Hallo!

Well, I survived Salzburg, and it was really nice. I can't decide whether Prague or Salzburg is my fave place now. They are both very nice and both hold good memories for me. I think the reason they are both holding such good memories is that not only were they pretty places, but I also had good hostel experiences and met some nice people. So the combination of the 2 things made it extra special.
20/2- I woke up at the ever delightful time of 4am and drove to the airport, for my 5am check-in and 7am flight. Coventry airport is... well... THRILLING! (if you like sheds with 1 tiny counter selling bottled water). I arrived in Salzburg, caught the bus to the station then walked to the hostel from there. By the time I arrived, wearing my 4 layers, my full pack and my little backpack as well, I was red and boiling hot. I dumped my pack, and went off to explore. I used my free hostel map to find my way to the fernicular up to the top of the hill where there is a fortress. I was walking around up there, and down in the old town, in just a t-shirt, trying to cool off. This drew some looks and points, but it was quite warm and glorious blue skies and sunny, with the 12'C. The view from up the top was quite good, but then the Alps were behind making it seem less high up! I then went for a walk to the river and sat on a bench filling in postcards,but the sun was setting by now, and the temp dropped so I was in 4 layers again, gloves and beanie!Back at the hostel I discovered 4 new room mates, 2 from South Korea who spoke VERY little English, and 2 from Indonesia who spoke good English.
21/2- THE DAY OF THE SOUND OF MUSIC TOUR!!! yayayayay!!! The tour guide was a rather camp guy who had some good (well rehearsed) jokes and comments and he made it a very good tour. It was another glorious, blue sky day. We had a stop over in a place called Mondsee which is by Lake Mondsee where I had proper apple strudel. More about the tour later... When I got back, I took the tour guide's (Peter's) advice and caught bus number 25 to Untersberg Mountain, where I then caught the cable car to the top. OMG! It was scary and exhilerating all at once. Dangling from a cable all that way up,and when it went through one of the 2 points that were attached to the mountain to regain the tension, it kind of falls down again and bounces a bit! SCARY! Especially the 2nd one, as you couldn't see after it and it just bounced down over a huge snow filled valley between the top peak and the point it was attached too. When I got up there it was covered in icy,old snow, which was rather hard to walk on in sneakers! It was quite cool up there, as once the annoying children had gone, it was so very quiet, surreal, the quietest place I have ever been. When I got back to the hostel I met another new roomie, Amanda, from England, who has been on an afternoon sound of music tour and she had met others from the hostel there too. We went down for dinner (schnitzel) and ended up playing card games with some of the other guys in the hostel for a couple of hours which was fun.
22/2- I got up and struggled for ideas of what to do with myself, until my tour at 2pm. I ended up going out to the old town again. I went into a store called 'Easter in Salzburg' which is all blown eggshells handpainted. A lady asked how many there were and he said around 100,000!! Then I got some souveniers, then I went back, put them in the hostel, dumped the stuff and watched the last bit of the sound of music dvd that plays every day (with the annoying girls there from America who didn't understand bits, like they had never seen it before, GRRRRR, fools!) then I went for my tour, which was very pretty, and rather informative, but we also had 2 stops of free time for around and hour which wasn't very 'value for money' on a 4 hour tour! I went to Bavaria in Germany though, and I saw some amazing views. The water was crystal clear too, which was cool. They say it's drinking quality, but I don't know about the duck poo! When I got back I played some more cards with some different people in the hostel.
23/2- I went to Mozart's home and museum in the morning, then went to the airport. Salzburg airport is slightly more exciting than Coventry! Through the other side, past security check there are a whopping 2 stores! Neither of which sell books of magazines and my flight was delayed by an hour and I had nothing to read. The flight back was uneventful, and I arrived to pouring rain in Coventry!
I am now at my Aunt's place where I appear to have completely buggered upmy right knee. YAY for me! *grumble*. Anyways, sound of music tour! I have come up with the first (and possibly only) raych's blog quiz! The first person to email me (raychl@bigpond.com) with the correct answers gets an authentic prize all the way from Austria! So, in order to win, you need to email me the spot in the Sound of Music that the following locations appear. Please email the number of the photo, followed by your answer. Good luck!

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5) (this one is a bit tricky cos it was being rennovated)

(6)

Crappy valentines day to you all

It is still valentines day here for another hour and 7 minutes. I went to work with yr 5 kids, then went and took myselfout to the movies, and saw music and lyrics, witch hugh grant and drew barrymore. It was ok, like the wedding singer mixed with every hugh grant romantic comedy. Then band practice, and now here i am. I'm away friday night up to the rellies, then Austria, then back to the rellies for the next weekend, so I'll blog again whence I return. Until then I leave with you a Valentine's poem that i found profound and heartfelt...

Lewinsky and Clinton have shown

What Kaczynski must surely have known

That an intern is better

Than a bomb in a letter

Given the choice of how to be blown

Snowflakes that fall on my nose and eyelashes...

Hello!

Well, it snowed! In Bristol! We had snow early thursday morning. I looked out my window at 6.45am and there was not much, when I got out of the shower and looked again at 7.30 it was all blanketed in white. Not enough to close schools etc, unlike the midlands, who had a fair bit of snow and had school closures. The day before had been freezing cold driving to work in the morning. Thursday snowed in the morning and was pretty much done when I got into the car at 7.45am. Yesterday It snowed again, not as much, but I had to work ages away, and pretty much the whole way there I was driwing through snow. This in itself is an odd experience, asthe snow doesn't stick to the windscreen like rain does, and it kind of comes at the car, then goes up and over the car as you drive through it. It looks like driving through stars at warp speed on bad dodgy star trek as the closer you get to the snow it pulls towards your car and goes horizontal instead of vertical. It amused me on my hour and a bit long drive to woop woop.

