So, we started the day early with the intentions of checking out St Mary's Tower and the bugle playing fireman. The bugle player plays to announce the start and end of the day. However, he also played it to warn the city of an impending attack but wasn't able to finish the song because he was shot through the neck with an arrow. Thus, to commemorate this incident the bugle is now played for only a few minutes before the song ends abruptly. Here is a picture of Dwarf in front of the famous bugle in St. Mary's Tower.
While in the Czech Republic, we were told that we had the chance to check out a crypt where the bones of the dead are stacked to the walls and fill dozens of rooms. We were kind of disappointed that we missed this but I found out that a church within Krakow has a basement crypt with the well preserved bodies of the monks that served the church. Apparently, the basement has a microbial environment that limits the decay of flesh. When we got there we couldn't find anyone there. We waited around were about to leave when we stopped a man exiting the church and asked him about the crypt. He didn't speak english well but did repeat the word crypt. This is when he took us into the church, lifted a weird trap door in the floor, and took us down into the crypt. It was really very scary down there. There were about 8 rooms with dead monks all over the place. Some were in coffins, while others were lying on the floor. He spoke Polish to us and I don't know what he was saying but I guess he was trying to be funny or something because he kept knocking the monks on the skull and laughing. This is probably the best place that we've visited so far. Not well known, no other tourists came while we were there. It felt pretty neat to be able to go somewhere not many other people get to see. I recommend getting to the Bielany monastary and seeing these mummies, if you can. The monastary is connected to the St. Casimir Church and hopefully you'll find someone there to let you in.
When we left Norm really wanted to check out the royal knight fights that he saw an ad for. Really, it turned out to be some very, very, very keen Polish Dungeon and Dragon players acting out what their dreams of living in historic times. I must say, even though they weren't very athletic (show me a 12-sided die player that is in shape) but some of these guys went pretty hard at each other. We left after about 30 minutes. I can't really believe we paid to go to this.
Well, we were scheduled to go to the famous Wieliczka Salt Mines, which is a UNESCO monument later in the day, we spent the rest of the time that we had before getting to the bus to take us out to the salt mines getting out to Schindler's factory, which is on the other side of the river in Krakow. It was further away than we thought but I think it was worth going to. We had to fake our way in since it wasn't open to the public. This is a picture of Dwarf out front of factory that Schindler worked out of during World War II. (I don't know who the man in the blue shirt is.) We ended the day at the salt mines. It was okay. I'm not sure if I'd recommend it, though. A lot of salt and a lot of hokey salt statues. It's cool that it was about 300 metres underground.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Friday, August 18, 2006
Augusut 18th - Krakow
We decided to take the suggestion of our hostel guy and rent bikes to check out Krakow. Our hostel is in the old Jewish section of Krakow, which is only a few blocks from the Krakow Castle on Wawel Hill. The avenues radiating from the jewish section towards the main road that leads up to the castle is full of antique stores and one bike rental store. Norm, who's looking for an ink well, was able to check out these stores for them but couldn't find one. The bike rental place was kinda neat. It's run by wheelbound employees. I guess the best people to rent something with wheels is from a person that uses a vehicle with wheels all the time. I got this nice little Marin mountain bike with gripshift while Norm got this wide and heavy cruiser bike.
Our first stop was the Krakow Castle where there is also a weird cave that, as legend goes, housese the mythical Krakow dragon. Really, it just seems to be a dank underground chamber that was once maybe a well but now, with all the walter gone, a tourist trap. However, for those that are fans of Popes, the Castle houses a Secptre from Pope John Paul II as Krakow was where John was from.This is a picture of the square within the castle. After that, we road our bikes to the city square. This is where the famous St. Mary's Tower is found. It has a bugle player that plays a tune which is cut short due to his sudden death by an arrow. (Saw this on a tv show once.) Unfortunately, we were too late for the bugle playing so we both decided not to go up until tomorrow.
