I have not been a ton of fun. I think all my poor friends and and roomates are ready to strangle me. I'm not 100% sure why I'm such a cranky kid, but I think it has something to do with the fact that I'm completely incapable of sleeping lately. SO ANNOYING! If I'm even lucky enough to fall asleep, I wake up about an hour later totally ready to rise and shine. So, by the time 5h30 or 6h00 am rolls around and I actually DO have to get up, I'm not too freakin' stoked about it. I think I'm on some weird delayed jet lag thing or something. Anyways. Yes. I'm a crabby kid. So, to all my lovely UK buddies ... here's my apology - I'm sorry! Hopefully I start sleeping soon!
I didn't work yesterday. Not gonna lie, it was a nice chillaxed day off. I went to the Museum of London with Crystal and Lindsey and it was awesome! So interesting! Learned all about the London Fire and the history of London in general - amazing! After that, we strolled around St Paul's Cathedral and snapped some shots. I'm a bit of a moron and left with no jacket. London can be nice during the day, but once 4h30pm rolls around, it's like someone throws a switch and we're all thrown into instant darkness that is very very cold. I'm from Saskatchewan and I think it's cold! So, it's cold! So I'm wandering around London with no coat, and Lindsey points out the Millenium Bridge. So, we wander across it. I got about halfway across the River Thames on this thing and pretty much turned into a popsicle. So, we wandered into Pizza Express which is a delicious little pizza joint that doesn't believe in cutting their pizzas but really enjoys watching you trying to cut them yourselves with butter knives. The pizza is worth the effort.
After that, we strolled towards London Bridge to get the tube back. We discovered a really beautiful little part of London that's really tucked away from everything - I can't wait to go back there to explore!!
Today, I worked. I was tired, but I had a great day with this Year 5 class. (Grade 4) Aside from a child impaling another child in the head with a pencil, we had a pretty rad day. I was at a Roman Catholic school. I've found that I actually much prefer teaching in Catholic schools here - they just seem to have so much more structure and order ... makes for a more enjoyable day.
I've been toying with the idea of getting my own classroom. Some days, I commute up to 2 hours each way to get to work and back, and I usually don't know where I'm going. This can get old really fast. At the same time, however, I love leaving my job at the end of the day and ACTUALLY leaving it ... No going back to burn the midnight oil for this girl. So, both ways have their ups!
Anyways, back to me being cranky ... I should probs go to bed. I also think I'm getting a bit of cabin fever. I'm so close to all these incredible places in UK and Europe in general and I'm like a little kid - I just want to get out there and explore. It's stupid because I've wanted to move to London for 12 years and now that I'm here, I can't wait to leave and go on trips! I'm torn between heading to Brighton with some other Canadians in London or heading to visit Becky in Paris this weekend ... Who knows?! I'll keep you posted.
Until then ...
xo Megs
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
I'm livin' for the weekend and working for the cash machine ...
Heya everyone,
I know, I know. I'm terrible. We FINALLY just got internet in our house on Saturday night, however. So it's really not my fault. I couldn't be arsed to sit in an internet cafe next to a bunch of creeps writing about my life. So yeh ... hmmm .. where should I start?
I think I finished with Halloween ... but what I forgot to mention about Halloween were our trick or treaters! We didn't really prepare for Halloween cos we weren't planning on being here. However, as were about to walk out the door, I opened it to a massive group of 7 or 8 trick or treaters. WTF were we gonna do?! Luckily, I little lunch snack things that are like kit kats. We handed those out, but we were already in our costumes and these trick or treaters were with their dads. Their dads were WAY too interested in us being Canadian and asked if they could come back for beers later that night? The morals of this country astound me.
