These days are flying by...

July 2, 2012

Last Friday, I went to my friends school with her to see what her class was like. Let me say it was completely different from my class. Her teacher was thrown into the position two weeks ahead of time because the previous teacher went into labor. This new teacher had no idea where anything was or a lot about the kids. Kimmy had described her class as being chaotic but I thought I mean really how chaotic could a classroom be. It was nuts! Kids everywhere, artwork all over the walls, desks, tables and anywhere it would fit and absolutely no structure to the class. I simply tried to help out the best I could however am not sure of how much use I was with only one day and not knowing any names of the students or their abilities. I was able to help with the simple stuff though! In all it was a wonderful experience. We will have an interesting conversation after she is able to observe my class this coming Friday. 

Friday for dinner we had heard that there was a local restaurant by Jamie Oliver so decided to try that out. It was delicious and I took a few photos that amused me. 

Friday night we (Kimmy, Grace, Brittany and I) decided to go out to a pub and have a few drinks. We ended up meeting with 7 other girls from out program and had a fun time. I only had a cider but believe me that was plenty for me!

Saturday we began with a long wonderful walk to a tea garden, The Orchard. Just the walk to here was beautiful. We walked all along a river and through fields. The Orchard was absolutely beautiful and I enjoyed trying “Victorian Cake”. It was “quite good”, how I described it as I was eating it and has stuck ever since. 

We enjoyed spending our time in this wonderful area but were anxious to begin our Cambridge shopping. Many of us had been holding off on buying souvenirs until this weekend! I found some adorable souvenirs at John Lewis, which reminds me of a Macys but bigger. Kimmy and I actually got the last of the plain canvas bags with London pictures at the bottom. Also I have been getting one keychain from everyplace that I have gone. I am at 3 now and will be getting my last one in Prague.

Once we reached the market we were amazed even though we had been here before we knew what we wanted! For lunch we stopped and had delicious Belgian waffles. This is on my list to go back and have the Thursday before I leave. It was topped with nutella and strawberries.

We also went into a Cath Kidston store which we compare to a Vera Bradley store. It is very popular here, expensive and florally. However, it is a different type of floral, more vintage and not my style.

I also bought my nephew the cutest outfit from a sports store for just 3 pounds!

I think we all turned in early that night from exhaustion.

Then on Sunday we woke up early and there was a relay for life marathon going on for the later part of the morning, beginning at Parkers Piece. The area was packed! We weren’t sure if the market would be open but we risked it and took the leisurely stroll to find it was booming. There were completely different vendors from Saturday and a lot of them were home made.

We found an awesome crepe place however it was not open and decided to come back later. The crepe place wasn’t an actual place but more like a cart; however, it was well worth the trek back. When we came back for lunch I decided to try the ham and cheese crepe. It was absolutely delicious! Crunchy cheese on top and so melted in the middle. The only unfortunate thing was the cheese was almost too rich and too much for our taste buds (Brittany and Kimmy agreed). Another food item I will need to have on that Thursday before I leave! However, that time I think I will try a desert one.

At 2:00 we had a scheduled walking tour :) We followed the guide to Kings college and found out so much information about the chapel. How they had to lower the ground because of a donated painting, during wars they took out the beautiful stain glass windows in fear of being bombed, what period of time they think parts were made based on architecture and initials of King Henry VIII and Ann Bolyn in the wood, along with their symbol of a raven I think it was, or some sort of bird. We were also able to see the courtyard and take a few pictures.

Next we saw another college, St. Katherines. This was a college with only three sides because it was once believed in the courtyard we enclose with 4 sides that it blocked the flow of air and increased illness.

Finally we saw Queens College which was founded by two different queens at two different periods of time. We were able to the dining hall, which we were able to see being set up for a wedding but learned it looks very similar other than the color of the dishes and glasses for the students. We also walked across the mathematical bridge, made of straight lines and originally without bolts or screws.

Today, Monday I taught a lesson on American football. It got awfully confusing because when I would say football the students would think soccer and if I said soccer the students would say football. However, the students seemed genuinely interested in how it is played and how many fans the teams have. I even had a few students thank me afterwards for telling them about the sport. I learned from the students a bit about rugby because many of them would relate what I talked about football to that sport.

The students also surprised me today because I have always had great classroom management and the classrooms from what I have noticed are extremely chaotic and not much respect is given to the teacher. Enough to get the job done, but I think classroom management can be a bit poor. So I began something new to try to gain the students attention quicker and more effectively. All the classes in the school are named after gems, my class is moonstone. I told the students when I say moonstone you say rocks. A student instantly raised his hand and had seen the irony in the phrase. He said it was funny because a moonstone was a rock. They’re so clever :) Anyways, on Wednesday  I teach a lesson on the 4^th of July and am planning on most of the lesson to be discussion/ role playing with plenty of history thrown in there.

Helpful tip: Bring a proper umbrella! One thing that I have learned from being here for a few weeks now is to have a strong umbrella, one with the double layer that can blow right through it. I have already gone through two.