Picadilly line to COCKFOSTERS

Hello!

Usually, I keep a little sticky-note of things I want to blog about, but this week I didn't do that so we will see what I can remember. I will say that this blog will contain a fair amount of photographs. I have been remembering to bring my camera with me everywhere!
Please let me point out that I live on the PICADILLY Line (Manor House Stop) on the way to COCKFOSTERS. Enlarge the photo. You'll see what I mean. Yes, it gets me every time. Giggle, Giggle.

This is what the Picadilly train looks like at night. No straphangers were killed in the taking of this photograph (that I know of).

Okay, so it's been freezing cold, and I have had WAY too much hot chocolate. (Not, suities, that this is a bad thing ;) ) The problem with "freezing cold" here, is that it only ever rains/freezing rains, but never actually snows. SO, we get all the crappy parts of winter without any of the beauty!

Alright, so, you all have seen pictures of my room and my housemates, but you haven't really seen my neighborhood yet. I'll admit, it's super cute, but I can see myself eventually moving elsewhere because there just isn't that much going on in the way of a social life.
This is the High Street (Main Street) off which I live. It is called Green Lanes. It is predominantly Turkish establishments.

This is THE reason to live in my neighborhood: The famous Yasar Halim Bakery. They have THE best breads, desserts, and boreks on Earth. I may grow obese living here.

This is the street corner off which I live. My street is JUST to the left of this vegetable/fruit store.

This is my street! We have pretty red row-houses with front yards AND back gardens!

This is my house. 10 Salisbury Road. (Why does no one love me enough to send me things??)

Now onto work things...I got my contract for guaranteed supply last week!!! (Congratulations via commenting on the blog may ensue now...) Basically, this means that I am guaranteed work every day (that isn't a holiday) from now on. I still have to call up in the mornings, if I haven't gotten anything before-hand, but, it takes a lot of financial pressure off because what it means is that if they DON'T find work for me, they still have to pay me. Eamonn has also convinced me that it is due time I ask for a raise so I am psyching myself up to do that this week. (He gets paid 12 pounds a day more than me, and has been working only a couple weeks longer than I. He works for a different agency, but apparently, the going rate is the same...Now all I have to do is get the guts to do it. I hate talking about money!) Speaking of Eamonn it's due time for a photo and a caption:
Please note, this is intentionally a ridiculous photograph. This is Eamonn wearing the amazing Christmas cape he received from a mate for Christmas. He cuts his hair every 5-6 months. Clearly, he is due. He is a teacher and a friend and we've known each other for more than 5 months now. (Has it been that long already?) I like to introduce him as "the smartest Irish person I know." Which, by the way, is the complete and total truth. Eamonn and I are not dating. We are also not not-dating. When asked, which does happen, I say, "We are not dating," and he stands there like an awkward boy (who is not a boy because he is nearly 30). If you ever meet him, you can tell him about all of the horrible (and not so horrible) things you've read about him in this blog because the nature of our relationship is such that he knows his picture's been painted less-than-ideally here--he's just not allowed to read it. When we stop not not-dating it apparently won't matter because we were not-dating to begin with. And you can blog-quote me on that. ;)

This is Eamonn and Badger. They had an all-lads party last weekend. Apparently it's a 7 year tradition. Badger, incidentally, writes for the sports section of The Guardian. (His real name is Robin so you can look him up if you read it.) He may overtake Eamonn for "smarted Irish person I know" at some point soon.Speaking of shattered, this is what their house looked like after the weekend. (Girls just don't let the ridiculousness get to this level!) I spend a fair amount of time there, and on this particular day, I hid in the cleanest part of the house and read the Sunday paper, so as to avoid looking at/smelling the mess.

So, this week was crazy and fun, and I found myself comfortable and at home for the first time. I worked every single day, and hung out every single night. It is nice, socially, to finally know enough people, and feel comfortable enough with them, to go out and do stuff and not feel the pressure of having to "impress." I feel like when you first meet people it takes so much ENERGY, and now I just feel more relaxed, so hanging out is much more enjoyable and a lot less work!

