Last blog of the day ... just a bit about my life in general!
Life is good! I'm so happy here! My crankiness has toned down and I'm just trying to live each day to the fullest! My friend Niki has been a massive help in getting my life sorted here. She suggested I join some clubs or societies to make new friends. It's hard meeting people because I'm gone for work all the time. The only place we meet people is usually the bar, they're usually boys, and they usually don't just want to be our friends. Haha. I signed up for an online community and said that I was looking for FRIENDS because I was new to the city. This hasn't fared too well as I just typically get a bunch of creepers hitting on me and asking me for drinks and various other things. I have, however, made a few new friends here and there so it's good. At least I've usually got somewhere to go and people to hang out with! Awesome!
We go out a lot on the weekends. I'm sure my mum will be thrilled by this news, but seriously. C'mon! I'm a single girl living in London. I go to museums and musicals some weeknights so when the weekend rolls around, we head into town and check out the nightlife. I'm nearing 30 and seriously, when am I gonna have the chance to party in London ever again? I won't. So I'm taking advantage and having fun. I love this city - every night out is a fun one. I've stopped taking the night bus home for the most part, as I had a sketchy experience one night. If I do take it, I take it to the main shopping centre near my house and get a taxi from there. Much safer. Typically, us girls have learned to travel together and stick together so there are a lot of weekend sleep overs.
Things are pretty good with the living situation as well. My roomies are cool chicks and we get along really well. (Check out Crystals' blog for more regular blogs and general witty-ness) I love our house and our neighbourhood - they're really nice. The only problem is the distance. It takes me 1.5 hours at least to get to work, but it sometimes takes 2 hours as I have to take the overground train and they're fairly unreliable ... blah. Now that I've accepted the job, this means that I might have to move somewhere closer for work. I wanted to move closer into the city but I thought I'd do this after Crystal and Marlee headed back to Canada in June. Not sure if I can handle these 5 am wake ups every day. I get home at night, eat supper, pack my lunch, and I'm so tired I head to bed. We'll see what happens tho.
Anways, we're out of "loo roll" so I gotta run to the shop. Hope everyone is doing good. Miss you all lots but I'll be home for Christmas in a week and a half (Holy crap! Time flies!) So I'll hopefully see you then!
xo Megs
Sunday, December 6, 2009
PARIS, Je T'aime <3
So, I was fortunate enough to jet off to Paris last weekend and it was fantastic! I took my suitcase to work at the Academy with me last Friday and I headed straight from school to King's Cross Station. It was an absolute gongshow. It took me aeons just to get thru the train station. By the time I'd gotten thru, made a phone call, and ordered a crepe, it was time to get in line! I went thru customs, on to the train, and faced 3 of the most unhappy looking people I've ever seen. C'mon people, we're going to PARIS! Like cheer up! The Eurostar trip was pretty uneventful. Everyone gets so excited about taking the train thru the chunnel. I think it's pretty boring. You're on a train, in a concrete tube, under the English Channel, and your ears won't stop popping. But, it's better than the flying tin can, so ... meh.
I arrived in Paris at about 9h45pm and there was Miss Becky, waiting in front of EVERYONE for me at the Gare du Nord train station. It was so exciting to be in Paris and to see her, and to have someone waiting at the train station - felt very special! Within seconds of walking down the platform, I saw people making out like there was no tomorrow around the station. Welcome to Paris. We went over to Becky's flat which is really close and dropped off my bags and got ourselves ready. I met Becky's flatmate, Claire, who is probably one of the nicest people I have ever met. She's (I think) 25 and a doctor and just ridiculously cool. She and Becky are a good match. We headed over to Pigale and grabbed some drinks with some London girls who were in town for Becky's friends' birthday. I made new friends! Exciting! We had a pretty low key night drinking beers (not classy in Paris) and chatting. It was fun!
I'd forgotten about the intense male attention received in Paris. I really had. Throughout the night, there were a few suggestive comments and winks from the waiter with the really long ponytail (yuck) and a few guys outside, but nothing major. The next morning, we wake up with wine headaches and head to the grocery store. I'm wearing the grubbiest outfit possible, no makeup, and a hat over last night's hair. Within 5 minutes of entering the grocery store, I'm accosted by a male demanding to know my name and if I'd like to go out some time. I pretend not to know French which doesn't deter him at all. I finally break away from him and continue shopping. We get to the beer and wine section, where two men are talking. They both give me the most blatant full-on up and down I've ever gotten and start telling me how gorgeous they think I am, etc etc. I was too out of it to even think of anything witty to throw their way so I just continued on. When we left, the first guy was standing forlornley (sp?) outside and gave a sad little wave my way. C'est la vie. I could get used to this!
