A couple of weekends ago, I met my friend and former AHS co-worker, Brady, and her husband Shane in London for the day. Brady is actually the reason why I’m in England. She was the one who told me about Bluewave International, the recruitment company I went through to get my teaching job out here. A friend of hers had found the company online and decided to apply with them, just to see what would come of it. He was placed in a school out here in England very quickly, and since she was feeling unsettled in her teaching career in Colorado, she decided to give it a shot as well.
One evening several months ago, she and I were at our favourite “English Pub” in Denver, and I was expounding upon the many woes I was facing in my situation at the time. Things were rough for me, both personally and professionally, and I was searching for a solution. Leaving Denver and starting afresh someplace else was an idea I had been mildly considering since Terry died, but one night last November, over a year after his death, I had an experience that, since that night, I hadn’t been able to get the idea of leaving out of my head.
I was lying in bed waiting for sleep, when I suddenly thought I was drowning. Literally. It felt like someone was sitting on my chest. I was gasping for breath, my body was shaking uncontrollably with sobs, and I was convinced that my own death was imminent. These were not suicidal thoughts; I was not thinking of taking my own life. It simply felt like I was going to die…like death was coming for me. Never having had a panic attack before, I didn’t know that that was what was happening to me. It wasn’t until an emergency trip to my counsellor the next day that my experience was given a name. All I knew at the time was that it was one of the scariest things that had ever happened to me. When I was finally able to calm down enough to breathe and think, my first impulse was to run. “Impulse” is perhaps the wrong word. It wasn’t just an impulse. Every ounce of my being was on fire and pulling me out of bed and urging me into my car. Again, death seemed imminent. If I didn’t go, I would die. I was sure of it. I picked up my phone and called my friend Tommy in Hawaii and my friend Travis in Seattle, and I asked them both if they would be okay with my coming to crash with them for a while. They both kindly offered me a place to stay for as long as I might need it. I then called my sister Jessie in South Dakota. Whether I decided to go to Seattle or Hawaii, I was going to have to get the money for a plane ticket first, and I could not stay in Denver another minute. I was planning to throw some stuff in the trunk of my car and drive to South Dakota that very night. I knew I could stay with Jessie or with my grandma, get a job, and make some money to buy the plane ticket. This was the plan. Then I walked downstairs, still sobbing, and talked to my mom. She listened concernedly as I cried and tried to verbalize what I was feeling and what I wanted to do. As only she can, my mom calmed me down. She was understanding and compassionate about my need to flee that very minute from the feelings that were consuming me, but she made me promise to sleep on it, go see a counsellor the next day, then make a decision. As much as every molecule in my body was illogically screaming at me to get in the car, I was still able to comprehend the logic behind her request. This was a rash decision. I did as she asked; I went to bed. I slept very little, the immediacy of the urge to run still coursing through my veins.
The next morning, I went to talk to someone about what had happened the night before, praying she would be able to tell me exactly what to do. Naturally, it doesn’t work like that. She couldn’t make my decision for me, but she did help me a little bit. First, she described what a panic attack is, and it was pretty obvious that she was describing what I had experienced the previous night. That helped. This thing had a name. It was real. I wasn’t going crazy…well, not in that sense anyway. She also explained that to make a life-changing decision like moving to a different state could be a catastrophically bad idea in the immediate aftermath of a panic attack. She said that I was certainly still too emotionally unstable to be able to make a clear-headed choice of that magnitude. I did a quick internal emotional scan, and in point of fact, I was still feeling the effects of it as I sat in her office. I was still trembling, still uncontrollably crying, and the impulse to run was still pushing urgently at the back of my throat. I’ve never felt anything with such immediacy. Over the course of our conversation, I came to realize that I needed to wait a little longer before deciding to move. Her recommendation was a month, one month to mull it over and be sure of what I wanted, and while that seemed like a reasonable amount of time in my head, my body couldn’t fathom staying where I was for a whole other month.
Thankfully, Thanksgiving was only about a week away and that offered me a temporary solution. In just a few days, I was able to pack up my car and give myself a slight respite from the insistent demand for distance still resounding inside me. I drove to South Dakota and spent Thanksgiving with my sister, my grandmother, and a few of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. The ten-hour drive through relative nothingness put me at ease. I could actually feel the knots in my stomach start to release as I got closer and closer to the place where my mother grew up. I spent four days of stillness and quiet in the peaceful countryside where my mom’s family farm sits on a hillside surrounded by wheat fields that dance and shimmer in the prairie wind. I love it there. My soul is fed by the gentle silence and the endless sky. It’s a place that has always brought me comfort and solace, but never more so than this. The only way in which this trip was not a complete reprieve was that when I went home, I wanted to be gone again. The time away showed me, quite clearly, that I would need to leave again. Now came the task of figuring out how.
But life, as it tends to do, took over again once I got home. Out of necessity, I went back to working day to day, interacting with people day to day, and trying to cope day to day. The inclination to leave stayed at the back of my mind, and I spent nights in bed musing over how I might go about making it happen. Whether or not I ever took my musings seriously, I can’t be sure. Part of me believed that I would never be able to do it, that I was stuck. I felt as though, in the last year, all my decisions had been the wrong ones. My unpredictable emotions continued to wreak havoc over my life, harming me and those around me. I didn’t know how to fix it. By the time I had this conversation about Bluewave with Brady, I was feeling anxious and trapped. More than anything, I was utterly scared.
So why am I here? I’m here because I got scared. My life scared me. All that had already happened, all that was currently happening, and all that might happen…it all scared me. I chickened out. I couldn’t face it. I didn’t know how. I mean, there were other reasons too, of course. My wanderlust had been nagging at the back of my mind long before this. Travelling is one of my passions; it is a part of who I am. I travelled quite a bit last summer, spending a couple of weeks on the West Coast and Hawaii, then a month in Europe, but I wanted to be more than a tourist. I’ve always wanted to live – not just visit – in a different country. I wanted to become a part of a culture, not just observe it as outsider. Scotland, England, and Spain have always appealed to me, so when Brady mentioned this program, in the midst of all that I was feeling, it seemed like something I was supposed to pursue. However, if I’m honest with myself, I know that the main source of my motivation for this move was fear. When I look back on the last few years, it sickens me how many of my decisions were made on the grounds of fear. Fear has ruled me. Fear is a terrible power, and it is mostly self-inflicted. I let fear take me over, because that seemed like a safer route than allowing for any possibility of further loss and heartache. My single greatest priority became to avoid pain. Yes, I will admit it – the reason I am here is primarily a cowardly and selfish one. There were issues I didn’t want to deal with back home, so I ran.
But here’s the thing: it doesn’t matter.
