Hola!

OK, I am back! I have had a busy couple of weeks, but here I am! First of all let me start before the school holidays. I did 3 days work at the school I am used to, with a challenging class. They work on a rotational system, where the teacher sits with one group and does a focused activity and the other children do other activities. This was chaos as they were horrible, so I scraped that fairly quickly and had them doing whole class lessons which seemed to work better as I could supervise. I also had them doing a whole class reward system to get to have "golden time" on wed afternoon, but this wasn't working as then no one was accountable. So when they came back from lunch I had a list of everyone on a huge piece of paper with 10 spots next to their names, where if they got to 10 ticks they would get golden time, which worked much better. Plus, as there is a MASSIVE range of abilities, I implemented the rule of "be the best you can be, not the best someone else can be" and this inspired the less able to try a bit harder. The next 2 days were better, much better, still chaos, but organised chaos. Everyone ended up having golden time, although 5 or 6 had to do some boring work sheets first before they could do free choice activities. Then my holiday started. YAY!

Thursday 5th- I drove down to Devon to visit my Aunt and Uncle down there for the Easter long weekend. We spent the first day just chatting and catching up, as it was around midday/early afternoon by the time I got there. My other Uncle came over for dinner and it was nice to catch up with him too.

Friday 6th- We went to a fishing village called Looe in the glorious sunshine. So sunny in fact I had to buy sunnies as I hadn't thought to bring mine with me! It was very nice there.

Saturday 7th- We went up to Dartmoor and had a walk around. We walked to where the 10 commandments have been etched into stone slabs. And there are loads of Dartmoor ponies that are pregnant, wandering around, but we didn't see any males, so there must be one male pony working overtime!! Sunday 8th- The Easter bunny came! He found me! Even on the other side of the world! We went to have a carvery lunch, and then I drove home again.

Monday 9th- I got up, unpacked from the night before, packed again and drove up to my Aunt's in Milton Keynes, where I spent the night.

Tuesday 10th- At the awful time of 5am, we left the house and drove to the airport to catch our 7.50am flight to Alicante, Spain. There we had hired a car, and my Aunt, Linda, drove us from the airport to the flat in Javea. We left glorious sunshine to arrive in overcast conditions. We arrived at the flat at around 2pm. We unpacked and got settled and then went out for a walk around.

Wednesday 11th- We drove around to better acquaint ourselves. We went to the old town, where we got out and walked around. They have a cool church there which is built to reflect the fishing port heritage of Javea so it looks like a boat, and when you go inside it is like you are under a boat. Even the Crucifix was made out of boating materials like nets and ropes. We then had lunch on the beachfront with one of my Aunt's friends, Ken, and lucky we were undercover as it decided to rain. I also had an attempt of driving as I was scared of driving on the wrong side of the road (aka the right side of the road) so I had a bit of a go. It feels all wrong and you want to hug the edge as you feel you should be on that side of the car.

Thursday 12th- We drove to Madrid, which is a good solid 500ish KM. Linda drove to Valencia, on the smaller more populated roads. I then drove across the middle of Spain. This was right up my alley, cos it is like driving in Australia. Long roads that have very little exits or cars. The scenery was amazing. Just like the outback, sandy, spinifex, eucalypts, but... very hilly. Which was the major contrast as much of the same in oz is dead flat. We did find the plane in Spain, and it did have rain! But it fell mainly on the coast, so that was a lie! My undying belief in musicals has been shattered!! When we got closer to Madrid we swapped back again, which was good, as Madrid had round abouts with about 9 lanes all coming in at them from different directions and it was chaos! I almost hyperventilated and I wasn't trying to drive in it!! Finding the hotel was interesting, however we got there eventually (an hour later) thanks to my awesome sense of direction (and the fact Madrid has a ring road so you just keep coming back to that and try again). Then we unpacked and went on an open top bus tour, just missing rain showers!

Friday 13th- Wow, I didn't realise it was friday 13th til I typed that. Oh well! We split up after breakfast as Linda wanted to see the botanical gardens and the trees, and I wanted to see the Parque De Madrid which is a massive public park, with awesome different areas, and so peaceful, considering the 13 lane roads are just outside the gates. Everywhere had roses growing along trellis as borders, that when they are in bloom will look spectacular. Then I ventured on the Metro, to head back a different way, and we met back up for lunch in the Plaza Mayor, after which we headed back to the car and drove back to Javea. We arrived to find glorious sunshine at 7pm, so we went home via a restaurant on the beach front where we had cocktails (well, I had a mocktail).

