We've booked flights to and accommodation at a hostel in Berlin for a week in Feb when the girls have their half-term holiday. Seeing as I studied the Berlin Wall last year, it's about the only city I know anything about, plus I can speak the language so it should be great!
Friday we got up early to eat breakfast with the girls and then headed into London fairly early. We took a few trains and eventually got out at London Bridge Station. It. Was. FREEZING. We walked over Tower Bridge, past the Tower of London and then back over London Bridge. All very exciting... except for the fact that, for the third time since last March, my camera decided to stop automatically focusing, and I had to manually focus every shot. Both annoying and time-wasting, and often unsuccessful. Outside the Tower of London we saw a seagull that looked like it was dancing, jumping from one foot to the other, and I don't know if it was because we were so cold but we found it hilarious. I even managed to capture it on very bad quality video. We then found our way to Borough Market, which we walked through and got free samples of baklava and looked at and smelled all the amazing sweets, pastries and cheeses. We decided to get lunch and then come back so we went to Café Rosso; I got an avocado/tomato/mozzarella/basil ciabatta for £4.50 (food is quite expensive). After lunch, we went to the Globe Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe! We got a tour for £10 of the inside of the theatre, plus a look at an exhibition about the site. We have to go see a show there when it opens in April - no roof so they don't show in Winter - if you're okay with being a 'groundling' (stand/walk around right below the stage and be prepared to be yelled at by the actors if you're not paying attention) it's something like £10.
It was sunny and slightly warmer when we came out and actually quite pleasant. I could finally feel my feet again too. We went back to Borough Market, got a huge £1.10 hot chocolate from a place which was closing up, a brownie for £1.50 (notes about expenses are mainly for me to remember!), more samples and Caitlin got delicious hummus. We weren't sure what to do after this, and some of the places we had on our list had already closed. We ended up getting on the train and then decided in the spur of the moment to get off at Green Park to go see Buckingham Palace. It was pretty exciting, and very pretty in the fading light. We also saw the marching guys out the front with the big black hats and we could see the lit-up London Eye in the not-so-distance. We took the train to Piccadilly Circus and met Georgie and Izzy in Maccas (we just had to get out of the cold!), Izzy left to meet other friends and the rest of us went to eat in China town. Again, I just got egg fried rice, one of the very limited vege dishes, and the cheapest (£2.50). It was really tasty though. To finish off, we went back to Maccas on the way home to try their weird and wacky McFlurry flavours - Crunchy, Dairy Milk and Smarties, and only 99p!
Because there were no boarders for the weekend, we had no food provided so on Saturday morning we just ate toast and cereal at Highlands. When we got to the station, we discovered we had to take a bus to Amersham and then a train into London so the trip took about 1.5 hours all up. Then we took another train and when we came out from Westminster Station, we looked up and saw Big Ben! The Houses of Parliament building was also right there and very pretty. We found out about the 1 hour 15 minute tours of the inside and decided to come back after lunch. We walked past Westminster Abbey and other amazing places and then ended up at this really dodgy little place, where the bread was stale and the soup was tinned. Luckily Caitlin and I had taken banana/honey sandwiches with us and didn't have to eat there. We went back and bought tickets (£10 for 'students') for the 2.15pm tour of the Houses of Parliament. Unfortunately we couldn't take photos past the first room; every ceiling, floor and wall was incredible. Amazing royal-looking wallpaper, stained glass windows, and countless portraits and statues of royals and politicians. We saw the Queen's robing room, where she puts on her robe before she opens parliament, with a lovely throne. The room was huge. We also saw the Houses of Lords and Commons. The tour guide pointed out all the Australian things on the tour to us, e.g. the wooden chair in the House of Commons which was 'the gift of Australia'. We went to the giftshop and bought postcards and then to the cafe where I had hot chocolate of course (£1.35) and a choccy muffin (£2.25).
We got back on the train and headed to South Kensington to check out Harrods. I knew it was a gorgeous building from seeing it last week but now it was all lit up in the dark. I spotted it from down the street it was that bright (it also had a big lit-up SALE sign). We wandered through the sweets room, jewellery room and others. They're all amazing and we had a good look at all the Tiffany stuff <3 We also checked out the Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed memorial again. We walked back to the station (I say 'back' but the entrance was literally outside the Harrods entrance) and left Janet who was going to meet the others to see Chicago. Would have loved to have gone but apparently it was a last minute organisational thing. So Caitlin, Greer and I came back to Godstowe, again by train and bus. It only took an hour and a quarter this time. We made pasta and mash (the only food we had left from our very first shopping trip) and watched 17 Again.
Last night the girls arrived back and I worked from 6pm (Caitlin will work next time). I only found out there was no supper provided at about quarter to 6 so I scoffed down 2 pieces of toast and half a can of baked beans (actually our last food) in about 5 minutes. Needless to say, I felt a bit yucky all night. After work I headed over to the gap flat and we finalised Berlin, which is the next thing to look forward to, or perhaps a Friday day trip somewhere. Transport is so expensive though! The daily on Friday was £9.75 with a group discount and on Saturday £12.85.
What are you all up to down under?
Monday, January 24, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Edit for last post: it's not 'The Pound Shop', it's Poundworld! Don't know how I could make that mistake.
Sorry for the lack of updates! When we finish work at 9:30pm we're all pretty exhausted and just want to go straight to bed and during the day which we have free, it doesn't even feel that relaxing, probably because we know we only have a couple of hours till lunch and then a couple of hours till we start work again. We've been filling the middle of our days with basic chilling, watching movies and watching from the beginning How I Met Your Mother on Janet's laptop. Legen... wait for it... dary.
