It feels forever…

…since I penned something on my blog. I am on the half-term break but still, I have so much to do that I get stuck up on those activities and blogging takes a back seat. I have been having this sinus and allergies flare up for the past three weeks or so and this crazy weather is not helping me one bit. The only good thing is that since I have started having the homoeopathy medicines (something I have never tried so thought of giving it a shot) I am at least sleeping and that is the best I can expect as of now.

The one other consistent thing that I have been doing irrespective of how busy I am or not, is reading. Been reading the murder mysteries left, right and centre and watching our set of TV series  (detective series).

Thanks to Mr M we managed to watch all the CSK cricket matches and was very glad when they won this year’s IPL T20 ( he watched a few more and managed to keep track of each and every single match 😉 …yeah, he is crazy that way with respect to sports in general)

One thing that I fail to keep up is the latest news unless it is in the top 10 of the list, I haven’t been checking it at all. Keeping up with the kids in school is my top priority. Man, they do take up all your attention. Never a dull moment, I say. So many characters, so many stories, so much variety and so much to learn every day. I am enjoying it.

I am trying to keep up at least with my regular posts (Tuesday Tunes, Wordless Wednesday, WPC etc) and so far I have been successful and pray that I will find time to do those at least in the future.

It has been crazy, lately

Ever since school started things have been a bit crazy (good kind of crazy actually) here. I started by teaching computer science but now I also teach Maths to young kids. Not a big deal because high school maths isn’t difficult for me, but then I almost have a whole day of teaching to do and then planning for the next day teaching etc. Apart from that, we had school inspection this week which made it crazier. Today is the first day after the school reopening where I am sitting on my couch doing nothing and just thinking if and when should I be having my breakfast and it is already 10 am 😉

Last weekend we had been to a 2-day spiritual retreat conducted by Skandavale folks in Gilwell Park. It was nice. The place was lovely. Amidst the Epping forest, with Scouts roaming around, we had our own cocoon of spiritual talks and singing (not that I did, but I got to listen) and food (amazing!) and lots of volunteering.

I haven’t had time to check news or blogs or new music for that matter. I sincerely hope the season of hurricanes and earthquakes are over now. There has been enough destruction already and as if people don’t do enough of those by themselves. We are already in the Autumn season as of yesterday night when the Autumn solstice started. There is definitely a change in the weather. That extra bit of chill and the moment you step out and blow out air, you can see the smoke effect (which is something I am rather fond of doing 😉 ) I will try and get through the posts this weekend. Stay safe, keep yourself warm and cosy and 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.

It’s been a busy week

This has been quite a week. A good mix of downs and ups (in that order). At least as it comes to an end, there is some good uplifting news. I am now officially a member of a voluntary project called Code Club, where the focus is to get children involved in the process of coding and computing with simple and fun-filled learning and projects. Since it is right up my sleeve, I decided to try it out. Yet to officially start any volunteering in it, but at least got the basics of it down and met other volunteers in a meet-up.

Sometimes some things happen when we least expect it. Getting a patent is one of them. After filing for the patent through work, I literally forgot about it and last year got reminded of it when another colleague got their patent awarded for another project. No one knew the status of the one in which I was involved and no one was ready to inform me of the status even though they were kept updated. I was furious for a while and then life happened and I forgot all about it until this Thursday morning. I get a mail saying that I have got a plaque for my patent. More than happy, I am content that my effort has been rewarded. And having a patent in your CV doesn’t hurt at all.

Dechox is going on better than I imagined. For some reason, I haven’t had the urge so far. I hope it stays that way until the Easter. I am sure seeing all those chocolate Easter Eggs in the supermarket is not going to be tough on me. But I will survive 😉

I am physically and emotionally exhausted at this stage of the week and it isn’t over yet. Got a lot to do and I have to give my 100% to it all. Keeping fingers crossed and praying for strength from every source.

 

Entertainments galore

We are nearing the end of Inspector Lewis. Already on to our 9th season. Wonder what we will do after it is over. Mr. M is already having some withdrawal symptoms 😉 And surprises in Death in Paradise. Out goes Humphrey and in comes, Jack Mooney, played by the Irish actor Ardal O’Hanlon (Mr. M tells me he is from Father Ted…I have seen only two episodes of it so far…so couldn’t really place him). I am sure lot of us would be feeling a bit weird about it, but the transition was smooth, unlike the last time when Humphrey was pulled in because Poole (played by Ben Miller) died. That was a huge change. But I am enjoying Mr. Mooney as I did the other two. Common Sense, a BBC series where a select people from the public all over the UK discuss the weekly happenings, is another series that we are watching regularly. This is very different from the others as this involves real people and how they feel about important issues that were in the news every week. They are really very funny and honest. I like the butcher couple a lot. I am still keeping a tab on Taboo, with all its gory and blood and grime.

Watched a couple of very good movies. Old ones but golden ones, I should say. The first one was 12 Angry Men. If you haven’t watched it, and if you like crime drama, you should try it. 12 jury members of a murder trial are the main characters in this movie. They are sent to discuss the fate of a young boy who was accused of killing his father. They reconstruct the whole story piece by piece. It is a very interesting screenplay. You start with a mindset and slowly and steadily each one’s motives for their decision is questioned. I really enjoyed the movie.

And yesterday we managed to catch up on To Kill a Mockingbird. I haven’t read the book, wasn’t really sure if I would like it. But I enjoyed the movie. I don’t have to tell you much about it because I am sure it is one of the must-see movies of all times. And I am sure it makes sense even in this day and age. Gregory Peck is amazing. If you haven’t watched it either, give it a try.

Another 3-hour long movie we watched a while ago was A Passage to India. Again, I haven’t read the book, but the movie was nonetheless different and managed to hold my attention for all of those three hours. I am not sure I would have had the patience to read the book. But the dynamics of the varied characters are quite intriguing in this one. It could have had some editing done to it, but then the character’s depth would have taken a beating.

We also had been to a couple of museums. Will get around to copying those photographs sometime next week. I am being lazy over the weekend and not participating in the weekend prompts as of now. I hope to get back to it soon. Until then, I do hope you enjoy my photographs and random TV and Movie updates. And I could definitely use another extra day for the weekend. Don’t you? 😉