I arrived in Heathrow about midday Tuesday having left Bozeman on Monday afternoon, and got home early afternoon. I opened the front door, pushed a pile of mail out of the way and stepped onto a very soggy hall carpet!
The ceiling, some of which was on the floor, was dripping. So I got a bucket and all the towels and trod on the towels to soak up the moisture. This procedure used up all the towels and turned them brown so before I could wash any of my clothes I had to wash the towels. It was not good drying weather but I need to get them dry quick so I could continue with the mopping up.
The ruined hallway was the only room I had decorated. The weather was dull, wet and cold and being tired I was feeling a little miserable as you can imagine. I had left all my friends and family in Montana attending a few days of seminars because I needed to get back to work.
The mail was wet but so was a box of books!
I was concerned that the carpet would get mouldy. I had a brainwave. I was now living in a place that had gas fired central heating and the radiators could be controlled separately. The weather was a little chilly but I would not have normally put the heating on however I made sure all the radiators in the house were off bar the hallway one an the one in the lounge that was by the hall door.
I decided that although I had no idea what had caused the leak, I needed to have a shower and brush my teeth. Next morning the dripping had stopped so there was not much for the guy to look at when he came to sort it out. Actually his job was just to report back to the owner. He said he would get the plumber to come and take a look. He left and I went to work having stamped on the now dry towels again. I still had not unpacked at all.
I was very fortunate that the class I had that day was the easiest class with the nicest children that I have on a regular basis. I was so pleased to have them for my first day back after a very tiring 10 day trip and stressful events either side of it. I still had dollars in my purse so I passed them round and we had a lesson on US currency and converting it to ££s.
Showing posts with label Montana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Montana. Show all posts
Friday, 29 August 2008
Montana again
I usually have a shopping list when I go to the states because the exchange rate is so favourable and Walmart and Target have really affordable items. This trip was no exception. the problem was that I didn't have a car and the distances are so vast that walking is usually out of the question - and I have never seen a public bus in Bozeman . (Amazingly there is only one taxi company and that nearly folded. The new owner put up the fares to make it a viable concern. So a taxi fare from Bozeman to the airport trebled in a year.)
My friend runs a cleaning company and as she is a hands on boss she had a job on Sunday she needed to do so I offered to help her and her colleague do the job in return for her taking me to the shops - sorry... stores. In the USA a shop is a workshop like a car repair place. It was very hot and the house (a rental) we were cleaning had no air conditioning.
One of the things on my list was curtains for the house. There were actually curtains or blinds up in all the windows but some were awful. My lovely friend took me to several stores both before the conference and after it, but I only managed to get some lovely sunny yellow material to make a roman blind for bathroom.
I managed to arrange a lift, sorry... ride, down to the conference site which is 6 miles from an entrance to Yellowstone park.
The conference was a 50th anniversary of the founding of the Summit Lighthouse. An organisation dedicated to spreading the teachings of the Ascended Masters. I didn't actually get to attend much of the conference but I had a great time volunteering at the information booth and as a conference program assistant . I enjoyed the challenge of troubleshooting the last minute organisational stuff, like where do the few hundred conferees put their glad rags for the gala dinner when they brought them from their accommodations in the morning, and how to feed at least 100 people who wanted to climb a mountain on the day after the conference, and formulating notices and posters that needed to be translated into 4 languages.
Last year when the jubilee was being first talked about it became apparent that many Europeans who had never been to the States were planning on attending the conference this year. There is a conference every summer in this place, more or lass in the middle of nowhere, and accommodation is not always easy to find with so many tourists visiting Yellowstone Park and surrounding area. So I decided to rent a house or two and sublet it to any Europeans who wanted a cheap bed. The flights from Europe in the summer are so expensive especially as Bozeman is such an out of the way place, that a saving on accommodation is welcome by many.
I found a house on the Internet in the town of Gardiner at the entrance to the Park 6 miles from the conference site. the owner said the house was divided into two apartments - the attic and ground floor. I took both of them. The attic accommodated all the Austrians with some Swiss, about 15 women I think. This suited them 'cos they all spoke German and most could speak no English. Some people were on blow-up mattresses on the floor. They shared 2 bathrooms.
