Hey everyone! Hope everyone had an amazing week and weekend! I see that it's pretty chilly there today.

My week was..QUICK. It seems like time just flies by. One day I'm hating that it's Sunday evening and before I can even BLINK it's already Friday evening. I think that time really does goes quicker the older you get. I can't imagine it flying any faster but I guess time will tell.

I had a good week at my school and I'm really starting to love every moment. I'm not going to lie, sometimes I think it would be easier to work closer, but overall I am really grateful to have a classroom of kids who know me. This week we were learning all about the Olympics still and about birds. It's been fun! I've changed around my classroom a bit, so I'm curious as to how the kids will respond. I'm finally getting into a groove of assessment but still find it wayyy overwhelming. One day I showed the kids pictures that momma had sent to me of the snow you guys got! HOLY jumping joseph you guys got a ton! I wish I would have had a video camera when they saw them. There reactions were "WOOOOOOOOWWWW" They could not believe it. It was really super cute. I showed all my staff and they too were in complete shock and pondered..."how do you live in that much snow" I told them that we all live in our igloo's and are quite happy driving our electric cars. They didn't get that I was joking, so I guess the jokes on them.

This weekend we went to a Canadian Teachers Drink night at the Maple Leaf. I really do enjoy that bar and it's nice to hear an accent we recognize. There were a ton of teachers there, but unfortunatly for us there was a hockey game playing so the pub was full. We all ended up sitting at different tables around the pub. Me and marlee sat a table with some new people. They turned out to be awesome fun, so hopefully we'll get to party with them again very soon.

So here's the deal. We've been having a problem with a feline in our backyard tearing into our garbage. Ok, so we're unsure that it's ACTUALLY a kitty because it could be the fox we see lingering around our streets. Either way, some four legged creature has been jumping the fence and tearing into our garbage..which I am NOT ok with. Unless he/she starts paying some of the grocery bill. Today me and Marlee stepped out the door to pick up the garbage. I ended up making a garbage shanti out of scrap wood and bricks in our backyard. I think the shanti will come in handy because when my mom and dad come they will have a home away from home. A home really made out of love and basically looks like something out of a magazine. Pure lovely. Then, after we made the shanti, we proceeded to clean out our backyard! You'll never believe this, BUT there are TULIPS coming up already! Yup, January 31st and tulips are coming up. Then, after the gardening was complete, we made our annual Sunday Roast. Every weekend now me and marlee cook up a chicken with mashed potatoes and vegtables and gravy and on and on and on. Yummy!

things i've learned this week.....

We are smarter than you're average feline...

Hey there!
This weekend I am NOT disappointing, hence, a blog ON Sunday! In fact, I just got up and am still laying in bed writing this. I can't believe it is only 9 and I think I slept in SO LONG! whew, I guess an extra four hours of sleep from the weekly alarm at 5:30 am IS a sleep in! I don't know how my father gets up at that hour everyday. Gross- my question to this is: is it the Pepsi?

My week was good! Hard to believe that in only three weeks we have mid term break already. School is STILL cool for me. This week I took the kids from my class on a field trip to check out the 2012 Olympic site. It was very successful for my first field trip EVER! I could only take 12 of the 20 so it was nice and easy but FAR from relaxing!This lady who was sent to go with me had not a clue about young children's needs I think she thought they were grown adults. We basically ran to the tube stop, threw the kids on the escalator (AHHHHH!!!) then threw them on the tube. It's kind of nerve racking making sure all the kids get on the tube. When we got to stratford (it's very very very close to my school) we got to go up into this viewing gallery on a 29th floor to have a big look of everything. It was far over the kids head, but I thought it was interesting. The Olympic site is costing 9 billion pounds! It was really cool to see how everything was already coming together.
Because we were learning about the olympics I thought it was the PERFECT time to teach them all about Canada! I hear them in the home corner playing house talking about going on a trip to Canada. ah hah, SUCCESS! We played on the Vancouver 2010 website on the SMART board all week. Any chance I get to throw in a CANADA fact I do!

On Thursday night my agency had a drink night in central London so we hit that up. Not only was it FREE drinks but also FREE appy's. You really can't go wrong in a situation such as this. We walked into the pub and the guy at the door knew all of us, how awesomely creepy is that?! He apparently "recognized" us from our pictures at the office. "Oh Crystal Ward" "Oh Marlee Hough" SMART sends out this picture of us when we are booked into a school. This picture was taken when we FIRST got here and we were living in a hostel without a blow dryer OR straightener so you can just IMAGINE what that looks like. The schools probably think that SMART is sending them some sort of hobo. eeesshh. There was this gentleman from London there and me and Marlee got talking to him and basically making fun out of eachothers accents as per usual. We were talking about different words for different things. We taught him that we call our underwear, gotch and panties. I think my new mission is to spread the word gotch around London. Anyways, the drink night was really fun and of course we met some more Canadians and some more Australians.


News as Marlee Hough Sees It

I think I better give an update on the life of Marlee Anne Monica Hough since I know that a lot of her fans are reading this blog!

Marlee is currently under quarenteen for her obssession with 5 cent candies. She is under careful watch by the Bristish Government and CCTV (closed curcuit television) She recently had a melt down when she realized that they are not "5 cents" here but rather 5p candy. She is now locked in her room and I am in charge of leaving food at her door in the morning and night. She is going through a withdraw and has cold sweats.
We all wish her a speedy recovery.

Also in the world of Marlee:
Marlee got a job this week at a school VERY close to our house. It's basically the dream job as she is team teaching in reception. She gets classroom duties as well as she is in charge of teaching the EAL kids English. She has 23234028340 or so kids in her class so it's great that she has another teacher in there with her.
She wakes up around 6:20 when I am in the bathroom brushing my teeth on my way out of the house. To that I say - "I hate you marlee hough"
But - I'm glad that she now has a job that she loves as well. It's nice to be able to talk about what we are doing and what not since we are now both teaching reception. (for those that forget - reception ISN'T the front desk of the school OR the event that takes place after the church service at a wedding but rather kindergarten!)

and that's how marlee sees it.

The weekend was VERY low key which is exactly what the doctor ordered. Friday night we went for groceries and watched LOST all night. Then Saturday I babysat and had a blast as per usual. Then I FINALLY got a hair cut, first one since I got here. I think my hair looked like a man from the 80's who had shoulder length hair and always ran his hair through it. Since I AM a female living in 2010 I thought I'd better deal with that!


Alright, well thats all for now! I hope everyone has an amazing time at home in all the snow. I miss the feeling of a big snow fall. Seeing everyone shoveling and plowing and helping eachother and rosy cheeks and the thought that there is no way you can make it back to the city.

Love you All!!

Ps. Happy Birthday for Monday January 25th daddio!

Hey everyone!

So much for that "Sunday night blog night"-- my bad. Truth be told I was far too tired come Sunday evening to even think about sitting down and tapping away. I promised myself i’d do it Monday evening..then Tuesday..and NOW it’s already hump day and I’m far behind!!

New in my life...new in my life—nothing! I am really starting to get the hang of my job and really starting to enjoy the kid’s personalities. Man do I love funny kids. It is great that there are only 20 of them so I feel like I can really get to know each and every one. It also makes easy for classroom management, which I'd NEVER complain about! The other day one of the little boys were talking to another teacher and said to her, “miss, miss. Ward lives in High School Musical!” Hahaha, First I laughed, then in proper musical fashion I broke into song. I sang a rendition from High School Musical. I always loved the thought of living in a musical where everyone and any moment breaks into song. What a dream life that would be. Unfortunately, the commute is NOT getting easier OR quicker. Even with the extra hour of sleep I never have enough energy. The other day while sleeping on the tube, I was holding my phone and it dropped out of my hand and onto the floor!

Come Friday night, I was totally played out and me and Marlee went to the candy shop, bought some treats and watched 4 episodes of Lost. A long time ago, i discovered a small shop a block away from our house, but never did venture into it. On Friday, we walked on over and boy were we pleased at what we found. In this store was Marlee's weakness, FIVE CENT CANDIES! We loaded up and made our way back home. Upon eating these candies, we were MORE than pleased with what we had found. The sour soothers tasted like heaven. Usually, the candies taste a lot more gooey and a lot less sour, which overall leaves you unsatisfied. The particular sour soothers we found are the amazing, sour, eat until your tongue is sore soothers. Yum!

Anyways, enough about the damn candy. On Saturday morning I babysat bright and early at 9. Me and Giaan had the time of our lives once again. He is just so darn funny and fun. It's nice to hang out with a three year old since I'm starting to miss all my favourite kids at home! We played store, we played puzzles, we played with cars, we read some books, we built a tower, we cooked lunch and we watched some Peppa Pig. Overall, it was tiring! lol.

I came home from babysitting and got ready for the next big event of the day. Me, Marlee, Kristin and Kristin's sister (Anna) and friend (Cheryl) hit up the streets of London on a pub crawl. It was a blast as per usual and we all managed to make it home alive! On Sunday, when I should have been at home planning, the girls twisted my arm and convinced me to head to Camden with them. I`ve been to Camden a couple of times now BUT, every time I go I discover a piece that I`ve never seen before. There really are probably 999 different little shops selling different little trinkets and outfits and bongs and whatever else you can imagine. There was this one place with really nice pictures of London that I want to go back and pick up a few as decorations for a future house.

Things I've learned....

1) American Cherry Cola is amazing. The girls at work are constantly raging about how lucky I am to be able to get it whenever I want back home.

To that I say: Do people even really DRINK c-c-cherry cola? I have tasted it here in England and it really is flat.

2) McDonald's in America is better for one reason. What is that reason you may be wondering..well let me tell you. It is because we have DR. PEPPER on tap. I really don't think it is called "on tap" but you know the stuff that isn't in a bottle, comes out of the machine...

To that i say... Do a lot of people bend over backwards to order a "dr. pepper" with their Big Mac meal? I


That's really all I have for last week. I'm sorry!! Please don't stop reading!

Love you all, miss you all, yada yada yada.

Hey Everyone!
Time to get back onto the "Sunday Evening Blog Writing" schedule again!
I hope everyone is settling back into work after the holidays and are all still managing with their new years resolutions!

