Working at Beverly Hills High does come with certain perks and one of them was last week - the annual ski trip to Ramundberget. This year, due to circumstances beyond our control, the school combined the student ski trip with teacher conference days... what this meant was that instead of the teachers that chose to go on the trip being able to cruise around on skis for 3 days (working hard for our money!), all teachers were expected to go and then sit in a conference room from 9am to lunchtime - with a couple of hours of skiing afterwards if we wanted to. Obviously I was off the slopes - but managed to find a gym to work of the energy accumulated whilst sitting through meetings, and then hobbled over to after-ski. With 200 students on the slopes it was one of the largest groups the school had taken for quite a while, combined with the great snow this lead to almost hourly updates of the latest student to hurt a knee/arm/back. We were quite a group of wounded after 3 days.
It also, once again, gave the minority a chance to really piss the teachers off by flaunting all rules and generally acting like spoilt brats. It would seem that a few of them were on the trip for the after-ski not the skiing. Yes, the over 18s are allowed to drink (and the under 18s try very hard to!), but there is a difference between having a couple of beers and waving your Gold Card around ordering champagne. Anyway... it's building team spirit... so they say. There was a disco one night and an open-mike night as well (which did give some of the students a chance to show some amazing musical abilities... and some to show a distinct lack of said abilities).
The 8 hours on the bus each way gave me a chance to catch up on B grade chick flicks that I regularly miss out on now that I don't have my little sis to keep me up do date. The Mean Girls DVD was unfortunately scratched, but we managed to fit in 50 First Dates and A Cinderella Story!
Back in Stockholm... I went to the physio on Friday and now have some exercises to try to stop the rapid wasting of my right leg - amazing how fast it disappears. I am walking on it almost properly, although need crutches as I can't bend it fully in the knee brace I have, and have been able to go to the gym and do some upper body exercises. Which has been great to work off the frustration of not being able to ride or swim. Thankfully (luckily!) I have the "taxi note" from my doctor all the way until the Easter hols, so I get to avoid the train for another 2 weeks - thanks for the comment Scotty! And then after the holidays my travel involves planes more than trains...
... first it is off to Sofia, Bulgaria for a MEP conference. Model European Parliament - students play politicians for a week, representing their country, debating issues that face the EU. Ours is one of 5 schools in Sweden that comprise the delegation - and I'm the chaperon! Having now seen the final program it looks as though the students will be doing more work than I will - the way all teaching/learning should be. 9 days in Bulgaria is followed by 4 hours at Arlanda airport and then back onto another plane...
... and the lovely, long flight back to Melbourne. I have somehow managed to swing time off work (combined with public holidays and project days that I'm not involved in) to get 10 days in Melbourne. The reason for timing is Brooke and Jared's wedding... the booking of the ticket did take a bit of time at the travel agent: can't leave before 3pm on Sunday (arriving back from Bulgaria), have to be in Melbourne by Tuesday for the buck's night (which the 4 groomsmen are trying to organise from Texas, Sydney, Bairnsdale and me in Stockholm - nothing like local knowledge!). So we managed to find a flight and I am very excited. Although I am beginning to realise that I'm not going to have enough time to do all the things I would like to do... particularly anything that involves driving a car - as I will still have the knee brace on. Will probably have a general get-together, so stay posted for that! Unfortunately my trip to Melbourne is not coinciding with the World Swimming Champs which are on at the moment - hope all you Swedes that are down there now are enjoying it, you're not missing much here. But my trip will let me catch the end of the comedy festival - so a few laughs hopefully (not for the littlies!).
Time to get on with the exciting Sunday evening stuff - everything that I've been putting off since Saturday morning... take care out there...
rich.
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