Yes, as of week three I have come to my senses and decided I was INSANE to choose teaching as a profession.

I.N.S.A.N.E.

The work load is I.N.S.A.N.I.T.Y.

However, on the upside I have a fantastic bunch of kids, and I mean really, really fantastic kids, and I can see how next summer I might, just maybe, look back and think ‘Hey, y’know? I think I actually DID have some fun! Maybe that one day – that first Saturday of Christmas break – that day was not so work-like, and if I squint and think back real hard I think it might have been kinda fun. At the time.’

Anyway, my advisory (a group of students that I am supposed to get to know really well)  has chosen to represent Sealand during the upcoming Advisory Olympics.

What is the Advisory Olympics you ask? Well, this year we banned the ‘Cucumber Pass’ event. Last year’s participants had to put a cucumber between their legs and then pass it to a team member, who, you guessed it, had to accept it with their thighs.

Despite the raging popularity of this event, Olympic Officials have deemed it unwise given the impending Swine Flu epidemic.

Anyway, you get the general idea.

Here are our T-shirt designs:

My Advisory's chosen Olympic Nation

I’m currently participating in the new teacher training for my new job. They call it the ‘Odyssey’. So far I haven’t met any cyclopses. However, I have finished this, my first ever math puzzle! I’ll explain more in the next post, but I just had to get it up because, despite it being a fairly simple problem, it is a huge milestone in my lesson planning. One of the projects I’d like the kids to do is to come up with their own geometry puzzle so we can create a book to self publish on Amazon.com. I was mildly freaking out that I was assigning them something far, far, beyond their capabilities, but I managed to do this one in about two hours. I’m going to give the kids six weeks plus two months of skill building so they have the appropriate tools to build their own puzzles. I think they may just be able to do it.

So without further ado, my first modern day Sangaku! If I haven’t made any gross errors (which is entirely likely) requiring me to take it down and fix it, I’ll post the answer to it in a week or so. Feel free to try it! (Unfortunately at this point it does require a calculator at the end unless you’re a wiz with non standard unit circle trig identities – over the next few weeks I’m going to try to alter it so no calculator is necessary.)

Angles of Grace

Here are a few last photos of France. We stayed at La Madone and recommend it highly. The owners, Nathalie & Jean Bernard, were lovely and we have fond memories of appartifs in the garden with our hosts and the various guests. We stayed in the Appartment Contemporain. Très cute.

Archway in small provencial village.

River

Evening sky from the car.

Gourdes, Provence.

Windows and a small bird.

Stream weeds.

Ruins.

More photos from rambling drives.

Above: one of the many old farm houses dotted throughout the fields of the Luberon Valley.

A group of young horses were skittish before a small rain squall.

We’re staying at a gorgeous ex-nunnery in Apt, Provence. The town, and for that matter, the entire Luberon Valley, is stunning in its unpretencious contentment. Plants ramble, buildings crumble, everyone smokes, and life continues in outdoor cafes as it has for eons.

Above: the view out of our living room window.

Above: the church in central Apt. I believe it is Ste. Anne’s Cathedral.

Above: our afternoon activity station.

Above: a gloriously blue bench.