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.