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!)