Well the weather certainly is cooling down. This morning at 6am it was only 27.3 degrees! That's the first time I've seen it under 30 in months. I can't believe that I'm saying the water in the pool is nice at 30 degrees. Imagine that? Soon it'll be too cold for me to swim. I remember last 'winter' I had the pool practically to myself with my own personal lifeguards as it was too cold for the locals to swim. Us hardy kiwi's and a couple of other Irish were the only swimmers. Now I may find myself in the realm of the wimps dipping my toe in and walking away.
This morning I went down for a swim, my first this week. I managed 16 lengths today. I went down about 8am and it was lovely. I even managed to lie in the sun for a while without getting up a sweat or needing to drink copious quantities of water. So I got my dose of vitamin D for the week. I hadn't swum since the bout of cramp, due mostly to the fact that I get home a lot later from the new job and am tired so usually eat, then rest, then it's time for bed before I know it.
After spending the week in a wee sweat box of a room at around 50 degrees while I distributed around 10,000 student textbooks I wondered if this promotion was all it was cut out to be. I was even mistaken for the cleaner by one of the Arabic staff and asked to do her photocopying while she was busy in the classroom. Mmmmm!
Earlier this week we had a pre-inspection from the school inspectors. I don't think it went too well and they return tomorrow for the week to sit in on classes and grill the teachers and no doubt us. So all week we have been crazy doing nothing. Meetings galore but most of my time is spent waiting for them to start, even when I suggested that we have a set time each day. Then we are on lunch duty in the canteen. Then another meeting and it's time to go home. Oh wait! The Principal wants another meeting after school on a Thursday! Unbelievable! Thursday is a sacred early finish so I was surprised when all the teachers turned up.
Obviously the new Principal isn't too worried about the inspection as she informed us at the meeting that she won't be in tomorrow morning. What a surprise. What with that and the Vice Principal locking the door to her office that contains the only working printer in the school it's difficult to get any work done. The frustration continues to climb. Even when I approached security to unlock the door he refused as she had told him he wasn't allowed to. Makes you wonder who actually runs the school?
The good news is that 4 new teachers turned up, but then we lost one (think I mentioned that last week). However, we are still short at least two teachers so have two Grade 5 classes without any teachers (no English, no Arabic, and no Islamic) and at least two Grade 1 classes with no English teacher. I wonder what the inspectors will make of that?
I'm not stressed about it as I don't see the point. With a new administration team it's pointless anyway and I see it as an opportunity for the school to get direction for the rest of the year. I'm sure they will tell me what I should be doing as no-one else does.
Today I swapped my rental car back to the original Nissan Tida I had at the beginning of the month. I'd returned it as it wobbled at speed but it's been a long time returning. I've got to like the Nissan Sunny I've been driving although you need a higher powered car here, especially as I've been taking the three new teachers to work so the car is sluggish at the lights with a full load.
It's taking an hour to get to work and I'm usually 5 minutes late clocking in. We are supposed to be there15 minutes before 8am when assembly starts but with the detour to drop the teenager off at school and having to take the long route through the airport it takes me a bit longer to get there. Also it depends on the amount of traffic each morning, taking me 10 minutes to even get off our island onto the main road out to work. Then it's so busy and if there is an accident (which there usually is) it delays us even more.
Still my driving is getting better, or should that be worse? You need to be aggressive, even when trying to buy petrol it's like a fight to get your car edged in front of someone. No place here for nervous drivers!
This morning I went down for a swim, my first this week. I managed 16 lengths today. I went down about 8am and it was lovely. I even managed to lie in the sun for a while without getting up a sweat or needing to drink copious quantities of water. So I got my dose of vitamin D for the week. I hadn't swum since the bout of cramp, due mostly to the fact that I get home a lot later from the new job and am tired so usually eat, then rest, then it's time for bed before I know it.
After spending the week in a wee sweat box of a room at around 50 degrees while I distributed around 10,000 student textbooks I wondered if this promotion was all it was cut out to be. I was even mistaken for the cleaner by one of the Arabic staff and asked to do her photocopying while she was busy in the classroom. Mmmmm!
Earlier this week we had a pre-inspection from the school inspectors. I don't think it went too well and they return tomorrow for the week to sit in on classes and grill the teachers and no doubt us. So all week we have been crazy doing nothing. Meetings galore but most of my time is spent waiting for them to start, even when I suggested that we have a set time each day. Then we are on lunch duty in the canteen. Then another meeting and it's time to go home. Oh wait! The Principal wants another meeting after school on a Thursday! Unbelievable! Thursday is a sacred early finish so I was surprised when all the teachers turned up.
Obviously the new Principal isn't too worried about the inspection as she informed us at the meeting that she won't be in tomorrow morning. What a surprise. What with that and the Vice Principal locking the door to her office that contains the only working printer in the school it's difficult to get any work done. The frustration continues to climb. Even when I approached security to unlock the door he refused as she had told him he wasn't allowed to. Makes you wonder who actually runs the school?
The good news is that 4 new teachers turned up, but then we lost one (think I mentioned that last week). However, we are still short at least two teachers so have two Grade 5 classes without any teachers (no English, no Arabic, and no Islamic) and at least two Grade 1 classes with no English teacher. I wonder what the inspectors will make of that?
I'm not stressed about it as I don't see the point. With a new administration team it's pointless anyway and I see it as an opportunity for the school to get direction for the rest of the year. I'm sure they will tell me what I should be doing as no-one else does.
Today I swapped my rental car back to the original Nissan Tida I had at the beginning of the month. I'd returned it as it wobbled at speed but it's been a long time returning. I've got to like the Nissan Sunny I've been driving although you need a higher powered car here, especially as I've been taking the three new teachers to work so the car is sluggish at the lights with a full load.
It's taking an hour to get to work and I'm usually 5 minutes late clocking in. We are supposed to be there15 minutes before 8am when assembly starts but with the detour to drop the teenager off at school and having to take the long route through the airport it takes me a bit longer to get there. Also it depends on the amount of traffic each morning, taking me 10 minutes to even get off our island onto the main road out to work. Then it's so busy and if there is an accident (which there usually is) it delays us even more.
Still my driving is getting better, or should that be worse? You need to be aggressive, even when trying to buy petrol it's like a fight to get your car edged in front of someone. No place here for nervous drivers!
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