happy half term!!!! hurrah!!!

Some people might say that the teaching establishment is plain old lazy for having so much holiday. A few years ago I might have even agreed with them. But then I entered it, had a term of work and slept for 3 days!!! So to those of you questioning our holidays..... its blooming exhausting!

Ok preach over. Yes I am enjoying my holiday thanks.

But i figure I should catch up with my life.....

Loving school, but teaching jobs remain elusive, so i am going to focus on working with physically disadvantged kids instead...... it is super rewarding anyway. so no worries there.

Loving my new house and the community of city gates..... lots of thinking and talking and doing re community and all that. Learning so much from these guys and how they work and love and live.... its a great challenge. But i love it.

Going to Art classes.... creative painting for beginners. Loving it. The first time I went I felt so totally free and weirdly courageous. loved being able to experiment and try new things and colours etc. Last week though was more of a challenge. I feel like I paint like I am in primary school. Its not at all representing what I feel. Also we are painting lots of still life etc - think I am more abstract than that - still it is good to learn the techniques etc. who knows where it might lead me!!!

Having read a book and an article sent to me (thanks) re women in the middle east who are risking life and limb to stand up for the rights of women in Afganistan and Iran, I have been really challenged and inspired. The life of Nobel peace prize winner Shrin Ebadi (her book is Iran Awakening) is amazing...... but what struck me most was not the cases she took to court, the people she represents or the injustice she brings to light (although all these are in themselves amazing), it is the tiny choices she makes every day to stand in integrity to what she believes. She is civil, holy and compassionate, even when dealing with the most monstrous of evils. She has failed and sees change at only snail pace. But through her life and those she represents she has sown seeds of the idea of rights and justice into the people of her country, which will no doubt reap a crop long after she has left us.

Both her and a woman MP from Afganistan realise that their life is as nothing in comparison to what they are fighting for. It has become and is bigger than themselves, but is impacted so strongly by how they live, the choices they make, the words they speak and the actions they live out.

My question - am I willing to do the same??