In the spirit of catching up I thought i would continue with the week that was. Last week was the half term break for lots of London schools, the rest are on holidays this week. Of course it was also the week that I got sick and lost my voice. After spending a day in bed and taking 2 days off I decided to go and explore some churches on Wednesday. So i found (just) the Temple church (yep the one in the Da Vinci Code?) and i went to a free organ recital there - which was actually not that great but the church was beautiful. Inspired i walked down the road to St Brides church which has a crypt that you can go down into and see the footings and remnants of the 6 or 7 other churches that have been on the same sit since roman times which was very cool. Inspired I decided to go to the Museum of London which was amazing it to followed the history of London from the original geography through Roman, Saxon, Tudor etc... times there are heaps of artifacts and stuff there and it is set up for kids so there is heaps of cool stuff to see and touch. One of my favourite aspects was in the later periods when London was growing and growing around the time they were building the tube lines I think in the early 1900's the city was so obsessed with wealth and class there was this guy who was paid to make maps of the cities poverty areas. These maps are amazing and show every house built at the time coloured in according to the wealth of the families who lived there. It was really interesting and a little weird. I definitely need to go back there for another look around. So my day of Churches and history was over and I was totally buggered. I fell asleep on the bus home but it was worth it.

A Weekend with the Girls

I have become a little bit slack with this blog so because I don't have any work today I thought I would catch up. Last weekend Fiona came down from Birmingham of Brumma as she is now calling it to see the big smoke. I was invited to spend some time with her and Kate on Saturday looking around London. It was fabulous getting together and walking around,eating lunch and seeing some of the sights. Kate took us to Harrods at night which is a whole new experience of luxury. The lights and the people are beautiful. Earlier that day we waltzed around Hamley's this absolutely HUGE toy store with heaps of demonstrations and interactive stuff. We could have spent a fortune, I think Fiona is still thinking about the fabulous glitter pens we saw. That night Kate was again the hostess giving us dinner and then we helped get her school play organised which was fun. On Sunday we had lunch in Richmond which is a very very nice and posh place to live. It was great seeing the girls and getting an invitation from Fiona to come up to Brummas (Birmingham) which I will do as soon as the Cadbury factory up there is reopened. Thanks Girls

Snow Days

Hi to all, it has really sunk in that i am here for the long haul this week, mainly because i started work. Those people that got hysterical emails about the most dismal revolting school in the world will be pleased to know that the rest of the week was much more pleasant and normal with classrooms with kids work and pleasant children who didn't belt into each other the whole time.

Anyway on Wednesday afternoon at school we were in assembly and the head told the kids that school would be closed on Thursday because a 'blizzard' was expected. The kids and myself were noticeably excited. On Wednesday arvo I rang my agency who said that people were panicking and as far as they new it would be school as normal.

On thursday we woke up to snow and it was still snowing, it snowed all morning. Most of the schools in London were closed so no work. My housemate and I (she couldn't get to work) laid on the couch watching tv and randomly getting up to go outside to take photos or plane in the snow for about 5 minutes which was about my limit because it was so cold.

Friday it was somewhat melted and school was back on. Friday afternoon it snowed again and thankfully I was safe and warm inside. Today (Saturday) there is nothing left of the snow but it is raining so it sounds like another nice day to lay around inside and pretend like the outside world isnt there.

Waitangi Day

Well I have finally moved into a real house! It is so so nice not to have to squeeze myself into a shower cubicle and not lock my stuff up whenever I leave the room. The house is lovely and big my room is very small but this is OK hopefully when somebody else moves out I will snaffle their (much bigger) room.

As I am now living with some Kiwis yesterday was spent 'doing' Waitangi Day (I'm not even sure whether I spelt that right.) We thought we celebrated Australia Day, it was nothing compared to this. They start at about 10 am doing a pub crawl around one of the tube lines. I went with one of my new housemates and a few of her old kiwi housemates and by the time we got there it was straight to Westminster, yep that's right drinking Fosters out of a can out the front of the Houses of Parliament/Big Ben and the Westminster Abbey mmmm somewhow it seemed so so wrong. It was insane there were people absolutely everywhere and when it came time to do the Haka it was pure crush as all the guys tried to get to the front. We were in the very middle of it. Despite promises of drinking till we fell over I went home early as the girls seemed to have no real idea as to where they were going and after aimlessly walking around for hours, still lugging my supermarket bag full of beer, I decided it was time to go home.

Tomorrow I start work, and I am scared. This means the holidays are over, it also means that I wont be scared to start spending money. Fiona is hopefully coming down from Birmingham next weekend so it will be great to have someone to go and do some sightseeing stuff with.

The Saffa girls are still at the hostel and we have been messaging each other a couple of times a day. It is amazing how much I miss having those crazy kids around even though I have only known them a couple of weeks. They are still job hunting but are starting to get desperate so I hope it all turns out well. Everyone, well not literally but all the people I know from the hostel have started working for this catering company that caters functions in hotels, they are working 12 hour + shifts everyday, it makes me glad to say that I made the right choice by waiting to come over here until I had my degree.

