Elaine and Ryan's Adventures in England

Wow, it's been awhile

2009-03-19T00:00:00.002Z

Blogging seems to be back in style, or maybe I'm just that bored while on my March Break!

Since I last blogged there has been A LOT of things happening in our lives. Firstly, we no longer live in England. We are located back in my hometown. Mostly I like it, sometimes I'm ready to move on. Right now it's a "move on" feeling.

Secondly, we have a beautiful baby boy. Ethan John Denis was born Nov 6, 2007. He is currently 16 months old and not so much a baby anymore. Good thing...

Thirdly, we are expecting our second child. EDD sometime in August. I hate having to pin it down to a specific day. Baby will come when baby is good and ready. Likely long after I'm ready!

Ryan and I are both working, teaching. I am on an LTO, he is supplying. I only work half days teaching music. I absolutely LOVE it.

I'm sure there is more but my pregnancy brain refuses to let it all out! hehe...

Our European Adventure has begun!

2007-07-25T16:01:00.000+01:00

Hello all!
We officially started our European adventure on Saturday! We went with a tour company as well as Julie Verkley and Laura Trigg (for those of you who know who they are!) I am going to apologize in advace for any spelling mistakes. This is my first time typing on an Austrian keyboard! Yikes!
We left London on Sunday morning EARLY and headed through Belgium and into Holland. We spent our first night in Amsterdam, which is a really beautiful city. Our first night was filled with a cruise on the canals. The houses are so beautiful. Definitely somewhere I could see myself living in another life! I was expecting something a bit different from the cruise I guess, it was nothing like our cruise in Egypt! It was a dinner cruise, and last almost 2 hours. Way past my bedtime, but what can you do? The next day we got to see how cheese and wooden shoes were made! I couldn#t taste any of the cheese, but Ryan assured me it was delicious!
The next day we headed to the Rhine Valley in Germany and saw a cool coo-coo clock demonstration. I got a new pair of Berkenstocks (yeah!) and we continued on our way. We made our way to Munich where we ate dinner at a traditional beer house and enjoyed some traditional German sausage. Yummy!
Today we headed to Austria and spent the morning mountain biking and just now finished going down a luge run in the Alps! So cool. We have a ton of pictures which we will share when we get back home. I don't know if I'll get on the computer again before the end of the trip, but just incase, we wanted everyone to know we are alive, and having such a good time!!
Tomorrow we are heading to Italy for 4 days. I heard there was a heat wave there. Lots of sunscreen and water for me!!
Love you all!!

Happy Anniversary to US!!

2007-07-01T14:32:00.000+01:00

Ok, so I'm starting to get the hint that people out there want another blog...to be quite honest, I don't understand why...we are such boring people!!!

Where to begin? Well, how about, today is our two year anniversary! Happy Anniversary to us! It's hard to imagine though, not only because it doesn't feel like it's been two years already but also because aren't we supposed to be on summer vacation when we celebrate our anniversary?? 20 more days til school is done! But I'm not talking about school yet...
We went out yesterday to celebrate. We went into London for dinner and to catch a show. We went to one of those half price ticket booths and got tickets for the show "Wicked: The untold story of the Witches of OZ". All I have to say is, BRILLIANT!!! If anyone gets a chance to see it (TO, NY wherever) PLEASE go and see it. It was absolutely amazing. The plot was fantastic, the music was incredible, the special effects were excellent. I don't have enough words to describe how good it was! It was well worth the money spent (and we spent a little chunk of change...) Before we got to the show though we went shopping (picked up a couple of maternity tanks on sale at Gap) and went out for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. The food was not as good as in TO though and was a bit of a disappointment. We did have a free dinner though, so it was all good.

What else is new? Hmm...we had our 22 week appointment and scan for baby Steve. Steve is doing very well, growing like a weed and is now about 1lb big. Huge, eh? You would hardly notice, given that my belly hasn't grown much. I'll post pictures on my live space. I'm still wearing all my regular clothes (well, pants anyway) plus a few added maternity shirts, mostly because I bought them, they were new, and who wouldn't want to wear new clothes?!? I bought a pair of maternity jeans on sale that I have yet to wear!! I'm not complaining...but at almost 6 months pregnant, I would have thought I'd be able to participate in the fun-ness that is maternity shopping!!! Haha!
Steve is also kicking up a storm these days. For awhile I got nervous that there might have been two babies in there because I would feel kicks in three places at once!! The u/s confirmed though, only one baby in there! I've also noticed that some things can make Steve move more. One is orange juice (which I am drinking now and having a blast watching Steve jump and wiggle!!) I can't wait to get home and let you all see and feel for yourselves! The u/s tech was super nice too, she gave us three FREE photos of Steve and we only had to pay for one!! They are pretty cute shots too, at least one of our little thumbsucker!! I should have known that I would be blessed (cursed?) with a thumbsucking baby!!

We are also busy packing up our house and getting ready to move back home. We got some boxes from an international shipping company and are busy filling them and getting them ready to head home. It seems that we have so much stuff, but I have to remember that we aren't taking a lot of it back with us! We've sold our extra furniture and are giving away what we can. It's still a lot of work!!

School is getting ready to come to an end. Only 20 days left (or technically 13.5 working days). The kids are feeling the shift in season though and are getting antsy. Plus, at the end of the year there are so many other things happening that our routine gets thrown by the wayside. I'm trying to keep as much routine as I can in class for the sake of my one autistic boy. Otherwise he will be off the wall!! I've finished all my reports (they are being handed out monday) then all there is left is one parents evening, a summer fete (festival type thing) and the end of school production. Time will fly!! It doesn't even seem real yet that we are going on vacation again in three weeks. I've hardly had time to think about our trip to Europe.

Julie and Laura are coming over to travel with us for two weeks (plus they have some other travels planned) which should be so much fun!!! We are doing a 12 day tour around Europe. We will hit 8(?) countries and almost all of the major cities that we wanted to see. I'm too busy and tired to be excited yet, but I'm sure in the next week or so it will start to hit home that we are actually going to see a bit more of the world! Immediately following our tour we are flying home so we'll post and put up pictures once we are settled. So much happening in the next few weeks!! AHH!!

Ok, that's about it for the comings and goings of our life for the moment. I'm going right now to post those pictures, so keep your eyes peeled!!

Love you all!!

Mommy, where do babies come from?

2007-05-12T15:48:00.000+01:00

I went to our school's "sex education" meeting on thursday night. Not because I needed to be education (come on now people, I'm already pregnant!) but because as a year three teacher I felt that I should be there to answer any questions from concerned parents. The meeting was a preview for parents of the sex ed videos that would be shown this coming year to the year threes and also to the year fours, fives, and sixes. To be honest, the videos are quite graphic, but not anything that a child doesn't need to know and should find out from an education standpoint before they hear about it from the creepy kid on the playground. The parents were outraged, but they mostly conceded that yes, this was in fact a good idea. Not to mention that these kids had actually seen these videos last year.

When the question was posed "why do these young children need to know about this anyway?" I silently sat at the back of the room and thought to myself, because all of the year three teachers are getting pregnant, and the questions are going to start flying soon enough!! I've already had two of the worst questions you can have: 1. How does the baby get in there? and 2. How does the baby get out?
If parents aren't willing or able to talk to their kids about this sort of thing then I'm glad that there are vidoes out there to help us teachers along with the process. Of course I answered those questions the way any shocked teacher would..."go home and ask mom or dad!"

The kids in my class are so so so excited about the baby. They ask how it's doing, and how big it is, and if it can hear them when they are too loud. I tell them that it is mostly hanging out, but while we are doing PE it is busy practicing it's backstroke!! They think the baby is hilarious! One boy asked me the other day why I was drinking water. I told him that the baby was thirsty. Ok, perhaps a bit of a stretch of the truth, but he believed me and was completely satisfied with my answer!! In fact, I could justify just about anything I do with "the baby wants" or "the baby likes". The kids love it!

I have to tell you about the cutest thing that happened Friday afternoon. Now, I realize that not everyone who reads this blog will think that this is cute, but if you are a mother or especially a mother who is also a teacher, you might appreciate this.
Shaun (a boy in my class who happens to be autistic) ran out the door Friday without so much as a goodbye. Usually he walks out with me and gives me a hug and tells me that he'll see me whenever we are meant to see each other next. Now, I noticed that he had left his lunch box on the trolley, and was looking to see if he had in fact left the school yard with his mom or if they were still around and could catch them. Suddenly Shaun appeared again to get his lunch box and I said "oh, Shaun, I thought you were gone already!" He came over quickly and gave me one of his little "side hugs" and without even saying a word to me patted my belly (which is not even really honestly showing yet) and whispered "bye baby!" With that he was off like a flash and back to his mom. It was by far the cutest thing that has happened to my baby since the kids found out. Part of me can't wait til the baby is bigger and they can feel it kick and stuff!! (the other part of me doesn't want 26 hands on my stomach, but such is life!) I'm still enjoying sharing this experience with these kids!

Baby Stevie

2007-05-03T17:55:00.000+01:00

As long as I am in a blogging mood...

We had our first ultrasound on monday. It was the most amazing feeling EVER! Although I knew that I was in fact pregnant, when the technician put the jelly on and started prodding around, the first question out of my mouth was, "please! tell me there is a baby in there!" Lucky for everyone there IS a baby in there. A beautiful baby. Maybe a bit alien like right now, but just you wait until it comes out!! Ryan got to watch the whole thing, while I had to lie still like a patient little mommy while the girl took all her measurements and whatnot. The baby is very healthy, with both arms and legs. There is more stuff in the report, but I won't bore you with the details! We also got to see the little heart beating (although we couldn't hear it). The heartbeat was at 167. She looked at it from different angles, and at one point had to poke my belly rather hard because it simply would not turn itself over to face the camera!! We did get a couple of nice shots though.

We can't wait until the next scan. Only 8 more weeks until we see our little miracle again!! Hopefully by then I will LOOK pregnant. I'm still not showing (not enough that anyone would say "when's the baby due?" - not that you would ask that question ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever...I can't memorize enough ever's. Oh Brian Regan!)

I told the kids in my class too. I've gotten some really funny questions, like "do you think the baby can hear us?" or "is the baby allowed to eat sweets?" or "does the baby get to do PE too?" Oh, the innocence of a 7 year old mind! I've gotten some sketchy questions too, like "how does the baby get in there?" and "how will the baby get out?" Definitely questions to send home for mommy and daddy!!

Canada Dry, Never Die!

2007-04-22T19:46:00.000+01:00

I've been putting off this post and for that I apologize. Once we came back from Egypt things got very busy very fast!! For anyone who hasn't yet seen, our pictures are up on the web: http://mrshuisjes.spaces.live.com

I will try to re-live our most amazing Egypt trip for you as best I can. Luckily I kept a journal for the first half of our trip, so most of the memories are recorded!

Our adventure started out on Monday evening (April 2) when we left our warm cozy home for the dark streets of London. Actually, more acurately we left our home for the dark and crazy London underground! We opted to take the tube to the airport since it would be our least expensive option (3 pounds as opposed to 30 or more if we took a taxi!). We finally arrived at Heathrow Terminal 2 and headed in for a long night. Even though we arrived just after midnight I was amazed at how many people were already camped out on the chairs. We had a bit of trouble finding a corner, but finally we found a (semi) comfortable spot and tried to catch a few hours of zzz's. We knew that our flight would begin to check in at 4:15 a.m. so we set our alarm for 3:30, thinking that we would get a jump on the crowd. We didn't sleep much, so the alarm was a bit of overkill. When we did finally get moving at about 3:15 there was already a huge line!! We ate a quick breakfast (leftover pizza and oranges) then hopped in line to wait. Our flight was about 40 minutes late leaving London and we had a stop over in Milan. I was worried about changing planes, but it worked out alright. The food on the plane was horrendous!! Meat that couldn't be identified and some fruit that didn't taste like the fruit we thought it was... We arrived in Cairo without a hitch and were met promply by our tour company. A rep helped us through the crazy Cairo airport and whisked us away to our hotel. Once we arrived we got our room, got cleaned up and went out for a dinner cruise. The cruise was fun. The food was good, the entertainment was funny (see Ryan dancing with the belly dancer!) but we couldn't actually SEE much of the Nile since it was dark. We returned to our hotel and went straight to sleep. We both slept really well, but we were awonken by the Muslim call to prayer at 5:30a.m!!

Our first official day began with the "highlight of highlights". The Great Pyramids at Giza. They truly are a sight to behold. When we flew into Cairo we banked over the pyramids and got an awesome view of them (no camera though). Seeing them in the distance was quite intimidating. Made you ask yourslef the question "could you (would you) ever get used to seeing that everyday?" Of course we think the answer would be no, but like anything else it would become something you would begin to take for granted. Needless to say, the pyramids are HUGE!! They tower above everything and are amazing to see. It was especially amazing to be standing up lcose and be able to see the others off in the distance. While we were there, the tour guide warned us to be cautious of the "camel boys" who try to scam you. Now, I understand this is their way of life, but they can be quite intimidating! They start a conversation, talk to you about their camel and about why you are in Egypt, then ask for money. I told myself that I wouldn't get scammed. Boy was I wrong!! Now, understand that this was my first experience with a "real" Egyptian. I thought he was being genuinely friendly and interested. Not the case. I wsa walking up to the pyramid without Ryan (he was hanging back to take the picture) when a guy came over on a camel. Long story short, I ended up sitting on this guys camel and he was asking for LE150 for his "services"!! Good thing we didn't pay because we found out later that we could get an actual camel ride (45 minutes) for only LE30! The guy wasn't too happy with us, but I tried to explain that if he had been honest about what he wanted from the start that I wouldn't have allowed it to go as far as it did. Eventually we gave him LE10 and just walked away. I felt bad though.

Another cool thing we did was go into the second pyramid (named the second pyramid because it is the second largest? I'm not sure...) We climbed down into the tomb. This was not recommended for people with chlostraphobia, or for those with a bad back, and for good reason!! The shaft was more like a crawl space on a pretty steep incline! The first part went down for about 25 m, after which you came to a spot where you could actually stand up straight. But you had to continue on another 11 m or so to the actual tomb. Of course the Egyptians didn't have any form of air circulation back then, so it was super hot and really hard to breathe! We didn't stay in long and I think we may have killed a few braincells from lack of oxygen!!

We then went to an amazing lookout spot. It was a real "Kodak moment" - if you could get a spot without the crowd in your picture!! If there was one thing about Egypt that I wasn't expecting, it was the people. There were SO MANY PEOPLE! And not just Egyptians (although there were plenty of them too) but there were hundreds and hundreds of tourists at every single place we went! After we got our pictures we headed down the road a bit to the Sphynx. I didn't realize we were so close because it is hidden behind the pyramids and in a little valley type area. Once we got those pictures done we were tired, hungry, and REALLY HOT!! We headed back to the comfort of the air conditioned bus!

Next we stopped at a papyrus gallery where they showed us how to make papyrus and we had a chance to buy some. We got an awesome scenery painting and another smaller one of the great pyrammids. We probably spent too much, but those Egyptians have a way of convincing (hence how I ended up on a camel!!) We love the painingts though. We can't wait to get home and find somewhere to hang them! We also stopped at the step pyramid on the first day. There was so much to see!! It was a lot of sights in a short time, but like Ryan said, if we went home today and that was all that we saw, we'd be happy. Lucky for us, we only just started!

We ate dinner at the hotel and then boarded the train to Luxor. Just as a quick side note, you should probably know that traffic is absolutely insane in Cairo!! Unlike anything I have ever seen in my life! There are no real rules for drivers, no traffic lights, and nothing but CHAOS!! Everyone honks at everyone else but no one seems to get anywhere. A few of our "traffic hightlights": we saw a man SLEEPING on top of a load of newspapers on a flat bed truck. Another good one - our driver had to get out of the bus to push a car out of the way to make a corner (there was no one in the car at the time...) We accumulated a line up of cars in the meantime waiting to pass by, all of whom felt it was necessary to honk!! Like that was going to make the process go faster?!?

Our train ride to Luxor was nice, save for the horrible group of people we were sitting with. They were loud and drunk and who knows what else! Now, understand that we were not unreasonable. We didn't board the train until after 10pm. The seats were designed so that you could flip two around and have four seats facing each other. The couple behind us wanted to do that. I kindly pointed out that if they did it would mean that neither one of us could lean our chairs back to sleep. They promised it would only be for an hour or so. Many many hours later they finally decided it was bedtime. They had to wake us both up so that we could put our chairs bolt upright and help them move their chairs around. I don't even know what time that was!! I didn't have any sympathy for them when a man came around in the morning asking where everyone was getting off. He must have woken them 4 or 5 times to ask the same question! They were cheesed, but we thought it was pretty funny!

Luxor was beautiful. We saw two temples, and went for a leisurly fellucca ride. When I saw leisurely, believe me, it was slow!! There was no wind, so we didn't sail. The one guy had to jump out and tow us along the bank of the nile! It was a nice time though. We went to Banana island and indulged in some fresh produce.

A few days past and we boarded the bus once again for the Red Sea. 18 hours later we arrived in Dahab. A beautiful resort town largely untouched by many modernizations, it was the perfect place to rest for the last few days of our adventure. We spent some time sleeping, reading, relaxing, and of course, shopping!! As per the name of this blog, nearly every shop keeper we met asked us where we were from. Without fail, when we said Canada they would respond with "Canada Dry, never die!" I don't know where the saying came from, but it made me laugh every time, which made them laugh. It was very friendly!

We also got to snorkel in the Red Sea. Dahab is famous for it's "Blue Hole" which has some incredible reefs and loads of fish. We even saw a couple baracuda!! It was hard to stay in the water though because the hole was so deep it was also incredibley cold!!

Another highlight was the camel ride. Not because camels are perticularly fun to ride, in fact, quite the opposite is true! It was certainly an experience, and not one we will soon forget. Not to mention it rained!! It almost never rains in Egypt, but it rained on us! Not a lot, but enough!

We arrived home safe and sound and have been busy with school ever since. I deeply apologize for the tardiness of this blog. I promise you that it won't always be this crazy!! We love you all, and thanks for taking the time to read all the way to the bottom! Til next blog...

Term two...and...DONE!

2007-03-30T16:06:00.000+01:00

"A sandwich just isn't a sandwich without the tangy zip of Miracle Whip!"

