Movement

I started reading a light book the other day.  It’s one of those books that magazines would call ‘chick lit’.   It’s about a 20-something year old woman and her trials and tribulations in the dating world.

I used to love these sorts of books.  I would identify with the characters sometimes.  I could see how they would think about relationships and their worries.  Sometimes I would just laugh at how ridiculous these women were.  I mean really, how could they put up with those horrible guys?  How could they not see the choices they were making?  But still…I enjoyed reading about these fictional lives.

Lately, as I’ve read these books, I’ve found them to be irritating in all ways.  I don’t like the characters.  I don’t like the stories.  Even though it’s an easy read, which I need on occasion, I’m not having the fun I used to have.

What does this mean?  Am I growing up?  Outgrowing chick lit? 

In some ways I find this sad.  A form of entertainment from my past is now gone.  But I guess it was meant to happen eventually.  At nearly 40, it’s probably time I start getting into more ‘mature’ books.  I just have to figure out what those are.  Anyone have any suggestions?

Today, at 2pm, I went into central London to take my theory test…it’s the ‘written’ part of the driving test.  It is made up of 50 multiple choice questions and 14 hazard perception videos where you ‘click’ when a hazard comes up on the screen.  It’s quite interesting!  Here’s a sample of the hazard perception test: sample

And as you can tell from the title…well…I passed! 

Now I get a chance to start taking driving lessons…and then the hell test, which most people have to take more than once.  Yes, I’ve had a US driving license for YEARS….but due to the stupidity of the US, the UK doesn’t have a reciprocal agreement, so I have to take all these tests.  It’s such a pain…but I want to get this done just in case we have kids and well, cause I really just want to be able to drive when I want to!

Normally I do okay with a cold.  I don’t like it, but don’t exhibit signs of a man cold.  But today…well…things are different.

I’m back from a vacation and I get a cold.  It starts off as a hacking cough.   A tickle that drives me batty.  I can’t help that cough even through I try.  I drink tons of water.  I suck on strepsils.  But no, it has to get worse and move to my nose.  So today I woke up full of snot, couching and lovely projectile sneezes.  As you can imagine, I’m quite the pretty picture in my fuzzy pajamas sitting on the couch.  Red, sore nose…dark circles under the eyes…hair all bed-heady and not in a sexy sort of way.  Yeah.  Hell.

But I could deal with those things.  It wasn’t going to be fun, but doable.  I have my computer, day-time t.v. and I’m still on vacation, even if I do have some work to do.  But then I got hit with my period.  And it’s a doozy.  Cramps and the works.  So now I am pure misery.  Wah!  I feel like shite, I look like shite and I’m not pregnant despite what seemed to be some good signs.  I want my mommy. 

I know that all of this will pass in a day or so (crossing fingers)…but right now, having a chick cold sucks the big one.

We have arrived on Saturday afternoon at Serre Chevalier.  We are staying at Le Lievre Blanc, a sort of mix between hotel and chalet.  We have a very comfortable room with a view of the mountains in the far background.  It’s about 10 minutes to the slopes (walking in ski boots), so not too bad.  The hotel has it’s own ski shop where I kept my boots and skiis and where Roy hired his kit.  We were given dinners (very good), breakfast (typical European ones without hot food) and a lovely tea in the afternoon (mmm…cake).

Attached to the hotel is a public bar, which is nice, but it means most nights we don’t get a huge amount of sleep…we get the view but we also get the noise.  It’s still worth it to be here as the hotel and guests are very nice.

Monday a.m. and it’s snowed.  What good news for the slopes and for us.  Too bad it didn’t arrive the day before when I had my first lesson.  I did some blues and a few reds, but got too tired at the end and struggled with the slush of the bottom slopes.  Twisted my knee a bit so put off my next lesson for that Weds in hopes I would feel more confident.

As you can see, the place is gorgeous.  Serre Che, as it’s called, consists of a few villages and slopes.  We started in our area of Villeneuve and then moved on.  It’s not a good place to learn as a straight beginner, but great if you are moving from novice to intermediate…or an old skier like me who hadn’t done it for a while.

We skied a lot but also enjoyed the sun when it came out.  I was smart and used a high SPF but many people got sun-burnt.  As we progressed through the week, I moved to harder and harder slopes and eventually during my second & last lesson, I did a black run.  And I enjoyed it.  While I still am not great at skiing, I feel much more confident! 

On our last day it snowed about 2 feet.  That’s a lot of snow!  And the most I’ve ever skied in…it was a challenge to say the least - tough visability, snow up beyond your boots…quite hard work.

