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I hope you can forgive me the big delay of August's issue. My computer had technical problems so I was way unable to release Baku at time. I hope you don't mind it too much. Since I'm currently pretty busy I'll just post the pages so you can download. I'll edit this post once I find time. Please...
Here I go again. I'm starting a new job on Monday and I sure hope it goes better than the last job! I really don't think there will be a problem, considering I will be working as a school librarian at Diocesan School for Girls, a wealthy private school. Somehow, I don't expect these girls are likely...
I am a listaholic. I love grocery lists, to-do lists, book lists, staff lists, travel lists, and obscure lists of any kind. So naturally I was thrilled when Lucy said she was going to do a bulletin board display in the library about lists. Brilliant! We included books like 1001 Books You Must Read...
I am born to be a librarian. OK, I was born to be a teacher, too, but being a librarian sure comes naturally. As many of you know, I am addicted to 2 things: chocolate and books. So letting me loose in a library is like letting me loose in a chocolate store. (I couldn't go to Powell's Books in...
Intermission lasted 48 hours: We returned home to Auckland at 6 a.m. Saturday morning, did heaps of laundry, and took quite a few naps. Beautiful, sunny day. Good to be home. Went to church Sunday morning and sang in the choir. Everyone was glad to see us. Then took another nap. Monday morning - had...
Sir Edmund Hillary has died. In this small country, where there seems to be 3 degrees of separation instead of 6, everyone has a connection to Sir Ed, as he is affectionately called. Here are mine: • I can't claim to have ever met him, but he lived about 2 miles away and I drive by his house every...
In my Y9 Social Studies class, the girls are studying women's rights throughout history. I am in heaven because it's a topic I love to rant about (ask my husband and four sons). And I work at an all-girls school which means I don't have to be worried about presenting a "balanced" view. Just kidding....
I went to my first prizegiving ceremony at Diocesan. It was the end of the school year and 200 of our Year 13 girls had completed their secondary studies. In American tradition, there would be a ceremony marking this occasion, called Graduation. But In New Zealand, there is no such ceremony for...
Things are going well in spite of the imminent death of my father back in America. My job is so perfect that it's hard to believe that I get paid to do this all day. Curt calls it my EASY job as in "Have a nice day at your EASY job!" My colleagues are still exceptional. I recently attended a...
We've been living here for 1.5 years now, and we really are better at understanding the Kiwi accent. I swear. But at times, it still stumps us. There have been three recent events that reminded me just how muddled I can get. There's a great kids' book called Millions, written by Frank Boyce. It's...
Last week, I took 60 11-year-old girls to MOTAT, the Museum of Transport and Technology. We'd been studying technology and inventions so the exhibits at MOTAT were perfect for our topic. We saw old cameras and old washing machines and rode an old tram. It was a bit disconcerting, however, when the...
It's report (report cards) time at my school, which usually means long hours and major headaches. Besides writing 100 paragraphs about my own 100 students, I was unanimously selected to be the chief proofreader for the rest of the Social Studies department because I am the only English geek in the...
Yes, we're suffering from Potter Mania here in New Zealand, too. The final book in the Harry Potter series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" went on sale Saturday, 21 July at 11:00 a.m. which is midnight in London. Buying the book at 11 in the morning is serendipitously convenient for Kiwi...
CITYBOUND: On Thursday, I took Carlin and Kristen to the aquarium, called Kelly Tarlton's. First, we got to see a scuba diver hand feeding the fish in Underwater World. She was getting mobbed by all the fish and turtles, and I'm sure it made her feel quite popular. There was also a Stingray...
The summer holidays are over, and school has started up again. I'm back at work. It's weird to have this all happening in February instead of September. I may never get used to it. Being away from work for 2 months over the summer meant that I forgot my passwords (There are 3 different ones for...
I've always hated it when people start out by saying, "I'm sorry I haven't written in so long..." but I'm tempted to say it myself this time. I haven't written a blog in 3 months(!) and it's not because I was lacking things to write about. On the contrary, it's been quite eventful around here....
One of the things I like about being a teacher is all the things I learn while I'm teaching. For instance, in one of the Social Studies assignments, there was a question asking what continent New Zealand is a part of. My first reaction is to say New Zealand is an island and therefore not part of any...
Let me start out by saying that I love this job. Curt calls it my "easy job." Every morning when we head out the door, he says, "Have a good day at your Easy Job." It's a great job. Here are some of the things that I love to do: ORGANISE - I love to catalogue books. After all, cataloguing is really...
MONDAY - Carlin & Kristen arrived to spend the next 2 weeks with us. On their first night in NZ, we took them for a drive to the neighbourhood beach and on the way back, I gave Carlin his first driving lesson for driving on the left. It always sounds scarier than it is; people usually get the hang...
After a prolonged debate, it was finally decided that I would get to attend the School Librarian Association of New Zealand (SLANZA) conference in Wellington. At first, my colleagues and I assumed that the boss would go. Then she didn't want to go. Since it looked like nobody was going (and there...
