Streatham Living!

We're in!

I'll post some pictures shortly.

I'm liking the new 'hood. It's in the bustling centre of South London so it's prety hectic but there's tons of stuff to do. It's true what they say I think. North and South London are two very different places. South London is busy busy busy but people seem much less aggressive in speech and in actions. Apparently this area used to be a no go zone as it was pretty rough but it's been moving up the ladder. I like it. Mix of high medium and low shops. Cool.

Schools going good. I got pulled into a meeting about not handling the kids strictly enough. Got some pointers and things are going a lot better. Kids are grat but it's a matter of learning the shorthand of wha they know and expect in terms of boundaries and how they should behave.

Anyway, I'm off. Wiped. Plus a few people are coming to dinner in a bit to eat and check out the new pad.

One week and then I get two weeks off! Whoo Hoo!

Moving Day.

We're almost out of Debden! Most of our flat is in boxes and we're moving things down. This is being complicated by the fact there's an East 15 final BBQ today and we're supposed to head down to meet up with Gen's family in Warminster for lunch tomorrow. I made it through the rest of the week at school. It was tough as I was drained of energy an on the back foot planning wise. Friday we took the kids to The Globe and did a workshop on Macbeth. That was cool. They work like I want to work in Drama. Which I pointed out to my head of department.

I'll be packing up the computer now!

Tonsilitis Without Tonsils

Obviously I didn't make the traditional Sunday entry last week... now why was that? I can't quite remember. Oh yes. I spent all day Saturday house hunting to much pain and heartbreak. This is not a culture shock thing but a statement of truth: Renters and property buyers in this country are screwed left right and centre. The demand so outstrips the supply that you're lucky to get to see a place before it's gone. Then they have these things called "Estate Agents" who are people that charge the owner (and you) a fee for the pleasure of showing you the place. They're the ultimate useless shady and opportunistic middleman. Sunday I had to plan or something and didn't get to the computer.

We did find a place though! On Monday I was supposed to go look at one place but, surprise surprise, got a call that it was already rented. So I went to look at a place Rachael had found which had the extra attractive appeal of being rented by the actual owner. Turns out it was very large in a decent area of town (Streatham) so we took it!

Then I went through last week which by all accounts was a very successful one. At school we're expected to keep a planning folder with all our lesson plans in there so that if we're sick they can pick it up and just go with it. Also, they can check this to see if we're following what we say we'll be doing. Anyone who knows me might realize that this kind of detailed planning is not my strong suit. I passed the test with flying colours though!

Then on Saturday Babagenouch and I went down to Lindhurst (sp?) in The New Forest (which is 400 years old or so) for Baba's grandmother's 83rd birthday. It was a great time. All the sons and daughters were there, various boyfriends, kids and grandmother's. Great laughs and jokes whizzed around. Good times!

Until my throat started to hurt. Then I got a fever. By the time we left I was very, as they say here, poorly. By Sunday I was slightly worse with a raging fever that could only be held somewhat at bay by taking two tablets of paracetamol (tylenol) every 3 hours. Luckily I already had a Dr.'s apt to try and get my ADD medication on Monday. This would be the third such appointment...and no they still didn't give it to me...but don't get me started on that!

Monday I awoke slightly worse and suffered through the day. The doctor informs me I have tonsilitis. I had my tonsils out when I was 4 but he prescribed me antibiotics and I was in no mood to split hairs after arguing about the ADD medication thing.

Awoke today feeling better. Hopefully I'll be back at school tomorrow.

Week 1 Down

Well, week one is down and things are going well. It's been quite a week. Monday I have most of the day off - as non contact time (or prep time as we'd call it). I spent much of the day organizing things like crazy. Tuesday's not so bad either and one of my classes got cancelled as the students were writing a language test. The result was I hadn't seen the year 6 class until Wednesday. This was a bit weird as it was a week until I actually taught them the first time.

The kids in this school are great. The hardest thing is getting them to calm down and not talk during class. This sure beats kids calling me a fucking cunt, throwing things, and storming out of class!

