2 Weeks Down...UP TOP!

Well it's been 2 weeks (and a day) since we arrived, and we've finished our first week of teaching in the UK.  A-ca-believe it!  Let me tell you, it has been an experience. 

Sam has had 3-5 year olds mostly (yes, that is a teaching role here...they are in school, in uniforms, like everyone else...kinda scary), but got to experience a bit of year 4 and 5 the last couple days (grades 3 and 4). 

Me, I've had years 5-11 (grades 4-10), and got to try SEN (Special Educational Needs) this week with year 1-5.  They were a really cool bunch of kids. And high school is scary.

We have to say, teaching in the UK is very different from home, but has been an amazing experience so far. 

Our favourite filler activity is "Ask Questions About Canada"  and we've gotten some good ones...
Do you know Justin Bieber?
Do you have football? (then we have to go into explaining how we call it soccer, and football is something else...but they call our football rugby.  It's all very confusing.)
Have you had corndogs? Butterfingers?
Where do you get maple syrup?
What is Niagra Falls like?


We have also been Skyping with my final practicum mentor teacher (my grade 6s from last year are grade 7s in the same class this year) and her grade 6/7 class.  And they have asked some awesome questions about the UK/London too.

So the plan for this weekend:
Tonight Sam and I have had a wonderful and much needed chill night.  Onesies, taco salad, tim tams and tea, and a movie. 

A few things to note:
1) Ranch dressing is almost non-existent in London (and you get funny looks when you ask if they have it).  And the ones we have found are in tiny bottles that last 2 days and taste funny. For those of you that know me...THIS IS NOT OK!!!! Any bottles mailed our way would be appreciated :D  Just kidding...kinda.
2)There are no Tim Tams here :(  Again...NOT OK!!! Please send some.
3)Eggs are not refrigerated...see figure 1 below

Weekend plans continued:
We are going to go to the gym and go swimming, we are going to actually unpack and set up our house, go out on the town to a "Guilty Pleasure" night with lots of awesome 90s music with our friends from home, and do some sight seeing.

Short and sweet tonight...more to come.
Lisa and Sam

We out.

The Good, The Bad, and The Acca-Awesome

We got internet!  For a little bit anyways...so here is the introduction to our London Flat and start of teaching in London...

So Saturday morning we went for a final bacon baguette and tea (they knew our order...regulars!)

we packed up all our stuff (it's amazing how things don't fit the same way once they've been opened), hoped in a cab, and arrived at our new home.  We met with an inspector who showed us how some stuff worked, some things that would still be fixed and then handed us our keys.

When he left we definitely had a dance party, then ran straight out the door to get our bedding.  We were walking to the store and there was a black rapping Christian group our in the street.

And balloons

After a trip to Primark (carrying 5 bags of bedding and linens back to our flat)

and then a trip to "Walmart" which is called Asda here (carrying 5 bags of heavy kitchen supplies, like dishes, mugs, pots, pans, etc. and the coolest duvet covers ever)

we had had a pretty good workout and were ready for our first meal in our new flat...pizza!

We also tried to wash all of our bedding before we slept on it...that was a challenge and a half.  First off because the washer is so small we could only wash our 2 sheets and some socks in the first load, second the wash cycle took about 2.5 hours (which we didn't realize when turning it on) then third, because the washer is also the dryer, we couldn't start another load while the sheets were drying and people don't really dry clothes in dryers here so they don't really work and it took FOREVER to get the sheets dry enough to sleep on.

We had a GREAT sleep our first night in our beds though, so it was worth it.

Message us if you want our address :)

Just in case you want to send us anything...just a thought :D

Sunday, we got our passes for the leisure center near us.

We also met up with a friend that we graduated who is here with her sister and did an IKEA trip,

then still carrying all that stuff went into London to their hostel to get their stuff because they are staying with us for a few days, then we all trekked down to our place carrying 5 suitcases, a full IKEA bag, a clothes drying rack, and a clothes rack.
We ordered in pizza that night.

