Thoughts on Trump

I went to sleep last night around 11:30, interested in the election returns, but not worried about them.  I had put my voice forward for Hillary, and I felt reasonably comfortable she would win.  I was most curious about the margin of victory.  I woke up at 1:00 and checked the results.  Nothing notable, and I quickly went back to sleep.  I woke up again at 4:00.  Trump had won Florida and North Carolina.  I didn't get another wink.  It took a while for me to process that he was actually winning.  I streamed CNN for the first time and watched Trump's lead in the Rust Belt increase.  I showered while still hoping that this was just a good showing that would make Hillary's victory narrow.  By the time I called Uber for work, I knew it was over.  

I was deathly quiet in the early morning hallways.  Colleagues patted me on the shoulder, saying how sorry they were, hugging me like I'd lost a family member.  I wanted to hide in my classroom, but I felt oddly like it was a duty to let people see me work through it with some composure in the staff room.  I fought back tears during assembly.  I found comfort in my classes, but I never found my stride or my energy.  The Head even approached me at break and asked if I felt emotionally comfortable getting through the day.  I was grieving, and they knew it before I did. 

This is not the first time I cared about my preferred candidate losing an election, but it is the first time it's affected me emotionally.  I am feeling too many things at once.  I am afraid because we've handed power to a sociopath.  I'm ashamed because we've embraced a man who doesn't think women have rights worth respecting, doesn't think gays have rights worth protecting, and doesn't think immigrants make contributions worth cherishing. I'm sad because we had a chance to elect someone who earns respect through hard work.  Instead, we chose someone that demands respect before doing anything to earn it.  I'm confused because I see an obvious choice between a woman I yearn to be like (intelligent, dedicated, patient, cautious in victory and gracious in defeat) and a man I wouldn't let near children. I'm frustrated because someone who dedicated her life to helping people was lambasted for sending email from the wrong address while a man dedicated only to personal pleasure and self aggrandizement seemed unaffected by advocating sexual assault, attempted murder, war crimes, and near treason.  I'm worried because in all the attempts to make America great again, we have damaged the one quality we had that allowed us to be great at all, trust.   Trust in our government to honor the rights of all citizens.  Trust in our government to honor our commitments to our allies.  Trust that, though flawed as every government is, ours would ultimately act responsibly.  

Our government by the people is also a reflection of the people, and as one of those people I wonder about my small part in this.  We all contribute to the environment that has allowed Trump's ideas to flourish, either through our action or through our inaction. This election is a tragedy, but on the bright side, tragedy has a way of bringing people together to stitch the wounds, even if this particular one is self-inflicted. 

Royal mail can be a royal pain

Mail carriers in the UK have it rough sometimes.  There are houses here with names like "Birchwood" and "The Old Palace," house numbers that seem to follow no logical pattern, and even streets that randomly change names right in the middle just so more people get the joy of having "Number 1" on their door.  Actually, they'll usually spell it out as "one" rather than putting the number.  So, it must be a rough job figuring out just where everything goes.  

However, there is one practice the mail carriers must stop.  If there is a package larger than the mail slot and no one is home to take it, they deliver it to another house.  I am not comfortable with this policy at all, but it seems to be standard practice here.  The carriers don't ask if I know or trust my neighbors, they just give my package to anyone who answers the door and says "okay, I'll take it."  Firstly, it's rude to impose upon a neighbor without asking.  More importantly, it's rude to assume I'm okay with imposing upon a neighbor without asking me.  This isn't unique to the Royal Mail.  UPS does the same thing, but they've given me the extra pleasure of calling me during delivery, discovering that I am strangely at work at noon, hearing me tell them explicitly not to give my package to any neighbor, then ignoring me and doing it anyway.  I called that person's boss and complained on that one, and the boss thought I was weird for not wanting my package delivered to a stranger.  

If they cannot find a neighbor, they put it in a delivery center for me to come pick up.  That is perfectly understandable and acceptable.  Why that isn't the default is a mystery to me.  Perhaps the British are such friendly people that they can't imagine why anyone would not be great friends with his/her neighbors.  Maybe I'm a schmuck for having no desire to knock on every door nearby to make sure it's okay for them to hold onto my brand new electronics.  Maybe it makes a lot more sense now why so many of my colleagues have mail delivered to work.  

