It's already been just over a month...say what?! it's flown by, but at the same time I do feel like I've been here forever. It hit me how long I was here for a couple of days ago, but at the same time last year went way too quickly, so this one will too! We've all settled into the routine really well. I was really homesick on sunday, and cried down the phone to mum. It wasn't a 'get-me-home-NOW' homesick, more a 'I-love-it-here-but-I-miss-my-family-and-friends' homesick. I know that as soon as I get back home I'll want to be back here, typical me. But it's LOVELY talking to all of you, hearing your voices is the best. Also, having a sneaky LOL at you Melb Uni kids bitching about timetables/portals etc...whaddup, monash deferral.
Set up my bank account, and Em and I were convinced that we were the victims of some bank scam from Lloyds Bank...turns out Lloyds are just really keen with their text updates about your account. I went down to town to suss it out and everything. Awkward.
I went for a huge walk the other day, found a little wood and tramped around with mud on my shoes and in my hair. Felt like I was about 40, I was wearing a polar fleece and trackie daks with runners, and my short hair was back in a headband while my Ipod played crappy music, but it was such good exercise. But it's so cold that when you breathe in after exercising it hurts so much! It's just horrible. Hence my lack of proper intense exercise since. The stairs at school count...don't they?
There isn't really much to say, so I thought I'd do my day today. Which is quite typical..
7.15 - wake up with intention of going to breakfast at 7.30.....groan, hit snooze and sleep until 7.45 instead.
7.45-8.15 - get dressed, have some tea and toast, watch lockie leonard (it's on cbbc and we're addicted. Today lockie's girlfriend moved to boarding school, HUGE drama).
8.15 - run down to main school. swear at how cold it is outside.
8.15 - 9.15 - Form 1. Get them ready for the day, so make sure their homework is handed in, their reading books changed over, that kind of thing. I listen to all their stories, sort out fights over glitter pens etc. until the form teacher comes in and we either a)go to assembly (they have TWO a week here, and I thought Mac.Rob was a bit intense..) or b) go straight into reading and literacy.
9.15-10ish - Games/Gym with the Lodge (3-7 yr old) kids. Games is PE and I help out the PE teacher with the kids' ball skills, agility, stuff like that. Gym is inside (YES!) and I walk around saying 'point your toes! Great balance!'
10ish - break duty, either outside or inside. Outside involves standing outside in the cold playing tiggy with the lower divisions, inside is literally stand in the dining hall and make sure each girl only takes one piece of snack. Then I get to have the leftovers. tough job! Sometimes I don't have it, so I'm usually found in the resource room feeding paper through a laminator.
11ish- EAL. Like ESL, I have no idea what the A stands for. I help the Spanish girls with English and the upcoming EAL exams. This is my favourite part of the day, they are hilarious but at the same time work really hard. Today I had A. and we got bored with doing vocab exercises, so she became the 'teacher' and 'taught' me the vocab she was meant to be learning. She was flouncing around at the board and drawing diagrams, too cute. It was a much better way for her to learn it as well, because she had to explain it all in her own words, not just read out of a textbook.
12- LUNCH! YAY!
12.30 - 1.10 - Duty again. It was lovely today, really sunny (still freezing). I stand there and make sure no-one injures themselves, and try and sort out fights between them. The big drama today was that O. tore the toggle bit off E's cloak, and now no-one was talking to her and wouldn't including her in the 'wedding' they were having near the fort. Brings back memories...
1.10-2.30 - photocopying/laminating/general admin - depending on what mood I'm in, this can be quite theraputic and calming, or I want to stab myself in the eye. Today was the latter. The photocopier shat itself and refused to copy a maths exam paper. Then it decided to read my '44' and '444' and started to spit out about a million copies a second. and the stop button didn't work until I turned off the power. Not a good day.
2.30-3.15 - EAL again. Talked about 'deposits' and 'cheques' today, felt sorry for the girl wilting acorss from me. There are only so many ways you can make studying banking and money 'fun'.
3.15-3.45 - Nice, strong cup of tea (much needed after fight with photocopier) and a biscuit. Chill out for 20 minutes, check emails, talk to whatever teacher is in the staffroom or organise tomorrows work.
3.45 - 5.30 - aftercare. I find aftercare here so funny. The very few times I went to aftercare when I was little in Australia I remember us running around outside being feral and grabbing an apple or vegemite sandwhich whenever we could spare a moment from 40-40. Here, they all silently sit down in a circle, munch their perfect white sandwhiches (jam, butter or marmite), then they walk outside and play 'nicely', or stay inside and listen to a story or play with lego/something similar. Very, very different.
--> Aftercare is once a week, every other night I tutor I or N, or do reception for a bit. Thursday is my early finish. Oh Thursday, how I love you. And I usually spend that time watching the netball match at the main school hahaha
6.30 - DINNER!
7.00 onwards - chill at the flat. Spend an hour or two on the computer, read...we're making our way through the videos here, rom-coms are usally the go! British TV is crap as far as I have seen - all the good British shows seem to be on the channels we don't have?! At the moment we're watching 'Take Me Out' - a trashy dating show. We're constantly yelling at the TV - 'ARGH he's so fuggers! She could do so much better!' I can feel my brain turnign to mush. Then bed, at whatever time we feel like. Aisling and I are developing a horrible habitof going to bed at a reasonable hour then talking until midnight anyway.
