New Year...New Beginning...New Expectation...

New expectation...

The Tuesdays, after the Labour Day, were always a double edged sword... I was not that enthusiastic to start another academic year... not that I wanted the summer to drag on, but because of the U.S. Open tennis tournament... I always wanted to follow and enjoy the duals... 

Beautiful and alive... i always wanted to be in New York for the US Open...

I wanted to have two weeks in New York... Tennis and Broadway were the magic amalgamation for me... New York, during these two weeks is magical for me... I have even contemplated to prolong my summer by “calling in sick” and stay in New York... Sometimes I have returned late at night after catching the last few strokes of Monday night... and then back to the classroom early in the morning...

Embrace the Betty f the city....

It is a civilized dual...They do not 

jump over each other...They do not kick each other...They compete in 

a human way....

...and of course, the better one wins... and

Of course there is still the "agony of defeat, and the ecstasy of triumph..." 

But NO physical abuse...

                                                             

Only the spirit of competition and excellence... will be around... 

It will be geometry in motion...Similar to football (soccer)...

The kids did not bother me... I loved them... The math did not bother me...I knew it inside out... and I had time to settle my first day routine... I drove each morning for an hour to commute to my school...So I had time to focus.

The First Day...                                                                                                         1.  Assign sits by alpha... I always had fun... At the beginning I let the kids to sit wherever they want...I followed their chat and their gossip and their hugs and smiles...and then I ruined their party... “Now we will sit by alpha...” They complained...and I expressed the reasoning behind it... “I will not be able to learn your names fast enough...by alpha it will be easier for me...” Lots of  “but sirs... and ahs and ohs...” But they are good kids...so they give up easily...            
2.  Textbook distribution....                                                                                      

3.  Profile Forms (personal and parental info and all the rest...)  I explained to them that I never send a kid to the admin... If there are concerns I deal with them personally... Most of the time it starts with “lunch detention” and extra work...            

4. A lecture about my expectations... and finally....                                                                 
5.  I take them to the school chapel to have a chat with them and a “five to 10 minutes” quite...reflection time....

That was the routine... I knew what to talk and I knew what to do... So the first day work was nothing much... But abandoning New York and tennis when the competition starts to get more intense and goes to fourth round and quarter finals and semis and Final... I did not want to leave ....yet... But I did always...

But not this year... and I am happy for that... I can walk the walks that I fancy...I can watch the games that I desire...I can drink whatever I want later on and not worry about hangovers...I can attend theaters that I have planned for a year... This year I am retired and I can do whatever I want to do... and the kids can enjoy their New Year without me...

I am free and may be they are happier...

I will watch the games I want...and celebrate the way I want... Happy Liberation for me... and Happy New Year for them...

It is a New Year...and we have new expectations...                                                  

I wish the same can be said for

•         Ukraine... where they are killing each other.....
•    Israel and Palestine... where yesterday the Israeli regime announced that they are confiscating 1000 acres of Palestinian land to built new settlements for Jewish people...  I wish people will not fight over land...But I know that they will...
•          Iraq and Syria...where the Islamic Jihadists are creating famine...they are kidnaping women and girls and selling them to be raped... they are destroying churches and driving the Christians out...
•     Libya....where anarchy prevails and militias are killing the people...in the name of Islam...

I wish the academic New Year gives new insight to the younger generation and they can do everything better than their elders...parents, teachers and all the rest of the Big Brothers...

I am liberated from the four wall-confined-teaching....but I sill share the world with you...Tennis or not...I want eh world to be a peaceful place... These rules – presidents and parliaments and militias and Jihadists...all are creating havoc and misery in the world... I wish you learn better and do things differently and usher in PEACE...

I am sure you can do it... I wish you will do it....