Windsor Castle

Yay! I survived my first week at school! The first day was tough but the week got better as I started to learn more about the routines and got used to the way school works in England. There's still a whole lot more to learn and figure out but I have a lovely bunch of kids who are all very keen and I think, at the end of the day, that's the main thing you want as a teacher, keen kids. Oh they are gorgeous! A few times throughout the week they'd repeat words I said that they thought were paritcularly funny, the main ones being 'head' and 'ten'. For the next three weeks before the mid term break I'm allowed to do a comparative study of New Zealand and England. I told them about it on Friday and they were all very excited. I'm excited too because they know nothing (they thought a kiwi bird was some sort of dinosaur and had never heard of rugby), hopefully I can plant a seed for some of them to want to visit New Zealand one day :) My teacher aids were amazing too, without them the week would have been a real struggle. They are like gold! I'm looking forward to getting paid this week to see how much it is and also I'm getting a bit depressed at how my $NZ is getting cut in half! Hopefully I'll get enough to be able to book a trip somewhere exotic for the mid term break. So school is good and I'm happy there :)

Something way cooler than school though was my outing yesterday where I caught a train out to Windsor Castle and spent the afternoon looking through the castle and doing a behind the scenes kitchen tour.

Inside the grounds of Windsor

It's the first castle I've been to (I hope to see many more) and it was quite an experience walking around the grounds and looking in the rooms that such important historical figures have lived in. I kept having flashbacks of my Year13 Tudor/Stuard history classes. It was very impressive and I loved looking at all the gifts that had been sent to the various Kings and Queens from other countries. The china was particularly exquisite. It's almost hard to comprehend that some people actually live like this because for me worlds of castles and princes and princesses are things of fairytales so seeing one for real is quite amazing. Everything was just so lavish and decorative, it was like nothing I had ever seen before.

The kitchen tour was worth it because I was in small group of about 15 and we got to go further into the castle and kind of have a 'behind the scenes' look. We went through the chamber that is popular for the young royals to celebrate their 21st birthdays in and then got to go into the kitchen that has been in operation for over 750 years!!! Obviously it has had some alterations so it complies with modern health and safety guidelines but it was great in there because you really got a feel of what it would be like when preparing a meal for the Queen. Here's an interesting fact for you; all clocks in the kitchen are five minutes fast and that's so that the food will always be ready on time. Apparently Queen Elizabeth is very hands on when it comes to state dinners and will sit with the chef and choose the main courses. Now there are about four courses in stately dinners but back in the day sometimes there would have been up to 20 courses and they'd be eating for hours and hours. The kitchen would have been a horrible place back then because at either end would have been open fires and there was likely to have been an open fire in the middle too!

After the kitchen tour I had a look around the state rooms and then headed down to Saint George's Chapel. I picked a good day because there were choir boys singing and the acoustics of that building are fantastic. It was an open day for boys and they could sing to see what it was like to be an actual choir boy there. It was nice to watch their parents/grandparents faces light up as they sung. Listening to them actually gave me goosebumps. I also got to stand on the slab of marble that is above the remains of Henry VIII and Charles I, crazy aye?!? By the time I'd finished there the castle was closing and it was getting dark so I didn't get to have a proper look around the grounds but when it gets warmer I think I'll go back to do that. I managed to get a stamp on my ticket that makes it valid for a year so I can go back as many times I like within the next year.

I was lucky enough to see an exhibition in the castle of different images of Queen Elizabeth, I think it's called 'Faces of the Monarch' and it had various portraits of her throughout her reign. She was a very beautiful young woman. She's the most photographed woman in history so it was intersting to see the different depictions and the last few made me quite sad because she is so old now. 

One thing I thought was a bit odd was how the town of Windsor is quite built up around the castle. You actually cross the road and there are shops. In my mind I expected a castle to be quite far away from shops and restaurants and in the countryside but I guess I was wrong.

The Queen stays in this side of the castle when she visits

Beautiful lawns

Castle flag pole

Saint George's Chapel

King Charles II's bedchamber

King Charles II's drawing room

Grand reception room

Green drawing room

Remains of King Henry VIII and King Charles I

Albert Memorial Chapel

Shops across the road!

I better be off, have just joined a gym that's about a five minute walk away and have my induction today. It'll give me something to do to fill in my time at night.

Good luck to all my friends/family who are starting back teaching this week!

Love you lots xoxox

Quick school update

I woke up to crazy amounts of snow this morning, lucky I caught that train back yesterday! I rang my new school and organised for a taxi to take me (wasn't going to walk in the snow when I didn't know where I was going) and was surprised at how close the school was to my home. I ended up walking home and worked out it's only 1.2km so when it's not snowing it will be a very quick walk. I keep thinking to myself how lucky I am because everything has actually fallen into place so perfectly. Happy, happy days for Zara!