It doesn’t matter why I left. The reasons that brought me here are irrelevant. I am here. And I need to be here. It is necessary. I am supposed to be living in this house, with these people, in this town, working at this school, at this exact time in my life. There is no other explanation for any of this other than I HAD TO. If I didn’t, I would always have wanted to, and I would always have thought that I should have. Years from now, no matter how good my life had the potential to be, there would always be doubt that I had made the wrong decision. I would regret that I had been too scared to give it shot. It all comes back to fear. I came because of my fear, and if I hadn’t come, that also would have been because of fear. “The lesser of two evils” required me to make a decision. What scared me more? The answer came to me surprisingly easily. I already have quite enough look-back-and-wonder-what-if material, thank you very much. I knew I had to try. Yes, there was the distinct possibility that I would come to England, fail miserably, and have to go back home again dejected, having sacrificed a great deal in the process. There is still that possibility. But if it happens, I will know that at least I tried and it didn’t work. I want so desperately to come home at the end of this truly ready to move on with my life. I think I am making steps toward making that happen.
I won’t lie and say that this has been easy. There are days that I am so frustrated with some of the aspects of teaching in this system that I am want to quit and walk out of the school. There are days when the students are so emotionally taxing that I want to sit down and cry. There are days that I am so sad about all the moments I am missing with my nephews that I want to get on the next plane and come home and never leave them again. There are days that I need my parents, and my siblings, and my friends so badly that I want to call every one of you, just to draw some strength from your voices. There are days that I am so lonely I want to climb into bed and never get up again. There are days that I’m so afraid that I’ve made the wrong decision and lost something so precious to me that it is hard for me to breathe.
There are those days. My only solution for those days is to try to make the next day better. I can’t always fix it, but I try. I do some exploring, or I make a new friend, or I read a new book, or I go to London and see a show, or I get a bunch of grading done, or I buy something British and fabulous, or I write, or I make plans for my next break from school. These things help refocus my mind and remind me that I am having a fabulous adventure. I have seen some amazing things that many people will never get to see. I have done some incredible things that many people will never get to do. I have met some wonderful people that I already can’t imagine my life without. It is these moments that make this whole life-gamble worthwhile. I am thankful that I have this opportunity to grow, learn, and heal. I realize that it is up to me to reap the maximum potential benefit from this endeavour, and I am really, really trying.
The Teaching Bit:
I don’t have to do it for a while! Hooray! We’ve just completed our first half term and I now have one week off. I really like this one week off for every six weeks of teaching thing. Brilliant! I am a little behind with things at school (like grading), so I will spend part of my break at school getting caught up. What can I say?...I haven’t changed much in my absolute inability to take a break from work. However, I am taking a few days to go explore northern England. Me, Samantha, and our friend Ben are taking a road trip up to Liverpool for four days. We leave today. I’m so excited! Outside of London, there just hasn’t been time to do a whole lot of sight-seeing. I am really looking forward to this.
Theatre:
The day that I met Brady and Shane in London we went to see Stomp, which is absolutely one of the most exciting and fun theatre experiences I’ve ever had. It was positively exhilarating. If you ever have a chance to see this show when it’s touring, I ABSOLUTELY recommend it. Samantha and I went to see Rain Man with Josh Hartnett the next weekend. It was quite good. Mr. Hartnett did a pretty good job, and Adam Godley (who played Ray) was outstanding, although not as good as Dustin Hoffman in the movie. But, come on, you can’t really expect that from anybody. I wasn’t terribly impressed with some of the supporting cast, unfortunately, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed it. Finally, this week we took about twenty of our year 10 Drama students to go see West Side Story since they are studying it in class. It was excellent. The woman who played Anita absolutely stole the show, and the actor who played Tony had one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard. Swoon. Seriously. When he belted the high note in “Maria” I almost fell out of my chair. Oh dear…my face is getting a little flushed. I have to stop thinking about it. Anyway, the whole cast was fabulous. The dance element of the show was particularly fantastic, and the final scene was beautifully staged and positively heart-wrenching. Three more successful theatre experiences in London. Most excellent.
London:
Sam and I went to Harrods a couple of weekends ago. Now, I went there with Chrissy when I was in London four years ago, but we must have quit before we saw the whole store, because I do not remember my last experience there being nearly as grand as this time was. This time, we spent the better part of the day there, thoroughly enjoying all six ridiculously huge floors. I have never seen anything like this place. There is nothing you can’t buy there, if you have the money to afford the exorbitant prices. It is almost overwhelming. You don’t even know where to begin. In fact, it’s so big, that I am quite sure that we missed at least part of every floor. Each one was a huge, never-ending maze of merchandise, ranging from food to electronics to a couture wedding gown boutique. And here comes the highlight of the day, and perhaps the highlight of my entire experience in England to date: The shoe floor. I have never seen anything like it. It is not an exaggeration to say I almost fainted when we reached it. Every high-end designer you can think of had their own unique alcove throughout the floor…Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Manolo, Prada, D&G, to name a few. Then, of course, was the designer whose shoes speak directly to my heart, and who, if I ever had the funds, would be the recipient of my generous shoe-buying patronage: Christian Louboutin. His red-soled masterpieces stood along the gorgeous black displays, in the gorgeous black velvet covered room, with black ceiling-to-floor sheer drapes that separated row after row of his incredible creations. I tried on a pair of $900 red, patent leather pumps with criss-crossed straps across the top of the foot. I tried on a pair of the perfect $800 black patent leather pumps, so comfortable I am quite convinced I could have worn them jogging, though of course I would never do that. I held, but could not allow myself to try on, a $2000 pair of black satin, crystal-studded heels. They were perhaps the most beautiful shoes I have ever seen. *Sigh* It was a very good day.
*A-hem!* Now that I have pegged myself as probably the biggest girly-girl in all of Girldom, I have to remind you that I while I love shoes, I also camp, and get dirty, and climb rocks and trees, and shoot guns, and ride four-wheelers, and snowboard, and I don’t paint my fingernails. So there. I’m not a complete loss.
Well, I’m going to go get ready to run around Liverpool doing dorky Beatles-related stuff. I’m missing you much and wishing you well, as always.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s
Hello, my dear ones. Here’s my second blog for you to peruse at your leisure.
The Teaching Bit:
Although it’s still a struggle, I do feel much more settled at this point than I did last time I wrote. There are moments when I am still completely mind-boggled by some of the policies and procedures of the school, but I am trying my hardest to shrug it off and do the job the way I know how to do it. Hopefully, that will suffice.