Our first stop was the Krakow Castle where there is also a weird cave that, as legend goes, housese the mythical Krakow dragon. Really, it just seems to be a dank underground chamber that was once maybe a well but now, with all the walter gone, a tourist trap. However, for those that are fans of Popes, the Castle houses a Secptre from Pope John Paul II as Krakow was where John was from.This is a picture of the square within the castle. After that, we road our bikes to the city square. This is where the famous St. Mary's Tower is found. It has a bugle player that plays a tune which is cut short due to his sudden death by an arrow. (Saw this on a tv show once.) Unfortunately, we were too late for the bugle playing so we both decided not to go up until tomorrow.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
August 17th - Auschwitz
Today, we were on the train for the a big part of our day. We took a night train from Prague into Poland trying to get to Krakow. It was a pretty long night. Someone came into our train cabin and was patting me down while we were sleeping. I woke up and said something stupid like "Hey" and the intruder said something like "Oh, sorry" before backing out of the door. I woke Norm to tell him what just happened but all he did was check that he still has his passport and then he went back to sleep. he doesn't remember me waking him up last night. Otherwise, our only other problem with the trains was trying to figure out where we were and when we needed to get off and change trains again. We heard that theives will get on at one stoop along the line, steal as much as they can from the riders and then get off at the next stop. It's almost impossible to find them after they get off. Norm actually figured out that we could get to Krakow by transferring through from Trezbinia to Oswiecim, which is Polish for Auschwitz. We checked our bags at the train station and then took a public bus that took us right to the Concentration Camp. It's a very somber place. The place is very large with lots of huts and exhibits that tourist can go through. Plus, they have the original gate and barbed wire fenches surrounding the area which adds to the somberness of Auschwitz. They also have an original incinerator and gas chamber that was used during the early years of the Second World War. We were there until about 330pm where we needed to get back to the train station to catch the last train into Krakow. It's not really that far away but we don't really know any other ways of getting into Krakow besides the train. We were a little anxious when we couldn't figure out what bus to take back. We bickered a little in trying to figure out how to get back before finding the correct bus and getting into the train station with only minutes to spare. The ride into town was pretty quick and we had little difficulty finding our hostel.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
August 16th - Third day in Prague
Yesterday, Norm and I walked back over the Charles Bridge and into Old Prague. On our way to the bridge, we actually passed the building that Johannes Kepler lived in while he was in Prague. Kepler was the mathematician that proved that the planets revolved around the Sun rather than the planets and the Sun revolving around Earth. This is a picture of Dwarf with the plaque outside the building. The climb up the hill was pretty taxing. The roads in Old Prague are all cobble and uneven. However, once we got up to the top and around the corner, there was the Hradcany Castle and all the work getting there seemed worth it. It is the largest medieval castle in Europe, has a large cathedral in the courtyard, and still houses its president (or is it prime minister?). Here is a picture of dwarf with a guard outside of the government portion of the castle. Who knew that the Czech Republic had a law that made it illegal to hire guards taller than two inches. Actually, it's just that Dwarf is taking super massive weight gain protein.
Today, Norm and I got up early to get out to the New Jewish Cemetary (Zidovsky hrbitov na Olsanech). We kinda got lost. The place is huge but it turned out that we were walking away from the right area when we started walking away from the subway station. There are tons of gates to enter the cemetary but the one that is the closest to Kafka's grave is the one closest to the subway walkway exit. We were asked to were a yarmulke, which they provided. When we got there, two other people were checking it out. They stayed staring at it for like an hour. Norm and I wanted to take pictures but didn't want to interupt their need to stand in front of it for the entirety of their visit so we sat on a bench and waited it out. It wasn't that bad. The weather today was really very nice. Better than the first two days which were overcast and drizzily. Today was sunny with some light clouds. Actually, it was very relaxing and Norm and I spent our waiting time looking through our pictures. Finally, the two women left and we were able to check Franz Kafka's grave out. Here's a picture of Dwarf wearing the yarmulke next to Franz Kafka's grave.
Back in the city, Norm was running out of SD card space so we spent a little bit of time trying to find a computer store to burn his pictures onto CD. We finally found one that wasn't trying to rip us off. Across the street from this store is the former residence of Jaroslav Seifert. Seifert won a Nobel Prize in Literature sometime in the 1980s. Here's a picture of the monument and plaque of Seifert's previous apartment along with Dwarf. For dinner, before we had to head to the train station, we ate at a great little hot dog stand on Prague's "Robson Street" twin. Actually, we ate here a couple of times. The bratwurst is to die for. TO DIE FOR! Amazing. And those little sausages? Those alone are making me want to stay in Prague. Here is a picture of Dwarf in front of the hot dog stand.
Today, Norm and I got up early to get out to the New Jewish Cemetary (Zidovsky hrbitov na Olsanech). We kinda got lost. The place is huge but it turned out that we were walking away from the right area when we started walking away from the subway station. There are tons of gates to enter the cemetary but the one that is the closest to Kafka's grave is the one closest to the subway walkway exit. We were asked to were a yarmulke, which they provided. When we got there, two other people were checking it out. They stayed staring at it for like an hour. Norm and I wanted to take pictures but didn't want to interupt their need to stand in front of it for the entirety of their visit so we sat on a bench and waited it out. It wasn't that bad. The weather today was really very nice. Better than the first two days which were overcast and drizzily. Today was sunny with some light clouds. Actually, it was very relaxing and Norm and I spent our waiting time looking through our pictures. Finally, the two women left and we were able to check Franz Kafka's grave out. Here's a picture of Dwarf wearing the yarmulke next to Franz Kafka's grave.
Back in the city, Norm was running out of SD card space so we spent a little bit of time trying to find a computer store to burn his pictures onto CD. We finally found one that wasn't trying to rip us off. Across the street from this store is the former residence of Jaroslav Seifert. Seifert won a Nobel Prize in Literature sometime in the 1980s. Here's a picture of the monument and plaque of Seifert's previous apartment along with Dwarf. For dinner, before we had to head to the train station, we ate at a great little hot dog stand on Prague's "Robson Street" twin. Actually, we ate here a couple of times. The bratwurst is to die for. TO DIE FOR! Amazing. And those little sausages? Those alone are making me want to stay in Prague. Here is a picture of Dwarf in front of the hot dog stand.