Yesterday I was working in a place called 'Calne' which is near Swindon where I have worked before, which requires a few junctions on the motorway. Then Calne is down the other side, in little hicksville areas, as opposed to main cities. And it didn't exist on my Swindon street directory or my wholeof UK one, so as I got closer and was actually in Calne (I had looked it up on online maps and worked out roughly how to get there) I had to stop and get a Calne street directory. So now I have 5 street directories in my car! On the way to this place you get to drive past New Zealand, which is odd. I wonder which New Zealand came first!

Anyways, the school requested a 'strong teacher' and select rang me. Cos i'm a badass teacher! HAHAH! I think cos i survive all the innercity bristol schools with Somali refugees and issues that come with that. So I am pretrified cos this area isn't as multicultural so what issues they have would be more 'feral children' than children who are a product of their mum and dad being drug dealers and moving around all the time getting welfare. I get there, and i knew the school was a St sumthingorother, but I was thing CofE like all the ones I have been to. No, it was a roman catholic school. The school is very open plan, the head teacher was very enthusaistic. The children were great. A couple were a bit lively, but u get that. But they did their work and were able to work independantly at their desks and do things like write stories by themselves. Which I am not used to. I have not been at a school where yr 2 are at a yr 2 level for ages! I am used to yr 2 who are barely able to write their name, let alone focus on an activity indepoendantly for 45 minutes!!!! So at the end of the day when it came to me leaving the school secretary said 'so you survived then?' and i explained what i was used to and said i had a good day. And she said 'oh, so if we asked you back you'd come?' with a shocked tone. I said yes. Yesterday was a walk in the park for what I'm used to. I didn't have to yell and scream once and I didn't really have to raise my voice! I suppose for that area they were a bit lively and they could have carried away and gone too far if they weren't under control, but compared to what I'm used to, they were angels!!

There were all these decomposing snowmen out in the playground from the day before, as it was only 2'C and not warm enough for them to melt but in the rain their heads had comeoff of they had falled over. Poor snowmen!

Thats pretty much my week. Work, and work and work. Huzzah for 4 days teaching! that means I will get good money next friday, instead of the no money I will get after I have my week off during mid-term break to go to Austria. I can't believe the teachersover here,whinging that they have 7 weeks without a holiday when other schools in other areas have 6. I told them in Australia we have between 11 and 13 week terms with no break in the middle. They looked so concerned for how Australian teachers survive without holidays every 5-7 weeks. Wimps! I didn't tell them I was used to working 50 weeks a year with no holidays. Cos I think some of them would have fainted at the thought of that!!

Anyways, I'mgoing to get out of my PJs now and have me some brekky. Thanks for all the comments on the last blog. Nice to get some feedback from time to time.

Fare thee well!

Bonjour

Howdy! I am back from gay Paris. I was a whirlwind trip, with only 3 full days, as the flight there was evening and the flight back was early morning. As I had been before, in torrential rain, and been in a fair bit, I didn't go in much (also because Paris is very expensive) but I had fairly good weather so I saw the outside of lots of things. So, here it is...

Thursday 1/2- I arrived at about 7pm to my hotel room which was very luxurious, not! Instead of getting a mint on the pillow you got a pube on the sheets! Huzzah! There were French kids staying at the hotel, I'm assuming from a school excursion, that yelled to each other constantly, and the doors were paper thin to the hall. Plus I think every singlepipe from the entire building's plumbing ran down through the bathroom behind my bed head as I could just hear constant water running, either in shower slow flow or fast toilet flushes. Thank god I brought my earplugs! So, I watched a bit of Friends dubbed in French, which was tres annoying, and gave up and went to bed.

Friday 2/2- It was a bit cloudy and attempted to rain acouple of times, but didn't manage more than a light misty shower. I explored the open top bus tour I had pre-booked tickets for. Most cities have one loop and about 12 stops. Paris has 4 different loops and over 50 stops! I spent all of the first day on busses, only getting off to change for another loop. Here aresome snaps from my bus top...

Then I got off at the Moulin Rouge stop and walked up montmatre to catch the fernicular railway up to Sacre-Coeur. But or course the fernicular was broken so I climbed up all the stairs. There wasn't much of a view becauseof the clouds and so forth. I went inside and sat on one of the pews for a bit. It was odd to be in there and see religious people coming in and kneeling, praying, holding rosary beads, reading the bible, crossing themselves. I feltlike I shouldn't have been in there. And unlike the Sistene Chapel people were silent and respecting the no photos. This church was more religious and sacred than the Vatican and St Peters. It was odd.

Last time I was in Paris I was with my granny, who past away last year, so I felt compelled to light a candle for her. I am assuming I wont get gods trying to smite me for this gesture, as neither me or my granny are what you would call religious, but it just seemed like a nice thing to do. And my way of saying goodbye to her.

After doing this I walked back down the hill and caught the metro back to my hostel.