I took the year 4's out to their first football (soccer) match Saturday morning. They're 8 years old and have just come up from the primary school to be in the secondary school with the big kids. Secondary in my school goes from age 8 - 12...basically grades 3 - 7. That was an absolute blast. It was so fun to watch these little guys playing football. They're really quite good. The private school system is sport mad and these kids can play and are in really good shape.

The week went well. There are a few things I'm struggling with at the moment. The first is Drama actually. The Drama section is ridiculously short. I have 2 classes of Drama but it's only for half an hour once a week with each. Both classes are really wild and unfocused. They're hard to control and I end up spending half the classes struggling to get them on task. I started doing some silent mirroring work with them to get them calm, focused, and connecting to one another but it didn't work that well. The kids keep asking me if they can do acting stuff. Now I'm scratching my head wondering if I should change what I was going to do or just keep doing in so that they go through the process and see some value in it. I think I might get them to do some scenes and do the stuff that's a bit outside the box a bit later down the road.

I started smoking again and then quit again. Unbelievable really. I quit 5 years ago. Don't ask why. It doesn't make much sense. Basically I had a few drags at parties over the last year and it slowly caught up with me just like I knew it would. Anyway, I haven't had a cigarette for 8 days and I'm feeling ok. So far so good. Gen almost killed me. :)

I'm also working on developing a one man show with German David - a director friend of mine. We call him German David because there are 3 David's. German David, Italian David, and Canadian David (me). We're in the brainstorming phase right now. We'll see how it goes!




All in all things are looking good.

Positive Change

What a week! It all started on Sunday when I moved into a room in Acton. I'm really lucky because a friend of mine (Sassy) has parents who own a house that they rent rooms out in and there was one available. Acton is only about a 15 minute train ride from where I work. So I'll be staying there for the next 5 weeks from Sunday night to Thursday night and travelling the 2 hour journey back to Debden on Friday night.

Well I've been going slightly balistic for the last few weeks trying to prepare and get things in order but I'd been only marginally successful as many of the things I wanted just weren't available until school started. I've been terrified of being too disorganized, getting lost, and losing the kids early in the year.

Things have gone well though! The kids are great. I mean really great. I've had a few classes where it's difficult to get them to settle down but that's as far as it goes. They're very capable kids. Some of the writing I've seen is quite amazing and you should see them play soccer! I was with year 4's yesterday and some of these 8 year olds were amazing!

One of the biggest differences is the fact that I have a department and a Department Head along with over all plans for each term, lesson plans, books and resources connected to them. I also have people to ask. Last year I was the only science person with none of that stuff. It makes life a LOT easier. Staff are cool - kids are brilliant. It's looking very good!

Reunion with Friends

Last night I went down to The Hollybush pub in Loughton and met up with some friends I hadn't seen since the end of last school year. It was so good to see these guys! Especially Italian David and Ray. We call Italian David that because there are three David's. Italian David, German David, and Canadian David (me). We all hang out. It gets confusing.

Anyway it was such a great time! I've discovered another pleasant difference between the beginning of this year and last. It's great to see "old" friends. Sure I've only known them for less than a year but they're great peeps!

My room mate Rachel is also back which is great and I'm hookin up with various other mates from last year. Good times!

Antici...........................................................pation.

Well, went into school today again and met some more teachers. Got a bunch of textbooks I'm supposed to hand out into my classroom so that I can...hand them out.

Rarin to go. Really trying to get a handle on anything I can.

I'm paranoid about assessment and classroom management. Gotta get the kids functioning and create some sort of valuable experience based on some sort of coherent plan.

I'm really antsy. I just want to get started. Get the ball rolling. Move forward. Advance. In the meantime I'm reading up on all kinds of stuff about teaching reading and writing and trying to get a handle on how to run my class.

At least I'm feeling good and positive as opposed to burnt out and half suicidal like at the end of last year. There's nothing like a break and a change of venue to lift the spirit.

Geography

Interesting.

Last night I went out to meet a friend of mine who was in town who goes by the name of Matt Dowsett. Funny guy!