Saturday 14th- I headed off on my own to a local cave, that was shut when I got there. Had I known this I possibly would not have set off, as it was over a mountain or 2, on tiny little windy windy roads that at certain points had nothing to stop you crashing down the side, and at other points had overhanging rocks sticking into the lane marking. Luckily it wasn't a busy road, as I had to drive in the middle most of the time to feel safe. Bit it had hairpin bends and other such fun things! There were amazing views up there though, and a couple of houses. Then when I got back it decided to pour with rain (lucky it didn't while i was up the hills!) and I went with Linda and Ken to a lahdidah restaurant, La Boheme, owned by the same guy who owns Acqua, for lunch. They had proper food, and I had 3 tapas sampler, as Spain does calamari (aka calamares) which i was MUCHLY excited by, as England has no clue about this! Then when we got back we had quiet time, then a low key dinner, after which Linda's brother- and sister-in-law who also have a flat and were out came over for nibbles. While they were over it absolutely POURED down with rain. I so far had managed to either be inside the flat, in a car, or in a restaurant each time it rained.

Sunday 15th- The sun was trying very hard to come out. We met Ken and the sibling-in-laws for brunch on the beachfront at 11am, then Linda and I drove to Cap La Nau which is where one of the lighthouses that flanks Javea is, where there were some good views. Then we went to Platja Granadella (Granadella beach) which is a tiny little pebble beach down some more windy roads from the mountains. It was very nice down there, very secluded and protected as it is in a tiny bay. I even got my feet wet in the water, which was refreshingly bloody cold! Plus pebbles are SO annoying to walk on cos they hurt! Next we went to Moriara, the next town along the coast, and had a walk along the waterfront there. Then back to Javea for mocktails and I took my Aunt to dinner in a place called Scallops.

Monday 16th- Huzzah! The sun was finally here to stay! We went to Denia market, then came back to have lunch at Tango's which is a little restaurant, nothing special, except it is RIGHT on the waterfront and you can hear the waves lapping at the rocks below the wall as they slowly wash in. It was glorious, sitting there in the sun, listening to the soothing sounds of the sea, and eating calamari! I left happy,with a tan on my arms, and even a little bit of sunburn on my chest! Then we went back, sat on the terrace and read in the last few rays of the sun. After which we went down to Acqua again for our last farewell cocktails, and watched the sunset behind the villas, streaming light onto the smooth water, with Mt Montgo, in the background. Glorious!

Tuesday 17th- We got up, tidied the flat, and headed off the airport. Another glorious sunny day. Everyone at the airport was coming back from school holidays and whinging about the weather! Oh well. Such is life! At least I got to see it as I should. I haven't let the weather affect me so far, and I wont let it start now!

Wednesday 18th- last day of my holidays I spent getting my car sorted. Took it in for a wheel alignment, £5.50 each wheel. Ended up needing a new front tyre, £74.50 and needing new front brake pads £76 which I am going back to do tomorrow. I was the only female in the place. The guy tells me to come have a look at the brakes, and then in his most professional "you're a girl so you wont know anything" voice proceeds to tell me that the brakes are important because if I let them wear down too much, when I go to brake one day I might not be able too. WOW! All this time I had NO idea what they were for!! How silly of me. Good thing there was a boy to explain it all for me! *rolls eyes*. But the good news is, the car doesn't shudder when I drive it anymore! YAY!

So, yeah, it has been really sunny and nice here. I have been going out to work the last 2 days in just t-shirt and trousers. Which is a BIT chilly when I leave the house and it is 8'C but by lunch time it is about 20'C. The scary thing is, I was in shorts on Wednesday and it was only about 16'C. What am I going to do when I get back to Aus and it is so much hotter!? If I am finding 16'C hot, I am going to be stuffed in 30+!! Mind you, if it is that warm here now, it might get to that here soon!! Who knows??

