After a long hiatus...

Okay, I really have no good excuse for having been away from the blogosphere for so long. I suppose part of it has to do with being so busy at work - weekdays are filled with work, work, work, then I come home and work some more! Another part of it can be attributed to the fact that my life has fallen into such a routine. I think when you're living your life, regardless of where you live, you inevitably fall into a normal routine that rarely deviates. This is especially true when you're starting your career and are acutely aware of the need to impress people around you.

Take, for example, my routine. The alarm wakes me up at 6am, when I roll over and hit snooze until 6:10. Then I shuffle off to the bathroom for a shower, usually managing to be completely washed up and sitting at my laptop checking the weather at 6:30. After looking at the BBC website, I go downstairs to make breakfast and scarf it down by 6:50. Hair is blow-dried between 6:50 and 7:00, then it's time to get dressed and throw everything I need into my bag. I leave the house at 7:10, reach the station by 7:20, and hop on the 7:27 train to school. Am at school by 7:50, spend 10 minutes checking my emails and getting my lessons sorted in my classroom, then walk into the staffroom to check the cover board at 8. Tea, a chat with friends, photocopying, and I'm back in my class by 8:20. Lessons go all day, then I pack myself up and try to leave school by 5-5:30pm. Home, dinner, working/marking by 7pm. Work until 10pm, then lie in bed with a book and my ipod. Repeat x 5.

Can you see from the above why blogging has become a bit impossible? :) The only break in the routine is the weekends, when I try to get into London to meet friends or catch a ballet or show. By the time I get a minute, though, it's time to plan for Monday's lessons again and I forget about trying to blog anymore!

That's not to say that interesting things aren't happening. My job is an endless adventure punctuated by funny incidents involving my students. There's the excruciating bureaucracy of school politics, the truly entertaining school events that keep popping up, and then there are all my plans for travel.

For instance, since the last time I blogged, I visited Vienna, did make-up for the school play, enjoyed the run-up to Christmas at school, went home for the holidays, and saw 2 ballets and 2 children's productions of well-loved books. I wrote a million reports, met more parents than I would have liked, was put in charge of the Battlefields trip for May, and made some very good friends. I also had my first Afternoon Tea and discovered some lovely restaurants in London.

So, yes :D. That's where I stand right now! I'll definitely be trying to update more frequently now. I'm off to Rome for 4 days in a little less than 2 weeks, and there are a lot of interesting things coming on at school right now - Charities Day, the Bounce-a-thon, Battlefields Trip, Trips Week, etc. PLUS there are plans to be made for future trips (Scotland in June 2010 and Korea/Japan in April 2011!) and hopefully more new experiences on the weekends. Stay tuned!