Teacup Café XLII

[Willow Oran]

It looks like Treebeard's hair grew back!

*hastily shoves the the wig making supplies under her table*

Well we couldn't leave him baldfaced while questing for the beard.

[Mari]

I thought we got stuck in the mountains?

[Rían]

Originally Posted by Noble Elf Lord

Rian, thank you mylady I will try that if necessary. Although should things not calm down soon, I must go see a doctor, this has been going on for quite awhile...

Oh, if it's long-term, you probably need to see a doctor but the peppermint tea might help anyway - give it a go! Good luck!

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Noble Elf Lord

Rian, thank you mylady I will try that if necessary. Although should things not calm down soon, I must go see a doctor, this has been going on for quite awhile...

If you've been having stomach problems for a while now, a doctor visit sounds like a good idea, though.


EDIT: And I clearly should read the last page before replying since RÃ*an already had voiced the same thought...

[Earniel]

Phew, I so need a drink... We took one of the cats to the vet for the yearly visit and the waiting room was packed full of DOGS. Noisy dogs too and the waiting room is nice and ECHOING LOUDLY. Aaand this was the one cat that is really terrified of dogs. And then the vet needed three tries to get her to swallow a pill. She's still giving us the evil eye today, gonna take a while before she forgives us.

[Midge]

Wow... all's silent on the Teacup front...

So I got some flowers planted in my front yard (my roses are blooming beautifully), saw BOTH sets of in-laws and a niece gradyuate, saw Epic (SO ADORABLE... And I can't wait for Despicable Me 2!) and am celebrating my third wedding anniversary on Wednesday.

It's been a really full few weeks.

What's up with the rest of you guys now that school is out (for the most part, anyway)?

[Earniel]

Happy anniversary!

The late spring and the long wet has delayed several of the plants in the garden and now practically everything except for the late summer flowers is in bloom. It's a gorgeous sight.

[Mari]

School out? Not here it isn't! I've still got until the 2nd week of July before school ends. And I have to start teaching again in September. I wish school were out... soooo tired all the time. At least I can start wrapping things up.

[Earniel]

The second week of July? You don't have a full two months of summer holiday like us then?

[Mari]

Students do, teachers don't. We end a week after them and start a week before them.

[Earniel]

Ah, I see. It's easy to forget if you've only ever been a student that teachers have to do a lot of work still during the school holidays.

[Mari]

Every time I'm there while students are not, school feels so weird.

[Earniel]

Yeah, I can see how. Always thought an empty school looked strange as a student myself. It's one of those places you almost only see packed with people.

[Midge]

I always liked school being empty. I don't know why.

[Mari]

I like it when I start to know all faces. By the end of a year I know most students well enough to have a talk with them that goes beyond what they're wearing and that is nice. I think connecting with the kids is the most difficult thing there is, so it's nice when you start to feel progress at the end of your first year

[Earniel]

And every year you have to start from scratch with another two dozen of unknown students. I often wondered how some teachers managed to even remember students years after.

[Mari]

Two dozen? I wish! Next year I'll have approximately 500 students, of which 150 new ones. :P
There are 32 to 34 students in 1 class here. Financial restraints and all that.

[Earniel]

Oh yeah, I forgot teachers need to know more students than just one class. That's student-centric thinking for you.

I wasn't sure the Dutch system also had classes of around thirty students, hence I went with a lower number to be on the safe side.

[Mari]

By law 34 is the maximum, ideally it's between 15 and 23. Realistically it's between 28 and 32 in practice. Most classrooms are built for only 28 students and their desks. Planing which kid to sit where is sometimes quite a puzzle.
Only classes which require special care like special ed classes realistically have up to 17 students. And for them that is too much too. *sigh*
And of course the government goes on and on about how education needs to improve itself, whilst cutting even more funds and pouring money into stupid projects which have been proven not to work in the US, the UK and France already, but 'The Netherlands has a different school system, so we cannot rely on data from other countries'. Et voilá, there go 300 million euros down the drain.

[Earniel]

Yikes, seems like your politicians are as smart with education as ours. Just had a round of 'education reforms' here ourselves where one of the brilliant ideas was: "I know, let's put the standard education, special education and technical education all together in every school! That way those of special and technical never have to feel like the bottom of the barrel! Success!"

Yeah, because magically all students are equal and will never ever be looked down upon if only they're in the same school together! (Did these guys ever go to any school?!) Never mind all the standard schools suddenly having to build say the many technical workshop rooms like woordworking and metalworking to accomodate technical students. Schools that will have already build standard class rooms on their entire available surface to manage to seat their own students... I've been to a school that almost every year added more container classes so they wouldn't need to turn kids down.

Mind, our educational systems are different across the borders and I hesitate to implement things automatically because they work in the US or the UK. But surely you can -I dunno- extrapolate at least some things from foreign studies rather than constantly order your own expensive ones?