Monday, August 14, 2006
August 14th - Prague
Norm and I arrived into Prague today by plane. We got lost trying to find our hostel but it worked out in the end. I don't think the area that we're in is the safest but we'll see, I guess. We headed out for the train station to figure out how these eurorail passes work but the woman there didn't really know english well so the answers that she gave weren't very clear. We'll go back later. The train station isn't far from downtown so we headed down to the touristy "Robson Street" type centre of town. When we got there we found Jaromir Jagr's restaurant. It looks kinda kitschy with a lot of hockey related stuff and western style foods. We considered eating there but decided against it. We tried to find some interesting souvenirs from the abundant touristy trap stores but really, it's stuff that would just weigh us down. Anyway, it looks exactly like the souvenirs that you can find anywhere in the world: plastic yo-yos with the city printed on it, multi-coloured shirts with the country's flag or a homourless saying about the beauty of the city, or weird country-associated souvenir food products.
At the end and to the right of this street (Vaclavske namesti) is Charles Bridge that is probably one of the main attractions of Prague. It has a lot of statues on it and you can see the castle on the hill at the far end of the bridge which connects Prague with the old part of Prague. We went up the tower of the bridge and this gave us a great look of the city. On the bridge there was a line up of people wanting to touch this brass picture of a knight and his dog. I don't really know the significance but Norm and I both took the time to rub them, too. Here's a picture of Dwarf on Charles Bridge and a picture of Dwarf next to the brass picture of the dog and the knight on Charles Bridge.
At the end and to the right of this street (Vaclavske namesti) is Charles Bridge that is probably one of the main attractions of Prague. It has a lot of statues on it and you can see the castle on the hill at the far end of the bridge which connects Prague with the old part of Prague. We went up the tower of the bridge and this gave us a great look of the city. On the bridge there was a line up of people wanting to touch this brass picture of a knight and his dog. I don't really know the significance but Norm and I both took the time to rub them, too. Here's a picture of Dwarf on Charles Bridge and a picture of Dwarf next to the brass picture of the dog and the knight on Charles Bridge.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
August 13th - Amsterdam
This is dwarf next to a giant penis at the Amsterdam Sex Museum. Norm and I have been here arriving by train. We left Nijmegen - and a sleeping Karen - early this morning. The Nijmegen train station is conviently located across the street from Karen's apartment. That was very thoughtful of Karen to arrange that for us. We've been running around Amsterdam but haven't really seen much. Norm and I have both been here before and it's not so terribly interesting after being here before. Neither of us have ever been to the sex museum before so we decided upon that for the evening. Tomorrow, we take the train out to Prague, Czech Republic.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
August 12th - Nimijen
Norm and I are now in Nijmegen staying with Karen. We are planning to begin our Eastern European trek from Amsterdam tomorrow. We arrived in Brussels on August 10th staying overnight and travelled by train into Antwerp yesterday. Antwerp was okay. We tried to eat Antwerpian but ended up eating Chinese the first night. The second day worked out better and we had their famous belguim fries and deep fried meat products. Afterwards, we went to the Diamond Museum next to the train station. The area around the train station is pretty grubby; It's full of adult orientated stores as this is also the red light district of Antwerp. It seems they're trying hard to clean it up, though, and a lot of new, touristy stores are opening up. We arrived into Nijmegen earlier today via a Ryan Air flight into Eindhoven where we took the train into Nijmegen arriving at around 1300hrs. I tripped and twisted my ankle running for a connecting train and it's swollen up a lot. Karen - a medical student - took a look and thinks it's sprained but not broken. We checked out Nijmegen...it's a small college town with a big river running down the middle of it. It's a very neat little town. Everyone rides bikes. And it has this big bridge. I like bridges. Went out on the town with Karen and her friends. We ended up eating weird Nijmegen sausages at a late night fish and chip. The first one fell on the floor (my fault...it was the beer) and the other one was still frozen in the middle. However, it till tasted good. This is a picture me, Norm and the gnome in Nijmegen park.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Elvis is dead...again. August 7
Today is our fourth day in Egypt. It's been really hot the entire time - approximately 40 - but without much humidity it hasn't been oppressively hot. Instead, it's quite pleasant. We've visited Cairo, Aswan, and Luxor and seen all of the great things that everyone knows about Egypt. Everyone has been oddly accommodating and friendly towards us. We seem to have come at a good time where the Egyptians see us differently only in that they think we have more money to spend than other ethnicities. Because of this, they've been very cordial and helpful and we haven't had much hassels with anyone.Unfortunately, there is so much to see everything is starting to look the same. There are so many pyramids, statues, and tombs they all meld into one. Actually, there is so much history being told to us that I've tuned out the guides and just taken pictures of neat things. I'll look them up and read about them later. The dollar and pound sterling are so strong here that Norm and I are living like kings right now. (Well, at least like the second prince to the British throne. That's Prince Harry, right?) We aren't really famous or much different than anyone else but because we earn dollars and quids we can afford the greater luxories, like a shower that doesn't double as a toilet. (You laugh but it's an option.)
We had the best falafals in the world yesterday. It was super good.
We leave for Cairo tonight on a night train where we'll spend two more days before we head to Brussels and our jumping off point for two weeks of travel in Eastern Europe. First stop is supposed to be Budapest, Hungary and we'll make our way jumping through Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Austria.
