Woke up in the morning to go to church, went down and turns out Hannah, Liz and their friend Laura were mingling about. No plan to go to church in the morning but Hannah mentioned wanting to go to the evening service instead. As I was already running a little behind (and I hate walking into church, class, or basically anywhere LATE) I decided the evening service would be a good change. We ended up taking Laura to Chiquitos (becoming a fairly regular spot for us) for Sunday morning brunch. I gorged out on the hash browns (sooo delicious). In the afternoon, Laura wanted to visit the Sea City Museum so I used my wanting to go as well as an excuse to tag along. Actually, pretty much all of Camp Canada was out-- what a great group activity. The Sea City Museum is basically totally "Titanic" oriented. Which makes sense, as the Titanic did sail from Southampton and it had an immense impact on the economy! After we walked through the museum area, we ended uo in the gift shop (don't worry, mum, I didn't buy anything), upon entering the museum and also around town, we'd seen advertisements for another exhibit called the "Soldier's Path" centring about soldiers in the World Wars. Walking through the gift shop, Maggie asked if I wanted to join her to check out the Soldier exhibit, apparently peoples were just walking through (we'd originally thought you needed to pay more). Who could resist that? So we ended up walking around another exhibit for 10-15 minutes. When we came out, everyone had gone without a text or anything. We walked around to the library thinking they might be there... nothing. In the end, we messaged them and turns out they'd left for ice cream. By the time we joined them for ice cream, Laura had already left for the train. Too bad I didn't get to say goodbye. I felt a little hurt that they'd all left without even mentioning it to Maggie or I. I find lately I'm struggling with where I fit in this group. Everyone is so wonderfully funny and I enjoy their company immensely, but sometimes I feel like a tag along running behind them, like an after thought. These thoughts are only magnified by the fact that this past week I've been having trouble sleeping (waking up with constriction and pain in my chest.) As I'm sure everyone can relate, when not sleeping or sleeping poorly, emotions can run high. After the museum, Liz and I watched a few episodes of Grimm while I sat with my hot water bottle as my chest had the pain again.
Hannah and I walked up to the city centre to church for 6 o'clock. When we got there, we realized we were half an hour early! The service had lots of youth integrated into it. While I didn't necessarily know the songs, I enjoyed the beat. As we were leaving, we were approached to join a newcomers group. We gave them our information and spent some time sharing about our Canadian-ness, etc.
Once home, I chatted with my parents and was ready for bed. Anne and I had discussed chatting tonight but I think she was still napping when I tried to call. At this point, I don't have a booking for Monday morning... wouldn't it be nice to have a day off.. haha
Monday...
Got the call to go into a new school today at 7:16 am. The call was to go into a year 3 class in Shirley, an area I've never been to before. I started the walk into city centre with the intention of walking the whole way but soon realized that just wouldn't work at all-- I'd never make it on time! So I was able to jump on a bus (wow, never thought I'd say that!) and got myself out to the school. They were very welcoming and I had a lot of support throughout the day. The icing on the cake was that Anne texted me around noon asking to video chat when I was home. I managed to leave school AS SOON AS the kids were done and I was home by 4. That will definitely never happen again! Had a wonderful chat with my BBF for a little over an hour. It was so good to catch up with her ad hear about her trip to Scotland and adventures of the past few weeks that we haven't chatted. It was tough to hang up with her, though. She was heading out to meet her mum and I was heading out to the No. 4 (as usual). It was good that I was kept busy after hanging up with her as I'm sure my emotions would have overrun me!
Tuesday...