So the Sunday after the the Saturday when I wrote my last post, what did we do? I had Sunday morning off, and all the boarders went to the church. I will probably go one Sunday with them just to check it out - apparently the inside is gorgeous. Sunday afternoon, I helped the girls make papier mache plates which was good fun, although the whole room was a MESS by the end. Newspaper, glue, tissue paper everywhere.
During the day on Monday we went to Primark and Poundworld again. Spent £40 in Primark after trying on about 15 things. They have bra and undies sets for £5! Didn't get any though. What I did get: 3-pack of undies for £1, a sheer black shirt with white dots for £10, black skinny jeans for $8, a light pinky dress with horse print on the bottom half (can't really explain) for £6, and a grey top/dress with Lady Gaga-esque shoulders for £6. Janet and I also got this cute black jumper with jeweled shoulders to share for $15 but discovered it has a couple of holes so still need to take that back.
On Tuesday I went into London about 11am and met up with family friends from Melbourne. I was a bit early because I got to the station early to get my 16-25 railcard (so exciting) for discounts on all trips, but luckily Jan, Evie and Elise were also there and we headed off on another couple of trains for the Victoria & Albert museum. As I had to get back to Godstowe by 3:30pm we didn't have too long so we headed straight to the tea rooms. Which were so beautiful. I promise promise promise I'll add photos really soon because they were actually so pretty, huge light balls, stained glass, etc. I got a Greek feta wrap and helped to get rid of a huuuuge meringue, literally the size of a small plate. And what does big meringue mean? BIG sticky bit inside. Definitely ate more than my fair share of that. We wandered to the gift shop and then walked back to a different station, stopping in Harrods on the way. The Princess Di memorial thing in there is kinda sweet but basically just really tacky. So then we all went back to Marylebone and said goodbye after a few photos. I also may have somewhere to stay if I go to Sweden sometime...
Wednesday, Greer and I went back down to Primark and I finally replaced my combat boots. I could finally feel rocks through the sole when I walked, and fair enough seeing as I pretty much wore them non-stop through Melbourne's winter/spring/what we got of summer, and the whole time we've been here. Primark had so many variations! The pair I got - just plain and black - unfortunately had a dud zip but I got them for $9 (down from £12) because it was the only pair left in my size. I'm a size 4 here, so weird. There were these reeeally cute heeled boots kinda similar but I didn't buy. Still want to though. Will post a picture soon, then you can tell me whether they're worth it for £18.
Caitlin was 'on call' last Thursday, something all the boarding gaps have to do once every fortnight. If Sister needs any prescriptions filled or someone to take a sick girl to hospital it's our job. So I went down with Caitlin to collect some prescriptions from the pharmacy, which just happens to be opposite Primark. Didn't buy anything though, and then we had to walk back up the hill. Really getting over all the uphill and stairs now. My legs truly hate me. We also had our doctor's appointments with the local nurse just to register ourselves, which added another half-walk up and down the hill. Apparently my body fat is low for my age. Obviously all the walking has turned all my fat to muscle. Clearly. (And now all the food has changed it back again.)
I have barely taken any photos since a bit after New Years because really not much has been happening. I was so exhausted at the end of our first full working week though. Friday night after dinner, we went to our respective living quarters, got a bit dressed up, and headed over to the flat, where we drank 'lemonade' and played 'card' games (but actually, we did play with cards). Then we very 'soberly' walked down the hill to a pub which Izzy had recommended (she went away for the weekend so we had no-one who was experienced in High Wycombe to guide us) called Yates. It was pretty empty when we got there at what, 10pm or something? But by around midnight there was a good d-floor happening and we all had fun. We got a big taxi back up the hill, Janet and I went up to the gap flat for a while with the teaching gaps while Caitlin and Greer went back to their houses because they had to work the next morning. We possibly watched an episode of HIMYM before heading back to our own houses.
After lunch on Saturday, we had a bit of a pampering sesh for all the Highlands girls. I made some facial mixtures for which Amanda had found recipes - honey, yoghurt and banana; oats and water; and cucumber and yoghurt. I spent a couple of hours spooning these quite thin, runny products onto 20 girls' faces and having them squirm every time it touched their faces and complain about how gross it felt. Amanda did the girls' nails in crazy colours and set up a couple of foot baths, which I didn't get a go in. Hmph. Speaking of nails, I'm reeeally trying to stop my nasty habit.
On Saturday night, the girls had their disco which was slightly reminiscent of the night before for me. I had already been wearing my Lady Gaga top and shiny blue skirt all day but I definitely looked like I'd dressed up for the occasion when I took off my cardi, which is a little awkward. Did a little bit of dancing, very fun with 10 year olds. They all had glow sticks and David was dancing with all the girls. He is seriously that cool.
Unfortunately as the girls were getting ready to go to bed, a couple of them started to feel really sick and I got about 20 knocks on my door during the night, both before AND after they had been sick. Since then, a LOT of Highlands has been really ill ('poorly') and it hasn't been a very nice atmosphere this whole week. Trying to avoid also getting sick has actually been pretty successful although Caitlin felt crap a few days ago, and I was feeling weird every time I ate for a while. I also had a headache for a couple of days before this whole thing started.
We went and organised our bank accounts on Monday, no special things but at least our money can go somewhere now (yay, money!)... hopefully we get paid soon! And we're also getting more than we were told we would last year, bonus.