The picture is of the Egyptian security guard that saved the baby from our burning train just moments after it collided with a small donkey pulling a cart full of watermelons from the fields of Luxor. Actually, this is Barney the Doberman Pincher and his handler night guard Greg West. Everyone is due their five minutes of fame (re: Paris Hilton) and Barney is in the midst of his. Barney works in a small teddy bear museum in Wells, England. Unfortunately, Barney went nuts and destroyed $900,000 worth of bears. Barney even ripped the head off a brown stuffed bear once owned by the young Elvis Presley during the attack, leaving fluffy stuffing and bits of bears' limbs and heads on the museum floor. The bear, named Mabel, was made in 1909 by the German manufacturer Steiff. The Associated Press states: "A security guard at the museum, Greg West, said he spent several minutes chasing Barney before wrestling the dog to the ground." Bad dog.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Friday, August 04, 2006
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
August 1st - Brussels
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Originally uploaded by cherubichomer.
We're in Brussels for a night. Our flight out to Egypt originates from here. I was here in March with Narv so the stuff that we saw today is also stuff that I saw back then. The Manneqin Pis, Atomium, and stuff like that. We had a weird run in with one of the restaurants here. We wanted Moules frites, which is mussels and french fries so we went to the tourist-trappy area that does this. There are about 9 million restaurants doing the same thing and the maitre'd of them come out and try to hook into coming into their restaurant. We had agreed on a special of 1kg of mussels, a free drink and desert for a set price but the woman tried to change it after she served the drinks. There was a lot of screaming - and almost some tears - as they argued with us about what was agreed upon. We finally got away and had the moules frites somewhere else. It wasn't the greatest but it's a conventional Belgium dish. This is a picture of a piece of work in the window of an art house near our hostel. I think it's pretty neat.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
July 30th - Harry Potter-Gnome
Did you know that Harry Potter is based in England? Well, I kind of had an idea but never having watched the movies nor read the books, I thought it might have been from one of those Deep Southern American states. Well, I guess there's a part in one of his books where he goes through a wall. This wall is found at King's Cross St. Pancreas train station in London. And to commemorate it, the station actually has a wall with platform 9 3/4 and a trolley embedded in the wall. Here is a picture of Dwarf in front of platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station.
July 30th - Tottenham v. Inter Milan
We were able to secure tickets to the Tottenham Hot Spur friendly versus Inter Milan at White Hart Lane in North London. We got there after the game started because the city decided to shut down the Underground to the stadium for today. We had to walk for at least 30 minutes to get to there and when we did it was pretty amazing. I guess Tottenham are known for their rowdiness and because of this the police presence was amazing. We walked down the south side of the building and it looked like a riot was going to break out with the number of mounted police and ambulatory police wearing riot gear. We tiptoed around this and entered to find that our seats were only 10 or so rows from the pitch. The game was amazing. The crowd, however, was a little disappointing. It seemed that a friendly doesn't bring out the normal home crowd so the atmosphere wasn't as footballish as we'd hoped. The fans did get up and sign a couple of times but it wasn't as hair raising as I've heard it to be. The score at the end was 2-1 Tottenham. Here's a picture of the game from our seats and a picture of Dwarf at White Hart Lane at the end of the game.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
July 29th - Cambridge
Norman and I went to Cambridge today. I've been to Cambridge dozens of times now and I still find it one of the best places I've visitied in England. It's got so much stuff in such a small area. I thought Norm would appreciate the Cambridge Tourism Walking Tour. It's concise but very informative. We went to all of the requisite tourist sites that I've already been to previsously. However, I got to go to Trinity College for the first time. Trinity is a very small college at Cambridge. It's the college of Sir Isaac newton and his office is still visible from the front of the building. The college was opened by Henry VIII and there is a statue of his likeness over the gates leading into the college courtyard. The neat thing about this statue is that it is holding an orb in one hand and a wooden table leg in the other. It used to have a sceptre but some students stole the original sceptre and replaced it with a wooden table leg. It's been replaced a couple of times but the students kept stealing it and replacing the sceptre with another wooden table leg. So, to stop the insanity, Trinity College has left the wooden table leg in the King's hand. This is a picture of the statue of Henry VIII holding an orb in his left hand an a wooden table leg in his right hand.
Friday, July 28, 2006
July 28th - London
Norm and I spent some time in London. We checked out Harrods. It's the biggest and most elaborate department store that I've ever been. I can't remember the number of floors that it has - it's a lot - but they sell everything from condominiums in Dubai to multiple carot diamonds. This is a picture of the seafood department in Harrods. Harrods is owned by Dodi Al Fied's father Mohammed. I don't think he hangs out at Harrods like Montgomery Burns at Springfield Power does, checking to ensure that everyone in his employ is working as hard - and making as much money - as possible. No, he has more faith in his people than that. But to ensure that they don't forget who the boss is, Mr. Al Fied has a wax statue of himself near the entrance of the store. He also has this weird hommage to Dodi and Princess Diana. It's this kind of ugly bronze statue of Dodi and Diana dancing in a circle as they hold hands. Who do you think Mr. Al Fied loves?