As far as it goes for me- all is well. Finally got some rest this weekend after a super busy holiday. We saw so many things and tried so many new things that it was amazing. Had to go back to work to get some rest!

On Monday, I did not have to work so me, Marlee, Carrie and Jerid hit the town nice and early and headed down to the Queen's house to watch the Changing of the Guard. This event happens every other day in the winter at 11:30AM. We got there right around 11 and whew for people. There were more people there than there is at Monday night BINGO in preeceville. Everyone wants to see the guards change apparently. We did manage to find a spot where we could see into the gates of the palace. We watched the dudes march by, the marching band play, as well as a horse guard go by. All in all, it was indeed pretty neat to see. Is it worth however to stand and be pushed by someone twice your body weight? That's a question to ask Marlee however. You could ask me what it is like to have someone about 4'10 speaking another language trying to push you aside to see what's going on. She thought she had me, but i planted my feet and there was no way I was budging! My question to HER is-- are you even part of the commonwealth? After the changing of the guard we walked through St. James' park and came across a quaint little hot dog stand. This hot dog was better than the one in Bath, but the search for the amazing hot dog continues. After the hot dog eating, we walked to Leicester Square to buy some discounted musical tickets. Then we went to Camdentown Market which was amazing fun. Before me and Marlee had went on a Sunday afternoon which was indeed a mistake. Going on a Monday afternoon allowed us to actually look at things in the market as well as watch Carrie talk people into giving her a lower price-which turned out to be quite entertaining. Finally, we headed back to Leicester Square and had some Pizza Hut for supper...(yuuummmmmm...)

I seriously had the time of my life at Dirty Dancing. WOw. Wow. Wow. As I'm sure everyone has watched Mr. Swayze dance a time or two you'll know the complexity of the set in Dirty Dancing. One second they are in a car, the next they are in the kitchen, the next they are in the staff quarters and so on and so forth. The broadway version was exactly the same, the sets were always magically transforming in front of our eyes. Blew my mind away. The dancing was nothing less than perfect, Baby was cast as the perfect Baby and Johnny was beautiful. My favourite part was when Johnny came running through the audience at the end (you know..when he says NObody puts Baby in a corner) It seriously put tears in my eyes! SO amazing!

We didn't get home until around 11:30 and I had to be up and attempt by 5:30 the next morning. I was seriously dead to the world on Tuesday for my first day of work. As I think I've written in previous blogs, I've finally captured a long term teaching position! I'm teaching in a reception class and have 20 students, three of which are autistic. The school has a high importance on assessment and if after this job I don't know how to assess, I mid as well quit being a teacher. If we are caught without a sticky note pad for taking down observations we get into trouble! The school has a computer program which tracks every child. It's an electronic portfolio, I'm going to put the program on my computer so I'll be able to share with all my teaching buddies when I get home! The only problem with this job is that it is 4325029834934 hours away. It takes me an hour and a half to get to the school each morning. I am getting very familiar with the "head bob on the tube" and manage to catch about an hour of extra sleep on my way to school. I am going to miss my stop someday soon I'm sure of it! I am NOT complaining though as I am so grateful to go to the same place everyday and get work everyday.

As all of you are aware London was hit with a BIG winter storm this past week. I know that all the news coverage in Canada was showing it. I think that the fact that Canada was showing it is absolutely HILARIOUS! Most schools were shut down two days and there was disruptions on the tube and there were people stranded and there were people stuck and people dead and blah blah blah. Truth was, on Tuesday when I left my school i was shocked as to the amount of snow that was falling. Even in Canada I would have called it a blizzard. The snow was really heavy and really wet causing everything to be really slippery. Aside from Tuesday, the winter storm really wasn't a winter storm by Canadian definition though. In the paper on Tuesday morning I read this HUGE article about how everyone in England was out in the grocery store stocking up on things such as milk and bread to last them through the winter storm. PREPAREEE FOR THE ICE AGE! Also, perhaps more amusing, it was noted that the sales of thermal underwear jumped 150%. Now there really is only snow in some places but there IS ice. I think they used all the salt to early. Walking outside on the side walk is basically giving yourself the threat of death. It's more icy than a skating rink, no lies. I am glad that in 80 years I will be able to tell my grandchildren that I, their grandmother survived the worst winter storm in England in the last 30 years. Yup- i was there. Yup- I survived.

We sent of Jerid to South Africa Tuesday evening. :( sad! He made it there and is doing amazing already! It was sooo great to have him here as he lights up any room he walks into. Carrie was scheduled to leave Wednesday morning at 11 AM. However, with the big storm, her flight was delayed. Then her flight was canceled. The poor girl had to spend the night in the airport. I'm sure she got out her knitting and knitted away for hours. I bet airports really are amazingly comfy to hang out in for 30 hours. She finally got away on Thursday morning. whew! I again was sad to see her go as we had so many great laughs! I can't wait for my next company!!

Things I've learned this week....

1)Don't leave your luggage unattended. These dummies decided that it would be ok to leave their luggage on the side of the street while they watched the changing of the guards. A police officer didn't think it was the best idea and threatened the people to take it. ha ha ha. People are stupid - guess they've never heard of BOMB BOMB BOMB. Maybe leaving a mysterious suitcase beside the Queen's house ISN'T the best idea. I still wanna try it so that good looking cops can threaten me ;)

Talk to you soon!

Hey there!
Sorry this took so damn long to get up. However, here it goes...Stonehenge and Bath.

On Sunday January 3 me, Marlee, Kristin, Carrie and Jerid set off to conquer the ever famous Stonehenge and perhaps have the chance to bath..in Bath. Our trip started bright and early. Perhaps TO early for most of us, as I can honestly say I didn't see any of the trip to Stonehenge. The warmth of the bus made it pretty much impossible not to sleep. If you want to know what the country side looks like you'll have to ask Carrie!

It took about an hour and a bit to drive to Stonehenge. You could actually see Stonehenge before you got to it and my first thought was "wow, this is real life" Before this, Stonehenge was always just a picture in a book, something that I couldn't really comprehend, and something I for sure would never see. But here I was..at Stonehenge. We got there and we got these little audio guides to follow as we walked around the stones. We all particularly enjoyed the one where they talked about other explanations about Stonehenge. Some think that giants created the huge stone structure and some people even think it was the devil's doing. Whatever you may believe, I'm going to go with the realistic approach and assume that some humans made it.

I never realized how complex the actual grounds would be. Apparently it was built in three parts. All around the rocks there is a huge bank It was dug out using antlers and animal bone picks. I think that from now on I will start using deer antlers in the garden to dig rather than hang them up on the wall. Next, they found remnants of a timber posts circling the structure that they think were used as burial points. Next, the rocks. Whew, if I remember correctly the blue stone weighs something stupid like 25 tons each. Thinking about it now, I think that if I worked out for a couple weeks it would be no problem for me to build my own Stonehenge. I always think that Preeceville needs something cool. I mean Sturgis has that beautiful horse, Canora has the beautiful baba-Preeceville NEEDS something. Hence, I'll build a Stonehenge. If you want to volunteer please leave your name and number at the bottom. Great thanks.

ANYWAYS, some people are disappointed when they see this amazing structure because they think it's going to be bigger. I can't say that I was in the least bit disappointed but rather marveled in it's beauty. We took about 8082343284 pictures so check for them on facebook. we got to check it out for about 45 minutes even though you can't actually touch Stonehenge and can't even get that close to it at all. However, back in the day, you could touch Stonehenge, play on it, heck you could even buy a chisel at the gift shop and take a piece home with you. Now, it's a natural heritage site and the only time you can touch it or be close to it is summer and winter solstice.

We got back to the bus with rosy cheeks and frozen legs. Guess what we did.....YUP-we made a sandwich! Yum! Next we were off to Bath. Bath is a national heritage city with about 83,000 people living in it. Being a national heritage city, you can not alter the outside of the buildings and perhaps even better, if you build a new building, it has to match the existing architecture. Also, all over the city there are buildings with the windows blocked over using bricks. Back in the day, there was a window tax and you had to pay according to how many windows you had therefore, some people bricked up their windows. Another interesting fact about bath is that it is where Jane Austen grew up. There is a museum there that we went into before being shooed out for not paying! whoops! We went by Johnny Depp's apartment but I didn't catch a glimpse of him in his underwear from his bedroom window-maybe next time.

Interesting fact of how Bath was discovered: Back in the day, there was a Kings son. The Kings son who will now be called "Martin" from now on(hahaha sorry i forget his name) Anyways, Martin was shunned from his country because he had leprosy, he moved into the Bath area and did odd jobs just to keep himself living. He was mostly a pig herder and even his pigs were the lower class pigs and had nasty skin diseases too. One day, the pigs were rolling in this mud and after a few days, their skin diseases were improving. He then decided to jump into the mud too, and low and behold, his leprosy was cured by the water! AND voila! Bath was discovered. Martin went back to his dad, and later became King and created the town. And the rest is history...

The main point about going to Bath is to check out the ancient roman ruins. We walked into this building and sort of smelt like stale water. They gave us our mini cell phone audio guide again and off we went! We first walked into the biggest pool of water. The water is kind of a green nasty-ness with a steam rising. The architecture all around the water is something amazing. People back then were damn clever. It's hard to believe that something built so long ago is still standing. Anyways, at this main pool, they think that important Roman leaders would meet and make critical decisions. I think that the Canadian government should also try this technique. What would be better than sitting naked beside Stephan Harper discussing global warming- NOTHING. You then walk throughout the building and get a good idea of how the natural spring worked. One thing I found particularly interesting is looking at the stone. At the main door of the bath you can see the stone step is eroded from the millions of people who walked through the doors. Also, there is a display of items that they have since found in the drainage. Items such as combs, money, jewelery and other things they believed were given as offerings. Finally, at the end you get to walk around the lower level of the pool. There are signs everywhere that say you can't touch it, so of course me and Marlee touched it. You can't put up signs like that and expect people to head them- DON'T tempt me I say. The water was luke warm and indeed felt like "bath" water. Sorry, this really is a horrible attempt at trying to explain it. It was really just SOO complex that I am doing no justice to it! eeessh!

