Staff banquet

We had fun at the Christmas banquet tonight.  Our enjoyment so often seems to depend on who we sit with!  We built a "gingerbread house" in the style of a Filipino stilt house.  I read a little bit of the Jolly Christmas Postman, with letters from the administration for the three members of staff leaving us at Christmas. Ruth has been here for 4 months on sabbatical from her job in Nottingham. It has been a pleasure for us to have a fellow Brit on staff and lovely to hear an unadulterated English accent (Yes, I admit it, mine is not.  My friends' mum visiting from Northern Ireland thought I was American!  I can't tell you how disconcerting that is).  Her mum was a TCK and I think being here, working with our students, has given her a bit more insight into her mum and her mum's childhood.  She has been a real asset to Elementary and had quite the experience, teaching every class so teachers could do their class assessments.  We will miss her.  Our kids love her too, I think the England connection has a lot to do with it.