"I'm quitting to pursue my dream of no longer working here."

As you all know, this school year has basically been a nightmare for me. I'm glad it's over and wanted to do one last post about my final days working there to really paint a clear picture as to why it just wasn't the right place for me. I realize that I am not going to agree with everything at every school I'll ever work at. I am extremely flexible and very easy-going but I can only handle so much. Over the last few weeks of the school year, I kept hoping that the tension would ease up so that I could just enjoy my last days with the children. Unfortunately, that never really happened. Different events and things kept popping up which just made me more ready than ever to run out the door. Today's post will be about the day the video camera crew came, the day the dog came, and the day the skip came. After you read about these 3 tidbits, please know that it was just constant things like this happening ALL THE TIME.

Story 1 - The Day the Video Camera Crew Came: During our last couple of weeks, we were crazy busy trying to get things complete and ready to turn in or send home. It was a wild afternoon. I'm pretty sure it was raining because we definitely weren't outside and the kids were crazy. We were down 2 out of the 3 teachers and thankfully we had all of our TA's (a rare event!!).  Since we were down so many staff and it was pretty chaotic, I made the decision that we would tidy up a bit early and calm the children down with a story and maybe sing some songs in our own classrooms. We were just settling down and it was now about 2:15. We dismiss at 2:55. As soon as everyone was sitting on the carpet, a video camera crew comes through the door and says "Hi, we are here to film activities going on in Reception to make a promotional video about Reception." Just great. Activities weren't going on. In my opinion, if you are going to make a promotional video about Reception to encourage others to come to your school, you might want to let the teachers know that this going to happen so we can put forth our best effort to making everything look great. I don't like putting on a show, however; in this case we should have been warned that this was happening. Apparently, the head teacher didn't even know. It was the executive head that didn't bother to tell any of us. I was really embarrassed by the whole thing. If someone is coming around to see good practise and we've already cleaned up for the day, it doesn't look good on us. I'm over it now but at the time, it was just another thing not communicated to us that really should have been.

Story 2 - The Day the Dog Came: The underlying issue with this story also comes back to the issue of a lack of communication. Apparently there is a school dog. No one knew about this until the day it came around to visit at the start our our last day of phonics instruction. Not sure if it's actually a school dog or if that is what they are going with so it's actually allowed under health and safety rules. I have a child who is TERRIFIED of dogs. I would have loved the chance to say to my kids a little "By the way, a big black dog is coming around today with the head teacher. He's really friendly...blah, blah, blah." As much as teachers want to know what is going on, the kids do, too! Apparently it's been our school dog since April but he's been going through training and such. Who knows. If that is the story, an email should have gone round way back in April stating here is what's happening and we'll let you know when the dog is coming. Then the day before he came, we should have been warned. Again, I'm over it now but COMMUNICATION is so so important to me.

Story 3 - The Day the Skip Came: A skip is another word for a huge dumpster. It came the last few days of school and I figured it was just for some broke furniture and bits of rubbish during the final cleanup. I found out that the main purpose of the skip was to put ALL OF THE CHILDREN'S WORK FROM THE ENTIRE YEAR INTO IT BECAUSE APPARENTLY IT WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH TO SEND HOME?!?!?!?! How ridiculous is that??? The children in all year levels have different notebooks for maths, writing, homework, etc. Instead of sending home at the end of the year for parents to see the hard work, they all got tossed in the bin because it wasn't good enough. I realise that not all parents care to save everything but they should at least have the chance to look at it and make that determination themselves. I sent home an early morning jobs book that we had been doing with the children because I just figured we sent everything home. It's what I've always done and at this point, no one had said otherwise. I got told off for it since it wasn't a good representation of the children's work. No. It's not great, however, it shows where they started and if it was so crap to begin with...why did we waste our time and even make the children do it then in the first place???  I don't think I need to say anything else here. It makes me angry that this happens. They even had children lugging the bags of books out to put in the skip. Yes children, we really value all your hard work. Dump it now. Don't worry about sharing it with your parents. And to the teachers who marked it all and spent all that time grading and writing notes (there is a strict marking policy), thanks for taking ages to do all that but just throw it in the bin now. Oftsed is over so just throw it all in the bin. UGH! Enough said.

I could go on for days about the issues I have with this place, however, it's done now and over with. I couldn't be more happy to move on to whatever the next thing might be! :)

"Teaching is a work of heart."

I honestly can't remember how I came to the decision that I wanted to be a teacher. There isn't a standout teacher from my life that influenced me (while I had many good ones!) and there is no great back story so I won't pretend like there is. I have always enjoyed working with children. They are funny and loving and innocent. They don't judge. To this point in my career, is teaching everything I thought it would be? Probably not. I don't know what I thought was going to happen. I didn't expect unicorns and rainbows every day but to some extent I thought it would be easier. Not easy, just not so emotionally draining all the time. We (most of us) care A LOT. During my first year of teaching, I honestly had no clue what I was doing. Maybe I did but I sure felt lost. I think most first year teachers are in that same boat. Somehow we figure out how to survive the first year, hopefully the children learn something, and we move on. With experience comes confidence and better understanding. I enjoy teaching and I love the creative side of things. I like making things and coming up with new ideas (something I am definitely missing this year!!). Back in Horry County, it was normal for people to come in often and observe my teaching and talk with my students. When that first started happening I remember being really stressed about it. I like constructive feedback but it's in the nature of a teacher to worry. No one likes to feel judged and there is always a fear of doing something wrong. After a while, having people come in and observe didn't really phase me. I was used to it and so were the kids. Sometimes we would have special visitors (superintendent, math consultant, etc.) so we would "fluff" things up a bit to make it more of a WOW but for the most part we carried on as normal. Fast forward to today, teaching in the UK. At my school, this is not how things work. There are NEVER rainbows and unicorns. And so my story about OFSTED begins...

When I first started teaching here in the UK, Ofsted was a name that kept coming up over and over again. I'd like to bet that I am not the only American person that has no clue what Ofsted is. When you google Ofsted it says "Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills. We inspect and regulate services that care for children and young people, and services providing education and skills for learners of all ages. Ofsted is a non-ministerial department." I still wasn't really sure what this meant. Of course I asked lots of questions and the general idea is that basically every school in the UK is given a rating by Ofsted. Your school can be considered outstanding, good, requires improvement, or inadequate. From what I understood, if your school is rated good/outstanding, Ofsted would basically leave you alone for a few years before another inspection. If you are a requires improvement school you should expect another inspection at any given time. I have no clue about inadequate schools. Knowing how things work here, they probably shut it down and blow it up or something ridiculous. Kidding! (I think?) The way that it was presented to me by the heads of my school at the beginning of the year was that when Ofsted declared they were coming for a visit we would be given a days notice, stay late tidying and preparing for them and then endure several days of intense observations, meetings, questioning, etc. I was also told by my colleagues to definitely expect a visit from Ofsted this year. I believe the last rating of my school was a requires improvement score, even though Early Years (Reception) scored good to outstanding. We get our own score. The school thought Ofsted was coming the end of last year but since they didn't show, it was a given that at some point this year it would happen.

