos - I have stated where they came from and am giving the gallery the publicity for which these photos were taken in the first place.

If you are ever in Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains, do visit the gallery (the food and service at the Cafe are excellent too) but be warned - there is a charge to view the paintings.

If you can't make it, the website is here: you can view all the paintings; which is not as good as visiting but "virtual reality" is better than nothing.

She's back!

We left our little beach cabin at 10am today - only three and a half hours ago but it already seems ages! It seems so quiet here now that I can't hear the pounding of the surf. *sigh* I will add photos when WM has had time to download some.


WM is back to work on Monday but I have all this term off; that is, I don't go back to work until after Easter - the doctor is still concerned about my health and wants to avoid a relapse of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome so he's not taking any chances! Therefore, I still have eight more weeks off work - how will I survive? LOL

An interview

Last November, I applied for a part-time position as an ESOL teacher at TAFE. Just before Christmas, I got a letter to say that the decision process would be postponed until Term 1 due to the [summer] holidays.

Three weeks ago, I received a phone call telling me that I had an interview on 25th March. Why didn't I mention it, you ask? I guess I just don't want people to know that I'm trying for something then have to say what the result was!

Anyway...I attended the interview as prepared as I could be; I had all the documents I was supposed to have, I had samples of work one of my classes had just produced [the week before]; I even had a new pair of shoes [did I say I don't like shopping for clothes or shoes? Sorry RoseRed!] and the blisters to go with them!

Let me side-track for a moment, WM had an interview for a promotional position with a NSW government department in January, and we still haven't heard the result. We have been [im]patiently waiting to hear because it could mean major changes to our situation.

And now, back to my story....On Wednesday afternoon, yes, that's right, the very next day, I had a phone call from one of the head teachers at TAFE asking if I could [and would like] to work Friday. Now, I had a knit-n-natter planned for the morning and lunch with a very dear friend afterwards, so what did I do? I said 'yes', of course.

And so it came to pass, that I am now a part-time English teacher at TAFE! I even taught again today! It's no big deal, right? Yes it is!! [to me anyway].