We made it!

TGIF! During my summer holiday, specific days lose their meaning. Monday? Just another day. Friday? So what the weekend is arriving...I have off today anyway! But now that I'm working, Friday means so much more.

Now don't get me wrong. I truly love what I do. I like seeing the new faces looking all interested in what I'm teaching or coaching. I like having students come to my office for the first time to talk to me about a problem. And then there is my small bunch of girl groupies who come to my office just to 'chat' at least a few times a week. I definitely love that part of my life - to be the equivalent of a young aunt for these girls...mentoring them through those teenage years.

But at the same time, it's very tiring. (Yes, I know, whine, whine) So now, Friday means that it's the last day that I have to wake up at 6:20am...at least until Monday. I get to stay up a bit later and sleep in. So it's worth looking forward to. I do love my sleep!

This weekend will be the beginning of my club field hockey season...we have a fun day of seven-a-side teams from noon to 4pm. I can't wait. And then training begins on Wednesday. It's back to hard work!!

Sunday will see me cleaning like a fiend as we get ready to put our flat on the market. Our lights are fixed, we've moved everything we can...we are ready!

Have a good weekend!

And lift-off!

I survived the storm...otherwise known as the first day of school. Everyone take a deep breathe!

On this day, we start out with a meeting of the entire high school in our gym (cause our theatre is being worked on). This went on from 8:05 to 8:30...then we went on to grade meetings. I joined the freshmen as I have some programming I do with them and had to explain it. I also get my face out there and kids tend to find me to ask me questions and eventually to talk about issues. Already I think I've found a few kids who will be in my office a LOT. But that's what I'm here for and I look forward to this year's challenges.

This meeting went on for another 45 minutes or so. Then classes began. We were going through all eight periods, twenty minutes at a shot. Our normal class day consists of four periods of 80 minutes. Yes, LONG classes.

Then we had the athletics meeting with the kids followed by sign-up for autumn sports (I coach field hockey). And the final meeting of the day - coaches' meeting. By that point we were all fried and not up for it...but we took it decently well with a few snide remarks said quietly. Yes, we are worse than the kids. Much.

I was dead at the end of the day. Went home, put up my tired footsies and ate my dinner. Roy had a football match, so I was alone to process how the day went. And overall, it had been a good one. Busy as all else with organizing things and getting ready for today and tomorrow...but good.

Today I teach one of the two sections of Intro to Psych. I have a well planned afternoon. And we'll have our first field hockey try-out. It's the beginning of really long days...arriving around 7:50 a.m. and leaving around 6-something or later p.m. But it's totally worth it and I have had a long break leading up to this. I'm ready.

My wine and whine

Roy and I went to a wedding reception last night. There's an interesting tradition in England. There are two parts to the wedding festivities...a day invite and an evening invite. The day invite is for people to come to the dinner onward and the evening invite is for the second tier - people are invited for the dancing and drinks portion. Now, I find it tough. It's basically telling someone that you aren't QUITE good enough friends to come to the whole shindig, but good enough to come to the dance.

Now, one would think, that if you have invited someone to this portion of the evening, that you'd include the drinks - cause you've already told the people that they aren't quite good enough for dinner. But in many cases, including last night, it was a cash bar - so really, people are potentially travelling to go to a disco and pay hotel prices for drinks.

Nothing against the couple who invited us, but I personally think it's rude to expect people you've invited to a party to pay for drinks. Cash bars are WRONG. Especially if you are asked to travel to get to the wedding. This couple did provide Pimms & Lemonade for free...but it's something you can only have a few of cause it's so sweet. And personally, I like my wine...and to whine about this option. If you cannot afford to pay for the entire evening (or at least until a certain hour, like 11pm), then you ought to do something else - don't invite as many people...have it in a different venue...don't buy certain items. As a guest to a party, I should be treated to nice things, not have to pay for them.

