It's a Miracle!!

It has finally happened! It's wonderful, glorious, life-changing!!

Did I finally find peace at my school? Hell no!

I have the Internet! FINALLY! It has involved many phone calls, many foiled and frustrating attempts and me vowing to burn down a couple of public buildings, but the wonderful day as finally arrived! It makes everything so much easier...keeping in contact with my family, lesson planning....everything!

Speaking of lesson planning, I suppose, brings me to school. School is so difficult. The behaviour of the kids is so challenging; I was not prepared for this, nor do I think I will ever be fully prepared for this. I have such limited experience teaching, but I have never encountered this type of situation before. So, in times of trouble, I like to turn to prayer.

God, give me the strength to carry on,
Grant me the patience I need so I don't throw a stapler at a child's head
And, dear Lord,
Please keep my fridge stocked with delicious Irish cider.

Until next time,
Amen.

Just a Quickie...

Dear Blog.

I am sorry I have been neglecting you. The fact that I still--yes still--don't have Internet makes it hard for you & I to spend time together.

Happily, I will (supposedly) have Internet as of Monday. We will have a good reunion then. I miss you dearly.

Love,

Jessica

PS--School is enveloping so much of my life that I am not able to enjoy England as much as I would like. This, also, makes me sad. The paycheque I got yesterday that was transformed into new clothes today helped. A little bit.

Hello, My Old Friend

Ahh, to be online again. How I have missed it. I still don't have Internet access full-time...I'm currently relying on a one-day pass that I bought in desperation to dispel the boredom of a Saturday night at home.

Onto happier pieces of news, Joel & I are out of the hotel and settling into our new apartment. We moved in last week and I am loving it thus far. Most of last weekend & a good part of the day today was spent running around town, buying the little odds and ends that really completed our place. Pictures will be posted to FB soon...as soon as we get the Internet hooked up. I'm loving this apartment. It's so much nicer than any apartment I've ever lived in before, and a really reasonable price as well.

I've started work as well and am happy to say that I survived my first week of teaching. However, I have to say that I feel I barely survived. Monday, I only taught 2 periods. I felt like it had been very successful, my 2 Year 7's classes were great, and I went to work Tuesday feeling good. Tuesday, I met my 2 Year 9 classes and my year 8 class as well. Afterschool, I told my department that I didn't want to come back Wednesday. We'll just leave it at that and, it is safe to assume that my first full day of teaching can best be summed up by the word "catastrophic" and lots of tears were shed. The week improved, thankfully, and now I'm looking toward another week coming up. Last night, the English department all went out to a restaurant called Red Hot, which is a buffet place that features food from around the world. It was fantastic. There are so many new restaurants and little places to see and go. The market in the town center is so awesome...full of wonderful stalls selling everything from silver jewellery to fresh-ground coffee to fresh produce and flowers. It's lots of fun to just go and people watch...however, I am quite concerned about the abnormal amount of pigeons found in the market square. And these pigeons seem to have it out for me....I'd best be on my guard.

So, aside from the stress of school, I'm settling in well. I'm missing home and would kill for a Tim Horton's coffee on my way to work in the mornings. On the up side, it's 99% confirmed that I'm heading home for Christmas, so the countdown is on!! I'm so looking forward to being home when there is tons of snow instead of lots of rain, lots of Tim Horton's available and I can see my cats, get Tim Horton's, see my friends & my family!!...and get Tim Hortons. AND watch hockey with my dad!! I think the first true day of homesickness to come will occur when the NHL season starts and I am not watching the first Saturday-night Hockey Night in Canada with my Dad.

On a geeky update, I'm looking forward to the release of the new Harry Potter movie in a couple of months. I think it would almost be worth the train ride to London to go and see the movie.

To end the post, I'll list some of the funnier questions I've been asked by my students:

--Do they speak the same language as us in Canada? (I've gotten this one several times)

--Are you Australian? Are you American? (Not funny, the last question, but expected)

--Do you have a dog in Canada?

--Are you really 23? I thought you were 15!! (No word of a lie, a student told me this)

--What is ice hockey?

--Do you know Justin Bieber, since he's Canadian too?

I'm sure this list will get longer and longer as the year progresses. Stay tuned!