Holidays Already

I have only worked for two and a half weeks in London and it is term break already. I guess I came at the right time of year.

Happy Holidays everyone :0)

xo jo

Room for Let

We put a deposit down on a cosy studio in Bayswater (just next to Kensington, London) about an hour ago.

Jo immediately wanted to celebrate with champagne at our local, but after checking the £-to-$ exchange rate, we've ducked into Cafe Nero (like Gloria Jeans) for a two-for-one coffee. ☺

The place is great. It is a medium sized, open-plan studio that has been fully furnished by the Agent. We've agreed to return this time next week and pay the bond (standard 4weeks rent) and a month's rent next week, so we should be moving in sometime around the 5th or 6th of April.

The estate agents own the whole house - together with another couple of houses in the same stretch of the street - and are in the process of remodelling them all into studio apartments. Our studio seems to have been remodelled about a year or so ago, so still looks quite new and 'fresh' (always important when the mums come to stay).

For all those who are interested in 'the area': I understand Westminster Council operated Council Benefit Housing (euphanism for Housing Commission) along some of Inverness Terrace about 10-15 years ago, but sold the last of these off to private investors quite a few years ago leaving quite a modern 'refurbed' feel to the area.

Stay tuned for more news, including a photo, but in the mean time, check out a map of the place (here) thanks to our friends at Google.

London is a Funny Place

London is a funny place.

Unlike Sydney where you can pretty much know that the Eastern Suburbs are (fill in the blank), the Western Suburbs are…………., and the Northern Beaches are…………. Well, here, as most of you will I know, London is set up in Zones. Zone One is the Centre of the city and the most expensive, out to Zone 6. Though, it is not as black and white as that either. You can be in a really lovely area in a good zone, in a beautiful street. Then....you walk two streets down and there is utter chaos. So, as you can imagine, it's hard to find accommodation.

Terrific Day at School

Had a terrific day at school yesterday. I went to a school in Ewell West (got lost on the way, but that’s beside the point, it’s the trouble of a supply teacher’s existence) an all boys school – Glyn Technology. Ah…. I think it has restored my faith in teaching in London. (That’s a bit dramatic isn’t it). ☺
The students were absolutely beautiful, they were so eager to learn and so willing to answer questions and were very well behaved.
I shadowed a student for the whole day as his 'special needs assistant'. I was warned by the Head of Special Ed and the Deputy Head about the student's past and his 'problems' , or 'diagnosis'. Though praise to God, this year 7 boy was an absolute angel the whole day. He seemed to respond to me really well.

A great day.

Beautiful Day

It's a beautiful day. The sun has been shining for the last hour; when I put my hand on the window the cold doesn't bite the back of my hand. I didn't even have to put gloves on for breakfast...

It's amazing how much the weather affects people here. It seems I'm told by most people I meet that 'winter' has lasted for an extra couple weeks this year. It's not just the cold, but the constant overcast and 'English weather'. It really seems to be on people's mind most of the time. A Polish friend asked yesterday why "the Brits didn't leave the convicts here and all move to Australia...?"

Here's to hoping Spring is here to stay - or at least the sun has gained a foothold.

Off to work for me.

Dance Classes

I have been going along to Pineapple Studios which is kind of like Sydney Dance Company. However Sydney Dance Co classes have about 4 classes per day; possibly 16 classes on a Saturday. Pineapple on the other hand, has about 40 classes per day and 12 studios.
That said though, the contemporary is limited. But, the jazz is amazing – and really hard!

I was given some advice from people in Dublin about some fantastic places to go for contemporary classes. In Euston there is a place called “The Place” that have professional contemporary classes daily – went to a couple this week and I was really impressed. Yay!

The expereience has been so valuable already.

Third Day at School

Well Praise God – it was not as bad as Friday – in fact it was a beautiful day. I went to a school in Morden called Malmsbury Primary School. I taught year 2 and year 5 literacy and maths and then Reception (Kindergarten) music where we sang songs.

A very enjoyable day. Thank you Lord! Maybe I should stick to Primary while I’m over here – well at least until I get a role in a show! ☺

Summer May Come

Well, we felt warmth from the sun for the first time yesterday...
We were walking to our local bus stop on the way to Church and by the time we arrived at the bus stop the clouds had come over and the wind had picked back up (but what else would you expect from a bus stop ? ) - still there was about 2min of respite from the winter. Maybe - just maybe - summer will come.
Back to 5 degrees again today...

St Patrick’s Day!

Fun Fun Fun! After my shocking day at John Paul II, Matt and I have a lovely night out. It was the first time we have been out in London. We went to Thai Restaurant around the corner from where Matt works – they had a really great deal and the food was scrumptious. Although, that may be because we’ve been having soup and bread every night for two weeks!

