The tragic misadventures of an American English teacher returned from abroad
I won’t be able to watch the BDM this year, but I already went to a screening of it for Can’t Stop the Serenity. I wish I could throw a party, but the anniversary fell on a Tuesday this time around and it’s kinda hard to do when you work and stuffs. Oh yeah, and when you have no friends (yet). 
So Happy Anniversary to the Big Damn Movie!
Keep flyin’ — Can’t Stop the Signal
There’s no place I can be
Since I found Serenity
You can’t take the sky from me
Holy crap, if I could do this…that would make moving to this country SO worth it!
The Boar’s Tooth has Friday classes at a location that is relatively easy for me to get to.
Pleasure overload…pleasure overload….!
It’s official. Doing laundry in this country sucks. How sad is it that it was easier to do laundry in Japan than it is in England? Maybe it’s just this particular washer and dryer, but so far, it’s all a big fat not-so-much.
Maybe I should try and find a laundry mat and I can meet some cool characters like Billy and Penny. There would be singing, dancing, freezing, the whole lot!
Laundry really shouldn’t take this long…
I live by horses. Did I say that? When I come home from school I usually see them chomping away on some grass and hay in the field along my street.
The houses here have names. Like “October House”. Not all of ‘em but there are quite a few down one of the main roads that do. I wonder how they get their mail.
The washers in this country seem to suck. Maybe I’m just used to the washer I have at home and the ones I used in Japan, but the ones here (I’m in the process of getting some laundry done) seem to take for flippin’ ever. Seriously. I think I put the wash in like an hour ago and it’s still washin’. What’s up with that? Also, they don’t have like regular ol’ detergent, they do this weird capsule thing.
I have made it my mission to go to the British Museum next Saturday. I still have yet to do much sightseeing and touristy stuff. I should really put in more of an effort with that as much as with my lesson planning.
I had pizza for dinner last night, and I don’t know what Grant was on about ‘cuz it wasn’t that bad. Then again, we went to a fancy California Pizza Kitchen-esque pizza place and we were served by an Italian, like with the accent and everything. ‘Twas pretty good, but the Brits are all proper with their stuff and eat with a fork and knife. Not like we don’t, but it didn’t help that the knife didn’t cut all that well. I resorted to being an American and got as far as cutting up the pizza then used my hands.
My hermit lifestyle continues as I barely went out yesterday, and don’t really know that I’ll really be out much today. For the most part I’ve been revisiting How I Met Your Mother and that keeps me pretty happy. I’m supposed to be planning and stuff, especially now that I have a change with my Year 9’s.
But yeah. I live by horses. Houses here have names. Washing machines are unimpressive to me. The pizza I tried wasn’t that bad. Oh bloody hell, I just discovered how to make the ¥ on my computer. Wait, never mind. I had John when I was living in Japan. But this led me to find the £ sign. Yay! Now I can write it correctly. Sorry.
Where was I? Oh yeah. Planning. I gotta start planning. I also have to start being more social or something like that. Even though I’m perfectly happy to just hide out on my own. And again, the question comes up about whether I ought to live alone or with people. For money purposes, and possibly to keep me from being a hermit, I ought to try and live with people. But we all know how well I love people.
Right, right. Sorry. Planning. Must start procrastinating…I mean planning!! ARGH!!!
Have a good Sunday people! I miss y’all!
I was just looking at the date, and I noticed that it’s the 27th. Last month I was writing about how I was a heartbeat away from getting in touch with the MP and now I’m here. It doesn’t feel like it’s been a month since all that happened.
Dude. We’re about to start Week 4 of the term. That means in like two weeks we’re gonna have our OFSTED inspection, or something like that.
Tell me again why I thought this was gonna be a good idea?
It’s been one of those weeks.
It started out okay ‘cuz of the whole Year 7 trip, but then it seemed to fizzle and die towards the end.
We had teaching and learning audits this week, aka teaching observations. It was so strange for me in that I was less nervous and stressed about this observation than I was for the ones at Nova, and these are actually worth something, as in I could be fired if I don’t pass! Shelby and I both had ours on Thursday, so it gave us a day to recover from the trip.
