6 month mark...

So I realized the other day that I've been officially living in England for exactly half of a year! Time certainly flies when you're country hopping, meeting new people, and learning the ropes to a completely different education system. There are, and always will be (until I return home) certain things I miss about the US and particular things I most definitely do not. Lets see what I can come up with:

What I Miss:

*Target

*Panera

*Having a car

*Driving on the CORRECT side of the road/having the Drivers Seat on the left side of the car

*Starbucks that stay open until 11pm

*Patriotism (surprising huh?)

*The sun being out for more than an hour at a time (and for more than just one day a week at that!)

*695 on a really clear, sunny, and warm day with some incredible CD blaring out of my stereo, windows down, and no traffic (the last part is very rare, though I've experienced it twice!)

*Not needing to explain what a 'Jewish person is' more times than I'd like to count...believe it or not the British put some Americans to shame in the ignorance department.

*Kashi Cereal

*A good Ultimate scene *sigh*

*Any sort of outdoor/indoor sports club

13.1 in 12

So for those of you who don't already know, I'm running my first half marathon on the 8th of March. Preparing for this beast has been less than easy, especially with the massive amounts of snow we received about two weeks ago--it put a HUGE damper on my training since England goes just a bit loopy when even the slightest bit of white stuff hits the ground. 

I ran 6 miles  this morning for the first time in a while and I'm a bit tired; not good. I'm hoping that the running 'gods' will help me through the 8th and I don't fail miserable in front of my friends. At this point I'm simply going for finishing, proving to myself that I CAN do this! 

I had my first parents evening last night and I succeeded with flying colors! One of the parents told me that their child didn't mention anything about any other teacher, but said that she really liked me :) It was reassuring knowing that I'm not a complete failure at this job of mine.  This week is going to be a bit stressful since I have a heap of marking to get done before Friday/Monday. On top of trying to train...well it'll just have to get done. 

Dublin was incredible. I didn't get to Cork for certain reasons (which was fine), but went to Co. Mead instead. Tara Hill--not just a golf course (though it looks like that from the road)--I'll leave it at that. I got to see Joyce's house, Wilde's House, The National Gallery, The Temple Bar, Siffy on the Liffy (as they call it--basically this giant needle-like structure in the middle of the River Liffy), an Old Abbey (out in Co. Mead), and a huge protest against the government and their issue with taxing the working class (nothing new there). It was great to see Jay again and I'm hoping he'll make his way to England at some point (as I told him, he'll have the opportunity to see MK and all it's glory...haha). All pictures are up on Facebook.

Time for yet another day at work! Hoping that my lessons go as well as they did yesterday...

Coldplay and Cosmos...

I haven't written in a while; I suppose you could say a lot has happened. Last week the UK was 'dumped' on with snow. Now, by the North Eastern USA's standard, this was nothing (almost laughable). The problem is the serious lack of road salt and streets too small to fit a plough through...

...this country relies on stick shift cars...

...those of you from areas on the east coast, where people typically can afford flashy sports cars (Bergen County, NJ for example), you know, as well as I do, why you do not see those gems driving around in the dead of winter. There's nothing like trying to shift from 'reverse' into first without either A. stalling out B. getting your tires stuck (causing them to spin) or any other variety of problems. Anyway, this massive amount of accumulation resulted in a four day weekend for us teachers. I'm certainly NOT complaining about this--only that I was becoming a bit stir crazy after two days of being stuck in my house (mainly due to the fact that I lack a car of my own and the taxi/bus services were sparser than normal). I managed to begin watching all the Sex in the City episodes, starting from Season 1, read as much as possible, clean my house (oh that was some stress relief right there) and get a few things done that I normally wouldn't get to do during the week. Almost a week later the snow is finally starting to melt and we're resuming back to normal. I'm just learning how to 'ice skate' to work since they don't feel it necessary to salt or shovel the redways. In a city where they 'claim' to be green, they certainly do all in their power to make it nearly impossible to follow along with this life style; at least as far as a car is concerned. 

This past Sunday I headed up to Sheffield for a tournament. It was, over all, an enjoyable time and good to finally get back into the swing of things. I even managed to catch up with Andy, an old coworker from my years of 'summer camp'. Four years later and it seems as though we've both made some rather large changes to our lives. He's doing well, going on two years with his girlfriend, and working as a PE teacher in a school up in Sheffield. There are plans in the works for him to move up to Scotland next year and teach while his girlfriend goes back to school. As for the outcome of the tournament, we went 50-50; there was a lot of frustration amongst some of our players due to our inconsistent playing schedules. It's only to be expected when people don't play together on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Such is life...

