Day Trips With Mom!

So during last week while Jaclyn was working, Mom and I explored Seoul on our own. I'll highlight the more exciting things we did (I dont think you'll care too much for a description of the last Friday where we watched hotel movies and shopped in Nowon because I had a rotten cold)...

N Seoul Tower
We went to Seouls equivalent of the CN tower to see a birds eye view of the city. It was an adventure getting there! It was our first time navigating the subway on our own and even though I've had many experiences travelling on non-English metros during my travels, it's a lot harder when the maps use characters instead of letters! I found very detailed directions and somehow (combo luck and internal compass), we found our way through a windy backstreet to where the cable car was. We were glad we found it! When Jac went to the tower in the summer, they couldn't find the cable car and hiked up the mountain. Ha, can you imagine us doing that? I'm far too lazy.



We took the Namsan cable car up and had a great view of Seoul. We had burgers for lunch and then took the elevator up to the observation deck. The coolest part we're the locks of love. People put their names on lock and chain them to the fence surrounding the tower. There were thousands of them! We couldn't find jaclyns and sarahs that they put up in the summer though.



Traditional Folk Village
Ha, our adventure to get to the village about an hour outside Seoul was interesting! We lost the directions that jac gave us to get to the bus, but figured it out with dumb luck. Then we just showed the driver the brochure of the folk village, he nodded and we got on - not sure if the nod was a confirmation or a hello. But we got there!

Mom and I went here on a freezing cold day where it felt like we were wandering through the ruins of a old Korean town as there were maybe like 40 people in the entire park.



It was very interesting though. We saw how they made their houses, heated their floors, various celebrations and festivals and even some traditional dancing and horse aerobatics! We saw an area that they used for traditional films and pretended we were in historical dramas. :)

A lady showed me how to tie my hair using a chopstick (which I had previously deemed impossible due to my thin hair), we ate what tasted like rubber corn on the cob (no way was whatever we were eating real food) and checked out the amusement park area (think of a mini Centre Island haha).

The Aquarium & COEX Mall
Wednesday found us at the COEX Mall & Aquarium! The COEX mall is Seoul's largest underground (i.e. inside where its not FREEZING) mall. It even had a food court, complete with our lunch of KFC. :) We shopped along our way to the Aquarium which was at the end of the mall.

The Aquarium tour started off with different kinds of fish that are common in Korea (in the small lakes / marshes) which to be honest, wasn't all too exciting. THEN we got to the "fun zone" where they showcased a variety of different kinds of fish tanks! This included things like a fire hydrant, a toilet, a pop machine, an electronic harp (every time a fish passed through it, it would make a ding noise), and even a refrigerator. It was cute, creative and so very Korean. I loved it.



After the crazy fish tank display, we entered the "Amazon" area... which for some reason included spider monkeys (in an Aquarium? Yeah....). There were piranhas (I kept thinking of Piranha 3D!), sharks, eels, etc. I don't know if you know this but along with moths, I am terrified of eels. That's why I don't really ever want to go snorkeling, I keep thinking they will pop out with their dead eyes and sharp teeth!! Along our way (I believe we were out of the "Amazon" section by this point, we saw seals, a beaver, sleeping otters and even some Manatees eating lettuce! Then we came to shark tank area. There was a conveyor belt that took you under a ceiling where the sharks would swim above you. It was pretty neat, but there were no great whites or anything too crazy.



One thing that was hilarious though was that at one area, they had three scuba divers dressed up in Santa costumes doing tricks with fish. It was bizarre, I had no idea what was really going on, but at least it was unique!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from South Korea!

So I know I'm about a week behind in these posts and we've done SO much since then, but since we have half an hour left on Christmas, I thought I'd post about our Christmas eve and day in Seoul. I'll blog about the other adventures tomorrow. :)

Christmas Eve began SUPER early with a trip to the DMZ. Honestly, what could be more Christmasy than visiting soliders and "stepping" into North Korea! :P I will talk so much more about the DMZ in another post, but needless to say it was a long day beginning at 5:30 am and getting back to Jac's apartment at 4pm.

For Christmas Eve dinner, the four of us (Myself, Mom, Jaclyn and her friend Sarah) wanted a "western style" meal (or at least I did!). We tried TGIFridays but it was almost a two hour wait!! We switched our plan to Outback Steakhouse because even though its Australian, its more westernized than bulgogi or bibimpbap! Jaclyn, Sarah and Mom all had steaks but I of course had chicken. It was amazing... covered in bacon, mushrooms and SO MUCH CHEESE. Plus a side of mashed potatoes (which they called "smashed potatoes" hehehe).

After we gorged ourselves, we came back to Jac's hotel with our food babies and digested infront of the TV. I brought It's a Wonderful Life with me as is our annual christmas eve tradition. We watched about half of it and then went to the "Jazz bar" (mostly named so because of the saxophone I saw on the wall there, not so much for the jazz music) to meet some of her friends. We ordered drinks (mine while sounding exciting, was not very tasty) and chatted with her friends. Finally the early morning caught up with us and we crashed around 1.

Christmas Morning found us up and talking to our family back home on skype. The girl twins (meg, hailey and eowyn) preformed karaoke for us ("la la la everybody... la la la... There's a party on the rooftop top of the world" song). They are gonna be rock stars. Max had enough forsight to just pop his head in, wish us Merry Christmas and run off. :) Then Sarah came up and her and Jacyln opened up their presents. Mom and I are opening up ours with Dad when we get back. It kinda felt more like Jaclyns birthday! lol. She loved all her presents though and thanks you all.

After presents, we watched the last bit of Its a Wonderful Life (yes, i cried) and then slowly got ready to go to Jaclyn's coworkers potluck dinner/lunch. We brought the dessert (apple pie and a Baskin Robbins Cake). It was a great Christmas dinner. We had chicken, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing (but not great because it wasnt made with bread), sausages, gravy and carrots. We played a game called "fishbowl" where you had to get your team to guess the name of a famous person (written down by everyone else). It was a lot of fun! Her coworkers are super nice and very friendly. Jaclyn is in good hands.

We came back to Jaclyn's apartment and we watched "A Muppets Christmas Carol" (another staple). Sarah left right after to go to bed and we lounged around until we talked to dad (which was Christmas morning in Toronto). Now we are heading to bed! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! :)

25 June 1950 – Present...

Jaclyn can sometimes read my mind. She really wanted to go to The War Memorial of Korea (albiet for a different piece of history than I am interested in) and I enjoyed it just as much as she did. Maybe my love of history has rubbed off on her a bit? ;)

She was really intersted in seeing a full size model of a Turtle Ship because she had to teach a lesson on them and knew all about them. They were large warships that were used by the Koreans to fight against the Japanease in the Joesan dynasty (15th - 19th century).



There were 5 different kinds of cannons on the ship, on every side and on each end there was a big dragon head that could launch cannons or shoot flames out of its mouth. On the top of the boat, there were metal spikes sticking up on the roof. Since the Japanease were very adept at hand to hand combat, they would often jump on ships and take them over that way. However, when they jumped onto a turtle ship, thier feet would be impaled. Preeeeeety smart, Korea!

