It was my birthday and I didn't blog even if I wanted to

I’m 24 now.

It’s not much different from being 23. I think I’ve changed a lot in a year. Last year I felt far too young to be a teacher. Now I’m jaded and cynical about the world of work!

It’s weird to think I’m a quarter of the way through my likely life-span. I’ve still got so much left to learn.

My birthday was actually on Friday. Another math teacher shares the same birthday with me (same year as well), so we were looking forward to celebrating our birthdays jointly. I arrived at school to find a present waiting for me outside my classroom. It was a brand new bow-tie, covered in pi symbols. Naturally, I put it on.

Another math teacher had brought in some store-bought cake, so we had cake at lunchtime in classroom. Oh, the joys of working on one’s birthday.

That evening I went to Norwich. I’m rather thankful that my birthday is near (but not at) the beginning of the school year: it’s a nice reminder to relax, unwind, and pick oneself up after the first few, heavy weeks of the new school year. This was the first time a number of we Canadian teachers have been out together this year, so it was good. We went bowling, then we walked (and walked, and walked) to a pub where a teacher who had worked at our school last year was DJing. I danced for a little, and then I spent the night in Norwich before going home the next day. It was, all in all, my definition of a good “night out”: not too long, not too loud, not too crowded.

It’s difficult to convey my feelings about this school year so far. I can say with certainty that being on a single site is far better, and I love my brand-new classroom. I’m so happy to have a SMART board again. However, there are a lot of challenges and other issues. I don’t think I fully appreciated the scope of non-teaching-related tasks that suck so much time out of my day. Bureaucracy is a tricky, self-perpetuating machine.