...I started listening Coldplay for the first time in ages--okay so maybe my dislike for the band isn't as strong as I thought it was. I guess after talking to that guy on the plane (my first trip over to the UK back in 2006) my view of the group became slightly skewed. 3 years later and they're really not so bad after all...

...if you haven't noticed already, I'm in an elipsis mood...it's a bit reflective of my thought process over the past few days or so...

...Dad and Lori are coming to England on Friday :) I'm relatively excited about this, especially since this is Lori's first time over seas. She's going to love it and I'm excited to show them around London/MK (I know, MK isn't interesting, but it's my first 'place', first job, first attempt at this horribly daunting thing called 'adulthood' and I'm proud to show them I'm not failing miserable...

...according to Sex in the City, the amount of time it takes to get over an ex, properly, is exactly half the time you've dated. It's 1 1/2 months since I've been dumped and we dated for a total of 3...it is now 'officially' acceptable to begin dating once more :). I swear I'm not OCD or anything...

...I realized today that, sometimes in life, I wish I could bring around a Sharpie marker and fix all the grammatical errors in the world; including ones that the English department finds on the white board in the staff room...

...I think I've updated enough...oh and one last thing...Ireland in a week from tomorrow!!! :-D 

Ben Folds and Freedom

Out of no where I started listening to Ben Folds Five again this week. It's been ages since I last sat and really listened and I began to remember why I loved them so much way back when. I can't even remember why I stopped listening. 

This past week was exceptionally rough. Monday was fine, Tuesday was ALD teaching 100 plus year 8s how to play ultimate frisbee. They loved it--I was so pleased with the outcome and I think we might be able to get a team together for the spring. ALD means 6 hours straight of teaching and no frees. After, I went for a 5 mile run. Wednesday I, once again, didn't have any frees. 6 hours of straight teaching. I managed to get an entire class set of books marked and reply to all the e-mails I missed during Tuesday's madness. After pulling a 10 hour day I dragged myself back home though managed to catch up with Jason (I'll refer to him as Jay since the name is rather confusing)--at that point it was 11pm and I was exhausted. Thursday hit and by that point I was running on fumes and starting to crack. Year 11s were being complete assess--if they don't realize that their course work is important, at this point, then my case is useless. They are either going to complete it or they're not. Well, after that lesson I felt as though someone had pulled my plus and I lost it. The 'crack' in me began to split in half and I lost it in the staff room during break. Back upstairs after being consoled by two of my amazing colleagues. Year 8s and one of my difficult students really acted up. 3s on his report sent him into a complete hissy fit--another teacher stepped in without my permission--I felt like I was losing control--I just grabbed my books and left for the staff room for my first free in two days. Headphones on. Mark books. Shit I need to prep for year 13 next lesson. Hop on the computer in the office. Jimmy tried to help me (another colleague) but that didn't seem to help. Lesson sorted. Back downstairs to mark books. Head phones on. My head of department yelled my name to get my attention. (My sporatic and short sentences reflect my emotions at this point). Asking me if I was alright and at that point my 'crack' split in two and I lost my bearings. I couldn't help it--it was as if all this pent up stress I had been carrying around for the past how ever many weeks just came pouring out. To be honest it's amazing I lasted this long before this happened. Apparently the rest of the department thought I was taking my transition to a new country, new school, and first year of teaching incredibly well. And to be honest, I was. For some reason, this particular week was just really rough. It had nothing to do with my personal life (a serious change of pace since I got back from the States a month ago--oh hey I was dumped a month ago--where the hell did the time go...?), I think that everything is beginning to pile despite my unyielding effort to get everything accomplished. I need to come to terms with the fact that I cannot expect the following: all of my marking/planning to be caught up on...as a secondary teacher I will always be behind; I cannot expect to get everything perfect this year and even next year. learning this entirely new system will mean I have to start all over again (to some extent); I need to stop being a perfectionist because it's going to drive me nuts (easier said than done). Well, needless to say, after much consoling and a few things fixed, I felt much better (though I still feel like I'm incompetent, to some extent, in many areas of teaching and have SO much to learn). To be honest, without my department, I don't know where I'd be. Friday was a bit better aside from the note from the angry parent asking why his child's book hadn't been marked in weeks and why spellings weren't corrected. To answer this gem of a note: 1. I'm behind in my marking 2. the 'mistakes' you corrected were all notes taken from the board. if your child cannot copy down notes from the board at the age of 13, well I'm sorry, he needs to come and see me. perhaps I should have underlined them, but if I know the student can spell properly, as he does in the rest of his writing, and he's just rushing and not paying attention, well I'm not about to run after him with that. 

