Again a long gap, that's what 7 exams and 5 essays in under 3 weeks does to you! sorry, dear non existent reader!
Exams were OK, essays will be finished by Thursday (I had knee-related grounds for extensions) and then Sunday morning the excitement begins... I fly to Vienna!! woop woop! a month of teaching english and chilling out with (hopefully) lovely people!
Have nipped home for a couple of days to really purge my room of crap in an attempt to make the amalgamation of my Sheffield stuff and residual Norfolk rubbish less of a chore. Met up with some school friends which was lovely, we ended up having a bbq on the beach in the dark- SO much fun!
Have to dash again, will do the God on Mute post when I've retrieved it from under my bed and attempted to finish the last 2 chapters!
xx
Monday, 23 June 2008
Sunday, 1 June 2008
Chirpy Chirpy Chirpy
Well you can't keep a Sarah down for long (unless she's asleep in which case you might be waiting a while...) and, dear reader, I'm feeling far chirpier over the past week (despite a ridiuclous number of horrible exams.) This has resulted in me standing in the living room SCREAMING and bouncing at my poor mis-used flatmates this afternoon, because I have a summer job opposite the Prater in the centre of Vienna!! Geil, oder? I had a fantastic phone interview with the main guy today, it's an english language day camp and honest to goodness, I am counting the seconds. I am overdue a holiday! I'm sharing a class of 4-8 year olds (theres 3 classes in that age group, I'm hoping for the middle one so 5-6 year olds) with another counsellor. I take them 9-4 every day, registration then accompany them to the specialist counsellors for dance, craft, music and sports, then I'm their english specialist so teach them English for an hour and a half a day. I'm so excited- it'll hopefully be everything I loved about YA! without any of the crap that came with being on a residential camp (bongs, homesickness etc.) Unfortunately this huge mood swing has left me more hyper than a kid with ADHD on red bull, and the revision for Oesterreich Heute at 9am tomorrow is not going well.
In other news, the British Council contacted me this week to tell me I'm in a special school for my teaching in Hamburg- not what I was expecting but should still be a laugh!!
In other news, the British Council contacted me this week to tell me I'm in a special school for my teaching in Hamburg- not what I was expecting but should still be a laugh!!
Monday, 26 May 2008
Update (Sorry for the long gap)
So, bite the bullet time, (I've been putting off writing this blog, or anything really for the past month) Andy and I broke up over a month ago now. This is neither the time nor the place to go into that, but it would be weird to continue blogging and not point that out so voila.
In other news (lol) I've been turning to my faith a lot recently, with the rather awesome effect that God and I are way closer than we have been for years. (Seriously- no exaggeration.) This isn't somewhere I feel comfortable sharing every aspect of how this is going, I'm keeping an actual diary for that, but stand by for choice snippets of the experience of a christian getting back into church!
I've been blessed (<-- see, the happyclappy language is back already) (unfortunately the sarcasm never went anywhere) with some AMAZING people who have literally popped out of the woodwork and been there for me in everyway from hugs and coffee through to prayers and words of encouragement and wisdom. Guys- I don't know if you're reading this, and I'm not up for naming people without their permission but you know who you are- thank you SO much. I love you. x x
I checked out a new church last night. Turns out when the poo hit the fan, I wasn't getting what I needed from my old place, and I've been feeling called to the new one for quite a while (but have been sticking my head in the sand)- so I headed up there for my friend K's baptism. I had the BEST service- and ended up with my knee getting healed! How cool?!
Those of you that know me at all will remember a lot of prayer for healing kicking off during my M.E, and to be absolutely honest I never believed that on-the-spot healing was ever going to happen for me. In fact- I had posted on Mark's blog to this very effect earlier this week. But it happened so praise the Lord for that!!
I will be posting more on this as my brain processes it all- my life has been turned on it's head over the past few weeks, plus the exam period is in full swing, but I've been reading God on Mute and am brewing my first ever mark and carl esque post about something other than the mundane ins and outs of my own life. Stay tuned!
In other news (lol) I've been turning to my faith a lot recently, with the rather awesome effect that God and I are way closer than we have been for years. (Seriously- no exaggeration.) This isn't somewhere I feel comfortable sharing every aspect of how this is going, I'm keeping an actual diary for that, but stand by for choice snippets of the experience of a christian getting back into church!
I've been blessed (<-- see, the happyclappy language is back already) (unfortunately the sarcasm never went anywhere) with some AMAZING people who have literally popped out of the woodwork and been there for me in everyway from hugs and coffee through to prayers and words of encouragement and wisdom. Guys- I don't know if you're reading this, and I'm not up for naming people without their permission but you know who you are- thank you SO much. I love you. x x
I checked out a new church last night. Turns out when the poo hit the fan, I wasn't getting what I needed from my old place, and I've been feeling called to the new one for quite a while (but have been sticking my head in the sand)- so I headed up there for my friend K's baptism. I had the BEST service- and ended up with my knee getting healed! How cool?!
