A busy week before the busy weeks

Finally, I got around to start writing about my Padua trip which we undertook just before Christmas. I have two more posts on go, but at least I have made a start. You can head over to Memoirs of my travels to have a look at the posts.

During this week, I have been busy doing my online course on Teaching Computing from Future Learn and completing it, earning a certificate and gaining more confidence in my teaching methods. It was a tough nut to crack. It has been ages since I sat down and completed a course. I register online and forget about it after a week because it is difficult to fit in with the schedule. Apart from that I also finished my lesson planning for the next week for all the classes. It wasn’t easy but I got there in the end. That is why I could get my travel blog going today ( I am skipping my GCSE lesson preparation as I don’t have any classes next week)

My school starts Monday and I am sure it is going to be full hands-on. I do hope that this sinus and cold which has flared up again after a short respite will reduce over the weekend (have found out a herbal medicine which promises to fix it quickly, let us see) It is not a good news with the flu season at its peak now. I do hope that it gets better soon.

After a very long time, I have sat down for close to 3 hours and typed non-stop (also found some time in between to binge watch a few episodes of Mrs Browns Boys). I need a break. People who are enduring the snow and extreme cold weather, remember hot chocolate is the best remedy (like the one we had in Italy); dark chocolate (70%) with very less milk and corn flour mixed in it. You have to eat it with the spoon but keeps your body warm for a long time. Try it 🙂

Until my next post, ciao!

An year here and off to a short break now

It has been a year since I arrived in London and boy, does it seem like ages ago. What with the move, not just the place but also the job it definitely feels like too many things have happened this year. I am on my half-term holiday break now which is great and much needed, but there are so many things to be done. On top of that, I fell ill and lost my voice for the past two days. I can kind of whisper things today without straining, but it is now at the stage where a dry cough has taken over and my sinus is slightly clogged so not a good few more days to look forward to. Among all these did I enjoy the snow? I definitely did. Not the icy patch the next day though. I almost fell a few times walking on those.

Silver lining among these events is that we are going on a short trip to Italy this Sunday and will be back just before Christmas. All our presents are ready and waiting next to our nativity set (we don’t have Christmas tree). That would also mean I will be off the grid unless I get good wifi there and am not too tired to blog. We are going to take it slow and steady with the trip, not rushing through the places etc. There will be lots of photographs for sure and a travelogue once I am back.

Y’all stay safe, hope for better things, spread the festive spirit, be safe, keep blogging, and most of all keep smiling.

 

Life and other things…

I have started work in a private school and things are going great. Finally, I have become someone I have always wanted to be. A Teacher. And I am really enjoying it. I still have some work to do on the Primary side of teaching. Learning on the job has always been my way and I am glad to do that here too. I have loads of help from the other teachers and that is a great help.

That leaves me with less time to do something like blogging 🙂 I still manage my occasional photo posts. Once the term is over, you might see a barrage of posts from me 😉 During the weekend, we are going to the yoga class and I am glad of my progress there. I am now in a position where I can do a full plough pose without the fear of falling over or jerking back up. And that is a huge deal for me. When I started these courses in March, I wouldn’t do it at all. I was so scared….but I knew that if I took my time to progress slowly and steadily, I will get there….My next attempt is for crow pose and then I would move to head stand. I am not holding my breath on that though 😉 Head stand takes the last priority for me. Among all the yoga classes I have been to, I like the Sivananda’s Yoga much better. Their way of teaching is slow and relaxed and you feel much better after the classes. I am planning to keep up with my practice even if I do it only a few poses a day.

I wanted to write about how I feel leaving one industry for another, but that will have to wait until the term end.

Lot has happened worldwide in these couple of weeks. Terror attacks close to home…don’t know what to think of it. We were in Windsor and Eton that day when it happened. It was so sad and so despicable. Trump is getting more stupider by the day. Cauvery water bed is dry and the water problems in Karnataka and TamilNadu doesn’t seem to cease. Not to mention the elections and the way it backfired. We had mock elections in the school and it was fun to see the way the kids campaigned and the results of the elections were totally different from the real ones. On the brighter side, India is through to the next stage in Champions Trophy, even though I didn’t bother watching the match (Mr M did though 😉 ) We tried to get tickets for yesterday’s match, but it was way too costly and we weren’t sure of the weather. Next time sometime. My nieces and nephew have gone to the next grades…they are growing so fast.

I do have photographs of Windsor and Eton to post, but they are yet to be processed. Will do that shortly. We liked Eton more than Windsor. And nope, we didn’t go to the Castle. I am not a big fan of Castles or Palaces. Been to one too many in Spain.

I am slowly and steadily catching up on the posts. I might have missed a few during the last couple of weeks. Will try and get to them soon. Until next update, Happy Blogging and fingers crossed for better and good things in the world.

Milestones, Changes, A Quote

Hi there! It has been a while (close to two weeks) since I have written anything, except for those odd photograph posts once in a while. In the meantime, it looks like I have crossed the 2000 followers mark in WordPress and 100 followers mark in Instagram 😉 That is Awesome! and a huge THANK YOU! and to all those new followers, Welcome! and I do hope you enjoy your time here in this small part of the blogosphere.

These two weeks, I have been volunteering as a teaching assistant in a Primary School here in London and this school is quite far away from home. It has been a while since I got up at 5.30 am on a weekday other than to catch a flight or receive someone coming by a flight. The early wake-up, the hour and a half long train and bus ride, a whole 6 hours of school work and hour and a half long bus and train ride back home left me exhausted and tired and I still had to get some of my other work done too. Wasn’t an easy week, but still I managed to achieve a lot in terms of pending official and personal work. But my blogging took a hit. I could have blogged during my train ride, but I am not a great fan of typing on my phone, irrespective of how fancy & convenient it is. I like the typing sounds of my laptop. Mr. M keeps making fun of my tick-tick-tick keyboard sounds, thanks to my fast typing mode 😉 but I enjoy that.

I am looking to switching my career to teaching and hence this volunteering to see if I can and to ensure that I don’t regret it later. But these two weeks of spending time with Year 3 students (the same age as my first niece) I am sure I can do it and it would be fun too 😉 I should ensure that I don’t get too emotional and attached to the kids, though. That is something I have to remind myself daily when I eventually take up that profession.

I am yet to check out a lot of blog posts from these past two weeks but hopefully will get there eventually. Until then

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I never thought I will say this in my life, but ‘Happy Monday’ 😉 and Happy Blogging you all!

Broken

“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.”
― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations