Memory Lane

I am on a loud music kick at the moment. Makes me miss Uphonik shows. Makes me miss dancing into the wee hours of the morning. Hell, that was any show that Krissie and I went to, really...

Heeheehee. Hey, K, flashback: Joe doing the Joe Boxer dance at a JQ show at the Venue. That still makes me giggle. Those were the days.

It's that time of year again...

Holiday Dos are bit around here. There are three for school that I have been invited to join. The first is tomorrow night - Year Team Christmas 'Do.' Monday is the Science Department one. Thursday is the whole school disco (yes, that's really what they call them here). Then Friday is the last day of school.

I am SO ready for a break... And a few shots.

Happy Holidays ya'll.

Sound Bites of My Week

"You look like you listen to Blink 182 and Green Day." A comment from one of my homeroom students. I don't see it myself...

"You know Miss has had a bad day when she comes into school with a new pair of shoes." My head of department knows me too well. Funny, I said something to my Dad about the comment and he said he'd always go shopping for a new shirt. I come by it honestly, just always thought it was my Mom's genes...

"I'm going to tell you a secret." I watched Madonna's new documentary last week.

"Admit it, Miss. The real reason you are here is because you are hiding from the US government." Okay, so maybe I said too much the other day. Don't ask me how the conversation about marching on Washington started...

"I was your age when that song was released." Students singing MC Hammer's "Hammer Time" and Whitney Houston's "Greatest Love of All."

"Don't want to be an American idiot." This is all I heard this morning from some darling students. Unfortunately, the poor kid had no idea what the song is really about... And, well, I agree I don't want to be an American idiot.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I thought of you all today. No, seriously, I did. I thought, "Man this sucks! I am stuck at work when everyone back home is stuffing their faces!" Actually, it was a pretty decent day with a few surprises (I had a semi-break-through with a particularly tough kid. It won't last but it felt good). The department wished me a Happy Turkey Day and one woman even offered to do a Turkey Dance. :) We chatted about Thanksgiving traditions and I promised pumpkin pie tomorrow.

I just got off the phone with the family. Mom and Dad had 25 guests for Turkey dinner (and that wasn't even the whole family!). They passed the phone around, so I got to feel like I was there - well, minus the food.

I've got two pumpkin pies cooling on the kitchen counter to take in to the Science department tomorrow, with whipped cream and all. Not really sure how they will taste. I had to get a little creative with the recipe. I figure, they'll never know - crazy Brits!

So, Happy Turkey Day all! I hope you are thoroughly stuffed with huge smiles on your faces. Miss ya'll!

Holiday Plans and the Future

I was looking at a tour of Russia for Christmas. It would have been eight days starting in St. Petersburg and ending in Moscow. I was really tempted to go. Then I started thinking about the weather, the airfare and the cost of a visa. It was just going to be too much £££. I was not dying to go to Russia. It did not make it onto my "Gotta See" list. It would have been cool, but in a "why not?" kinda way.

So, instead I will be visiting the "Must See" cities of Great Britain between December 22 and the 29th. I will stay in Oxford, York, Glasgow and Liverpool and will spend Christmas Eve in Edinburgh. It will be weird to be away from the family for the holidays (especially since Hanukkah begins this year on the 25th this year) but traveling and meeting others who are also away from home should make it better.

I've also been thinking about the rest of my time here. I talked to the airline and have confirmed a flight home on the 22nd of August, 2006. It is weird to think of this all coming to an end. Until then, I have travel plans galore: In April Kristin is coming to visit and we are going to tackle either Spain or Italy... We are having a tough time making a decision. In February (or May, depending on when/if my parents decide to visit) I want to go back to France to see Versailles and Mont St Michel (and probably spend a bit more time in Paris' art museums). And, finally, in August I am going to see what I can of Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Krakow and Warsaw. I have a long list of things I want to see before I go home for good. I am not expecting to see everything but it would be nice to cover most.

I also have a long list of things I want to see once I get back to the States. It's funny how an experience like this makes you realize how little of your own country you've seen. I hatraveledled up and down the eastern coast, seen California and Oregon, and yet there's so much more of the US to see. So much more of the world that I want to see, too. I spent too much time working when I was in Charlotte, too much time trying to pay for things that I really didn't need. When I go back I'd like to save up for holidays and spend my free time exploring instead of working...

Friday Afternoon Drinks

It only took 15 months, but I went out for drinks with colleagues after school today and had a blast. Granted, I am home now and it is 8:15, but still... It was just nice to hang out and have a few beers.

I am a happy girl.

ITunes is dangerous to my credit card.

I've spent my morning looking for new music. It is just too easy to point and click and a few seconds later, play. My library on ITunes is not very big, just 110 songs. I have downloaded a few songs that remind me of the places I have been, for example "Donald Where's Your Troosers?" (Andy Stewart) and "Caledonia" (Frankie Miller) were played repeatedly on the bus ride around Scotland. When I was traveling around Europe, "It's My Life" (cover of the No Doubt song) was blasting every morning as we drove through Rome, Venice, Paris, Munich. I can't help thinking of these things every time I hear the songs now. U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday" has new meaning for me now, too.

I also have albums on ITunes, too: Snow Patrol's "Final Straw," Stereophonics' "You Gotta Go There To Come Back," James Blunt's "Back to Bedlam," Athlete's "Tourist," KT Tunstall's "Eye To the Telescope." Every album I have downloaded, I have loved!!

Today's downloads include: Albums: The Killers "Hot Fuss," Artic Monkeys "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor - EP." Songs: "I Predict A Riot" Kaiser Chiefs, "Seven Nation Army" The White Stripes and "Aerials" System of A Down.

A Ray of Light

Last week was absolute crap. The kids were crazy, I had the worst observation in my history of teaching and I was under the weather (sore throat, terrible cough and a voice that disappeared sometime last Monday). I left school in tears three of the five days last week. While I can say that I get emotional when I am not feeling my best, it was possibly my worst week of teaching since I have been in England (and maybe EVER)!

It has been a tough first term and I am feeling bitter about a lot of things that are going on at school: administration, discipline, this certification programme, etc. And when a higher-up evaluates a lesson and can not give a single positive comment about it, well, it leaves me feeling that there's just no point. Funny, it was the same week that I had planned to announce my resignation (totally unrelated but it felt good to say it when all that crap was happening). I have decided that High School is not for me. And while I have learned SO much in my overseas experience, I am a Middle School teacher through and through and am excited to return to what I know and love... Next year, of course, I'm not ready to leave England just yet.

Today was the first day since Half Term that I made the early train for work. This was my Ray of Light. If I miss the early train, then I can still make it to work but I am scrambling in at the bell (after sitting in terrible traffic and paying a taxi £5 to get me to school from the train station)... That's IF the trains are running on time. If I make the early train then I have time to enjoy a cup of coffee and do any last-minute teacher things before the day starts. That 40 minutes makes a world of difference.

A couple of things I have been meaning to post since the first of November:

My Sister's Keeper was one of the best books I have read in a long time. I really liked the issues it raised. There were parts that dragged (the mother got on my nerves) and the ending was crap, but I would still highly recommend it.

There are a ton of movies in the theater that I'd like to see, including the new Harry Potter that opens November 18th. It looks like I will be spending my Fall at the 'cinema.'

The sun set today at 4:18.

One last thing: As 'down' as I feel about my school right now, there are still plenty of good things that happen there. I have some really great support from my mentor teacher and my head of department. My department is full of fabulous people (even if I don't feel the rest of the school is...) There are plenty of kids that are wonderful, and even the not-so-wonderful ones have their wonderful moments.

I'm having a tough time putting this one down...

"... I was born for a very specific purpose. I wasn't the result of a cheap bottle of wine or a full moon or the heat of the moment. I was born because a scientist managed to hook up my mother's eggs and my father's sperm to create a specific combination of precious genetic material. In fact, when Jesse told me how babies get made and I, the great disbeliever, decided to ask my parents the truth, I got more than I bargained for. They sat me down and told me all the usual stuff, of course - but they also explained that they chose little embryonic me, specifically, because I could save my sister, Kate. 'We loved you even more,' my mother made sure to say, 'because we knew what exactly we were getting.' ... See unlike the rest of the free world, I didn't get here by accident. And if your parents have you for a reason, then that reason better exist. Because once it's gone, so are you."

The book is My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult and it is a story about a girl named Anna that has undergone surgeries all of her life to help her sister, Kate, fight leukemia. Now Kate's kidneys are failing and it is assumed that Anna will donate, so she sues her parents for the right to her own body.

