No, I'm not Britney Spears....

I just thought it was only in the US...but apparently children worldwide believe that I am Britney Spears. What a terrible misconception!! Ha! Again today (all day) the kids called me Britney Spears..I hate it!! I remember the days in high school when I was compared to her I would say "No..really? Thanks! I wish..." now my response is.. "No I don't, and you just lost 5 minutes of recess" Haha

Today I was at Rotherhithe Primary which is in Southwark, London...or I as I now call "Britain's Brooklyn." It's funny, I was just saying to Jill yesterday as we were walking, "I've yet to see an area of London that isn't completely amazing"...and now I have! Not to say that it was scary or the ghetto..because it's still got a bit of British charm to it. It's definitely not as "royal" looking as the rest of London. I was in a Year 2 classroom today, so the children were all 7. There was about 28 of them. Luckily there was 2 aides in the classroom, which was completely necessary! (and fabulous) I really didn't have to do much, since they knew how the class worked. They were on the kids making sure they're doing what the should, and keeping the class schedule moving. I just gave whole group instruction at the start of every activity and walked around and helped. The aides dealt with all behavior issues...which there was a lot. Overall good kids though, very sweet. VERY multicultural school, I think we may have had a representative from every continent in the room. We could start a mini UN for kids tomorrow..talk about world problems... The children were sweet, they really took to me and behaved well overall. I'll be there again tomorrow, which I'm looking forward to. Another bonus- this school is extremely casual! Everyone wears jeans and trainers..so I've definitely decided I'm wearing my Uggs to school and I'm so excited!

I updated my job with my new address, since they like to try to find me schools near where I live. Today I got a call from my new consultant for the area, Glen. He was really nice, he called to tell me that I had chosen a fantastic place to live. He said "I wanted to ease your mind and tell you that you'll be living in a great area, and there's lots of work there! The schools are very lovely and much more relaxed then schools in central London and there's lots of nice green fields for the children." It sounds great! Then he went onto tell me that he's booked me work on Wed and Thurs, and the Mon-Thurs the week following break! I love this guy, I don't know what happened but I felt like I was speaking to Jerry Maguire...I turned into Cuba Gooding Jr. and started shouting into the phone...

PS I don't know if I've stated this already, but starting Friday is "Easter break" for two weeks...which is strange because Easter has passed..apparently here it's a belated 2 week event. Yesterday I sent my CV (resume) to about 7 temp agencies for office work for the two weeks that school is out. I should be hearing from them soon, and then I'll be in a lame office for 2 weeks probably answering phones. I just can't afford to take 2 weeks off work just yet.

Oh ya, I know understand how, and take the red double decker buses here. Which not only makes me cool, but an official Londoner.

Why see a boat race when there's Harrods??

Yeah..didn't make it to the boat race. Things were looking good in the morning the, the weather was nice. Then in the afternoon it was raining and windy so Nadia and I didn't want to be outside. Then we thought about something fun to do that inside and I thought "I've never been to Harrods before!!" We quickly hopped on a bus and were there. Harrods is the most beautiful place I've ever been to. It's like Disneyland for the shopaholic. I loved it!!! We had so much fun walking all around and looking at all the fabulous things! The food court is amazing, I couldn't believe you could even buy raw chicken and fish there! At Harrods!! We sat down and shared this amazing gelato sundae. It was so much fun! Then we went to a bar to meet up with our other future roommate in Covent Garden. I love Covent Garden it's so fabulous.

After yesterday being so yucky it was an amazing surprise that today was gorgeous!! The sun was out all day long! I wore out my coat and was too warm all day, it was great. I set out with one of my current roommates Jill and I went to Hyde Park since it was such a great day. From there we walked to Kensington Garden which is HUGE and so beautiful. There were so many people out with their cute little dogs and cute Mummies pushing their prams..it was a lot of fun! Then we walked to Notting Hill to Portobello Market. It was kind of dead on a Sunday but still so cool to see. London is just so beautiful. We walked through some neighborhoods in "The royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea" (I love that!) They houses were amazing...in my fabulous adult London life I will live there!

