May Madness & June's Forecast...

                                                  Hi to you all at last !!!   

                                                                    Hope you're all well 

 

 Life seems to be too busy to sit down for prolonged periods of time tapping away at a keyboard and ironically (or maybe not so!) it's only because I've gotten the flu that I've had to have two days in bed where there's nothing else to distract me!!! Thought it was the ideal time to finally get you up=dated on my adventures abroad

The last time we met here on my blogspot I was off to mid Wales...

Mid Wales is beautiful!!! And reminded me heaps of New Zealand.....and would you believe...the sheep in Wales have tails!?!?!?! They don't dock them there. I only saw one sheep with a decidedly dirty looking tail

It was nice meeting people form different places:
There is Angela from Glasgow... Chris from Edinburgh... (anyone who moved that mentioned Scotland I immediately told them how much I'm looking forward to visiting Scotland!)...Ellie from Birmingham and of course lots of people from all over London... Daniel and Alan who I hung out with Sunday morning and we trudged up one of the hills in our gumboots that overlooked the camp and gave a good view of the countryside! 
Ellie and I went up an even higher hill that afternoon but didn't quite make it to the top...so Monday morning I went for a walk and went to the top...and had reception so got to make brief calls home to Dad, Mum and Tracy & Mikie


Since then I've been on a dinner-party date in the South with Alan, and  stayed with Karen Lewis in the South and gone to church with them in the South. 


To get to Euston Station Saturday for our 8am pick-up I had stayed Friday night with Gillian Hughs (who lives in the North and has taken me in before...when I went to the North's 'Mature(!!!) Singles Event. It's always so lovely staying with Gillian. She loves animals and works at a agricultural research centre. She  is so hospitable and warm and she also bakes! I went with her to the North's Mid-week church meeting they have on a Friday night and got to meet more people who would be going away on the Singles Retreat to Wales.


In preparation for meeting our 8am bus at the perscribed pick-up spot I was all versed on what train I'd need to get to Euston Station from Gillians, when she announced she was going to drop me off which was so lovely and kind of her! We ended up being very nice and early and then she carried on to visit her Dad

Thanks Gillian for having me....and for sending me off with cake for the journey!!! I felt very spoilt!!! 


Sat 19th- Sun 20th May
This following weekend was Paul's 30th Birthday Bbq bash:-)
 I borrowed Margie's bike and enjoyed biking there. It was a nice enough afternoon weather wise but as  the evening turned colder  and we all ended up sitting (outside) with rugs tucked up cosily around us and sitting around the half barrel bbq on the ground with a fire in it:-)
It was a fun night:-) WELCOME TO THE THIRTIES PAUL!!!


Creative opportunities

1. At Paul's party I met a new friend Sophie and her partner Joel. Joel invited me to their's for afternoon tea because Sophie loves doing afternoon tea so I thought I'd better get to know Sophie!!!
2. Sophie works for her friend Sam... who has a (wait for it....)... flower studio!!!!            They don't do retail to the public..yhay! ...instead they do corporate contract work and ...weddings...yhay! ....sound like me?!?!?!?!? 
3. Well next Saturday (9th June) Sophie has organised for me to spend the day with Sam travelling around London doing contract work with her:-). Goodie....any opportunity to keep my hand in floristry is an opportunity I'm excited about:-)  As you may have picked up... I am looking forward to next Saturday!!!  

                             

Well to date I have been in London exactly nine weeks!!! And it was a fortnight ago I realised that I'm loving being here in London. I finally stopped seeing everything as "so different" and am just enjoying being. I'm absolutely loving the diversity of everyone here, culturally and ethnically... and this is reflected not only on the streets but also in the schools I'm teaching in. There's a really strong Islamic community here, likewise Atrican, Indian and also Polish/East European...

Random side notes: 
1. on the train you often get good views of people's allotment gardens...a huge area solely    
    dedicated to garden.
2. I have also discovered the overground train which I much prefer to taking the tube. 
    Or likewise sitting upstairs right at the front on the double decker buses which gives an  
    amazing view and so much more of an idea of all the green belts that exist around all these dged up one of the hills in our lor: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">    urban areas. For all my impressions of being surrounded constantly by brick, houses and    
     roads there is in fact huge amounts of open green spaces and fiends. 
3. The train in the tube tunnel often catches as it goes around corners making this most shrill
    high pitched noise that sounds very much like children skrieking... is no one else bothered 
    by it!?!?!?!?

