Four months and counting
Ok, now I can get on with what I orginally intended on posting. :D It is much more cheerful.
So I have now been in London since the April 12 and I haven't regretted the move one little bit. Ok, there was a minor hiccup on Tuesday when I discovered What London Schools Are Really Like (TM), but ultimately it was a minor hiccup. So far I actually like working in London schools, yes they can be a bit rough, but they are closer to what I am used to working in, which is a plus.
Thankfully, I have worked pretty much eight days straight (or I will have tomorrow morning) - or the the last eight school days anyway. I feel a little bit bad because ultimately the fact that the airports were closed here for so long was really beneficial for me. I got a lot of work out of the fact that teachers couldn't make it back. Which is good, because I don't know what next week will be like - particulary given that Monday is a bank holiday and Tuesday I have an interview with another agency (apparently making sure I work for several agencies will mean I can get the full 5 days work so it should pay off in the long run).
My bank account currently hates me. I wish I could say it's because I've been living the high life and jetting off to exotic locations at the drop of a hat, but it just hasn't worked out like that. In fact I had big plans for the last holiday, but do you know what I ended up doing?
I spent 1/2 a day in both Oxford and Cambridge.
Not at the the actual universities (mostly because I was way intimidated), but firstly at Oxford Castle, which was really interesting. Apparently part of it could be the only Saxon building still standing...and the rest of it was prison (actually the part that could be the only Saxon building still standing was part of the prison too). It was actually a castle at one point too (hence the castle part of the name...). Also it's haunted.
Cambridge was awesome place to shop. Seriously. Even though I couldn't afford it, I still spent a fair bit of money there. Who cares about history? SHOPPING.
Most of the holiday was taken up by my moving. Which by 'most' I mean four days and three trips. I had to cart my luggage by train, which was a mission, particularly given how heavy my suitcase was.
And you don't want to know how much stuff I have acquired since I arrived here. Granted most of that stuff is books and dvds, but still.
I love where I am now, though. The area I am living in is very pretty (particularly given it is spring and there is a ton of apple and cheery blossom about - not to mention all the green leaves). It is a bit of a hike in the mornings (I've been leaving home at 6:30 am this week), but I find I don't mind them much, partculary if I can plonk myself down on a tube and read. Or sleep. Though I have to be careful about the sleeping one. Most of the time I just doze lightly - so I can generally be conscious when I get to my destination. I have actually fallen asleep twice though (both on the way home, I am AWAKE in the mornings), which causes a bit of panicking when I woke up, particulay the time we were pulling out of the station that looked just like mine - but thankfully was the one before that.
Oh and I saw my first fox this morning! First ever! It was about twenty metres away, on the allotment - I just opened my curtains and there he (or she) was, happily chewing on something, which I thankfully couldn't see, because it was probably gross. I was totally stoked but wished I could have been closer.
Back to work.
So far I have mostly done reception and nursery classes, which is like preschool, though they are attached to the primary school. Can't say I love that age group, and I found the nursery in particular difficult. I really don't believe I have the training for that age group. But I have to admit I haven't hated doing reception at the school I have been working at this week. Though tomorrow I have to do PE with them. PE with four year olds.
Granted it could be worse, my only experience with year sixes in a London school involved me asking an aide to sit with the class while I went to calm down. I kid you not. I actually walked out of a classroom. The school were very understanding. My agent a little less so, but you can't win everyone. The students were very apologetic later.
Today on the way home I finished my current book "The Mummy Congress", which was absolutely fascinating. I didn't read all of chapter 3, though because it was talking about parasites and diseases and I was just too weak stomached to go and any further, so skipped to chapter four. Other than that I found it very interesting how many cultures mummified their dead. Ancient and modern. Everyone knows about the Egyptians and most people have some idea about the South Americans (more than one South American society mummified their dead). But so did the Celts, the Danes, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Roman Catholics, and the Russian Communists. You can pay to have your body mummified today (if you have a spare few hundred grand (USD) lying around).
I nearly cried during the chapter about the oldest mummies ever found (they're called Chinchorro - and are from Chile). Apparently, for a long time only children were mummified and the description about how the Chinchorro people would have gone about this was a little heart-wrenching.