So I got to school and was warmly welcomed by the office staff and taken to meet the other year 4 teacher. She's a HUGE Lord of the Rings fan so we hit it off really well. She started to tell me a few things but could tell I was a bit overwhelmed so she decided to take me on a tour of the school instead. I know I won't remember my way around on Monday but it made me happy when I saw the hallways were covered in art work and murals and all the teachers/teaching assistants greeted me with big smiles. The best part was meeting my new class! They all seemed so happy to meet me and were all like, 'Oh Miss Anderson you're finally here!'. One little girl said to me, 'Miss Anderson, I adore you already', it was very, very, VERY cute. Their last teacher retired at the end of last year so they've had a reliever for the last two weeks. She was a real gem and told me about some of the routines and had the children do an independent piece of writing for me today to help me in gauging their levels. She's also kept all their work they've done in the last few weeks for me to look through.

Now, I will tell you some things that blew my mind and the minds of my fellow teaching friends and family back in New Zealand. I was told I'd have a full time teaching assistant when I got here and I thought that would be pretty cool. Turns out I have not one but TWO for the whole day. I have P.E twice a week, one indoor and one outdoor lesson and a specialist teacher comes in and takes that. Music once a week is taught by someone else and so is ICT. I have no key for school and it's locked at 5.45pm everyday so looks like I'll be having full weekends while I'm here. Longest time we teach for without a break is 7 weeks!!! They're normally broken into 6 weeks blocks hehe which I will not be complaining about. I also get a £5 allowance for lunch each day and can claim my rent expenses back. Forgot to mention I have a smart-board too (YUS!). As you can probably tell I'm very thrilled with the whole thing really. To be fair I haven't started yet but I have a very good feeling about this.

This weekend I'm going to make up a power point about myself and New Zealand and think of some cool ice-breaker activities to do on Monday. The deputy head teacher (deputy principal) said I can make it a day about getting to know each other. I love first days back at school and I'm very excited about this one!

School in the snow 

On a sadder note before I go I just want to send all my love home to the Prior/Blandford/Pike family as today is the funeral of Simon's uncle, Simon. He was taken very fast and I just want to say I'm thinking of you all at this very sad time xoxoxoxoxox

Brighton Rock(s)

I have just got back from a fabulous three days staying down in Lancing, near Brighton, with my great friend Zoe, her partner Harry (Potter) and her sister Kate at their uncle Neil's place. Zoe has been over this way for just over 5 weeks now and I was lucky enough to get to see her before she heads back home to New Zealand on Tuesday.

Her uncle's house is in a great spot and overlooks the sea and Brighton is only a 15 minute train trip away. I'll admit that the walk to and from the train station was always a little bit nippy but it was something that had to be done. On our first full day together we went into Brighton and meet up with Hannah, Zoe's second cousin, and she kindly showed us some hot spots in the city. We had a quick tour of the South Lanes (boutique shops down little alley ways) and then went to find food. We were all very satisfied after our generous portions at JB's American Diner on the waterfront. We then went back to explore the North Lanes where I picked up a nice photo frame for my room but by this stage it was so cold outside we needed a warmer option. Warmer option = the mall. I then had my first Primark experience (cheap but trendy clothing store) and let's just say I came home with more bags than I left with in the morning. In saying that though I can't believe how reasonably priced clothes are here, it's fabulous!!!

Zoe and Zara by the clock tour in Brighton

Amazing cake shop

More amazing cakes from cake shop

JB's American Diner

We could have shared this meal between two!

Zara and Zoe in the lanes

A good day shopping :)

We were up a bit earlier the next day and caught the train to Brighton again, thankfully it wasn't as cold as the day before. In Brighton I tried my first ever pasty and was very impressed. We managed to make the 12.40pm screening of a new film, 'Gangsta Squad', and although it was pretty gruesome it was a very good watch. Sean Penn was a great gangsta! The rest of the afternoon was spent checking out the waterfront and the famous Brighton Pier. Zoe and Harry pointed out the old pier to me and told me how it got burnt down but how it has just been left there as a sort of attraction I guess. It did look pretty cool floating out in the sea. Unfortunately only one ride was operating on the pier and it wasn't the haunted house Zoe and I were hoping for so we made our way back home for a delicious curry and an eventful episode of Coronation Street ;)

Lancing Station

Harry and Kate warm on the train

Zara and Zoe with old pier in background

Jump for old pier

Jump for new pier

Waterfront antics

Lobster fun

Lobster eating mummy

Talented dancer on the waterfront

Harry planking at Brighton Pier

Zara trying to plank at Brighton Pier

Oh la la

Arcade on the pier

Coro game shot for Nana and Kenya

Bejeweled game shot for Simon

Sunset on the pier

I decided to catch a train back home to Reading a day early because there have been some pretty crazy snow warnings over this way and didn't want to risk getting snowed in. I had so much fun down in Lancing/Brighton and it was a little bit hard to say goodbye because now it's time for the hard stuff to begin... WORK!!! Today I'm going to walk down to school and chat with the Head Teacher (NZ equivalent of principal) to get a heads up for Monday and see what sorts of things I can do to prepare myself.

