Re-Visiting London

This past week has been March Break back home in Ontario, and I was lucky enough to have some friends who spent it in London this year. It was great to visit with them and reconnect, but still carry on with my day to day life here.  

Kyla and Brent were here with their high school's March Break trip as chaperones.  Their schedule was pretty jam packed, but we managed to meet up for drinks the Friday they got in, and then again briefly on Monday before they were off to Paris.  I'm not sure if chaperoning a group of high school kids  would be my number one way to travel, mainly because there seems to be so many opportunities to get annoyed with people. You are also really stuck to a schedule/the whole group and can't necessarily wander off and explore something you see that's interesting, which is how I've ended up seeing some of the neatest stuff while in new places.  They were coping well though, and definitely saw loads of stuff while in England.

A big thank you to Kyla, for schlepping over some treats from my mom.  I can only imagine what else she could have packed instead of bringing over insane amounts of red licorice, coffee crisps, and jujubes.  

Lindsay, a friend from teachers college, was here with her sister and met up with their cousin who is doing an exchange in Italy.  Their schedule was much more flexible, and we were able to hang out a few times during the week. On Wednesday we went to see The Phantom of the Opera, which was amazing. It was my third time seeing it, and honestly the best.  I've been singing the songs all week, and think I will finally cave and buy the CD.

It was definitely interesting to hear about the differences that my friends noticed from home while over here for the week.  I've gotten used to lots since being here for the past 6 (!) months that just seem normal now. A lot of the things were the exact things I noticed when first over here as well, such as: night life happening about 4 hours earlier than back home  (pubs are often closed before 12am), few garbage cans on the street, crazy crowdedness on the tube and people walking on the opposite side of the side walk.

Having people from home here also made me realize that there is loads in London and around that I have not done yet.  Some things that I definitely want to tick off my list, and that were recommended to me by Kyla/Brent/Lindsay include: Windsor Castle, Bath and Stonehenge, Westminster and The Tower of London.  Hopefully I can see those places with my next round of visitors.

And next weekend, I get to be a visitor, as I'll be staying with my second cousin who's doing an exchange in Paris to wrap up her degree .  I should start seriously reading up on the things I want to see/do, since I leave right after work on Thursday. Yay!

A Drunken London Weekend

Well, another weekend here in London has come and gone. And much too quickly I might add. Luckily, I did my best to soak up take advantage of the London life and spent a good portion of the weekend consuming alcohol. Not good for the waistline or wallet, but quite fun every once in a while.

Friday started out well. I went to 'The Space', which is a pub that is no more than a 5 minute walk from school. It was good to hang out with people you spend every day with in a more relaxed and social setting. It was also nice because we were able to vent about work stuff, which I'm not always able to do with people that know what I'm talking about, since my Canadian friends all work at different schools.  Learned that one teacher is/was a palm reader (she hasn't 'read' in 5 years), so we were all examining each others hands. Also found out that our deputy head is turning 38 this year, and has a list of '38 new things' to do before her birthday.  After 3 pints with them, I went up to North London, and meet my friends Jess and Jordan in a pub near Angel station for some more drinks.  We talked about how glad we were that it was Friday, and how annoying work is. We also spent a significant amount of time discussing whether Michael Jackson is talented or just more of a freak now. Either way it was unanimous that we'd all love to see him live (just announced 10 dates in London in July). After 3 more pints (!!) I made my way to Angel station and caught the last train home.

Saturday started out a little rough, no surprise there.  It was nice to relax and veg out for a bit though. I managed to catch some 'Scrubs' on t.v. which was nice, because there can be some pretty horrendous daytime t.v. programming here (think Snooker, horse races and Antiques Road Show, a show that I will never understand the appeal of).  Then I got myself together and met up with friends for a bbq in Canada Water (area of London, where a lot of Aussies, and South Africans live, oddly enough).  It was great to hang out with people in a house party setting, which I'm used to from back home. We ate some great food (I was missing yellow mustard on my burger, but survived), and played a great game that I know from home as 'The Bowl Game', but the person who was teaching it calls is 'Names in a Hat'. Either way, it's awesome. It was a bit tricky for him to get the instructions out though, as some members were already a few drinks in. The game has 3 rounds, and we barely made it through the first. I'm looking forward to playing again, in a more 'serious' setting. I'm also a bit psycho when it comes to games, and not playing them properly. I realized that about myself Saturday night. We had an interesting bus ride home, where we were on the top level of the bus, at the front, trying to show the whole bus we were having way more fun than them by cheering and laughing, pretending the bus was a roller coaster, and lifting our arms up and then not talking and shushing each other at red lights. Not sure how that came about. Then the bus broke down (not the first time, thanks for the reliable transport London) right outside London Bridge station, and I hopped on the second last train again. Whew!

Sunday, I went to Clapham, which is an area more south of the river than where I live. It was nice to wander around a new neighbourhood, and see what's there.  There is a huge park/green space/open field area there, and when I was there, the sun was shining and the sky was blue and everyone was taking advantage.  One of the great things about London is the frequency and size of parks and also in how they're used. In Toronto I would gladly walk through the parks in the downtown area, but would never really spend any significant amount of time in them. Here, people pack lunches, bring blankets and frisbees and make a whole day of it.  Then, I met up with Jess and Jordan again in Shoreditch which is a trendy area in East London. We had some drinks at a bar called 'Ziggy von Underbelly'. Really cool bar in a neat square, with lots of other cool bars around. About 2 pints in we renamed Sunday, Funday.

So thats about it. Exciting things coming up include visits from Kyla and Brent, and Linsday from back home, who are visiting over March break and my long weekend in Paris at the end of the month. Looks like Cousin Jeff will be visiting over the Easter break in April, and we're thinking of hitting up Ireland while he's here as well. I'm having a hard time believing that after this week, there is only 4 full weeks left until the Easter holiday.

Until next time!

~h

One week down, five more to go

Well, it's been one week back at work since the half term break. Surprisingly the week went back quickly, which was nice. We had an inset training day (no kids at school) on Monday about building learning power, which was interesting.  The whole focus was to thinking about learning as a process and building independent learners instead of just getting work done. Some interesting points brought up about the language teachers use, and what it conveys to the students.  

I really like how the school system is set up over here, with the breaks spread out more throughout the year.  This means that I've only got 5 more weeks until the Easter Break, which is two weeks long.  Because I'm teaching at a Catholic school the two weeks are somewhat split up; our first day of the break is April 9th, and then our first day back is April 23rd.  Then it will only be 4 weeks until the half term break in May. I know the summers off school are longer at home, but I almost think they're too long.  Kids get bored with 8 weeks off and forget a lot of things taught in the previous year. 

I don't have any definite plans as of yet for that time off in April, but do have some ideas. My cousin Jeff is planning a visit over, so he will want to see all that London has to ofer, but we have talked about possibly visiting Ireland during that time as well. Details still need to be worked out.

I'm really looking forward to my long weekend in Paris, coming up at the end of the month. I'll be staying with my second cousin Erin, who is doing an exchange to wrap up her degree from Ivey (at Western).  Her apartment is very close to the Garre du Nord, which is the train station I'll be arriving at on the Eurostar. I plan on doing the free walking tour - have done one in Berlin and Amsterdam and both were great, as well as consuming baguettes with brie and red wine!

I've also got some visitors from home coming over in March as well, which is exciting.  My good friends Kyla and Brent are traveling to England and France with their high school's March break trip, and will be in London around March 13th. Another good friend from teachers college is coming over on her March break as well, so it will be great to connect and catch up with familiar friends. 

Can't wait!