Girls Notice Everything!

I have heard people tell stories about how when you work at an all girls school, you are very aware of how intune they are with some things (SOME things that is - I can assure you that they are often totally unaware of many other things!!). I heard one teacher describe how she was in class one day and totally aware of the fact that a girl in the front row was staring at her legs in disgust of the small amount of growth that had accumulated since she hadn't shaved in a few days.

Last night I went out with some coworkers in a sort of "celebration" for the end of term. It was a really good time - super chilled and really fun, eased with a few glasses of wine, and even a glass of bubbles in celebration of Short Nic finally receiving her full teacher certification in NZ (a process that has been painstakingly long and painful - even resulting in a few tears over the years!). Although I rarely wear makeup, I put a little mascara on before heading out.

This morning I remembered to take extra care in washing my face - making sure that I removed the black circles that resulted from the night before (I actually, embarassingly, sometimes forget to do this!). When I walked into my classroom this morning for first period, before I had even had a chance to turn the lights on, one of the students sitting at the very back of the room called out "Hey Miss! Are you wearing makeup!!" I was floored. I actually couldn't believe that she picked up on it. And I wasn't actually even wearing makeup - what she would have seen was the remainder of the tiny bit of shading that didn't actually make it off while I washed and lightly underlined my eyes.

I truly believe that females are a bizarre species. It's bizarre how we notice the strangest things!

Leaver Profiles

Here's one more gripe from me!...

So I've definitely ranted about the report card process here. If you don't remember, see here posted back in June. Today comes a rant about leaver profiles.

As a Form Teacher, it turns out I am expected to write a "leaver profile" for each of my Year 13 students in my form class - something that was just recently brought to my attention. Depending on which country you teach in, you may or may not know what a leaver profile is. I understand that it is common practice in England to write leaver profiles for your students. They actually need and use these things to get jobs with after they graduate or apply to Universities with. I had never heard of such a thing until this year.

Basically, it's a letter of reference written by the Form Teacher who - supposedly - has worked with this student throughout their 5 or 6 years of highschool. It is supposed to highlight all of the great qualities that the student possesses.

The problem is, I have three Year 13 students in my class, and I only have good things to say about one of them. The other two have incredibly poor attendance records, and when they do show up to form class, they sit at the very back of the room where I am unlikely to get the chance to make any sort of conversation with them.

So, here I am, in a tricky situation. I am being forced to write a reference letter for students that I have nothing positive to say about. For some reason, I'm having difficulty accepting this task (that apparently is part of my "job description"). Should we not have choice in who we are willing to write reference letters for??? I think this is going to be one difficult task. If only I were good with my words... Maybe I can pay someone to write these things for me???!!!

Parent Teacher Night Blahs

So we had another round of Parent Teacher Interviews tonight following the recent reports that went out for the senior students following their preliminary exams. I must say that I'm left on a bit of a "blah" note tonight. For the most part, I'd say my interviews went well, but I still can't help but feel like I was shat on by a few select parents. I will try to resist the temptation to go on a huge rant about this, but it is really REALLY frustrating as a teacher to have parents get upset at you for things that are essentially beyond your control, and often times in the control of their own son or daughter. Yes! I realize that your children are precious to you and you want only the best for them, but PLEASE understand that I'm doing my best to provide the best for them. Combine that with the fact that I'm still planning for 4 different courses every night and in most cases, developing my lessons from scratch (with very little assistance from my department) and I can only do what I can do.

Phew... (deep sigh)...

Lucky for me, I had a tutoring session afterwards with Matt and my spirits were lifted when I recognized how steady his progress has been to-date. Extra bonus for me when I was about to leave and was pleasantly surprised when his parents handed me a bottle of Allen Scott Sauvignon Blanc to share with my parents while they are here with me in NZ. Although I'm tempted to crack into it now to drown my sorrows from earlier this evening, I think I will resist. Instead, I'll turn back to my lesson planning in an effort to continue to do my best and to please these parents that think I'm not doing a good enough job for their daughters!

