Back to life, back to reality!!

Soon my two months summer break will come to an end. For sure it was a very fun time that I got to spend with A at home and abroad. Highlights were the trips to Yorkshire to the B-family, the three days of Disney fun and the sunny break in Zürich in family company.
Now I am facing a new school year and that is always a bit scary. At one end I don’t mind getting back to work it is part of my job description. Of course it will take some adjustments after spending two months in the sunshine, stress free (most of the time!) and letting the day itself decide what we will do or won’t do.
Starting Tuesday I will be facing:

-daily traffic jams and hoping that I will always make it in time. I even thought about camping in the patio at work.
-Hearing the annoying sound of my alarm clock and then forcing myself to come out from under the cosy duvet in order to brush my teeth and facing my wrinkles in the mirror.
-Pupils with tons of wishes and sometimes outrageous requests. This year I will be teaching 6 hours of Religion so I hope that I can stay in the Zen mode as long as possible or that Saint Peter will grand me daily the entrance into the heaven.
-Tons of paperwork. Even for requesting a little amount of chalk or wanting someone with more brain cells taking a look at my computer in distress I will have to use ink and paper.
-Home work! Lesson preparations, the digital school diary and platform, evaluations, report cards, email-traffic, brainstorming, reports, creating new projects, etc. Tons of stuff that will be facing me after spending time in my car and getting the rumble out of the way that I created in my kitchen in order to prepare something nutritious for A&P!
-Putting lunch bags together for A and me! Cutting tons of pieces of fruit. I keep my fingers crossed that A will prefer a banana once in while.
-Meetings that will not always will be effective. I do sometimes imitate teachers who are planning ahead and I have to be honest it is not a pretty sight. Yes, I do admit it: TEACHERS ARE DIFFICULT PEOPLE TO DEAL WITH!
-Coffee breaks! I do need a cup or two in the mornings in order to return to the living but I am still amazed how much black liquid some of my colleagues can take in! I did try to keep up once with them but turned into an over active teacher. So I already packed some cans of Diet Coke to face those moments of the day!
-Parents in all moods, sizes and colours. Last year I had some less nice encounters but I am ready to face ‘the enemy’ and trying to mend fences in the hope there can be light at the end of the tunnel!
-New projects at home, at work, at the gym (yes, I do intend to go back there as well!),a new season at the book club with some challenging reads, last but not least at college! Yes, I did not end up getting good grades or finishing all my courses successfully but I won’t give up yet!
-My computer!!! More and more that little chap lets me down by not delivering the work I expect from it! Dreading the fact that I will end up in one of those computer shops where I nerdy salesman will try to sell me a new high tech piece of equipment and ruining my savings account!
-A team consisting out of tons of old colleagues but also new ones! Getting to create new memories and experiences! Guiding the new ones and student-teachers through this adventure! But also missing my close colleague I, who now faces her personal new challenge! I will miss her and already feel a bit lost at work not having her that close by any more!
-Driving around with A! Taking him to school, gym classes, grandparents, swimming lessons, play dates and other destinations. We will be for sure spending some quality time in the car together and I already want to warn the other drivers: pulling faces and head banging!
-The Swine Flue (we call it here the Mexican Flue) and hoping that I won’t catch me! Chances are quite high that it will find me having a doctor in the house, a five year old and then me working with some kids who think that soap and water you only use to wash dishes!
-The key routine!! Stallie and keys is not a winning combo and I will be spending quite some time searching for my car keys, the key of the mailbox, the key of my class room, the key of my locker at school. I bet that I will be emptying tons of bags in order to find those useful objects!
-Looking for new challenges! I am working at it but it is not that easy to find that one new challenge you are after. So once more I will need to write CVs and letters and buying stamps at the post office!
-To do lists!!!!!! So many things, so little time! I will run out of time and won’t make some dead lines! I wonder if I can buy a time machine to make up for lost time! Like the time I already lost by typing this blog entry!

Wish me luck!!! I will need it this year! I do promise that I won’t be a mean teacher, won’t give that much home work, will be nice to parents, my principal, colleagues, pupils and you!!! And not giving low grades! Uhm, that last one will be hard because I don’t teach geniuses but you can bet that they are geniuses in finding outrageous excuses that will make you LOL!! Hope to have school year full of smiles! I will promise I will put on my nicest smile when facing the 1st of September! Please be so kind and smile back!!!