That night was Becky and Claire's housewarming party. Wow can these girls throw a party. They had about 30 people crammed into their Parisian studio and we had a blast. There was a lot of alcohol being consumed and a lot of dancing going on. At one point I went outside with Becky and her friend Fahdi and got molested by two strangers in the street. The one kept trying to kiss me and put his hands on me so Fahdi had to get rid of him ... scary! He insisted on giving me his hat and told me he loved me before continuing on his way. I still have his hat. It still has the tag on it. Stolen presents. My favourite.
The next morning we could barely get up. We'd danced the night away, and part of the morning as well, but I had things to see and do! I jumped on Becky to wake her up, but this was a difficult task. Becky is a DEEEEEEP sleeper! We finally got ready and headed out ... we went to Montmartre and saw Sacre Coeur which was incredible ... until the sky opened up and DUMPED on us. Instead of taking the lift, we walked up the 80 billlion stairs only to find everything gated and locked up and we couldn't get around. So, being Becky and Meaghan, we CLIMB A FENCE with big spikes and spires on it in the pouring rain. At one point, I was straddling a 20 inch long steel spike. Things could have ended very very badly, but I only got a little knick in my jeans. Fun times. We took some pics, got too wet, and sought shelter in a gift shop. I got a really cute purple Paris umbrella and off we went. We hit a LOT in a day! Thanks to Becky for her excellent tour guide skills! We went to the Champs Elysees and saw the Arc de Triomphe (my favourite) and some boys breakdancing in the street. We also saw the Moulin Rouge and Pigale (the red light district of Paris) Finally we headed to the Eiffel Tower where I had a few tears in my eyes ... I've seen it dozens of times but it has been 3 years since I saw it and it reminded me of all my great times in France ... I love that country! Was so so happy. After all that, we had to head back to Becky's, grab my bags and jet off to the Gare du Nord for my train ride home. I wasn't able to buy a regular class ticket for the trip home so I had gotten a ticket for one class higher. Wow. For a few extra pounds, this was the life! Big spacious seats, lots of room, free booze and a yummy supper. A girl could get used to that! I also sat next to a tailor who had gone to Paris that morning for a special fitting with a client ... I'm guessing Jeremy the tailor caters to celebs but he kept mum on his clients. Atta boy.
Pulled into town at about 9h45 and went home to bed! A whirlwind trip but it was fantastic! I loved every minute of it! I'll be back, Paris!
xo Megs
I arrived in Paris at about 9h45pm and there was Miss Becky, waiting in front of EVERYONE for me at the Gare du Nord train station. It was so exciting to be in Paris and to see her, and to have someone waiting at the train station - felt very special! Within seconds of walking down the platform, I saw people making out like there was no tomorrow around the station. Welcome to Paris. We went over to Becky's flat which is really close and dropped off my bags and got ourselves ready. I met Becky's flatmate, Claire, who is probably one of the nicest people I have ever met. She's (I think) 25 and a doctor and just ridiculously cool. She and Becky are a good match. We headed over to Pigale and grabbed some drinks with some London girls who were in town for Becky's friends' birthday. I made new friends! Exciting! We had a pretty low key night drinking beers (not classy in Paris) and chatting. It was fun!
I'd forgotten about the intense male attention received in Paris. I really had. Throughout the night, there were a few suggestive comments and winks from the waiter with the really long ponytail (yuck) and a few guys outside, but nothing major. The next morning, we wake up with wine headaches and head to the grocery store. I'm wearing the grubbiest outfit possible, no makeup, and a hat over last night's hair. Within 5 minutes of entering the grocery store, I'm accosted by a male demanding to know my name and if I'd like to go out some time. I pretend not to know French which doesn't deter him at all. I finally break away from him and continue shopping. We get to the beer and wine section, where two men are talking. They both give me the most blatant full-on up and down I've ever gotten and start telling me how gorgeous they think I am, etc etc. I was too out of it to even think of anything witty to throw their way so I just continued on. When we left, the first guy was standing forlornley (sp?) outside and gave a sad little wave my way. C'est la vie. I could get used to this!
That night was Becky and Claire's housewarming party. Wow can these girls throw a party. They had about 30 people crammed into their Parisian studio and we had a blast. There was a lot of alcohol being consumed and a lot of dancing going on. At one point I went outside with Becky and her friend Fahdi and got molested by two strangers in the street. The one kept trying to kiss me and put his hands on me so Fahdi had to get rid of him ... scary! He insisted on giving me his hat and told me he loved me before continuing on his way. I still have his hat. It still has the tag on it. Stolen presents. My favourite.