I miss Miracle Whip. We ate toasted tomato sandwiches tonight and they just weren't the same. It just reminds me that there are some things about Canada that I just wouldn't be able to live without. Although I guess I can't really say that, since I have lived without it for the last 7 months! We can't wait to get back to Canada and the country that we know and love!

Today was the last day of school before the Easter break. One thing we like about British schools is that they give us two whole weeks off!! We are preparing to head out to Egypt in a few days. We're getting very excited. Egypt has so much history, and there is so much to see and do. I hope we can fit it all in without exhausting ourselves in the process!! Part of the joy of having a vacation is being able to relax and recharge. Lucky for us we will have a few days on the Red Sea to try and do just that. As soon as we have pictures and access to the internet we will get them up. The kids in my class were really cute today. They were very concerned whether or not I was going back to Canada. They wanted to know if I was going to visit my mom and dad. I said no, that I was going to visit my mummy! They got a kick out of it. I know that my jokes aren't funny, but to a bunch of 7 year olds I am HILARIOUS!!

Oh, and Steve is doing really well. Hopefully I will be going for my first ultrasound after we get back from vacation. Right now I just have to sit and wait for the hospital to contact me with a time and date!

Ready or Not

2007-03-23T21:09:00.000Z

Ok, so I know I already posted a blog today, thanks to Aunt Linda, but I don't know if I can keep this a secret any longer AND tell people that nothing is going on...does that make me a fraud?? A blogger fraud??

Anyway, YES it is official. We have joined the ranks of pending parenthood. Our bambino is still a tiny speck, but loved nonetheless. We have dubbed it "Steve" (if you've never seen Over the Hedge, now would be the time to rent it). Steve is making mommy very happy and maybe a bit sickly, but mostly happy. Most days I hardly even remember the baby while I am pretending to be a mother to 27 little ones!! Who am I kidding, Steve is always on my mind!!

We are very excited. We will be having Steve in Canada sometime in late fall. Maybe a Hallowe'en baby? We'll see.

Ok, so seriously, that's all that's going on. Other than THAT we really have nothing exciting happening...

My Boring British Existance

2007-03-23T07:58:00.000Z

I am going to take a cue from Julie and remind everyone out there how BORING my life is. I know, I know, everyone is dying to know the ins and outs of my day, but honestly, this is how it goes...

5:50am: the alarm rings - Ryan hits snooze.
6:00am: I get up and shower - Ryan hits snooze.
6:30am: We both are up and dressed, I am getting ready to leave for the day, Ryan is making lunches.
6:50am: I leave for school - 10 minute walk later I am on the bus.
7:30am: I arrive at school, check my email, get ready for the day.
8:50am: The children arrive. I spend all day running around after them, sorting out their problems, and generally making their lives horrible by assigning extra homework (imagine!!)
5:00pm: I leave school and head home.
6:00pm: I eat a fantastic meal that my wonderful husband has prepared.
7:00pm: We watch a show, usually House, sometimes 24, occasionally Grey's Anatomy or Amazing Race.
8:30pm: I'm already asleep, whether the show is over or not!!

Seriously, when I say I get up, go to work, come home and go back to sleep, that is HONESTLY what I do!!

I'm sorry that our lives are not more interesting, although I have a feeling that the next couple of weeks should be VERY INTERESTING!!!

First of all, we are leaving for Egypt in 10 days. Oh, and in case anyone cares, we are also OFFICIALLY coming home August 3rd. We bought our tickets last weekend because we needed some assurance that we were coming home!!
So keep your eyes on the blog, I promise I will try and make things more interesting from now on, even if that means making up stuff!!!

Everything I learned I learned in Kindergarten

2007-02-28T17:11:00.000Z

We could learn a lot from crayons.
Some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, some are more popular than others - but they all have to learn to live in the same box.

Goodbye Malta, Hello New House!

2007-02-17T19:02:00.000Z

Ok, so I may have been neglecting the blog for the last couple of days. I've been on vacation, ok? We arrived home safe and sound yesterday. Well, safe, yes. Sound? That might be up for debate.

Let me start with our last couple of days in Malta. Wednesday we took the ferry over to the island of Gozo. The Maltese Islands are made up of Malta, Comino (which is tiny and not really worth mentioning...) and Gozo. Gozo is only about 9 miles by 4 miles so not too much to see. There were a few spots of interest including an ancient cathedral and the Azure window. We got some absolutely amazing pictures at the Azure window, which is a naturally formed crest in the rock. It forms a window. Seems pretty self explanatory...

We discovered something else about Gozo that wasn't advertised in any guide book. Are you prepared for what I am about to tell you? We found the first documented black hole on the face of the earth! Documented by us at least. You might think I am crazy, but I happen to be rather proficient at reading maps (never mind that we got lost before) and I also happen to be married to a honest to goodness geographer, and we both agreed that it did not make logical sense that we should be driving along a road knowing FULL WELL where we were on the map and go down an incredibly steep and winding road and end up at the end back in the middle of the main town!! Since this did not make logical sense, the only real explanation was that there must be a black hole. I knew you would agree.

Speaking of crazy roads, this road that we went down was by far the steepest, windiest, craziest road on the face of the planet. When we first got to it I actually said "I don't think this is a road" only to have two cars drive past us and down this goat trail. We figured if they could do it, so could we. We slowly and cautiously started down (only to notice the second guy down the hill PASSING the first guy like it was the 401) and actually made it to the end not being any worse for wear. The road was graded it was so steep. I've only ever seen that in Canada where they have to prevent cars from sliding down in the winter. No such weather in Malta!! We were driving down another very steep and windy hill and Ryan asked me "could you imagine driving this road in the winter?" And of course we could imagine because it WAS winter!! No wonder they can have such horrific driving conditions!

Once we got ourselves out of the black hole, we returned to the resort. It was also Valentine's day and we opted for the resorts version of a romantic dinner for two. The dinner was actually quite amazing. The venue could have used some work, but the food was fantastic! We started with roasted duck in coconut juice with roasted vegetables, (please forgive me if I don't remember the exact wording!!) followed by a creamy cauliflower soup which we both agreed was incredible, even better than the soup we had for lunch that day which I have to say, was pretty good! The soup came with a parmesan cheese wafer which was so cool and also super tasty, but we couldn't quite figure out how they made it. I ate mine with my fingers and Ryan put his right in his soup. Cheesy goodness for all. The main course was a choice of three dishes. I had a chicken breast basted in lime and honey, parsnip puree (sounds gross, tastes SOOOO good) and a mix of bacon, onion, and dates. It was absolutely mouth watering! Ryan had beef tenderloin with goat cheese, roasted potatoes with onion, bacon, and fried mushrooms. I would tell you how good it was, but I was so preoccupied with my incredible meal that I didn't even bother to try it! Ryan insists that it was phenomenal. I guess I'll just have to trust him on that one.

Thursday was spent being very very lazy! We were going to go to the Hypogeum, but they have an environmental rule that says they only take 80 people per day. They were booked up until Feb 19th, so we were out of luck. We slept, read our books, slept some more, ate lunch, slept, sat by the pool (Ryan has the farmer burn to prove it) and did some more sleeping. It was a blissful day. To make a great day even better, we even went to dinner "early" that night (as in, as soon as they opened) and we got a great variety of foods. It was the best dinner menu so far that week , as far as buffet dinners went.

Friday we got up, ate breakfast, I went for a Swedish massage, and Ryan packed our bags. We then made our way through Mellieha (were we stopped to mail some post cards) and made our way through the winding streets to the airport. We didn't even get lost!! (Or sucked into a black hole) We arrived at the airport even earlier than we planned and had quite a long wait til they opened our flight. We had a spontaneous picnic lunch, played some rousing games of cards, and waited. Once we got in we browsed the souvenir shops and had some cappiccinos at the hard rock cafe. We got up in the air without a hitch and even met a very nice British lady who was living in Malta and flying home for a visit. She tried very hard to convince us to teach in Malta instead of England!

Once we landed we had a bit of a wait for our shuttle to come and get us. We played a few more rousing games of cards (eucre for two is fun) and ate some dinner. Here begins the craziness.

We had arranged before we left to have our new house keys sent to the house at 10:15p.m. by a cab company that TimePlan uses all the time since no one was going to be around to give them to us. At quarter past 10 we were standing outside our house waiting. We waited a few minutes, then called the cab company and asked them if someone was on their way. They didn't know what we were talking about. They didn't have any house keys, nor could they get ahold of either Sally or Bob to find out what was going on. We were homeless!! The guy at the cab company felt bad for us and he was very generous to call around and help us out as best he could. We eventually conceded to the fact that we were not getting into our house that night so we arranged to have a hotel room at the Travelodge. Sounds simple, right? Try finding the Travelodge. The hotel that I thought was the Travelodge was not. We walked through downtown Romford at night (not a wise thing to do) and we wandered aimlessly trying to find the building. I finally asked a guy (the only drunk on the street it turns out) and he pointed us in a vague direction that we were already headed in anyway. We did eventually find it and checked in. The bed was horrific (we were smashed into the middle in one of those horrible torture chamber beds that bends inward) and we had an "interesting" continental breakfast. But, it was a warm place to sleep and we weren't paying for it!!

Turns out that the keys were actually delivered to the house by a different cab company than the one Sally told me she would use at 8pm and dropped off to our new room mate who we didn't know existed. Long story short, we now have keys to our house and are slowly getting ourselves moved in.

I promise promise promise pictures will be up Monday. Love you all!

Malta part 3

2007-02-13T19:01:00.000Z

I'm sure most of you are hoping for some amazing stories of scuba diving and how amazingly clear the water is, and how much fun we had. Please don't hold your breath. We didn't go. Not that we didn't want to. We got up early, ate breakfast, got our gear and headed to the dive school. When we first walked in I could tell it wouldn't go well. The first thing the girl said was, "it's awfully windy out". As in, we don't want to take you diving if it is too windy. No problem. We talked about it and decided that we would do half today and half tomorrow when it was supposed to be less windy. Then came the filling out of all the forms. There was a medical form (the usual - history of heart disease, do you have epilepse, do you have any other dibilitating disease that we should know about etc.) And, of course, are you pregnant. Are you pregnant or is there ANY CHANCE that you could be pregnant. I had to put yes, since technically there is a chance that I could be pregnant. That threw up red flags all over the place and both instructors were dead set against me going underwater. Apparently there is a theory that diving harms a fetus, and since no woman in her right mind would allow you to test that theory on HER fetus, there is no definitive proof. Needless to say, I was grounded. Ryan probably could have gone, but what fun would that be if it was just him and not both of us? And here I thought this was a vacation to do what we wouldn't do once we had kids!! Boy was I wrong. Looks like scuba diving is out of the question for Egypt too. Snorkling maybe.

Anyway, since we were both so disappointed that we weren't diving we had to find something to fill our day. We decided to go down to Mdina (the silent city) and explore. You aren't allowed to take a car in, so we had to park and walk around. It was absolutely gorgeous. Very well preserved from ancient times, and they have all sorts of incentives to keep it that way. We walked around, visited the natural history museum (a waste of time and money) and the Mdina dungeons (kinda scary, and really really gorey). We had a nice day and finished it off going to the Dingli Cliffs but it was too cold and too windy to stay. We got about two pictures before I retreated back to the car. It's kinda freaky to stand on the edge of a two hundred foot cliff and feel like the wind might carry you away any moment! We will have to go back. Speaking of going back...turns out that although we thought we were going somewhere new we had actually been to Mdina before. According to the gps, on friday night when we were driving rather aimlessly trying to find our hotel, we found Mdina by mistake. We don't remember too much, but the roads all suddenly looked VERY familiar!

On our way home we decided to take a different route home and see some of the western edge of the island. Once again, these were all roads we had travelled on before, by accident. We got to one point though which had a sign saying "road closed, no access". We weren't sure how serious they were about no access, so we kept driving. Every couple hundred feet another sign, "road closed, no access". Ryan, my fearless leader, kept going. In fact, he was such a good leader that we even had another tourist in a rental car following us. We went up some seriously windy roads and into places that were clearly off limits. The road was under construction (like, one side of the road was GONE) but Ryan kept on. We ended up at the end and both hoped that we wouldn't run into some concrete block forcing us to go back!! Apparently, when the sign says "road closed" it's really only more of a suggestion. The poor little Chevrolet Matos was not a happy camper! Next time we will have to rent something with 4x4!!

Tomorrow's plan is Gozo. Should be great, if the ferry makes it across for all the wind we've been having!!

Malta part 2

2007-02-12T19:26:00.000Z

We are still in Malta, and we didn't get blown away by the storm. The wind has been fantastic, and we have some great 'wave' pictures which will go up on myspace as soon as we get home.

Meanwhile, I just finished schooling Ryan in a game of 2 person Eucre. Ok, so maybe schooling isn't quite the word, but I did win in a 10-9 victory, even after he tried to cheat and stack the deck while I was otherwise occupied getting us cappaccinos (and cookies, but he thinks that was only cause I am cute...)

We spent today in Valetta (the capital) doing a Lonely Planet version of a walking tour. Oh, Bruce, Ryan wanted to say a big "THANK YOU" for recommending the Lonely Planet books. We picked up the Malta and Gozo one right before we came, and it has been awesome. They have really great advice and stuff, as well as just the straight cut goods about what is worth seeing and what is not.

Actually getting to Valetta seemed to prove more difficult than first expected. Maybe it's because when I look at a map I expect the scale to be bigger...like, 1 inch = 1 kilometre or something rather than only a few hundred feet. We drove for literally 5 minutes and found out we were halfway across the map! I thought we wouldn't have travelled nearly that far. Long story short, one wrong turn means being VERY VERY lost!! Lucky for us, the island isn't that big, so we were able to get back on track quite easily.

Once we were there (and I must say that the whole experience has made Ryan quite proficient at the left hand driving and round-abouts) we couldn't even find the city gates. We were officially pathetic tourists!! We couldn't find a parking spot, we couldn't find the beginning of our tour, we couldn't find much!! We did find most of the spots of interest, and the city as a whole was beautiful. Very ancient and historic and crammed into a very small space. The buildings were beautiful, made of limestone and towering above the street to maximize space. The streets were very narrow and sloped. Ryan turned down one street and we were shocked. There will be a picture up later, and you'll know exactly what I am talking about! It felt like the street went straight down! Cars lined one side, and there wasn't much room for manouvering!

It didn't take long to walk the entire perimeter of the city. We had lunch at a cute little bistro and then headed back to the car. We got back to the hotel with only minor incidents of lost-ness. The country is really really beautiful. Steph, I have your wedding all planned and I think you should come to Malta to get married!! The pictures alone would be worth it. (not to mention getting married...but let's focus on what's important!!)

We have arranged to have our first scuba lesson tomorrow morning at 9am. We'll have to let you know how it goes. We're both very excited, although I am not sure if I will be very warm!! No one mentioned that we were coming here during the coldest part of the year!! I was expecting it to be much warmer, although 17 degrees is better than -17, right? Bring on the sunshine and hot(ter) weather!

Malta part 1

2007-02-10T18:26:00.000Z

We're here! We flew out of Stansted last night (after a short delay) and arrived in Malta at 12:05a.m. local time. The flight was uneventful, the plane was too small and the food sucked, but what else do you expect? We did meet a very nice couple who were also travelling to Malta (well, Gozo actually) and who offered to help us find our hotel. We flew over Europe with clear skies and even saw Paris in lights. We landed in a torrential rain storm though, welcome to Malta!

When we landed we were the only people from the whole plane who had to fill out landing cards since we held passports that were not EU. We got our luggage, our rental car and were on our way for what should have been a 20 minute drive to the hotel. The island after all isn't that big! The guy at the rental car place said that our hotel was on the complete opposite end of the island, but just follow the signs and we should be fine. Should be. We followed the signs until the signs were no longer clear, and we made one small wrong turn at a roundabout and found ourselves going in the wrong direction. Good thing we had the gps. We turned back and started again, this time staying on the main roads. Another wrong turn had us sitting at the side of the road contemplating what our next move would be, when a very kind gentleman stopped and asked us if we needed help. The Maltese are very friendly! Even though it was coming up on 2:30a.m. we let him help us and he got us going in the right direction again. We pulled into the hotel just after 3a.m. Somehow, we managed to make a 20 minute drive turn into 2 hours!!

Needless to say, we slept in this morning. We ate lunch at a bistro attached to the hotel. Since we are only on half-board, we budgeted some money for lunches and such. We figure we won't use half of it. The food us really cheap! Our room is really nice, it has a gorgeous view of the Mediterranean and the islands of Comino and Gozo. We are within walking distance of the ferries, so we may spend a day over there as well. We spent this afternoon exploring a bit, and then retreated inside when a major storm hit. The waves and wind were awesome!

I'm sure I am forgetting details, but I will do my best to keep you up to date. We are just heading down to eat some dinner.

Love you all!

winter is upon us...literally!

2007-01-26T17:01:00.000Z

I woke up this morning at 5:10 am. It was freezing cold. Ok, it was relatively freezing cold. The last few days have been cold enough to snow, so we cranked the heat and added blankets, that sort of thing. When I awoke I realized that it was a little bit too cold for comfort. I touched the radiator and realized it was ice cold too. No heat. No heat can only mean one thing (besides that it will be really hard to get out of bed...). We were out of gas!!! Whoever thought pay-as-you-go gas was a good idea was not too bright. Or maybe he had just never run out in the middle of a freezing cold january night!! We braved the 6am wake-up call and managed to get out of the house without too much pain. Let's hope tonight is better!!

Oh, I forgot to tell you why I woke up in the first place. I was having a line dancing dream. As in, I was line dancing in my dream. I was calling the steps for the c-c-shuffle. Not the most fun thing to wake up to. And of course I couldn't get it out of my head for the next hour!! Two steps to 2 o'clock, two steps back. Two steps to 4 o'clock, two steps back. One step and back, one step and back. Heel heel toe toe, heel toe point turn! For an hour. In my head. I wish I could just turn my brain off!!!!

ice is not a friend

2007-01-25T16:41:00.000Z

I had a bit of a fright this morning. I arrived at school fine, and was sitting at my desk checking my email when I heard a horrid noise. A noise that no one ever wants to or should have to hear. I looked out my classroom window and my heart just about jumped out of my chest. There was a woman laying on the ground screaming bloody-murder, with a delivery truck right beside. It looked to me like the truck had run her over! She was screaming for help, so I ran out of the school and was the first one to her side. Turns out the truck did NOT run her over, but she had slipped on some ice and not been able to break her fall. She cried, and couldn't feel her lower back or her legs. The cold was either helping numb the pain, or causing it, we couldn't be sure which. One of the teachers hung out of the staffroom window and called an ambulance and a few others came out with blankets and a pillow to make her more comfortable. Poor lady...she kept saying that she was so embarrassed, and please don't make a fuss. The ambulance finally arrived and she was whisked away to hospital. I heard at lunch time that she may have broken her pelvis. At least, that's what the latest news was. She was the deputy head at the infant school, and while she was lying with a potentially serious injury, she was more concerned with whether or not there was someone to cover her teaching!! I felt so bad that she was hurting.

