Beginning Semester 2

I have to take it all back! For the last 18 months I have been correcting the students who insist that Ikea is pronounced with a short vowel sound for the 'i' as in itsy bitsy. I keep insisting it should be with a long vowel sound as in icecream. Well, I'm wrong, and I always have been wrong (to steal and adapt a line from Les Mis). On the long flight home from Paris we sat next to a lovely, and well travelled, couple from Sweden. Turns out the correct pronunciation is with a short vowel. Now, you cant laugh at me because I know that you have all been mispronouncing it too! We had plenty of time to chat with this couple about Malaysia (their current destination) and other destinations they have enjoyed. Poland and Croatia sound interesting............but we just love Spain, cant get enough of it.
It was straight back to work on Wednesday after arriving home about 7pm on the Tuesday, so good that we don't have to start until 2pm. The staff meeting and first two sessions were ok but oh, that last one was long and we couldn't wait to get home and have an early night and long sleep-in. 
Our bikes turned up unexpectedly on Friday morning. We weren't expecting them for another 2 weeks so Eric roused himself off the couch to assemble them, but we soon realised we need some tools so our first ride will have to wait until after the weekend's work commitments.  

Two colleagues that were here with us last year have returned for holidays here after their first 6 months back working in real schools in Victoria. It is interesting to hear their different reactions and reflections. Different horses for different courses. We all have our reasons for staying or going and these 2 were on leave rather than having resigned. Judie was with us in Nepal last year and she is making the most of her return to the real world providing release in a primary school outside Geelong with a major focus on Asian Studies. Marg is back at the senior secondary school, swamped with school expectations and student marking.  Both are making the best of it but don't like the short days and cold weather which leaves little time for anything other than work commitments all week long. On Sunday night we all met up at Wine Bos in Bugis again to share the night with these two and also all our workmates who have just spent holidays in many far flung destinations. Judie had returned to Cambodia to spend time with special friends in Siem Reap.

Monday morning we were due back at Bukit Timah for that climb. Bev had stayed over at our place, much easier for her to get home and to Bukit Timah from Serangoon than way out west in Jurong. It also gave us a better chance to chat about her experiences in Vietnam over the last 2 weeks. I got up pretty fresh but was deteriorating badly on the hot back seat of the bus. We had chosen one of those articulated buses that are extra long and the back end seems to bounce all over the place. By the time I arrived at the end of the journey i was green. Was it the bus ride or the one too many glasses of red wine last night? Who will ever know? Anyway, I made it to the summit by which time I was thankfully feeling a lot better. 

In the evening we returned to New Everest Kitchen to spend the night with Judie. Peter had created a dvd using some photos from our trip so we could enjoy it all over again. Everyone in the restaurant seemed to enjoy it. We even had a return visit from Trudie!

 Trudie 

 Bev

 

You see that very special neck band I am wearing? It was presented to us in Gudel last year. Well, what I have since learnt is that the plant they use to dye it does not create a colour-fast result so you should never wear white trousers with it. I have since had to throw them out despite a number of laundry treatments, all of which proved fruitless. 

Our original plan for Tuesday was a bike ride with Michael (husband of Heather from Punggol and most recently in Lisbon with us). But we took the bikes for a short spin yesterday and there are some issues we need to solve like wobbly disc brakes and seats that wont rise high enough. Our new plan is to take them to the distributor on Thursday morning. 
Meanwhile work resumed again, why can't these weekends be longer? Eric needs at least one more day of rest to throw off the flu he has developed. There was some sort of incident at Kovan while we were on taking classes, the kids kept arriving and the stories went from car accident to murder. Guess I'll have to buy the paper tomorrow. Stay tuned.