That's it. February tomorrow, month #2!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
whaddup west end!
These past weeks have been quite normal, nothing out of the ordinary! Work goes past quickly, probably because I'm so busy. However, my tea breaks are my life - I have drunk more tea this month than I have in the past 18 years living in Australia. I photocopy while drinking tea, teach EAL while drinking tea...I'll probably die from over-consumption at some point but when it's so cold and wet outside, tea is sooo good.
I covered a class last week, which was fun! They were really really short staffed because the highlands virus was making its way around the staff so I covered for the Uppers health class. It was a class about drugs, talking about the issues that surround it and stuff like that. We read case studies, then had a huge class discussion, putting our ideas and opinions up on the board, then the girls had to get into groups and write their own advice letter. I really enjoyed it, the girls had such great ideas and opinions and it was really interesting to hear different opinions from 11 year olds on this kind of subject...although I did have to explain what the words 'dope' and 'weed' meant... I didn't want to corrupt their brains! I got a hug from C. when the bell went, and she said that 'this class was, like, really good today.' Legit couldn't wipe the smile off my face for an hour.
I helped out with netball club last week, which I've been itching to get involved in ever since I got here. If I keep that up hopefully I'll be able to pick up some umpiring at games - although I'll have to be nicer, I was so harsh on the U13s I think they're scarred from trying to stand closer than 3 feet ever again. I turned into my mother, it was quite scary...
'K. will you get into the goal circle, you're not a wing attack!!!'
I covered a class last week, which was fun! They were really really short staffed because the highlands virus was making its way around the staff so I covered for the Uppers health class. It was a class about drugs, talking about the issues that surround it and stuff like that. We read case studies, then had a huge class discussion, putting our ideas and opinions up on the board, then the girls had to get into groups and write their own advice letter. I really enjoyed it, the girls had such great ideas and opinions and it was really interesting to hear different opinions from 11 year olds on this kind of subject...although I did have to explain what the words 'dope' and 'weed' meant... I didn't want to corrupt their brains! I got a hug from C. when the bell went, and she said that 'this class was, like, really good today.' Legit couldn't wipe the smile off my face for an hour.
I helped out with netball club last week, which I've been itching to get involved in ever since I got here. If I keep that up hopefully I'll be able to pick up some umpiring at games - although I'll have to be nicer, I was so harsh on the U13s I think they're scarred from trying to stand closer than 3 feet ever again. I turned into my mother, it was quite scary...
'K. will you get into the goal circle, you're not a wing attack!!!'
Working here has also confirmed my gut feeling that I never want to work with younger children. Ever. They are cute, extra enthusiastic, really rewarding to teach, and I won't deny that I enjoy playing tiggy with them during my duty time, but they drive me UP THE WALL. Taking Kindergarten down to the main school today, then asking them to put on their coats and shoes when we left was like I was asking them to tell me the meaning of life...HOW CAN IT BE THAT HARD?!
me: 'Quickly J, put your shoes on'
J: 'I've lost my shoes'
me: 'You're sitting on them J'
me: 'Put on your hood D'
D: 'I don't want to'
me: 'It's raining outside, you'll get wet'
D: 'Don't want to'
me: 'If you don't put your hood on your hair will get messy'
D: *quickly puts hood on*
I win this time!
This weekend I headed into London. Friday night Izzy and I went in to take the girls to London for Exeat weekend (which is when the boarders have a weekend at home), which meant a free train ticket. Had a chat with them on the way up and I'm telling you, although they're all loaded I wouldn't want to be some of them. Spending your weekend off boarding with your nanny? No thanks. This one girl only sees her parents twice a year, and spends the rest of her time with her nanny. Poor baby! We handed them over within 5 minutes so Izzy and I went to Piccadilly Circus to buy theatre tickets and generally hang out. I walked out of the tube station and my camera came out immediately, I'm such a tourist. Later on I met the boarding gaps and we had a delicious Chinese dinner in Chinatown. Sweet and sour chicken with fresh pineapple and pomengranate. YUM.
On Saturday, after doing some messages in town, Aisling and I caught the train in to do some sightseeing, then meet Janet and Izzy to see CHICAGO! We literally picked any place on the tube map and ended up in trafalgar square. It was very cool, packed full of tourists like us. The highlight was out failed attempts to climb the lion statue, we really did nothing for the Australian tourist reputation. We headed to a pub to have some dinner, then found the theatre for Chicago!
BUT as Aisling attempted to buy some snacks for the show she realised she had left her wallet in the pub. Naturally we all freaked out, because this is London and the chances of someone handing in your wallet are minimal. However 15 minutes later she came back all smiles, because some lovely couple had found it and were waiting for somebody to come and collect it. My faith in the human race was restored.
The show was amazing, as it always would be. Vivien Carter was Velma (she's Australian) so I felt some Aussie pride shining through! She was great, the boys were gorgeous but all so obviously gay. The woman playing the Hungarian had legs up to her head, everytime she walked on stage I wanted to be her. The dancing was amazing, slightly different choreography to the Australian version but still very Fosse! It finished and I was walking on air until I went to bed. We finished off the show with a 99p McFlurry, it's definitely becoming a tradition.
and I bought a Chicago mug!!! It's staying with me forever, new favourite posession.
