Tales of a Traveling Teacher

I had really wanted to see the coast of Wales before I left and since I leave in two days, I decided today would be good!;) Unfortunately, the weather did not really cooperate and it rained for a good bit of the nine hours I was in the car. But that did not take away from the beauty!  The country is incredibly green, thanks to all of the rain. There are large ferns, extensive fields at the bottom of tall hills, and small lakes in the passes. The roads are very narrow and windy, many lined with stone walls, similar to those I drove on in the Lake District. The roads have signs for crossing sheep and falling rocks, and many didn't bother with a median line as, well, there wasn't really room for two full lanes.  They are the kind of roads where going 35 feels like you are living dangerously, but driving through these roads with overhanging boughs feels almost like entering another world and it is truly gorgeous.  The coastline varied greatly from great expansive sa

Wales is really a beautiful country! Today, I got to see just part of what makes it so beautiful. At the beginning of the year, Jessica, a couple other Fulbrighters and myself climbed a large hill in the Lake District. As nice bookends to our year, Jessica and I have meet up in Llanberis in Northern Wales to climb a mountain. This morning, after a delicious breakfast at our B&B, we set off to climb Snowdon, the tallest peak in Wales, 1085 meters tall. It was a long, steady climb with several difficult straight up bits. Just shy of three hours of climbing brought us into the clouds with cooler temps as we touched the very top of the mountain.  It was such an accomplishment, and despite the ache in my thighs, I felt elated! Unfortunately, the clouds were so thick that all around us was pure white, but that just meant we knew we were high up. Thankfully there was a cafe at the top where we refueled ourselves and purchased "I climbed Snowdon" buttons before returning down the

Today, Herman and I set foot in our 12th country of the year: Wales! It is a truly stunning country and I'm eager to do some exploring!

It is so weird to say I'm leaving Friday.  Not three weeks from now, nor even next week, just Friday. After breakfast and a send off to two gorgeous ladies, I got to work!  There was (and still is!) lots of packing and cleaning that needs to be done before I feel like I'm leaving it in tip top shape for Kelly to come home to.  I'm not sure how I acquired so much stuff, but I'm incredibly envious of Hermione who was able to pack everything from clothes to food to potions to books to a full sized tent into her handbag.  Being magical certainly has it's advantages! As a lovely distraction from the day of packing, Carrie, a fellow teacher and dear friend came and picked me up for a meal with her lovely family.  We had a great BBQ and her two girls had prepared a cheer for me as well as made me this beautiful, thoughtful necklace! After dinner, Carrie even went to the trouble of getting smores supplies and we roasted our own marshmallows over the BBQ!  It was perfe

To celebrate the end of a wonderful year, I wanted to take Charlotte and Gemma to one of my favorite local places: Woburn Abbey.  I've now been there at least half a dozen times, and I love feeling so comfortable at such a lovely place. We started off thoroughly enjoying our three layers of delicious food, not realizing how quickly the time was passing before we had to run off to visit the house before it closed.  The home is a lovely home, as are so many here, but I must say that even though it is still lived in, you get to see more of it than most of the other homes I've visited, including the room Queen Victoria once visited, leaving behind some sketches that she did.  There is artwork in the home that I have seen in history books and one painting of a child with a cockatoo that thoroughly impresses me.  It's not because the painting is all that impressive, but rather because cockatoos are native to Australia and when the portrait was painted, Australia had not yet b

Today, I boarded my last train to London, for this trip at least.  I had plans to meet up with a couple of friends from high school for dinner, so I decided to take advantage of the day and go and wander the city that I have fallen in love with over the past year. I first went to Camden Market because I had bought a dress there a couple of weeks ago, and so loved it that I decided I might as well go back and get more!  I have always really enjoyed street market shopping and this was no different!  Unfortunately, my shopping trip may have been a bit too successful! :) I then took the tube to Covent Garden, one of my absolute favorite spots of London!  There is a market here, loads of restaurants with outdoor seating and frequent street performers.  This is also where Eliza Doolittle met Henry Higgans, and I always enjoy visualizing that scene when I'm there. I continued my stroll towards Trafalgar Square which sits in front of the National Gallery and looks

Cricket has been a game that I occasionally see on a film or would sometimes flick by on a channel, but I've never actually watched a game. That all changed this week! Last night, Lorraine, Bev and I went to watch a 20/20 game of two local teams. I still don't totally understand what that means, but basically it has to do with how many times the team gets to bat and it is a smaller number than usual, so that makes it a shorter game. It was a truly perfect summer's evening and the setting of the cricket pitch in a lovely little village made it all feel very "English." Today, a crew of Fulbrook teachers went out to the Lashings cricket match. This match was between one of the local teams we saw the night before and a traveling team of retired cricketers from around the world. It was an all day event, in fact we were at the pitch from around 1:30 until 10. Similar to baseball, the game is not very speedy, but the atmosphere more than makes up for that. We