I was on call on Tuesday and had to take a girl from another house down to the doctor's at lunchtime, so when I came back and ate lunch it was the first time I hadn't eaten it with at least Caitlin, Janet and Greer. We all watched some HIMYM after that and ate chocolate spread and then Janet and I were going to go for a walk but I got a call from Sister and had to go and get some more prescriptions done. So Janet came with me and we wandered through Primark again while we waited. We still got our walk but we were going to walk through the cemetery which looked so sunny and green and it was a bit disappointing not exploring it a bit more.
Yesterday we realised properly that our first EXEAT weekend (all the boarders go home) was on and realised we should try and find some accommodation in London. After failing miserably, we decided we're just going to do a couple of day trips on 2 of Friday, Saturday or Sunday. We'll spend part of the other day (probably Sunday) going to see a movie in High Wycombe and exploring the town a little bit more. We're not sure how many will be going, but at least for tomorrow, Friday, it'll be us 4 boarding gaps, since we have the day off. Hopefully the others will come on Saturday.
FORGOT! Rose arrived on Sunday! Caitlin and Georgie went out early to the airport on Sunday with David. We made her stay awake till 7pm just like we had to. Unfortunately after her first day of work on Monday she spent the night being sick. Not sure if she got what the Highlands girls have, but it seems likely, as well as the fact that she was jetlagged and whatnot.
I will try and start posting more regularly; trying to remember things that happened a week and a half ago is too much strain on my brain.
Couple of little notes:
I'm reading Matilda atm (haven't read either of the books you gave me Mum & Dad, but hoping that some kids books will get me into other stuff), because we were reading it to the girls at bedtime and I just decided I wanted to. It's a great read, don't think I've seen/read it since primary school.
Even without eating any crap food I buy, there are so many homemade sweets. I'm eating salad with every lunch/dinner, but then we have desert at lunchtime, and the snacks the girls get after school are so good. Currently we have leftover Flapjack (oats, honey, fruit) which is so tasty, we ate so much yesterday; plus meringues and rocky road, which looks so amazing but I can't eat because of the marshmallows. Probably for the best actually.
I really feel like I need to go for a long run, but I would have no idea where to actually go - I definitely would want to start on flat ground, it has been a looong time since I last ran. I also don't have runners, and not sure if I even have the motivation. As always.
Hopefully will still be able to work out some way of Skyping, maybe on the other girls' computers...
Hope Melbourne is good, I miss you all!
Sorry for the lack of updates! When we finish work at 9:30pm we're all pretty exhausted and just want to go straight to bed and during the day which we have free, it doesn't even feel that relaxing, probably because we know we only have a couple of hours till lunch and then a couple of hours till we start work again. We've been filling the middle of our days with basic chilling, watching movies and watching from the beginning How I Met Your Mother on Janet's laptop. Legen... wait for it... dary.
So the Sunday after the the Saturday when I wrote my last post, what did we do? I had Sunday morning off, and all the boarders went to the church. I will probably go one Sunday with them just to check it out - apparently the inside is gorgeous. Sunday afternoon, I helped the girls make papier mache plates which was good fun, although the whole room was a MESS by the end. Newspaper, glue, tissue paper everywhere.
During the day on Monday we went to Primark and Poundworld again. Spent £40 in Primark after trying on about 15 things. They have bra and undies sets for £5! Didn't get any though. What I did get: 3-pack of undies for £1, a sheer black shirt with white dots for £10, black skinny jeans for $8, a light pinky dress with horse print on the bottom half (can't really explain) for £6, and a grey top/dress with Lady Gaga-esque shoulders for £6. Janet and I also got this cute black jumper with jeweled shoulders to share for $15 but discovered it has a couple of holes so still need to take that back.
On Tuesday I went into London about 11am and met up with family friends from Melbourne. I was a bit early because I got to the station early to get my 16-25 railcard (so exciting) for discounts on all trips, but luckily Jan, Evie and Elise were also there and we headed off on another couple of trains for the Victoria & Albert museum. As I had to get back to Godstowe by 3:30pm we didn't have too long so we headed straight to the tea rooms. Which were so beautiful. I promise promise promise I'll add photos really soon because they were actually so pretty, huge light balls, stained glass, etc. I got a Greek feta wrap and helped to get rid of a huuuuge meringue, literally the size of a small plate. And what does big meringue mean? BIG sticky bit inside. Definitely ate more than my fair share of that. We wandered to the gift shop and then walked back to a different station, stopping in Harrods on the way. The Princess Di memorial thing in there is kinda sweet but basically just really tacky. So then we all went back to Marylebone and said goodbye after a few photos. I also may have somewhere to stay if I go to Sweden sometime...
Wednesday, Greer and I went back down to Primark and I finally replaced my combat boots. I could finally feel rocks through the sole when I walked, and fair enough seeing as I pretty much wore them non-stop through Melbourne's winter/spring/what we got of summer, and the whole time we've been here. Primark had so many variations! The pair I got - just plain and black - unfortunately had a dud zip but I got them for $9 (down from £12) because it was the only pair left in my size. I'm a size 4 here, so weird. There were these reeeally cute heeled boots kinda similar but I didn't buy. Still want to though. Will post a picture soon, then you can tell me whether they're worth it for £18.
Caitlin was 'on call' last Thursday, something all the boarding gaps have to do once every fortnight. If Sister needs any prescriptions filled or someone to take a sick girl to hospital it's our job. So I went down with Caitlin to collect some prescriptions from the pharmacy, which just happens to be opposite Primark. Didn't buy anything though, and then we had to walk back up the hill. Really getting over all the uphill and stairs now. My legs truly hate me. We also had our doctor's appointments with the local nurse just to register ourselves, which added another half-walk up and down the hill. Apparently my body fat is low for my age. Obviously all the walking has turned all my fat to muscle. Clearly. (And now all the food has changed it back again.)