Not much else to say really. A. (not Aisling, a student) told me today that I should have done boarding at Highlands, but to be honest I'm so happy with my choice! And I'm happy being the sport gap (STOP LAUGHING FAMILY I AM ACTUALLY CO-ORDINATED), partly because I get to wear trackies and partly because it's really fun, gives me variety and I get to know more of the girls as well. :) The thing I'm really missing from Australia are my pets! I miss having my cat lying next to me on the couch and the dogs clambering all over me. It's so weird without them!
I have cheap phone cards, so let me know when a good time to call is and I can chat, because I miss all your voices!
Oh, and have booked a tour of turkey for april (and ANZAC day, I am so excited), and flights and accomdation for Berlin in Feb! WOO!
Monday, January 17, 2011
This past week has literally flown by, it's gone so fast!
I got to help out with Upper and Fourths French classes this week as the teacher was busy with oral exams and enjoyed it so much, hopefully I can keep it up. I helped the girls with speaking, verbs, vocab - and calmed them down about their upcoming exams (I can't imagine having exams when I was 12! What?!). I gained the upper hand, a girl was extremely rude and I used my angry teacher voice (modelled on Mum's) and she shut up straight away. Win! They really liked me though, they asked if I could come every lesson cos according to the girls I'm 'like, such a good teacher' cos I 'like, totally make me understand the verbs' - woo ego boost! Duties were funny this week, the Uppers are obsessed with theatre sport games and they constantly ask for 'themes' to make up scenes to - very cute.
Friday night we all went out to experience the nightlife of High Wycombe. It was...TOTALLY LIKE THE EDGY BUT ENGLISH. I think I'm in Edgy withdrawal, I need my weekly dose of trash. After a round of Kings Cup we headed down to Yates. We got there at 10.30 but it was quite empty, so we plonked ourselves down next to two guys called John and Richard (we christened them Johnno and Dick hahaha) and chatted/drank until about 11 when it got busier. Danced to trashy music, ran away from sleazy guys, ran towards the hot guys, attempted the single ladies dance, made a certain winner of Kings Cup dance against the ugliest guy in the room - gooood night. Let's just say that we pull the English boys.
We were so delirious from exhaustion this week that on the way back from dinner one night we pulled out the bananas that we had kept from dessert and played 'Mission Impossible' all the way back to the flat, humming theme music and jumping out from behind trees. It's now an ongoing thing...at anytime you can be shot by a banana, so watch out. Em scared the living daylights out of Izzy a couple of days ago by jumping out from behind a column and 'shooting' her.A couple of days ago I wanted another piece of bread after dinner had finished, so I subtely grabbed one on the way out, then not very subtley rolled along the dining room floor and ninja kicked my way back with Aisling all the way down the hallway. Moral of the story - I think we've all regressed about 10 years working in a primary school!
Yesterday (Sunday) I went iceskating with Walker House, tagging along with Em and Greer. It was heaps of fun, I love iceskating so much! One of my Form 1's was there so I spent a good 30 minutes with her twirling and attempting to skate backwards (yes, I am 8 years old). On the way back I was treated to a 20 minute gossip session about T and D's numerous boyfriends and how 'fit' the boys are that they know. Hilarious, sometimes I wish I was 13 again.
We also collected Rose yesterday! She's such a machine, started work today after only being in the country 24 hours. It's lovely to have her here, we missed her! It's also nice to have a 12 E-er in main school with me, we had a huge nostalgic session about yr 10 geography today while photocopying haha.
Not much else to say. Highlands (the younger boarding house) is sick, half of them have a stomach bug and the other half aren't far off it, so I'm staying far away. Need to get my bank account and rail card sorted out. Hopefuly will get into London this weekend and do some touristy things, go out...and take pictures! Sorry I've been so slack with photos!
Also got my uni offer today, and successfully deferred it (SO complicated!). Monash Arts 2012 here I come :) I was a nerd a couple of days ago and did some Schaums grammar exercises - it felt good to exercise my brain, but I can't take much of it! Only so many si clauses I can do before I go back to watching movies. Oh the free time is amazing, no guilt about not studying...gap year is the best.
I've skyped a few of you now, everyone else get it! It's so nice seeing someones face and hearing their voice. Rang Lydia in my break on Thursday, and word-vomited for about 20 mins, I don't think she said more then 50 words, sorry babe.
But I like being here, it kind of feels like home now and it's only been 3 weeks!
I got to help out with Upper and Fourths French classes this week as the teacher was busy with oral exams and enjoyed it so much, hopefully I can keep it up. I helped the girls with speaking, verbs, vocab - and calmed them down about their upcoming exams (I can't imagine having exams when I was 12! What?!). I gained the upper hand, a girl was extremely rude and I used my angry teacher voice (modelled on Mum's) and she shut up straight away. Win! They really liked me though, they asked if I could come every lesson cos according to the girls I'm 'like, such a good teacher' cos I 'like, totally make me understand the verbs' - woo ego boost! Duties were funny this week, the Uppers are obsessed with theatre sport games and they constantly ask for 'themes' to make up scenes to - very cute.