So, Monday was our first day as supply teachers in London.  Here's a little run down on how this works...
So, unless we're booked beforehand, every morning we need to make our way to the train station for 7:15.  We are to wait outside the train station (so that we have a strong signal) until we are called with a job.  We need to wait there until 9:30 at which point we may leave but need to be able to get back quickly because we can still be called for the afternoon by 11.  So when you receive your call you get on the train they tell you and wait for a text explaining the rest of the directions and where and what you'll be teaching.

So anyways, I had been booked on Friday so I knew where I was headed, and Sam had her first experience with the morning call.
We headed to the train station together in the morning at which point we separated ways, for essentially the first time since we arrived.

I got on the train right away, had to transfer once, and then walk to the school...the whole trip took about 1 hour. So I arrived, met my contact person, got taken down to the science wing office and left with the head of department to show me around.  I got my keys and was told not to leave them anywhere because the students would "nick" them. 

I was also told to leave anything that I didn't need in the office.  He took me to the classroom showed me the plans and the books then left me to look through them.  I was to assign them pages to read, take notes on, and answer questions at the end.
So I read through it all (all Chemistry) and felt ok with it.  So I started the day with a homeroom type class that I wasn't even supposed to have but the teacher who was hadn't shown up.  So took attendance, or register,  and then they just read for the 10 minutes.
First block, Year 10 group 1 (grade 9)...they were quite chatty, no one really wanted to do this, had been working out of a book for 2 weeks while their teacher was on paternity leave, but nothing major.  The language used in all the classes through me a bit.
Second block, Year 10 group 2...same thing basically.
Break
Block 3, Spare-asked if I should help anywhere, got told to take the break
Block 4, Year 11 class 1 (gr. 10) and this is where stuff started to get interesting.  I had students having inappropriate discussions, drawing private parts on each other, just straight up not listening and not caring.
Lunch
Block 5, Year 11 class 2, basically the same, had a student emailing the police about her home life (mentioned that to the office after school, apparently she's a drama queen)
And finally, Block 6, Year 9 (gr 8).  This one almost broke me.  It started with a boy taking puffs from one of the girl's inhalers, me asking him to give it back and go sit down, his saying he didn't have to...continue back and forth me trying to explain it's a medical device and he can't do that...and him finally getting up in my face, standing tall (a few inches taller than me), telling me to make him. So I was pissed and trying really hard not to cry.  The girl who's inhaler it was had been egging him on and was now making rude comments, etc, then her friend tossed her pencil case our the window and asked if she could go get it.  I said no, she threw it out and wasn't using it anyways so she could get it after school, then with her friend's help and encouragement climbed out the window to get it.
Bell goes, they all leave, Science Admin person comes in to ask me about my dad...said that I had 3 in the last class that gave me some trouble and without hesitating she named them and said she didn't know how they still had strikes left.
I left a detailed note for the teacher and ran out (forgetting to get my form signed, got all the way to the train and had to go back).
I left feeling frustrated, pissed, hurt, and upset.


Sam's day was a little bit different...
About 10 minutes after Lisa caught the train I got my first call...Reception (pre-K, 4-5 year olds)! Hopped on the next train for my 30 minute commute.

I walked in and met the Head Teacher (Principal) who took me to my classroom and looked for plans but found none...the Deputy Head (VP) was called in to write out the schedule for the school and told me that my TAs would be in within 10 minutes and they would know most things. But both my TAs were running late and I was left to my own devices...what do 4 and 5 year olds do at school?!
So we started with puzzles after doing register...we were late for morning assembly. Oops.
There were some prayers and cross signs (it was a Catholic school) and the kids kept looking at me to lead them...I didn't really know what I was doing.
Then we returned to the class for word centers until morning break.
After recess a literacy teacher came in so I got a prep...very nice.
Then math centers...counting!
Then it was lunch. I had to line them up and they did lunch prayer...it's a good thing they knew it, because I did not.  Then we walked into the lunch room and was instructed to let them go 6 at a time.  Then all of a sudden there were more kids in my line...and apparently it was my job to send in all of the students...there were some tears.
Once they were all through and seated I got to have my lunch.
After lunch they had an hour of music...another prep!
And then finished the day with stories...I read them Chester.

Thank goodness for good TAs and a lot of preps.  It was a great first experience teaching in London, even without plans.  But I need to find my stern voice.


