20 Days!

Yes. Please expect every post from now until Christmas (which, I will admit, probably won't be astronomical in number) to start off with a count-down numbering the days to my return to Canada. As of today, it's 20!! It still seems sooo far away but, in reality, the time will (hopefully) go by incredibly fast and before I know it, I'll be home :)!

The most exciting event to occur in the last few days is the dusting of snow I saw when I woke up yesterday. I was so excited! And by "dusting" of snow, I literally mean that. There was barely enough to make footprints in, but I still was pumped! This is a great little preview for my trip home at Christmas. I've also been told by most of my colleagues that, if we are to get oh, say, 5cm or so of snow, life as we know it comes to a screeching halt. England isn't prepared for the "wintery" weather.

Seeing the snow really put me in the winter mood and, with that, put me into holiday mode! On my excursions out and about yesterday, I bought 1) A book titled The Wicked Wit of Winston Churchill and 2)...

A little Christmas tree!

I've named the tree Charlie, after Charlie Brown, and he (it?) is sitting happily and merrily on my coffee table. Meet Charlie!

I realize I won't actually be in England on Christmas day, but the little tree just is a little holiday cheer while I count down the days.

The town center is decked out for Christmas and with lights and Christmas trees and stores are already blasting the holiday tunes. I'll have to make sure to get some pictures! I'm starting to get over the touristy-phase of living here and am not taking as many pictures as I first did upon arriving in England.

I'm experiencing my first set of long reports at school...the Canadian equivalent of report cards. Luckily, all my classes aren't due at once. Rather, the long reports are issued by year group so I only have to tackle it one year at a time. This is extremely helpful as I am having difficulty finding the right wording on reports. I'm nervous about my first parents evening. I've already had a parent tell me over the phone I sound too young to be a teacher...I can't wait until they meet me face to face.

The weather is beautiful here today and it is calling for another chance of "snow" and I think that is my cue to get outside and enjoy the sunshine, while it lasts. I'd take a snowstorm over the more-common rain and grey skies any day.

35 Days to Go!

The most important countdown has begun! Actually it's been in progress for a few months now...
The countdown to Christmas! Only 5 more weeks until I return to the true North strong and free(zing). I'm already looking forward to being home and being back with family and friends. And, another major part of my life that was left behind.

I'm speaking about hockey, of course.

I had a dream last night in which Mike Cammalleri, the closest thing to a Greek god that plays for the Canadiens, came over to my apartment for a cup of coffee. There are several things to be noted:

1)Why is Michael Cammalleri in Northampton, England? Not that I'm complaining...
2)I would never want to serve him English coffee...yikes.
3)This is a sign of major coffee and hockey withdrawl.

Dear Lord Stanley (cup),
Please, please, please, grant me my Christmas wish, and put Mike Cammalleri under the tree for me.

In other news...actually, this is literally about the news. Or the newspapers, to be more specific. As I was flipping through a local newspaper the other day, I began to pay attention to the descriptive adjectives (God, I really am and English teacher...) used in the articles. I've come to realize that British newspapers, despite the prim & proper British image, are rather...explicit in their descriptions. There was an incident in which a man exposed himself while relieving himself in the park. To describe this man: Pervert Flashes Passers-By. What?! Since when is it not slander to refer to someone as a pervert? I started to pay closer attention to the titles of other articles:

Boozer Wants Kids Back
Pervert Shows Porn
Psychotic Teenager Arrested

For an opinion column, they list the address and occupation of the respondent:

24, of no fixed address, unemployed
38, without employment
and so on and so on.

I began to realize that British newspapers really take their gloves off for their stories (I also realized that Northampton has some really questionable people living here...). This is yet another difference between Canada and England I'm just coming to notice. The British reporters seem to have free range of the adjectives they use to describe those they are writing about. Yikes. Remind me to never interview for a story.

Last weekend, I took my first tourtist-y trip to London for the day with another girl from the agency. It was lots of fun. We went to the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the Globe theatre, a walk along the Thames, and lots of other places. However. The greatest place that we went to turned out to be Piccadilly Circus. Why? Because there is a coffee shop that serves...




TIM HORTONS.

Mind. Blown.