So Roy and I decided to think of this as a night out of town. We happened to meet up with friends there, got to dance and stayed at a lovely hotel, the Falaise House. We stayed in their smallest room, which ended up being lovely! And the breakfast, which was included, was very yummy. The hosts were a wonderful and caring couple. It's a place I would suggest.

The cutest of cutie pies

I just have to show you how CUTE my nephew is. He is about 9 months old and absolutely the most adorable little boy I've ever laid my eyes on. His 'specialness' is furthered by the love my old dog, Amber, has for him, which you can see in one of the pics. Almost every third pic taken by my brother and sister-in-law shows Amber by my nephew's side. Devotion is definitely there!

I wish I could be closer to PA to be able to spend time with my little love. He's learning so much and changing so much. But I just have to live through all this in pictures, which is mom is so good about sharing online. I hope that eventually he comes to think of me as that cool aunt who lives in London...I'm sure I'll get a visit from him as a teenager who wants to explore the world. I plan on taking him all over Europe if given the chance.

I think it's due to seeing how wonderful this little boy is, that I've contemplated having one of my own. You could say that he has definitely turned on the 'baby urge' a bit...it's not complete, and I know I'd be fine without a child, but I can see the positives of having such a cutie pie!

Lucky

Once again, I am one of the luckiest girls on the planet. This past week a very strong storm (on it's way to becoming a hurricane) hit St Lucia. Winds tore through the small island causing all sorts of havoc.

I am both grateful and lucky that we went on our honeymoon during June instead of now. I was able to have an amazing honeymoon that was barely marred by rain, no less winds. For that, I will be forever grateful. And I feel sad for those people who have not gotten such a good experience due to the forces of nature. And even more so, for the wonderful people who work and live on the island who treated me & Roy with such grace and courtesy.

I have had quite a charmed life. No, I'm not the daughter of a millionaire nor have I become famous for something. I am not a girl genius (in terms of intellect) nor did I have the talent to become a great athlete. But I have survived quite a few experiences that could have gone very, very wrong...and I was born into a good life with wonderful (albeit flawed human) parents.

My first test in life was at birth. My mom had an extended contraction which cut off all the air supply to me for at least 15 minutes. I was born with an Apgar scale number of one Let me break this down for you:

Here's how they're used to rate your baby:
Activity (muscle tone) 0 — Limp; no movement...1 — Some flexion of arms and legs...2
— Active motion
Pulse (heart rate) 0 — No heart rate...1 — Fewer than 100 beats per minute...2 — At least 100 beats per minute
Grimace (reflex response) 0 — No response to airways being suctioned...1 — Grimace during suctioning...2 — Grimace and pull away, cough, or sneeze during suctioning
Appearance (color) 0 — The baby's whole body is completely bluish-gray or pale...1 — Good color in body with bluish hands or feet....2 — Good color all over
Respiration (breathing) 0 — Not breathing...1 — Weak cry; may sound like whimpering, slow or irregular breathing...2 — Good, strong cry; normal rate and effort of breathing

So, yeah, I was born completely limp, like a rag doll, had no airway response, had a very light pulse, was completely blue and wasn't breathing. It was NOT a happy day for the parents. But I both survived it and, after one year, they discovered that I was not brain damaged (no matter what my brother says!). The only legacy to this experience is a difficulty in short term memory at times. Not bad and makes me VERY lucky.

Another example I can give was when I was 12. I was riding a bike and my brakes failed. I hit a 3 foot high wall and fell about 15 feet down into a stream. My face was inches from a huge rock and I only ended up with a hole below my lower lip, needing a fake front tooth and a broken arm. How lucky is that?

So, yeah...I have to say that I have been a fortunate girl. When I was younger, I always wondered if I was alive to do something special. If surviving these accidents was a way of keeping me around for a purpose. I used to pray that I would live at least to 30 (yes, I did at one time think that was OLD). I no longer feel that way. I don't think I have a 'job' to fulfill. Or that I was destined to do something important. I just feel lucky. Plain, old, lucky.

Nestie

The nesties rock.

