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...