The museum also had a lot of things from the Joesan Dynasty and ancient fighting tactics, but the part that I was interseted in was the Korea War section. Obviously, this is a huge part of thier history - considering it is still going on - and they had an entire floor dedicated to it. I surprisngly know very little about this war, even though my favourite part of history to study is 20th century American history! I learned all about the timeline of events, US/UN involvement (including the name of a fallen Canadian solider - Andrew George Howse - hmmm... any relation??), and the creation of the DMZ (which we will be touring later this week!).

They had a "modern" warfare section with displays on the current South Korean military and tensions with North Korea. Mom and I even went on a simulation flight of a Korean fighter jet (but unfortuently, was not very good...). Around the outside of the museum, while under construction (of course), there were a lot of really beautiful and touching statues and memorials. My favourite one was the Peace Clock Tower. There were two girls in this staute holding up two clocks.


One clock displays the current time whlie the other has the date and time of when the Korean War began. There is a "bullet" hole on the glass and the clock is frozen. There is a separate clock located on the ground beside the statue and a sign saying that whenever Korea reunifies and the war is over, then this clock will go up and replace the stopped clock. I thought it was such a thought provoking and beautiful scuplture.

If "Stomp" met the inside of a Korean kitchen...

... then you would witness an event similar to the theatrical show we saw on Sunday... Nanta. :) It is the longest running show in Korean history.

This hilarious show has been my highlight so far. It is a musical drumming show, where the actors drum with everyday items you would find in a kitchen. The storyline is about three cooks who must prepare a wedding feast on a strict time line (6 o'clock!!). The manager of the restaurant/venue brings along his nephew (who isn't very swift) to add mayhem into the kitchen life. There was amazing musical performances, hilarious pantomime (they spoke a mixture of English / Korean, but you didn't need to know what they were saying to understand the story), and even some fighting scenes!

They had audience participation twice. One time they asked volunteers to come up and try the soup they made and the other time, they got volunteers to help them prepare a meal. There was cabbage flying around and at one point the whole floor was filled up with cut up vegetables!

Here is a clip advertising Nanta. The man in the green scarf was the same actor we had in our performance and he was AMAZING. The funniest actor in the show for sure. I was actually laughing out loud a lot throughout the performance.



If this ever comes to Canada (it was touring off Broadway at one point), I really recommend it. But if you ever come to Seoul, it is a MUST.

Shopping & Puppies!

On Saturday, we headed out to the Myeong-dong area to do some shopping with Jaclyn and her friend Sarah (that she came over to Korea with from Canada). The area is full of shops and then they also have small vendors on the sides of the streets that sell things like socks (I got Cute ninetendo Mushroom ones that say "Get a Life" ha), hats/scarves (I got a loopy scarf, everyone else got new hats), and shoes. Jac and Sarah had a christmas party that night so they went to Forever 21 (yes, even in Korea, they have a Forever 21!) while Mom and I shopped some more.

The best part of the day though? The PUPPY CAFE. No, I don't mean a place where you eat dogs but a place where there are about 15 puppies running around and you drink coffee and play with them. Yes, it exisits and yes, it was AWESOME.



They had attendents there to clean up any messes and a whole bunch of different dogs. My favourite was this cute Jack Russel mix that let me cuddle him. There were pugs, a bulldog, a border collie, daschunds, a lab, a golden retriever, an Afgan, those little white dogs and so many more. Jac, Sarah and Mom didn't seem to enjoy it as much as I did. Man, I miss dogs. :) We stayed there for about an hour.

I really want to run one of these in Toronto! Such a cool gimmick cafe. :)

Gimme some Kimchi!

We were all about expanding our Korean pallet today! Jaclyn booked us on a food tour in Insadong through a company called O'ngo. When we got there, a chef showed us how to make Korean pancakes "Jeon" that they like to eat as appitizers. It was a pancake full of shrimp, squid, green onions and mushrooms. We also got a really good sauce to dip it in (half soya sauce, half rice vinegar and red chili peppers). I am not a huge seafood fan as most of you know, but I tried it! The pancake and sauce were good, mom got my extra shrimps. ;)

After the cooking demonstration, our tour guide, an adorable Korean-Japanaese girl, showed us a food market. Pointing out different kinds of soya sauce, how they make red pepper paste, and loads of squids and fish! We also saw pig heads..... I was NOT impressed... And kept thinking of the film "Contagion".

Our first food stop was to try some rice cakes. They are Korean desserts that... aren't sweet at all! Mom and Jac seemed to tolerate them, but I was not a fan. Desserts are supposed to be sweet, not bland! Wierd cultural differences for sure!

Then we went to a restaurant where we sat by a hot flame and cooked a seafood stew (what was with all the seafood bleah!). Inside the stew were squid, fish cakes, glass noodles, thick rice noodles, mussels and it was not tooooo spicey (mom could handle it!)

Next stop was a dumpling steet vendor! We ordered them deep fried (you could also steam them but come on, who would choose that!). This was the first thing I really liked so I devoured it in like 30 seconds. As well as half of Jaclyns.

Korea has a lot of street vendors selling crazy foods. We also tried this dessert made out of honey that they mix with corn starch and stretch it so it turns into little strands. They then wrap the strands around some almonds. They were tasty but I didn't like the almonds! We bought some to bring home for my Dad.



Next stop on our food tour was a place that had a million side plates (including a delicious tofu hot pot and of course Kimchi). We ordered a beef stew called "Bulgogi" that was very tasty and because I wanted to try Bibimbap, they made some for me. Jaclyn says it wasn't a "real" bibimbap because there was no egg in it, but it was still tasty. Loads of rice, veggies and red pepper taste.

Our final stop on the food tour was to have these delicious Korean style donughts from another street vendor. Inside the fried dough were sugar and honey and some sort of seed. It was AMAZING. :)



After we were full of food, we walked through Insadong where we window shopped and bought souveniers for friends back home. We stopped off at the "Beautiful Tea Museum" to have some tea. I tried a traditional boring Black tea (I was craving some regularilty), Jaclyn got a "5 taste tea" and Mom got something that tasted Apple Cider. It was a cute little cafe and the tea hit the spot.

The tour was definitly an eye opener and something daring for plain old Chicken lover Susan. But, that's what experiencing new cultures is all about!!!

Freezing at the Palace!

On our first day here, Jac met us at our hotel and took us to a coffee shop for breakfast. Coffee is huge here! With our yummy morning bevgs we also had little waffles with toppings on the. (blueberry for mom, banana caramel for me)... They were delicious! After brekkie, we jumped on the subway to head to downtown to visit the Gyeonbokgung palace.

The subway is Korea is crazy! More lines than the tube i think! But it is very efficient: smooth rides, polite passengers, reload able fare card (the Korea version of the oyster). The ttc needs to take note!

We got to Geyongbolgung and had lunch in a cafe. I know I'm reiterating a lot about what we ate here (wait til I talk about our food tour!) but I'm trying so many new things with names i can't pronounce! Mon had a dumpling soup and Jac and I had some sort of sweet potatoe bake covered in cheese.