The biggest stress of the job is preparing the students for their exams. If I ever thought that we were assessment-based in our teaching in the States, I really had no idea how much harder it could be. There are two main levels of assessments that are essential to every student and every teacher. They are: 1) the GCSE exams, which students take at the end of year 11 (age 16), and 2) The A-level exams at the end of year 13 (age 18). The easiest way for me to describe it is to compare them to the O.W.L.s and the N.E.W.T.s in Harry Potter, because they work basically the same way…and yes, before you say it, I know I’m a huge dork. **Note: if you have no interest in knowing how the educational system in England works, skip the rest of this section. I just thought it might be informative to my fellow educators.**
Anyway, like in the books, these two exams are not just to check on how the schools are doing (like the CSAP at home), but to determine the direction the students’ education will take from this point forward. It’s a narrowing-down process. The students’ futures really are determined by how they do on these exams. Up until the end of year 11, every student takes the same variety of classes. They are not given options, not even for “electives” such as music, theatre, and sports, because they are not elective. Every student must take these classes along with the core classes like English and Math. That’s right…you’re understanding me correctly. Theatre, Art, Music, Technology, etc. are REQUIRED classes up until they take their exams at age 16. Brilliant!! The GCSE, like the O.W.L.s, narrows down what courses the students will take at the A-level (like the N.E.W.T. classes), and should hopefully be all the classes the students need for their future at university. I’d say that’s probably the hardest part. These kids really do need to have a strong sense of what they want to do with their lives by the time they get to their exams at the end of year 11. The students must earn a passing grade on the GCSE exam to be able to take that subject at the A-level. The A-level classes cover their last two years in secondary school, and the sole purpose of the A-level classes is to get the students ready for university. The A-level classes are intensive courses that give students the knowledge-base they will need to succeed at university, and to prepare them for the kind of work-load they will be facing at university. I’m teaching an A-level Drama class, for example, and the curriculum covers theory and performance demands I didn’t experience until at least my second year of college. It’s crazy. Anyway, if they do not earn a passing grade on the A-level exam, they will not be able to continue study of that subject at university, and they may not get into the university of their choice at all. So, in that regard, the A-level exams have some correlation to our SAT’s and ACT’s.
It’s a really intense educational system, but in a lot of ways it makes more sense to me than what we have going on in the States. The system is much more focused and much more specialized. I think the main reason I like it is because it stops forcing students to take classes not applicable to their futures by the time they are 16 years old. I’ve always thought that was one of the main reasons that our drop-out rate is so high. It makes perfect sense to me to allow students to take classes that focus on their areas of strength and interest by the time they’ve reached that age.
Of course, that puts a huge amount of pressure on the students to do well on the exams, because (SHOCK!! GASP!!) the exams out here actually MEAN something to them. There is only one exam at the secondary level that seems to be CSAP-esque. It happens at year 9, it’s pointless, and the schools are trying to get it abolished.
Can the U.S. learn something from this system? I think so.
London:
My friend David, who has been stationed in Germany for past year, is leaving to go back home to Colorado in a couple of weeks. So, before he left, we decided that he should come visit me in England since he hadn’t been here yet. He made his trip out here two weekends ago. It was so nice to see him, and SO nice to have company (hint hint)! The weekend was fantastic. He came in to Wycombe on Friday afternoon and we spent the evening in the pubs in my town, but the rest of the weekend was in London. I took him to see the major sights I had been to before, including most of the places listed in the last blog, plus Buckingham Palace, Green Park, the war memorials, Hyde Park, Westminster Abbey, and a trip to the Sherlock Holmes museum on Baker Street. I love that place! I also got a chance to visit some places I hadn’t been before, like the Tower of London. This was super cool! We got to see where Anne Boleyn was executed and buried, the national armoury, the crown jewels, and a bunch of other cool English historical and military stuff. Our tour guide was also very funny, which added a lot to the experience.
I’ve now spent enough time in London that I can get around several areas very comfortably, without having to look at a map. Someone even asked me for directions to Chinatown a couple of weekends ago and I was able to tell them…and they were English! Can you believe it? I can give someone directions in London! Crazy!
Theatre:
Two more shows down: Avenue Q, which was positively freaking hysterical, and Riflemind directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman and starring John Hannah (he played Evelyn’s stupid brother Jonathan in The Mummy movies), which was amazing but totally messed with my head and left me depressed for about three days.
Anna, U.K. 2008 version:
In order to adjust to life in England, a few things have changed. I thought I’d let you know.
1) As a result of there being no screens on any windows in this country, I’m getting much better at killing spiders, though I am still afraid of them. I would do what I normally do, which is make someone else kill them for me, but no one in England kills spiders. Apparently, Brits are all the take-spiders-outside-and-let-them-go-free types, and I can’t have that. Actually, if I had known that before I moved here, it’s likely I wouldn’t have come. If I see a spider inside, it dies. Taking it outside just means it’ll come back in later with a few of its friends. So, by necessity, I’m getting much braver. I give you permission to be proud of me. I expect praise, gifts, and maybe a cake.
2) I don’t know exactly how much, because I have yet to see a scale in this country and I wouldn’t know how to do the conversion anyway, but I have definitely lost weight. My clothes are falling off. I guess having no car and walking everywhere has its advantages. Though, I do have to say I am honestly surprised that I’ve lost weight. I really thought my increased consumption of chocolate and beer would have balanced it out.
3) Now, I know I swore that I’d never do this - that I would never bend to this trend - but I couldn’t help it. Please don’t judge me. I bought my first real pair of skinny jeans. They’re taking some getting used to, but they look great with boots.
4) I’m also considering getting bangs the next time I get my hair cut. Holy Crap! Who am I???
I thought I would end this blog, and perhaps future blogs, with a list of things that I’m finding awesome, as well as terrible, out here in England. I’m sure I’ll find plenty to add to these lists as my time here goes on. Let this serve as a warning to anyone planning to come visit.
What sucks:
- No ranch dressing
- No pancakes
- No dill pickles or pickle relish
- The smooth peanut butter (it tastes funny and it’s dry)
- Potatoes are served with everything
- The round-abouts
- The way pedestrians are uniformly ignored by drivers
- No decent Mexican food (this is killing me)
- The pop music (When the hell did S Club 7 become popular again?)
- No screens on windows (spiders! EEK!)
- Coca-cola (also tastes funny)
- Coffee (nothing but instant. Ick!)
- The fashion (some of it)
What rocks:
- London
- The weather
- The chocolate (freakin AMAZING)
- Beer
- Yorkshire pudding
- The late pub/club hours
- The late-night food vans outside the pubs
- Public transport
- The rock music and the electronica
- Tea
- The gardens
- The fashion (some of it)
- The theatre
- Ice cream at intermission of theatre shows, in the theatre, not just the lobby
I must admit to feeling a little lonelier this last week or so than I have since my arrival. I’m missing you all very much and hoping that everything is good with you. Please don’t forget to send me updates about you and yours. It helps me feel like I’m still connected to you and tied to what’s happening in your life if I get emails and messages.
Still adjusting but pretty happy,
Anna
P.S. – I found a karaoke bar, AND they’re currently doing a contest with a grand prize of a thousand pounds! Watch out High Wycombe! Anna enters the scene this Tuesday night! :) Wow, I’m lame.
The Teaching Bit:
Although it’s still a struggle, I do feel much more settled at this point than I did last time I wrote. There are moments when I am still completely mind-boggled by some of the policies and procedures of the school, but I am trying my hardest to shrug it off and do the job the way I know how to do it. Hopefully, that will suffice.