On the ground floor there was a bedroom for the 4 men and the other rooms accommodated 13 women. There were 2 bathrooms also. This American house was so enormous that even more people could have slept on floor mattresses if there had been more bathroom facilities. There were people from about 6 countries and all spoke English apart from one lady from Portugal.
I also rented a cabin accommodating 7 Portuguese ladies and a little boy by the river.
I found I was one of the last to bed and one of the first up so I was a little tired by the end of the 6 day conference. On the way home I didn't give a prayer about helping people and didn't meet anyone to help. But it was a definite overnight flight and I stayed in my seat more and actually slept quite well.
My friend runs a cleaning company and as she is a hands on boss she had a job on Sunday she needed to do so I offered to help her and her colleague do the job in return for her taking me to the shops - sorry... stores. In the USA a shop is a workshop like a car repair place. It was very hot and the house (a rental) we were cleaning had no air conditioning.
One of the things on my list was curtains for the house. There were actually curtains or blinds up in all the windows but some were awful. My lovely friend took me to several stores both before the conference and after it, but I only managed to get some lovely sunny yellow material to make a roman blind for bathroom.
I managed to arrange a lift, sorry... ride, down to the conference site which is 6 miles from an entrance to Yellowstone park.
The conference was a 50th anniversary of the founding of the Summit Lighthouse. An organisation dedicated to spreading the teachings of the Ascended Masters. I didn't actually get to attend much of the conference but I had a great time volunteering at the information booth and as a conference program assistant . I enjoyed the challenge of troubleshooting the last minute organisational stuff, like where do the few hundred conferees put their glad rags for the gala dinner when they brought them from their accommodations in the morning, and how to feed at least 100 people who wanted to climb a mountain on the day after the conference, and formulating notices and posters that needed to be translated into 4 languages.
Last year when the jubilee was being first talked about it became apparent that many Europeans who had never been to the States were planning on attending the conference this year. There is a conference every summer in this place, more or lass in the middle of nowhere, and accommodation is not always easy to find with so many tourists visiting Yellowstone Park and surrounding area. So I decided to rent a house or two and sublet it to any Europeans who wanted a cheap bed. The flights from Europe in the summer are so expensive especially as Bozeman is such an out of the way place, that a saving on accommodation is welcome by many.
I found a house on the Internet in the town of Gardiner at the entrance to the Park 6 miles from the conference site. the owner said the house was divided into two apartments - the attic and ground floor. I took both of them. The attic accommodated all the Austrians with some Swiss, about 15 women I think. This suited them 'cos they all spoke German and most could speak no English. Some people were on blow-up mattresses on the floor. They shared 2 bathrooms.
On the ground floor there was a bedroom for the 4 men and the other rooms accommodated 13 women. There were 2 bathrooms also. This American house was so enormous that even more people could have slept on floor mattresses if there had been more bathroom facilities. There were people from about 6 countries and all spoke English apart from one lady from Portugal.
I also rented a cabin accommodating 7 Portuguese ladies and a little boy by the river.
I found I was one of the last to bed and one of the first up so I was a little tired by the end of the 6 day conference. On the way home I didn't give a prayer about helping people and didn't meet anyone to help. But it was a definite overnight flight and I stayed in my seat more and actually slept quite well.
Thursday, 28 August 2008
The Journey
I had prayed before I went that I might help as many people on route as I could and I was very busy the whole journey. Most of the help was with EFT, teaching people how to do it and relieving them of little aches and pains. I spent at least 45 minutes with one broken footed lady in the gangway of the plane while she sat in her seat.
In the first hour of the of the journey I met an amazing mother of 3 small boys. Was changing her baby whilst her 2 older boys were sitting in their seat. I met her because I was going to use the lavatory (sorry, can't use the word toilet because it is considered a rude word in the USA and I don't want to use the euphemism 'rest room' 'cos it's not a room to rest in) and she had the door open so she could keep an eye on her boys. She said sometimes they all 4 pile into the tiny room! I kept on meeting her throughout the journey. I move a round a lot on plane journeys, especially those long ones. I think the long leg of this journey was 9 hours from Heathrow to Denver. I am either going on a walk, doing some exercises, going to the WC or getting a drink of water. This lady had an amazing calm manner with her boys and they were all as good as gold! The baby smiled the whole journey.
