On Friday night, it was my son's actual 18th birthday, so we had a family dinner with my parents....... was great. He now has his own camera... mine is safe for a little while :). 18 candles made a lovely glow.
My students coped well with being assessed to the nth degree on their knowledge... the process will be all finished for mid semester break by the end of this week, but they have faced a lot of hard work and sweat.. well most of them have; some of them need to sweat a little harder yet. For some light relief, on Friday, we had a fun expo for the class. Teaching and learning does not have to be dry and boring! So during the year, all the classes get to have "sessions" where the learning incorporates tapping into their creativity.. what better way to teach selling skills, ethics, and professional behaviour? I am sure they never forget these days, and it certainly gives some of them a chance to reveal unknown aspects of their personalities...
Good nurse vs bad nurse....
How not to run a vet clinic!!!
Meat is murder; Milk is Slavery
Saturday, I went to the annual mid winter Xmas party for our main teaching clinic... remember, this is New Zealand and it is too hot at Xmas to indulge in the normal festive Xmas foods... so in mid winter we get to eat turkey and ham and, as usual, it was a fun filled night at the beautiful and historic "Sign of the Kiwi", perched at the summit of the Cashmere Hills above the city. Sadly, it might not be a restaurarant for much longer... a great loss to the city.
I cannot in all consciousness post more pictures of it on here... they will disown me for ever! But to give you some idea of what we did after dinner... Singstar Karaoke - try to imagine two blokes singing Aretha Frankilin's "Respect" in falsetto... and another couple doing a great rendition of Queen's "I Want to Ride My Bicycle". ... it was obvious to all they sing it together at home...
The highlight had to be Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" - no idea who had the microphone at the time - we drowned them out with a massed chorus of pleasure. The rendition of "Mamma Mia" I did with another vet was tame in comparison... athough quite sure that our voices were lacking something after all the vocal support we had provided earlier...strangely not reflected in the scores so we must have been in tune!
It is a huge week for birthdays. As well as my son's, I have dinner with a friend tonight to celebrate hers, then Jess is 22 on Thursday, and my daughter is 24 on Friday... off to the mall for another think about what to get them all. Can't give Jess anything -the postal service in Bangladesh is not worth risking :( But we will be thinking of her. They have left to live in the village of Joypara this weekend - will be interesting to see how they find it.
Do check out the family sites this week... Check out the Bangladesh Map for James and Jess
Phoebe's family - post and photos this week is at Treacy Travels
Off to the supermarket... decided perhaps I should get some food and medical supplies for when we are all stuck home with Swine Flu.. or just so we don't starve this week!