Those of you that know me at all will remember a lot of prayer for healing kicking off during my M.E, and to be absolutely honest I never believed that on-the-spot healing was ever going to happen for me. In fact- I had posted on Mark's blog to this very effect earlier this week. But it happened so praise the Lord for that!!
I will be posting more on this as my brain processes it all- my life has been turned on it's head over the past few weeks, plus the exam period is in full swing, but I've been reading God on Mute and am brewing my first ever mark and carl esque post about something other than the mundane ins and outs of my own life. Stay tuned!
Thursday, 17 April 2008
*Big fat blog full of self pity to follow*
I dislocated my knee yesterday and it really hurts :( I can't believe I did it just from standing up on the sofa! Am now on crutches and have to haul myself back across the whole of Sheffield to go to the fracture clinic by myself as les flatmates are all busy. The crutches feel like they're breaking my shoulders, and I can't hobble as far as the history department, let alone the uni proper. Plus the nearest bus stop is up hill, and I have no idea how I'm going to get around! Factor in 2,500 words in on wednesday which I haven't even started yet, and you have the reasons for my current sitting on the sofa with my leg up, wallowing in self pity. Yarg
Saturday, 5 April 2008
Sorry for the gap!!
I've had a crazy easter break, been up to Scotland to help get my parent's house ready for letting (we live in church acocmodation but they just bought my granny's house from her when she went into care, unfortunately she hasn't redecorated since the sixties!!) Meant to do loads of work but didn't because I caught a bug, so it'll no doubt be a mental month and a half up until exams!
I never did a post on the equality officer properly, basically we got a majority but not of 2/3 so the changes didn't pass. Good news is that there's loads of supporters of an equality officer running in round 2 of the elections which is great, especially Beth running for women's with loads of policies to act as a defacto women's officer. I guess that proves that the saying about God opening windows is true!! (as the right wing christian fascist which I was accused of being during the elections :S)
In other news, I wish I could get to London to protest at the olympic torch being carried, but will be packing ready for my return to Shef on Monday morning. I would go tomorrow, but don't want to be put on busses and have the trains all messed up! I was just watching the news about it, got really angry at some stupid silver medallist from athens going " I'm a sportswoman, not a politician. All I want to do is play sport, and it's a huge shame when politics get in the way of that." I'm sorry mrs. Let's not let the human rights abuses perpetrated against thousands of chinese citizens stop you swimming for a living. Yearg.
I never did a post on the equality officer properly, basically we got a majority but not of 2/3 so the changes didn't pass. Good news is that there's loads of supporters of an equality officer running in round 2 of the elections which is great, especially Beth running for women's with loads of policies to act as a defacto women's officer. I guess that proves that the saying about God opening windows is true!! (as the right wing christian fascist which I was accused of being during the elections :S)
In other news, I wish I could get to London to protest at the olympic torch being carried, but will be packing ready for my return to Shef on Monday morning. I would go tomorrow, but don't want to be put on busses and have the trains all messed up! I was just watching the news about it, got really angry at some stupid silver medallist from athens going " I'm a sportswoman, not a politician. All I want to do is play sport, and it's a huge shame when politics get in the way of that." I'm sorry mrs. Let's not let the human rights abuses perpetrated against thousands of chinese citizens stop you swimming for a living. Yearg.
Tuesday, 4 March 2008
Where I've been for the past 2 weeks:
Promoting this around campus, voting started today:
Union Council (on which I am disabled students councillor) propose OPTION 1- A president, education officer and international officer (getting elected at the moment), plus the following:
-An Equality Officer: When we did the consultation (which was emailed out to all students), they consistently (both men and women) put equality above 'womens issues'. Women currently are one of 4 representative groups in the union, yet the only one with dedicated officer support. LGBT, Black Students and Disabled Students (the committee which I am chair of) get moved around different officers every year depending on who 'fancies' looking after them- a totally unacceptable situation in my eyes. Therefore we propose an officer for all 4 groups, who would be held accountable by all 4 committees, therefore preventing 'favouritism'. I also DO NOT believe that removing the women's officer means we can't guarantee a women sabbatical officer- Reading Uni have just elected an all female sabb team despite having no women's officer. Lastly, just because we have had one for however long does not mean we can continue to discriminate against other groups!
-A Community Officer: As you've probably seen over the past year, there have been huge issues relating to hall food problems. Were you also aware that there has been a 200% rise in burglaries recently in Crookes? The women's safety bus would also be covered by this officer role, as we believe safety is not just a women's issue. Also, a weird anomaly of our consitution means that the President is the public face of the Union but the Welfare Officer deals currently with housing issues. So which one talks to the police, sits on the council and deals with community forums? In our proposal- the community officer would. They could also run more campaigns relating to keeping yourself and your belongings and house safe along the lines of Shhh and Love Where You Live.
-A Welfare Officer: Currently, the Welfare officer is responsible for: disabled, lgbt, part time, local and mature students, student parents, all the community issues highlighted above, mental health and sexual health and financial hardship. Under our proposals, due to the creation of the equality and community officers, this would be reduced to: part time, local and mature students, student parents, mental and sexual health (INCLUDING eating disorders, bizarrely currently under the women's officer, despite affecting men too) and financial hardship. Clearly all 3 officers will have more time for their respective groups than currently.