The next morning we could barely get up. We'd danced the night away, and part of the morning as well, but I had things to see and do! I jumped on Becky to wake her up, but this was a difficult task. Becky is a DEEEEEEP sleeper! We finally got ready and headed out ... we went to Montmartre and saw Sacre Coeur which was incredible ... until the sky opened up and DUMPED on us. Instead of taking the lift, we walked up the 80 billlion stairs only to find everything gated and locked up and we couldn't get around. So, being Becky and Meaghan, we CLIMB A FENCE with big spikes and spires on it in the pouring rain. At one point, I was straddling a 20 inch long steel spike. Things could have ended very very badly, but I only got a little knick in my jeans. Fun times. We took some pics, got too wet, and sought shelter in a gift shop. I got a really cute purple Paris umbrella and off we went. We hit a LOT in a day! Thanks to Becky for her excellent tour guide skills! We went to the Champs Elysees and saw the Arc de Triomphe (my favourite) and some boys breakdancing in the street. We also saw the Moulin Rouge and Pigale (the red light district of Paris) Finally we headed to the Eiffel Tower where I had a few tears in my eyes ... I've seen it dozens of times but it has been 3 years since I saw it and it reminded me of all my great times in France ... I love that country! Was so so happy. After all that, we had to head back to Becky's, grab my bags and jet off to the Gare du Nord for my train ride home. I wasn't able to buy a regular class ticket for the trip home so I had gotten a ticket for one class higher. Wow. For a few extra pounds, this was the life! Big spacious seats, lots of room, free booze and a yummy supper. A girl could get used to that! I also sat next to a tailor who had gone to Paris that morning for a special fitting with a client ... I'm guessing Jeremy the tailor caters to celebs but he kept mum on his clients. Atta boy.
Pulled into town at about 9h45 and went home to bed! A whirlwind trip but it was fantastic! I loved every minute of it! I'll be back, Paris!
xo Megs
Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Work I Go!
Heya!
Can't believe I haven't written a blog in nearly a month! Sorry! Life has been NUTS! I decided to split my blogs up and write one for each part of my life so you can read about what you want to read, or you can ignore a blog that you're not interested in. So ... WORK!
I have been working like crazy. It's fantastic. I'm tired but I just love it. I got offered a job in a class last week and I had a tough decision to make. I was offered a job at an Academy near where I want to eventually move in London ... The commute from our current home is about 2 hours. Yuuuuck. So, I get up at 5, out the door by 5h45 or 6 , get to school at 7h45. Staff meeting at 8, kids come in at 8h30, classes go until 4. You do your correcting and planning for the next day, leave, and get home around 7. I'm gone from my house, for work, for 13 hours a day. Wasn't that fun, I promise.
The school itself was incredible. It's a new building that's won awards for the architecture. It's just mind-blowing. It has recording studios in the basements, big open common areas, tons of windows, big spacious classrooms, balconies, skylights, the whole 9 yards. Just incredible.
Academies are tricky because they typically host some extremely troubled kids. My 1st tip on teaching in London was to look around outside the school to figure out what kind of school it was. If it's surrounded by tons of low income housing units (massive massive apartment buildings that look really dodgy) the school probably hosts most of the kids from those apartments. This academy is literally SURROUNDED by them. The other thing about it was that it's a secondary school, not a primary school. I always swore I'd never teach high school, and here I was, stuck in the middle of teenage ignorance.
The kids were incredibly difficult. Just walking in the halls, I was forced back to high school. Once again I was getting teased and laughed at in the hallway, kids were making rude comments behind my back, etc etc ... and this time, I was a TEACHER! It wasn't really fun. My first day, some kid was just like beaking me off cos I asked him to stop hitting another student. He told me to F off and mind my own business. As a teacher, I thought this WAS my business?!
The class that I would have had was a group of 8-10 (depending on how many decided to come to school and weren't suspended) 11-12 year olds with the academic ability of 5-6 year olds. They were 12 years old and in math, I taught them shapes. Wow. They were all borderline autistic which meant they weren't able to be diagnosed aka medicated and placed in a school specific to their needs. They all had severe ADHD, as did 90% of the school population (literally - not kidding) I worked with them for a week and a half and was offered the job. In that week and a half, I had totally fallen in love with these kids. I felt like this could be one of those jobs that was really rewarding, and where I could make a difference. After a week and a half tho, I hadn't really impacted any of them. They still couldn't trust me, they didn't listen to me, they were constantly running away, out of the classroom, and finally, on Thursday, one of them started punching and clawing me and it kind of reminded me of where I was and what I was doing and that this wouldn't work. This was the type of position that would lead me to hate my career and I'm far too early into my career to hate it. I didn't come around the world to not love my job. So, I turned them down. It was the hardest decision for me. I feel guilty all the time because I know I could have at least been a constant in their lives but ... it just didn't work out.
