Dresden and music geek stuff around Leipzig

Yesterday, Judith and I spent the day in Dresden. To get there and back, Judith went online to look for carpools/shared transportation options available. She called several people who were offering rides between Leipzig and Dresden, and we ended up walking three blocks to meet a couple with a red Chevrolet Aveo at 9 am yesterday morning. She had also arranged with someone else to meet at the Dresden train station at 6:15 pm for a group train ticket deal. This woman had paid €28 for 5 people to travel, so she posted the information on the net in order to find other people who could help pay for the ticket. Interesting...I haven't seen people doing that in Canada hardly at all but in Germany it is absolutely commonplace. Instead of spending the money on a full-price train ticket or a tank of gas for only one commuter, they arrange €5 rides with total strangers to visit grandma in Berlin or to make a day trip somewhere.
So we arrived in Dresden shortly after 10 am and made our way to the tourist information office. We got some maps there, and discovered we could rent audio guides for walking tours of the city as well. Since it was getting close to noon, we headed for the Frauenkirche for an organ concert, a historic church that has been beautifully rebuilt several times, most recently reopened in 2005. The church was packed for the concert and a woman spoke about the history of the church and its structure. Judith translated parts of it for me. Apparently, the church was most recently flattened in the aftermath of the air raids on Dresden (two 30-minute attacks in February 1945). The church actually survived the actual bombings, saving 300 people who were sheltered in the basement, but the next day when fires were raging all over the city the heat of the fires proved too great and the structure collapsed. The church was left in its ruins for quite a while after the war because people wanted to leave it as a memorial, a reminder of what had happened. They finally decided to rebuild, but chose to reuse the bricks that survived intact. So the chuch structure vividly shows its history with the coal-blackened (from Dresden's long mining history) stones laid in amongst the new ones. The impressive cupola at the top of the church weighs 13 000 tonnes.

Judith and I in front of the Frauenkirche
Porcelain bells frame the clock at the Zwinger Palace; during warm weather, the bells ring every hour.

So the Frauenkirche was the highlight for both Judith and I. We also checked out the Zwinger Palace with its many Baroque sculpures and curly-cues. We went into a store selling all Christmas things German, so I picked up a few decorations--some wood-carved angels bearing different musical instruments, and one of these carousels with a horizontal wind turbine at the top that moves the carousel when you light a candle on the side. If this makes no sense to you whatsoever, I'll post a picture later.... : ) After a cold, windy afternoon outside, we were glad to finally get inside again and made our train connection without difficulty.

All Dresden's noteworthies on a long mural.

Mendelssohn's study.


Today I travelled around Leipzig on my own again, checking out the Grassi Museum musical instruments exhibition as well as the Mendelssohn Haus. I saw some interesting instruments--a serpent, as well as a viola da gamba, instruments I had really only heard about before, as well as some experimental instrument inventions that didn't survive, such as the plexi-glass flute and the violin-with-a-phonograph-horn-attached to amplify the sound. I enjoyed also seeing Mendelssohn's study and the house generally. It showed signs of wealth such as the red and gold trim around the ceilings, though not ostentatiously so.

Tomorow, we're going to a New Year's concert at the Thomaskirche, the 4th, 5th, and 6th cantatas from Bach's Christmas Oratorio. Then I'll be getting home on Friday afternoon.

Christmas Day and beyond

Hi again. I am now sitting at my friend Judith's laptop which has a slightly different keyboard (y's and z's are switched among other things) so if I make more typos than usual, you've been warned.

Back to Christmas Day...after a long day in Cambridge, I slept well at the London Mennonite Centre on Christmas Eve, then woke up around 8 and helped Sam prepare Eggs Benedict for the residents of the LMC. We had a lovely breakfast of fruit salad and a bubbly cocktail drink to go with the eggs benedict. At 11:30, several others from the church showed up for our service. This was folllowed by lunch at 2 pm. We had a great variety of vegetables: peas, beans, carrots, turnip, roasted-rather than mashed-potatoes along with turkey and rolls and gravy. After the main course, we had a Christmas pudding, which had a very similar hard (caramel) sauce to the one my grandma makes, though it featured cranberries rather than dried fruit, and a Christmas cake which was made out of digestive biscuits and chocolate and iced with white chocolate, and garnished with a beautiful sprig of holly which grows abundantly at the LMC. We had an enjoyable walk through a nearby park and then those of us who stayed around played a game that was a bit like Broken Telephone on paper combined with Pictionary. Each person wrote one sentence at the top of the page. They passed this to the next person who had to read the sentence and draw a picture illustrating the words. Then they turned over the words so that the next person could only see the picture. This person had to write a sentence corresponding to the picture they saw. It went on like this until we reached the end of the page at which point we unfolded the page and laughed at the hilarious results. Once I'm home again, I may post one or two examples. So I had a good day Christmas day of visiting with my LMC friends and eatng too much.

Boxing Day:

I got up in fairly good time and made a few last-minute preparations for my flight to Leipzig. My cab came promptly at 11 as ordered and I got to the airport without hassle. The flight went without a hitch, and I landed about 4:30 local time (Leipzig is one hour ahead of London) . After an hour bus ride which I also caught without difficulty, I met Judith at the Leipzig train station. We took the local bus back to the apartment she shares with her boyfriend and I met Christian and had supper and did some catching up. Christian has an impressive display of seashells all around the flat, painstakingly collected on various holidays to Greece.Sunday December 27:

Judith and I got up in good time to get to the Thomas Kirche for a cantata service. This is the church where JS Bach spent the last 27 years of his life as music director and it is clear that he is highly venerated in Leipzig and particularly in that church. We heard the third cantata from his Christmas Oratorio performed yesterday morning...it was a thrill to be there for that. The conductor turned around several times and took the bass solo part as required. I thought Bach would have approved of such flexibility--fill in wherever needed! I got pictures of the church and of his grave inside the church.

After church, we walked around Leipzig for a bit, and then stopped for lunch. I had a delicious pumpkin lasagna at a nearby restaurant. Then Judith took me to a museum detailing the history of East Germany through the Communist era. It was very interesting to see, as I had been a child when the Berlin Wall came down and really understood none of the background behind that history. People lived in prefabricated cookie-cutter homes and there was no incentive for people to take care of land or homes they didn't own so there was a lot of pollution and general lack of maintenance (trashing). One in ten people was a volunteer (e.g. unpaid) spy for the government, betraying friends and family for the cause. The churches were hotbeds of resistance toward the end, and I believe it was at the Nikolai Kirche that 200 000 people gathered on the night of October 16, 1989 for the culmination of the Peaceful Revolution.

Monday December 28:

Today, I went downtown on my own and explored around. The Schumann House, which I had hoped to see, was closed, so I just meandered around town for a few hours. I saw the Nikolai Kirche that had played such an important role during the Peaceful Revolution, and I had some bratwurst for lunch. Then I found a wonderful kitchen accessories store and walked around there for a while, picking up some better-than-tupperware containers as well as some silicone muffin cups for Judith.