-A Finance and Services Officer: Has explicit responsibility for environmental issues. The environment is a big deal- so vote for a proposal which couples environmental responisibility with real change.
-A Sports and Activities Officer- pooling 2 jobs, but with 2 guaranteed admin assistants therefore a net increase in staff for both clubs and societies, plus guarunteed funding in a year in which the Union is facing huge budget cuts. Option 1 is the only option to guaruntee this funding.
The campaigning has got incredibly petty and personal, some of my friends have been taking some real abuse just because they are the Sabbs, so are easy targets for groups like socialist students, who seem militant in defending their right to speech, whilst constantly challenging that of the Sabbatical officers. Its all still a bit too fresh to talk about now, I'll let you know more after I know how it's gone- I'm knackered from all the campaigning!
Sarah x x
Union Council (on which I am disabled students councillor) propose OPTION 1- A president, education officer and international officer (getting elected at the moment), plus the following:
-An Equality Officer: When we did the consultation (which was emailed out to all students), they consistently (both men and women) put equality above 'womens issues'. Women currently are one of 4 representative groups in the union, yet the only one with dedicated officer support. LGBT, Black Students and Disabled Students (the committee which I am chair of) get moved around different officers every year depending on who 'fancies' looking after them- a totally unacceptable situation in my eyes. Therefore we propose an officer for all 4 groups, who would be held accountable by all 4 committees, therefore preventing 'favouritism'. I also DO NOT believe that removing the women's officer means we can't guarantee a women sabbatical officer- Reading Uni have just elected an all female sabb team despite having no women's officer. Lastly, just because we have had one for however long does not mean we can continue to discriminate against other groups!
-A Community Officer: As you've probably seen over the past year, there have been huge issues relating to hall food problems. Were you also aware that there has been a 200% rise in burglaries recently in Crookes? The women's safety bus would also be covered by this officer role, as we believe safety is not just a women's issue. Also, a weird anomaly of our consitution means that the President is the public face of the Union but the Welfare Officer deals currently with housing issues. So which one talks to the police, sits on the council and deals with community forums? In our proposal- the community officer would. They could also run more campaigns relating to keeping yourself and your belongings and house safe along the lines of Shhh and Love Where You Live.
-A Welfare Officer: Currently, the Welfare officer is responsible for: disabled, lgbt, part time, local and mature students, student parents, all the community issues highlighted above, mental health and sexual health and financial hardship. Under our proposals, due to the creation of the equality and community officers, this would be reduced to: part time, local and mature students, student parents, mental and sexual health (INCLUDING eating disorders, bizarrely currently under the women's officer, despite affecting men too) and financial hardship. Clearly all 3 officers will have more time for their respective groups than currently.
-A Finance and Services Officer: Has explicit responsibility for environmental issues. The environment is a big deal- so vote for a proposal which couples environmental responisibility with real change.
-A Sports and Activities Officer- pooling 2 jobs, but with 2 guaranteed admin assistants therefore a net increase in staff for both clubs and societies, plus guarunteed funding in a year in which the Union is facing huge budget cuts. Option 1 is the only option to guaruntee this funding.
The campaigning has got incredibly petty and personal, some of my friends have been taking some real abuse just because they are the Sabbs, so are easy targets for groups like socialist students, who seem militant in defending their right to speech, whilst constantly challenging that of the Sabbatical officers. Its all still a bit too fresh to talk about now, I'll let you know more after I know how it's gone- I'm knackered from all the campaigning!
Sarah x x
Thursday, 21 February 2008
Busy Busy Busy
Who would have thought Uni was so much work! I can't believe the workload of my seminars compared to how little I did all last semester, and this is before the essays all hit enmasse. I know that if I start on some of them now then I might get further, but I'm really reluctant to for most of my subjects because I want to have had the seminar on the essay before I write it. Luckily, for Fascism that should be in 2 weeks, and I can get going on the German essay as soon as I have decided what it will be on.
I have another cold. I hate this time of year, it feels like the entire world is grey and sniffly. I also haven't been to visit granny (who moved into a home just down the road from me a few weeks ago, can't remember if I blogged on it) since Saturday, I know I should but I've just been so busy!
I had a great lot of meetings yesterday (my 'day off!') and am now really involved in a project called developing inclusive curricula which is interesting- trying to improve communication between staff and students to discuss their needs. (Quite possibly more interesting than it sounds!!)
Really looking forward to the weekend :D excited excited excitedd
x
I have another cold. I hate this time of year, it feels like the entire world is grey and sniffly. I also haven't been to visit granny (who moved into a home just down the road from me a few weeks ago, can't remember if I blogged on it) since Saturday, I know I should but I've just been so busy!
I had a great lot of meetings yesterday (my 'day off!') and am now really involved in a project called developing inclusive curricula which is interesting- trying to improve communication between staff and students to discuss their needs. (Quite possibly more interesting than it sounds!!)
Really looking forward to the weekend :D excited excited excitedd
x
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