The First Post!!

Greetings!

One of my resolutions for 2009 was to start a blog so that I could easily let everyone at home know what I'm up to over here in jolly old England. I'll do my best to keep it interesting and to post on a regular basis.

Quick update for those of you out of the loop:

I moved to London, England on September 5, 2008 to teach. I had registered with an agency in Canada that helped me get set up over here - bank account, place to live, job etc. I have been working at the same primary school since I got here back in September - St. Edmunds Catholic School. There I am the PPA teacher. PPA stands for 'Planning, Preparation and Assessment' so when the regular classroom teachers have time out of class to do those things, I cover their class. It's great because I don't have to worry about planning and marking and all the extra work that's involved with having your own class, but I'm always at the same school, so I know the kids, staff, routines etc. I live in a great flat with one of the teachers from my school, Holly, who is a Londoner. 

Back to the present day. I just returned on Tuesday from a great (and busy!) Christmas vacation at home. It's been a tough transition back into London life. I was ready to turn around and hop on the next plane to Toronto for a little while, but am feeling somewhat better now. It took me a while to get a decent nights sleep at night, and my stomach was also quite upset and not feeling right for a few days, making life somewhat miserable. I also was coming back from vacation to go back to work, which is never fun, no matter where you are. It's been tricky because it was so easy to get back into familiar routines with familiar people, and then coming to a place where everyone who is important in your life isn't with you has been an adjustment. I don't know what I'd be doing at home if I was there, so it makes sense to stay in London for the next little while (July 2009). I'm just not sure when and how I will figure out what to do next will happen. I suppose I have some time to figure things out... ;)

This past weekend has been good though. After seeing a Pantomime of Mother Goose (a play, where the female lead is always played by a man, and there it lots of audience interaction) with the school on Friday, I meet up with Jess and Jordan (I know Jess from teachers college in Toronto) for some drinks in North London. We stumbled upon a house full of jukeboxes, and the man invited us in to see them, which was surreal. He had about 10 on the main floor, and getting us to listen to the difference between the 1954 and '55 Wurlitzer's. Crazy. Saturday I slept in a bit, and watched some t.v. before going over the Jaime and Sheena's place to hang out. We caught up after the holidays, and shared feelings of being back, made some dinner and watched a movie. Today Jess, Jordan and their friend Aaron and I, met up at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was great - lots of different things. I really like the jewelry and ironworks exhibits. The glassworks one was closed for some reason today, which was disappointing. We plan on seeing the Natural History Museum next weekend. 

Until next time!

~h