We had more exams this week, and there'll be another set next week for the other classes. They seem to be happening all the time, and indeed they are very frequent - half way through each course, and then again at the end - so when we have staggered start dates, it's bound to happen. We marked the papers in the evening, and I began to worry about my teaching skills: some of the answers were beyond bizarre, so while I laughed at some papers, I also spent time reflecting (in best PGCE mode) on how to fill the gaps in their knowledge.
One teacher was off sick this week, and because we are spread so thinly, that left us in a rather frenetic state. It reminded me of those happy days at East Berks - running from one lesson to the next with no time to turn round. Although exhausting, tremendous fun.
One of my students told me of a place to get films on DVD, before they're released in the UK. I went looking today, but must have been in the wrong place, so I'll have to check the OS co-ordinates with him next week. For 40p a DVD, it's very tempting as a change from Aljazeera and BBC World.
I was a little bit naughty on Pancake Day - I explained Ash Wednesday and Easter to my students, and why we celebrate Shrove Tuesday. They could relate to preparation for fasting, and where the pancakes fitted in. One woman asked what time Ash Wednesday started - a reasonable question given that Ramadan and Eid are dependent on the sighting of the moon, so answering midnight sounded a bit unexotic in comparison.
There was a wedding party across the street here last night with drums at 4.00 am. The dogs started their regular dawn chorus at about 5.00, and my local mobile phone company sent me a text message at 5.30, so I threw in the towel at that point and decided to have an early start. Typically, the internet was down, but it gave me a chance to catch up with some reading - the Jungle Book on this occasion.
Later in the morning I went with one of my students to choose my Saturday roast at a local market:
The peafowl were very tempting, but the price was a bit steep - £80 for three:
Today I was planning to go to the hot springs at Tajura but because they're outdoors (obviously), with the weather today being on the damp side, I decided to postpone this delight for another weekend:
Here's a 2004 article I found which makes interesting and amusing reading:
http://www.nigel-richardson.com/pages/journalism/journalism_item.asp?journalismID=201