ETA: I WILL learn to spell one day.
So I have now been in London since the April 12 and I haven't regretted the move one little bit. Ok, there was a minor hiccup on Tuesday when I discovered What London Schools Are Really Like (TM), but ultimately it was a minor hiccup. So far I actually like working in London schools, yes they can be a bit rough, but they are closer to what I am used to working in, which is a plus.
Thankfully, I have worked pretty much eight days straight (or I will have tomorrow morning) - or the the last eight school days anyway. I feel a little bit bad because ultimately the fact that the airports were closed here for so long was really beneficial for me. I got a lot of work out of the fact that teachers couldn't make it back. Which is good, because I don't know what next week will be like - particulary given that Monday is a bank holiday and Tuesday I have an interview with another agency (apparently making sure I work for several agencies will mean I can get the full 5 days work so it should pay off in the long run).
My bank account currently hates me. I wish I could say it's because I've been living the high life and jetting off to exotic locations at the drop of a hat, but it just hasn't worked out like that. In fact I had big plans for the last holiday, but do you know what I ended up doing?
I spent 1/2 a day in both Oxford and Cambridge.
Not at the the actual universities (mostly because I was way intimidated), but firstly at Oxford Castle, which was really interesting. Apparently part of it could be the only Saxon building still standing...and the rest of it was prison (actually the part that could be the only Saxon building still standing was part of the prison too). It was actually a castle at one point too (hence the castle part of the name...). Also it's haunted.
Cambridge was awesome place to shop. Seriously. Even though I couldn't afford it, I still spent a fair bit of money there. Who cares about history? SHOPPING.
Most of the holiday was taken up by my moving. Which by 'most' I mean four days and three trips. I had to cart my luggage by train, which was a mission, particularly given how heavy my suitcase was.
And you don't want to know how much stuff I have acquired since I arrived here. Granted most of that stuff is books and dvds, but still.
I love where I am now, though. The area I am living in is very pretty (particularly given it is spring and there is a ton of apple and cheery blossom about - not to mention all the green leaves). It is a bit of a hike in the mornings (I've been leaving home at 6:30 am this week), but I find I don't mind them much, partculary if I can plonk myself down on a tube and read. Or sleep. Though I have to be careful about the sleeping one. Most of the time I just doze lightly - so I can generally be conscious when I get to my destination. I have actually fallen asleep twice though (both on the way home, I am AWAKE in the mornings), which causes a bit of panicking when I woke up, particulay the time we were pulling out of the station that looked just like mine - but thankfully was the one before that.
Oh and I saw my first fox this morning! First ever! It was about twenty metres away, on the allotment - I just opened my curtains and there he (or she) was, happily chewing on something, which I thankfully couldn't see, because it was probably gross. I was totally stoked but wished I could have been closer.
Back to work.
So far I have mostly done reception and nursery classes, which is like preschool, though they are attached to the primary school. Can't say I love that age group, and I found the nursery in particular difficult. I really don't believe I have the training for that age group. But I have to admit I haven't hated doing reception at the school I have been working at this week. Though tomorrow I have to do PE with them. PE with four year olds.
Granted it could be worse, my only experience with year sixes in a London school involved me asking an aide to sit with the class while I went to calm down. I kid you not. I actually walked out of a classroom. The school were very understanding. My agent a little less so, but you can't win everyone. The students were very apologetic later.
Today on the way home I finished my current book "The Mummy Congress", which was absolutely fascinating. I didn't read all of chapter 3, though because it was talking about parasites and diseases and I was just too weak stomached to go and any further, so skipped to chapter four. Other than that I found it very interesting how many cultures mummified their dead. Ancient and modern. Everyone knows about the Egyptians and most people have some idea about the South Americans (more than one South American society mummified their dead). But so did the Celts, the Danes, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Roman Catholics, and the Russian Communists. You can pay to have your body mummified today (if you have a spare few hundred grand (USD) lying around).
I nearly cried during the chapter about the oldest mummies ever found (they're called Chinchorro - and are from Chile). Apparently, for a long time only children were mummified and the description about how the Chinchorro people would have gone about this was a little heart-wrenching.
ETA: I WILL learn to spell one day.