Saturday, July 22, 2006
July 22nd - Stratford-Upon-Avon
Zel and I drove down to the birth place of William Shakespeare. This picture has Homer in front of Willie's Stratford home on Henley Street. It is now a museum full of Shakespearean stuff. The price of admission was a little more than two teachers from lowly Ramsey could afford so we just looked through the windows at all the Japanese tourists that could afford the price of admission as they wandered through a staircase...the only part of the interior of the house visible from the window. Then we went to the pound store. We can afford that.
We tried to get to Holy Trinity Church where both Willie and his wife Anne Hathaway are buried but we always seemed to get onto the wrong road. We must have passed through the city centre three times on three different roads. We finally gave up and unfortunately for us we didn't get to see dead Willie.
We tried to get to Holy Trinity Church where both Willie and his wife Anne Hathaway are buried but we always seemed to get onto the wrong road. We must have passed through the city centre three times on three different roads. We finally gave up and unfortunately for us we didn't get to see dead Willie.
july 22 - ross contrast the killer storm
This is Ross. The clouds looked really bad but we decided to stay at the fair. Of course, that was the wrong decision. It got super windy about 4 minutes after I took this picture and the raindrops can down in the size of small rodents. All of the portable gazebos began to blow away and the fair field emptied in about 3 minutes flat. It rained for the next hour or so before it stopped and turned the day into a normal dreary English summer day. Ross thought the cloud was forming a funnel and wanted to warn people to get into their storm cellars. Madge and I just wanted to go home. We went home.
july 22 - marianne and snoopy
This is Marianne and Snoopy. She won him on a tab pull game. The only thing I won during the fair was a fingerboard skateboard thingy. I gave it away.
july 22 - homer and weird parade elephant
Well, the fair was a bust. It wasn't as big as I expected. There were about fifteen booths and all were selling either food or raffle tickets to wine booze or second hand gifts. Zel and I missed the parade - though I heard from Len that it wasn't anything to write home about anyway - but this is the fire mascot thingy that led the parade into the fair grounds. I think it's an elephant but its association to the Queen is up for debate. It must have been hot in that suit, though. The temperature during the parade must have been nearing the 30s. Maybe he pissed off the Queen somehow and this was his punishment.
Friday, July 21, 2006
july 21 - wayne birks
Today was the last official day of school. We haven't had students in the classrooms since Tuesday as Mr. Birks sent all of the students home three days early so the teachers for the new school - Abbey College @ Ramsey - could pack up, move, and set up their classrooms for the coming academic year. Of course, this meant tons of lifting, which in the end almost killed me and probably many of the other teachers in the school.
The weather has been super the last three days. Unfortunately, 30-35 degree weather is not the weather you want for lifting. However, it is the weather that you want for tennis and football, which is what we've been doing after school.
The school gave a going away party for the members of staff not returning for the following year. I didn't actually expect to have to give a speech so mine was a little lacking. It didn't help that I was going through the red wine pretty quickly, too. I ended up giving all the members of my department a tee shirt. As well, I gave the headteacher of Ramsey Abbey School and the headteacher designate of Abbey College one of my shirts, too. This is Mr. Birks with the tee. Tomorrow is Ramsey Fair Day. It's suppose to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's 80th birthday. It's suppose to be huge. We'll see.
Planning for a trip with Norm through Eygpt. I have some apprehensions about going to North Africa but I guess there isn't any better time than now to go there. We'll that's before Blair and Bush piss them off and make it a no-go for Brits and North Americans.
The weather has been super the last three days. Unfortunately, 30-35 degree weather is not the weather you want for lifting. However, it is the weather that you want for tennis and football, which is what we've been doing after school.
The school gave a going away party for the members of staff not returning for the following year. I didn't actually expect to have to give a speech so mine was a little lacking. It didn't help that I was going through the red wine pretty quickly, too. I ended up giving all the members of my department a tee shirt. As well, I gave the headteacher of Ramsey Abbey School and the headteacher designate of Abbey College one of my shirts, too. This is Mr. Birks with the tee. Tomorrow is Ramsey Fair Day. It's suppose to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's 80th birthday. It's suppose to be huge. We'll see.
Planning for a trip with Norm through Eygpt. I have some apprehensions about going to North Africa but I guess there isn't any better time than now to go there. We'll that's before Blair and Bush piss them off and make it a no-go for Brits and North Americans.
Monday, July 17, 2006
two hundred paper airplanes - July 17th
The pentultimate teaching day is now over. I'm doing a two day unit on paper airplanes and how to make them fly straight and long. In doing this, I spent the weekend making paper airplanes so the students would have examples. I made two hundred different paper airplanes that they could chose to make themselves. If anyone wants my lesson plan I'll be happy to email it to you.
The contests included: best looking plane, flying the plane into a box, the longest distance flight, and 'the run and catch'. The last one was pretty funny as the students had to throw their plane and then try to catch it before it landed with a butterfly net. Thankfully, none of the students bailed - thus, no one was injured while competing in a paper airplane contest which would have been very hard to explain to the parents - and someone was actually able to catch the plane in the net. Actually, two students were able to do this 'catch and throw' contest and they looked goofy doing it. Winners got popping candy.