Anyway I was in Greenwich and upon getting off the train I realized I'd been there last year when I went on the "Tour of the Thames" (and the pubs it contains) with a couple of teacher's from my school. I had no idea where I was a the time. For the longest time I had these little pieces of London in my head but had no idea where they were or even in what direction I'd travelled to get there. I'm starting to link them all together. It's quite a thrill when I realize I'm somewhere I've been before and I actually know where it is, what's near it, and how I got there.
Makes me think of kids and how they learn...or people in general I suppose. Kids get all these random concepts in their heads that don't make any sense until they're able to relate them to other concepts and knowledge they know.

Anyway I'm starting to feel much more comfortable in this town.

A Day at The Globe

Babagenouche and I went to The Globe yesterday afternoon to see "Love's Labour's Lost." It was quite a thrill to walk into an exact replica of the Shakespeare's original theatre on the exact location that it was first built. We bought tickets for 5 pounds and stood as "groundlings" in the standing section around the stage. The play was fantastic! Imagine! 5 pounds to see world class Shakespeare at The Globe in London!

Here's the ticket:

7 Days of Veggies

Well it's been a week of solid vegetarianism and I have to say it ain't that hard! There was one slip where I went to a friends house and he'd made a pasta sauce with (unbeknownst to me prior to tasting it) pancetta in it but I ate it anyway. I figure a little sprinkling of meat in one pasta sauce isn't going to destroy the planet.

I think one of the things that made me figure I could do this was discovering there's a lot more to eat than just salad. In fact, I've eaten very little salad. My diet hasn't changed all that drastically other than the omission of meat from my meals.

Also, I've started to save plastic bags that I get from the grocery store and bring them back to reuse them. I always saved them and reused them but only once. I always put my lunch in a plastic bag but then I throw it away. I figure, if it's not torn or soiled, I'll just bring it home and reuse it. I did this 3 times last week and therefore saved 3 bags. I haven't been using them for lunches in general anyway since I'm not going into school and they're starting to pile up. So, I figured I'd bring them back to Sainsbury's and just reuse them there. First time I've ever done this was today. Two bags saved! Less oil and pollution! Go Environment!

There's a store here called ethical superstore which I just discovered. I think it's fairly new. I'm not sure. I'll be checking it out when buying stuff. Not sure what the prices are like. I checked those energy efficient light bulbs and they seem way more expensive than I could get them elsewhere but I haven't really looked that much into other products.

It's based in the UK but here's the website for anyone who's interested: www.ethicalsuperstore.com

The UK is just so far ahead of Canada in Environmental initiatives that it just ain't funny.

I saw solar charger for phones, ipods, cameras etc on there and I thought that's a great idea! I wonder how much energy comes off the grid to recharge all those items? I wonder how much of your energy bill consists of energy used to charge stuff. You could save money! See, every time these sustainable and green technologies are used it benefits the environment and the consumer.

I'm actually excited and encouraged by the green initiatives that are taking place. I read an article in the financial section of the paper the other day that said that Green Technology is expanding at 20% per year - which would get any investor excited. They're talking about a possible boom such as happened in communications in the 90's. This would probably be followed by the requisite "bust" but the internet and communications technology stayed and revolutionized our lives.

Green developments are being built everywhere. Even in Victoria BC! There's a great condo initiative there. In fact it's one of the best in Canada. I went to the show room when I was in Victoria and was really impressed. Valerie is thinking she might buy one. (Go Valerie!) You can read about it and watch a video about here: http://www.windmilldevelopments.com/resources_news.html

In London they created a "Congestion Zone" a few year back that charged you 8 pounds to if you travelled by car down town. This money went to fund more busses down there and it's cleaned up congestion, air quality and improved transit. Now they're proposing that high efficiency that get great gas mileage (smart cars for example) would pay nothing, typical cars would still pay 8 pounds, and inefficient cars like SUV's and sports cars would pay 25 pounds. Great idea I say. Reward the good cars and charge the bad. It'll lead to a shift in consumer spending which will make efficient technology cheaper.

I could go on and on but I'll have to leave some for another day.

Boston Legal and the Mysteries of the Human Soul

Boston Legal.

