Turkey Bound (and Goodbye Hockey Season)

HEY!

This is going to be so short it will blow your mind! I'm really just writing to let you all know that I made a last minute decision to go to TURKEY! I'm going with Jason, MY NEW ROOMMATE. (And also, one of my few teacher friends here.) I just bought my ticket last week, but it was relatively inexpensive, and Turkey has always been #1 on my list, so I thought...now is the time! I've already decided 10 days won't be long enough, but alas, that is all the time my budget can afford right now. I will spend the other week of my vacation (yes, we have a TWO week Easter holiday) gallivanting around England proper, for once. I think that, at the very least, Bath and Stonehenge are on the agenda. And MAYBE some Brighton/Cornwall/Devon (that's the beach for you non-English-ites) if the weather is nice! (I'm also going hiking in the Peak District over Bank Holiday in May. Thank goodness for finally getting out of London!)

So yes, the roommate search, which had taken a turn for the worst, has now ended successfully. Jason will be moving in with us on May 1st. He has wanted to live with us since he saw our place during our house-warming party so long, long ago...but the timing wasn't right. Well, the stars have aligned, and Jason will be moving in. You'll be seeing more photos of him in the future (...the crazy, dread-headed hippy that he is ;) )

In other news, the hockey season is over. Check us OUT. We are HOT. hehe. Or ridiculous. Or something. Thank goodness for summer hockey (starting May), otherwise honestly, half of my social life (and attempts at staying in shape) would be completely shot. And...there is talk of making a CRICKET team out of hockey girls. I don't know if I'm up for that...but it would certainly be something to write home about. (Does anyone even know the rules for the game???)

For some slightly trivial music news, I just bought a ticket for this for eleven pounds, INCLUDING service charge. Hell yea! And, a ticket for the Bouncing Souls, for 16 pounds, which isn't half bad. And this is a shout out to Chris, but, in other music news, I have a HUGE music crush on Eugene McGuinness, and apparently am destined to be out of the country EVERY time he plays London, which is pretty much monthly. What the EFF? (And let's not get me started on not getting Idlewild tickets. I'll cry.)

And now, about work. I, for the first time in nearly six months, worked in a highly-functional secondary school this past week...and I will be doing PATERNITY leave after April break for TWO WEEKS. I will be taking over for an English teacher (who also happens to be the head of the department) for two weeks. It will be nice to finally be able to use my education...I think my experience is atrophying a little bit here. The primary school kids bore me sometimes, to be honest.

So, to wrap things up...nothing new, fun, or interesting is going on here ;) I don't know if anyone remembers this, but I think I wrote about how for my New Years Resolution I gave up impulsive decision making, or something like that. It's going really well for me, and I realized on Saturday (at our hockey formal where everyone was kiiiind of ridiculous) that I actually don't think of it as a resolution anymore, but that I actually don't WANT to make silly decisions. (Earlier in the year, perhaps I would want to make decisions knowing full well they weren't a good idea, but I wouldn't do it "on principle." But now, silly decisions LESS frequently cross my mind. I say LESS, because, lets be honest. We all think about doing things we KNOW aren't in our best interests, alllll the time...you know, like walking across the street when the red hand is on the lamp-post ;) )

Right-O. So, you should probably leave a comment, or something. :)

Love, Sarah

Falling in and out of love...with London

Hello!!!

Happy Belated St. Paddy's Day!! In honor of St. Paddy's Day, I would like to let people who live under rocks see this.

Now, moving on...London is a rollercoaster, and I want to get off. Really...one day I love it, and the next...I'm dreaming of Ireland. (Or Portland.)

So, from where I left off, ironically, the day after I wrote my last blog about how I was "really getting settled into my new school," I got a call from my agency that the woman who was on leave from the position I had taken over at Globe Academy, was coming back. In other words, I was out of a permanent job, once again. It hasn't been so bad being back to regular daily substitute teaching, but as I mentioned previously, not much has changed in my feelings of restlessness towards substitute teaching. (At least it's fairly good money, and "is a great experience in working abroad, I guess.)