That week is done and over with. No need to harp on the past. The only thing I can do is look to next week with high hopes. Today I spent most of my day in the City Centre. Started off with coffee at Waterstones and a bit of reading. I was a bit apprehensive of doing this (out of fear of running into Jason), but I wanted to get a book for Ireland and finish Twlight. I knew I was going to be in the City Centre for the day so I saw no reason for going anywhere else. I'm not about to NOT do certain things just because I want to avoid someone--that's silly and a bit pathetic. I bought a pair of army pants for the tourney up in Sheffield next weekend. They are having a Top Gun theme and I'm going combat for the night ;) Aviators and all--pictures will be hilarious, no doubt. I met up with various people from my department throughout the day. It was quite enjoyable. 

On the topic of Ireland--I'm overly excited for this trip. I've decided to not only finish up the sights in Dublin I want to see (referring to the ones I didn't get to see the first time around), but I'm also looking into Cork or Kerry :) Jay offered to take me around Dublin (and even drive out to Kerry with me), which is incredibly thoughtful. The past few trips I've taken have been on my own--it'll be nice to know I have someone to travel with (though traveling on your own means you're destined to meet new people). 

I'm starting to fall asleep so I'm heading in for the night. 

'Confusing an education with cold stone...'

First, this past week at work flew by ridiculous amounts. Aside from the terrible start to the week, the staff seemed to keep a rather high moral about them. Every day I teach I find new and interesting ways to keep my students engaged and behaving properly. I don't let the small things bother me any more (or at least I try not to). My biggest issue at this point is the fact that my year 13s are making excuses as to why they have come to my class unprepared for the past two lessons (not reading the book, not ordering the book, not doing the homework etc.) I ended up having a lesson with TWO students last week because I had to send out four of them because they came unprepared. Irritating. I told them I'm going to start treating them like college students. If they showed up to a class unprepared at University then they would be sent out (by British standards we would be talking about their seminar--the lectures require no talking and all note taking). Hoping this week proves to be yet another enjoyable one! 

This weekend was really great. The first time since I got back from America where I can say I went the entire weekend without feeling like crap. Friday I began by going for about a 4-5 mile run (I don't know exactly how long but I know it was within that frame of distance) and then took myself out to dinner. Yes, that's right, I took myself out to my favorite Italian restaurant in the City Centre (called ZiZis) and it was fantastic. They always say that going out to dinner on your own gets  you awkward stares from the wait staff and others eating around you. To be honest there were no eyebrows raised, no indiscreet stares, no 'wow I feel bad for that woman eating all on her own' glances. I had my meal in peace, with my newest Richard Dawkins' book, and felt completely at ease. It was actually quite nice that I could eat with others around me and not have to interact with anyone. Anyway, all in all I enjoyed myself. 

Saturday I got up early and headed off to Oxford. What a city--such culture, such beauty, such history! I decided to do a walking tour that lasted for about 2 hours; for 7.50 you couldn't beat that! Our tour guide was beyond knowledgeable, to the point that it seemed as though he had written a history book about Oxford himself (I never got a chance to asking whether or not he had, but I did find out that he went to Oxford at some point for his degree). We got into four of the colleges, and saw a fair amount of the city. Realizing that I was walking the same paths that Chaucer, Locke, Shelly, Elliot, Lawrence, and other true greats of their time, strangely shook me to the core. There's something in the atmosphere of Oxford; it lets you know that everything that has been researched, revealed, written, is still alive and breathing amongst that city. As our tour guide said, 'Oxford is a shirt, a pair of trousers, a pair of shoes. It is a city, a university, a home. Oxford is who you are if you happen to be amongst the lucky to live within its walls.' (Roughly quoted). On a lighter note, I did a bit of shopping and got the cutest dress and jacket at next. All of the pictures, including what the new outfit looks like, are (per usual) up on facebook :) After a long day I headed back to MK for a night out with a few of my friends from work (Those are also up on facebook along with some hilarious videos).

Today was productive as I managed to clean the house (yes...the house and this does include my room surprisingly enough), plan two weeks worth of lessons for year 7, read more of the dead school, speak to my family members, and even update this thing.  I didn't go for a run today (oops) but I'll get that in tomorrow.