As you have probably guessed by now, there is much to see and do and explore in Leipzig. I will post pictures when I get home again. Ciao...

Christmas Eve 2009

Hello! Belated Merry Christmas to you all. Before I begin my tale of my Christmas Eve adventure, I thought I'd include a picture of a London at Christmas--this one (above) in Covent Garden.

So on Wednesday afternoon, I met my friends Wayne and Lois and their daughter Melissa (who's visiting from the States right now) as well as another LMC resident, Sam, and we headed for King's Cross station. The ride (north) to Cambridge only took 50 minutes since we were on the express train. We settled ourselves at our hostel and headed out to check out the town and in particular find out what we could about this King's College Lessons and Carols service which we had come up for. We found the University of Cambridge and in fact talked to some people who were spending the night at the gate in order to assure themselves first place in line the next morning. One man had in fact been there for two nights already--clearly a diehard fanatic! As it was a cold, drizzly night and these people were armed only with lawn chairs, sleeping bags, and a few tarps to keep them warm, we didn't envy them in the slightest. However, they convinced us that it would definitely be in our best interests to arrive before the gates were opened at 7:30, seeing that the chapel only had room for 150 people, and the ante chapel (with room for 450) was located behind the organ chancel and therefore would block our view of the choir. Two of our party wanted to leave the hostel at 5, but the majority (three) ruled for a 6:00 departure from the hostel. After that discussion, we headed to the Eagle (a local pub) for some grub. On the way, we found this clock, which I understand is supposed to be symbolic of time being "eaten" metaphorically (in this case by a very large insect!)

So we got to King's College about 6:35 the next morning and stood in line outside the gate. We quickly started talking with the people immediately in front and behind us in the line and ended up sharing food, chairs, and holding places in the line for each other throughout the remainder of the day. The picture below was taken around 7:45 in the morning after we had been let through the gate, looking back at the library behind us.
It was a very cold day, and we made numerous short forays throughout the day to find warm drinks, the loo, and just to walk around and get the blood flowing to numb hands and feet again. Once in line, people were expected to stay in the line except for brief breaks, and no one could hold a place for someone not yet arrived. This was a largely self-regulating policy, since everyone knew the people who had been there with them since the beginning, though there were some security people patrolling around as well.

Here are some roasted chestnuts (the first I've ever eaten) that were a welcome snack on a cold day. I ended up going to the campus shop to buy myself an additional pair of socks to put on and warm my frozen feet. Around 1 pm, a group of some of the older choristers came outside and sang a few light-hearted Christmas songs in beautiful harmony for the assembled crowd, and then walked down the queue to another group of people and sang for them.

Around 1:30, they let us into the chapel, and we did get into the chapel, though the way it was set up we couldn't see the choir real well. Instead of our seats facing the choir, we were facing the audience on the other side of the chapel and had to turn our heads to the left to see the choir.

ante chapel organ choir people us altar

At 2:30 the organist played, and the concert started just after 3. It went until about 4:45. It was nevertheless a magnificent concert and I'm glad I went. The pure treble voices of the young boys combined with the rich voices of the young men's choir. It was also a good opportunity to get to know some of my friends from church better.

I had hoped to write a post about Christmas Day now too, but my taxi for my trip to Leipzig arrives in 30 minutes and I think I should make a few last minute-checks before leaving the house. I will be on again after my return on New Year's Day if not before. Happy 2010 everyone.

First Snowflakes

Hello:

My kids were pretty wired today, after we had our Year 1 Christmas party yesterday, and then we were decorating gingerbread people today. Then to top it off, it started snowing around 11 am. The kids went wild. Unfortunately, it had turned to sleet by early afternoon, and it felt damp and very cold when I was walking home tonight. Given that one of the two heaters in my room has been malfunctioning for two days (we wore our coats inside this morning) I was very grateful to arrive home to a warm house tonight. We are supposed to be in for more of this weather over the next 48 hours. Someone predicted 4 inches, which sounded like it could just about bring London to a standstill. I can hear the guffaws from my North Bay friends already! Anyway, I'm down to one day left with the kids. We're melting chocolate (reindeer droppings) in the morning, and then watching a movie with the other year one classes in the afternoon. Now I'm trying to get some materials made up for my "big writing" display beginning in January.

It's amazing how many cards (half a dozen anyway) I've gotten from kids who aren't in my class and whose names I don't even know. Do their parents buy cards for every kid in their class and every teacher in their school? I also have two gifts of chocolate, one from a girl in my class and one from a TA who I worked with when I was doing day-to-day supply.

I hope this finds you well, and not dashing around too madly this Christmas season.

Julie

Four Days Left with Children Until Christmas!

Hello again. It has been a good week for me this week--the kids have been on the whole, a bit more manageable this week and we're into the final countdown to Christmas now. Thursday night, I went to a Christmas choral concert in Covent Garden. Lovely interplay between the choir and Gabriel Wolf, a long-time radio host and later actor, who did a wonderful job of bringing to life a series of heart-warming and funny Christmas readings and letters.

Last night I relaxed at home in front of the TV while finishing off my Christmas cards to folks in Canada so that I could post them all this morning.

Then this morning was a bit of a comedy of errors. I went to the post office and bought stamps for my cards, then went to my 10 am hair appointment. Unfortunately the colour job (highlighting again) took longer than I projected, and I only got out of there at 11:20 without getting my hair cut as I had hoped. I quickly jumped on the c2c/tube to get to Hyde Park Corner, where I was supposed to meet Jody (owner of Accomodations Solutions who arranged a place for me to live, and the social coordinator for TimePlan Essex and East Anglia) for a free ticket into the skating rink at Hyde Park at 11:30. After a longer-than-usual tube ride (it seemed as though half the city was coming to this event), I arrived at 12:20. Thinking I would have completely missed Jody and my ticket in, I dawdled around the Winter Wonderland market they had there. It was like little Germany all set up, complete with stalls for bratwurst and mulled wine (Gluh wein), Christmas stollen (cake), and all kinds of Christmas wood carvings from the Black Forest. I finally meandered up to the area where the skating arena was and miraculously ran into Jody and got my ticket. I had about 25 minutes to skate, which turned out to be a good amount of time, since it had been at least two years since I last put on skates. I was pretty uncertain on my feet for the first few minutes, though I warmed up to it. At the end, it suddenly started to rain without notice (i.e. the weather forecast had not predicted rain) and I left Hyde Park with a new friend I just made at Gascoigne this week, Rachel and her boyfriend Mark. Rachel is an American teaching with TimePlan and like me, she has come to Gascoigne and they've asked her to stay on a week at a time for several weeks. Anyway, we took the tube back east again to Bethnal Green (three-quarters of the way home for me) where we took in a Craft Sale that was happening there. I came home with a small bag of truffles and a meter of fabric (two different Christmas prints).

I should be doing some planning for this week, though it's to the point now where I hardly care. We're starting a new "Big Writing" initiative next term, so I need to learn more about that too.

Can't wait for the holidays to begin!

TGIF...