Can I recommend this show to everyone? James Spader and Willam Shatner (of all people!) are brilliant! The writing is fantastic. It's quirky, funny, surprising, unpredictable, deep, takes on issues, and is full of sex and conflict to boot! Crazy demented characters who are more than meets the eye.... it's fantastic!

I recommend watching it on DVD so you can go episode by episode. It's not necessary to understand the show but it sure makes it more fun.

I love shows and movies that explore the inherent weirdness of people. We're all supposed to fit in these neat little boxes and be certain things but of course none of us do. Human's are all inherently weird in one way or another I think. We all have our secrets don't we?

With that in mind here are my favourite shows and movies and books involving weird fascinating and real people: (in no particular order)

1. Boston Legal (obviously)
2. Six Feet Under (the 1st season is perfect. slowly goes down hill after that)
3. American Beauty
4. Secretary (film with James Spader and Magie Gyllenhall)
5. Books by Dave Eggers
6. Books by David Sedaris
7. Notes on a Scandal
8. This is England (movie about how british skin head movement went from relatively harmless group of working class kids and was co-opted by white supremacists. Brilliant!)
9. Fight Club

Can't think of anything else off the top of my head but if anyone else can feel free to post.

Busy But Laid Back

Busy But Laid Back. Like this lady in the picture. Busy but in a calm yogic place.

Babagenouche says she's discovered why there are so many great academics in this country. It's because it's cold and rainy all the time so everyone just sits inside and reads and writes.

I concur!

Bab went out today to scout buildings for her character in her upcoming project. They'll be using the pictures of houses around London to show where their characters live. They also took pictures of coffee shops and stuff that their characters would hang out in. Pretty cool actually. Good way of getting into the character as well. Just what sort of building would your character want to live in?

I had a chilled out but productive day. Did a lot of reading of "Yellow Brick Roads." Which is a book about teaching. We got it in University but I didn't have time to really process it. This is one of my big complaints about education. In fact I think it's everyone's complaint about education. The "Brain Dump." Like here's 1000 pages of text you have to read this week and then we'll talk about it. Then we'll do 1000 more next week! We were taught repeatedly not to do this in teacher's college...while they continued to do this to us anyway.

Why is it I read all the books I was supposed to read in University AFTER I finished University? I got curious about all those books sitting on my shelf. Schools have a real skill at taking the pleasure OUT of reading. I loved Harry Potter as do many other people I know. Now think if I told you that you had to read 4 chapters a day no matter what. How fun would that be?

How do I avoid this as a teacher?

I have no idea.

But I digress.

I'm really stoked about the upcoming school year. No matter what happens at least I'LL be interested in what I'm teaching. I have all this energy. I got all kinds of stuff done today, found resources for History and Geography. I'll be posting any good links on this blog to share with any teacher's out there who might be interested. Got mailing done, made notes and plans for English, went shopping. Very productive day!

And now to bed.

Return of the Killer Blog

I'm back! I know you've all been checking this daily since April 15th and now you will be rewarded. I admire your perseverance!

I'm back after 4 weeks off and feeling good.

I just went into my school today to get thing settled and I'm feeling really good about it. The school looks great. The head of English (who is also assistant head of the school) is really helpful and enthusiastic. I have good English teachers there to bounce ideas off and help me with ideas, resources look good, kids are supposedly fairly well behaved. Looks like it could be fun! I'm really looking forward to tackling the English and Drama stuff. History and Geography make me nervous but we will see.

The school looks to have a strong arts bent to it even though they're very geared towards formal comprehension for written exams. The kids at this school are gearing up to write entrance exams at elite schools at the end of year 8 so it's very important they can write those exams well. Hopefully I can keep up with them!

I feel way more relaxed and grounded this year even though I'm going to be entering a new school. First of all there was the 4 week visit back to Canada. Man that helped! It was great to see everyone. Sorry to those I didn't (Len, Cathy, Cara, Casey, Gord, Kerry, Warren, Cody, Jake, Jessie, Cori and everyone else!) Sure was sad to miss the FamDamily Camping Trip.

First of all it was so good just to get back to Canada and see open space and nature! Toronto is a oasis of calm compared to London so it was good to not feel so hectically rushed. It was great to see family and friends again and just hang out and relax.

