Well now, it's the end of May already.
I'm not really sure where the time has been going, to be honest with you.
This month has been full of: unwanted drama, a trip to Brighton, ICT teaching two days a week, a visitor from Finland, a trip to watch Chicago, pretending that it's summer, various nights out to pubs, the booking of a trip to Canada, and as of today, the beginnings of a trip to Scotland!
So I suppose that is quite a lot. And that's not even counting the various things I've planned and cancelled.
I'll start with the teaching bit: until the end of the year I'm teaching ICT on Thursdays and Fridays. I'm oddly enough enjoying myself, even though it feels like SO LITTLE gets done in the ICT suite. But, I have each class between 40-60 minutes so that's not really much time when that includes getting things set up and tidied up. I'm learning a lot of names there, seeing as I teach the ENTIRE school minus Reception, I'm doing quite well. I know all of the year 5 class that I have Friday afternoons, and handfuls from each class.
Went to Brighton for the second time with my Canadian/teaching friends. I quite enjoy it in Brighton, although it IS rather overhyped. But I like water so I'm happy enough.
I went and saw Chicago with Sarah, an Aussie that I met while supply-teaching the year 3 class back in October that I really enjoyed. It was great, I was highly impressed with the MINIMAL usage of props - the most elaborate prop was a chair. It was basic in that way, that the production relies entirely on the cast. Which personally, I loved. Any more props would have detracted from the performance, imho.
I did decide to go back to Ontario for August. Little sad about the fact that most everyone in Toronto will be unable to see me for different reasons. But I'll have lots of time with my nieces, which is what ultimately convinced me to go for a visit. It's very strange for me to really miss anyone as much as I miss them.
Although, talking about missing people - I miss a lot of people. I miss my Toronto friends, I miss my really old friends who are all over the place. I miss some of the people that are not in my life anymore for various reasons. I miss my London friends that I haven't seen in months, and know that the only reason why I haven't seen them is myself. I feel really isolated, even though I'm not - I'm frequently out doing things with people. So I really just don't know what it is I'm wanting or feel like I'm missing. I'm afraid that it's just my need to leave feeling setting in. I wonder if I'll ever be rid of it?
Speaking of leaving - I'm off to Scotland today! Canadian Sarah and I are going up to Edinburgh tonight on the night bus. We will spend tomorrow (Monday) in Edinburgh and then we will leave on Tuesday morning for a 6-day tour. http://www.wild-in-scotland.com/6-Day-Hebridean-Explorer-01-0005.php That link should show you the tour we are taking. We're doing a tour as it's easiest - at least for me, everywhere I want to go is always rather isolated (perhaps THAT is why I'm always feeling isolated?! haha) and thus hard to get to without having a car. I'm quite excited for it, we've had it planned out since February when we were in Prague.
Which means next time I post here - it will be a Scotland update :)
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
April Sunshine brings May Showers?
I could have sworn I knew a different rhyme ;) April in London was very sunny, but May (the few days we've had of it) have been rainy.
Not much has really been going on in my part of the world. Since Ireland, I've just been working. I spent a lovely weekend in Bristol with Siggy and Jen, where it felt more like being back in Canada as we had a bbq and I sat around in their allotment while Siggy did chores. hahaha.
Lately I've been in the frame of mind of "Oh crumb I need to save money" so I haven't been doing a whole lot of anything. Mostly this is because I know that come August, I'm going to go broke. A month with no pay, while having to pay this rather large rent and expenses? Yep. Gonna be a broke me.
So money has kept my life relatively calm and boring. But the other reason is that I'm simply not in the mood for a lot of urban things. I've been missing rural areas and just being outside. Now, yes, I could go outside whenever I want to. But going outside and walking down a street isn't the same as being outside in fresh air. I've been missing just sitting on a deck and reading in the sun, and BBQs, and hiking. Not easy things to do in London. We have a yard in this house yes, but there's nothing to sit on outside and the people we rent from don't want to invest in any cheap outdoor furniture... and we're not keen on buying it for the house as none of us will be living here for years and years. So there's nothing outside, which renders the yard useless. I don't know anyone in London really with a BBQ. And while I could go walking in the parks or hiking in areas near here... I've just been wanting RIGHT outside of London.
It doesn't mean that I love London less.... but I've been adjusting myself to the idea of not living here and it makes me want to go outside of London and explore more of England. So far, I've really only been to Brighton and Bristol. There's so many places I want to go, but it costs so much to go places on a regular basis.