I must be honest that I was kind of dreading today, mainly because of the good byes that I would have to say.  Although they were very difficult, the day was "practically perfect in every way." After an assembly this morning, we finished watching The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe  which we recently read, then I read Oh, the Places You'll Go  to the kids before their extended break time.  The staff room was overflowing with goodies, of which I enjoyed many!  The next part of the day in the classroom was spent playing games that the kids had brought in and many helpful kids assisting me in tidying up the room. During our lunch time, my last lunch time in the staff room, we spent much of our time carefully planning out exactly how we are all meeting up tomorrow for the cricket match - where are we parking, who will be driving and how will everyone get from one place to another.  Thankfully, I believe it is settled and we, weather permitting, should have a great day ou

Today, on the second to last day of school, we celebrated a great year by rewarding the kids.  Each year group (grade) did a special activity such as a nearby theme park or swimming complex.  The Year 5s went to a place in Milton Keynes called Gulliver's Land.  It is a small theme park, just the right size for us!   The park is truly the right size for our Year 5s; most of them were able to ride a majority of the rides without an adult and yet the rides were still very enjoyable for the kids.  The park was fairly small - you could walk from one corner to another corner in a matter of minutes - but packed with rides.  There were very few people there and so on most of the rides, the kids got to just stay on the rides they enjoyed repeating them over and over. My group of 11 children that I looked after was really spectacular.  At first, we had a hard time balancing the group dynamics of who wanted to go where, but they soon figured it out and everyone went along well togeth

Although school does not get out until Wednesday, our last day of real lessons was today. Several of my little ones brought in some incredible gifts such a bracelets, chocolates and wine, but my favorites were the homemade treasures that I received like this knitted pouch from one of my yarn club girls and the little yellow bunny made by one of my very creative year 6 boys.  There are actually laws back home regulating the value of the gifts given to teachers, but what the lawmakers don't understand is, the gifts with the most value are ones made by the hands of those kids who walk through your door every day, not the ones with a high price tag. These treasures will always have a special place in my heart, and in my home!

This morning, during my first lesson, of which I was talking to my class about tornadoes, hurricanes and US money, a note arrived with an announcement for the kids.  Mr. Cheadle, the caretaker, sent a note around to each class telling the kids that the field was being sprayed, so to stay off of it during break time.  I thought it was a bit odd, but it all made sense as well. At the start of break time, Lynne a fellow teacher and wonderful mentor, came in to see me as I was tidying up the room.  After a few minutes, she mentioned that we should go to the playground.  As I arrived, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, as the children were all milling about, playing games, eating their snacks, and visiting.  The only odd thing was that I thought there were more teachers on the playground than there typically were. Almost instantly, "The Cotton-Eyed Joe" came blaring from loud speakers and teachers and pupils alike throughout the playground broke into the dance.  Everyone was

This evening, my kind Scottish neighbors had me over for dinner and a catch-up.  They have been truly wonderful to me this year, but I have not gotten to see them very much lately as we have all been very busy! Their wee daughter, Molly, is an absolute gem!  She's just recently turned one and is starting to crawl around.  She is a great snuggler, has a gorgeous smile and loves cuddles!  She has been a joy to me this year, a comfort as I'm missing all the little cuddles I get from my cousins back home.  After we played for a bit, I got to help give her her bath, something she loves, and then I got to read her bedtime story to her.  Pam and Mark have read her the same story every night, and I've had the pleasure, several times this year of getting to read it to Molly as well. After Molly went to bed, we had a lovely dinner, a great chat and lots of laughs.  I've been so very thankful to have neighbors that I can call on, and ones that have been so very warm and

Yesterday, I went to a nearby tourist attraction that I had been wanting to go to, and just hadn't made the time to do it.  Bletchley Park was unknown to me before I arrived here, but it is a place we all owe a debt of gratitude to. In 1939, at the start of WWII, MI6, the British Intelligence Office stationed a team of people at Bletchley Park to decipher the messages that the German troops were sending to one another.  The Germans had perfected a machine called an Enigma. Here's Herman with an Enigma. As I understand it (please know that a lot of the information I learned was over my head!), the Germans would type in a message into this machine that would then code it into a different series of letters.  They would then use morse code to send the message and the recipients would use another Enigma to decode the message.  So, the British were picking up the morse code communications, but had a hard time reading them.  To make matters even more complicated, the Enigmas w