A year behind. A year ahead.

A year ago, I ended my year long temporary status and decided to accept a permanent contract. I still felt like I could learn more from this country and this school system. I saw room for growth. And I've hit a growth spurt. I was still trying to decide if I was doing a good job teaching these girls when my head of department moved up the ladder to a well deserved spot as head of the sixth form (the last two years of secondary school when kids take A level courses and apply for universities). I've been asked to take over as acting Head of Physics. What a Head of Physics does, exactly, I'm not really sure. But now I have a department to run. I'm still hoping that the exam scores of the first group of students I've fully taught turn out well. There's more to teaching than that, but you can't underestimate the importance of those scores here. If they go well, everyone will trust me a little more. I might even trust myself a little more. 

This past year, I've had plenty of students that I just don't think I reached, and a few that I definitely did. Teaching is all about effective communication, and these folks communicate far differently than I'm used to. Three years here, and I'm still adjusting to them, and they to me. In the USA, being overtly and persistently positive worked well at helping kids believe in themselves, though certainly not everyone liked that style.  Honestly, I think many of the students here just think I'm full of crap. In the USA, asking a few open ended questions when someone was having a bad day tended to earn their trust. Here, that's tended to make people uncomfortable and actually made it harder for them to trust me. 

The great challenge with communication is that what you try to say is not always what they hear. So I'll have to adapt my style. To a point, I am who I am, and I have to embrace that. But I can adapt, and I'll be a better teacher as a result. 

I have earned my colleague's trust, though, and that's a big bonus. Maybe teachers are better at hearing what I'm trying to say, even if I'm not speaking the Queen's. I've helped look after techies during the musical, helped calm nervous travelers in China and Switzerland, and helped keep up the spirits of hikers on rainy days. I've really enjoyed the hiking/camping trips they take here as a part of the Duke of Edinburgh scheme, and I'm going to do more of that in the future. I also helped guide some girls through an engineering scheme where they did some serious civil engineering design work. I'm getting involved here. 

So, looking forward to this next year, I'm going to have to figure out how to run a department here. I'm hoping to earn the trust of my tutor group as I help guide them through post-secondary school planning. I'm going to try to inspire girls to give engineering a try. I'm going try to help my girls earn those scores that they so desperately want, and hopefully get more to believe that they can indeed achieve them. My school trusts me to run this department for at least one year, and I need to prove to myself that the trust is well-earned. 

I have two more years left on my current work visa. So, after this next year, I'll have some more serious thinking to do. 

A layover in Iceland

Icelandair are trying to cut into the transatlantic market by offering cheap fares connecting through Reykjavik. They are trying to boost tourism by offering week long layovers at no extra cost. Both of these efforts worked on me, and by the sound of the American accents all over Iceland, I'm not alone. 

Iceland is definitely worth a visit, especially in the summer. They have geyser fields, tons of waterfalls, huge glaciers, and countless camping and hiking opportunities. The 24 hour daylight allows you to take full advantage of them all. Everything's pretty expensive, as with all Nordic countries, but the people are gorgeous and friendly (again, as with most Nordic countries) so it doesn't feel so bad. The beer is even pretty good. 

Cool weather, but hot water. Just like Yellowstone. No chance of getting eaten by bears, though. 

Serious waterfalls. No jagoffs in barrels. 

Waterfalls you can go behind. Or use to shoot shampoo commercials. 

Really picturesque waterfalls you can camp next to then hike along. 

Down the road, you come across lakes with freaking icebergs in them!

You can even pay people to show you how to put spikes on your shoes to walk along glaciers. Then take pictures of the schmuck who wears a helmet on top of a baseball cap while standing a foot from  an icy death. 

Then you can pray at churches that look like rocket ships commanded by Leif Ericson. 

Iceland is fun. It's worth a visit if you're heading across the Atlantic anyway.