I worked a lot last week, which was great. I worked 4 out of 5 days which isn't AMAZING but honestly, makes for a nice week. It gave me a week day to get my banking done and pay my bills which I desperately needed to do. None of the schools reallllly stand out in my mind - I think they were all pretty good. I actually forget most of them already. HAHA. On Friday, I taught in a school in Camden. Camden is my FAVOURITE neighbourhood in London. I just absolutely love it. I love our little house and I think my roomates are rad, but I think when they move back home for the summer next year, I'm going to go and look for a place in Camden. It just doesn't feel like we live IN the city by living so far out of central London. Our neighbourhood is GORGEOUS, as is our house, but the commute is really getting to me. Between walking for 15-30 minutes, taking a bus, and riding the tube for at LEAST an hour every day, my commute typically takes me 2 hours each way. I'm losing 1/6 of my day by travelling. I worked my butt off in that school on Friday and did my best to impress because it would be great to get a job in Camden!!
My birthday was on Thursday, which is Guy Fawkes' Day here in London, also known as Bonfire Night. I've been waiting to have my birthday in London for about 3 years, ever since I first heard of Bonfire Night. Those who know me well, know that I like to celebrate my b-day in style. I love b-days! This year, not so much. The day started off really cute ... I came down for breakfast in the morning to discover that my flatmates had snuck downstairs at 5h30 am to decorate our house for my birthday! That was so nice and SUCH a good start to the day - thanks so much girls - I loved that!! I got called into work, and off I went. I was going to come home and change and then go out for dinner but, with the commute, it just didn't make sense. So, I headed straight down to Clapham Common, which is where they were having a massive free fireworks display. I got to Clapham and waited to hear back from people about coming for supper. As it turned out, no one could come for supper. I said I was going to make my blog honest, and not to glam it out. Well, lemme tell you, there's nothing glam about eating chinese take away by yourself on a bus stop bench. It was definately a lonely feeling but it gave me the push I need to get cracking and go and make some friends!! I had a chat with most of my family that night and I had cards from my family and my auntie's family to open which was really nice. The fireworks themselves were AMAZING. I was so impressed. It was great. Almost got a bit teary watching them as I'd waited for that moment for SO long and it was one of those "OMG! I'm actually here!" moments. So great.
Friday night was spent housecleaning like a mad woman. I scrubbed and scrubbed. We still don't have a vaccuum ... our landlord says it's coming but it's been a month and our carpet is scary. Everything gets dusty so fast so yes, I scrubbed away. Saturday, Niki came into London and she was so lovely, she took me for a proper grocery shop in her car. I stocked up on EVERYTHING. It cost me nearly 100 pounds, but I don't need to get groceries for AGES now. So happy. Thank you, Niki! After that, we finally got our internet/cable/landline phone set up. We don't have an actual PHONE yet tho, so we'll keep you posted on that number!!!
Saturday night was our housewarming party as well as my flatmate Crystal and mine's birthday parties. Gongshow. I think we started partaking in beverages much too early. The theme was 'ugly mug' party so everyone had to find a hideous/ridiculous/funny cup and bring it as their drinking cup. We got some amazing finds for sure!!! Nice work people! We had a really good turnout, met some new people, and saw some hilarious drinking cups. We had a really great time and I was so happy that my friends Niki and Andy came into London from outta town just to come to our party - that was great!!
Sunday was spent recovering from Saturday night - I was not a happy camper and spent most of my time curled up in bed with my laptop. Haha.
Well, it's Monday now and I'm waiting for the phone to ring to get called into work. Crystal and I feel mutually that today would be an okay day to not get called in, but ... Murphy's Law. Haha So we'll see.
I hope everyone is doing well. Missing you all back home like mad!
xo Megs
I know, I know. I'm terrible. We FINALLY just got internet in our house on Saturday night, however. So it's really not my fault. I couldn't be arsed to sit in an internet cafe next to a bunch of creeps writing about my life. So yeh ... hmmm .. where should I start?
I think I finished with Halloween ... but what I forgot to mention about Halloween were our trick or treaters! We didn't really prepare for Halloween cos we weren't planning on being here. However, as were about to walk out the door, I opened it to a massive group of 7 or 8 trick or treaters. WTF were we gonna do?! Luckily, I little lunch snack things that are like kit kats. We handed those out, but we were already in our costumes and these trick or treaters were with their dads. Their dads were WAY too interested in us being Canadian and asked if they could come back for beers later that night? The morals of this country astound me.