Anyway, that kind of ate up a good chunk of my morning, so I didn't get as much done as I would have liked. The kids were pretty good today though. My desk is a huge mess again. Two days of cleaning it off don't seem to matter! AAHHH!!!

I just finished art club. I'm not interested in doing any more work tonight. It's time to go home and enjoy the newest book I am reading. Another Jodi Picoult. I so love her!! It's a page turner!

Let it snow

2007-01-24T08:37:00.000Z

It snowed last night. Not much, but it's definetly white outside. It's actually quite pretty, and that's even being said about the city! I can only imagine how picturesque the countryside is. The last couple of days have been quite cold (relatively) and we realized just how poorly our house is insulated. Monday night we were FREEZING! I hardly slept a wink. Last night we cranked the heat and slept with socks, slippers, and sweaters on. Plus two extra blankets. It was a much nicer sleep, but I sure didn't want to get up this morning!!

I'd also like to ask that people start praying about this new house. We were really excited about it last week, but I got a negative email about it last night and it has soured us toward it quite a lot. We want to be happy there since it will be our home, but we are frustrated and angered with the way some people are approaching the situation.

Well, the kids are about to come in, so I will say "cheerio" for now!

Nemo Time!

2007-01-21T13:26:00.000Z

We went to the London Aquarium yesterday. Ryan was really eager to go, and we had such a great time! We caught the train from Romford station to Liverpool street and then took the tube to the aquarium. In total it only took us about 30 minutes to get there. It was great!

The aquarium is set up into zones, and each zone is representative of a different climate or area of the world. I think the most interesting was the pacific ocean. They had four different species of shark (including the nurse shark, which was so funny). We even got to see them feed, although I have to say, I thought it would be more exciting. It was amazing to see so many different species of fish in one place, and those are only a fraction of the fish that are around!! They also had a big push on conservation and awareness of harmful effects on the oceans and lakes around the world. It was amazing to hear facts like "270,000 sharks are killed EVERY DAY!". Who'd have thought?

All in all a really great day. Pictures are up on myspace.

Big House, Small House, Our House, HUGE HOUSE!!

2007-01-18T18:36:00.000Z

I am going to try to follow in the footsteps of my dear sister and blog on my life even though I am sure people would say I have better things I could be doing. Actually, until today my life hasn't been interesting enough to blog about. Then came today. Oh today. What a magnificent, horrible, lovely, fun day.

Let's start at the start (which is where most things should start). I didn't sleep well last night. Ok, hold on. Now that I say that, maybe that isn't the start at all. Let me try that one more time...

Lately I have been going to bed early. Some may say, "what's wrong with that??" Others may be shocked and appaulled that "early" is actually 8:30 pm, and also happens to coincide with the point of my evening where I can no longer physically keep my eyes open. Teaching'll do that to you (apparently). So, last night being no exception, I fell asleep at 8:30 and expected to sleep through the night as per usual. Except that I woke up at 12:30 am and could not fall back asleep. Begin the longest night of my life. If I ever said that 5:50 comes too soon, I was wrong. It couldn't come soon enough. When it did finally come I was so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open. I seem to detect a pattern? Anyway, long story even longer, I was tired at school and the kids were all inside for play because it was raining. It was actually quite a storm. The rain was pelting and the wind was incredible. It was right about the point where Oscar was tapping me incessently, trying to get my attention, that I thought "wow, I could really use a day off." Enter, God. Turns out that God heard my little cry of dispair, and he used the already gale-force winds in my favour. The roof of the school started coming off!! Actually, only one part of the roof is actually secured, and once that came off the whole thing just started to crumble. Turns out falling roof is a health and safety issue, and it was deemed a hazard to have the kids at school. So the school is closed tomorrow, monday, and tuesday. God not only gave me one day off, He gave me THREE!!! Well, I guess I can't count monday and tuesday as off since I still have to go in, but the kids won't be there, so at least it's a bit of a break! We do have tomorrow completely off though. The head teacher actually told us NOT to come in, and if we were really that keen that we were coming in at our own risk.

The wind did wreck havock on the city though. There were trees down, and we saw one brick fence (about 2.5 ft. high) that fell over onto the sidewalk. They were warning people to stay inside if possible.

Which brings me to the title of our blog (and the real reason today was so great). The six crazies who live in the Burlington House decided not to heed the warnings, but to venture out to look at the next rental property that was offered to us since we have to move. The first offer was looked at earlier this week, and was decided that it was not good enough for us. The location sucked, and the house was not what we were expecting. It was ok, but not fantastic. Today's house was a different story. Not only is it on a great central route, but the house is AMAZING!!! Actually, make that AMAZING!!!! I wish I had pictures to share (although there will be plenty of time for that). At first glance I was skeptical. Save for the glass roses on the front door window. We walked inside and instantly knew the place was amazing. I don't think I could describe it, but I'll try. There are THREE sitting rooms. A front room (which rumour has it will be turned into another bedroom) a middle room with a fireplace which is the room you first walk into and also leads to the kitchen, and a third sitting room at the back with also leads onto the kitchen from a different angle. The kitchen itself is not huge, but it does have a gas stove (a new MUST in any home we have). There is enough cupboard space we think, and attached is a HUGE dining room, which could easily hold a table for 12. Upstairs there are 4 bedrooms, each exceptionally large. There is also a third floor with another bedroom. That one has slanted ceilings as it is actually in the roof. The four bedrooms are separated by quite long hallways, so you don't see any bedroom doors when you first walk up the stairs. The bathroom has a large bathtub, two sinks, and a nice sized seperate shower. Just wait, I saved the best for last. The bedroom that Ryan and I are taking (which we "called" and no one opposed) is huge. It is clearly the master bedroom, and get this - it has an ensuite bathroom!!!!!! It has a complete bathroom with a shower and toilet and everything!!! It's amazing. Somehow, having an ensuite makes me feel like an adult!! In addition to all of this space, there are lots of little nooks and crannies that can be used for storage or whatever. I'm absolutely head over heels in love with this house. If any of you remember me saying that I would take the layout of the Burlington House home to Canada and build it, I changed my mind. I want the new house!!! It's phenomenal. Now the next question is, WHEN DO WE GET TO MOVE IN?!?!?

Ignorance is NOT bliss!!

2007-01-13T18:59:00.000Z

I met the most ignorant woman today. The kind of woman that you see on tv shows like "this hour has 22 minutes" or hear about in a really bad joke. I went to get my hair cut today at a salon just down the street. The lady who washed my hair was making polite conversation. I went something like this:

hair lady: "Where are you from? You sound like you have an accent."
me: "I'm from Canada."
hair lady: "Oh, is that in America?"
me: "No, Canada is it's own country."
hair lady: "Oh, I thought it was a state."
me: "Nope, it's north of America."

just wait, she doesn't stop there...

hair lady: "Since you live near America, do you call yourself an American?"
me: "No, I live in Canada, I am a Canadian."
hair lady: "Oh, I never did understand that." (Clearly...)
me: "Me calling myself American would be like you calling yourself European."
hair lady: "Oh, well I wouldn't tell someone that, now would I?"

No. No hair lady you would not.

The hair cut itself (once I got over my initial shock) went quite well. I am back to a very short 'do which should last me for quite awhile. It's not a "dana" cut, but it will have to do. And I have bangs back, which is so nice! Actually, the hair lady also mentioned that she thought it was 'cute' that I called them bangs. Does anyone know what British people call them? Oh well...

Are we there yet? Mid term is only 4 weeks away!!

2007-01-12T16:53:00.000Z

I haven't blogged for awhile, and for that I apologize. I actually wonder if anyone other than Julie and Derek actually read this thing! Sometimes I even forget that we have it!

We're working on getting back into the swing of things over here. Jet lag has worn off, although I am still getting to bed early (too early for Ryan!!). We are both busy working, and it's true what they say, the first term is by far the hardest. Although it is still a challange, the management side of it is so much easier. So many of the kids just need a "look" and they stop their bad behaviour. There are a few who still get on my nerves, but what can you do?

I am thinking of starting up a Scholastic club at the school. Along with the line dancing club, the art club (which I got kinda suckered into), and the french club, I think this term will be quite busy. I am doing my best to stay caught up on my marking (blogging doesn't help that though...) and my planning. I have PPA on monday (yeah!) so I hope to get everything sorted before then. I did so much planning this week, but none of the printers at the school were working, so I couldn't print any of my plans!

We are reading The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe in class. Well, I am reading it. The kids are listening, and so far, they have done a good job. We only read about 10 minutes a day, and that's about all they can handle. They get bored if it's any longer. They are really enjoying the story. It's good to have something that they are interested in!

Ryan and I are looking for somewhere hot and sunny to go for mid term break. If anyone has any ideas (not too expensive please) let us know. We just can't decide!! Although we were looking at Malta last night (I don't even know where that is) and then I had a dream about it. I dreamt that the bus for the airport was leaving (I knew it was the Malta bus because it said Malta where the street name or whatever would go) and it was CRAMMED FULL!!! I'm talking people on top of people, faces squashed up against the windows. Needless to say, we missed that bus. I don't know what the rest of the dream had to do with Malta.

Ok, well now I feel like I am just rambling. I should go home and eat some dinner!!

Love you all!

we're back!

2007-01-05T17:04:00.000Z

It's been a long road, but we are finally back in the UK. Some of you may have been worried that we got injured in the traumatizing car ride to the airport (or aeroport) but it was a rather uneventful ride! We got there on time (if you don't count Ryan's escapade with returning the car) and we even managed to fly out of Heathrow Airport before they closed it down because of fog. Our airplane problems began right away, as we checked into the flight we were told that we weren't sitting together. That's a shame, since we PAID to have our seats reserved by a travel agent, who was subsequently reminded three times. Whatever. After a choicely worded phone call to said travel agent, we were on our way to the gate, with the hopes of some christmas cheer and that someone would take pity on us and let us sit together. We went through security with no problems at all. I was sort of expecting something, since we were flying out of a major airport that had been the brunt of a terrorist attack in the not so distant past. We did have some annoying perameters, but other than that, we were free and clear. We did some shopping in the MASSIVE shopping/duty free area. They even have a mini-Harrod's! We flew for 8 hours and landed in Toronto. We were met by Julie with a sign for "Favourite aunt Elaine and uncle Ryan" and we got to hold B for the first time in 4 months!! She is so much cuter in person!

After a very long drive out of Brampton (it took 45 minutes) we got on the road to North Bay to pick up a few things, then onward and upward to Sudbury. We spent the night at the Smith's and did Christmas with them. The next day we had Bertrand Christmas which had 30 some odd family (or mostly family) members for dinner. Including three babies, even though Emily is not so much a baby, which was a nice refreshing change. They are all the entertainment needed!!

Christmas Eve morning Julie dropped us off at the airport for our next stage of our journey. We were heading out to Vancouver to spend the remainder of our vacation with Ryan's family. After our last flight experience, I was concerned about whether or not we would be sitting together. The check in lady said that they were assigning seats at the gate, so we headed over that way. When we got there I spoke to the "gate keeper" and she promptly started to assign us new seats, which I was very grateful for! As we stood there, another man came over and said, we've got lots of room, you can move people up front. That's right, we got bumped to executive class!! That would have been great enough with the lounge chairs and real mugs and cutlery, but because it was a domestic flight we should have had to pay for any food we have. Lucky for us, we got a great fruit platter, an omlette breakfast, and another fruit and cheese platter. Not to mention all the tea and coffee we could drink. It was sweet!

We spent our week in Vancouver (well, Richmond) celebrating birthdays and christmas, and having lots of fun together. We ate way too much dessert and watched a great movie, and even made it up to the top of the mountain to see some real snow. The highlight of the trip had to be Ryan's gps unit. It resulted in loads of time spent wandering in circles and finding "really really good parking spots". A source of unending entertainment.

There are so many more stories, but they will have to wait for another day.

Don't worry!! We didn't die!!

2006-12-19T19:27:00.000Z

Ryan drove the car today! And no, we didn't die. Although I wondered a couple of times...

We have rented a car to get us to the airport tomorrow. It's nice, lots of space, and hopefully it will get us to the airport on time. We are getting up at 4am tomorrow, packing the car, driving to the airport for 6am, and flying out at 9am. With the time difference, and the 8 hour flight, we only arrive in Ontario at noon. It's going to be a long long day!!

We're just finishing some packing, but I thought I'd better stop and let you know that Ryan didn't kill us, at least not yet. We still have tomorrow morning!! :)

(Ryan, please don't get mad that I posted this - I still love you!!)

Christmas Season

2006-12-14T15:41:00.000Z

You know Christmas is just around the corner when you start getting loads of cards. We have already received a few from home (thank you to those who sent - yes, grandma we got your card!) British people are crazy about christmas cards. They don't have candy canes, but they have cards coming out the wazoo. I have received a card from almost all of my students, most of the teacher, and a pile of students that I don't even know!! Everyday we hand out arm fulls of cards to students. It's verging on rediculous.

We have our Christmas (oops, sorry) I mean, winter Party tomorrow. Turns out that one of the parents wrote into the local paper COMPLAINING that we were calling it a "Winter Party" and not a Christmas party. Usually it's the other way around! I have my PPA tomorrow, so I am missing it, but I'm hoping the kids have a good time! You're probably wondering which nincompoop scheduled the party for the same day as PPA. Yeah, that would be me. Actually, it's because I had ANOTHER observation today. I'm sick of being picked at! I don't know yet what was said about me, and I'm not really looking forward to finding out. The real question should be "what nincompoop schedules an observation for the third last day before christmas break???" I had one of my kids leave the class before he even got in it, because I knew he wouldn't handle the activity.

We had a video this morning, so I am all caught up on my marking...Spy Kids 2 just wasn't holding my attention!! Now I get to go navigate the mall because I forgot that we needed a secret santa gift. Ah, I love Christmas!

5 more days!!!!!

Ancient Egypt

2006-12-13T16:25:00.000Z

We went to the museum today. I should clarify, I went to the museum with a bunch of crazy kids. It's bad enough that the trip is right near the holidays, and the kids are off their rockers, but to top it off, we had a really long bus ride there, and an even longer bus ride back. It is about an hour and a half to London and I had a few who were bus-sick. The driver was really jerky, so even I wasn't feeling too hot!

The museum was amazing. It was an incredible building with so much to see and do. We only took the kids to a fraction of what they had to offer, and Ryan and I will most definitely have to go back!! I kept being asked, "Miss, is this a REAL mummy?" Like they could believe that what they have been learning about is actually real! They were convinced that they were all fake, and made up to trick them into thinking Ancient Egypt existed. I had only one really bad kid, who has subsequently lost his privilages for the rest of the term. It was rather embarassing to have to yell at a kid who is running away from you, in a very crowded place. He was throwing temper tantrums and crying and running away for most of the day. Then when I held his arm, he cried that I was twisting and hurting it, and that I needed to let go. As soon as I let go, he would run off and have another hissy fit. At the end of the day I had a nice chat with his mom about his behaviour and told her he would be missing the video that they were supposed to have tomorrow. Sucks to be him. Actually, sucks to be me, cause I will most likely have to stay behind and babysit him.

I put some pictures up on myspace. Some of them are fuzzy, but you get the idea!

Ikea Goodness!

2006-12-10T20:26:00.000Z

Ryan and I decided that we need to get out more. Regardless of the fact that we have little money, and even less time, and are both tired from the work week, we wanted to make the most of our time here. So this week our big plan was to visit Ikea. It is located near the huge shopping centre we sometimes go to, and we decided that the train was a much faster method of travel. We bought tickets from Romford Station to Chaffard Hundred (which confused me, because last time we were there we could not buy tickets from Romford to Chaffard Hundred, but we can buy them going in the opposite direction? Weird.) When we got to Ikea (after navigating the station, the busy parking lot, and a major road) we were surprised to find that it wasn't all that busy. We spent the afternoon browsing, and we even found the kitchen of our dreams for our someday-house. After a quick bite in the Ikea cafe, we headed to the shopping centre. It was so crowded!! We didn't stay long!! We hopped back on the train and got home really quick! I'm starting to love the train! It was a great day. I think that Ikea will be a repeat outing! It's easy to go to Ikea and not buy when we know that we won't be bringing it home in the long run. Ryan will really have to watch out when we get back home and have a real house to buy for!! :)

Canadian Humour

2006-12-07T16:35:00.000Z

I probably only think this is funny because I am Canadian...

Last night over dinner I was thumbing through the Romford Post (kind of like the Northern Life - a few local interest stories and lots and lots of ads). At the end of a very long article on the importance of winter car maintanance, there was a little blip. Hardly worth noticing. I probably wouldn't have noticed, except I actually made it all the way through the article. At the end was a TRUE FACT.

True Fact:
In Scandenavia and Canada drivers often have two sets of wheels for their cars. One outfitted with tyres for the summer driving months, and another set outfitted for the winter driving months.

Ok, now that I wrote that, it's not nearly as funny as I thought and hoped it would be. Believe me, I had a nice laugh about it yesterday.

Speaking of weather, it hailed today. The kids were outside playing and suddenly it started to thunder. The sky turned instantly from a beautiful blue to a menacing black, and it started to pour and hail. Everyone was so excited. It's the closest thing we have to snow so far. It has been double digit temperatures all week! Gotta love the jet stream.

Oh, one more thing. If you are interested in seeing our pictures in all their magnificent glory, I have started a msn myspace. Blogger was giving me a hard time about publishing pics, so I am posting folders in their entirety. Please enjoy at your leisure. The address is: http://mrshuisjes.spaces.live.com. I am slowly getting pics up there, please be patient!!

I have it blocked so that only people I know can see. If you are someone I know, and you can't get on, let me know and I will arrange something. Ok, that's it for now!

