It ain't over ...

Till it's over ... Isn't that the famous cliche but perhaps with some truth in it.

The holidays have begun and the hustle and bustle has died down yet there are things to be tied down and settled. Post-production admin still lay on my table with invoices to clear and receipts to claim; drama elections have to be confirmed, the 24-hour creative writing competition is on fri, Climbing kids will be having their national competition next week. Well ... it never really ends I guess.

But I do appreciate the breather. At least it's now just a few hours of work each day before I run off to do my own thing. I enjoy the time alone even if it were just to do nothing. I enjoy the time tidying up my desk at work, clearing and sorting things out and spring cleaning both my rooms. I finally get a chance to read the fine prints on my bills and statements and, most importantly, reflect; to take time just to sit down and think ... about a great deal of many things including my experience teaching thus far.

I've finally gotten down to doing the affirmation cards for the class and compiling their own appraisals of each other on paper. I guess in reading those I've come to know each one of them better - through the eyes of their own peers. There are things I have never known about them, much less appreciate about them. But now I realise. It only goes to show how incomplete our perceptions (and judgements) often are of someone ... And yet we assert with certainty that we know someone fully; teachers rant in certainty that a student is of such character-typology and would react according to those traits.

I've realised that it's been almost a year-and-a-half since I've been with them and journeyed with them. There are it's moments to relish and those I wish I had not made the sacrifice to follow them up to second year but they are moments, certainly, to cherish. Perhaps that is the fear found in the joy; it is the knowledge of how much they have become a part of my life yet with time they will no longer be. And that is the reality of life, frienships and relationships. We love, and we move on. There's more that I wish I could have done but in an oppressive system that demands so much I've tried my best I guess - to keep up with their competitions, birthdays, things which matter to them.

Well, we're moving on.