The biggest stress of the job is preparing the students for their exams. If I ever thought that we were assessment-based in our teaching in the States, I really had no idea how much harder it could be. There are two main levels of assessments that are essential to every student and every teacher. They are: 1) the GCSE exams, which students take at the end of year 11 (age 16), and 2) The A-level exams at the end of year 13 (age 18). The easiest way for me to describe it is to compare them to the O.W.L.s and the N.E.W.T.s in Harry Potter, because they work basically the same way…and yes, before you say it, I know I’m a huge dork. **Note: if you have no interest in knowing how the educational system in England works, skip the rest of this section. I just thought it might be informative to my fellow educators.**
Anyway, like in the books, these two exams are not just to check on how the schools are doing (like the CSAP at home), but to determine the direction the students’ education will take from this point forward. It’s a narrowing-down process. The students’ futures really are determined by how they do on these exams. Up until the end of year 11, every student takes the same variety of classes. They are not given options, not even for “electives” such as music, theatre, and sports, because they are not elective. Every student must take these classes along with the core classes like English and Math. That’s right…you’re understanding me correctly. Theatre, Art, Music, Technology, etc. are REQUIRED classes up until they take their exams at age 16. Brilliant!! The GCSE, like the O.W.L.s, narrows down what courses the students will take at the A-level (like the N.E.W.T. classes), and should hopefully be all the classes the students need for their future at university. I’d say that’s probably the hardest part. These kids really do need to have a strong sense of what they want to do with their lives by the time they get to their exams at the end of year 11. The students must earn a passing grade on the GCSE exam to be able to take that subject at the A-level. The A-level classes cover their last two years in secondary school, and the sole purpose of the A-level classes is to get the students ready for university. The A-level classes are intensive courses that give students the knowledge-base they will need to succeed at university, and to prepare them for the kind of work-load they will be facing at university. I’m teaching an A-level Drama class, for example, and the curriculum covers theory and performance demands I didn’t experience until at least my second year of college. It’s crazy. Anyway, if they do not earn a passing grade on the A-level exam, they will not be able to continue study of that subject at university, and they may not get into the university of their choice at all. So, in that regard, the A-level exams have some correlation to our SAT’s and ACT’s.
It’s a really intense educational system, but in a lot of ways it makes more sense to me than what we have going on in the States. The system is much more focused and much more specialized. I think the main reason I like it is because it stops forcing students to take classes not applicable to their futures by the time they are 16 years old. I’ve always thought that was one of the main reasons that our drop-out rate is so high. It makes perfect sense to me to allow students to take classes that focus on their areas of strength and interest by the time they’ve reached that age.
Of course, that puts a huge amount of pressure on the students to do well on the exams, because (SHOCK!! GASP!!) the exams out here actually MEAN something to them. There is only one exam at the secondary level that seems to be CSAP-esque. It happens at year 9, it’s pointless, and the schools are trying to get it abolished.
Can the U.S. learn something from this system? I think so.
London:
My friend David, who has been stationed in Germany for past year, is leaving to go back home to Colorado in a couple of weeks. So, before he left, we decided that he should come visit me in England since he hadn’t been here yet. He made his trip out here two weekends ago. It was so nice to see him, and SO nice to have company (hint hint)! The weekend was fantastic. He came in to Wycombe on Friday afternoon and we spent the evening in the pubs in my town, but the rest of the weekend was in London. I took him to see the major sights I had been to before, including most of the places listed in the last blog, plus Buckingham Palace, Green Park, the war memorials, Hyde Park, Westminster Abbey, and a trip to the Sherlock Holmes museum on Baker Street. I love that place! I also got a chance to visit some places I hadn’t been before, like the Tower of London. This was super cool! We got to see where Anne Boleyn was executed and buried, the national armoury, the crown jewels, and a bunch of other cool English historical and military stuff. Our tour guide was also very funny, which added a lot to the experience.
I’ve now spent enough time in London that I can get around several areas very comfortably, without having to look at a map. Someone even asked me for directions to Chinatown a couple of weekends ago and I was able to tell them…and they were English! Can you believe it? I can give someone directions in London! Crazy!
Theatre:
Two more shows down: Avenue Q, which was positively freaking hysterical, and Riflemind directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman and starring John Hannah (he played Evelyn’s stupid brother Jonathan in The Mummy movies), which was amazing but totally messed with my head and left me depressed for about three days.
Anna, U.K. 2008 version:
In order to adjust to life in England, a few things have changed. I thought I’d let you know.
1) As a result of there being no screens on any windows in this country, I’m getting much better at killing spiders, though I am still afraid of them. I would do what I normally do, which is make someone else kill them for me, but no one in England kills spiders. Apparently, Brits are all the take-spiders-outside-and-let-them-go-free types, and I can’t have that. Actually, if I had known that before I moved here, it’s likely I wouldn’t have come. If I see a spider inside, it dies. Taking it outside just means it’ll come back in later with a few of its friends. So, by necessity, I’m getting much braver. I give you permission to be proud of me. I expect praise, gifts, and maybe a cake.
2) I don’t know exactly how much, because I have yet to see a scale in this country and I wouldn’t know how to do the conversion anyway, but I have definitely lost weight. My clothes are falling off. I guess having no car and walking everywhere has its advantages. Though, I do have to say I am honestly surprised that I’ve lost weight. I really thought my increased consumption of chocolate and beer would have balanced it out.
3) Now, I know I swore that I’d never do this - that I would never bend to this trend - but I couldn’t help it. Please don’t judge me. I bought my first real pair of skinny jeans. They’re taking some getting used to, but they look great with boots.
4) I’m also considering getting bangs the next time I get my hair cut. Holy Crap! Who am I???
I thought I would end this blog, and perhaps future blogs, with a list of things that I’m finding awesome, as well as terrible, out here in England. I’m sure I’ll find plenty to add to these lists as my time here goes on. Let this serve as a warning to anyone planning to come visit.
What sucks:
- No ranch dressing
- No pancakes
- No dill pickles or pickle relish
- The smooth peanut butter (it tastes funny and it’s dry)
- Potatoes are served with everything
- The round-abouts
- The way pedestrians are uniformly ignored by drivers
- No decent Mexican food (this is killing me)
- The pop music (When the hell did S Club 7 become popular again?)
- No screens on windows (spiders! EEK!)
- Coca-cola (also tastes funny)
- Coffee (nothing but instant. Ick!)
- The fashion (some of it)
What rocks:
- London
- The weather
- The chocolate (freakin AMAZING)
- Beer
- Yorkshire pudding
- The late pub/club hours
- The late-night food vans outside the pubs
- Public transport
- The rock music and the electronica
- Tea
- The gardens
- The fashion (some of it)
- The theatre
- Ice cream at intermission of theatre shows, in the theatre, not just the lobby
I must admit to feeling a little lonelier this last week or so than I have since my arrival. I’m missing you all very much and hoping that everything is good with you. Please don’t forget to send me updates about you and yours. It helps me feel like I’m still connected to you and tied to what’s happening in your life if I get emails and messages.
Still adjusting but pretty happy,
Anna
P.S. – I found a karaoke bar, AND they’re currently doing a contest with a grand prize of a thousand pounds! Watch out High Wycombe! Anna enters the scene this Tuesday night! :) Wow, I’m lame.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Where's the karaoke??
