Nicola on a Mission!

I have never really been in the situation where I feel a strong urge to put on my best cracked croaky voice, sigh, and bemoan the fate of students in today’s education system with the infamous words… “Well it wasn’t like that in my day!” However, yesterday morning I find myself in this position of reflecting that “it was all different when I was a little girl!”

I spent the morning in my old primary school [where my mum still works.] I was talking in assembly to 400 4-11 year old children. But before that, I sat at the back of a higher level year 6 [10 year old] maths lesson. Smugly, I think; “Oh this will be sooooo easy!” I mean, I’m officially a graduated grown-up with a degree, right?

However, 5 minutes into the lesson, I was very much wanting a piece of paper just like the students… So I could make a paper aeroplane! 2 minutes after this, I very much wished I had a pair of very thick, swatty-looking specs, just to make me look vaguely inteligent!

It pains me to admit that, one hour on, it was clear that a group of 30 10 year old children had a far superior grasp of the finer points of mathematics than I did! I’m just eternally grateful none of them asked me for help!

So, please someone tell me…

Do you understand division by chunking?

I just wanted to tell you about my amazing weekend. On Thursday I travelled up to Worcester because I had a presentation to do on Friday morning. I took Michael with me to keep me company, and keep me entertained - a role he instantly fulfilled when he succeeded in breaking our room key! [It was in the wrong door!]
The presentation went OK Friday morning then Michael and I climbed up to the highest point in Worcestershire, the Worcester Beacon on the Malvern Hills. It was a beautiful day and the view was amazing!
We travelled back to London Saturday morning to go and see Spamalot [the Monty Python musical] in Leicester Square, then for dinner afterwards at a restaurant where there was anything and everything imaginable on pizza bases!
Sunday morning we went to Hillsongs Church in the Dominion Theatre, Tottenham Court Road. The service was awesome and we met some of the nicest and most generous people I have ever had the pleasure of speaking to!
It is also worth mentioning here that Ihave a new travel companion, who has kindly concented to come to South Africa with me. His name is Mr. Joseph Burg. It’s ok… Michael knows about him. So if you hear me talk about my wonderful friend, Joseph, you don’t have to run to call Michael…
Mr. Joseph Burg is, in fact, a very lovable, furry giraffe!

Ok so I leave on 6th October, which is in 12 days time. And it’s just occurring to me exactly how much I have to do before I go! I generally consider myself to be a fairly organised person. Although I do usually leave things a little to the last minute. [Hmmm... Really shouldn't do that!]

So before I jet off, here’s a quidck list of some of the things that keep creeping up on me.

Firstly, packing! I hate packing with a passion. It’s not just about knowing what to pack, it’s knowing in advance so everything can be bought/clean/found so it can be packed!
Then I have to find a way of putting a screne reading software onto a memory stick so I can use any computer at any time.
I also have to write 2 presentations, one for a primary school, and one for a secondary school. And transfer everything from my laptop onto an external hard drive. Not an easy task considering the amount of music I have on there.

So many little things to do and seriously not enough time! AAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!
Any suggestions as to how to get everything done without running crazily round in circles getting nothing useful done?