Tomorrow I'm at a school in Canada Waters which isn't too far from me, it's great also because I'm there Monday and Tuesday.

First day of work

It is officially my one week anniversary of being in London! yay! This past week has been amaazing!! I'm so happy I moved! I started my first day of work on Thursday at a school called Pinkwell which is in zone 5 (London is categorized into zones 1 being most central 6 being farthest) It was a pretty long hike, took me about 2 hours to get home. But again I must say I'm pretty proud of myself for I successfully got there and didn't get lost at all!! I had to get on the tube, take a train, and then take a bus!!
I was teaching in a Year 5 classroom which is 9/10 year olds. They were great! I had such an fun time with them, they were really great kids. I had 4 girls that immediately took to me and wanted to help me with everything! So of course I took all their help! I had all kinds of little workers making everything run smoothly. All the students there were very polite and would always address me as "Miss" they're soo cute in their little British accents!! They would ask me first before they didn't ANYTHING! "Miss, can I use the toilet?" "Miss, can I get more cellotape?" Miss, can I get more rubber?" I loved them!

Oh yea, well there was a slight pickle.... when my kids went to computers, they asked if I could teach PE for an hour.. I went to the PE teachers room and he gave me the whole run down. He told me that they were playing hockey today and gave me all the equipment. So I got the kids, they all got dressed and ready and we went outside on the field to play a friendly game of hockey :) Now we're all out on the field, and there's an autistic boy in the bunch....who gets a little aggressive, and "hands on" at times...and also swears loudly from time to time. He grabs a hockey stick and starts swearing and running after all the children tackling them! It was terrible! I had to chase after him and physically calm him down. I asked one of the kids to go inside and grab a teacher. Luckily she quickly came out and took him inside for me. Phewf! That was getting a little sticky... I was finding it difficult to organize teams and get the game started with all the violent mayhem. Hahaha!! Too funny, this is why I love teaching..the craziest things happen! Like to start--why am I teaching PE???

All and all, a wonderful day. Yesterday I met up with two girls Nadia and Jumoke to see if we would get along as flatmates. I met them at a Starbucks on Regent St. I loved them! They're two really great girls, like girls I would actually be friends with! I'm very happy so I'm going to move in next week. I need to stay at the hostel a bit longer because I wouldn't have enough money to pay security deposits and rent and still be able to eat and pay for transport! So I have to wait until I get some money before I can move. The flat is in Willesden Green, which is on the border of zones 2 and 3.

Very successful week! I've started work, I have my UK bank account set up, I have a flat, and I have friends!! :) Life is good.

Today I'm going with Nadia to the Cambridge vs Oxford boat race. Apparently it's quite a big deal and a big social gathering. If you're at all interested http://www.theboatrace.org/ tells all about it.

Things are happening so fast!

The past couple days have been wonderful! I spend a lot of my time walking around getting familiar with my area. I'm fortunate to be living in an excellent location. I live in Tottenham Court off of Store St. which is right in the heart of the West End, which is Central London. I'm very close to the British Museum..which every time I pass it I get the Frank Sinatra song in my head "A Foggy Day in London Town" hence the name of the blog :) London is such a fabulous city, everything about it is soo beautiful! Every building, every shop is so fantastic.

Today I tried my first go on the tube, and is actually extremely easy and very nice. I can't get over how clean and nice they keep it with all these people running through it daily, it's really amazing. A lot of British complain about the tube but I think it's amazing for public transport. It quick and easy and can get you just about anywhere. I must say I'm getting quite savvy in my London lifestyle..I'm not the bumbling idiot that I thought I was going to be. In just a couple days I find that I keep up with the flow of everyone and generally know exactly where I'm going and how to get there..I'm rather impressed with myself.