After dinner we trekked down to South Wimbledon and went to a very non-touristy, good ‘ol local Irish Pub to have a Guinness. The pub was packed, and there was a terrible sound coming from the corner (read: bag-pipes). For some reason, last night they didn’t seem as obnoxious as they usually are.

The atmosphere was great – lots of fun chatting with the Irish. The Guinness was disgusting but I got through it – had to - it was St Pat’s day wasn’t it…?

Our flat mate kept laughing at us for calling it St Pat's day. She'd never heard anyone call it anything but St Patrick's Day.

Happy St Pat's Day. To you too Pat! :)

Almost Rugby

I am working with Protocol Teachers at the moment, which is a teaching agency.

The way it works - I ring each morning I want to work and if there's work (which there usually is) they book me up. It is usually general cover, though sometimes it is a little more specialised.

This morning I rang to announce my avialability and there was no work..... until about 9am when I was asked to coach Rugby all day at a Senior Boys school in the South of London.

HA!

Job Openings

Rick, thought you'd be interested in this one; the JustRail.net (UK Rail Recruitment Site) says they "are seeking Metro Engineers" for their South London Office.

Jo and I immediately thought of you and your stylish business shirts...
More here.

Second Day on the Job - John Paul II

Second day on the job, and it was probably the hardest in my teaching career so far. I went to a school called John Paul II down in Putney - about 90% black population. I was warned by the agency that it would be a challenge and 'did I want to take it..?" What did I have to lose? kids couldn't possibly be that bad.
Not so. I arrived at the school to see posters all over the billboards at school saying "The inspectors said we are making satisfactory progress". After inquiring about the signs I was informed that just this week inspectors from the Department of Teaching were visiting the school, to see how 'things were going' - and that the school was on virge of being shut down because of the monstrous behavioural issues. If the school had not made a 'satisfactory' change then the school would have been shut down.

Just last week there was a riot in one of the class rooms, two teachers were assaulted and a large percentage off on stress leave. Yesterday, the day I was there, a guy broke a girls arm with his bare hands, and in my classroom, amongst other things a student, in rage, grabbed a chair and pinned another student against the wall. The look in those children's eyes was unbelievable - is so much hate, so much anger and they were only in Year 10.

All day, it was impossible to even ask them to listen to you, let alone pay attention so I could teach them. The teacher may as well not be there - no matter what you say, how you say it or whether you say it to them individually, the students totally ignore the teachers. I felt like I was in the movie Dangerous Minds or Sister Act II when Whoopi Goldberg tries to teach the students music; only without the happy ending.

I prayed for these kids all day. The hardest thing about the day was that each child had so much hate, so much anger in them and for me/for teachers even before you walk through that door. They are really broken.
Yesterday I saw but a glimpse of the how God must react/long for his people who are broken and need Him but do not see Him. Those children need God's love, and if only they were willing, they'd have it already.

Grafton Street in the City of Dublin

I had just been to a huge audition the day before at The Dance Theatre of Ireland – a FOUR HOUR class where 40 out of 200 were chosen to audition. After getting cut from the audition – (they were only after one female ☺) I was able to spend a day in Dublin before my flight the next day.

Taking the DART (train) from Dun Laoghaire to Dublin’s city centre I found Grafton Street, which was buzzing. Lots of people, excellent shops and quirky little buildings to look at; and of course lots of Guinness.

I came across a four piece jazz band with violin, double bass, trumpet and acoustic guitar (fantastic) and took a small video of them with my phone, when out of the blue a girl from Toni and Guy (the hairdresser) walked up to me and asked if I’d like a 'free haircut'. The model she was supposed to working on cancelled and so she went out to Grafton street and picked up me! It was so much fun. I got a shampoo, conditioner, cut and blow dry (probably equal to 100 pounds) for free!

Dream Job

Dropped in the application form today and happened to hand it to the manager. He noticed I spoke English and looked him in the eye, so gave me an interview on the spot and after outlining the company structure (17 bike shops around London with a Head Office in Gatwick), apologised for the pay and offered me the job.
I’ll start tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Jo here – meanwhile - I was at Café Nero and had ordered matt a coffee. I was sitting waiting patiently for him to come back (shouldn’t take too long – the bike shop is only three doors down and he was just handing in a form). After 15 minutes of waiting and praying, I figured he had been offered the job. :)

Our Local

Much to Jo’s delight, we have found a local coffee shop; much to my delight, it’s three doors down from a bike shop.
After putting the coffee shop through it’s paces (Jo asked for a Skinny Weak Latte – only to find out the shop sells double shots as standard), we ducked into the bike shop ‘for a quick look’ and noticed an advertisement for an ‘Aussie Sales Guru’ (minus the ‘Aussie’ and ‘Guru’).
I’ll fill it out and drop it back in once we move into our temporary accommodation (with my cousin’s friend).