After checking out the roman Bath's we had a few hours to explore the city. First of all, Marlee has been having these extreme cravings for hot dogs. She talked about it so much that I too wanted an Olympic Hot Dog with ketchup and mustard cooked on the BBQ. I don't think they sell Olympic hot dogs, or even harvest..but rather large breakfast sausages that they call a hot dog. None the less, we still wanted one. While eating it, I put my arm in pigeon poop. yum. After eating our satisfying hot dog we went for a walk just to check out Bath. It's such a beautiful place. We went into the Abbey. It's a really really old amazing church and covering the walls and the floor are plaque's of dedications to people. I'll put some pictures of this on facebook as well.

Overall, the day was amazing. I am so glad that we got to check out both of these places. Again I learned so much in one day and saw so many things that I'd never seen!

I'm sorry that this blog is so full of small details and facts about both Stonehenge and Bath. I like to write what I remember and occasionally I like to do a bit of research myself! I hope you enjoy the small facts too and that I've saved you some time from looking it up yourself!

Thing's I learned today....

1) The pigs here are HUGE! We drove past this huge pig farm and I accidentally mistook the pigs as horses. I don't know how they breed them here, but I bet you could get A LOT of bacon off of one. (Me Kristin and Marlee once again found ourselves wondering what a group of pigs is called..it's a herd)

2) Pigeon poop doesn't ruin my mood or my will to eat a hot dog.

Until next time....

Happy New Year Everyone!!

I hope that everyone had an amazing New Years Eve full of excitement and fun! BUT...before I get to my London New Years events I have some other stuff to share!

On the 27th one of my dearest friends from University, Carrie, flew into Gatwick! Me and Marlee were both VERY excited to welcome her to London, even if it was only 7 in the morning. We left our house at 6 and finally rolled into the airport at 8...what a feat! Carrie was sitting there ever so patiently waiting for us. We got home that day and basically lived the dream while Carrie slept for 20 hours straight..jet leg much? Once Carrie FINALLY woke up, we have done some shopping and some sight seeing.

THEN, if ONE visitor is not exciting on the 30th, my curling buddy Jerid flew into Heathrow at 9 in the evening. To Heathrow it only takes around 30 minutes to get from our house to the tube and to the airport. lovely. Jerid wasn't hit by the jet leg like Carrie, but instead sleeps weird hours of the day even now.

The 31st..aka New Years Eve was a blast here in London! Me, Marlee, Jerid and Carrie headed over to Kristin's for some drinks and good cheer before heading to see the fireworks. We got there and decided it would be best to start out walking around. Apparently the thing to do here is to in fact just wander around on the streets drinking. It is so weird to walk past a cop holding a beer and NOT getting into any trouble at all! Blows my mind! Anyways, we walked through the crowds to Trafalgar Square. Once at Trafalgar Square we did our best to meet as many people from every country on the planet. I also did my very best at wishing people a Happy New Year--from Canada! Finally, the clock aka Big Ben struck twelve and the crowd erupted and fireworks went off! It was seriously surreal, at one point I think I had tears in my eyes! Hearing Big Ben and seeing the fireworks as well as watching the crowd it was pretty amazing! We had some fun after and finally rolled into home around 4:30 in the morning.

Being the go getter's that we are we got up and hit up the famous London New Years parade in central London. The parade was so fun! There were tons of people everywhere watching, thank goodness I'm so tall and tower over people that I could see everything! HA! Eventually, people got cold and left and I finally got a prime seat up front to watch the excitement. There was funky bikes, hot rods, clowns and of course marching bands. I don't think that London has any marching bands because there were 90234089348 bands from the states in the parade. The bands were definitely my favourite part of the parade. After three hours of parade and the fact that we couldn't feel any part of our body, we decided it was time to come home!

The next day, (Jan.2) we went on a walking tour by Sandeman's London Tours. The website sums up the tour best: "Walk in the footsteps of the rich and powerful on our Royal London Tour. We’ll introduce you to the personalities who ruled Great Britain, from Edward the Confessor to Winston Churchill. We’ll also take you to the buildings where they lived, worked and played, as well as where many are entombed today. This tour winds its way through the city of Westminster, home of the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey." Overall, our tour guide was amazing and had some funny stories about each location such as a story of a drunken Irish man who managed to break into Buckingham palace and to the queen's bedroom without getting caught. The tour guide was very animated and really loved his job which made it most interesting. Overall we saw, Hyde Park Corner
• Buckingham Palace
• Churchill’s War Cabinet Bunker
• The Houses of Parliament
• St. Martin-in-the-Fields
• Westminster Abbey
• Trafalgar Square


• Nelson’s Column
• Wellington Arch
• St. James’s Park
• 10 Downing St.
• Horseguards
• Whitehall
• Big Ben

Thing's I've Learned....

1) New Years is CRAZY here. There I said it.

2)On the tour I learned...One of the Mayor of London's election promises was to rid of the pigeons all over the city. To do so, he gave people little bags of bread to feed the pigeons BUT the bread wasn't just your regular everyday wonder bread..no..not for London..they put contraceptives in it! YES, the pigeons in the city ARE on birth control!

Stay tuned for a blog about Stonehenge and Bath.....

***********ATTENTION: MOM and other fan's. This is the LAST day of the trip, you need to scroll down and find the blog about the first day and work your way back....you can DOOOO it Mom!. If they don't show up below this one, click on the blogs on the right hand side of this page." *******************************



Day numba five

We got to start our day a little bit later which was lovely because we hadn't slept past seven on the whole vacation. We woke up had some breakfast and decided to check out Glasgow until we left at 3.

For some reason Kristin decided we should check out the train station to confirm what time we left. Upon arriving, Kristin talked to a person working and this nice lady told us that it would be smart for us to get on the next train. The weather was apparently bad and was causing delays all over the place. We then had to hike back to the hostel to get our bags. We got on the train to Edinburgh around 12 o'clock expecting it only to take the normal 50 minutes. We rolled into Edinburgh at 3 o'clock, there were in fact delays. At one point we were stopped in the middle of no where for 50 minutes while we waited for the train ahead of us to get towed. We made the best of it and made a sandwich.

Once we got into Edinburgh we jumped on the first train to London. We got onto the train we left Edinburgh and within three minutes THIS train was now stopped. Apparently the driver had to do some safety inspection. UGH! We played some cards, laughed and yes you guessed it-made a sandwich.

We rolled into London around 8 o'clock and finally made it back home.

Overall, our trip was absolutely amazing. I couldn't have asked for a better trio to travel with. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard for so long in my life. There wasn't a moment where we were annoyed with each other or anything. We had so much fun and every moment was indeed a new adventure. I can't even capture the trip throughout these blogs but I hope that I have given everyone a good idea of what we all saw and did.




Once we got home we went to midnight mass. Midnight mass was very good and I'm glad we did manage to go to Church on Christmas Eve. The carols were sung different and it was hard for us to follow. It was definitely less entertaining the normal lisoway-ward Christmas eve rendezvous. There was no one choking on bread and no one singing funny. Quiet really!

Christmas day was also very good. I sort of thought that I would be a huge sad sack for the whole day but instead I had a lovely day. I was surrounded by good people and we had many good laughs. I got to open a present from ma and pa and it was a Craven Ticket! YAY! I think it was mom's way of making sure I come home! We made this HUGE Christmas dinner complete with chicken, potatoes, veggies, gravy, dressing and wine. We then enjoyed a few games of cards and had a nice evening! I got to talk on the phone to mom and dad, grandma John, Aunty fern & family and to my surprise William :)

Now that the trip is done, I am getting very excited for the arrival of Carrie and Jerid!

Thing's I've Learned....

1. Christmas is celebrated by everyone very differently. To me Christmas means lots of snow and good cheer. However, to people that I have met from Australia it means sitting on the beach for a nice BBQ. This year, even though I was so far away from home with no snow, it still felt like Christmas because of the people I surrounded myself with :)

2. Train delay's suck. Between Glasgow and Edinburgh the train was stuffed. We managed to get two seats so all three of us were sitting on these two seats. ugh!

3. Haggis, neeps and tatties are a tasty treat even if you just get a "wee" taste"


Alright, well that is all for now! I hope you enjoy the million new blogs i have written today. I decided that it would best to write one for each day because I did not want to miss a moment!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Day four!

Day four started out brighter and earlier than any of the days thus far. We left Edinburgh at 6am to get back to Glasgow for 8AM which is when our day trip left. We talked outside to a winter wonderland. It snowed SO much. (If you look on facebook you will see a picture of me and Marlee after our walk to the train.) We started the day off once again frozen to the bone.

We arrived in Glasgow and were ready to go on an adventure in hopes of seeing Nessie. We went on a day tour by Rabbie's tours, they basically have a sixteen passenger bus and a tour guide who drives the bus. Our tour guide's name was John and he was full of knowledge and an accent we could understand! While other tours were canceling, John decided to trek through the storm for us to experience the highlands.

Our first stop was at Loch Lomond. For a second I thought I was back home and we were going to go ice fishing, but I was wrong! I forgot I was in SCOTLAND, silly me!!! Loch Lomond is the largest fresh water lake in Scotland and is over 600 feet deep in some areas. I can't even comprehend that depth. We stopped at a small village called Luss and got to walk around for a bit to explore the place. Loch Lomond is a very popular Loch in Scotland and there is an old song written about it-John played it for us and it is indeed very lovely.

Next along the road we got to see things such as the oldest pub in Scotland. It was built in the 17th century and John told us that if we were ever to stay in there that we should avoid room number 6 because it does not heat up and there are ghosts in there. (Good advice I reckon) We also got to see Ben Nevis. Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in Scotland and the most popular mountain to climb. John told us that he has seen a lot of people getting air lifted off of it since he started working with Rabbies. We traveled through Glen Coe, while traveling through you can see mountains on both sides. It's very majestic. Along the road we saw many stags. The stags (aka deer) were everywhere! At one look out point people had left carrots for the stag's to eat.

We stopped at the Invernochy Castle near Fort William. The castle is sited on the south bank of the River Lochy, at the strategically important entrance to the Great Glen, a key passage through the Scottish Highlands. We got to do some major climbing in this castle. At one point we were standing on top of the old castle - of course we were careful without travel insurance and all!