Day 2 neither of us were booked in advance so we headed to the station and waited.
I got mine first and was sent into Wimbledon for a year 6 (grade 5) class.

It was a wonderful day.  The kids were great, the school was lovely.  I had lesson plans, taught some math (area), literacy (starting to write group stories based of a novel Barrowquest that has options for how the story will end), guided reading, PE (gymnastics...balances and headstands), and finished the day with a discussion about going to high school, their worries and feelings about it, they wanted to know about school in Canada and then just asked me a ton of questions about myself and Canada...then I read them Chester.  It was a great school and a much better day.  Hope I get to go back again soon.

Sam's day started with a call at 8:10...an hour after we arrived at the station.  She was told to get on a train for a reception class again, but further away.  So off she went...only to get a call around 8:30 telling her to get off the train (which she did) and to get on another to London Victoria (which was the train she had just gotten off...luckily it was still there so she just got back on) and she was going to be teaching year 4 (grade 3) now.  So she was back on the train...then she got another call at 8:45 switching her again...now nursery and it would take an hour to get there...so she was going to be late.  So she got to London Victoria to get on the tube...but the tube station was closed because "somebody was down and in need of assistance"...this held her up a bit but reopened within 10 minutes, so off she went again. She arrived around 10 and walked into a class of 3-4 year olds. 

She had a morning group and then an afternoon group and was there with 2 other teachers.  She sang songs, read stories, and hung out with the little ones all day...AND gets to go back tomorrow!

So, other than my high school experience (which apparently I'll be getting a lot more of)...we've had a great few days. 

Thanks for waiting for this post...we love seeing how many people have viewed it :)

Lisa and Sam

We out.


P.S.  We tried to upload our video tour of our flat but it was too big so took way too long...so we'll work on getting it up, or taking pictures instead. :)

End of Week 1...Crazy Rollercoast of Emotions this week.

Tuesday was going to be a good day...we decided this after our horrible Monday.
We had a viewing at a really cool looking place to start our day, and a few more later in the day.  And in between we were going to go visit my friend Andrea (who moved here in September...ALONE!) and get our SIM cards which we had gotten sent to her.

So, we head off, super excited for our viewing...and the trains are delayed. Twice.   We felt SO bad, and were panicking that the agent was going to leave, so we ended up borrowing a phone off a random woman to just call and say we were on our way.
When we finally arrived at the station, Sam's running training began as we basically ran from the platform to the flat.
When we turned the corner onto the road the building was on we fell in love...

We came up to it and the agent met us at the door to let us in.  The inside of the building itself was just as cool as the outside...giant archways and a tower.

We went into the flat and it was big (like apartments at home size, not the shoe boxes that we had been finding here).  The agent was super nice and answered all our questions, told us a lot about the situation and why it was the price it was, and then had to take a phone call.  As soon as he left the room Sam and I turned to each other and said "we have to make an offer NOW!"  We learned our lesson about waiting.
When he came back we said we'd like to make an offer...starting a bit lower than we thought they'd go but saying that if they said no to bump it up to halfway between the asking price and our first offer.  He thought they'd take the mid-range one.

So off we went on our day, filled with excitement, and fingers crossed we'd hear back soon.

We headed up into London, to the little cafe Andrea works at.  Got to visit for a few minutes then she handed us our SIM cards and the wifi password and we got to work activating our SIM cards.
Within 20 minutes WE HAD REAL PHONES!!!  London numbers, unlimited data and texts, free calls between phones with our company, free incoming calls, and 250 other minutes...all for
£12/month (about $21/month)!!!  So cheap and so awesome.  We felt like real people again, and it's SO much easier to be looking for a house, trying to get references, and starting work with a phone that doesn't need wifi.  

We heard back, our first offer was declined...fingers crossed the second is accepted.

We headed back down for 2 more viewings.  We were really early for the first one so we wandered a bit and saw a really cool elementary (primary here) school nearby. 
We got back to the property about 5 minutes early and waited...and waited...and waited...and waited.  We were just getting ready to leave, because we had another appointment, when the agent arrived.  Almost 20 minutes late!  And then the keys he had didn't work. So we didn't see the flat.  
Next flat was the one that we had waited for in the pouring rain the night before.  We met him out front and looked around.  It was nice, nothing wrong with it.  Great location, less than a block from the train station.  Good size, kitchen, 2 rooms, bathroom, living room.  But it just didn't make us want to live there...and we still had our morning place on our minds.  But it was a runner up if the offer fell through.