Dickensian Christmas Festival

2006-12-03T15:50:00.000Z

Ryan, Megan and I went to Rochester yesterday for the Dickensian Christmas Festival. Rochester is a historic town whose claim to fame is Charles Dickens. They have museums and lots of themed events. This Christmas festival is the kick off for the season, and tons of people came out. The event was interesting, they had "actors" or volunteers dressed in traditional victorian dress, and they were roaming the streets ready for a photo-op or just running an event. There were also readings and shows throughout the town. They had different areas, one was a stage where there was a concert band and a choir sang, they had a huge craft fair, a smallish amusement park (mid-way like) for the kids, plus all of the regular shops were open. We arrived at about 10:30am, and by the time we went into a few shops and stopped for lunch, it was time for the main parade down main street. All of the performers paraded down (as a chance for everyone to see them I guess). After that parade, Ryan and I were ready to go home!! Only 5 more hours before the tour bus heads back!! We did find things to do. We heard the choir sing. There was one boy in the choir who was clearly not impressed with being dressed up and displayed to hundreds of people. We walked through the craft fair. There were so many people that we didn't actually get a chance to SEE all of the booths, but I am confident that they were just as interesting as the one's we did see. We spent about an hour in the town cathedral. We listened to the choir practice (the acoustics are phenomenal) and someone was playing the organ. I wasn't feeling great still, so while I had a rest Ryan wandered around the building and out into the court yard. They did have a little cemetary, with tombstones so old they didn't have any writing left on them. There were a few we could read that dated back to the early 1800's. We had a really nice lunch/dinner at an italian place, and then waited for the end of the day parade to start. It was a really beautiful candle lit parade, which ended at the ampitheatre for a group carol sing. There must have been a thousand people packed into a very small space! I couldn't sing, but it sure did sound nice. They also had a "snow fall". I put that in brackets because it was man made, and also, it wasn't snow. Rather than blowing potato flakes or paper or whatever they might usually use, they blew bubbles! It resulted in a VERY realistic snowfall, except it didn't melt when it hit people or the ground. But watching it in the air, I would have sworn that it was a real snowfall! It was at least 10 degrees, so I knew it couldn't possibly have really been snowing! It was funny to listen to the kids though, some of whom have probably never seen a real snowfall. They were running around trying to catch the snowflakes, and some teenagers tried to have a 'snowball fight', but that didn't work out so well!

We even got home at a decent hour! It was a pretty great day. A really nice start to the Christmas season!

Voice of Truth

2006-11-29T17:03:00.000Z

Ryan and I were working away last night, getting our school work done and listening to Casting Crowns. The song "Voice of Truth" came on and I was stopped dead in my tracks by the truth of the words at this moment in time. I'd like to share a snippit, if I could.

To begin, the first verse talks about having faith to step out and do something way out of your comfort zone. I likened that to Ryan and I coming here.
"Oh what I would do to have
The kind of faith it takes
To climb out of this boat and then on to the crashing waves
To step out of my comfort zone
Into the realm of the unknown where Jesus is
And He's holding out His hand
But the waves are calling out my name
And they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
Time and time again. "Boy, you never win!"
"You never win!"

Those lyrics spoke to me, because the chorus goes on the talk about the "Voice of Truth" which is God, and He is saying that it doesn't matter what others might say or do, that He is the ultimate truth.

But the Voice of Truth tells me a different story
The Voice of Truth says, "Do not be afraid!"
And the Voice of Truth says, "This is for My glory
"Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of Truth

How many times has God told me not to be afraid? And how many times have I let my fear get in the way of His will? When we left for England I knew that it was God's will, that He wanted us to be here, and He worked it all out in advance so that we could come. He is still telling us that us being here is for HIS GLORY and not for our benefit. I have to keep remembering that when things get tough.

The next verse is the kicker though.

Oh what I would do to have
The kind of strength it takes to stand before a giant
With just a sling and a stone
Surrounded by the sound of a thousand warriors
Shaking in their armor
Wishing they'd have had the strength to stand
But the giant's calling out my name
And he laughs at me
Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed
The giant keeps on telling me
Time and time again. "Boy you'll never win!"
"You'll never win!"

Does that sound like anyone I know????!!!!???? If that isn't our life right now to a tee, I don't know what is. But just like when we chose to take a leap of faith and come here, that same voice of truth that was there then is there now. And that same voice is still telling me a different story, and not to be afraid (even when I want my fear to win) and that this entire situation is for HIS GLORY. How do I argue with that?? Even now, the words of that song are bringing tears to my eyes, because even when things are so obscure and unsure, God is the complete opposite of that. He is the opposite of everything that I am as a human, and He is so much more powerful than any fear or insecurity that I could have. It doesn't matter if I've failed before, or if I fail again, I know that God is in control, and that He is the one who is telling the truth. And I love Him for it.

"But the Voice of Truth tells me a different story
The Voice of Truth says, "Do not be afraid!"
And the Voice of Truth says, "This is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me (calling out to me)
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth."

I do choose to listen and believe the Voice of Truth, and trust that He has my life in His hands.

My Achy Breaky Heart!!

2006-11-24T16:43:00.000Z

I joined the "line dancing club" today. One of the year 5 teachers is really into it, and she started up a club for the kids in the upper school. Today was the first day, and I mentioned to her that I had line danced a time or two, and would she like any help. She was so pleased! We didn't do much, we started with the CC Shuffle (I don't know about that spelling) then did the Electric Slide. Although I might not be a fantastic dancer, I was at least better than the kids, and for that I was grateful!! I was able to keep up with them, and even keep them on track, for the most part. Some were really funny. Anyway, I think I might make it a regular thing. I miss all that honky tonk music!!

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round...and round and round and round

2006-11-22T18:13:00.000Z

My respect for the Transport for London has waned.

Let's start with yesterday. Megan and I went out for dinner at the Outback with a bunch of teachers to celebrate our school getting out of special measures. By 9:30 I was ready to go home, so we left the restaurant and walked to the mall to catch the bus. We got there by 9:35 and waited. And waited and waited and waited. Maybe it's the "Amazing Race" in me, but I really hate just sitting there when I know that there is a faster way. Last night the faster way happened to be walking. The Outback is at the mall by our house. That means that we could have walked home from the restaurant in 8-10 minutes (depending on how fast we walked). I was thinking this as we continued waiting, and by about 9:50 I finally said to Megan, "I HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!". Please understand that Megan doesn't walk. At least not if she can avoid it, so she wasn't coming with me. I apologized to her, but took off down the road. I texted Ryan and asked him to come meet me half way. In the 8 minutes it took me to get home, there was still not a bus to be seen. I got inside, got my jammies on, and snuggled into bed. A good 20 minutes later, Megan FINALLY showed up, but not by bus. No, she had finally given up as well, and called a cab. Poor her, she had to pay 6 quid for a cab ride, and still waited nearly an hour for a bus that never came!!!

Then today came. This morning was fine. After school Megan and I walked out of the school, walked down the road just in time to see the bus pulling away from the stop. Ok, whatev, we weren't walking fast (not my choice, believe me!) So we crossed the road and were standing under the bus stop (read - it was pouring rain). We had been standing there about 10 minutes when the next bus came along, except this bus forgot that it was a bus. Even though we were standing at a BUS STOP (as opposed to a Request Stop, at which you need to hail the bus or they may or may not stop) with Megan standing ON THE CURB in bright white pants, with her HAND OUT to stop the bus and two of us standing there, the bus proceeded to fly by without a hint of remorse. He didn't slow down, or even move over into the bus lane and out of the regular flow of traffic. No, he just flew by, with the two of us left in his dust. Needless to say, we were none to happy, not only at being ignored, but also at the fact that we needed to continue waiting in the rain and cold for an additional 10 minutes for the next bus.

Class pictures

2006-11-16T16:31:00.000Z

We had a nice relaxing day today. Since we found out our school is COMPLETELY out of special measures, all the teachers are quite laid back. We had history this afternoon, which luckily was a fun activity anyway. The kids made ancient Egyptian burial chambers. They turned out nicely, although most kids aren't done yet.
This is Ancient Egyptian Perry. You can't really tell, but at one point he did have all of his internal organs. We took them out when he died so that we could embalm him and bury him properly. He is wearing his Death Mask. Cute eh?

I also took the time to take some pictures of the classroom, which I would like to share with you, if blogger will let me.

These are a couple of my favourite displays. The Living Things display was mostly Ryan. We even added bull rushes, because one of my kids loves them. The first day he saw that he came right over and said "look Miss, BULLRUSSES!" (no, I didn't mis-spell, that's how he says it!) Every book he reads has to have bull rushes to make him REALLY happy. The other display is an RE display that shows how far England is from India. Hinduism was the focus, and the kids designed plane tickets. Kinda boring, but the display looks nice.

This is my new favourite display. It's another RE lesson. They learned about Noah's ark, and the consequences of not following the rules. You can't see this, but each "plank" is a seperate piece of paper with a rule written on it. The rules were supposed to be things like, 'be nice', 'don't fight'. We had a lot of 'don't throw bricks' and 'don't play with knives'. What sad lives these children must lead!!

Ok, I tried to post more, but bloggers not cooperating. If anyone knows what I am doing wrong, please let me know.

So, this is my classroom in a nutshell. Messy right now, but back to normal!!

Wonderful Weekend!

2006-11-11T17:29:00.000Z

We have a new washing machine!! YEAH!!! Ok, so that might not seem like the most exciting thing in the world, but after two weeks without one, it does seem pretty fantastic to me! Our washing machine broke down two weeks ago, and our landlord (yes, the pleasant, helpful, friendly landlord) agreed to "fix" it. She "fixed" it, only for Megan to put a load of washing in and have the same problem we had before. Needless to say, we were all quite upset (Megan most upset of all - it was her laundry that she had to hand wash and drip dry) and so we went back to TimePlan to try to rectify the situation. After a week of the landlady avoiding calls and being stupid, she finally came out and said, no, she wasn't planning on fixing it. Unfortunetly for her, part of our rental agreement states that our house comes with a WORKING washing machine. Bob from TimePlan was very helpful, and about the same time that he told us we were moving out, he also told us he was buying us a new washing machine. It took about a week to get it delivered and installed, but now we are up and running and washing again! Needless to say, after two weeks of no washer, and seven people with laundry to do, it's been crazy. Another hardship (my life seems full of those lately) is that we can only hang one load up to dry at a time. We don't have a dryer, so we hang everything. We can fit one, maybe two if we're lucky, so it'll take awhile to get through the 6 loads we have to do. Not to mention the laundry that is piling up in the meantime. But I won't complain, at least we don't have to go to the laundry mat. Last time I went (two weeks ago, when it first broke) the lady was so rude, and sh explained how to use it, but she explained it wrong!! Then she got mad when I asked her to run the laundry through again - with SOAP this time! Imagine, wanting to wash laundry with soap!! I specifically asked her to show me too, because I didn't want to make a mistake!

We've had a pretty lazy day. I spent all morning cleaning up our room, which has been neglected with work being so hectic and long hours and being away. It feels pretty good to have things put away where they belong, and the floor vacuumed and stuff. And I managed to finish another Jodi Picoult book. She comes highly recommended. I even have Ryan hooked! For a boy who doesn't do much reading, he polished off a 450 page novel in a matter of days!

A few more pictures

2006-11-07T08:45:00.000Z

Ryan and I at the edge of the world (at least, that's how it felt!!) Don't worry, we didn't get too close to the edge!
A million and one sailboats!! The English Channel was littered with them! We thought of you Uncle John!

The view from the beach outside our hotel. Absolutely stunning. These pictures don't do it justice. I thought about lying and saying that the two people on the beach were Ryan and I, but zoomed in they don't look anything like us!! (for a good laugh, try zooming in!!)

The Needles! Kind of a landmark, and if you are really interested in seeing them in perspective, check out Google Earth.

We're outta here!

2006-11-07T08:36:00.000Z

Looks like we're moving. We had a nice meeting with the head of the Essex office of TimePlan, and he informed us (not that we didn't already know) that they were having trouble dealing with the owner of the house we are in. Although they signed a lease through a letting agency, the landlord is not upholding her end of the agreement in a lot of ways, and she also recently told TimePlan that she is terminating the contract 6 months from the signing date. That would put it at Feb. 14. So Bob came over last night and broke the news to us (I told everyone he was coming to tell us we had to move, but no one believed me!!) TimePlan is being super helpful though, and they insisted that they would make this as easy as possible on us all. They are finding us a new place, and they will pay for us to get our stuff over to wherever it is we end up. They even said we could have a say on what place we do end up with. Bob gave us two choices, either move out over Christmas, or wait til our February break. Either way Ryan and I were planning to be on vacation (home for Christmas, Egypt in Feb) so it doesn't really affect us - except for the whole packing up our lives AGAIN and making sure we're ready to move. It's too bad really, I was starting to like our house!

Just one more thing to load up the stress factor. I'm trying my best to be chilled about the whole thing. God is good, and He will provide for His children. I'll just keep telling myself that! Just look at what He has provided so far!

Beautiful beautiful Isle of Wight!!

2006-11-06T16:51:00.000Z

We had such an awesome weekend! The weather was phenomenal, and the scenery was fantastic. None of our pictures do it justice. We left bright and early Saturday morning (well, not bright, the sun wasn't up yet) and made our way by train to London to our pick up point for the coach to the Isle of Wight. We actually almost had interviews for a school there, but it turned out they didn't want us, it was for a highschool job. Once we were on the island though, we knew we couldn't live there. It's much too touristy.

The ferry ride was nice. It was freakin' cold (15 degrees), but the sun was shining. There were a million and one sailboats on the water, and the biggest container ship you have ever seen. The pic is the back end of the boat. Each little tiny square is a container like you would see on a train. Use your imagination!!

Once we arrived in Ryde (where we stopped for lunch) we basked in the sunshine. It was really warm - please ignore the mittens and winter coat - and we even found some palm trees. We're not missing that winter weather one bit!! We ate our lunch at a fish and chips place. The fish and chips are really good here. The cod is fresh, and the chips are thick and hot. We have learned two things about english fish and chips - number one, add lots of salt, and number two, chips should be eaten with mayonnaise. I never thought I would say either one of those things, but chips and mayonnaise are my new fav. I will put up a pic of the place we ate at. The picture really does say it all.

We saw some more of the landscape, went on a panoramic sightseeing tour of the island, and finally made it to our hotel. The hotel wasn't fantastic, but the view was amazing. I'm only putting up one pic, there are plenty more where that came from!! Our hotel was about 200 m from the beach, and these pics were taken at about 5pm. Oh, one other problem with a tourist town, nothing is open!! Most places were closed for the season, and the restaurants had very limited hours. We found one place and struck up a conversation about being Canadian, and how he'd like to visit some day. Nice people!!

Apparently I'm pushing my luck with the photos. I'll try again later.

One of the scariest parts of the weekend was the driving. Not that our driver was bad, in fact just the opposite - he was amazing!! The roads were so narrow, and the hills were so steep, I thought for sure that at some points we were going to go tumbling down the road and off the cliff and straight into the English channel!! At one point, we were driving on a back road because the main road had actually fallen into the channel, and the driver came on and said, "hold on folks, they like to call this zig-zag road" at which point we zigged one way, immediately followed by a 90 degree zag the opposite way, and nearly slammed head first into an oncoming car!! He also warned us that we should begin to pray that we do not come into contact with a city bus coming in the opposite direction, because there just isn't enough room on the road for two buses!! Luckily we didn't come into contact with one. There were some places on the road that seemed barely wide enough for two small cars, but our driver expertly navigated us through it.

Our final destination was the 'needles' which is a famous Isle of Wight landscape. It didn't seem to impressive, until we climbed 45 minutes to the top of the mountain and looked down. Quite a sight. And also quite a historical landmark. Most of the monument is protected, and there were signs everywhere explaining what was what and when stuff happened. I won't bore you with the details!! It was a long hike up, but it was worth it! The view made me feel like I was at the top of the world! And it was cool to look out and be able to see mainland England. It made me feel so small!!

All in all we had a fantastic weekend. It was nice to get away and relax a little bit. Now it's back to the grind and school work and stress. I think I would like to quit my day job and become a permanent tourist.

Some Pictures of our mid term

2006-11-03T08:01:00.000Z

I figured as long as I was procrastinating, I may as well make it fun for you!!

This is Ryan and I at Stonehenge. The stones don't look huge, but remember, we were really far away!! We had this taken by some tourist. The thing around my neck is an audio tour. Very cool!

Another shot of the stones. They were quite impressive, though not as big as I thought they would be. The day started out rainy and cold, but it improved!!

These are the Roman Baths. They used to be covered by a roof, in the olden days, but the sunshine makes the algae grow. No one is allowed to swim in there, and I don't think anyone would want to. They don't treat it. The water is hot too, and you can see how clean it is when it comes out of the spring.

This is the hot spring. There was a sign that said don't touch the water (it was really hot) but I ignored it. I'm such a rebel.

This is Windsor Castle. It was massive, and quite impressive, but we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. I don't know why not. Maybe the Queen doesn't want anyone copying her decorating style. Anyway, the big mound was original to the castle, it was a man made mountain that was intended to keep the enemies out. Neat stuff.

Ok, that's it for now. I feel like I am pressing my luck with all these pictures. If this works, I might get some more up later!!

2006-11-03T07:46:00.000Z

Life is stressful right now. One of the largest sources of stress comes in the fact that OFSTED is coming to my school. Now you might think, "gee, you're kind of overreacting, don't you think?" NO! OFSTED is the inspection agency that decides whether or not our school stays open. Last time they came, our school failed (granted, we were one of the first schools they saw, and all of the electronic equipment had been stolen the month previous). They look for things like technology integration, meaningful displays, good differenciation among ability groups. The problem for me is that no one has actually said "this is what they want..." (sentence to be completed by, well, ANYONE!!!!) Teachers are running around hog wild, trying to set up displays and plan meaningful lessons, and keep everyone organized!! It's mad chaos, is what it is. Needless to say, it's a little bit stressful at school.

And, since my timing is always spot on, I decided that this weekend would be a good one to go on an overnight tour of the Isle of Wight. It was a good idea at the time. Not so much a good idea anymore. In fact, I am having stress attacks thinking of all the work that I could be doing while I will be sitting on a bus for hours. Maybe this is exactly what I need to relax and calm down. Ryan seems really excited about it though, so we'll see. I was excited, back when I made the reservations. I need to find that excitement again, and soon!!!

