First of all, I'm SO sorry that I haven't written in a very long time. It seems that my weekends have been taken over by life, and I've lost the will and time to write. It's a shame and I'm going to try to be better. Basically, hockey is in full swing, which means that my Saturdays now run into my Saturday nights, and leave me no time for a little peace and reflection. On Sundays I have been running...and I mean...running for 2,3,4 hours at a time, and when I come back I am so drained that I just have to sit on the couch and stare at the wall, or take a nap. My brain cannot function at a high enough level to blog. (Luckily, the serious marathon training ended last week!)
Instead of trying to tell you about EVERYTHING that has been up in lovely London, I will just give you all a short summary of each section of my life--Work/Hockey/Life in General.
So Work. Yes, notice, work comes first on that list because it is taking over my life! Work is HARD. And, completely different from anything I have every experienced. I had my first crying episode at work the other day, but I took that to be a good thing, since all the other new staff cried before I did. (How harsh is that?) Basically, a day in the life of a PPP staff member includes having horrible things yelled at you, having something thrown at you (sometimes, not always), and not being listened to, a lot. I cried because class hadn't even started yet, and the students were playing pool. (Yes, we have a pool table. DON'T ask. It drives me up a WALL that they have so many "privileges" that my increasingly right wing mentality does not think that they deserve.) I asked one of the students to get off the pool table because it was not his turn to play. He flipped OUT on me and screamed a lot of really mean, loud things to me, for about 5 minutes. I in return replied, "All right, Abdi. We will talk about this later, when you have calmed down." I then walked into the office and burst out into tears. They were not tears of hurt, but tears of anger. I was SO angry that I was shaking. Basically, I wanted to yell back at him (or hit him) so badly, and I didn't. The anger had to be relieved somehow, so I cried. It's just that, you can't reason with someone who has reached the level of anger (for no reason) that Abdi had, so there was no point in trying to talk with him at that moment. But that doesn't make ME feel any better for being treated in such a poor manner. And basically, that is a day in the life of a PPP staff member. Luckily, I have managed (so far) to not get that upset about a student again.
On the flipside, when I teach a good lesson, it is far more rewarding than teaching in a mainstream school. For example, I taught a brilliant poetry lesson (we are currently studying pre WWI British War Poetry, and afterward, a couple of my students came up and told me that they enjoyed the lesson. Now, these students do NOT enjoy school. They are with the organization I work for because they have never enjoyed school. Narcissistically, it feels SO good to have them appreciate a lesson, and then TELL me that they appreciate it. I can smile at little things like that for days on end (and it's a good thing I can do that, because stuff like that does NOT happen very often)!
So now for hockey. I've said it a million times and I will say it again--if it weren't for hockey, life here would be very dull. I stick to that. My weekends are filled with hockey, and I usually run with my friend Matty from the club at least once a week. (He's also vegetarian so he cooks for me afterwards. I'm so spoiled!) The hockey girls (and some of the guys) are suuuuuch fun people. Last week, for example, I played a hockey game (we tied...which is a big deal for us), went back to the club house and had teas (we get food cooked for us after games, how British is that!), hung out with a bunch of the other teams, and then went to Anna's, a girl on my team, and we watched X Factor (The original American Idol). It doesn't SEEM like the ultimate Saturday night, but words cannot describe how good it feels to finally be comfortable enough with people in this country to be able to say, "Nah. I don't want to have a crazy Saturday night out at a club. Lets stay in and eat takeaway pizza and watch crappy t.v."
A couple more things about hockey...I have somehow managed to take-on the Social Secretary position on our team. I'm the one in charge of planning fun stuff for us to do. How do I always end up volunteering for things? (I think I'm going to plan a night when we dress up 80's style and go to a roller disco. Take THAT for making me social secretary. :) )And THEN, my captain asked me to be assistant captain, so, I'm that too. Unfortunately, there is a large chance that I'm going to get pulled up to the team above mine pretty soon. It might not happen, but I've been practicing with them, and, though it's nice to have a challenge, I was just getting to know my team! :(
And now, for a commercial break: PLEASE come see me run the NY Marathon. It is November 1st. I will be in NY/CT from THIS WEDNESDAY October 28-November 2nd. It's going to be a whirlwind, and I can't stay up late or do anything too exciting because I'm going to be running 26.2 miles on November 1st, but please please please let me know if you're going to be around because I want to hang out!!!
Okay, lastly--I haven't blogged about life in general yet. I think you can tell from what I've written already that, despite work being a struggle, life in London is gajillions of times (yes, gajillions) better than it was last year. The positive outlook that I have forced myself to have this year has really been paying off, so far. I'm not forcing it anymore--my outlook is just positive!
I was worried and sad about spending my first birthday ever away from my friends/fam in the US, but, it turned out to be such a blast, and I was reminded that I DO know wonderful, fun people here that care about me and want to help me celebrate.
Here's a picture of us. It was a 1920's themed bar, so we dressed up. I loooove the culture of British dressing up!I don't think I'll ever stop missing everyone at home (which is a good thing, right??) but, things here are really good right now, and I'm thankful for that.
Sorry this blog was so general, but it's been SUCH a long time since I've written, and I just wanted to get it out and done with...the next one will be better. Promise!
Looooove, Hammer
PS: TRAVEL!
1. I forgot to mention that I have this AWESOME (though married, which sometimes means "lame and goes to bed early") new friend from work, Lisa. Her, Jason and I are doing 9 days of the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage walk in Spain over April break...anyone want to come?
2.The last weekend in May my team is going to Holland for a hockey tournament, and conveniently after that is my school holiday, so I'm thinking of traveling around Holland, Belgium, Denmark?, and Germany? I need a travel buddy. hint hint hint.
3. Finally, I have February break from Feb 13th to Feb 21st. I have no thoughts about where I want to go...though I was thinking maybe Egypt? Jordan? Syria? I'm not going by myself...who's coming with me?