Saturday 3/2- It was a much sunnier day today, although much colder too. I decided I would walk to the Cimetriere du Pere Lachaise which was not far from my hotel, and is a place where loads of famous peopleare burried. It is a massive cemetery filled with crypts and large raised tombs so it is almost impossible to find your way around. I was about to give up when this guy said "are you looking for Jim Morrison?" in a very French accent. I said yes, and he proceeded to show me around to his grave. On the way he took me to several others and I said I was looking for Bizet and he showed me his too. When I left the man asked for money, which was to be expected, so I paid him €10 which wasn't bad for a 30 minute personal guided tour of the cemetery, which I would never have found all the graves without. I asked him how he knew where they all were and he explained that 15 years ago he used to make the marble graves. Now he just wonders around finding lost tourists and making some money. I heard him pick up another lost person as I was leaving and started to show him around! I was Oscar Wilde's grave, which has loads of kisses on it. Edith Piaf's (which he was shocked I knew who she was). Jim Morrison's (which is guarded as 15 years ago someone stole the bust off it). George Bizet's. Bugatti's (who has a huge plot and a simple headstone, cos they burried him with his car).

Then I walked down to catch the Blue bus loop from place de la Bastille. The blue loop was my last one, as I had done the other three on Friday. I then swapped back to the Orange and went to Tour Montparnasse which is a huge tower that you can go up to the 56th floor in the fastest elevator in Europe (56 floors in about 40 seconds, so fast your ears pop) and see 360' view. And from here you can walk up a few stairs to the 59th floor which is the helipad on the roof, and stand up there in the open. It is in from the edge a fair bit though, so you don't get to see the height perspective of looking down. On a good day you can see up to 40km away, which I think I saw. You could see the curve of the horizon! Plus, unlike the Eiffel tower, there were no queues. While I was up there a lady came off the elevator guiding another lady around who had dark glasses and a cane. Surely that is a waste of €9 for a blind person to experience the view?

Then I went back down to the bottom and walked back to le Jardin du Luxembourg which is a nice big garden that has loads of seats where people were just sitting and watching the world (and the occasional jogger) go by. There are kid's playgrounds, this coold row of swings where the parents all have little spots to stand and push the kids who are going at different times,basketball courts, ponds, bee hives, orange trees. It would be really nice in the spring/summer to come and sit under the trees in the shade and watch the world go by, but in the cold winter sun people were sitting in the open trying to get any residual heat from the sun to warm up!

Then from here I walked across to the Pantheon, which is a copy of the one in Rome, and was boring. The only exciting thing is the pendulum clock that allows the earth to revolve the clock around the pendulum which swings in the same spot. When I got there it was on time, but it didn't catch up and when I left it was 30 minutes late. Maybe the world had slowed down?

Then I went just around the corner and met a girl I chat to online and her husband (who had booked a trip to Paris at the same time as me) for dinner. We went to a typically French place (that smelled of French cheese *shudder*) and ate typical French food. I didn't have the escargot... been there, done that! I had cheese pastry, beef burgundy and creme brulee. Yum!

Sunday 4/2- I got up early and headed off for my grand day as Disney. I caught a proper train and travelled nearly an hour to get to the station right next to the entrance. Then I went in and was suitably impressed with the typical Disney castle. Then 2 hours later after 1 ride (its a small world after all), several diney-esque souveneirs and a whole lot of pity for people who take their children and are forced to spend hours queueing for rides and queueing for fotos with people in disney character costumes, and queueing for extremely overpriced food, and buying WAY too much stuff that they really dont need simply because it has a Disney logo on it and they can't bear the 'but i want one' tantrum any longer like plush fantasia hats with mickey mouse ears stuck out the side. So I got back on the train and went back into Paris and saw the Pompidou centre, the place de vosges, then went back to the Sacre-Coeur for a sunny view picture (spot the difference) and saw the Moulin Rouge with the lights on. Then I went back to my hotel and went to bed, as I had to be up at 6am (5am Uk time) for the airportshuttle back the airport to head home.

I had a good time in Paris, and was lucky with the weather. It is supposed to be snowing there this week. Although, it is really cold here too, and is supposed to be snowing hereon Thursday. I had to scrape the ice off the windscreen thismorning before I could drive anywhere. Got as high as 4'C. Woot!

Now, I don't know if it's because evenyone has given up and isn't reading this anymore, or if it's because you have all just become slack lazy people, but I haven't had a comment for a while, so please write comments, or send me emails. I know I don't send you all personal emails every 5 seconds, but it is because it would just say pretty much word for word what this says, but you could reply from time to time! Please? (unless noone is reading this anymore, then BOO to you!!).

Buon Giorno!

