Run Benny Run

Haha, thanks to Katie for the Ben Cousins email!

Well it has been a pretty full on week with me officially starting work! I had my orientation with the agency on Tuesday and began working on the Wednesday, it has been really…interesting so far? I had a Year 1 class on my first day, the kids were so hyperactive and I felt really drained at the end of the day. I even had a teaching assistant with me, who spent most of the day screaming at the kids to be quiet and stay still (they would not stop moving!). Yesterday I had a Year 5 class, with only 1 child in the class being Caucasian. The kids really liked me and were generally very well behaved, even though I had 5 kids on individual behaviour plans! They thought I was “rich” because I lived in Fulham, which I guess shows the division over here between the social classes. We played Celebrity Heads at the end of the day and the first thing the children would ask when trying to figure out which famous person they were was ‘Am I white?’ or ‘Am I black?’ – totally unexpected! It was strange because I play the games with the kids at home in Australia and they never refer to skin colour…but I guess over here there’s just a completely different mentality about what race you are.

My flatmate Amy had a really bad day at work yesterday and we’ve agreed that the kids over here have trouble just sitting down, focusing and being quiet…so its little wonder not much teaching gets done! I do enjoy the fact that you go in, do your day of work and then can go home and forget about it. I found it really hard to switch off from work last year because I was a bit of a perfectionist, but that’s gone out the window here. I’m not here to work and focus on my career, I’m here to travel and enjoy a big new city. Speaking of travel, one of my other flatmates - Felicity, left for Germany yesterday. She’ll be gone for about a week I think? Its going to be really strange when 3 of the girls leave for ANZAC Day, then there will only be 2 of us in the house for 11 days…very empty!

The weather has changed back to being cold again; it snowed yesterday morning as I was walking from the train station to the school! It’s down to 2 or 3 degrees during the day again and we’ve had wind blowing in from Siberia, which makes things feel even colder. Next week the wind is coming down from the Arctic which is going to make it even colder?! I thought it was starting to get warmer and lighter, boo! I'm still not acclimatised to the cold and permanently feel freezing, even inside the house with the heaters on! I just came home from the bank and have the heaters on high (wearing a big warm bomber jacket with hood) and my hands still feel cold!

I had a bit of a hiccup catching public transport yesterday; I took the tube from Fulham Broadway to Victoria and was then supposed to catch the overlander (above ground train) to where the school was. I got to the station and tried reading the schedule – there are like 20 trains leaving and coming every minute so it was quite confusing. I thought I had the right train and walked over to platform 1. I asked one of the workers at the station whether it was the train going to the station near my school and he says ‘Oh no that’s on platform 10, I doubt you’ll make it because it leaves in 2 minutes’. I grabbed my bag and literally ran through a sea of people to platform 10, jumping onto the train at the last minute before the doors closed. Had I missed that train, I would have been waiting for at least another 10-20 minutes and probably would have been late for work. Relying so heavily on public transport every day and going to new places everyday is probably the most stressful part, as you always have your map in one hand and your teaching bag in another.

Bad weather just adds to the stress, especially when it rains like it did yesterday afternoon. I looked at my map, decided it wasn’t too far to walk to the tube station instead of the overlander (I hate the foverlander and find it difficult to navigate). It was too far. Jumped on a bus after soaking my shoes and pants thoroughly from walking for 15 minutes in hard rain (umbrellas are useless!) and managed to get to the tube station okay. Still, I had to swap tube lines 3 times before making it to my tube station, where I then had to take a bus which drops me literally around the corner from our house.

Tonight were are taking Steph O to Elk Bar, which seems to be a common initiation process in this house! There is netball registration on Sunday which a few of us are considering joining, that will be held at the Walkabout in Sheperd’s Bush. I hate not going to the gym and working out, I've been checking out a few but they are pretty pricey (60 pounds a month or more for the local ones, the cheapest so far is Fitness First at 40 pounds a month but I don't think there is a branch in Fulham). Netball will be a great way to keep in shape and have a bit of fun, plus after training on Sunday they head down to the pub with the football teams (my flatmate Amy really liked that part of the deal).

These boots are made for walking

For the last few days we have had an American model staying in the house. Basically, Steph O (who hasn’t arrived from Australia yet) wanted someone to cover her rent for the weeks prior to her arrival. So the other girls put an ad on the Gumtree (the website where everyone advertises rooms for let in London) for a short term let. Lina (the model) replied and is now staying with us for 2 weeks. Well she’s not really here much, she flies out to Egypt for a photo shoot next week and has been running around London going to various castings.