I have barely taken any photos since a bit after New Years because really not much has been happening. I was so exhausted at the end of our first full working week though. Friday night after dinner, we went to our respective living quarters, got a bit dressed up, and headed over to the flat, where we drank 'lemonade' and played 'card' games (but actually, we did play with cards). Then we very 'soberly' walked down the hill to a pub which Izzy had recommended (she went away for the weekend so we had no-one who was experienced in High Wycombe to guide us) called Yates. It was pretty empty when we got there at what, 10pm or something? But by around midnight there was a good d-floor happening and we all had fun. We got a big taxi back up the hill, Janet and I went up to the gap flat for a while with the teaching gaps while Caitlin and Greer went back to their houses because they had to work the next morning. We possibly watched an episode of HIMYM before heading back to our own houses.
After lunch on Saturday, we had a bit of a pampering sesh for all the Highlands girls. I made some facial mixtures for which Amanda had found recipes - honey, yoghurt and banana; oats and water; and cucumber and yoghurt. I spent a couple of hours spooning these quite thin, runny products onto 20 girls' faces and having them squirm every time it touched their faces and complain about how gross it felt. Amanda did the girls' nails in crazy colours and set up a couple of foot baths, which I didn't get a go in. Hmph. Speaking of nails, I'm reeeally trying to stop my nasty habit.
On Saturday night, the girls had their disco which was slightly reminiscent of the night before for me. I had already been wearing my Lady Gaga top and shiny blue skirt all day but I definitely looked like I'd dressed up for the occasion when I took off my cardi, which is a little awkward. Did a little bit of dancing, very fun with 10 year olds. They all had glow sticks and David was dancing with all the girls. He is seriously that cool.
Unfortunately as the girls were getting ready to go to bed, a couple of them started to feel really sick and I got about 20 knocks on my door during the night, both before AND after they had been sick. Since then, a LOT of Highlands has been really ill ('poorly') and it hasn't been a very nice atmosphere this whole week. Trying to avoid also getting sick has actually been pretty successful although Caitlin felt crap a few days ago, and I was feeling weird every time I ate for a while. I also had a headache for a couple of days before this whole thing started.
We went and organised our bank accounts on Monday, no special things but at least our money can go somewhere now (yay, money!)... hopefully we get paid soon! And we're also getting more than we were told we would last year, bonus.
I was on call on Tuesday and had to take a girl from another house down to the doctor's at lunchtime, so when I came back and ate lunch it was the first time I hadn't eaten it with at least Caitlin, Janet and Greer. We all watched some HIMYM after that and ate chocolate spread and then Janet and I were going to go for a walk but I got a call from Sister and had to go and get some more prescriptions done. So Janet came with me and we wandered through Primark again while we waited. We still got our walk but we were going to walk through the cemetery which looked so sunny and green and it was a bit disappointing not exploring it a bit more.
Yesterday we realised properly that our first EXEAT weekend (all the boarders go home) was on and realised we should try and find some accommodation in London. After failing miserably, we decided we're just going to do a couple of day trips on 2 of Friday, Saturday or Sunday. We'll spend part of the other day (probably Sunday) going to see a movie in High Wycombe and exploring the town a little bit more. We're not sure how many will be going, but at least for tomorrow, Friday, it'll be us 4 boarding gaps, since we have the day off. Hopefully the others will come on Saturday.
FORGOT! Rose arrived on Sunday! Caitlin and Georgie went out early to the airport on Sunday with David. We made her stay awake till 7pm just like we had to. Unfortunately after her first day of work on Monday she spent the night being sick. Not sure if she got what the Highlands girls have, but it seems likely, as well as the fact that she was jetlagged and whatnot.
I will try and start posting more regularly; trying to remember things that happened a week and a half ago is too much strain on my brain.
Couple of little notes:
I'm reading Matilda atm (haven't read either of the books you gave me Mum & Dad, but hoping that some kids books will get me into other stuff), because we were reading it to the girls at bedtime and I just decided I wanted to. It's a great read, don't think I've seen/read it since primary school.
Even without eating any crap food I buy, there are so many homemade sweets. I'm eating salad with every lunch/dinner, but then we have desert at lunchtime, and the snacks the girls get after school are so good. Currently we have leftover Flapjack (oats, honey, fruit) which is so tasty, we ate so much yesterday; plus meringues and rocky road, which looks so amazing but I can't eat because of the marshmallows. Probably for the best actually.
I really feel like I need to go for a long run, but I would have no idea where to actually go - I definitely would want to start on flat ground, it has been a looong time since I last ran. I also don't have runners, and not sure if I even have the motivation. As always.
Hopefully will still be able to work out some way of Skyping, maybe on the other girls' computers...
Hope Melbourne is good, I miss you all!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
We've met most of the girls now - some are still yet to arrive. They're all very cute (like most 7-11 year olds) but a bit intense sometimes. After just a few hours on Wednesday night after meeting the majority that are here now, Caitlin and I were exhausted.
Normally I would get Thursday mornings off but because it was our first morning, I worked anyway. We basically wake the girls up, get them dressed and go down to breakfast (toast, cereal and sometimes something else). Then they come back to the houses, get all their stuff and head off for school. We put laundry away and stuff like that and then we're free till 3.30pm. We went down into town on Thurs to go to the supermarket and finally show Janet around a bit. The weather was pretty horrible though. Forgot to mention, we saw SUN and BLUE SKY in London before we left, it was truly amazing.