We entered the palace just as the changing of the guard was occurring. It was elaborate but we had no idea what was going on! After that we ended up on an English tour with an Aussie couple.



The palace was beautiful and probably even more so in the summer with the flowers in bloom. There are mountains surrounding each side of the palace which according to fend shui it makes it the ideal location. Unfortunately during the Japanese occupations, much of the original buildings had been destroyed to prevent nostalgic uprisings. They had only started rebuilding it in the late 80s.



Unfortunately, after about 20 minutes we all started zoning out on what the guide was saying because we were FREEZING! It was -7 feeling like -20! And the tour was an hour and a half!! We shuffled along, saw the rest of the palace grounds and then booked it to the warm subway as soon as it was over!

We had a late dinner of Korean BBQ with spicey chicken that was a little too spicey for my white pallet. Finally due to jet lag and cold exhaustion we called it a night.

Destination: Asia!

Authors Note: Even though I am no longer living abroad in London, UK, I have decided to continue this blog with any future travels I will be taking part in.This travel bug will not leave my system apparently... And without further ado....

Destination: Asia. Traveling with my Mom. First class. 2 weeks in Seoul visiting Jaclyn....

We arrived at the airport at 10am and said our goodbyes to Dad. I was feeling a bit nervous so I didn't have any breakfast (saving my Fruit Explosion muffin for tomorrow perhaps?). We got on our plane, Air Canada Flight...1?? Haha, they always seem to have huge numbers but we are fight number one!



My mom and I got first class tickets from her boss and love it!!! We each have out own "pod" which can be adjusted a million different ways including being laid down as a bed! We were offered champagne and juice upon arrival and even have our own little kit bag. Inside it is a sleep mask, extra socks, lip balm, moisturizer, toothbrush/paste, ear plugs and a cleansing face wipe for the end of the flight. Then we got menus to choose our lunch meals. It came with smoked salmon appetizer (bleh), a main (mom got beef, I got chicken stuffed with butternut squash with mushroom sauce, rice and grilled peppers), cheese plate (didn't eat mine, I was too full), and a dessert (berry crumble). It was great. Plus you can order snacks for free the rest of the trip. So far, I've had a cheese plate and mom had dumplings.

After lunch, the majority of the plane including ourselves took a little nap, I slept for about 3 hours. Then I watched a documentary about children in Hollywood and an episode of Boardwalk Empire. Mom said she watched most of Captain America. We are hour 8 of 13 so not too much longer to go!

(the next bit was written as a retrospective AFTER we arrived in Korea)

I ended up watching The Debt (a little. Cheesy and historically inaccurate but enjoyable spy-thriller) and a few episodes of big bang theory and modern family, while mom told me she watched "cowboys and aliens" (review: "well I liked it"). We pulled into Tokyo airport and were beginning to feel the exhaustion.

We got to go to the Ana Lounge because we were first class. It was kinda like the Porter Lounge in Toronto but much nicer... Tons of food (miso soup, sushi, mini sandwiches, desserts), whatever you wanted to drink and comfy chairs with free wifi. You could even have a shower if you wanted (we decided to stay smelly). We walked around the airport a bit and after 3 hrs, got on the Asiana airplane to Seoul.

The stewardesses were super nice (nicer than AC) and respectful on the flight. Mom and I were situated beside each other and could talk - not that we needed to, we fell asleep right after food service. Food was teriyaki chicken, salad and rice with a orange mouse dessert. We were KO-ed the rest of the way.

After we went through customs an got our luggage, we realized that unfortunately the last bus to Nowon (Jaclyn's neighborhood) left at 10:15 and it was 10:25! Time for some improv! A nice man told us he last bus had left and that he could taxi us to Nowon. He took our luggage and we followed him until we heard someone shouting "illegal cab! No no!". We turned and saw two tourist information men running to us and then who proceeded to tell off our "taxi driver". The info men were so helpful even though they didn't speak much English. They let us call Jaclyn and put us in a proper cab. It was so hard to keep our eyes awake in the cab but after less than 45 minutes and a little drop-off direction difficulty, we finally met Jaclyn!

It was so great to see her - I haven't seen her since march!!! Unfortunately I probably wasnt as enthusiasti in person because I was so exhausted. She took us to our hotel, about a 5 minute walk from the Nowon station and her apartment.
We chatted a bit and finally around 12:30, went to sleep.

I had started my iPod timer from the moment our plane started moving in Toronto and when I stopped it when we went to bed the time was: 21:46:14....

June Shenanigans

I really dropped the ball on keeping up to date with this blog. So saying that, I am going to try and re-cap all the fun things I did in June before I left to fly back to the motherland!

Shakespeare's Globe

Jade, Melissa, Myself and one of Jade's friends went to Shakespeare's Globe! We saw "Much Ado About Nothing" and stood in the "peasants area". This area was the part right by the stage where you stood for the entire play. The actors were brilliant and we even saw Jeffery from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air play the role of the King! The actors were so close, it was a totally different theatre experience than anything I've ever seen before.



Visiting Craig in Manchester - June 11th / 12th

I spent a night up in Manchester visiting my buddy Craig from back home in Toronto. Craig is a friend from the high school era who had been working in Manchester for the past year. It was great seeing him and meeting his buddies. We toured around Manchester and went on the Manchester Eye (not as cool as the London Eye, sorry norther neighbors). We also came across a Malibu makeup tent promotion and I got a free makeover! Craig was a good sport and stood around awkwardly as I got dolled up. In the evening, a lot of his friends were at a music festival close by so we met up with them afterwords. Had some drinks and some dancing and some laughs! Good times! The hungover 5 hour bus ride back to London was not much fun the following day though...

Cocktail Mixing Class - June 16th



As part of Melissa's birthday gift and Jade's goodbye, the ladies of Felday went to a cocktail mixing class in Greenwich! They fed us cupcakes, showed us the tools to use and provided the alcohol to make 5 different summer drinks. We made: Passion Fruit Bellini, Caipirinha, Apple Moonshine, White Wine Sangria and a Pineapple Pina Colada. It was a lot of fun and a very welcome girly night out!

Royal Ascot - June 18th

We went to the Royal Ascot horse races again this year! It was a true Felday outing: Mon, Chris, Melissa, Fletcher, Jade and myself. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty unpredictable - alternating between gorgeous sunshine to 10 minute rain showers. I was prepared though. Even with my nice classy dress on - I wore my wellies! I looked like a complete tool at the station but as soon as we got there and it started raining - look who was laughing now! :P In pure classy Ascot style, we drank wine and bet on horses mostly because of their names. I even won about 10 pounds on a horse named "Waffles" with that strategy! It was a lovely day full of fun, betting, and wine. Let's just not mention me sleeping on the ground of the train carriage on the way back home.... :)




Mom and Dad Howse visit! - June 19 - 24th

My parents came to London for a week to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. They spent a week living in Whitechapel and then a week home on the St. Mary Cruise ship across the Atlantic to get back to North America! I toured them around Harrod's, The Imperial War Museum (for father's day!), saw the musical Betty Blue Eyes (very recommended!! It was hilarious!), and visited Windsor Castle (I can't believe I hadn't been there yet! It was gorgeous!!). It was wonderful showing off my city to them. They arrived at a time when I was really homesick so I appreciated them visiting even more. :)

Britain's Got Talent - June 23rd

We had become addicted to this show while in England. It was always on! So when a groupon came up that offered 15 pound tickets to see the top 10 acts, we went for it. It was at the 02, so that was an experience in itself - such a big stadium! Michael Jackson was supposed to play there - single tear. The performances were fun, but I think this little boy blew them all away. Ronan Park. He was bloody brilliant, but came in second place.