Back home, in America, if you told someone you had never had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, people would probably gawk at you and may even begin asking what planet you were from.  Here, it seems to almost be the opposite. Stephanie, my fellow Fulbrighter, said she had taken PB&J sandwiches to the staff at her school and what a huge hit they had been.  So, I copied her idea and yesterday, I took a load of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches into the staff room. Most of the staff tried these classic sandwiches for the very first time yesterday.  Many of them enjoyed the sandwiches, but some found our custom very odd.  I must say that to the Brits, this sandwich sounds very unappetizing as "jelly" is our Jell-O, so I don't really blame some of them for turning up their noses at the mere thought of them. It is just one of those many differences that we, even 11 months into, continue to discover about one another!  Who ever thought I'd be introdu

Each morning and afternoon, I take attendance, or as it is called here, I take the register.  After the great lesson we had yesterday about something I know very well, we decided to change things a bit, and well, it is a lot more fun now! (Make sure your volume is turned up!)

Typically, the job of a chaperone is to watch over the children and make sure that they behave and no one gets hurt.  I hope that the adults at my middle and high school events had as much fun as we do.  I also hope the kids enjoyed themselves have as much as we did tonight! The Year 8s are less than a week away from leaving the school and moving on to upper schools.  They will be splitting up going to many different schools in the area.  Tonight, we celebrated those kids who have been together at the school for four years.  A dozen or so teachers went to chaperone and cheer on the children as we honored them tonight. We were at a neighboring village this evening, a lovely village hall with a large green field, perfect for all sorts of sports.  I had so much fun watching as the children arrived - girls all dressed up and attempting to walk in heels.  Most of them chose beautiful, tasteful dresses, and although many looked much older than thirteen, they chose dresses perfect for a t

This morning, just after waking up, I went for a walk in the woods.  I wish I did that more often, as it is truly a lovely time to get out and see the world as it, too, is fresh and ready for a new day.  I saw a handful of rabbits, a muntjac deer, and glorious morning glories all beginning their day.  The birds were chirping, no doubt out hunting for the worm, but otherwise, the woods were utterly silent. On one of the paths, I could easily tell that I was the first one to trespass upon it.  It is a narrow path between the housing estate and a large field, and it is apparently where spiders enjoy building their webs.  I collected a massive amount of the sticky string even after putting my hand out in front of me.  I do hope no one saw me as I walked down the path, probably looking as if I was saluting Hitler as I walked.  But I couldn't get these determined spiders down.  When I returned down this same path a half hour later, I walked through several more spider webs that had sur

Today, and again this evening, I had the absolute pleasure of watching the Year 8s in their year-end production.  They have been working tirelessly for the last few months preparing for this performance and it was absolutely amazing!  The classic story, which I've seen multiple times, was performed unlike any other performance I've ever seen.  In fact, I don't remember ever enjoying myself quite so much at a Shakespeare production. The play started with some ladies at a hair salon talking about the latest gossip magazine and what was going on in Verona.  Then Lady Capulet and Lady Montague went at each other, something that continuously happened throughout the night.  The Prince made his grand appearance in tap shoes so everyone could hear him walk down the aisle.  He looked fabulous, and knowing that the lacy tie he was wearing was actually a large pair of bloomers tied up together made it even more humorous.  Romeo was played by an adorable boy, one of the quiet, sw

Wait, start?  Teachers always plan ahead into the next school year, but I am exactly nine days away from ending school here and twenty two days away from beginning work back home, so I have to start thinking about next year while I'm completing this year.  I am slowly beginning to think about getting back into the swing of things back home.  This afternoon, I was able to, from a long distance, sit in on a meeting with some of my colleagues back home.  It was so great to see everyone and hear some of those things that sound so very familiar, and some things that sound a bit foreign as well.  I am going back into the known, and yet, after being away for a year, there are so many things that have changed and that I am sure I have forgotten.  School is just one more big reason that I am excited and anxious to go home! Video conference with some of my fellow colleagues

I've spent so many weekends away this year, that I haven't spent nearly as much time enjoying this adorable little village as I should.  This weekend, I took full advantage of some of the joys it has to offer. Yesterday was the annual folk festival.  The festival was an all day event held on a field at the edge of the village.  It was a free event, so people were coming and going throughout the day, enjoying the warm sunshine on one of the hottest days of the year.  People brought their own chairs, blankets, coolers, picnics and enjoyed new local artists every half hour.  I spent the day with friends from the area enjoying laughs, cool drinks and the bright rays. Our "camp" site While at the festival, Janet took me up to her allotment.  There are plots of land near this field that people from the village own, giving them a place to grow their own fruit, flowers and vegetables.  Janet even had ripe raspberries and let me take a big box of them home!  How lov