Winter, Root Canal Surgery and Report Writing

I've been fairly quiet on the blog of late; whilst it would be easier to say that I've been 'busy' it sounds better if I say that I've been living my life, rather than writing a commentary on it. The fact is that I've been busy working; not busy doing lots of exciting things. The school year is divided in to two semesters, with four terms in total. We are approaching the end of semester 1, term 2; this means lots of exam marking and report writing. It's also rugby season, so I am coaching the U14s twice a week, with a match on Saturday mornings. I also have an assignment for my ongoing DipEd. So basically it's all been pretty 'full on', so to speak. Nevertheless, it's less than three weeks now until my trip; which is very exciting and is giving me something to look forward to, beyond all the work I have to get done before then.




In slightly less dull news, Jeremy and I took a group of Year 11 and 12 students (6th Form age) to Auburn-Gallipoli Mosque, and then to Nan Tein Buddhist Temple on Thursday - both of which are out west, near Parramatta. It's certainly a very different demographic out that way.  It was good to ge out of school for the day, and for the boys to actually experience these places of worship. We teach Islam and Buddhism at HSC as part of the Studies of Religion course. The boys seem to enjoy it and took a lot from the day, especially at the mosque, which is one of the main ones in Sydney.

Winter is upon us here; we had some incredibly heavy rain last week, inevitably causing flooding, but fortunately it's been faily mild of late - top of 20 today, which isn't bad. It gets chilly at night though, and I'm sure it's colder in our flat than it is outside. I've probably whinged on here before at the lack of double-glazing in Sydney. I have, though, bought a heater to see of the worst of the cold. Gill and I are increasingly thinking of where we will move to; this will happen after our trip. I had been pretty intent on a move back to the inner-west; Balmain, Rozelle, Glebe, Annandale; leafy, great cafes and pubs and near to work so I could cycle; we have begun to consider staying this side of the Bridge though. Wherever we live, one of us will need to cross it every day for work (currently it's me), although we could live in North Sydney, Neutral Bay or Cammeray which are all on the north shore but closer to the Bridge than where we are and have some lovely areas. Whilst Mosman is a beautiful spot in terms of views of the entrance to the Harbour and the surrounding headlands, it's pretty inconvenient as a location and our flat is too small for two.

In other fun news, I am in the process of having root canal surgery. Not literally as I type, but I mean I've had two sessions, with two more to go. I've got several old fillings which have cracked, with decay getting underneath one of them which has effectively killed the tooth. So the dentist sent me to an endontist to get it fixed. On top of that, I've had to have three other fillings replaced and my front teeth rebuilt, as they were chipped. Unfortunately, none of this is covered by my health insurance (I have a 12 month waiting period left before I can claim on it) so it's costing an arm and a leg, not just a tooth or four; but I aim to get it all sorted before I get on the plane.

This evening Gill, Sarah and Angelique are having a "girl's night in". This means that they've dispatched me, Andrew and Michael out to the pub, "to watch the footy". There is, obviously, always footy on, but the Tigers (League) don't play till Monday night and the Warratahs (Super 15s, Union) played yesterday and I can't really get excited at watching Canterbury Bulldogs v Manly Sea Eagles, to be honest. That said, when I was writing reports last weekend I did so in front of the AFL, which is a much better spectacle that Rugby League, once you work out what's going on. This isn't always easy as it looks just like one massive brawl (which, actually, I think it is), but it's an entertaining brawl, nonetheless. And there's always AFL on the tv.

In any case, it can only be better than sitting in writing reports - which is what I did last Saturday evening and what I will spend the week doing.

A more exciting blog in a few days - Nick Farr-Jones, World Cup winnning Wallabies captain and old-Newingtonian, is speaking on Ethics and Sport on Wednesday at school; he is a regular speaker and also a lawyer, so it should be a good lecture.