I was uneasy with the idea of Ofsted based on what I was told for several reasons. The way it was presented to me was that some random people that may or may not have ever taught in a classroom would be coming to make judgements about me and my teaching methods based on a single day of observations that could last up to only a few minutes long. I was also under the impression that when Ofsted comes for a visit, we "fluff" data percentages and "put out the good China as if the Queen was coming for tea." If you are a teacher reading this then you know exactly how I am feeling at this point. I completely disagree with making up data and doing anything different from a normal day just because a visitor is coming, especially if the visitors are coming to see a normal day. Yes, we might tidy up a bit more and yes, we might go the extra mile to make our lessons more engaging, BUT I think certain things should be done every day and we shouldn't make it all up and do things out of the ordinary. As I said earlier, I don't mind people giving feedback about my teaching. I like to have feedback both positive and negative. This year there has very rarely been anyone in to watch me teach. Maybe 2 or 3 times. This means that no one truly knows who I am as a teacher. If Ofsted were to come in on a day where maybe it wasn't a good lesson or some kind of drama was going on, no one would be able to fight my corner and explain that it was just a one off and no one would know that I am actually not a terrible teacher. I don't like that. Anyway, as this year has gone on and we didn't have "the call," I think tension started to build and we had a staff meeting all about Ofsted because we knew it was coming at some point and hopefully sooner rather than later.

The meeting about Ofsted was basically to explain how it would all work. Ofsted would call the day before, no later than 12 noon and speak to the head, ask questions, request parking spaces and ask for lunch to be provided. The executive head of our school is actually an Ofsted inspector so you would hope that he would have our school fully prepared as he knows exactly what they are looking for. He explained to us that Ofsted inspections would be 2 days long. They would never call on a Thursday or Friday because they don't give schools weekends to prepare and they need 2 full days for observations. On the first day of observations, several inspectors would come round, in and out of our rooms all day observing us, questioning us and the children, and taking in the environment. The second day they would look at evidence, books, and follow up with anything they may have missed from the first day. Their visit would also include talks with parents, school governors, and a teacher and parent online survey. Our head told us that when they call, he didn't want us staying late to put up new displays and tidy everything. He said he would rather the focus be on making sure we have good solid lessons planned. Ofsted don't look at lesson plans. The meeting ended and several weeks went by before we finally had THE CALL.

On a Tuesday right before half term (for my American friends, half term is a week off from school!), we found out that Ofsted was coming to visit us on Wednesday and Thursday, our last 2 days before the break. We had no school on Friday, it was just before a holiday so great freaking timing...of course. I wasn't really nervous because I wanted to continue on as always. I didn't want it to be a song and dance. They were looking for what we do every day and that is what the score should be based on. Because this whole idea of Ofsted is still completely crazy to me, it didn't really affect me like it did many others. People were staying at school til 10 at night, they ordered pizza for those that were going to stay late to get things together and ready, and on the first day Ofsted were there the parking lot was full by 7 am which NEVER happens. I'm all for doing your best and showing off what you can do but it really puts A TON of pressure on teachers.

On Wednesday morning we met with the 3 Ofsted inspectors and already the lead inspector made me realize that I had the total wrong impression of Ofsted...sort of. She really put me at ease and made clear that they weren't coming to judge us as individual teachers. It was an overall picture of the school that they were looking at. Basically, they would look at what we were teaching (more so the content and how it was presented) rather than judge our teaching. I was thinking GREAT. It was made to sound so much better than what I thought. I wasn't worried and the day was actually really good. We had one inspector with us in Reception most of the day. She asked questions, spoke with parents that gave incredibly positive feedback, observed children, looked through books of evidence, and met with our lead teacher to talk about the data. I'm not going to really talk too much about the data side of things at this point because it makes me cross. Let's just say that we had our data sheet and then we had an Ofsted data sheet. We all left feeling positive about how things went. It was a very stressful day and I think everyone was looking forward to a glass of wine at the end of it! Everyone but poor Laura. Since she is pregnant, her end of the day thought was "I wish I was a caterpillar." It was very funny to hear her say that randomly!

Day 2 of Ofsted was when the crazy started. Unfortunately one of our TA's was out due to a poorly child so we were down to 5. Luckily she was replaced but it is just never the same. It was just after 7 am (the kids don't come until 8:40) and we were approached about finding evidence in our learning stories to prove all of these different things. We didn't have enough evidence of challenge and we needed to show more boys writing and we needed to show more evidence of growth in our EAL students and blah, blah, blah. It wasn't a great way to start the day when negative everything is being thrown in your face. We found what we could, rushed to set things up for the day because we were now behind, and didn't have any Ofsted anyone come in throughout the whole morning. The lead inspector hadn't come to us yet so we knew she would be in at some point. She ended up coming in almost immediately after lunch. It wasn't a terrible input but I didn't feel like it was the best learning she could have seen. Apparently she liked what she saw though so that was ok. This has been a couple of weeks ago now so I don't remember all the other drama but the day ended with a meeting between teachers and the lead inspector. She basically wanted to know why we all enjoyed working at the school, how we feel about the heads,  and how we all work together throughout the school. Considering almost half the staff is leaving at the end of the year, it was bloody annoying to hear people start spitting out all these positive things left and right when it isn't actually how people feel AT ALL. I just sat in silence because my days at this place are numbered and for that I am thankful.

The Ofsted rating is kept secret by the administration of school for 2 weeks until it is published by Ofsted. We've just been given the official word today that our school overall rating is "Good." I'm pleased for the school even though I don't agree with the system AT ALL. It's hard for me to put all the nonsense and craziness into words but I'm trying to put pieces of it out there. I'm glad I got to experience an Ofsted visit but again, it is a stupid, ridiculous thing that they do here. Just a few days ago it came out in the news that a new lead Ofsted inspector or something has been appointed. She has some educational experience but has never actually been a teacher before. How can that even be possible? If you are going to observe teachers and rate schools, you really need to have experienced some time in the classroom. That's my opinion anyway. There is a lot more to Ofsted than what I've said here. This is just a very basic explanation and I'm sure I'll remember more details later that I'll want to say about the whole thing. For now I am just counting down the days. I realise that I should probably change the name of my blog from 'The Travelling Teacher' to 'The Whiny Teacher that Complains A Lot." I guess I just feel like I have nothing to lose by putting this out there because I'm not going to teach here again. I'm just saying what everyone feels really.

"Appreciate what you have, before it turns into what you had."

One of the things that I took for granted when teaching in America was the fact that we were given sick and personal days. 10 sick days and 2 personal days per year. Unused days were carried over each year. You could have loads of sick days piled up and a max of 4 personal days. When taking a day off (sick or personal) you were able to put it in the computer system so that a sub would come and cover for you or whoever might be out (teaching assistant). Only on a rare chance at the peak of flu season was it almost impossible to find coverage and even then, we were given additional help when needed within the school. Most times it was someone amazing that came to help or cover and as a teacher, I was left with peace of mind knowing that things were running smoothly in my absence. Yes, I realise that some subs weren't worth much (such as the readers, the sleepers, the 800 year old ones, or the bossy ones) but most were great.

At my current school and in all of England (as far as I'm aware of) there is no such thing as a sick day or personal day. If you are sick and need a day off, you call the headteacher and you are "allowed" to stay home and rest if needed. If you need a personal day (because heaven forbid you have a life or something and just need a day for whatever reason) you basically need to pretend to be sick or they make you come in? I actually have no idea what happens. I'm assuming you get docked pay or something. I'm not sure though.

The biggest issue at my school is that apparently the budget for supply (sub) teachers has run out due to too many teachers being sick early in the year, so if you or your teaching assistant are sick, it's basically too bad so sad. There is no coverage. Sometimes they will send someone from within the school (an assistant from another year level if possible) but in Reception, we usually just deal with it the best we can. We have 3 teachers and 3 teaching assistants for a reason. 74 children at ages 4 and 5 is A LOT OF CHILDREN.

