PEACE OUT LONDON TOWN

I fly out at 2:00pm (London time) tomorrow, and arrive in Toronto around 5:00pm (local time). What a busy, exciting and exhausting day it should be! I cannot wait. SO excited to spend sister time with my one and only sista! Am hopefully meeting up with some university friends on Sunday night when I arrive - will be great to catch up with them. From there, its off to St Catharines on Monday afternoon to catch up with all my aunts, uncles, cousins, grandma and Ross! Won't be a big surprise this time, but nonetheless, JUST as eager to see them all! Tuesday, my grandma and I are road-tripping back up to Owen Sound, and my parents arrive home from their holiday on Tuesday afternoon! I'll be in Owen Sound until Saturday, when the family (hopefully) takes me back to Toronto - we'll have lots of time to spend together, as I dont fly out til midnight on Saturday (local time).

Here's to lots of visits with family and friends!

Much love xo

I'm back...almost!

Wow, it really has been just about a week since my last entry! What a week it's been.

On Friday night, the agency I am working with in London threw the best social I have been to, in a while! It was at a posh bar just south of downtown, and ALL drinks and food were complimentary. It was a great environment to meet other teachers and best of all, network with different consultants. I finally met Mike (whose mom is a client of my sister's in Toronto), who set me up with the job at his agency. It was nice to finally touch base with him, as he has done a few favors and pulled a few strings to get me in so quickly. I ended up meeting a couple who have been over for almost a year, on leave from the Niagara school board, and get this, we were all at Brock at the same time! Pretty cool! I also met a few Aussie's and some English peeps. Good fun and everyone was friendly.

My networking paid off, as I have had 5 days of work this week! It's a great feeling for both me and my bank account! Next month's rent and student loans will not be a stress.

Saturday, I got a ride with little Jessie's godfather to Wallingford to see Catherine and family. It was good to see them, as it had already been a few weeks since the last visit - not acceptable! The kids continue to grow and its so exciting to see them grow! I told Oscar a few weeks ago that I was taking a plane to go to Canada soon, and as we were walking on Saturday, he randomly told me that I was "going", I quickly said, no I'm not! But then he reminded me I was going on a plane to Canada! Too cute.

We spent Saturday enjoying the lovely weather and Sunday we went to another little village on the Thames to check out a house and walk along the river. It was a gorgeous day.

As I said earlier, it's been a busy work week! I've been at all different schools this week - the furthest down in east Surrey, and 2 within walking distance. It's been good experiences in different settings and with different types of schools. I will say this - my experience teaching at the school in Oxford for a prolonged period has definitely helped me more than if I hadn't had that experience.

Anyway, off to relax - need to get some cycling in at some point! The race is coming up WAY too quickly...

Much love! xo

"...in good times and in bad"

Hello!

It's been a while since one of my blog hello's have included an exclaimation mark - I finally feel as though my luck is changing here. I've been through a ton of emotions and thoughts the past month - including moving home.
The supply world has not been a booming business. However, I got some advice from a secondary school consultant that primary work will be busy until the end of the school year - thus prompting me to head into the agency office in Wimbledon
and see what they could do for me. I have been getting regular work this week through them, and am more than hopeful for next week too (already have a pre-booked day). Aside from that, I got a weekend job as a cashier at a big UK cycle chain, at the Wimbledon store.
Nothing that will pay my rent, but it is an opportunity to be in a new position, meet new people and get to know the cycle industry a little better!

Now the best news all week: my long awaited income tax chq came, and it is about 3x what I was expecting - which means I am able to cover my student loan costs over the summer. I feel great not having that stress anymore - or at least until I'm working full-time in September and can
FINALLY start sending money home.

As I feel like I am emerging from a dark tunnel, I know this has been an experience to teach me to put away for rainy day and be a little more sensible about saving.

Have a great weekend - I am now in the single digits for number of sleeps before Canada - 9!!

Much love xo

10 Days 'til Mama

Hello all,

Well I have found out a little secret to my no work problem - PRIMARY. It seems that in addition to all the holidays Britain has just had, exams are no wreaking havoc on daily supply work. I have had 2 days this week and I have 2 days booked next week. Hurrah. It is amazing how quickly my spirits are lifted when I have one days work, let alone 4!! Happy days are just around the corner.

I am looking forward to the trip home. My sister is planning to pick me up from the airport (insert "I'm special" feeling here!) on the Sunday when I arrive, and taking the day off work on Monday so we can spend some sister time together in Toronto :) Very excited for that.

Off to go RELAX - Primary is fun, but always makes me knackered.

Keep praying that something long term opens up after half-term break!!

Much love xo

Happy Birthday Daddio!

My motivation in general has struck a bit of a looooow cord. I have yet to win a match in tennis (not good for my ego) and I have yet to make substantial money. Boo and boo.

Nothing really new to report....13 days until I am back in Canada for a short visit...so that is exciting. Everyday I see hundreds of planes going in for a landing at Heathrow...can't wait to be on one myself!