The contests included: best looking plane, flying the plane into a box, the longest distance flight, and 'the run and catch'. The last one was pretty funny as the students had to throw their plane and then try to catch it before it landed with a butterfly net. Thankfully, none of the students bailed - thus, no one was injured while competing in a paper airplane contest which would have been very hard to explain to the parents - and someone was actually able to catch the plane in the net. Actually, two students were able to do this 'catch and throw' contest and they looked goofy doing it. Winners got popping candy.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Dragon Boating in St. Ives - July 16, 2006
Sunday was a smoking hot day of 34degrees. And we had to boat the river three times. Representing the new school, 14 teachers and 2 'civilians' that we picked up to fill out the team, our day started out at 1000hrs and lasted until 1700hrs. We came out slow, got a little faster, and then pooped the bed in our third race. Because of it, we finished 9th and out of the top 6 by 2 or so seconds. 2 or so seconds prevented us from making the semi finals. It was devistating. The day only got worse as the beer tent ran out of cold, tapped beer and they began selling hot canned beer.
Only two more teaching days. Paper airplane lessons!!!! Then, it's three days of moving as we shuffle the departments around for the new school. Yippee.
Only two more teaching days. Paper airplane lessons!!!! Then, it's three days of moving as we shuffle the departments around for the new school. Yippee.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
France through - July 5
So, Portugal is out on a Zidane penalty at the 33 minute of the match. Portugal, and especially Ronaldo, were diving all over the place and it is fitting that they lost on a penalty goal. So, the final for Sunday is set. France v. Italy in Berlin. It should be a great match. Go, France, go. The tutor group that I covered today finished 6th out of 11 in the homeroom activity days. It was all worth it watching senior management hoof it in a teachers v. students 4x100m relay. Only 8 more teaching days.
Ed
Competitions-July 5
Today is 'Year Ten' Activity day at Ramsey Abbey. I'm not doing much right now because the students are all outside. Yesterday, another very important competition took place in New York: Nathan's Hotdog eating competition. Of course, Kobayashi won again. He narrowly beat the second place man by eating 1 3/4 more hot dogs with a grand total of 53 3/4. Unfortunately, I could only find a pic from his 2005 victory.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
St. Andrews scorecard
I found my scorecard. It was in a pile of newspapers. 103. 33 over par. I blame it on the 10 on hole 12. I pitched 4 or 5 times on that hole. Couldn't handle the short irons.
Bastard spiders - July 2
This picture really doesn't do justice for this spider but this beast was huge! I found it in a box in my kitchen. It's the same type of spider I persistantly found during September. These things are so huge they make noise when they walk. It's like a small three year old walking over pebbles. I hate them more than anything. I know they aren't poisonous (there aren't any poisonous spiders in the UK) but they are very imposing things. Zela just arrived and is moving into the front room right now. It'll be nice to have another teacher in the flats again. She begins teaching again tomorrow.
ed
ed
Saturday, July 01, 2006
July 1
Howdy all. It's July 1st - Dominion Day or Canada Day. I got back about an hour ago from getting my hair cut. First cut in 4 months. It's amazing what those women at Great Clips can do with a pair of scissors when they know you're holding a possible £2 tip. I asked for a David Beckham a la World Cup 2002. I got a Bruce Lee a la Enter the Dragon.
I'm inside right now because England lost their quarter final match against Portugal 3-1 in penalties about 90 minutes ago. I'm afraid that all the British have gone crazy and will beat me as they rampage through the town linching up anyone that might have a semblance of loyalty to the Portugese. Obviously, if I could get to the local Ladbrokes I'd be putting down a shiny penny on the fact there'll be some chaos in Germany as the English visitors leave the country.
I'm into the last three weeks of work and, though my last few months haven't been as exciting as Fiona's (check out her blog when you have time) I'm excited about all that's happening right now. All the teachables have been done so I'm teaching a CSI (crime scene investigation) forensic science section to wrap up the year. We're in the midst of doing finger printing now. Next, well do blood typing, physiological evidence - such as stride length and footprints, flame testing of unknown substances, and hair and fibres.
A week ago I got to play golf at St. Andrews. Unfortunately I've misplaced my score card but I shot 102 on a par 70. Not too bad since I haven't played golf in over 700 days. Dad and I played with two locals. They told me that the residents of the area only pay £110 per year to play any of the 6 or 7 St. Andrews courses year round. That's amazing considering we paid £140 for fees and clubs just to play one round on the Eden course. The golf course was okay. A links course so not a lot of trees, water or rough. However, the bunkers were 6 feet deep and smaller than a sirloin steak at the sizzler. Plus, the biggest RAF base is just around there and we got to see all the planes doing their practice. Amazing stuff.
Wasting time.
Only 11 more teaching days until the end of the school year!!! Is it wrong to count down the days? It's not that I don't like it here. It's just that I've run out of things to tell these people. There are only so many circus tricks you can do before it starts to hurt. 