Friday night we all went out to experience the nightlife of High Wycombe. It was...TOTALLY LIKE THE EDGY BUT ENGLISH. I think I'm in Edgy withdrawal, I need my weekly dose of trash. After a round of Kings Cup we headed down to Yates. We got there at 10.30 but it was quite empty, so we plonked ourselves down next to two guys called John and Richard (we christened them Johnno and Dick hahaha) and chatted/drank until about 11 when it got busier. Danced to trashy music, ran away from sleazy guys, ran towards the hot guys, attempted the single ladies dance, made a certain winner of Kings Cup dance against the ugliest guy in the room - gooood night. Let's just say that we pull the English boys.
We were so delirious from exhaustion this week that on the way back from dinner one night we pulled out the bananas that we had kept from dessert and played 'Mission Impossible' all the way back to the flat, humming theme music and jumping out from behind trees. It's now an ongoing thing...at anytime you can be shot by a banana, so watch out. Em scared the living daylights out of Izzy a couple of days ago by jumping out from behind a column and 'shooting' her.A couple of days ago I wanted another piece of bread after dinner had finished, so I subtely grabbed one on the way out, then not very subtley rolled along the dining room floor and ninja kicked my way back with Aisling all the way down the hallway. Moral of the story - I think we've all regressed about 10 years working in a primary school!
Yesterday (Sunday) I went iceskating with Walker House, tagging along with Em and Greer. It was heaps of fun, I love iceskating so much! One of my Form 1's was there so I spent a good 30 minutes with her twirling and attempting to skate backwards (yes, I am 8 years old). On the way back I was treated to a 20 minute gossip session about T and D's numerous boyfriends and how 'fit' the boys are that they know. Hilarious, sometimes I wish I was 13 again.
We also collected Rose yesterday! She's such a machine, started work today after only being in the country 24 hours. It's lovely to have her here, we missed her! It's also nice to have a 12 E-er in main school with me, we had a huge nostalgic session about yr 10 geography today while photocopying haha.
Not much else to say. Highlands (the younger boarding house) is sick, half of them have a stomach bug and the other half aren't far off it, so I'm staying far away. Need to get my bank account and rail card sorted out. Hopefuly will get into London this weekend and do some touristy things, go out...and take pictures! Sorry I've been so slack with photos!
Also got my uni offer today, and successfully deferred it (SO complicated!). Monash Arts 2012 here I come :) I was a nerd a couple of days ago and did some Schaums grammar exercises - it felt good to exercise my brain, but I can't take much of it! Only so many si clauses I can do before I go back to watching movies. Oh the free time is amazing, no guilt about not studying...gap year is the best.
I've skyped a few of you now, everyone else get it! It's so nice seeing someones face and hearing their voice. Rang Lydia in my break on Thursday, and word-vomited for about 20 mins, I don't think she said more then 50 words, sorry babe.
But I like being here, it kind of feels like home now and it's only been 3 weeks!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
pantomime!
We went to the pantomime (or as the British say, the 'panto') on Saturday! All the boarding girls went, and the teacher gaps tagged along as well :) It was Peter Pan, and was very different to what I expected..I absolutely loved it. It's like a musical, but with adult joked spread throughout it (probably to make sitting through a pantomine bearable...) and lots of audience participation. Everyone yelled out things like 'He's behind you!' and 'Oh no he didn't!'
Apparantly it's traditional to have the main male character played by a girl (??) so Peter Pan was played by Dani Harmer. I was very jealous, she got to fly around on one of those harnesses. The woman playing Tinkerbell acted the entire time on rollerskates in a glittery fairy costume, I legitimately wanted to BE her. A girl from Godstowe was Wendy, so at the end of the show she gave a shout out to all the Godstowe girls, and I think I went temporarily deaf from the amount of screaming and whooping that was going on around me.
I can't really describe it, but the highlights were the crocodile, who sounded like Steve Irwin (all 6 Aussie gaps burst out laughing), the gymnastic-y flip bits (where they put out a mat and did jumps and flips and stuff to circus music..Relevant? No. Hilarious? Yes.) and the bit where the audience were given sponge 'rocks' to hurl at Captain Hook. The little Highlands girls in front were such sweethearts, they were up out of their chairs constantly yelling 'Oh yes you did!'. I gave 8 yr old S. (I don't think I should say their names on a blog, legal stuff?) all my sponge rocks, and she was very grateful. There was heaps of physical comedy, like whacking people with big planks of woods, and at the end they brought 4 little kids up onto the stage and asked them questions. The priceless bit for me was one little kid replying to the question 'Who do you know who does magic? Tinker...' with 'Harry Potter!'. I had tears in my eyes I was laughing so hard.
After the 'panto' we went to Maccas, Pound World (everything is a pound. everything. it is amazing.) then Yve and I walked up the hill back to Godstowe to work off our guilt at eating Maccas. I must not get fat this year!
Oh, and on Saturday morning I helped Highlands House out with their Saturday morning activities, after going for a short walk around High Wycombe. It was an opportunity to get to know the girls better, and do some exercise. 'Miss CT' (Yve), 'Miss Parker' (Caitlin) and I got them playing games like Octupus, kickball, Pony Express...very house activites, right down to the sneaky ninja roll in Pony Express. My teacher voice came out in all it's glory, but the Highlands girls seem to think I'm pretty awesome now, expecially when I did a handstand hahaha. Little A. ran up to me at lunch today and gave me a huge hug, and said 'Hi Miss Peters! When are we playing with you in the gym again?' I melted...