In the evening, we had some of the girls read to us for 'prep' (homework) and they're really good. I'm not sure they're all taking in what they're reading but at least they can read the words. Again, exhausted by bed time.
Friday is the day off for all the boarding gaps, although Janet had to work yesterday. Caitlin and I got up early for breakfast; we went a bit later than the girls and were told we had to be earlier next time but the kitchen staff were really nice and let us come get some food anyway. I'm trying not to eat too much every meal, but I think it's in between meals which is harder. Dessert comes with lunch rather than dinner, sorry 'supper', which is probably a good thing: we can work it off more before we go to bed. Don't worry, Mum and Dad, I've been having at least some salad with every lunch/dinner.
Anyway, so we went up to the gap flat, we were going to go into town again to get onesies - £10 at Primark, all the girls have them - but the weather was too crap. So we ended up watching Freaky Friday, and being all upset at how cool Lindsay was back then, "what happened", etc etc. We got din dins with the school gaps then we all headed back up to watch Just My Luck (more Lindsay). Our plan to go and hit the town on our first Friday night clearly didn't happen either, we were all just tooooo tired! Hopefully the weather permits next week though :)
This morning (Saturday) we - Miss Parker (Caitlin), Miss Peters (Georgie) and Miss C.T. (me) - ran some 'gap games' for the girls. A couple of rounds of pony express, octopus, kick ball rounders and bang - had to end with a drama game). I felt like I should have actually done more exercise, although we are doing a looooot of walking - there are stairs everywhere; walking up the hill from town; we also walked about 6 hours straight on New Years Day, going to the museums then walking around them and then back to the hotel. I'm wondering when my legs are going to start looking and feeling amazing because it hasn't happened yet. After our games, we got lunch then went down to the Swan Theatre for a pantomime of Peter Pan. It was so good, the main guy was really funny, and I don't think I've been to a pantomime before so it was just a new experience. I think they said it's a traditional English thing. Plus I now have my first ticket to stick up on my notice board. Afterwards, Aisling, Georgie, Izzy (started last September, really nice) went to Maccas and the Pound Shop. I thought it would be like a 2 dollar shop back home, where most things are actually $10 but literally, almost everything is £1, some are cheaper, and some are £2. Definitely my kind of place. All the cosmetics are either German or French but still, Clearasil for £1! Also got some junky food but I'll try and ration it! Oh! There are these delicious savoury things here called Hula Hoops, they kinda taste like Pringles but they're small tubes. So good!
Izzy and Aisling got a taxi back up the hill but G and I stuck it out and it was only about 10 minutes of steep uphill so we felt good. We are relying on each other to always want to go for a walk.
I don't know how I manage to write this much about a very boring couple of days, apologies. Also, because my posts are so long, I haven't been proof-reading them. If there are mistakes please tell me :)
Normally I would get Thursday mornings off but because it was our first morning, I worked anyway. We basically wake the girls up, get them dressed and go down to breakfast (toast, cereal and sometimes something else). Then they come back to the houses, get all their stuff and head off for school. We put laundry away and stuff like that and then we're free till 3.30pm. We went down into town on Thurs to go to the supermarket and finally show Janet around a bit. The weather was pretty horrible though. Forgot to mention, we saw SUN and BLUE SKY in London before we left, it was truly amazing.
In the evening, we had some of the girls read to us for 'prep' (homework) and they're really good. I'm not sure they're all taking in what they're reading but at least they can read the words. Again, exhausted by bed time.
Friday is the day off for all the boarding gaps, although Janet had to work yesterday. Caitlin and I got up early for breakfast; we went a bit later than the girls and were told we had to be earlier next time but the kitchen staff were really nice and let us come get some food anyway. I'm trying not to eat too much every meal, but I think it's in between meals which is harder. Dessert comes with lunch rather than dinner, sorry 'supper', which is probably a good thing: we can work it off more before we go to bed. Don't worry, Mum and Dad, I've been having at least some salad with every lunch/dinner.
Anyway, so we went up to the gap flat, we were going to go into town again to get onesies - £10 at Primark, all the girls have them - but the weather was too crap. So we ended up watching Freaky Friday, and being all upset at how cool Lindsay was back then, "what happened", etc etc. We got din dins with the school gaps then we all headed back up to watch Just My Luck (more Lindsay). Our plan to go and hit the town on our first Friday night clearly didn't happen either, we were all just tooooo tired! Hopefully the weather permits next week though :)
This morning (Saturday) we - Miss Parker (Caitlin), Miss Peters (Georgie) and Miss C.T. (me) - ran some 'gap games' for the girls. A couple of rounds of pony express, octopus, kick ball rounders and bang - had to end with a drama game). I felt like I should have actually done more exercise, although we are doing a looooot of walking - there are stairs everywhere; walking up the hill from town; we also walked about 6 hours straight on New Years Day, going to the museums then walking around them and then back to the hotel. I'm wondering when my legs are going to start looking and feeling amazing because it hasn't happened yet. After our games, we got lunch then went down to the Swan Theatre for a pantomime of Peter Pan. It was so good, the main guy was really funny, and I don't think I've been to a pantomime before so it was just a new experience. I think they said it's a traditional English thing. Plus I now have my first ticket to stick up on my notice board. Afterwards, Aisling, Georgie, Izzy (started last September, really nice) went to Maccas and the Pound Shop. I thought it would be like a 2 dollar shop back home, where most things are actually $10 but literally, almost everything is £1, some are cheaper, and some are £2. Definitely my kind of place. All the cosmetics are either German or French but still, Clearasil for £1! Also got some junky food but I'll try and ration it! Oh! There are these delicious savoury things here called Hula Hoops, they kinda taste like Pringles but they're small tubes. So good!