Ok, so I am back from Rome. I would have to rate it as my least favourite place thus far (well, not including Calais, which was merde). I think I did it the wrong way though, but there seem to be only 2 ways to do Rome as a backpacker. Make your own way around and look at the pretty things and have no idea what they are cos there are very few written notices for tourists, or you can pay for a tour, where you get WAY too much information because there is 5 years of history in the one spot, and you cannot process it all, you get bored with hearing all the dates and figures and your brain actually shuts down. I spoent the first 2 days in brain shut down mode, and the last 2 in wonder around mode, and I prefered the least information. I can always read about it later if I am that interested! There are LOADS of backpackers (almost all Australian) walking around Rome with maps and confused looks on their faces. The only people with smiles are the rich old people who are probably on their 50th trip and don't need the facts anymore, or the love sick honeymooners almost having sex everytime they see anything new (don't mind me, you carry on, I'll just squeeze past to get to look at that over there shall I?). The good thing was it was about 15-20'C every day and I didn't need my coat at all, and most days barely needed my jumper. I shouldn't say only good thing, as it was very pretty in parts, but there's just too much going on to appreciate all of it. It needed to be spread out over like 5 cities so you didn't get overwhelmed. Anyways.... here's my journey to Rome...
18/1- I left England on one of the windiest days ever (50-60mph winds) as there was a hurricane somewhere near by. On the way to the airport we passed 4 massive semi trailers that had just blown over. It was bad. Half the flights were delayed, some were cancelled, but even though we took off 45 mins late, due to what the captain called "a very strong tail wind" we only arrived 10 mins late. I got a transfer coach to the station and then walked to where I was sure the hostel was, going by the instructions on their website, however it was not on any maps. I found it fine, only 3 minutes from station. I was in a room that shoulod be the boys room first, cos there was a mixed group in the girl's room. It was ok though, apart from the world's smallest shower! I had a drama about what to do with my luggage cos everyone tells you muggings are high, yet there were no locks on the doors or safes for bags, so I would have to decide whether to take stuff with me or risk it in the hostel!
19/1- I got up fairly early, had my free breakfast and left for the open top bus, to get my bearings on where things were. This was over an hour of information on bits and pieces. I went on a loop and a bit as I needed to be at the Colosseum for a 2pm tour. I got there early so I sat in a cafe just opposite and had lasagne. Then when I was walking around a person asked me if I wanted to go on a tour inside, skip the queue and get a guide. There were only 2 others on it, so it was almost apersonal tour. I did that, as my walking tour I booked only did the outside. It was quite infomative,but not too much. Then when that finished I went and joined the walking tour. Our guide for this was a Roman archaeologist who was very passionate so we got WAY too much information and our 3 hours tour turned into over 4 hours! We went to the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Wedding Cake building, Trevi fountain (where I threw in a coin), Pantheon and Piazza Navona. By the time we finished it was dark and noone was able to listen anymore. He was very knowledgeable, but it was just overload of information. Some interesting, some not. Then I got lost trying to get back to the hostel and was starving so I had maccas with one of the best views!
20/1- I was booked on a tour of the Vatican and Sistene Chapel so I went to catch the bus with the tour and off we went. The Vatican is massive and such an excessive place. It is very beautiful and full of loads of nice, expensive things that have been presented from other countries. Again, there are no labels for what everything is, and the guide was on a strict time schedule so we only saw what she showed us. On interesting fact was all the ceiling that looks like it is relief is all trompe l'oil and painted flat. The sistene chapel was nothing like I expected and was like being in primary school as you had a load of guards clapping their hands, shushing everyone and yelling "no photo!" (but I snuck one anyways!). Then when the tour ended I caught my open top bus again to the Spanish Steps, where I sat and ate Pizza. There were so many people around, locals out walking, shoppers from the sales, toursists. I had to catch the metro to the steps as I got lost, and that was an experience in itself. You have to shove onto an already crowded carriage before everyone has even gotten off, as the doors just close and off it goes. FUN!
21/1- Oh My God! I took the advice of my guide book and went on a walk. I walked for 9 hours! I was exhausted! On my adventures I went to the most confusing museum ever (Capitolini) which the only cool thing in was large fragments of statues from the excessive days of BC Roman times. Then I went to a church which has the 'mouth of truth' a marble disc outside that they used to put people's hands in to see if they had sinned and legend says it would sever the fingers of the hands of a sinner. Apparently a priest used to stand behind it and whack the fingers of those he knew had sinned. I survived so I must be a good girl! Then i went to Ponte Sant' Angelo and from there Castel Sant' Angelo, which you can walk to the top of and get an amazing view of Rome. It was a cloudy day though, otherwise it would have been perfect. I then went on my own adventures to the most expensive street in Rome down from the Spanish Steps again, where there are all the lahdidah shops, and found an amusing sign telling you the rules for the Spanish Steps. Then on to a park with another commanding view, and I somehow ended up back at the Trevi fountain where I had a Gelato.
22/1- My everything ached geting out of bed after my marathon the day before! I went to St Peter's Bascillica with my 2 roommates from the hostel, and then they went one way and I went to Circo Massimo which used to be a chariot arena, and is now a running track, and then back to the Pantheon as when I went before it was night time. I had a very nice (if not expensive) fettucini and hot chocolate in front of the Pantheon, and then I went to the market I tried the day before on my walk but was closed, to find I had just missed it and they were finishing up the packing away. GRRR. Then I gave up and went back to the hostel.
23/1- I got back to England and it was 3'C! COLD!!!!! I went to the pub quiz with Louise and her friends, then stayed the night at the rellies place.
24/1- I woke up thismorning to discover that last night it snowed! Not much, but is snowed!!!I am back in Bristol now and I don't think it snowed here. Noone is home yet for me to ask.
Anyways, that is my adventures in Rome.

