Rest in Peace Mr. Large

I opened the paper today on the way to work and read what could have been a typical headline in any newspaper in the world: Boy of 14 knifed for 'racist slur'.

Then I saw this picture:

...and I realized it was one of my students from last year.

My first reaction was a loud gasp as I stared unbelievingly at the paper.

I read on and it turns out he was knifed in the head after getting in a "row" with two boys and uttering a racial slur. He died in hospital.

Here's what I know about him. He was no saint that's for sure. He was at my old school (a school for children with emotional and behavioural issues - read fucked up lives) and he could be one of the most abusive people you would ever meet. He was involved in a gang, was a bully, was one of the most relentlessly dominating personalities I've ever met, he stole - in short he was no fun to be around.

He was born into a horrible life. His older brother was already in jail. His family in general known to be a complete menace in the area. I never heard a word spoken about his father.

But here's what else I know about him. Since getting out of jail last year he had been trying hard to change. Even though he was terrible to be around in some ways he was much better than he had been when he was at the school in the preceding years. It seemed the coin had dropped and he was trying to change.

He was eager to learn, desperate for attention, hungry for any kind of positive compliment, full of charm and eager for fun. I called the school and found out - to my astonishment that he'd won something called the Jack Petchey award this year which is an award given to a student each month based on their behaviour and progress. Ironically he'd just made an anti-knife crime poster he was really proud of and he'd been having a good year.

He was no saint but his death really shook me. I spent most of the time on the train holding back tears. I mean, here I've been stressed over all the work I'm doing and the deadlines and all that stuff seems pretty meaningless when a 14 year old kid who was given almost no chance to make it in this world gets stabbed. 14. Stabbed by 14 year olds. Why is it always young kids who are the most dangerous? Anyway, that's a question for another day I suppose.

I pray that his death and his life serve as a reminder and a wake up call to other students in the school and others around him who are going down similar paths. I hope the teachers at that school are ok. They're miraculous people I tell you. They hang in with these kids no matter what. It's an near impossible job. Trust me I know. I couldn't do it.

Achem. If there is a God out there I'd like to send this out to him and hope it does something.

Rest in Peace Mr. Large. I hope you find the peace, love and happiness in death that was so elusive to you in life.

Eating Blind

I forgot to mention that Babagenouche and I had the most amazing restaurant experience 10 days ago. We booked a reservation at Dans Le Noir to celebrate her birthday.

Here's the concept:

You eat completely in the dark and are shown to your table and waited on by blind people.

This way the experience of eating is all about the taste, touch and smell of the food.

Oh...and they don't tell you what you'll be eating. You can order seafood, meat, vegetarian and that's it. You get 3 courses and they tell you at the end.

In addition to this the restaurant neatly inverts the normal relationship between the sighted and the blind. Suddenly you're relying on them to "see" for you.

I thought...yeah sure it's dark...I'm sure there's a little light in there.

Nope!

It was crazy. I was really nervous when we were first shown to the dark area by our waiter. I't also quite crowded and loud and I was very disoriented. My sense of touch exploded as did my sense of hearing. I sat down and felt around the table to discover two glasses in front of me and a napkin wrapped around my cutlery. It was daunting at first. We'd actually ordered a bottle of wine and had a bottle of water on the table as well. Try pouring when you can't see anything! You have to stick your finger in the glass to feel when it's going to over flow.

The first course came and I quickly discarded the cutlery. I couldn't use it properly and I had to feel my food to figure out where it was (and try and ascertain WHAT it was).

The food was good through the courses but I wouldn't recommend the veggie option. Gen got the fish and it was WAY better. Desert was an unbelievably rich chocolate mousse. Yum.

We stumbled out blinking into the half lit bar at the end and they showed us what we'd had.

Great experience!

Plus...it was started by a charity for the blind as a way of educating people about the blind and helping the blind find employment. Everyone's a winner!