She’s really lovely and totally not the model type (which is what I was worried about). Actually she reminds me a bit of Gwen Stefani, she has that street, slightly punk California look with the white blonde hair. Tonight Linas’s invited us all out with some of her friends in London, which includes the prince of Persia (talk about random friends!). We’re probably going to Fabric, a club over here which is pretty big and popular – even better still, we’re getting VIP entry and VIP tables…so we may even see a few UK celebs (well known hang out for them so I’m told). Should be an interesting night!

In other random news, I tried flapjacks the other day. Before I left Mum told me about flapjacks and said that the best flapjacks in London were from Marks & Spencer. Now I thought a flapjack was the American word for pancakes, but over here a flapjack is very similar to an Anzac biscuit – a combination of rolled oats, butter, golden syrup etc. Flapjacks are softer and sweeter than an Anzac biscuit though and come in a slice or a square. They are so good! You can get plain butter ones, chocolate ones, banana and yoghurt ones…but if you ever come to London you have to get them! Add that to my list of guilty pleasures.

I talk about food a lot don’t I?

Last night I went out with a few girls who have also come over here from Australia alone. We went out to Napule, a traditional Italian restaurant in Fulham. When people order multiple wood fired pizzas they combine them in one long rectangular pizza. We ordered 3 different types and when the pizza came out, it was literally the length of our table. We also had some bruschetta for starters as they don’t serve garlic bread in traditional restaurants, much to our embarrassment when we asked for some.

After dinner we headed to Elk as the other girls hadn’t been there before. Walked home at about midnight and crashed into bed. Today I’m doing all the mundane daily things like washing, cleaning, grocery shopping etc.

I had better also tell you about my new love, my boots! There is a small Italian shoe boutique just behind the Fulham Broadway tube station, I discovered it last week while going to the post office. Ever since I arrived in London I’ve been scouring all the shoe stores looking for a pair of flat boots. I walked past the window of this store and my perfect dream pair of boots were in the window (on sale)!!! They’re a caramel/toffee colour, knee high, suede, pointy, flat and fit like a dream. You can scrunch them down or wear them up over your jeans and are amazingly comfortable. That’s them in the photo, they have cardboard ant tissue paper stuffed in them to help keep their shape. Yesterday I also picked up a new jacket (because I only have my big black overcoat which is quite dressy) for only 8 pounds! It’s a chocolate brown bomber style jacket, with aqua green lining and has an Eskimo hood (with the fur lining the outside). Its really warm and great to chuck on when you’re heading out briefly.

What else? Oh, the Brit Awards were on the other night and were held at Earls Court (the next tube stop up from Fulham Broadway). Paris Hilton was there (after being hit with flour by anti-fur protestors at London Fashion Week), Kanye West (with something like 50 girls in bikinis and spray painted in gold), James Blunt, Coldplay, Madonna, Kaiser Chiefs, Arctic Monkeys (new band over here who are the next big thing)…it was massive. Its really strange to have all these bands in London all the time – James Blunt just did a tour, Kanye West played at Hammersmith Apollo which is like 10 minutes away), Nickelback and Bon Jovi are coming soon…its really hard to keep up with all the people who are touring. Unlike at home, where if someone remotely big comes to perform its big news. They really are spoiled for choice over here – apart from Coldplay L Chris Martin said at the Brit awards that the band were having a break for a year or so and they’re not touring around the UK as far as I know this year. I’m so disappointed because I know they’re going to Perth and I really want to see them live. I was looking at the ARIA chart yesterday (its in the TNT magazine we get over here) and some guy called Chris Brown is #1? Can anyone tell me who he is and what the song is, I’ve never heard of him before?

PS: If you are leaving a comment in my blog and don’t have a Blogger account, choose ‘Other’ when you are replying as it lets you type in your name, rather than anonymous.

PPS: Oh my god I just read Mum's email telling me about Ben Cousins little DUI incident! Can't wait for the football to begin...how is pre season going? Have they played the Wizard Cup finals yet?

All you need is love

I hope everyone had a happy Valentine’s Day yesterday, I’m blaming the fact I have a new address and phone number that no one knows for not receiving any flowers or cards (thankyou to Katie for the V Day email though!). London was a sea of pink and red, they’re almost as crazy as the Americans about these sorts of days.

Last night I went out with two of my flatmates for dinner to Fulham Broadway, which is our tube station and also has some shops, cinemas and restaurants attached to it. I had the most delicious dinner - a salad of baby spinach and rocket leaves, with pieces of chicken piled on top with roasted almonds and coated in a honey and lemon dressing. It came with a side of baked sour dough sticks and was the best thing I’ve eaten here yet. Fulham has some really good restaurants so I will never be stuck for choice!