FINALLY, after stopped at all these small places and look out points we reached our destination, Loch Ness. Here our search began for the monster-we were CERTAIN to find her! Loch Ness was beautiful even though Nessie was too shy to make an appearance. We are pretty certain we saw a ripple in the water which was her greetings to us. There was a boat there that you can take onto the loch, but we didn't have time. Besides, we were unwilling to pay to get onto a boat! come on now!

On the way back we stopped at places such as look out places, war memorials and a small town called pitlochry. Pitlochry was a nice little resort village where we stopped to have some supper.

Overall, I would strongly recommend people to take a day tour by bus. The tour guide (John) was amazing. He knew so many different stories about the heritage and history of the highlands. He had a head set that he wore while driving and was able to tell us popular things to check out alongside the road. He is also a saint in our eyes because he introduced us to "Celtic Thunder" which translates in English as "Music sung by Angels." You should download some Celtic Thunder - our favorites are called Caledonia, Brothers In Arms and Castles in the Air. You could also Youtube them to see them perform. As soon as we got home we downloaded it all and now we can't get enough! It's beautiful!

After the big day trip (12 hours in total) we were hungry! We hit up a local establishment to try Haggis! An online dictionary defines Haggis as:" n.
A Scottish dish consisting of a mixture of the minced heart, lungs, and liver of a sheep or calf mixed with suet, onions, oatmeal, and seasonings and boiled in the stomach of the slaughtered animal." Yup- sounds awful. We decided just to try a "wee" taste. I'm happy to report that is tasted great! It tasted very similar to a sausage before you case it. Momma used to fry up a piece of sausage without casing on it and I would compare this to Haggis. It is served with mash potatoes (tatties) and turnips (neeps) along with a gravy made out of scotch. Yummy! I would strongly recommend it for everyone!

We got back to our hostel so tired from all the traveling only to find a complete psycho path in there! We were in a hostel with 12 beds and for the most part all the people are always very normal and friendly. This woman was the exception to any and every rule there has ever been. Apparently her husband was cheating on her and left her and blah blah blah. She was drunk and staying in this hostel making phone calls which ended up with her yelling and screaming and crying. Finally we told her to pipe down and get out if she couldn't. She then went outside to have smoke and we locked up all of our stuff in the lockers. I guess one psycho in 4 months isn't too bad.

Things I've Learned....

1. "Wee" - wee can be substituted in any instance where you would use the word small or little. You can have a "wee loch" or a "wee taste" or a "wee break." John used it in every sentence. Kristin was so intrigued by this word that she too used it in every sentence that followed our tour.

2. "Loch" Loch means lake. In Scotland, there are a whole chain of Loch's that are connected by the Caledonian canal.

3. It's cold in Scotland. I can't stress that enough I'm sorry!

DAY trois!

We had to get up at 7AM again to make it to our train on time. We had a bit of a hard start due to the previous nights rendezvous. We climbed onto the train and it temperature felt as though we were in the Arctic Tundra rather than a train in Scotland. We bundled up and tried to get a few moments of shut eye on our way to Edinburgh.

We stepped off Edinburgh to the coldest weather yet. We bundled up sporting three pairs of pants and three shirts- EACH. Still, we were chilled. I'm not sure the temperature but it was indeed cold. It's not the cold Saskatchewan winter that I have experienced in my life- this is a cold, chill through my bones sort of cold. We didn't want to waste a day in Scotland so we sucked it up and out we went. First we went to the Edinburgh Castle. Again- a risky decision without travel insurance. It's another long climb to the top on the ice covered sidewalks. We rolled in just in time for a free tour to begin so we really got to learn all about the castle. The dude doing the tour (in a kilt) was possibly the funniest person I've ever seen. Most would find his jokes more than corny, but I thought it was just the funniest! Edinburgh Castle is old, some of the buildings have been there since the 12th century. The Castle is full of cool stuff. There is a church called St. Margret's Church that is the oldest building built in the 12th century. People still get married there and it can only fit 25 people. There is also a war memorial building where all the soldiers from Scotland who have died in any war is written in a book. There is also a prisoner's corridors which they had a real life reenactment of what it would have been like to be a prisoner. Let's face it, it would have sucked the big one! eeesh! Also, in another building is where the Jewel's of Scotland are. I have nicer jewelery in my jewelery box then these crown jewel's but whatever I guess.

After the castle we had some eats and set out for a Ghost Walking Tour throughout the city. We saw some of the "supernatural" and "unexplainable" events that happen in Edinburgh. We saw a freaky bridge, a cemetery with creepy stuff then we climbed King Arthur's seat a place where there are apparently some freaky fairies. It was really good!

We then made our way back to the hostel to defrost. Holy cats, I don't think we unfroze until the wee hours of the night.

Things I learned...

1. Edinburgh is pronounced "Edinbrraaaaa" I find if you say is if you are a gangsta and wave your hands as if you were rapping you can truly get the correct feel for the word. I find myself doing it quite often.
I love that everyone JUST tried it!

2. Sheep - Everyone has sheep. Mom you would really be in heaven in Scotland AND you would be helpful in sheep population control.

Day numero two.

We woke up all nice and rested up, threw on some clothes and out the door we went to get some yummy continental breakfast. The Hostel put on a very nice breaky with cereal and toast and coffee. The night before we had made this excellent time schedule so that we wouldn't miss our train. HOWEVER, we pulled into the station at the last second only to find out that we were at the wrong station! With exactly 7 minutes we had to run to the other station which is about 15 minute walk on a good day. Could we do it? Would we make it? The pressure was on! I felt like we were on the Amazing Race running through the city centre trying to make it to the destination in time. After this run however I realized that the Amazing Race is NOT for this duck. We ran to the station making it at exactly 8:07. We ran through the terminal, ran to the train, ran to a seat and FINALLY remembered to breathe. We were SO proud of ourselves that we failed to notice the calmness of other people boarding the train. The train didn't leave until 8:28! All along we had in fact had acres of time! After this run we were definitely ready for the day and our hearts didn't slow down until an hour or so into the journey. None the less, we settled into the train to play some cards, checked out the million sheep, and again had some great sandwiches. We decided to save money we would just pick some items to make sandwiches, so for the low cost of 4 pounds we all were treated to delicious sandwiches. Sandwiches are beautiful, sandwiches are fun, i like sandwiches i eat them all the time......... whoopss..sorry that I jumped into song right there.

We got into the small town Oban around 11:30. We stepped off the train and were amazed at it's beauty and the warm weather they were having. I bought a book about Scotland and this is what it says about Oban: "Translating from Scottish Gaelic as "little bay", Oban is now a very busy port, ferrying thousands of visitors annually to Mull, Colonsay, Coll, Linsmore and other small islands. It's no coincidence that it is regarded as the "gateway to the Highlands." Oban is much more than just a stopover when travelling further afield. it has been a popular holiday destination since Victorian times".. Needless to say, it is B-E-A-U-TIFUL! The instructions to get to our hostel from the train were as follows: "Keeping the sea on your left side, walk around the bay for 12-15 minutes from town centre. Hostel is on the seafront." How great is that? Yup- it's great! It was the first time I'd ever seen the ocean so I was pretty much memorized. We checked into our perfect little hostel and all had showers and were ready to go exploring in 45 minutes. First we decided to check out the Atlantic Ocean and take some pictures. We had fun collecting some sea shells and what not and so forth. We then made our way along the bay and Kirstin came up with the brilliant idea that we should partake in boat ride. We found a sign that said there was a boat trip for one hour. Kristin called up the number to inquire only to find out that someone had painted that on the sign as a joke. We moved along the bay and found another sign, this one didn't run this time of year. After about an hour of trying we gave up the dream of riding on a boat on the Atlantic Ocean. Next stop: Oban Distillery. Doing some research before we went to Oban it was our "must see." It is one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland and apparently the whiskey is something special. We made our way over to the distillery which is situated in the town centre. We went in totally excited for our tour to find out that the distillery was NOT doing tours that day due to maintenance! UGH! We tried to sweet talk them, but no such luck. So by this time Oban was becoming a bit of a let down.
We decided to make the best of our day in this beautiful town. We then made the trek up to McCaig's Tower. McCaigs tower was built by John Stewart McCaig. McCaig's intention was to provide a lasting monument to his family, and provide work for the local stonemasons during the winter months. McCaig was an admirer of Roman and Greek architecture, and had planned for an elaborate structure, based on the Colosseum in Rome. His plans allowed for a museum and art gallery with a central tower to be incorporated. Inside the central tower he planned to commission statues of himself, his siblings and their parents. His death brought an end to construction with only the outer walls completed. (yes- I just got that from Wikipedia) It is really nice, we had to be extremely careful climbing the winding road because of ice and the fact that we had no travelers insurance. The view from the top is pretty remarkable.
After this year long climb up we decided to then check out a castle near the town. The castle which was called Dunollie Castle is just a short walk out of the town. In order to get to the castle however you need to put your life at risk. Even though we didn't have travel insurance, we still played with fate. To get there you have to walk along this highway that is very narrow. On one side you can take an emergency plunge into the rocks and ocean on the other side you can choose to get hit by a car. We made it to the castle unharmed and climbed the cow path up to the castle. It was very nice inside even though it is in rough shape. It was built in the 13th century so it's pretty darn old!
After the castle we hit up some supper at a local establishment that overlooked the sea. We then went on the search for some locals to drink with. We went to a quaint pub called "Tartan Tavern" only to find drunk old men locals who were very interested in the fact that there were females in the building. It was pretty funny at first, but got old very fast. We had a beer there then decided to book it to another place. After a survey of the next pub we decided that this would be a better fit for us. We enjoyed a few beverages before meeting some people. The three guys we met turned out to work on a ferry that ran in Oban. We later learned that one of them was the CAPTAIN and one was the co-captain. We didn't pay for another drink all night, and we got a complimentary visit to their ferry! The charm of Kristin struck again. :)
Since our party lasted until the wee hours of the night we were sleepy for the next days early train ride. Overall, Oban was probably one of the most beautiful places I've been to in my life. The people were all friendly, the sights were sights to see and I think we truly got to experience true Scottish life.

Things I learned today...

1. Real Scottish people are hard to understand. This one old man we were talking to I couldn't understand a word he said. I told him to talk slower...he told me to listen faster.

