My booking was at the same school as I was at on Friday.. Liz and I caught the bus at about 7:40 am (another somewhat sleep in.. after a wild Sunday.. not!). It was rainy so we ensured that we got a return ticket! On the way, I realized I had a missed call from TimePlan.. Called them back using the redial on my phone and it called the London office! whattt? Liz and I also figured out that our regular Tuesday morning booking had been cancelled for tomorrow morning. Looking forward to having the day off tomorrow... perhaps! I got to the school and was shown to same classroom I was in on Friday.. I got there and the prep cover teacher was in. She told me that for the morning, I'd be an extra pair of hands-- great, fine by me :) And I'd be teaching in the afternoon. Then the regular classroom teacher walked in and the prep teacher said to her "well, this is supposed to be your supply," to which she replied, "I didn't call in." So I then went back to office to inquire about where I should be. I was then told I'd just be used as an extra set of hands in the classroom all day as they didn't want to send me home in the rain. Drats, haha! The day went by alright. At times I felt like an idiot because I wasn't quite sure what I was doing ex. One teacher told me not to keep the star job sheets, so as the kids handed them in, I checked off their names but didn't write their names on their sheets. I was then informed by the classroom teacher, that they keep everything.. great.. The day was alright though and I was able to leave pretty soon after as I didn't have any marking to do. Liz and I rode the bus back home and enjoyed chatting about random things like child names, etc. We stopped at a convenience store and found microwave popcorn!! We've been looking for this for a while. Next step will be trying it out!
Tuesday...
I thought I'd be able to have today off. I lay in bed and received the call-in at 7:30 am so a school I'd never been too! I was watching youtube videos on my phone when it began to ring. It was Natalie on the other end sending me into the year 6 class. I got to the school shortly after 8, and waited outside to be let in for over 10 minutes. A few teachers walked past me getting out of their cars and went around to the staff entrance. So I waited and waited and waited for someone to let me in while standing awkwardly there. The day was tough, I'm definitely not going to lie. It was a very multicultural school-- I couldn't pronounce most of the names, couldn't remember any names, yada yada yada.. At one point, I was leading the class out to break, and one student left the classroom before we were ready to leave classroom quietly, this student ran out of the classroom. I walked after him asking him to come back and he turned, looked at me and ran! The bugger ran! Not cool! It was just a lot of behaviour issues that I wasn't equipped to deal with... I definitely don't like the older grades. I was sure ready to leave once the day was over--I was at my wit's end!!
Luckily, I came home to a welcoming crowd though we didn't do much. I worked on the puzzle and did some knitting. After a tough day, it was wonderful to unwind!
Wednesday...
Today commenced my week long booking at the same school covering for another Canadian teacher (never met her before) who went back home for a wedding. Her job is to cover for various teacher's prep days. NQT (newly qualified teachers) get a whole day off for prep while teacher who have been working for a while get half a day off. Today I was in a year 4 class. I actually really enjoyed the class and the age group! Though I was a little intimidated when I was told I'd be teaching the french lesson "Quelle age as-tu?" It was alright.. I survived...! I find the mornings tough when trying to learn names because they break up the students into sets.. So I take the register (attendance) and then for maths they get sorted into their learning groups.. I taught the middle set (we talked about hr 3 timetable and then using partitioning in division- I enjoyed it!) So just as I was getting the hang on the names, it switched to literacy and a whole different set of students (some the same.) and we were working on similes based on colours "Purple tastes like a grape lollipop," etc. We had some interesting ones... "red is like cold blood.." thanks, kid... Just as I got used to that set, it was lunch and I had to hand out the dinner band for my ORIGINAL class. In the afternoon, I had the original class and it went well. Taught R.E.-- focusing on Vanesha... and french. I'm not knowledgeable enough to teach this stuff! The day was good though!
Thursday...
I was between two classes today. In the morning, a Year 3 covering SPAG (Spelling and Grammar) and Maths. In the afternoon, I was in Year 2 (it was a good afternoon). Wasn't too memorable, though I did enjoy my time there. As I was waiting for the bus, got a wonderful Facebook message from Jennifer wishing me a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people. Really looking forward to our Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend!! We're planning to cook a turkey, stuffing, and vegetables-- All the fixins.. And all without a working stove top of our own! Stopped at a little bakery on my way home from school to order buns for our Thanksgiving dinner. On a whim, I also ordered a nice looking loaf of bread. Wanted to make my own buns but don't have the room or the muffin tins for it, sadly!