Had my usual Tuesday booking at the same school for every Tuesday morning. It was nice to see those kids again after missing them for the past two weeks with other books that came in. After Maggie and I left the school, we stopped for some lunch at Bella Italia. I was never really a sandwich person before but now that I've tried toasted paninis here, I LOVE THEM! Especially with Tomato... yes you read that right, I eat tomato on my sandwiches. Some of you may be wondering why this is such a feat for the girl who loves ketchup, but it truly is. My Aunt, I'm sure, can attest to the fact that tomatoes kind of freak me out with their squishiness etc. After a late lunch, we wandered into EE to check about using our phones in Ireland (turns out we're both going with our friends that are coming to visit.) I have tried not to think about Darcie's visit here too much because I would get too excited and I wanted to take it one day at a time but beginning to think about Ireland on Sunday has me quite excited and looking forward to half term! I got home for a little bit but then headed out again to my 5 o'clock doctors appointment which I made last Wednesday. I'm glad that I kept the appointment because the pain has been coming and going. I ended up waiting over half an hour and then met with the Dr, who apically dismissed me saying that it was indigestion. I understand that it's hard to diagnose when the pain is not currently happening, but I can pretty much assure you that it is not indigestion. After leaving from that appointment, I was feeling a little teary (such is the day) and decided to walk down by the water as it was fairly nice, though windy, out. Actually, it was QUITE windy today! I sat for a few minutes down by the water, and cried a bit to myself. As I walked home, I decided to stop in at the No. 4 to get a hot chocolate to take away (that's British for "to go"). As I was leaving, I noticed Hannah and Liz sitting on the couches playing Banana grams. I sat with them and ended up walking home with them. As the night was still early, I ended up hanging out with Liz in her place and then we had a "future housemate meeting". We discussed who gets what room, bed sizes, etc. I took the single bed as I don't plan on having any visitors and I'm fairly accustomed to a single bed, though I have grown to enjoy my double bed currently. Oh well, a bed is a bed. Hard to believe our move in date is approaching quickly!
Wednesday...
At midnight, I rolled over in pain and ended up boiling the water for my hot water bottle. By 3 am, I was awoken again with pain. I couldn't sleep and felt very isolated so I called home. my mum answered (only being about 10 for her) and we chatted for an hour. It felt nice to cry to her about the pain, about how I've been feeling and just talk things out with her. There are times we don't see eye to eye about many things including money (eh, mum!?) but she's my mum and even just chatting with her brings me some inner peace. She asked if I was booked in for a school today and I told her yes but that I'd booked Friday off to catch up on sleep and do errands before meeting Darcie. In the morning, about 7, I was headed to a school that allowed me to catch the bus at about 7:40, woohoo a sleep in! The class was a little chatty (I've come to expect that from British classes) but I enjoyed my time with them. When I got there in the morning and was waiting to be told what class I was going to, I noticed Hannah arrived as well... And then Rachel's friend Natasha whom we'd met on Sat. It was nice to have people to share my lunch hour with! Over the morning break, I got a call from TimePlan about a potential long term job. When I called them, Natalie told me that the school wanted to meet with me on Thursday and Friday but she saw that I'd booked Friday off... When I explained to her my reasoning, being as sweet as she is, she began to suggest various anxiety remedies that had worked for her. In the end, I ended up cancelling my Friday off.
On the way home, Hannah and I stopped at the pharmacy for the "Kalms" that Natalie had suggested. It ended up being a fairly early night. Alex and I ended up watching some "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" for about an hour and I was ready for bed by 9. Technically could've gone to bed earlier but wanted to push it back to ensure I'd sleep through the night!
Thursday...
I managed to find the school alright. I got to catch the bus at about 7:30 so a slight sleep in. Hey, I'll take anything I can get! Turns out the class I am to be in has just changed rooms as their old room is being renovated, the TA will be out of the room today, and there was a random P.E. survey that wasn't on my lesson plan...The new room that we're in has very high ceilings so it echoes, and there's the humming of a fan! The day was alright, it was a year 3 class and I enjoyed the maths and english lessons I got to do with them. I just found them to not be very good listeners. The TA told me that they'd been like that all week! Holy crow! I really made an effort to learn the student's names, knowing I'll be here tomorrow. And I also enjoyed coming home, knowing what the basic outline of the day would be for tomorrow. Before going to bed tonight, I was on pinterest finding some activities they could do with their 100s square investigation on patterns. Liz messaged me saying we all needed to meet with the letting agency to sign the contract (thankfully, we didn't all need to be there at the same time). So, after I bussed back into the city centre from Shirley, I headed out in the opposite direction to Portswood! Guess who was getting off the bus I was about to get on? Liz and Hannah, they'd just come from signing! When I got there, I found Jesse and he and I ended up walking home together and stopping for some food. It was a nice walk, and I got to know Jesse a little better. Tonight, there was live music at the No. 4, I went for a little bit with the girls but left early as I was feeling tired.