Weekend with my Parents

I had a really great weekend with mom and dad. I think they enjoyed it too because it meant they could stay put for a bit and leave their suitcase unpacked while they spent some time day-touring with me and my weekend activities.

Friday night after our tearful reunion, I took them to Jude's place where they will be staying for the week. Jude is one of the DP's at my school, and I stayed with her when I arrived in Blenheim way back in January. Since she has extra space and heard that my parents were coming to town, she offered to take them in. A huge load off my shoulders since I wasn't sure where they were going to stay. I had considered putting them up at my place but it just felt wrong making them stay in my cold, cock-roach infested, pretty average flat.

So we enjoyed a yummy lasanga dinner with Jude that I had prepared in advance, and Claire came along for dinner too. I also introduced mom and dad to some of the scrumptiously yummy NZ pies I had picked up as appetizers.

Saturday was the Queen Charlotte Relay -- a relay race along the Queen Charlotte drive that I entered with a bunch of my co-workers.

Mom and dad came along to cheer us on and got to enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way.









It was a long day though, and by the time we got home after some nibbles at the bar and the prize-giving ceremony, we were totally zonked. We had left-over lasagna and I fell asleep on the couch by 8:30pm. Mom and dad went back to Jude's place and I went straight to bed.

Sunday morning mom and dad came back over for breakfast and ended up going to church while I frantically tried to get some lesson planning done. They went to the Anglican church down the road which is the one that Peter Baldwin goes to. I had hoped they would get a chance to meet Peter since he has been such a great help to me this year, and this worked out very well. By the time they had gotten back to me, Peter had already arranged to take them to Picton and give them a tour there, and offered them the key to his bach for next week.


Since I had already arranged another kayak session with Peter Yarrell, I let mom and dad go with Peter B and I made arrangements to meet them there. Turns out that the weather had turned pretty rotten and made for very unpleasant kayaking, so Peter and I decided to go for a bike-ride instead of a kayak. Mom and dad got to hang out at Peter's house and experience the inside of a luxurious, modern, kiwi home.








I've got one more week of school left and then we are off to the North Island for a bit of a roadie together, mom, dad, and myself. We shall see how it all works out!

A Tearful Reunion

Mom and dad finally arrived in Blenheim yesterday after spending the day before in Kaikoura. I finally got to see them for the first time in nearly 9 months! I was a wee bit worried that they might show up at my school at the end of the day because I anticipated the water-works that would be on display. Thankfully they considered that one, and followed through with the original plan of waiting for me at my house since I'd left the key out for them.

When I pulled into my driveway, I didn't see mom and dad's rental car, and was a bit bummed since I assumed that they were late arriving. But as I walked up the walkway and passed by the kitchen window, I saw mom peering her head out to see me passing by. I quickly ran to the door and was crying before I even opened it! Mom and I immediately embraced in a huge bear-hug and cried in each other's arms, while dad, who was feeling a bit left out, joined in on the action, also crying.

What a really cool experience! It was definitely a bit surreal there for a while, just looking at them, standing in my kitchen, in NEW ZEALAND, visiting with me after such a long time away. I'm so glad that they were able to do this trip and am looking forward to traveling some of the North Island with them while I'm on my school holidays starting next weekend.

I'm off now to go pick them up at Jude's place and bring them back to my house for breakfast.

More Teaching Revelations

I wish I had the time and (or) the energy to write a daily blog dedicated to the ups and downs of my working days. Working in the teaching profession is so challenging and heartbreaking and heartwarming and sometimes really rewarding. I swear that who I am as a person has been significantly influenced by my experiences in the classroom over the 2 short years that I've been teaching so far.

At the end of each day when the bell has rung and I've seen the last student out the door, I pack up the things in my classroom and make my way back to the math office. It is here where I plop down at my desk and feel the need to take a deep breath, and a few moments to gather and control the buzz of thoughts that are running astray in my mind, and naturally reflect on my day. Since I've just been riding a rollercoaster of emotions (up... down... up... down) all day long, I literally feel like I need to step off the train and get my groundings before I'm capable of doing anything more (read: start planning my lessons for the next day).