When we got to Denver I was in the queue near her and offered to help her juggle her stuff. We had to collect our belongings and re-check them in for our onward journey. It turned out she was going to the exact same town I was! Bozeman in Montana is not a large place by any means. The airport has 3 gates. She grew up there and was visiting her parents, having moved to Britain with her husband's job. I found it amazing that she worked full time because she was not at all stressed and her boys showed no neediness. She said that the lady who looked after the boys had gone with them to live in London because she was considered part of the family.
The middle boy, nearly 3 years old called me grandma for the first part of the journey and then changed it to Grandma Patricia when he was told I was not his grandma. She told me this was because I showed a striking resemblance to her mother in looks. So when we got to Bozeman airport and I came upon a lady who looked like me, I introduced myself. (I'm not a typical Bristisher. I do all sorts of things like that which is very out of character of someone from England.) Later, whilst waiting for our luggage I was officially introduced.
The plane from Denver to Bozeman was larger than the usual one that looks like a bus inside, and it was full. Many of those traveling were going to the same conference that I was going to.
At the airport I saw a Portuguese lady, going to the same conference. I had met her at a conference in Europe. Poor lady did not speak English and this was her first trip to the USA. She was relieved to see me and I managed to unite her with the bus that was taking people to the conference site 70 miles down the road.
I met up with my friend with whom I was staying for a few days and we eventually drove to her apartment in Bozeman well after 11pm. Amazingly it was still Saturday, but of course it was nearly time to get up on Sunday morning in Britain.
In the first hour of the of the journey I met an amazing mother of 3 small boys. Was changing her baby whilst her 2 older boys were sitting in their seat. I met her because I was going to use the lavatory (sorry, can't use the word toilet because it is considered a rude word in the USA and I don't want to use the euphemism 'rest room' 'cos it's not a room to rest in) and she had the door open so she could keep an eye on her boys. She said sometimes they all 4 pile into the tiny room! I kept on meeting her throughout the journey. I move a round a lot on plane journeys, especially those long ones. I think the long leg of this journey was 9 hours from Heathrow to Denver. I am either going on a walk, doing some exercises, going to the WC or getting a drink of water. This lady had an amazing calm manner with her boys and they were all as good as gold! The baby smiled the whole journey.
When we got to Denver I was in the queue near her and offered to help her juggle her stuff. We had to collect our belongings and re-check them in for our onward journey. It turned out she was going to the exact same town I was! Bozeman in Montana is not a large place by any means. The airport has 3 gates. She grew up there and was visiting her parents, having moved to Britain with her husband's job. I found it amazing that she worked full time because she was not at all stressed and her boys showed no neediness. She said that the lady who looked after the boys had gone with them to live in London because she was considered part of the family.
The middle boy, nearly 3 years old called me grandma for the first part of the journey and then changed it to Grandma Patricia when he was told I was not his grandma. She told me this was because I showed a striking resemblance to her mother in looks. So when we got to Bozeman airport and I came upon a lady who looked like me, I introduced myself. (I'm not a typical Bristisher. I do all sorts of things like that which is very out of character of someone from England.) Later, whilst waiting for our luggage I was officially introduced.
The plane from Denver to Bozeman was larger than the usual one that looks like a bus inside, and it was full. Many of those traveling were going to the same conference that I was going to.
At the airport I saw a Portuguese lady, going to the same conference. I had met her at a conference in Europe. Poor lady did not speak English and this was her first trip to the USA. She was relieved to see me and I managed to unite her with the bus that was taking people to the conference site 70 miles down the road.
I met up with my friend with whom I was staying for a few days and we eventually drove to her apartment in Bozeman well after 11pm. Amazingly it was still Saturday, but of course it was nearly time to get up on Sunday morning in Britain.
Friday, 28 December 2007
My Life Since Kuwait
I left Kuwait in June 2006. With my belongings held in a shipping warehouse, I flew to the USA for the summer. (NOTE - if you are having your stuff hanging around in a hot warehouse it is best not to pack scented candles. They melted into weird shapes and the smell impregnated a plastic beaker.)