Today is my dad's birthday...I won't say how old he is, but he has one more year until he retires at the young age of 55! Way to go go dad...almost there - in some places, you will soon be considered a senior citizen! Bring on the discounts.

It's probably safe to say, I'm a bit of a daddy's girl

Love you, dad!

Much love to everyone else, xo

Happy Mother's Day

Hello all,

I hope you all enjoyed Mother's Day! I definitely missed my mama and giving her lots of loving on her special day. I was able to spend the day with some adorable babbas though - helped ease the pain of not being home JUST a little bit :)

Had a lovely weekend with Catherine and family.

The flowers my little brother picked out (ALL ON HIS OWN!!!) for our mama

Was back to work for me today (after a month off!). I was at an all girls school very close to where I live. It was good to get back at it - a little weird being back in supply, but I had a great day. The girls were lovely and it was a different teaching experience for me.

Anyway I am positively BEAT.

Enjoy your week and I will write more (about work hopefully) later this week!

Much love xo

Working Hard...errr....Training Hard!

Hello all...

Well to be honest, it has been a frustrating week of NO work. Doesn't bode well for the bank account. However, I have been pre-booked in for a few days next week, so THAT is great. I have learned the most important lesson of all: the month of April in the UK is full of far too many holidays - you can have the entire month off (as a teacher) and only actually book about 7 days off - crazy!

Anyway, with no work, it has left NO excuse not to train. I have been over to Richmond Park a lot this week, as well as exploring more of South West London. It truly is one of the most beautiful areas - and its only a few miles from the city centre.

Training Hard


Looking up towards Richmond - Heading towards Kingston-upon-Thames


Richmond - looking towards the Thames River


Cottage Country?! Nope, Richmond Park!


Airplane Watching


If only I got paid to do this...

I am off to Oxfordshire for the first time since moving over to London (3 weeks! Hard to believe...).

23 days 'til I am back in Ontario for a visit! The weather better have pulled up it's sock before then!!

Much love xo

Get a cup of tea, and maybe a snack before reading this one!

So it may be really far off, but I decided today I am going to create a book (not sure of the set up, etc) of my experience so far over here, starting with the decision I made a year ago to the day to move over here. Today I just started writing and this is what I came up with - its not really in any order, just sort of a random garble of words and thoughts.

A few pictures incase you don't want to read! I cycled over to Kingston-on-Thames and Richmond over the weekend - LOVELY, lovely cycle. South West London...most West London is truly beautiful!

I accidentally knocked over a few phone booths one day...oops!


Hampton Court Palace

Life in the UK, from a Canadia girl

No, it is not a spelling mistake. I truly am a Canadia girl – at least that’s what a few students have mistaken me for. I can locate, on any map, where Ireland, Scotland, Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand and America are – all places I have been accused of originating from. The illusive country however, remains Canadia.

Living in the UK has been an experience of a lifetime. Besides learning how truly independent, mellow and open I have become as a young adult (I use adult in the loosest form possible), I have learned so much about this culture that seemed so familiar but so far out of reach from a small town girl such as myself. When I think back to my life a year ago – working at a failing Ski Resort, social life non-existent, drowning in student loan debt, looking for my post-grad place in life – if you told me that only 12 months later I would have spent a week in Poland, Budapest, Scotland and called Oxford and London home, I would have said “That’s a nice dream!”...or something like that.

It seems very strange to think that as people, particularly young people, we have the world at our fingertips – more so today than ever before. Yet we feel so incredibly limited.

I was sitting in a coffee shop in Wimbledon (yes, there is more than just tennis courts!) a few days ago and overheard...okay, was COMPLETELY eavesdropping...a middle aged woman telling two friends that she “wasn’t bad with money, just feels a need to seize the day and take in every opportunity because you never know.” It sounds like a reckless excuse to just go anywhere when you want. However, she went on to say that she didn’t think she would make it to see “today” after having battled cancer. It’s easy to think, okay well that is a legit way to look at life because she survived cancer. We have all heard it before, “live like you were dying” (thanks Tim McGraw), “dance like no one’s watching”, “carpe diem”. There is a REASON we cling to quotes (we being the lucky ones to not have life threatening diseases). How many times have you said you will “live like you were dying”? I bet you succeeded about as many times as you said you would start “eating healthier and exercising more” (which by the way, I totally need to start doing!).

It is moments like that that you really stop in your tracks...for me, it made me think of friends who have died untimely deaths – under the age of 24. It also makes me think of the older generation who have since perished – the ones who, unless they immigrated from England or Europe, they never got to see this side of the pond. I have felt a sense of owing it to myself, but also a part of this journey is for those who cannot and will not make this journey.

Living in England has definitely had it’s hard times and stressful times. The hard times, in a country that is strange and foreign and does not have the safety net of your parents close by, really builds strong character – the kind of character that is going to pull you through the challenges and bumps, unscathed.

