Crowmarsh Gifford & HBD Katharine!

First of all - would like to wish my big sister a VERY happy birthday today! She is a beautiful 28 years old, and I send her lots of love over the Atlantic! I am very sad I will be missing her birthday celebrations this year!

Yes - Crowmarsh Gifford exists...it is a super small village just over the bridge from Wallingford. My cousin Amanda has a good friend who lives there, so I met up with her today for tea. She has 2 lovely children, Jessica & Oskar, and I also met her husband. It was nice to visit another English village, and another friendly contact in the area! Catherine said she would take me for a tour of her & Amanda's old village, Crayke (up north, near York), one weekend, so I look forward to that!

I have no pictures, since I have never met them before, how creepy would that be - "Hi - do you mind if I take your picture and post it online?!" Anyway, fantastic afternoon, and it was even sunny today!

It's late (for me) so I will keep this post brief. Hopefully will have some excitement tomorrow to share!

Cheers!

Tour of Wallingford

Wallingford is the town in which I have been staying since my arrival to the UK. It's such a cute "typical" little British village...I mean town! (I've gotten in trouble from a little old lady for calling it a village). The population is about 7000, and thankfully (for me) has regular transportation to Oxford (about every 30min!). It's located right by the River Thames, which you can see in the pictures below. The Thames also goes through London and Oxford.



I didn't get an assignment today, so I decided to walk around Wallingford a bit this afternoon. The following pictures are from my walk - enjoy!

The bridge into and out of Wallingford

Also - I move to Oxford this weekend - SUPER excited to finally unpack my suitcases and get settled in my new home!

Cheers!

Cambridge!

Okay, so this past weekend I took my first trip, within the UK! I went on a 3 hour long bus ride to Cambridge. Two friends from Owen Sound are teaching there through the same company as myself.

Kendle & Meaghan

On Friday afternoon they took me shopping to a Winners-like store, called Primark. It had FANTASTIC deals (not to worry, I've already found the Primark in Oxford). I behaved myself and only made 2 purchases. They are staying in a 4-bedroom flat, about a 15min walk to the city centre.

I ALSO got my first official (and totally Canadian Tourist) picture in front of the British Telephone Booth!




On Saturday, Kendle & Meaghan took me for a "guided" tour of Cambridge, which included a punt down the River Cam. We may or may not have started a fight between 2 different Punting Tour companies (there are about 20 that line the streets offering you a "deal" to go with them). It was totally worth it - a great way to have a look at all the colleges and amazing architecture!!

A Scene from Harry Potter was filmed here (the first movie I think)

Mathematical Bridge - Originally Built with No Nails

King's College

During the Punting tour, we came across this building (in the picture below) that is of extreme importance to the city of Cambridge. During WWII, Hitler ordered that no bombing would take place in Cambridge in order to save the beauty and architecture of this building. He planned to use this as a house following the war.


I went to my first British Pub while in Cambridge - the only difference really is the vast amount of accents!! There was a table of French guys beside us, which was only really exciting for the simple fact that I got to practice some of my French I learned from working in Montreal!

It was a lovely weekend, and great to see some familiar faces in this country!

Cheers!

First Day of Teaching P.E. - DONE!

I completed my first supply teaching day, as well as my first day of teaching the U.K! I was in a small village, Wheatley, just ouside of Oxford. The school was pretty small, but overall friendly and similar to a Canadian school.



I had 4 periods I was responsible for today - Year 7, Year 8, Year 9 and Year 10. The first 3 classes went smoothly, until, of course the last class of the day - Year 10 Female Fitness. I was excited because their were only 12 girls in the class....boy was I in for a surprise. Lets just say I would have rather had 90 participating students, as opposed to these 12 unmotivated females.


We will see how this supply teaching thing goes - I can see it being very unrewarding and unfullfilling for me. Although at the same time, it was great to be back in a classroom - teaching!

Cheers!

Flat/Room Search TOD - 6:32pm (UK time)

Hurray! Just as I thought all the good ones had gone, I finally found my room! Albeit, not a fancy flat all to myself, but a room in a house with 2 others! Its right along the River Thames, which is fabulous and about a 30min walk into the city, or 15min bus ride.

It's very exciting to have a place to call home. It's been a stressful week trying to get something. I'm not sure if it was coincidence or not, but immediately after I signed the lease, this beautiful rainbow appeared! I won't read into that too much though.


I am off to Cambridge for the weekend to visit 2 high school friends who are there teaching. Am looking forward to visiting another UK city!

Cheers!

Fireman Sam anyone?!

So I decided to write a little post about Fireman Sam - anyone? Cute little British children's show that CBC so wonderfully brought into my Canadian childhood.

Anyway, while I was walking through Wallingford (where I am currently staying) I noticed a cute little Fire Station.


The first thing I thought of was indeed, Fireman Sam. The catchy little jingle from the show's opening suddenly resonating through my head. Wallingford is exactly the little British town that I have been picturing in my head ever since I knew there was a United Kingdom, or heard those funny, but charming British accents.

Thank you Fireman Sam for the walk down memory lane today - "Great fires of London" indeed Sam.

Flat Hunting - Not as easy as it sounds!

I have seen a total of 4 flats now...and still nothing concrete to call home, unfortunately. The plan is to find something before next Monday (the 27th- when my work contract starts), and I still have hope I can!

The first place I saw was utterly disgusting. The room was more or less a closet with a bed that looked like it was around when this old lady was. She was an old cat lady (nothing against cats - love them!) but had I known, I probably would have never gone to see the room in the first place!

I saw a couple of flats today, but unfortunately were too far out of my price range...although I almost took the one, and continued to go back and forth as I was losing hope at finding a place at all.

Alas, I checked out a place this afternoon - a little further out of town then I would prefer, but definitely doable...and right along the infamous River Thames! So fingers crossed this place works out...but if not, I will not give up hope! There is a flat out there for me!

While walking this afternoon, I heard 2 of the cutest little English accents declaring that water & squash was being sold for ".25 p"...how could I not?! I went for just the water, and got a super cute pink princess cup.




Good second day in Oxford...feeling more comfortable at navigating the city. Its very easy to get around on foot - and if you know me, I love to walk around (rather than public transit, etc) so Oxford and me, we are a good fit, thus far!

All for now, Cheers!

Arrived and Exploring!

Flew out of Toronto on Friday the 17th of September, had the LONGEST layover of life in Iceland...2:30AM (Toronto Time) - 3:00PM (also Toronto Time). I didn't do a whole lot...other than wait! Although at least now I can say I have been to Iceland, right?

I will however, highly recommend Icelandair, other than the horribly long layover, it was a great flight...7.5 hours of flight time in total.

If you do get over here, fly in at night...London is absolutely stunning, really can't describe it. Just something you have to see at night!

I have been staying in Wallingford, Oxfordshire (with a friend of a friend) since arriving in the UK. Its a super cute borough...will get pictures up soon!

Finally got a chance to tour around Oxford today, get acquainted and check out my first potential place! The city is beautiful! There is lots for me to explore! To keep this blog somewhat short, here is a list of what I accomplished today:
- set up mobile
- saw Christ Church
- embarrassed myself trying to figure out the bus system
- thought I was cool with my Canadian accent
- visited Oxford Castle Mound
- saw my first potential room - it was an epic fail....think crazy old cat lady....

Here are a few pictures of my travels today...more posts to follow...hopefully the next one will be all about my new flat!


Christ Church War Memorial Garden


Atop the Oxford Castle Mound - Decent view of the city from up here




Downtown Oxford...


A nifty little passageway

As they say in Britain - Cheers.