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.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
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
DSC03184.JPG
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.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
tshirts
Here are three students that have won my t-shirt. As you can probably make out, it's a modification of the shirt I made for G.Lang. They have become somewhat a hot commodity at my school. I've only given out a handfull but everyone is working hard to get one. Besides the draw, I've devised a second method for students to win one. On a day that I teach them if they're good, they're given a puzzle piece. If they can collect all the pieces they'll get a shirt. There are 7 pieces to the puzzle all together. They love it, however I don't think any student has more than one piece of the puzzle at the moment. As you can see I haven't done a terribly good job at centering the print. However, I have found a paint made in Germany that glitters. The young lady in the middle has one of only two glittering gold Mr. Jay tees in the world...so far.
(That's Declan in the background. He's going to be Prime Minister one day. Well, maybe not.)
(That's Declan in the background. He's going to be Prime Minister one day. Well, maybe not.)
Tutor group/home room
The Year 11s went home Friday for the remainder of the year. They are now only expected to come to school for revision and to write their final exams. I had a year 11 tutor group and this is our class picture. They all seem nice and presentable but don't let that fool you. Really, the only thing I had to do with them was take their registration in the morning and the afternoon. On Tuesdays I had to take them to assembly in the Hall where the big-wigs (like Headmaster, Head-of-year, or Deputy Head) would tell them things. The assemblies were really awkward for me because (a) as I had to do register quietly as the speaker spoke it was a constant reminder that I couldn't remember any of their names (in class, I just do a role call and if they don't answer positively or I can't hear them I'd mark them absent) and (b) they treated the students like kids in front of the Pope. Most times the students applaud the speaker and the lectures were invariably about morals and how bad their morals were. On Wednesdays I had to do a CAPP lesson with them. We called it Personal Development Education or Personal Safety Education (PDE or PSE) and most of mine turned into little competitions. Cool for some, not cool for some others. Whatever.
Friday, May 12, 2006
Dubai - 12 May 2006
So, Neil from ITN came to see me today. Came all the way from London to see little ol'me. Of course, he didn't come empty handed. He brought gifts including: an ITN mug, an ITN pen, and the suggestion that I could work in Dubai next fall. Dubai, the richest country per capita in the world. I spoke to Odette about it. She said that they may pay for everything. All the transport, accommodations, and taxes will be covered by the school. He also offered Angolia, Brunei, and a country called Kroto (though I thought Kroto was the name of a Nobel Laureate and not the name of a country...as you can see I haven't done any research on these places yet). I'm thinking about going to Dubai. I'm sending in my CV for a job possibly in January.
Monday, May 08, 2006
T shirt rewards
Periodically, I've been handing out homemade t-shirts as rewards to my students. They seem to like them and they're actively traded on the open market in Ramsey by those that have one and those that want one. I haven't made many and the students are all asking if they can buy them from me. Obviously, I tell them that the only way of getting one is to win one from me. This has helped a little bit with management and those that want to win one show up ready to impress.
Like this guy here, they all have big smiles after winning.
BTW, Arsenal won 4-2 and finished 4th in the Premiership table. Hotspur lost and finished 5th.
Like this guy here, they all have big smiles after winning.
BTW, Arsenal won 4-2 and finished 4th in the Premiership table. Hotspur lost and finished 5th.
Waddesdon - May 7th
This is a picture of Waddesdon. It's a summer home built by the Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in the late 1800s. This is the same family that Fiona worked for during her last few months in London. She worked for Lord de Rothschild. The de Rothschilds are one of the richest families in England. Waddesdon, which is in the city of Aylesbury just outside of North London, is now kept by the National Trust. Len and Carol took me along on this which is only one of the many different weekend jaunts they take to check out National Heritage sites around England.
Naked Homer is the new Dwarf and this was his first job.
Naked Homer is the new Dwarf and this was his first job.