If I can summarize my thoughts, I would, but I can't. For now I'll just sit and decompress after another emotionally draining, but satisfying day of teaching. I really think I'm starting to figure things out here!!

Some Exciting News!

In the last few weeks I have received exciting news from a number of my good friends back home. Since I have ok'd it with everyone (ie. they have had a chance to tell everyone they wanted to before I blog about it here) I will share my excitement with my readers...

The first bit of exciting news I received from Andrea during a skype session that we had a while back when she announced that she and Graham are expecting their first child in February of next year!!

A week after that, I got an email from Kristin (my little sister from next door!) telling me that she and Chad got engaged!!

And most recently I got a message from Amanda informing me that she just made the biggest purchase of her life as she has bought her first home somewhere in the vicinity of Dundas and Trafalgar!!

How exciting! What monumental moments in their lives! Things that I can't wait to share in when I get home!!

So... yes... for anyone that is interested, I am pretty sure that this message is saying that I will be finishing up my year here and then heading home. Although I'm still not 100% certain about this decision (I have yet to sign my official letter of resignation), it appears that this is the path I am leaning towards.

I was thinking about how funny it would have been for me to have blogged about my thoughts on this decision throughout the year. It would have been even cooler if I could devise some way to create a mathematical plot of these thoughts versus time. I am most certain that when plotted, they would have formed a very sinusoidal-like curve in terms of willingness and wantingness to go home. A roller-coaster ride, indeed!

My bigges problem - I LOVE it here! I love New Zealand. I really enjoy the way of life here and the opportunities that exist on my front-doorstep. However, my even bigger problem - I miss home. I miss my family, I miss my friends. I miss the snowy winters, the summers at my cottage, my "girlie-nights" with my girlfriends, and my adorable little nephews (one of which I haven't even had the opportunity to cuddle in my arms yet). The trade-offs are conflicting, but I think one is more powerful than the other. I will likely be making my final decision within the month and will post more about it then.

For now, I will finish planning my review lesson for my 201's and make my way home to got out for a run on the Wither Hills while I capitalize on the longer days that we are now experiencing!!

Great Weekend Run

This weekend was definitely a sign that spring is here (and hopefully here to stay!). The weather was fantastic and definitely lifted a lot of spirits that have been dampered by the weeks and weeks of rain that we have received this winter!

On Saturday I was picked up at 7am by Merril and Mary (two teachers from my school) and two of their friends. We drove out past Renwick to drop their bikes at another teacher's house. From there, we continued down this long gravel road to the end where we ditched two of the cars and piled into one truck and drove around past Havelock to the start of a track on the other side of the mountain range. After paying $1 to use the toilet at the gas station on the side of the road - and getting yelled at by the lady that owns it (apparently she monitors the number of flushes and observed that 3 people used it) we were off!

The first half of the run was a relatively gentle but steady uphill climb to a ridgeline. The views along the way were fantastic. I was so happy to have remembered to take my camera with me!







At the top, we stopped for a wee break and a snack to refuel with and then headed back down the other side. Although the views weren't quite as spectacular, the challenging downhill terrain and frequent switch-backs made for a fun and exciting downhill finish.







I was relieved that I decided not to do the bicycle section that Merril, Mary, and Richard had planned to do. The 18km , 3 hour run was plenty enough exercise for me. After dropping them off where we had left their bikes 15km down the road, passing by a herd of cows shifting paddocks along the way, I set off for home, stopping in at Claire's new place in Renwick for lunch.

Must Be Doing Something Right!

I just took 10 mins to walk around the school during my non-contact period to deliver some messages to a few of my students that need to know about a re-sit that is happening tomorrow about that they wouldn't otherwise know about if they didn't read the notices this morning. During this process, I walked into three different classes, and all three times I was greeted by a really warm "Hi Miss!!!!" when the girls saw me at the door. I was so excited that I blushed, and gave them a big wave with a smile! Immediately aftewards it dawned on me that the other teacher had to put up with this disruption, so I quickly remembered to shush them by putting my finger to my lips (while still smiling!).

