One more half term holiday and then we're really on the home stretch until the end of the year. It's incredible, how fast time has gone by. Before I know it, I'll be writing yet another oh so sappy post about how wonderful my colleagues are and so on, blah blah blah.
Mary, Hannah & I went out for dinner last week, as is fast becoming a weekly habit, and visited a nice Mandarin restaurant that we've been to a few times before. Everything was great, had a lot (too much) to eat and headed home for an early night. A couple of hours later, I started feeling a bit off. Over the next few hours, the pain progressively got worse, to the point where I headed to the hospital. Verdict: food poisoning. It wasn't a very fun night. The only bonus was that I felt it was completely acceptable to drink apple juice in bed all day the next day.
Roll on Friday..I've a staff dinner on Thursday. Let's avoid the mussels this time, shall we. I don't think Norwegian air will cater very well to my food poisoning.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Dear Readers
I appreciate each and every one of you. Truly, I do. From South Korea to Brazil and everywhere in between, I am very appreciative for all the readers I have in the 25 countries that this blog has been viewed in. I never expected it to be viewed as many times as it has over the last year or so.
I checked the stats this morning and found that a couple referring sites were google.com and google.co.uk with the search terms of my name + Northampton and then my name + Northamptonshire. Definite dedication. I either hope that I know you or...
Let's just leave it at 'I hope that I know you'...mysterious Googler.
I checked the stats this morning and found that a couple referring sites were google.com and google.co.uk with the search terms of my name + Northampton and then my name + Northamptonshire. Definite dedication. I either hope that I know you or...
Let's just leave it at 'I hope that I know you'...mysterious Googler.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Drip Drop
It has been raining here for two weeks. Three weeks. ETERNITY. I realize that England is known world-wide for its drizzly weather but this is taking stereotypes to a whole new level. While I'm sure all of this rain will make everything oh so beautiful in the summer, I won't be here to enjoy it and so I would greatly appreciate seeing the sun every once in awhile. I'm pale enough as it is.
I've found myself lying in bed, listening to the rain falling on a very lazy bank holiday Monday. It has been a pretty uneventful couple of weeks, incredibly busy at work with lots of long days involved. It was Hannah's birthday this weekend, so we all went out to celebrate and have a few drinks. Mary, Hannah & I went to Birmingham yesterday and that sums up my very laid-back weekend. There is nothing too exciting looming on the horizon for the next few weeks...in less than a month, it's another half-term holiday and then it will be the final countdown to my return to Canada.
As excited as I am to go home, it will involve a lot of headache and stress, for part of the trip at least. I'm in the middle of gathering paperwork for my Visa and I am quite worried that the 5-6 week window I have at home won't be long enough to have the papers processed and my passport returned to me on time before I head back to England. If I have to delay my trip, that could be a costly extension to my vacation. But, pointless to worry about it now, so I'll deal with that when the time comes.
As the school year slowly winds down, I'm getting ready to say goodbye to my current classes before getting a new timetable for next year. One group, however, will be moving on and moving out of the school. My group of Year 11 students have been, above and beyond, one of the greatest perks of the job the past 18 months. I took over the group last winter, shortly after Christmas, and I've fallen completely in love with this group. The students, all of them, are absolutely hilarious and they have made my job so much better. I don't think I will ever be able to forget them, any of them. From the boy who gave me a bracelet made out of paperclips and...actually, I'll stop there. No point in becoming too introspective on what should be a wonderfully laid-back day. Sorry, lazy. Lazy day.
I sadly do have to drag myself out of bed and out into this damn rain...it's much less soothing when I'm walking in it rather than listening to it from the comfort of my big bed and warm duvet. I watched The Avengers last night and, going a little backwards, I realize I should watch all of the other movies that make up the Marvel series. What an arduous task. I do hope I'm up for it.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Easter Holiday 2012
The puke-filled field trip was over, lessons were observed, books were marked (kind of) and I was ready for a holiday! I spent the weekend not packing and procrastinating until the last minute...as per usual. As I was going literally from one holiday destination to the next, I packed for Norway as well. Hannah picked us up on Monday morning and we headed for Gatwick. A cramped and boring plane ride later, we touched down in breezy, warm Tenerife! We headed to our hotel and took some time to explore the area that we were staying in, Los Cristianos. Rather than go through a painfully detailed retelling of the entire five days, I can sum up the holiday in the following:
- Breakfast at our condo
- Beach for the day. We had to take some breaks from the stresses of sunbathing to have some lunch (AKA cheap cocktails) at one of the restaurants along the water.