Bournemouth Day Trip - June 26th

I was getting itchy feet from my lack of traveling and the limited time I had left to travel, so I convinced Jen (and her friend Joe) to come with me for a day trip to Bournemouth, a seaside town with a SANDY beach! it was about two hours away from London, but the commute wasnt' that bad. When we first got there, it was cloudy and foggy but we were determined to make the best of it. Then, a few hours later, it was sunny and wonderful! I swam in the Atlantic!!! We dozed on the beach, got burned, ate ice-cream and walked along the pier. It was a lovely lovely summer day. :)



Mumford & Sons / Arcade Fire / The Vaccines - Hyde Park June 30th



I FINALLY SAW MUMFORD AND SONS!!!! There have been four opportunities and four misses to see them in concert, but I finally did and they were wonderful! Oh and the other bands were great too! :) It was fun going to a concert at Hyde Park. Huge venue, cheap beers, good vibes. The Vaccines sang most of their album, catchy fun indie rock. Then Beruit preformed (i wasn't too fussed about that band). Then Mumford came on and I lost my mind. I squirmed my way to a better view and lost everyone else until they went off stage. They were wonderful and I am a total fan girl when it comes to Marcus Mumford. lol. Arcade Fire were great too, but I only know a few of their songs. Canadian content what! :)

Canada Day @ Trafalgar Square - July 1st



A tradition as of last year, we went down to Trafalgar Square to celebrate Canada Day with all the other ex-pats. They sold poutine, curly fries, Molson and Sleeman's. They had street hockey tournaments. We all wore red and white and tons of temporary tattoos. I convinced my Aussie friend Andrew to come join us and he was an honourary Canadian. Mike Myers made a surprise appearance and waved to the crowd. Cabbie on the Street and that Asian chick from E Talk hosted the event. Blue Rodeo headlined the concert. We met a bunch of new awesome people, including a cool South African model/photographer named Zeke (who came to my goodbye party the next day!). Great day full of Canadian pride!

Goodbye Party - July 2nd

We had a "Bye Bye Susan" party at Felday on the Saturday. Complete with flipcup, beer pong, disco balls and a dancing frenzy. It was so nice to see everyone one last time!



Billy Elliot - July 5th

As my last night in London, I went with the girls to see Billy Elliot. It was good, but not as amazing as everyone had hyped it up to be. I still think that Wicked was the best theatre show I saw in London. But either way I loved how we went out for my last night!

Phew! There you go! Recap of June!!!

Edinburgh: It's a Hell of a Town!

Day 1 - Exploring Edinburgh
We woke up super early to catch our flight. Like, woke up at 3am early. Stupid Stanstead (rants about airports and ryanair are a common occurrence in every household in England - especially the ex-pat ones). We got to our hostel however, by about 10:00 in the morning so we were able to make it to the walking tour in the morning!

We went on our free walking tour (I think I have done the New Europe tours in about 10 different cities now!) and saw all of downtown Edinburgh. Old churches, execution spots, Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Mile, haunted graveyards, the whole shebang! We also experienced four different seasons in this tour! Spring - rain, Summer - sunshine, Autumn - wind, and Winter - hail. It was insane. This country can't decide what season it wants it to be!!

My favourite story that our tour guide told us was about "Greyfriar's Bobby". This was a story about a very faithful dog. When his master - the groundskeeper of the Greyfriar's Graveyard - died, Bobby sat by his grave waiting for his master to return. The townspeople fed him and sheltered him when it was cold, but he never left his master's side. He lived for like 15 years like that. When Bobby died, they built a grave for him and a statue of him outside the graveyard. People leave sticks and little dog treats / toys for him on his grave to this day.



The rest of the day was spent exploring Edinburgh on our own, even coming across a group of older Scottish men and women who were practicing traditional Scottish dancing in the park!

Day 2 - "Hogwarts" Castle
The second day was our day at the castle. We woke up and headed over to the castle after eating our deliciously simply hostel breakfast. All Dan had wanted to do in Europe was visit a castle, so obviously, the giant Edinburgh castle was a point of interest on our trip. We saw cannons and armour, prisoner cells and palace halls, fortifications and the oldest building in Edinburgh (the small church within the castle grounds). We even saw the Scottish crown jewels (a sceptre, sword, crown and stone of destiny). I don't' want to really get into the whole story of the Stone of Destiny, but I think it was pretty interesting, so here's the ever so informative wikipedia link. Dan was in his glory this whole day and I was so happy to have shared in seeing this great castle with him. :)


After the castle, we met up with my traveling friend Lucy! James and I met Lucy in Krakow / Prague when we did our Eurotrip in 2009 and she is currently living and working in Scotland! It was great to see her two years later and what had happened since those crazy nights in Poland! Lucy took us to lunch and then to the cafe where J.K. Rowling penned the first two harry potter books! It was awesome! You could see a perfect view of the castle that I am introducing Dan to Harry Potter, so he wasn't as excited as I was, but he still feigned support. :P In the evening, we went out to a jazz/live music bar and had a few drinks and good times.



Day 3 - Monster Hunting
The third day in Edinburgh wasn't actually spent in Edinburgh! We went on a day trip to Loch Ness to search for Nessie! I obviously slept the entire way there, but we saw some great views of the highlands - even though the weather was typically Scottish and rainy.



When we got to Loch Ness, we went on a boat tour and they explained all about the theories of Nessie and the sightings. And guess what? We saw her floating along the boat! Here's our proof! :P




Day 4 - Loose Ends
On our last day there, we tied up all our loose ends and did all the things we had left to do. One of them was to located an angel playing bagpipes in a church. It is the only church in the world that has a wooden carving of an angel playing the bagpipes. Pretty kitschy and cute! We also tried to tour the Royal Palace of Edinburgh (located at the other end of the Royal Mile with Edinburgh Castle on the top and the Palace on the bottom). However, it was closed as there were currently royalty visiting! We maintain it must have been Will and Kate. :P Finally, we HAD to try some traditional Scottish foods. I tried Haggis! Look at me, being all cultured now and trying crazy food! It was actually very tasty. Just like ground up sausage mixed with oats and spices. I just tried not to think about where it was cooked. We also tried the even more delicious delicacy of DEEP FRIED MARS BARS. mmmmmmmmm... Heavenly! I don't care how bad it is for you. it was amazing!