The Weeks That Were

Well thanks to the unbelievable shittiness of blogger I just lost the entry I've been typing for the last half hour. I hate this site I really do.

Anyway. I haven't put entries on here because I've been working on my enviro blog. It's on the right hand side there. Effortless Environmentalism. Check it out. You can also join my facebook group of the same name.

After not going to Genoa I spent most of the week developing that blog. I also lazed around, watched movies, read books, watched TV and hung out. I managed to unwind for the first time since I started at school really. What with moving, living in another house half the week for the first month, setting up, changing all kinds of accounts, figuring out transport and settling into the new school and all. Unfortunately I didn't get the organizing done that I'd wanted.


When I returned to school I was on the back foot all week. I'd been out of the routine for 2 weeks and I kept forgetting when classes were, where I was supposed to be and finally that I was supposed to supervise the year 8s in library on Friday. Oops. I thought it was kinda funny but my head of department and head of school strenuously disagreed. Apparently it's a safety issue...you know...leaving kids unsupervised. Oops. Sheepish sheepish sheepish.

I also hit a surprising amount of discipline problems upon my return. Students were pretty wild and actually taking the piss (as they say here). They were intentionally undermining and being subtly disrespectful. I was quite surprised. I've spent most of my time back in a real battle with them. The school expects kids to sit silently, do their work, speak only when spoken to and be doing copious amounts of book work. I had to be much harder on kids then I had originally been. I finished the week determined to get super organized over the weekend.

Well...that didn't happen to the degree I'd wanted so I was a bit off kilter again. I really hammered the students on Tuesday after having the worst Monday I'd had so far. It made a big difference though as they fell in line and things went better the rest of the week. Things looked easier on the surface as it's revision week and I didn't have as much planning to do as much of what I was doing was based on writing practice exams. Unfotunately it turns out you have to MARK that stuff so I was marking until 11:00 at night on Wed. and Thurs.

On the upside the kids started rugby on Friday. Rugby is actually a great game but it's basically managed by the referee throughout the game. I won't be refereeing any time soon.

I loved this conversation I had with a kid after the game - remember my year 4s are about 7-8 years old. Read the kid lines with your best upper class posh English accent.

Me: Did you enjoy the game?
Kid: Yes sir. Do you know what I enjoyed the most?
Me: What.
Kid: I enjoyed the fact that it was rufty tufty.

Had to stifle a laugh on that one.

Great film!

Check this out!

http://www.amsterdamn.org/2007/04/22/internet/this-amazing-short-film-won-35-film-festival-awards-watch-it/

Genoa Dreams Dashed

No Genoa for me.

I got to the airport pulled out my passport and...get this... it's hillarious! I pull out the passport and hand it over right? And she...now this is the good part...hands it back and...it's my wife's! HA! I grabbed the wrong passport. All flights are booked to Genoa until Thursday! HAHAHAHAHA! HA! HA HA HA! sob...

I was just looking on a great site from our good friend Mr. Stromoloupopous at the CBC. I know it's probably spelled wrong but I'm sure he's used to it. It's called "Is this a good idea?" They show product ideas and you vote whether you think it's a good idea or not. There's one for the Velo car which I think is a great idea except they cost $9 - 12,000.


Basically they're super aerodynamic, cover you in rainy weather, travel through snow (though I don't know how well protected you are) and can be power assisted to make travelling easier. Now I know they look ridiculous but so does the Smart Car and the Hummer but that's also their appeal. I say make 'em affordable and they'll take off. I personally would love one. They're hillarious.


Check out Canada's dealer at http://www.bluevelo.com or the video at http://goodidea.cbc.ca/

Why is this not on my environmental blog you ask? It's doesn't fit its mandate of easy to implement affordable and effortless changes that people can make. This one is expensive and a huge paradigm shift.

11 Hours to Genoa

Well I'm off to Genoa tomorrow. I think this'll be the first time I actually relax in my vacation. I have been on the run doing so many things I've been stressed and exhausted.