Since the last blog, a fair amount of random things have gone on in life in London. Firstly, one of our housemates, Tim, is moving out. Quite frankly, he's the least awesome one of us, who never hangs out with the house and instead is a recluse in his room playing computer games...but, it's a huge pain in the a** trying to get someone to fill his space at this time of year. We have been looking for a new housemate for about three weeks now, and we have absolutely no takers. The cool people who have come to see the house, have consistently called us alter to tell us they found something in a better neighborhood, and then there have been the fair bit of crazies who, clearly, we aren't going to live with. The latest, whose name, incidentally, is KURT RUSSELL, actually asked us what our STAR SIGNS were. (LU-NA-TIC!) Needless to say, it has been a huge stress for us recently, and I don't know what we are going to do if we can't get someone to move in...

I recently found the best bar in London...called The Lexington...that serves BROOKLYN LAGER AND SIERRA NEVADA. What?!! Random thought, but very blog-worthy.

I went to the St. Patrick's Day Parade last week and it was shockingly smaller than the one in NYC. You'd think, being closer to Ireland and all, it would have been huge...

Look! Spring! After the parade a few of us went to Green Park (one of the MANY parks in London). It was the first perfect, warm, sunny day London has had in many, many months (and the first since I have been here) and the whole city came out of their shells. Hundreds of people were picnic-ing and laying around in the sun. It reminded me SO much of Central Park come spring. And, I should say, I fell completely in love with London.

There is nothing more wonderful than sitting in a park, surrounded by green, surrounded by a city, and lazing-around with your friends. (l-r: Jill, Helen, Rob, Sadhbh) It could only have been bested by a novelty flying disk (JAMES, you were missed!) or some playing cards. And yesterday, I got sunburned playing hockey!! Of course, my love-crush with London was shattered only days later when it took me 1.5 hrs to get into London city from my friends' place in Stoke Newington. (For those of you non-Londonphiles, it should only have taken about 25 minutes...I HATE London transport!!!)

My hockey team...we never win...but we are winners at life? Oh no. Did I really just say that? (l-r: emma, me, gabby, rowena, jo, lydia, minty, anna)

And now...for a list: The Short List of New Favorites:
1. Bar--The Lexington
2. Sport to watch on T.V--Rugby (One of the best sporting events I've EVER watched on Television...up there with 2004 Red Sox...)
3. Neighborhood--Stoke Newington (This isn't really a New Favorite...but recently I've been reminded of how much I love it...despite it's lack of proximity to a tube station.)
4. New Irish Crush--Tommy Bowe (Scroll down to the bottom and watch the video. Honestly, if I didn't love him before, with his tiny shorts and mouthguard on the pitch, then I certainly love him for having the guts to sing in front of this crowd.)
5. Hair Color--Ginger (Well, let's just say that I let Jaz dye my hair a couple days ago with a hairdye bought at the pound shop...and, well, now, I'm a little bit of a red head. But just a little bit.)

Well, this has been pretty short, for once (so no excuses about commenting!!) Happy Spring!

Love, Sarah

The strangest weeks!

Hey!

I will try to keep this RELATIVELY short (haha) because I have no pictures to back up all the writing...I have been lazy with my camera lately...I'll start taking it out again...I promise!

I don't know where to start! But firstly, I want to give a special shout-out to my momzers for sending me the most amazing package which is now fueling this blog. (Thank goodness for mini-pretzels and WHY do they not exist in this pretzel-forsaken country?!)

To keep things interesting, let me start out with a fun list:
Top 5 weirdest/most unpleasant/strangest things that have happened to me lately:
1) Ran into Eamonn on the tube. (What are the chances?) Apparently, we are trying to be friends again, or something like that.
2) Got pooped on in the pre-school. I'm pretty sure I did NOT sign up for that.
3) Taught a class full of kids with lice. (School sounds AWESOME, doesn't it?)
4) Got a RAW chicken leg dropped on my head by a SEAGULL (again, what? I'm PRETTY sure I don't live by the sea...)
5) I still had/have? bed bugs...even after the extermination...but, the exterminator came again last week, and I feel pretty confident (fingers crossed) that they are gone for good this time.