We shouldn't be made to feel guilty when we are sick nor should we feel like absolute chaos is going to ensue when we are down a person. It is a ridiculous system. As teachers we know that missing a day isn't usually worth it because you miss out on so much (even for just 1 day) PLUS you create even more work for yourself when you go back. I don't like to miss days for being sick, however, guess what? PEOPLE GET SICK. THINGS HAPPEN. IT'S CALLED LIFE. I cannot understand why appropriate coverage isn't given and why days aren't built in or why the budget for supply teachers disappeared way back in December probably when we weren't even halfway through the year.

The reason for writing this is because today we were down 2 TA's, both of which had extremely valid reasons for being off. I know they both felt awful and guilty for not coming in, mainly because they both knew we would be lacking coverage and on plan XYZ for the day. My point is, they shouldn't feel bad for this! It isn't their fault. It's not a fault to be had. No one needs to be sorry for being sick. Of course no one was given to us for additional support and we did manage and made it through the day. Was it crazy? YES. Chaotic even? ABSOLUTELY. Did I come home with an insane migraine from the stress? OF COURSE I DID. Will we have to do this again tomorrow? YEP! Will we do it again with a smile on our face? YES. Because teachers know how to "play the game" and we play it well.

Sorry for the complete and utter rant. I figured if I didn't start blogging about some of my issues with UK schools, the list would be too long to ever blog about in the future because I won't remember it all! I know I am being totally negative and grouchy and I'm really sorry for that. Not everything has been negative and I want to share all that I've learnt, too. Today is just one of those days and I needed to vent!

"I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list!"

Hello friends!  It's been ages since I've written a blog post, I know. As Haydn and I prepare for an AMAZING European road trip over the next week, I figured it might be a good time to start writing again. As the name of my blog is the "traveling teacher," I might as well blog about the travel part! The teaching part is a different story for another day. While teaching in the UK hasn't been the most glorious experience, I have learned a lot and will share more about that soon. For now, it's enough to say ONE MORE DAY until Easter Holiday! So thankful we have 2 weeks off!  On to the fun stuff...the traveling!  We are planning to drive through 14 different countries in just 8 short days. We start out on Friday at about 12:30 AM to get to a VERY early ferry that leaves from Dover, England and takes us to Calais, France at 3:20 AM. We will then drive through Belgium to reach the Netherlands. It will take about 1 1/2 hours to get to the ferry and then about 3 1/2 hours to get to Amsterdam. We have such an exciting day planned for Friday. Keep your fingers crossed that the rain stays away so we can see all the beautiful tulips and take a bike ride through the tulip fields. I'll make sure to post loads of pictures!! xx

"Being sick can seem like all fun and games until you no longer live with your mom."

Thankfully I have Haydn. He has been a star in taking care of my while I've been sick. I have no idea what happened. I've been having terrible allergy attacks for weeks now. I think the change in climate, the dust from moving, and the fact that it's hay fever season around here all combined and I've been having issues. Allergy meds usually help clear it up. Last Friday I thought it was that but then my throat started hurting. I figured it was just sinuses and drainage issues. Then the fever started. I think that having a fever as an adult is one of the worst feelings in the world. I had chills and was achey and it was just plain awful. On Saturday morning I was feeling worse. We had a ton of things to do so I didn't want to take up a lot of time by making a visit to the Dr. Also, I haven't actually registered with a Dr. in this area yet. You can't make an appointment until you've registered somewhere but we decided to go to the walk-in clinic. The wait wasn't too long so we were glad for that. I never feel comfortable going to a Dr. I haven't been to before. I was afraid of hearing lectures about my blood pressure being high (I'm sure it's through the roof right now due to stress.) and I just didn't know what to expect. They took my name, asked for no ID, and didn't even ask for my National Insurance Number. The Dr. was about 500 years old and could barely walk. I was scared but still hoping this would somehow help me. He didn't take blood pressure or anything. He just asked what was wrong. I explained the sore throat, fever, etc. I was trying to explain the symptoms but he didn't seem to care. He wanted to look at my throat and didn't use a light or any of the normal tools, he just looked at it and said "Oh, ew, yeah I can see why you say you have a sore throat." He then gave me a prescription and said have a nice day. WHAT?!?! It was like a 2 minute process. It was weird and I just don't know. I know it was strep because I know what that looks like. I haven't had strep this bad since I don't even know when. I am finally feeling better today. Even yesterday I was thinking about going back because my throat just wasn't feeling any better. My glands were so swollen, my neck was sore, and I just thought maybe it was something other than strep. My diet the past 5 days or so has been cranberry juice and mashed potatoes and I still don't have an appetite for much of anything else.  I'm feeling better today I am SO THANKFUL. I've been trying to rest and get sleep as much as I can. I've also been trying to get a lot done so the rest/sleep hasn't been happening so much. I haven't been sleeping well at night but last night I finally got a full night of sleep so that was good, too.  The Dr. experience was bizarre and I definitely need to get registered elsewhere ASAP so that I can see a Dr. that isn't 500 years old. :)

"You can't have rainbows without a little rain."

Moving house is chaotic. End of story. We are so happy with our new house, however, we are currently living in a sea full of cardboard boxes and things that need to be put away and dealt with. I'm doing the best I can while Haydn works during the day but there are just some things I need help with. Hopefully we will get a lot done over the upcoming weekend. We have our first guest (Haydn's sister and our nephew) coming to visit next week! I can't wait! It gives us a good deadline to get things done by!

In addition to the chaos of unpacking and moving, I've been spending a lot of time at the gym. It's such a nice gym. The building itself has a ton of other things going on (huge pool, gymnastics centre for kids, a cafe, shops, track, etc.). They gym is great. I like going in the mornings with all of the older people! When I don't feel like going I just remember that there are about 20 80-90 year olds there so I have ZERO excuse!! I've been running again, some weight training, and finally got back into Zumba. It's the best and it's such a great release of all the current stresses I have going on right now!! Plus it burns a lot of calories! Another note about the gym is that apparently in 2012 when the Olympics were in London, the Bermuda Olympic team used it as their training facility. I thought that was pretty cool! Moving on...

In my phone I've started a list about random things that come up for me to share here in my blog. It's very random but I hope you find it interesting!

*AA does not stand for Alcoholics Anonymous here. AA is the Automobile Association that comes to help you when your car breaks down. Basically it's our version of AAA. Here AAA is just a battery. :)

*Pandora doesn't work in the UK. So sad. I'm trying out Spotify but I don't like it as much.

* TJ Maxx is TK Maxx. Weird. No clue why it's not the same!

*Sundays drive me crazy. ALL stores of any kind shut down around 4 PM. You have to make a really early start to get your errands done! I guess there is some kind of law that only allows businesses to stay open a certain number of hours. It's crazy because stores close pretty early on most week nights, too. Lots of places close at 5:30. I think the mall might be open until 7ish but not every night.

*Thank goodness for IKEA. I'm glad we don't live that far away from one!

*Near IKEA is a Costco!! They even sell Cadbury chocolate in bulk!

*England is not very religious. After living in the south for so long you get used to seeing so many churches all over. There aren't hardly any around here. I think I know where 1 is located but people generally don't seem to be very religious at all.

*The Pound Shop is great. It's our version of the dollar store but obviously they don't have dollars here, they have pounds. There is the Pound Shop or Poundland. Both of lots of things for school!

*Dancing here is known as having a boogie. Boogie is pronounced boo-gie. :)

*I went from NY to shopping with a cart to shopping in SC with a buggy to England where we shop with a trolley!

*Apparently I hold my utensils incorrectly when eating. I guess I'm supposed to hold my fork with my left hand and knife with my right hand at all times throughout the meal. Lefties have it easy!