Wednesday went all right. Oh, except for my Year 9 class. I’m not gonna lie and pretend I have any control over the class because I clearly don’t. They’re a lower ability class and their heads are absolutely not in War Poetry. I gave two detentions to two students who didn’t care that they were getting detentions. I ended up going to the Head Teacher about them and we’re gonna try something different with that class. We’re abandoning War Poetry and we’re gonna try just regular poetry instead. But that class…even Mike said he had some trouble with them.
I was amazed, absolutely AMAZED with my Year 8 class Thursday morning. They usually give me some trouble, but they ALL worked on their stories. Some of them asked me if they could take their books home so they could type them up. I let ‘em but made it very clear that if they came to class without their stories it would be a 0 in the grade books for their homework grade.
My observation class was…interesting. Of the seventeen students I was supposed to have in the class, maybe six of them showed up. I had two ALTs and Sally in the class (I’d mentioned to her that there was usually some conflict in the class between two students — I mean, the first day I met these students I had one of ‘em storm out of the class to keep himself from punching the other guy) so basically there was a teacher for every student. In terms of a lesson, it actually went pretty well. I got to use some YouTube clips and I had them make a school-appropriate Dialect Dictionary which they all seemed to enjoy making, even two of my other troublemaker students.
I had them up until the end, when it was like ten minutes before the bell. Then everyone was about up to their usual tricks. I was okay with it because I got through most of what I needed to and the observation seemed to have gone well.
Little did I know I would later be informed that they would have to re-do my observation because of the class attendance. They said I did fine in terms of planning and teaching, but they needed to see how I did with a larger group of students.
I’m not gonna lie, I was feeling pretty dejected after that. I mean, I really didn’t want to have to go through that all over again. It wasn’t a horrific experience, it was more the thought of having to be under that kind of pressure again. I know there’s still a lot I have to catch up on. It would be cake if I were home and teaching under a curriculum I know forwards and backwards ‘cuz I went through it myself and then studied it again when I was at uni.
Then there was Friday. What a waste. Both of the classes I taught went badly, although, not as badly as Shelby’s where she had a physical fight break out in her class. But still, I’ve never felt so frustrated. I’m at a loss at what to do with my MacBeth group and my Year 7 class should know better.
I actually had a kid cry in my Year 7 class. I felt really badly for him ‘cuz he’s been in some trouble lately and I had to keep him after to talk to him. He thought I was gonna tell him off, but I wasn’t. I really just wanted to make sure he was okay. Sure, he had one of the behavior forms, but I thought he handled himself rather decently in the class that day. I’m not going to pretend he was perfect, but it wasn’t as bad as he thought. He was really good about separating himself from trouble, and he asked to sit up at the front to make sure he kept himself from causing too much disruption. That’s pretty mature for an eleven-year-old.
But because I asked to talk to him after class, he thought he was in heaps of trouble again. I told him that I wasn’t giving him a detention or anything like that. He still lost it and vented about two of the girls in the class and how he thought they were getting away scott-free while he was the one getting trouble and all he did was try and defend himself. I told him I would talk to the girls and that we would work together on keeping him out of more trouble.
He’s in Shelby’s form group, so I went and talked to her about it afterward. She said she’d noticed he seemed a little off that day, too. We agreed that we should keep an eye on him to make sure he was okay and would stay that way.
But yeah, it’s been one of those weeks. I’ve never been so happy to see the weekend.
Every teacher and even some non-teaching staff members are academic mentors; basically, it’s like a homeroom teacher. My group is the youngest set in the school – Year 7. Monday through Wednesday of this week was a Year 7 school trip to a place called Blackland Farm in West Sussex, about half an hour away from the school. The head of Year 7, Mrs Buckingham, asked me if I would be interested in being one of the academic mentors to go along on the trip and for whatever reason, I agreed.
The year was split up into two different groups, divided by academic mentors. My group was to go on the first two days, so it made the most sense that I go on Monday and Tuesday. I was glad of that because Shelby’s group was also set for the first two days and she’d been asked to go as well.
Since I was to be out of school for the first two days of the week, I had to make sure I had cover materials ready for whoever would be covering my classes. Lucky for me, it was the two English department cover teachers Pete and Mike, so I didn’t have to worry too much about overwhelming the substitute with content specific information.