Alright, and now for the chronological order section of the blog...

I started my new teaching job 2.5 weeks ago...and I think it is the toughest school I've ever worked in. I mean, it is a primary/elementary school, so it is different then the toughness encountered at DHS and NHS, but, tough nonetheless. I scream, a lot, everyday, which I loathe doing. The kids are wild, and unruly, and slightly disrespectful (though some of them are angelic), and so so soooo far below grade-level. Sound familiar NYC teachers? The thing is...I have no contractual commitment, but for some reason, I have decided to stick with it.

In all honesty, it's a hard school to be in, but 3 out of 5 days I enjoy myself. The other teachers are young, intelligent, and caring, which really helps. And, to be honest, the kids really love me. (Some of them don't seem to respect me very much....but they are extremely warm, ironically.) And, of course, they are needy...which I think is the main reason why I don't want to leave the school. I already feel "sucked-into" their world of neediness, and I don't want to give up on them. (Again, NYC teachers will know exactly what I'm talking about.) They do suck a lot of energy out of me, and I'm tired a lot, but I enjoy going to the same school everyday and having those bonds that you have with students when they are "yours." Because I teach the same students on a schedule (same students every Monday, every Tuesday, etc), they are used to me, and they ask me when I'm teaching them next when they see me in the hallways or canteen. Friday is Red Nose Day so I will be proudly wearing my red nose and doing a relay race for charity during lunch. I guess you could say I'm getting involved in the school :)

In other teaching news, the truth is, I'm still not sure where I'm going to be next year, but to let the cat out of the bag, I've been sending out applications to schools/jobs of interest in London/Surrey, Portland and Seattle. Basically, it's time for me to move somewhere green. New York City is also on the radar, as is Denver, CO (Kirstin--Here's your shout-out!), but I haven't actively sought out jobs in those places, yet. However, neither NYC, nor Portland OR Seattle are hiring teachers for next year. I know that sounds like complete hyperbole...but check their websites...it's the truth. At least in the public sector. They, and many other school systems, have "put a cap on new hires" and are going to be "re-circulating" people around the system. In other words, I have no chance. Which leaves private schools, and other jobs. (Any thoughts on other jobs? I'm thinking...truck driver...lunch-lady...chaiwalla?) So...I'm going to avoid recession talk for the rest of this blog, but, according to my sources ;), I should just stay put if I have a job here, because I'm not going to be able to find one in The States. (My mum is worrying about my lack of benefits, but right now, I feel like the fact that I don't have a pension plans seems better than not having a job at all, right?!)

Okay, so let's see then, besides the new job...I guess I should blog a little bit about social things, right? Fat Tuesday, otherwise known as Mardi Gras, otherwise known as Shrove Tuesday, is ALSO otherwise known as PANCAKE Tuesday! Basically, the tradition in the British Isles has it that on the last day before Lent, people used to make pancakes (really more like crepes) to get rid of all of the things they wouldn't be eating for lent...sweet jams, sugar, eggs, butter, etc. It has become a British/Irish tradition to have pancakes on the day before Lent...and EVERYONE does it. It's practically a national holiday. Needless to say, I decided it was time I put myself out there and finally threw my first dinner party in London. It was more of a "breakfast for dinner" party, but it was a huge blast. (I know enough people now to throw a dinner party, yay!) We had savory AND sweet pancakes...American style AND Crepe style, and lots and lots of Mimosas (also known as "Bucks Fizz" here in England). I wish I had pictures, because we all had an awesome time, and the kitchen was a DISASTER. It's nice to be able to have a dinner party with a reasonably sized kitchen now, though. It makes such a difference (and damn, do I sound horribly domestic)!