2. There is the Scottish pound and the British Pound. They are worth the same amount just look different- I'm unsure about the reasoning of this.

stay tuned for day 3.......

Hey everyone! I decided that it would be best if I broke down EACH and every day of our Scotland trip per blog so sit back and relax for the chapter book that is about to unfold!



Day 1

We headed off to Kings Cross St. Pancras (NOT pronounced pancreas like the body part) for a 10:30 departure to Glasgow, Scotland!

We loaded up our backpacks which weighed wayyy to much- but you never know what you will need. I used the old boy scout trick that dad taught me and rolled up all my clothes to put into my backpack. I did fail to use the rest of his knowledge that you CAN wear the same clothes for a couple days. BUT--be prepared right? None the less, we were off to a great start for phase 1. We made it to the train station and got onto the train with no problems. The train ride was nice and smooth, we played some cards, looked at the sights and had a debate about a group of sheep. I made a comment that my mom hit a flock of sheep once and then it turned into a debate! We didn't know what the heck it was called- an hour later we decided we should just wait until we had a computer to google it. YUP- it's a flock! On the train we also enjoyed some home made sandwiches- something that became a tradition on every train ride then on.

We rolled into Glasgow around 3:30 and settled into our hostel for the evening. By this time it was already dark, so we ventured around our area and checked out a few things, but overall Glasgow was pretty darn boring. There was no one really out pubs, I mean it WAS Sunday night but people must have missed the memo that the three Canadians were rolling into town.

Since Glasgow forgot to roll out the red carpet for us we settled into bed preparing for our early 7AM start for day two.....


Things I learned in Scotland

1. Flock of sheep - not a gaggle or a heard or a school or a murder like other familiar animals we all know and love.

2. In the UK they think that the perfect time to have a carnival is in the dead of winter. We always see randoms parking lots with big carnivals set up. Yes- I'm talking ferris wheels, massive slides, merry-go-rounds, cotton candy and hot dogs. WHY in god's name would you think it's a good idea to have one of these in the winter time. Who in Canada would hit one of these up?? I wonder how often they have to pry a tongue off a frozen piece of metal at these events...

I tricked you! I bet you are onto this thing where you can expect to find a blog on a Sunday evening. Well- It's only Saturday!

This past week was full of relaxing, researching and reading. Because it was the last week of school before the big holiday, most teachers must have decided to suck it up and go. I only worked one day this week! whew! Marlee only worked one day as well. It was sort of nice to relax and not be up at 6:30 and ready by 7 to leave for work. We were very busy researching this week planning our trip to Scotland.

The one day of work that I worked today was by far the most horrendous experience of my life! Has anyone ever seen the movie "Daddy Day Care" OR the movie "High School High?" You watch these films and see children acting like a breed of wild ape's and you think to yourself "how the hell is this EVEN possible" well folks...it IS possible! I could not even try and control the class, I gave up. I sat back and watched the craziness. There was a kid walking on the tables, there was a kid calling me names, there was a kid swearing at the teacher aide and flipping her off, there were two kids chucking pencils across the room at eachother, there were two kids physically fighting eachother. Yeah, it was insane. Finally this male teacher came into the room and raised hell. After school a teacher came into the classroom and congratulated me on lasting until 2:30. She said that most supply teachers only last until noon. WHEW! I could not believe it! I vowed to myself that I would rather survive living in London on the streets eating pizza crusts. These children were only 9 years old, I'd hate to see them in high school. never. again.

Onto more work news, I have been looking for a more permanent gig for January. I've had a few promising propositions but nothing seemed to pan out. I had given up on Thursday and decided that I could just supply teach again. I really do like supply teaching (with the exception of Tuesday). Anyways, my agency called on Thursday and told me I had a phone interview. So I did the phone interview and I wasn't to stoked about the job because it is around 1 1/2 hours from home. Marlee talked me into going to the school to see it and stuff. I went there and they offered me a job, so I took it! I will be a Reception teacher (kindergarten teacher) There is 20 children in my class, three which have autism and have a full time support worker. The school looks very lovely and the staff all seemed very nice, so I am looking forward to it! I will have to take some pictures of the school and of my classroom to share. The school is called Gainsborough, it always makes me chuckle! For those of you who don't know, the town next to Carnduff (where i did my internship) is Gainsborough. It will be nice to know where I am going every day!

After weeks and weeks of being indecisive we finally decided to buckle down and book some sort of holiday for Christmas. We were originally going to head to Ireland, but that didnt' pan out. Then we were going to go to Scotland but we couldn't find a trip that we fancied. Finally, Kristin decided that we should make up our OWN trip. That's when the researching started. Kristin got the ball rolling with booking train tickets etc and I joined her planning on where we would stay each night as well as train tickets. Marlee then was in charge of coming up with an agenda of things to do at each place. We came up with a pretty stellar trip for cheap. The hostel's are around 12 pounds a night for each of us and the train tickets are about the same. We are going to Glasgow Sunday morning at 10am, then we go to a small town called Oban and then finally end up in Scotland's capital, Edinburgh. We decided that we wanted to go to a smaller town in Scotland where we could have the chance to really see the Scottish culture. I came across Oban somewhere, so we are going to check it out! Some of the highlights of our trip are going to include, seeing the ocean :), trying to spot the Lochness monster, a famous castle, a scotch distillery and many other attractions! I am very excited to explore another part of Europe. I'm sure I will have a TON of pictures as well as some interesting stories. May even have a new section of "things I've learned today.." Keep posted! If we have the world wide web at one of the hostel's I will try to write a blog!

We get back from our trip late Christmas Eve. For Christmas day we decided it would be nice to cook a nice dinner. We invited some friends who also did not go home for Christmas. We bought a chicken so we will make chicken, potatoes and the whole works. Marlee's mom sent some Stove Top in the mail so we are going to enjoy that as well! (thanks Kelly) I know it won't be the same, but it will be nice to have some sort of traditional Christmas. We are going to hopefully play some card games and maybe a board game or two! We'll see!

The 27th is also another very exciting day! My friend Carrie is coming to visit! She booked a last minute trip and I couldn't be more thrilled! I'm so looking forward to spending a week with her. She is coming bright and early (7am) on the 27th, so me and Marlee will be at the airport ready to greet her with a beautiful sign! We are going to do some sight seeing things and do some shopping.
THEN it gets better yet! My friend Jerid flies in! He is on his way to South Africa to do a practicum for school. He will be here until the 5th as well! While we have all this company we are going to be the best of hosts and act as London Vetrans (we'll see how we do) We are going to go on a day trip to Stonehenge and bath (which is something we haven't done or seen yet), hopefully hit up a show AND find the party of the parties for New Years.

Interesting Fact of the week:
It SNOWED here! Who can believe it! Me and Marlee were sitting on the couch and I was on the phone with my agency. I looked out the window and interupted my consultant yelling that it was snowing! After I finished the phone conversation we went outside and snapped some photo's! Whew! It hardly snowed but it was still very exciting!

Ok..that's just the lead up to the story..HERE is the story

It didn't even snow enough for the ground to be covered and hardly enough for it to cause a disruption in peoples lives. HOWEVER, London is clearly ready for anything. They LOVE salt. They love gravel. They mostly love salt and gravel mixed. They love it so much that they feel it is necessary to cover the sidewalks. safety first. There is more gravel/salt in a ten foot stretch that you can find on the highway between Preeceville and Yorkton. It's crazy, we got home and had to throw our pants in the wash because they were so salted up!

Alright! Well if I don't manage to get another blog before Christmas I hope that everyone truly has an amazing Christmas full of laughter and love. I will be thinking of everyone back home that day! I feel so loved with all the cards I have been receiving in the mail, it means a lot to me!

love you all!

Hey Everyone!

It's getting so very close to Christmas! I just downloaded the Boney M Christmas Cd. Every year I just HAVE to download it. Its pure enjoyment in one CD. Nothing beats it, not even Kenny and Dolly (JANNNEEELLLE)

Again, I slacked and didn't write a blog, the week just zooms by so quick that before I know it its 11:30 PM on a Sunday evening and I have the feeling like I just HAVE to do it! So here it is!

This week has been all good I worked everyday in different schools. I had a trial day (which is basically a day long interview to see you in action) It went really well and I got to go back on Friday for another day. I just don't think there will be a job there so I'm not getting my hopes up. I'm not really sure even why I had a trial day there even...ANYWAYS, we'll see what comes out of it. I'm pretty happy just supply teaching right now but on the other hand it would be nice to know where you are going everyday. For January I do have the option of signing a Guaranteed work Scheme with my other agency which basically as the name says, guarantee's work. We'll see by the end of the week what I choose to do! I'm really holding out for a job at my favourite school but I guess they can't announce the job yet..sucky! Marlee's last day was Friday at her nursery so now we are once again in the same boat waiting for work every morning! I was thinking today about my experiences as a supply teacher and they have overall been fairly good. The really hard days seems to disappear in my mind so that's good! I haven't had to clean up poop or vomit so I think I'm doing ok. (This will probably jynx myself and tomorrow I will have to clean up a kid who puked and crapped his pants at the same time)

This weekend we decided to go on a Santa Pubcrawl. It started at 2 pm at a Australian Pub and for five pounds you got a Santa hat and a free "snakebite." A snake bite is made out of: Half Beer, Half Cider, and a shot of blackcurrent. It's delicious but potent. We didn't know that you had to prebook the whole outfit deal so we missed out. Starting at 2pm always means it's going to be an early night! We were home and sleeping by shortly after one and 5 o'clock last night felt like 5 AM. Eeesh, we did have tons of fun and met a lot of really cool and fun people. I learned a new game that they play in Australia. It involves clinking bottles together. I basically rocked it. See Youtube for a video of the night. There are pictures on Facebook too!

Weather. Let's talk about it. Why so damn cold at home. Jeeez. I'm not going to lie to you guys. I'm not. So, I have to admit I get a chuckle in the morning when I see my perfect little desktop weathernetwork thingy mabobby and I see that it says -34 but feels like -45. Then I notice the London one that says +11. It was +6 the other day and all the teachers were just complaining how cold it was and how they shouldn't have to go out to do supervision in such weather. I then chuckle at them. I'm really laughing about the weather. I need it to snow here to watch these fools in it.