Even though we didn’t leave the school till halfway though 1st period, the people going on the trip didn’t have to go to class, including the teachers. I felt strangely uneasy about this fact, if anything because in my head, if I was at school, I should be with my students, even if it was only for an hour. It could have been a team-teaching kind of thing.
It ended up working out ‘cuz we had to load the bus and everything. Since the place didn’t really have a mess or anything like that, we had to bring our own food and the like. Mrs Buckingham bought food in bulk from the Tescos — I’m not really sure if it’s up there with WalMart, but the way everyone talks about “Tesco brand” I’m guessing it’s not super fantastic or anything. The trip coordinator, Mr Rose, also had a bunch of equipment for various activities, so that took some time loading onto the coach.
The thing about Year 7 is that they’re all about eleven-years-old (yeah, that’s right, eleven-years-old…believe me when I tell you I know this isn’t quite the age group I’ve been trained to teach for) so they need a little extra time with instructions and the like. Eventually, we got them all sorted and on the bus.
Our bunch was a small group, there were about thirty one students all together so we didn’t fill the whole of the coach. I really enjoyed the ride to the farm because it gave me a chance to see the English countryside. It really is like the films — rolling hills, sheep herds, horses, the works. I was sitting near some of the other teachers coming on the trip and we all remarked how odd it was that the kids were eerily calm on the bus ride there.
The ride was actually much longer than I expected; it felt more like forty minutes than thirty. The farm was just like any other camp, cabin areas, activity areas, stuff like that. The two cabins we were staying in were right across from each other and there was a soccer pitch close by.
We got the stuff unloaded and then brought everything into the respective cabins. The girls’ cabin seemed huge compared to the boys’, but the boys’ was more of a proper cabin than ours was. The chaperones had a separate room from the girls, which cheered me and Shelby a bit, but at the same time I found it a bit odd. I mean, what if something happened while the girls were in their dorm? Aren’t we accountable for that sort of thing?
There was some time to kill before all the activities really started, so the boys being boys were quick to head out onto the football pitch while the girls giggled in their dorm area.
It was while everything was getting set up that it was discovered there was no toilet paper in the bathrooms. Apparently, it was something we were supposed to bring on our own. One of the camp people said there was a store about five-minutes drive away from the farm, but we didn’t have cars. It was pretty imperative that we have toilet paper, so Shelby and I were sent off into the wilderness to try and find this store.
This is the point where the story becomes very horror movie in that we were in the middle of nowhere with only vague directions walking along a country road bordered by fields and woods. Shelby laughed and said it reminded her of the movie Rest Stop and remarked, “Isn’t this usually how a horror movie starts?”
I couldn’t help but agree. It felt like we were walking forever. “This is the longest five minute car journey ever.” At first, we estimated that five minutes by car ought to be something like fifteen minutes walking. Then again, we didn’t really know where we were going, so that added time to our journey.
We chatted a bit on the way. Shelby was did her teacher training in Australia, so she’d been away from home for some time as well. I can’t say that I’m getting super close to anyone, but it’s nice to talk to someone close to my own age every once in a while.
After what felt like an hour, we finally got to an area with proper shops. We found the Cost Cutters place easily and bought some much needed toilet paper and some snacks to bolster us up till lunch. The way back was much shorter than the way there, this time ‘cuz we knew where we were going. All in all, we were away for about an hour and fifteen minutes.
By the time we returned, the kids had already gone off to their different activities. Mr Rose was still in the cabin area because he was setting up the team building activities (like the ones we had to do in Adventure PE) so we hung around with him until Mrs Buckingham came back, then we helped set up lunch.
It turned out Shelby and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen. We served sandwiches for lunch since it was probably the easiest to put together and we figured they’d all like sandwiches. Wow, feeding a bunch of eleven-year-olds is a lot of work! I couldn’t believe Mrs Buckingham, Mr MacKenzie (the other Year 7 progress leader) and Mr Rose (the enrichment coordinator who put the whole trip together) were gonna stay for the whole three days!
