Last Saturday morning, feeling a little delicate, I was looking forward to doing very little and watching TV all day, but sadly we had no power. The lightening fried the inverter and so not even any solar. So I did a bit of gardening and then decided it was worth getting the Christmas tree out. Over our 6 years in Malawi I've kept and treasured every Christmas card we get sent, A and I looked through them, smiling at the memories that came and the memories of the people we love. Those of you who have tried, will know how difficult it is to get cards here on time or at all and it has required very early planning on your part to achieve it. Mum brought 3 cards from her, aunty scrag and my sister and Christmas presents from Jo and one for A from mum when she visited. It feels really lovely to have a tree with gifts nestled underneath it. I'm told I have another one from Aunty Scrag as she forgot she already sent one. (It's probably her age). It once more reminded me this is our last here. Exciting to know that we will share it with Margaret and Dick, just like our very first Christmas in Malawi. Here at school, I'm thinking of regifting things we won't be keeping for Christmas presents. One way to declutter gradually and spread out the strangeness of leaving things behind.
A started her mocks this week, she has study leave in-between exams and she has been using the time well, still getting up at 6 and planning her day. Because she takes Art and Drama happily the number of written exams has been limited to only 9 this mock season. A manageable amount. An interesting rite of passage. I don't really remember if I did mocks. I know some schools in the UK will do another set in January/February. Sounds too much to me.
The best part of the week was of course the return of my husband, and despite the whiff of traveling for nearly 20 hours he was a welcome sight and we all had much needed hugs. With him of course the spoils and I set about putting some into bags to hide away for our Christmas stockings. When I think of our return in July I am comforted by the knowledge of all these treats at my fingertips. We've enjoyed pesto pasta and parma violets as well as an amazing advent calendar.
The drama between colleagues continued a bit, with a house move to help with distance and a clear message that you just have to at least pretend you like each other at work. Otherwise I've had a relatively normal school week, one bizarre encounter with a very pregnant member of staff who I'm, perhaps rather unhelpfully going to avoid because I think it must be partly hormones and she's off soon. Not my normal reaction but I just think the rare occasion where ignoring it is best. We also had some really good safeguarding training in the week and my lessons have gone well. My attention turns to the next term and what I want to achieve then.
I had one last rejection email for a job. There are no more that I've applied for. I suspect there will be loads in the new year. People exhausted from the holidays who have made a big life decision. Others who will hand in their notice before the end of the next term.
Next week I've got two face to face days for my NPQH and I'm looking forward to doing a bit more on that.
A has a few more exams and then it's the end of term. And then not too long until you arrive
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