On Tuesday I went Salsa dancing with Sadbh (Irish and pronounce Sive) and Jaz. It was a great lesson at a great club, and the people there were pretty friendly as well. There was even a live band to dance to afterwards! The class was kind of hard, but I felt like I learned more in one day than I have in a very long time. I've seen London salsa dancers at work in other places, and now I can understand why they are so good! On Wednesday Jaz and I went to see this really great musical in the West End. (I have definitely been seeing my fair amount of theatre these days. I guess I don't want to pass up the opportunities that I know I missed out on in NYC. To be surrounded by great theatre is a very rare, and wonderful thing!) We saw "Imagine This" which got very poor reviews. It was a musical about Jewish Ghettos in Poland during World War II. The musical was GREAT, I think the problem is that no one wants to go see a musical and then be horribly depressed afterwards! On Thursday Eamonn made dinner. He's been talking up his "super secret best ever pasta sauce" so it was due time I tried it out. Pretty good...but not as good as the Uccellos on Christmas Eve. On Friday I went out with Jill, Sadbh's housemate, and COMPLETELY coincidentally Eamonn's best friend's little sister. I am telling you...the Irish community here is crazy. We had an awesome night out on Liverpool Street (and I had the BEST cheap veggie burger of my entire life!) but unfortunately, one of the guys we were with got his laptop bag stolen. It is such a shame that in London's "fairly low crime-rate" there is such a HIGH concentration of thievery. It's SO common here to get things nicked when you are out having a good night, and it really puts a damper on things.

I woke up at an un-godly early hour on Saturday to play a hockey game in the freeeezing cold freeeezing rain. The game was miserable, we got our as**es kicked, and I think I pulled a muscle in my right lower a**. Seriously, watching me walk is a rather large source of entertainment today. Soren and I were supposed to go to the famous Camden Market to Christmas shop, but, I felt so crappy, I cancelled. I NEED to Christmas shop though!

However, it was our hockey club Christmas-Do last night, so after our EARLY game, everyone went home and napped and then we went to the club for the party. I should explain the West Hampstead Hockey Club to you now, I supposed. There are 6 girls teams and 7 guys teams (which is around 150-200 people). And, being sports enthusiasts (and predominantly English, Scottish, and Australian), they know how to throw a party. I'm excited to have such a large group of people to be able to meet, who all have the love of hockey in common. The girls in my division are all really kind, fun to hang out with, and have completely taken me under their wing.
This is the hockey club.

Most of you know how I feel about Karaoke. Well, you can see me standing in the back of my team, being embarrassed. Each team had to do a karaoke song at the Christmas-Do. We are pictured here singing "Uptown Girl."This is myself and one of the girls on my team, Helen. If you look closely you can see that I am covered in tinsel.

In other words, this week was all about being too social and not getting enough sleep. The pattern is just going to continue because tonight I'm going to see Jamie Lidell in South London. YES!

Finally, I am coming home from December 23rd-December 30th. If you are going to be around, let me know. I am going to be in London from December 31st-January 2nd, Dublin from the 2nd-4th, then Berlin (with Marisa!) from January 4th-January 9th, and then Finally back to London to re-start "real life."

Love you! (Comment!)

Sarah

PS: Happy Birthday Simone!

Washing Machine From Hades or This Week's Social Life

Helloooo Fans :)

Right now I am waiting for my *only* set of sheets to finish washing. Currently, they have been in the washing machine for 2 hours. I HATE European washing machines. Stupid front loaders. They LOCK so that you can't open them and spill water all over thing (nor can you get your clothes out when they have been in for a million years and the washing machine gods are playing some kind of evil trick on you)! PS: We don't have a dryer. No one does. And it is right annoying. Seriously, clothes don't dry in freezing cold countries where there is no sun, and yet, no dryers anywhere. Who came UP with this energy-saving idea??

News update: My sheets have finally finished washing. And guess what, my white duvet is now blue.

ANYWAY, back to blogging. It's been a good week. Great in fact. I have taken loads of cheesy London photos for you all to feast your eyes on: ICONIC London.

LOOK. It's Picadilly Circus. Yes, folks, this is Time Square's daddy. Bright and Scary.

A reminder on the street to all the idiot tourists. Don't look in the wrong directions like a stupid American and get yourself killed.

