snot factories

I have spent the last week working with tiny little snot factories in a nursery in Swindon. Not only were they little snot factories, but they came with 10% added drool for one low cost! Yes, I spent the week with 1-2 yr olds. Some of them were cute, because they didn't have a fountain of bodily fluids pouring down their face all day, and some were just *shudder*. There was one little girl who screamed when u left her alone, screamed when u came near her, she hated me, she was just a little bundle of rage. So she was fun. The other crier attached himself to me, so I spent 3 of the 5 days with him in my arms most of the day, which was ok, because he was cute and snuggled in, and wasn't a snot factory, but he was huge! Not like Pavarotti huge, but he was just big, and my back, arms, legs, hips, shoulders, everything hurt because u constantly shifted him around.
I managed to dodge a bullet though because they didn't get me to change any nappies, even though I am legally allowed to as I'm not a paedophile, so I just go to them "he has done a poo" and they changed him. BRILLIANT!
The car survived the trip every day. I have done over 500 miles in a week. It shudders when I change gears, well, jerks more than shudders, and when u get it to 5th gear and take it to 4 on the revs dial (staying well within the legal speed limit at all times, of course) the car starts jerking again. So I had to stay with the flow on the motorway. Monday was fun, and Tuesday, but Monday particularly as I wasn't sure where I was going. It was foggy, like couldn't see the house over the road foggy when I left at 7.10am. The motorway was less foggy than Bradley stoke, but it was still quite bad, so you couldn't see the signs until the were right next to you, not good when your not sure where u are! There are these electronic signs down the middle of the motorway so when there is a crash or something they flash and light up "50" so you know to slow down. On Monday and Tuesday they read "Fog" which was AWESOME and helpful, because you couldn't see them until you were upon them because of the fog! The red ring shows the sign that says fog. See what I mean! I have discovered some new ways to talk and some new words thanks to spending a week with 20 something girls. Here is my "how to speak pommy" guide:
Well - used as a replacement for very, e.g. "I was well impressed with that"
Lush - cute, adorable, "awww, you're lush"
Paddy - tantrum, "he just had a proper paddy then"
Babes - apparently exactly the same as babe, "aww, babe, come back" but said as a plural
And now for the confusing ones:
Rubbish is considered a swear word "that was rubbish" "you're rubbish"
lunch is called dinner, but only when it's hot otherwise it's still lunch, dessert is called pudding, dinner is called tea, unless u had lunch, not dinner at lunchtime in which case it's still dinner, unless its at 3pm, then its still tea but its afternoon tea. Did you get all that?
Hmm, what else? Nothing. It's been a busy week with all the traveling, 9-6pm shifts and leaving the house at 7 and getting home at 7. Tuesday I have a fun day, because I am back in Swindon, in a different nursery, from 8-6. Joy for 10 hour shifts and joy for 8am start, because it means I get to leave at 6.30am! WOOT! And Wednesday is 10-6, so that's not SO bad. They offered me a 5 day a week contract until Xmas as a teacher in a class with autistic children (with 3 support staff) however there were 2 problems. A) It was in Swindon. B) It was starting Monday and I am going to Prague on 22nd so not available. But it would have been good experience otherwise. I asked why they keep sending me to Swindon and they said it is because there are more jobs there, and I am one of the few who will go, so they offer it to me. I don't like going, but if I don't go I might get no work or half a day nursery stuff here, which is crap pay, plus they pay me some petrol money, so it's not TOO bad.Thanks for my ONE comment last time, random as it was. I'm over my home sickness. For now! Looks like it might rain. I think I’ll nip to the shops now and get some food before that happens. Ciao!

Brrrrrr part 2

OK, so I felt the need to add some pictures of my winter woolies I got on my shopping adventure for Prague and to survive winter. I got a cute beanie with hangy down ear covery bits and some rainbow "arm wamers" and 2 pair of fingerless gloves/arm warmers. They are so cool, very comfy and nice and bright (me, bright? no! never!). So now i have rainbow beanies, scarves, socks, jumper and glove thingos. Yay me! They are all from different times tho, so none match perfectly, o I went with a black beanie with hangy down things cos i thought a patterned one might clash with my scarves, PLUS cos of my giant head it was the only one that fit! In addition to this I also got thermal socks, thermal tights and a thermal singlet.