Thanks for reading. It's been another full week here. The kids have been a bit crazier this week than usual, less willing to listen than they were even last week, but I chalk that up to a) the fact that Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday were washouts with rain, so the kids couldn't get outside to play for most of the week, and b) due to frequent rehearsals for our Christmas assembly this week, we got out of schedule and ended up missing quite a bit of stuff, which really unsettled the kids too. Therefore, while it wasn't a great week for teaching overall, I'm feeling in a better frame of mind about it this week. After much practice, the Christmas assembly came off well this morning and I think the parents were quite proud. About thirty kids each had one line to say of the nativity story and it was cute to hear them all try to project their little voices. In their great effort, some of the lines came out in stammered bursts like: He---Is---Going---To----Give---You----A-----Baby!!!! Others came out in such rapid fire you had no idea what the child had just said. Interspersed with the text were Christmas songs which all the kids sang.

Funny anecdote: Today for PE, some of the kids started tittering because one of the boys was wearing no underwear (you'll remember that everyone changes in the classroom). He then proceeded to enlighten us that his mom only gives him pants to wear on PE days. I suggested to him that it really would be good to wear pants every day.

In my life outside of school, I had a fun evening last night. Melissa and I went downtown to Trafalgar Square where we witnessed the lighting of an 70-foot tall, 80-year old Christmas tree that had been specially given to London by the people of Oslo (an annual tradition since 1947) as a gesture of thanks for the support Britain, and particularly London gave Norwegians (many of whom fled to London) while Norway was under Nazi occupation during WWII. Then we had dinner with some friends at an American burger joint (burgers rival Licks back home) in Haymarket, an artsy, theatre-filled part of London. It was a really nice diversion from school.

Tonight we're having dinner at Nandos (wonderful chicken place down the street) and then going to see New Moon. I've never read the books or seen the first movie so I read the synopsis in preparation. I don't expect to become a Twilight fanatic, but it will be interesting to see what all the fuss is about. I'm probably (sunny weather permitting) going to a leaf-raking party at the London Mennonite Centre tomorrow, and sometime this weekend I want to get started on one of the two jigsaw puzzles I picked up second-hand last weekend.

Only ten days of teaching left until Christmas! Hope you are all filled with Christmas cheer...

First Advent

Since my last update, I have my voice almost back...my high voice is still faltering and croaky, but I can talk fine. It's been another week of ups and downs--some good days, some bad days. Tuesday was a rotten day for my entire household--we commiserated with each other that night about how stressful it had been. It was particularly so for Melissa, who experienced an OFSTED visit in the last hour of the day. As I mentioned in a previous blog, OFSTED does the inspections of the schools every three years, or more often if they got poor grades on their previous inspection. It's like EQAO in that it gets publicized which schools got which grades, except that instead of simply relying on the grade scores that students achieve on standardized tests, inspectors come in and observe teachers teaching and go over all their lesson plans and assessment files with a fine-tooth comb, besides which administrators, teachers, parents and students are all polled in surveys about the school on issues from safety to community/cohesion to curriculum delivery/quality of lessons. So Melissa's kids behaved very badly (intentionally, she felt) for the inspector and ruined her lesson. she felt very much unsupported by her school, which made no attempt to give her extra help with her seven students on an IEP (that is, students needing specialized attention for learning difficulties or behavioural issues) on what they knew would be a stressful day. The guy came back the next morning for another hour of observation which fortunately went much better and she got a "good" rating in the end.

Most of the week was better than Tuesday, though Friday was another poor day because the seven kids who were there (5 away for Eid) were just really silly and not inclined to listen for even 30 seconds. Friday night was another poor night for sleeping after a week of reasonably good sleeps. I told Gina (my Kiwi housemate) on Saturday morning that I was feeling like I was developing general anxiety disorder, and she was really helpful by telling me that I need to think of it as a job, nothing more. Everyone else gets their weekends off, and I need to take my weekends off too, rather than poring over plans and making resources all day. She told me that she thinks it's insane how much curriculum they try to cram in here, and she basically takes it with a large grain of salt (my expression, not hers). I need to enjoy the kids and not be stressed out trying to meet all the curriculum demands. She told me to play more games with the kids and fit in the curriculum as I can, without burning myself out with worry about it. She asked me what is the worst thing that can happen if I go in unprepared on Monday.

So on her recommendation, I didn't spend any time on school work yesterday, but instead went out and had an accupuncture session, did some shopping around Barking, and then in the afternoon I went to IKEA and bought myself a bookshelf and lamp, as well as a few puppets for school and some scented candles. I spent an hour or so this morning organizing my room and filling my new bookshelf. I am very happy with the result.

After a good nights sleep, I've decided to putter around home this first Sunday of Advent morning, and go to my Mennonite church this afternoon. I'm looking forward to going back since I haven't seen them since I started this new job three-and-a-half weeks ago. I've committed to participating in music this afternoon, though whether I'm on piano or songleading, I'll find out when I arrive.

I am so glad Christmas is coming--at this point, I'm just looking down the road three weeks to vacation, and keeping my spirits up by playing lots of Christmas music as I'm planning in the evenings.

With regards to the weather, it's feeling chillier here now (5-10 C)...but we haven't seen any frost. The grass is still green, the pansies are beautiful, and there are a few brave roses still tenaciously hanging on yet on my street.

the new BILLY bookcase

New Lamp

Sick...

The week is over, and I've learned lots--much of it about what not to do. I've decided I want to go back to what I learned with the Tribes program at Williamsburg on placement last fall, and insert more energizers (e.g. interesting activities that change the pace for a few minutes) between lessons to help expend extra energy and focus kids who've been sitting too long. I've been learning the hard way that it is a waste of my energy to try to carry on a lesson when the kids are restless. Working on pacing my lessons for their attention spans and finding more fun introductions (called "hooks" at teacher's college) to get the kids primed for learning is my first priority now. I'm also convinced I need to yell less, after staying home today with laryngitis from overuse of my voice (primary cause) and a cold infection that's going around. Note to my mother: I have been drinking lots of hot lemon drinks and resting for most of the day--not to mention massaging my neck :^) I didn't bring home all of the materials I was planning to for the coming week, so have most of the materials I need for Monday, and will have to wing a bit of it. On the whole though (other than having a sore throat), I'm feeling good about where I'm at. Signs of Christmas have gone up everywhere here in the last week, and I decided tonight to reward myself by listening to Bach's Christmas Oratorio as I do a few light school-related tasks.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

Settling In...

Hello again. It has been a week-and-a-half since I last updated this blog and much has happened in the intervening time. It's been a busy, stressful period of getting to know the kids, trying to figure out everything from what curriculum I'm teaching and how to pace it, to sorting out routines that work to help promote learning in the classroom. Last week was incredibly stressful, with a lot of sleepless or short and very much interrupted nights. This week has been somewhat better, as I am starting to find some strategies that help with management--like having a seating plan for the carpet, and a line order whenever we line up. It has also been helpful to hear other recently qualified teachers share their early struggles and feel less alone. I also had a visit from a friend from my Wilfrid Laurier days this past weekend who helped cheer me up and allowed me to vent my frustrations, as well as helping me brainstorm ideas for my weather unit and making a thermometer that moves up and down.