*Some other interesting words/phrases:
    -What's the crack? meaning What's going on?
    -Slag meaning skank
    -Crackers meaning crazy
    -Crumbs meaning darn it

*Everywhere Haydn and I go, people always say to us "You look nice and brown. Have you just been on holiday?" I love the compliment but I promise I am not any shade of brown. I'm pale as a ghost and our holiday was over a LONG time ago!

*Today I found out what a "subway" is in England and I'm not talking about the sandwich place. It's a creepy tunnel that you can walk through to get to the other side of the motorway. I've used them before but didn't realise that is what they were called!

*I love our new TV provider. We have LIFETIME!!! It's not the same but close enough. It's funny because a lot of shows on the British version of Lifetime are shows that air on Bravo or HGTV in America. Glad to have it though!

*At almost any hour of the day you can watch Judge Judy on TV here. People love her! You can also watch Jeremy Kyle, the British version of Jerry Springer, at almost any time. He's hilarious!

*When going out to eat you can have a starter (appetiser). The best is baked Camembert. I've never seen this in the US before. It's a melty cheese that you can dip breads and fruits/veggies in. SO YUM.

I promise to work on posting pictures of everything as soon as I can!! :)

"Fill a house with love and it becomes a home."

This weekend is our big move! I cannot wait to be in anew place and finally get settled. It will be so nice to unpack everything, get organised, and start living life without boxes and suitcases all over the place! Once we get settled, I'll definitely make sure to share lots of pictures! I'm not even sure we have good pictures of our current flat but I'll work on that, too. Thankfully we are only moving about 10 minutes from here in the same town. The main reason for our move is that we simply need more space. The flat we are in now has been Haydn's "bachelor pad" for the last 3 years. It's worked well for us, however, the lounge (living room) is Haydn's office, if I stand with my arms out in the kitchen I can reach both walls (It's that narrow!), and the spare bedroom is full of tools, and other misc. things that belong in a shed meaning we have no room for guests. When we started looking for a place, we had a list of "must haves" and then a list of things that would be nice but not totally necessary.

Our "must haves:"

*3+ bedrooms (master, a guest room, and office)

*En-suite bathroom to master bedroom (not common in this country!!)

*Yard

*Off-street parking

*2+ bathrooms 

Would be nice but not totally necessary:

*Tumble dryer

*Conservatory (Kind of like a sun room but not!) See picture! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

*Dishwasher (again, not totally common in a lot of places!)

*Close to town (I love to be able to walk there.)

*Shed in the yard (for storage)

*Built-in wardrobes (Closets are unheard of! Wardrobes are huge clunky things that take up lots of space in the rooms that are already pretty small. Built in wardrobes help save space!)
*Detached property (Meaning we wouldn't have to share a wall with someone.)

We were lucky enough to find a house that has EVERYTHING on BOTH of our lists!! Here is a quick picture of the front and back of the house. I can't wait to show you the inside!! :)

"I'm not random, you just can't think as fast as me." :)

I don't have much to write about today so I figured I would just share some more random bits & bobs about life here in England. :)

*The weather. British people love to talk about the weather and I have no idea why. It's no good! I don't think it's actually as bad as they often make it out to be, however, at times it's pretty close. Yes it rains a lot here. Yes it's cloudy a lot here. From my experience, British "summer" lasts for about 3-5 days sometime in mid July. For a solid week it's in the high 90's and extremely humid. No homes have air conditioning so for that week we all suffer and sit in front of a fan! We keep the windows open but there isn't much of a breeze on those days. It's pretty miserable. Side note about the windows...none of them have screens here. You can't really get a tan here because the sun isn't strong enough. You might get some colour but for those of you that know me and how I tan, yeah it doesn't work for me here. I'm pale and ghostly right now! HA! People still always mention how brown I am but I promise them that this is my natural skin and my Hawaiian tan is long gone! The average temperature lately has been about 70-74 degrees (F). They measure everything in Celsius but that's just weird to me, especially when using the oven! It's been partly cloudy on most days but today it's pretty much going to continue raining until tomorrow. At night the temperature drops to the low to mid 50's. It's not ideal but it's not Antarctica either!

*An interesting British phrase that I forgot to mention in a previous blog post is "Bob's your uncle." It basically means that you're done with following a set of directions. It was on a cooking show the other day. "Put the chicken in the pan, put the pan in the oven, and Bob's your uncle!" I'm not sure I'll pick up on this one! It kind of goes into the same category as "y'all" for me. Not going to happen! :)

*Cheese. Someone needs to inform the UK that there are other forms of cheese other than cheddar! It's really almost impossible to find anything other. I did find some mozzarella and one time I even saw monterey jack but that was rare and it wasn't there the last time I checked!

*For those of you that have travelled abroad, you are aware that the electrical outlets are completely different. I have a ton of converters that I use for lots of things. When I first started travelling here, I bought a cheap blow-dryer and straightener to use to save room in my bags every time I come. Also, the very first time I came here to visit, I blew out my chi hair straightener. Those things aren't cheap! Anyway, I am trying to get to the fact that there are no electrical outlets of any kind in any bathroom in all of the UK. Not allowed. This is not my favourite thing. A lot of people use a "dressing table" aka vanity table in another room. I really would love to have one of these because it's weird to not be able to do my hair in the bathroom in the morning! I have to plug my straightener in and have it sit on the floor, which actually doesn't seem safe compared to sitting on a bathroom counter. Bathrooms here don't have counters either. Most have pedestal sinks. Bathrooms really have no storage of any kind. Someone also needs to inform the UK that counters are useful in the bathroom!

*In my post about school I forgot to mention that there is absolutely ZERO parking for parents. Teachers have to use a code to enter through the gate in the parking lot. It will be interesting to see how this works. I'm not sure parents are able to come for lunch. I do know that the new head teacher wants to encourage more parent involvement but I guess they all have to walk if they are interested. That's how all the kids get to school in the morning anyway. It's just different!

*Thank goodness that there is a Zulily UK website! I LOVE shopping there! :)

*Monday is Haydn's mum's birthday. We will go visit her in the hospital on Sunday. No change really in her status. Recovery is just slow but at least it's all been positive so far!

No blogging for me this weekend. We are getting ready to move in 1 week and are so far from being ready!! We are going to be busy, busy, busy! I hope you all have a great weekend! :)

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."

So I decided to look at my trek to get fingerprints done as more of an adventure than an annoyance. Not everyone gets to ride trains and buses around different and fun places in England. I got to see a lot more of Brighton and I love it there even more now. I can't wait to go back to explore some of the new places I saw while on my bus ride. There is a huge open market that I didn't know existed and I saw so many cute pubs that have mine and Haydn's name all over!!

For those of you that aren't familiar with Brighton, it's part of the British seaside. We live about 20 min. from there. Our location is great. We have London on one side of us and Brighton on the other! In Brighton there is a huge pier that goes out over the water with rides, games, restaurants, and pubs. There is a ton of great shopping in Brighton, too, known as "the lanes." There is a great vibe in Brighton. I didn't take the picture to the right, but it was a good shot of the pier. I can't find my pictures of the pier for some reason. Haydn and I have been there quite a few times but there is still so much to see. Here are some of my favourite pictures from our times in Brighton.

This picture is from our first trip to Brighton together. It's at the train station.

I can't take credit for the picture below either. I think that Haydn or one of the boys took it. Great shot of the pier and the "beach." :)

 We took the boys to Brighton last year. We visited the Royal Pavilion. It is gorgeous!