I'm off to Germany next, so I probably wont post anything between now and then, as it is next thursday I go. 1 week, 6 towns! EEEK!!!!

APRIL FOOLS!

Well... I'd just like to start off by saying HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY ERNIE!!!!!! Wow, he's a real dog now, not a puppy anymore. And I'm not there to see him *pout*. This is him at his 2nd b'day party at the preschool with cakes the kids decorated for him. (no, he didn't eat all that, the kids did, he had a tiny little piece of cake)

Ok, now, not a lot has gone on over the past 2 weeks. Just LOTS of working, and I cleaned my room, and that's about it. I am now into the last 4 months over here (possibly 3 months if I can't get my correct return date!!!). That means I have survived 8 months over here. Feels like so much longer, because of the amount of stuff I have done. I can't wait to sleep. It feels like I have spent the last 8 months being sleep deprived!

I have spent the last 2 weeks doing 4.5 days work each week. The first week I was supposed to do a day of 2 1/2 days but the second school was MILES away and I didn't know this when I accepted it, then I couldn't find it in the street directory because it was that far away. Then I got traffic, so I was about 1/2 way there and it was already nearly 2pm, so I wouldn't have been there before 2.30, so they cancelled me and I drive home. Grrr. The school I was on on Friday afternoon was one of the worst schools in Bristol (I think I have been to the 5 worst schools now). I had a yr 3/4 class and there was 2 of us in there. And they were not too bad, because they had "golden time" which is basically a reward for friday afternoon, but when the other lady was trying to speak to them in a group it was chaos. There were kids walking out, kids hiding under tables, kids telling each other they were gay. Lovely stuff! The school was so bad that they had an independant assesor in to try and work out a classroom management plan for the kids. Thats why I was there, cos the teacher was out discussing with him. At the end she came back in and said what he had come up with (desks 2 by 2 in rows all facing the front) and I told her my thoughts and suggested a reward system I had seen work elsewhere in a similar class, and she was very enthusiastic and was going off that weekend to make this display for them. She said I was welcome back anytime. So I guess I could always have this as an extra side job, because obviously seeing how different schools cope with these "challenging" children has given me some pointers on what works and what doesn't. It was nice to have my opinion recognised, cos usually supply are ignored and deemed unimportant.

This week I had a luxury. Well... after monday, where I had a kid sniffing glue sticks and another kid attack a child, and was threatened! (JOY). I spent 2 days working in Clifton. This is the posh part of town. The nost noticable difference in the school was the yr 4 class I had on the first day had 38 kids in, and just me, and it didn't feel like that many kids once. I am usually in a class with no more than 20, and a support teacher, and it feels like about 50. They were great! A couple of the played up, as kids do, but if you wrote their names down it was serious! They actually behaved better! I had to speak to 2 of them at break about something they had done that was quite serious, and you should have seen the change in them after this, they were quiet and just got on with it. The next day I was in yr 2, and they were a more lively class, but there was less of them (25) and we still got on with it.

So yeah, that was my exciting last 2 weeks. Woopdidoo! Work work and more work!!! It's easter next weekend, and I will be down in Devon for that, then from there I will be turning around and driving back up to Milton Keynes to stay the night because Tuesday morning we fly to Spain really early. So yeah, I probably wont be blogging for a while intil after spain. And then I only have a weekend before Germany. Germany is turning into a saga. I am flying in and out of hanover, which has been booked for ages, but when I came to look at it closer, Hanover doesn't even have a youth hostel. So I have forked out for a drain pass for 6 days. Then I fly in at night, get on a train, go to Nuremberg over night. Spend that next night in Nuremburg, then go to Munich the following morning early, to meet a 3 day coach tour up the romantic road to Frankfurt. Then I stay 2 nights in Frankfurt, the next night in Cologne, then go to Hanover again for my flight back, all in 8 days. *sigh* it makes me tired just thinking about it!!! This is all that on a map (each colour is a different part of the trip, the other straight lines are the rail network)....

Ok, so that's the end of that. Happy Birthday to Ernie. I am sad that I am not there for it, but these things happen *pout*. Have a good easter everyone, see you when i get back from Spain!

I would walk 5000 miles and I would walk 5000 more...