In my planning meeting with the other year 1 teachers this afternoon, we talked a bit about reading, writing and math assessments--much of it a lot of edu-speak gobbledy-goop to me--in preparation for OFSTED visits in the new year, the much-feared agency (by teachers) charged with providing regular reports on how well schools are doing. Anytime they visit (never with more than a few days notice) the teachers are in a panic getting every t crossed and i dotted in order to earn a favourable report. After that, we moved on to Christmas...the Christmas concert is only two-and-a-half weeks away, so starting tomorrow, most of our curriculum (except literacy and maths) goes out the window in preference for learning Christmas songs and a version of the Nativity, OFSTED notwithstanding.

Well, I should get back to my planning for tomorrow. Cheerio.

What a Day!

How much can change in a few hours! I went into Gascoigne this morning as per usual, and instead of the receptionist telling me which classroom to go to, I was told the deputy head (VP) wanted to speak to me. She walked me down to the classroom where I was going to be teaching, whereupon she proceeded to ask me whether TimePlan had talked to me yet about doing a longer-term placement at the school. I said no, and then found out that Miss Aidoo is off now (on sick leave, I believe), and is supposed to be leaving in December for a mat leave. She asked me if I wanted to take over--starting today. She said it was a spillover Yr. 1 class, made up of 11 students from four other Year 1 classes plus a lower-achieving Year 2 boy. I said yes, with the proviso that I feel totally green and will need lots of help. She vouched her confidence in me, said I should just spend some time getting to know the children this morning first thing and ease into the day, and then left. I immediately started looking at all the materials on the walls, in binders, in bins etc. trying to absorb as much information as possible in a short time, my mind meanwhile racing a hundred miles an hour with all kinds of questions, primarily, Help! Where to begin?

After about ten minutes of me trying to work off nervous energy, the deputy head returned and told me that several teachers had gotten caught in a huge traffic jam, and could I please take over in a reception class until the teacher arrived (my class was going to stay with their "other" classes until I could take over)? So I ended up supervising reception until the teacher finally arrived an hour late. At that point, the VP told me to take some time to get organized and collect the children after playtime. Then I spent the next hour or so planning what to do for the rest of the day, and rehearsing the children's names to make it easier to attach names and faces when they arrived.

I collected the children from their rooms after playtime, and began with introductions (name and a favourite activity). Then I tried "Who took the cookie from the cookie jar?" but they become totally giddy on me and just kept laughing and laughing. I gave up on that and went into phonics and guided reading with them. While I was working with two students on guided reading, I asked the rest to copy a few of our phonics words on their whiteboards, but they were either a) just drawing rather than doing what I asked or b) coming up to me to tattle on each other. I lost too much time getting up to monitor students who should have been working independently. Starting Monday, I'm implementing a new strategy: put them on time-out if they get out of their seats, and keep them in at playtime if they don't do their work.

It didn't feel like a great first day. I put three kids on time-out and sent two kids to the VP throughout the course of the day, and did lots of yelling besides. There was one kid who kept making animal noises whenever he felt like it, and a girl who was constantly wanting to use the toilet. I think I'm going to have to go in there Monday and really sit on them...use time-outs, loss of playtime, and sending them to other teachers or the VP until they learn I mean what I say. I also had two kids lose their poppies (though admittedly, one girl had previously lost 6) and the same girl left her glasses behind in the room. I feel a much greater weight of responsibility suddenly to get up to speed with how to teach phonics, what guided reading resources are available and how to use them, and other curriculum-related materials, to say nothing of helping kids keep track of, or find lost articles of clothing and other paraphernalia.

That is not to say it was all bad. I spontaneously decided to do some nursery rhymes with the children at the end of the day (which they participated in more enthusiastically than with most of the other things we did). Then I found out after the bell rang, that they have been doing a unit this week on nursery rhymes, so when I gave them a chance to say their nursery rhymes, they gave me the ones that they have been learning all week. I also have a good Yr 1 teacher to work with. She and I talked several times today about today and Monday, and we're going to get together on Monday afternoon to do some planning. She invited me to ask her about anything and everything I might have a question about.

So I've brought home a binder of stuff to hopefully figure out where the kids are at before Monday, as well as some information about teaching phonics. I did not clarify with the VP today how long this placement will be, but I had the impression it might be from now until the end of this teacher's mat leave. I need to go back Monday and get some more details. This has certainly come up faster than I expected. I had been thinking this week I should talk to TimePlan about looking for longer-term work starting in January, but had not actually gotten around to calling them yet.

I'm both excited and stressed out about this opportunity. I am eager to learn, but know I need to be realistic in my expectations too. Nina (my mentor teacher) and the VP (Namsa, I believe) both told me to ease into it next week. I would appreciate your prayers that I would be able to do that, and that God would fill me with courage and wisdom and grace for this (what feels like a massive) undertaking.

Visit with Sue

Hello again. I spent the last two days on the south coast of England with my former youth pastor and friend, Sue. I arrived in Chichester on Thursday just before lunch, and we dropped in at her work nearby and then had jacket potatoes for lunch. The restaurant provided us with baked potatoes plus a buffet of potato toppings for 4.95 each. After lunch, we walked around Chichester Cathedral, which had an interesting Anne Frank exhibit on display. From the Cathedral, we walked around town for a bit, and then drove to Bosham, where Sue lives, about a 10 or 15-minute drive away.

Seeing Sue's home was a neat experience. I saw a side of Sue that I largely missed when I was a youth and she was my youth pastor. It was immediately obvious that she loves giraffes as soon as I walked in the door. Her travels throughout Africa were also apparent from the photos on the wall, the print hanging over her dining room table, the elephants carved out of wood lining the window sill, and other figurines and decorations...even the leopard print fleece blankets on the couch and the warm brown paint seemed to evoke the Savannah or a safari. The guest room where I stayed, was a mixture of African and Canadian momentoes. We had fun playing various games like Dutch Blitz, and a new dice game that Howie and Myrna taught her on a recent trip back to Canada. I also found out that Sue actually spent 19 years in Canada, so when she came back to Britain four years ago, she had many of the same questions/confusion as I about British culture and vocabulary.

The baseball glove chair in the furniture exhibition at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton.
Standing in front of a palm tree in Brighton.
Looking back at the coast from Brighton pier.
Sue, with the Brighton Pier in the background.On Friday morning, we took the train from Bosham into Brighton for the day, where we walked along the beach, ate a delicious take away Chinese meal (two boxes jammed full for only 4 quid) along the water, and meandered around the Brighton Pier, which contains an arcade, amusement park, and shops selling candy, ice cream, and Belgian waffles, all on the pier. From the carousel, you could look down into the water below. Neat. Then we climbed back up into the centre of town again (Brighton really slopes down to the water) where we visited the Royal Pavilion, which was the temporary residence of the Royals during the Victorian period when it was considered beneficial to get out of London and take in the sea air for one's health. The Pavilion had several exhibits on display, including one of old and contemporary furniture ( see baseball glove chair above), and a very interesting one about the Women's Land Army, which operated during WWII, and which apparently was about getting women to take over the farming jobs. Besides that, we did a bit of shopping, including a 2 for 1 water bottle deal. We got identical 1L bottles for just 9.99 altogether. After a long day in Brighton, we came back home and ordered take away fish and chips--my first of this traditional dish since arriving, though I've snacked on other people's chips here and there a few times.

