attempting to get back into the swing of things

im pretty certain i hav actually forgotten how to blog and my stats show me noone checks this anymore, and think its so weird i used to post my thoughts out for anyone to see. dont feel comfortable doing that just yet, so thought id try out a private one. not sure ive got it right though, so samia, ymiss let me know if you can read this!

how long has it even been since i last blogged? !

so anyways, here is a topic i wanted to discuss.

what are the pros and cons of jilbab and is it something you would ever do?

i remembered my password!

ymiss politely asked me to update this week, so just doing this quickly from my phone for her, seeing as i have one reader left still:)

i think i’ve forgotten to blog!

what’s on my mind right now is….

*results day tomorrow! they don’t get their results until the afternoon, which means they will be jittery and stressed all morning. i’ve felt like a teenage emotional puchbag all week!
i think i’ve planned for it though. i’ve bought cute glittery things for the posters they’re making first lesson (which they love) and have cut out my cards for the game they are playing second lesson. (ask me if you’re interested in the game, i can’t be bothered explaining!)

* all these tudor novels i’ve been reading have come in quite handy. i’ve just looking at tudor based extracts from my module on language change.
i want to watch the young victoria. has anyone seen it?

*saturday is becoming my cooking day. i cook to destress. will try and post up recipes!

you just know you’re not blogging enough when..

it takes you three attempts to log in because you can’t remember your password!

i have been going through my blogroll trying to figure out who wrote a positive review on The Other Boleyn Girl and i can’t remember! but thank you whoever it was, because i bought it based on that review, and then bought the whole tudor series. i’m on the last one now!! as you can see i have spent most of my holidays reading. i think i most definitely needed a break this term. after spending most of the term getting everyone to revise and send off university applications, the last thing i needed in the last week of term was a complaint from a parent saying i was putting too much pressure on her son. too much pressure! if he was any more chilled out he’d be sleeping in the class! anyway, i said i’d ring her back after the holidays. i think i needed that long to calm down!

snow!!!

did anyone else totally try to get to work this morning, despite being able to see the rows of cars from their bedroom window and receive dire warnings that it’s too dangerous to drive? i’ve never been so scared in my life! and i was only going 5 MPH!

luckily made it to the top of my street(took an hour!) and was told college was closed. i’m a bit bit bored now, don’t know what to do with myself. i only see this one class on tuesdays, so if Eid is on tuesday next week, they will be very behind!! and i organised to have form pics today. and i needed to get organised for parents evening tomorrow. i think i will be working from home then!

i’m more worried my sister can’t get in, who works in A &E! not good.

hhm what else? i was going to write about my traumatic experience being threatened and having a fight break out in my classroom, but it’s kind of old news now. one student has been excluded and the other apologised, so i’m not really that distraught anymore.

and the other thing was when i offered to go shopping with my friend, who decided to bring along her three year old (sick!) daughter, who decided to throw up all over me when i gave her a cuddle! i went over the next day to give her a chance to apologise for her offence, but she wouldn’t talk to me. i apparently did a lot of screaming when she threw up. i didn’t scream at her though! but she is talking to me now though, although it took some blatant bribery.

i need a sensible coat and sensible shows. i don’t think i’m prepared for the weather if this continues!

update already!

i remember scrawling through my blogroll and thinking people should just update already or just get rid of their blog and now i have become one of those people. i’m so ashamed!

* I have been dying to write about my new car, just to say it is better than Mishy’s new car, but don’t actually know a lot about cars so that’s all i have to say on that matter!

* here is (a translateion of ) a list of words currently being used by teenagers that i’ve come accross.

bare  – loads of (as in i have bare work to do)

messy- drunk

skank – dancing

safe blud- i have no idea but seem to to be slotted in every two seconds.

so there you go, now you won’t be confused next time you need to talk to a 16 year old!

* i took my blog off google, so now it will be a lot of cosier, but i hope i have some readers left still!

* remeber this phone?  i’ve had it for a over a year now and really love it, but it’s recently started to play up and randomly goes blank, but i don’t want to switch phones i like this one!

