h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

And for some reason Tuesdays are even worse. I'm not having half the issues I used to have with my job but since we came back in September but so far the worst days, and the only days I've struggled, have all been Tuesdays.

It seems counter-intuitive, you don't often hear people complaining about Tuesdays and I spent the bus ride home wondering about why it might be such a drag this term. Mondays the kids are normally too tired to kick off, I tend to have trips on Wednesdays, by Thursdays I've normally lost the will to care and so have the teachers and Fridays are only half-days so they can't get that bad.

On Tuesdays I have the bad combination of teachers actually motivated to give me work, I'm motivated to work (plus I've got the work I didn't care about on Thursday to do) and the kids are their delightful selves. The Head of 6th Form has a full day on Tuesdays and our careers advisor is elsewhere so a lot of the crap tends to come in my direction instead of theirs. On Tuesdays I appreciate just how much those two shield me from. There also seems to be a trend developing of weird things happening on Tuesdays, like a student needing a reference for an interview he had to be at in an hours time (because 30 mins is plenty of time to write something like that obviously).

On the plus side I've developed a new game for Tuesdays: freak the students out with my new Urdu knowledge - the Urdu teacher teaches me a new phrase or two I can use on the lads each week, as well as practising the new vocab I've learned: that's normally hilarious.

We're being inspected tomorrow so all the teachers are on red alert and everyone is very stressed. I've submitted all of the 6th form paperwork and I've been assured we'll be ignored. I've got some interviews planned just in case the inspectors want to see us at our best but otherwise I should be able to keep my head down.

Can't believe I'm halfway through NaJoPoMo - it's starting to feel like a bit of a slog now and I'm just waiting to get my second wind.

keep going - it's fascinating to read everyone's journals (although I haven't managed to keep up with a lot of people, including you. have you written about your Urdu course? I'd be interested in swapping Urdu / Korean experiences)

Yes, tell us about the Urdu course. It might push me into doing something about learning Bahasa, like I've been saying I'll do for a while now.

Famous last words - today was dreadful and could have quite happily gone on a rampage.

I found myself having to defend myself to the Head, specifically that "How stupid are you?" is a reasonable and sensible question in my place.

You didn't ask the Head that question, did you?

No, a student.

Fair enough, too. I bet he couldn't quantify his stupidity, thereby proving your point.