- More sunbathing
- Swim in the pool at our hotel
- Dinner, drinks and exploring Tenerife by night.
It was a great holiday....aside from getting a wicked sunburn, as was to be expected. Strangely enough, it was the backs of my legs (from the knee down) and the tops of my feet that got it the worst. I stocked up on the SPF 50 and avoided the sun like the plague for the rest of the week. So much for coming back bronzed and beautiful, like Mary & Hannah. While we were there, we went to a neighbouring town, Las Americas, where all the nightclubs were. On our first night out, I met a Finnish guy named Niko who was on holiday with his brother and father. Bless him. Not sure how good your game and pickup lines can be with your dad sitting beside you. Aside from Niko, we met a couple of other very unwanted guests in the form of cockroaches in our apartment. Hot damn, those things are fast. And very, very gross. Creepy crawly disgusting bugs.
Hannah & I went whale-watching on our last day in Tenerife...there are pods of Pilot whales found off the coast, and Hannah was dying to see them. The trip took about 2 hours and we saw entire families, including little calf whales..so cute! Hannah was so excited, and I loved seeing them. For such huge creatures, there is something graceful about the way they move through the water.
The week went by incredibly quickly and we soon found ourselves on the way back. We landed at Gatwick just past 2 AM, where Hannah's friend Mark was waiting to pick us up. Mark dropped me off at Heathrow where I killed time until my flight to Norway. Thanks to a lucky upgrade, I got to fly business class...no complaints here!
My trip to Norway didn't involve Finnish men, cockroaches or stray cats that wandered into the apartment (true story, happened a couple of times in Tenerife. I wanted to keep it) but involved family, friends, movies about Space Nazi's and more food than I care to even think about again. Most of the week was spent relaxing at Sarah & Kristian's while they were at work, with trips to his parents, the cinema and out to dinner mixed in there. I went for walks around the lake, fed the ducks, had a duck bite my shoe (ok, I may have stuck my shoe out to see what the duck would do...I kind of deserve it, apparently) and visited with Michelle to meet her new little boy, Teodore.
Norway was so relaxing and a great holiday. Sarah & Kristian just bought a new house, so my next half-term holiday will probably see me back in Norway, unpacking them into their new house! Can't wait :).
So, it was back to England last Sunday, and back to work on Monday. The week went by incredibly fast, and the next couple of weeks are bound to be incredibly stressful. Great...When is my next holiday?
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
First Time.
I think that I have finally recovered enough to relive the first (but I am sure not only...I would only be so lucky) experience of this particular event as a teacher. Naturally, I'm speaking about chaperoning a field trip.
And what a trip it was. Let me give you the details.
100 Year 7 students...100 eleven year old boys and girls being taken into the woods of Oxfordshire to work on team building skills. And I was lucky enough to be going along. A definite bonus was being able to wear casual clothes, even if I did look younger than some of the students and get confused for an extra child a couple of times.
Within about 5 minutes of pulling out of the school parking lot, the kids were into their pop, candy and were about 27 different shades of hyper. The bus ride was about 90 minutes and it was about an hour into the trip when the inevitable happened.
"Miss......I don't feel so good." And up comes the first batch of sweets and fizzy drinks.
It was like a chain reaction and I was left walking through a mine-field of projectile vomiting children. The heat on the bus was turned up on high, there were no windows to open and the smell was just...indescribable. Once the first kid let loose, the smell and sound set off another, and then another...and then another. Followed by 2 more, just for good measure. In total, 6 kids couldn't keep their snacks to themselves and we only had 3 sick bags. I'll spare you the details. Actually, no, I won't. 3 kids were lucky enough to get their own sick bag, one needed the spare change of clothes that were brought along and the last one got to experience a type of recycling that nobody ever wants to participate in. I likened the event to a scene I watched in a Stephen King film, only it was much more...chunky.
Eventually, and with no more chunks a-flying, we arrive at Cornbury Park and spend the day watching the kids do team-building exercises, like learning to build a fire, collecting firewood, cooking over an open flame and playing some games. The kids cooked whole trout for lunch and I decided to creep a couple of them out by eating both eyes from the fish. Wasn't so bad, tastes a bit like a salty, crunchy pea. Much more appetizing than what the kids had to offer for snacks on the ride there, I'll just say.