Here is Haydn playing some games on the pier with the boys. It's cute. :)

Hopefully we will have time to get there soon to just have a day, however, time is something we don't have a whole lot of right now. The school year here ended yesterday. Today is the restart of my summer vacation! I now have 6 weeks to enjoy, pack, move, organise, visit home, and mentally prepare for adventure of school here that lies ahead. :)

I've been trying not to spend too much money on things for school because I really don't need anything. As teachers, do we really ever NEED anything new? Probably not but it's fun to shop for school anyway! The teachers here were shocked that I would even consider spending my own personal money on anything for school. They are crazy! I've probably spent at least a year's or more salary on things for school!!  Yesterday I did make one purchase, well two really. So there is a Costco about 45 min. from here. THANK GOODNESS! I am trying to convert Haydn into a Costco shopper and we are getting there slowly. He doesn't really like the whole buying in bulk thing but we are going to figure it out. He thinks I must have Kirkland stamped somewhere on my body! It's hilarious. He also asked if there were bags when we were checking out. No Haydn, no bags at Costco*!! :) He's learning the Costco way. He'll figure it out soon enough!  Anyway, I purchased a huge map poster that I want to hang in my classroom. I want to be able to have some sort of visual of where I'm from and where we live now for the kids to see. I think it will be fun. It was only £5. From Costco I also found this adorable alphabet rug that I will definitely be able to use. I love it. I will for sure post pictures of my classroom once I get to that point! 

*On a side note about plastic bags...one thing I love about this country is that they really encourage people to reuse bags. Lots of stores will charge a small fee if you do not bring your own bags of some sort. Most sell reusable bags. I'm trying to be better about that! I always forget to bring them when heading out to the store. 

We have a little over a week before we move. We have decided to not buy any furniture or anything until we move. We actually have no space for anything right now anyway, but we will definitely need lots of new things which is fun! We saw this piece last night at Costco. I WANT IT!! We've decided that it's very Harry Potter and therefore perfect for us.. I really tried to convince Haydn we should get it last night. He said no. :( If it's still there in a couple of weeks when we actually have space, then we will think about it! I love it!! It's so different and I just think we need it. That's all. :)

My adventure today will begin at the bank. It's bizarre but you can't just walk into the bank and create an account. You need to set up an interview appointment and they are apparently very busy. I've been waiting for my appointment for over 2 weeks now! I'll be glad to have that sorted. I will also be sending out my paperwork for the FBI check and heading to my new favourite zumba class tonight at the gym. I can't wait for that! I also need to do laundry. Here is the situation with laundry. A lot of places in England  do not have tumble dryers. Most people hang laundry on the line out in the yard. We do not have a dryer or a yard in our current place. All of our laundry gets hung to dry on a rack in our living room. :)  I thought about posting a picture, however, I decided against it. It's too chaotic right now. Our new place will have a yard AND a tumble dryer...YAY!! I don't mind air drying clothes but it takes up a lot of space and means a lot of ironing needs to happen. I do not love to iron. Anyway, have a great day! Cheerio! :)

"Every day might not be good, but there is something good in every day."

So, yesterday was not my favourite day. On Monday, I was finally able to complete all the information necessary in order to start teaching in September. I had been waiting on my National Insurance Number which finally came in the mail on Saturday. Monday was really positive. I thought I was finally finished with all the going here and there and everywhere business. I thought we were finally done with spending money on the moving to a new country thing. I was wrong. Yesterday I got an email from my school stating that I now have to have an FBI check done since they can't do a background check on me here since I've only just arrived. I totally get it, however, I figured that since I paid about $4,000 for my visa which states I can work, that I'd be done with all that kind of stuff. They wouldn't have approved my visa application if I didn't have a background check completed and fingerprints done and a zillion other things that cost money. Plus, I wouldn't have been teaching for the past 9 years if I had some kind of criminal record. Whatever. My biggest concern was the turnaround time it takes to get this information back from the FBI. There is an 11 week turnaround with no way to pay extra for it to get complete sooner. When I renewed my passport with my new name, I paid the expedite fee which wasn't cheap but it was worth it to save time. School starts in about 6 weeks. I don't have 11 weeks. I completed the application and will have to pay (of course) for this record check. Today I have to go and have fingerprints done (again and they aren't cheap either) and then I can send it all over to the FBI place in West Virginia. Apparently, as long as I am in the process of having the check completed I will be OK to start teaching in September even if it's not back in time. They suggested that I have the record sent to my parents in SC so that they (my parents) could ship it to me faster with a tracking number. If the FBI people send it to me there is no tracking number and "no promise that it will get here safely." Great. I'll just have my parents help me out with that so that it will get here a little bit faster, even though that is weeks away from happening.

I'm just frustrated. There are so many loose ends and nothing is going smoothly at all. I joined the gym here (It's the best gym ever!) and I've been loving it. Of course, I somehow pulled a muscle in my leg so I can barely walk today. Wah. I know. Just another thing. Once Haydn and I move into our new place in a couple of weeks, I am hoping that things will settle down. Having that looming over us isn't fun. Moving is a lot of work. Our current flat is a disaster. Boxes and things are everywhere. I'll be so glad to move into a bigger space and get everything organised and put away. I'm still living out of suitcases! Not a fan! After we move, I really need to get going with the driving thing. Part of why it stressed me out so much about having to get fingerprints done again (not only the cost) was because of how I am going to get there. I have to take a train and several buses and blah, blah, blah. It's just a different way of living. Everything before seemed so convenient and now I am just trying to adjust to so many different things at once. Thankfully I can walk to the gym  because it's just a 20 min. walk and I walk to town (shops) since they are about a 15 min. walk. Things could be worse. I do realise that. Change isn't easy. I realise that, too. I found this quote and it's pretty accurate to how I am feeling. :)

"If I had a British accent, I'd never shut up."

A British accent never gets old. I love to hear it. While I most likely will never have one, I am definitely learning new words and phrases all the time. When I moved from New York to South Carolina (a lot of years ago), I did lose a lot of my New York accent and gained some "southern speak." I may have even used the word "y'all" a time or two, :)  The other day while at school, a boy came up to me and asked me to help him fix his yo-yo. He asked me to get the "sellotape." I must have asked him to repeat himself like 5 times before I finally suggested that he ask mum and dad to help him with it at home! HA! Simple brand names are totally different. Haydn and I make fun of each other all the time for the way we say different things. It is very funny and I guess I just never thought about all the little things before. I figured I'd share some with you because it is quite interesting and plus this way you'll be able to understand me whenever we talk next! :)  Here is a list of some of the ones I've come across so far.

Windex = Windolene
Gatorade = Lucozade
Scotch Tape = Sellotape
Tylenol = Paracetamol
Wal-Mart = ASDA
pub = bar (duh!) *Just a side note about this...when someone asks you to "go for a quick pint after work" it's a lie. There is no such thing as a "quick pint!" :)
vacation = holiday
thank you = ta
tired = knackered
Mr. Clean products = Flash (SO NOT THE SAME!)
Lay's chips = Walkers (yuck!)
Oikos yoghurt = Oykos yoghurt
sunscreen = sun cream (As soon as the sun peaks out from the clouds a tiny bit, people are lathering up! It's hilarious!)
salad dressing = salad cream
cookies = biscuits
CVS/Rite Aide = Boots or Superdrug
Cell phone companies = EE, O2, Vodafone
trousers = pants
sweater/jacket = jumper
sneakers = trainers
robe = dressing gown
diaper = nappy
bathing suit = swimming costume
friend = mate
janitor = caretaker
eraser = rubber
math = maths
fooling around = mucking about
cross walk = zebra crossing
crossing guard = lollipop man/woman
truck = lorry
dumpster = skip
car hood = bonnet
pharmacy = chemist (You have to see the chemist if you want products like rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide!)
doctor's office = surgery
emergency room = A & E (Accidents and Emergencies)
cupcakes = fairy cakes
zucchini = courgette
chips = crisps
fries = chips
baked potato = jacket potato
roll = bap
bathroom = loo
closet = wardrobe
crazy person = nutter
flashlight = torch
band-aid = plaster (I need to practise this one!!)
standing in a line = queue
bucks = quid (when referring to money) $10 would be 10 bucks or 10 quid!! Weird!!
nap = kip
lady bug = lady bird
insects = mini beasts
hello = hiya
How are you? = Are you alright?
agg = aggravation
drizzling rain = spitting rain
mouth = gob