All in all, our trip was lovely. A perfect place to spend four days and really explore it all. I hope Dan had as much fun as I had! :

A Visit from Dan!

I got to play tour guide over the past two weeks and share my love of London and smartypants trivia that I've gathered over the accumulated 10 months I've been here!

It's sometimes confusing for my friends when I say that "Dan" is visiting because I have both a best friend Dan (Dan Grant) and a boy that I was seeing in Toronto before I left (Dan M. or "Dr. Dan" as he is finishing up school to be a chiropractor this year). Also, Dan Grant is moving to Edinburgh to do teacher's college in the fall and Dan M and and I went to Edinburgh this past week. Confused? Anyways, for clarity in the next few posts: Dan = Dr. Dan, not Dan Grant! :P

I was so excited for Dan to be coming. We've stayed in touch over the past few months and are very close now, albeit still in different countries. He came to visit for almost 2 weeks in between the end of his clinic rotations and his final exams. Things we did in London included:

- Watching the Champions Final between Man U and Barcelona at home with Fletch, Jade, Melissa, & Martin. Incidentally, I had picked Dan up from Gatwick that morning and there were tons of Barc fans singing songs and getting into the footie spirit!
- Sightsaw the whole Trafalgar/Parliament/Big Ben/Westminster/Buckingham area as well as a wonderful walk through Hyde Park and the Serpentine.
- Met up with Sophie and Kyle (who was in town for the week with work... He lived in England last year but now works for Barclay's NYC!) at the Shakespeare for Dan's introduction to the wonderful summer delight that is Pimm's!
- Went to Borough Market to have a delicious lunch. I had paella, he had a burger, and we shared a banoffee pie.
- Toured along the Southbank: Golden Hinde, Shakespeare's Globe, St. Paul's, Tower Bridge.
- Went in the Tate Modern and were amazed by the power and beauty of some of the pieces, as well as baffled by what some consider art
- Walked through Greenwich Park to see the Deer
- Took a Thames Clipper ride from Greenwich to Embankment
- Went to the London Science Museum and learned about "Energy", old medical tools and the creation of Plastic?? Random museum!
- Spent a night out in London (Went to Gordon's Wine Bar with Emma and Andrew and then off to the Porterhouse in Covent for some live music)
- Went on the London Eye. The first time I've ever been on it. It was fun, but a little boring. Great pics of London though!!
- Took Dan to Pub Quiz at the Fox. "Team Canaussie" came in last as usual.
- Had a fancy night out by dinner and a musical. We saw Chicago. It was great, minimalist set but excellent singing and dancing by all the cast members! Due to time restraints, we ended up eating at the "Golden Arches" (our posh name for a not so posh, well known fastfood joint, lol)

It was a wonderful time in London. It was the first time that Dan had ever been overseas and he said that he was falling in love with London just like I have! :) That's a pretty big statement from the boy from Chester, Nova Scotia. ;) We didn't just stay in London though, we also did a four day trip to Edinburgh in Scotland! But that, my friends, is another post.

Wonderful Weekend!

Friday was a HORRIBLE day. The Year 2 Class that I've been supplying in twice a week for the past three weeks was off the wall today (so much so that the secretary asked if I "needed a break from them") and made me feel like crying. Also, my wisdom tooth is coming in on the bottom left and that's KILLING as it's pushing through the gums. So I was teething and grumpy all day long. Luckily for me, I came home and everyone was also in a "we need to drink wine and eat kebabs" kind of mood so we had a chilled out evening doing just that (plus a viewing of "It's All Gone, Pete Tong".

Then, Saturday came along and I had an absolutely wonderful time. I went over to Fulham to meet up with my two Australian friends, Emma and Andrew, whom I met last year when I was in Spain. We went to a pub to watch the Man U/Blackburn match as well as the FA Cup Final (Man City vs. Stoke). After the game, we went back to Emma and Andrew's flat, grabbed a football and played in the park. After the park, we cooked dinner, grabbed some wine and settled in for a night of Eurovision finals!

Eurovision is this hilarious singing competition that all the European countries compete in. Imagine American Idol, but where the residents of each country vote (but you can't vote for your own country). The songs are pretty ridiculous / cheesy and the performances are so over the top its a riot to watch! Each of us picked six countries out of a hat and they were "our team". We then made a drinking game out of it whereby:
a). If the commentator makes fun of your country's performance, take a drink.
b). If your country wears a ridiculous outfit / hairstyle, drink.
c). If your country does something ridiculous, drink.
d). If your country does something AWESOME, give out a drink
e). If the commentator says something positive about your performance, give out a drink.

It was so much fun and we got really into it. I also learned the name of two new countries (Moldova and Azerbaijan... which actually won it!). So you can see what it's like, here are the youtubes of my two favourite performances:
Iceland (they reminded me of Mumford & Sons)
Moldova (this was ridiculous!!! I ended up having to drink a lot in this round)

I slept over in Fulham and then came back to my house in Lewisham. I convinced everyone to FINALLY get a TV and we found a sweet deal on Ebay. So the afternoon consisted of us getting the TV and watching Britain's Got Talent as family time. :) THEN, I was able to skype my entire family back home who were at my cousin's house for a birthday party / goodbye Jaclyn party and that was amazing to see my little cousins shout that they miss me on to the camera. I really miss them too!!

Basically, it was a wonderful weekend in London and I was so happy to go out and socialize but not spend loads of money. :)

P.S. I got 4 pre-booked days of work this week!!! Wahooo!! Let`s hope my tooth stops bothering me so that I can actually get loads of pay! :)

Someday my Prince will come!

Now, if you were a smart person living in Britain, you would leave super early in the morning to get a good spot to see the carriage, or Buckingham palace, or the church, or...anything.

If you were a silly person, you would wait until 10am to leave and then wander around the city amongst thousands of other people doing it as well, until finally deciding just to sit and enjoy the atmosphere.

We got to Charing Cross and it was madness! There were SO many people and SO many flags!! Of COURSE we had to buy one and wave it around. :) We trekked it to the edge of High Park, where they had giant video screens broadcasting the wedding, but by the time we got there, the carriage was almost back at Buckingham! So we sat right beside the Wellington Arch, turned on Melissa's cell phone radio and listened to the broadcast while drinking mimosas we brought with us.

We were all dolled up and the atmosphere was SO happy and excited! So many little kids, so many flags, so much pride! We actually ended up picking a good place to settle because the Royal Calvary rode right past us and we had a good view of the airplanes and jets as they flew overhead!

After it was over, we headed to Shoreditch to have dinner and check out the market. We grabbed an Evening Standard that had a picture of the kiss on the front and it was the first time we had seen it!! So beautiful!

I don't know much about the Royal Family, nor about the politics surrounding them, but I do know that with all this crap that has been going on with the world, from Osama to Egypt to Earthquakes to Protests, it was nice to have a day where everyone was just happy. And a Prince got to marry his princess. :)

Don't Worry Mum, I'm in Lisbon!

