Surfacing and reproduction of spiders

 The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a whirl wind of learning new things, new names and what I'm supposed to be doing. Am really enjoying being in the art department and am getting to know the girls and other staff. The form ones can come up with the funniest things. I get complimented on my dress sense and eyes but I also get asked random questions that have nothing to do with what we're learning. Today I was asked in a very serious tone, how do spiders reproduce. For a minute I thought about it and was about to give a biological answer but then I checked myself and was like, this is a geography lesson. They hadn't done reproductive biology yet and I was not about to go into spider reproduction. Nice try.

I have agreed to do maths support in the afternoons. You can see the effect of not having classroom teaching for a year. Some of my students just have no idea when it comes to algebra. Need to go back to basics. Had geo solar system projects to mark last weekend. There were a couple of projects that were really impressive and creative. From 3D planets made out of play dough or kaylite balls, I was really impressed.

This afternoon we had a dad who is a professional wildlife photographer giving a talk on photography to the sixth form. It was really cool and I learnt quite a bit on field of view, IOS and editing raw files. Had time at break today to sit on the steps with some of the other staff and photosynthesise which was nice. One of the staff was selling M&S, Woolworths and H&M clothes and another lady has eggs. Wish someone was selling milk, there's a shortage again.

Am back home to my beloved dogs. Was house sitting a big great Dane, a puppy great Dane and a pug last weekend and then Snowy, the black dog this week. Have marking and prep work but a friend is having a birthday at Domboshawa tomorrow and then have a braai and church on Sunday. Organising an online quiz tonight.

Music, photography and a long weekend

 We've been doing a hybrid time table this week with some of the school in and some doing online. It got jolly confusing as you had to have Microsoft Teams on video and recording while teaching those at school and it was tricky remembering to do this. I also had to quickly work out how to use Teams and how to do a shared screen, a bit different to Zoom which I'm more used to. In between I have been sprinting up and down to the computer lab to get help with Teams glitches and access to Senatical (a program we use for grades and report comments). I have almost made it through the first week though. Tomorrow all my classes are online so I can work from home.

It's Independence Day on Sunday, so we get Monday off as a holiday (yay!!) Will be going to get the second injection of Sino Pharm (although apparently Doha isn't recognising it as a vaccine for travel purposes). Might meet up with people in Ballantyne Park Conservancy on Sunday morning and hoping to Skype a friend in Australia Sunday afternoon.

Am loving that there is music in the art room (the girls bring their own and we've had Queen, Sia and other music playing) and then yesterday the orchestra was practising next door in the music room. They were doing a good job of Pirates of the Caribbean on strings.

Early mornings and Teams glitches

 I didn't sleep very well last night, so it was harder to get out of bed this morning at the crack of dawn again (well actually it's before dawn - not going to be fun mid-winter, I am not a morning person, much coffee needed. Luckily there is a kettle in the art room so I can make myself multiple cups, I just have to provide the coffee beans). Today passed in a bit of a blur. I had back to back form 2 art classes and I will next time make a note at the time of what each was doing and getting up to in progress as I didn't today and it is very hard to recap as they were all doing similar things but just got to different points. Before school started and then in my only free, I raced up and down to the IT department as my Mac was not connecting to Microsoft Teams and I really need to be. Have been using my mum's as a back up but need my own. There's a lovely lady in IT and she tried all sorts of things but none worked. I shut down and rebooted and tried reinstalling but Teams got jammed and wouldn't budge. In the end I phoned a friend who works where my laptop has just been upped in RAM and a new SSD and they managed by remote access to finally sort it out but it was a mission for them too.

I've started my first online marking. A different approach to how you comment and correct compared to when you have the hard copy but it does mean I don't have to lug too many hard copy books around. I will have to check classwork books on Friday though for geo and maths. Forgot next week is a public holiday so we get a mini break (yay) but it's thrown my hand in dates out a bit.

Saw yesterday that Doha is not recognising Sino Pharm as a vaccine for people entering from abroad. This is not great. We are due our second jab on Sunday at Wilkins Hospital. My sister is still keen for my mum and I to use our existing Ethiopian Airways plane ticket to visit the UK. Don't know what the travel laws will be then. 

A small cog in a big wheel

 As first days properly into the job go, today was fairly good. I found my classrooms, checked out and in adapters for Macs and projectors, ran a maths ratio treasure hunt and for now seem fairly on top things. The onslaught of marking starts tomorrow and navigating Microsoft Teams and marking online (a new one to me). I really am blessed to be mainly in the art department. I get my own classroom with a view out to the playing fields and lots of space. We use digital tools in art making with iPads and there are a couple of cameras. Went back to basic drawing and shading of seed pods today though. A friend who works at A.R.T. Farm kindly donated some beautiful multi-colour grain miellies to us. They are beautiful with red kernels and dried husks. I might even try some drawing if I have time. The art staff help with taking photos for the school and magazine (something I am more than happy to help with!)

Just as I started this new job a window of opportunity has suddenly arisen with getting students to teach English to online in China. It is something I was trying to gain access to after doing my CELTA qualification in Cape Town. The parents of one of my Chinese five year olds that I taught French to in China are looking at starting a school and they have lots of contacts in China to connect with. Definitely a market and there are lots of CELTA and TEFL teachers in Zimbabwe. I am feeling rather old today as another past tutoring student that I took when she was in grade two, is now in form 1 at my new school. I can't believe it is that long ago that I taught her. Her mum was in the flower growing industry and often gave me wonderful bouquets of roses.

On Sunday morning when we were leaving for church, a guy who lives on the street that we give art materials to and a cup of tea arrived. Someone had kindly donated a notepad for him to record his experiences on in a digital format. As a thank you he whipped out a box and said he had a present for me. I wasn't quite sure what he was giving me but it was a tiny black kitten. I felt terrible but had to say I couldn't take it, as I just can't with our dogs and also starting a new job, I'm not home to look after it. I really felt bad though as he was only feeding it bread.