I worked a lot last week, which was great. I worked 4 out of 5 days which isn't AMAZING but honestly, makes for a nice week. It gave me a week day to get my banking done and pay my bills which I desperately needed to do. None of the schools reallllly stand out in my mind - I think they were all pretty good. I actually forget most of them already. HAHA. On Friday, I taught in a school in Camden. Camden is my FAVOURITE neighbourhood in London. I just absolutely love it. I love our little house and I think my roomates are rad, but I think when they move back home for the summer next year, I'm going to go and look for a place in Camden. It just doesn't feel like we live IN the city by living so far out of central London. Our neighbourhood is GORGEOUS, as is our house, but the commute is really getting to me. Between walking for 15-30 minutes, taking a bus, and riding the tube for at LEAST an hour every day, my commute typically takes me 2 hours each way. I'm losing 1/6 of my day by travelling. I worked my butt off in that school on Friday and did my best to impress because it would be great to get a job in Camden!!
My birthday was on Thursday, which is Guy Fawkes' Day here in London, also known as Bonfire Night. I've been waiting to have my birthday in London for about 3 years, ever since I first heard of Bonfire Night. Those who know me well, know that I like to celebrate my b-day in style. I love b-days! This year, not so much. The day started off really cute ... I came down for breakfast in the morning to discover that my flatmates had snuck downstairs at 5h30 am to decorate our house for my birthday! That was so nice and SUCH a good start to the day - thanks so much girls - I loved that!! I got called into work, and off I went. I was going to come home and change and then go out for dinner but, with the commute, it just didn't make sense. So, I headed straight down to Clapham Common, which is where they were having a massive free fireworks display. I got to Clapham and waited to hear back from people about coming for supper. As it turned out, no one could come for supper. I said I was going to make my blog honest, and not to glam it out. Well, lemme tell you, there's nothing glam about eating chinese take away by yourself on a bus stop bench. It was definately a lonely feeling but it gave me the push I need to get cracking and go and make some friends!! I had a chat with most of my family that night and I had cards from my family and my auntie's family to open which was really nice. The fireworks themselves were AMAZING. I was so impressed. It was great. Almost got a bit teary watching them as I'd waited for that moment for SO long and it was one of those "OMG! I'm actually here!" moments. So great.
Friday night was spent housecleaning like a mad woman. I scrubbed and scrubbed. We still don't have a vaccuum ... our landlord says it's coming but it's been a month and our carpet is scary. Everything gets dusty so fast so yes, I scrubbed away. Saturday, Niki came into London and she was so lovely, she took me for a proper grocery shop in her car. I stocked up on EVERYTHING. It cost me nearly 100 pounds, but I don't need to get groceries for AGES now. So happy. Thank you, Niki! After that, we finally got our internet/cable/landline phone set up. We don't have an actual PHONE yet tho, so we'll keep you posted on that number!!!
Saturday night was our housewarming party as well as my flatmate Crystal and mine's birthday parties. Gongshow. I think we started partaking in beverages much too early. The theme was 'ugly mug' party so everyone had to find a hideous/ridiculous/funny cup and bring it as their drinking cup. We got some amazing finds for sure!!! Nice work people! We had a really good turnout, met some new people, and saw some hilarious drinking cups. We had a really great time and I was so happy that my friends Niki and Andy came into London from outta town just to come to our party - that was great!!
Sunday was spent recovering from Saturday night - I was not a happy camper and spent most of my time curled up in bed with my laptop. Haha.
Well, it's Monday now and I'm waiting for the phone to ring to get called into work. Crystal and I feel mutually that today would be an okay day to not get called in, but ... Murphy's Law. Haha So we'll see.
I hope everyone is doing well. Missing you all back home like mad!
xo Megs
Sunday, November 1, 2009
C'est l'Halloween, C'est l'Halloween ... HEY!
Howdy-ho everyone!