Ok, that's a lie! I wouldn't walk 10,000 miles, I probably wouldn't even walk 10 miles... but... this is leading somewhere... I promise... stay with me... I pulled into the driveway today after being up at Milton Keynes for the weekend and my Mileage went over to 30,050. When I bought big red it was 20,050. So I have done 10,000 miles exactly in 7.5 months. Not bad! And I haven't even done that much visiting places in weekend, that's just working and driving to airports and to relatives! That's just over 16,000km.

Oh, and I'm green this week cos it was St Patrick's day yesterday, so I decided to do green as my tribute to it. As much as I would have liked to have been in Ireland for it, I'm kind of glad I wasn't because of the drinking aspect. They mentioned on the radio that one town is having an invisible parade, where everyone dresses up, lines the street and a commentator announces the next float in the parade, but there is nothing coming down the street, yet the crowd still cheers. Ahhh, to be mental, to be mental! Anyways, yes, that's the highlight of my week. The weather has gone schizophrenic today, and there was glorious sunshine this morning at my Aunt's up in Milton Keynes, then it clouded over, then it rained, then it had tiny hail, apparently some parts of England got blizzard hail, last night was super windy, Northern Scotland had hurricane strength winds! MENTAL! It was also like 15'C yesterday, and 7'C today. Silly! Mind you, I have another cold, with a head full of snot, and a temperature, so I am feeling superhot all the time. (and not Superhawt, cos snot is never an attractive quality!) Sorry if anyone is eating while reading this! I shall conclude this topic by saying using 4 boxes of tissues in 4 days has left me with a very sore nose :(

I am very disappointed with the number of entries I got in my fairy quiz. COME ONE PEOPLE! I am starting to think no one is reading this anymore. *grumbles* So far the best is 2 correct answers. Clearly no one has been talking to the fairies and asking them.

Umm, what else happened last week? Not a lot. I discovered that my cousin who had a slight bingle with her old car had to write it off, cos it was worth less than the cost of fixing it, but wasn't a complete wreck. So now all of my pommy cousins have written off cars. The best I managed was a couple of weeks ago I had a fight with a lorry on a roundabout and it won, and my car had a big chunk of paint missing from the rear passenger door that the lorry took as a souvenir of the event. Luckily that's all I did, cos it sounded WAY worse from inside the car and I was so expecting the wing mirror to be ripped off, but instead it just folded in, and I folded it back out. Now some of you must be thinking 'wow, 2 speeding fines and an accident in that short a time, that's bad' but let me refer you to how much driving I have done, and it seems not quite so bad!

It is mother's day here today. I had a class of yr 5 kids on thursday that were making mother's day cards in the afternoon and they kept asking me what else they should put on them, and I kept replying 'Elephants! Nothing says "happy mothers day" like an elephant' and they all thought I was weird, and that it was some bizarre Australian tradition. One girl actually drew a picture of her mum riding an elephant, cos she thought her mum would like an elephant!! Hey, if u can't mess with children's minds, who's minds can u mess with?

The school I was at on friday was ok (yr 5 as well... i get more yr 5 classes than any other grade, random), but it was a messed up day cos it was red nose day, so they were a bit excited by that, then it was p.e. so that was exciting too, then in the afternoon 9 of them went to a netball tournament. So it was a bit chaotic. It was one of the first classes I haven't had work left for me, so I just used some lessons I have put together and played games and stuff with them I have learnt from other schools. In the afternoon I did a lesson on Aboriginal dreamtime stories I have adapted for all age groups and get the kids to write their own stories about Seahorses or Fish and how they got something in the format of 'how the birds got their colours' etc. We were having a rather relaxed day so there was lots of mucking around and joking, and the stories were great, because they used this humour in their stories too. At the end of the day they asked if I was back Monday cos I was 'The funniest teacher ever' and when I said no, they moaned. Then one kid (the class clown) came up and shook my hand and said it was a pleasure to meet me. So yeah, that put a smile on my dial.

Anyways, I need to put away washing and tidy stuff so I can find my bed so I have somewhere to sleep! (mum, just ignore that last sentence... and think happy thoughts!)