I have not given it much thought to be honest, but it has been brought to my attention more than once by different people: I moved myself, alone, 4000 miles away from my comfort zone to a foreign land where I did not know anyone. I do feel extremely proud of myself when they put it in those words. I will remain the same unphased girl who landed in London’s Heathrow airport, alone on a Saturday night after having traveled for 20 hours. Okay, I was tired and probably a little smelly...but definitely unphased.

The tough days bring to me a place where I feel like I are behind in life. Friends back home are having babies, getting married, buying houses, settling into careers (not all in that order). I feel like I should be falling into that category – I have had moments, many more than you might think, of “I need to move home, find a man and start my life”. I shake out of that though and remember that there is a word for that: desperation. Not a word that describes me.

The fact remains, I am 24 years old (yes, almost 25, but hanging on to 24), single, 2 degrees in my pocket and the world at my finger tips. Perhaps having children and settling into my career are not in the stars for me just yet. Perhaps, I am one of the few who reach past the quotes, reach past the expectations, reach past what is written and really blaze my own trail of unique tales and once in a lifetime experiences.

The point of being over here is not to rush out and see as much of Europe as I can – initially it may have began as that. No, my point of being over has become so much more personal...intimate, if you will. It has become a personal quest to not just see the world, but to truly experience the world. A lot of people can say they were in France, or they were in Spain or maybe even Greece. That’s cool. When the cool factor passes, what do you remain with? When you are done talking to people about traveling to those places, what are YOU left with.

Poland – I am left with the lasting physical images of humankind at its worst.

Hungary – I am left with the special moments of putting aside language and culture differences to celebrate and simply enjoy...together.

Scotland – Aside from a few hangovers, I am left with the beauty of tens of thousands of people celebrating the end of 2010 and welcoming 2011 as one.

Being in England and traveling to Europe has certainly made this world so much smaller for me. Seeing the world IS attainable. In Canada, and North America in general, we have this stigma that you have to save for years before you can experience Europe. Why? This life is fleeting – before you know it, you have children, you have careers that you cannot just leave at any moment, you have responsibilities. From about the age of 15, we are SO quick to grow up and WANT to grow up. Why? To that I say, experience. Experience 15 and 16 and 17...enjoy those years. One day you will wake up and they will be gone, you WILL have those responsibilities and legitimate excuses to NOT go out and see the world.

Traveling the world and experiencing different cultures is certainly not for everyone. I have met people in the UK who have never left their county (no, not another spelling error, COUNTY!). I think it is important for people to be happy with the choices that they make in life, which is really the bottom line. Am I going to be happy in 5 years, when I am still paying off student loans, about my decision to live, work and travel in Europe? WITHOUT QUESTION. Aside from the traveling opportunities, as I said earlier, the character building alone, this has been worth the lack of money I have paid back on my student loans. Years down the road, I will probably forget who I lived with, who I traveled with, where I traveled, why I traveled, what I was even doing in the UK...but the time I am spending here, I truly believe are shaping my life and shaping who I will be and the direction my life will take. That is what is really important to me.

When I first met my English cousin, Amanda, her two beautiful children were just 2 and almost 1. We saw them on and off until they were school age and moved over to Canada for good. Until I moved over to the UK, I was very much a part of their lives and have even been known as their favorite Canadian cousin. Since being over here, I have mutually adopted a family with two children, almost 2 and 5 months when I met them. The children both know me and I hate being away from them and their parents for more than a week. I have thought about September 2012 when my visa expires and the Queen kicks me back across the ocean. Oscar will be nearly 4 and Jessica 2 ½ . It makes me so entirely sad that I will not be a part of their lives past the age of 4 and 2 ½. I mean there are pictures and maybe a visit here and there, but I just can’t imagine missing out on...(excuse me while I get a tissue) their lives. It has blown my mind how incredibly close I have become with their family. The only solution is finding a bloke to stay in the country...yep, definitely the only way.

The experience of teaching will be written in a chapter of its own, maybe even a book of its own! Those of you who have been following my blog from the beginning (...mom) will remember the....uh...experience (?) I had about writing my specific school experiences out in my blog. I will refrain from doing that now, and save it for the published version of the book, and maybe when I am safely across the pond, instead.

I tend to be very in touch with things that are going on and able to write out how I feel about them – so this is always my most favorite medium to express myself.

I don’t know what sparked today’s entry...probably having the most mellow of panic attacks having not worked in nearly a month. See – I have grown – May 2010 Emily would be in tears thinking the world was coming to an end and seeing no way out. May 2011 Emily...or Emily 2.0 if you will, sees this as a mere challenge – so bring it on world (bring on the work I mean), I will come through this challenge, unscathed and laughing about the time I couldn’t go and stalk Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon at their premiere because I literally had no money for the tube ride.

Note to self: April is not a working month in the UK (noted and noted).

Much love xo.