Brussels

I really do love Brussels as a relaxing place to enjoy all the food and drink you could possibly need or want!  This was my third visit, but my first with just Matt and I.  Matt was visiting the British School of Brussels on Friday with two colleagues for his dissertation on the use of personal laptops for the kids in school.  This school already does it, and it was good research.  The school sounds incredible actually.  They are a non-profit school, so spend several million a year on resources and equipment.  Our school could learn a thing or two definitely.

I got the train from Duisburg after work on Friday.  It only takes 3 hours, with one stop on the fast train, which is pretty good really.  I met Matt and a chap from the Brussels school (who is also on Matt's Masters course) at 10pm at the station, and we went straight for cocktails and beer in some lovely little bars that only a local would know about.

On Saturday, we just wandered and drank and ate.  Since i've been to Brussels twice before, and because it's nota very big city, with not many touristy bits, I had to work quite hard to take photos that I didn't take the last two times.  I think I mostly succeeded, although it's impossible to walk past the little statue of a boy, 'weeing' into a fountain, without taking yet another photo of him in one of his 100 outfits.  I did have to get a bit creative in order to take new, exciting photos.  I ended up taking some photos of the posh chocolates in the shops that I had been to scared to take before (the people working in the shops are quite stern).  I became very stealthy indeed, which deserves a lot of credit considering how big my camera is!

We, of course, stopped for lots of drink stops, and it was in one of these pubs that we ran into our friend from school, who also decided to stay for the weekend.  9 mojitos and a 'tasting tray' of beer later and we were ready for some food!

We had the obligatory Belgian waffle...

... and the obligatory maceroons.

There was a free concert in the Grand Place too which was fun on Saturday night.

... and for something different, we tried bubble tea!

... I bought a 2017 diary from the Tintin shop, and Matt had a huge bowl of mussels.  All in all, a fabulously relaxing weekend.

Ski Trip Booked

It's been a strange week all round really.  Lots of teachers still aren't happy with the classes they have been given and the jumps around in age groups, so Friday after work we went to the local pub and had a bit of a whinge session!  It really seems like everyone needed it.

I myself have had an OK week.  I'm still off timetable, which will hopefully change tomorrow, and i've been concentrating on doing displays.  I spent the entire week receiving buddy application letters.  Last year the buddies were just year 6s, but this year I've opened it up to year 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the hopes that if a year 3 needs to find a friend, they might be more comfortable speaking to a fellow year 3 rather than a big scary year 6.  Anyway, I chose 12 buddies in the end, 3 from each year group.  They were all thrilled, and came up to me after saying thank you and how they wouldn't let me down.  Very cute!

Another positive this week is that we've booked to go skiing in the February half term with 10 friends from work.  We've booked a house in Winterburg, which is near where I go on the year 5 ski trip.  It's a really good bunch of people and i'm looking forward to it already.

Yesterday Matt and I went to the harbour for the 4th weekend in a row!  This time we met up with another couple and had dinner and cocktails with them, which was lovely.  The weather has finally cooled off, and the rain has started.  It was quite nice sitting under the canopy in the bar with the heaters on us.  Very cosy!

Tomorrow hopefully brings with it my new timetable at work.  I've been itching to get back into the classroom.  I also start tutoring a year 3 boy tomorrow after school.  Matt is tutoring too and we are saving all of the tutoring money for a holiday.  It will add up very quickly!

Cocktails at the Harbour

This seems to have become our Saturday evening routine as the nice weather continues in Germany.  We had another enjoyable evening drinking Mojitos in the sunshine.  It's a nice way to get us out of the flat and into the sunshine at the weekend, when it is so tempting to just stay in and watch TV after a hard week at work.

My week has been very busy but also quite boring.  I still don't have a timetable, so i'm just ploughing through admin work and getting started on displays for teachers and for the general corridors.  I do like doing displays, but i'd quite like to be in the classes chatting to the kids too.  I probably won't have my timetable next week either, so more displays for me!

I introduced the buddy scheme back to school this week.  Last year I enjoyed being in charge of the playground buddies who were all in year 6.  This year I wanted buddies from years 3-6, and there was quite a buzz when I announced it, so hopefully i'll get lots of application letters next week.

I had to go into Nursery one day this week because the new TA hasn't started yet.  It's such hard work at the beginning of the year, because they are all new to the school and just scream for their mummies all day!  Exhausting!

We went to the pub around the corner from work after school on Friday, and are trying to organise a group skiing trip for February half term.  Other than that, it's not been a particularly exciting week.  Just getting back into the swing of things.  Only 5 weeks until half term!

Living in a Cupboard for the Week

A strange title to a blog post you may think, but it is certainly true of what I have been doing this week at work.  Colleagues joke that if they can't find me around the school, they go and look in one of 4 cupboards that I am generally to be found in!  This week, on Monday and Tuesday, I was rushing between cupboards trying to sort out all of the new stationary and resources that arrived all in one go.  Once packed away, each teacher then had to be distributed a selection of stationary and 200 assorted exercise books.  It was hard work, and I got very dirty from all of the filthy boxes being carted around.  Wednesday was the busiest day; the school open afternoon, where parents and students can come in and meet new teachers and have a look around the school.  The school had to be spotless, so there was lots of last minute tidying, and making sure all of the displays in classrooms were looking neat and tidy.  I was then 'front of house' for Primary with two others, helping people find new classrooms, and greeting people.  I ended up doing a private tour for a new family starting at the school in January.  The family were lovely, and the parent rep who came around with us was so impressed with me that she told the head of Primary, which was nice.  We had staff drinks in the canteen after work on Wednesday, but I was so exhausted I didn't stay long.

Matt had a very busy couple of days too sorting out lots of things for the start of term.  We've been coming home after work and having to have a nap!

The children were back in on Thursday, and it was really nice to see them all again. I'm off timetable for a good two weeks, so I was able to just get on with things, at a much nicer pace than at the beginning of the week.  Still busy, just a bit slower.

Matt went out on Friday night with the lads who play football.  They went to Enzos which is the pub around the corner from school.  He didn't get home until midnight, so presumably had a good time!

We decided to pop into Duisburg on Saturday for a mooch around the shops.  I bought some more wool for a few projects i'm currently working on, and then we went to the harbor for a couple of cocktails and fajitas.  It was a lovely warm evening, so we made the most of sitting outside. Completely different to today, which is torrential rain!  At least it's cooling the flat down a bit.