* everyone keeps talking about the X Factor, which i’m getting sick of mainly because i don’t watch it. when is The Apprentice back on though? and Waterloo Road?

* i was talking to someone recently about TV, and the way some people think it’s haram and/or won’t have it in the house. My personal view is that it can be harmful to children only if it isn’t controlled properly, and is fine if you watch it in moderation. i only have some programmes that i have to watch. (see above). what;s your view?

learn to sign

sign labs is the latest venture of my favourite blogger iMuslim , so thought i would do some plugging for her:) and also because it is a fantastic inititiave to increase communication with deaf members of our own community, as well as the deaf community as a whole. i first became interested in learning last year when i met my first ever hearing impaired student and realised i was ignorant of even the basic etiquettes of communication (the importance of lip reading, facial expressions etc)

i had the privilege to attend the first ever online class by sign labs yesterday, and it was lots of fun!

here are the promotional videos released by sign labs.

(i can do the finger spelling now! i keep forgetting the numbers though. i think it’s because i am so bad at maths)

ramadan mubarak to all!

the following guide from the NHS might be useful for anyone finding the longer months difficult!

http://www.haringey.nhs.uk/press_room/press_releases/2008/diabetes_ramadam.pdf

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good health

having made a conscious decision not to blog about anything religion related, for reasons revealed to some of you(ooh sounds ominous!) or anything teaching related unless its password protected (and even i have forgotten my password), i find i am left with very little to talk about, which goes some way to explaining the lack of posting. wanting desperately to get something down though, before the mad rush that is the start of term, incidentally coinciding with the beginning of ramadan, i was desperately thinking of a topic to write about and thought i may as well talk about my allergic reaction on here (as i have complained to everyone i know and they are now sick of it)

beautiful things..

things i’m grateful for..

a positive attitude- i’ve learnt that it’s not what you’ve got or what you haven’t got that makes you happy, its making the most of what you have got instead of always thinking the grass is greener. everyone has problems, it’s your attitude and how you deal with things that count. it’s amazing how the way you think can affect the way you deal with things and react to them.

a job i love- i would hate to get out of bed in the morning and dread going to work. i would hate to have a pointless desk job, doing the same thing every day. no amount of money is worth that. i’ve learnt to stop focusing on all my failings as a teacher and focus on the little things that make it worthwhile, like the teddy one of the students gave me which has become the class mascot(don’t ask actually), or the sweet note i now use as a bookmark:)

simple pleasures- like having a cup of tea and a chat with an old friend, running around and playing tig with a toddler, buying a new outfit, reading in the park in the summer, making up new recipes like coffee flavoured icecream*, waking up at midday simply because you can, the way high heels make you really tall, daydreaming in boring meetings and still looking like you’re absolutely intrigued and last but not least… the Internet:)

*coffee milkshake-

simply blend together milk, vanilla icecream, sugar and coffee. it’s the best way to get your caffeine hit in the middle of summer:)

because there is only one way to deal with writer’s block..

right, ymiss and i were complaining abouit the rather pathetic state of our blogs and lack of updating, and then we both figured we’d quit complaining and just get on with it! check out hers, she should hopefully be updating right now too if the plan is going right:)

so seeing as this post is for her, i figured i’d start with my views on primary school teaching..

for a teacher who gives out lollipop to her students, pinches their cheeks, plays games in class and puts stickers on their work, it may come as a surprise (even to me) that i have never considered primary school teaching, and probably never will. i think primary school teachers do an amazing job and you’d need a lot of energy and patience. not to mention all that subject knoweldge because you have to teach bits of everything.

but i like the age my kids are at(16-19). i like the fact that they are at an important transistion in their lives, and i can help them through that. and i think these days, children are growing up too fast. i like making them slow down and just be kids for a while.

and besides, one ive given them a bingo chart or let them loose with paint, it feels like im teaching in a primary school!

ok, im done. i think this is enough writing for a comeback post. i hope ymiss hasn’t written more than me! i’m going to do her “things to be thankful for” tag soon!