Izzy and Aisling got a taxi back up the hill but G and I stuck it out and it was only about 10 minutes of steep uphill so we felt good. We are relying on each other to always want to go for a walk.
I don't know how I manage to write this much about a very boring couple of days, apologies. Also, because my posts are so long, I haven't been proof-reading them. If there are mistakes please tell me :)
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
I started this post on Monday...
It's only 5pm but feels like so much later. Caitlin and I have just spent a good while going through all the things that the girls in past years left behind in Highlands, which is where we'll be working (we decided our jobs earlier today). We basically just made 'yes' (maybe possibly someone might like it) and 'no' (omg eww get it out of our sights) piles; luckily the 'yes' pile is much smaller as our rooms are tiny! But there are so many things - coats, shoes, scarves, other random stuff including a phone one of the girls left... it's like being at a market and not having to pay for anything. Why did we even bring anything over?!
Friday we headed into London for the New Years weekend. We left about midday and got our return tickets which turned out to be about £13 return - we got a discount for being a group, but it's still so expensive. Apparently if we book in advance it's much cheaper and we'll also be given rail cards which give us a discount. The countryside heading into London is so picturesque, it's starts as rolling hills, then rows of identical, tall red brick houses. Unfortunately it then got a bit dero and ugly as we got closer to 'London Marylebone' (we can't work out if it's said 'marley-bone' or 'marri-le-bone' since we've heard both pronunciations). We had to walk to Baker St station from there as the services to Paddington weren't running but 'follow the people with the suitcases' got us there. From Paddington station, it was a really short walk to St David's Hotel, although we only realised how short it was the next day; we must have just thought it would be further, and we also had heavy/awkward bags. It is pretty much - WE JUST RAN OUTSIDE BECAUSE IT IS STARTING TO SNOW!!! VERY LIGHTLY, BUT STILL!!! AND I TASTED IT AND OMG, IT BETTER SNOW ALL NIGHT AND BE WHITE IN THE MORNING!
Okay, back to blog land. Paddington is pretty much rows upon rows of hotels, they're all so cute and our row was white, but there are some variations. We picked up lots of brochures and set off in the afternoon, soon coming to HYDE PARK! We wandered through just muttering over and over that we were in Hyde Park, then we saw horses and it was perfect. Georgie spotted some shining lights in the distance which led us to a carnival called Winter Wonderland. There were heaps of people, rides and other stalls and an ice-skating rink (way too expensive). Of course I had to get some fairy floss, I mean candy floss. I took so many photos but I'm still trying to work out how to keep the best ones - I already have 500 just from the first week! I promise I'll put some up soon though. We walked through the whole fair and then along the lake near it. We thought we wanted dinner but then realised it was only about 4pm even though it was so dark. We should get used to that pretty soon. After walking along a few roads, we realised we were actually in Oxford St. Everything was lit up still from Christmas and the streets were really busy. The Disney store was 2 storeys just filled with toys so that excited us all (especially Georgie). We started to want dinner again at a more normal time and were keeping our eyes out for something like Chinese all the way back to our hotel. Unfortunately by this time we were on a bit of a sus strip where every second shop was a Lebanese restaurant and most of them were also advertising shishas. We ended up getting greasy but good burgers (vege burger for £1.50) from this little place and headed back to the hotel.
We were actually so tired by this time and hadn't really found anywhere to go out to celebrate the end of 2010. Embarrassingly, we decided we'd sleep for an hour at 8pm and then see what we wanted to do. At 9pm Georgie, Aisling and I (in one room) decided we HAD to do something, that we couldn't spend NYE sleeping in London. So we got dressed up, took some photos and tried to wake Caitlin and Greer in the room next door, but no response. The guy at reception told us there wasn't much around here and that we would be better to take a bus to Piccadilly. We met some Swedish girls who wanted to know how to get to the London Eye, and we wanted to find out and go with them but Aisling had received a call from an aunt in London who told us there was a high terrorism risk and to stay out of the centre of London. So we ended up just wandering (found a Chinese place just around the corner, dammit), my heels came off very soon and on went my collapsible flats. We went back to this old persons' bar near the hotel, went back up to meet Greer and Caitlin not long after, and then went back for the countdown. Back at the hotel, Georgie was yelling 'happy new year' in French out the window and this couple responded, she ended up going downstairs and I went down later to help Aisling keep control of her when she decided to go for a walk. We ended up getting Ben & Jerry's and Cosmo and went back up to the hotel room. Slept about 3.30am.
We got up at 7.30am for the hotel's famous English breakfast - eggs, toast, yoghurt, beans, tomatoes, hot chocolate (I even ate a couple of mushrooms, Mum)and then made our way through Hyde Park again to get to the Science and History museums (both free entry, woohoo!). Seriously, every building is amazing and old. In the Science museum, we busied ourselves for a good couple of hours in this 'Who am I?' section which had all these interactive games, most likely there for kids. It was so fun. You could see what your face would look like the opposite sex (very crap though) or see if you think like a female/male (yes, I am definitely female). It also had things like DNA gone wrong - a 7-clawed cat, and also brain games, like you had to steer this course the opposite way... I already suck at those kinds of games let alone having to steer left when you want to go right! They also had a small exhibition about fashion and recycling so that's my kinda science. We got a pizza for lunch in the museum then headed next door to the History Museum, where we saw lots of rocks and dinosaurs. The gems were so pretty; there is an excessive number of photos on my camera. We wandered back through Hyde Park on the other side and found Kensington Palace, where this Scottish guy was giving a talk/tour and we tagged along. We went and picked up Janet from Paddington station and then went and ate Chinese at the place we found the night before (egg fried rice - £2.50). I think we got to bed about 9.30pm so early night.