Biggest highlights:
1. Brother's wedding and the speech that almost killed Mike. (I won't say why but I don't think anyone noticed he started over from the beginning halfway through)
2. Boat ride on West Lake in The County
3. Tofino!
4. Great times all around with friends and family. Absolutely wicked time!

Coming back is to England is a much different experience. I was hoping it would feel more like coming home than coming back to returning to a foreign land and it does. It feels normal to return here as opposed to the disoriented culture shock I went through last time. It's great to see friends here again and it feels good to be able to navigate the landscape, stores, and even dial a phone!

As I said the school looks great so I'm looking forward to that.

Big changes are up coming for Babagenouche and I but I think we'll settle for a bit after that.

1. Babagenouche will be done her showcase, school, and master's thesis in about 6 weeks! Then it's time to take over the BBC!
2. We'll be moving to West London somehow.
3. We may or may not have a room mate when we do that.
4. I'll be starting at the new school which is 2 hours away at the moment. Hoping to find temporary accommodation during the week somehow.
5. Our new place will hopefully be permanent for the next 2 - 3 years.
6. We're both trying to diet right and exercise to shed that holiday weight...well in my case that last 3 years worth of weight.

and to that end...

I'm officially a vegetarian.

Why?

It's all about the environment baby!

Why not eat meat? Well the reasons are numerous assuming you believe that Global Warming is an environmental crisis. If you don't, watch An Inconvenient Truth.

It's not about the animals for me it's about the humans and the planet.

Here are some off the top of my head:
1. Deforestation:
Forests are cleared for animals. Trees eat C02. Deforestation leads to global warming, harm to ecosystems - the usual stuff.

2. Food wastage:
There's only so much farmable land on earth. Much of it is used to grow food to feed animals that we eat. If we used that land to grown food to feed people we could feed more people.

3. Cow farts:
Major source of methane - bad for atmosphere. Seriously.

4. Water contamination:
Tons of animal "effluent" (shit and piss) from massive amounts of animals goes into water table and contaminates water supplies.

5. Health concerns:
Hormones, Drugs, Mad Cow, genetically modified animals, disease spreading in factory farms.

Etc. Etc. Etc.

I did a quick search on Google and here's a link with some info: (I'm not going Vegan tho)
http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/environment.html

Fairly random source but it's a start for those interested!

Right now I'm just not eating meat. I eat eggs and I'm trying to cut down on cheese. As for cutting out all products that have any animal product in them ( like lard in muffins or something)....not sure how I'll handle that. It'll be an adventure.

And finally...I'll be making this site accessible only to people I authorize shortly. This just means you'll have to create a user name and password.

Greece. Not a bad place at all.

Well we're back from Greece. It was a lovely place to be I must say. The weather was outstanding the whole time we were there. It was bright and sunny with not a cloud in the sky.

Our hotel was great. It was convereted from some old building that was there in there at some point in the 1990's and it was really unique and charming. It was amazing to lie in bed and stare at these stone walls and think: "Someone was livng here 1000 years ago."

We stayed in the the old town of Rhodes which, I didn't quite realize going in, is actually a 100% old medevil town. I was a bit disconcerted at first as it's full of crumbling buildings and parts of it are bascially old ruins. It began to grow on me as the days went by though and by the time I left it I was in love with it. It's got it's tourist trappy type of places but they're a million percent better than the New Town which is just outside the city walls. The New Town is over run with Versace, Dolce and Gabbana, Hugo Boss, endless crappy restaurants, Subway (!), and hotels. Basically it's a name brand shopping mall where as in the Old Town there are shops that sell that stuff but it's all small businesses. The Old Town is full of charming places to discover too. It's not very big and maps of the place seem to have been made up by a blind man who has never been there so I thought it was bigger than it was the first few days as I wandered randomly through it.

We found some AMAZING food there. The first night we we went to a restaurant that was good but was, as we found out later, way over priced. We had a conversation with a retired Scottish couple who, it turned out, were staying at our hotel. We were into our appetizer at another restaurant and I saw them out front looking at the menu. I went out to get them just as they were walking away and told them this place was great so they came in and sat by us. We had a great time eating and talking to them for about 3 hours after that. Fantastic time. We ended up hooking up with them on the final day and sitting at another cafe for about 3 hours whilst sipping wine. They were really great people.