First off, please accept my deepest and sincerest apologies that this first blog has taken so long to post. Access to a computer has been frustratingly limited, mainly because my three roommates and I have been sharing one laptop, so I feel bad taking up too much time on it. This blog (I predict) will take a while to write and I don’t want to bogart the only computer in the house. I would have typed it after hours at school, but classes aren’t over until almost 4:00, then I get kicked out of the school at 6 p.m. This is crazy: they completely lock up the school at 6:00 and no one’s allowed access without a special pre-arranged reason. No more 11:00 p.m. nights at school for me, it looks like. This is going to take some getting used to. I’m accustomed to having a master key to the school and the phone number for security on speed dial on my cell phone, allowing me to come and go as I please. My whole life is much more scheduled now. I’ll explain when I get to the teaching bit of the blog. **Disclaimer** I’m typing on a British computer, so Microsoft Word is automatically changing my spelling on words like “favourite” and “centre”. I’m not being pretentious! Okay, let’s jump in:
Getting Here:
The trip was thankfully uneventful, and went surprisingly fast for an 8 ½ hour flight. It’s nice that it was overnight, because I was able to sleep for a good 4 hours, which NEVER would have happened on a flight not during my usual sleeping hours. I’ll tell you another thing, every time I have the option, I will definitely be taking non-stop flights. What a relief it was not to have to deal with a layover. You wanna know the best part?? Now sit down because you’re never going to believe this….my luggage got to England at the very same time I did! I went to the baggage claim, and 1, 2, 3…there they were! **Shock! Gasp!** (In case you didn’t know, this phenomenon of luggage arriving at a destination at the same time as the traveler is damn-near unheard of for me.) My British roommate Angela and her friend Richard were at the arrivals gate to collect me. They miraculously knew who I was as soon as I came through the gate (is it that obvious that I’m an American?) and carted me and my four massive suitcases off to the car.
It was now about 6 a.m. my time, but around lunch time in England, and Angela and Richard were starving. So we stopped at a little pub on the way to the house. I had a lovely breakfast of an omelette and a beer. That’s right…I don’t mess around. Twenty minutes in England – it was time to drink. I thought it was a great idea since I fully intended to crash onto the nearest flat surface as soon as we walked in the door of the house, but it wasn’t until after I had ordered and was drinking my pint that I found out that there would be a houseful of people moving in furniture and boxes when we arrived. I didn’t realize that the moving wouldn’t already be done by the time I got there. So…oops. Now I was exhausted from the flight and I had taken the equivalent of a sleeping pill by drinking that beer. Time to move furniture!
It actually wasn’t too bad because there was plenty to do to keep me from thinking about how tired I was, plus it was probably a good idea to stay awake as long as possible to try to get onto England time. I stayed up and helped move all afternoon, then went to a very nice dinner with Angela and Richard. We went to a nearby village and ate at an awesome little historical pub. The food was delicious. By the time we got home around 8:30 I was literally ready to drop from exhaustion. I fell onto a random bed in a random room and didn’t move again until nearly 2:00 p.m. the next day. So much for getting on England time…
The House, the Town, and the Roomies:
I remember very little of the first week because I spent most of my days in a complete fog – exhausted from trying to get in the right sleeping routine. Trying to function on a schedule seven hours ahead of my internal clock turned out to be harder than I expected. Mostly, I spent the first week or two continuing to get settled and unpacking, checking out the school and planning for classes, and getting to know my roommates.
In case I didn’t already tell you, let me give you the background about how I came to find this house with these people. The principal at my school, Rob, initially put me in touch with this crazy Canadian chick, Samantha, who had also been hired at St. Bernard’s through Bluewave. Since we were both going to be new to the country and the school, it seemed like a logical decision for she and I to consider sharing accommodation for financial and companionship purposes. We started chatting through email and it was pretty clear we were compatible. As we started apartment hunting via the internet, we started to worry that we would not find a place with a move-in date that coincided with our arrival in England. I sent Rob an email asking him if he could put the word out with the staff asking if anyone knew of a place that Samantha and I would be able to crash temporarily, should it be necessary. He wrote back almost immediately and told me he’d already been asking around about that (how great is this guy??). He put me in contact with a woman named Angela who was just about to move into a new house and was looking for two leasers for the extra bedrooms. I spoke with her, again through email, and found out that she and her 18-year-old daughter Laura were moving into the house around the same time I was arriving. The circumstances really sounded ideal and the rent was within my price range. However, I never spoke with Angela or Samantha on the phone, and I never saw a picture of the house. I was taking a whole lot on faith. What the hell…it’s an adventure, right?
Naturally, there was certainly a level of uncertainly and nervousness about this move. After all, I really knew nothing about the house or the roommates before I arrived here. Well, God must be on my side, because everything about my accommodations is perfect. The house is wonderful. It’s a lovely house, we have plenty of space, the back garden and yard are beautiful, and there’s a trampoline!! Hooray! The location is ideal as well. I’m about half way between the town centre and the school – less than a mile to either – so the walk is totally reasonable. The train station is also about a mile away. It means that almost everything I need is accessible on foot, and everything else is accessible through this town’s excellent bus, train, and taxi systems. It’s wonderfully convenient.
High Wycombe is a decent little town. It has some sketchy parts, but those are easily avoidable from where I live so I don’t worry about it much. The old town centre is really charming. Lovely old buildings, cobblestone streets, great pubs, outdoor markets on the weekends…all great. The new town centre has a huge partially outdoor shopping complex with great stores (Topshop, H&M, House of Frasier, and lots of other amazing British chains), a Starbucks, a grocery store, a brand new library (which I’m already a member of), a bowling alley, a movie theatre, great bars and restaurants, and lots more. Wycombe really does offer everything I need, and it’s only a 25-40 minute train ride into London, depending on the train. Perfect! The only thing I haven’t found here yet that I MUST locate soon is a karaoke bar. Angela says there are a few in town, and I think it must be my mission this week to track one down and check it out. If I don’t sing karaoke soon, I might just explode.
