Hit the Ground Running

Today it was back to work after a glorious two weeks without whining, giggling, screaming, wriggling and silly children. And despite the bit of trepidation I felt last night, this morning I felt ready(ish) to go back. And once I was there, everything was back to normal.

Perhaps the most exciting part of the rentrée was coming back to see the new windows that were installed in all the classrooms over the break. Here's a picture of the old vitres, with the nasty, plasticky, teal curtains:

And voilà! Pretty, new, air-tight, energy-efficient, high-tech windows:

I say the windows are "high-tech" because they have electronic "shades" that raise and lower at the touch of a button. They are these fancy new-fangled things that don't in fact block out the light (pro and con), but cut the glare from the sun and really just shade the room. Of course, bets have already been placed as to how long (or not, as the case may be!) the "electronic" aspect will function without problems... Everyone is rather skeptical. But in the meantime, the windows look GREAT and it actually completely changes the feel of the classroom. It seems bigger, lighter and more pleasant.

...of course, rolling off a two-weeks-of-sunny-vacation high can't hurt the impression either!