After the hellish experience of Seville, our weekend in Portugal was AMAZING. We went to two cities: Lisbon (the Capital, called Lisboa in Portuguese) and Porto (where we flew out of).



We spent the entire day basically waiting in the bus station so that we could catch a seven hour bus that went from Seville to Faro to Lisbon. Even that BUS ride was so much better than the buses in Spain. They had comfy seats, friendly drivers and they even served us some sandwiches because we were driving through dinner time. We arrived in Porto at like 10pm and found our hostel very easily.

We stayed at Home Hostel in Lisbon and man, did it live up to its name. It felt like we were really at home! Very relaxed, chilled atmosphere and they also had free laundry!! And even though we were going to be back in London in like two days, it was nice to get laundry done and have fresh clothes the next day!!

The next full day we had in Lisbon, we actually didn't even stay in the city! We had been told by numerous people to go visit Sintra, a small town outside of Lisbon that housed Pena Palace as well as a 9thC Moorish Castle called Mouros. We took at 3 euro train there and were blown away. Unfortunately the weather was reallllly gross. Cold and wet and we were in the forest, but it was absolutely beautiful. I think the prettiest scenery are in Forests. I know mountains and oceans are impressive, but every time I see a gorgeous forest and green trees everywhere, I fall a little bit in love.

We took a bus (good call, apparently it was an hour plus walk up!) to the Palace to see it first. The palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal. It was very pretty, but also VERY busy. We waited forever to get inside and tour around. The Palace served as the summer residence of the royal family before Portugal became a Republic. Its ontop of a giant hill, overlooking Sintra and apparently on a nice day you can even see it in Lisbon.



P.S. Fun Wikipedia Fact: The last queen of Portugal, Queen Amélia, spent her last night at the palace before leaving the country in exile.

I, however, much rather enjoyed the Castelo dos Mouros as you were free to roam and explore the ruins at your own leisure (instead of being led around in a massive line like at Pena Palace). Also recognized as a World Heritage Site, these ruins still stand today despite being built by the Moors in the 9th/10th CenturY!!! It was pretty cool to go stand up on the top of the towers, overlooking the Pena Forest and the town of Sintra, imagining that ages ago, people fought and died on these very spots during sieges!! SUSAN THE "COOL HISTORY NERD" REJOICED.



We explored the rest of the Town and during a late lunch, made friends with our waiter, Bruno. And by friends, I mean, he blatantly hitted on us. He ended up giving us his card telling us that "Sintra is only 40 minutes from Lisbon and the last train leaves at 2!" hahaha, needless-to-say we didn't take him up on that offer! :P

Because we were tired from the day trip to Sintra, we didn't want to go out and party that night (we decided to save it for our last night in Porto). Instead, we bought some pasta and wine, made dinner, then met some nice people in our hostel, got a free shot of a yummy cherry liquour and watched movies (Juno and Ace Ventura). Prefect ending to a great day.

The next day we spent half of the time in Lisbon and the evening in Porto. We woke up early, checked out of the hostel, left our bags in storage and went on a walking tour. We met a really nice Canadian from Saskatchewan, Tyler, on the tour. Unfortunately, it was raining the whole time during the tour. We learned a lot of interesting things and ended up at a neat little flea market to do some shopping. Then, The SUN came out! We warmed up a bit and went to lunch in a hole-in-the-wall Cafe where we had the MOST DELICIOUS PORTUGUESE PASTRIES! They are called "Pastel de Nata" (nata tarts). They are a custard type tart that is sprinkled with Cinnamon. They were so good that the three of us ordered two each!! :)



We then jumped on the bus to Porto, meeting an American traveler along the way named Nick. Nick, Melissa and I navigated our way to our hostels (although Melissa and I had a bit of difficulty without a map and with the directions of "Ask someone where ___ Garden is and we're there!"). Since it was our last night on the trip, we decided to do the Porto Late NIght Tour (mostly because we ran into the tour guides while lost and they took us to our hostel and also advertised thier pub crawl at the same time). Everyone except the three of us spoke Spanish, but by the end of the night it didn't matter! We got so many free shots and drinks from the tour guides that it ended up being a very fun but messy night, ending around 6am!!

All in All, we had a WONDERFUL time in Portugal and I really want to go back. I've heard Lagos in the south is gorgeous and I would love to explore more of that country. Everyone was SO nice and friendly. :-) What a great way to end our trip!

Me robaron el pasaporte!!!!

Now to tell you about the scariest moment I have ever, ever had while traveling.

We were at the bus station in Seville, around 11 pm about to head on our overnight bus to Lisbon, Portugal. We bought some drinks and postcards at the shop in the bus station just before heading down the escalator to the bus. Normally, I keep some of my money in my little wallet and the rest in a big red travel wallet (that also houses my passport, train tickets, oyster card, Canadian credit card, etc). However, I was a little short of cash so I took out my travel wallet from its secure place to get some extra money. Either I must have put it down on the counter after I paid for my drinks / souvenirs, or more likely someone was watching me from the waiting area and saw where i put it and then pick pocketed me as I walked to the bus.

It was really really scary. I was bawling the entire time in the bus station and the shop keeper was really nice to me because she spoke a bit of English and gave me the number of the police and talked to security for us. We looked around the station then thinking that someone tossed the passport and stuff after they took the money. We even rooted through the garbage bins. Some really nice Spanish people even taped my glasses together for me because I was carrying them around broken (imagine two monacles being held up to your face) and since I didn't have my contacts in, I couldn't see. It was really nice of them, especially since they didn't speak ANY English.

We decided the best bet was to then go somewhere where they speak English so we went to a hostel. It wasn't the one we stayed at but another one that was affiliated with it so we thought they would be helpful.

They weren't.

They were rude, yelled at us to leave because I was crying and then we just went upstairs to use their computers to try and find the number of the Canadian embassy. There was one in Madrid so we made a plan to call the police, then head to Madrid tomorrow to talk to the embassy.

The hostel people wouldn't even let us use their phones to call the police!! I was crying upstairs and then this nice German girl and an American boy calmed me down and helped me out. The girl, Linda, let me use her phone. Well, when we called the police (the emergency line) it said all the lines were busy and to call back later?! Stupid Spain and their lazy attitudes!

One of the nicer hostel workers (actually the lady from the hostel we were staying at BEFORE) then gave us the location of a 24 hour police station. Melissa, Linda, Linda's boyfriend Marcus and I all walked there planning to make a report about what happened. When we got there, Linda, who speaks a bit of Spanish, told the police what happened. They gestured for her and I to go to a room and then they.... pulled out my red passport holder!!!! The money wasn't there (about 150 euros), but my passport, Canadian credit card, oyster card, Ryan air ticket, etc were all there!!!

I have only cried out of happiness twice and this was one of them! I even hugged the police man (he was very wierded out by that).

We then had to figure out what to do about sleeping. The Germans were so nice and let us take one of their bunks. We slept, then Melissa got yelled at by the hostel worker the next day saying we were trying to rob them by not paying. It was pretty awful because in reality, THEY DIDN'T HELP US AT ALL and told us there was no room there to sleep! We just slept there out of the kindness of the German couple!!!! Whatever, we paid. Then went to the bus station and were able to get a bus that leaves at 4pm and goes to Faro and then Lisbon.