On a happier note, we have discovered a new and improved route to school. (For those of you who are wondering, I pronounce it r-oo-t, not r-ow-t, I had this discussion this week with one of the south african supply teachers). Anyway, back to the bus. It was in fact Megan who discovered the r-oo-t, and she was kind enough to share her information. Technically we found a new r-oo-t HOME from school, but using our keen deductive skills we figured if we just reversed our r-oo-t we could get TO school as well. This morning was the first time we tried it. We took the 86 bus the opposite direction than we normally would (don't worry, it seems ludicrice, but it works) and Ryan got off at Whalebone Lane South (I just love the name of that road). He promptly hopped on the 173 and was most of the way to school before we had even made our transfer. Anyway, Megan and I continued on the 86 and got off just before the Chadwell Heath tube station, where we tried to catch the 368 (for those of you wondering, this is the bus that runs right in front of our school - so this was a very good thing). We had a bit of trouble because we ended up on a one way street that was travelling the opposite way that we wanted to be going, but in the end we found it, and we were at school before the 5 (the bus we usually took) would have been half way to school. And we had less walking, because the bus stop is right out front, instead of having to walk from the main road like we would normally. Wow, that was a long winded explaination of my excitement this morning. Kind of sad that finding a new bus r-oo-t would be considered exciting. What has my life come to???

Oh, and just for the record, I can't wait to get back to Canada so I can have a car again. Bussing is not what it is cracked up to be!!!!!

More from mid-term

2006-10-30T16:39:00.000Z

Now, I can't remember if I mentioned this, but Wednesday night Ryan, Megan, Tom, Katie, and myself went to London to see a theatrical production. We went to see "Blue Man Group". If you've never heard of them, they basically don't say anything, they just look at each other and do silly stuff. They were hilarious, and I highly recommend seeing them. We even got our picture taken with the guy afterward. If I ever get pictures up here, I will put them on.

Thursday we went to see Stomp. That was a fantastic show, although it was super super loud. We had great seats, but we also had the stage sound and the speaker sound all at once. And it didn't help that the lady in front of us had the biggest hair EVER, or that they guy beside me practically sat on me the whole time. But it was still a great show. I would love to see more theatre in London. You can get tickets pretty cheap (like, practically the same price as it would be to see a movie).

We didn't do much on Friday, it was a nice, well deserved, lazy day. Then Saturday Ryan suddenly got the urge to do lots and lots of shopping. We went back to Lakeside (the super huge mall that's far away from our house) on the bus, did tons of christmas shopping, then took the train home. We had to sit and listen to a whacko the whole way home fight with his girlfriend. Literally, ever three seconds his phone would ring, he would yell something, hang up and she would call right back. It was kind of funny, but totally not funny at the same time. Lucky for us, the train ride was a lot faster than the bus!! The train still confuses me though. When were were at Lakeside we bought tickets from Trafford Hundred to (what I stupidly assumed was) Romford. Turns out that our tickets were not to Romford, although there is no one to tell you otherwise, you just hop on the next train. By the time we got to Romford, the guy was all mad at us because we didn't buy another ticket (stupid me thought I did buy tickets to Romford) and when I said what happened, he said I would have to take it up with the girl I bought them from. So, what? He wants me to get back on the train and pay again to go and yell at the girl?? Seems like an easy cop out for him to tell me that I am screwed over and too bad for me. Although I suppose we got off easier than we could have. He didn't fine us the 20 pounds it could cost for not having a valid ticket, we just had to pay 1.80 each. Whatever.

We watched a pretty good movie on Saturday too. "Love Actually". Once we started I realized that I had seen at least part of it before. There were some points when Ryan had to cover his eyes, but I really enjoyed it. And I also finished two books this week. I have a new favourite author, Jodi Picoult (I think that's how you spell it). I am addicted to her books. They are sad and exciting and tear jerking.

I just looked outside and realized how dark it is. Not that this is a bad neighbourhood (read between the lines, it is a bad neighbourhood) I don't want to walk outside alone. So, I will continue this later. Love you all!!

Mid-term break excitement

2006-10-25T13:38:00.000+01:00

I know it's been awhile since I blogged, and for that I apologize. I've been using internet at school, which is nice, but then once the day is done I don't really want to stick around to write about my day, I just want to go home to bed!! We still don't know when we are getting internet at home. I heard a rumour of next week, but this new company that Megan insisted that we go with requires us to buy our own wireless router. I think it's easier just to do internet at home and not have the hassle of having to divide all the assets and then decide who gets to keep them at the end. Long story short, we have signed up to use the internet at the library. Hopefully it works for the short term.

Enough complaining, I want to tell you about our week so far! Our mid-term break officially started on Friday, and believe me, I didn't stick around to see how long I could wait before I got out of there. Megan and I were offered a ride home by one of the teachers who happens to live just down the street, and we were home in record time. Ryan and I went out for dinner, then came home and vegged. I needed that after the week I'd had. Oh, I guess I should mention, I had parent-teacher interviews on thursday. They went ok, better than I expected, but the build up for that night and the stress of actually having to meet with the parents was enough to make me really need this week off!! Most of the parents that I didn't actually want to meet with ended up not coming anyway, so it's all good. Anyway, Saturday we slept in, had quite a lazy day, went to the market and bought some christmas presents and just took it easy. Sunday was supposed to be more of the same, but we ended up going on a tour with Megan, Katie, Tom, and Emma. It wasn't too expensive, so we hopped a bus and headed to Stonehenge, Avebury, and Devizes. It was supposed to be fun, but in all honesty, it wasn't really. It poured rain the entire day (and I mean, we were soaked from our shoes all the way to our waists). It was far, and there was supposed to be a market at Devizes, which was the reason to go, but it was closed on sundays. Why would they run the tour on a day that it was closed? I don't get it. We didn't go into Stonehenge because we knew that we were going on Tuesday, so all in all it was a bit of a wasted day. Actually, that's not totally true, we did have one fantastic "Amazing Race" moment. We have started downloading this season, so please please please don't tell me what happens if you know. We were back in London, and were just hopping on the tube to go home, when an announcement came on saying that the District Line was backed up, and to expect significant delays until at least Whitechapel. Read this to mean that the train we needed to get home would take forever. The nice thing about the tube system in London is that they all interconnect at some point, and so Ryan and I started plotting the fastest route home. We had decided that we would hop off at the next stop, jump on the Picidilly Line, take that five stops to the Circle Line, then take that five stops where it would re-connect with the District line on the other side of whitechapel. Megan wouldn't hear it, she wanted to stay on the train, insisting that it wouldn't take too long. Meanwhile we had already been sitting still for 5 minutes. I said, fine, but we were going to do our plan, and let's see who gets home first. We hopped off, ran to the next train and were on our way. We would have beaten them home too, except the 86 bus that takes us to our house was severely delayed because of a car accident. If we had walked when we first got to the station we would have done it for sure. Anyway, Monday we had our first experience with the overland train. It is much more complicated than the tube, and is not nearly as clearly marked. It took us awhile, but we figured it out. We went to our national insurance number meetings, which took forever by the way, and spent the rest of the day wandering London and just having a good day.

Yesterday was the best day of the week so far. We went on our originally scheduled tour to Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, and Bath. I do have pictures, but the computers at the library don't let us plug in the usb key, so you will just have to wait. We started with Windsor Castle, which was a blast. The queen was even there while we were, and left while we were there (we know because the flag changed) but she didn't invite us in for tea. I can't imagine why not. We saw the chapel, St. Mary's doll house, and some of the rooms of the castle. We even saw where the queen eats dinner. It was pretty cool. Then it was off to Stonehenge. It is much nicer when it's not pouring rain!! We were surprised though, it was different than what we expected. Firstly, it was a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be. Also it was much better protected (as in, you can't touch it, you are at least 15 feet away at all times). We got some nice pictures, and the sun was starting to come out, so it was turning into a nice day. Finally we saw the Roman Baths in Bath. That was super cool, and amazing to think that we were walking on the same ground and seeing the same things as people were thousands of years ago. Bath is a beautiful town, and we want to go back again, but probably not until we have seen other things first. We didn't really have time to do much sightseeing in town, and we could spend a whole day there just looking through shops and at the scenery. The scenery along the road was magnificent. It looked like what I expected England to look like. Not like where we live, it's not representative of the landscape as a whole. There were lots of sheep too.

That brings us to today. We are going grocery shopping, and then we just found out that we have tickets to see "blue-man group" tonight. Should be a good time. Oh yeah, and we are going to see "Stomp" tomorrow.

We are getting two new roommates tomorrow also. Two girls (as far as we know) are taking the two empty rooms in the house. Everyone (and by everyone I mean Megan and Katie) keep complaining that there won't be enough room, and the fridge is too small, and how will we cook with 7 people in the house? Please. Give me a break. First of all, Megan has a fridge all to herself. You can't tell me that four people can share one fridge, but she can't fit three into the other one? Right. As for the cooking, we will just have to come up with a system. Or at the very least, keep doing what we are doing and let the others fit in around us. I don't know what all the complaining has to be about. Honestly.

Ok, that's it for now. I'll post again for sure when I get back to school.
Love you all.

one week to go

2006-10-13T13:04:00.000+01:00

I don't know why it is that I only ever find time to write on a Friday. Actually, I shouldn't even be writing now because I should be getting ready for PE, but such is life. I don't like PE. It is my least favourite class to teach because I feel like I have the least amount of control over the kids. The unit we are doing right now is on striking and fielding, and we have to do it outside, so the wind takes my voice. They take forever to change into their PE kits, and they never stop talking. Especially since it is after lunch. I think if it was before lunch it wouldn't be so bad.

I had one kid come in from lunch the other day and ask me if we were going home now. I said "do we ever go home right after lunch?" "yes" came the response. Whatever. If you want to go home, please, be my guest. I can't handle much more of this craziness anyway.

We have "meet the creature" night next thursday. There is only one kid who I am not looking forward to meeting her mom. This was the same mom who told her daughter that she didn't like me because I wasn't the teacher that they were supposed to have. Unlucky break for them I guess. She is rude to me on the playground, and I am just not looking forward to having to defend myself and her child to her for five whole minutes!!!!

Ryan helped me put up two beautiful displays yesterday. I will have to get a picture and put them up, because I am so proud. They are fantastic. Too bad it took me six weeks to get them up!!! There is still a lot of stuff lying around my classroom that needs to be dealt with. Perhaps this afternoon is a good time to do it. Oh yeah. PE. Darn.

Mid term is in just one week. Five more school days until I get to sleep in. I really have respect for teachers who do this for a living and still have children of their own. I wouldn't be able to handle all the work and having a demanding child at home. It's a lot of pressure!! Not to mention a drain on me. But enough about me. I am just counting the days! Is that a bad sign as a first year teacher??

I should go get ready for PE. Love you all.

Complete and utter chaos

2006-10-09T17:16:00.000+01:00

This is how I felt at 3:00pm today. My classroom was a disaster. And not just a regular disaster like it is most afternoons, no this was a FREAKIN' disaster. We had design and technology this afternoon. Some of you teachers out there are probably already shuddering because you know what is coming next. DT is a very hands-on kind of class. In the last few weeks we have been talking about sandwiches, fillings, breads, labels, everything leading up to todays class. They had to make their own sandwich. This may not seem so bad. Believe me. Chaos.

Just imagine for a moment if you will, 28 bodies all trying to get your attention at the same time. Even though they all had other tasks to do, they all wanted you to know that they had yet to make their sandwich. What do they think I am, stupid?? There was a lot of noise, and even more mess. The kids were not too bad with the actual making of the sandwiches, it was the organizing and the convincing them that once they were done that they should complete the written part of the assignment. I don't think I had 3 kids who actually finished the written part. Once they were all done the plan was to take them outside for a picnic, to enjoy the sunshine and eat their creations. They couldn't stop talking long enough for me to give them instructions to go outside, so we sat inside and ate them. Not as much fun, but honestly, they never stop talking.

Immediately following that class was hometime, and immediately following hometime was a staff meeting. I really hoped that no one went into my room while I was gone, but lucky for me (unlucky for her) the cleaning lady cleaned it all up for me while I was in the meeting. She is a blessing in disguise!!!

So now I am tired, and smell like marmite, chocolate spread, and ham, and want to go home. It's been a long day.

Happy Turkey Day!!

2006-10-09T11:41:00.000+01:00

It's thanksgiving, but it's no celebration! Since we don't celebrate thanksgiving here, there are no pictures of turkeys at the store, or decorations, or cornacopias, or delicious smelling turkey dinners. So sad. Although, Ryan and I did score big yesterday when we found "real Canadian maple syrup" at ASDA. We bought it right away (didn't even look at the price) and made french toast for dinner. It was soooooo good. Reminded me of home.

We haven't had internet at home for nearly a week, so there are lots of funny stories to tell. I'll do a few here and there and do my best to keep you all up to date.

Most of the funny stories have to do with the bus. The bus is the place where the crazies live, I am convinced. If you ever want to meet a crazy, just jump on a double decker!!

Last weekend, Ryan and I decided that we were going to venture out and try to find the Big Tesco. For those of you who are wondering, this is a very exciting adventure since this Tesco was supposed to be chock full of teaching supplies, and we would get lost it was so big. This was the rumour. It turned out not to be true, although we did pick up a couple of other things at great deals. But the most exciting part didn't even happen at the store, it happened on the bus. FYI, we generally stick to one or two buses. We don't generally have any use for buses that take us to places we don't need or want to go. This particular day we had to take a different bus to a different part of town, and in doing so we were (or at least I was) a little bit nervous because I don't like to be lost. While we were waiting for this bus to arrive, we stood at a bus stop. It is not so unual to have rude, inconsiderate, loud, stupid teenagers at a bus stop, or on a bus for that matter, and there isn't much we can do about it. Kids ride free, so they hop on and off of the buses like they have nothing better to do (they probably don't). These three teenage boys were no exception. They were pushing each other into people and swearing, and making fools of themselves for no particular reason. When the bus came by one of them jumped in front of the bus and held his arms out, like the guy was going to run him over, or at least stop on a dime because he was in the way. I said to Ryan "they are going to get themselves killed!" Meanwhile the bus driver would not open the door. He finally got the kids attention and said to them, "you are not getting on". Ryan and I were secretly laughing, while the bus driver let everyone else on except the three boys. After everyone else was on, the boys were standing at the door and saying "why won't you let us on?" The classic answer, and the answer that the boys should hear more often: "because you are acting like idiots!" Good for you mr. bus driver, good for you!!!

Ryan and I laughed all the way to Tesco.

I am trying to write this and eat lunch at the same time, so I am going to say goodbye for now. I promise that I will continue the stories soon!!

Friday again? Are you sure??

2006-09-29T19:15:00.000+01:00

It's friday. What can I say? It's been a long, tiring, cold, wet, exhausting day. Make that a long, tiring, cold, wet, exhausting week. My kiddies should be so proud of all the adjectives I just used. We learned about adjectives today. I was working with my lowest ability group. The assignment was to look at a picture (I had cut out from a magazine and pasted to a white paper) and pick something from the picture, draw a line from the object to the white space, and write an adjective describing that thing. Now I know that not all kids are at the same ability. I get that. But honestly, some of these kids are just baffling. One boy (the boy who drives me insane, and I think I might throttle before the year is up) was not getting it. Well, I mean, he was. Sort of. We were looking at a photo of an unuit couple during a summer in Nunavut. They were standing on a shore next to what appeared to be their boat. Sajmir points to the rocks and says, "Rocks!" I said, "good job, what word can we use to describe those rocks?" Moment of silence. "Umm...boat!!" Ok. "Sajmir, can we say that those rocks are Boat?" Momentary look of confusion. "No." "No, we can't, so what word can we use to describe those rocks?" "Brown!" "Very good Sajmir, write the word brown." The paper went around the circle and back to Sajmir. Once again he pointed. "Boat!" Like he had been waiting for his turn just so he could tell me that there was a boat in the picture. "Very good Sajmir, what word can we use to describe the boat?" Get ready. "Rocks!" Hmm... "no, Sajmir, it doesn't make sense to say the boat is rocks. What other word could we use?" Moment of confused silence. "Brown!" "Very good Sajmir, write brown." I didn't even include the fact that he asked me how to spell brown both times. Nor the fact that neither the rocks nor the boat were actually any variation of a brown. I was just glad he was describing. It was a bit of a long morning.

The day over all went quite well. The kids were actually listening, and they even quieted down during their silent reading time. That in and of itself was a bit of a miracle. Even though it is supposed to be silent reading, the kids are so starved for attention (some of them) that they just want to be listened to. I will be turning that time into a time where I listen to them read, but for now, I have just been listening to one or two key kids who really need it. I have a couple of kids (mostly girls) who really like to walk with me (I had duty at recess today) and hold my hand and get a hug in the morning, and help me with EVERYTHING!!! I know, I know. If Mike Parr heard that I was hugging these kids he would have a heart attack. But too bad for you Mike. There is one little girl who comes in most mornings crying because her mom was in a hurry and didn't give her a proper hug goodbye. I asked her the first day if it would help if I gave her a hug. She said yes, so I did. Ever since, she comes in in the morning and comes and gives me a hug. At this age they are still short enough that they only come to my belly button anyway!!! I just give them a quick squeeze, and send them on their way. Same when they hurt themselves. I just give them a quick squeeze if they need it and send them on their way. No harm no foul, right?? I remember from camp, Aunt Jessica always used to come round after lights out and ask us if we wanted a hug. If we wanted one, great, she would give us one, and if not, then she would just wish us a good night and move along. I did that for years with my kids at Pine Orchard, and it worked great. It works here too. If they are crying I will always ask first if they want a hug. Sometimes that's all they need. Or at least someone to say "aww...", right Steph?
They only kids I don't ask if they want a hug are Stacy and Caleb. They don't have a choice!!! I would hug them all day if I could!! Especially now that I am so far away. Ok, little tear.

So the day was good over all. We had a nice little discussion about fiddling at their desks (fidgeting, whatever) and I explained that I was tired of telling them, even though they know what they are doing is wrong. Often all I have to do is look at them (with the evil eye, mind you) and they will stop what they are doing. But I am tired of having to stop a lesson to ask someone to stop doing something they aren't supposed to be doing to start, and that they know they aren't supposed to be doing. So I sat down and asked them what I should do. We came up with some good suggestions, one of which was to give them a single warning, then a time out. This appeared to work today since I warned them, then didn't have to give any time outs!! There was the occasional kid who I knew would need another warning, but I just used the eye, and didn't actually say anything. We'll see how it goes on Monday.

