Doh

What am I talking about, nothing happened today... that's what you get for posting before the day is over.

I started my BSL Level 3 course this evening :D

To say I was nervous would be the understatement of the year.  I got there to find about 12 other people already waiting, and chatting away in sign language, gulp.  I had a bit of a panic thinking that if they were all that good already then maybe I was in the wrong room.  It turned out that most of them started the course in September.  There were actually only 3 of us that started today and there was no need for the nerves.  I understood most of what was going on, especially the dirty jokes during the coffee break hehe.

Looking forward to next week.  Now I just have to get myself down to Deaf Club or find myself a friend who can sign so I can practice.

Satnag

Today's photo is of my new toy (well OK, our new toy).  A Garmin Nuvi 205wt Satnag.  It arrived just in time too, cause I had an interview for a place on a BSL level 3 course today and didn't know where I was going.

I'm not sure how they interview went.  The teacher who was supposed to be taking it was off sick so I ended up signing to a camera for five minutes.  Apparently the college finance director can sign, so if the tutor is not back in time then he will review the recordings and decide who gets in and who doesn't.  I should know by the end of the week, well hopefully by the end of the week seeing as the course starts next week!

P.S. Photo will come later, Blogger playing silly buggars and won't let me upload!

Edited 8/1/09 - Blogger finally let me add my photo.  Was it worth the wait?

'Free' Time

I am so cross. I dropped the boys at nursery this morning and drove over to Morley Street Sensory Resource Centre, where I do my mornings volunteering every Thursday, only to find it closed due to indistrial action! Now I understand that on occasion there may be a need for industrial action and had I watched Look North or Calendar this week I would probably have heard all about it, but I didn't.

What annoys me is that nobody saw fit to tell me that the building would be closed today. Just because I choose to give my time away does not make it worthless. Had I known the place would be closed I could have made alternative arrangements with 'A', the chap I work with, or at least not wasted my time driving there for no reason. A blanket e-mail to all volunteers just saying to check whether their place of work was open on industrial action days would have been enough. But oh no, clearly our time is not important.

I saw a member of staff outside the building when I was standing there reading the notice on the door. I tried to ask her if she knew whether the users of the centre had been informed of the closure so I could determine whether 'A' would be turning up anyway and I should wait for him (an hours wait) but all she would say is 'I can't' and point at the notice.

I don't claim to know very much at all about industrial Action but assume that the idea is to cause maximum inconvenience, due to the lack of whichever service is affected, to convince the powers that be that that service is worth more than they are valueing it at. I can see how making me waste my time going somewhere I am not wanted is going to acheive that.

I fully intend to claim mileage and childcare for today. As it stands volunteering here costs me money. The expenses I will receive, once I get around to putting a claim in, do not fully cover the childcare I pay. I know it is my choice to put him in a nursery where the minimum is 2 half day sessions on 2 different days, so I have to pay for the additional session myself, but the maximum childcare expenses don't cover the 1 Thursday morning session either. I choose to accept this and pay the extra so that I can give my time and gain the BSL experience I require to go on to Level 3 in September.

So anyway, rant over, I'm now at home washing duvets, yipee.

Third Time Lucky

I passed. At last.

I got the results for my British Sign Language Level 2 exam and I passed, and not just scraped through. I passed with points to spare

BSL, here we go again

I got my exam results today and unfortunately I failed the part 2 exam which means I will have to resit it in a week or two. Not looking forward to that .

I got 12 out of 26 and needed 13 for a pass. Damn! So close yet so far.... Hey ho

BSL Exam Day

I had my British Sign Language Level 2 Part 2 exam today. This consisted of telling a story for 4 minutes on one of 3 topics. You get 10 minutes to prepare your story and then the actual exam is signing at a video camera, the tape from which is then sent off for marking.

Well I was so nervous I can't even remeber how far into my story I got (you get stopped after 4 minutes) and whether I managed to get the required bits into the beginning or not. I know I managed the fingerspelling cause I fluffed it and had to do the same word about 3 times before I got it right

Just got to wait 6 - 8 weeks for the results now, in the meantime start working towards the part 3 exam which is June or July some time.