Greatest birthday weekend EVER!!!!

I spent my 23rd birthday in London with 8 of the most amazing people I know!!!! The girls surprised me with a gluten free birthday cake on Thursday night.  Friday afternoon we drove down to Epping and took the train into London that night. We then took the tube and then a bus to Deptford, which happened to be sketchville, but it was great!!!!! We ended up just going down to the bar that was below our hostel. It was a Jamaican bar. We were the only white people and myself, the lone asian. haha Lots of Reggae, lots of laughter, lots of dancing, lots of AWESOMENESS!!!!!  

Saturday we woke up at 7:45 A.M. and took a bus to the London Bridge and went to tour the Tower of London. It was very interesting. We saw the crown jewels, the Bloody Tower, and the White Tower. It was a great experience and I wish we had more time there, but we were on a time crunch with shopping. haha Emily, Brandi, and I decided to break off from the group to do a bit of shopping. So, we took a bus to Charing Cross and then hopped on the tube to Piccadilly Circus. We found a store called "Lillywhite" which is a HUGE sports apparel store. It was 5 stories and they were having a 70% off sale. I got a backpack and a pair of running shoes from there. Then it was off to Oxford Circus where we spent an hour and a half in H&M which now happen to be Brandi and Emily's new favorite store. They had no idea that H&M existed. lol They were very impressed. I bought a tank top and a short sleeve sweater thing. We thought we might dress up to go out, but alas, we did not. We then went into Top Shop and I wanted to go hide in a corner. There were so many people there. I think there are more people in London than there are in New York City. It's CRAZY!!! People were everywhere!!!! We spent three hours shopping and only went to three stores. After shopping we met up with the rest of the group for dinner at "Ponti's Italian Kitchen" for my birthday dinner. It was a good choice, because the restaurant had gluten free dishes for Brandi!!! Dinner was fantastic! After dinner we went back to the hostel and went back to the Jamaican bar and had another FANTASTIC night! The DJ was continuously calling out that it was my birthday. There was dancing and lots more Reggae. lol We definitely closed down the bar that night. 

Sunday morning we slept in till 10:00 A.M., went to Jenny's for breakfast, and then hopped on a bus and the tube to get to Camden to go to a market. The market was extremely crowded as well, but was pretty cool. Emily and I bought a pair of cute shoes at an ALDO outlet. We left Camden at 2:20 P.M. And it took us two hours to get to Epping, when it should have taken us an hour. The tube was closed in the direction we needed to go, so we were hopping buses and trains until we came upon a tube station that was open and finally got to Epping around 4:30 P.M. We then rode back to Feltwell an hour and a half, and the majority of us slept, as Hal drove us back. Yeah Hal!!! After we got back to Feltwell and dropped off our bags some of us went to the Commissary to do grocery shopping for the week. And then I FINALLY took a shower after three days. hahahaha Believe me, I was getting to the point where I could smell myself. There was no way I would shower at the hostel. It was a small box and I didn't have shower shoes, so there was no way! 

Today, was an eventful day. I made a kid throw-up, I made a kid cry, and I got hit in the back with a baseball bat. I guess that the kid that threw-up came from lunch and the activity we were doing required a lot of running and I guess it was just too much. Luckily he made it to a trash can. The kid that cried apparently does that a lot and says that she's confused. So, I tried to explain things to her, but it just wasn't happening. So, there was a lot of encouragement from myself and her classmates, which I was very impressed about. She eventually stopped crying. In my Kindergarden class, I was apparently standing a bit too close to a kid at the tee-ball and his follow-through was a bit too much and hit me straight in the back with the bat. And it wasn't a soft bat. 

So, that was it.  

Back from Holland

Went to Holland for our three day weekend. We had to be at the bus at 5:15 A.M. to get to Harwich to take the Ferry over to Hoek van Holland. The Ferry ride was 7 hours long. 7 HOURS LONG!!!! The trip there was rough, but the trip back, wasn't too bad. We got a cabin and slept most of the way home. Emily, Brandi, and I visited Amsterdam, Volendam, and Delft. We had such a great time. We went to the "Red Light" district Saturday night. On Sunday we went to Anne Frank's House, the Diamond Factory, and a clog and cheese farm.  On Monday we went to the Delft Pottery factory. We left Monday at 2:00 P.M. and got back to Feltwell at 10:30 P.M.  

Teaching wise...I did the introductory activity last week with the 1st-3rd graders.  It went pretty well, and I've come to discover which classes are more well behaved than others. I'm still having trouble with learning their names and I only have three more weeks. It's just hard trying to learn 300 kids names in six weeks. This week I'm taking over the fitness activity and the activity I'm doing is wearing the kids out, but they seem to enjoy the activity. It's good to see the different ways I have to explain things to the 1st graders compared to the 3rd graders, but then there are some 3rd grade classes need more of an explanation than the others.  My best class is Ms. Levay's class, which is a 2nd grade Spanish emersion class. They are my best behaved class. 

Exhausted already!!!!

