4:47 London Time:
Well, I've got the whole place to myself and listen to the crazy things I've done... I've watched the tele, done some laundry and talked on the phone. WOW! MY LIFE IS WILD AND CRAZY HERE!! All joking aside, I would like to have a bit more interesting social life. I'm sure it will come, just not quite fast enough as far as I'm concerned.

Yesterday, I high-tailed it into town to open a bank account. It has been a much more difficult process than I thought it would be. Because of money laundering, they have very strict policies for opening an account here. And, because I am staying at a private residence and do not have utility bills coming to this address in my name, most banks have turned me down. I found a bank that was willing to work with me and now I am the proud owner of a current (checking) account. After I finished at the bank, I thought I would have dinner at one of the pubs in town, but 5:00 seemed too early, so I thought I would head home and worry about dinner later. By the time I got home, I didn't feel like walking back into town. [Not to be gross, but my feet are not used to this much walking, so I now have blisters on the bottom of them and holes in the back. It's really not a pretty sight.] So, I remembered that there was a pub just down the street. I packed my bag - umbrella, book to read if I was bored, change purse (since most money is in coin form) - and I was really looking forward to a pint and some fish and chips! Well, I get there and they don't serve food, so I walked a little further to the Chinese Take Away and placed an order. While I was waiting, I walked to the supermarket (not much larger than most NYC badegos) and bought two tall-boys. And that was my nice, British meal - Chinese food and a German beer (The Scottish one is still in the fridge). I top-off the evening with some British tele - I watched "Queer Eye..." And "Friends." I'm really getting the hang of this British life... :)

I was disappointed that there were no Crab Rangoons on the Chinese Take Away menu, but I ordered the Dinner for One... Chicken with mixed Chinese vegetables, Egg Rice, Spring Roll and Prawn Crackers. It was very good!! I miss egg rolls - never really been a big fan of the spring roll, but the prawn crackers were really good! They seem kinda like rice cakes, but flavored... Mmmm!!

This morning, I made myself a cup of coffee (they mostly drink NesCafe' here - the crystals that you add to hot water) and thought how much I missed my flavored coffees that used to fill the apartment with yummy aromas. Then, I ran a load of laundry and just finished hanging it on the line (they don't use dryers here, most people hang their clothes - even towels, so they become scratchy and stiff when you first use them). I talked to my parents for a while. My mom sent a package of light sweaters and some other things that I'd asked for, but she realized today that she sent them to the wrong address - she added River to the street name - so hopefully, the package will still make it here. My parents are sending a digital camera soon (my birthday present), so I will be able to start taking pictures - yea!! I also talked to Krissie today - got the scoop on all of the Charlotte happenings. I'm so jealous that I'm going to miss Will Hoge tonight!!

Today is my day to take it easy. Tomorrow I am heading into town to catch a train for London. I want to get there early so I can wander around the big city a little. Boy I hope I meet some nice people... (so my year here does not seem so dull and boring)...

Almost midnight:
It has been an exhausting week and unless you want to hear about a bunch of school stuff, I won't bore you with details... It's almost Friday and next week is a new week (one with a little better schedule, too) - Yea!

Today, after work, I went to BlueWater (a mall that everyone has been talking about). I figured since everyone was making such a hype about it (and my schedule tomorrow is an easy one) I would go check it out. I rode the bus (that was a first for me - by myself) and when it made its last turn - I felt like I was heading into Mecca!! It really is something special! It is huge and all of the stores are like boutiques. I didn't really buy anything - there's nothing that I need right now, so I just wandered around and looked at all of the pretty things.

Sunday I am heading into London to meet others who are in England through the same company. We are meeting for lunch and drinks. Hopefully I'll meet some cool people who are interested in doing some UK traveling while they are here.

I just thought I'd leave you with some funny little differences I've notice in the last two weeks:

1. There are no Door Knobs on front doors here.
2. Bathroom lights dangle from the ceiling and you have to pull them like a ceiling fan (but only once) to turn them on.
3. Everything is smaller! Even the bottles of soda, shampoo, etc.
4. Coke does not taste as good (it tastes flat).
5. Kids call erasers "rubbers."
6. Paper is a completely different size!
7. My keys at school look like old-timey keys!!

Post started at 8:36 PM: (finished around 10:50 PM)
Okay, so I spent all weekend getting ready for the first day of school. Friday I worked for about 6 hours, Saturday I worked for a couple of hours before I went to bed and Sunday I worked for another 6 or 7 hours. I say worked, but I don't really feel like I got a lot done, just tried to get myself organized and ready for the first day...

That said, It was an interesting first day of school. Not entirely bad, not entirely good. Lots of opportunities to improve, and I'm not ready to start running for the airport either...

I started the day fairly well prepared, I thought. I got there early enough to make my copies and have a cup of tea before things started to get crazy. Then, we spent the first hour with our Form Tutor Classes (Homerooms) and sitting there, I started to get sick to my stomach. I quickly pulled myself together and decided that it was probably the tea I had this morning - the pot looked a little less-than-clean. Then, I met my first class - a large group of year 7 students. To put it mildly,we had some issues. I asked them to take out a sheet of paper and they just stared at me. So I asked again and they replied that they didn't have any paper. "No paper," I questioned, "then what is in your bags?" It went on..."If I asked you to empty out your bag on the table, what would I find?"Come to find out... The school provides them with Exercise books (i.e. paper) and truly, they do not carry paper with them to class... Go figure! I'm not sure if this is a UK custom or just at the school that I am at, but it left me chuckling the rest of the day. Well, chuckling until I met my class from hell - a very large geography class! This class meets after lunch (I think that may have been a factor in their behavior today) and they were completely out of line: constant talking, disrespect, all the things that I won't tolerate... Long-story-short the class ended up "copying lines" on the first day!! Ugh - they put me in a mood! The year 9 class that I had today was a little talkative until I put them in assigned seats. One boy I had to call down twice, then I saw him sitting with his back tome, mimicking me as I spoke! Grr! I sent him into the hall, made him sit out there for 5 to 10 minutes (threatened his life, but only a little - kidding!), when I brought him back in, he was much better... Now I just have to figure out how to handle that geography class!! I came home, had a cup of tea and wrote out about 30 quiz questions - figure maybe I can get them to behave by threatening their marks(grades), we'll see tomorrow!!

I got a lot of "Where are you from?" questions today. They were funny. The year 7 kids that I have said, "we love your accent!" Too funny!! (Partly because that's what I'd say to one of them!)

It's not quite as easy as I'd hoped it'd be. School ended and I SO wanted a beer! Instead I settled for some hot chocolate... Not quite as exciting as my life in Charlotte...