Hockey has been another really important part of my non-work life lately, as well. It has been keeping me in shape, and the girls are really great. We had a Rugby social two weekends ago (because, for the lot of you that don't follow Rugby, it was the Six Nations Tournament--big deal) and the clubhouse was filled with people. There are 6 girls teams and 7 guys teams, so there are just so many fun people to hang out with. I won't go into too much boring detail, but I will say that, though the clubhouse closes at 11pm, there was plenty of time for me to have a Zoolander style dance-off with a total stranger. If I were slightly more shy, it could have been mortifying.

I guess that pretty much sums up anything half exciting that has been going on here lately. I had the best night that I have had yet in London this past Saturday. My team had gotten completely annihilated (we've yet to win a game) and I was feeling pretty down, but I ended up going out dancing with a couple of my housemates and Jill. We ended up staying out way too late and finding this really awesome unpretentious place to dance. (They played IDLEWILD. Who DOES that?!!!) London has its redeeming qualities...and great dance venues is certainly one of them!

Anyway, I'll take more photos for the next blog, and I'll keep everyone posted about any future returns to the states (as well as anything else half exciting that's going on).

Comment? haha.

Love Sarah

New Photos...February Half-Term in Ireland

Hey Everyone,

This is a quick reminder about my photos on snapfish. You DON'T have to become a member or anything. Just follow the steps below.

1) Go to www.snapfish.com
2) Type in email address: sarahinireland@yahoo.com
3) Type in password: ireland123
4) Click on album: "Ireland Trip..."


Cheers :)
Sarah

P-P-P-Poker Face M-My Poker Face (subtitle: Mostly Ireland)

Hello!

I know it's been awhile, but I feel like 20-ish days isn't so bad, considering I just got back from February break yesterday night. But let's back up...

These last few weeks in London have been great (besides the brutality of the freezing cold weather). I have been hanging out a lot with my housemates, and they have really grown on me. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have them to come home to and have cups of tea with here in London. They are my saving grace, really. Them and Adam (of Ireland fame). So, that is my little shout out to 10 Salisbury :)

Nothing too exciting has been happening lately, just a lot of working, a lot of job applications, and a lot of rejections. I THOUGHT about taking pictures of all of my rejection letters ("We are sorry to inform you that you have not been shortlisted for a job with us at this time.) but I decided that was just a bit too depressing. Honestly, I'm not that fussed by all the rejection, but it is frustrating that I feel like I will never get through the first round of applications in England because I have to write on the first page of all of my applications "Certification Pending." I mean really, my certification is NOT pending, I am SO certified to teach secondary school, but, alas, England hates me. (For those of you hoping for my return to the States next year...give yourselves a point.)

In other job news, I will be spending the remainder of the school year at a school called Globe Academy. I will be primarily in the younger grades, but I will also have the opportunity to fill in for teachers in the secondary school (which, of course, will look great on my resume). Basically, I will be the "permanent substitute" for the school. I will be filling in for teachers during their preparation time, and I will be with the same students often. This is awesome because I was getting really bored of jumping from school to school, and now I will have some continuity. I am also going to be helping with planning literacy lessons for the school. (My education is good for something!) I had to do a RIDICULOUS interview for this job (complete with a sample lesson and a writing assignment), and they hired me. It was a nice reminder (after all of the rejections) that if a school looks past the fact that I am not technically certified in the UK, I'm actually a good teacher! I think that I fit really well with the ideals of the school, so I'm looking forward to this a lot. I will keep everyone posted about how it goes. Don't worry, I'm still getting paid a substitute teachers wage (but I'm going to ask for a raise)!

SO, before I get to the account of my amazing (always) trip to Ireland, I should mention that I won a fancy-dress contest that my teaching agency put on last week. It was valentine's themed...and I won a prize. (It was a gift certificate to this travel agency called Top Deck.) I might use it to subsidize my "pending" learn-how-to-not-look-like-a-complete-idiot-snowboarding-vacation that I may be taking over April vacation.