Rounded up the kids, gave them explicitly clear instructions that they were not to eat or drink a single thing on the ride back, and loaded them back into the buses. Overall, an eventful field trip. I definitely needed the holiday that was coming up that weekend. Next time...my Tenerife trip!
And what a trip it was. Let me give you the details.
100 Year 7 students...100 eleven year old boys and girls being taken into the woods of Oxfordshire to work on team building skills. And I was lucky enough to be going along. A definite bonus was being able to wear casual clothes, even if I did look younger than some of the students and get confused for an extra child a couple of times.
Within about 5 minutes of pulling out of the school parking lot, the kids were into their pop, candy and were about 27 different shades of hyper. The bus ride was about 90 minutes and it was about an hour into the trip when the inevitable happened.
"Miss......I don't feel so good." And up comes the first batch of sweets and fizzy drinks.
It was like a chain reaction and I was left walking through a mine-field of projectile vomiting children. The heat on the bus was turned up on high, there were no windows to open and the smell was just...indescribable. Once the first kid let loose, the smell and sound set off another, and then another...and then another. Followed by 2 more, just for good measure. In total, 6 kids couldn't keep their snacks to themselves and we only had 3 sick bags. I'll spare you the details. Actually, no, I won't. 3 kids were lucky enough to get their own sick bag, one needed the spare change of clothes that were brought along and the last one got to experience a type of recycling that nobody ever wants to participate in. I likened the event to a scene I watched in a Stephen King film, only it was much more...chunky.
Eventually, and with no more chunks a-flying, we arrive at Cornbury Park and spend the day watching the kids do team-building exercises, like learning to build a fire, collecting firewood, cooking over an open flame and playing some games. The kids cooked whole trout for lunch and I decided to creep a couple of them out by eating both eyes from the fish. Wasn't so bad, tastes a bit like a salty, crunchy pea. Much more appetizing than what the kids had to offer for snacks on the ride there, I'll just say.
Rounded up the kids, gave them explicitly clear instructions that they were not to eat or drink a single thing on the ride back, and loaded them back into the buses. Overall, an eventful field trip. I definitely needed the holiday that was coming up that weekend. Next time...my Tenerife trip!
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Sing a-longs and Leprechauns
It took me an entire week (apparently) to recover enough from my trip to Ireland to post about my St Paddy's weekend. And what a weekend it was...
Friday night, I took a roundabout route down to London thanks to a jumper who disrupted the entire rail system during rush hour...yikes. I met up with Angela in King's Cross Station (really wanted/expected to see Harry Potter, no lie) to head to Kensington to watch Matt Andersen play a gig at a small club. Matt is an amazingly talented musician whose family lives about 15 minutes away from mine back in Canada. When there is such a taste of home so far away, I definitely have to indulge. Matt's set was awesome, and it was great to hear his voice.
At godawful early o'clock the next morning, Angela, Heather & I were on our way to Gatwick to catch our flight to Ireland! 3/4 of the way there, Angela realizes she forgot her passport. Oh dear. Heather & I caught our flight while Angela rebooked for a later flight and went home for her passport.
Land, bus ride into the city, walk through the already massive crowds and get some breakfast before checking into our hotel. Heather & I watched some of the parade, went back to the hotel and watched the rest from there to get out of the light rain. We got ready to head out while we waited for Angela, and when she showed up we were ready to take on Dublin.
Found our way to Murray's, a pub around the corner, to watch some rugby, enjoy some drinks and see how the Irish did Paddy's day. (Funny enough, it was mostly tourists that we met throughout the night..)
Friday night, I took a roundabout route down to London thanks to a jumper who disrupted the entire rail system during rush hour...yikes. I met up with Angela in King's Cross Station (really wanted/expected to see Harry Potter, no lie) to head to Kensington to watch Matt Andersen play a gig at a small club. Matt is an amazingly talented musician whose family lives about 15 minutes away from mine back in Canada. When there is such a taste of home so far away, I definitely have to indulge. Matt's set was awesome, and it was great to hear his voice.
At godawful early o'clock the next morning, Angela, Heather & I were on our way to Gatwick to catch our flight to Ireland! 3/4 of the way there, Angela realizes she forgot her passport. Oh dear. Heather & I caught our flight while Angela rebooked for a later flight and went home for her passport.
