Work and a Musical

Saturday 24 April 2010

Now I am going to catch up on the rest of the week.

Work has been interesting. I have been doing a couple group times. It is fine, but I am told last minute and have to grab at whatever is available and make it up as I go. One time was okay, but the other time did not work quite so well. Both times, I had over fifteen 3 and 4 year olds. Those of you who are teachers probably will think this sounds ridiculous and a small number, but remember that New Zealand is different in the way they teach; and these children are all over the place. Lets just say Montessori comes to mind with them taking their shoes off all the time, and everything they play with is a learning experience (even using a decent size saw).

Actually both group times were fine in terms of discipline, but both of them had recently changed. They group kids by age, so some of them just turned three and some just turned four. They were going through a transition. Of course I am getting used to always being the teacher who helps children transitioning. Anyway, the four year old group was fine, but the tasks I was supposed to have them do, was not enough for the amount of children there were. So I had to figure out what to have them do. The three year old group had two very distracted children. One EXTREMELY defiant child and one child who is used to doing other things (like playing all day). All in all it was okay, but I would have liked for it to have gone better.

I have also been "trained" in Nappie time (diaper changes) and have had the privilege of changing them. I also had the pleasure of wiping a little girl's bottom after she soiled the toilet. I also got to do sleep time. I was supposed to be trained in that, but since there was no one to help me, I had to learn completely on my own. They have their own schedule that they mark every 10 minutes whether a child is sleeping or not. It is kind of interesting. Plus, I set out the mats a couple inches apart (which would have been illegal in the States...a hazard). I was told that I needed to have more mats down, because there were more children sleeping that day than normal. So mats would be overlapping and I would stumble to get from one child to the other. Do you think I was surprised at this information?

Anyway, I only have two more weeks left of work. There is a possibility I might have more, but my guess is no. I know they have interviewed someone. They said they may not even hire her, but I think they will. So now I am on the job hunt again. I really hate this.

Sleep has been interesting. One of our flatmates sings all the time. Another flatmate talks on skype during late hours (sometimes), and the other flatmate plays loud music at times. One night, all three were at it. One singing at the top of his lungs, one talking loudly to a friend on skype, and one playing music and talking to his friends. Alison and I would have fits of laughter at random times. It WOULD be like this for us. They are all guys and there is one room open. The only person we saw look at is was also a guy. We are not too sure about that.

So a lady at work asked if I travel on the weekends. Well, actually several people have asked me, and it is frustrating that we haven't been able to. I told her that we went to a Rugby game and we were going to see the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dream Coat of Colours. She told me, "Well, that's not very Kiwi." That offended me, I have to admit. Does it matter if we do something that is not "Very Kiwi"? At least we did something.

Anyway, moving on, we did see the musical. I have to admit, that I am really not a Musical type person. Many of you who know me, know I love music. For some reason, Musicals don't do it for me. There has to be REALLY good music, and a REALLY good story line. Well, I guess it just really depends. Anyway, I did not care for it at all. The scenes looked like they belonged back stage. People were flying everywhere, and there were scenes that were definitely not true. I did not care for the music either. I know I am complaining a lot, but actually I did't regret going. It was still a cultural experience.

Someone asked me, the other day, how my Maori was coming along. I told her, "Horribly." Several people laughed. I can sing a couple words to a song they teach in preschool, but I still do horribly with that song. It is hard for me to pick out the sounds.

Well, yesterday I went to my Beloved Gardens. I got some rest, and did some job searching. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do that again. We will see, we will see.