Last day of winter!

Today is the last day of winter. I have enjoyed the season, as I enjoy every season, but I must say that I am really looking forward to spring and then summer! I am really looking forward to some warmth! I spent a couple of weeks in January, in Japan which was great, but it was snowing! I feel as though I really need some warm weather! I am really looking to a friend's wedding in Thailand which will be wonderful.

change is in the air

Well in the past week I have applied for a position at another school, had an interview and have been offered the job! Next year I am going to be a curriculum coordinator at a girls' school in Sydney. It is an executive position and I am really excited about the opportunity. Actually, I am looking forward to the opportunity, but I am really going to miss my colleagues - primarily the gorgeous colleagues in my department.

Today I have finally had an opportunity to start thinking about the implication of my decision. Next year, my department will have a new coordinator and possibly up to two other new members of the department. I came into that department with a view to finding the best in each person and mentoring them to achieve their best. I think, in the main, I have been the encouraging leader I wanted to be. Another of my goals was to revamp programming and assessment, in a collaborative manner with my department. I think we accomplished that as well. I also needed to improve the results and that is something that as a department, we have worked well to do. In all, I am really very proud of my ability to lead my department. The thing I am most proud of though, is the wonderful, collegiate department that we have become. I just adore working with my colleagues and I will miss them terribly. I have never worked in a more functional department, a more collaborative department and with a department full of talented, generous and kind people.

I am so thrilled that these four years have been so wonderful. I am so pleased that my first foray into leading a department have been so positive. I know that I will have different sets of challenges in my new role.

I have learn't so much from the women in my department. I have learn't a lot about myself and have become the kind of leader I always wanted to be. It is through their patience, care, kindness and willingness to come along on the journey, which has contributed to the success our department has enjoyed. I have learn't so much from them that I will always be indebted.

It is rare that one has the privilege to work in a department such as mine. In 12 years of teaching, this is the only department where I have experienced such collegiality. I have maintained such great friends at each of the schools where I have worked at, in my career. I know I will sustain these friendships long after I have signed off on the last register.

The Ship Song Project

As an avid lover of the opera, I was so moved by this beautiful adaptation of Nick Cave's Ship Song. I hope you enjoy it. The sheer magnificence, beauty and emotion that is invested in the showcasing Australian talent, with the Opera House as the stunning backdrop. I love the Opera House. I watch at least three operas a year and at least one or two plays, not to mention anything else that might take my interest. I love just sitting outside, admiring the sails. I love taking a ferry or sailing on the harbour and seeing those beautiful sails from different perspectives. I hope you enjoy it! Whenever I get a chance to head to the Opera House, I take it! I think I would have been there at least once a week for the past couple of months. It's a most beautiful sanctuary.

Music and other things...

It has been a busy weekend of sorts. First and foremost the trial HSC marking was my first priority and I did get through most of what I had to do. It's interesting, to sit and read the thoughts of students, composed while under exam conditions. At times their responses were not too bad. They had made an effort to answer the question and had seemingly remembered the rudimentary aspects required when answering such questions. At times, there were answers that seemed to bypass the great teaching and learning that was evident in the classroom. Either way, the trial exams are just that. A trial. An emotional trial. A test of memory and understanding. A time trial. It's indeed the warm up act to the HSC.
Aside from hours and hours spent on marking, I did get to a couple of functions with my husband, to confirm details for our Thailand trip to celebrate a friend's wedding, to watch some fine episodes and drink a glass of red.
So why is this blog titled music? Well, I love music and I always have something on in the background. Today I'm listening to Billy Valentine. His voice is deep and soulful, which does well to match the lyrics! He was the vocalist on Boston Legal and I just love his voice!
In any case, I suppose we all have music that we listen to, or can at least associate music with experiences, events and emotions.

Have a great week!

Nostalgia

Just a few quotes that have been milling around in my mind of late.

"When people talk about the good old days, I say to people, 'It's not the days that are old, it's you that's old.' I hate the good old days. What is important is that today is good."
— Karl Lagerfeld

"She could sense it very clearly: for me, no less than for her, the past counted far more than the present, remembering something far more than possessing it. Compared to memory, every possession can only ever seem disappointing, banal, inadequate ... She understood me so well! My anxiety that the present 'immediately' turned into the past so that I could love it and dream about it at leisure was just like hers, was identical. It was 'our' vice, this: to go forwards with our heads forever turned back."
— Giorgio Bassani

"Pourquoi nier l’évidente nécessité de la mémoire?"
— Marguerite Duras (Hiroshima Mon Amour)

"No matter how fierce was the passion that gripped him, the fact is he was paralyzed, transfixed by the contemplation of his own past. Only something so momentous as to drive from his consciousness all thoughts of before and after could have propelled him forward. And with his eyes fixed on the past, he had no choice but to continue along its trajectory."
— Natsume Sōseki (Kokoro)

Some great places to eat out in Sydney

This week, I have had dinner at a couple of great places in Sydney. Firstly I returned to the Persian Room at Pyrmont which is becoming one of my favourites. If you have never tried Persian food, you should! It is so fragrant, so tasty and cooked with so much love!

I also tried out a new restaurant - a Greek restaurant called Parea Restaurant at Kogarah. This was also delicious - I always order lamb (why would't you in a Greek restaurant) and it did not disappoint. The meal sizes were generous and flavoursome.