J`taime Paris!

Paris was absolutely amazing! I knew that I would love it there, it's so clean and gorgeous. I felt like Carrie from Sex and the City in the last episodes! Almost all the buildings have terraces outside the windows with flowers spilling out of them, all the people were really friendly and would shout "Bonjour!" as you passed and the food was amazing. I had a really great time! I've developed an obsession with the Eiffel Tower, I took way too many photos of it. It's just such a surreal experience when you see such an icon that you've known your whole life and then there it is right in front of you! I took a video of it sparkling at night too, it's really good. I've been trying to send it out, but it's not working! The metro is Paris is just like the tube in London, so that was really easy to figure out. However it reminds me a lot of New York's metro...nasty. I've always said how nice the tube is and how well they keep it up and after seeing their metro I know I'm right!! They don't put any work into making it nice, I love the tube...well not really, I actually always try to avoid it because I don't really like being in underground vortexes. Anyways, I loved Paris- I got to see all the sights--took lots of photos and just roamed around checking it all out. It was incredible.

Now for other news, my life is taking a slight turn. As I said in my last post, finding temporary work in London is very challenging. People are put off that my visa expires in 2 months and they don't want to waste their time. No one was replying to my attempts to try to nanny for them...I was really running out of options and starting to freak out a little. Then I found this ad to work on a yacht. I figured that it would be perfect for me, because the job is a temporary job so they don't care that I'm leaving soon...they only need me for a couple weeks! I jumped on it and sent my CV over and sounded really interested. A day later I get an email back saying that out of 75 applicants they have narrowed it down to 12 and I am one of them. It went on to say that I'm invited on the yacht that's in Genoa to get familiar with the boat, and relax for a bit before I start work! I was in Paris at the time of this email...so it was all a little stressful (and a bit surreal...) I've been talking with them a lot and I'm now going to meet them out in San Remo, which is in Italy this afternoon! I'm flying out of London at 2:30 arriving in Nice. From there I'll take a train to San Remo where I will meet them. From there I'll be helping get the yacht ready to go and chill out. We leave on Friday with guests and then I will be working. My jobs will include cleaning the cabins, hoovering (haha- vacuming) and serving the guests. I asked what guests will be on the yacht and they said that there will be Japanese diplomats...which should be extremely interesting. I will wow them with my Japanese...actually not really, I only know how to say water... I will be sharing a room with another girl who is also doing my same job. I'll be paid £150 a week, which isn't that great...but I won't be paying for food or accommodation and I'll get to sail along the South of France on a yacht! Sounds like a great opportunity, of course I'm a little nervous...as this a kinda crazy thing. But I believe that if there's a will there's a way. God always provides for me and I think this is just another example. This job fit my time frame exactly of when I need it, and I get to do more travel-which I didn't think I'd be able to do any more of since I was looking very broke!! Also France and Italy have been the two countries that I've always been dying to go to, and by the end of today I will have been in both!!

There will be internet on board, so I will update this as often as I can..and I will of course be taking lots of photos! This reminds me of when my parents left me at the airport my Dad told me to think to myself every morning "Everyday is an adventure" Looks like I'm taking that one very literally!!

Road Trip!

On Saturday I took a road trip to Birmingham with Nadia and her sisters Hermonie, and Emeline. Hermonie had to go there for a course she was taking and didn't want to drive by herself, so we all came for fun! It was so fun to be driving around with Nadia, I haven't been in a car in so long! After we dropped off Hermonie we headed to Cadbury World!!! Cadbury chocolate is massive here, in the states we only really get the Cadbury eggs for easter, but here Cadbury chocolate is year round. Cadbury world was so cool! There's rooms on how the chocolate is made, the story of George Cadbury, a ride, and free chocolate as you go along! At the very end you get to make your own chocolate treat with warm chocolate!! It was so good...then we drove over to Warwick Castle. Unfortunately we had spent 3 hours in Cadbury World and only had about 20 minutes to spend at the Castle before we had to go..so we didn't go in, but I saw the outside! Very fun day in Birmingham! Skanky town, wouldn't visit there for fun...but a good day!!

Monday was my last day of teaching for this school year. I was back at Uxendon Manor, which I go to very often. It's really nice to have a school that knows you very well. Now that schools out I'm slightly freaking out. I thought that it would be fairly easy to find a temporary job for the next couple weeks...but it's not. Whenever employers see my temporary visa they don't really want to talk to me. I've sent my CV out to countless places, I've really lowered my standards by a lot...I'll pretty much do any type of work. We'll see how it goes....

I'm going to Paris tomorrow! I'm so excited, Paris has been on the top of my list of places I've wanted to visit!! I'm leaving early tomorrow and coming back Sunday night!

London is my playground

I really love living here. My favourite thing to do when I don't have work or are with friends is roam aimlessly around the city. It's so fun all the different things and places you can find! I've always thought that I would really take to living in a major city and it has definitely proven to be true! It's greatest thing in the world to listen to a little Sinatra on my ipod and check out new parts of town.

Last Thursday I went to a live taping at the BBC television studios! A friend of ours works there so she got us tickets to go. The show was called 8 out of 10 cats, it was some show where they have celebrities guests come on and they talk and make jokes about the 10 most talked about events in the news. It was a little rough to watch, well for one it was 2 1/2 hours long! Also it was really hard to understand..they were all talking so fast to get the joke out that I couldn't understand the accent..and they were making references to British things. I was a little lost..oh and to top if off--one of the guests Johnny Vegas- who is this fat, drunk, Scottish guy was on and wouldn't shut up! ugh I had no idea what that guy was talking about, he was soo drunk. Overall the show was a little irritating to watch because I really can't connect with British humour..but it was really cool to be able to see a live taping in the BBC television studios! We were invited for a drink in the green room afterward- but we just had to go home...I have children to teach!