There are no pictures of the beautiful Soren because I promised him I wouldn't post the only photo of him I have...which is quite un-photogenic, to be honest, and doesn't do him any justice. We are going to have a blog photo shoot next time we hang out though, so no worries :) (And Eamonn thinks we should have a "who is hotter contest." I told him I'd have to collect a few more hot male friends, and then I would make it happen. ha.)

I don't think I can work this blog in any sort of chronological order today because my brain is feeling un-chronological. Let me start with the teaching/work stuff. I think I am in the middle of a great anthropological experiment: New York City's Eff-ed up educational system versus London's Eff-ed up educational system. I will tell you that this week's experience was a most pleasant one. I spent the whole week at one very well run school in Vauxhall. Basically, the students come from very similar backgrounds to our New York City students (poor, projects/council housing, broken families, etc.) BUT, this school that I was at this past week did a very good job at keeping all of those problems outside of the school. Inside the school was a very serious work environment, and for the most part, the students worked. They were kids, so, of course they didn't REALLY respect the substitute teacher (me) but, they got their work done for the most part. And, after seeing me for a few days, they started getting used to me, and I to them. I was actually quite sad to leave. I sent the head-teacher my CV and an email saying that if they ever needed an English teacher (though I'm not currently looking) they should think of me. The school itself was incredibly racially diverse, and all the students got along really well.

There were also a fair amount of Spanish speakers and Portuguese speakers, which is a bit of a rare thing in London. They had a high ESL population, and it made me feel at home more so than other schools I have been in. The teachers were surprised when I mentioned that their students seemed to be ahead of our (NYC) students in terms of reading/writing/maths skills. I worked in a year 11 class (kind of the sophomore equivalent) who were working on Of Mice and Men and Romeo and Juliet, and it made me feel like the confident teacher that I should be at this point! One thing that was really crazy to me is that one of the classes that I subbed for, a year 7 class (7th/8th grade equivalent) had an end-of-unit exam. Instead of taking the exam in the classroom, they were taken down to the assembly hall, and had to take their exam there as an entire grade. They had to enter the hall silently, leave their coats/bags at the back of the room, and stand SILENTLY behind their chairs until everyone arrived. Once there, the head teacher announced that they had one minute to sit down and get ready before the exam began. I thought it was a bit serious (and kind of scary!), but then I realized that maybe, if our students were taught how to properly take tests from 7th grade, they wouldn't be so shocked and disheartened when it came time to take the SATs. Right? Teacher thoughts? SO, that's my update on teaching life here.

Alright, so, in other news, I started falling in love with London this week. Mostly, it happened this weekend, but now that I'm falling in love with it, my edit button is in full effect, and I can't even remember the things that happened before. When we fall in love with people, we do the same thing. You stop noticing the things about a person that are negative, and all of a sudden, even though the negatives exist, you stop being able to point them out. That is how I am starting to feel with London.

On Friday I went to see Treasure Island with Jaz. She had free tickets, Lily Allen's dad Keith is in it, so we went. Free West End theatre (that's like Broadway for you New Yorkers) is not something you say no to. The production wasn't that great, but, that's not why Friday was awesome, anyway.
See, after getting out of the theatre, we walked through Leicester Square, which is kind of a bigger version of Union Square. People hang out, walk around, and often-times there is something culture and fun going on. Well, during Christmas time, apparently, there is an annual CARNIVAL! How cool is that?! In the middle of the city! Can you IMAGINE Union Square with a proper carnival??? With RIDES? I mean, this carnival alone gave London SO many brownie points. AND, there is a SNOW-making machine. (A clear downside to London is that it is SO cold in the winter...without the beauty of real snow. It kind of snow-rains here. I wouldn't even call it sleet.) There were serious city-livers acting like children running around everywhere. It made me giddy.
Did I mention there was carnival food? Oh yea!

So then, Saturday I had my first field hockey game with the team. The pitch (field) is about an hour away and I have never done the bus-ride in daylight because we practice in the evenings. It turns out, the bus-ride to the Brent Cross Pitches is absolutely stunning. I had heart squeezies the entire ride there. Honestly, it is just a giant expanse of green! (We all know I moved out of New York because, though Central Park exists, it's just one green spot. It turns out that London has giant green areas EVERYWHERE.) I will go back and take pictures at some point. It was just amazing because the green pops up in the middle of no-where. London is such an expansive city with so many different neighborhoods and so many different heartbeats. It's going to take a long time to get to know them all, but I'm really looking forward to it. (MAndrew, fancy walking in a park when you are here next month?? There are so many of them.) In addition to the parks on the way to the game, there were also so many cute little "New England Type" towns with little town centers lit up for Christmas. Little old couples were walking around hand-in-hand Christmas shopping, and it just seemed like such a LIVABLE place. Not like New York where everything is so fast-paced all of the time.