Although this is a very VERY small thing, I think that my fellow teaching friends will appreciate just how awesome this small thing can feel. Especially those that teach at a secondary level where it is common to receive scowls and sometimes swear words on any given day.

Ahhh...(sigh)... I must be doing SOMETHING right!!!

Earthquake???

Supposedly we just experienced a tiny tremor. Since it was so slight, I actually didn't feel it, but I think I may have heard it.

I was stepping up to the board and reaching up with my white-board marker in hand, about to start writing, when I heard a noise that sounded like a desk shifting or something similar to that... And before I had a chance to question it, one of my students called out "I think that was an earthquake!!"

It all happened so quickly that it barely seemed like it happened at all. And to be perfectly honest, I was rather disappointed that I didn't actually FEEL it. I guess if it's small enough, you don't actually notice it unless you feel it relative to something else that moves. Since my student was sitting at her desk, she felt the desk shift slighly. But since I was not actually touching the whiteboard, I didn't feel it. I didn't even feel it through the floor...

So that was an extremely anti-climactic story about my first earthquake experience. Ok... so, it wasn't even an earthquake but more-so a tremor. Regardless, I will admit that I am actually somewhat hoping that I get to experience a slightly better one before I leave this country. Given how active the fault lines are here in NZ, I figure I've got to experience at least ONE before I leave!!!

The "Ups" and "Downs" of Teaching at an All Girls School

Today was a mixture of "highs" and "lows", and I think they are both attributed to working at an all girls school.

The high was a result of attending the Junior Dance Competition that was held during Periods 3 and 4 this afternoon. At the last-minute, I was asked to help adjudicate since the person organzing the competition realized that I had a dance background and would be at this assembly for both periods. What a fun job it was! Yes, it felt pretty cool to be a "judge" and get to sit all "high-and-mighty" on the raised platform with the best seats in the house... but it was even cooler just getting to watch the girls dance! There was a really great buzz in the air and we saw some pretty shy girls step outside of their comfort zones and perform in front of their peers! I couldn't believe the sense of pride I felt when I watched some of my Year 9 and 10 math students get up and do their thing!! I feel very strongly that this type of assembly would have had a very different feel if it was held at a co-ed school. The confidence levels and willingness to participate would not have been nearly what they were today!

The "low" came from a discussion with two of the girls in my form class. ITo summarize, my form students do not like the rules that I enforce in my classroom that their previous form teachers allowed them to get away with. Since I have the unfortunate position of being their 5th form teacher in 5 years, they have seen a lot of turnover, and have had to adjust to several different sets of rules. To put it simply, they think I am a horribly rotten teacher because I don't allow them to use their cell phones or eat in my classroom. I have been realizing lately that this comes out quite strongly in the way they speak to me. Their tone is quite rude and disrespectful and in some ways demeaning. Since I had another incident today, I took the opportunity to hold two of the girls back to talk about things, and tried some "I statements" to let them know how their behaviour made me feel. Unfortunately, since I have not yet mastered the art of assertive persuasion in discussions, it turned into a hopeless and pointless waste of time. I finished by telling them that I thought they were lovely girls and that I have nothing bad to say about them apart from the fact that I do not like some of the behaviour I see from them. I suggested they try to look outside the immediate picture and see if they can appreciate me for who I am, and what I have to offer, rather than focus on the two things that I will not allow them to do in my classroom. Since they are female, I'm very doubtful that this will have much effect since girls typically have a lot of difficulty getting past thigns and moving on.

Alas... I'm still feeling good, and I'm holding my chin up high. Will still keep trying with these ladies! I may not win them all over, but hopefully I will win some!

Mom and Dad in New Zealand!!!