It rained today. And yesterday. I guess I should get used to it. I am growing my hair out so that I can pull it back and it doesn' t look all frayed and frizzy and crazy like. I do have my hair straightener, but I am scared to plug it in. I might just save it for a real hair emergency, just in case. It's really amazing what you can live with (and without) when you need to.

Christy moved out today. She was another Canadian in our house, and she moved in with her Australian boyfriend (Ish). She only mentioned yesterday that she was thinking about it, but today she was packed and gone. That's ok. Now we won't have to worry about taking her one piece of laundry out of the washer and hanging it up when she isn't around for days at a time. We are sad to see her go, honestly. It was nice to have people around, but we are settling in nicely with the people we have. We aren't advertising the fact that we have two spare rooms now. We are happy with who we have, and we don't want to end up like another TimePlan house that we know of that has 10 people!!! That's too many.

Well, that's it for my day. Ryan is busy playing video games again, so don't blame me this time when you don't hear from him!!!!!!!!

Can't wait to hear from some of you (hint hint, nudge nudge). The only people who are excused are Julie and Steph, because they are somewhere in the mid western united states. Otherwise they would be expected to leave comments too. So there.

Miss you all, and love you muchly, oh ever so muchly (sorry, too much Dr. Seuss)

Pay as you Go gas service? What??

2006-09-24T20:43:00.000+01:00

It's been an interesting day. We got up this morning and got ready for church. We were even on time. This does not happen too often (that we are on time, that is). We even did a load of laundry before we left. After church we went to ASDA to get some groceries, and we decided to pick up a roast. It's sunday. People should have a roast on sunday. We bought a nice little roast and brought it home in anticipation of a delicious meal. When we got home we realized that we did not have a roasting pan. That's ok. Ever the ingenious and resourceful people we are, we scoured through the cupboards and found the perfect substitute. A round cake pan. Perfect. Just don't push on the bottom or it will come out. Still no problem, we will just line it with aluminum foil. Wonderful. Roast went in without a hitch. I didn't even rip the foil. Onions around the outside, water in the bottom. Beautiful. Into the gas oven it goes for, we figured, about four hours. No problem. Lots of time to cook it and eat it before we were due to meet John and Wynne online. At about 4pm I sniffed the air and realized I could no longer smell meat cooking. I panicked slightly and went to check on the roast. Turned out that the flame had gone out. Ok, no problem, I'll just relight the oven and continue on the process. No go. I thought, ok, maybe it is just the oven isn't supposed to be on so long and there is a safety switch that kicks in to prevent a gas leak. Understandable. Not exactly. Nothing worked. Not the stove, not the hot water heater, nothing. Full blown panic set in. Not only do we have a half cooked roast in the oven, but we also have no hot water and no other source of cooking our food. We called the head hancho at TimePlan. No answer. We called the 'emergency' number for Accomodations Solutions. No answer. We left a few choicely worded voice messages on both phones for someone to call us back. Nothing. We learned from the last 'emergency' situation, and were not about to call in outside help. Ryan and I made a quick decision to knock on the neighbours door and ask them for help. Well, technically we asked their oven for help. They were kind and generous enough to let us stick our sad little cake pan roast into their oven for an hour or so. They were also very distraught about our situation and had no advice. Oh, sorry, before we went to the neighbour we called the landlady who we are not supposed to have any contact with. She told us what the problem was. Turns out we are hooked up to a "pay-as-you-go" gas system. There is a key (about the size and shape of a credit card) stuck into the front of our gas meter. You top up your card and when it gets to zero pounds credit, your gas is cut off. No one told us this. No one mentioned that we should maybe keep an eye on the level and top it up when it gets low. No one mentioned that we might someday run out of gas and we would be thrown into a huge panic attack. Although, if someone had mentioned that, I probably wouldn't have gone into panic mode. Eventually Bob did call us back (the head hancho guy) and he said we should top up our card (duh). That's all fine and good, except it is sunday night and nothing is open. We did finally find an off licence (a convenience store that sells alcohol) that was open and would top up our card. That was after five other stops and people not being able to help us. And a nice long walk because the buses run sporadically on sundays. Murphy's Law did say that this would happen on a sunday. I hate Murphy.

So, now we are all back up and running. And I guess we can chalk it up to a learning experience. A very frustrating, annoying, maddening learning experience.

Love you all!! (except Murphy, I don't love Murphy. And I don't love TimePlan, or the gas company, or the places that couldn't help us, or Sally from Accomodation Solutions, or British gas for being stupid...but everyone else, I love!!)

Speaking of twins in England...

2006-09-23T20:00:00.000+01:00

Ryan and I went to London again today. We checked out a little more of the national art gallery and also walked the millenium bridge and along the victoria embankment. That part of my story is kinda boring since we told you all about our last trip, and this one was almost the same, but there was one really funny incident.

So, Ryan and I were walking along the street toward Trafalgar square, and I saw this s/he walking down the street. If any of you have seen "Transamerica" you get the idea. That wasn't even the funniest part. Not two seconds later, Ryan turns to me and says "hey, I just saw someone who looks just like your brother" (just a reminder Julie, yes, we do have a brother). I turned to look and see if I could see who he was talking about, and he finishes his sentence with "never mind, I think it was a girl!" No offence Richard, but it looks like you have a twin here too.

We did have a really nice lunch today. We went into the city with the intention of eating at a real honest to goodness English fish and chips place. I really wanted chips in a newspaper. Unfortuntely, the farther we got into the city, the less fish and chip joints we saw. So now we were wandering aimlessly past lots of perfectly good restaurants because I was bound and determined to get my chips in a paper. We finally stopped and asked someone if they knew of a good place nearby, and he pointed us back in the direction we were coming from. We're not that blind though, the place was disguised as a greek restaurant. We were standing outside looking at the menu, when I guy inside started yelling at us (nicely, mind you) to come in. He asked us if we were eating in or taking away, and I said eat in, just to make it easier. They promptly ushered us into this back room which turned out to be quite a nice restaurant. I kinda felt like I was back at mom and dad's though, cause they had mirrors covering every wall. We opened the menu, and I wasn't sure what to order, cause it was all greek to me (hahahaha), but I finally decided on the chicken doner. It came in a warm pita with greek salad. Ryan had a sausage with chips, but my chicken was absolutely amazing!! I'm sure you've all seen the huge chunks of meat on like a rotisserie thing? It was that, bbqed to perfection, and served with onions and some spice, and garlic sauce. It was awesome. Ryan's was good too, but not as good as mine. We were a little worried going in, because it wasn't food we were used to, but it turned out to be a good adventure. And it was even within our budget!! I still have a hankering for some chips in a paper, so that might be another blog!!

I promise to keep my twin list going. But no, Steph, I didn't see Princess Diana yet. Maybe she actually meant Camilla?? (that was a joke, I don't mean to offend you, it's just really easy to poke fun!!!)

Oh, Julie!! We found the cutest shirt for B. I think we will have to go back and make a special trip just to get one. We went into the United Colors of Benetton and...well, hold on a sec. For those of you who don't know, Bronwyn has been called a boy recently, and Julie is starting to get a complex. We found this shirt that was for a baby, and it was pink, and it had a rhinestone heart on the front with the word "girl" in it!!! I thought it might be appropriate to get for B. It came in other colours too. Blue, purple, pink, white. Every shirt she owns could say girl on it!! Just in case. But I guess now she doesn't need it. All she has to do if someone isn't sure is whip out her passport and prove them wrong!! She is a girl with many resources!

Ok, that's it for now. Love you all!

Elaine's Adventures in England

2006-09-22T20:39:00.000+01:00

I seriously am considering changing the title of this blog. Don't blame me if you never hear anything from Ryan. He would rather play his computer games than update you all on his life. So not my fault!!! But since my bossy bossy sister is telling me what to do (again, what's new eh?) I'll write a little diddy about his day. I will try my best to get him to dictate, at least so the details are accurate, but there are no promises. Maybe I should just start making stuff up. No one will ever know the difference. Except now I've told you all, so, yeah...(head hung in mock shame).

Today is actually a good day to start talking about Ryan because he had quite the day. He was observed today by his head teacher. She really liked his teaching style, and she said that he was doing a great job with his management of the class. He even made her laugh. He was trying to get the kids to write a dialogue between two characters in a book they are reading. He did a teacher demonstration with one of the kids, and something he said made the teacher laugh (I won't even pretend, I don't actually remember even though he did tell me less than an hour ago...)

He has 23 students (except for a long time he only had 22 because one was out with German measles). Ok, one quick story...the german measles kid was away for a week because of the measles, then another week, but the office wasn't totally sure why. At the end of the second week Ryan was waiting for the bus, and who does he see but german measles boy waving at him from across the street. Ryan turns to another teacher and asks, "does he look sick to you? yeah, me neither. He's supposed to have german measles!" Ok, so Ryan's stories aren't quite as funny as mine. I'll work on that.

So, yeah, he has 23 kids, and they are all pretty good. He was surprised on the first day that they were so polite. He handed out 10 books to each of the 22 kids (minus german measles boy) and he received 220 "thank-you"s. For those of you who are a little slow in math (hmgh...Steph...) that means that every child said thank you for every book. Are we all back on the same page?? Ok, good. (sorry, teacher talk coming out). I feel like I have already told that story. Sorry if you are reading that for the second time. To tell you the truth, I am not really sure what Ryan does all day. He does leave with me in the morning, and I have seen him get on a different bus, but he doesn't do any real work at home. Kinda reminds me of when he was in teachers college. Playing computer games on the couch was his idea of "homework". Here I am, all stressed out about marking and planning and teaching, and he is home hours before me, and doesn't do half the work I do. Ok, sorry, this isn't about me. He does make dinner every night. I think he knows that if he didn't make it we might never eat. Thanks for that honey.

Ok, one more small story (and I am sorry, but it has to do with me again...) There is one lady who cleans my classroom at the end of the day - she is super super nice by the way, she is starting to be my favourite lady in the whole school - and she was talking to me the other week about her son and how he was going through to be a teacher, and that he has his placements at none other than...da da da (sorry, that was my attempt at a drumroll)...Thomas Arnold!!! For those of you who are wondering why I am telling you this, Ryan works at Thomas Arnold. Come on people, try to keep up!! Anyway, I was just thinking how small of a world we live in. I thought Canada was small.

Speaking of living in a small world (well, not really, but I'm gonna say it anyway), you know how people say that everyone has a twin somewhere in the world? Just go with it, people do say it. No, I don't know who these people are. Anyway, I think that everyone that I know has a twin in Romford and surrounding area!! Just to name a few, I swore I saw Laura Restoule get off the train the other day, and yesterday we saw Chris Tuulos driving a car. And Ryan thought he saw Chris Douglas, but he honestly didn't look anything like him. I couldn't figure out who he was talking about, and seriously, he's only met Chris once, so I didn't know how he would know what he looked like in the first place. There have been many others too. I think I might start keeping a list so I can tell you if I see someone who looks like you!! No Bronwyn's yet. She is one of a kind.

Well, I think I am going to stop typing now. Although this is not really work, it is making my wrists hurt. And besides, I have all weekend, right? We are going back to London tomorrow, so I will blog about that too.

Love you all!!

Three weeks down, who knows how many to go!

2006-09-21T20:13:00.000+01:00

Well, it's thursday again. I've had a couple of requests for an update on the situation with the head and my class. Here goes. So, Tuesday morning I went to an observation at another school that is partnered with our school. This school is supposably a "good" school, and ours is a "poor" school because we failed our annual inspection by OFSTEAD (an agency that moniters school success). I was supposed to observe a teacher and talk about things that went well and things that could be improved. I went with another teacher from our school, who, during the talking part kept saying "no disrespect" while bashing all of my ideas of what could have been changed about the lesson. She basically called my Ontario qualifications garbage because they were just theory and they did not work in the real world classroom. (for those eddie nerds who want to know, I was talking about wait time two, and not affirming an answer immediately, among other things).

Sorry, this blog isn't about her, or how she ruined my day. This is about when I got back to the school and talked to the head teacher. When I arrived back, it was just in time for the kids to make their way to the assembly. I could hear the head teacher yelling at them from down the hall. I stayed out of the way because I knew that they would all get excited if they saw me, and I wouldn't want them to get into more trouble. I did pick them up from assembly though, and they were all so excited to have me back. At lunch the head took me aside into my classroom and told me that I needed to be more strict. He said they were like "little animals that need to be trained. Like little puppies". He demonstrated how I was supposed to yell at them, and that I didn't have to worry about covering all of the curriculum right away, but that I should train them first. I don't think they are that bad. I have cracked down on them talking in the halls, and I do believe that they are the quietest class in the school. I have also cracked down on their fiddling, but I don't think that yelling at them is the way to do it. I have been yelling at them, because the head told me to, but I feel like I am being mean!! I was yelling at them the other day, and I just stopped, and I said "am I being too mean?" and they were so cute, and they all said "no, miss, you aren't too mean". Oh, they are so cute. I told them that if I get too mean that they should tell me. Yesterday I was frustrated with them because they were talking and not getting work done, so for the last ten minutes of the day I made them sit in silence. They hated it, and one girl came up to me after and said that I was too mean. I don't like being too mean. I don't like having to yell.

I was supposed to be observed by the head today, but he was out of the school so I was not. That was a relief. I am afraid that he will come in and say "you suck as a teacher in this school, you are not what we are looking for, and you are fired!" Just like Donald Trump. Then I will have to take my suitcase and leave, all dejected like, and I will be a failure. Ok, so maybe I am exagerating, but he did tell me that there was a teacher last year who couldn't get a handle on her class and she had to leave. And he said "but I don't want that to happen to you". Like that didn't scare the be-jeebers out of me!! So that is the only reason I feel like I have to yell at these kids. Usually we have a good time!

Today I had one girl who was being rude. I asked her to stop talking and she looked me in the eye and said "no". I sent her to the hall where she sat crying for the rest of the period. The following is the rest of the converstation I had with her after class.

me: "why are you mad?"
sophie: "I don't know."
me: "are you mad because you couldn't read the words?" (she can't read)
sophie: "no"
me: "are you mad because the work is too hard?"
sophie:"no"
me: "are you mad at me because I yelled at you?"
sophie: "yes. My mom doesn't like you because you take us out late every day and you weren't the teacher that I was supposed to have."
Like that's entirely my fault??
Then, she said something that broke my heart. I said I was sorry that I had to yell at her, but that she was acting rude, and I couldn't have that in my classroom. She said that her mom yells at her because she is stupid. I promised her that I would never yell at her because she is stupid. I might yell at her because she is acting bad, or because she is not listening, but never because she is stupid. She and I have a little joke that she will someday be the smartest girl in the class. I think we both know it won't ever happen. But she likes to pretend and I like to encourage her to try her best, even if she isn't as smart as the other kids. She is really cute. I don't like her mom so much anymore. I say, if you have something to say to me, say it. If I am doing something wrong, then let me know so I can fix it. Don't be rude about it.

Only 21 working days til mid term break. Yes, I am counting the days. It's not that I am not enjoying it, I just think that there are things I could be enjoying more. Like travelling, or shopping, or I don't know, whatever. I do enjoy the kids, I won't lie. There are some really cute ones. They drive me up the wall, but they are so cute! Oxy-moron? Probably.

I'm so tired!! It's not even nine yet and I am wiped. I can't seem to get any work done at home, but I should at least try. I'll blog again soon.

Love you all!

Why am I a teacher? I should have been a barber!!

2006-09-18T21:06:00.000+01:00

I just wanted to show off my mad skills as a hair dresser. Ryan was complaining that his hair was too long, so I helped him out. Ish (Christy's bf) had a razor so he brought it over tonight, and I worked some magic. It's a thing of beauty, I say! K, forget it, I was going to post a pic, but blogger isn't cooperating. Maybe later?

At least cutting his hair got my mind off what my headteacher said to me this afternoon. He had the nerve to come to my classroom at the end of the day when the kids were lining up and say that I didn't have a good routine, and that they shouldn't be talking in the hallways. If he had seen them a week ago, he would be impressed with how quiet they are now. But, he'll get a taste of it tomorrow. I am going to observe a class at another school, and he is teaching my class for the morning. We'll just see how well he does!! Ok, just one quick story. When he came into the class they were just getting lined up in the classroom to head out to the hall to get their bags and coats and whatever and go outside. One of the boys (who has autism) wasn't lining up with the rest of the class, but I couldn't deal with him at the moment because I was busy handing out letters to go home and answering a million and one silly questions from the kids that they always come out with at the end of the day.

So Head teacher comes in and says to me, "what are they doing?" (pointing to the autistic boy and someone else who was finishing packing up his things), To which I replied - quite honestly - "I don't know."
So he turns to the two boys and says to the autistic one, "Hey you, get up and get ready to go home." The boy doesn't even acknowledge that he is being spoken to (probably because he was being called 'hey you' instead of his name) and continues doing what he was doing before. The head teacher then turns to me and asks, not "what is his name", but "does he speak english?" I must have looked at him funny because he asked me again, not quite so nicely this time, "does he speak english??" to which my stunned and seemingly obvious answer was "yes." Good luck tomorrow Head, good luck.

part two...read the previous post first!!

2006-09-16T20:42:00.000+01:00

Ok, let's start out with the pic of the National Art Gallery. For those of you who are wondering, the art gallery is at the head of Trafalgar Square. The first time we were there I didn't even realize where we were.

We wanted to see the whole thing, but it's absolutely enormous, and when I got in there and started reading all the little plaques that go with each piece I realized I would have to either not read every one or read faster, or something, or we were never going to get out of there. We actually only made it through about 6 or 7 of about a million rooms. Then we decided not to over do it, and we would come back again another day. It was neat to see paintings from like, the 1500's still in perfect condition. Amazing stuff. And it was amazing too how the artists created paintings of images from the past (mostly about Christ and Mythology) but they also used aspects of their present day. One that really stuck out to me was a painting depicting John the Baptist preaching to a crowd, and they were all dressed in Reneciance period clothing (sorry about the spelling). I said to Ryan, "I am pretty sure that the people that John the Baptist preached to weren't men wearing bright red and yellow tights." All in all the art gallery was fantastic. We will have to go back and see more, but since it's only a couple of bus rides away (which are free with our bus pass) and admission is free, it won't be hard to do.

