My Saturday was a long, lovely one :) After a slightly painful remedial massage and a heavenly facial, I got to catch up with this creature for margaritas, Mad Mex and a movie. 'M' being the letter of the day, you see. Grandma's GardenSome happy snaps of Grandma's garden despite the weather turning hot and cold all at once. I'd just like to point out that not everyone in my family inherited the dreaded black thumb. Grandma manages to work wonders even while she is away holidaying. In other news...So, I had my final interview call this past week, my final interview with the 'real' employer this time.
Success! I have officially been offered the two year general supply contract to work in London! I have verbally accepted and I'm not just waiting for the contract in the post. From there, it is just a waiting game until I can apply for my Visa and so on. I'm getting excited now! I stopped in at the travel agents on Sunday and grabbed just a few travel brochures to help me plan out some of my holiday time between working weeks. I might be looking a little far into the future but I'm ok with that :)
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Merry Almost Christmas TimeAnother busy week has gone by and the long creep towards Christmas has begun. Reports are beginning to be finalised so that means I have had time to start my class Christmas presents. My new favourite craft-y object : unbreakable Christmas baubles! I've written their nicknames on the outside in sparkly glitter glue and plan to have them fill their own with more glitter, jewels and stars. They will decorate the classroom wall then be taken home at the end of the year. It is officially the start of Week 8, which means only three and a half weeks until the end of the school year. It is hard to believe it has been a whole year already since I started with my wonderful 3/4B. It is going to be hard to say goodbye, but I'm sure to be back before they all leave Year 6, right?! In some exciting news, I had my final interview over the phone and I have officially been offered the supply work contract in London for the next two years starting from April, 2017 onwards! Eeeek! They did mention they were worried that I wouldn't be able to occupy myself in my down time... yeah, sure. I don't think I'll have a problem with that. I'm so excited! On top of that, it is only 71 days until I head to Adelaide for my many reunions! I'm counting down the days. Naming DayWe got to celebrate little Sienna's naming day and 1st birthday on Sunday. I hope she enjoys her present from us, the loudest one we could find :)Thankfully, the rain held off and Sienna was super excited to be in front of all of her family and friends. It was great to catch up with everyone, some of whom we hadn't seen in a few years. It was just like old times what with mum and Belinda working hard on the fairy bread and such.
Happy Retirement!So I got to attend my first retirement party on Friday night! We were celebrating the long career of our boss at TPS and heard many, many stories about his teaching career. It was pretty cool to hear stories from students at his first schools, fellow teachers from his early career and ex-students whose own children have also had him as a principal. Thinking about it, I'd consider myself lucky if I get to sit through something like that for myself one day. Not many people stick to a career for very long any more. I guess it's something to aspire to. It was, overall a wonderful time with great food and amazing people. Thanks for the dancing and the laughs, girls! You looked amazing! London Calling Two phone calls from London in the space of a week. I'm starting to believe I might actually be moving sometime in the near future. I had my 'pre-interview' on Wednesday. Someone got to ask me all about my teaching experience and practices, standard interview questions, I guess. They keep telling me how surprising it is that I've been teaching for over two years now, I must have a young voice. Still, I can hardly believe it myself. I remember my grad ball like it was yesterday though, thankfully, the memories of essays and reports have faded over time. I can hardly believe it has been eight years since leaving high school. I also had my follow-up call Monday night to go over some points for improvement. It's a little confronting being told that you need to sell yourself more, be more confident and excitable on the phone, especially when that's not always me, but I can see that they are only trying to help me out before the 'real' interview on Thursday by the actual employers. I'm just glad that it's over the phone and not in person. I don't know if I can be 'super excited' with a straight face... mind you, I am... just on the inside. in other news...It's report time, which means assessments, data collection and writing and reading... and rereading, rewriting and so on. if anyone was wondering where I had gone, it is into the land of reports. Sorry. I should be emerging sometime in the next week and a half... hopefully. (Also partly why my blog post has been delayed this week.) Congratulations! ...to Rick and his lovely Vanessa on finding a new place! No doubt everyone will be invading soon to test out the party capabilities of this place. I'm sure it's great and I can't wait to visit. Let me know about moving day, I'm good at packing boxes... and giving instructions about packing boxes :D
*One more day until Wi-Fi returns home! You cannot imagine how excited I am for that. Sadly, as a result, I have been delayed publishing until Monday *sigh* Friday afternoon storm. Clearly summer is not ready to show yet so spring has to jerk us around between stuffy 35° days and hail... on the same day. I managed to try and talk over the hail storm- while telling the kids 'it's not hail, it's rain on a tin roof!'- and hurt my throat. I now have minimum voice just in time for a year 6 class. On another note, I found the mountains in the sky. Happy Anniversary! We had a wonderful Saturday night visiting San Souci and Chez Pascal for mum and dads 31st wedding anniversary. We met the fabulous head chef and owner Philippe and the staff were so friendly and helpful. Most definitely worth a trip back! Travel News Not the most exciting travel topic but... vacuum bags have arrived! Yes, I have been playing with them. Can I just say that these things are too cool. Otherwise, my countdown to Adelaide is shrinking! Can't wait to catch up with everyone and check out your lovely city. So I tried posting Sunday but the internet hates me and I had to save it until Monday. Anyway... Halfway through reports, all I'm waiting for now are assessments to be done. Sent away my paperwork and waiting for that second phone interview to move the London process onwards. Went adventuring with mum on Saturday to Hornsby. Had a yummylicious breakfast and bought myself a beard. Halloween Night I'm not usually one to celebrate Halloween but Saturday night was a great chance to dress up and catch up with old friends and make new ones. I had a wonderful time and I'm so glad I could share it with all of you! Celebrations! There are quite a few people celebrating a number of different events around me lately. All are hugely positive and point to great things in the future. Massive congratulations : Leanne and Chris- you guys are so wonderful together and I am so excited and honoured to be part of your bridal party! I can't wait for your big day. Ron and Jen- congratulations on the best surprise! I'll definitely try to be around when he/she arrives. Jade and Bryce- you guys are going to do such a good job in the very near future. Mel and Neil- perfect timing and so sweet guys, can't wait to see what you guys design together, I'm sure it will be perfect for the both of you. (belated) Liz and Jess- super excited for the both of you. Good job on surprising her Jess, she had no clue This week I visited... Renee was good enough to have us all crowd into her house to visit Caren and Alex all the way from NZ, as well as our lovely Dylan and Connor, of course. It was great to see all the boys playing together and see how much they have all grown.
Thanks for hosting our catch up, Renee, it was much appreciated and I know Grandma loved it. ((Photos stolen from Facebook, hope you don't mind :D)) Another week closer to London and another week with very little done. Unfortunately, it is report time and my weekend has consisted of very little else. On the up side, I have managed to order some vacuum bags for packing, sent away my references and got together half of the necessary paperwork to take the next step. Not bad considering. Surprise Visit
Grandma's ReturnGrandma arrived home this week from her stay at Chateau McLemon. My fantastic watering skills grew her some fab roses while she was away and she enjoyed watching Jake try to attack the water in the bucket down the back (the video on my Facebook is too cute!). She wasn't so impressed that the goats snuck into her Red Robbins again. Sorry Grandma! P.S. Unlucky folks and Steph missed out on Aunty Elaine's cheesecake. Bwahaha! On another note: Seeing as I am still in the country I have decided to keep publishing each week but I'll only be sharing to FB every two or three weeks so either check out my blog each Sunday or catch up on a heap next time you see my link. Enjoy!
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AuthorMy home is Australia, with my family and their many, many animals. I have travelled all around the world with my family and by myself where I have made too many friends to count. |