I have never been so scared in my life but everyone in the hostel (the guests NOT the staff) were so helpful and calming me down. So many people have told me that either they or their friend had things stolen in Spain, so at least I am fortunate that my camera and ipod weren't stolen too.

I am so so so lucky. I keep thinking that maybe it was because the thief saw me hysterical in the bus station and left everything they couldn´t use. Or else its holy week and there are a lot of nice Samaritans around.

However, it's all part of the adventure of traveling. And as Noah and the Whale sing, "L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N." but it was really terrifying at the time.

The Rain in Spain!

Oh Seville... What can I say about this city that everyone told me was amazing, gorgeous and wonderful?

Only that it wasn't really my experience when I was there!!!

First off, the weather didn't help. Raining all day and on and off the second. So that automatically put us in funks.

Secondly, while the processions seemed interesting and impressive in Malaga, they were just too many and too big in Seville. We could hardly get anywhere in the city as every other street was blocked off, there were crowds of spectators everywhere and we eventually started dreading hearing those drums (very akin to that scene in Lord Of the Rings where they hear the drums in moria and all those orcs start attacking them!)

Finally, the whole being robbed issue wasn't much fun (I'll dedicate a whole post to that)

However there were some good things about that town:

1. Seeing the Dad from "My So Called Life" at a flamenco show (even tho he said he wasn't an actor when our friend asked him, Melissa and I maintain it so was.)



2. Visiting the Palace of Naboo!! For all you fellow Jedi geeks, the Plaza de España was where they shot a lot of the Palace scenes in Episode II. Pretty cool!!!



3. Finding out how NOT to be ripped off. We went into a bar to get some tapas and drinks but when we got the menu in English, we compared it to the Spanish one left on our table and the prices were more expensive in English!!! So we tossed that one aside (but used it to figure out what was what) and ordered in Spanish to get the "correct" price! SO HA. Can't rip off us!!

All in all though, I was very glad to get out of Seville and onto the bus to Portugal....

Semana Santa in Malaga

Malaga is a beach town in Spain, off the Mediterranean, close to Gibraltar and supposed to be our two days of suntanning on the beach. The first half day we were there it definitely was sunny and bikini worthy ( although I was still recovering from Granada so I spent most of it sleeping in bed).

The next day though? Total overcast grey day. Chris was determined to go to the beach so melissa and I separated from them and explored the city. We wandered around and climbed up a giant hill to the castle to get a great view of the harbor and downtown.

We didn't realize it, but it was Semana Santa (holy week) in Spain and they had all these catholic processions going on every day all week. It was pretty intense. Especially when you saw what their outfits were when you weren't expecting it...



So what came to mind when you saw that?? Growing up in North America and focusing on American History in undergrad made me think of one thing.... The KKK. And seeing hundreds around town, marching, carrying crosses/incense/giant statues of Jesus, Mary and a whole slew of other biblical things was a little intense!! Being the only "heathen" in the group of Catholics I was traveling with, it was even more over the top in my mind. But at least it was something different and that's what traveling is all about: experiencing other cultures firsthand. No matter how zealous they may seem to you. :)

Granada!!

Granada has been by far my favorite city in spain... And I was sick for half of it! It's gorgeous, friendly, not too pricey, has great tapas and we stayed at an amazing hostel (oasis - much thanks to Lisa for recommending it!)

We missed our bus stop on the metro getting to the hostel, but were able to grab another one and got there fine. The Oasis hostel really WAS an oasis after the rubbish one we stayed in Madrid! Comfy beds, great lounge area, friendly staff and lots of planned activities. We were still not used to the Spanish schedule of siestas and staying out late but luckily found a great tapas bar near our hostel.

All the bars in Granada serve free tapas! And they are huge portions. We got some cheesy ham garlic bread and chips (French fries) with our mojitos and after we ordered a second drink, it came with mini hamburgers! Yum! Ps it seems like all I did on this trip was eat and drink....

We went on our own little walking tours around the cathedral and souvenir shops until it was time to head back to the hostel for a hostel dinner of delicious paella ( but I still cannot eat the prawns... They have eyes!!!)

We played a bit of Egyptian ratscrew (thanks wedge!) and met up with a group of British boys who were teaching English in Madrid and on holiday. A simple drinking game led to us 3 girls joining them out at a bar and club. We got to the club at 12 and were the only ones there. The ONLY ones. Still fun though and by 3 am it finally go busy. Many drinks and a stumble home by monsoon ended the night (Melissa stayed behind to earn her Spain patch).

Unfortunately, awesome nights often lead to horrible next days. Little sleep, a decision to go walking by myself ( and then met an American from my hostel also exploring), and food that i wasnt sure I was eating resulted in a very very sick Susan. I will spare you the gory details but it resulted in a bed ridden day/ night and the toilet and I were on a first name basis.

The rest of the group got to visit the famous Alhambra but that just means I have to go back right?

Off to Spain!!

It's spring term holidays so we get two weeks off from school (unfortuently unpaid) and us Canadians (Monica, Chris, Melissa, and I) have planned a trip to Spain and Portugal! Madrid to Grenada to Malaga to Seville and then Melissa and I will continue on to Lisbon and porto in Portugal.

After a little bit of a hectic time getting to the airport ( and finding out that the oyster card doesn't work from London bridge to gatwick) we got aboard our ever so roomy and smooth Ryan Air flight ( hahahaha yeah right). We touched down in Madrid around lunch time and easily navigated ourselves to the city center and our hostel.

Our hostel wasn't that great: tiny rooms, small uncomfortable beds, not very social, awkward shower arrangements... But it was bearable for the two nights. We were starving so we grabbed food from a nice spanish cafe.

Now last time we went to Spain, we had michelle's grade 11 Spanish to help us get by. This time? No such luck as none of us speak a spec of Spanish. Deciphering the menu with the help of our lonely planet translator helped a bit, but the waiters weren't too pleased with our struggles (especially poor Melissa who is part veggie and only eats chicken! It was a flashback to James trying to find vegetarian food in Germany!)

We ended up getting a three course meal for 9€! I had gespacho soup to start ( I knew what that was and it as delicious!) and then a main course of chicken paella (my favorite Spanish dish of rice, chicken, veggies and spices like saffron). I ended with a Spanish caramel flab for dessert. Oh and some wine too.

In the middle of our dinner, a crazy old woman came to our patio table and tried to steal our bread and drink our wine! I kept telling her "no" (mon said I sounded like I was talking to a reception kid) until some old man walking by yelled at her and she left! It was a little intense!

We ended up just walkin around til he evening as it was sunny until like 9pm before we had a quick nap/shower before heading out for some sangria! We went to a nice patio in a big square and split a jug before moving on to try and find some food. As we were walkin we heard flamenco music and caught the tail end of a flamenco show. Ordered another sangria jarre, got some tapas and even some free tequila shots ( we were a little confused when they brought those over).

