Unions, Protesting, Bullying, and Liberals

There was a march and a rally yesterday held by the teachers' unions in Jersey to protest wages and negotiating rights. I didn't go.

There was a union meeting on Thursday to encourage participation in said rally and protest and to lay out the position of the Union. I did attend that.

A lot of things have been said that I don't agree with.

The whole thing is that a pay freeze has been placed upon all States of Jersey workers. I think it's understandable in the economic climate. However, this was the second year in a row. And the States did it without negotiating. In a teacher's contract they have the right to negotiate about pay and conditions. (I'm not on the same contract, so it's different for me.) Every time the Unions have set down to negotiate the States have refused. They have sent low-level administrative types with no authority to do anything.

Needless to say the teachers are frustrated. They're quite happy to take what has now been offered (a 2% pay rise for this year and next year) in exchange for giving up lunch duties and things like that.

Now 2% seems like a lot. It's more than a lot of people get. However, in Jersey, it is standard to get a cost of living pay rise every year. The reason for this is due to inflation and the very high cost of living. The inflation for this year is already over 3%, so in effect, the 2% is already a pay cut since it doesn't even match inflation. Or, at least that's what the Unions say.

There's a lot more to it than that. But that's the general idea.

I am a member of a union, solely for the protection that it provides as me as a secondary school teacher. It is in case a student makes an allegation against me. I don't have the same contract as other teachers or the same rights. I am interested in the ongoing dispute because it affects my friends and colleagues. And it will affect me when they strike because I will be in school.

The attitude has been such that if you don't support the Union, though, that you're scum. I was literally getting bullied in the staff room on Friday for not attending the protest on Saturday. I don't believe in unions. I don't believe in protests. Sorry, this is taking me back to my political side. They are liberal ideas. And I do understand that teaching is a liberal profession, but I feel that I must remain true to my own ideals. And I am most definitely not a liberal. So, while I support my colleagues in their fight, I do not wish to participate. I know that pisses a lot of people off (hence the bullying), but I will not be forced into doing something that I don't agree with.

Am I crazy? Yeah, maybe a little.

I was so tired today. I'm still exhausted from not getting any sleep Sunday night on the boat. I spent the first two lessons supervising three kids who were doing a piece of controlled coursework. I hadn't planned on that, so I had no work with me to do or a computer or anything. I was soooooo bored, and I almost fell asleep. And I was there for two hours.

So, in order to kill boredom, I started working on a campaign strategy for running the Presidential campaign for the future president of Panama. My mind has been buzzing with ideas since this past weekend, and I wrote some of them down today, ways of exploiting the candidate and his family and their contacts. I was putting together a PR strategy for making the candidate look good and be press-friendly. I was starting to come up with some good stuff, but I realised that I need some help. I've never worked on a proper campaign before. So, I went to Amazon and looked for any books on running campaigns. I haven't ordered any yet (I am sooooo broke after this weekend.), but I would like to get a couple.

Maybe nothing will ever come of this. Maybe it's just a pipe dream that will never be reality, but it's okay to dream. And I have to admit, running a Presidential campaign in a tropical paradise would be my dream job. I'm a realist, though (or maybe that's pessimist) so I do realize that it's not going to happen. I want it too badly. And we all know that the things that I want this worst never come to fruition, or if they do, it doesn't work out quite the way I hoped.

La boda de mi pataza

I'm having a lot of problems writing this for many reasons.

Maybe I should give some background?

I have a really good friend named Mario. He is one of the best friends that I ever had, and I learned a lot from him, both good and bad. We met in Panama in 2003. He's an amazing and intelligent person (everyone knows that intelligence is the most important quality in a friend). I was an international student and he was in charge of the international program, so I had a lot of time to get to know him, and we really hit it off. We have a lot in common, and we use to talk for hours on end. He's a lovely person, and I will always be grateful to him for everything, but most especially for moving to England so that I could meet my husband (that's another story for another time.) Here's a picture of me and Mario in Oxford in 2004.

Anyway, when Mario told me he was getting married, I knew there was nothing that was going to stop me. I even bought my tickets back in September. How the hell was I know that a volcano in Iceland was going to erupt and screw up all of the carefully laid plains of mice and men?