I met two of them on Thursday evening for dinner. We went to Navajo Joes in Covent Garden for a yummy dinner (well, at least mine was). These two were great! So friendly and had the perfect level of sarcasm and bite...kinda similar to my friend Alicia who moved back to the States.

Then on Saturday I went to a larger gathering at one of the nestie's house. We had a baby shower for a few of the women. It was a great time to meet a few women who I had only gotten to know on the board. Some of us then went on to the city...I couldn't hang out with them for long as I was having 'date night' with Roy...but I suspect that I'll see a few of them soon again!

It's quite different to be part of this sort of community. How do you explain that you met people from the internet without sounding...different? You feel like you sorta know them and yet, you don't. I have met quite a few people from internet groups and really enjoyed it. I've made some good friends and some lovely acquaintences.

I think I'm going to write more on this at another time...but right now I have Sunday brain...

Lessons learned..

I don't want anyone to think that my husband is a complete ass. He's really not. Nor is he an alcoholic, though, like many Londoners he tends to drink too much on occasion. He really doesn't drink regularly (other than a glass of wine for dinner once in a while). And last night he came home from work and dragged me onto the bed to have one of our bed chats (don't know why but we seem to be able to talk better in bed).

He had talked to his friend, Tom, about the situation last night. He basically told him that even if it was a pain or meant that he was going to be late, that he would always leave the car at home if he was going to be drinking. Or if he couldn't, that he'd just leave the car. And if he thought that he hadn't drunk too much, but had, that Tom could call me or take away his car keys. I was proud of my hubby for coming up with a plan. He again apologized to me for his behavior. It's one of the things I do love about him...he's willing to own up to his mistakes and to talk about things.

Hunger, anger and hope

This is bad. It's only 11am and I'm already hungry. I don't know what I'm going to do when I eat at 6:45am instead of 7:30am...I'll be done for by 10:30! I guess I need to start planning in some healthy snacks. Like yogurt or something like that. It's the downside to starting work again - having to get up earlier and then not being able to eat lunch when you feel like it. Oh, well.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DH scared me last night. Actually, no, he pissed me off. We live in London, land of transportation. We have access to public transport and a gazillion cabs. So there is absolutely NO reason for anyone to drive when they go out drinking. Roy played in a football (soccer) game last night and then went out with a friend (his best man). Now, I understand the car for football as it's tough to get to otherwise, but he ought to have dropped off his car and then taken public transport to the pub. But no. He drove. And then didn't want to leave his car there cause he would have had to either leave it there and get a £180 fine or wake up at an ungodly hour to pick it up. So he chose to drive after drinking way more than he ought to have. I reamed him out last night. And again this morning. It's unexcusable. He could kill or hurt himself or someone else. Yeah, he felt in control, but don't all drunks. No. It's not acceptable. He also now has a responsbility to me. He could even just call me if he wants. I only had one drink last night in my girlie night out, so I would have been fine to drive. Upset with him for doing this dumb thing, but okay to drive.

He will not do this again. I've put such a kabosh on it that I'm quite sure it'll stick. He felt my wrath. Hugely. Which, when you are hungover, is not so much fun. And quite honestly, it disgusts me that as an adult, he'd even consider it. Come on...have you learned nothing since you were young, dumb and full of "*&£()&?

I've done the drunk driving thing once. And the results scared me so much that I never did it again. I had to pull off a highway, into a parking lot, lock the doors, put my keys somewhere unfindable by another person and sleep for a while. In NJ. I could have been killed, maimed, taken...or done so to another person on the road while I was driving. Never again I said. I hope that my DH will also learn. He better or I'll have to do something about it. And that would make our relationship very uncomfortable. But better that than death.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway...work is going to be okay. Busy, crazy and tiring, but okay. I just have so many new ideas of things to do - I think I'm going to be working some seriously late hours and spending much less time online..which is good. I hope the kids like what I'm going to do!

Autumn?