We are currently hunting for a fun Christmas Vacation dealio. We (Me, Marlee and Kristin) want to head to Scotland for a few days before Carrie and Jerid come for a visit! We also plan on taking a day trip to see Stonehenge and Bath while they are here. Slowly our bucket list is dwindling even though we'll never see everything!

Funny story of the week:

I was subbing one day and I was on my lunch break at this school with all ridiculously good looking teachers. I was sitting in the staff room eating my lunch minding my business enjoying some Nicholas Sparks and these two men started talking about school projects from when they were in school. This guy said that they did projects all afternoon and he did this project on Canada and now Canada has a special place in his heart. Let's face it, when I hear Canada my ears perk up and I start to listen. This guys continues on to say "I really need to visit there I just HAVE to go to Saskatchewan." SASKATCHEWAN..as in your no.1 place to visit in Canada. I then opened my mouth and said....I am from Canada, and I am from Saskatchewan. This guy then thought I was sent down from the Heavens got up and shook my hand. He then went on to tell me everything about Saskatchewan and how he loved the shape of it and blah blah blah. So hilarious! I never thought I'd see the day where that would happen. I had a good chuckle over it then I got to thinking, this dude IS right, Saskatchewan is pretty kick ass :)



Alright, talk to you soon!

Send me some lefsa wouldja?

Whooppsiiiesss..It's been a week! Shame Shame on me!

I think I have not wrote because I have been sulking about the Rider loss on Sunday! I started watching it on this live Internet feed and only had intentions to watch the first quarter...however..I found myself at 3 in the morning mourning a loss. Can you believe that last play? I just can't. I think it was no one's fault, just too much excitement! The Riders are so lucky to have such a loyal fan base, they could have lost every game this season and I'm sure the stands still would have been full!

I worked everyday this week again! All the teachers are getting sick everywhere! Some have a cold and some have a nasty stomach flu. eeewwyy. Those can surely stay away from ME! I have been managing to kill off any sickness SO far. Marlee has got me hooked on Echinacea so I'm thinking its been helping! I taught all week in different places again. Mostly the nursery and reception jobs that I love. I am almost tempted to tell my agency that that is ALL I want! BUT, I'm worried if I am too picky I will find myself eating pizza crust off the streets of London. I had to teach in a year 3 last week and if you ask Marlee, you'd know just how much I was hating it before I even got there. BUT, maybe because I had such low hopes, it turned out to be an alright day! I always pick the kid that looks like they'd be the best student and resort to them for any question I may have. Works Magic. I also get one child to read the register so I don't make a total ass out of myself trying to pronounce names. I love when I say a name and they look at me with blank eyes thinking there is no such student! whoooppss. I say we should all name our kids John, Joe, Bob, Sue, Kate, HELL even Margaret would be better than a name like adirmhaman. eesh! The week just flies by when you are teaching because you get home around 5, eat supper and wash dishes by 7 then get ready for the next day and its 8, then do some odd jobs and before you know it it's time for bed! Me and Marlee have a system set up, whoever gets home first cooks supper, who ever gets home lasts is in charge of dishes and making lunches! Works well....this team work!

Friday night I got home and me and Marlee lounged around for what seemed like days. We then sort of convinced eachother that we should go out for a beer at a local establishment to check it out. SO, we googled a place, found one, and set of to find a Carling. We dressed like nun's because we just had plans of going to a sit down sort of place. HOWEVER, we got there and it was BOOMING! It was lots of fun! There was a live band and they were playing popular American songs so we were just singing to them all. I'm sure people thought we were crazy because we knew them all. The pub sort of has the feel of like the Pump or a small town bar. Loved it! Definitely have to go back!

Saturday I babysat all day and had such a lovely time once again with Giaan. He is adorable. This time I made some of "Shelly's Famous Playdough" and we played for hours! I guess in other words....THE PLAYDOUGH QUEEN IS BACK. I remember when Mrs. Klebeck used to call me that! There is somethign about playdough that I JUST love! We also did some Peppa Pig paintings. Peppa Pig is this huge kids cartoon here for toddlers. It's pretty sweet. Also, on the table of "first time's" I tried curry! Preet had made "Raj Maj" I think it was called.. It was delicious! I am very glad I got to try an authentic version first. I'm really glad I picked up this babysitting job because it's so nice to spend some time with young kids!

Today, Me and Marlee ventured to a store called Asda. I knew it was a sort of version of Wal*Mart so I was pretty darn excited. We walked in and got a cart and Marlee noticed that it said "always saving you money" JUST like Wal*Mart! It is very similar and has rollback and the signs look the same and they use walmart telzons. (telzon are the machines used for ordering and checking stock and price checks, etc..)

Before today I did NOT feel in the Christmas spirit one bit. Maybe it's because there is no snow and it is the weather of fall or maybe it's because I'm so far away from my fambam and friends. Not sure. However, Me and Marlee came across a movie called "A Christmas Card" It was delightful! It got me into the spirit and when we went to Asda we found a small 3 foot Christmas tree for 3 pounds! yay! We decorated it and everything, so pictures will follow! I have so much to be thankful this Christmas. Me and Marlee are going to try make some perogies..think we can do it????

Things I've Learned...

Shopping carts are equipped with all turning wheels. In Canada only the front wheels turn 360 degrees to turn. HERE all four wheels turn meaning you can pull your cart any direction any time. It's crazy if you ask me.

Swans are massive. I know what you are thinking..."Crystal you didn't have to go half way across the world to figure this one out" BUT holy cow are they huge! Me and Giaan were feeding the ducks and this swan came out of the water and I almost ran. I thought to myself that this bird could kill me if it wanted to. I picked up Giaan and got the heck outa there! Stay away from the swans...consider yourself warned.


Alright! Talk to everyone soon!
Missing you all!

Hey Everyone!
Seems like I am beginning to be on a mid-week and Sunday evening blog writing schedule!

What is everyone doing for the BIG game! I totally wish I was at home to watch this all unfold again. I remember last time I had THE time of my life..something I will NEVER forget! I will be thinking of everyone at home during the game and the atmosphere that Saskatchewan is in! whew! I am going to try see how much of the game I can see. I'm thinking about going to bed then waking up around 2:30-3 to see what the deal is. The time change major sucks in times like this!

My week was great! The last time I wrote I was sick but I seemed to have diverged it as a result of all that sleep I got. Thank Gosh it went away because here you have to register with a doctor before he will help you. Meaning, I would have had to made an appointment to get all registered...I think they just check you out for the registration..then I would have had to make ANOTHER appointment to get some medication for the illness. By this time I probably would have lost my nose or something crazy.

The rest of my week I was at my favourite school so it was wonderful! This week I was even put in charge of "opening the gate" to let the parents in and out in the morning. It was really cool to see the parents to all the kids. Some were very shocking! I feel right at home in that school so hopefully I keep getting work there. They have been practicing their Christmas play and the songs are literally STUCK in my head 24/7. I wake up singing them....I go to bed singing them. I LOVE how schools still put on big productions here! 16 out of 21 kids are Muslim in the class and they still go ahead with the play. The children who are Muslim are involved in the parts that are non-religious (like being a snowflake) Its pretty cool.

On Thursday I got home to see presents for me sitting on the table! YAY! I got a great little care package from Don and Betty. In it was a pair of awesome Canadian Olympics mittens and some Kraft Dinner. The Mitts are proving to be a hit already! I was wearing them on the tube and me and Marlee got into this 40 minute long conversation with another couple. It was hilarious!! They were AWESOME, they turned out to be both teachers and they knew where Saskatchewan was and everything. ALSO, I got a birthday present from Chantal in the mail to. It was a great day, I LOVE getting snail mail here!

This weekend I had a weekend full of adventure! On Saturday me and my friend Blair decided to check out the "Parkland Mall" of the UK. Calling this mall MASSIVE is an understatement. It's full of stores.....and mostly full of people. Me being the curious cat that I am checked out some information on the mall and their are 300+ stores, 80+ restaurants and 96 elevators. It was so busy that when we were going down the elevator I panicked looking at all the people. We checked out a few stores but it was so busy that to actually buy or try something on would have just been a stupid idea. At the UGG store there was a line up like one that you would see at Preeceville Credit Union on a Friday to get into the store. All nicely marked off with rope and everything. Probably had to stand in line for about an hour just to get into the store. No thanks! After the mall we decided that we'd head down town to Leicester Square to score us some sweet musical tickets. It was about 3 so we thought we'd for sure get something good. Jokes on us, the only thing we got was NOTHING. We tried getting tickets for..We Will Rock You, Grease, Dirty Dancing, Pricissla, The Lion King BUT they were all sold out already. No luck there, we settled for the cinema to see A Christmas Carol in 3D. We then waited in line at Pizza Hut for 40 minutes to get a table! haha crazy. Here there is a queue for everything. If you want to use the ATM, you stand in line, if you want to get a coffee there is a line, if you want to use the toilet there is a line. Hell half the time there is a line to get into the line.

What else is new here.... hmm...It's been raining here for days again. What a surprise. I am beginning to think I look HOT in the "wet dog" look. I do this thing with my hair to dry it that involves me sort of headbanging..ya..its hot. I soon need to get a new umbrella, mine is getting worn out and is starting to flip in any sort of wind.
Me and Marlee are addicted to the show X Factor. I have recently met my boyfriend, Olly, on there. I really really hope he wins! X Factor is the UK version of like American Idol but on a much more extravagant! It's great!

Tube News as seen by Crystal Ward

Nail Painter on Tube

Girl decides to freshen up her finger nails on tube. Yesterday, I was minding my own business reading the paper and I smell something that smells like nail polish..clearly no one would paint their nails on the tube, thats a dumb idea. BUT again, I underestimated the power OF stupid people. I look over and sure as hell this girl is sitting their painting her nails as if she was sitting in the comfort of her living room. Jeez. I bet she had fingernail polish all over hands.



Alright! Well I hope everyone is having the time of their lives watching the game! I'm sitting writing this, tuned into an internet feed watching the pre-game!
Go Riders Go!!!
Talk to you mid-week!!!

Hey!

Hope everyone had a good weekend! WOOOHOOO Riders! How exciting that they will be in the Grey Cup. I am going to see if we can get the Maple Leaf to play the game because it would be a SHAME to miss it!

