Weekend Getaway

This week is half-term holiday...which means school is out again! I was really glad for a break though..the past couple days were wearing me down! I felt like the kids were getting crazier..I think we all needed a break!

On Saturday morning I left for Holland and Belgium. I started out the trip traveling to Dover and taking a ferry to France and from there we drove over to Holland. I went with a tour group so it was all planned out and worked out really well! Immediately I met a lot of great people. We stayed at a bed and breakfast that included dinner each night!

Our first stop was Amsterdam. The city whose coffee shops sell a different "fix" then what Starbucks is selling, and gives a whole new meaning to the term "window shopping!" On Saturday night I ventured out with some of my new friends to check out the Red Light District! Wasn't as crazy/scary as I thought it would be...but was definitely dirty!! It was a ton of drunk/high tourists and prostitutes (well there behind glass doors...they're not just walking around) It was a sight to see...but wouldn't go back.

In the morning we went to a clog and cheese factory! We got to see them make clogs and cheese! It was so cool

On Sunday we hung out around Amsterdam, took a canal river boat cruise and looked around the city. If you notice in the photo a lot of the buildings were built crooked! There's also tons of bikes everywhere! It's like no one drives cars, they just all own bikes- it was crazy. It was good, always fun to see new places...but Amsterdam just isn't my city! I found it to be very dirty (in all sense of the word) it was very touristy and not all that much to see (well there are 35 museums to keep you busy!) Overall final verdict on Amsterdam: not for me.

On Monday we left our hotel in Holland and made our way to Belgium in the city Brugge. I loved Brugge! Now that's my kind of city! :) It was really nice looking with lots of really cute shops! We ate at this really nice outdoor restaurant and had mussels and chips, it was soo good! The mussels were amazing. Then we walked around, bought Belgium chocolates and lace :)

I had a fabulous weekend, met new friends and got to cross off two cities off my list! Also through a slight mishap (on my part) at customs I was given two more months on my working visa here!! yay :)

Today was an extra fabulous day, because I saw Sex and the City with my flat mate Jim!! It was SO GOOD! Won't say too much because I know it's not out in the States yet...but it was amazing, even more then I thought it would be!

Tomorrow morning I head off to Scotland! Nadia's sister lives in Edinburgh so I'm going to stay with her until Saturday. I'm excited although a tad nervous because I hear how difficult it is to understand Scottish people...if I think British people can be hard to understand and they think Scottish people are hard to understand--I'm screwed!! haha :) Should be a fun trip! I'll of course take loads of photos and post them. I'm trying to find a website that would let me post all my photos so that everyone can view them all rather than you only seeing the ones that I post here...

Sometimes you just have to pull the fire alarm...

On Friday I was at a school in Islington in a Year 1 class. I am brought to the classroom and am given a timetable of the day by one of the teachers. He's writing on the whiteboard and explaining "Ok so playtime is at 10:30, lunch is at 12:15, you pick the kids up at 1:30... etc" then he says "So yeah, there's no planning done so just do whatever you want to do!" This was the first time I had been given no plan whatsoever. So I had about 15 minutes to pull together an hours worth of stuff to get me to playtime! I spent that 15 minutes looking around the room to see if I can get previous work samples or anything to see what they've been doing so I can think of where to go next? Then this teacher walks up to me and says "Ok it's time to let the kids in, go and open that door." I walk over and the door doesn't open, which isn't much of a surprise every door in London has some kind of hoop to have to jump through to get it open..there's always a button or something you have to push to release door here. I figure this door is like the rest, so in haste I push this red box RIGHT NEXT to the handle. The moment I pushed it, I knew exactly what I had done. The box broke through and then started flashing red...then a loud fire alarm blasts through the school!! OMG. I walk next door and the teachers have these flustered/confused looks on their faces and the kids are screaming "Fire! There's a fire!" I walk in and say "Sorry that was me.." Then we all walk outside, THE WHOLE SCHOOL, and stand out there until the alarm stops. I'm mouthing "I'm sorry" to every teacher that's near me. I stood there looking around saying to myself "Everyone is out here because of me, I've only been here 15 minutes!" After I stopped feeling embarrassed-- I realised that was the best thing I could have done! That totally bought me more time to think of what to do, and it killed some time! Hahaha. In the end, the day was really good--the kids were great!

On Sunday I got tickets to the Globe Theatre to see Romeo and Juliet!! It was so amazing! I got tickets for the yard, which is the standing area right in front of the stage. I love the Globe. We got a great view, and the actors were amazing! Even though I was standing for a 3 hour long show, I didn't mind a bit! I forgot how much I love that play, and how much I love Mercutio. I always tend to have a crush on whoever plays Mercutio. I think I'm gonna get tickets to see A Midsummer Night's Dream.

This is a random picture I just threw in. This is my bedroom...fab huh? There's really no need to take photos from other angles...you're getting the complete effect right here. The only thing you can't see is my wardrobe that is behind the door that's right when you walk in on the right side. I love my room! :) It's affectionately known as "Cell Block B" no, not really..I just made that up now...but it does have a lot in common with a jail cell! But it's the best --because it's all mine!

When good times go bad

Alright so one of my last posts I said that I had a sick story to tell from the funfair that just wouldn't be told well without the photos. I have the photos now, and I just have to post them! When we first arrived at the funfair everyone was lovin life, feeling good and ready to get on a ride! I generally hate all funfair rides, but I was so caught up in all the lights and excitement I well...completely forgot! Here's a before picture of us...