And what an exciting time to be in London...Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics! At one school last week I really enjoyed learning about the Olympic values. Test yourself...do you know what they are?   (All will be revealed at the end)

We've been having AMAZING weather!!! Like high 20's amazing!!! Last Wed/Thur were days totally worthy of the beach...and it carried on through until yesterday 

Last Weekend (Fri 25th - Sun27th May):

Return to Wiltshire:

 I spent a lovely long weekend across in Wiltshire visiting with friends there. I took the train from Paddington to Bath and then changed to another train that took me back to Westbury. Spent  a lovely afternoon/evening with Tanya, William and Mia. Robin arrived home just as we were setting off to the pub and play in the playground adjoining it. 

Unfortunately Mia'd not been very well and William came down with the same thing that night(...then Tanya the next day)

Fri and Sat nights I stayed with Frank and Maryisa and I actually had a lovely day with Frank and Maryisa. It was so good to see them and to just hang out. I got to make Frank a pav:-) while they did some errands and then we spent the afternoon outside relaxing and reading in the sun. Maryisa used  to do supply teaching so she's sent me home with a lovely collection of books for supply teachers.  

Frank and I went for a bike ride...via a church and a pub:-) 

then Maryisa took me for a walking tour around Bratton...it was a lovely day... and still light at 9.15pm (...it's dark about 9.45pm so suddenly it gets very late very quickly!!!)

When we got home our Pav tasted pretty good if I do say so myself ...and it didn't last very long!!!

Sunday was another magnificent day. I went to church with Frank and Maryisa. It was Whit Sunday (Pentecost-forty days after Easter).Tanya was feeling better but unfortunately Robin didn't so we left him at home and Tanya, the kids and I went to Avebury Manor. Avebury is on par to Stonehenge...it has huge rocks standing up in ring formations. Chris and I went there last time and had walked around the rocks. This time we visited the Manor there which has just recently been reopened...it was a fantastic interactive experience for a National Trust house...the only thing you could not touch was the Chinese wallpaper in one room... everything else you could touch...sit on...bounce on (the Queen Anne bed with it's 3-4 mattresses!!!). William loved grinding coffee beans in the kitchen using an old coffee grinder! Then Lizzie met us with Anna and Thomas for a picnic:-) It was a lovely weekend and very relaxing despite Tanya and the children's misfortune of  being unwell. Indeed I've had my turn this week!!!

Work:
I've been getting lots of supply teaching work...and have done a range of ages from nursery (3-4years), reception (4-5years), Year 1 (5-6years), some Year 2 (6-7years) and horror of horrors a Year 4 (10-11years!!! ...and some of them....(the girls)...were real horrors...horrible attitudes towards each other!... "So in so _____ doesn't want to be my friend", magnified by 100!!!!). I also had an afternoon with a Year 6 class (12years)...but that was actually fun and pretty easy. It was a history lesson and they were making Tudor Houses...it was lots of fun with scissors, glue and paper/cardboard constructing...totally up my alleyway! We also touched on the Tudor explorers...all reinforced by the fact that I'd also recently read Horrible Histories "Terrible Tudors"!) 

Next week we have a weeks mid-term break and then it's six weeks until the summer school term finishes and it's holidays!!! (Six weeks without an income as my aunt reminds me...six weeks holiday!!!)

Right now we're looking forward to another Bank Holiday.... Queen's Birthday Jubilee Weekend. Infact this weekend's Queen's Birthday Jubilee Weekend!!! It's amazing being here for such a special event. Yesterday I taught Nursery at a School and got to participate in their Jubilee Celebration. Each class put on an item for their friends and family with the theme of life through the decades. Our 'Bear' class sang "Baa baa black sheep':-) When I arrived there in the morning everyone I met was very quick to tell me..."I don't usually look like this!" Everyone had dressed up in a different era and it was a really fun and special afternoon.   (For you Brit's ...I know you would love to be here so hopefully you can live vicariously through me)  All over the Uk there are fairs and village neighbourhood events being planned. 

Michelle's Jubilee Weekend Planner:

1. My aunt and I are going to a fair Saturday and my good friend Cathy (who I know from when I lived in ChCh who is now also living in Epping...about an 1.20min tube ride from where I live)has invited me to their's for a red, white and blue themed Jubilee party Saturday evening. 
2. Sunday going to watch the Queens Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant with my Kiwi cousin living here in London   and possibly my Welsh friend Menna... Monday and Tuesday are both bank holidays here so.... 
3. Monday I'm going to a Jubilee BBQ which is an open invitation to all the  singles in my church here in the North West/ West (should be fun...it's only going to take me two hours on public transport to get there to give you an idea of the size of greater London! That evening  my aunt and uncle are going to listen to a jazz band so shall join them...another two hour journey by public transport!!!  So I have to be well by then...            
4. Tuesday:  Margie my aunt and I may go to Kew Gardens on Tuesday so I'm looking forward to that too:-)