Montana
I flew to Bozeman Montana via London, New York and Salt Lake City. The whole journey took many many hours as I had an overnight stop-over in New York. This was a blessing because I was able to check into a motel and sleep in a bed enabling me to have a good night's sleep.
I stayed with a friend in Bozeman and she kindly lent me her car whilst she worked. I got toiletries at Walmart and visited another friend. I then got a lift 70 miles to where I was staying in Paradise Valley.
I attended a church conference, and volunteered as Conference Program Assistant. The following week I attended a week long seminar at the same place. I then did some voluntary cooking for a group of wonderful young people who were attending a camping retreat right in the mountains. I did this the year before, but now I had a team mate which made it easier and more enjoyable. After that I cleaned the campground showers - lots of scrubbing! I also tackled some of the self contained rooms where people had stayed during the conference. Weather and scenery was glorious and I enjoyed it all.
Cardiff
At the beginning of August I flew back to Britain. I went to stay with my daughters in their tiny flat in Cardiff. Whilst working in Kuwait I paid their rent for a two bed flat with a large lounge. Now I had no job so they got a cheaper, smaller place - a one bed flat. They used the lounge as another bedroom. It was a little squashed, especially with my summer luggage, but I was useful and helped to decorate the place.
Windsor
I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do but I didn't really want to get a teaching job. I needed a place to live so I searched for nanny/housekeeping/carer jobs. I started a nanny/housekeeper job for a New Zealand family living in Windsor in September.
I did not know they were famous until I mentioned the guy's name back in Cardiff. Sean used to captain the All Blacks rugby team. He is a modest, genuinely nice man and the rest of his family are lovely too.
The work was enjoyable and quite easy. I took the 8 year old girl to school and back, supervised her homework and sometimes made her evening meal. I also did some errands, cleaned the house, ironed the designer clothes and occasionally took the dog for a walk. Neither parent had regular schedules and both did the school run sometimes. They would occasionally say the house didn't need cleaning so it was a flexible, no pressure job. I enjoy housekeeping for other people, so much more than for myself. They had just moved into a large house with a garden adjoining the River Thames and embarked on an extensive remodeling job of the whole house. They are possibly one of the few people in England to fill in a pool to create other rooms in its place!
They did not have a flat for me until October, so I lived in the swimming pool room. Unfortunately the water was freezing as the pump had broken, so my dream of getting out of bed and having a swim before breakfast did not come to pass.
Eventually I had a lovely flat over the enormous garage/storage rooms. The downside was that they did not want me to have any visitors because they did not want strangers on their property. This was a laugh as their property was overrun by builders for months! They also did not like me booking flights for weekends in Europe because they might need me to babysit at the last minute. I understood both these views. Maybe a young person who had not led an independent life before would not find the restrictions inconvenient. So I realised that this job was really not for me, however nice the family was.
The family went to NZ during December and I took the opportunity to do a bit of supply teaching. I realised that I actually missed teaching children and that although I had accommodation and the use of a car, the wage was not enough for my commitments. Ryan Air might not charge much for the flight but traveling either side of both airports took it's toll on by bank balance.
At that time I was helping to organise a 4 day conference in Frankfurt in October. This was for the European members of my church. We also produced newsletters and had many phone and physical meetings. So it was a very stressful time for me. During the conference I realised I had not had a proper home for 4 months! Being unemployed, a change of job and organising a conference and publishing newsletters was a recipe for stress big time.
Reading
In oder to leave that job I needed to find somewhere to live and get a car of my own. So I bought a car on ebay and moved to a room in a shared house in a leafy suburb of Reading. It is a large town where there are lots of supply teaching jobs. It wasn't until I moved into the shared house that I realised that the other people in the house smoked! It was an unhappy month as the live-in landlady also sometimes took drugs. And my car was extensively vandalised along with hers.
I found a lovely 2 bed flat overlooking a large park of grass and trees which I share with my youngest daughter Claire as she needed somewhere to live too. Rent is so expensive here that it made sense for us to share. At the time she was doing supply nursery nursing (child care at private day nurseries), but she soon got a permanent job in a nursery in Theale, a village just outside Reading.
