Last Saturday, the weekend before we went on placement, I went shopping with a couple of good friends from TColl. While we were in the mall we went into a shop that sold stuff that was kind of quirky. One of my friends tried on clothes, but I got sidetracked by jewellery. I found a really cool (odd!) necklace with a metal charm of the Eiffel Tower and piece of green leather. Totally not what I would normally buy or wear, so I decided not to buy it and we left.

The next day one of the friends who had been with me, Facebook messaged me to say she’d been to the mall again and decided to buy a couple of things (shoes and pants) that she’d been undecided about the day before. She also told me she had bought “a surprise for a friend.”. The number of smiley faces accompanying that sentence indicated she wanted me to know the friend was me, and that she was hoping I would ask her about it so she could tease me. I saw it coming, and assumed that since it’s my birthday in two weeks, it was something for that. I also ignored it, just to annoy HER! Hahah!

Fast forward to yesterday. I was walking through the mall again and decided to go back to the shop to see if the necklace was still there, and to buy it if it was. It had gone.

Later that evening I was talking to this friend on Facebook (again!) and mentioned to her that I was really bummed because I’d been shopping and the thing I was hoping would still be there wasn’t. She asked me what it was and I told her. She didn’t reply for ages, and then said that when I’d been at her house that afternoon she’d completely forgotten to give me the “cunning plan” she’d been formulating.

She then started teasing me about it and this time it was driving me a little bit mad so I started trying to guess what it was! I just got more and more confused! I am actually kind of good at figuring stuff out, but apparently she is MORE awesome at hiding things!

Long story short…when I went to see her this morning it turned out that the cunning plan was…

It transpired that the day after we’d been shopping, THAT was what she’d bought! She said that when I’d told her what I’d gone back for, she and her husband laughed SO hard! Because it was in her spare bedroom waiting for me! HILARIOUS! Luckily for her I hadn’t told her this in person, otherwise she might have not been able to hide it so well!

I <3 my friends. One of the coolest things that has happened to me this year.

Today was my first day in my Year 0 class! I didn’t do any teaching today, just a lot of watching, but all the kids are so cute and adorable that I’m really keen to start!

I took quite a lot of photos, but I’ll only post this one because it doesn’t have any children actually in it. Look at our super colourful wall!

441. Do you push people away when you really want them to come closer? I push people away, but not if I want them to come closer. That would be stupid.
442. Is a prenuptial agreement necessary or does it take the romance and trust out of marriage? Personally I don’t know how happy I’d be if my spouse wanted to get one, though I suppose it’s understandable if they have family money they want to protect if something goes wrong. So long as both partners are in genuine agreement I don’t think there’s any problem, even if it is more practical than romantic.
443. Do you lie your way out of things? Yes, I think everybody does, but it’s not as if I do it on a daily basis.
444. Are you better at talking or listening? It depends who I’m with and what we’re talking about.
445. What will only happen to you once in this lifetime? Getting married. I hope.
446. Know of any conspiracy theories you think might be credible? I’m not that interested in conspiracy theories, as interesting as they are!
447. What are the most beautiful words that have ever been spoken to you? Not sure…
448. If it were legal would you own a human slave (race unimportant)? No, I don’t think one person owning another is very ethical.
449. Have you ever read your own writing at a poetry reading? No, I don’t write poetry or go to poetry evenings.
450. What is one simple thing that gives you the happy shivers? Nothing that I can think of off the bat.
451. What do you do for exercise? Walk around the uni and up and down my hill.
452. Would you rather have a strict teacher with a sense of humor or a lenient teacher that doesn’t teach? Having experienced both at high school I can safely say that I’d rather have a strict teacher than a lenient one! The lenient teacher I had was absolutely ridiculous! She taught me I.B. Spanish for a year and on many occasions was twenty minutes late for class or did not ever turn up at all. She also stunk of cigarette smoke, ranted and raved whenever we asked a question (and never answered it), got angry with us when we (understandably) became frustrated with her lack of teaching ability, and, the icing on the cake, held up and read from the final exam two days before it took place, telling us to take notes so we knew what would be asked of us! The whole class was like a comedy of errors and I’m not sure that anybody learned anything the entire year!? On the other hand, the strict teacher I had (not that she was terribly strict, but we actually had to do work in her classes!) was awesome. Although she was a little bizarre at times, she was a good teacher and probably the best one I have ever had.
453. If you ever have a baby what might you want to name it? Jennifer, or Grace
454. If you won free tickets to a concert from a radio show and had to choose between Inxs, Poison, Blondie and Moby, which would you choose? Moby…or Blondie
455. Are you a good cook? I’ve never really been into cooking, so no.
456. Do you prefer when things come with no assembly required, even if they are a bit more expensive? I think for the good of everyone around me, pre-assembled things are the way to go. Having to put things together never ends well.
457. Start a sentence with the words: What if I dyed my hair blue?
458. Are you more spontaneous and unpredictable or loyal and routine? Loyal and routine.
459. What is the highest number you can count to in your head? I don’t know whether there’d be a limit, other than how far I’d get before I got bored and lost interest.
460. How do you go about losing weight? I don’t.