The best stuff we saw in terms of sites were all in the Castle of the Knights of St. John. The Castle was HUGE. It was extremely well maintained as well. There was also an archeological museum that was a lot bigger and more impressive than I had expected. It was housed in part of the castle that hadn't been fixed up which added to the "old historical" feel of the place.

I tried to see if there was any scuba diving but apparently that doesn't start for a month or so. Ah well, I'll have to fullfill that dream another day.

Babagenouche and I had a great time poking around, eating great food, getting sun and relaxing.
Babagenouche's Aunt and Uncle were super kind and picked us up at the airport late Saturday. We finished off my vacation (Babagen has another week damn her!) with a lovely breakfast and a wonderful Sunday lunch with the family.

A great 5 days.

I've posted pics on my flickr account.

Greece is the word.

Well tomorrow Babagenouche and will be off to Greece! I've checked the weather forecast and it's calling for 4 days of temperatures between 14 and 20 degrees Celcius.

We'll be staying in the old town of Rhodes. It's a Unesco heritage site...so...why you can actually stay in hotel there is beyond me but apparently it hasn't changed much in a few thousand years. It looks something like this:

I'm really hoping to get some of this in:

I've never really gone diving before but there's a place you can go diving for 30 Euro's for the day! Whoo hoo!

Anyway, I'm not bringing any school work with me so maybe I can stop worrying about it for 10 seconds.

It should be a great time. We'll be there until Saturday. I'm looking foward to much relaxing, good food, warm weather, a bit of adventure and maybe a night out of dancing! Who knows? Could happen!

I'll post pictures and a report on Sunday.

It's Been Yonks

Well I know I haven't posted much lately but I swear I tried to post on Friday and my browser crashed after I spent hours working on a lengthy and gut bustingly funny post. Alas it has vanished into the digital abyss.

Well, I'm on vacation for the next two weeks for Easter break. I've just been paid - they only pay you once a month here which is causing me great consternation - and I've spent the last few days trying to get a good drink of England. I've had a wonderful time. I spent Friday in an alcohol induced haze as I hit our The Plume of Feathers - my favourite local pub. Saturday I went for breakfast at a lovely cafe we've discovered in Debden then went to see a play called Tom Fool. The play was massively well reviewed and highly disappointing. This is the third such play I've seen that fits this description and I'm starting to wonder what the hell is wrong with English theatre critics. Anyhoo... Sunday Babagenouche and I went to Brick Lane which is much like a larger better version of Kennsington Market. We stopped off at a place called Leytonstone which is the first place I found I really actually liked in the East End of London. Something about it just feels neighbourhoody in a good way. I went to a place called Primark which sells the cheapest clothes in Britain. I managed to buy a pair of jeans and a sweater for 17 pounds.

This all lead to today's trip to Oxford. Now this was awesome! It was Babagenouche's idea and, as usual, it was a great one.

We went down to get the bus at Victoria station and I was immediately impressed. I'd been into central London before but I really dug this area. (Have I mentioned I live in nowhere land in the east end?) Anyway we got a seat on the front window at the top of a double decker coach and enjoyed a lovely ride to Oxford. I was absolutely amazed at how amazing and beautiful Oxford is! It's incredible! I've uploaded pictures to my Flickr account so check them out.

We toured around the colleges of Oxford itself and they're absolutely incredible. HUGE! You walk into these gates or door ways off the main street and next thing you know there are big parks and masses of buildings that are somehow hidden within the city itself. Here's me in Magdelene College.

The architecture is incredible and the city is a-hoppin with all kinds of people and energy. We were lucky to have great weather to boot. Mabye this country ain't so bad after all.

Debden Diary

Well I'm through most of the term. This up coming week is all activities which will be tiring and frantic but at least I don't have to plan anything or do much after school.