In the meantime, however, I had been teaching at a school near Camden, which IS the neighbourhood I plan on moving to. The school is an old building with 800 flights of stairs and no lift. All the classrooms that I teach in are on the top floor so I get my excercise! Haha. The staff is young and fun and we get to wear JEANS to school! AMAZING! I worked 3 days at this school and they booked me for the rest of my time here before Christmas. I heard they had 2 jobs opening up and they said they'd love to keep me on ... so I have a job! Yay! Now I have to decide between a full time nursery (preschool) position or a 4 day a week subbing position, covering the staff's PPA time etc. I'd be the regular sub for the school, essentially. Some weeks I would get 5 days but every week is guaranteed 4. On the 5th day, if my school doesn't book me, I could call my agency and get placed somewhere, or, I could take a long weekend and jet off somewhere. It's all really exciting! I think I'll take the sub job. Seems more my thing.
So that's it for work right now ... I'm pretty happy with where I'm at! Let me know if you have any questions or comments!
xo Megs
Can't believe I haven't written a blog in nearly a month! Sorry! Life has been NUTS! I decided to split my blogs up and write one for each part of my life so you can read about what you want to read, or you can ignore a blog that you're not interested in. So ... WORK!
I have been working like crazy. It's fantastic. I'm tired but I just love it. I got offered a job in a class last week and I had a tough decision to make. I was offered a job at an Academy near where I want to eventually move in London ... The commute from our current home is about 2 hours. Yuuuuck. So, I get up at 5, out the door by 5h45 or 6 , get to school at 7h45. Staff meeting at 8, kids come in at 8h30, classes go until 4. You do your correcting and planning for the next day, leave, and get home around 7. I'm gone from my house, for work, for 13 hours a day. Wasn't that fun, I promise.
The school itself was incredible. It's a new building that's won awards for the architecture. It's just mind-blowing. It has recording studios in the basements, big open common areas, tons of windows, big spacious classrooms, balconies, skylights, the whole 9 yards. Just incredible.
Academies are tricky because they typically host some extremely troubled kids. My 1st tip on teaching in London was to look around outside the school to figure out what kind of school it was. If it's surrounded by tons of low income housing units (massive massive apartment buildings that look really dodgy) the school probably hosts most of the kids from those apartments. This academy is literally SURROUNDED by them. The other thing about it was that it's a secondary school, not a primary school. I always swore I'd never teach high school, and here I was, stuck in the middle of teenage ignorance.
The kids were incredibly difficult. Just walking in the halls, I was forced back to high school. Once again I was getting teased and laughed at in the hallway, kids were making rude comments behind my back, etc etc ... and this time, I was a TEACHER! It wasn't really fun. My first day, some kid was just like beaking me off cos I asked him to stop hitting another student. He told me to F off and mind my own business. As a teacher, I thought this WAS my business?!
The class that I would have had was a group of 8-10 (depending on how many decided to come to school and weren't suspended) 11-12 year olds with the academic ability of 5-6 year olds. They were 12 years old and in math, I taught them shapes. Wow. They were all borderline autistic which meant they weren't able to be diagnosed aka medicated and placed in a school specific to their needs. They all had severe ADHD, as did 90% of the school population (literally - not kidding) I worked with them for a week and a half and was offered the job. In that week and a half, I had totally fallen in love with these kids. I felt like this could be one of those jobs that was really rewarding, and where I could make a difference. After a week and a half tho, I hadn't really impacted any of them. They still couldn't trust me, they didn't listen to me, they were constantly running away, out of the classroom, and finally, on Thursday, one of them started punching and clawing me and it kind of reminded me of where I was and what I was doing and that this wouldn't work. This was the type of position that would lead me to hate my career and I'm far too early into my career to hate it. I didn't come around the world to not love my job. So, I turned them down. It was the hardest decision for me. I feel guilty all the time because I know I could have at least been a constant in their lives but ... it just didn't work out.
In the meantime, however, I had been teaching at a school near Camden, which IS the neighbourhood I plan on moving to. The school is an old building with 800 flights of stairs and no lift. All the classrooms that I teach in are on the top floor so I get my excercise! Haha. The staff is young and fun and we get to wear JEANS to school! AMAZING! I worked 3 days at this school and they booked me for the rest of my time here before Christmas. I heard they had 2 jobs opening up and they said they'd love to keep me on ... so I have a job! Yay! Now I have to decide between a full time nursery (preschool) position or a 4 day a week subbing position, covering the staff's PPA time etc. I'd be the regular sub for the school, essentially. Some weeks I would get 5 days but every week is guaranteed 4. On the 5th day, if my school doesn't book me, I could call my agency and get placed somewhere, or, I could take a long weekend and jet off somewhere. It's all really exciting! I think I'll take the sub job. Seems more my thing.
So that's it for work right now ... I'm pretty happy with where I'm at! Let me know if you have any questions or comments!
xo Megs
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