Recently

So glad to have reached September and the end of our semester, at the end of this month, is in sight. There follows a trip to the Philippines to connect with family and meet our newest member, Ethan Edgar Joseph, born to Luna's sister, Nenen, on August 26th. A fine figure of a boy. Hopefully we will be able to do some birding too and see a little of Negros.

Benedict is growing fast and is very confident on his feet. No real words yet but if he is slow in this respect I am not really concerned because he is exposed to four languages: English, Thai, Tagalog and llongo. Some of you bright sparks will say: "Well five languages, Gerry cos you are Scottish and nobody understands a word you say!" Chust a wee choke at ma ain expens! Inevitably this exposure will slow the boy down initially but I am pretty sure Benedict will become at least bilingual and perhaps more.

In all other respects Benedict is a joy though  I must say he is becoming a little bit more self-willed and at times a little testing. He has so much energy, he is so strong and at times he can be frighteningly focused! But Benedict is great fun and it's a real privilege to watch this little boy grow and develop. He understands about putting plugs in sockets, keys in locks, he can switch fans off and he loves playing with mobile phones and TV remotes. He likes nothing more than having a good bash at the keyboard and thanks be for child car seats because he likes to grab the gear stick and loves to fiddle with the radio controls. I expect I am going to have a very energetic and active old age! What a happy prospect!

Luna is well and spending a lot of her spare time buying up clothes from Pratunam in Bangkok with a view to selling them in the Philippines. So we have made a couple of trips into Bangkok over the last few weeks. It will be interesting to see how she fares in this venture. I think she too is looking forward to the end of term and the trip home. Been tough for her with the recent loss of her father.

School has been a bit challenging. I never really know what is happening. The new school management consultants have parted company with the school's managers and things are a bit up in the air. This rupture is a bit like a marriage breaking up after two weeks. I am left wondering what sort of process preceded the decision to jump into partnership and then resulted in such a quick and sudden decision to split up. Clearly an inadequate one! Unfortunately what was good about the old set up has been lost.

In terms of the actual teaching I am very happy and  comfortable in front of the kids. It was undoubtedly good to get that first year in. I really enjoying working with the kids and I now work with small groups of much younger children on a Saturday morning and I love it. I wouldn't resist a move to the lower grades.

I have been doing a fair amount of birding recently, see botab.blogspot.com. Bought a new macro lens so expect to see more pictures of flowers and the like. Also getting in some golf but the less said about this the better! Let me just say there is a great game of golf in me some time!

So we are in good form and busy with one thing or another. It is a good life here and I have no real thought at this stage of changing anything. We are here for the forseeable future.