Here's a photo. I went out with Adam after the teacher-party...It's funny to be dressed up when NO one else is...luckily...some people in London dress like this all the time...so I wasn't THAT out of place.

Now for Ireland. Sarah Caufield met me in London, and we traveled to Ireland for a week. Her cousin Trish traveled with us, and her VERY old friend Heike was with us for a couple days. I got to see a lot of Ireland that I hadn't seen yet...and of course I re-fell in love with the country. It really is enchanting...and I am fully under it's spell. (I'm still working on marriage proposals for a visa...I mean...if a certain family member of mine did it...I can too, right?)

We started out in Dublin, and hung out with Paddy, Joe, and Emm-o. Luckily...those lads are single, so they were able to keep us company for valentine's day :)

We went to the Guinness factory (it's Ireland's Disney world!!) and we pulled our own perfect pints. (I know I did it a few years ago, on my very first visit to Ireland...but I think I'm a true expert now.) Then, we whisked away to Belfast. In Belfast, we took my "very favorite tour ever." It's the "Black Taxi Cab Tour" which takes you around to the catholic and protestant hot-spots of the troubles. (Basically, Shankill and Falls Road.) I have done the tour before, but I really think it is SO informative, and highly, HIGHLY recommended if any of you ever make it to Belfast.

Here is a photo of the wall that separates the two sections of Belfast. Our taxi driver said that it will probably still be another 35 years until the wall comes down because, to be honest, there are still some very serious hostilities on both sides. People still live in their respective sections of the city, and some of the "gates" in the wall still open at six in the morning and close at six at night so that people cannot travel between the catholic and protestant sides of the city.

While in Belfast, we subscribed to what I like to call the "Marisa Antos Fallon" mentality of needing to get to the highest point in a city, and we rode the Belfast wheel. It was not there the last time I was in the city, and it gave pretty spectacular views. (Marisa, we all deeply and sincerely thank you for the inspiration.)

We headed out to Giant's Causeway after Belfast. We embarked on a six mile hike to the Causeway, which actually turned out to be a ten mile hike. Go figure! We got to the Causeway just in time for sunset. Apparently, Giant's Causeway is touted as the 8th wonder of the world...and deservedly so.

Then, we went to Derry. Many people from the Republic of Ireland (and the majority of my friends in Dublin) have never been to Derry, which is such a shame. It is a GREAT, lively city, with a very tortured historical past. But, the historical past is what makes it a special and important part of Ireland. Derry, for those of you that don't know, is also in Northern Ireland, and it was the last strong-hold when the English were fighting to make Northern Ireland a part of the UK. Derry is also where "Bloody Sunday" took place. We were taken on a walking tour by the Bogside Artists who grew up in the Bogside neighborhood of Derry during the height of the troubles. Kevin took us around and told us the stories of the murals that they painted. Take some time and check out the website because they tell their own stories much better than I can. The young girl Annette pictured in one of the murals is Kevin's cousin. It was intense to be given a tour of the area by someone who not only painted the murals, but painted the murals out of such a direct, first-hand experience.

From Derry we headed back into the Republic of Ireland, but we stayed in the Northern part of the Republic and went to County Donegal. We stayed in Donegal Town, population 2,500 which proved to be a little bit of a shock after being in much bigger cities! Donegal is STUNNING, though. We went on two hikes while we were in Donegal. We drove along gorgeous scenery from Donegal Town to Slieve League. We hiked in Slieve League (which was SUPPOSED to be an easy hike, but, we got a little bit lost). Picture Sarah, Trish, and I climbing up a steep rock face with only the ocean crashing against the rocks below us. Okay, wait. Don't picture that. It was scary. Beautiful, but scary. From Slieve League we went to Glen Colum Cille for another hike.

