staff Christmas party

Last night was our staff party at a hotel nearby. Everyone has been talking for days about what they are going to wear and it emerged recently than quite a few of the guys agreed to wear dinner jackets. Steve was one, but he couldn't tie his tie. Or so he said. Numerous women had to go over and help him, much to his delight/embarrassment.


I was stiting on a table with some languages teachers. Here I am with Diane.


On my other side was Deb. She was a new teacher in September as well. Somehow we've hardly talked at school but we had a great time last night. We enjoyed our food (for the most part). I had a spicy parsnip soup as a starter, salmon with a creamy cheese sauce as a main and lemon sorbet to finish. Earlier in the day I thought perhaps it was a little rash ordering salmon at a dinner like this since the worst thing is to get uncooked fish. But it was delicious.

Mike, my maths colleague, was there as well. He's my day-to-day partner in crime. We cook up worksheets together occasionally. We always meet in the photocopy room. We are passing through each other's classrooms from early morning til late night. (This sociability is helped by the fact that there is no corridor on our floor, instead the rooms all open onto each other.)


And finally, here is a not too brilliant picture of Mandy and I. Mandy is an NQT in media studies that I met on my first day at the school. We chat every day or two to moan a bit and swap ideas.


After dinner we danced the night away to such classics as "Come on, Irene," "Billy Jean," and the like. I left relatively early while my bus was still running and my feet only hurt a lot.