I woke up at 6:30am. Wide awake. That kind where you know you just won't find any way to fall back to sleep. Sigh. So I got up, trying to let Roy sleep his one more hour. I started out on the couch, and had my cereal as per usual and turned on the news. I wasn't so excited about it all. I'd rather have had my sleep. But life sometimes intervenes. And then, it hit 7:00am. Ah, yes, I have a package to pick up from Royal Mail. And they open at 7:00am. Cool. I'll do that.

I was thinking about wearing just a tee-shirt with jeans, but decided for some reason to wear a fleece instead. And a good thing I did. I walked out of the door and felt it. The feel of autumn. You know it...a cool tinge in the air. The weather that feels chilled in the morning but warms a bit as the day goes on. And it was. Chilly that is. I actually felt like I could have used another layer. My breathe felt much fresher. A small breeze bringing the little hairs up from under my headband. My cheeks. Definitely turning red.

So, summer is heading toward it's ending. I supposed it's appropriate in my last day before returning to school full-time. It'll make it much easier to return than hot and sunny days!

If feet turn you off...don't read any further!


Today was 'make me look better before the kids return' day. So I left at 10:15am today to go get my hair cut and coloured. Yes, folks, at the ripe ol' age of 38, I have a head full of greys. It's quite sad. I have to go every 4-5 weeks to get it done. Sigh. Unfortunately, my hairdresser dyed it a bit darker than I wanted..wah! But I'll get over it. I wanted it lighter to go with my summery look I have going on (aka bleached lighter reddish brown by the sun). I'll have to attack it with lots of shampoo and red treatment to get it to where I want it. But the cut will be nice. Easy to maintain.


Then I went on to get a mani/pedi. I haven't had a pedicure since before my honeymoon. Yes, I've used a scrubbing brush on it, but no professional had gotten their hands on my tootsies in over two months. And it showed. After a lovely soak, she started in on my cuticles. Lots of gunk was removed. And then the shaving of skin. I've never seen so much skin come off my body in one fell swoop...shavings and shavings of it. Kinda turned me off I have to say. And I tend to like my feet. Then a scrubbing. At least the outcome was good - pretty dark hot pink toes with soft soled feet. Lovely.


The fun part of this experience was watching people sit on the bench outside the nail salon. The first was a woman who seemed surgically attached to her mobile phone. On and on she went. Even after she decided to remove herself from the seat, she was still on the phone, clutching her packages to her side in one hand...quite precariously I must say. Then on came the workmen. Four of them. One was a skinny sort who didn't seem to quite fit. He was there first, followed by a more hardy fellow. They both brought over their bread and, what looked like, tubs of soup. Then two more, even bigger men, arrived and pushed the poor small guy to the edge of the bench. They were hoisting up these MASSIVE sandwhiches, the like I've never seen before. Seriously. I mean HUGE. GYNORMOUS! The three bigger guys were joshing each other and pointing at various people outside the shop. I just really wanted to know what they were saying...but then it was time to go get my nails dried...and when that was done, they were gone.


I headed back home, on my way to finishing up the painting. Tomorrow I get to hang out at home...carpet for our bedroom will be delivered and installed. That will be it. Done with decorating. All to do will be cleaning and organising. Woo hoo!

What?

I've noticed something recently. Which is a change. Cause what I've noticed is that I've stopped looking at the world. Yes, I see things happening and all that, but I've lost a bit of that sense of the world as a place to be watched. I'm not sure if I can explain it well...but I remember noticing small details that struck me. And now I'm not. I don't like it. I want that back. And so I'm going to try, even though I'm in the beginning of a newly stressed out phase of life (going back to work and field hockey), to pay attention to my environment much more! And write about it. Cause, quite honestly, sometimes even I find my life to be a bit boring...can't imagine anyone reading about it doesn't either at times!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So I'm sitting here at work...and just got introduced to all the new teachers. A nice bunch, or so they look. And even more fun - one of the newbies is a teacher from my last school...one who I liked! Woo hoo! She's going to be doing tech work in the theatre and teaching that sort of thing. The kids will LOVE her as she's just so chill...and the faculty will get on with her too as she's so NOT obnoxious in any way. I'm happy she was able to leave BB&N, as she felt quite the same way about it as I did.