The hike in Glen Colum Cille was a bit calmer, and sent us to an ancient tower, complete with beautiful ocean view and ubiquitous sheep. (It is said that Americans LOVE taking sheep photos...and unfortunately, we were unable to prove this stereotype wrong.) We ended our long day in Ardara, at Nancy's famous Bar. We were ALMOST convinced to stay the night at Nancy's for pub-quiz (apparently, there is a room to let), but we decided it was better to get on the road home. Shockingly, the Irish love their pub-quizzes ALMOST as much as Sarah Caufield :)

Our last day in Ireland was spent on the road. Trish had to go to a Medieval banquet in Bunratty castle (what???) so we drove her down to Limerick county. The drive was lovely, though tiring, and then we drove back up to Dublin for one last night.

WHELANS!! All the lads and ladies came out to Whelans (my favorite bar in Ireland) and we had SUCH a blast. We were "wrecked" (tired, for those of you needing translation), but we danced the night away anyway. It was there that Paddy and Dave's friend Jon Mahon proposed to me and put a ring on my finger so that we can get married and have duel-citizenship...we will see what happens ;)

And that, dear friends, brings us back to the present. Sarah and I came back to London last night...and after having her PAGED in the airport, we finally got back to my house, had a late dinner, and went out on the town.

If you made it to the end of this blog, you earn two points. (You earn FOUR points if you actually leave me a comment. What does a girl have to DO?)

Loooove, Hammer

PS: If you are curious about the Lady Gaga title reference...it is the number one hit on Irish radio right now...and since we rented a car but didn't have any cd's, we heard it about 1,000,000,000 times. It kinda grows on you! (Brendan Sullivan, One point to you for having your finger on the pulse of crappy dance music :) )

New Photos...Housewarming and Snowy London

Hey Everyone,

This is a quick reminder about my photos on snapfish. You DON'T have to become a member or anything. Just follow the steps below.

1) Go to www.snapfish.com
2) Type in email address: sarahinireland@yahoo.com
3) Type in password: ireland123
4) Click on "Go To Photos" in the sort of middle of the page.
5) Click on "Friends' albums" on the left side of the page.
6) Click on 2009 to view the new pictures in the album "London in Wintertime, 2009."

Cheers :)
Sarah

"So this is the new year..."

Hey everyone!

England in the new year has been really great so far...so great in fact that I've hardly had a chance to blog. I'm realizing that the reason I was so consistent about writing in Ireland was, CLEARLY, because I had no job! Ha. And now that I have a job, I'm busy busy busy with no time to write. BUT here I am, on a SNOW DAY, all ready to catch up. Buttt....we'll get to that.

After I got home from Berlin two weeks ago, MAndrew and Alex came to visit. I, as most of you well know, had been sort of down on London, and having them here as soon as I returned was really good for me. I was able to see London with mates from home, and I was reminded, once again, that yes, I CAN live here and be happy.

Here's Juliet, Andrew, Alex, and I all smarted-up. We went out dancing with my Irish girls, Jill and Sadbh, and ended up at this really great indie-dance club. It's definitely going to be a regular dancing haunt of mine, now that it has been discovered. We also saw some amazing exhibits at a couple of museums (reminder--London has a GREAT museum scene...oh yes, it is a scene), ate great British food, drank great British beer at my local, and had an all around good time. (Thanks for coming to visit guys...I think it really set the bar for a spectacular year in England!)

After Andrew and Alex left, I promptly got really, really sick. In fact, I started getting sick sometime around Berlin, and I am still sick now (horrible cough that won't go away) but I actually missed work a bit during that week after the boys left because I was too sick to move. I went to the doctor and got antibiotics, but it didn't really do much good, to be honest. I completely lost my voice, but couldn't afford to take too many days off...so I taught with no voice for about a week. Imagine, me who never shuts up, with absolutely no voice, trying to manage a classroom of kids I don't know. You all wish you could have been a fly on the wall, I know :)

SPEAKING of "classrooms of kids I don't know," I have officially lost not one but TWO jobs in two weeks. (Don't worry, only ONE of them was a teaching job. ha.) I mentioned in my last blog that I was going to be doing a position in an elementary school near my house, so I was going to be in the same place four days a week...without a commute. Well, basically, it didn't work out. I went to the school for ONE day...and it SUCKED. It was definitely not the kind of school I would ideally like to be in (bad administration, crappy antiquated teachers...), but I thought hey, I'll give it a chance anyway. Well, I got sick the next day, and they fired me. I DIDN'T WANT TO WORK THERE ANYWAY :) I'm not for want of jobs though, so don't worry about me, not that you were.