Interesting thing happened on Tuesday. It all began a few weeks back when my Principal and I had a bet at golf. Our school goes out on some sort of outing every Friday and I made the foolish mistake of betting the loser would have to do "the worm" in assembly at the end of the day. Well, he got 60 points on the driving range and I got well...um...6. So I did a little mock break dance followed by the worm.

The next time we went out it the activity had changed to skating. He actually started the betting process despite the fact that he can't skate. He's a good sport. I won a race so I made him wear his clothes on backwards during assembly and then the week after that I made him wear a dress. Going in last week I figured I'd have to figure out a way to lose to even things out but I was a little apprehensive as to what I'd have to do. The principal rigged it so some kid came in and interfered with me during the race and the forfeit was mine. The kids decided I had to dress up like a gangsta and do a rap in the next assembly.

This turned out to be Tuesday. I hid out until I was announced and walked in the room with full hip hop attire. I hit play on the sound system and launched into the second half of "Parents Just Don't Understand" by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince.

I was shitting my pants as I started but then people really got into it. Staff and students were looking somewhat bewildered and amazed 'cause I'm a low key quiet guy at school. I had yet to launch my performing arts skills at their maximum power. Anyway, it went over well and now the kids won't leave me alone to do it again. I rapped the damn song over and over on two more bus trips but they can't seem to get enough. I'll be doing a repeat performance at the term end assembly. I'm trying to think of how to jazz it up a little bit...maybe more bling...maybe a little dance...maybe I'll blend "Bust a Move" in there somehow.

I'll keep you posted

But you wouldn't want to live there

I would say I have more experience and knowledge of England and it's culture than some north Americans.
My dad was born in London, all of my mother's family come from England, and I've watched more episodes of Are You being Served? and Jeeves and Wooster than your average country vicar.

However: none of my previous field research into the goodness of Marks and Spencer's prepared foods and the delights of Rybena and dry sherry has prepared me for the sheer assault on the senses that is: life in Debden.

It's a yob night-mare. It's a tiny, ugly, battered concrete high-street, which someone optimistically (presumably while drunk) named the Broadway. A testament to all that is wrong with post-war building, it contains shops so depressed and shabby that you get the feeling the owners would be all too grateful if you shoplifted them into an early retirement. When I moved in, my aunt from Chislehurst said that it was like a time capsule to the high-streets of remembered from her youth in the sixties and seventies. There are two betting shops, three hair-dressers and (here's the kicker) two discount carpet shops. Now I know we all love a good piece of discount carpet, but come on. Two shops?? Are you seriously asking me to believe that the crushing demand for cheap rugs has swollen to the point that one such establishment can no longer keep up?

Then there's the population of Debden: old people and youwf. The eldery are lovely - my only issue with them is that they are always in front of me at Sainsbury's, buying twenty packets of cream crackers, rooting around for the correct change, and having prolonged discussions about the council's decision to relocate the bus stop twenty yards down the road.

The youwf (i.e. local pronounciation of "youth") are all ten to twelve years old, wear baggy track pants, hang around the local gas station (or 'garage'), bum smokes and beer off of anyone they can, litter, spit, shriek, rev the engines of their cars, beat each other up, shoplift, and generally get underfoot when you're fighting your way towards a pint of milk at ten o'clock at night.

And the frustrating thing is that Debden actually has the potential to be a charming little village. It is surrounded by some of the greenest, loveliest, most breathtaking countryside you could hope for. The local Epping Forest is renown as a place of calm and beauty and tranquility (as well as being a convinient place to dispose of corpses, but never mind.) When the sun comes out, there's not a more picturesque place to behold. Too bad you have to squint past the clouds of underage smoke and people fighting over the latest carpet sale to see it.