After we left the gallery we walked up the road and went part way across the Waterloo Bridge. From there we got quite a good picture of Big Ben, the Parliment Buildings and the London Eye (big ferris wheel thingy). We were stopped by a couple who asked us to take their picture, which we did, then we asked another person to take our picture, and she didn't even get any of the sights in the picture!! We tried to do a self-portrait, but that didn't work out too well.

Ok, sorry but you aren't getting any more pictures!!! This is kinda frustrating!!

After the bridge (or maybe before? I don't remember) we walked around to find the theatre where "Stomp" is playing. We had heard it was really good, and we wanted to see it the week of our October break. We had looked online this morning, and when prompted to buy tickets online they said they were unavailable, so we walked over just to see what was up. Long story short, we have tickets to see Stomp on Oct. 26th. Third row, middle. Fan-friggin'-tastic!!!!! So that is our big plan for the break. That and maybe travel up north of the country on one of those guided tour things. We still have to look into that one.

I hope this is satisfying your need for me to blog more often. Now you all have to keep your side of the deal and leave lots and lots of comments!!! I look forward to them!!

Love you all!

"I won't expect a postcard from Trafalgar Square"

2006-09-16T20:06:00.000+01:00

Gotta love the Caedmon's Call. All day while we were in London it was running through my head. About how London is such a nice town, and how we could see a Broadway show, and there's no crime. Speaking of Broadway shows...oh, wait, I'll save that diddy for a little later...

In case you haven't caught on yet, we spent the day in London. Well, we wanted to spend the day, but I got up this morning and started to do some laundry, and it didn't finish as soon as we thought it would - sorry, that's a whole other story!! We had been to London once before, but it was almost as soon as we arrived, and right when I was in the most painful parts of my ear infection, so I didn't have any fun. Today was much more exciting. I am going to post some pics from both excursions. The ones that include Buckingham Palace were from the first trip, most of the rest are from today. If you are wondering which is which, I am wearing my mu-mu ear infection kerchief in the ones from day one.

Ok, so let's back the London train up just a minute. Let me show you the pics from Buckingham palace first. They are fun.

I thought maybe the Queen would come out and invite me in for tea, but alas, she did not. It was a sad sad day for her!!

We also saw Big Ben that day, although not so much up close.

Ok, so after that I felt sick and we needed to leave the overcrowded, loud, annoying, dirty, rude city life and head back to our own little universe.

Today was a much better day. We were even almost proficient in getting into the city. It is so much easier when you know what is coming around the next turn. And there was so much stuff that we didn't see the first time, that we noticed or got to see the second time. I guess it can only get better. When we left Romford we knew what buses we needed to take, and even when to switch. We had gotten some McDonald's coupons in the mail, so we decided to eat lunch out. Not very healthy, I know, but we're on a budget!! We got off the 86 bus in Ilford, and walked across the street to a McD's for a bite. After we had ordered Ryan noticed that there were no debit machines anywhere. The guy looked at us kinda funny when we asked if they take debit. Like every idiot was supposed to know it was cash only? Anyway, we left there and hopped on the 25 bus that would take us into London, and hopped off just past Stratford when we saw another McD's on the road. We had a quick bite (and realized, stupidly enough, that their drive thru is on the opposite side of the building - of course it is! They drive on the opposite side...Oh, Elaine!) and then we hopped back on the 25 for the long drive into London. The bus was absolutely PACKED!!! Standing room only. Fun stuff.

Once we got into London we walked a short way to Trafalgar Square. We brought our tripod with the intention of getting a really awesome panaramic shot of the square, but unfortunetly (for more reasons than one) the square was shut down because there was a Scissors Sisters concert tonight. I've never even heard of them, but the set up was quite elaborate. Anyway, we went into the National Art Gallery and had a peek around. Oh, I just remembered, I have some pics from before. Let's put pictures with my words so you all have something to visualize!! Pictures on the blog are great!!

Ok, apparently I can't add another picture. I'm going to publish this then do more...

FINALLY!!!!

2006-09-15T23:02:00.000+01:00

Ladies and gentlemen, please hold your applause. We now have internet at home. It took a long time, and a couple frustrating phone calls, but we are up. YEAH!!!

Just some housekeeping notes...

We do have a webcam, so if anyone else wants to talk, just let us know. Julie and I have already tried it out, and it's pretty fun. She even got to talk to my roommates. Life is good.

Also, thank you so much John and Wynne for the fantabulous package (just a side note, I think Michael Buble is my new favourite, because who wouldn't love a man who uses the word fantabulous in a song??). The package was a real pick me up after a really long and treacherous day. I loved all the little gifts, and the nestea was so very much appreciated. Ryan and I are going to have to think of an amicable way to divide the goodies!

I have heard from a few people that we need to post more pictures, so we will definitely do that now (how's that spelling mom?)

Love you all!

T.G.I.F.

2006-09-15T15:55:00.000+01:00

Today was a bit of a disaster. It started out badly and only got worse.

Let me explain something...I start off my day with a fairly rigid routine. The alarm rings at 6am, I get up and get into the shower to be out by about 6:10. Then I get dressed, dry my hair and go downstairs for breakfast by 6:30. I eat breakfast, wash the dishes, brush my teeth, gather my things and am out the door by 6:50. This morning however, I woke up to the alarm and a sound in the hallway. "Scurry scurry scurry" and the bathroom door closing. The shower started. I freaked. If I wasn't in the shower on time I wouldn't be dressed on time, then I wouldn't eat on time, and I would catch the bus on time. Do you see where this is going? So I had to rearrange my schedule to do things all mixed up and backward. So frustrating. We are going to have to set out a schedule for the bathroom.

I got to school and everything seemed fine. I wasn't crazy about my subjects today, and not super comfortable with the lesson plans, but whatever. The morning went fairly well. At assembly I wasn't told that I needed to put a students name in the "good book" so I had to scramble during the ceremony to get it in. Then I had threatened some kids that if they didn't finish their work they were staying in at playtime, but I forgot that I was on duty, so some kids were sent in from the playground by the other teacher to get me. This afternoon the kids were just wild. They were shouting and wandering, and not listening, and not doing any work. It's frustrating to be a teacher in those moments. After lunch they are supposed to have 20 minutes of quiet time. I use it for silent reading. They use it for talking to their neighbour. They would not be quiet!!!

The final straw was last period when we had geography. They weren't interested in the topic, and when I asked them what they liked about Dagenham, one boy said "Nothing! It's boring!" They were supposed to fill out a sheet about everything they liked about it, and I had to specifically say that they weren't allowed to put that they thought it was boring!!! Then at the end of the day they wouldn't stop talking, so we were late getting out and the parents were mad because they were late. I felt like saying "fine, then you come inside and get your own kids to shut up!!" Of course I can't say that...

And I must have had one little girl ask me every ten minutes when I was going to talk to the deputy head about the girl who was bullying her. How many times do I have to tell her that the deputy head is not in the school, and I will talk to her as soon as possible??? I've learned that children only hear what they want to hear. Even if I say something five times, they don't hear it.

I am tired now. It's been a stressful day, and a long week. I think I am going home.

Love you all.

another day, another child crying...

2006-09-14T17:02:00.000+01:00

Today started off kind of rocky. It started out with a little girl in my class in tears because she thought she was late, and didn't get to say goodbye to her mom. That happens surprisingly often. Then there are other kids who don't want anything to do with their parents dropping them off. One of my boys kept turning around and yelling at his dad "go away! go away!" I said that it was just his dad making sure that he got in ok and being a good parent, and to that Liam said, "yeah, but if he just stands there all day, he's wasting all his time!" Oh, to have the perception of a little one again!!

I decided that today we were going to crack down on the talking. As in, no talking during quiet time. I even threatened with time outs. One boy in particular who was talking tried to threaten me back. He said "my mom said that if I get another time out, I am going to have to go to another school!" Like that was going to stop me? One less trouble maker is what I say!!

Ryan and I went to bible study last night. Ok, hold on, let me back the story train up just a bit. Ryan headed home after school, and I stayed a little later to get some work done. This means that we did not meet at the station and ride the last bit together, but that he went home and Megan and I travelled together as per usual. When we got to the station, Megan said that she needed to go to the grocery store, and so we parted ways and I went home. After Ryan and I had eaten dinner, we were watching an episode of Dark Angel (whoot!!) when we heard a calling from downstairs. It was Megan, calling us to help her because somehow she had gotten her key stuck in the door. Let me explain something...You may have remembered last blog, me talking about how stubborn our door was and how hard it was to get in? Well, there are actually two doors. One we use all the time, and the other we never use because it is a pain in the butt. Megan couldn't get the one door open that we usually use, so she stuck her key in the other one. To no one's surprise, the key wouldn't come out of the door. At first I thought maybe we could just leave it in, since no one could steal it, and lock the door from the inside. We soon discovered that you could still unlock the door with they key stuck, so that was no longer an option. Finally (after much discussion between Ryan and Megan about what the best course of action was) I called a locksmith. Long story short, Megan had to pay 85 pounds to get her key out (for those of you who are converting, that's $170). Sucks to be her is all I said!! Ok, so anyway, Ryan and I left her there to deal with they key situation and we went to bible study and prayer meeting at Salem Baptist. On our way there it was drizzling just a little bit. Nothing to cry over. By the time we got out, it was POURING rain. Of course we only have one umbrella here (silly Canadians) and we had to try and share it. Needless to say, we both ended up soaked at the end of our walk home.

I'm out of battery power...I'll have to continue this later!!!

Love you all!

two in one day, you guys are spoiled!!

2006-09-13T16:31:00.000+01:00

I am going to try and blog this again. It didn't work the other day, so please be patient!!

This is a pic of our house. It's a row house (as are most in this area) so I tried to get a picture with as little of other stuff as I could. You should notice Ryan fighting with the door to get it unlocked. I still haven't figured it out, although he seems to be proficient. The lock is just funny, you have to turn it up to engage the deadbolt, then when you go to unlock it, you have the do the opposite, plus push all the way down and turn the key farther, and if you have anything in your hands it is impossible. We have almost perfected the double person door open.

We also found something when we first got here that made us both scratch our heads in confusion... I'll put up the pic, then try to explain.

You might notice a two lane road (one lane going in each direction) suddenly become a one lane road. The oncoming traffic swerves into the other lane for just a moment, then goes back about his business. I guess it was a measure implimented to help reduce the amount of speeding in residential areas, but when Ryan and I were walking down the road, all I saw was a guy driving crazy fast and suddenly swerve into oncoming traffic. It scared the living daylights out of me!! In that moment I was sure that England drivers were worse than even drivers from Quebec. If that is possible. I am still getting used to the driving on the opposite side of the road. When we are on the bus it's not too unusual, but when we are pedestrians I keep looking the wrong way for traffic. Maybe that is why we teach to look both ways before crossing the street!! Maybe I should be asking people to pray that we don't get hit by a car!! Another thing we have noticed is that motorcycles have the rule of the road. The weave in and out of traffic (on their side of the road or otherwise) and do pretty much whatever they like. Ryan was shocked and appauled when he first saw how they drove. If you drove like that in Ontario you would be driven right off the road!!

Well, it's now almost 5pm. I can't believe I might actually get out of here before 5!!! I'll try my best to blog more often.

Love you all.

I'M SORRY!!!!!

2006-09-13T08:10:00.000+01:00

Ok, so I am getting the hint that some of you are missing your daily fix of "Elaine and Ryan", and I do apologize for that. Julie, just for the record, I am missing my daily Bronwyn fix too...

Also, for the record, I did try desperately to blog on Monday, but the site would not cooperate and would not let me post anything. I was even ready to post some pictures!! So, in my defence, it is not entirely my fault.

I don't actually read my previous posts, so if I ever repeat myself, I'm sorry. I guess if I repeat myself if must be pretty important!!!

It is now Wednesday (ok, one quick side story...Ryan and I were walking to the bus this morning at 6:55, and we were thinking "wow, it's actually 1:55 a.m. in Ontario." Then we kept on with that train of thought and realized that it was 10:55 in B.C.!! While we were well on our way with Sept. 13th, Julie and Randy were still in the 12th, and possibly not even gone to bed yet. It just makes us so much more aware of how big the world is. Ok, I'll go back to my blog...thanks for listening...) and we are into our second week of teaching. And it's hump day, which is always good for helping me realize how quick time goes. I actually have PPA this morning (Planning, Preparation, and Assessment - it's like prep time in Ontario, except instead of 30ish minutes a day we get half a day a week or like Ryan, a whole day every two weeks). I am glad to have the break, if for nothing else than to get caught up with some of the stuff that I have been neglecting. When I am gone from my house before 7am and don't get home til after 7pm, I don't usually want to do much at home. We eat dinner, and veg, and fall asleep. Last night I spent my last hour at school just cleaning off my desk. My classroom doesn't have a very good layout, and it's frustrating for me to try and work at my desk because it is kind of pathetic. I tend to dump loads of stuff on it, and then things get lost or misplaced in my piles of paper. I don't have a filing cabinet yet (well, I do, but it is filled with crap from last year, and I haven't had time to clean it out) so everything is in piles. The piles aren't the problem, it's when the kids start throwing stuff on top and digging down for the pencil sharpener or whatever. Long story short, I need a better system of organization. It can be depressing to walk down the halls and see other classrooms that look cheery and welcoming, and then walk into mine which has mismatched chairs and desks and no space. I was upset the other day (well, mad maybe, frustrated) that some of the bigger kids (year 4 and 5) have smaller desks that we do!! The desks in my classroom take up so much space it is pathetic. I have to rearrange them to suit my classroom, I just haven't found a good way to do it yet. I also want to find a new seating arrangement, but the problem is that I have so many talkers in class that I can't put any of them together!! I can't put two talkers together (for obvious reasons) but I don't want to "punish" the good kids by making them sit with a talker at a desk secluded from everyone else. Does that even make sense? Sometimes I say things and they don't make sense once they are out of my mouth!!

My kids are really cute though. I have one who is autistic, and he likes to get his own way and throw temper tantrums and stuff, but when he is in a good mood he also gives me hugs and says how great of a teacher I am. He also likes to be the leader of the line (which is fine, I can keep my eye on him that way) and he comes straight up and holds my hand. He's got problems for sure, and he drives me up the wall, but he does have his sweet moments too.

There is another boy who is super smart, but a talker, and yesterday I was cross with the kids because they would not listen or stop talking (especially this one) and at the end of the day he came up to me and said "Miss, I really like school...and I really like this class...I am glad the other teacher didn't come to school so you could be our teacher." How can you be mad at something like that? We're working really hard at making sure that they follow the rules, and are listening and not talking. It's hard to know how much to expect from 7 and 8 year olds. I guess I do expect them to sit quietly because I can see that they are capable of it, but I don't want to be too hard on them because they are just kids afterall.

I had one girl come to school yesterday in tears because the day before she had lost her jumper (cardigan) and she was scared to go home because her mom told her that if she didn't come home with it she would smack her. Even though the dad picked her up and assured her that it would be ok, she still cried and was afraid to go home. That's the hardest thing to watch, is a little one crying and genuinely scared of something, especially when it is someone that they should be trusting.

Speaking of little girls crying...Ryan and I went on an adventure on Saturday (or Sunday? they all run together...) to Tesco's. It's sort of like a Walmart/Costco/Zellers I don't know what to call it. We were going up and down every aisle just to see what they had, and suddenly I could hear a little girl (maybe 4) crying and calling for her mom. I couldn't see her, but I could hear her getting louder and more scared. As we walked into the next aisle I could see her frantically running up and down the main aisle looking up each one to see if her mom was there. Meanwhile she had adults passing my her like she wasn't even there. I walked over and knelt down and asked her if she had lost her mom. She nodded yes, and took my hand and I told her I would help her find her mom. Suddenly a lady started yelling from across the store (like, 5 or 6 aisles away) for the girl. She went running, and I could hear the mom say "what? do you want people to think you are lost?!? You just keep running away!" She was so angry, and the little girl was so scared, and I felt bad for her because she got yelled at when she was so scared. As a generalization (not a stereotype), parents in England are so young, and they tend to yell at their kids a lot. It makes me sad as a teacher because I get the leftovers of what they had to deal with that morning. I heard in the staffroom yesterday that Dagenham (the town we work in) has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in all of Essex county, and possibly the country. One of the teachers said that she was on the bus one day and she was the oldest one there (at 27) and the only one without a child.

Ok, I've gone off on a bit of a rant, and I have to get going and get some work done. I hope this suffices for now, and I may even try to get another one up before I head home for the day.

Love you all,

Another Day, Another Dollar...

2006-09-07T18:03:00.000+01:00

Well, we survived yet another day. I cannot officially comment on Ryan's day, although he didn't call me in tears, so that has to be a good sign. No news is good news, right?

I do have to say, at the very least, even if my day is sucking (which they are, a little bit) at least I have the privilege of having internet at school. I can check my email at lunch, and blog after school, and the best part is - it's free!! No more paying up the wazoo to check my email!!

Today was not a great day, although it was better than yesterday. I don't feel like I have much of a handle on the noise issue in class. I have set up the "traffic light" noise monitor (for those of you who don't know, red is silence, yellow is whisper, green is indoor voice) but it doesn't seem to work. It's only day two and I feel like I am spiriling out of control with the noise. I don't have a secure system of getting their attention, and it's frustrating.

I took the kids outside today to read a story, and they seemed to enjoy it. They loved the book, they were laughing and coming up with great ideas, and they were getting a little bit of fresh air at the same time. If the kids are having fun and learning something, then why do I feel like such a lousy teacher? I find it hardest not to compare myself to the other teachers at the school, and that is destructive to me because they are more experienced and they also have been teaching at this school for more than two days. But I want to be just as good, meanwhile I am fumbling with my planning, and unsure about duties and when and where the kids need to be when. And then come the parent questions. I don't know the answers, but they expect me to because I am the teacher. I still have so much to learn.

Please pray that I make it through the next day (friday) and that I actually go back on monday. I am feeling like a bad teacher, and I am homesick, and I just generally need a boost.

Love you all!!

We Survived!!

2006-09-06T16:33:00.000+01:00

Just a quick note to say that we both survived our first day of classes (and by the time this is read, probably our second day as well!)