We finally got a call from the agent saying that our second offer had been accepted, but he had a viewing that night.  We needed to put a deposit down to ensure that we got first dibs. 

Then it was Dixie Chick serious.

We raced back to our place as fast as we could...and of course we weren't really paying attention in our hast to get home and OOPS! we got off a stop too early and the next train was about 20 minutes later.  

We did finally make it back and put our deposit down.  Then came the really fun part...references and forms.  
We had to sign a bunch of stuff and fill out a 9 page document with references, addresses, etc.  We were told that we only needed my form because I was going to be the "leading tenant".  So we start filling it out, figuring out the information, contacting people to make sure information was correct, and we almost finished when it decided to close itself.  So we started over again.  Finished, sent.  Sigh of relief.

OH WAIT!!! NOT YET!!!  Fast forward to mid-day Wednesday.

We're out and about, feeling pretty good, then we got a call saying that they couldn't start processing until they had Samantha's forms...WHAT?!   So we had to get home to use the computer to fill out Sam's 9 page form.  And what do you know...my computer decides that when Sam is almost done, it's a great time to shut off to do some updates.  We were just having all the luck.

So the forms got filled out, they had all the information that they needed from us, now they just needed to contact our references and it was ours!

We were feeling good, headed out onto the town to meet up with Andrea and her friend for dinner and a drink.  So wonderful to be reunited.

Thursday morning (we woke up early again) we decided to have a nice, relaxing morning and watch a movie before we headed out to do some touristy things before going to Meghan and Marina's to check out their place, visit, and get our bank stuff. 

Throughout the movie we got a couple calls...the first was the Inventory Agent saying that he will be meeting us at our property at 2:00 on Saturday to go through the place with us and give us our keys (we got really excited about this), the second was someone seeing if I could work in the afternoon (not in a teaching mindset or was I able to).  We finished our movie, headed out, and that is when shit hit the fan.  First we get an email from our letting agent saying that emails with forms had been sent to our references but hadn't been sent back...nothing can move forward without those.  So we got on the phone and tried to get in contact with our work reference here in the UK...that was a nightmare.  4 people and 4 hours later we finally get a really helpful person who makes sure that our forms are at the top and will be responded to within 10 minutes...and they were.  So we think we're all set...NOPE!  Then we get an email saying that we need to get them basically £2400 by closing the following day (it was already around 4:30 PM) in order to finalize and actually get our keys Saturday.  THAT'S A LOT OF MONEY!!!  It's our first month's rent, damage deposit, and a whole ton of fees that they have to pay here.  Plus we've already put a £500 holding fee which has been deducted from the total amount. 

Neither of us have money in our UK accounts yet because we've just gotten them set up and didn't have our cards yet.  It's all in our Canadian accounts in Canadian currency, so we're thinking it should be that bad to wire the money over into our UK accounts. We'll deal with it in a bit...we needed to get up to the girls' place to get our bank cards.

We had a nice visit with Marina and Meghan, got to see their place (which is really cool), and Sam got her card (mine hadn't come yet).  While we were there though they were saying how hard it had been for them to get the money to pay for their place because it takes 5-7 business days to wire money from Canada!!  UH OH!  So then we became a little frantic...how could we get our money out and over here another way.  How about taking as much out on all our cards as we can?  Sure...nope.  Doesn't work. Limits on machines and cards (in Canadian funds) cause a lot of problems with that. So now we are freaking out.  

Our wonderful mothers and fathers are amazing and were our saviors in this whole ordeal.  They dealt with everything for us on the Canadian end because we couldn't get our phones to make calls to Canada, and moved money for us and eventually wired us overnight money.  We love and appreciate them so much.

So this morning we're feeling better because the money has been wired overnight, and all we had to do was get it out and put it straight in the bank to transfer to our agency to pay for our flat.  We planned to do this in the afternoon.

