Monday Ukearist and a Bloggiversary

I published my first blog entry on 15th February 2009. I can't believe a year has gone by since then. And just how much my life has changed. Last February I was still working at the Bank of Scotland and I hadn't even seriously considered applying for teacher training. I'd only been on Twitter a month and I'd never met or spoken to half the people I now count as friends. This time next year, I'll be 6 months into my year as a probationer teacher and possibly planning a move to London. I certainly hope I'll still be blogging - I've really enjoyed it this year, and have often been amazed just how many people read my ramblings! In fact, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for reading - whether this is your first visit, or you've been with me since the beginning, I hope you stick with me.


In other news, you may remember way back in November I found out about a ukulele group that meets in Edinburgh called Monday Ukearist. I said I was going to go but with one thing and another I never quite made it. But yesterday, I managed to get my lesson planning done in my free periods at school and I finally made it over to Edinburgh. There were about seven other people there (although John, who organises the group, couldn't make it), and we spent a good couple of hours playing various songs on our ukes. Some of the songs I'd played before and some were new but I managed to keep up so I was pretty pleased with that. It turned out one of the other girls there lives in Dunfermline too so I ended up giving her a lift home at the end of the night. I had a lot of fun, it was nice to meet some more ukulele-playing people and they all seemed lovely. I hope I don't get too swamped at school and I can make it to the next Ukearist in two weeks - I'm hoping it will help me improve some more; and then maybe I'll treat you good people to some more delightful YouTube videos!


And finally, while we're catching up; my second school placement is going well. I did my first teaching yesterday and today and it all went well (as far as first lessons ever do anyway). This school has more resources than my last one, including new-fangled interactive whiteboards in every classroom which is pretty cool. It's a bigger school, which means more kids and more teachers in the department - which seems to translate into less pressure on me and that can never be a bad thing.


So there we are, a year of blogging and all is well in my world.