But it was also quite beautiful.  We went for a long walk in the snow…

The following day, we left early in the morning.  We were sad to leave as it would have been a great day to ski.  But it was a fantastic vacation!

I’m writing from a web-cafe in Serre Che. It’s amazing here - there’s so much snow falling right now and the skiing has been awesome. I’ll be putting on pics and writing a lot more in a few days, but just wanted to let everyone know that I haven’t fallen off-piste…just having a blast. See you soon! Woo hoo! Over a foot of snow!

When I tell people that I work in a school as a teacher, counselor and coach, it’s rare that the first thing that comes out of their mouths is a question about what it’s like or a statement about how cool that sounds.  No, what they tend to say first is, “I wish I got vacations like you.”  And I understand that.  Really.  I do.  I worked outside of a school for a few years and did not have more than two weeks off a year.  And for someone who likes to travel and recoup, that’s not very much time.

But there’s a difference for me.  A few differences, in fact.  I work my tush off.  I bring work home regularly.  I grade on weekends.  So what, some people say, I work long hours too.  And I recognize that.  But do you have to deal with teenagers?  Do you have to help them with their mental states?  Do you wake up in the middle of the night worrying about them?  And by the way…how much do YOU get paid?

Still, I admit, I have it good most of the time.  I get into school at 7:45am most days, though sometimes earlier.  And outside of the autumn and spring (when I coach), I get to leave between 3:45 - 4:00pm most days.  I get time for lunch, though it has to work around my schedule of meetings with kids…and sometimes doesn’t happen until I leave work.  When I’m coaching, I do have late nights, especially if we have to travel to a game…so I might have a twelve hour day and I have regular ten or eleven hour days. 

But I do take on a lot.  It’s a job that require most of my emotional and mental energy…sometimes the physical stuff too.  And if it’s the time right before a break, it’s inevitable that a kid or two will dump something huge on your lap for you to deal with, which might mean you having to deal with it for 48 hours straight (you do sleep but fitfully as you are worried that you aren’t doing the right thing or not enough). 

We have two weeks off starting on Friday at 3:30pm.  And I’m exhausted.  I’m mentally and emotionally drained from these four weeks of school.  I’ve graded 27 papers and 27 tests this week.  I’ve had a few kids dump some serious stuff on me.  And I’ve had quite a few meetings with stressed out parents.  I’m so ready to get away.  And so nervous that we’ll be going without much more than a day or so off after this until mid-June.  The time between the end of this break and graduation will be a killer.

If you took a look at me right now, I can safely say that you wouldn’t think that I have an unfair advantage in my vacations.  Cause I look quite worn.  Unlike most of the time, I look like my age. 

Now I know a lot of people think, yeah, you deserve those short breaks…but what about the two months off for the summer.  Well, I gotta tell you, we teachers usually have to work.  Yes, we do.  Cause we need to supplement the income.  I have coached camps, worked in offices, etc.  While in England, I’ve done special projects for the school.  Yes, I still do take off some time, but I certainly do not get a full two months off for vacation…it just means that during the week I get to sleep as late as my DH - and then I’m off to do my own stuff.

So there it is.  My justification.  I’m sure most people just don’t care.  But I’m tired of hearing about it.  And I say in my biggest, slightly sarcastic but really just trying to be funny voice, “So there.”

Picture taken from Times Online, 12-03-08,  (Stephen Hird/Reuters)

The past few days have been quite rough on a girl’s beauty routine.  And I mean rough!

As you can see from the photo above, we’ve been hit by major rain and wind.  We knew it was coming, but wow.  So Monday morning I took a gander outside and saw to my horror that not only was it raining, but it was sleeting and everything was blowing sideways.  Hmmm….not a day to wear nice shoes outside.  Not a day to wear nice anything outside.  So I made a tactical call - get changed at work.  I put on my work top, but instead of my skirt, put on a water-resistant track bottom.  I wore my gore-tex boots instead of my lovely black leather heels.  And wool socks.  Mmmmm….warm.  I decided not to blow dry my hair as it would be getting either wet again or just squashed under the hood of my gore-tex rain jacket.  No umbrella for me.  I’d seen the umbrella cemetaries on the way to work when this sort of weather had happened before.

So off I went, looking, oh, so lovely.  But I stayed dry.  And at work I changed, put on my makeup and shook out my curls.  I looked quite pulled together. 

I think I’m lucky that I can come into work looking like this.  I suppose a banker would have a hard time arriving looking like crud the way I did.  Ah, the benefits of being a teacher in a private school.

Today was not rainy but the wind was crazy.  It certainly gave my curly locks some serious body - it was like having someone giving the roots an extra blow dry and so when I arrived, I had a right afro!  This has since calmed down, but I still look quite wind-blown with my ruddy cheeks.