After lunch, the students had their team building activities. We divided up the group into three different teams. There was “spider’s web”, the one where you have to get your whole team from one side of the web to the other using each hole only once, a “swamp” where they had to get from one side to the other with two planks of wood and three blocks…there were more rules, but I don’t remember them all (I do remember doing a similar game when I was on 8th grade retreat), and a shelter building activity. For the most part, I hung around the spider’s web since I was the only other staff member besides Mr Rose who knew how the game worked.
I wish I could say it all went well, but the only game that seemed successful was the spider’s web. The funny thing about this lot of students is that there are so many strong personalities that they clash quite a bit. As we discovered, they still need a lot of guidance at this age so Mrs Buckingham and Mr MacKenzie had to step in a bunch. Mr Raynes was kind of off in his own little world with the shelter building people. Then again, it probably didn’t help that we had the wrong kind of rope for the spider’s web and the blocks broke.
Mr Rose said he’d have to rework the whole lot for the next set of students coming the next day.
After a few more team games, the students were sent off to their next set of activities, including something called “abseiling”, which apparently everyone and their brother enjoys in this country. (I just looked it up, apparently it’s just rappelling.)
I didn’t go along with the students ‘cuz there was something going on with Shelby’s bank information and she needed to use my phone quite a bit. She said the situation was typical ‘cuz on our hour and fifteen minute walk she mentioned how she didn’t know her own mobile number, and lo and behold, she needed it to sort this problem.
Eventually, everything got sorted. Since most of the other teachers were off with the students, Shelby and I stayed behind to get the dinner started. Mrs Buckingham figured a pasta dish would be easy enough to put together for the kids and for us. I was in charge of chopping onions. It was kinda sad ‘cuz neither Shelby nor I really cook with onions so we weren’t really sure how much we should use. I totally thought four would be enough. (It wasn’t.)
After much preparation (and lots of onions), we were able to get everything together. The students had returned by the time we were putting things in the oven. Did you know the Brits put sweet corn in like everything? I knew they put it in pizza, but I didn’t know they put it in pasta as well.
Wow were those kids hungry! Not only did some of them have seconds, but there were also a few students who didn’t eat pasta so we cooked up some jacket potatoes for ‘em; we had some left over and the kids who had already had seconds totally wanted to eat those leftovers too! It was madness!
Once dinner was over, the students were let loose to do their own thing. There was still some daylight out, but it had started to drizzle. This didn’t stop the football-crazy boys from going back out onto the pitch and kicking the ball around.
Meanwhile, the teachers got to clean up.
It was just as the sun went down that the girls became convinced there was someone in the woods. They would not be told otherwise. They saw him after all, when they were outside in the rain. The part that amused us was the part where we were right by the main road AND but a stone’s throw away from the main reception. To put their minds at ease, Shelby stayed with them in the room while Mr Raynes and I went out into the cold wet night with torches to explore the not-so-heavily wooded area right by the cabins.
When I came back to report that there was nothing, they said that it was just like a horror movie — the councilors NEVER see the killers. I reminded them that if it really was like a horror movie, the first people to die would be all the teachers so they’d have a chance to get away.
For the most part, the evening consisted of board games for the kids in their separate dorms. Not all the girls were keen on the games and were left to their own devices in their rooms. Meanwhile the teachers got a chance to chill out a bit and have some tea or coffee. When the students weren’t looking, we’d sneak bits of Cadbury bars (there was Bubbly, Fruit and Nut, and Crisp).
At around 9, the students were told to get ready for bed. They seemed to do so with little fuss, but that didn’t mean they had to go to bed right away. As the night progressed, the teachers generally hung about together and talked. It was pretty cool. It gave me and Shelby a chance to get to know the other teachers better. Throughout the day, we’d heard that the next set of students to come to the farm was going to be twice as many; we weren’t have trouble with our group as it were, but they were definitely rambunctious. I totally wanted to be there the second day to see how Sally and Tom were gonna hold up with their lot of students.
I couldn’t really tell you what time it really was when we finally split up to go to bed, but the girls were being girls which means lots of giggling. Eventually, Mrs Buckingham went into their sleeping area and spent part of the night there. It was amusing because when she talked to them she sounded all mad, but she would come back to our part of the dorm and laugh about it. (I apparently have a pretty good angry teacher voice. The boys were absolutely not allowed into the girls sleeping area, even when they were all gathered in our dorm for lunch. One of the lads made like he was gonna go in there and he totally got a telling off from me.)