I had a super trip, and a fun time with Sue. Back to Barking again today so I can get to a farewell at the Mennonite church for a fellow Canadian tomorrow. JKN

Day Trip Number Two

Warwick Castle
The house where William Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon.
The Cotswolds: Cots=sheep, wold=pen. English cottage country.
One of the 31 colleges that form Oxford University.
The main library at Oxford University.
Now for the trip to Warwick Castle, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Oxford. Again, we (my Evan Evans tour group) left London at 9 am, this time heading northwest to Warwick Castle. To orient ourselves, the first trip was mostly west, and a bit south. The second trip was directly northwest of London. We arrived at Warwick Castle about 11 am and our guide took us on a tour for about half an hour, after which we had 45 minutes to explore on our own. The original castle was a wooden motte-and-bailey structure built in the 11th century by the Normans, while the stone castle was built in the 13th century. I enjoyed seeing the wax figures in each room depicting the activities and dress of people living in the castle in the 18th (I think) century. There were lots of suits of armour ( including armour for the horses) on display, all gauded up with "cobwebs" and green lights for Hallowe'en. I took lots of pictures at this attraction, keeping in mind that I will be teaching Medieval Times units in the future, and it will be so much easier and more interesting for the kids if I have pictures of a real castle and authentic costumes in hand. Speaking of children, there were lots of those (and their parents too) there since it was the half-term break for all schools across England this week.

From Warwick, it was about a 20-minute drive southwest to Stratford-upon-Avon, the original home of William Shakespeare. I enjoyed seeing his home, with the limewashed timber walls (to keep the bugs out) and a beautiful garden out back. I loved the Tudor architecture visible in most of the houses in Stratford, and I zipped into a little tea shop for an afternoon snack 20 minutes before our bus was scheduled to depart. From this trip, Stratford was the highlight.

After Stratford, we travelled south again to Oxford, where our guide took us on a 30-minute

guided tour around campus. We saw about a dozen of the 31 colleges associated with Oxford University. Due to time crunch, we did not get down to Christchurch College at the end of town (the "Harry Potter" college). Oxford started with a few students studying informally with monks in Oxford just before the turn of the 11th century, which became formalized in the mid-11th century. The first students would have studied theology, astrology, and philosophy. Today, it offers programs in the sciences and humanities (including medicine) and law in addition to theology. From Oxford, we travelled most of two hours southeast back to London.

So all in all, I'm glad I went. There was a lot to take in in a short period of time, and I've forgotten a lot of what the tour guides said, but I have pictures to remember the things I saw, and I picked up brochures in the places I want to return to. As well, I also picked up a children's encyclopedia of British history, and spent much of our travelling time on the bus (when we were travelling 401-equivalent roads, and not through interesting towns or other vistas) reading that to put together some of the bits and pieces of knowledge that I've acquired through bits and pieces and never really put together). It's quite interesting, though I get confused between all the different Edwards and Henrys and James' that were once kings. 'Til next post...

Julie

First Day Trip around England

Outside the Roman Baths.

The Great Bath, inside the Roman Baths.Stonehenge.

I love all these arches! Salisbury Cathedral.
Workings of the oldest functioning mechanical clock in the world at Salisbury Cathedral.
Well, hello. It's been a busy couple of days since I last wrote. I write about Saturday first. We left London at 9 am, and drove about an hour-and-a-half southwest of London to Salisbury Cathedral. Unfortunately, it rained pretty hard through the morning, so I didn't get many outdoor pictures there, but I enjoyed the visit nevertheless. I've said it before, but I'll say it again...coming from a country where 200 years is very old for a building, it is just amazing to walk into buildings that have stood for 1000 years or more. the clock pictured above has no face, and it only strikes the hours--around since 1396. I'm gaining an appreciation for the sense of majesty and transendence of God that one felss when looking up at these high, arched stone ceilings in very old cathedrals. Salisbury Cathedral is also the home of the best one of four original copies of the Magna Carta, a document that the barons forced King John to sign in 1215. It essentially levelled the playing field between the monarch and his subjects, by laying out laws that the king had to follow (he could no longer act with impunity however he saw fit) and guaranteeing the rights of the people (well, at least the men). It was to serve as the foundation and model for hundreds of years later, shaping the American Declaration of Independence; as well, nine of its chapters remain on the British statute book to this day.

From Salisbury, we travelled almost due north to Stonehenge. I always thought Stonehenge was constructed at one time, but it was actually constructed in three phases. In 3050 BC(E), a circular ditch and bank were dug--this is what a henge is. Around 2600 BC(E), a wooden structure was constructed at the centre. Then around 2500-1500 BC(E), the stone monument which is famous today was constructed, arranged and re-arranged over almost 1000 years. It seems to have been a significant worship/burial site, as well as having a calendar-keeping function. There were at one time 12 complete trilithons (two upright stones with one laid across the top create one trilithon), and depending on which trilithon the sun through, one could determine which month of the year you were in. There were a variety of burial mounds there too, known as barrows (single occupancy) or long barrows (entire families buried). The smaller Bluestones arranged in the middle of the circle were brought from the Preseli Mountains in Wales (385 km away), while the larger Sarsen (also called slaughter stones because of the red hue they turned from the iron's exposure to rain) stones (up to 15 tons in weight), were used to build the trilithons and were brought 30 km from the Marlborough Downs. Makes you wonder how they managed all that moving and chiseling of rocks without trucks or cranes or any of the modern tools we have.

From Stonehenge, we travelled northwest to Bath. Bath is the site of the UK's only natural hot springs, which the Romans first exploited when they arrived in the first century AD (CE). I spent about an hour wandering about the old Roman Baths seeing the caldarium (sauna) and frigidarium (cold plunge) as well as the Great Bath (which in Roman times did not have algae growing in it :) and the elaborate network of tunnels which carried the water around the baths. Then I checked out Bath Abbey too, and enjoyed the lovely dyptichs (two paired pieces of art, one showing a scripture verse in ornate text, some with neumes (Medieval music notation) and then its pair, showing a picture/design illustrating the text using textile materials. Bath itself was constructed almost entirely in limestone, and they've gone to a lot of work to clean the limestone recently. I also saw some examples of windows being bricked over. In 1696, William of Orange decided to tax people if they had more than 6 windows in their house, so many people chose to cover up their windows rather than pay the tax. All in all, I enjoyed Bath, and would certainly like to return. The downside to such tours is that they don't provide much time to see places (we didn't stay at any one place longer than 90 minutes). On the plus side, they give you an overview and help you decide what's worth coming back to see again. I picked up information about Bath at the local tourism office, and would like to come back and take in the spa sometime. I'll tackle trip number 2 after supper.