I had a good weekend even though I was played out from working all week! Friday night we went to see New Moon at the cinema! It was great! In order to get to the "cinema" aka theatre we had to walk over River Thames. Marlee hadn't been over the river yet so it was a great first experience. It is really nice at night because all the lights reflect onto the water. New Moon did not disappoint. For all those who are familiar with it, I was MOST pleased with Jacob. I'm a TOTAL team Jacob fan, he deserves to be with Bella! I can't wait until the next one comes out next! At the theatre we got some "5 cent candies" except they aren't called that here. Here you buy them by the weight rather than 5 cents each. 5 cent candies here are not as satisfying as at home. The fuzzy peaches do not taste the same, the cherry blasters are huge, there are NO hot lips, the sour soothers are not sour OR made out of the same thing and the list of 5 cent candy gone-wrongs continues. We still just HAVE to get some even though they are not as good! At the theatre you can also choose whether you get sweet popcorn or salty. The sweet isn't good at all. Just like at home, a night out to the theatre isn't the cheapest but it is still a nice relaxing time!

On Saturday I was supposed to babysit so I got up at 7:40 and left the house around 8:30 to get to Giaan's house in time. I got there and the poor guy was soooo sick. So, I was home by 10:00 AM. I was excited to do some Peppa Pig paintings, but I guess they will have to wait! Since I was home and Marlee was up we decided to head out onto the town for some more exploring. We did not know what we wanted to do, but after consulting our "London Bucket list" we decided to hit up the London Aquarium. The London Aquarium is right alongside River Thames and right beside the London Eye and Big Ben. We hadn't seen them up close yet so that was pretty exciting! Despite the rain and the crowds of people we took lots of pictures of both! (see Facebook Photo's) There were SOOOOO many people alongside this street and I bet 98% were tourists because everyone had their camera's out snapping pictures. I wonder how many I am in! The London Aquarium was fantastic. It was a great way to spend Saturday afternoon. There were all different kinds of sea-life creatures in there such as HUGE turtles, sharks, clown fish, star fish and the list goes on. I was a bit disappointed NOT to find any jack, walleye OR perch in there though! The place is so relaxing and I could have just sat and looked at the fish all day. There were lots of people in there, so I'd recommend going during the week rather than a weekend. I took some pictures and have posted them on Facebook. I made sure I got a picture of a Nemo Fish and a Dori Fish for Ian, Logan and Emma and all the other children checking out my pictures. :) After the aquarium we walked outside and it was dark. The London Eye is SOOO amazing at night! It was pouring cats and dogs so we couldn't take TOO many pictures but we managed to snap a few. We then met Rochelle for supper and ended up sitting in a restaurant for 4 hours visiting and catching up! We went to a place called "My Old Dutch" where you eat anything and everything on a crepe. They were so yummy especially the dessert crepe which had ice cream and caramel sauce and bananas and nuts. Definitely a place to hit up again!

It was literally been raining here for 1 week. Enough already I say! I am beginning to realize how much i under appreciated snow.
Good things about snow:
1) It snows for a day at a time then stops.
2) When it rains you get wet, when it snows you simply wipe it off of you.
3) When it rains the humidity does weird things to your hair, when it snows your hair does not suffer.
4) When it rains you are chilled for the whole day, when it snows you freeze outside, but then come inside and warm up really quick.
5) When it rains you have to mess about with an umbrella. I hate umbrellas, what a hassle! When it snows you throw on your toque and off you go.
6) There are SO many fun activities to do in the snow...someone name me ONE fun thing to do in the rain (except puddle jumping..that's the exception)

Anyways, I worked yesterday at my favourite school and once again had a great day! It's so nice to go into a school where you feel comfortable with the staff and feel as if you are totally welcome. The kids who I taught for a week were very excited to see me so it was great to see them so happy! :) I could go there everyday until I leave and I'd be a happy camper!
Today I did not go to work because I was so sick! I got home last night from school and felt as if I could not walk or eat or anything. I went to bed around 7pm and woke up this morning at 9. After 14 hours of sleep i am finally feeling a bit better. I bought some medicines to aid in my recovery. It's tricky here because they call all their med's by the ingredients in them. There is no tylenol or dristan so most of the time I stand in the isle looking like an illiterate dummy because let's face it, I don't speak doctor. Lindsey helped me out and I got some good stuff that will hopefully help! I also took Lindsey to the airport this morning to see her off to Canada. Unfortunately, the agencies she worked for failed her miserably and she hardly got any work, forcing her to head back to Kingston. :( Heathrow is only 16 minutes by tube, how nuts is that. Visitors.....fly to Heathrow if you can! I must look like I know what I am doing now in London because I got asked for help TWICE! First a young good looking boy beside my tube station who I was HOPING was looking for my house but rather was looking for the road he was already walking on! Next was by a family who happened to be from the USA needed some help on traveling into Central London. I was actually able to help both of them, I was proud!

Tube News as seen by Crystal Ward

Girl sports daisy dukes
My favourite of the week BY FAR has been the girl who thought wearing jean cut off's in the rain was a good idea. Now you see me say "jean cut offs" and think of jeans that used to be long cut into a shorter version to be worn as shorts. These do not fit that category. Imagine cutting your jeans off right under the back pocket. about 2 cm from your back pocket. These shorts should NOT be worn in public, you could literally see her bum cheeks. What was even funnier was the crowd of young and old men alike to check this spectacle out. All the guys were strategically standing behind her, stealing glances and trying to be sneaky. Better luck next time boys...

Live performances on tube

If you were traveling on the tube between Heathrow Terminal 3 and Boston Manner today, you were fortunate enough to be witness to the lovely performance of no name. No Namer decided that it would be OK to loudly sing "Everybody in Love" by JLS while listening to his Ipod. No Namer..if you are reading this..I would NOT buy your cd, so please let JLS sing it, and leave YOUR singing for the shower rather than the tube!

Thats all for now!
Talk to everyone soon!

Howdy!

Happy Thursday! It's so hard to believe that it's already Thursday! This week has FLOWN by. If this keeps up, next thing I know I'll be on a plane home!

I have been a BUSY beaver teaching this week!
On Monday I was in a reception class. The kids were all really good but it was tricky because there were THREE separate buildings for the school. I spent half the day asking everyone how to get to different places for lunch, for P.E. for computers and the list goes on. I managed ok and didn't get lost TOO much!
Tuesday I was.....to be honest I really don't remember, schools are starting to all mesh together. Wednesday I DO remember. I was in a school that I had been to before and I didn't get called until around 7:50. I left the house immediately because I knew it was about an hour and a half to get there. I rolled into the school all pumped because it was 9:15 BUT then the principal got smart with me for being late! He was yelling at me! LoL, what the heck, so wasn't my fault! Started off my day not so well! grrr! hahah. Today I was in a nursery class and I LOVED it! The kids were SO cute :) Tomorrow I am in a school very close to our house so I am VERY excited for that!


Since I have not done one single fun thing this week to write about I decided to throw in some stories about general life in London.

Let's talk about the tube. The tube is a GREAT way and perhaps the only logical way to get around London. If you were to drive everywhere I think you would have worse road rage than my auntie Gwen at Christmas. (Auntie.....I KNOW that you always wish EVERYONE a MERRY CHRISTMAS from your car..this is JUST an example) Anyways, the tube. It is cost efficient, most days costs around 6 pounds to get to school and back. The tube is the most perfect place in the whole entire world to people watch. Everyday I see:
1) 13 1/2 make out sessions. I think the tube makes people want to touch each other..like a magnet almost. I think the magnetic force is different on the tube then in other places in real life? Hmm...
2)I see/hear someone talking super loud to someone on their cell phone. They are fully engaged in their conversation as if they were in the comfort of their own home. I would like to tap the shoulder of one of these people and say "excuse me, but no one else cares that your bread was moldy this morning."
3) I always see people peering over reading their neighbours paper. I enjoy watching this go on to see how long it takes the person with the newspaper to get freaked out they are being stared at.
4)I get to enjoy someone else's musical selections from their ipod. It is great, since I don't have an Ipod, I too can enjoy music on the tube. Today, I enjoyed music in another language, what a multi-cultural experience.
5) I enjoy looking at people's outfits. Just yesterday I saw someone sporting Cheetah print pants and a pink frilly top. This is NEVER a good choice. I have to wonder where the heck these people are going dressed like this. You can't tell me that it is ok to wear that to a professional job, unless you work at the zoo or something.
6) My favourite BY FAR is watching people sleep. I literally have a burst out everyday as people bob their heads in their seat reading their papers. Some choose to fall asleep standing up, some choose to fall asleep leaning their head on a pole and some people choose to keep their head up so that every bump you hit it looks as if their head is going to pop off their socket. Literally, it's hilarious.

I am glad I have so many things to check out when on the tube, otherwise the ride seems as if it takes FOREVER. I think I should make a checklist for each day of things to find. Kind of a "Where's Waldo, Tube Edition." For example-- Find three people reading a dirty novel--CHECK....Find one person with a mullet--CHECK...Find 1 person talking to themselves--CHECK. Do you think I could market this game?

Alright! That's all for now! I think I have a weekend planned out so I'll have something to say next time!!

Things I've Learned...

1) A Vacuum is called a HOOVER. No matter the make, no matter the model, it is a Hoover.

2) The importance of a vacuum. We FINALLY got a vacuum this week! Our awesome blue carpet has not been vacuumed since we moved in and it was so gross! We asked our landlord to bring us one ages ago but FINALLY we got one! Probably spent 2 hours vacuuming. There was a pet living in here before that's for sure. I felt SO satisfied after this vacuum. Dumped out about 3 loads of nastiness and dust from the vacuum.

Talk to everyone sooon!!!!

Hey Everyone!!
Hope everyone had an exciting weekend!

I haven't really been up to much since I last wrote but thought I'd better at least write SOMETHING!