Breakfast again in the morning, then went to Oxford St again but almost everything was shut so we pretty much made our way back to the station and headed back to High Wycombe. Janet's bag was huge and heavy and she had to pull it up the huge hill, although the station is already about halfway up. We ate dinner(pasta again) and started watching Misfits (all season 1 except the last ep) and headed to bed.
So earlier today, we met the Headmaster David, then had a couple more meetings after determining our jobs.
---
It's now almost 2pm Wednesday, since I never got enough time to finish this post (I cheated above and wrote a lot of that just then).
We also met Emily who's from Sydney on Monday and had pizza for dinner with David and his wife Cathy Monday night. The school gaps (Georgie, Aisling and Em) moved into their flat earlier in the day so we went there after dinner to watch the last episode of Misfits (crazay) and pig out on the Maltesers David gave us. So much for healthy. Caitlin and I hadn't chosen which room we wanted yet so we stayed in the bunks.
Yesterday we started making 34 beds at about 9am... mattress cover, fitted sheet, doona (sorry, duvet) cover onto doona, doona onto bed, repeat. C & I tucked in about 8 doonas before we realised Amanda (house mistress) and Sam (vice) were just dumping them neatly onto the beds. It was a massive workout for our arms and many a time we had a rest on the bed for a minute before moving onto the next. We finally got lunch at school - potatoes, salad, minestrone, upside-down pineapple sponge. We did a bit more work in the afternoon but it was definitely funner - taking down and replacing the house points board and fixing up some other notice boards. We also got our timetables - we both have Fridays off and I think I have Thursday afternoons off. I said I'd go in the worse (smaller) bedroom, but it's not too bad, just very small. Hopefully with lots of photos, etc (thanks for the others in my suitcase, Dad) I can make it a nice place to live. It's only about two bed-widths wide but oh well. I discovered this morning it gets nice light in the morning, and it now has a lock thanks to 'the men' (maintenance guys). The bathroom for us is pretty horrible though, we've agreed to put some time aside to clean it up a bit. We ordered more pizza last night because we pretty much just had pasta and chips lefts (and vege nuggets, yummm) and were told we would get reimbursed so that was good.
This morning we only had to start work at 10am and then had a staff meeting at 10.30 where David and Nigel (bursar) spoke. I swear David is like Santa, he's so jolly and does resemble him a bit looks-wise. Caitlin and I did a bit of word/clip art before lunch (spaghetti, mushroom soup, salad, yoghurt, jam tart) to update some of the notice boards, so definitely getting into the fun part of the job... maybe. We're off to see if there's more work to do before most of the boarders start arriving at 3pm. Haven't taken many photos the last couple of days and will definitely try and get some up very soon to accompany the too-many words!
Thanks Mum - got your letter today! xxx
It's only 5pm but feels like so much later. Caitlin and I have just spent a good while going through all the things that the girls in past years left behind in Highlands, which is where we'll be working (we decided our jobs earlier today). We basically just made 'yes' (maybe possibly someone might like it) and 'no' (omg eww get it out of our sights) piles; luckily the 'yes' pile is much smaller as our rooms are tiny! But there are so many things - coats, shoes, scarves, other random stuff including a phone one of the girls left... it's like being at a market and not having to pay for anything. Why did we even bring anything over?!
Friday we headed into London for the New Years weekend. We left about midday and got our return tickets which turned out to be about £13 return - we got a discount for being a group, but it's still so expensive. Apparently if we book in advance it's much cheaper and we'll also be given rail cards which give us a discount. The countryside heading into London is so picturesque, it's starts as rolling hills, then rows of identical, tall red brick houses. Unfortunately it then got a bit dero and ugly as we got closer to 'London Marylebone' (we can't work out if it's said 'marley-bone' or 'marri-le-bone' since we've heard both pronunciations). We had to walk to Baker St station from there as the services to Paddington weren't running but 'follow the people with the suitcases' got us there. From Paddington station, it was a really short walk to St David's Hotel, although we only realised how short it was the next day; we must have just thought it would be further, and we also had heavy/awkward bags. It is pretty much - WE JUST RAN OUTSIDE BECAUSE IT IS STARTING TO SNOW!!! VERY LIGHTLY, BUT STILL!!! AND I TASTED IT AND OMG, IT BETTER SNOW ALL NIGHT AND BE WHITE IN THE MORNING!
Okay, back to blog land. Paddington is pretty much rows upon rows of hotels, they're all so cute and our row was white, but there are some variations. We picked up lots of brochures and set off in the afternoon, soon coming to HYDE PARK! We wandered through just muttering over and over that we were in Hyde Park, then we saw horses and it was perfect. Georgie spotted some shining lights in the distance which led us to a carnival called Winter Wonderland. There were heaps of people, rides and other stalls and an ice-skating rink (way too expensive). Of course I had to get some fairy floss, I mean candy floss. I took so many photos but I'm still trying to work out how to keep the best ones - I already have 500 just from the first week! I promise I'll put some up soon though. We walked through the whole fair and then along the lake near it. We thought we wanted dinner but then realised it was only about 4pm even though it was so dark. We should get used to that pretty soon. After walking along a few roads, we realised we were actually in Oxford St. Everything was lit up still from Christmas and the streets were really busy. The Disney store was 2 storeys just filled with toys so that excited us all (especially Georgie). We started to want dinner again at a more normal time and were keeping our eyes out for something like Chinese all the way back to our hotel. Unfortunately by this time we were on a bit of a sus strip where every second shop was a Lebanese restaurant and most of them were also advertising shishas. We ended up getting greasy but good burgers (vege burger for £1.50) from this little place and headed back to the hotel.