Elspeth had told me about the existence of this wonderful place and I could only pray that I could find this personal Mecca of mine. Angela & I met up and took the underground to Piccadilly Circus and were able to find this glorious coffee shop. A slight dissapointment, when it turned out to be a coffee machine serving Tim's coffee, but still. It tasted good...remarkably close to an actual double double. And, to top it off, they had Tim's doughnuts!





Boston cream, you complete me.



You can certainly bet your double-doubles that the Tim Hortons coffee-cup holder is now proudly displayed on my dressed in my apartment. For those really tough days when I need a visual pick-me-up.

Those days, while they do still exist, are starting to become a little-less frequent in occurance. I'm not sure when it happened, or how, but I've found myself starting to actually fit in at the school and not be so worn down by what takes place during a day. I'm starting to talk with other teachers about getting involved in the extra-curricular activities (the Glee club I currently help run is anything less than glee-ful) and the school musical is at the top of the list.

We had another faculty-night out on Friday and, instead of being completely exhausted and overwhelmed at the end of a week, I found myself laughing and sharing stories along with the other staff members. There are still rough patches (really rough patches) but it's starting to become more routine and less soul-shattering to deal with.

A new list of questions I have been asked by my students...

1)"Miss...Why are you so short?"

2)"Miss! Have you met Justin Bieber?!"
Me: "Ahhh, no."
Student: "Oh. Well, have you met his mom?"

3)"Can I come back to Canada with you? Like, in your suitcase or something?"

4)"Miss...Will you sing to us? Please? We'll be good!"

5)"Miss...do you go home every weekend?"
Me: "I go home every night...I don't sleep at school, you know."
Student: "You go back to Canada every night?!"

Ahh yes. Our future generation.

I also experience my first bonfire night in England last weekend and, I must admit, I never realized just how serious this occasion was. When out walking on Saturday night, I could see fireworks in the sky coming from several different directions around the city. And these aren't the DIY firework kits you buy at the corner store. These are professionally-planned and orchestrated displays happening here. They are beautiful. I found them significantly less beautiful when I still could hear the gunshot-like sound at 3 o'clock in the morning while trying to sleep, but a cool thing to have seen, nonetheless.

Well. I should probably get to marking the pile of books I brought home with me this weekend. But, first thing first. I need to go buy some gourmet coffee in case any dashing NHL players show up at my doorstep and demand refreshments.

Home Again, Home Again

From fjords and lefse to puddles and pudding, I have returned to jolly old England. Actually, I was anything but jolly at 2AM on Monday morning when I finally collapsed into bed in Northampton following a (delayed) flight and (delayed) coach ride. School was a tough reality I had to face Monday morning.

I had an amazing visit in Norway, yet again. I am quickly falling in love with the country. I'm starting to think that Norway will be my "happy place." A decent runner-up to my current happy place, which is home.

Throughout the rest of my break, I went for walks and did absolutely no schoolwork while Sarah & Kristian were at work and then spent some good time with them in the evenings. On my last weekend there, we spent it re-organizing the new kitchen, visiting with Sarah's colleague and her adorable new baby boy, visiting Kristian's family and doing some more sight-seeing around Stavanger.

The 2 most beautiful places that we went to visit were:

Brutte Lenke (The Broken Chain Memorial)

The memorial is located along the coast to mark the sinking of an oil rig in 1980, killing almost all crew members on board. It is a huge monument and located overlooking the sea. The walk to the monument took about 20 minutes along the gorgeous Norwegian coast and the view was spectacular. Along the way, we passed a small beach where there were hundreds of jellyfish congregating…gross. I was maturely poking at one with a stick when Kristian decided to put his funny pants on and scare the living hell out of me and I screamed loud enough to probably wake the dead jellyfish I had just been poking.

and


The 3 viking longhouses.

On the way back from Brutte Lenke, we stopped at a site where there once was a Viking longhouse settlement dating back from the Iron Age (around 350-550AD)! It was so neat to see them…I had to imagine how the country must have looked thousands of years ago to those trying to make a living and survive off of the land. The entire thing was made even more “realistic” (or funnier…) by the presence of 4 or 5 young men doing real-life role-playing…kind of like real-life Dungeons and Dragons. Seriously. Complete with costumes, shields and swords. I have my suspicions though that if these guys were to meet actual Vikings, they would be on the losing side of the battle. Big time.


So, another wonderful trip has come and gone and I find myself back at school and back into the same routine. However, it makes me happy to think that there are only 47 more days until I am back in Canada for Christmas. The countdown is on!