I've been wasting my time making up hockey pucks and t-shirts. The pucks are kinda thank you pucks for the members of staff that have helped me out during the year. I know. It plays on the sterotypic one-track-mindedness of Canadian towards ice hockey but it's true so why not play along with it. Anyway, most of them won't even know what they are when they get it. I'll tell them it's a paperweight or something. Whatever.
It doesn't look like I'll be able to get to world cup this time around. I'm still pissed off about the ticket transfer thingy. Bastard fifa. I don't think I'll be able to get to Wimbledon either. The tourney ends next Sunday and I can't find time to get there; I'm teaching until a week after that. Plus tickets are more than a sane person would pay to watch the rich wack a ball around. But those strawberries and cream may intice me to show up and drop huge coin on scalper tix anyways.
I haven't been able to get out much during the year to do anything amazingly athletic but I did get to play tennis on Thursday. The head of physics, Dave Hodges, thoroughly kicked me and handed me my proverbial ass in less time it takes to shake out the three tennis balls from its plastic cylinder. However, I have an excuse. I had to use a PE tennis racket which neither had a true oval form - more squarish than anything - nor the correct size grip. I guess the students do have much smaller hands than me. However, I did get to play tennis on grass for the first time ever. Everything is so much better on grass. It's supple and you slide. But there are down sides as well. Like Dave's pee-inducing, high velocity serves which seemed to pick up speed as they skipped off the grass and past my flayling stabs of cheap £5 racket and poly-cotton blend strings. And grass dents, too. So unpredictable bounces seem the norm. There'll be a rematch as soon as I can find another racket and some skill.
I've been wasting my time making up hockey pucks and t-shirts. The pucks are kinda thank you pucks for the members of staff that have helped me out during the year. I know. It plays on the sterotypic one-track-mindedness of Canadian towards ice hockey but it's true so why not play along with it. Anyway, most of them won't even know what they are when they get it. I'll tell them it's a paperweight or something. Whatever.It doesn't look like I'll be able to get to world cup this time around. I'm still pissed off about the ticket transfer thingy. Bastard fifa. I don't think I'll be able to get to Wimbledon either. The tourney ends next Sunday and I can't find time to get there; I'm teaching until a week after that. Plus tickets are more than a sane person would pay to watch the rich wack a ball around. But those strawberries and cream may intice me to show up and drop huge coin on scalper tix anyways.
I haven't been able to get out much during the year to do anything amazingly athletic but I did get to play tennis on Thursday. The head of physics, Dave Hodges, thoroughly kicked me and handed me my proverbial ass in less time it takes to shake out the three tennis balls from its plastic cylinder. However, I have an excuse. I had to use a PE tennis racket which neither had a true oval form - more squarish than anything - nor the correct size grip. I guess the students do have much smaller hands than me. However, I did get to play tennis on grass for the first time ever. Everything is so much better on grass. It's supple and you slide. But there are down sides as well. Like Dave's pee-inducing, high velocity serves which seemed to pick up speed as they skipped off the grass and past my flayling stabs of cheap £5 racket and poly-cotton blend strings. And grass dents, too. So unpredictable bounces seem the norm. There'll be a rematch as soon as I can find another racket and some skill.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Jo T Goodbye Bash (?) - June 22
With the amalgamation of Ramsey Abbey School with Ailwyn School there are going to be a lot of changes when Abbey College, Ramsey opens up September 1st. Jo is the fourth on the left and she was the head science tech at our school. (I went to her mom's birthday party the other weekend...it was held at the Ramsey Museum.) Unfortunately, the desire to do other stuff combined with the politics of the school (probably) she left us for an outside lab job June 23rd. Keith - or second in charge for the labs is also leaving and his last day is July 7th. Again, a lot to do with the politics of the school. With the departure of these two there aren't any lab techs for Abbey College - which also means I have to prep my own experiments for the final two weeks of school. (Whats 2M NaOH mean again? Does the M stand for million or might be?)The rest of the science department is going through tough times, too. I don't think I'm amiss by suggesting that there is a lot of stress and unhappiness with the upcoming union of schools for both staffs. Because of this, I wouldn't be completely surprised if more change happens before, and a few weeks into, the new school year. It's too bad since the staff in our department seem to get along very well.
Well, Zela is coming back for more. The ICT teacher from New Zealand is coming back to teach next year at Abbey College. (She left before her contract ended for some unstated reasons.) She'll be here on Monday, I believe, and she's going to stay with me. I don't really know why she's coming back so early - her school year is almost 12 weeks away - but whatever. The school has raised the rent on the flats again. Stupid, stupid, stupid. It's now £350 and they want two weeks in advance. Zela can't afford it so she'll stay with me for 4 weeks, then she leaves for South Africa before coming back for September. I assume she'll look for alternative accommodations for her return in September. I just hope that she won't mind that I take 80 minute showers in the mornings...and that I don't like to clean things...nor throw things away. She can't complain, though. She's staying for free.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Blakeney - June 17
Len and Carol invited me to go to see some seals. Yeah, seals. Cromer, which is due East of Ramsey and on the cost of the North Sea has a reserve called Blakeney. It's like Brighton, I've been told, except without the rides, the weird and numerous people, the obnoxious sellers, the noise, the hokey souvenirs...maybe it's nothing like Brighton. But it was a very pleasant place to go. We had to take a small boat out to a point that had all of these fat and super relaxed seals sunning themselves on the beach. Some were pregnant and it was amazing how close the boat got to the things.We also stopped off in Great Yarmouth...at least I think we did. We stopped at a pier to get some ice cream and I think it was Great Yarmouth. I might be wrong. I'm probably wrong.