Now, moving away from my silliness about beauty, I do have to mention that the storm did some mighty destruction on this little island.  You can check it out here.  I hope for those people who were effected by the storm that things have calmed down a bit and that anyone hurt is doing much better.

When you work at a good private school, you tend to get to hear speakers that many others would love to hear…or at least people who are recognized as ‘famous’.  It’s just an amazing experience and I feel so lucky that I’ve been at there.

 When I was at EHS in Virginia, I had the pleasure of listening to and speaking to John McCain.  He spoke of his experiences as a Vietnam vet, being held in the camp for years, and how he survived.  He spoke of his political convictions, some of which sounded so far from the Republican views.  He was an intelligent and powerful speaker.  And then when I listened to our current president speak on the television that evening, well, you know…

Last night the school invited Al Gore to speak to us.  The afternoon meeting was one for faculty and students (with an evening one for parents).  He spoke for about thirty minutes setting up the stage and then opened up for an hour of questions.  He is so passionate about the environment, so determined to educate the world.  Even if you, like many, are sceptical about what he had to say, you can’t fault him for his intelligence and conviction.  He received a standing ovation, which he handily deserved.   I’m so happy that one of the parents of a student here works with him and invited Al Gore to speak to us.

If you don’t know much about what he says, here’s a great link to his website:  Al Gore. 

It’s Friday.  Which typically gets me in a good mood right from the beginning.  But today.  Well, it didn’t start off well.

I didn’t get much sleep.  That was a given after going to coach the lower level goalies last night.  I didn’t even get home until 10:45pm, and then DH was just not in the mood to make his way to bed.  I just went on my own at around 11:30pm.  That means a maximum of 7 hours was available.  I didn’t fall asleep right away cause I was feeling sick to my stomach and the number of hours was just not enough.

But I got up, showered and was happy to eat my cereal as I was hungry.  I had laid out clothing the night before and so got them all ironed.  I tried putting on my trousers and discovered that they didn’t fit.  At all.  Yes, they had been a touch tight in the autumn, but now, only a few months later,I REALLY couldn’t fit into them.  Nooooo…not more weight gain.  I swear I haven’t been over-eating or drinking too much and I’m still getting some exercise.  It’s just not fair!

So I had to go into the dark room and find something else to wear…and what I chose didn’t really fit as well either.  I think I’ve expanded overnight.  I’m not happy.

And then it was pouring down rain AND windy.  Come on.  This is just not cool.

I was already running late, had to get tissues before I headed into work….ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!

So, today, I feel like I’m having PMS.  But I’m not.  Poor bitchy, whining me.  It’s gonna be a day.  But at least it’s Friday.

I don’t usually complain.  I tend to have a quite sunny outlook on life.  But I’m guessing from reading this blog that you might get the wrong idea…that I whine.  But really, I don’t too often. 

So, even though yesterday I took off work to wait for a couch delivery that didn’t happen until 7:15pm, I want to post the good things that happened during those long hours…

1.  I got to watch some t.v.  And it was stuff I wanted to see.

2.  I got to play on the wii.  Discovered that Rayman Raving Rabbids is a very odd game.  And strangly addictive.  I’ll play again soon.

3.  I searched through my larder and discovered all sorts of stuff laying around - extra veg and a few cans.  So I got creative.

First, I made soup.  I used the extra veg I found…swede (rudabega), carrots, onion, garlic & parsnips.  I cut up the veg into small bits.  Pan fried the onion and garlic to mellow them out and give the soup a smokier flavour.  Then boiled the veg in the stock.  Later I added some cumbrian sausage that I crumbled and pan fried (to get rid of some fat).  The soup was delicious and I look forward to having it again on Thursday night!

I then decided to bake as I had three cans of Libby’s Pumpkin.  I wanted to use one for a yummy treat and made cookies.  These pumpkin & oat little dumplings were so good - a mix of savoury and sweet…neither too much of either…and very subtle.  Roy declared them as perfect!

4.  Finally, around 5pm, after waiting around for 7 hours, I decided to take photos from my flat.  And there was amazing light, which I didn’t really capture so well (as my good camera is tucked away at this moment)…but still…it’s quite pretty:

5.  DH came home and I bugged him until 6:30pm, at which point he decided that he needed to go food shopping (he wanted more than soup for dinner) and left me on my own.  He luckily returned just as the delivery was being made at 7:15pm.

So here they are…and they were worth the 9 hour wait.  They are super deep, snuggly couches.  I’d call them greige in colour - between grey & beige…which doesn’t work wonders with our current carpet, but will be fine once we move & get lighter carpeting.