I took myself outside in the toasty 4 degree weather and ran up and down the court and shot netball goals for about an hour, because I'm craving some kind of high intensity exercise - I got this amazing one in from the edge of the circle as the Walker girls walked past and they all cheered, I felt talented haha.
Today has been boring, but relaxing. I was going to go down to town and set up a bank account, but that involves brushing my hair and getting things organised, and quite honestly I can't be bothered. Caitlin and I are sitting next to each other blogging and facebooking. I'm going through a book every two days here, so I 'm slowly making my way through the whole fiction section in the flat. This weekend has been very tame, we're all exhausted and can barely get up off the couch. We watched Moulin Rouge last night. and Aisling, Izzy and I sang along to every single song. Izzy knew the entire movie off by heart, we were very impressed. Lizzie McGuire movie was next, and we re-lived our 11 year old selves.
Next weekend we're going out :) Have been way too exhausted this week, but we'll start exploring the thrilling nightlife of High Wycombe soon enough. I''m also thinking about where to go for half-term - Ireland or somewhere over the channel? I'm really keen for Holland, don't know about anyone else!
Aisling just came downstairs and announced she has cleaned her stuff from our room, so I need to go and clean up my crap as well - it's only taken us a week to actually move our clothes from the floor to the wardrobe, which I think is a fairly good effort! However Aisling, Izzy and I are all very messy,and we're all happy to 'live in our own filth' (as Mum would say) so the flat itself is not looking as good as it did when the others lived here...eeek.
x
Apparantly it's traditional to have the main male character played by a girl (??) so Peter Pan was played by Dani Harmer. I was very jealous, she got to fly around on one of those harnesses. The woman playing Tinkerbell acted the entire time on rollerskates in a glittery fairy costume, I legitimately wanted to BE her. A girl from Godstowe was Wendy, so at the end of the show she gave a shout out to all the Godstowe girls, and I think I went temporarily deaf from the amount of screaming and whooping that was going on around me.
I can't really describe it, but the highlights were the crocodile, who sounded like Steve Irwin (all 6 Aussie gaps burst out laughing), the gymnastic-y flip bits (where they put out a mat and did jumps and flips and stuff to circus music..Relevant? No. Hilarious? Yes.) and the bit where the audience were given sponge 'rocks' to hurl at Captain Hook. The little Highlands girls in front were such sweethearts, they were up out of their chairs constantly yelling 'Oh yes you did!'. I gave 8 yr old S. (I don't think I should say their names on a blog, legal stuff?) all my sponge rocks, and she was very grateful. There was heaps of physical comedy, like whacking people with big planks of woods, and at the end they brought 4 little kids up onto the stage and asked them questions. The priceless bit for me was one little kid replying to the question 'Who do you know who does magic? Tinker...' with 'Harry Potter!'. I had tears in my eyes I was laughing so hard.
After the 'panto' we went to Maccas, Pound World (everything is a pound. everything. it is amazing.) then Yve and I walked up the hill back to Godstowe to work off our guilt at eating Maccas. I must not get fat this year!
Oh, and on Saturday morning I helped Highlands House out with their Saturday morning activities, after going for a short walk around High Wycombe. It was an opportunity to get to know the girls better, and do some exercise. 'Miss CT' (Yve), 'Miss Parker' (Caitlin) and I got them playing games like Octupus, kickball, Pony Express...very house activites, right down to the sneaky ninja roll in Pony Express. My teacher voice came out in all it's glory, but the Highlands girls seem to think I'm pretty awesome now, expecially when I did a handstand hahaha. Little A. ran up to me at lunch today and gave me a huge hug, and said 'Hi Miss Peters! When are we playing with you in the gym again?' I melted...
I took myself outside in the toasty 4 degree weather and ran up and down the court and shot netball goals for about an hour, because I'm craving some kind of high intensity exercise - I got this amazing one in from the edge of the circle as the Walker girls walked past and they all cheered, I felt talented haha.
Today has been boring, but relaxing. I was going to go down to town and set up a bank account, but that involves brushing my hair and getting things organised, and quite honestly I can't be bothered. Caitlin and I are sitting next to each other blogging and facebooking. I'm going through a book every two days here, so I 'm slowly making my way through the whole fiction section in the flat. This weekend has been very tame, we're all exhausted and can barely get up off the couch. We watched Moulin Rouge last night. and Aisling, Izzy and I sang along to every single song. Izzy knew the entire movie off by heart, we were very impressed. Lizzie McGuire movie was next, and we re-lived our 11 year old selves.
Next weekend we're going out :) Have been way too exhausted this week, but we'll start exploring the thrilling nightlife of High Wycombe soon enough. I''m also thinking about where to go for half-term - Ireland or somewhere over the channel? I'm really keen for Holland, don't know about anyone else!