Regardless of where we were it was a very pleasant day. We ate cockles, mussles, and shrimp fresh from the pier and had a pint of Guinness in the local hotel with the sea air blowing in from the sea. Unfortunately, my allergies were kicked in high gear - due to the locale of our picnic probably - and I was congested like the drain in my bathtub. (It's true...bathtub drain was plugged and had to buy a 99p jug of some weird alkali toxin to eat away all the dead spiders and long strands of hairs Fiona and I washed away during our months in the flats.The picture is of me - of course - and Carol on Blakeney rock just after checking out the seals. The seals are on the island as well but on the eastern point. We were given 60 minutes to check out the island before the boat took us back into Cromer.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
London June 9-11
I caught up with my parents and sister in London for a few days. We went to all of the requisite touristy places but, surprisingly enough - or maybe not a surprise at all - we ended up in Chinatown each night for dinner. Nothing like some chinese when visiting England.We signed up for a seemingly comprehensive tourist bus thingy to see all the sights and take in all the sounds. It was as advertised but not as imagined. Of course, we got to see much of the major sites in London but briefly and in a very rushed way. We got to visit all of the major Bridges but only as we rumbled over them. No time to stop and take a picture when we have a schedule to maintain. The tour didn't even have Big Ben on its list of stops!!! We spent a lot of time in the Tower of London. That was okay. We actually lost a person and the mother stayed behind to find him. We, of course, maintained the schedule and left without them. The worst part was being admonished by a high school (?) history teacher/tour guide for trying to take ice cream onto the bus with us.
This is a picture of a bird.
ed
Monday, June 05, 2006
Oil posters
This is a cartoon that one of my students made on the formation of oil. It's not entirely correct (I don't know what the space craft has to do with the production of crude oil) but it's a very fine example of what I wanted them to do.
Today is the first day in a fortnight that we teachers don't have to teach anything. The year 11, 12, and 13s are out on exam preparation while the year 10s are out on work practical. The only thing I know that I have to do is check in on 6 specific year 10s once per week. Super easy. They are all placed within walking distance from the flat. 3 of them (Barnetts Hair, School Plus, and Burton Brothers Auto) are near the high street. The other three (Ibbotts Catering, Ramsey Golf, and Old Nene Golf) are on the edge of town. I'm already bored. There's nothing to do but organize for the last four weeks of school. So, I'm searching google for radiostations in California to kill the time.
Today is the first day in a fortnight that we teachers don't have to teach anything. The year 11, 12, and 13s are out on exam preparation while the year 10s are out on work practical. The only thing I know that I have to do is check in on 6 specific year 10s once per week. Super easy. They are all placed within walking distance from the flat. 3 of them (Barnetts Hair, School Plus, and Burton Brothers Auto) are near the high street. The other three (Ibbotts Catering, Ramsey Golf, and Old Nene Golf) are on the edge of town. I'm already bored. There's nothing to do but organize for the last four weeks of school. So, I'm searching google for radiostations in California to kill the time.
June 5, 2006
There was a kidnapping in Nigeria of 6 Brits, 1 American and 1 Canadian from an oil rig three or so days ago. Because of this, I've notified my agency that I don't want to go to Nigeria next year. I really must be difficult to get people to go and teach in Nigeria because of all these unfortunate things that come up.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
nigeria
I am in the midst of my final half term week off. After the week, teachers have to go back to school but there won't be any students in as the year 11s, 12s and 13s are writing exams and the year 10s are away for two weeks of work study. The only thing I know that I have to do during these two weeks is to check in once a week with five of the year 10 students. Luckily, two of my students are at local golf courses (can you say a free round of golf?) and the other three are working on the High Street in Ramsey, which is only a five minute walk away from the school. After they get back, they only have 5 more weeks of school before the summer term ends.
ITN has offered me a job in Nigeria. The school there only has 129 students and I think I'd be the only science teacher there but they've included incentives, such as covering the cost of travel and accommodation, fully covering all medical, and providing me with a car and driver! However, it's Nigeria. I couldn't even find it on the African map when I first looked for it. And with only 129 students from preschool to year 11, I can only assume that the city - or village - will be much smaller than Ramsey. Here's the website address for the school's webpage:
www.ibadaninternationalschool.com
I think I'd rather wait it out for a school in Dubai.
ITN has offered me a job in Nigeria. The school there only has 129 students and I think I'd be the only science teacher there but they've included incentives, such as covering the cost of travel and accommodation, fully covering all medical, and providing me with a car and driver! However, it's Nigeria. I couldn't even find it on the African map when I first looked for it. And with only 129 students from preschool to year 11, I can only assume that the city - or village - will be much smaller than Ramsey. Here's the website address for the school's webpage:
www.ibadaninternationalschool.com
I think I'd rather wait it out for a school in Dubai.
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