Fancy a trim??

Let me start off by saying I had a really fabulous birthday! Thanks to all of those that gave me lovely birthday wishes! :) One of the best presents I got on my birthday was a lovely reception class to teach!! The kids were golden, and we had the greatest day! Reception really is my favourite! (that would be kindergarten in the States) That night my friends and I went out to a couple places in Covent Garden and then we went to the club called FunkyBuddha in Mayfair. We had the greatest night!! I felt like the whole city was in on my birthday! Then on Thursday I saw Wicked, it was such a good show and it was a fantastic night!

Now for some crazy kid stories!!-- On Thursday I was teaching a Year 1 and they were all a little wild! I was having them cut out musical instruments and place them into their families ex: strings, woodwinds etc. All the kids had out paste and scissors. I was sitting helping one particularly needy child...this very excited boy from Poland, or as he would say "Polish Country!" As I was helping him I here "Miss! Miss! Owen cut his hair!!" I turn around and there's hair all over his desk and he has a huge hole in the side of his head!! Aaaah! Owen had to go down to the Headteachers office for a chat, and while he has away I had a little chat with the kids about how foolish it is to cut your hair in school..oh man. Scary thing is, I think I'm back in that class later this week!

Rickshaw to the rescue!

This week I have been at the same school teaching the same class. I really enjoyed having so stability! The kids were a little crazy (sometimes very crazy...) but it was really nice to form a bit of a relationship with a group of students. I had a really great week! I've probably never been so strict, but it's so cool to see myself grow as a teacher. I find that I'm getting so much better at classroom management. Oh! On Friday the kids had swimming! We got on a coach and drove down to the local public indoor swimming pool! It was so cute to see the kids in their swimming costumes (that's what the call a swim suit) and swim caps! aah so cute! Also I made a new friend at school- Sarah! She was doing supply for another Year 5 class in the school all week, so we became friends and would have lunch together in the staff room. We went out last night for a bit and we're talking about going to France together! She's from Australia and has been in the UK as long as I have! Very nice week, on Friday I was sad to leave them...

On Tuesday it's my birthday! The big 2-3. I'm going to go out on the town with my housemates, and on Wednesday Nadia got tickets for us to see a live taping of a sit-com! This birthday is going to be really weird not having my friends around to celebrate. I haven't really gotten homesick since being out here, but when I think about my birthday I get a little sad. I'm used to spending my birthday with all my friends and having a dinner with all of them :( What's really nice though is what great friends I have in Jim and Nadia. Nadia almost talks about my birthday more than I do! I'm really blessed to have found them.

This photo was taken last weekend. Nadia and I went to this bar called Jewel in Picadilly Circus. It's gorgeous! The bar had amazing chandeliers everywhere. Going out in London you have two choices, if you go home before 12 you can catch the last tube. Otherwise you have to take the night bus home. We get get our night bus from Oxford St--the good old 98 bus! When we left Jewel we had to walk a bit to get to Oxford and our feet were hurting! Just as we were saying how our feet hurt-- a crazy rickshaw man appeared! We haggled down his price from £18 to £5!! haha--it was the funnest ride ever!! We were screaming and giving people high 5's on the street as we passed! I've never laughed harder

Grab your instruments!

I have a very interesting job. I'm not quite sure what the qualifications are supposed to be..but you pretty much have to know how to do everything. Yesterday when I arrived at the school the Headteacher was upset with me because I didn't bring a music lesson to teach to all the children..I was speechless. I don't even know A music lesson, let alone many music lessons to teach children!! But--that doesn't mean I can't teach music! I quickly threw together a nice lesson and I spent the whole day going from class to class bringing music to all the children! haha- I pretended that I was this classically trained musician. It was quite fun- everyone loved it (well except for a few rude boys..but that's always the case) Overall great success, some students asked me if I'll be coming back next wednesday to teach music--unfortunately I'm a one hit wonder, and I don't have new material!

A piper is down!

Over the weekend I went on wee trip by meself to a wee town called Edinburgh! I absolutely loved it!!! It is such a gorgeous city-- I had a really nice time. I stayed with Nadia's sister and boyfriend, which was wonderful. I had never met them before but they had heard about me from Nadia and told her if I ever wanted to visit I could stay with them. They were such nice people and had the cutest 2 year old boy-Nevis! I loovveee Nevis!!! We became best friends quickly. On the first night I was there they took me to Portobello beach and we walked on the board walk. All day on Friday I walked around Edinburgh--saw the castle, (which I'm obsessed with) ate haggis, (which is actually pretty good..but wouldn't eat too much!) went to Mary King's Close--which is this real underground city!!! It wasn't underground at the time... but now-- through events that I don't understand--it's now underground. It was so cool to see. That evening Nadia's sister drove me around a bit and showed me more of the city. In the morning I hiked up this mountain with Andy that overlooked all of Edinburgh. It's amazing how it's such a small city with so much packed in it! I had a really fantastic time, It was really nice staying with them--especially since Andy has lived in Edinburgh his whole life so I was able to ask him all my questions and he could tell me all the history. When I got home I watched Braveheart to really top off the trip! haha-I'm such a dork.