At first I worked for an agency as a supply teacher every day. I enjoy doing this, especially when asked to go back to the same schools. During the summer I was asked to do some work in day nurseries, which I also enjoyed.
In June I was asked by the Head of a large junior school that I regularly visited, if I would like to share a class of 8 year old children, taking them Thursdays and Fridays. This school is situated in a large council estate and the families are 3rd generation unemployed. The children are therefore deprived, with little support from home, either emotionally or academically. This means that there are several very challenging kids in each class and teaching them is a little like trying to get blood out of a stone. However the Head teacher is very nurturing and all the teachers are supportive and work very well as a team. I always enjoyed going their because of this. I even told her that the reason why I didn't have a 'proper' job at the moment was because I wanted to have a week or two off in July every year (when British schools are still in session). She said they would work around that, so I accepted the post. I love getting jobs without applying and being interviewed! They also wanted me to work every Wednesday in different classes, enabling the teacher to do planning.
It is great being part of a staff team again and I enjoyed helping 120 children from years 3 and 4 put on a song and dance show of the different cultures of the world. The staff also put on a short pantomime for the kids which was great fun for everyone but we only had one and a half rehearsals! There are pros and cons being part time. I don't have the full responsibility for the planning, preparation and evaluating, but then I miss the staff meetings with their discussions and training and don't always know what is going on in school as things change to fit the circumstances etc.
Montana Again
Just for a week to attend Helen and Orion's wedding on June 24th. A truly wonderful day. I am grateful to have been a part of such a joyful occasion, especially as mother of the bride. Meeting Helen's father again after 15 years was not quite as nerve wracking as I thought it would be. The bride and groom looked radiant as did the bridesmaids and groomsmen. And Claire looked wonderful as a bridesmaid. Here is a creative slide show of the glorious day: http://www.montana-wedding-photographer.com/Showcase/Battersby/
EFT - Emotional Freedom Technique
I learned this whilst living in Kuwait from a site on the Internet. When I got to England I did a level two training in London. I use it personally to help with my own emotions and physical ailments and teach it and use it in the schools I work in. (See http://www.emofree.com for more info on the technique and look at other posts of mine for info on how i use it in school.) The children doing the show at school gave a much better performance because EFT banished their nerves.
I was very grateful to have the EFT tool at my fingertips during my journey to the Montana this last summer. I took the National Express coach to Gatwick airport. The coach was delayed and so time was a little tight. I therefore decided to use the toilet on the bus to save a little time at the airport. However, as I was washing my hands the door flew open catapulting me down the gangway. I hit my backside on the armrest of a seat before landing on the floor. When I got my breath back, whilst still on the floor, I began to tap. Flying wasn't the best thing to do with a hemorrhaging buttock but I tapped a lot of the journey and by the time I got to Bozeman, 14 hours later, I did not need the wheelchair. There was an enormous bruise but I managed to walk down the aisle with no limp.
Violet Fire
The Violet Fire is another very wonderful technique for helping with emotions and ailments and I use it in conjunction with EFT but they are both most often used on their own.
What is the violet fire? I hear you ask. Well, I will let the person who introduced it to me, Elizabeth Clare Prophet tell you in her own words. "It is an invisible spiritual energy that appears violet to those who have developed their spiritual vision...... (It) has many purposes. It revitalizes and invigorates us. It can heal emotional and even physical problems, improve relationships and make life easier. More important, the violet flame changes negative energy, which makes it an effective tool for healing. Today we are learning more than ever before about how disease can be rooted in our mental, emotional and spiritual states. By transforming negative thoughts and feelings, the violet flame provides a platform for our healing. I call it the highest gift of God to the universe. I think you will agree once you try it for yourself." (Violet Flame to Heal body, mind and soul. Elizabeth Clare Prophet. copyright 1997 by Summit University Press.) Check it out at http://www.transformnet.org/ for more information if you are interested.
It has changed my life. I am now more positive and joyful after the application of this over the years. It has even healed my arthritic elbow and enabled me to be more calm and tolerant with people.
In November I conducted a Violet Flame workshop in London with some friends, which was very well received. One lady said she could feel the energy tingling in her body and she felt light and joyous. If I am ever feeling depressed, a few violet flame mantras banish that state fast.