Then there's also, for me, been the fact that lately I've been rather anti-social. Well, it's more like selectively-social. The idea of groups has just NOT been my cup of tea lately.... I've been a lot more interested in 1-on-1 interactions with friends, which is hard to do sometimes. Or groups of 3. Any larger than that and I sorta cringe. Which is odd, cause it doesn't mean there's anything I'm NOT wanting to see, I'm just not feeling incredibly social.
And I'm really missing my friends back in Canada, and my nieces. I wish it was cheaper to visit between the two countries, as I'd love to try to drag someone or another over here to visit me in August. It'd be really nice to see some of the faces I've been missing! I've been tempted to go back to Canada for August, but that's not a good idea financially. It'd cost over £500 though, and that's just not good financially. I don't think I'd spent £500 in August on food and recreation. I spent less than £50/week on groceries, so we'll just round that up to £200 for the month. That's £300 left for spending money. We'll drop £100 of that on books as that just seems like the sort of thing I'll do. Down to £200. I plan to get myself passes for zones 1-4 which I don't normally do, as I expect I'll spend a lot of time in the parks. That's £40 a week, and let's say that I go and spend 1 week with Siggy and Jen... so that'd £120. Ok, so that's leaving me £80 for a month of miscellaneous expenses.
Ok, so maybe I will spend the £500 in the summer. Ummm. Dammit. That's sorta a lot more to think about now.
:S
Not much has really been going on in my part of the world. Since Ireland, I've just been working. I spent a lovely weekend in Bristol with Siggy and Jen, where it felt more like being back in Canada as we had a bbq and I sat around in their allotment while Siggy did chores. hahaha.
Lately I've been in the frame of mind of "Oh crumb I need to save money" so I haven't been doing a whole lot of anything. Mostly this is because I know that come August, I'm going to go broke. A month with no pay, while having to pay this rather large rent and expenses? Yep. Gonna be a broke me.
So money has kept my life relatively calm and boring. But the other reason is that I'm simply not in the mood for a lot of urban things. I've been missing rural areas and just being outside. Now, yes, I could go outside whenever I want to. But going outside and walking down a street isn't the same as being outside in fresh air. I've been missing just sitting on a deck and reading in the sun, and BBQs, and hiking. Not easy things to do in London. We have a yard in this house yes, but there's nothing to sit on outside and the people we rent from don't want to invest in any cheap outdoor furniture... and we're not keen on buying it for the house as none of us will be living here for years and years. So there's nothing outside, which renders the yard useless. I don't know anyone in London really with a BBQ. And while I could go walking in the parks or hiking in areas near here... I've just been wanting RIGHT outside of London.
It doesn't mean that I love London less.... but I've been adjusting myself to the idea of not living here and it makes me want to go outside of London and explore more of England. So far, I've really only been to Brighton and Bristol. There's so many places I want to go, but it costs so much to go places on a regular basis.
Then there's also, for me, been the fact that lately I've been rather anti-social. Well, it's more like selectively-social. The idea of groups has just NOT been my cup of tea lately.... I've been a lot more interested in 1-on-1 interactions with friends, which is hard to do sometimes. Or groups of 3. Any larger than that and I sorta cringe. Which is odd, cause it doesn't mean there's anything I'm NOT wanting to see, I'm just not feeling incredibly social.
And I'm really missing my friends back in Canada, and my nieces. I wish it was cheaper to visit between the two countries, as I'd love to try to drag someone or another over here to visit me in August. It'd be really nice to see some of the faces I've been missing! I've been tempted to go back to Canada for August, but that's not a good idea financially. It'd cost over £500 though, and that's just not good financially. I don't think I'd spent £500 in August on food and recreation. I spent less than £50/week on groceries, so we'll just round that up to £200 for the month. That's £300 left for spending money. We'll drop £100 of that on books as that just seems like the sort of thing I'll do. Down to £200. I plan to get myself passes for zones 1-4 which I don't normally do, as I expect I'll spend a lot of time in the parks. That's £40 a week, and let's say that I go and spend 1 week with Siggy and Jen... so that'd £120. Ok, so that's leaving me £80 for a month of miscellaneous expenses.
Ok, so maybe I will spend the £500 in the summer. Ummm. Dammit. That's sorta a lot more to think about now.
:S
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