Over Half-Way There!

Hello All!

So our past 2 weeks have been a lot of fun...the weather has been getting nicer, the days longer, which makes it a lot easier to do things after work during the week.

Work-wise our 2 weeks haven't been too eventful.

First week Sam worked Wed-Fri last week:
Wednesday was high school (not the boys one she's usually at).
Thursday she had a nice break and got a reception class that I've had.  She had a nice day.
Friday she was back to high school...the one that made me cry!  It was not such a good day. When she got home she called our agency, to black list the school.

Last week she worked Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri all at the Boys Academy.
She's getting used to it and has had the same set of classes for this term so they're getting used to her too, which is good.  She's having a lot better time there now.

My weeks have been all over the place:
First week I worked Tues, Thurs, Fri (Wednesday I took off sick):
Tuesday was Reception for the morning then year 3/4 for the afternoon. Rec was great, 3/4s were crazy.
Thursday I was at my favourite primary school teaching PE cover. :)
Friday I was in a year 3 class in a really cool school and didn't start until 11:30. They didn't wear uniforms (first school I've seen that at) and all the teachers go by their first names.  I had a great afternoon with them and met a teacher who works there who happened to go to UVic and graduated the year before Sam and I so we had some mutual friends/acquaintances. It's a small world.

Last week I worked Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri (Wednesday I took off sick again. I've had trouble kicking this cold):
 Monday I taught reception. I was good.  We spent most of the day doing choice time. I learned that the number for 9-1-1 here is 9-9-9.  I think I knew, but had totally forgot.
The rest of the week I was in nursery.  I had a lot of fun.  All three were very different in how they're run and what the kids do, how long they're there, etc. But it was good.
Best part was Friday I was in another of my favourite schools and the kids in the reception and nursery classes remembered me...AND I got to play outside with them all day.  It was the best.  Got my first tan of the summer :)

So, to fill in the fun part of our 2 weeks:

A family friend (basically little sister) of mine came into London for a night, so we met her up in Victoria for a walk and then dinner before coming back to our place.  We took her up to see Buckingham Palace and the Wellington Arch.

Friday I ended up hanging out with her until I had to go to work and she had to catch the bus.  We headed up to visit Andrea at work for a bit, then ended up going to Primark for a quick shop (she had to see it) before parting ways.
Sam and I had an easy Friday night.  Saturday we met up with Brianne and Mary to go up to Camden Market.  We wandered for a bit, got some food, and got poured on for a while.
Sunday was Mother's Day back home so we decided to have a mother-less Mother's Day brunch.  We went to the girls' place and had Buck's Fizz (mimosas) and smoothie, hash browns, funny chocolate chip pancakes, fruit, and scrambled eggs.

Then we ended up just spending the rest of the day just chatting and hanging out.

This past week I wasn't feeling great so I didn't do much the first 3 days, on Wednesday when Sam didn't get called her and the girls went on a shopping trip.
Thursday we did an Underground Scavenger Hunt around central London with Brianne, Mary, and Alex.

We were the Crazy Canadian Supply Squad!

It was so much fun, even though we really sucked.  You had to read clues, figure out what station they were at and what exactly at each location you needed to find then take pictures.  We had a ton of fun, but really didn't do well on the big point ones. Oh well!

 
Friday we took it easy.
Saturday we did laundry then went to Primark in West Croyden. May have gotten some things including really awesome tanks with the union jack and CROYDON across the front.  Pretty sweet.
We came home after and then met up with Brianne and Mary to head up to the London Bridge area.  It was the perfect night.

It was so warm and sunny to start, we took tons of pictures, walked along the Thames, ended up getting some drinks and sitting out by the water (you can drink in public here).

Art made from old gum on the bridge

When it was starting to get dark (still warm!) we headed back towards the bridge to get some pictures with it lit up.

Again, tons of pictures, then headed home.
Today we grocery shopped in the morning then met the girls to go up to Hyde Park for a picnic.  It was so hot today!

We lay out in the sun, ate our lunch, chatted, played a paddle and ball game Sam and I got from the pound store, and got tanned/burnt, and finished with popsicles.  It was a great weekend.  Really starting to feel like summer...hope it stays like this.

We were really fortunate to meet these girls over here.  We've had so much fun with them and now have a couple of amazing friends in Ontario :)

 Oh, we also had mould in one of our bathrooms, so we got stuff and cleaned it up today.  Good times.

One week of teaching left until our week off and the Park Family arrives. Stay tuned for awesome adventures with the Parks!

Thanks for reading!

We out.
Lisa and Sam

We were on Cloud 9 (and ¾)

Hello All,

The past 2 weeks have been interesting for teaching for both of us, the 2 weekends have been great.

Sam has been working at the all-boys high school for the past 2 weeks, with a day off last Friday. She has been in with the same classes a lot so has finally made some connections with them.

I only had 1 day the first week back in the all-boys high school as well, had the other 3 days off.  Did stuff around the house, went into Piccadilly Circus and sent a bunch of postcards, exercised.  This past week I was in the same school for Monday, Wednesday, Friday teaching Year 3, Nursery, and Reception.  Nursery is super funny…little British rugrats (3-4 year olds). Tuesday I got a half day in the East that I had to bus for 2.5 hours, taught 2 year 6 math classes for 2 hours, then bused the 2.5 hours home.  Thursday I didn’t get called, got all the way home snuggled in for a cozy rainy day off then got a call for an afternoon in Westminster City teaching reception. 

Last weekend we took it pretty easy.  We went with the girls to Costco, did a bit of a grocery shop and got hot dogs.  

Sunday we went to visit one of the girls that is with our company who’s been in the hospital for a while. We then went up to a tattoo place to look into it.

This weekend is a long weekend and we were pretty busy. Friday night we went out with the girls from our teaching agency for a girls’ night.   

Saturday we started our day with laundry and did a big clean of our flat. We went up to Meghan, Marina and Cierra’s place Saturday night for Meghan’s birthday.  We hung out with them a bit before people got there, then we went out with them for a bit.    We had a lot of fun, didn’t stay out late but enjoyed ourselves.

Again, we didn’t stay late. It was fun to see all our friends (except Andrea) this weekend.

Sunday was one of our favourite days so far.  It was our Harry Potter day!  We met Meghan at King’s Cross Station to see Platform 9 ¾. 

Got to push the trolley onto the platform and check out the store. 

We took Meghan out for a birthday burger and then had McFlurrys for dessert before heading up to the Studio Tour.  There’s been a tube strike so some of the transit was messed up.  We had to take a bus out then a shuttle to the studio. 

The Warner Bros. Studio was amazing.  
The tour started off walking by the cupboard under the stairs set then walking into the Great Hall and finished with the huge scale model of Hogwarts and then the inside of Olivander’s wand shop where all of the cast has their name on a box.

We got to fly brooms...

Drive the flying car

Got to go on the knight bus


Walk on the Hogwarts Bridge

Knock on the door of number 4 Privet Drive

Drive Hagrid’s motorbike.

We saw so many cool things…sets, props, costumes, creatures, masks. We also got to have a butterbeer! It was really good…a soda with a foamy butterscotch on top.

All 3 of us were just blown away by the entire place. We ended up being there for about 3 hours and could have been there for longer than that easily.  We had a bit of a trek home, but had such a great day. 

The First quote walking in...

The last quote, walking out. It's home <3

 
Today Sam and I had to watch a Harry Potter movie so we started the day off with the Goblet of Fire, finished our laundry, grocery shopped, and will finish the day with the Order of the Phoenix.

We were glad to have the extra day this weekend. 

Thanks for reading.

We out.

Sam and Lisa