After dinner we went to see ‘Walk The Line’ with Joaquin Phoenix & Reese Witherspoon. It was quite a long and emotional movie, but was excellent and now I understand why they’re winning so many awards for it! The older man who was sitting beside me (the cinema was packed out for V Day) was singing and bopping along to all the Johnny Cash songs throughout the movie. Definitely go and see it if you haven’t already!

I’m catching up with Meegan tomorrow night for dinner and I want to check out one of the markets on the weekend, probably the vintage Portobello Markets in Notting Hill. I love the fact that there is always so much to do and see in this city, you never get the chance to be bored.

We now have a land line phone in the house, so in the next few weeks I want to start calling a few people back home using a phone card and catch up with what everyone has been up to! I hope you haven’t melted with the humidity – something I don’t miss about Perth!

Looking through the Contiki brochures currently, trying to decide which European tour is best to do in the summer holidays (which start near the end of July). The only problem is that La Tomatina, the annual tomato throwing festival in Spain, coincides with the time I want to do my Contiki. I don’t know whether to only do a short Contiki (25 days or less) and then go to La Tomatina at the end of August, or do the longer Contiki and miss the tomato throwing this year? Luckily I have a bit of time to decide.

Heard about the Bali Nine sentences from Mum and Dad yesterday morning, one thing about living with Aussies is that you can talk about things back home and they know what you’re referring to!

Its raining, its pouring...

Well I woke up this morning to rain - the first time it has rained in London since I arrived. All I can see in the sky is dark grey clouds, so it looks like today will be constant drizzle. I haven't got an umbrella either yet. They need the rain here though, so I won't complain.

So anyway I'll do a run down of my new house while I have the chance!

The House
Is a 5 bedroom, 2 bathroom place that shares a common door with the neighbours, 3 English guys in their twenties (we are considered the first floor house, they are considered the ground floor house - really common thing over here). We have a large kitchen and living room, the house is split over 3 levels and my room is on the second level. I have the biggest room, which has 2 windows with wooden blinds that face onto our street. The house is very English - meaning its all cream! The bathroom upstairs has a roof window which is on a slant, when you sit in there at night you can watch all the planes flying over to land at Heathrow. I will take photos this week hopefully and put them up! Our phone is being connected on Monday and we should have wireless internet in the next week (we're having trouble finding computer shops/internet providers here). We've bought all of our cooking/kitchen supplies and our brand new furniture (couches, kitchen tables, coffee tables, wardrobes, chest of drawers etc.) arrives this week! We have new double beds too, thankfully they arrived before I moved in so we didn't have to sleep on the floor!

The Flatmates
Are 4 girls from Sydney aged 22-25. Amy is a primary school teacher also, she has only been here about 5 weeks and is doing relief teaching through an agency as well. Felicity is working in admin at the moment, Stephanie P works in finance and the other Stephanie hasn't arrived from Australia yet - she lands in a week I think? She works in real estate but doesn't have a job arranged here. We all get along really well and because no one has ever lived together before there's no set rules/house cliques, even though some of the girls know each other from back home.

Last night we all went out to Elk Bar and then a club called Havanas, we walked home which was very painful for me as I have a blister on my toe from all the walking I've been doing. This afternoon I have to go and get a few groceries and pick up some random things like coat hangers. I'm calling my teaching agency tomorrow to see if I can bring my orientation to this week rather than next week, as this week is a holiday for UK students/teachers and I want to start working next week.

Home sweet home!

I have a house! Living in Fulham with 4 other Aussie girls, moved in last night. Will update when I have more time and let everyone know my address (I don't know the entire postcode yet, its so confusing over here).

Best cereal ever...

Still house hunting. What a frustrating experience this is! First of all, in London - never judge a house by its price. I've seen places that are so expensive and are absolute dives. Kitchens less than 2 square metres in size. Rooms that are so small you hit the wall when you hop out of bed. Dirty bathrooms you share with 4 other people. Its starting to become a bit demoralising. I'm not expecting a penthouse, but I want to live somewhere that I enjoy living in, rather than dreading going home to a disgusting mess. Looked at a stunning place on Wednesday night - literally still being finished! The place has been gutted and refitted with new kitchen, bathrooms and furniture. Unfortunately the couple living there can't tell me if I've got a room till Thursday, which is quite stressful for me as I really need to get into a place ASAP. Living out of a suitcase and on an air mattress is not ideal! I've got another place to check out this afternoon, a house of 4 Aussie girls. Fingers crossed its okay (considering the rent...eek!).

Oh I have to tell you about this cereal! Yesterday I was craving cereal and milk, probably because I'm a bit low on calcium, so I went into Sainsburys to find some. I found Clusters - its wholemeal flakes with clusters of almonds and hazelnuts scattered throughout. Sooooo good! I had a bowlful as soon as I got home last night!