The next day was a lot like the first. The boys’ chaperones came into our dorm at like 8 AM and were amazed that we were still lounging about. “I can’t believe this,” Mr MacKenzie declared. “I totally thought I’d get yelled at for not having the boys up and fed by now, and here you lot are and you haven’t even started breakfast!”
Heh. We’re awesome like that.
Once the girls were fed, they’d been up since 7 AM anyway, everyone split off into their own activities again. The boys stayed back while the girls did the ropes and tunnels course first. We had them play ultimate frisbee (which none of them had ever played before and actually got into for a spell), rugby, and of course football.
The girls would have nothing to do with the sports, so one set of ‘em kicked the football around a little, while Shelby and some others threw a frisbee around, and I walked with some of the girls back to the ropes and tunnels course to watch the lads try their hands at the activity. There was also lunch to prepare (sandwiches again) and Mrs Buckingham wanted to get the dinner for the next group started so I helped out in the kitchen again.
That was pretty much the end of the trip for me, Shelby, and Richard (Mr Raynes). The other group arrived around 2 PM and we took our lot back to the school with ten minutes to spare before the end of the day bell.
It was a pretty good school trip. The kids seemed all right with it and everyone came back in one piece.
Yay for not getting killed like in the horror movies! 
You know, I can’t remember the last time I got to watch an awards show like the Emmys. It had to be back in college because we used to have parties for ‘em. Why does three years feel like a long time when it really isn’t?
I didn’t even know the Emmys were tonight until I went to imdb to check something. For some reason, I always thought they were earlier in the year as in around January or something, not September. Anyway, I find that I kinda miss watching ‘em, but it’s not big deal. I’m sure I’ll be home one of these days to watch ‘em. Until then, I guess I’ll be getting my news about it from abroad.
I happened to notice on Whedonesque that the London Screening was last night and as a spur of the moment thing, I decided to go. I was clad in my “Dear Buddha, please bring me a pony and a plastic rocket” T-shirt and sported my Serenity medallion and headed out.
I got a little lost on the way to the Roxy Bar & Screen but I made it with only missing the very beginning. (I got there just as the doctor was explaining to Simon that River was dreaming.)
I couldn’t see a whole lot of people when I first got there, but after the movie was over, it looked like there had been a decent turn out.
I was proud of myself for not crying. And since I don’t think I’ll be able to get a Serenity Anniversary Shindig together, I think this was a nice substitute. Especially since it was for a good cause. I even bought a T-shirt and a button.
I didn’t really stick around for the shindig ‘cuz I had to catch a train, but I was really glad I got to watch the movie with fellow Browncoats. It made me feel a little bit at home.
Can’t Stop the Signal
from the notebook
I’m sitting at a pub called The Green Dragon as I write this. I’ve already spilled my drink and promptly got teased by the bartender, this on top of having him sift through my money so I didn’t have to break a 10 GBP note. It’s been a very interesting Saturday and it’s only 12:30 PM.
I have a lot to try and catch up on. I’m sure y’all have noticed that for the most part, my posts have ben about work and nothing much else. We all knew this would be the case, now that the job has started and such. I can’t say I have a lot of time for anything else. I’ve made over a dozen mental notes but clearly none of them have materialized.
People are probably wondering how I like the UK so for. I really don’t know how to answer that because for the most part, all I’ve done is work. One thing I do know for sure is I was absolutely spoiled by Japanese public transportation. Absolutely, completely, and utterly spoiled. (You just said three things that all mean the same thing.)
It’s not that England’s is awful…it just pales in comparison to Japan. I rode the tube for the first time on Thursday evening and it just seemed incredibly cramped. Maybe it was just the Northern Line…but it seemed like all the people who had to stand were huddled over a bit. (I’m short so I didn’t have the same problem as everyone else.)
And then there are the buses…
It’s true. I’ve ridden on the red double-decker buses. In fact, I’ve ridden on them quite a bit since arriving here. They are wicked fun to ride on the top deck, especially in the area I have to take ‘em ‘cuz it’s kinda hilly and it’s just like being on a ride.