I am only a hundred pages in to it, but it's a great read so far!

Ireland

I have posted a few pictures below from Ireland. The past week has been amazing. Ireland is a spectacular island full of beautiful scenery, wonderful people and a difficult history. I had no real understanding of it all until I saw it for myself. For our first two days we were in Northern Ireland, staying in both Belfast and Derry. We had guided tours of both cities, and tried to gain an understanding of the conflict felt in both areas. For the rest of the six days we toured the Republic of Ireland, staying in Galway, Annascaul and Killarney. The Republic has some pretty fabulous landscapes. The tour consisted mainly of Aussies and Kiwis, I was the only American on the bus. Most nights, we found 'the crack' including two pubs with kick-ass live music. One in Galway (cover band, but they put on a great show) and the second in Killarney (a rockin' Irish band that gave covers their own Irish twist and jammed-out on stage - they were great!). I drank Guiness like it was going out of season as well as enjoying a few Harps, Smithwicks (be careful how you pronounce it, they will correct you if you use the 'h'!), Belfast Ales, Car Bombs and many vodka/cranberry combinations. I am already trying to figure out when I can go back to Ireland, there's so much more I want to see and explore.

Blarney Castle Yes I hung upside-down and kissed the stone.

County Kerry and the Atlantic Ocean 

The Cliffs of Moher 

Derry

The Giant's Causeway 

Belfast - 'Peace' Wall with burn marks (green wall in background), Catholic Memorial (foreground - we were on the Catholic side of the wall) and the back of someone's house (notice the black protective fencing over their back garden). Can you imagine living here?

Vestibular Neuritis

Or that's what the doctor called it on Monday. It is dizziness due to a viral infection of the vestibular nerve (in my ear). I have spent my week in bed and only started to feel better Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, it was the week before half-term and I left my co-workers battling teenagers desperate for a holiday. I am feeling horribly guilty about it all, but what can you do? I was just following doctor's orders...

Is it time for a holiday, yet?

I can't complain too much. This term has been much better than my entire last year, but I am still worn out. Work is keeping my stress level high and I am constantly feeling inadequate. The kids are not as bad this year (they have their moments, but I think the fact that I am not 'green' anymore helps). And I guess with all of the pros of my own classroom, less movement and better kids I can finally start focusing on my teaching. I haven't had to do that much since everything else was an excuse. And I guess I have let myself slip. Oh well, it'll work itself out.

Next Sunday I leave for Ireland. I am psyched!! We'll see: Slane Castle (U2 and Rock concerts), The Giants Causeway, Bloody Sunday Murals, The Cliffs of Moher, Ring of Kerry and get to kiss the Blarney stone. It's a six day tour of the whole island, so I am sure it will be packed full of beautiful scenery and lots of rainy 'wee' walks. Plenty of pictures to come (and other surprisess), I am sure.

Not much exciting news around here. Winter is starting to creep in. Despite the semi-warm afternoons, I can feel the rainy weather and colder temperatures just around the corner. I can handle the poor weather, it's the darkness that I don't really care for. It is starting to get dark here around 6:00. And all I can think is that in a couple of months, it'll be dark when I leave school at 4!! It's all part of the experience... I guess.

On a lighter note, my year 9s cracked me up on Thursday. We were going through Photosynthesis and the parts of a plant, specifically the parts that you eat. They were told to complete a table and we were going over the answers. We said that you eat the root/bulb of a carrot and the stem/leaves of broccoli. One boy raised his hand and said that we "eat the fruit and seeds of a banana." So when I replied, "yes. good, we eat the fruit and seeds of a banana." The kids had a hay-day with the way I pronounce banana. No big deal, I am used to it. So when a boy who sits close to me asked me to "say it again, Miss." I said "Banana... like Gwen Stephani." Boy was that a mistake!!! For the rest of the lesson I had to listen to "Miss is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S." That'll teach me! Although, for as annoyed as I was, it also made me chuckle.

Just finished reading.

Never Enough Time In the Day...

That's how I feel when ever I work on school stuff. I have spent the majority of my day planning, marking and researching, but still I feel like I have little to show... This is so frustrating! Just not feeling on top of my game with school. I thought it would get easier, but I am still struggling... I hate feeling like a crap teacher.