Aisling just came downstairs and announced she has cleaned her stuff from our room, so I need to go and clean up my crap as well - it's only taken us a week to actually move our clothes from the floor to the wardrobe, which I think is a fairly good effort! However Aisling, Izzy and I are all very messy,and we're all happy to 'live in our own filth' (as Mum would say) so the flat itself is not looking as good as it did when the others lived here...eeek.
x
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
We've all gotten our positions now - I'm a teacher gap with Emily and Izzy, who are the other gaps that aren't Mac.Robbians. Izzy has already been here since September with the other gaps, and she's absolutely hilarious. She's English but has lived in France all her life so I don't speak French at all now, because her French is so amazing and I'm completely embarrassed! Emily came a few days after us and is from sydney, she's lovely and really friendly. Aisling is working in the 'Lodge', a little seperate school opposite the main school for 3-6 year olds - so really, she works with gorgeous cute toddlers all day! We went down to town yesterday arvo and had ourselves a movie night..we watched 'Across the Universe' and ate pasta, pizza and chocolate spread for dessert. Our fridge, up until today, contained pizza, a lot of alcohol and an old orange...an urgent restock was needed!! But the food here is so good - 100 bucks that you'll have to roll me through the arrivals gate when I come back to Melbourne, I can already feel myself putting on weight! We've moved into our flat above the lodge, which I'll put photos up of soon. The room that I share with Aisling is already a pigsty, typical! However all the photos of you guys are up, so thats the most important part! :)
Yesterday, after doing some filing (I have to thank Ms Harvey for the multiple late-note detentions I received, because I have some serious filing skillzzz) and giving myself my first papercut, we made our way to another staff meeting. One thing about Godstowe...everything they do, they do with tea. The canteen ladies (is it dinner ladies over here?) were handing out tea and coffee with biscuits before we filed into the meeting. I love England. Not much else to say, quite a relaxed day.
Today the girls arrived and I love it, because the school seems so much more lively and there's such a great atmosphere. After helping the Form One's (which I think are like Grade 1, Prep maybe? I'm still so confused, why can't they call Grade 1 Grade 1?) and bringing them to assembly, making sure they all sat down quietly, I walked out to do some filing for Illife and literally just burst into tears...homesickness just kind of came upon me. It was only for 10 minutes or so - after a hug from Janet and Michele (the Turner housemistress) and a piece of chocolate I was fine and have been as happy as I usually am since then. I think it's because I haven't spoken to my family since I've arrived!
As a side note, the kids here are so loaded...they would come up to me and tell me what they got for Christmas - a Form One (8 year old) this morning waltzed up to me and announced 'I got a Macbook for Christmas!', then another chimed in with 'Well I got an iphone for Christmas!', then another one said 'Me and my brother both got an XBox 360!'. In their holidays they went to the USA, Australia...the GEM of the day was one little girl saying 'We went to our chateau in France, but I didn't like it because it wasn't very pretty'. Dudeeee.
Anyway after all that filing (I'm a whiz, she was impressed at my speed) I went and got the kids from Kinder and helped with their gym lesson. This was by far my favourite part of the day. They were doing forward rolls, V sits, start jumps, that kind of thing. I know it sounds weird, but saying 'now jump up high to the ceiling!' and 'point your toes! legs together and straight as a beanpole' was quite fun. The PE teacher is in charge of the netball squad and the gymnastics club, so I think that's where I'll be spending my time...the Lower's production is on soon as well, so Izzy, Em and I are quite keen to help out with that as well.
I was on duty, but it was wet, which is GREAT because it means I just have to sit in a classroom and make sure the girls aren't swinging from the ceiling or anything. They are so enthusiastic about meeting us..
'What's your name'
'I'm Miss Peters'
'Oh my god you're in our house ohmygodohmygod you're our floating gap!'
I'm helping out with Turner House, and all the girls are so lovely! They were so keen, asking me questions and stuff. It's so hard to not say my first name - the girls have to call us Miss, and I've nearly said 'Georgie' so many times. Apparantly they will try all year to find out your first name!
I did reception for a bit, which is pretty much answering phones and playing spider solitaire..Then I realised I had a doctors appointment...in 10 minutes...so Em very kindly covered for me, I RAN LIKE THE WIND up to the flat, down to the bursar to get paperwork, then UP again because I forgot my passport, then finally Caitlin and I rocked up 10 minutes late, puffing and red in the face, after getting lost. It was that awkward moment where you run into a room and it's totally quiet and the only sound is the sound of you puffing and wheezing...eeek.
And now I'm up in the flat, eating chocolate spread in my pjs, about to ring my parents! First day of actual work has been great...and the constant supply of tea and coffee doesn't hurt either :)
Yesterday, after doing some filing (I have to thank Ms Harvey for the multiple late-note detentions I received, because I have some serious filing skillzzz) and giving myself my first papercut, we made our way to another staff meeting. One thing about Godstowe...everything they do, they do with tea. The canteen ladies (is it dinner ladies over here?) were handing out tea and coffee with biscuits before we filed into the meeting. I love England. Not much else to say, quite a relaxed day.
Today the girls arrived and I love it, because the school seems so much more lively and there's such a great atmosphere. After helping the Form One's (which I think are like Grade 1, Prep maybe? I'm still so confused, why can't they call Grade 1 Grade 1?) and bringing them to assembly, making sure they all sat down quietly, I walked out to do some filing for Illife and literally just burst into tears...homesickness just kind of came upon me. It was only for 10 minutes or so - after a hug from Janet and Michele (the Turner housemistress) and a piece of chocolate I was fine and have been as happy as I usually am since then. I think it's because I haven't spoken to my family since I've arrived!