Since I didn't work Friday (seems like a bad pattern, I know) me and Lindsey decided to hit up another free lunch time concert in the church St.Martins-In-The-Fields. This time we made it in time for the brief introduction about the church. It is the 4th oldest church in London and used to actually be in the outskirts (hence the name.) However, it is now in the dead centre of London right next to Trafalgar Square. They said that when they were doing renovations recently they found some old burials from the Victorian time, so it's old! Today we saw this girl named Harriet Stubbs play the piano. I was expecting this older lady to walk into the room and play. Instead this girl who was knee high to a grasshopper rolled in. She was probably still had a bed time and had to be forced to have a bath once a week. So this tiny 14 year old started playing and holy cats was she ever good. I've never seen such a thing! She got her grade 8 music when she was 7, so she's bit of a prodigy I'd say. She played Beethoven and Liszt and some others. This girl could sure hit a note or two!
After the concert we decided to get some grub Even though the baby-bel that Lindsey packed in her pocket to eat during the concert was filling, we hit up pizza hut. Pizza Hut is yummy here, and if you go between 2 and 4 in the afternoon you strike this deal where you can get a pizza, garlic bread, AND a drink for only 4 pounds. That's dirt cheap!
During lunch we had a great discussion about....seeing a musical! Although I sometimes think of my life as a musical, I hadn't had the chance to see one LIVE in London yet! No day but today right?! So we wondered down to the discount ticket prices and purchased 3 tickets to HAIRSPRAY for that evening for 24 pounds. This is compared to the regular tickets for around 45 pounds plus. I was stoked! After we had some time to kill so we walked around Oxford street and checked out the Christmas lights. I found out that just nights before that Jim carey had lit them himself during the Premier to his new film. (Has anyone seen a christmas carol yet?? Is it deadly) We also went to "Hamleys." Ever walk into a place and feel your mood change? WELL..I walked into this place and immediately felt enchanted! It was like in the movies at those HUGE toy stores at Christmas! This store is seven floors of toys, toys and more toys! They have little booths where kids and adults get to try out the toys before they buy them, how sweet is that?
Now, lets talk about HAIRSPRAY! It was ah-maze-ing. From start to finish I had a huge grin on my face. All the characters could sing and dance and act..a triple threat..something I always wanted to be. The story line is similar to the movie, but the movie definitely strays from the true story. My favourite was Seaweed, he had this room shaking voice and could dance like nothing I've ever seen before. Motormouth Maybelle was WAY better in this than the movie..sorry Queen Latifa! All in all, I LOVED it! I've decided that I'm NOT going to party anymore and instead spend my money on Musicals (one heck of a plan I think)

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key, just enjoyed some down time. I finally caught up on One Tree Hill and Grey's Anatomy. Since I'm all caught up on that I've decided to start watching Glee! Needless to say..I'M HOOKED! It's so entertaining! I also bought a backpack to haul around my life from school to school so that's great. Hmm...thats the weekend in a flash! hehe.

Now taking a small ride in the time warp machine back to Thursday Night, which is also known as the day I turned into a old hen. I forgot to mention last blog about Marlee's hamburger. Since silly silly Marlee pigged out on the buffet at The Harvester the poor little girl couldn't finish her hamburger. So, she thought it would be a great idea to simply ask for it to be wrapped up so she could enjoy it for lunch. She asked for a "take out container" and the flirty waiter told us they do not package things up, BUT for Marlee he'd "cling wrap" it for her! So he rolls out of the kitchen with a perfectly wrapped up burger in saran wrap. The curious cat in myself had to ask WHY the heck they don't package it up. Apparently because if the person takes it and lets it sit in the back seat of their car for a week then reheats it and dies from it, they could in reality sue the harvester. hahah. funny we thought!

I taught today (Monday) in a school near Marlee's work. They were a good class of Reception kidlets. The school had three separate buildings so I spent most of the day trying to navigate! I'm prebooked tomorrow in a private school so we will see how that goes!

Things I've Learned....

1) It gets damn windy here- for the past 3 days it is more windy than it is after Christmas dinner with Uncle Leonard. I didn't think it would get windy here due to all the tall buildings! BUT I've almost been blown away on multiple occasions.



Alright! Talk to everyone soon!

Thanks Jessica for the birthday card AND thanks Ian Logan and Emma for the package of great treats!!! :)

a message from an older..wiser..more beautiful me.

Hello Everyone!
I hope everyone is doing just lovely on this special Thursday November 12th 2009.

I have been teaching both yesterday and today. It was a school close to Heathrow Airport and I saw the airport! We live VERY close to the airport, I knew this but never realized it was literally only 20 minutes. It's so nice to go somewhere where you do not have to spend 3 hours on the tube! I taught year 2 and it was good. There was 25 kids so we were definitely busy the whole time. Yesterday the 11Th, the school had a little Remembrance Day service so I greatly appreciated that. At eleven we stopped what we were doing to join in on the proper 2 minute silence. I was surprised that kids sat so well without saying anything!


Today i celebrated the day of my birth. My day was perfect. I woke up to see the birthday fairies had decorated the house for my special day. i was surprised they found me all the way in London but I guess they must be something like the Easter Bunny or Santa. Marlee spoiled me rotten this morning with a present! She gave me a children's book, a big girl book, a London change purse, some Lodon pictures and these VERY VERY cute finger puppets that she got from a craft show. I absolutely LOVED it! We also went for supper tonight at the Harvester. It is this amazingly cheap place for food by our house with delicious food. It is almost something like you'd expect from a small town restaurant mixed with Bonanza. All the meals are 4.99 before 6:30 with free salad bar! Delicious! Now i am just spending some time reading ALL my face book messages. I feel so loved and it warms my heart to read every single birthday message! Thank you grandma W and Aunt Thelma & Co. for sending me a birthday card!

Things I've Learned....
More word conversions!

1)"pudding" NOT instant or no name tapioca in a container but rather any sort of dessert. "Would you like pudding for dessert"

2)"pram" I have literally never used this in Canada..but it is a stroller for a young child. "You have to sit in the pram until we get to the park"

3)"queue" I have used this in French class and I know it means "line" but it is their MAIN word. For example, there are signs everywhere that say "please queue here"

Alright! Have a wonderful day! love you all!

Hey Everyone!
I just checked the weather and it is WARMER there than it is here right now! (Probably because it's night here and only afternoon there) but STILL! brr. It's only 7 here and 10 in Saskatchewan!

I have not worked Monday OR Tuesday yet this week, so I am getting a bit nervous once again about work. I'm sure it will all work out though and I'm just being silly. SO, I have had some time to do some exploring around the city. Unfortunately Marlee is working so I've really been missing my adventure buddy :( I guess someone has to be the breadwinner. Marlees...join me soon please!

Yesterday (as in Monday) I went to the Museum of London. I'd never even heard of it, but Lindsey said it was free, so why not!!! At this Museum of London is literally the history of London! hahaha. It has all the history of London starting in the medieval time. It goes into great detail of the Great Fire of London in 1666. I learned a lot of interesting facts such as: It started in a bakery; it burned something like 1400 houses and like 90 churches. It also burned down St. Paul's Cathedral but never did reach Westminster Abbey. It was a pretty crazy fire especially without fire trucks even though it was RIGHT in front of the river! Seemed like mass chaos that's for sure. The other exhibits were all about the Roman times and such. Right outside is part of the London Wall that still stands. It was too dark so never got a picture! After Museum of London we wondered across the millennium bridge, so I walked over River Thames! Pretty cool!! The good thing about visiting this museum is I refrained from falling onto something important. I'm always so uneasy in these places with 2348324 million year old things. Everyone knows that I'd be the dummy to fall into something!!

Since I never worked today, I and Lindsey decided to hit up this free concert in a church! It was at St. Martin-in-the-fields Church located in Trafalgar Square. To the delight of Mr. Lisitza we watched an amazing string quartet called "Kallisto Quartet." They are no Eastland Lakes School Division Band but they did a nice rendition of "String Quartet No. 7 in F major Op. 59 No. 1 'Ramsumovsky'" Bryce...this is your secret question..Who composed this piece???? Walking into the Church I was slightly worried that we were walking into some kind of church service for some religion that I'd never heard of and blah blah blah! BUT I was safe, I wasn't asked to give my life to something! The church was beautiful. It was of course old with amazing architecture and high roofs and big windows. Underneath the church in the Crypt is a restaurant that Lindsey said serves an amazing lunch. We're going to go there around Christmas to see it all decorated and to watch some Christmas carols! Sounds amazing to me! After our cultural music experience we decided to head to the Imperial War Museum. WOW. That is all I can say about that place. It is a must see-amazing. You walk in and first thing you see is different air craft’s, tanks and missiles used in all the wars. Although there are many different exhibits we decided to take in the one about the Holocaust. It was put together in such a strong way. They had people who survived the Holocaust in little video's all around the exhibit and it added so much power to it because you could see real people who actually experienced this horror. They had so much to look at, so much to see, and so much to think about. I'm still thinking about it some hours later about the effects it has had on the world. Crazy. Then we ventured into the World War II exhibit to go "Through the Blitz" which is an interactive course of what it would be like if you were in a location of a Blitz. It is so interesting all the stuff that went on during the war. When I was in there I just couldn't believe my eyes. It's so hard to believe that my own grandpa was there. He saw these things first hand; he used the machinery that this museum has. Pretty powerful stuff for me. I also bought some Poppies from here to send home (they are much different in England than at home)

All of this stuff I have been doing is absolutely FREE! It is awesome! There is so much that you can see and do here in London without spending a penny. I LOVE IT!

Things I've Learned...
(I've decided to now switch it up a tiny bit..It’s now going to be word translations for a bit! Chlorisa...I hope you find this just as exciting and entertaining)

1) "Jumper" - NOT an animal that can be found in any field or bush or small town in Saskatchewan but rather a sweater worn to keep warm. "Miss I forgot my jumper at school yesterday"

2) "Snog" - I have never even heard this word in Canada but it means to make out. "The couple was snogging on the tube last night"

3) "Nappy" - NOT a slang term for a napkin but rather a disposable diaper. "I need to change you're nappy before we go outside"

4)"Plimsole" - A running shoe children wear to physical education class. "Miss we have to wear our plimsoles to p.e." Seriously I had no clue what the heck they were saying I would just say..Of course you need to wear it/them...uh whatever to p.e. I had to ask Andy what they were called. eesh!

Alright!!! I shall write another very soon I'm sure..for now I drift off to sleep thinking of other words!!