Friday...
So close to the weekend!! Was in a year 3 class, and it went well! I really enjoy this age group, because they're not too "old" but yet I still enjoy teaching them! We covered RE- talking about Muhammad and his life in Medina and Mecca... I had no context to teach the kids... but I think we were able to fumble through it. On the way back from school, I picked up the buns, which the woman handed over to me in a large garbage bag. Walking to the bus stop carrying them was an experience! Once I returned home, it was a bustle of activity getting the turkey prepared to be cooked tomorrow and catching up with the friends of Camp Canada. The task for tonight was to finish the puzzle before our apartment becomes filled with people tomorrow! Unfortunately, didn't get finished but the goal is to finish tomorrow!!
Saturday...
Wasn't up too early but tried to make it a decent time as need to get work done on the puzzle! And we finished it around 11 o'clock. Alex designated herself as the turkey cooker so while I puzzled, she was basting the turkey. I quite liked the set up! I was on potato duty, once I was able to start preparing the potatoes, and the buns that I picked up yesterday. I really worked on my self control and waited to have a bun with the meal, and not a moment before! With such a build up to them, they were a bit of a let down and not as good as homemade (though nothing ever is! This is where my mother would insert a story about homemade butter tarts being much better than store bought..) The plan was for people to begin arriving around 3 so for the hour before, we were frantically running up and down stairs (the JOYS of enjoying flats so close to each other) borrowing utensils, cooking on other stoves, and mingling. It was a great time to have everyone over. I enjoyed catching up with Zoe and Ryan, Paige, Rachel, and numerous other friends as well as meeting new people! It was a very laid back atmosphere with LOTS of food and good amount of dessert as well! We ate, played heads up, had a few drinks, and relaxed. By 9, part of the group decided to go out to a bar. Maggie, Zoe, Ryan and Myself stayed back to relax and chat some more. That's more my style, the laid back atmosphere. I found out Zoe and Ryan had decided to take a day trip to Bournemouth (about an hour away by train) tomorrow and I weaselled my way into joining them!! After a long day of prep and build up, I was ready for bed about 11 and slept so well!
Sunday...
This was the first week I went to church on my own. I walked up, as usual, and entered the building at the same time as another woman. When it became obvious we were going to same place, she introduced herself and I ended up sitting with her. Once the service was over at 10:30, I quickly got out of there as I was meeting Zoe and Ryan at 11:30 at the train station. We got on the train to Bournemouth and as we were approaching the Christchurch platform, we heard an announcement alerting us to the slowing of the train due to a swan being on the track. As swans are technically owned by the Queen, there was not much we could do about it except to try to shoo it off the tracks. After about 10 minutes of waiting, we were told the swan had found its way onto the platform once again however now the power to the tracks needed to be shut off due to the fact that people had wandered onto them (trying to shoo the swan away, I guess?). So we sat for about 15 minutes or so waiting for the power to come back so we could continue on our way. Zoe and I attempted to get a picture of the offending creature (the swan) but never managed to capture the moment. We arrived in Bournemouth and walked into the city centre, not a long walk at all! We enjoyed walking around, seeing the sights, and stopping into a few different stores. Mostly, they were touristy places that had "London" plastered all over them. Seems to be a bit of a lie to send postcards and items home with London written on them when I haven't been there yet. Did manage to find a few postcards, can't wait to send them home! Bought a few gifts in preparation for Christmas, already! Woohoo! We found our way down to the waterfront and it was beautiful! While Southampton has more of a harbour front for the boats, Bournemouth has a beautiful beach and pier. We frolicked in the English Channel (was a little chilly and reminiscent of splashing around in Lake Superior around this time last year). As we walked out to the end of the pier, it began to rain but we still managed to enjoy the time (almost got on the zip line if it had been a few £s less! We ate a late lunch at a restaurant called "Harry Ramsdens" it boasted to have the best fish and chips-- I think Ryan was pretty impressed! We walked back to the train in the rain but had a wonderful afternoon! We got back to Southampton after 6, and I was glad to have my umbrella with me once we parted ways (earning to take it everywhere with me!). After such an exciting day, my night was spent watching a bit of television and relaxing in preparation for the week to start. I had a great chat with the famjam at the cottage AND the Stewart family as they were preparing their Thanksgiving dinner (such is our yearly tradition). It was great to connect with both families-- especially because I haven't had a chance to Skype with Erika or Emily for that matter yet! What a wonderful end to my night!
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