Crush them Ally Pally gals!

What a great day! Sunday we played against our rivals, Alexandra Palace. This was a team that smashed us last year - just creamed us in cricket. But we were back, stronger batters, stronger bowlers and NOT intimidated by their crap.

The team, when you aren't playing them, are totally lovely people. There are some serious characters on the team, a few that we are 'iffy' about...but they are nice overall. Just like most of the teams in our league. But on the field, they can be nasty. One woman, who had played for us in the past, heckled a past friend of hers. Come on! And it was a gross heckle too - something about your unborn child and the like. The woman who was heckled got hers back though - she got the heckler out, who went on to have a temper tantrum, throwing the bat on the ground and kicking it. HA!

Their stronger batters were just not on. One woman who had previously scored in the 40s, got a 1...another who had scored in the 30s, got a 3. We held them to 58 runs...all out...in less than 20 overs (in a 25 over game). For those of you who are clueless about cricket, let's just say that this was VERY good (they didn't score much, they all got out in some way or another and they were all out before the end of their batting 'time' so couldn't continue). So we only had to score 59 in 25 overs. Very doable.

Now I am the first batter on my team. That means I have to stay in against the harder bowlers (usually) and not get out...let them get tired...let the less good bowlers come in. And I did. I stayed in for 12 overs, which was enough to get rid of their spin/swing bowler. Sweet. Didn't get a ton of runs, but got us to our best batters who took the score in hand...and we won, 59 for 3, after only 17 overs. It was good. Very, very good.

And so we all hung out afterwards, had a few drinks, ate some barbeque and just enjoyed the summer sun while watching the boys play. What a good day!

The good, the bad, the indifferent...

Yesterday, I stood in a queue for over an hour, (free) ticket in hand, to go and be part of the live audience of Loose Women. I was very excited about this, cause I had been watching the show during my summer break and really wanted to see it. But I got to near the front of the line and heard the words, "Sorry folks, but there are no more spaces available". And this is where I got a bit angry. They were able to count how many people were around earlier. I mean, they actually did the counting. So why, why, did they make me stand there for the extra half-hour just to let me know that I wouldn't make it in...oh, and next time I could get a special ticket that would guarantee my entry. Too bad I'll no longer be on vacation and able to go. BUGGER! So I wasted one of my last mornings on vacation. Sigh.

So I came home and did a complete stress/anger reliever and baked some bread (an attempt at naan). The naan wasn't exactly like what you'd get in a restaurant, more like a chipati, thinnish and crispy. But still tasty. I'm going to try a new recipe out this weekend and see if it's a bit better. Either way, I get something yummy in the end. In addition, I made my first attempt at dhal. This is a lentil, a staple in the Indian diet. And I'm trying to learn some foods that are part of that culture, so I can pass them on (if I have kids). And it wasn't half bad. A few things to change, but I got the basics pretty darn close. So I was happy about that. Cooking and baking seem to have that effect on me.

Today is the beginning of the end...I'm going to be heading back to the school to do some work. Yes, work. It's what most people don't realise about being a teacher. While, yes, you do get a lot of vacation, during half of it, you tend to actually have to do work. And we work on weekends. And nights. So it's not all fun and giggles. But I have to admit that I've had a great few weeks of relaxation, even with having to doing a lot of things around the house. I'm sad that it's coming to an end. But I know it's time to get back to work. (That's why the above situation was more annoying).

Housing

I realized that I am very lucky because I married a man who lived at home into his 30s to save tons of money and who had parents who helped him out in buying his first flat. So we're on the market already in a good way. And two bed flats with two bathrooms are hot on the market. I have a good salary (especially for a teacher over here), which will add enough to his current mortgage (which is VERY low luckily) that we may be able to buy a small house or a larger flat with a garden in the area we currently live in.