On Thursday, I got up, got ready, and was checking my e-mails before leaving for the airport when I got an e-mail saying that my plane had been cancelled due to a volcano. I thought it was a joke. I checked the news, and it turned out to be true. I was really upset. So, we quickly re-booked a flight to Gatwick and rented a car to be able to drive up to Liverpool. Not ideal, but better than not going at all. Twenty minutes after booking the flight and the car, it was cancelled. So then we tried to book a ferry to take the car over and drive up, but Condor Ferries' website crashed all over the UK. So, we drove to the harbour, where we waited for over 3 hours. Luckily, the nice young woman there helped us to get our car on, and we got one of the last places on the boat.

We got to Weymouth on the ferry, and then drove to Liverpool. Once we got to Liverpool (at 3AM), we tried to find the hotel. I swear, someone really didn't want us to go to that wedding. The GPS told us that we were arriving at the hotel, but we couldn't see it. She said to turn left, so we did and wound up on a tunnel that looked like it was never going to end. We wound up at a toll booth with no money. We managed to scrounge up the £1.40 needed for the toll, but it was literally the last of our money. We had 2p left. So, we started driving around trying to figure out how to get back. We knew we were lost, the GPS was also lost. It was a nightmare. To make it worse, an unmarked police car pulled up beside us, flashed their warrant card, and asked to us pull over. Turns out they thought I was a prostitute and Lyndon was picking me up because we drove through a redlight district. Excellent. Luckily, they believed us when we said we were lost. They took us to a cash machine to get some money to pay the toll back and led us back to the tunnel. I finally got to sleep about 4:30 Friday morning.

On Friday I was able to go to see some of Liverpool. My thoughts: it's this odd juxtaposition between old and modern, and it's quite incongruous. I loved some of the architecture. Here's a picture of the inside of the Anglican cathedral. Went to dinner with Mario et al on Friday night. That was fun. I forgot how much fun it was just to hang out with him and Joe (his brother) and just laugh! He gave us a chocolate habanero pepper. Sooooo hot. But I didn't want to look like a wuss, so I just sat and smiled. Meanwhile, Joe was dying beside me. It was such a fun night. I really do miss having my friends around.

Saturday was the wedding. Mario was handsome and Kirsty was beautiful, as it should be. I'm really happy for mi diablito. El merece la felicidad. Here's a few pictures from the wedding.

Mario y Kirsty

Mario y yoJoe y yo

Mario y Kirsty

My Lyndon looking cute. I just wish he'd smile!
Alex (Mario's sister), me, and Gaby (Joe's girlfriend)

Books, books, books!

There is one thing that can always make me happy: books!

So, I was really excited when I got a couple of books in the last week.

The first book was The Great Bazaar. This is a book of short stories and bits and bobs by Peter V. Brett, the author of The Painted Man. It was brilliant to whet my appetite for more about Arlen while waiting for the next book in the series, The Desert Spear. It was really insightful, and actually, it helped make a few things to make sense in both The Painted Man and The Desert Spear. I think I would like to see a longer glossary at the end of the book, though. It's something that really helps to keep straight who's who and what's what, especially when it's another language.

So, two days after I received The Great Bazaar, I also got The Desert Spear. This is the second book by Peter V. Brett, and it followed along from The Painted Man. I was so excited to get it, and it didn't disappoint. I re-read The Painted Man about two months ago in anticipation of the new book, so everything was fresh in my mind. I dived into it immediately, and with a few exceptions (French class, for example) I didn't stop reading. I finished it in less than 24 hours, and it's not a small book. And now...I'm dying to read the next book. It was absolutely brilliant and amazing.

I never really liked Jardir in The Painted Man. He's a horrible person, but Brett has created a world where one can come to respect, if not like, Jardir. Well, at least for me. I am able to see how he became the person he did, and even if he is a bit misguided at times, greedy, selfish, and a murderer, he is fueled by good intentions.

Arlen was always my favorite character, and I was delighted to see more about him and his developing relationships with those around him and himself.

I am really looking forward to seeing how the two Deliverers resolve their differences in the next book.