Slàinte

Ok, so, hello in Ireland is Hello (unless you speak Gaelic, which clearly I don't) but they drink a lot, and I did learn how to say Cheers in Irish, so I thought I'd go with that! Ok, so, I just got back a couple of hours ago. I had a really good time, however the weather was mental! Blue skies one second, pouring rain the next, gale force winds and then perfectly still. It was all over the place. Was quite cold too, especially with the wind chill factor. But I struggled on through!
8/3- I arrived in to Dublin on the most knuckle clenching landing yet, due to the gale force winds, and not helped by the fact there was only 23 on the plane, so it was rather light! I trudged to the hostel, dumped my stuff and went for a walk, grabbed a bite to eat, and then met up with yet another internet person. I got my own private guided walking tour of what to bother with and what not to in Dublin, and then we had a hot chocolate in a cafe, and I headed back to my hostel.
9/3- I got up early and walked to the place where my '3 day Western Rocker' tour was leaving from. The first stop on the tour was Locke's Distillery where we had a tour of the old distillery, which is not purely for tours, and got to taste the Whiskey, which was... horrible!
Then from there we went to the old Monastic settlement of Clonmacnoise where we got an audio/visual intro then could roam around. It was blue skies when we got there, then it rained, and the whole time it was so windy I climbed up a little wall to take a photo and almost got blown off!
Next we drove through the Burren Plateau which is all limestone and the largest area of natural deforestation in Europe. We stopped off to see Pol na Brone Dolmen which is an ancient burial tomb that would have been under ground, but it had had the soil swept away and eroded away from around it so now it stands above ground. There is a cool fairy tale that goes along with it, that this man and woman fell in love and she betrayed her husband to be, who was high king at the time, and ran off with him, and he put a curse on them and said that she could stay with this man, so long as they didn't make love on his land, so they built these all across Ireland as they were running from him, so as not to break the curse.
Then from here we drove through a little town called Lisdoonvarna which every year has a matchmaking festival, and it all sounds a bit wrong, because rich American divorcees come to find themselves an Irish farmer, and 60 yr old men get with 16 yr old women. Wrong! Then from here, as the weather was no too horrible, we drove out to the Cliffs of Moher. It was a bit misty, but not pouring with rain which it can be. Again, it was SUPER windy. They have recently spent millions on the site putting up a windbreak wall as people kept getting too close to the edge and getting blown off! It was quite impressive, with the sun streaming through the clouds as well.
Then on from here we went to Doolin, where we stayed for the night. Most of us went down to the local pub for traditional Irish stew and I tried Guinness (with blackcurrant in it, which is the girly way) and it still tasted like filth. 10/3- We got up in the morning and drove for a fair way to the Tarbert Ferry which took us across the Shannon river. We drove through the Sliabh Mish mountains to Dingle, where we stopped for lunch. Dingle is a small fishing town that has a bottle nosed dolphin called Fungie (as he used to follow around an old sea dog who had crumbs and stuff in his beard and fungus grew there) that is their major claim to fame. We didn't see Fungie that day, but there is a brass statue of him!