Friday...
Today, I managed to drag myself out of bed. Turns out, Liz booked today off (I'm very jealous!!!). I missed my bus by a minute or so and was forced to wait 20 minutes for the next one to come. I just arrived at the school at 8:10 and the kids come in at 8:30! The morning went well. I ended up teaching the maths lesson twice. Once to "my" group and then again to the other year 3 group when the other teacher took my group. The second time is always better, but both times I found the kids focused on the colour patterns on their 100s square, rather than the numeric patterns. At lunch, I had a student come in and ask if I was a specific girl's teacher, when I said yes, he told me that she was annoying him on the playground and he was going to hit her. When I told him I understand its frustrating that people annoy us, but is hitting the right response, he kept talking and wasn't listening to what I had to say. After what felt like a long time of him rambling, he looked at me and said "I'm going to hit her anyway" and then ran out of the room... What was the point in asking me, kid!? In the afternoon, we had art, and I was able to get some marking done while the student's worked. With a little bit of extra time before the worship assembly, I taught them how to play "Heads Up, 7Up" They really enjoyed it but then we ran out of time. The assembly went well but the kids were not sitting very nicely. I was so ready for the end of the day when it came!! Hallelujah, it's half term and I've got my week off!!!!!!
Tonight, We've got the TimePlan social beginning at 6, and I am only staying for about 10 minutes as then I need to race off to the Coach Station so I can meet Darcie at Heathrow. Hard to believe it's time for her to be here! I'm so excited to see a familiar face from home (and to enjoy the treats she's brought me ha ha). I sped walked up to the coach station and then enjoyed a quiet 2 hour ride into London. The bus had wifi and it was great to keep myself busy. Aunt Marj. tried to FaceTime me while on the bus and though we did have a god short talk, I told her we'd chat soon. I managed to find my way up to the arrivals area recognizing a few of the sights along the way from when Alex and I flew in. I waited for Darc and it was so good to see her face come through the throngs of people!! We caught the coach home, not before getting Paninis at the bus station. By the time we got into Southampton it was coming up to 1 am. The cab picked us up and we made it home. I'm so excited for me week with my friend!
Saturday...
After having a late night with Darc, we slept in until after 9! The plan was to get to the bank, do laundry, and perhaps get my hair cut (all the while while Darcie slept) however, in action, that didn't necessarily happen. We did make it to the bank and I showed Darc around a little bit, we did do laundry but then the landlord wanted to meet us sooner rather than later so we all (excluding Jesse who was gone today) made our way over to the house. We walked into the house with it being in the same state as when we did our original walk through. During the original walk through, the estate agent had assured us the landlord would go through and clean the house, etc. Obviously we had some sort of miscommunication. So we ended up spending a few hours this afternoon cleaning! The room that has been designated as mine had some mould that I attempted to scrub away but will have to talk to landlord about. When I was chatting with Anne a few days ago, she said she hoped that I would have a clean house to move into. I think she jinxed me! So of course I had to text her about the state of the house when we arrived! It was good to have Darc to chat with while we cleaned, though I felt bad to subject her to that! I also figured out how to work the gas oven! Im in shock that the previous tenants would move out and leave the house like that?!?! We all left around the same time, but the girls walked ahead of us and Darc and I explored around the city centre for a bit, stopping for groceries on the way home about 5. We're ready to relax and plan our Ireland trip!
Had I been driving the Titanic, she never would have sunk!
Jesse shovelled coal! Tough job!
Learning Morse code.
I'm morse code proficient!
Part of the Solider's Path Exhibit
Looks fairly similar, I think!
Got a little silly.
Wrote my War Time postcard!
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