Great news...

I spent the entire week in a nursery class at Gascoigne. While I went in with some trepidation, not having any nursery experience (though I did practice teach in a kindergarten class in Waterloo) I enjoyed the week immensely, and learned a lot--though not all 78 names of the two classes (morning and afternoon). The nurses were really helpful, and as the week went on, I grew more accustomed to all the routines and songs they do every day. The nurses and I were able to complete a thorough tidy of the room by 3:30 and head out on our (one week) half-term vacation. And the best news of all came when I got home. I got an email saying that Gascoigne has booked me until Christmas. This means that I will be an extra available to them to cover any teachers who are away, so I won't be in the same class all the time, but I know which school I'm going to, and from the past three weeks I've learned that they do like to keep the same supply in a classroom for the duration of a teacher's absence. I have found the staff at Gascoigne friendlier than staffs at many schools I've visited, and I have had brief conversations several times with both Mr. Garten, the head teacher (principal) and Mrs. Babs, the deupty head teacher.

I look forward now to some time to relax and travel around England for the week. I will be taking a few day trips around, as well as a few days to visit a former youth pastor now living in Chichester. More info to follow in a few days as I have travels to report.

Until then,

Julie

York, Part 2

Here are a few more pictures. I was having trouble attaching pictures yesterday, so here are some extras I didn't get in. these two pictures are both taken just after we got off the wall at the bridge gate. The first one here shows a former guards house that is now a sandwich bar, situated on the bridge over the Ouse River. The round building in the foreground of the second photo is now a pub, if I recall correctly.
I said goodbye to Laurena and Sarah at the train station on Sunday morning and then went back to St. Michael Le Belfry (the Guy Fawkes church) where I experienced an Anglican service unlike any I've ever attended before. It was a congregation with a large population of young people, many of whom were active in the praise band which led the music for the morning. After some initial singing and prayers, and a presentation by a family that did some short-term missions in Uganda this summer, the congregation took a fifteen minute break for tea and coffee right in the sanctuary. Everyone queued up to the front, got their snack, and returned to their seats for the remainder of the service. I met a friendly woman named Saffron who explained that the Church of England (still predominant here) comes in various shapes and forms, some more high-church, and some lower-church.

I was back to Gascoigne today, but ended up in a nursery class. Since the nursery nurses knew the routines and the kids much better than I, they took the lead with activities, and I was able to observe and be another adult to supervise playtime, hand out milk at snacktime, etc.

Have a good week, all.

J

Gascoigne Part 2, and York Part 1

Hello again. It's been a full week here. I was at Gascoigne in the same Yr. 2 class as last week all of this week. It turns out their teacher has swine flu and can't come back yet, so I'm booked there until the end of this coming week. It is nice to be going back to the same school/kids, particularly since the school is so close to my house. We've been busy preparing for the Year 2 Harvest Assembly this coming Wednesday, so I have been rehearsing several songs and a poem with my class.

Then on Friday evening, I took a train from King's Cross to York for a visit with Laurena and Sarah. We spent all of Saturday exploring around town. A good portion of the day we spent at the York Minster Cathedral, where we walked up the 275 very narrow winding stairs of the tower for a wonderful view of the city. We also went down into the crypt where we saw the old Norman foundations of the church, and then the more recent and larger Medieval foundations. We wandered around the narrow cobbled streets (one of which was called "The Shambles") around lunchtime. We spent some time looking at a variety of other churches in the area, including a Franciscan (I believe) abbey. Then we visited the art gallery, of whose collection my favourite item was a holographic photo of Queen Elizabeth composed of 10 000 photos superimposed upon one another so that it really looked very 3D. We returned to York Minster for the 5:15 Choral Evensong. We discovered the Chapter House, a very resonant chamber within York Minster, in which we enjoyed humming some snippets of chant and listening to the echo. We had a lovely dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant, and then headed back to our swanky hotel for the evening.
Sarah and Laurena in a typical alleyway with miniature shops on either side.
The 275 stairs up the tower were very narrow and steeply sloped around a central column. Single-file only!

Frontage of York Minster Cathedral.

Looking up at the YM tower.

This is St. Michael's Le Belfry, situated right beside York Minster. It derives its greatest notoriety from being the church in which Guy Fawkes--the brain behind the Gunpowder Plot of 1605--was baptized.

a week at Gascoigne Primary School

Hello folks. As my parents remarked last night on the phone, my new blogs are coming fewer and farther between as I get to know the area (so there's fewer new things to remark upon) and as I get busier with school. I will try to continue updating at least once a week.

So, this week I was at Gascoigne Primary School for four out of the five days (and St. Peters RC Primary on Thursday). It was really nice to go to Gascoigne because it's only a twenty minute walk from my house and I worked in the same two adjoining Year 2 classes for most of it, so I got to know the kids and the curriculum and projects they are currently working on much better than if I'm just in a place for a day or less. Even better, they called me back in (on Friday) for Monday and Tuesday of this week (the teacher was ill late last week, and doesn't expect to be back yet at the beginning of the week) so I have lesson plans to look at over my leisure over the weekend, rather than diving in cold Monday morning. Currently the kids are preparing Tower of London information pamphlets in preparation for a class trip to the Tower next month, so I am learning some things about the Tower that I never knew before. For example, did you know that:

a) there was at one time a mint in the Tower?

b) two young princes were murdered there, allegedly by their uncle Richard III, in the thirteenth century?

c) in the 17th century, one of the kings (I forget which one) was given a gift of a polar bear, and thereafter they kept a zoo there?

d) the crown jewels are housed there, including the coronation crown?

e) Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess was imprisoned there for four days in 1942?

f) the yeoman warders (who have acted as defenders of the crown jewels, prison guards, and are now tour guides to the many visitors who come each year) are also known as beefeaters? (if anyone knows why, please let me know....)

As I learned about the Tower of London this week, it made me want to go visit it myself to see all the pieces of history stored there. Maybe on my holiday in two weeks I'll make a visit.

Another thing I learned this week was how much difference a few words can make to engage a class. We were doing math, and I was asking children to come up to the board to show the answers, and I could see kids fidgeting and eyes glazing with boredom. Taking a different tack, I said, "Who wants to be the next contestant on my game show?" Suddenly all the eyes lit up and everyone's hand went into the air. "Oh, me! Me! Please miss!" Me!" I tried it with the other class I taught, and it worked like a charm there too. Everyone sitting up, being absolutely silent and watching carefully. Wow....there is a lesson I will not forget.