But the fact that they’re fun is just about all they’ve got going for them. I mean, the first day I rode one there was like a half hour delay of some kind, and then on the way home it randomly changed final destinations. Lucky for me, my stop wasn’t affected, but the second time it happened I was dropped off several stops away from where I needed to be. I’d have walked, but I still wasn’t sure of my way. So basically that meant I had to pay another 2 GBP to get on the next bus!
(My lunch arrived.)
I’m actually about to leave The Green Dragon. But I wanted to make sure I threw this out there: I like this place. The music is pretty groovy — they already played two Rock Band songs — and it just feel like a cool ol’ place.
***
Right. So, I was saying how I’d been spoiled by the public transportation in Japan…
The trains aren’t too bad here, but again, I’ve become accustomed to the way they run in Japan. They’re not marked here so I don’t know if it will be a train that goes to the destination I need to directly, or if it will make loads of stops along the way. At least in Osaka, I could figure it out because they were marked as Local, Express, Semi-Rapid, etc. How funny is it that I could navigate public transportation in a non-English speaking country more than I can in England?
In some ways, I’ve been living off the kindness of strangers. My first few days I was staying with my former co-worker Tom’s family, and then I moved to my current location with Yvonne, one of the staff members in the finance office. To be perfectly honest, I really want to find my own place, but I haven’t decided if I want to live alone or with people. My initial instinct is to live alone, but I expect that to be more expensive than it’s worth. Finding a flatshare now is a bit more troublesome, but I’m still looking. I really don’t mind staying here at Yvonne’s, but she’s not sure if her daughter will be returning or not, so it puts me in a bit of a spot in that I can’t get too comfortable.
But so far, it ain’t so bad. She took me round to the local pub on Friday night for dinner. I really like that the pubs serve food; not like the places back home don’t or anything, but it just seems different here. I have also gotten into the habit of putting vinegar on my chips — it’s actually quite good!
Actually, I’ve probably been round to the pubs more in these two weeks than I expected to be. I went with Tom and his friends last Saturday night, I went with some people after work on Friday afternoon, I went to one for dinner on Friday night, and then I had lunch at The Green Dragon yesterday. I actually think I’ll end up making a habit of it since they’re pretty much the place to go for lunches and dinners. It’s also part of the culture, which I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to try and absorb or something like that.
I haven’t had any fish and chips yet, but Tom said if I can hold out on it, I ought to go to Brighton down by the sea. It will taste better there or something. I’m hoping to be able to do that soon.
Croydon is meant to be a kind of…not-so-much area. But I wandered round the High Street yesterday and it didn’t see too terrible. Sure, there were some sketchy areas, but it really didn’t seem all that bad to me. I can’t live there, though. My parents found out about the area and are all kinds of opposed to living near the town center. Honestly, I’d be a little reluctant to as well, but I can’t imagine the whole of the town is that bad off.
I’m trying not to think about the money conversion stuff. If I do, I’m pretty sure I’ll starve. I have to think in terms of GBP so paying 79p for something should be a good thing. (My Orangina is at this special price or something.) Of course, when it comes to how much I get paid, I make the conversion.
I really can’t wait for things to settle down more. Then maybe I’ll have a chance to go into London a bit more. I mean, I did go on Thursday night to figure out my bank information; and I went last night, but that’s for a separate post all together. (It involves my beloved Serenity.) But I haven’t really done the touristy stuff.
I have to admit, and it kind of makes me uncomfortable to say this, but I’m somewhat lonely. It’s not devastatingly so, but there is a distinct absence this time around. Japan was different ‘cuz I had roommates right away. Not quite the case here. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem doing things on my own — I’ve made it this far, haven’t I? But yeah, I hope to gather up my courage a bit more and try and socialize. (I did go to the Fox with my co-workers on Friday; I’m hoping to make more of it, though.)
Man, I have a taste for chips with vinegar now. I’m trying not to eat a whole lot or anything right now ‘cuz it’s Sunday Roast. I’m pretty sure my stomach shrank, though. I had trouble finishing my dinner on Friday night, and I only got through my burger on Saturday. Again, when things settle down I’m thinking this will change.
Right. Well, that wasn’t everything I’d wanted to write but that’s really all I could remember for now. I hope to be able to update a bit more, but we’ll see how that goes.
I miss y’all!