Michelle's Mid-term Holiday Planner: 

1. Wednesday/or Thursday: visit my friend Sophie at her work which is a Flower Studio in a place called Islington (1hr 25min journey time from my house....on average I can travel 1hr 20min to work ...the longest it's taken me to a distination has been 1hr 40min!!! I got caught with bad waiting times at a tube connection!  So sometimes I can be up and out the door at 6.20am!!!  Believe it or not but I am becoming a reformed early to get to places person!!! Gaye, you and John would be very impressed by me (I hope!).... I make my packed lunch every night and I likewise have my breakfast all done up in the fridge and ready to grab and go so I can eat it on route!!!)
2. Wednesday/or Thursday: meet up with my friend Robyn from Canada who also works for Protocol to go to some museums or galleries together:-)
3. Friday:no plans yet but would like to meet up with a friend Crystal who's been here about three months longer than me from the States. She home schools her two children who I've enjoyed getting to know and we've talked about going to the British Museum together.
4. Saturday (9th June): my creative opportunity doing contract work with Sam around London:-). Goodie....  As I said earlier... I'm really looking forward to next Saturday!                   (And a little birdie told me that Mikie might be in town!)

The company I'm doing supply teaching for keep wanting to put me into a full time job for the next school year starting in Sept. It has never been my plan to work full time for a long term position because I came for the purpose of travelling and working to support my travel!  The agencies are always keen to put you into full time long term positions because that's a guaranteed fee for them. 

I came over with the hope and desire that God would be able to use this as an opportunity to open some new doors in my life...that would take me on a more creative path. Having said that I do feel very blessed to have the opportunity to work and I am definitely developing professionally...behavioural management 101 with some new strategies to boot!

... I am doing a two week short term placement after mid-term covering a float position that covers nursery, reception and Year 1. If they like me and I like the job there is the option of carrying on through to the end of the summer term (20th July). Ideally they also want someone who will continue in the position for September...but we'll take it a week at a time for the time being thanks! ...There's another full term position starting in Sept teaching a Reception Class (4-5 years) in a school which has a very good reputation for being an 'Outstanding' school (this according to it's OFSTEAD inspection report... equivalent to our ERO report) so good that they no longer need inspections done! Will keep you posted... 

Things I'm looking forward to:

I'm looking forward to visiting my friend Kirsty from New Zealand who is currently living in Switzerland...I always feel so exotic saying "My friend Kirsty in Switzerland"(!!!)

...there's a jazz-festival on ...the Montreux-Jazz Festival brginning 29th June through to 14th July that we're hoping to go to. She's living in a place called L'Abri doing a fellowship there. I have the opportunity to go and stay with her there as a paying guest if I take part in the days activities.... again... will keep you posted... or hopefully will be better at updating my blog so it doesn't take me needing two days in bed to write to everyone!!!

I planned to go across to Norway to visit friends and family and then to spend a month or so up in Scotland (Aug/Sept). The company I'm doing supply teaching for keep wanting to put me into a full time job for the next school year starting in Sept. It has never been my plan to work full time because I came for the purpose of travelling and working to support my travel.

Ponderings about where to from here...

Realistically I still could do those things over the six week summer break if I did decide to take a longer term posting for the new school year. But do I want the (stress!!!) of a full time job as a reception teacher here with all the additional work that comes with it? Doing that  

 means making now the decision to be less transient and more settled. The day to day supply teaching has the advantage of flexibility if you want to go somewhere. A longer term job does have the added benefit of an increase in pay in acknowledgement of all the planning etc that's involved....open to any thoughts anyone would like to share....


Credits and acknowledgements:
Am so appreciating being able to stay here at Margie and Brian's. They have been really great. When I originally arrived staying with them was only going to be a short stop gap while I got myself sorted out. They have such busy lives themselves and they have taken me in, housed and homed me. Margie said recently to consider this as my home. Thank you Margie. It's usually only a couple of nights a week that we get to have a meal together and I have been trying to cook one night a week. I was really priding myself on the fact that Margie hasn't had to clean the bathroom for quite awhile...until she jumped in a head of me one week back and did it!!!!
         Thanks so much Margie and Brian for opening your home and your lives to me. 

                             All my love to you all and happy Queen's Birthday. 

                                            Big hugs and lots of love

                                               Shell 

                                                          XXX 

    By the way.... the seven Olympic Values are    Friendship  Excellence  Respect  Determination  Courage  Inspiration and   Equality    Friendship  Excellence  Respect  Determination  Courage  Inspiration and  Equality   Friendship  Excellence  Respect  Determination  quality Equality Friendship  Excellence