Wish me luck!

X

Snow

After I'd finished my last blog entry I opened my curtains to find everything covered in snow. I blinked a few times to make sure I was seeing things properly and sure enough it was snow. As I left home I took a quick snap of the house because it looked so cute and I wanted to show you all. So here it is, told you it was pretty x

My first weekend in London

Wow! I think I am in love with London already! It has completely blown my mind and is cooler than I ever imagined possible. They say first impressions count and let me tell you all now, London has impressed me.

I have been very busy (and cold) since arriving here and to be honest a lot of it has felt a bit like a dream. It is a very odd thing seeing places that you have only ever seen in pictures or on the television for the first time. I had many moments throughout the weekend where I had to pinch myself to check that what I was actually seeing was real.

My first night was a bit of a nightmare but I won't dwell on that for too long but do have some advice for you; never fly with the Russian airline, Aeroflot, unless you are Russian and never stay at Heathrow Lodge. As soon as I left Heathrow Lodge things got a whole lot better and I managed to get to the city with my suitcases using public transport (train, underground and taxi) for a good price. Back home I had many sleepless nights worrying about how I was going to do this and now wish I had of slept because it was so hassle free and easy. I could not believe how helpful everyone was, any question I had they'd happily answer and point me in the right direction. After I'd dropped my bags off at the hotel I went to meet with my teaching agency in Covent Garden (GREAT spot) and as I was going there on the bus I had one of those 'is this a dream?' moment as we casually drove past the London Eye. I was lucky enough to get an appointment with a bank and set up a bank account and then for the rest of the afternoon was free to explore London by myself. I had a great time looking in all the shops (they blew my mind), stopping in at cute cafes but one my best achievements of that day was locating the British Museum. I only got to explore for a few hours but for me this was like hitting the jackpot because I was seeing things I had spent years at university studying and had only ever seen in books. I kept talking to myself and doing small fist pumps which I'm sure must have looked odd but man was I so happy. It's a very hard feeling to describe.

Outside the British Museum

Parthenon marbles - OMG!

Pediment sculptures from Parthenon - amazing!

I can see myself spending many hours at this museum so was lucky when 3pm came around because that meant I had to leave and start making my way to find Jade. Jade, for those of you who don't know, is my lovely friend from Norwich (east England) who I meet in Thailand. She is one of the loveliest people in the world and her and her partner, Rich, came and spent the weekend with me. I navigated the tube to meet her and it was nice to see a friendly face in the mass of  people at the station. That night, we dined at a lovely Italian restaurant before Rich met us. The three of us then went the Shrek musical. I had never been to a musical before and I was completely blown away. I just sat there awe struck the entire time. It was a great show and I can see myself spending a lot of time in that part of town. It wasn't just the show that was amazing but the theatre itself was so beautiful. Rich made some comment about it been three times older than New Zealand and he was right, it was built in 1663 and is the oldest working theatre in the world. My mind was blown. Another thing that was mind boggling was the amount of theatres that had shows on, there must have been at least ten we saw and probably more with their lights flashing. This part of the city was just buzzing. During the interval we got to enjoy a cupcake from a cute little shop we found by the theatre. I got a carrot cake one and let's just say, my first carrot cake in London scored a 10/10. Delicious!

Jade and I outside the Theatre Royal

I managed to take a quick snap of the stage before the show began

Selection at Primrose Bakery

Mmm carrot cake cupcake

I managed to get a good nights sleep on Friday and that was lucky because Saturday was a very full on day. Our day started with a stroll along the Thames to the Tate Modern Museum. This is a museum that is in an old coal factory that has been opened up and it is massive, unbelievably massive. The art inside was interesting and there were a few pieces I really liked. I just couldn't get over the size of the building. We then headed across the bridge to see Big Ben, Parliament buildings, Westminster Abbey, strolled through a park where I saw a SQUIRREL to Buckingham Palace and then ended up in Trafalgar Square. We also tried to go the Museum of Natural History but the line was enormous (like wait 3 hours plus enormous) so we trotted on and had a brief look in the Museum of Science. A lot of sites and a lot of smiles. Jade and Rich were fantastic tour guides, they knew all the spots, could navigate the tube (I picked up a few tips from them) and I could always count on Rich to share interesting facts about the different places we saw.