Now - this area is not the best area in London by a long shot nor the one we wish we could live in (that would be West Hampstead or Hampstead), but it's also not bad and it's reasonable (compared to other locations around it). There aren't any good restaurants or pubs to hang out in (especially for a multi-racial couple), but we can get to the ones we like in 10-15 minutes on public transport. We will most likely live a little further out from the center of town and a bit further from the transport we both use, but it will be worth it to get the space and back garden (yard in American). The key for me is that I feel safe enough here to walk around late at night coming home from field hockey practice, so I feel comfy enough to raise a family here.

The thing is, right now the average place to live in London is over 300,000 pounds. With an average salary of 25,000 pounds...well, it makes it a bit crazy doesn't it? Most people will have to live in rented places or with their parents for most if not all of their lives. And housing prices will keep rising according to the media. So if we want to move up that ladder, then we have to do it now. It's a lot of pressure. I just feel lucky that we are in the position we are, to on the ladder, no less able to maybe get something even bigger, as I know many others aren't. I'm blessed and I don't take that for granted, ever.

p.s. Have to add..if we sold our flat here and moved to my hometown, with the exchange rate we could literally buy a HUMONGOUS house..I looked online. I could actually buy a huge house with lots of land over there. It's gross. But I'd rather live in London. Cause I love it!!

Home

Moving. I've done it a lot. I'd like to think about how many times I've moved since I left college. I moved back home for one year. I moved to NJ and lived in the same place for 2-1/2 years. I then moved back home for 4 years (grad school). I lived in two places in DC area. I lived in one place in Boston area. I have lived in 3 places in the 3 years I've been here...and we're moving again.

It's time for me to stay somewhere longer than a few years. I really hope we can find a new place that will be a long-term house.

The thing about adulthood is that I feel many of us are trying to find a base. A place to call home. And I haven't found it quite yet. My dad's house will always be home. I spent more time there than any other place. But I want a 'home' of my own. So hoping, hoping, hoping...

A long day...

The courier service never came. Well...actually they did come, but they didn't bother to actually ring my buzzer to let me know they arrived. They just posted a 'note' on the front door saying they were there. Roy told me that this is something that they do on occasion when they are running late for a few jobs and the other jobs pay more. So I got screwed since I wasn't as important a job. And now, I have to do the whole sit in my house thing again on Friday from 9am to 5pm. UGH!

I hate when people don't take their responsibilities seriously. And I hated to be stuck in my flat for 8 hours. I couldn't leave. At all. I couldn't go to the gym...and I actually wanted to go. It just wasn't fair. (Dad would remind me at this point that life isn't fair.) The thing about it, I paid for the service. A lot of money. I did it due to bad service in the UK mail. And then I get bad service with this. Really...it's one of the few things I don't love about being over here. Service can sometimes be horrible. Even when you spend a ton on it and think it will work.

On the positive side of all of this (and being who I am, I did find a few positives), I did organize a lot of stuff in the house, which will make selling it and moving out much easier. I totally cleaned the kitchen. I did some work on the Advisory program. I had fun on the internet and found a few new blogs. I watched WAY too much food based television. I got in a small nap which made me a much nicer person in the evening. All very nice things. And I'll have plenty to do on Friday as well...though I hope they come early in the morning.

Work

I know I have a lot of work to do. But I'm having a hard time sitting down and doing it. But I have to do it. And will get it done. Sigh. There are just times over the vacation that it sucks you actually have to work - be it household work or work work. I'd rather just enjoy myself. But that's normal I guess.

Today's plan:
- clean kitchen including floors
- remove dishes from dishwasher and put dirty stuff in
- vaccuum floors
- do a Hindi lesson
- work on Advisory program

It's a lot to do and I'm trying to spread it out so I can also enjoy myself a bit too. Plus I'm waiting for a courier to arrive to take my passport stuff to the Embassy to start the process of getting a new passport in my married name. The hours to wait: 8am - 6pm. At least I have a ton of things to do in the house...but it's so nice outside, finally, that it stinks to have to stay in here. Oh well..