Hope you had a spook tacular Halloween! Here's my story ... I don't usually enjoy Halloween. I was SUPPOSED to be born on Halloween, but being typical me, I came a few days later. Five to be exact. So, my birthday parties are ALWAYS the weekend AFTER Halloween. Unfortunately, the majority of people are still recovering physically and financially from Halloween so no one ever wants to come and hang with me on my b-day. This year, I couldn't really care about my birthday - Crystal and I are having a joint party and making it our housewarming party as well next weekend so I already know I'm gonna have a good time. This year, we put together some crazy outfits and lived it up, London style to celebrate our last taste of the half term break. Wow. It was AMAZING! Such a good night!
We bought Canadian flags and made various costumes from them. I turned mine into a dress with some leggings. I fashioned a belt out of some random fur that Crystal cut off a Santa skirt for her costume, and Crystal made me a 'Miss Canada' sash out of a pillow case (Sorry, Sandra! Haha) We pouffed up our hair, put on red eye shadow and entirely too much liquid black eyeliner, some red jewlerry and my 'Miss Canada' costume was complete. Crystal dressed up as the well-known super hero 'Captain Canada' and Marlee dressed as her sidekick, 'Maple Leaf.' WE WERE A HIT! Walking to the subway, cars were honking and people were cheering and waving - it was great. The thing is, England isn't nearly as crazy about Halloween as we are. It's not really a big deal. So, we looked pretty bizarre in our little neighbourhood. So, I convinced the kids we needed to go to ... CAMDEN! (My favourite part of London)
We first went down to Goodge Street to gather up some other Canadians we had met the night before at a 'Canadian Get Together' at the Canadian Pub (I had a poutine and a pint of Coors - delicious!) We saw their flats that were like cute little dorm rooms and then we wandered down to the Tube. Coming out of the tube stop in Camden, we knew we were in the right place. There were people in ridiculous costumes EVERYWHERE!
We went to the pub 'The World's End' and eventually wandered down into its basement club, the Underworld. I've gone to the Underworld before with Niki and Andy, so I knew it would be fun. The not fun part was waiting in line for a drink for about 20 minutes. Total fun-sucker. But the DJ was great, so we danced and chatted up new friends. I met about 20 NBF's which is always a good time. Haha.
Hmmm what else to tell. I wound up not doing ANY travels this week ... I actually got a bad cold and my sinuses were MESSED. I felt like crap and still am not 100%. I did, however, go to the Phoenix show with Steve on Wednesday and it was AMAZING. Totally blew my mind. I was so impressed! Best lighting I've ever seen for a concert of that level. Just incredible. On Thursday, I went and did an adventure on my lonesome and went to see the musical Chicago. It was so good and I really enjoyed it. I hate doing things alone but I put on my big girl pants and it wasn't as bad as I anticipated. Haha.
We were supposed to get our internet set up in our house on Friday but the dude called in sick so we still have no internet. Every person who has sat beside me in this internet cafe has felt the need to befriend me which is really irritating when you're trying to post a freakin' blog. Haha. I'm becoming a total Londoner ... don't talk to strangers. Just be a bag and keep to yourself. Haha. You learn this rule quickly in this city. I would always try to talk to randoms on the trains, etc. but they just ignore you if they can in any way. The last guy who sat beside me just told me that he tried out for Britain's Got Talent today ... he finds out in February if he made it. So, if you hear any news about 'Dwayne Duncan' ... that's my new internet café friend. He's the one I didn't MIND talking to cos his story was actually interesting! The old creepy dude who asked if I'd teach him about computers at his house ... not so much.
I booked my flight home for Christmas the other night. I'm pretty excited by that. I can't believe how calm I am about flying now. I'd normally be having panick attacks about this. I'm going to take an emtpy suitcase home and bring it back full of Kraft Dinner, Cheeze Whiz, Salsa, Clinique skincare, and licorice. Haha. I'll be home for two weeks and will make it back just in time to head to Paris for New Year's Eve. Yeh! Can't wait to see the family.