I think the Ritalin experiment is over. It's made me edgy, anxious, scattered and when it wears of I feel EXHAUSTED. I mean like I haven't slept in 3 days. No good at all.

I haven't go much planning done but I've got a ton of other stuff - as they say here - sorted.

I met up with a guy by the name of Simon Legge that I haven't seen since I was in Grade 8. That would be 20 years ago! He was only at De La Salle with me for that one year but he found me on Facebook and it turns out he live in London. Babagenouche and I went out with Simon and his lady last night and had a great time! He works in Finance and actually gave me some tax advice! Turns out that if I get an offshore account, get my pay deposited into it, then transfer it to an account here I would be in for some serious tax savings. Nutty eh? The government opened this loophole about 10 years ago to attract wealthy people from other countries to come here and spend their money...apparently... and it works for me too.

Anyway that's about it for me for a week. In the meantime check out this video!

If I'm on Vacation Why am I so Tired?

I'm supposed to be on vacation but all I've done for days is run around London and sort things out...banking...money transfers...Dr. Appointments...Library cards...going to school to plan...getting mobile phones...setting up all options on said mobile phone...cooking...copying...calling companies...

Then I seem determined to give myself projects. The Effortlees Environmentalism Blog for example. Now I'm coming up with proposals to lower my schools carbon imprint. This means I have work hanging over my head all day.

What happened to the guy who used to sit in front of the tv all day??

The Ritalin Diaries

As many people know I have ADD. I don't have ADD/HD which is the kind what most people refer to as just ADD. AD/HD is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder which has that hyperactivity factor that everyone knows about. I just have the Attention Deficit Part of it.

I have a fairly mild case, I believe. This makes it incredibly sneaky though. Organizing and planning is extremely difficult, my memory is terrible, thinking ahead is difficult (as in...I arrive at the video store and realize I don't have the videos, or I arrive at the train terminal and realize I don't have the train tickets.)

So anyway, thanks to my big Sis I got diagnosed by a Dr. Turgay in Toronto when I was back for the summer. He prescribed concerta which is, essentially, slow release Ritalin.

I wanted something like this because I went to a total quack in Toronto named Dr. Hoffer on St. Clair (if you go there run away!) and he gave me Dexedrine which caused wild mood swings and abilities to concentrate as it kicked in and wore off again throughout the day. So I started on Concerta. I started on a low dose and slowly moved up. It made a WORLD of difference.

I could suddenly organize and sequence my thoughts. I'd think: Ok pack my bag with the the books and stuff for the post office, I'll go to the post office on the way to school, get stamps and envelope there, get on the bus and head to school. It'll take about an hour. What needs to be done TODAY? When I get to school I'll plan out the English. I'll print anything I need to copy as I go. I'll go copy it and put it in that plastic folder I've so cleverly added to my folder. I'll make up the list of instructions for the whiteboard. Then I should have time for marking. Then it's teaching time.

Without Ritalin I can't sequence or prioritize. It goes more like this: I've got to plan that stuff for English. Gotta go. Wait - what about the post office. Where's my bag? Eat breakfast. I've got planning to do. Damn I've got to mail that thing. I'll never get to school on time. Oops I should throw those in the laundry. I've got to plan English or I'm in trouble. Oh the marking. Gotta plan English. I'll have to do photo copying to. Where are my shoes? Gotta plan English. Ok I'll go to the post office. Oh where's the letter? I'll have to make copies. Where's the letter. I've got to plan English. Got the letter. Go!

Guess when I feel calmer and more confident?

Anyway I came over here and I've been battling the system to get more Concerta (loooong story). I finally got a prescription but it's for just normal Ritalin for the moment.

Day 1 I felt good. I could feel the ups and downs happening but not as bad as on Dexedrine. At the end of the day though I felt compeletly exhausted - like I hadn't slept in days. Ritalin is a stimulant so when it wore off I think I was wiped. Didn't eat much though either as it kills your appetite.