May Day: Sunderland v. Arsenal
My first ever football match. We drove 3.5hrs north to Sunderland - an industrial town on the east coast of England. It was a pretty nice town but the people's accents were very deep and hard to decipher. We left at 1000hrs and arrive at about 1345hrs. We checked out the shopping district before heading over to the Stadium of Light at about 1600hrs for a 1715hrs start. The game wasn't a great one. Arsenal won 3-0. Arsenal came out very slowly and didn't show much interest in the match. Sunderland came out with a lot of pressure but couldn't do much with their chances. Sunderland, which will be relegated to the Champions league next season, just didn't have enough talent to keep up with Arsenal while Arsenal looked bored. The goals were all scored within the last third of the first half. I missed the first one and didn't get a good look at the second but I know the third was put away by Henry via a free kick. The stadium is only 8 or so years old but it isn't very much to look at. There wasn't a color replay screen so we didn't get a look at what we missed during the game and a lot of the fans were taking to kicking the walls and seats. The atmosphere was amazing, though. The fans - 44,000 - sang throughout the game and chanted whenever they wanted something to happen. They even game Thierry Henry a standing ovation when he was substituted out of the game, which in itself is pretty amazing. The drive back was much quicker with no one on the road. We arrived back at the flats at 0030hrs.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Friday, April 28, 2006
The long weekend
We teachers in Britain don't get a lot of long weekends. This coming up weekend is actually my first since I've been here. Monday is May Day. For May Day, Zela, Jackie and I are going to Sunderland. Yes, that hot bed of fun activities. Actually, I hear it's pretty bad but I guess I'll find out in three days. Sunderland is a Premiership team that, unfortunately, is in the bottom three of the table. This, of course, means they will be relegated to the Coca-Cola Championship league next year where they will have to try to finish top two or three to get back up. However, they do have a couple of games remaining before the end of the season and one game is versus the all mighty Arsenal Gunners. And fortunately Sunderland is doing so poorly that we were able to garner tickets to the game. That's the fortunate part of this story. So, Monday we will be off on a 5.5hr car ride to the northeast coast and a 5.5hr return trip posthaste. Arsenal, for all of you non-football fans (like me) are 5th in the premiership table. They are in no danger of getting kicked out of the premiership but they are on the verge of missing top 4. The top 4 from all the european premiership leagues play in an exclusive championship knock-out tournament called the Champions of Europe. It's currently held by Liverpool and Arsenal is up for it this year.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Stamford
In our search for something to do on Sunday, Zela and I went on another road trip in hopes of finding a Sunday market somewhere. This is Naked Homer in front of St John Baptist Church in Stamford. Stamford is a great little town. Similar to St Ives it is a neat little town with a lot of old buildings and churches. Unlike Luton, it had a great feeling to it. Unfortunately, it was raining when we arrived and almost everything was closed. Damn, it was cold. This is where I purchased the little England home kit for Sparky Mark. Of the stores that they had the only one open in Stamford on a Sunday was a large sports chain store called Sportsworld. Good find, they were having a sale.
Luton High Road
Zela and I went to Luton on Saturday. It was a wonderful day with the temperature hovering new 17 degrees and the sun shining high above. Luten is a really weird city. It's huge (they have a football team in the championship league) and it's the city Odette was going to work in. This is the War Memorial in the middle of town. The city had a weird feeling to it. I didn't really like it. However, we were only there for an hour.
New "Dwarf"
So, as you probably know, Dwarf met a sudden end on the floor of the British Art Gallery as he/she/it fell to the stone floor as I wrestled with getting my jacket out of the bag he/she/it was in. The replacement figure is Naked Homer. Of course, my trips won't be the same without dwarf but Naked Homer has some benifits versus dwarf. For one, he's not as fragile so he'll definitely last the next trip I take to the British Art Gallery. Another, he's very lightweight (as Sir Alan Sugar would say). Here's Naked Homer raising his beer to the fact that we're heading towards that rough, tough North England city of Luten. Cheers.
Vancouver
My trip to Vancouver was pretty short but it allowed me to return home, have some Tim Horton's coffee and to see Emma. One week went very quickly and I don't really feel like I got anything done but it was nice to be home for that short time. However, I'm still miffed that I missed The Boatrace on the Thames. I may never have another chance to see that.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
spring break
It's spring break!!! I've been wasting the past few days away. I guess I coulda helped out with the revision days - where we require specific grade D students to come in to do extensive science work in hopes of getting them to a level that they may achieve a grade C - but I didn't. I'm heading to Vancouver tomorrow and I'm leaving in the next few hours to get the bus into Huntingdon. My plan is to try to get to Heathrow after the London rush hour but I don't exactly know if that's possible cause I don't know what hours London rush hour runs. I have a super heavy hockey bag that I can't lift myself. The courtyard is gravel so right when I step out of my door comes the first test since the wheels won't roll over the pebbles. Good work, eh?
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