I think I have discovered what homesickness is all about. I am feeling quite lonely on the other side of the world. I have loads of people to talk to at work, band, housemates etc, but no real friends. So its a bit hard. Plus I watched a movie on friday night "eight below" about the huskies left behind and it was sad in a couple of bits and it made me miss Ernie. Altogether now.... "awwwwwwww". SO yeah, if anyone reading this wants to send me an email, a proper letter, a comment at the end (just click on add comment... dont forget ur name)... anything I would GREATLY appreciate it because i'm just a bit lonely at the moment. It could be because I am sending everything via this, and assuming people are reading it, but I then don't get replies like I would with emails on how everything is going for those who are reading it. (some of you are keeping me up to date, and thats great...thanks!). I think because everything has settled down into a routine i've kinda had enough time to take a breath and for it all to catch up with me. Don't panic tho, I wont be rushing home any time soon, I still have lots of stuff to do.... and I have to stay until May at least because May 26th I am going to see Dirty Dancing the stage musical!!! Because nobody puts Baby in the corner! (oh, not related to anything at all, I taught a kid the other day who's parents are apparently druggies, and he's called Buddy Holly!)

Brrrrrrr

I want to know how the weather knows that it is winter now??? We have gone from 3 months of "unseasonably warm weather" to the 1st of November being the first day of proper weather for this time of the year, and frost on cars, thick jackets needed, highs all day of 11-12'C. How does it know??
Well, my week has been average, I didn't ring in for work on Mon and Tues as I was so exhausted from all the travelling I just wanted a sleep in, and they didn't ring me, so obviously they weren't desperate. Then Wednesday I worked all day in the place I was at last term, where I got asked back too. I was sitting in the staff room and someone asked someone else who I was, and they obviously said, and I just heard "oh, so that's Rachel?" and then they started talking to me about how I had this reputation and they would request me wherever possible, but I'm known as the kookaburra lady for teaching them the Kookaburra song! The teacher I was with was lovely, and had only been teaching 3 years, decided to get her degree once her kids had grown up. She asked me at the end of the day for any suggestions I had to help her, she was one of the best teachers I have worked with yet, and I told her so.
Then yesterday I was booked to work at Swindon (over an hour away) and to be there at 8am. So I set the alarm for 5.30am, got up, showered, got dresses and left the house at 6.15am. The car was covered in ice and it was FREEZING outside. I turned the engine on and all I got was a flash of the lights and then they all went out, no engine turning over noises. Then I waited and tried again (once the 'door open' light was on again, as it meant the battery was working again) and the same thing. I tried several more times and at around 6.20am managed to get it on, but a little orange light with the car and a spanner came on. I tried to drive and there was no power, so I got as far as reversing out and 3 metres down the road, inbetween my house and the neighbours. So I rang AA (our NRMA) and I only have roadside assist, don't I?? So I gave all my details, then she put me on to the person who I had to pay another 88GBP to get home start added to my membership. I was told it will be some time before 8am. It was now 6.30am. I rang Select and left a message. I rang them again and left another message at 7.15am when he still wasn't there. AA arrived at 7.25am. He said he would 'download' to see what the fault was, but might not be able to fix it, because it was electrical. He does this and 'no fault registered' comes up and the light went out. So he asked me to drive it round the block, which I did, and it worked fine, so he filled in the paperwork, told me if it happens again to take it to the local dealership, and left. By this time it is 7.33am. I ring select for the 4th time and finally get a real person, who tells me to please still go to Swindon and they will ring the nursery and tell them what happened. So off I head, I got about 2 miles down the road and it is jerking and the engine starts miss firing. So I drive it, carefully, to the local dealership and leave it there for them to look at. I also rang select and said there was no way I was going to get to Swindon and they would have to replace me. Then I get to sit and wait for the courtesy bus to take me back home again, which I finally got to at 10am. So 6.15-10am all that took. I was not a happy camper. I did a couple of loads of washing and watched a DVD that I hired that had come in the mail (I highly recommend "Confetti" if you read this mum, you will like it), and then at 3.45pm I got a call saying the courtesy bus would come get me again as the car was ready to collect.