Head full of snot

Yes, I still have my cold, and still going through roughly a box of tissues a day, with the odd arrival of an excruciating headache to go along with the fun! I worked Monday and then took yesterday off because I woke up, felt like crap, rang and said i was unavailable, and went back to sleep for another 3 hours, making a grand sumof 12 hours sleep, which i obviously needed. I was in 2 minds about whether to do the same today, as I really need to shift this cold, because i don't want it lingering around for weeks and ruining the next few weekends of stuff for me, yet I also am desperate for the money. So which is more important? my health of my money? I decided today I would not ring and make myself unavailable, but I would leave it up to them to ring me if they have work, that way it's out of my hands. It is 7.51am now and so far nothing. But sometimes they don't ring until 8.30am.
I am slightly annoyed because I typed a whole blog entry yesterday and was almost finished when the screen dissappeared and said the site was under maintenance until 9.30am (10.30pm) and I have lost everything I typed :( Not Happy Jan! I will now try and recall what I wrote...
Monday, at work, I worked in a school that I have only worked at once before, back in my 2nd week of teaching here, 4 months ago. I taught a year 6 class then, and once they learnt I was Australian we ended up having an impromptu lesson on spiders. Monday I taught the other yr 6 class at the school, and when I took them down to assembly the class I had 4 months ago waved at me and a couple go "its the spider lady!". Later they came up to me and were telling me some of the facts I had told them about spiders, 4 months earlier! I was quite impressed that they took in so much, as the class I was teaching that day didn't seem to retain information for longer than 2 minutes! So it is true, you only rememeber what interests you! The class I had on Monday were ... um ... noisy! I had to raise my voice a couple of times to get them to stop talking while I was talking, but generally they weren't too bad, compared to some classes I have had. I am not quite sure why I get given year 6 classes, as I was not very good at yr 6 maths myself, so teaching them is a bit of a joke! They were doing subtracting decimals and I had to look at their work to see how they worked it out so I could help the ones who didn't understand it! Tee hee hee! Then in the afternoon we were doing revision on the sun, moon and earth and orbits and gravitational pull etc. After we had talked about it, drawn diagrams on the board, had kids come up and be the moon, earth and sun, and answered the worksheet I got them up to play celebrity head, but with the words we had just been discussing. Like 'orbit' and they had to guess what it was by asking yes/no questions. Then we moved on to 'things in the classroom' then the kids wanted me to have a go and they chose an actual celebrity. I was guessing away and they said they would give me a clue cos 'i would never get it'. The clue was 'she's going out with Jay-Z (if you know who that is)' so I said 'Beyonce' and you should have seen how shocked they were! Once girl said, in typical Bristol style "you're well young miss to know that"! So I think I got some fans in that class! One of the boys who had been horrible all day and I had been on his case all day actually asked if I was back in the next day, and when I said no, he said that I should ask to be back in. Which I thought was odd, cos if anyone was going to not like me, it would be him!
Hmm, what else? I have some housemate changes coming up... the 'small room' as we refer to it, yes, it is smaller than mine, is being filled on Monday by Ashley... which we discovered if a boy Ashley. Then I think next wed Frenchy is leaving to go back to school in France, so we will be getting a replacement for his room at some time too. The smallroom was empty for about 3 months tho, so who knows. Gavin is talking about buying his own house somewhere, so he might leave, but no date yet. I think if I was here any longer than 5 months I would consider getting a different place, just because it has become quite blokey in here, with the level of blokey conversation and blokey comments slowly rising, and its like i dont exist when they say them, whereas before they would appologise when they got too blokey and I was in the room! There is also the issue of the one who plays techno doof doof stuff rather loudly ALL the freaking time! It's only 5 more months here, then a month with the rellies, and of those 5 months, I worked out 43 days i have booked in different places, so its really only 4 months, not including weekends at the rellies, so I think I can cope!
Hmm... what else? Oh, if anyone finds $1000000 lying around anywhere, send it my way, cos I could really do with it! I don't understand HOW people come to live in London, in a flat with 8 or 9 other Aussies and do supply teaching and go to different countries only to look at the ouside of buildings cos they can't affordto go in, and don't buy guidebooks cos thwy cost too much etc, but I now understand WHY they do it! But if i have to go back to Australia with no money left in my pockets, yet the experience of having lived in England like and English person and really experienced the culture and history of different countries, rather than ticking them off a list, then that to me seems so much better than the alternative. Surely you would go to England to see English people? Not to hang out with as any Aussies as you possibly can in the Aussie part of London where is isn't really England anyway. *end rant*
Ok, so, looks like I will not be working today, which I am kind of glad about, except not I am showered and dressed for no reason. But I will definately ring them thisafternoon and ask about work for tomorrow and Friday. Keep the comments coming, as I love to read them, and I probably wont blog again until I get back from Rome.
Oh, and it wouldn't be English of me if I didn't mention the weather! It has rained on and off for about 10 days straight now, so I will be sending some of it you way as soon asI work out how to control the weather. I shouldn't complain about the rain, because I might not ever see it again when I get back to Oz! Anyways, just thought I'd rub that in! I actually get excited at the number of different shades of green lush grass there are in the countryside here, which is quite sad, because its all pale green- brown in Australia, and from what I hear, just getting browner! So, I will head off now, and try and get my weather controlling powers working, and blog again when I get back from Rome on the 23rd.
Ammendment: I just got home from work, as soon as I clicked Publish the fone rang and i spent the day with feral 4 yr olds at the worst school in Bristol (where i worked in my 1st 3 days teaching) and I'm back again on Friday! Huzzah! I'm eating mickey mouse pasta bake with the micket mouse pasta I bought in Pisa! (just thought I'd throw that in!)

Hippo Gnu Ear!