We were actually so tired by this time and hadn't really found anywhere to go out to celebrate the end of 2010. Embarrassingly, we decided we'd sleep for an hour at 8pm and then see what we wanted to do. At 9pm Georgie, Aisling and I (in one room) decided we HAD to do something, that we couldn't spend NYE sleeping in London. So we got dressed up, took some photos and tried to wake Caitlin and Greer in the room next door, but no response. The guy at reception told us there wasn't much around here and that we would be better to take a bus to Piccadilly. We met some Swedish girls who wanted to know how to get to the London Eye, and we wanted to find out and go with them but Aisling had received a call from an aunt in London who told us there was a high terrorism risk and to stay out of the centre of London. So we ended up just wandering (found a Chinese place just around the corner, dammit), my heels came off very soon and on went my collapsible flats. We went back to this old persons' bar near the hotel, went back up to meet Greer and Caitlin not long after, and then went back for the countdown. Back at the hotel, Georgie was yelling 'happy new year' in French out the window and this couple responded, she ended up going downstairs and I went down later to help Aisling keep control of her when she decided to go for a walk. We ended up getting Ben & Jerry's and Cosmo and went back up to the hotel room. Slept about 3.30am.
We got up at 7.30am for the hotel's famous English breakfast - eggs, toast, yoghurt, beans, tomatoes, hot chocolate (I even ate a couple of mushrooms, Mum)and then made our way through Hyde Park again to get to the Science and History museums (both free entry, woohoo!). Seriously, every building is amazing and old. In the Science museum, we busied ourselves for a good couple of hours in this 'Who am I?' section which had all these interactive games, most likely there for kids. It was so fun. You could see what your face would look like the opposite sex (very crap though) or see if you think like a female/male (yes, I am definitely female). It also had things like DNA gone wrong - a 7-clawed cat, and also brain games, like you had to steer this course the opposite way... I already suck at those kinds of games let alone having to steer left when you want to go right! They also had a small exhibition about fashion and recycling so that's my kinda science. We got a pizza for lunch in the museum then headed next door to the History Museum, where we saw lots of rocks and dinosaurs. The gems were so pretty; there is an excessive number of photos on my camera. We wandered back through Hyde Park on the other side and found Kensington Palace, where this Scottish guy was giving a talk/tour and we tagged along. We went and picked up Janet from Paddington station and then went and ate Chinese at the place we found the night before (egg fried rice - £2.50). I think we got to bed about 9.30pm so early night.
Breakfast again in the morning, then went to Oxford St again but almost everything was shut so we pretty much made our way back to the station and headed back to High Wycombe. Janet's bag was huge and heavy and she had to pull it up the huge hill, although the station is already about halfway up. We ate dinner(pasta again) and started watching Misfits (all season 1 except the last ep) and headed to bed.
So earlier today, we met the Headmaster David, then had a couple more meetings after determining our jobs.
---
It's now almost 2pm Wednesday, since I never got enough time to finish this post (I cheated above and wrote a lot of that just then).
We also met Emily who's from Sydney on Monday and had pizza for dinner with David and his wife Cathy Monday night. The school gaps (Georgie, Aisling and Em) moved into their flat earlier in the day so we went there after dinner to watch the last episode of Misfits (crazay) and pig out on the Maltesers David gave us. So much for healthy. Caitlin and I hadn't chosen which room we wanted yet so we stayed in the bunks.
Yesterday we started making 34 beds at about 9am... mattress cover, fitted sheet, doona (sorry, duvet) cover onto doona, doona onto bed, repeat. C & I tucked in about 8 doonas before we realised Amanda (house mistress) and Sam (vice) were just dumping them neatly onto the beds. It was a massive workout for our arms and many a time we had a rest on the bed for a minute before moving onto the next. We finally got lunch at school - potatoes, salad, minestrone, upside-down pineapple sponge. We did a bit more work in the afternoon but it was definitely funner - taking down and replacing the house points board and fixing up some other notice boards. We also got our timetables - we both have Fridays off and I think I have Thursday afternoons off. I said I'd go in the worse (smaller) bedroom, but it's not too bad, just very small. Hopefully with lots of photos, etc (thanks for the others in my suitcase, Dad) I can make it a nice place to live. It's only about two bed-widths wide but oh well. I discovered this morning it gets nice light in the morning, and it now has a lock thanks to 'the men' (maintenance guys). The bathroom for us is pretty horrible though, we've agreed to put some time aside to clean it up a bit. We ordered more pizza last night because we pretty much just had pasta and chips lefts (and vege nuggets, yummm) and were told we would get reimbursed so that was good.
This morning we only had to start work at 10am and then had a staff meeting at 10.30 where David and Nigel (bursar) spoke. I swear David is like Santa, he's so jolly and does resemble him a bit looks-wise. Caitlin and I did a bit of word/clip art before lunch (spaghetti, mushroom soup, salad, yoghurt, jam tart) to update some of the notice boards, so definitely getting into the fun part of the job... maybe. We're off to see if there's more work to do before most of the boarders start arriving at 3pm. Haven't taken many photos the last couple of days and will definitely try and get some up very soon to accompany the too-many words!
Thanks Mum - got your letter today! xxx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)