Here we all are, looking great-ready for a fun time at the fun fair! yay!! :) Look at how excited I am. Then....after....

Oh no... not doing well!! I look like a hot mess, I was a hot mess. That was the WORST ride I've ever been on! I had my head firmly pressed into Nadia's shoulder the entire time, I couldn't even explain how the ride was because I wasn't looking. It was awful. The worst part was it was sooo long! It just never ended- they just kept spinning us and whirling us around. Bad times. haha but a great photo!!!

School has been really great so far this week. Yesterday I worked 1 on 1 all day with an autistic boy in a Year 1 classroom. We had a really great day, he was really high functioning on the spectrum. He was a really sweet boy, pretty social too- we didn't have any problems. Well, except for when he would body slam innocent girls on the playground! Today I was in a Year 3 classroom. They girls in the class were hilarious, they were all over me giving me compliments all day long! All the kids here (just like in the States) are obsessed with High School Musical. One girl came up to me today and said "When you go back to America, can you take a picture of Troy?" (That's Zac Efron's character) haha I had to tell her that it's really not that easy, and just because I live in America it doesn't mean that I hang out with Zac Efron...really cute.

The premiere of Sex and the City was last night is Leicester Square! It was sad though because I found out about it whilst reading the LondonPaper on the tube!! The movie doesn't come out here till the 28th! Premiering on the 12th totally snuck up on me--totally unfair. I had to watch it on the news...so sad. Oh well, still very exciting that I was in the same city as the world premiere of the biggest movie of my life (ok a little overdramatic)

A day in the countryside!

Yesterday I took a day trip to The Cotswolds! It was beautiful English Countryside at its best.

We went to 3 different towns. The first picture is off the main road in Burford. I love how old and beautiful all the houses look, isn't it odd to see a modern day car in front of a building like that?? The second picture is taken from Bourton-on-the-Water, that was my favorite town. There were tons of people out having picnics by the river and lots of shops and restaurants. It was so charming!

All of the buildings have that honeycomb Cotswolds stone, and many of the wall are "dry stone" walls- made with no cement. As you can see..it's summer time! Every one's very excited about it, I've been reading in the paper that it's unusually warm for this time of year. I think yesterday was a record hot day. I decided to walk a little bit away from the main town to see what I could find...

I made my way through this narrow walkway out into this huge field! It was so amazing, I felt like I was in the secret garden! It was so beautiful and peaceful. There was a huge field filled with sheep, which is funny because the Cotswolds is known for having lots of sheep.

How cute are the little lambs!! I wanted so bad to pick one up. I love them...

The last town we visited was Stow-on-the-Wold, it was cute- lots of shops to look into on a big long hill.

Overall lovely day in the country. Best part was--I found a signed copy of my favorite book for £2.50!!!! I'm obsessed with Sophie Kinsella and the entire Shopaholic series, and they were selling her books signed by her! I almost died. I bought the first one- Confessions of a Shopaholic. They're actually right now filming a movie of it, so fabulous :)

Bank Holiday Fun

The rest of last week was good! On friday I was in a Year 1 class and a Nursery Class (preschool) and had such a great time! I have thought for the longest time that I prefer being with older students, but I really think I'm changing my mind! That morning I taught how to write an upper case and lower case A and B..it was the best! The kids were so cute! In Nursery I sat around a table with 3 and 4 year olds playing with play dough! Cute story--so after I taught the handwriting lesson one of the little girls came up to me and said "You look like a fake person." I said "What does that mean?" she replied, "You look like someone from the movies, like someone that's not real." I said "Ohh...but I AM real!!" haha too cute. THEN when I was playing with the 4 year olds one of them said to me "I saw you on TV the other day.." I asked him what show he saw me on, he didn't remember but was positive that he had seen me. Haha that whole school thought I was a celebrity. I loved it.

This weekend was really great. It was really sunny all weekend! In fact it's still sunny! It's a miracle! Usually it's sunny for a hot second and you embrace every minute of it, and then it rains and the clouds come out. This time it's really sticking! I went for a run today in the park by my flat, it was the GREATEST!

On Saturday it was my flatmate Jim's birthday. We drank Pims during the day..which is extremely British. It's a really nice summertime, sunny day drink. We had it with lemonade...which really isn't so much lemonade as it's more like sprite...but sprite is lemon and lime and lemonde is just...lemon. Then we went out, here are some pictures from the night.

The picture on the left is Me, Nadia, Becky and Jim.

On Sunday we went to breakfast at this really cool place on the High Road. Which, is really saying a lot considering how skanky the High Road is. The High Road is the major street closest to our house, it's where you go when you need to grab something quick, go to the bank etc. The place we went to eat was serving English Breakfast--it was my first one! It was soo good! The place was really cheap. £3.50 for a full breakfast of eggs, bacon, ham, baked beans, mushrooms, tomato, and toast with tea! It was a really nice place too...and major bonus--they had tons of gossip magazines all laid out for you to read while you wait for your food to be ready! I'm totally going there every Sunday! :)

Later on Sunday Nadia's two sisters and her neice came over, she's 3 and totally adorable. We went to a funfair in the evening, it was the best funfair I had ever been too..it was so massive.

There was one really unfortunate event, but it's only told best with the photos and they're on Nadia's camera..so I'll wait to share the story.

Then on Monday it was a Bank Holiday for May Day. We went to the London Eye and hung out in the park, there was so many people out it was a really warm day. Everyone was laying out in the sun. We walked around and enjoyed the nice weather. There was a famous graffit artist that was showcasing his work, I think he spray painted this tunnel. Here are some pictures of it.