We had a meeting with our work company here, Engage Education, to start our day.  We had figured out how to get there (1.5 hours on 2 trains) and set out on our first train...get to our transfer spot and it was major busy!  So of course we try to get on the train we need to get, and it is so full the doors can barely shut, and we can't get on.  We just don't have good luck with trains.  

So now we get to figure out a different train (because the direct one only comes every hour), and end up taking about 5 to get there because they ended too early or are delayed or we get off at the wrong stop or whatever else.  It really just isn't working well for us.  We get there on time though (good thing we left ourselves lots of time).  We got to figure out how our jobs are going to work as supply teachers (TOCs) here...it's super weird.  And we met some other girls our age who also came over from Canada and graduated in June.

So work is figured out, we start Monday, we then go to the contracting/payroll company down the road to make sure they have all our information so we can get paid, and then we head back down to Clapham Junction to pay for our flat.

We aged (and so did our mothers probably) about 10 years in these next 2 hours.  Got to the money store, gave them the code, this code is not valid, called and got coded again, right code, still not valid...start freaking out.  So we split up...I go back to our place to get any money we have there (we'd taken chunks out last night) and Sam stayed to try to make some calls and get the transfer figured out.  I made record time from Clapham to our place and back, and when I was about 2 stops away Sam texted and said that it had been figured out (a hold had been put on it because of the large amount and overseas distance, they assumed fraud) so we had money.  I met her at the bank, we deposited the money, made the transfer, and TA-DA we have a place to live in London!!!  Tomorrow night will be the greatest night ever. Stress-free and in our own place, Can't wait.

So we went for dinner to celebrate at the Slug and Lettuce...had a really nice meal and a FABULOUS dessert.

And then headed back to our room for our final night and to write this.

Oh and I got my first call...Monday I will be teaching high school science about as far away from our place as possible...Sam will be getting her first wonderful morning call experience as a TOC...I'm so proud.

To finish on a happy note...funniest moment of our day today was at our Engage Info Meeting this morning.  One of the guys wanted to try to start work early in a different area for next week before he moved in and Joel, our consultant, said something about introducing him to the consultant for that area and then said "he's the one that looks kind of like Ryan Gosling" and pointed and immediately, without hesitation, all 5 of the girls in the room turned around in our chairs to see. 

Thanks for reading and feeling our pain...tomorrow's post will be happy and amazing because you'll get to see our new flat!!!  Can't wait to see what you all think of it!

Lisa and Sam

We out.

The Flat Hunt

OK...the first 24 hours might have been chaotic, but these past couple days have been incredibly draining.
So, we made it until 10 PM Friday night, but lo-and-behold 3 AM called to us again and we were both WIDE AWAKE, but didn't realize that the other person was awake too so it was a very boring 2 hours of lying in bed awake.  At 5 we finally realized we were both up so snuggles might have happened again...

and then we were both hungry, so 6 AM in bed sounded like a great time to have some yogurt.

It was a long day after this...
Saturday was start to finish flat viewings...I think there were 6.  They tend to start melding into 1 so it's hard to keep straight.

Because we were up so early we decided to get an early start on the day... our safe breakfast at the cafe, then on the train to Clapham Junction to see how long the journey to Streatham Hill (not said like is looks like it should be, it's been a problem)  where our first 2 viewings of the day were.  It ended up not taking very long at all so we were there about an hour and a half early. 

We wandered around, found both the properties we were viewing (about 3 blocks from each other...we didn't need the 1.5 hour break in between, oops), wandered some more...then stood awkwardly in front of the place for the last 10 minutes waiting for the agent.
The place was nice, the agent was really nice and ended up talking to us about the Canucks and Vancouver Olympics hockey...he's Slovakian so he knew Demitra played for the Canucks and some stop Luongo made against him in the Olympic hockey game?  Anyways, super nice guy.
So then we had an hour and 20 minutes before our next viewing, so we headed to our favourite location...coffee shop with free wifi.  This one was called I <3 Coffee...We had tea.