Day 2 I was ok but I felt really stimulated and jittery. I also did a couple of ADDish things like buying something then leaving it at the store...and getting on the wrong train. I came home aggravated due to the whole train thing and again felt completely and utterly wiped. I was irritable and couldn't concentrate. Again though...I didn't eat that much.

Day 3 Started badly today. The Ritalin made me scattered and irritable when it was kicking in. I decided to take the 2nd one as I was feeling better by then. I think my body needs to adjust to the stuff as well. Felt fine - took the third one and still feel ok. I made sure I ate regularly today so that might be why I'm not so tired.

If anyone out there is on Ritalin...does this stuff sound familiar?

Anyway...I'm off to Canary Wharf for drinks!

Correction on my new Blog

Ignore that last message. I've changed my blog name and address to EFFORTLESS ENVIRONMENTALISM www.effortlessenvironmentalism.blogspot.com

Didn't like that old name much.

I'm still having internet issues so I'm having problems gettting to update things.

I am now the proud owner of a pocket pc. To the uninitated it's a phone/mini computer. It can do everything including your laundry but the most important feature is the organizer that can sync with my computer. Hopefully it will help me run my life.

More exciting and informative posts to come soon.

My New Blog

SustainABILITY Living!

My goal is to find as many simple strategies and easy changes that people can make that have big environmental impact.

www.sustainability-living.blogspot.com

Happy 1 Year! I'm going to Genoa!

Well, due to overwork and difficult internet access at the moment I didn't get to acutallly post on my 1 year UK aniversary. It was the 14th. One year since I landed! How crazy is tha? If feels like 5. I've done more this year than any other year I think.

Gotta make this quick as I have guests...but I just booked a flight to Genoa for my half term break! I have a friend who's staying there so I'll be staying with. I'll put more details on that later. I leave on the 29th and come back on the 2nd of Nov.

1 Year...

Landed, set up a new flat, started at a new school, learned how to dial phones, travel around, walk the streets, bought household goods, taught science, battled behavioural psycho kids, lived in the semi-country and was connected to East London which is reknowned for being rough, made new friends, made some really close friends, met new family travelled to new areas of England, Isle of Wight, learned some of London's Geography....then it was Christmas...

Travelled to Tours France for New Year, saw Gen's shows, almost had a nervous breakdown, plowed through the last year, Gen had audtions for BBC, dragged my ass through the final haul...made it to summmer.

Returned to Canada...visited friend in Toronto, went to Brother's wedding, visted family in Sutton, Wellington, Victoria...went to Tofino...flew back...

Started new school...lived in a room 4 days a week for a month...looked like crazy for a house...found house...moved to South London - big bustling city...just about finished first term at new school...

and...

Hello Genoa!

Streatham Living!

We're in!

I'll post some pictures shortly.

I'm liking the new 'hood. It's in the bustling centre of South London so it's prety hectic but there's tons of stuff to do. It's true what they say I think. North and South London are two very different places. South London is busy busy busy but people seem much less aggressive in speech and in actions. Apparently this area used to be a no go zone as it was pretty rough but it's been moving up the ladder. I like it. Mix of high medium and low shops. Cool.

Schools going good. I got pulled into a meeting about not handling the kids strictly enough. Got some pointers and things are going a lot better. Kids are grat but it's a matter of learning the shorthand of wha they know and expect in terms of boundaries and how they should behave.

Anyway, I'm off. Wiped. Plus a few people are coming to dinner in a bit to eat and check out the new pad.

One week and then I get two weeks off! Whoo Hoo!

Moving Day.

We're almost out of Debden! Most of our flat is in boxes and we're moving things down. This is being complicated by the fact there's an East 15 final BBQ today and we're supposed to head down to meet up with Gen's family in Warminster for lunch tomorrow. I made it through the rest of the week at school. It was tough as I was drained of energy an on the back foot planning wise. Friday we took the kids to The Globe and did a workshop on Macbeth. That was cool. They work like I want to work in Drama. Which I pointed out to my head of department.