Hello! Yes, I know it's been a while but oh... the dramas!!! I don't know whether I mentioned the fact that my old laptop commited suicide (merry xmas to me!) btu I had to order a new laptop and get it delivered up at my Aunt's place where I have been since a few days before xmas. It is a reconditioned IBM and thus far I have noticed a few small problems, the most obvious of which is the space bar is temperamental, so I blend words together! So yes, new laptop, and wasn't at home, so didn't have my cable to download photos so I thought I would save it until i got home and could do that.
So.. xmas eve I went with my Aunt and Uncle to the village hall for an xmas carols event which I played 2 pieces on my clarinet at, and also participated in general sing-a-long-ness. It was different, but good, a nice community turnout. There was also this little boy who sang 'in the bleak midwinter' (a real uplifting carol) in proper church boy high pitch stuff. Was pretty good.
Then xmas day we had pressies ( i got the coolest monkey slipper socks that when u move ur feet they eat the bananas!) and croissants and then a proper xmas dinner (lunch) at one Aunts, then in the evening joined the other and all the family to play charades (family tradition) and open more pressies and other such family xmas-ness. It was young vs old in charades, and of course we won! HUZZAH!
Then on boxing day Marion and Linda (both aunts) and I went to see 'the holiday' at the movies which was a real tear jerker rom-com (apparently what we now must call romantic comedies). Then I headed back to Marion's as the grown ups (i know, i know) were going out to a neighbours for drinks.
I had an excursion to a local castle and the home of the porkpie at Melton Mewbray and Stamford, for a look around.
On the weekend I went back to Linda's and we went to Oxford (but the rain had been hanging around for a couple of days and came back to make our open top bus experience rather foggy and impossible to see, but at least I got a sense of what there is that I could go back and see). And on the way there we went to a little pub called the Turnpike and I had my very friest toad in the hole! Very Exciting!! That night though I developed the dreaded lurgy, which my cousin got on xmas day, and I have been sick since, with a rather bad head cold. Joy!
I got 12 hours sleep sat night so wasn't too bad for NYE! I spent it back at Marion's (even though they went over to Linda's) cos Louise and Dom's friends were coming over, and I have met them a couple of times now, and they are some of the nicest people in the world, as they welcome everyone in and are very warm! Oh yeah, i forgot to say when I first got up to Marion's I went out with them twice, once to a pub where they meet up with an old teacher from time to time, and the next night to one of their houses to experience their new Nintendo Wii (i won bowling, yes, thankyou! new record!). So I knew most of them. In the one room, with 12 people on NYE there was only 5 girls and 3 of us were called Rachel (Rachael)! How odd is that! It was a nice night!
Then yesterday i did NOTHING other than use a whole box of tissues, and I drove back down today to Bristol. My new years resolution is to try and spendless money on crap i don't need! I conquered last years! It was no maccas! I was having issues with a new years resolution for this year as some of the bigger goals i have had for myself I realised that I have actually come a good way to achieving in the last 5months of being here, like improved confidence and taking more risks, and improved ability to handle new social environments. I think I have had to tackle these head on being over here, especially with different schools and different countries and different housemates and different hostel dormmates, I have had to talk to more strangers than ever before and not be so scared of them, or take the attitude I wont see them again so why make the effort, which I can normally get away with. Maybe i'm becoming a grown up! EEEEEK! No! not gonna happen!

Do they know it's christmas time at all?

Hello! I am still tying to get used to the fact that it is still 10 sleeps til xmas! I don't feel festive. Despite the fact that every school I have been to I have been enduring xmas carols and other fun stuff like rehearsals for plays, reading '6 white boomers' everywhere I have been, kids making decorations, and school classrooms that look like a tinsel monster threw up in them! I have no decorated anything, partly because I have nothing to decorate things with, and partly because I wont be here for xmas, as I am going to the rellies, so I don't see the point. I am most missing my xmas nails tradition, as thats what gets me in the mood for xmas.

We had our band concert last weekend. It went ok. Considering a lot of the pieces I have no played the whole way through at a rehearsal (due to me missing some, and due to us not making it through in one go) it could have been a lot worse! The conductor(s) were pleased, so I spose we didn't do anything too bad!

I am waiting for a phone call at the moment, as I have been in demand for work! The school I have done a lot of work at, I got approached by the Head Teacher (what we know as a Principal) who asked if the Deputy Head had found me to discuss dates for next year. I then went off in search of her in the afternoon, and she said she had heard lots of good things about me, and how consciencous I am, and asked if I was interested in covering a couple of the teacher's PPA (programming time), as I had been requested. I said yes, gave her my dates I am going to be on trips for, and was told they would call Select who would call me. I am now waiting to hear back from Select, I just rang them and asked them to chase it up, as it could be 2, maybe 3 days work. Probably 1/2 days, but I can find additional work for the other 1/2 of the day, and at least it is teaching, so if they gave me a 9 hour nursery shift (like they did yesterday... in Swindon again) i would still be earning the same amount as 3 hours teaching! So, the moral of the story is, I am brilliant!

I have discovered the worst thing about working over here. It's not the traffic jams from hell, it's not the shocking education system, its not the unenthusiastic teachers, nor is it the lack of pay...it's the playground duty when it is gale force winds and 6'C before you factor in the wind!! I tried to keep my hands in my pockets but the kids found a worm, so I picked it up for them to look at, and I couldn't put my hand back into my pocket then as it had worm guts and dirt on it!

I don't think I have anything else to share with everyone, so I will leave you now. I am going up to Northampton for xmas, and I will try and write more during the xmas/new years break, as I am taking the laptop with me, but until then, MERRY XMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

ahoj!

Yes, I know i haven't blogged in a while but there's only so much you can ramble on about how boring work is, so I thought I'd wait until i got back from Prague. I got back Wednesday but then I went up to visit my Aunt and Uncle as they live only 30 mins from Birmingham airport, not 2 hours. OK, so... i have filled half a notebook on jottings from my time in Prague, and I'm sure I will bore you all stupid if i re-write that all exactly, so I will just summarise bits of it. With the odd pretty picture for those who dislike reading!