The second lost job? How did you do THAT, you must be wondering? Well...I decided during a brief stint of insanity, that I should also wait tables in the evenings, to make some extra money...like I did back in my youthful heyday. HA. Well...I ended up getting a job at this AWESOME retro bowling alley, waiting tables/lanes. I went for my training day, and it was easy work, but, I told them I didn't want to give up my Friday AND Saturday nights...and basically, that was what they were looking for, so that was that. I absolutely am NOT in this country to work until 4am on my weekends....so...no second job for me!

Hmmmm....what else...also in terms of jobs (and my future), I don't know what I'm doing with my life. (How many times have you all heard THAT from me before? Luckily, I know lots of you also say that about your own lives quite often...and that makes me feel less insane.) I feel like I change my mind about where I want to be and what I want to do at least once a week these days. I am currently applying for jobs for September in London, BUT, I'm also in the process of starting my applications for teaching jobs in some undisclosed locations around the United States. (YES, undisclosed! A girl's got to have SOME secrets right?!) Really, though, I'd like the perfect job to fall into my lap without having to work at it. Lately I've been feeling like I just want to have a good REASON to stay somewhere. I'm getting tired of moving around...but I need a REALLY good excuse to just stay. Somewhere. Anywhere. And Ireland is out, by the way. The government released the rules about the new visa, and I'm not eligible. And I'm not getting married anytime soon. SO, if anybody wants to give me a reason to settle in somewhere for awhile, let me know ;)

My house FINALLY had a housewarming two weeks ago, and it was a blast. I was so nervous about the whole "throwing a first party" thing, but it worked out really well. A bunch of people I knew showed up...which was really nice, because to be honest, I don't even know that many people here! With the six of us, we ended up having a good amount of people, and everyone's friends meshed really well. The house was really well decorated with cool lighting and christmas lights, and it was the first time I thought to myself, "Wow. Our house is REALLY awesome." It helped that everyone else thought so too :)

Here's a picture of Xan and I at the party...this was towards the end of the night when things had cooled down a bit, and there weren't quite so many people.

Adam came back to London last week (thank goodness!!) and I FINALLY got to see him last night. He and his housemate (and lovely guy) Jev, just moved to Stoke Newington...which is the neighborhood that I want to live in next year. It's MUCH closer to Manor House, so we are practically neighbors now. Last night was, by far, my favorite night so far that I have lived in London. It SNOWED...and it STUCK! This NEVER happens in London, so we took advantage of it by having a snowball fight at midnight when it started snowing really hard...even though we all "had to work." Hopefully, I'll get some pictures from Adam of the snowy madness, and post them, because I think he got some pretty brilliant photographs. Turns out that I actually had a SNOW DAY today...definitely my first snow day since I was in high school!! I felt like a school kid again.

This is the view from my bedroom window, before sunrise this morning. Yay snow!

I went with Juliet to Finsbury Park, and we ended up having a snowball fight with some randomers...Irish of course. It's days like these and nights like last night that make me feel like London could be an alright place to be for awhile....we will see how I feel about it next week. (My thoughts change with the wind, apparently.)

Pretty much, that sums up what I've been up to these past two weeks. I haven't been keeping in touch with everyone as well as I'd like to lately, so if you want to drop me a proper email, I promise promise promise to respond right away. (COLIN, you are on the TOP of my list. I have been thinking about how you are an amazing email-er and I've been a sub-par correspondent. I'll get on it! You and my mom can get together and chat about how "I never write or call or anything." haha.)

Comment? :)

Love Sarah