I'll be packing up the computer now!

Tonsilitis Without Tonsils

Obviously I didn't make the traditional Sunday entry last week... now why was that? I can't quite remember. Oh yes. I spent all day Saturday house hunting to much pain and heartbreak. This is not a culture shock thing but a statement of truth: Renters and property buyers in this country are screwed left right and centre. The demand so outstrips the supply that you're lucky to get to see a place before it's gone. Then they have these things called "Estate Agents" who are people that charge the owner (and you) a fee for the pleasure of showing you the place. They're the ultimate useless shady and opportunistic middleman. Sunday I had to plan or something and didn't get to the computer.

We did find a place though! On Monday I was supposed to go look at one place but, surprise surprise, got a call that it was already rented. So I went to look at a place Rachael had found which had the extra attractive appeal of being rented by the actual owner. Turns out it was very large in a decent area of town (Streatham) so we took it!

Then I went through last week which by all accounts was a very successful one. At school we're expected to keep a planning folder with all our lesson plans in there so that if we're sick they can pick it up and just go with it. Also, they can check this to see if we're following what we say we'll be doing. Anyone who knows me might realize that this kind of detailed planning is not my strong suit. I passed the test with flying colours though!

Then on Saturday Babagenouch and I went down to Lindhurst (sp?) in The New Forest (which is 400 years old or so) for Baba's grandmother's 83rd birthday. It was a great time. All the sons and daughters were there, various boyfriends, kids and grandmother's. Great laughs and jokes whizzed around. Good times!

Until my throat started to hurt. Then I got a fever. By the time we left I was very, as they say here, poorly. By Sunday I was slightly worse with a raging fever that could only be held somewhat at bay by taking two tablets of paracetamol (tylenol) every 3 hours. Luckily I already had a Dr.'s apt to try and get my ADD medication on Monday. This would be the third such appointment...and no they still didn't give it to me...but don't get me started on that!

Monday I awoke slightly worse and suffered through the day. The doctor informs me I have tonsilitis. I had my tonsils out when I was 4 but he prescribed me antibiotics and I was in no mood to split hairs after arguing about the ADD medication thing.

Awoke today feeling better. Hopefully I'll be back at school tomorrow.

Week 1 Down

Well, week one is down and things are going well. It's been quite a week. Monday I have most of the day off - as non contact time (or prep time as we'd call it). I spent much of the day organizing things like crazy. Tuesday's not so bad either and one of my classes got cancelled as the students were writing a language test. The result was I hadn't seen the year 6 class until Wednesday. This was a bit weird as it was a week until I actually taught them the first time.

The kids in this school are great. The hardest thing is getting them to calm down and not talk during class. This sure beats kids calling me a fucking cunt, throwing things, and storming out of class!

I took the year 4's out to their first football (soccer) match Saturday morning. They're 8 years old and have just come up from the primary school to be in the secondary school with the big kids. Secondary in my school goes from age 8 - 12...basically grades 3 - 7. That was an absolute blast. It was so fun to watch these little guys playing football. They're really quite good. The private school system is sport mad and these kids can play and are in really good shape.

The week went well. There are a few things I'm struggling with at the moment. The first is Drama actually. The Drama section is ridiculously short. I have 2 classes of Drama but it's only for half an hour once a week with each. Both classes are really wild and unfocused. They're hard to control and I end up spending half the classes struggling to get them on task. I started doing some silent mirroring work with them to get them calm, focused, and connecting to one another but it didn't work that well. The kids keep asking me if they can do acting stuff. Now I'm scratching my head wondering if I should change what I was going to do or just keep doing in so that they go through the process and see some value in it. I think I might get them to do some scenes and do the stuff that's a bit outside the box a bit later down the road.