I'm sure there are tons more but this is a good start to show you how different things can be! :)

Thankfully a lot of products are the same. Most hygiene products and make-ups are the same brand names I am used to. I can find any soap, shampoo, conditioner, etc. that I'm used to. I did realise that even though it has the same exact brand name and it may look like the same product, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's the same stuff I'm used to. I always use this Clean & Clear face wash. I ran out so I wanted to find something similar. Surprisingly I found the exact same thing, same name and packaging. The face wash itself isn't actually the same. Different texture and smell. Also, I eat Special K for breakfast. Different taste and a little bit of a different look to the actual cereal. Not a huge deal but I thought it was interesting.

There are definitely A LOT of things that I can't find. I'd love a decent protein shake or protein bar but I'm not having luck finding anything like that. There aren't a lot of options. The peanut butter isn't smooth and creamy and I'd really like some instant rice. There are zillions of rice options, however, I don't understand the difference between all of them so it's easier to just not buy it! I'd also love a bigger variety of low fat or fat free salad dressings. It's impossible to find anything like this!

I'm also learning different systems of measurement. I need to learn temperature in Celsius. For the gym, I really need to learn the difference between Kilogrammes and Pounds. Everything here is measured in Kilos. When people talk about losing weight they say they've lost stones, which are rocks so it's weird to me! :) Pounds are a money term here. I think I have a good grasp of the difference in money! Gas prices are measured in litres and no one calls it gas, it's petrol. Here is a picture of what the gas prices look like. Your guess is as good as mine as to what it actually means. I may never know!

With all of this being said, I promise that I'm not complaining! I'm just sharing the differences that I think are interesting and keeping you informed for when you come visit us! :)  Cheerio!!!

"Play is a child's work."

As I've been observing the past couple of weeks in my new school, you can imagine that I've taken LOTS of notes and jotted down tons of questions and things. I thought that today I'd just share some random bits & bobs about everything that I have found to be interesting compared to what I'm used to. Before I do that, I forgot to mention something yesterday in my post all about driving. My US license will be good here for up to one year upon arriving in the country. After that, I will need to have my UK license in order to drive, which I'll need to take a driving test to receive. My plan is to take the test sooner rather than later because our insurance rates are also quite pricey at the moment since I only have a US license. I was considering taking a driving lesson or two for practise to see if that might help. I figure a driving instructor might help prepare me specifically for the road test. We'll see what happens! 

Moving on...here goes some interesting things about my new school! :)

*The first day of school for teachers is on Thursday September 3rd. Our school calendar is similar to what we would call year round schooling. I think I'm going to really like it. We have 3 terms: autumn, spring, and summer. We have a week off every half term and then 2 weeks for Christmas, 2 weeks for Easter, and 6 weeks for summer. Here is what our school calendar looks like. It drives me CRAZY as OCD as I am that it goes up and down instead of like a regular calendar, however, I'll deal! :)

*For the most part, the entire school follows the same basic schedule. Everyone teaches phonics at the same time. This allows children to move to different groups in different grades (if necessary) based upon their needs. We had a lot of children in Reception that went to groups with Year 1 (Kindergarten) classes. We even had some children that were in Year 1 or 2 come and join groups in Reception classes because they were pretty low since they had just moved here or because of language barriers. It really targets student needs. It seems to be pretty effective and the teachers seem to really like the program from what I've seen. Phonics is always taught in a small group setting, even at the start of the year! The teachers taught the higher and lower groups while the TA's taught more of the middle of the road kids. It was really interesting! The phonics program incorporates reading, phonics, and writing. They use readers known as "ditty" books. You can believe that I wrote the word "ditty" with about 80 question marks after it!! I guess we had our sunshine books and they have "ditty" books. 

*Uniforms. All the students wear them. From what I understand, it's up to the teacher to really enforce that and encourage students to follow the uniform policy. Currently, it seems that it's pretty laid back but I think with new head people coming in next year, it will probably be a bit more strict. Teacher dress is same as usual for me (thankfully!). 

*School starts at 8:50. Students are not allowed to enter through the gate until 8:40. In that 10 minute time period, parents are allowed to bring students into the room. I was afraid that parents would linger and want to talk to the teacher constantly but it's actually quite a smooth process. Students have been taught responsibility about unpacking and getting work started and parents really seem to respect that. It's impressive to have 60 students and parents all arrive within a 10 minute time period!!  I haven't seen the dismissal process yet but I will be there today for that. From what I know, it's basically the same as in the morning. All parents come for pick up and I will just need to make sure I know the parents really well. Anything is easier that having different car lots, different walker lots, zillions of buses, and tons of daycare options! :)

*In reception we can have up to 30 students each. Right now for next year we each have about 26. Each teacher has a teaching assistant. The TA's rotate from teacher to teacher every half term. This helps them get to know all the students a bit better since all of the classes interact with one another so much. I think that it is a great idea to rotate the TA's!!

*PLAY! There is so much learning through play going on. It's wonderful!! I am so glad to be working on a team with other teachers that truly understand the value of play for young children. 

*There is no snack time for students but we do have "fruit circle" every morning. The school provides fruits for students between 10-10:30. For the first 15 minutes, the TA helps students get fruit and water while the teacher goes to "have a coffee" in the staff room (totally unheard of!). The TA gets her "coffee" for the last 15 minutes while the teacher cleans up and sings a few songs. It's bizarre and I can't say that it's something I even feel comfortable with. Time is precious. I think my plan is to use it more as a quick bathroom break for myself and then hopefully add a read aloud somewhere in there since 30 minutes is a lot of time!! I'm told that it's not like this at all UK schools and with new head people next year it may not stay this way. Needless to say, I was in shock!! :)

*Lunch lasts 1 hour because it includes recess. Teachers take the students to the cafeteria, maybe get them settled and then they generally leave for their own lunch. TA's stay with students throughout lunch and recess. I think some teachers stay once a week or something but again, this might change next year. I like that we don't have to serve the lunch but I do like sitting with my kids and talking with them during this time. A break is nice once in awhile and this will be the only real "planning" time, too, since there are no "specials" for Reception classes. We will have PE several times a week but we are the ones that teach it! Art and music are incorporated into our day and I think we take the kids to the library once a week. There is no one in the library though, each teacher is in charge of it whenever they go. 

*There is no word wall. I'm struggling with this and I am going to try to see if I can add something like it to our space. The kids know high frequency words really well BUT I'd like them to be displayed somewhere if I can!

*I need to start working on my British words and phrases of praise for children. The two things I really need to say more are "brilliant" and "well done." The kids looked at me funny when I said "good job" or "nice work." I was told that I sound like I'm from the Ned show. I don't know what that is but it's apparently something "American." They have this cute thing were they say "1, 2, 3, well done me!" They do fairy claps, and super sitting, and other cute things, too. I love learning new words and phrases like this!