My last teaching placement (In April/May) was in a Year 8 (7th grade – I think!?) class. These kids were 11/12/13 years old and are the oldest age group I will ever teach, since I’m training as a primary (elementary) teacher.

Today I found out where I am going for my second placement, which starts at the end of this month. I’m going to my local school (within walking distance of home!) and I will be teaching Year 0, which is Kindergarten!

This is the exact school and age group I resquested when I filled out the placement form, so I am very excited! I’m going to be SUPER busy again soon, but hopefully it will also be a lot of fun!

Really looking forward to the practical side of this (not so much all the assignments, lol!) and I am so glad I had the last placement that I had. One that was difficult, but achievable. I don’t think I’d want to go back there, but I’m glad I went. Talking to some of my friends about their experiences (one in particular, whose supervising teacher was so bad she contemplated leaving the course!) I know I’m lucky to have good memories of mine!

421. Who deserves an apology from you? Nobody really, I don’t think
422. How would you like to treat your kids differently from the way your parents treated you? Lots of ways, which I won’t list here, for risk of this answer reading like a list of bad things my parents have done.
423. Which do you like best: 60′s, 70′s or 80′s fashion? 60s
424. What is the worst pick up line ever used on you? I don’t remember, sadly, bad pick up lines are funny!
425. Of the following, which word best describes you: inventive, kinetic (energetic), light-hearted, mature: Light-hearted
426. Do you own a record player? A CD player, but no I don’t use it, all my music is MP3s
427. How easily do you make friends? Much more easily this year than before. The social aspect of TColl is awesome!
428. What is the difference between having character and being a character? If you have character it means that you have a defined and solid personality, which is usually seen in a positive light, but if you are being a character, it either means you are performing on a stage/screen, or trying to trick people into believing that you have a character you do not really possess.
429. Are there any animals you flat out refuse to touch? Things with big teeth and sharp claws. Also horses.
430. Do you care about your weight? Yes, everyone does, admittedly some more than others, but everyone cares to some extent.
431. Did you/will you go to the prom? Yes, I did, I went to three.
432. Have you ever wanted to date twins? Both at once, or one after the other? No, not really, but it would be kind of cool.
433. What one thing would you change about high school if you could? That I’d been more outgoing.
434. If you came with a warning label, what would it say? “Caution: fragile”
435. Are you artistic and creative? Yes, sort of.
436. What were you (probably) doing on this date last year? Posting this blog entry.
437. What are you obsessed with? Facebook. Uh oh.
438. What was the last compliment you received? I don’t remember
439. Do you have any brothers or sisters? No
440. Who would you like to be alone with right now? Well I AM alone right now…but I’d like for this ginormous pile of work not to be with me!