Miss Ya and Love Ya H

YES YES YES

I wrote this enormous entry in this today and the bloody wireless stopped working in the middle so this is an extremely condensed version.

Today I found a house to live in, it is in Kensal Rise which is kinda North/ NorthWest of London with Aussie and Kiwis which is not really what I wanted but it is a fab house and hopefully it will all be good.

What else happened today... Well tonight we went out to the dodgiest club in the world and left fairly quickly and then found this amazing salsa club where everyone was an amazing dancer and i was sitting on the sidelines of course in my usual manner. It was so much fun and good to be somewhere open past 11 pm. although I went with these people from the hostel who I don't know very well but we had a fab time.

To cut a long story short there are some amazing things happening to my friends in Melbourne at the moment and I wish I was there sharing these fab times with everyone. So to Georgi and Ants congrats and I will catch up with you very soon, I wish that I could have been there. And to Belinda and Sam congrats and my respect and love go out to you and your new family.

Goodnight to all it is 3 am in London the latest i have been up mainly because I have had nothing else to do once it gets dark and now I'm not tired.

Miss ya and Love ya's all

H

Well well well it is all downhill from here. I have started house hunting as many of you already know from the depressing emails i have sent. It is an experience, let me tell you. The first house was OK not great not anything special main draw card was the fact that the only way to get into the house was via this dodgy alleyway mmm no thanks. I have looked at a few more and they kinda go from bad to worse. Enough said about the house share situation I am sure it will work out fine it will have to.

On a different note altogether I embarrassed myself as well as my country by heading down to the local walkabout pub for Australia day it was insane. Apart from the fact that I was drinking Fosters which by the way is revolting. The band they had playing was from New Zealand so it went well. Actually it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and by the time it was so full you couldn't move we have been drinking and dancing for hours and hours.

I hope you all had a wonderful Australia Day with your warm weather and thongs and bbq's I am very jealous.

I will write more soon, thanks for the emails and comments they are very much appreciated

H

My First Days in London

Well this has been my second full day in London, yesterday I braved the bus system (which I now love) and ventured into Finchley Central to find the teaching agency office. After some slight bus issues i.e. I went to the end of line instead of getting off at the right spot I got there and was totally overwhelmed by the information that the two Emma's from the office told me. I filled in forms and took other forms and blah blah blah. Not probably the best idea when I was still majorly jetlagged. Early to bed and I mean early like 8 pm and I slept until midnight then napped until 6.30. I am getting really sick of this jetlag business. Met some nice S. African girls who are staying in my room now, they got as lost as me on the way to the hostel and there suitcases busted so at least it isn't just me who has wandered around the lovely swiss cottage in a dishevelled state and lugging a suitcase around behind me.

Today I decided to go sightseeing but wasn't really sure what I wanted to actually go and see, so I got on the trusty bus - it is way easier to work out where you are going and stopping on the bus cos you can actually get your bearings.

It finally hit me that I am now living in London, it was the theatre district, Monopoly roads and the changing of the guards that got me and I had a bit of an emotional crazy breakdown moment. This was highlighted by the fact that three people asked me for directions as if I had any idea. So I took the trusty bus system throughout London, which by the way just keeps going and going it is craziness. I couldn't be bothered going to actually go into any of the places I visited but it was amazing to see them. Carol I found and walked down Chancery Lane for us which was pretty fabulous although on a Saturday it was deserted which may have been good cos I was taking random pictures of street signs. I think I am going to splurge tonight after my day of exploring and head to the pub down the bottom of the crescent. I need a proper meal, I am just starting to get back any appetite after the plane food diet.

This is a huge post but I have so much to say. London isn't that cold although this morning when I left the hostel at 8 am it was cold. I don't think it is cold enough to snow though. The hostel I am staying at is pretty much everything it says on the website. The breakfast is OK and there is a neverending supply of toast which is nice. The free internet is fabulous , you aren't supposed to be able to use it in your room, but it works in our room. Speaking of which our room is in the basement right near the toilets/showers/laundry/kitchen/bar etc... basically a fabulous place to be. Everywhere in london is really hot inside, but in our hostel it is insane. I am sitting in the lounge at the moment in a t-shirt and I am hot. It is so great to be staying in a hostel that is in an old building. It makes me feel like I am almost in a hotel. The Swiss Cottage area is OK I have only really explored the High Street which is Finchley Rd. There are a fair few restaurants and cafes.

I am trying not to think about the money situation. I have worked out that everything in pounds is pretty much that same as it would be in dollars without converting it. For example my recent purchase of a monthly travel card was 90 pounds and at home it would cost me $90 so I'm just not thinking about converting anything.

The girls at Timeplan think they may be able to get me a long term position straight away if I want it. I asked them to look out for one for me. We will see what happens. They seem to be very excited to have me here and they even said that there may be positions in their office as well, not teaching but it may be something to think about. At the moment Emma Kate is putting me forward for two schools one called Garfield and one called Jubilee since I have no idea where they are I'm not really thinking about it yet.

I will write again tomorrow.

H