In other news, I had a great meeting with my job the other day. I'm working through a company called Protocol, and it's all rather young and cute people working there. (which is always a bonus) They're all extremely nice and helpful. My pay is excellent compared to other people in my boat, and I'm really excited to get back into the classroom--this time with British children!!! They're soo cute! :) So far today my phone has been ringing a lot from different consultants trying to line up work for me. For those who don't know I'm doing supply teaching which is known as substitute teaching in the States. So I work day to day in different schools all over London. It's really fun when ppl call because it makes me feel like I have friends! :) They're always so adorable too, I've already got a couple days lined up!! Tomorrow I'm at a school called Pinkwell in a Year 5 classroom- which is 10 yr olds. I'm super excited! I've been spending the last hour trying to put together my smartest outfit to wear! Then there's a possibility of me staying in the class for friday as well, although as of now I'm meeting two girls that I may potentially live with, they have an open room in their flat. As of now finding a place to live is priority! As always have a lot to say, but I won't go on.. I'll try to take fun pictures but I always refrain because I don't want to look like a tourist..I'm doing such a good job fitting in I don't want to blow my cover!! :)

I'm Here!!

After a very relaxing week in Florida seeing beautiful beaches and underage Spring Breakers...and having a wonderful time in New York with Elyse and her fabulous roomies I am finally arrived in London! I've just now set up this blog, but I wanted to create it for a while but I couldn't think of a good enough name. I'm still not completely happy about it but I knew I just had to get over it and create it! So for those who I've already emailed I will be backtracking a bit to get the blog up to date...so if you've been in touch with me (Mom..) then this is all old news!! In fact I'm just going to copy and paste it from old emails! haha

DAY 1

So much to tell you! First I want to say that I give Air India my highest reccomendation for airline travel! :) The plane was very nice and big, the flight attendants were extremely nice and everyone got their own row!! They served a very nice dinner (don't ask me what it was!) and I was able to get a screwdriver and a glass of red wine for free! (typical choices...) They also came around with coffee and tea often and the in flight movie was an awesomely bad teen movie starring Amanda Bynes (I felt like it was on specifically for me...bc lets face it I was the only young white girl on the plane!) I got to lay on 3 rows and attempt to sleep...didn't sleep much- too excited.

Then landing into Heathrow I successfully got thru immigration, it was easier than I thought, all 3 pieces of luggage came out :) and I made my way onto the tube! PS- the tube is beautiful! I felt like I was in disneyworld...def puts nyc public transport to shame (sorry e-lo...) My luggage was a lot to manage as I had more than anyone else..but I met friendly people on the tube that were very nice..one of them is actually visiting her daughter that is my age doing the Bunac programme as well!! We exchaged emails...how weird!

When I got out of the tube I was a little concerned bc all of my luggage but as I was getting out really lovely man and women in their late 20's ran over to me and said "let me help you with your luggage!" He helped me carry it up two flights of stairs (I have NO IDEA how I would have done it without him!) He asked me where I was going and if I needed a cab.. then he lead me out of the tube, then the girl walked me over to a hotel where I could get a cab, I waited by the door while she went further to hail me a cab..So nice!! These people went totally out of their way!

In the cab I was able to see my first sights of london and it is ADORABLE i love it!! :) I so bad want to go out and venture. It's a holiday weekend so the streets are less crowded, which is great for me. I arrive at the hostel and I come in and meet this man named Bill, he runs the hostel. He's a funny disheveled man. This place is unreal. There's a lot more crap around then I imagined. He warned me that the place is very "lived in" he said a lot of ppl come here for temporary stay and end of staying a long time. I told him I will be leaving soon and he said "yea that's what they all say..I have one lady that told me that and she's now been living here 23 years!!" what?? I could never, I feel like this is my 2nd chance at living college dorm life since I never did that at ASU.

I share the room with 3 other girls, 2 of them are traveling but the other one, Megan was here when I arrived. She's very friendly, she's from the Bay area. She seems really nice. She asked me if I wanted to go to this pub across the street with her tonight to get fish and chips. Perfect!! Now I'm just trying to sleep..it's already 11am here I'm pulling quite the all nighter.