I just got off the phone with mom and dad. They are all cozied up in their hotel room at the Heritage Hotel in Christchurch. They enjoyed their 36 hour journey here - especially the large selection of movies that they were able to catch along the way. They are mostly recovered from the jet-leg and are in quite good spirits considering that Air New Zealand lost dad's suitcase and doesn't have an ETA for it.

They have had 2 days now to "acclimatize" and they like what they've seen so far. The first thing they did after arriving on Sunday morning (apart from taking a shower at the hotel) was visit the Cathedral in central Christchurch. Mom noted that they even served real wine with the communion! It sounds like dad has really enjoyed having an excuse to go shopping, and he also has rave reviews to share about the kiwi burger that he tried at McDonald's.

Mom seems to be feeling the cold (as I predicted) but has a new plan to fully deck herself out in the thermals that I strongly recommended she bring with her from home. They are off tomorrow on the Tranz Alpine headed towards Franz Josef to see the glacier. I'm not convinced the weather will be much to brag about for the next few days, but I'm sure they will be able to cope and make the most of it!

I can't believe they are in the same country that I'm in! It's been SUCH a long time since I've seen them! I'm really looking forward to reuniting with them in just under 2 weeks! Sounds like they've got themselves sorted and have even managed to find a sweet deal on a rental car (Subaru Legacy for $25/day) that they will pick up when they return to Christchurch and use to travel up to Blenheim. We will then take that car across the ferry and use it to travel up the North Island towards Auckland.

Words can't describe how excited I am for the upcoming adventures that await mom and dad! What an exciting trip this will be for them!!!

Kayak Lesson

I forgot to mention about the kayak lesson I had today. I was up early after a late night of flexibility competitions to drive back into Picton (thanks to Kate for lending me her car) to meet up with Peter Yarrel, the race director that offered to take me kayaking. Turns out this man was super ill - still recovering from a cold that he had developed over a week ago - but more than willing to take me down to the bay with his kayak and give me a lesson from the shore. He gave me some good pointers to get me started and let me paddle around for an hour while he went back home for a cup of tea. Afterwards, he took me into his house (wow... what a house!!) and did some "market research" on me by asking a bunch of questions...

This man is quite possibly the cutest, kindest man I have met to-date. He is a kiwi through-and-through, but for some reason, has developped a soft-spot for Canadians. This is proven, and publicly displayed by the fact that he has 2 flagposts in front of his house: one bearing a New Zealand flag, the other a Canadian.

Turns out he's willing to let me come any day of the week and take his boat out for a ride. I have no idea what I did to deserve the generosity that this man offered me, but I will not complain. What a fun experience indeed!

Bach Party

This weekend I spent in the Sounds, at a bach outside of Picton, that tall Nic had rented to celebrate her birthday. It was a really swank place with lots and lots of space which was perfect for hosting a large crowd.

Friday night was pretty low-key with just a small group of us there. It was still highly entertaining as a result of the conversations that ensued. Since the theme of the weekend was "Ugly Sweater Party", we got a sneak peak preview of what was to come the next day as we tried to stay warm! Nic and her partner, Michael, were definitely a co-ordinated pair - right down to co-ordinating with the dishes!
Saturday started off great with a yummy breakfast and sunshine all around. Afterwards, I joined Merrill and her partner, Mark, for a 15km run up a long hill that overlooked a valley that was only a short drive from where we were staying. It was a super mucky track with lots of slips and river crossings due to the massive quantities of rain in recent weeks, that made it all the more fun! Once again, I wish I had taken my camera with me because the views were fantastic!!

The remainder of the day was even more fun with a large crowd of people, lots of vino, and a whole slew of ugly sweaters!



We had a monster round of "pass the parcel" (adult, but G-rated verion) that was a huge hit and highly entertaining! Afterwards, we ditched the conventional games like Twister and Trivial Pursuit that we had brought with us, and played some very random "homemade" games instead:

get friendly with a broomstick and perform a fancy flexibility trick with it...
"untangle" yourself from your partner...

and the last one was my favourite - a test of flexibility with this "limbo-like" competition. So versatile since all it needed was an empty beer case and a knife to widdle it down with, one inch at a time, round after round...