Yesterday, I went into London again and explored around Portobello Rd Market. There were antiques there, new goods, fresh produce and baked goods, vintage clothing, artwork, and people. Just crawling with people, so much so that if you wanted to walk 5 steps from the middle of the street into one of the shops, you had to maneuver carefully so as not to collide with the 50 people between you and the door. The only place in Canada where I've seen comparable crowds in such small spaces is at Pacific Mall. I found lovely wall hangings there, made by an Indian man. They were made out of different pieces of batik all sewn together like a quilt, and then embroidered and beaded very intricately. Very beautiful, but as I didn't have 20 pounds cash on me, I passed it up this time. I may go back again later. After the market, I walked down Kensington Church St. toward the Whole Food Market (a foodie paradise I visited before) and stopped at Waterstone's the British equivalent of Chapters) on the way, where I picked up a set of Roald Dahl books (they're all the rage here, every classroom teacher reads Dahl to her--or his--students, and I have rediscovered a love for Dahl's quirky, very creative and imaginative stories as well), as well as the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid book (in an attempt to educate myself about some of the popular kids books around), and a Europe travel guide. I made it to the Whole Foods Market where I picked up some gourds (for decoration) and a pumpkin pie (for the lunch at the Mennonite church today) and some lovely-looking spinach and blueberries.

Today I'm going to the lunch/service at the Woodgreen Mennonite Church. I look forward to going back and getting to know some of the people there better over food. Tomorrow I work for the day, and then the Canucks in our house are going out for Canadian Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night at The Maple Leaf in Covent Garden. I'll be thinking of you all tomorrow. Have a joyous Thanksgiving!

Personal Reflections

So I've been here in Britain for just over a month now. In some ways it seems longer than that, though it has also seemed to go by quickly too. There has been so much to learn and adjust to...just on Friday, I learned that the Brits teach a different style of handwriting, which I would describe as being more of a cross between printing and handwriting in the Canadian context. This explained why I have had questions from children in different schools about my handwriting.

Through the experience God has been good, in providing me with good housemates, new friends at Barking Baptist (I'm going over to Jonathan and Sam's house this afternoon to practice some "Mennonite" hymns that they learned in Canada for performance at church next Sunday when Jonathan is preaching), and a central place to live that is very close to central Barking, and easily accessible to central London via the Tube/c2c train.

I continue to find classroom management a challenge, and want to look up some neumonics systems for helping me to memorize students names quickly--a key strategy in good management--as well as continue to refine my rules/expectations as I run into new situations for which I do not have a good strategy developed.

I also need to remind myself to step back from my immediate situation often to gain some better perspective. A self-admitted perfectionist, it is easy to be very critical of what went wrong, and to gloss over small victories, but I know I need to celebrate small steps forward. I also need to let go and trust God for my needs. This is one that God and I have been working on for the last decade, and looking back I can see where I've grown. At the same time, each new situation I face reminds me how much room I have for more growth.

I believe this year will provide me with plenty of opportunities to practice the "gelassenheit" that the early Anabaptists strove after, a state of yieldedness to God's will. I hope to learn to live more joyfully in the moment, rather than worrying about tomorrow or next week or next month. Whatever this year brings, I know God has good plans for me, and for each of you reading this.

Time for a Hair Change

Hello again. For a couple of weeks now, I've been thinking I'd like to do something different with my hair. I've worn in virtually the same way for the last 17 years or so now, though since my late teens I've cut it shorter to get away from the 'fro that I had in early high school.

Now that I'm in a new country starting a new career seems like a good time for a change. I am above all, practical. I like no-fuss, no-muss hair that I can shampoo-and-go in the morning. I'm also a teacher, and prefer traditional/classical styles to avant garde statement-making hair or fashion. I therefore decided to talk to a stylist and get their advice. So I walked into Hotshots, a local hairdressing place in Barking yesterday and had a free 20-minute consultation with someone there. I had been thinking about trying highlights, so based on her recommendation, I decided to go two shades blonder than I am naturally. I came in for an 11 am appointment this morning and am fairly pleased with the result. It is definitely not an overwhelming effect, but I think it looks good on me, and next time I can choose something a little more striking if I decide that's what I want. Here are several pictures--one before and two after. I apologize that the lighting is different (I took the first one last night and the others this afternoon, so it's hard to really tell the full effect), but you can get a bit of an idea how it looks.

Little-Known Facts about British Schools

Here are a few things that I have learned about British schools in my time here that make them different from Canadian schools.

1) Peanut butter is A-OK in Britain. No one's life is about to be jeopardized if anyone brings anything with nuts to school--there are no nut allergies here.

2) The schools I've been in typically have an assembly for fifteen minutes every morning. This assembly is intended to pump school spirit by regularly honouring students or classes who have achieved commendable things (e.g. best attendance, best effort at keeping math notebooks neat, this morning it was the Year 6--who are the oldest group in the school--Prefects who had been chosen to take on a responsible role on the playground being given badges and notebooks, and whatever other criterion the head teachers--e.g. principals--decide upon). Sometimes classes will be responsible to present something they've been learning to the rest of the school, and sometimes head teachers will expound upon some character development theme, such as how to be a good friend.

3) In several schools, these assemblies opened and closed with classical music to bring everyone in and send them out. I heard Schubert's string quartet, The Trout one morning, and a Haydn symphony another morning.

4) Children as old as eight and nine years old (I'm not sure about the 11-year olds since I haven't taught the oldest two years yet) change in the classroom en mass for P.E. Boys and girls change beside each other without thinking about it.

5) Teachers are not responsible to supervise children who are eating their lunch. The "lunch ladies" who serve a hot meal to those who wish for it supervise the children inside the lunch hall.

6) The Brits prefer the "horseshoe" model for classroom layout. The teacher's desk is in the front corner (left or right) and the children's desks (or rather, tables) are set up in a semi-circle facing the front. Each classroom is equipped with a computer, data projector and visualizer. For the uninitiated, a visualizer is like a digital version of an overhead projector that can be easily zoomed in and out without getting blurry, and you can do other things like use the "mirrror" function to flip and image. This also allows teachers to easily show video clips off the internet in a way that would be the envy of most Canadian teachers at this point. Smartboards (or interactive white boards) have been rejected by the education system here because the visualizer is easier for the teacher to use and still be looking at the children.

Electrical Plugs

Just thought I should let you see what a British plug looks like. Notice the switches for each one. the orange showing on the left means power is flowing to this outlet, while the white (pointing down) on the right means the power supply is cut off. So whereas North Americans just have current flowing through the wires all the time, the Brits can turn it on and off at will. If we're not using an appliance/laptop/the TV/whatever, we try to keep our outlets all turned off.

Two Churches in One Day

Greetings:

I have had a good weekend here. On Friday night, I, together with two housemates walked to The County Pub in Newbury Park (about a 75-min. walk from Barking) for a social with other TimePlan teachers. I got to meet some more people, in particular Funmi (pronounced FOO-mee), a young woman from Oyo State in Nigeria. She was delighted to learn that I had spent three years of my childhood in Plateau State. She will be moving into Barking soon with her husband and two young children, and we are hoping to get together for walks sometimes.

Saturday was a quiet day around home, doing a few errands like grocery shopping and going to the library to take out a few books on behaviour management (written by British authors) as that is something that I have found to be a major challenge in coming to Britain. I'm currently reading "Getting the Buggers to Behave," and it is full of practical tips and suggestions for teachers.