The roommates are equally ideal. I am living with three sweet, fun, considerate women, who have already become friends and comrades, instead of just roommates. My living situation truly could not be better…except maybe if there was a little more closet space. ;)
The Teaching Bit:
I swear, if I ever end up teaching in the U.S. again, I’ll never complain about my schedule, assuming it’s anything like the schedule I had at Arvada, Columbine, or Alameda: 5 classes to teach, 2 planning periods for every 5 that I teach, the same class schedule from week to week. I had absolutely NO room to complain. Looking back at it now, I had the most relaxing schedule in the world, hardly anything to grade, and all the planning time a person could want. Let me try to explain it:
The scheduling at my school follows no logical system with which I am familiar. Essentially, we are on a 10-day schedule. That means that I teach a different schedule of classes every day for 10 days (two weeks), then I start back at day one and run through the ten days again. This also means that I can have up to ten preps. I have seven. Seven preps! Seven different pieces of literature, grammar, writing, reading, and theatre lessons to plan for! I’m even more special because my seven preps are each for a different grade. Secondary schools out here have grades 7-13. I teach every level of student at the school, which means I teach kids from 11 years old to 19 years old. Talk about differentiation! I hardly need state that the first two weeks of school have been incredibly overwhelming and confusing; in fact, I don’t remember the last time I was so stressed out….not even during tech week for a musical at Arvada. If you remember how stressed out I always got during that week, then you’ll know that it’s REALLY saying something that this is worse. There is also a stupid, confusing schedule for homework. It’s this totally baffling system of assigning/doing homework for the staff and students, which I’m still struggling to understand much less follow. Apparently, each subject is only supposed to give the students one hour of homework a week, so they don’t get overloaded. To manage that, there is a week by week homework calendar that tells what day homework should be assigned in each class. AHHHHH! I don’t work like that! I don’t schedule homework! If it doesn’t get finished in class, it’s homework. Isn’t that the way it works??? Not here. This is so incredibly frustrating and hard to follow. I’ve never been so scheduled in my whole life.
Then there’s the issue of planning time: it is almost non-existent. I am only “guaranteed” five hours of planning per ten days, and they can distribute it however they choose. I, for example, go four days of teaching without a planning period. Additionally, every teacher is required to be available for “cover” on their planning periods. As far as I’m concerned, this is the worst part of the whole system. There aren’t really substitute teachers out here. If a teacher is out, the other teachers in the school cover their classes for the day – a different teacher taking each period based on who has a planning period. So essentially, I am never completely guaranteed my planning time. I do all of my planning a grading before school (which thankfully doesn’t start until 8:40) or after school, which has been difficult because I have had an after-school meeting almost every day since I started, and then I get kicked out of the building at 6:00. I’ve been doing all my planning at home in the evenings, mostly without the use of a computer. If I thought I was going to be able to have a life while working out here, I was sadly mistaken.
Oh yes, and let us not forget about mandatory supervisory duty. We have to be on supervisory duty in the hallways, cafeteria, or school grounds at least twice a week before school, during mid-morning break, or at lunch. I have three shifts a week.
I wonder what Vinny Castelano would have to say about that, eh Arvada folks??
Thankfully, the staff and administration are incredibly supportive. The other teachers have supplied me with tons of materials and schemes of work for certain units, making the planning a tad easier, but I can’t even express to you how much I wish I had all my teaching files from home! It sucks that it’s so expensive to ship things overseas!
The kids are also really awesome. I have been stunned by how respectful they are. I’m not sure if this is a British education thing or a Catholic school thing, but these kids all know exactly what is expected of them, and as a rule, they do it. There are a couple of shitheads, of course. There always are. In fact, I’ve already had to get a kid suspended. In general though, there is an expectation of obedience and respect in this school that is upheld by most of the students. I’ve got to tell ya, I almost died of shock in my first class on the first day of school when the students lined up outside my classroom, waiting to be invited inside, then came in quietly and stood behind their desks, waiting to be invited to sit down. The craziest part was when I said, “Good morning” and they responded, “Good morning, Miss” is unison. I almost burst out laughing. Do children actually do that? I thought that was just in the movies! It was even weirder coming from teenagers. I’ve never seen anything like it. They aren’t zombies, though. They definitely have spunk and attitude and moments of apathy and defiance, just like all teenagers have. Before I came here, everyone kept asking me if I was nervous about what English kids would be like, and my thoughts on it were always, “Kids are kids,” no matter where they are raised. So far, that statement appears to ring true. The main difference is the structure. These kids definitely have more structure.
Although I’m sure I’ve made it sound generally awful, I have to admit that I like the school. It has an atmosphere of support and respect that I really enjoy. The staff all appear to be kind and sympathetic, as well as extremely dedicated. The aspects of the school that I find so frustrating are due to the fact that I’m simply not familiar with the system. I’m sure if I were raised here, if I’d gone through my teaching certification here, and if I’d done my training here, it wouldn’t be a big deal at all. It’s just new and very different; therefore, I need to adjust. It’ll just take some time, and in between times, I get to enjoy England! It’s not a bad deal, I’d say.
London:
I’ve made two trips into the city so far and enjoyed myself thoroughly each time. It’s been so fun just to walk and get lost on purpose just to be able to become familiar with this awesome city. This really is a cool town. I’m not going to go into too much detail just yet about the places I’ve gone and the things I’ve seen, mostly because this blog is already ridiculously long. I’ll save the details about London for the next blog, but here’s a quick run-down of where I’ve been and what I’ve seen so far:
Camden Town Market, Covent Garden, Tottenham Court Road, Leicester Square, Piccadilly, Regent Street and Oxford Circus Shopping, Chinatown, Soho, the Thames, a few bridges, Parliament and Big Ben, The London Eye, The National Theatre, and of course the Gielgud Theatre, where I saw my first London West End play. I am going to give you details about that.
Theatre:
I’ve already seen my first show in the West End (I just got home from seeing it in London a few minutes ago, actually. I couldn’t wait to write about it!!), and it was absolutely freaking incredible. Our seats were two rows from the front, which isn’t usually my preference. But since this was a straight play instead of a musical, I figured it wouldn’t be a huge detriment to be that close. Turns out…it really wasn’t a detriment, because the show was incredibly intense, and I think being so close only amplified the intensity. The play is called 6 Characters in Search of an Author, and it starred Ian McDiarmid. I will assume you don’t recognize the name, but I can almost guarantee you know who he is. This actor played the Emperor in all the Star Wars movies…that’s right, the hooded, melty skin, evil Emperor dude was about 5 feet from me on stage tonight. I practically could have reached out and touched him. His performance – as well as the show in general – was brilliant.
It’s starting to look like theatre-going will be consuming quite a lot of my paycheck, because there are just too many amazing shows with amazning actors playing now or opening soon for me to not take advantage. It would be a sin…a sacrilege…a tragedy…and lots of other bad things! So, here are the shows that Samantha and I are already planning on attending: Rainman, starring Josh Hartnett (OMG!) and Adam Godly; Ivanov, starring Kenneth Branaugh (OMG OMG!!); Madame DeSade, starring Dame Judi Dench (OMG OMG OMG!!!); Hamlet, starring Jude Law (yummy); Hamlet (again), starring David Tennant (he played Barty Crouch, Jr. in the 4th Harry Potter movie) and Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard!!); Oedipus, starring Ralph Fiennes (yummy); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, starring I don’t know who but I don’t care because it’s my favourite Shakespearian comedy and it’s at The Globe and we’re going to the final performance of the entire Globe season; The Royal Shakespeare Company’s performances of The Taming of the Shrew and Othello; plus zillions of musicals like Avenue Q, The Lion King, Chicago, Mama Mia, Oliver, We Will Rock You, Wicked (we’ve already got tix reserved for this one!), Phantom, Les Mis, Grease, and many more!
I tell you what folks, if this trip ends up failing in every other aspect, it’ll have been worth coming just for the theatre.
