Summer Holiday Update

Greetings, dear readers!

I hope you have all had a refreshing holiday season and are ready to plunge back enthusiastically into your work!

Yesterday I received my official Postgraduate Diploma of Teaching (Secondary) from the post, which was a nice reminder to find a relief teaching job, and soon. I received an email last month from the co-Head of Secondary at my old school, Donvale Christian College, alerting me to the fact that there is a long list of relief teachers at the school. In other words, given my lack of experience, I need to look elsewhere and strongly consider signing with a relief teaching agency if I want regular relief teaching work. 

As I have yet to find regular relief teaching work, I have decided to use my time to volunteer in the Peer Mentoring Program for those students starting the Postgraduate Diploma of Teaching (Secondary) this year. The Program was supposed to start last week, but due to administrative issues, I and my other fellow mentors have not even received our groups yet. We're hoping this will be sorted out very soon.

My summer holiday has been mostly enjoyable. I have resolved to read more "classics", along with the Bible and other things. I am currently reading Les Miserables (a recent translation by Julie Rose, see the Amazon review here) and Jane Eyre, with Anna Karenina and a few others to follow. I have also resumed riding my bicycle, after many years. At least now there are better bike tracks around my local neighbourhood, and I've taken a number of scenic shots from the rides I've been on.

A couple of weeks ago, I embarked on what was easily my biggest bike ride yet. I rode from my place to Eltham train station and took the train to the city. After lunch with friends, I rode the Capital City Trail, which starts and ends at Flinders Street Station and goes around the edge of the city. From there I took the train back to Eltham and rode back home. All up, I clocked up nearly 60 kilometres and was absolutely exhausted. I have to thank God for keeping me safe and guiding my instinct to stop every time I went off track.

On Friday I plan to ride over to the community bike shed in Brunswick which forms part of the CERES Environmental Park. There I will learn how to fix and maintain my bike, which is in need of some tuning up, especially with the brakes and gears.

For our new Bible study small groups at church this year, we were each asked to think of a Spiritual Goal for the whole year. I've decided that my Spiritual Goal for 2013 will be to cultivate the fruits of the Holy Spirit as listed in Galatians 5:22-23, with an emphasis on self-control. Self-control can basically be defined as the ability not to give in to one's emotions or impulses, especially negative ones such as anger and lust. It also means committing to the right course of action, such as going to bed early instead of spending too much time on the computer, something I've been guilty of on many occasions! I could go into a few examples in the Bible where self-control, or lack of it, defined people's destinies (thinking of Cain, Moses, and King David among others), but I don't have space here. Maybe that will have to be for another post.

Cheers and God bless!