Internet - check!

Thank the heavens I FINALLY have the internet! I am overcome by joy and my frustration has melted away!!!....... 5 minutes later...... Oh boy. My internet just kacked out for a bit and after I recovered from an internal conniption and when I got back online I thought, how IRONIC - someone MUST be playing tricks on me!!! Let's hope the kinks work themselves out.

I have had a VERY full couple of days. Teaching Nursery (JK) was hilarious. Those little tykes are so adorable! It can be very exhausting however. There seems to be a lack of structure at this level. They sort of do this "free flow" thing were it is mostly just free play and run around in and outside. They call it free flow - I call it the reason the kids are as bad as they are when they get older! It was fantastic though! Today I taught year 5. Whole other ball game. Some of the kids were brilliant. Absolute stars. Others just would NOT SHUT UP. It wouldn't matter what I said, did, where I moved them, or what punishment I gave them. It didn't matter. The only thing left was physical abuse and I sure wasn't willing to try that method, although I'm sure it would have worked...haha. I was VERY happy to turn the class back over to their teacher at the end of the day. Definitely not the class or school for me. I see what everyone was saying about finding where you belong here. The atmosphere at every school is very different. The area I was in was very ethnic, no typical pasty white English kids. Haha. I also had to teach French today! That was actually a lot of fun and the kids responded really well, I also know a lot more French than I thought! Another thing about all of the kids I have taught so far is that the majority have names which are 15 letters long! That makes it VERY difficult to call on someone, or scold them! No one syllable names or ones I can pronounce! I am pretty good with names usually and picked up on short forms quickly! So, my conclusion thus far is that the kids are MUCH easier the younger they are and you can catch them - but the "curriculum" (if you can call it that!) is boring. The older they get, the more fun the curriculum but the more you lose your voice, patience, hair, sanity, and methods of gaining attention by the end of the day!! Either or, or in between - I know I am where I am supposed to be - teaching! 

I worked all weekend at the pub! There was a wedding on Saturday and it was nuts. I remember why I got out of managing in this business!! As a bartender I don't take any blame. It's nice. Sunday was also very busy because it is still tourist season in London and the pub is just outside the main gate of Greenwich Park so we get tons of people passing by for a pint and a bite to eat. Everyone that works there seems to be from another country as well. There are only two Londoners! There are some guys from Columbia who scream in Spanish to each other in the back, there is a girl from Germany, a guy from Bulgaria, a guy who is half Moroccan/half Slovakian, AND a Polish girl who I speak to in Polish all the time! It's awesome that this language isn't going to waste in my head! Anyway, everyone is VERY cool and helpful. I really enjoy this job. Unfortunately, the pay isn't great - but working a weekend covers the week's rent, so that's just fine by me. It also gives me a social life! 

I think that's it for now! Keep you all updated!

Much love, 

~amy~