Well folks, that’s about it so far. I hope this serves a decent account of what I’ve been up to for the last three weeks. It’s probably way more than you wanted to know! I will definitely try to make sure that my next blog isn’t so long in coming, and since I finally have a school laptop at my disposal, typing these at home will be much easier. My school laptop won’t access personal email accounts, so my time on yahoo, gmail, myspace, and facebook will continue to be very limited, but at least I’ll be able to post these more frequently than every three weeks! The next one will be shorter, I swear!
Stay tuned to my blogsite for more! I miss you and love you!
Getting Here:
The trip was thankfully uneventful, and went surprisingly fast for an 8 ½ hour flight. It’s nice that it was overnight, because I was able to sleep for a good 4 hours, which NEVER would have happened on a flight not during my usual sleeping hours. I’ll tell you another thing, every time I have the option, I will definitely be taking non-stop flights. What a relief it was not to have to deal with a layover. You wanna know the best part?? Now sit down because you’re never going to believe this….my luggage got to England at the very same time I did! I went to the baggage claim, and 1, 2, 3…there they were! **Shock! Gasp!** (In case you didn’t know, this phenomenon of luggage arriving at a destination at the same time as the traveler is damn-near unheard of for me.) My British roommate Angela and her friend Richard were at the arrivals gate to collect me. They miraculously knew who I was as soon as I came through the gate (is it that obvious that I’m an American?) and carted me and my four massive suitcases off to the car.
It was now about 6 a.m. my time, but around lunch time in England, and Angela and Richard were starving. So we stopped at a little pub on the way to the house. I had a lovely breakfast of an omelette and a beer. That’s right…I don’t mess around. Twenty minutes in England – it was time to drink. I thought it was a great idea since I fully intended to crash onto the nearest flat surface as soon as we walked in the door of the house, but it wasn’t until after I had ordered and was drinking my pint that I found out that there would be a houseful of people moving in furniture and boxes when we arrived. I didn’t realize that the moving wouldn’t already be done by the time I got there. So…oops. Now I was exhausted from the flight and I had taken the equivalent of a sleeping pill by drinking that beer. Time to move furniture!
It actually wasn’t too bad because there was plenty to do to keep me from thinking about how tired I was, plus it was probably a good idea to stay awake as long as possible to try to get onto England time. I stayed up and helped move all afternoon, then went to a very nice dinner with Angela and Richard. We went to a nearby village and ate at an awesome little historical pub. The food was delicious. By the time we got home around 8:30 I was literally ready to drop from exhaustion. I fell onto a random bed in a random room and didn’t move again until nearly 2:00 p.m. the next day. So much for getting on England time…
The House, the Town, and the Roomies:
I remember very little of the first week because I spent most of my days in a complete fog – exhausted from trying to get in the right sleeping routine. Trying to function on a schedule seven hours ahead of my internal clock turned out to be harder than I expected. Mostly, I spent the first week or two continuing to get settled and unpacking, checking out the school and planning for classes, and getting to know my roommates.
In case I didn’t already tell you, let me give you the background about how I came to find this house with these people. The principal at my school, Rob, initially put me in touch with this crazy Canadian chick, Samantha, who had also been hired at St. Bernard’s through Bluewave. Since we were both going to be new to the country and the school, it seemed like a logical decision for she and I to consider sharing accommodation for financial and companionship purposes. We started chatting through email and it was pretty clear we were compatible. As we started apartment hunting via the internet, we started to worry that we would not find a place with a move-in date that coincided with our arrival in England. I sent Rob an email asking him if he could put the word out with the staff asking if anyone knew of a place that Samantha and I would be able to crash temporarily, should it be necessary. He wrote back almost immediately and told me he’d already been asking around about that (how great is this guy??). He put me in contact with a woman named Angela who was just about to move into a new house and was looking for two leasers for the extra bedrooms. I spoke with her, again through email, and found out that she and her 18-year-old daughter Laura were moving into the house around the same time I was arriving. The circumstances really sounded ideal and the rent was within my price range. However, I never spoke with Angela or Samantha on the phone, and I never saw a picture of the house. I was taking a whole lot on faith. What the hell…it’s an adventure, right?
Naturally, there was certainly a level of uncertainly and nervousness about this move. After all, I really knew nothing about the house or the roommates before I arrived here. Well, God must be on my side, because everything about my accommodations is perfect. The house is wonderful. It’s a lovely house, we have plenty of space, the back garden and yard are beautiful, and there’s a trampoline!! Hooray! The location is ideal as well. I’m about half way between the town centre and the school – less than a mile to either – so the walk is totally reasonable. The train station is also about a mile away. It means that almost everything I need is accessible on foot, and everything else is accessible through this town’s excellent bus, train, and taxi systems. It’s wonderfully convenient.
High Wycombe is a decent little town. It has some sketchy parts, but those are easily avoidable from where I live so I don’t worry about it much. The old town centre is really charming. Lovely old buildings, cobblestone streets, great pubs, outdoor markets on the weekends…all great. The new town centre has a huge partially outdoor shopping complex with great stores (Topshop, H&M, House of Frasier, and lots of other amazing British chains), a Starbucks, a grocery store, a brand new library (which I’m already a member of), a bowling alley, a movie theatre, great bars and restaurants, and lots more. Wycombe really does offer everything I need, and it’s only a 25-40 minute train ride into London, depending on the train. Perfect! The only thing I haven’t found here yet that I MUST locate soon is a karaoke bar. Angela says there are a few in town, and I think it must be my mission this week to track one down and check it out. If I don’t sing karaoke soon, I might just explode.
The roommates are equally ideal. I am living with three sweet, fun, considerate women, who have already become friends and comrades, instead of just roommates. My living situation truly could not be better…except maybe if there was a little more closet space. ;)
The Teaching Bit:
I swear, if I ever end up teaching in the U.S. again, I’ll never complain about my schedule, assuming it’s anything like the schedule I had at Arvada, Columbine, or Alameda: 5 classes to teach, 2 planning periods for every 5 that I teach, the same class schedule from week to week. I had absolutely NO room to complain. Looking back at it now, I had the most relaxing schedule in the world, hardly anything to grade, and all the planning time a person could want. Let me try to explain it:
The scheduling at my school follows no logical system with which I am familiar. Essentially, we are on a 10-day schedule. That means that I teach a different schedule of classes every day for 10 days (two weeks), then I start back at day one and run through the ten days again. This also means that I can have up to ten preps. I have seven. Seven preps! Seven different pieces of literature, grammar, writing, reading, and theatre lessons to plan for! I’m even more special because my seven preps are each for a different grade. Secondary schools out here have grades 7-13. I teach every level of student at the school, which means I teach kids from 11 years old to 19 years old. Talk about differentiation! I hardly need state that the first two weeks of school have been incredibly overwhelming and confusing; in fact, I don’t remember the last time I was so stressed out….not even during tech week for a musical at Arvada. If you remember how stressed out I always got during that week, then you’ll know that it’s REALLY saying something that this is worse. There is also a stupid, confusing schedule for homework. It’s this totally baffling system of assigning/doing homework for the staff and students, which I’m still struggling to understand much less follow. Apparently, each subject is only supposed to give the students one hour of homework a week, so they don’t get overloaded. To manage that, there is a week by week homework calendar that tells what day homework should be assigned in each class. AHHHHH! I don’t work like that! I don’t schedule homework! If it doesn’t get finished in class, it’s homework. Isn’t that the way it works??? Not here. This is so incredibly frustrating and hard to follow. I’ve never been so scheduled in my whole life.