Land, bus ride into the city, walk through the already massive crowds and get some breakfast before checking into our hotel. Heather & I watched some of the parade, went back to the hotel and watched the rest from there to get out of the light rain. We got ready to head out while we waited for Angela, and when she showed up we were ready to take on Dublin.
Found our way to Murray's, a pub around the corner, to watch some rugby, enjoy some drinks and see how the Irish did Paddy's day. (Funny enough, it was mostly tourists that we met throughout the night..)
(PS, how cute am I, all ready to celebrate??)
Vodka, cider, Guinness, rugby, Irish kisses, German kisses and really persistent Italians, Russians and French guys. That sums up how Dublin does Paddy's day. Rather than give an entire run-down of the day, I figure that list pretty much sums it up. We met up with Heather's friends from New Zealand and we all went out for dinner before wandering toward Temple Bar. The streets were so crowded, we couldn't even walk down them, let alone get into a bar. So, we figured it was best to head back toward Murray's, which was playing live music. Angela fell asleep at the table so after she went off to bed, the rest of us wandered back across the river to see what was going on over there--a lot of drunks and more grabbing than I care to remember.
Rounding off the night with some deliciously unhealthy food, Heather & I decided it'd be a good idea to get a couple hours of sleep before flying back to England the next day. When I woke up the next morning, I decided that I shouldn't have bothered with the sleep and should've kept drinking...probably would've felt about the same.
Planes, trains and hangovers later, I was back in England and just in time for another week of work. How lucky I am.
Definite bonus to this week...Mary, Hannah & I booked our Easter holiday! We're taking over Tenerife for a week before I head to Norway for the second part of the break. Only 5 more teaching days to get through until then. Not that I'm counting down or anything.
Vodka, cider, Guinness, rugby, Irish kisses, German kisses and really persistent Italians, Russians and French guys. That sums up how Dublin does Paddy's day. Rather than give an entire run-down of the day, I figure that list pretty much sums it up. We met up with Heather's friends from New Zealand and we all went out for dinner before wandering toward Temple Bar. The streets were so crowded, we couldn't even walk down them, let alone get into a bar. So, we figured it was best to head back toward Murray's, which was playing live music. Angela fell asleep at the table so after she went off to bed, the rest of us wandered back across the river to see what was going on over there--a lot of drunks and more grabbing than I care to remember.
Rounding off the night with some deliciously unhealthy food, Heather & I decided it'd be a good idea to get a couple hours of sleep before flying back to England the next day. When I woke up the next morning, I decided that I shouldn't have bothered with the sleep and should've kept drinking...probably would've felt about the same.
Planes, trains and hangovers later, I was back in England and just in time for another week of work. How lucky I am.
Definite bonus to this week...Mary, Hannah & I booked our Easter holiday! We're taking over Tenerife for a week before I head to Norway for the second part of the break. Only 5 more teaching days to get through until then. Not that I'm counting down or anything.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Go For the Ruins, Stay for the Tear Gas
That pretty much sums up my vacation in Greece. This update is long over-due and so won't rattle off every single detail but will instead just be a summary of the most eventful trip I've taken so far.
We arrived in Athens around 2:30 Sunday morning and headed to bed. Sunday, we wandered around in the rain, exploring Athens and scoping out places we'd like to visit throughout the week. We went to a restaurant where a man (who I'd love to be my grandfather) loved our accents so he kept giving us free food, free wine and telling us to enjoy our stay. After lunch, we started noticing huge crowds of people walking all down some streets toward the same general area. I figured there was a football match or something on...that was until I noticed the riot police. Turns out, there was a huge protest planned that evening against the government and we had front row seats to the action. The police told us to return to our hotel and it would be best if we stayed there for the night. We got supper and started walking back to the hotel. By this time, the protest had started and tear gas had been fired into the crowd to disperse the protesters. So not only were we walking back through mobs of angry Greeks toward our hotel, we then had the tear gas to deal with.
For the rest of the evening, we started hearing the protesters get closer and closer. We went downstairs and were told that no guests were allowed to leave the hotel for security purposes and we were told to go back to our room and it would all blow over in a few hours. Angela, Heather & I spent most of the evening on the balcony, watching the fires be set in the street, looters break into stores, buildings being set on fire and the general chaos in the streets.