As a side note, the kids here are so loaded...they would come up to me and tell me what they got for Christmas - a Form One (8 year old) this morning waltzed up to me and announced 'I got a Macbook for Christmas!', then another chimed in with 'Well I got an iphone for Christmas!', then another one said 'Me and my brother both got an XBox 360!'. In their holidays they went to the USA, Australia...the GEM of the day was one little girl saying 'We went to our chateau in France, but I didn't like it because it wasn't very pretty'. Dudeeee.
Anyway after all that filing (I'm a whiz, she was impressed at my speed) I went and got the kids from Kinder and helped with their gym lesson. This was by far my favourite part of the day. They were doing forward rolls, V sits, start jumps, that kind of thing. I know it sounds weird, but saying 'now jump up high to the ceiling!' and 'point your toes! legs together and straight as a beanpole' was quite fun. The PE teacher is in charge of the netball squad and the gymnastics club, so I think that's where I'll be spending my time...the Lower's production is on soon as well, so Izzy, Em and I are quite keen to help out with that as well.
I was on duty, but it was wet, which is GREAT because it means I just have to sit in a classroom and make sure the girls aren't swinging from the ceiling or anything. They are so enthusiastic about meeting us..
'What's your name'
'I'm Miss Peters'
'Oh my god you're in our house ohmygodohmygod you're our floating gap!'
I'm helping out with Turner House, and all the girls are so lovely! They were so keen, asking me questions and stuff. It's so hard to not say my first name - the girls have to call us Miss, and I've nearly said 'Georgie' so many times. Apparantly they will try all year to find out your first name!
I did reception for a bit, which is pretty much answering phones and playing spider solitaire..Then I realised I had a doctors appointment...in 10 minutes...so Em very kindly covered for me, I RAN LIKE THE WIND up to the flat, down to the bursar to get paperwork, then UP again because I forgot my passport, then finally Caitlin and I rocked up 10 minutes late, puffing and red in the face, after getting lost. It was that awkward moment where you run into a room and it's totally quiet and the only sound is the sound of you puffing and wheezing...eeek.
And now I'm up in the flat, eating chocolate spread in my pjs, about to ring my parents! First day of actual work has been great...and the constant supply of tea and coffee doesn't hurt either :)
Monday, January 3, 2011
start of 2011!
WOOOO NEW YEARS IN LONDON!
On New Years Eve we left High Wycombe and took a train into London. After getting off at Marylebone then getting very very lost due to cancelled services (thanks to metro we're used to that...), we finally got to Paddington and found our hotel. I looked like such a tourist, holding this massive map out in front and walking at the same time, but we did get there in the end! Caitlin and I were very excited, walking through the same station as Paddington Bear...the others, not so much. Too keen.
After chilling in the hotel for a bit and watching some 'How to look good naked' (we are in the land of Gok!), we went for a walk through Hyde Park. It was lovely - obviously really cold and foggy, but in the distance I saw lights. I got really excited and forced everyone to 'follow the sparkles!' and we ended up stumbling upon a 'Winter Wonderland'! It was this winter carnival, with rides, an ice rink and shops selling roasted chestnuts, mulled wine etc. Fake snow was everywhere, and little christmas gnomes...it was so cute! After doing the lap of the carnival and camwhoring as we walked back we decided to have dinner, as it was ridiculously dark, then realised it was 4pm...stupid english weather.
To wade off the hunger we walked down oxford st, and stumbled upon the west end, then as our stomachs were crying out for attention we went the healthy option and got some fries and burgers from a dodgy hole-in-the-wall takeout place. After a nap (shut up, we're still jetlagged!) Aisling, Yve and I tore ourselves out of bed and got ready to go out.
However...Aisling got a call from her worried aunt, and the general gist of the conversation was 'DON'T GO TO THE FIREWORKS THERE'S A TERRORIST THREAT!!' so we went for a walk around paddington instead. We bumped into some swedish girls who were looking for something to do as well, and who were hilarious, but they decided to go into the fireworks, and not wanting to get raped/mugged/murdered, we decided to detour to an old person pub around the corner and dance to shitty music. We found out the next morning that there was actually a GOOD pub just around the corner, however as Yve and Aisling's feet hurt and I was very intoxicated (but SAFELY intoxicated Mum, don't worry!) we didn't find it!
I met a French boy, so I was happy for a good hour. I then met his friend who was Israeli, and I uttered some gem quotes during this time, including 'Oh my god do you speak hebrew?!' Israeli guy 'Yes!! do you?!' Me: 'No. Bonjour!' and 'Cute french boys are cute. That's why they're cute'. (In my defence he was very very cute). We counted down until midnight, where I yelled 'HAPPY 2013!!!'. Wrong year Georgie.
After more of that, we went next door to grab some icecream and Cleo, went up to our hotel room and had our own little party. My french senses tingled after hearing a 'JE M'EN FOUUU!' from outside our window, so Aisling and I hung out the window and had a yelling conversation in French with the French tourists below us. We decided to meet them then promptly forgot about it around 5 minutes later. Welay on the bed and talked about 2011 then fell asleep around 3am. Not a wild New Years Eve, but not a bad one either!