So emails were sent, wifi was used, tea was drank, then off we went again.
Second viewing was good...a bit too expensive, but nice.  They had the funniest thing ever in it...a dryer bunny.  Essentially a blown up, parachutey material bag, on a hanger/wire stand thing that fills with hot air and dries your clothes...so a weird clothes dryer.  No one has dryers here so it was strange, but so funny looking.

So then we had almost 3 hours to kill so...Starbucks for free wifi it is!
We had 3 viewings in the Wimbledon area that were all way too expensive for us, but 2 were so cool that we decided we had to make offers on anyways, so we low-balled and offered what we were hoping to get the other places for. So far it isn't working.

We then had a final viewing out in Mordon to finish off our day.  It was a cool property, but pretty far from transportation...it's still in the running though.

Saturday night we decided just to go to sleep when we were tired and ended up being around 9.
We had a pretty good sleep that night actually...we figure because of 3 things. Melatonin, being absolutely exhausted, and because Sunday was a relaxing day because none of the agencies were open.
So Sunday was wonderful...I woke up at 6 (a solid 9 hours isn't bad) and Sam made it to 8 (woot! 11 hours).

We took our time getting ready, then headed out to be tourists.  Our first trip on the tube

as we headed up to London Bridge (is falling down...) walked along the river for a bit because apparently London Bridge isn't really near London Bridge Station, who knew?  So we wandered along the Thames, past the Tower of London

saw a building that looked like an armadillo

a tall, long triangle

and the bullet building

...very cool mixture of modern and old buildings here.

And finally got to the bridge. 

Didn't walk across this day, but went under and took pictures. Then it was time to head to Big Ben to meet Meghan (a fellow Canadian teacher friend from school...she's been here since September with another friend of ours). 

We got there a bit early so we wandered a bit, got some food and tried to get wifi.  When we met up with her we walked past Big Ben, the parliament buildings, and Westminster Abbey...all very old, very cool looking buildings.

Then did a long lap around, and ended up walking past the London Eye and even further up the Thames to a coffee shop to sit and have a good chat.
It was a much needed relaxing day.  We got home, sent a few more emails, set up some viewings for the next day and went to sleep.

Today was not a very good day.
It started with a meeting at Barclays Bank to open accounts (which was the highlight of the day).  So we are now proud owners of UK bank accounts, woot.

Happy us at the beginning of the day. First Class Train Car

After this everything went downhill...
We had viewing set up for after our bank meetings, and both cancelled last minute. We decided to make an offer for the first one we saw Saturday and had a meeting set up for that, we set up a viewing for 6:30 at night (bad call...it's dark out) and a bunch for the next couple days just in case.  I wish we could say we didn't need the "just in case" but we did.  As we showed up for our meeting we saw that he was with a couple, so we walked past joking that it was probably our flat that they were making an offer on...and we were right. We sat down and he told us he was sorry but they had made an offer so it was off the market unless the offer was rejected (which is unlikely).  So crap...back to square 1.
Well at least we had a viewing in a couple hours...during this time we looked at and emailed another 100 places (no idea how many exactly but that feels low) and booked some more viewings.  We headed out to our viewing that night and what do you know...it had started to rain and was currently pouring (with thunder).  We were definitely not prepared for this so had to stop at a dollar...sorry 99 pence store to pick up a couple of umbrellas.  We were also starving so decided that we'd make a quick stop for some food.  Bad decision.  We ordered a pizza, was supposed to take 5 minutes.  After about 15 we decided to ask...apparently our pizza was burnt and another was being made. We did not have another 10 minutes.  We ended up running out with a burnt pizza in a box.
It was pouring rain, dark, and we had no idea where we were going or how far it was.  We ended up being a minute or 2 late (EEEKKK!!! Not a good thing for either of us when we're already stressed out) and then not knowing exactly where to meet this agent because there were 2 entrances to the station we were supposed to meet at, and the flat was just across the street (above a garage or little store, we aren't sure).  So we waited 25 minutes then finally gave up and headed back to our little room to eat our now cold, burnt pizza, figure out our plan of action for tomorrow, and cry ourselves to sleep.

Just kidding.

End of the day...really not so happy.

We are excited to be in London on our adventure and know that we'll find a place soon...we hope.

Keep you posted,
Lisa and Sam.

We out.