Wednesday 22/11- I arrived at the airport a good solid 4 hours before the flight, however they let me check in, so at least i was through to the interesting part of the airport. They are allowing fluids on flights now, but no more than 100mls and u have to put them in a see through carrier bag. And they made me take my shoes off to walk through the metal detector...not just me, everyone, not that I can fit anything in there except socks, orthodics and feet! Then the dude checking the passports just looked at the ticket and said "Prague hey? cultural trip" and gave it back. Didn't even look at the passport photo! But that's ok cos i don't have a bomb in my shoe! SO, i board the plane, and I notice a major difference between BMIBaby and Thomson... on the safety card it says to pull out the exit above the wing and escape over the wing.. however Thomson is intelligent enough to put a picture of flames outside the window and a cross, but BMIbaby assumes people will not open it if the wing is on fire! never assume anything with the general public!! The flight finally left 40 mins late yet we arrived on time, according to the captain "thanks to the traffic control giving them a good tail wind" ... since when do they control the weather?? So i got an airport shuttle transfer organised, lady holding a card with my name on it, and off we went. Glad I did, cos i would never have found the hostel by myself! I get shown up to the 4th floor... all stairs... no lift... and the room I have by myself as I asked for a female only room and noone else had. So I found the sheets with the least stains and the pillow without the black mould and made the bed using their base sheet and my own pillow case and quilt cover as theirs came with added hair! Then I went to bed.

Thursday 23/11 - I had a crappy night sleep and gave up at 7.30am when I showered (smashing my foot when getting out of the shower) and headed out into the gorgeous blue skies, but freezing weather! 4'C! Jeans, long sleeve t-shirt, jumper, jacket, gloves, beanie and scarf and still cold! I walked towards the old square, or Staromestske namesti (with lots of accents on everything) and fumbled around there for a bit. I saw the astronomical clock, which chimes every hour, and stumbled across the Vltava river. WOW! It was pretty damned impressive! Then from here I walked over a bridge and up the hill towards Prague castle (Prazsky hrad), or so I thought, but I ended up walking further than I needed up a steeper hill, and then coming down on the castle. At least there were good views. I walked round a corner and saw the castle, this awesome view, and there was a 3 piece group busking with classical music and it just was the perfect soundtrack for the view! Inside the castle I went to the cathedral and went to a classical concert in one of the rooms of the castle, where a pianist, flautist and violinist played a range of classical music for an hour. It cost me 390Kc (about $20) for the experience. My knees and feet were quite sore from all the cobbled streets and hills, so I went back down, via a supermarket, where I shopped by picture! Any country that sells smurf marshmallows is alright by me! And realising I hadn't eaten anything all day and it was 4pm, I had traditional Czech KFC and went back to the hostel. I got 3 drips of rain on my as I turned the corner into the hostel street, but that was all. I took off my shoes and my foot that I smashed in the shower decided to be excruciatingly painful, so who knows if i have broken anything? Oh well.

Friday 24/11- My foot killed as soon as I stood on it, but I don't have time to rest it and see a doctor and blah, so I'll just cope. I caught the metro into the old square where I had decided to get a tour out to somewhere else for the day. It was another glorious day. I got off at Muzeum instead of Muztek and walked further than I would have if i just walked from the hostel, so everything was already really sore by the time I got to the square, including a blister I was starting to rub from walking funny! The tour was me, an Irish couple who whinged about everything and I know all the intricacies of her bowel issues, and Julian (sigh) a Canadian who's work paid for him to come cos it was the same cost as a flight home. He made the trip worth while! We went to a church called the Ossuary which was AWESOME! They had to make the land smaller, so they dug up 40,000 people's bones and the dude who was the curator or whatever at the time didn't want to throw them away cos they were someone's history, so he decorated the church with them! Then from here we went on to Kutna Hora which is one of the many Unesco listed towns in Czech republic, where we walked (hobbled) around a bit and then had a traditional Czech lunch (mushroom soup, chicken steak and potatoes and an icecream cakey dessert). From there we went into St Barbara Cathedral which had really nice views. Then from there it was back on the bus and back to the hostel.

Saturday 25/11- I got up at 6am and went to take a photo of the sunrise, having found the perfect spot on Karluv most (Charles bridge) so I walked around to there, having got off at the wrong metro again, and my foot was in agony, plus it was freezing! Then I made it to the bridge, sat there for about 1.5 hours, realised the sun had risen but was behind clouds and went off to do other stuff. I got on the funicular railway that took you to the top of a hill where there is a little mini Eiffel tower called Rozhledna which is 60 metres high and was built for some Jubilee expo. Of course it is all stairs too, and being cloudy there was not a great view, but it was quite good. It looks very stable but it actually sways at the top when the wind picks up! Then back on the railway, which is on about a 45' angle back down. I wandered for about 3 hours, in agony, looking for somewhere to sit (there's nowhere!) but I did get some more xmas gifts for people. Nowhere sells charms for my bracelet, which is annoying, cos everywhere I asked answered like they had heard the question 1000000 times, so why hasn't someone cottoned on to the idea that there is a market for them? Then I hobbled back to the hostel and rested my foot. I met 3 other people in the hostel. Jan (yan) from Slovakia who smoked like a train, Paul and his friend who I never heard his name from England who were there together. We chatted and stuff until about midnight. The smoking didn't help the cough I seem to have developed though.

