Thoughts Opinions & Memories | But I Smile Anyway...

School’s Out!!!

24 Jul 2015 49 Comments

by Ritu in Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, school's out, Yippee!!

It’s finally here!!
Friday? You ask… Yes FRIDAY!!!
And not just any Friday, but the Friday most teachers have been counting down to for the past 8 or so weeks!
It’s the end of the school year, and for most of us teachers, it couldn’t come soon enough!! ( and for a lot of parents, its come far too soon!)
You know me, I love my job, but the level of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion that has built up, it’s unreal! Spending the day, 5 days a week, with children is one of the most demanding jobs out there, and, as I’ve said before, it is so satisfying, but still, you feel ready for the Knackers yard come the end of the school year!
It is with great sadness that I say goodbye to the classes I worked with, and we wave goodbye to a year of children who leave the school entirely, to start their secondary education. It is with trepidation that I start the new school year in September, because a) this will be my first real class, of my own, b) Lil Princess is no longer a baby, and will be a Junior, not an Infant, and c) come this time next year it will be my Lil Man, waving goodbye to the school gates as a pupil, ready to grow up more, and become a secondary pupil…So the next academic year is pretty key for all of us.
So, this next 6 weeks, (5.5 for us teachers!) we need to have a total chill!
I will still pop into school to prepare, and get ready for the start in September, like most teachers tend to do, but the rest of the time, I intend to spend giving the house a blitz, (I envisage the charity shops will be carrying some great Ex-Bhathal Household classics!), somehow moving the upstairs rooms around so the kids can finally have their own rooms, instead of the bunkbed situation that is still in place, sleep, and finally get that family holiday booked, last minute.com, as it always seems to end up being! And obviously, I will be writing as much as I can, and blog, blog, blogging to my hearts content too!
Oh, and there is the small matter of the day I start back at work, only being my 40TH!!!!!!!!!!
Great day to start back, eh!!!!!

But for tonight, I’ll leave you with a little poem that I found online, it’s cute, and sums up how I feel about this, and every class I work with…

Oops I did it again! Injury report #6084

23 Jul 2015 74 Comments

by Ritu in Recipes, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, burn, cooking, Hurt, Ouch, spaghetti

Needed dinner, the chicken, which was in date, was off… What to do…?
I threw a little onion, garlic, some chopped continental meats from a selection pack, tinned tomatoes, mixed herbs, mushroom n salt, into a pan… Added spaghetti, and here’s a lovely dinner, sprinkled with cheese, mmmmm!
Then as I was picking up the pan to drain the pasta, one handle seems to have been over the flame more, and was red hot… Ouch!
Stupid over here puts pan down, then … Picks the damn thing up AGAIN! Same sorry hand!!!

Bit red on index finger, really red, and sore… I’m reckoning a blister by the morning!
The Klutz strikes again!

Relief by cold drink can on burnt hand… Perfect!

A Humbling Day

23 Jul 2015 25 Comments

by Ritu in Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, bolog, Humbled, School, Teacher

The other weekend, I had a crazy schedule on the Saturday, with parties here and there for the kids, and I knew it was gonna be a busy one. One of the parties was for my Lil Man’s friend, and it was at a venue in town, so I figured that I could drop him, and have a couple of hours me time, before I needed to pick him up, after all there is always something I could be doing!

Well, we got there, and there was hardly anyone there, birthday boy neither. But the dad was there, and he was very polite, offering drinks and snacks while we waited. over the course of 20 minutes the hall filled with nigh on 40 10 year olds, but there were a surprising number of little people there too… little people from my old class… then it dawned on me that the birthday boy had a sister in my old class, and it had also been her birthday too, so this was a joint party.

So that was 40 odd 10 year olds and around 20 4-5 year olds too, along with some added siblings, and mums who weren’t about to leave their child. And still no star guests! I have to say I was mobbed by little people, my thigh firmly hugged by my old class, and even my ‘boyfriend’ was there!

As time passed, the birthday peeps finally arrived, making quite an entrance, but not before the boy’s dad had asked me, in teacher capacity, to help him control the kids… they were running riot around the place! Now, I was off duty, but really? Can a teacher every be off duty? We see our kids around town, in the shops, at the park, everywhere, all the time, and I for one, here “Mrs Bhathal!” all the time! So I helped him round them up, and thought once the main guests arrive, I could slip off…

Not that easy.

4-5 year olds have good grip.

I ended up in a ring with them playing Pass the Parcel, and then finally I was given a chance to slip out.

It felt lovely, though. All these little munchkins telling me they missed me, and I genuinely miss them too! They wave at me and call my name, whenever they see me at school but I can’t get in their classroom, to spend quality time with them, any more, which is so sad. I have another bunch of kiddies to look after now… but as I have only been with them for 7 weeks, the same bonding hasn’t really happened there yet… Though I do love them too, with their little quirks!

Anyway, I did my dash around town, I only had time for a dash as I’d been kept at the party a tad longer than I had expected, then came back to sweep up my child and get him home for a barbeque that my Hubby Dearest was organising.

Yet again I got kinda mobbed, but it wasn’t just the kids, I had parents telling me how much my not being in their child’s class had affected their child… I felt so sad.. I had made these little bundles cry! But on the flip side, I had affected them in such a way, that they had enjoyed being with me in class, and they were happy. Hearing the parents tell me their kids ‘loved’ me, oh what an ego boost!

But truly, I felt humbled, so humbled. A Teacher has a really hard job, but to know you have affected even one child’s life, positively, is a blessing, and to hear that so many felt that way, I felt richer than the wealthiest person on earth!!