Inside the foyer at the Tate Modern Museum

Painting of Vietnam War inside the Tate

One of the weird people statues along the Thames

Many weird statue people along the Thames (London Eye in the background)

Look how close I am to the squirrel - great shot Rich!

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey with cool bus

Guards with bear fur hats

Rich and I climbed up by this lion in Trafalgar Square - look to the left of pic, that's how I looked when I tried to get up ;)

I got to have a quick visit to Harrods too! I saw watch selling for £42,500! I knew it had a reputation as a high end store but really £42,500 for a watch?!? We only looked around one level but I was quickly drawn to the chocolate room. We were lucky enough to all be given a sample tasting and all I can say about this is wow, wow, WOW!

Sweet treats

CHOCOLATE!!!

Yum!

I had been having a craving for Indian and had mentioned this in passing to my friends and they managed to find a place with great reviews in a place called Whitechapel so we headed there for an early dinner. It was worth the mission out there and it was great to see another spot of London. I'm pretty sure this is where a lot of the Muslim people hang out because as soon as we got off the tube it was like we walking around in a Muslim country with market stalls, huge mosques along the street and banks like the 'Islamic Bank of England' on the corner. It was fascinating and apparently there are lots of pockets of communities like this all around England, e.g., all the French hang out in one area. Here's an interesting fact from Rich; if you took all the French people out of London and put them into a city it would be the fourth biggest city in France. That's a lot of French people!!!

We had to have an early dinner because we were going to Rich's older brother's 30th birthday bash. His brother, Mike, hired out an old BBC studio and got in a Quiz master to run a quiz. It was a great quiz and after that we played bingo. Jade was lucky enough to scoop up a prize (Rich said she always wins) and was the only one on our table to do so. She won some gold cardboard crowns that she made up for us to put on. Rich had warned me that at times his brother could be a bit eccentric and the next part of the night illustrated this. Mike got in some djs, Sly and Reggie, but they were people he'd never met before and had just emailed him to see if they could play at his gig. They got his details because Mike is the Councillor for the Pontypool Ward (250,000 people) which I think means he looks after a certain part of London, so he is quite a public figure. Sly's rapping about libraries and JK Rowling's new book 'Casual Vacancy' caused a few confused looks around the studio but all in all it was an authentic London experience and I had a great night. I slept like a baby after such an eventful day.

Dj Sly - we never figures out why that noose was there?

Jade and Zara

The gang with their golden crowns

For our last day together we went out for brunch and I got a Full English Breakfast, a right of passage for all those who come to England and after that we had a browse around Spitalfield market. It was there that I picked myself up some cute ear warmers, something I was in desperate need of because my ears were getting very cold. Thanks to Jade and Rich I had a great introduction to the big city and now have all the apps/websites stored on my phone that will help me out while I'm here. They're off to Brazil in a month and when they get back I am going to go up to see them in Norwich and I can't wait for that!

I am also thankful to them because they helped me get back to Paddington Station so I could catch my train to Reading, my new hometown 30 minutes west of London. My suitcases were so full and to illustrate this point further when I left HCMC my suitcase weighed in at 22.8kg and I was allowed 23kg. Hehe talk about a close call! Rich wheeled my big suitcase to the station and the guard at the station even let him through the barriers to put it on the train for me. When I got to Reading station another nice person helped me with my bags which was good. Jim (I'm living with a husband and wife team, Jim and Holly) met me at the station and before I knew it we were in the car and on the way home.

The thing I think I was most nervous about with this big move was finding a place to live. But everything has fallen into place perfectly and I am living in the cutest little place imaginable. At some stage I will get some photos of the exterior but the interior is gorgeous. It's a little 3 bedroom, 2 story English house, I'm not really too sure how else to describe it. It has quite a cottage like feel to it and it really does feel like a home. I think I'm going to be VERY happy here. I only got to meet Jim because Holly was at work (she's a cop and was doing night shift) but she'd left notes around the place for me, a really nice touch. In my room she'd left a nice bunch of flowers and a lovely welcoming card. I'm already in love with my room. I have everything I need and was very impressed with the apple TV and ipod dock because I was going to invest in some speakers quite soon but now there is no need. It was so nice to unpack and put my own little touch in the room.

Yay, a big bed!

Nice tv ;)

Lovely touch

Close up of the flowers for mum

So it has been a very busy but fantastic couple of days and I am about to get ready to go and see Zoe, Harry and Kate and stay with Zoe's family down in Brighton. They're forecasting snow so I'm going to have to wrap up warm.

Take care everyone and will write again soon xoxox