Sunday 26/11- I went on another outing to Karlstejn Castle which was beautiful, but painful. 2.3km up a hill between 15' and 23' the whole way (according to a sign) and of course about 750m into this my right knee (same as sore foot) committed suicide cos of the way I have been walking to compensate foot, plus cobbles, plus hills! So I was in agony for the whole day. The castle was very nice, and we were the last tour through before it was closed for the winter, so that was handy! There's a room in there with relics in it and some of the jewels. There is a crocodile skull that king Wenceslas bought as he was told it was the skull of the Dragon that St George slayed. So it is the most expensive crocodile skull in history! There is also a patch of blood still on the floor from when one of his wives used the secret passageway between his bedroom and her bedroom, but he was out and she forgot his hunting dogs guarded the room, so she was mauled to death. I made a compromise on the charm for the bracelet and bought a small garnet as they are mined in Bohemia which includes Prague. The people on the tour were French and Russian as well as English, but they spoke when the tour guide was giving his blurb in anything other than their language. He even turned around and yelled at them at one point cos it was so rude! I got back, showered and sat on my bed with my leg elevated. If anyone else was in the pain I was in today they would have been screaming on the floor. It took me the whole 45 mins we were given after the tour to get back down the hill cos my knee was so sore. But I didn't have time for agony, so it would have to wait.

Monday 27/11- I got up at 6am again and headed to the same spot, and again the sun didn't come up! I wasted the 2 days of sunshine cos it has been cloudy (but not rainy) every day since. GRRRR. I sat on the bridge listening to classical music on my ipod which was a bit surreal but seemed appropriate. The metro was much more crowded, being a work day, all it was lacking was the guys in Japan who shove people on! First thing in the morning the Vltava looks like a scene from Titanic as there are hundreds of seagulls and dozens of swans just floating on it in the darkness, semi-asleep. Very odd. I gave up after the sun failed to burn through again, and headed off to the Mozart museum, which was really the Mozart 7 minute walk through 4 rooms. I even read every single thing in English on the walls. I then went back to the hostel via the supermarket again. Riddle me this... when is a Smartie not a Smartie? When it's a Lentilky! I got back, had a chat to the boys about soccer and cars (wow) then Jan and person who's name I don't know went off to get a very cheap student meal that Jan knew about (he had been there for 2 months). It was traditional Czech mystery food! You got to pick a number based on a photo of the dish you want. Who knows what they were. I think I had beef goulash and bread dumplings. I also bought a ticket for a tour for Tuesday which is a 10 hour tour, hopefully not 2 hours travel and 8 hours walking, cos I will cry!

Tuesday 28/11- I woke up to discover another 2 girls in my room! I had no idea what time they came in so I must have been really tired! I slept from 9pm to 7.30am, which is good for me! I missed the sunrise, but it is cloudy again anyways. I went on a tour out to Karlovy Vary which is a spa town. There is the locals down the bottom and then a town of all hotels up the top which is where people come to have treatments. The people that go are called patients, and some go to escape the rat race, and others go cos they have medical disorders. But you go and included in the hotel price is 3 meals a day plus 3 spa treatments a day (massage, sauna, colonic irrigation) and then u walk around the town in between and sip water from the 12 different mineral springs that are channeled up through taps. The peak time is summer, so there was hardly anyone there as stupid as us an enduring the 2'C temps! We got lunch included here too, as the aperitif was Becherovka which is Czech vodka, and I had a sip. It is strong stuff that is herbal, so u can't even mix it with anything cos it tastes like grass clippings (to me who doesn't drink). Then vegetable soup (with more mushrooms), goulash (with 3 pieces of meat hidden in a pool of sauce) and no dessert. Bastards! We were shown where part of the new James Bond film was made (I saw it on Saturday with the rellies) and it's the bit where they say they are in Montenegro or somewhere, the poker scene. He stays in the hotel I have a photo of!

Wednesday 29/11- I decided to not get up early for sunrise, which was good cos it didn't... again! I packed all my stuff up and checked out at 10am, then went to the old town square where I did some people watching while I ate a traditional Trdelnik which is bread rolled in nuts and sugar and cinnamon and vanilla. It looks donutty but it rather thin bread, so stale is a word that sprung to mind! It crumbled to the floor as I was eating it so I had a collection of pigeons by my feet eating the crumbs. This old lady brought her 3 yr old (?) grandkid to watch the pigeons and they stood and watched me feed the pigeons and when I had finished walked off, so now I'm the crazy pigeon lady! I got to the airport about 8 hours early because I couldn't really go anywhere with my whole backpack and everything. I read a dodgy UK magazine I paid way to much for and was just about to lapse into a coma (there are 3 shops in the bit before customs at Prague airport) the 2 Malaysian girls who are also staying in UK working and travelling... the ones who I discovered in my room... showed up and luckily they brought extra trashy UK mags so we traded mags and then I headed through, got on the plane and drove to my Aunt's place where I spent the last 4 days.

I learnt a couple of Czech words:

Tam = Push

Sem = Pull

Yay me! Everyone spoke English, so why learn such a confusingly hard language! I ate traditional Czech food. I drank traditional Czech drink. I went to places outside of Prague. I met people. I broke myself. I survived the cold. Oh... in addition to the smashed foot, blisters on foot from walking funny, buggered up knee, sore calves from cobbles, bruise on hand from taking on and off backpack, cough (which turns out to be asthma cough and I am on medication)... I somehow managed to roll over in bed and smash my head into the bed post which woke me up and i let out a scream... only to discover this was the night I had acquired 2 people in my once empty room! But other than my general ability to injure myself in unconventional ways, I had a very good time, and Prague is so far the most beautiful place I have been to, because of the hills, which allow perspective and you can see more than just what is in from of u. Shame about the sunrise/sunset photos.