*Everything I thought I knew about handwriting is now incorrect. Instead of straight lines and circles to make letters, our letters are written in d'nelian print. I guess the letters are written curlier to help lead into cursive writing. There are talks that we may even have to teach children how to connect the letters next year in Reception!! For those of you that know me, you know I like cute fonts. Most things in the current Reception rooms are in this style font or comic sans, neither of which are cute. I have no words for comic sans. It's one of my biggest pet peeves and I have no idea why. I have a thing for cute fonts and I plan on introducing this to my new team ASAP! :)

*There is no homework in Reception. We just encourage parents to read often at home. We do a family project type thing once every term. Newsletters are a team thing. We will all send exactly the same thing home every Friday. All I can say is that from what I saw (comic sans), I'd really like to "cutesy" them up a bit with some clip art and different fonts, however, we'll see what happens. I don't want to step on toes!

*There is a school discipline plan, however, it's probably going to change with new head people next year so there isn't really much to say about that. From what I have seen, I am really impressed with the overall behaviours of the students. It's just different. They are more respectful and really more well-behaved. I don't know what it is. We had an assembly last week and students in all grade levels entered in complete silence. Not a whisper, no talking, no laughing, no nothing. They just did what they were told to do. Students definitely have a different level of respect for teachers than what I'm used to. I'm not saying they are all angels, however, you can tell that it's different.

*I don't know what I thought schools were going to be like here. I thought every aspect of everything was going to be completely unknown to me. In the staff room I overheard some "teacher drama" and I then realised that some things are just in the nature of a teacher. 

*Every class has a drama queen and/or king. Every year, no matter what. The class I've been in the most has the best Drama Queen of all times because she a British accent. :)

*We have a new school wide assessment starting next year. I'm glad it will be new to everyone. The other Reception teachers have already been to the training. I am signed up to go before school starts in September. The best part of the training is that I get to go in to London for it! How cool is that?? I just love that it's London!!

*I love children's literature. During a planning meeting for next year, I realised that these teachers do not know most American authors. They know Eric Carle and that's about it. I asked about Pete the Cat, David Shannon, Cynthia Rylant...they had no clue. WHOA. 

That last point leads to me to talk about all of my teacher "stuff." It is all in storage in  Myrtle Beach. Haydn and I looked at several options of getting all my things here. A shipping company would have cost a fortune and we don't really have room here for all of my things any way. All I brought with me is pretty much my clothes. We each had 2 free bags checked luggage and it cost us each $100 extra to bring a 3rd bag. Basically we had 6 bags. One was full of Haydn's things and the other 5 were stuffed full of my clothes. All bags were just at the 50 lb. mark, too! I didn't bring anything school related because I didn't know what I would need. I didn't know anything about my school or resources that might be available. Now that I've spent time there and we've mapped out a plan for all of next year, I can see exactly what I'll need. Mostly books and a few other things, too. I was originally going to ask my family to dig through all my stuff in storage and ship it to me. Books are heavy. That would cost us a lot. I then thought that maybe I could just re-buy what I needed. A calendar pocket chart is completely unheard of over here and it would cost about $100 to buy one and have it shipped here via Amazon! That's crazy!

We've decided that the cost of shipping things or re-buying things would cost us the equivalent of a couple of plan tickets to go home and get all the stuff I already own. SO...we booked some tickets and we'll be in Myrtle Beach from August 18th-24th. I can't wait!! Not only will having my specific school things that I want make me feel more comfortable starting the year, BUT I will get to have a proper goodbye with my family and hopefully see friends that I didn't get to see since everything was so rushed last minute. I know that HCS probably starts school around that time so hopefully I can stop by to say hi! We'll see how emotional I am!! :)

The last thing for today is to give everyone an update on Haydn's mum. So many have asked and we truly appreciate the thoughts and concern. We've been going every weekend to visit her. She is still in hospital and will be there for an unknown amount of time. Overall, she is making progress. It's a slow recovery but it's been positive so far. She can now eat pureed food by mouth which means her swallow reflex is coming back. It's a bit easier to understand her when she talks and she can almost sit up by herself. The goal they are working on with her is to be able to stand. We don't know if she will ever be able to walk again but you never know. We are just taking it one day at a time! Thank you all again for your continued thoughts and prayers! 

"You can't understand a city without using its public transportation system."

So far the hardest thing about living here in England is DRIVING. I HATE IT. As a New Yorker, I totally get aggressive driving. Having lived in the south for a long time, I totally get bad driving (No offence to my southern friends...it's mostly the tourists that can't drive around Myrtle Beach!). People here drive crazy! They are overly aggressive, always going for the gaps, and driving super fast. Don't even get me started on roundabouts!! Most of the cars on the road are small and look weird. There are some normal looking cars and some bigger cars but they are mostly egg shaped and look like little toy cars. Here is a car that I see a lot. It's called a "Ka," There are also lots of "lorries" aka trucks. :)

Before moving here, I knew that driving would be a challenge. Not only would I have to learn how to drive on the left side of the road BUT I'd also have to learn how to drive sitting on the right side of the car. Totally backwards! I found this map and it made me laugh. The read shows the countries that drive on the right side of the road the blue shows countries that drive on the left.  Get it together England!! :)

Haydn had a car that was a small little thing called a Ford Puma. Here is Penny. Haydn loved Penny, however, when I came to visit we could just barely fit my luggage in there. Only 1 suitcase could fit in the trunk and it was a struggle to get the other in the back seat. Like most other cars here in England, Penny also had a manual transmission. 

                                     

We needed a bigger car AND the thought of having to learn stick shift, and driving on the other side of the road, and sitting on the right side of the car was too much. We said bye to Penny and last summer we got an automatic Honda CRV. Our original thinking was that I could practise driving around (this was last summer) to get used to it a bit. I think I drove all of 2 times maybe. Oops? It just feels so unnatural and unsafe. I thought a CRV would be great but it feels like I'm driving a cruise ship down the road. The roads are smaller here, too, which doesn't help. 

In the very near future we will need to get a 2nd car. Haydn has graciously offered to take the train to work and leave me with the car during the day whenever I want, however, I haven't taken him up on the offer just yet. I have been driving a bit more and I really just need to suck it up and practise and get used to the craziness of the roads. My biggest issue is sitting on the right side of the car. I think if I had a left hand drive vehicle, I'd be fine. I feel myself leaning over to the left side as I'm driving because it just feels bizarre and wrong. 

Thankfully my school is close by...just a 10 minute drive or so. Haydn has been dropping me off there in the mornings. It's about a 3 mile walk home, a £5 taxi ride, or a £2.10 train ride to the town centre (it's a shorter walk home from here). Depending on the weather and the amount of time I have and what I need to get done, determines how I get home right now. Once we move to our new place, we will live a bit further from school so a car will really be necessary. The town does have a fairly decent bus system but I haven't ventured into that yet because the other options have worked just fine. When I need to go to the store or get groceries, I usually just walk. It's great for getting more steps on my Fitbit! :)

Just a side note about my Fitbit...I had it for like 2 or 3 years and it was great. I just have the small zip one in hot pink (of course!). It even made it through the wash a couple of times. About a month or so ago it started acting weird. It kept needing a new battery and then wouldn't work even with a new one. I accidentally washed it AGAIN (for like the 4th or 5th time) and stuck it in rice. It started working again fine (even though my Mother also threw it down the garbage disposal in the sink and thought I wouldn't find out!). After the first day on our honeymoon, it stopped working again just after a nice long hike! It was quite annoying!! Anyway, we bought some rice to see if we could try that trick one more time. It worked! It was great for a few days until I accidentally wore it in the ocean and then it was just basically dead. I finally got a new one! :)

Anyway, I will keep you all updated on the car situation. I've told Haydn that I think our 2nd car should be something small. Even though I thought I would feel more comfortable in a bigger car, I actually think I might do better with something small. Not only would it feel better on the small roads BUT I might actually be able to park it somewhere close to where I am trying to get. The parking spaces are TINY. With a big car I will need to park in the furthest spot away from every place all the time! Also, about parking...you have to pay for parking pretty much everywhere...grocery stories (some, not all), the hospital (!!!), the mall, etc. We'll see what happens! Until then...happy walking! :)

"Nothing is impossible to a determined woman."