Now for the game. I LOVE playing field hockey! It's SO much fun. We tied, which isn't SO bad, but I definitely have high hopes for next week, and a win! I am in the lowest division, which makes me one of the top two players on the team. I am not sure if I like being in that position because it means that all-of-a-sudden I'm being looked to for advice and positioning, and things like that. We all know I don't know how to shut-up, and I just don't know if I'm looking for a leadership position on a team ALREADY. Another slight disadvantage is that I had to play the ENTIRE game without getting a sub because every time my teammates subbed people were like, "No, you stay in because you are better." And yea, it was flattering, but my body is D-Y-I-N-G right now. I mean, it actually even hurts to sit. (My butt muscles are KILLING me.) BUT, it really is great fun. And the girls on the team are great! I wanted to take an action shot for the blog, but I was on the field the whole time, so maybe next time...

Then, last night, Soren took me out in Camden. Now, I've been around Camden but I hadn't actually spent time there with anyone who knows the area well. WELL, let's just say, I've found the neighborhood I want to live in. (I can't afford it, of course, but it is perfect.) There are parks close by, it is very alternative (think Alphabet City-esque), tons of great restaurants, culture, and bars, and everyone who hangs out there seems so laid back. I think I will start looking for a permanent job in that area when I start seriously looking for jobs, because I neeeeed an excuse to have a too-expensive apartment in that neighborhood.
This is a picture of the Camden Lock overpass. If you click on it, or just look closely, you can see two painted people who look like they are painting the sign. Those are graffiti by Banksy.
This is also graffiti by Banksy on the same street. Pretty cool. Basically, the neighborhood is teeming with cool art and fun stuff to do. Soren and I had pints at Amy Winehouse's favorite hangout, The Hawley Arms, before heading for a FREEZING cold walk in Primrose Hill. Seriously, this city is GORGEOUS.

All in all, what I'm trying to say is...I'm starting to like London. Like "Like it Like it." :)

Comment!

Love Sarah

PS: I got my first piece of mail yesterday. It was a thank-you note from Lisa. It made my day. But seriously, does no one else love me and want to send me fun things in the mail and then I will send you fun things back? Please, Please? Let's bring back snail-mail, one letter at a time :) (Nate and Evan and John Young, I was expecting better from you guys!)

Dearest Kirstin: a short blog on how to comment

If you are awesome and would like to comment on my blog:

1) Go down to the bottom of the post for that date and you will see something that says number of comments. (0 comments, 1 comment, 2 comments, etc.)
2) Click on it.
3) Write your comment in the box that says "Leave Comment"
3) Below the box that says "Leave Comment" look where it says "choose an identity."
4) Click on "Name"
5) Type in your name
6) Press "Publish your comment"
7) Periodically check back at the comments because I respond to them

:) Sarah

London Bridge is Falling Down

Hey everyone,

If you get through this blog, you win a pathetic plea for comments :)

Table of contents, by paragraph (you laugh, but I'm serious):

1. Introduction and Tea
2. Job Status
3. Job Status part two, with tears.
4. Literary Butcher Shop
5. Broken Muscles
6. Gay Clubbing/Britney Spears
7. Running and Tea
8. Conclusion (pathetic plea for comments)

I am sitting here with Louise and Jaz, drinking tea and writing this blog. It's nice to sit around with housemates. There are so many of them that it seems someone is pretty much always around to hang out with, but it's also perfectly acceptable to hole-up in my room alone. I'm digging it. (We finally had a house meeting about how compulsive people like myself cannot handle the gross-factor of the bathrooms...and we set up a "rota." So now everything is clean and lovely and I am happy.) :)

It's been a bit more than a week, but I haven't had a second to sit down and write because...I GOT A JOB!!! Basically, I already had a job, but I was frustrated because my agency wasn't getting me work. As it turns out...they were waiting for my FBI CRIMINAL RECORD...and now that they have it (All Clean, All Clean!), I have been able to get work every single day. In fact, I will be working at the same school this entire week. It is REALLY nice knowing that I have the security of a job for the whole week. I have been offered interviews for permanent English teacher jobs starting in January, but I am kind of avoiding them right now because I want the freedom of substitute teaching, and it is pretty much the same money. Job security is a frightening thing, though. (How 'bout this recession, eh?)