Friday night we all went to Jude's Ferry Pub for drinks and dinner. We had an authentic british dinner and it was actually pretty good. Most of us also tasted liver for the first time and weren't really impressed. Later, 4 of us went to The George, where we are starting to become "regulars" haha, to listen to live music. Saturday we went to London this past weekend and had a great time!!! Didn't get all that much sleep, but we madeup for it in everything we saw. We left Lakenheath at 7:30 A.M. and rode the shuttle bus down to Heathrow airport in London. We then took the tube into Central London to find our hostel which happened to be right across the street from the Natural History Museum. We ended up walking around there for a little while and eating there. Apparently it's pretty expensive to eat anywhere around London. So, we ate at the museum. Then we were really close to Buckingham Palace as well as Harrods, so we went to see those places. We then made our way to WestminsterAbbey, Big Ben, and the London Eye. After those we all met up and decided to go see a movie. We ended up seeing "He's Just Not That Into You". It was a pretty cute movie. But the weird thing is at their theaters they have ushers and assigned seating. So, we bought our tickets earlier and went to dinner and did some shopping before the movie started. All of the girls bought quite a few things in the souvenir shops that were around the movie theater. Sunday morning we all got up and had a British breakfast that was actually pretty good!

Here are a couple of pictures...one is of Big Ben and the other is Westminster Abbey.

Monday I got to start teaching. I'm just doing the introduction activity with the first-third graders. They all seem to enjoy the game that we are playing. I have no idea how elementary Phys. Ed. teachers do it. I'm just totally exhausted after every class. I have twenty classes every week. It's insane!! So far I know maybe 3 kids' names in each class, but I do know everyone's name in one class!! Mrs. Inglat's class, I know every single students' name!!!! GO ME!!! But other than that, that is all. lol I'm really enjoying my teacher, she has great ideas and teaching methods.

This coming weekend it's off to Amsterdam and from what we hear, we are to be EXTREMELY careful with our belongings. So, pray for safe travel and kept belongings!!!

First two days...

Because of the Super Bowl and the snow on our first day of school, which happened to be a Professional Day, we were delayed three hours. So, we didn't have to be at school until 11:00 A.M. Apparently it never snows here and people FREAK out when it does because they are no where near prepared for it. All they have are "grit" trucks, AKA sand trucks, there are no snow plows in the smaller villages. So, there was hardly anyone out on Sunday. 

Sunday a couple of us went to the BX to get a couple of things and then went out to Steve's house for the Super Bowl. He also took us to a pub, The George, for our first British Pub experience. I must say I loved it!! lol there was no on there though. haha But Paul, the owner, was pretty nice. The Super Bowl here didn't start until 11:18 P.M. and we didn't leave Steve's house until 2:00 A.M. so it was a good thing school was delayed. 

As for the professional day we didn't really do anything. Emily and I went to the post office to get our box and to the bus office to get our bus passes. We also went to the travel office to book a trip to Paris, but it was all booked. So, I believe we are going to London!!!! There will probably be 9 of us going, if everyone goes. For the rest of the day Monday, there were meetings that emily and I sat in for about 10 mins. Today, Tuesday, was our first day. And again we were delayed two hours because the roads were really slick. 

Today, we only had 4 classes. 1 Kindergarten, 1 1st grade, 1 3rd grade, and the Special Ed class. Tuesdays are going to be our longest days because we have 6 classes. Today the SPED (Special Ed) class was my favorite. We only had two, one with autism and I don't remember what Ms. Parkerson said Mason had. But, I really enjoyed playing with the both of them. Mostly with Julian. 

Funny thing happened today in my first class. The sub that was for this class asked me if I was a mother of one of the students. EEK!!!!  I told her NO...I was a student teacher!!! She just totally freaked me out!! 

Alright, if you all want a postcard, please let me know your address and I will send you one!!!

Cheers!!!

Finally here!!!

Finally made it to England!!! I was dead tired by the time we got here. I got no sleep on the plane, and got about an hour of sleep on the bus ride to Lakenheath Airforce Base. And then we had to stay up for the rest of the day. 

After we got there we went to the BX and Commisary to get groceries and essentials. Our dorms are pretty good. All but two of us have two rooms to ourselves. And there is one bathroom for 6 of us with one working shower and two working toilets. So, it will be interesting for the next three months. 

Everyone is great! We all get along and there has been a LOT of laughter! Tomorrow is a professional day, so no class. Which is good because we are all at one of the teacher's house watching the Super Bowl. lol Kick-off isn't until 11:00 P.M. But, there is no class. I still have yet to meet my teachers, so tomorrow will be that day. I'm pretty excited about that. Teri Parkerson left me a care package in my room, which was awfully nice. 

As far as traveling goes, I think the plan is to go to Paris, France in two weeks. We have a three day weekend. And this coming weekend we might be going to London. So, we are going to be talking about traveling stuff once we can get over to Lakenheath to see how to get places. 

We have been having a hard time finding things to do. We don't have internet, TV, or a vehicle to get around, and Feltwell is in the middle of NO WHERE!!!! It's like a 8 mi. walk to get into the village of Feltwell but then we have to get out of the base which is another pretty big hike. lol So, we have to depend on other people to get places. 

Oh, it has been snowing here today on and off. And apparently it NEVER snows here. So, people get freaked out! lol We also had our first British Pub experience. It was great. There was no one there, probably because of the snow. But, it was great!!