Then we went for a drive around the Dingle peninsula which would have been spectacular if there wasn't so much mist you couldn't see what was meant to be out there! We went down on Coumeenole beach which had foam from the waves blowing all around with the wind! Then we drove on down to Killarney, where we had a group dinner in a restaurant, then went and saw a traditional Irish story teller, who was good, but had a way of yelling all the time, which would have been fine on stage with 200 people, but we were like 20 people in a tiny room. So we could have done without the yelling.
11/3- We had a long drive to Blarney Castle. On the drive, as with every other drive we had had on the trip, there was lots of fields, and sheep, and occasionally goats. It was very pretty, but very repetitive, so hard to stay awake for it. In Blarney we climbed the steps (which got increasingly more narrow in their spiral that at the top I had to take off my backpack cos I got stuck) then at the top, I kissed the Blarney stone, which is an effort in itself, as you have to lay down and bend over backwards to kiss it. So now I should have the gift of the gab (as you can tell by this mammoth blog). Then we went for a walk around and saw the witch's kitchen, which is in the stone under a giant tree and even has a chimney stack, pretty cool.
On from here we drove to the Rock of Cashel, another castle, and then back to Dublin. When we arrived back it was pouring with rain, so I trudged back to the hostel, showered, and went to bed.
12/3- I went on the open top tour around Dublin, and got off at the Guinness Store House where I learnt how Guinness is made and did a quiz, so now I am an honorary master brewer's apprentice! Then at the end you get to go up to the gravity bar for a free Guinness (which I did not indulge in) and the view is very nice. Then back on the bus and around to Kilmainham Gaol where you got to learn a lot about the uprising in Ireland and how the leaders of this were put in gaol there and then killed. I also saw the smallest pub in Dublin and I was amused to discover the mailboxes were green in Ireland! Then I did a bit of wondering around, waiting for 8pm, and watched the sun setting over the river Liffey, which splits Dublin in north and south, and in the evening I went on the Dublin Ghost Buss Tour which was very good. You learnt about some of the haunted places, how Bram Stocker might have come up with Dracula, how to body snatch, all with a very funny guide who liked to scare the crap out of people. There were 2 Chinese girls who were so scared of him they ran away every time he walked near them. It was very funny. We got off twice, once to go into an old graveyard and a haunted church, and the second time to go to the most haunted place in Dublin, where lepers used to be allowed to stand outside and listen to mass.
And then today I came back. Woopdidoo! So yes, it was a good time. I enjoyed it. Loads of interesting history and random facts were passed on to me. And I even have another quiz for you all.... this time it is on Irish Fairies. As with last time, email me your answers and the first to get them all correct (easier this time with multiple choice) will get the prize:
1- Is a fairy ring:
a) a ring of stone placed in the bottom of the garden by fairies?
b) a ring of mushrooms that fairies sit on?
c) a ring of flowers that fairies dance around?
d) a ring of trees that people must not go inside?
2- If your normal, happy child suddenly starts crying all the time, it could have been swapped for a changeling baby. If you suspect this is the case, how do you prove it?
a) drop water on it's forehead and if it steams the baby is a changeling
b) throw the baby in the fire and if a puff of purple smoke comes out, the baby is a changeling?
c) hold the baby underwater for 1 minute and if it doesn't struggle it is a changeling?
d) place a cross on the baby and if it leaves a burn mark it is a changeling?
3- If you want to make a wish at a fairy ring do you...
a) walk around the outside anticlockwise singing your wish?
b) walk around the outside clockwise singing your wish?
c) walk around the outside anticlockwise thinking your wish silently?
d) walk around the outside clockwise thinking your wish silently?
4- Is a Fairy tree...
a) a magical tree that fairies live in which can bring good luck?
b) a tree that is part of a fairy ring?
c) a tree that has been carved into by a fairy with a spell?
d) a single tree randomly placed in a field that if cut down will bring bad luck?
5- If a Banshee knocks on your door does it mean...
a) someone inside the house will die?
b) the person who answers the door will die?
c) a curse has been placed on the house?
d) she has run out of sugar and wants 2 borrow some?

Ok, so, that is my quiz. Good luck to all. And I hope you liked my long rambling blog!

Airports are FUN

I am at Bristol ariport waiting for my flight to be called to board to Dublin. They have the most depressing anouncements here, that sound like sumone is holding a gun to their head and forcing them to read it. The "please look after your belongings and keep them with you" one is AWEFUL!
I am on here for 2 reasons... 1- to announce the winner of the sound of music quiz, and 2- to waste time as I have looked at the 3 shops and read a magazine and am trying to avoid buying a slice of cake from starbucks.
So, sound of music quiz... noone gave me completely full and accurant answers, (noone, as in none of the 2 ppl who entered), so the winner goes to the most correct answers which is Susan (I only know one Susan, so you know who you are). Who will be receiving their Austrian themed prize shortly once i get back from Ireland and mail it.
The answers were (and i cant remember the order), the lake from the back of the vontrapp house (the building was not the house used though), the row of trees outside the actual von trapp house used for the swinging from trees in curtain clothes, the inside of the church maria got married in (which is supposedly in the abbey but is actually about 40 mins drive away), the pegagus fountain from the do re mi sequence, and the little man they tapped on the head in that sequence. There's 13 of them all together in the mirabelle gardens. (i think that was all of them). I will check and change later if I missed any.
What have I got up to this week? Monday evening I took part in an aqua aerobics class, at the local swimming pool, which was good, because it showed that I am still quite strong as I was doing the stoopid drag yourself across and back with just you arms things quicker than everyone else. I am going to do these thurs and mondays now to keep fit.
Thats about it. Thats my boring week.
OOOHHH!!!! flight has just been called! I'm off now. Will blog again when I get back!