Montana
I flew to Bozeman Montana via London, New York and Salt Lake City. The whole journey took many many hours as I had an overnight stop-over in New York. This was a blessing because I was able to check into a motel and sleep in a bed enabling me to have a good night's sleep.
I stayed with a friend in Bozeman and she kindly lent me her car whilst she worked. I got toiletries at Walmart and visited another friend. I then got a lift 70 miles to where I was staying in Paradise Valley.
I attended a church conference, and volunteered as Conference Program Assistant. The following week I attended a week long seminar at the same place. I then did some voluntary cooking for a group of wonderful young people who were attending a camping retreat right in the mountains. I did this the year before, but now I had a team mate which made it easier and more enjoyable. After that I cleaned the campground showers - lots of scrubbing! I also tackled some of the self contained rooms where people had stayed during the conference. Weather and scenery was glorious and I enjoyed it all.
Cardiff
At the beginning of August I flew back to Britain. I went to stay with my daughters in their tiny flat in Cardiff. Whilst working in Kuwait I paid their rent for a two bed flat with a large lounge. Now I had no job so they got a cheaper, smaller place - a one bed flat. They used the lounge as another bedroom. It was a little squashed, especially with my summer luggage, but I was useful and helped to decorate the place.
Windsor
I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do but I didn't really want to get a teaching job. I needed a place to live so I searched for nanny/housekeeping/carer jobs. I started a nanny/housekeeper job for a New Zealand family living in Windsor in September.
I did not know they were famous until I mentioned the guy's name back in Cardiff. Sean used to captain the All Blacks rugby team. He is a modest, genuinely nice man and the rest of his family are lovely too.
The work was enjoyable and quite easy. I took the 8 year old girl to school and back, supervised her homework and sometimes made her evening meal. I also did some errands, cleaned the house, ironed the designer clothes and occasionally took the dog for a walk. Neither parent had regular schedules and both did the school run sometimes. They would occasionally say the house didn't need cleaning so it was a flexible, no pressure job. I enjoy housekeeping for other people, so much more than for myself. They had just moved into a large house with a garden adjoining the River Thames and embarked on an extensive remodeling job of the whole house. They are possibly one of the few people in England to fill in a pool to create other rooms in its place!
They did not have a flat for me until October, so I lived in the swimming pool room. Unfortunately the water was freezing as the pump had broken, so my dream of getting out of bed and having a swim before breakfast did not come to pass.
Eventually I had a lovely flat over the enormous garage/storage rooms. The downside was that they did not want me to have any visitors because they did not want strangers on their property. This was a laugh as their property was overrun by builders for months! They also did not like me booking flights for weekends in Europe because they might need me to babysit at the last minute. I understood both these views. Maybe a young person who had not led an independent life before would not find the restrictions inconvenient. So I realised that this job was really not for me, however nice the family was.
The family went to NZ during December and I took the opportunity to do a bit of supply teaching. I realised that I actually missed teaching children and that although I had accommodation and the use of a car, the wage was not enough for my commitments. Ryan Air might not charge much for the flight but traveling either side of both airports took it's toll on by bank balance.
At that time I was helping to organise a 4 day conference in Frankfurt in October. This was for the European members of my church. We also produced newsletters and had many phone and physical meetings. So it was a very stressful time for me. During the conference I realised I had not had a proper home for 4 months! Being unemployed, a change of job and organising a conference and publishing newsletters was a recipe for stress big time.
Reading
In oder to leave that job I needed to find somewhere to live and get a car of my own. So I bought a car on ebay and moved to a room in a shared house in a leafy suburb of Reading. It is a large town where there are lots of supply teaching jobs. It wasn't until I moved into the shared house that I realised that the other people in the house smoked! It was an unhappy month as the live-in landlady also sometimes took drugs. And my car was extensively vandalised along with hers.
I found a lovely 2 bed flat overlooking a large park of grass and trees which I share with my youngest daughter Claire as she needed somewhere to live too. Rent is so expensive here that it made sense for us to share. At the time she was doing supply nursery nursing (child care at private day nurseries), but she soon got a permanent job in a nursery in Theale, a village just outside Reading.