The next day, we walked around to look at the damage done during the riots and it was so surreal. We had watched the footage on TV, viewed it from the balcony, and it was still strange to see the damage first-hand. While I completely understand the frustration of the people, it was still heartbreaking to see a little old man cleaning up the smashed glass and rubble from his shop that had been broken into and completely torn apart by people who stole nothing but just wanted to wreak havoc. It was completely senseless in that respect.
Throughout the rest of the trip, we visited the most popular tourist spots in Athens...Acropolis, Parthenon, Temple of Zeus, museums, more ruins, historical sites, and exploring the city in general. The food was absolutely amazing, definitely overindulged in that respect on holiday.
Greece was a really fun holiday...it was sad to see all of the graffiti and destruction going on around the city, but I really enjoyed my time there (tear gas aside) and would like to go back to see some of the Greek islands and other cities. Other things about Greece that I wasn't really expecting...there are so many stray cats and dogs. Literally, they were everywhere. I started naming the cats, really original stuff too...Acropolis Kitty, Athens Kitty, Won't Leave Me Alone At A Restaurant Kitty...so nice. Also, in tourist shops, there is a huge penis fixation. I really don't understand it. There are penis bottle openers, mini statues of men with giant penis', calendars, Greek sex guides, you name it and there is a penis on it. Talk about your family-friendly vacation.
Work has been going well, keeping me incredibly busy. Only two weeks until I go to Ireland for Paddy's day, can't wait! East break is coming up in just a few short weeks, definitely need to figure out a place to go. Hopefully will be going to Norway for a few days to visit with Sarah & Kristian. Let's start another countdown...
We arrived in Athens around 2:30 Sunday morning and headed to bed. Sunday, we wandered around in the rain, exploring Athens and scoping out places we'd like to visit throughout the week. We went to a restaurant where a man (who I'd love to be my grandfather) loved our accents so he kept giving us free food, free wine and telling us to enjoy our stay. After lunch, we started noticing huge crowds of people walking all down some streets toward the same general area. I figured there was a football match or something on...that was until I noticed the riot police. Turns out, there was a huge protest planned that evening against the government and we had front row seats to the action. The police told us to return to our hotel and it would be best if we stayed there for the night. We got supper and started walking back to the hotel. By this time, the protest had started and tear gas had been fired into the crowd to disperse the protesters. So not only were we walking back through mobs of angry Greeks toward our hotel, we then had the tear gas to deal with.
For the rest of the evening, we started hearing the protesters get closer and closer. We went downstairs and were told that no guests were allowed to leave the hotel for security purposes and we were told to go back to our room and it would all blow over in a few hours. Angela, Heather & I spent most of the evening on the balcony, watching the fires be set in the street, looters break into stores, buildings being set on fire and the general chaos in the streets.
The next day, we walked around to look at the damage done during the riots and it was so surreal. We had watched the footage on TV, viewed it from the balcony, and it was still strange to see the damage first-hand. While I completely understand the frustration of the people, it was still heartbreaking to see a little old man cleaning up the smashed glass and rubble from his shop that had been broken into and completely torn apart by people who stole nothing but just wanted to wreak havoc. It was completely senseless in that respect.
Throughout the rest of the trip, we visited the most popular tourist spots in Athens...Acropolis, Parthenon, Temple of Zeus, museums, more ruins, historical sites, and exploring the city in general. The food was absolutely amazing, definitely overindulged in that respect on holiday.
Greece was a really fun holiday...it was sad to see all of the graffiti and destruction going on around the city, but I really enjoyed my time there (tear gas aside) and would like to go back to see some of the Greek islands and other cities. Other things about Greece that I wasn't really expecting...there are so many stray cats and dogs. Literally, they were everywhere. I started naming the cats, really original stuff too...Acropolis Kitty, Athens Kitty, Won't Leave Me Alone At A Restaurant Kitty...so nice. Also, in tourist shops, there is a huge penis fixation. I really don't understand it. There are penis bottle openers, mini statues of men with giant penis', calendars, Greek sex guides, you name it and there is a penis on it. Talk about your family-friendly vacation.
Work has been going well, keeping me incredibly busy. Only two weeks until I go to Ireland for Paddy's day, can't wait! East break is coming up in just a few short weeks, definitely need to figure out a place to go. Hopefully will be going to Norway for a few days to visit with Sarah & Kristian. Let's start another countdown...
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