Day 23

Easy as a-b-c

After 2 days in the apartment, I thought I was desperate to get out. After 5 minute trip round the corner to buy bread & milk I realised I was desperate to get back to the apartment. I managed to stay upright on the ice & made it back to the warm quite swiftly. I was glad I'd waited until Ray arrived home from work & not attempted to drag the children with me... They are really not keen to go our when it’s this cold and the trauma of getting them all dressed up for such an outing was more than I could bear. It then turns out that I didn't buy milk after all but a random carton of yoghurt that definitely said milk... So perhaps it was just slightly sour milk! I'm glad I drink my coffee black.

The children are all doing well & enjoying learning at home for a change... Rebekah survived her weekly spelling & times tables test & Matthias is very enthusiastic about letters, words & huge numbers! Kyria is eager to copy what they are doing although she had more fun with the play dough we made today.

Ali

 

Desperately trying to clear the lecture preparation for next week, but then also had to write the exam questions. Why are the school bodies wanting exam questions so far in advance? It’s a real pain, because I haven’t pitched part of the material and not sure how well they will respond to the lecture part, which I incorporate some tutorial style questions and then can figure out how well they could potentially do (or not). Got a few hectic days to start the week, then will try and clear some of the backlog. Only then can I start thinking about forming a PhD programme strategy and also organising my own research. So much to do, which is great. Little concerned about having finished everything and then twiddling my fingers. We find ways of occupying ourselves; today’s meeting involved a select few of us playing meeting phrase bingo. Actually it kept us alert for key phrases to cross off (surreptitiously). I’m just not sure of the ground rules about drawing such key phrases out of the rest of the attendees. I didn’t win. Wynter and I got together beforehand for a little focus talk and things seemed to run smoothly as a result. Reflection moments after the meeting mainly centred on just how much is needed to be set-up at NU before it can be improved. Still, a great opportunity.

 

A much needed weekend has arrived. But this promises to be rather busy too. However, spending this time with Ali and the children is fantastic.

Ray