120GBP later I got new spark plugs and a fee for them to assess the vehicle. I drove it around a bit and it was still not 100% when I changed gears, better, but still a bit jerky. I took it straight back and the girl at the desk said to leave it til tomorrow (today) and she would leave my card out, but they can take a while to settle down. So I did.
Today I worked at Barton Hill again in the morning, and the car was still doing the same thing when I changed gears. So I took it back after I finished work and she said she could book it in for this afternoon but she couldn't guarantee they would even look at it, and if they did, t still wouldn't get finished til Monday, or I could bring it back next week, but as she had no courtesy cars that wouldn't work, because I have been booked in every day next week to work in Swindon, so I NEED a car every day, cos I can't afford a taxi to Swindon, even for one day, and me and public transport don't mix, especially when I don't know where I am going and have to be there by 9am! So it is booked in for the 13th November and I am going to cross my fingers that it will work until then!
I have NO plans for the weekend, and now, because of my car saga it doesn't look like I will be getting any, other than maybe going to the shops and buying myself some leggings or long johns or something, as I have managed to keep my top warm, but my legs are freezing! I even wore my thick bed socks to work today inside my ankle boots to stop by feet freezing! So I will DEFINITELY need something for Prague!
Mum (being technologically impaired) asked me whether I had been printing off my blog for prosperity as what happens to the old entries. They get archived on the blog site, but I had already thought of using my blog entries as the text to go with my scrapbooky items I have been collecting (maps, tickets, photos etc) for when I get back, so I went through and copied and pasted from "30 days to go" into Word this afternoon without formatting and pictures and stuff, so I have it all in one spot and it's easy to print off, and now it's less of a job to do 13 months worth when I get back. It was interesting to read my ideas from back then, to what has actually happened! I didn't do any travel until October, when my original plan was to do the tour in August, and I still haven't been to the places that were on that tour! I have booked the following trips though:
Nov- Prague (Czech Republic)
Jan- Rome (Italy)
Feb - Paris (France)
Feb - Salzburg (Austria)
Mar - Dublin (Ireland)
April - Hanover (Germany)
Giving myself roughly 4-5 days in each place, some over a weekend, some during the week. Salzburg is during school holidays, that's why I have 2 in Feb. I have nothing in December because I need to work to survive the 2 weeks school holidays when I will be up with the rellies. It is rather a juggling act with the money, but whilst I still have something in the savings I wont panic too much!
Oh, and I also read about my speeding fine... here's the latest update on that... I sent away my licence and a cheque for the fine and it came back a week later saying because it wasn't a UK licence it could not be processed as a conditional fine, and had been referred back to the Northampton Police who may wish to pursue the matter further. So at the moment, I have had nothing happen. I don't know if I will have to pay? If I will have to go to court? If I will just get a slap on the wrist and be told to be more careful. I have no idea!! And I don't really want to ask because I don't want to remind someone about me, incase I just slip under the rug somewhere and manage to avoid this for a year!
Hmm, ok, I can't think of anymore news, updates etc. I have a new housemate, another boy! Ola, he's African or something, very dark colourings. He's nice, but has a very deep voice so it vibrates through the house so you can hear him everywhere! There's an empty room, so who knows who will get that? Its the TEENY room, that now its empty I see it doesn't even have a wardrobe, just a single bed and bedside table!
PLEASE write comments, or send emails, or send actual mail, because I love hearing what is happening on the other side of the world and keeping up to date. Susan and Karl and Izzy from Neighbours are doing the tour of media interviews at the moment over here, which is very sad that everyone is so interested!