At first I worked for an agency as a supply teacher every day. I enjoy doing this, especially when asked to go back to the same schools. During the summer I was asked to do some work in day nurseries, which I also enjoyed.
In June I was asked by the Head of a large junior school that I regularly visited, if I would like to share a class of 8 year old children, taking them Thursdays and Fridays. This school is situated in a large council estate and the families are 3rd generation unemployed. The children are therefore deprived, with little support from home, either emotionally or academically. This means that there are several very challenging kids in each class and teaching them is a little like trying to get blood out of a stone. However the Head teacher is very nurturing and all the teachers are supportive and work very well as a team. I always enjoyed going their because of this. I even told her that the reason why I didn't have a 'proper' job at the moment was because I wanted to have a week or two off in July every year (when British schools are still in session). She said they would work around that, so I accepted the post. I love getting jobs without applying and being interviewed! They also wanted me to work every Wednesday in different classes, enabling the teacher to do planning.
It is great being part of a staff team again and I enjoyed helping 120 children from years 3 and 4 put on a song and dance show of the different cultures of the world. The staff also put on a short pantomime for the kids which was great fun for everyone but we only had one and a half rehearsals! There are pros and cons being part time. I don't have the full responsibility for the planning, preparation and evaluating, but then I miss the staff meetings with their discussions and training and don't always know what is going on in school as things change to fit the circumstances etc.
Montana Again
Just for a week to attend Helen and Orion's wedding on June 24th. A truly wonderful day. I am grateful to have been a part of such a joyful occasion, especially as mother of the bride. Meeting Helen's father again after 15 years was not quite as nerve wracking as I thought it would be. The bride and groom looked radiant as did the bridesmaids and groomsmen. And Claire looked wonderful as a bridesmaid. Here is a creative slide show of the glorious day: http://www.montana-wedding-photographer.com/Showcase/Battersby/
EFT - Emotional Freedom Technique
I learned this whilst living in Kuwait from a site on the Internet. When I got to England I did a level two training in London. I use it personally to help with my own emotions and physical ailments and teach it and use it in the schools I work in. (See http://www.emofree.com for more info on the technique and look at other posts of mine for info on how i use it in school.) The children doing the show at school gave a much better performance because EFT banished their nerves.
I was very grateful to have the EFT tool at my fingertips during my journey to the Montana this last summer. I took the National Express coach to Gatwick airport. The coach was delayed and so time was a little tight. I therefore decided to use the toilet on the bus to save a little time at the airport. However, as I was washing my hands the door flew open catapulting me down the gangway. I hit my backside on the armrest of a seat before landing on the floor. When I got my breath back, whilst still on the floor, I began to tap. Flying wasn't the best thing to do with a hemorrhaging buttock but I tapped a lot of the journey and by the time I got to Bozeman, 14 hours later, I did not need the wheelchair. There was an enormous bruise but I managed to walk down the aisle with no limp.
Violet Fire
The Violet Fire is another very wonderful technique for helping with emotions and ailments and I use it in conjunction with EFT but they are both most often used on their own.
What is the violet fire? I hear you ask. Well, I will let the person who introduced it to me, Elizabeth Clare Prophet tell you in her own words. "It is an invisible spiritual energy that appears violet to those who have developed their spiritual vision...... (It) has many purposes. It revitalizes and invigorates us. It can heal emotional and even physical problems, improve relationships and make life easier. More important, the violet flame changes negative energy, which makes it an effective tool for healing. Today we are learning more than ever before about how disease can be rooted in our mental, emotional and spiritual states. By transforming negative thoughts and feelings, the violet flame provides a platform for our healing. I call it the highest gift of God to the universe. I think you will agree once you try it for yourself." (Violet Flame to Heal body, mind and soul. Elizabeth Clare Prophet. copyright 1997 by Summit University Press.) Check it out at http://www.transformnet.org/ for more information if you are interested.
It has changed my life. I am now more positive and joyful after the application of this over the years. It has even healed my arthritic elbow and enabled me to be more calm and tolerant with people.
In November I conducted a Violet Flame workshop in London with some friends, which was very well received. One lady said she could feel the energy tingling in her body and she felt light and joyous. If I am ever feeling depressed, a few violet flame mantras banish that state fast.
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