Must be off to clean up from dinner and settle down with more reading :)

History in the making...

I know I posted yesterday so I'm going to keep this short. However, I felt that today, marking a huge step forward in American history, should be celebrated and talked about as much as possible. 

240,000 people today will pass through security at the West Front of the Capital. Hundreds of thousands more will pack into The Mall. People have rented out rooms, taken days off from work, closed schools, driven, flown, taken a train, and even walked (if the distance permits), all just to say that they experienced the Inauguration Day on the 20th of January 2009. DC natives--at this point--are probably tearing their hair out from sheer frustration over the amount of tourists that are flooding the streets of DC and have been all week. In a way, I'm sad that I don't have the chance to be one of those hundreds of thousands of people to pack into The Mall. I can only imagine how intense the atmosphere must be, even now at 2 in the morning. 

At 9:45 am, Joseph Biden will be sworn into office, followed by Barak Obama, who will then be sworn in at 11:46am. The VP of the United States was not sworn in at the same time as the President until FDR took to office (he was also the first present to be sworn in on the 20 of January--just some side information for ya'll ;) ). 

At 12:32pm there is a departure ceremony for the outgoing Vice President and President. I might sound off an alarm of some sort-- at 5:32pm (UK time)--signifying Bush and Chenney being out of office. Forever. They, in my opinion, do not deserve a ceremony, but I suppose we cannot go against tradition, now can we? 

At 1:35 there is a luncheon held for the newly elected VP and President. 

And finally, the big bang (at least for the audience), at 2:36, the President and Vice President will begin their parade going down Pennsylvania Ave., followed by floats, citizen groups, military regiments, and marching bands. At this time (which will be 7:36 my UK time) I'll be having people over to my place for some champagne :) It will be a good time and a great start to what, hopefully will be, an uplifting and hopeful next four years.

'Where the hell on earth was I...?'

And breathe. 

I made it through, what seemed like, one of the longest weeks at WH. I'm not entirely sure why, but I know that it felt as though it dragged on forever. I was so eager for the weekend and so resentful for Friday to come. PD during what should be my time off...WAF assembly (which, mind you, turned out great--I'm so proud of my kiddies :) )... tutorials with students and trying to get so much done before I could relax. Needless to say, I made and I can simply relax for a good 24 hours (I know that sounds pretty pathetic, but I have marking I need to do on Sunday--I'm getting use to working 6 days a week). 

I was looking into Adult Education Courses given by Milton Keynes. There's a course called 'Drawing for people who can't'. It sounded really great (especially since I wish I had stuck with art and have lost all drawing abilities)...only problem it's located at Shenley Brook End and well...to be honest...it's a bit too soon. I know there's a slim chance I would run into him every time, or at all for that matter, and regardless of the fact that I told him I want to be friends eventually, just need to take it very slow, it still feels too soon. I'm looking into a Creative Writing course for short stories or perhaps a pottery class. I just need something to bide my time...something to give me an outlet that is more social. Running is a great outlet, don't get me wrong, but it's not very social. I am still looking into joining a running club. We'll see what happens.

I picked up my clarinet last night for the first time in a while. It was great playing again. There's something so relaxing just sitting there, letting your fingers make the music (though I was really struggling last night...). When I was younger I never really appreciated the instrument for what it was. Last night I had a good look at it and saw, for the first time, its true beauty. The silver keys are still cold and clear and the wood is a deep brown, just like the day I got it. I love the smell of the case when I open it; a mix of goose grease, cork, and wood. It's one of those moments that instantaneously sends you back to a memory...last night I found myself sitting in the band room at my old high school. What I wouldn't give to have a second chance to practice harder, become more efficient. If I knew what I know now, I would have pushed myself to practice more, take music more seriously. I would have gone for All County, All Regions, and even All State band. I would have battled harder against the guy who took first chair; I never made it past third. My band director's reason for putting me there was because of how passionate I was when I was playing. The other kid who took fourth was a braniac who ended up going to Carnegie Mellon for University--he knew how to play but was so mechanical about it. Anyway, you can't dwell on the past--I just need to take some lessons and then find a group to play with; I have a feeling lessons won't start for another month or so. Regardless, it's something to look forward to :) 

Anyway, time to get ready to go out. One of the PE techs. is leaving so we're all going out for his last day before he starts his new job at the 'Alkatraz of England' as he put it.