*yawn*

It is 7am on a Saturday. Why am I up? Well, apparently it's a new thing my body is trying out thats called wake up rediculously early no matter what time you went to bed. *grumble*
So, the last week has been a boring week. Monday I didn't work as my knee was sore and I didn't want to overwork it so I bludged all day. Tuesday I was working at St Paul, in Cabot Primary (worst achieving school in Bristol, Bristolis one of worst achieving cities in England), and again Wednesday. Thursday I didn't work (more about this later) and Yesterday I was in a lovely reception class with delightful little kiddies in a silly names town called Fishponds. Then after work I drove up to my aunt Marion's on her request where I am writing this from now.
Anyways, yes, the highlight (and lowlight) of my week has been Cabot. Tuesday there was big assembly in the morning to celebrate Abolition 200, which is essentially the same as the Aborigine's 'sorry' campaign, but this is a year long thing about black slaves and how they got freed, and how they want to govt to say sorry fo enslaving them. There were tv crews and newspaper reporters and photographers. They picked Cabot as there is literally not one white kid in the school, they are all indian, jamaican, african, muslim countries. And the school is in such a disadvantaged area it was a political stunt too to bring some attention to it. Anyways, this dude, Denis someone, played a half hour set on his trombone, which he had hooked up to microphone and that to guitar pedals, so he could distort and record himself to create his own harmonies. It was pretty cool. And I was on the midday local news program, and my hands were in the local paper. I missed it unfortunately cos it was the morning paper, and not in the afternoon one. Grrr.
That morning, I was teaching the yr 3 class, who I had taught before, months ago, but they remembered me. I was in by myself, which you aren't supposed to be in that school, as there are so many behaviour issues you need support. But at least I knew them. In the afternoon I was sent to yr 2. I was there for a 1.5 hours, and I had a support person who ruled with an iron fist, yet they were still feral. Then she left for 5 mins to go to the bathroom, while they were having free play, and when she was gone they trashed the place. Tipped out every toy, mixed them together and threw them around the room. A bunch of 7 yr olds. And nothing I said or did got them to stop. She came back in and went mental at them and got them to tidy it up. I felt so helpless, and stressed. The second day I was back in yr 3, fine,exceptone of the kids tried to blame me of discrimination based on religion and said she was going to the head. I called her bluff and told her to go then, and she backed down. But I at least knew this was just one of her stunts, imagine if I didn't know the class and they tried that, you'd shit yourself! And then after that day, and the yr 2 situation, I wasalready frazzled and stressed, and I was supposed to be back on Thursday, all day, in yr 2. I debated right up until 7.15am, after I had had my shower and everything whether I could do it or not. On one hand, they were only 7 and I should not not go to work unless I am sick or wounded or dying, on the other hand, I was actually petrified of a room full of horrible little 7 yr olds. So i chickened out and didn't go. I felt horrible, but I couldn't physically or mentally face them again.
My other news is... which I have been looking into on and off since I got here... I re-joined weight watchers. I have been a good girl and been points counting all week. It's interesting tho, as I have no scales, so I guestimated by start weight and I have no way of knowing how much I have lost, but at least I know it works from last time. I am doing it online, instead of the meetings, which is cool, cos there's online forums and an online tracking thing, instead of needing pads and writing everything down. SO yeah, it's only week one, but so far so good. I have stuck to it, and even managed to save a bunch of points, and considering we are going to lunch tomorrow, I suppose that's a good thing! Perhaps that is why I have been getting up at stupid times, cos I have been eating less crap?
Anyways, that is my exciting week! I am off to Dublin next Thursday afternoon, so hopefully my next blog will be more exciting, but less eventful!
P.S. noone has got the right answers in the sound of music quiz (noone being the 2 ppl who bothered to enter) and number 3 seems to be the stumper. If Idon't get a correct guess by Thursday the prize will go to the closest guess of those 2 (or anyone else who enters).

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!!).