New Years Day we decided to be tourists and went to the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum. Yes I know, Georgie in a science museum, I felt like I was cheating on Lakeside with Kingsway. The Science Museum was AWESOME, there was this one level which we spent a couple of hours on, it was all about genetics and biology and DNA. All this interactive stuff which was definitely meant for kids, but which we had huge amounts of fun on. There was this one quiz which yelled 'HELLO!' in a very strong british accent, and Aisling and I jumped about 10 feet in the air and didn't stop laughing for ages. The Natural History Museum was very cool, but after the dinosaurs and animals all we saw were a lot of rocks, so I cracked a wobbly and sat against a wall with Aisling camwhoring until everyone else had finished. It was literally a whole level of rocks...Corky, you would have loved it, I was dying slowly.
After a LOT of walking (and tagging behind a tour group, thus getting a free talk about Kensington Palace - YESSS!) we met Janet at Paddington, who had come from Heathrow. We chilled in our hotel room, watching crap British TV, and just generally got excited about being in London.
January 2 we came back to Godstowe, relaxed, walked, and watched Misfits (new favourite show! I'm in love!!). Today we're in the middle of staff meetings, and have our positions. I'm a teaching gap, and get to help out lots with sport - yay! They play so much netball here, so I'm very excited to start umpiring and coaching again! They also do heaps of productions, so I'm set!
Miss you all, hope your NYE was great!
xoxox
On New Years Eve we left High Wycombe and took a train into London. After getting off at Marylebone then getting very very lost due to cancelled services (thanks to metro we're used to that...), we finally got to Paddington and found our hotel. I looked like such a tourist, holding this massive map out in front and walking at the same time, but we did get there in the end! Caitlin and I were very excited, walking through the same station as Paddington Bear...the others, not so much. Too keen.
After chilling in the hotel for a bit and watching some 'How to look good naked' (we are in the land of Gok!), we went for a walk through Hyde Park. It was lovely - obviously really cold and foggy, but in the distance I saw lights. I got really excited and forced everyone to 'follow the sparkles!' and we ended up stumbling upon a 'Winter Wonderland'! It was this winter carnival, with rides, an ice rink and shops selling roasted chestnuts, mulled wine etc. Fake snow was everywhere, and little christmas gnomes...it was so cute! After doing the lap of the carnival and camwhoring as we walked back we decided to have dinner, as it was ridiculously dark, then realised it was 4pm...stupid english weather.
To wade off the hunger we walked down oxford st, and stumbled upon the west end, then as our stomachs were crying out for attention we went the healthy option and got some fries and burgers from a dodgy hole-in-the-wall takeout place. After a nap (shut up, we're still jetlagged!) Aisling, Yve and I tore ourselves out of bed and got ready to go out.
However...Aisling got a call from her worried aunt, and the general gist of the conversation was 'DON'T GO TO THE FIREWORKS THERE'S A TERRORIST THREAT!!' so we went for a walk around paddington instead. We bumped into some swedish girls who were looking for something to do as well, and who were hilarious, but they decided to go into the fireworks, and not wanting to get raped/mugged/murdered, we decided to detour to an old person pub around the corner and dance to shitty music. We found out the next morning that there was actually a GOOD pub just around the corner, however as Yve and Aisling's feet hurt and I was very intoxicated (but SAFELY intoxicated Mum, don't worry!) we didn't find it!
I met a French boy, so I was happy for a good hour. I then met his friend who was Israeli, and I uttered some gem quotes during this time, including 'Oh my god do you speak hebrew?!' Israeli guy 'Yes!! do you?!' Me: 'No. Bonjour!' and 'Cute french boys are cute. That's why they're cute'. (In my defence he was very very cute). We counted down until midnight, where I yelled 'HAPPY 2013!!!'. Wrong year Georgie.
After more of that, we went next door to grab some icecream and Cleo, went up to our hotel room and had our own little party. My french senses tingled after hearing a 'JE M'EN FOUUU!' from outside our window, so Aisling and I hung out the window and had a yelling conversation in French with the French tourists below us. We decided to meet them then promptly forgot about it around 5 minutes later. Welay on the bed and talked about 2011 then fell asleep around 3am. Not a wild New Years Eve, but not a bad one either!
New Years Day we decided to be tourists and went to the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum. Yes I know, Georgie in a science museum, I felt like I was cheating on Lakeside with Kingsway. The Science Museum was AWESOME, there was this one level which we spent a couple of hours on, it was all about genetics and biology and DNA. All this interactive stuff which was definitely meant for kids, but which we had huge amounts of fun on. There was this one quiz which yelled 'HELLO!' in a very strong british accent, and Aisling and I jumped about 10 feet in the air and didn't stop laughing for ages. The Natural History Museum was very cool, but after the dinosaurs and animals all we saw were a lot of rocks, so I cracked a wobbly and sat against a wall with Aisling camwhoring until everyone else had finished. It was literally a whole level of rocks...Corky, you would have loved it, I was dying slowly.
After a LOT of walking (and tagging behind a tour group, thus getting a free talk about Kensington Palace - YESSS!) we met Janet at Paddington, who had come from Heathrow. We chilled in our hotel room, watching crap British TV, and just generally got excited about being in London.
January 2 we came back to Godstowe, relaxed, walked, and watched Misfits (new favourite show! I'm in love!!). Today we're in the middle of staff meetings, and have our positions. I'm a teaching gap, and get to help out lots with sport - yay! They play so much netball here, so I'm very excited to start umpiring and coaching again! They also do heaps of productions, so I'm set!
Miss you all, hope your NYE was great!
xoxox
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