Dispatches from the front

I'm officially in training for the title of Worst and Most Infrequent Blogger Ever.
To me, blogging is like communism: I love the idea in theory, but it ain't working so well for me in practise.
Also: I am frantic right now. It's March! End of term approacheth! Busy, busy, busy bees are we! Here's a run-down on what's keeping me busy right now:

a) training for a Stage Combat Exam (involving rapier and bare-knuckle fighting...don't worry, no serious injuries to report yet....knock on wood!)
b) big night of duets coming up this Wednesday...I'm singing this song from a musical called "Chess", which was a big deal back in the 80's and is written by one of the guys from ABBA. (Truly, there is no end to their talents. Truly.) My partner is a lovely Welsh boy called Dan, who turns into a Restoration dandy or "wit picker" when he's had a few drinks, and proceeds to be exceedingly cutting and foppish to the amusement of all assembled.
c) involved in creating a new theatre piece with two other actresses and one of the directors from the directing MA program, which involves weekly meetings where we've so far determined that the main things we have in common are love of wine, avocados, and weekend newspapers. It's a start.
d)heading down to Ravensbourne tv and film school to shoot our specially-commissioned-for-our-class tv scripts. I get to play a morally ambiguous psychiatrist (is she evil? isn't she? how much does she know? is she in on it?) named Dr. Krane...boy the writers really stretched themselves to come up with that name, didn't they? I'm working with a great group of fellow actors, so I feel really lucky and priviledged and hope the shooting next week will be fun. Ravensbourne is in Chislehurst, just round the corner from where my aunt lives, so that will be fun to tromp round my old haunts and possibly pop in to eat my family's cupboards bare along the way.
e) private coachings thrice-weekly for the Carleton Hobbs auditions in 2 weeks. Not sure who knows about this and who doesn't, so, in a nut-shell: auditions at the BBC for the chance to win a 6 month paid radio contract with them. Highly coveted and desirable prize. Difficult to even get selected to audition. Fabulous opportunity. That's March 19th, so cross your fingers for me please. I'm up against approximately 80 others, competing for potentially 8 places. One in 10 odds? Child's play. I spend my professional life gambling on such odds. I'll win it if I can.

So sorry if I don't blog much. It doesn't mean I don't care. It just means I'm deaf, dumb, and mad from exhaustion. But it's a full life. I'm very lucky.

Friday Night is MY NIGHT!

The end of another week. There's no better time than Friday night. I hit the end of the day and no fucking way am I doing any work, worrying about it, thinking about it, or picking up a pen or paper for any purpose other than to write down a take out food order or a phone number to call for pizza, or a grocery list for dinner. From 5:00pm on is my only stress free time of the week. I suck it in like a drowning man coming up for air. Eat it up like a starving man at a buffet. Live it like it's my last day on earth. It's feel good time baby!

Another two weeks since I last blogged. I'd like to blog more but I've gone through this phase where I'm slacking off because it seems like more work and I'm pretty over worked. Teaching is stressful. Especially where I am. Have I mentioned this before?

I had a science specialist who I've been working with come into class today and I think he was pretty shocked at the kids behaviour. Every one tells me I should relax and not worry about my teaching but I know there are things I should be doing...like evaluating, having the proper work ready, having extra work ready for kids, focusing on their tests, organizing so I can get experiments done for them... all of which I'm struggling with mightily. One day I'll look back and I'll laugh and laugh and laugh at all this but it's the tough at the moment.

Having said that I seem to have the undying support of the administration and many of my colleagues which is what really keeps me going. Apparently I care about the kids and this is important. Good to know. Just wish I could teach properly. But there you have it. The caring of the kids is important. It's amazing how much work I can put into a 45 minute lesson. Like an hour minimum. Maybe an hour and a half. People keep telling me to stop doing this but I'm not quite sure how. I can't seem to stop planning and replanning or quite figure out a simple logical sequence for a lesson.

But it's Friday! Enough of that!

Babagenouche and I are going to central London tomorrow to check out a show called I like Mine with a Kiss which is getting absolutely fantastic reviews. That should be fun. Incidentally has anyone heard about Daniel Radcliffe playing in Equus? Daniel Radcliffe is better known as Hary Potter and Equus is better known as "full frontal nudity play about an insane psychologically damaged young man who blinds horses." It's getting absolutely amazing reviews! Radcliffe is apparently amazing. Who knew Harry Potter would go so far?

Babagenouche and I are also planning on going to Valencia Spain over our Easter Break in 4 weeks. Should be awesome sunning and relaxing time.

Good things on the agenda in the near future! Hooray!