Then there’s the issue of planning time: it is almost non-existent. I am only “guaranteed” five hours of planning per ten days, and they can distribute it however they choose. I, for example, go four days of teaching without a planning period. Additionally, every teacher is required to be available for “cover” on their planning periods. As far as I’m concerned, this is the worst part of the whole system. There aren’t really substitute teachers out here. If a teacher is out, the other teachers in the school cover their classes for the day – a different teacher taking each period based on who has a planning period. So essentially, I am never completely guaranteed my planning time. I do all of my planning a grading before school (which thankfully doesn’t start until 8:40) or after school, which has been difficult because I have had an after-school meeting almost every day since I started, and then I get kicked out of the building at 6:00. I’ve been doing all my planning at home in the evenings, mostly without the use of a computer. If I thought I was going to be able to have a life while working out here, I was sadly mistaken.
Oh yes, and let us not forget about mandatory supervisory duty. We have to be on supervisory duty in the hallways, cafeteria, or school grounds at least twice a week before school, during mid-morning break, or at lunch. I have three shifts a week.
I wonder what Vinny Castelano would have to say about that, eh Arvada folks??
Thankfully, the staff and administration are incredibly supportive. The other teachers have supplied me with tons of materials and schemes of work for certain units, making the planning a tad easier, but I can’t even express to you how much I wish I had all my teaching files from home! It sucks that it’s so expensive to ship things overseas!
The kids are also really awesome. I have been stunned by how respectful they are. I’m not sure if this is a British education thing or a Catholic school thing, but these kids all know exactly what is expected of them, and as a rule, they do it. There are a couple of shitheads, of course. There always are. In fact, I’ve already had to get a kid suspended. In general though, there is an expectation of obedience and respect in this school that is upheld by most of the students. I’ve got to tell ya, I almost died of shock in my first class on the first day of school when the students lined up outside my classroom, waiting to be invited inside, then came in quietly and stood behind their desks, waiting to be invited to sit down. The craziest part was when I said, “Good morning” and they responded, “Good morning, Miss” is unison. I almost burst out laughing. Do children actually do that? I thought that was just in the movies! It was even weirder coming from teenagers. I’ve never seen anything like it. They aren’t zombies, though. They definitely have spunk and attitude and moments of apathy and defiance, just like all teenagers have. Before I came here, everyone kept asking me if I was nervous about what English kids would be like, and my thoughts on it were always, “Kids are kids,” no matter where they are raised. So far, that statement appears to ring true. The main difference is the structure. These kids definitely have more structure.
Although I’m sure I’ve made it sound generally awful, I have to admit that I like the school. It has an atmosphere of support and respect that I really enjoy. The staff all appear to be kind and sympathetic, as well as extremely dedicated. The aspects of the school that I find so frustrating are due to the fact that I’m simply not familiar with the system. I’m sure if I were raised here, if I’d gone through my teaching certification here, and if I’d done my training here, it wouldn’t be a big deal at all. It’s just new and very different; therefore, I need to adjust. It’ll just take some time, and in between times, I get to enjoy England! It’s not a bad deal, I’d say.
London:
I’ve made two trips into the city so far and enjoyed myself thoroughly each time. It’s been so fun just to walk and get lost on purpose just to be able to become familiar with this awesome city. This really is a cool town. I’m not going to go into too much detail just yet about the places I’ve gone and the things I’ve seen, mostly because this blog is already ridiculously long. I’ll save the details about London for the next blog, but here’s a quick run-down of where I’ve been and what I’ve seen so far:
Camden Town Market, Covent Garden, Tottenham Court Road, Leicester Square, Piccadilly, Regent Street and Oxford Circus Shopping, Chinatown, Soho, the Thames, a few bridges, Parliament and Big Ben, The London Eye, The National Theatre, and of course the Gielgud Theatre, where I saw my first London West End play. I am going to give you details about that.
Theatre:
I’ve already seen my first show in the West End (I just got home from seeing it in London a few minutes ago, actually. I couldn’t wait to write about it!!), and it was absolutely freaking incredible. Our seats were two rows from the front, which isn’t usually my preference. But since this was a straight play instead of a musical, I figured it wouldn’t be a huge detriment to be that close. Turns out…it really wasn’t a detriment, because the show was incredibly intense, and I think being so close only amplified the intensity. The play is called 6 Characters in Search of an Author, and it starred Ian McDiarmid. I will assume you don’t recognize the name, but I can almost guarantee you know who he is. This actor played the Emperor in all the Star Wars movies…that’s right, the hooded, melty skin, evil Emperor dude was about 5 feet from me on stage tonight. I practically could have reached out and touched him. His performance – as well as the show in general – was brilliant.
It’s starting to look like theatre-going will be consuming quite a lot of my paycheck, because there are just too many amazing shows with amazning actors playing now or opening soon for me to not take advantage. It would be a sin…a sacrilege…a tragedy…and lots of other bad things! So, here are the shows that Samantha and I are already planning on attending: Rainman, starring Josh Hartnett (OMG!) and Adam Godly; Ivanov, starring Kenneth Branaugh (OMG OMG!!); Madame DeSade, starring Dame Judi Dench (OMG OMG OMG!!!); Hamlet, starring Jude Law (yummy); Hamlet (again), starring David Tennant (he played Barty Crouch, Jr. in the 4th Harry Potter movie) and Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard!!); Oedipus, starring Ralph Fiennes (yummy); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, starring I don’t know who but I don’t care because it’s my favourite Shakespearian comedy and it’s at The Globe and we’re going to the final performance of the entire Globe season; The Royal Shakespeare Company’s performances of The Taming of the Shrew and Othello; plus zillions of musicals like Avenue Q, The Lion King, Chicago, Mama Mia, Oliver, We Will Rock You, Wicked (we’ve already got tix reserved for this one!), Phantom, Les Mis, Grease, and many more!
I tell you what folks, if this trip ends up failing in every other aspect, it’ll have been worth coming just for the theatre.
Well folks, that’s about it so far. I hope this serves a decent account of what I’ve been up to for the last three weeks. It’s probably way more than you wanted to know! I will definitely try to make sure that my next blog isn’t so long in coming, and since I finally have a school laptop at my disposal, typing these at home will be much easier. My school laptop won’t access personal email accounts, so my time on yahoo, gmail, myspace, and facebook will continue to be very limited, but at least I’ll be able to post these more frequently than every three weeks! The next one will be shorter, I swear!
Stay tuned to my blogsite for more! I miss you and love you!
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