Ryan was shocked and amazed at how polite the children are. He handed out ten books to each of his 22 kids, and he received 220 thank you's. So cute. And he also got a really nice compliment from one of the fathers about how it's nice to have young blood and someone from overseas to do things a little differently. He was really encouraged by that, and is looking forward to going back. And the staff were really nice too, that was one worry!!

My first day was good. I forgot how many 28 kids is, especially when I am the real teacher. The kids are likewise polite, but sometimes a little too timid. They don't offer suggestions or questions when you explain something, which could be a blessing in disguise, but at the same time, it's frustrating!!

I don't have much time, so I will forward all my funny stories later.

Much love.

oh how do we communicate?? internet in this country is driving me nuts!

2006-09-02T15:31:00.000+01:00

We are a little bit frustrated this morning. We got a call early that someone was coming from Sky Service to deliver our cable box. This was good news, because this means that we can finally get internet, right? Wrong. We also received a letter this morning from the same company giving us our account number, and when we originally signed up, they said that we could call them and give them the account number, and everything would be good for broadband. Well, when the guy came today to install the cable we asked him what he knew about broadband because we hadn't yet (after a few hours) been able to get through to ANYONE at Sky. He said that as far as he knew, broadband wasn't even available yet. As in, the service hasn't started, they are just having people sign up. He said it could take up to six months before we see anything happen. So, Ryan is going to have a nice little chat with the guy who got us to sign up, and we are sending it all back and signing up with someone else. The company we are going with now is more expensive, but it has no download limit, and we can get it set up in about two weeks. And I have to keep in perspective that I have lived without it for two weeks already, and these two weeks will fly by with work starting and everything.

We also went around today and looked at getting a different phone plan. When we got here TimePlan provided us with pay-as-you-go phones (aka crap) that are expensive to use, and aren't what we want. So we shopped around a bit and I think we are going to go with Virgin Mobile. They have the best rate for international calls, and we get a free phone when we sign up with the plan. Ryan didn't want to make you jealous Steph, but guess what phone I am getting for free?? ;) Don't worry, they don't have the 800 here yet either. We are paying a bit more a month up front, but the way we were flying through our pay-as-you-go, it seems like a better deal (and with a better phone!!)

And that is all we have done all day. It's already 3:30, and I feel like the day has been a bit of a waste!! Not that we have much to keep ourselves busy...

I washed the walls in the kitchen this morning, and vacuumed the stairs (with a vacuum cleaner that doesn't really work), and got frustrated with how dirty everything was so I stopped. We still have complaints in to TimePlan, but I really don't think that anything is going to happen. I am thinking that we are going to have to deal with everything and just let it go. Ryan actually talked to the landlady yesterday and she said that she wasn't going to fix anything. I think I might have said that already...

I wanted to thank everyone for their comments. It makes me feel better to know that people actually do read this thing!! Sometimes I wonder if I am just talking...but just as a side note, if you leave a comment, could you also leave your name?? Sometimes I know who they are from, but more often than not I don't. Julie, I love what you write! It makes my day. And I don't think the problem of accepting God's gifts is much of a question at all. If He wants to give you something better, there will be a reason for you to take it. I think we should accept all of God's gifts and let Him shower us with blessings. Makes sense to me!!

We're officially teachers!!

2006-09-01T15:58:00.000+01:00

I wrote briefly yesterday about my new job, let me tell you more...

I was given today (officially) a position at Dorothy Barley Junior School for a year three class. The school is a junior school (hence the name), so it only has years three through six. I was a little worried that I might be given the year six job, and I wasn't sure how I was feeling about saying yes without knowing what grade, but God is good, all the time, and He gave me a peace about whatever it was I was about to accept. Like my mom said, it is sort of like Abraham and Lot. I let Christy chose the job she wanted (or at the very least, I gave up what I did want) and I was given something even better. This position is truly an answer to prayer, and I am so grateful for it. There is a huge weight off my back about finances and about getting from here to there. Now I don't have to worry about a lot of that kind of stuff. Oh, and one other super cool bit of God-coincidence...my newest roommate Megan is also teaching at the same school as I am. When Ryan and I got home yesterday from the mall we introduced ourselves to her and were asking about where she is teaching etc, and she said she was teaching year four at Dorothy Barley Junior. I just about fell over with relief and joy and thanks to God because now we can ride to school together, and bounce ideas off each other, and generally lean on one another when things get bad. At least that's how I imagine it. But it has been difficult for the last couple of days to be around negative people and negative comments. So we'll see how it is when I have to live with it and work with it too.

So, let me tell you about the newest roomie...her name is Megan, and she also went to Nip (small world). She knows Christy, but I didn't know her (or even recognize her) and she didn't know me either. She is also a first year teacher, and she is teaching year four at the same school that I am at (I think I already said that...)

So now there are four of us in the house. Even as I type Ryan is off to the TimePlan office to see about getting the house fixed up because he talked to the landlady today and she does not seem interested in helping us out at all. There are a ton of "unfinished" parts of the house, and she said today that she really has no intention of fixing any of them because she is not living there. Ryan is really frustrated, and I think he just wants to have someone listen. For the amount that we are paying a week, it seems really terrible that we should continue to live in these conditions.

On a seperate but kind of related note...Ryan and I were standing at the bus stop early this morning, looking in the window of an estate agent. There wasn't much else to look at, so we were checking out the prices of houses in our area (Romford). There was one house that was tiny tiny tiny, only one bedroom, and not very nice looking, for - get this - £189,000. If you have a heart condition, please don't convert that. For anyone who really wants to know, that is approximately $370,000. For a one bedroom house. I just about died. There was another house, very similar to ours except we have at least one more bedroom, that was selling for £485,900. That is almost $1M. Our house is not that great. Not a million dollars great!! So, that just reinforced for us that we would never in a million years be able to afford living here!! And it makes the outrageous house prices around Sudbury seem not so bad after all. It's all relative, right?

I am running out of time (again, this happens way too often...) so I will say goodbye for now. Please continue to pray for us as we start work on Monday. Ryan gets his kids tuesday, and mine come wednesday. And pray also for us in the house we are in. It is frustrating, and we don't want to keep living in frustration. Ok, one more thing...pray too that we find a good church home. We went to the Salem Chapel for bible study, and they are super nice, but I don't know yet if I actually want to stay there. And we can all praise God for His faithfulness and goodness, and that His mercies are new every morning. Love you all!!

God is good, all the time

2006-08-31T18:03:00.000+01:00

I blogged yesterday with some good news. Please disregard that news, I have something better.

Today we went to a TimePlan induction meeting, where we met with different council authorities and whatnot, and at the very end one of them came up to me and offered me a long term position. It would be for the whole year, which is an answer to prayer. It is in a school that is struggling with under achieving children and low test scores, but she said their behaviour wasn't a problem, and that the school was really great. She said they just needed some teachers to help improve the scores. She didn't know what year (somewhere between 3 and 6) but I said it really didn't matter. It is in the same area as Ryan is working, which is an added blessing because we can take the same bus!! I really think this is an answer to prayer, and even though I was questioning my decision to give up the long term kindergarten to Christy, it has worked out even better. Keep praying, we want this to work out!!

We don't have much time today, but I will try and get a longer post tomorrow with more details about the school and the job.

Today was a great day

2006-08-30T15:46:00.000+01:00

Today has been a really good day. We went with our new roommate Christy to the TimePlan office (mostly because we had a long long long list of complaints about our place, but also because she wanted us to go with her so she didn't get lost). While we were there we met with a guy from South Africa who seemed to be really good about our problems and assured us that they would be dealt with in a timely manner. Anyway, long story short, while we were chatting he asked if we (Christy and I) were on day to day agreements (which we are) and he asked if either or both of us would like a job. So we obviously said yes. The choices weren't ideal, I'll try to explain them both as best I can...

One job was a kindergarten class for a minimum of two weeks. After that two weeks the job could disappear or it could turn into a permanent thing.

The second job was mondays teaching kindergarten, tuesdays teaching grade 1, and every other wednesday teaching grade 4. So, it's 5 out of 10 days for sure, plus TimePlan would give me at least three other days in that two weeks of other supply. That job was at least til october mid term break.

So I had a decision to make. I weighed the options, and said to Christy that it would have to be her decision about what job she took, and I would take either. I sort of told her that if she really wanted the kindergarten that she should take it. She agreed, and so I am doing the one day, one day, every other week job. It's not ideal (as in, it's not the same class every day for the whole year), but it is the same school two or three days a week, so it's better than supply teaching. Plus I still have the option of seeing other schools and getting out of it if I really hate it.

Ryan and I have our induction meetings tomorrow and friday, and then I am going to try and find the school I will be at. It is called South Park Primary School.

I don't have much more time to write today, but I will keep you all informed about the job as I get more details. Thank you for all your prayers, we both appreciate them so much!!!!

Happy Birthday to me

2006-08-27T12:33:00.000+01:00

Well, it is August 27th. That should be a good day, right? Then why do I feel so lousy? Regardless of the fact that my ear is feeling a little better (I got a few more hours of sleep last night) and I am not entirely drugged up on miracle pills, I am not having a great day yet. Like Ryan said this morning, birthdays should be good days that you spend with family and friends and have cake and presents, and I am not getting to do any of that. Plus I am sick, and I am so tired of being sick. So far in this country I have been sick more than I have been well, and what fun is that??

We went to church this morning at a little baptist church down the street from our house. We have walked by it many many times since we moved here, and we thought it would be convenient. It wasn't unconvenient, but it was all older people, so we probably won't be going back. The pastor was nice enough though, and he had a good sermon, but we really need a place that we can make friends and fellowship with people (preferrably our own age!) They did sing hymns though, which made me kinda happy. Except I couldn't sing them between the tears. The pastor must have thought I was nuts!! The last song they sang was "Trust and Obey" which was especially touching since neither of us really want to be here right now. We are homesick, and lonely, and surrounded by a million people who don't know or care that we exist. And we keep hearing horrer stories about teaching the kids here, and that doesn't ease any fears about starting next week!!! I am sure life will get better once we know some people (we have yet to have any roommates move in) and once we get our internet installed. And maybe once my ear stops hurting all the time!!! Please pray that we make it through the next couple of weeks. They will no doubt be the hardest of all our time here.

We did go to London yesterday. The bus passes that we bought are good for all of London and it's surrounding areas, so our home is on the farthest outskirting region of what is included. So it didn't cost us any more to go to London for the day than it did for us to ride the bus to the mall at the end of our street! That was a bonus. I wasn't sure I wanted to go, since I haven't been feeling well, but I sucked it up and went anyway. We didn't get much sightseeing in before I insisted that we go home. My pain from the ear had travelled to my jaw, and I could barely talk let alone eat something. We did see Buckingham Palace though, which was cool. I pictured the Queen standing at one of the windows wondering who all the people were outside her gate. There must have been hundreds of people milling around. It really makes you feel small and insignificant. We do have pictures, and I will get them up soon. I really can't wait to get internet at home. Having to go to a cafe everytime is starting to suck!!

I think I am almost out of time, so I will say farewell for now. We love you all very much and look forward to talking with you soon!!

another day, another visit to the hospital

2006-08-25T16:55:00.000+01:00

Ok, so this is the second attempt at this post...I can't wait til we have internet at home!!!! At least I am using my own computer...

OK, so my ear is not better. I got almost no sleep last night for the pain, maybe three hours broken up. So by 8am I was ready to go to the hospital again. We walked over, and I was in really quick, there was no line. The doctor I saw today was kinda shocked that the doc from yesterday didn't prescribe penicillan. He was cute/funny though. He was an older east indian gent with a british accent. He checked my good ear first, and said reassuringly, "don't worry, I always check the good one first". Then he went for my bad ear and I instinctively went for Ryan's hand, and he just kept saying, "oh yes, that hurts...I'm gonna pull a little, yes, that hurts." He was reasonably gentle though (way better than Shemult). And he also suggested a different pain killer. Paracetamol? Has anyone ever heard of it?? When I first went into triage the nurse asked why I hadn't taken it along with ibprophen, and I said I had never heard of it. Anyway, it's like a magic pill, it's SOOOO good. And it has caffiene which is good for the person who was up more than half the night.

After the hospital we went to TimePlan to have our official meet and greet. I kinda thought we would open a bank account then, but now we have to wait more, and monday is a civic holiday, so hopefully we get one sooner than later. Right now it is not a good thing to charge everything to the credit card!! And most things require your information (i.e. Blockbuster, internet provider, etc.) So we want one up and running soon. Another hitch is that we have a pile of travellers cheques that NO ONE takes!!! So annoying! So the sooner we can cash those, the better!! It was good to go to the office though, because we actually talked to someone who could do something about the condition of our place. The head guy came over and walked through it with us, and gave us suggestions, and talked to the landlady, and got something started for fixing it up. We need to make a list of stuff that needs fixing, and then they will get started asap. I haven't figured out how to post pictures yet, and I am running out of time at the cafe, so I will get them up soon.

I'll sign off for now, and I will try and get some pics up soon. Love you all!!

England's hospitals are nice...

2006-08-24T15:24:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was a good day. I was expecting today to be even better. Well, the day started with rain. Always a good way to start a day. I woke up with an earache. Actually, to be specific, I went to bed with one, so when I woke up, I knew that I would need to go to the hospital and get checked out.

We walked, because we haven't purchased bus passes yet, and also because it wasn't really that far from our place. It was just passed the mall we found yesterday. We found out that Subways don't really mean the trains that run underground, but rather tunnels that pedistrians walk through to get across a busy street. We navigated our way over to the hospital and found the emergency department without a hitch. There wasn't much of a wait either. We were in and out in less than an hour. The doc took one look in my ear and confirmed my suspicions. No more swimming in Georgian Bay for me!!! It is just an outer ear infection though, so I got some spray and it should heal up nicely.

We also made our way to the main bus terminal in our area and we bought monthly bus passes. So now we don't have to walk home in the rain.

We went for a walk last night, about an hour round trip, and got caught in the rain for the last bit of it. Walking has been good for us, not only for the exercise, but also so we can explore our surroundings. The houses in our neighbourhood were cute, but a little ways down the street it got kinda slummy. Helps us appreciate what we have!!

We would appreciate your prayers for my health, and also for us as we navigate this new path. We're both kinda homesick, and we miss everyone SOOOO much!!!

Love you all!

England is...Great?

2006-08-23T15:53:00.000+01:00

I really don't know how we managed to last for a whole year on dial-up internet. Suddenly having a slow connection sounds FANTASTIC!!! In case you don't get my drift, we have no internet. Even if we wanted to get internet (which is a possibility) we would have to pass the installation by our landlord, who would be contacted through our contact at TimePlan, who is on holidays for the next week. So, basically we are lonely. We have so many stories to tell, and no one to tell them to!! Currently we are sitting in an internet cafe. It'll do for now, so be patient!!

Ok, so let's talk about our place. First impressions were not too good. It is a place that has not been really well maintained, so it was really dirty, and it looked like the last tenants (whether they were teachers or not, I don't know) didn't clean the place before they left, so it's pretty gross. After cleaning our apartment from top to bottom before we moved out, and helping April with the one place, having to move in and clean all over again wasn't really a pleasant welcoming gift. We did talk to the people at TimePlan and they said they would send the person who is supposed to clean (yes, we have a cleaning lady) over asap to get things in order.

The house itself is super cute. It is a great layout, and we will have to make sure we get blueprints or something because we may want to recreate it when we get home!! We have the biggest and nicest room of the bunch. There are two single rooms, and two other double rooms in the house. Count with me...that's seven people all together. It could be eight, but one girl has a double room to herself. SEVEN PEOPLE!!! So much for not living with roommates. We are going to give it a try though, and hope for the best. The best part though, I have to say, is the fridge. It's a tiny little bar fridge. To share with seven people??? And even better than that, we had to take the shelves out because our milk jug doesn't fit in any other way. This should be fun.

We talked to a guy from Sky Service today. (That's like Bell Express Vue) He offered us a good deal on a cable package, which would include our internet router, for only £15/month. That doesn't include the tv licence of £11/month, or the tv itself, or the phone line for £11/month. So the good deal may not be such a good deal afterall. We will have to figure out if the budget can hold it. If we are sharing with a pile of other people it won't be so bad, but I don't know how I feel about being the person who is responsible for collecting everyones share.

We went for a nice long walk today, and we found a MALL!!! So exciting!! Even Ryan was excited to see it. We found a travel agent and booked flights home (not because we are homesick, necessarily, but because the planes are already almost full!!!) So, we are going to be in Ontario on Dec. 20th and BC Dec 24th. More details will come later.

I hate to end it here, but I don't think I have much time left...so we love you all, and we will talk to you as soon as possible!!

We're Here!!

2006-08-21T17:19:00.000+01:00

Hello all!!

We have finally arrived in England. After a long anticipated trip, we left Toronto Pearson August 20th at 10pm and arrived at London's Gatwick airport just before 10am London Time.

The flight was uneventful. Even before that, the daunting task of getting through the airport was so much easier than we thought!! We were anticipating lines, and tight security, and all kinds of difficulties because of all the stuff we were bringing onboard. There was NONE of that. We were told that we would have to take off our shoes, and start our computers, and all kinds of other security measures, and we didn't have to do any of it!! I was surprised that I didn't set off the metal detector with all the metal I had on, but I walked right through and to the other side. We only had to take our computers out of the bags and through the x-ray. We didn't have to open anything or start anything or turn anything on. It was so easy!!

When we finally got on the plane, Ryan said, "Can you believe it's been an hour and a half since we said goodbye to everyone?" And it was true. Time went really fast, not even including the time change!! The flight was quick (or as quick as seven hours can be). We even got a hot dinner, which was a pleasant surprise.

We navigated the airport with relative ease. The line for customs was, as Ryan put it, "the shortest long line we have ever stood in!" We didn't have any problems with our passports or visas, and we even found all our luggage!! The hardest thing to find was Ryan's bike, and that wasn't even hard, we just weren't looking closely enough. We even navigated the hotel shuttle without a hitch. That was my biggest fear going in, and it was so easy!! I think the driver was amazed at how much luggage two people could have!!

We crashed as soon as we arrived at the hotel. We were so tired!!! We slept for about four hours, and now are waiting for some dinner. We will have to get ourselves used to the time change.

We are expecting a taxi tomorrow to take us to the TimePlan office, to get ourselves set to teach. We will also arrive at our new home. We will get pictures up as soon as we have them.

We miss you all very much, but are having a great time on our adventure!! We'll be in touch soon!! Lots of love, Elaine and Ryan