I started smoking again and then quit again. Unbelievable really. I quit 5 years ago. Don't ask why. It doesn't make much sense. Basically I had a few drags at parties over the last year and it slowly caught up with me just like I knew it would. Anyway, I haven't had a cigarette for 8 days and I'm feeling ok. So far so good. Gen almost killed me. :)

I'm also working on developing a one man show with German David - a director friend of mine. We call him German David because there are 3 David's. German David, Italian David, and Canadian David (me). We're in the brainstorming phase right now. We'll see how it goes!




All in all things are looking good.

Positive Change

What a week! It all started on Sunday when I moved into a room in Acton. I'm really lucky because a friend of mine (Sassy) has parents who own a house that they rent rooms out in and there was one available. Acton is only about a 15 minute train ride from where I work. So I'll be staying there for the next 5 weeks from Sunday night to Thursday night and travelling the 2 hour journey back to Debden on Friday night.

Well I've been going slightly balistic for the last few weeks trying to prepare and get things in order but I'd been only marginally successful as many of the things I wanted just weren't available until school started. I've been terrified of being too disorganized, getting lost, and losing the kids early in the year.

Things have gone well though! The kids are great. I mean really great. I've had a few classes where it's difficult to get them to settle down but that's as far as it goes. They're very capable kids. Some of the writing I've seen is quite amazing and you should see them play soccer! I was with year 4's yesterday and some of these 8 year olds were amazing!

One of the biggest differences is the fact that I have a department and a Department Head along with over all plans for each term, lesson plans, books and resources connected to them. I also have people to ask. Last year I was the only science person with none of that stuff. It makes life a LOT easier. Staff are cool - kids are brilliant. It's looking very good!

Reunion with Friends

Last night I went down to The Hollybush pub in Loughton and met up with some friends I hadn't seen since the end of last school year. It was so good to see these guys! Especially Italian David and Ray. We call Italian David that because there are three David's. Italian David, German David, and Canadian David (me). We all hang out. It gets confusing.

Anyway it was such a great time! I've discovered another pleasant difference between the beginning of this year and last. It's great to see "old" friends. Sure I've only known them for less than a year but they're great peeps!

My room mate Rachel is also back which is great and I'm hookin up with various other mates from last year. Good times!

Antici...........................................................pation.

Well, went into school today again and met some more teachers. Got a bunch of textbooks I'm supposed to hand out into my classroom so that I can...hand them out.

Rarin to go. Really trying to get a handle on anything I can.

I'm paranoid about assessment and classroom management. Gotta get the kids functioning and create some sort of valuable experience based on some sort of coherent plan.

I'm really antsy. I just want to get started. Get the ball rolling. Move forward. Advance. In the meantime I'm reading up on all kinds of stuff about teaching reading and writing and trying to get a handle on how to run my class.

At least I'm feeling good and positive as opposed to burnt out and half suicidal like at the end of last year. There's nothing like a break and a change of venue to lift the spirit.

Geography

Interesting.

Last night I went out to meet a friend of mine who was in town who goes by the name of Matt Dowsett. Funny guy!

Anyway I was in Greenwich and upon getting off the train I realized I'd been there last year when I went on the "Tour of the Thames" (and the pubs it contains) with a couple of teacher's from my school. I had no idea where I was a the time. For the longest time I had these little pieces of London in my head but had no idea where they were or even in what direction I'd travelled to get there. I'm starting to link them all together. It's quite a thrill when I realize I'm somewhere I've been before and I actually know where it is, what's near it, and how I got there.
Makes me think of kids and how they learn...or people in general I suppose. Kids get all these random concepts in their heads that don't make any sense until they're able to relate them to other concepts and knowledge they know.

Anyway I'm starting to feel much more comfortable in this town.

A Day at The Globe

Babagenouche and I went to The Globe yesterday afternoon to see "Love's Labour's Lost." It was quite a thrill to walk into an exact replica of the Shakespeare's original theatre on the exact location that it was first built. We bought tickets for 5 pounds and stood as "groundlings" in the standing section around the stage. The play was fantastic! Imagine! 5 pounds to see world class Shakespeare at The Globe in London!

Here's the ticket: