New Succulents

There is something magical about succulents in the last sunrays of the autumn evening. These three are my newest, a result of a girls' outing to a succulent exhibition (and I do realize that must sound completely nuts to non-biologists).

All of my planty friends, including the second round of lettuces and undergrown tomato plants have been moved indoors now and it's getting a little crowded here. It's a good thing that now I have a classroom and a teachers' room to put stuff in!!

Getting "Older"

I have a feeling that I became more of an “adult” since I started working. Not in the sense of being calm and responsible and not wasting money etc., but I started doing many things that I would never do when I didn't have a job.

For this past few weeks, I didn't go out on weekedays, because I had work the next day, I didn't have the will to do the washing or cook properly, I have been neglecting all my online activity – Etsy shop, blogging, following other blogs… not to mention writing to my boyfriend or communicating with my family and my email is filling up nicely, even though I cancelled many newsletters.

Worst of all – I often say the lame phrases that our teachers kept telling us and that we hated, like “I know the bell has rung, but I haven't finished the lesson yet”, “we are not leaving the classroom until you pick all the bits of paper from the floor”, “why is this chalk wet?!” and “SHHSH!”. I wonder whether these are general teacher things that new teachers subconsciously say, because they kept hearing it from their teachers when they were still at school or whether I am just generally becoming an old bitch :)

On the plus side – I really like the food at school canteen – and I think THAT change definitely comes with age :)

But I am having a good time, the job is great, the kids are awesome and I consider myself a happy person.

Shopping Satisfaction

During yesterday's trip to IKEA with my Mum, I only bought a little notebook as a present for someone, an almond cake and a cup of tea.

The fact that I didn't buy anything for my home means that I already have everything I need.

Simple as that.

Greatest feeling on Earth  : ))

First Days at School

Last week, I started “going to school”. This time as a teacher, not as a student.

My first realization was that teachers are very nice, informal and LOUD people. No wonder - they are trained to talk loud enough to be heard in a class of thirty kids and after two months of holiday, they  have a lot to say :)

It was very interesting to see the school environment from the “behind the scenes” – getting the class ready,  decorating it, filling in all the paperwork, while everyone is running around and exchanging little bits of information. There is confusion, things need fixing and I swear I never thought that getting ten magnets from the school office can be so difficult!

There are several new and young teachers as myself – I knew that to the kids we will be huge and respectable, but every time I walked into the teachers' room, I felt like I am at high school again and just going to ask my teacher a question or something : )

Harvesting Seeds

A few months ago, when I went to my future job (primary school), I was offered a few Tagetes plants that were left alone at school for the holidays and I decided to give them a home. They were already in a very poor state and my absence, dessication and then brutal summer rains did not help them at all. However, they did grow some nice flowers, even though the leaves look very very sad. 

Autumn weather dried the flowers and developed seeds. Maybe next year, when I let them sprout and grow, their offspring will have more favourable conditions and will grow into big and healthy plants.