Weekend Recap

It's been a crazy few days here in London (and around England):

Friday: Leave for Stratford!
Friday was the first day of our trip to Stratford. We all loaded up on the bus at 8:30 and before we were even out of London, Andrew had saved Allison's life by catching his laptop bag one-handed. After a brief pit stop where we learned that British travel stops are much classier than American (we're talking leather chairs here), Andrew solified his position as bus hero by killing a bee that was terrorizing Omar with his bare hand.

We stopped off at Warwick Castle which was a little touristy but beautiful. After going through the bit that was set up as if a Victorian party was going on (complete with creepy statues), we saw a demonstration of some medieval war equipment and an archery demonstration. Believe nothing that anyone says about me and the bowman. We climbed the tallest tower built by William the Conqueror and looked over the town. We meandered into town in search of the park but, of course, it started pouring as soon as we sat down. We hurried back through town and went to a quaint little tea shop and had our first real British tea.

Robin, Erin, the boys (minus Mike, who payed late), and I were in this awesome Bed and Breakfast (complete with dogs!). We went on a walk with Bill, who had forgotten his umbrella. Bill took particular delight in pointing out all the school boys roaming around. We stopped in at the Dirty Duck, the pub for the actors in the Royal Shakespeare Company, and had a pint (on Bill!) before dinner. Traditional fish and chips, complete with mushy peas, may be my new favorite meal. We saw Midsummer's Night Dream, and it was absolutely brilliant. The stage production and costuming was new and creative and we were all practically sitting on stage.

Saturday:
The next day we went to a talk on Shakespeare's life by Dr. Tim Kidd. Shakespeare's life is fascinating, especially when narrated while standing on the shores of the scenic Avon River. We got to tour Shakespeare's church where he and his family are buried and after that, we roamed around town a bit more. There was a really wonderful farmer's market and some nice bookshops. After Stratford, we stopped at Oxford on the way home. It's a really wonderful town with the different colleges scattered around. We saw a man playing a hurdy gurdy on the street corner too! The highlight of Oxford had to be the grounds of Christchurch college. It is one of the most beautiful buildings and grounds that I have ever seen.

Saturday night: Party with the French roommates!
So our French roommates- Manu, Laurence, and Auriele- are awesome. Auriele is really just friends with Manu and Laurence but the three of them want to live together so they got a new flat together and Saturday was their last night in the flat. We had made plans to have a party with them before they left. After Auriele and Manu's friend Ghislene tried (and failed miserably) to make crepes, Manu manned the stove. Meanwhile, the rest of us went to the corner wine and liquor store to pick up some drinks. We got a bottle of wine that the french roommates refused to drink, some cider (yum), and provisions to make screwdrivers. Saturday was the day we met our new French roommate as well and I still can't remember her name. After Manu finished making a pile of crepes at least 7 inches tall, we took everything outside and dug in. Mom's oreo's and M&M's that she sent me were a big hit. My new favorite food is probably crepes with nutella- so amazing!

Sunday:
First football match ever! We saw the Queen's Park Rangers (QPR) play Southhampton. QPR is our local team so everyone was decked out in blue and white. We were sitting almost on top of the field and very close to the Southhampton fans. It was great. The fans were insane yelling at each other and leading cheers. My favorite cheer was easily the simplest- "Sit down, shut up" - brilliant. In the end our team won 3-1 and I have a new favorite sporting even.

Monday:
My first day of teaching: to make a long story short, I was fifteen minutes late because no one found it pertinant to tell me that the school was down an access road (i.e. somewhere you wouldn't think to walk) and behind a car park. I could hear the kids out at recess and asked the locals, none of whom were aware there was a primary school in the area, and only got to the school when I called the office to tell them I had no clue where I was. We didn't actually do any teaching, but instead had a meeting with the classroom teacher to learn about the students and what behavioral methods he uses. Since we're short a percussion specialist at this school, I will be desperately trying to play drum set during our demonstration next week. The drum set consists of a snare drum, one half of a pair of crash cymbals acting as a ride cymbal, and a bass drum without a kick pedal. I think this will work in my favor since I'll at least have a bit of an excuse as to why I suck.

That's more than long enough for now, but I have a great post coming up about our flat's adventures in arc building thanks to our landlord.

Cheers!