Anyways, I think I'll head out for now. Back to the daily grind tomorrow! Hope everyone is doing well. See some of you at Christmas!
xo Megs
Hope you had a spook tacular Halloween! Here's my story ... I don't usually enjoy Halloween. I was SUPPOSED to be born on Halloween, but being typical me, I came a few days later. Five to be exact. So, my birthday parties are ALWAYS the weekend AFTER Halloween. Unfortunately, the majority of people are still recovering physically and financially from Halloween so no one ever wants to come and hang with me on my b-day. This year, I couldn't really care about my birthday - Crystal and I are having a joint party and making it our housewarming party as well next weekend so I already know I'm gonna have a good time. This year, we put together some crazy outfits and lived it up, London style to celebrate our last taste of the half term break. Wow. It was AMAZING! Such a good night!
We bought Canadian flags and made various costumes from them. I turned mine into a dress with some leggings. I fashioned a belt out of some random fur that Crystal cut off a Santa skirt for her costume, and Crystal made me a 'Miss Canada' sash out of a pillow case (Sorry, Sandra! Haha) We pouffed up our hair, put on red eye shadow and entirely too much liquid black eyeliner, some red jewlerry and my 'Miss Canada' costume was complete. Crystal dressed up as the well-known super hero 'Captain Canada' and Marlee dressed as her sidekick, 'Maple Leaf.' WE WERE A HIT! Walking to the subway, cars were honking and people were cheering and waving - it was great. The thing is, England isn't nearly as crazy about Halloween as we are. It's not really a big deal. So, we looked pretty bizarre in our little neighbourhood. So, I convinced the kids we needed to go to ... CAMDEN! (My favourite part of London)
We first went down to Goodge Street to gather up some other Canadians we had met the night before at a 'Canadian Get Together' at the Canadian Pub (I had a poutine and a pint of Coors - delicious!) We saw their flats that were like cute little dorm rooms and then we wandered down to the Tube. Coming out of the tube stop in Camden, we knew we were in the right place. There were people in ridiculous costumes EVERYWHERE!
We went to the pub 'The World's End' and eventually wandered down into its basement club, the Underworld. I've gone to the Underworld before with Niki and Andy, so I knew it would be fun. The not fun part was waiting in line for a drink for about 20 minutes. Total fun-sucker. But the DJ was great, so we danced and chatted up new friends. I met about 20 NBF's which is always a good time. Haha.
Hmmm what else to tell. I wound up not doing ANY travels this week ... I actually got a bad cold and my sinuses were MESSED. I felt like crap and still am not 100%. I did, however, go to the Phoenix show with Steve on Wednesday and it was AMAZING. Totally blew my mind. I was so impressed! Best lighting I've ever seen for a concert of that level. Just incredible. On Thursday, I went and did an adventure on my lonesome and went to see the musical Chicago. It was so good and I really enjoyed it. I hate doing things alone but I put on my big girl pants and it wasn't as bad as I anticipated. Haha.
We were supposed to get our internet set up in our house on Friday but the dude called in sick so we still have no internet. Every person who has sat beside me in this internet cafe has felt the need to befriend me which is really irritating when you're trying to post a freakin' blog. Haha. I'm becoming a total Londoner ... don't talk to strangers. Just be a bag and keep to yourself. Haha. You learn this rule quickly in this city. I would always try to talk to randoms on the trains, etc. but they just ignore you if they can in any way. The last guy who sat beside me just told me that he tried out for Britain's Got Talent today ... he finds out in February if he made it. So, if you hear any news about 'Dwayne Duncan' ... that's my new internet café friend. He's the one I didn't MIND talking to cos his story was actually interesting! The old creepy dude who asked if I'd teach him about computers at his house ... not so much.
I booked my flight home for Christmas the other night. I'm pretty excited by that. I can't believe how calm I am about flying now. I'd normally be having panick attacks about this. I'm going to take an emtpy suitcase home and bring it back full of Kraft Dinner, Cheeze Whiz, Salsa, Clinique skincare, and licorice. Haha. I'll be home for two weeks and will make it back just in time to head to Paris for New Year's Eve. Yeh! Can't wait to see the family.
Anyways, I think I'll head out for now. Back to the daily grind tomorrow! Hope everyone is doing well. See some of you at Christmas!
xo Megs
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