Sunday I went to Barking Baptist in the morning, where there was a real harvest/Thanksgiving theme. I was challenged to be a more consciously grateful person all the time, a struggle at times when one is busy or stressed out, but particularly important then. I have found the times in my life when I remembered to be grateful to be the most joy-filled and purposeful times in my life. I want to reclaim the wonder and joy of a thankful heart.

In the afternoon, I headed into central London to the Woodgreen Mennonite Church. This church is connected with the London Mennonite Centre and is a congregation of about 25 or 30 members who meet in a local Baptist church at 3 pm on Sunday afternoons. Unlike the morning service with the Baptists, which is highly interactive ( "Amen!" and "Oh, yes..." and "Hallelujah, brother!") from the people in the pews during prayers, this service was quieter and more like services I am used to. I was glad to see the blue hymnal the moment I walked in the door, and found out they use the Sing the Journey book as well as two other supplemental books I wasn't familiar with. Vic Thiessen (the current director of the London Mennonite Centre) gave a very stirring sermon questioning how we can follow in the way of Jesus today with integrity, pointing to the young people who are turned off Christianity by the appalling atrocities that Christians have committed in Christ's name in the past and continuing today. He challenged us to be willing to apologize for the wrongs past Christians have committed, and being willing to repent of current injustices in which we are complicit. His most radical point was that we need to be willing to re-examine our own esteemed traditions and the Bible, not counting either one as infallible. Nelson Kraybill (until very recently the president of AMBS) and his wife (Ellen?) were visiting, who had been the directors of the London Mennonite Centre back in the early-mid 1990's, so there was a warm welcome of them--Ellen jumped in and played piano since they were down a few musicians that day--and they gave an update to the congregation at the end of the service. There was also time for other introductions, so I introduced myself, and a few CPTers were introduced as well. Then they ended with tea for everyone. It is a church that truly is family to each other, and I will definitely be back, though when it takes almost 90 minutes and three trains to get there, it likely won't be next week.

I currently have 1-1/2 days of work lined up for this week so far. I'm going back to the same school I spent a week at before for this afternoon and all day tomorrow. It's good to be going back to a school I know.

Have a good week, everyone.

Julie

Errands week...

Hello again:

It's been a few days since I posted because there hasn't been much of interest to report. On Monday, I got called into a school to cover a teacher who usually takes kids out of the class on an individual basis to do enrichment work or for remedial help. I ended up sitting in on four different classes for the day, in one case doing some reading with individual children and the rest of the time just being another adult in the room to monitor kids doing their math/computers/whatever. That was a very easy day, and it was nice to see some other teachers doing their thing. I feel like I'm getting some sense for what routines are fairly standard across schools in the borough of Barking and Dagenham anyway.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week I have had no work. This has been good in the sense that I have been needing to get some financial work done. I needed to bring my passport and proof of address to Lloyd's for instance, in order to set up phone banking on my international account so I can transfer student loan money back to Canada, and I also needed to give my employer and my landlord my newly acquired bank account info so that I can get paid (by direct deposit), and pay my rent (a preauthorized debit off my account). As well, I now have a membership at the local library.

Yesterday I got a call for work today, but then it was cancelled later last evening. Then I got a second call about the same school this morning, but it was again cancelled about half-an-hour later. I ended up using my free time today to clean the kitchen from top to bottom. It was due for a good housecleaning to get rid of all the greasy deposits on all the shelves.

I've been thinking lately about where I'd like to go once I have some time off and money in my pocket, and I think--apart from short jaunts within the UK itself--I'd really like to visit Austria. Salzburg, Vienna, Linz, and Innsbruck--all of these appeal to me for their historical, cultural (particularly musical) and aesthetic appeal. I took out a book from the library and am copying down notes about what to see and how to get around. I'm hoping to find someone who would be willing to go with me...my housemates a) have already visited Austria and have other destinations they'd like to see; b) aren't classical music fans and probably wouldn't care to visit the Musikverein with me and c) already have plans made with boyfriends or established friends and I'd be a tag-along/third wheel--the last thing I ever want to be! I'm hoping I will find someone as I get to know more people here...otherwise, if any of you reading this blog are interested, do let me know!

Ciao. JKN

Kensington Palace and Gardens

This is me standing just inside the kitchen modelling my new trenchcoat purchased at H & M's for 35 pounds on Friday night while shopping with my housemates.

So on Saturday, I decided to take advantage of the Open House that was happening all over London, from downtown out to the boroughs like Barking. This was an event in which all kinds of architecturally significant buildings were opened to the public for free for the weekend. I got on the c2c train since the tube doesn't run here on the weekends. Transportation for London has taken on a massive project of updating the entire tube system--trains, tracks, signals, everything--over the next ten years, and the project is in high gear now in preparation for the 2012 Olympics. This means that every weekend 4-5 subway lines within the system are partially shut down for two days during which time there is a replacement bus service which lengthens the journey to about double tube time. Luckily I live in Barking which also has good train service via the c2c into London, so I opt to pay a bit extra and take that rather than spend upwards of two hours on a bus each way.

Staying on the theme of infrastructure maintenance, I have been impressed by the efficiency of the Brits in repairing roads. Because they do not have the luxury of four-lane roads and/or relatively little traffic as many Canadian communities do, they complete all of their roadwork at night. You'll see 5 or 6 machines working together at 11 pm (as my housemates and I did on our way home from our night out on Friday) to complete a stretch of road 100-200 metres in length. The next night they move down the street and do the next 200 metres.

OK, back to my story. So I took the c2c to Fenchurch station where I transferred without difficulty this time (see last weekend's post for my previous confusion) to the tube at Tower Hill. From there I took the Central line to High Street Kensington. I found the most wonderful

foodie's paradise when I got above ground again, called the Whole Foods Market. It had the most tantalizing smells emanating of freshly baked bread, roasted vegetables and herbs and many other nice things. I got inside and found the highest quality fruits and vegetables, many lovely baked goods, a good variety of exotic chocolates, an impressive cheese display and a gigantic wine selection from all over the world. There was a restaurant on-site and many take-out type options, prepared foods (by which I do not mean fast food, but nutritious, scrumptious- looking entrees and salads) that you could scoop into a box to eat immediately or to take home to the fridge. Much emphasis on organic and local as well as vegetarian. I didn't have money to spend there yesterday, but I have made a mental note to return in the future.

I got to Kensington and wandered around the gardens before getting to the palace. There were gorgeously manicured gardens bordered by short shrubs. Upon entering, I was told that in fact it was only free if you were there with the tour group which left a

t 2 and 4 (I had arrived at 2:40). I decided I didn't want to stay until 4, nor was I interested in paying 12.50 when I had not intended to stay longer than an hour. I continued my walk through the gardens which turned into Hyde Park. There were lawn chairs available for the public to use so I saw many people there with books and magazines, camped out for the afternoon there. I've included some pictures here.

One of several carefully tended gardens around Kensington Palace.

a statue of Queen Victoria

A statue of William of Orange on the east side of Kensington Palace.

These are some of the buildings on High Street just outside of Kensington Gardens. This Pizza Hut has a bit fancier building than usual...