I don't even know where to start with this blog (pictureless again, sorry...) because so MUCH has happened lately. My first day of teaching was on Thanksgiving. Since I have just given you the happy side of work, I'll now tell you that it was the worst day of my teaching career. Remember how I was not talking to Eamonn? Well, I called him during lunch break of my first day, crying hysterically, because it was going so poorly and I didn't know what to do. He's the only teacher I know here, so it had to happen. (Needless to say, we are definitely not, not talking. Stories for later, of course.) Basically, I have never seen such disrespect--to myself, and also to each other. I mean, I couldn't even SCREAM over these high schoolers and be heard. And then OTHER teachers kept coming into the class and yelling at the kids. And the teachers would also occasionally yell at each other. It was, in Roland Rivers words (yes DHS, that's a shout out to you...), a "toxic" environment. And it made me lose all faith in humanity. "Where are the parents of these children?" I know, I know, teachers aren't supposed to say that, but seriously, where are they? (And yes, in my day from hell, I DID actually ask the kids that question in exasperation. Yes, day one on the job completely broke me, but hell, we all make mistakes, right?) Needless to say, it could only have gone up from there, and it did. London is an interesting, extremely diverse, place to work. I think I'm going to like it.

Also on Thanksgiving, I hung out with Xan and we went to a "literary butcher shop." For those of you writers (and/or aspiring writers, and/or academics and/or lovers of gin), it was this small theater in the round where people send in their short stories and then the audience edits/butchers them. It's a great thing for writers, because they get feedback and criticism on their work, and if you aren't a writer, well, there is a free gin open bar. Seriously though, it is half theater half entertainment half literary genius (i know, three halves...) and a complete blast! I ended up on stage, helping to edit a story, wearing a cowboy hat and holding a gun. How American is THAT on Thanksgiving??

What else, What else? Well, I'm playing on a field hockey team here. I haven't played since I was 18, so it's been an interesting experience. (Read: I am in SERIOUS PERMANENT AGONY. Muscles I forgot I had are SCREAMING at the TOP OF THEIR LUNGS.) Nonetheless, the girls are great, it's great exercise, we are positively horrible, and apparently, we have an amazing club house with cheap drinks. More to come on that front. My first game will be Saturday, and I'm psyched. It's great fun to be on a field again, though I will say, it is rainy and 30 degrees here every day...which is FAR too cold to be playing outside!

OH. My new really awesome South African friend Melissa, and I (and her boyfriend and all of their awesome Safo friends) went to the gayest of all gay clubs on Saturday night, for free, and Britney Spears was there. I didn't see her, but damn, the tabloids say she was there, and they have the paparazzi photos to prove it, so it must be true. I spent the remainder of the weekend watching football/soccer (Go Arsenal, HOMETEAM!), sitting on a couch in dirty clothes, eating amazing home-cooked meals (proper breakfast fry-up and an even more proper Irish roast...I didn't eat the meat...but the rest of it was divine...I'll challenge the English to beat the Irish in a roast-off anyday), and being an all-around lazy bum.

AND, after work today I went to another new friend's house, Soren, (ladies, please picture Soren as the steamy scandinavian man that he is. sigh. next time we hang out I will take a photo of him for you to drool over.), and went for one of those runs that is just the right length--short enough that you still have a ton of energy left. It was SO nice to have someone to run with, as I haven't really found that yet since I've been here. It's also important to add that running when it is FREEZING cold out means you get tea made for you afterwards. Yay for tea. I am LOVING the tea culture here. EVEN better than in Ireland...and even the non-British here have adopted it!

Alright, you made it! I have SO much more to say, but most people have died of old age at this point and the rest of you want to peacefully enjoy the autumn of your lives, so, goodbye :) And comment, will you?

LOVE,
Sarah