Moving isn't an easy task. It's hard enough to move down the street or to a different state, let alone A DIFFERENT COUNTRY!! Haydn and I have spent a small fortune, filled out ridiculous amounts of paperwork, and driven all over creation for things and we still aren't completely settled yet. Right now it's a waiting game for little things to be finished up and once I receive one thing, it will be like a domino effect and everything else can be completed, too.

After our wedding, I needed to get my name changed on everything (license, passport, SS card, bank account, etc.) immediately so that it would match with the information on my visa application. The visa, which cost us THOUSANDS, needed to be right the first time. If for any reason something was incorrect we would have had to resubmit it and pay the fees all over again. For the visa, Haydn actually needed to provide more information that I did! He had to include all sorts of financial information (personal and business) for like the last 10 years or something ridiculous like that! It all needed to be in a specific order. If something was out of order...DENIED. We thought it would be best to find someone to help us. Immigration lawyers are super expensive. We ended up finding someone WONDERFUL that used to work for UK immigration where her job was to basically approve or deny visas for years. She was very reasonably priced, reliable, and extremely helpful. It was worth every penny by having her help us and tell us exactly what we needed to include. 

Before our wedding, I had already started looking at teaching jobs that were available. I knew it was a long shot but I applied for several any way. I updated my resume (called a CV here) and wrote a new cover letter explaining my situation, only to find out that schools here would prefer that you don't even include your CV when applying. Every school had a different application and it took hours to complete since not all of the terminology and things were the same as we use in the US. One application was even 12 pages long! Most of them were asking about HIGH SCHOOL information. I've been teaching for NINE YEARS. It seemed a bit ridiculous and it caused me lots of stress. At the time, I didn't even have my visa stating I could work in the UK yet so I didn't hear back from any of the schools but one saying that I hadn't made the next round. I wasn't surprised and didn't have time to worry about it because it was just about wedding time. Once the wedding was over, things were crazy at school, I was stressed with packing things and I just kind of put off the whole looking for a job thing for a bit. Once school was over, I did look for and apply for several more jobs. I figured it would be best to do before Haydn got there and we left for our honeymoon. 

I knew I had a better chance this time around because I had my visa and an actual date of travel for when I'd be available to come in. One school was interested and contacted some of my references. I think they were a little put off at the fact that I wouldn't be there for a few more weeks in order to go in right away and teach a lesson, which is understandable. Things didn't work out there BUT while on honeymoon I got an email from a different school. The closing date for applications was still a couple weeks away so I was surprised to hear something so soon. They knew about my situation and that I wouldn't be in the UK for awhile. They did not know that I was on honeymoon in Hawaii (11 hour time difference rather than just 5!). They asked if I could be available for an interview via Skype at some point that week. We agreed on Friday. It would be 10:30 AM Friday for them, 11:30 PM Thursday night for me. I was SO NERVOUS. I emailed the person doing the interview (the executive head) asking if there was anything I should have prepared. He gave me some questions to think about and while riding around in our Mustang convertible that evening on the way to a luau, I practised my answers with Haydn! 

We got back from the luau around 10ish. I took a shower and then put on the most "teachery" outfit I could find. Basically, it just needed to be something that wasn't a tropical Hawaiian dress and thankfully I had something! Let's face it...the Hawaiian stuff is cute, however, NOT for a job interview! :)

 I was expecting the interview to last a good 30 min. or so. I made Haydn go wander the hotel because that would have made me even more nervous if he was in the room. The interview went great. The executive head was super nice and easy to talk to. It was very laid back and I felt very comfortable. I don't give myself enough credit for all of the experience I have. I know how to teach!! I don't know what I thought he was going to ask me but it was fine. He basically explained to me that the school is going through a lot of changes (YAY for that because I AM TOO!). New executive head teacher, new head teacher, loads of construction, and the addition of a 3rd reception class (the job I was interviewing for). I guess they have had 2 reception classes for basically ever and enrolment has gone up, hence the new class. I was offered the job and of course accepted it right away! He said that anyone who is willing to have an interview via Skype at 11:30  at night on their honeymoon shows a lot of determination and they would be happy to have me! It really is the perfect scenario. Since the school is going through so many changes, I won't feel so completely out of place. Yes there are lots of things that I will need to learn and get used to, however, everyone will be in the same boat for a lot of it. I am thrilled! 

Reception is basically child development or pre-school. The children are 4 going on 5. I'm glad they are still in school because I have been taking full advantage of spending lots of time observing in the reception rooms. The curriculum is basically the same as what we did in Kindergarten in regards to ELA (not as intense in the writing since they are younger) and Math. There is A LOT of learning through play which is AMAZING and something that I am so excited about. The other two reception teachers are great and have been so helpful in answering all of my questions. This summer, the reception rooms are going through a major overhaul. They are adding the 3rd room for the new class and revamping EVERYTHING. New furniture, flooring, walls...AMAZING! They have a really great "free-flow" system where the students can basically go from room to room or even outside to choose whatever it is they feel like doing during that part of the day. I love the "free-flow" idea. The students were all completely engaged and focused on whatever it is they were doing and all play truly is centred around learning objectives. I will write more about our daily schedule soon! Here is a quick photo I took outside the other day. It's just a small part of the outside area, but it's great. The kids were looking for "mini beasts" (also known as insects!) and collecting vegetables from their garden!

"Every love story is beautiful, but ours is my favourite."

Hi friends! I've had a difficult time getting this whole blog thing started simply because I have so much that I want to share. I've been thinking about it a lot but I haven't been sure how or exactly where to even begin. I figured the best place to start would be to give some background information on how I even ended up living and teaching here in the UK! Most of you already know this story so I'll tell the short version for those of you that don't. After this post, most of my entries will be about teaching here in the UK and lots of other differences I've been experiencing while living here in England. Also, please note that my computer settings are set to spell check for UK English. I'm not spelling things "wrong," just different! :)

Here is my favourite story. The love story of Haydn and ME! :) About six or so years ago (February 5, 2009 to be exact!), Haydn and I met on a social-networking site called "Geeks." It was kind of like Facebook but for people that are into technology and that type of thing. Neither of us were looking for a relationship across the Atlantic Ocean, however, that is exactly what we got! We started out talking through Skype on a daily basis and in November of 2009, Haydn came to visit me in Myrtle Beach for the first time. In the early years of our relationship, I had no idea what to expect. Haydn is AMAZING, however, he does come with some baggage and I didn't really know what that meant for "us." I started visiting England during summer vacations and spring break and he would come visit at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and early summer. On Valentine's Day in 2014, Haydn surprised me by appearing in Myrtle Beach. In a later post I will have to go into details about the proposal. It was perfect! We were married on April 4, 2015. Again, the wedding will have to be a separate post! I finished out the school year, we went on our amazing honeymoon (I will definitely write some posts about that, too!), and here I am...living in England!! It is a crazy adventure and things aren't exactly going how we thought they would, BUT we are finally together. At the end of the day, that is all that matters. :)