This weekend was great. Nadia and I have found a new place to go out on the weekend. We're so over central London for going out. It's all weirdo foreigners and is completely overpriced! Our now fav place to go out is in Notting Hill or the surrounding area..basically West London..which is great because we live North West so it's a quick bus journey home! Then on Saturday we shopped around Portobello Market, which is probably my favourite thing to do on a Saturday..I loovve shopping markets! You can find such cute things for much cheaper than in the shops..brilliant!

This is officially my last full week of teaching before they let out of Summer break! I know, I can't believe it's actually now summer break! They get out next Wednesday..which is really about time. Schools are seriously scraping for things to do these days, it's crazy. Classes are just doing art projects or putting on plays..just random things to keep the kids busy. Today we went out and practiced for sports day which is on Friday...who practices for sports day?? Don't you just go out there and do it?? This is the best..so today we sent a letter home to the kids that the school is going to throw a "School Disco" tomorrow!! hahaha luckily I was asked back at the school!! I can't wait for the School Disco! The kids went mad when they heard about it. However I swear that the ladies in the office just thought of the idea over lunch today..these people have nothing better to do! They should really just cut their losses and let kids out earlier in the year like we do in the States..but you gotta admit--school disco is pretty awesome.

From Bombay to Bath

Last week I was at the same school all week teaching Year 4. It was really nice, I had lovely students and we had a great week. It's nice being at a good school all week and have some sort of routine and normalcy. I must say though sometimes I question whether I'm teaching in England, or Bombay...haha! Seriously just about all my students are from the Middle East. It was most apparent this last week. The school was having an International Evening on Friday. During the week the children would practice their Indian dancing in the corridors and in my classroom! I would be doing my marking while having Indian music blaring in my room while little girls are dancing around the room. On Friday they were allowed to come to school out of their uniforms and in a traditional outfit from their country. All the little girls were in saris and the boys had those long tunic tops on! It was soo cute, but very overwhelming!! I seriously thought that I had accidentally turned up in Dehli.

This past weekend I took a day trip to Bath! I've been really wanting to go there since I've moved. On the way there we stopped at Stonehenge, which was super cool to see! Unfortunately the weather was awful and was on and off raining and quite windy. However it was really amazing to see Stonehenge in real life!!

I loved Bath!! It is such a gorgeous and adorable city! It has tons of shopping and the buildings look amazing! I went into the famous Roman Baths, sadly I didn't go in any. I would really love to do that though. For £50 you can spend a couple hours bathing in the hot springs! It sounds really nice! Bath would be a great city to visit for a weekend.

This is a photo of Morris dancers. This is a traditional English dance..couldn't tell you why they're doing it. I thought it was so cool that I was able to run into a group of men randomly doing this!! I seem to have good luck of being in the right place at the right time for photos!! :)

This week the weather has been terrible!! Rainy and overcast all day! On Monday and Tuesday I was very lucky to get a school that was walking distance! The school was located just on the other side of the park that I run in every afternoon. I got to walk through the park to get to work, I was so excited! Except that on Monday it was so windy while it was raining that was rain was coming down sideways!! I was absolutely soaked! Today is a little sunny, but it should be rain for the next couple days. Final thought on London-- Brilliant city, rubbish weather.

Who has time for work??

So many fabulous things have happened in the past week! On Monday I worked a half day in a Year 1 and luckily it was only a half day because the kids were terrible!! I almost died...they almost died, thankfully everyone survived. It's funny how some days can be like a bad nightmare, and other days (like today) can be glorious.

On Tuesday I decided to have a fabulous day in the city, and it was!! I took the bus into Kensington and spent the day walking around Kensington and Chelsea and Knightsbridge. As I was walking in between Kensington Palace and Hyde Park I saw royalty!! So as anyone would, I immediately took out my camera to take a photo!! How cool is that?? You can't see but she had a police escort in the front. I love the red coats, I showed the picture to Nadia and she said that it's definitely royalty! What's funny is I was the only one around when she passed and I was standing right there taking a photo! haha

The other photo is of these cool lounge chairs that are in Hyde park.

On Wednesday I went to Wimbledon with Billy!

Well as much as it pains me I can't leave the story at that. Advanced tickets were sold out, so we just had to try our luck getting day-of tickets. However the que was horrendous!! Literally if we got on line at 11am we would get into the place until 5pm. Instead we went to a local pub and watched tennis on TV. Technically we did see tennis in Wimbledon though, that's not a lie..

On Thursday I was in Leicester Square with Nadia and Abby for dinner and when we were walking past the premiere for Kung Foo Panda was going on. Unfortunately we didn't stick around long enough to see Jack Black, but we did see Dustin Hoffman...and the Panda.

While we're on that, I have to say I'm quite disappointed with my lack of celeb spotting here in London. London always has loads of celebs every day, but especially right now! This week has been huge for London. We have Wimbledon, Nelson Mandella 90th birthday, John Mayer concert on Saturday. I saw in the paper today that yesterday was the kick off of Harrods summer sale and Kim Cattral hosted it. Where was I?? I was just at Harrods on Thursday...I seriously need to stop working so much and roam the streets!..now that I think about it if I did stop working I'd have no choice but to roam the streets..

Over the weekend the housemates and friends went to Southwark for a Cuban festival. It was such a great day, it was really hot and sunny and we spent the whole day chilling on the grass listening to Cuban music. It was so nice!!

Today is a gorgeous day!! Nice and hot! Now I'm off for a jog in the park. It's been my daily routine, there's nothing better than listening to john mayer jogging around the park by my flat!

Mummies walking with their prams, dogs running a muck off leashes, sleezy teenage boys..what's not to love??