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).