Now the day had been so good so far that I was doomed for some disaster. And that came in the way of me climbing up on my bunk in the dark and snapping my glasses in half!! If I got some tape I can so be Harry potter.

The second day in Madrid consisted of a walking and later tapas tour with "Sandeman New Europe Free Tours" (well they work for tips so it's a 5€ tour). I've been on the ones in London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Dublin so I knew they were good. We toured around places like the royal palace, plaza major, and Plaza de la sol. We also learned about the history of Spain and the Spanish inquisition. Pretty informative and right up my ally. Plus our tour guide grew up near Lewisham so that was a pretty cool bonding point!

We ended up joining up with the tour guide again for his tapas tour (8€). We went to four tapas bars,with sangria and tapas included! Tapas is a small dish of food that is served wih your drink. Back in the day, the farmers could only afford either food or drink when they went to lunch (and if offered the choice between only one, most chose drinking cervesa!) therefore, when they returned to work after lunch they were not as productive! So the king made it law for bars and restaurants to serve some sort of small dish with every drink bought. It's not mandatory now but still customary ( but tourists often get charged money for tapas!). Anyways, we tried a whole bunch in Spain and my favorite has been either croquetas (deep fried cheese ham things that are kinda like mozza sticks) or patatas bravas (homefries in a spicy tomato sauce). But since I was trying new things, I even tried ox's tail cooked in chocolate (not bad) and escargot ( never again).

Next stop, Granada!!!!

Sometimes...

Sometimes, you have weekends that are spent inside because you're too sick to go out and have fun.

Sometimes, you have days when all you want to do is be back home with your family and friends.

Sometimes, you hate having to wake up early and teach kids who will never remember your name after that day.

But then sometimes, when you have a class that is wonderful, it makes you remember why you love your job and living in this country.

:)

Already sick....

I have worked TWO days and already gotten sick! Granted, 90% of England is sick right now (including my house), plus jet lag and drinking on Saturday night probably didn't help, but still... I think I really need to develop a stronger immune system. They say that as a teacher, you get a stronger immune system after like three years of teaching. You get sick ALL the time those first few years and then you become SUPER immune. I wish I had that super power right now.

I worked in a nursery as an assistant on Monday, starting my job off easy and simple. I was with the Under 3s, but luckily for me, there were only two babies and the rest were two year olds (the best age! They are so hilarious!). I.e.

Kid holding a toy saw: "I am going to make you something"
Me: "Oh yeah? What will you make me?"
Kid: "A Sandwich"

It was a long day, but at least it wasn't very hard. I didn't have to do any planning or marking and just played with the kids. Yesterday, I went to a Year One class at one of my favourite schools. The kids were pretty wild. well, 5 out of 20 of the kids were wild. The rest were great and I felt SO bad for not paying much attention to them. That's the problem as a supply teacher. You learn all the bad kids names (Lily, Mustafa, Chelsy, Dylan) but none of the good kids names because you don't HAVE to learn their names. :( Its a shite role for them. They slip through the cracks. I did make note of some of their names though, so that at the end of the day when I wrote a note to the teacher, I could praise them for helping me out. Also, three kids lost their teeth that day... whats up with that? They wanted to join the trend after one kid lost his? Good thing I'm okay with blood!


However, after I came home, I was exhausted and starting to feel shitty. Fell asleep early (for me) and called in and told them I was unavailable for work today. Slept til 1:45 but I am starting to feel a bit better. Hopefully I can get back into the hell of the classroom tomorrow!

Stones and Baths!

I have only been here two days and already gone on a mini-trip! We (Monica, Chris, Melissa and I) went to Stonehenge and Bath for Melissa's birthday!

It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we finally did it! Monica and I had tried to go to Stonehenge about three times last year, but the early morning departure time on a Saturday always deterred us from actually doing it! We left our flat in Lewisham around 7 am and headed to Victoria to catch the tour bus. The trip there was about 2 hours and of course, I fell asleep.

Stonehenge was much more impressive than I thought it would be. The rocks were HUGE and it was pretty interesting to hear how they transported them there from Wales and the theories behind their use or why it was created. There were a lot of "theories" but not a lot of evidence which I thought was still interesting. With all our archeological tools and scientific methods, we still can't fully understand it. Some things will remain a mystery I guess. Until we develop Doc Brown's Delorean at least.



Next, our tour lead us to the city of Bath where the main attraction was the Ancient Roman Baths (Hot springs and temples). I thought this was much more impressive than Stonehenge and I got a lot more out of it! We had audio guides that explained everything and were able to walk around the ancient waters and structures and actually see them CLOSE UP (unlike Stonehenge where you had to walk around a circle so far away!). We couldn't touch the water though because the pipes were made out of lead, they do not treat the water, and pigeons / seagulls do their business in there. It was pretty grimy and green, but nevertheless, I had such a strong desire to touch it. However, my sense of "I get sick from everything" overcame my curiosity and I had the common sense NOT to stick my hand in the water.



We were there for so long wandering about, learning things which I won't reiterate here (as I know history is not necessarily as exciting to others as it is to me). When we were finished, we went to a pub and I had some lovely fish and chips (my traditional bangers n' mash wasn't on the menu). We also bought some amazing delicious sweet buns from the world famous Sally Lynns next door to eat on our bus ride home.

While we were in the pub, we noticed that there was a television on that was showing riots that were going on in Central London! During the day there was a peaceful march to protest the British Coalition Government's spending cuts (from social programs and services like education, daycare and health care) and 250,000 people showed up to march!! IT was so impressive!! However, just like with the G20 thing, there were splinter groups the broke off and started rioting. They were upset about the fact that a lot of major corporations don't pay tax in the UK, so they started vandalizing shops on oxford street! TopShop got its windows smashed in, 150 people did a sit in at Fortnum & Mason, HSBC in Covenant got vandalized, and apparently the Ritz was on fire!! It was pretty intense and when we came back to the city, we couldnt' get dropped off at our pick up point because it was in lockdown. Luckily, we ended up at a closer spot (London Bridge) and got home safely, but still... a very eventful day!

Second Time's a Charm!

Well, here i am, en route to London to teach and travel for the second time in my life. I wasn't sure if I was going to return though as I had lost my way for a bit, but I really feel ready now. Ready to go on a new adventure.

This time however, i will be flying over by myself. Left airport around 11:30 pm instead of the original 9:10 departure due to snow removal on the runways, a backup of other planes waiting to fly AND then bc we were waiting so long, the fuel tanks melted the snow that should have easily blown off the wings but now turned to ice and we had to de-ice. Yeesh!!

I have a great window seat (perfect for the view of the de-icing process!) and a nice Indian woman beside me ( yay for no fatties!). Had some small talk and watched the first few episodes of 'community' (thanks for the recommendation Bao!).

Ate half my meal but wasn't too hungry, watched half of 'Sex in the City2' and then fell asleep uncomfortably for most of the rest of the trip. We finally got here around 10:30am in London times...

More to come.... Get ready for the SECOND EDITION OF SUSAN IN LONDON!!!