Andrew's First Day of Kindergarten

Rob sent the family some pictures today of Andrew's first day of school. I must say, I think the pictures are pretty cute! See for yourself...

Andrew was soooo proud of his super-cool lunchbag!!

Posing with the neighbours who will make sure Andrew gets on and off the bus ok each day...

Getting on the bus...

No turning back!!

Soooo Low!

I have no idea what happened to me yesterday but I was a mess! I swear I must have had some major chemical imbalance or something because I could NOT pull myself together. I think it might have started the day before when I got my hair cut - hoping to fix the horrible haircut that I got last month. I went to someone different this time - recommended by another co-worker. The process started off ok, but in the end, I ended up with a haircut that I'm nowhere close to happy with. It's WAY too short on the top and I swear I look like I have a a mullet on the bottom. Another $50 down the tubes and possibly some emotional scarring to heal too!

But yes, back to the chemical imabalance. I managed to make it through the day ok today, but was acutely aware of the fact that my students reacted even worse to this hair cut than they did to the previous one. By the end of the day, I was feeling pretty lousy and just wanted to go home. Since I had last period off, I signed out at the office (first time leaving early this year!) and ran some errands in town before heading home. One of my stop-offs was at Save-Mart to pick out an "ugly sweater" to wear to Nic's birthday party this weekend. The problem was, I felt so ugly as it was, that I wasn't too keen on picking up an ugly sweater, so I settled on a slightly less ugly sweater.

By the time I got home, I crawled straight into bed and started to cry. Actually, it was more like sobbing. Picture Bridget Jones - the kind where you are curled up in a fetal position and leave you with a really red face and some really puffy eyes! Now, although I'm female, and will admit that it's easy for me to drop a few tears here and there, I was somewhat confused about my mental state at the time. I honestly didn't know what was wrong with me. I was fully aware that I was not happy with my hair, but I couldn't help but keep thinking to myself "am I really this upset about a bad haircut???" I never did find an answer to that question, but in the process of figuring it out, finished off a good number of Cadbury Roses (individually wrapped chocolates) that happened to come to my rescue at just the right time!

Since Claire and I were supposed to go for a run and have dinner, I got a text from her asking me when she should come over. I told her she could come over, but that I was going to bail on the run, and that she should be warned that I was not in any sort of pleasant state. When she arrived she came stright to my room and gave me a great big hug to cheer me up. The rest of the evening I had to control myself from breaking into tears again. Luckily there was lots of hilarity around to keep me entertained while I watched my roomies prepare a well-wrapped gift filled with all sorts of random "goodies" for the pass-the-parcel game this weekend.

I've taken the day off today in hopes of regaining my sanity. Short Nic even picked up some pretty flowers to cheer me up and I've been sitting beside them for most of the day. I think it's working. Tomorrow should be a better day!

Monday Night Tutoring

I just got back from tutoring my student, Matt. For the past few weeks his parents have been insisting that I stay some night for some drinks. So I finally took them up on their invite tonight. Since Matt's father, Chris, works for Allan Scott (a popular winery in town), they had some very nice vino to offer! It was an enlightening night. Learned some more about New Zealand, and Blenheim, and their adjustments to moving here (they moved here from Palmerston North 5 years ago). We also shared some stories about our travel experiences and the different foreigners that we've come across in our time.

On my way home I was listening to the radio, and there happened to be a late-night talk show about gay acceptance in New Zealand. The main question that they were asking their listeners tonight was "Do you think a school should be able to dictate whether or not someone can take a same-sex partner to the school formal?". I couldn't believe some of the responses some people were giving! Since arriving in NZ I have definitely noticed how behind they seem to be in terms of their gay acceptance and how homophobic the culture feels, but man, tonight was the icing on the cake.

I am proud to be Canadian and proud of liberal and accepting views. I wonder how many years it will take NZ to catch up!?