Insomnia

Well, it’s been a while. And to be honest I’m actually only blogging because I can’t sleep. I have been having a few troubles with sleeping lately, I think it’s just because there has been a lot on my mind.

This week I have been off from work for the final half term break before the summer holidays. I haven’t done a whole lot to be honest* but I have been getting out on my bike a bit and learning to suck it up and ride whatever the weather. Although it is still raining most of the time, daylight savings has hit so it is nice and bright in the mornings now and doesn’t get dark till about 9. Winter actually did start to get a bit depressing, I was going to work in the dark and then it was dark by 4:30pm. I don’t get outside much as I don’t have any yard duties (we have external supervisors for that) so my skin started to feel a little see through!

I am still at the same school I have been at since January, and though I swore I would not take on a full time contract or be doing reports…guess what I am doing! So I am with the kids until the end of the term which is actually quite nice, they are very sweet kids and I am glad to be with them and see them finish the year. Although I am still getting my head around the fact they finish their school year in July! So reports this week, they are actually not as bad as I’ve seen in Aus, only one A4 page per child, and reports are only done once a year! Australia needs to get in on this!

Right well, it’s 12:15 am, I’d better at least try and pretend to sleep.

Talk soon,

*’to be honest’ is now one of the many English phrases I now use, you will also hear me say ‘to be fair’ ‘that is brilliant’ and the other day I actually used the word ‘bollocking’ in a sentence. There is no hope for me.

IOU

I know, it’s been too long. I haven’t any excuse except that have been extremely busy since heading back to London.

I have a job, sort of. I am working “indefinitely” with a Yr 4 class. No one knows how long for really but it looks like it will be a whole term which is fantastic. The advantage is that as I am not on contract with them I am still being paid daily supply rates. The disadvantage is that I am working my butt off trying to understand a different curriculum, different standards of assessment etc.

It is half term in a week and a half and as much as I would like to go somewhere I think I am going to stay in London and relax. I want to do a few London sights I haven’t seen yet, like Richmond Park and Hampton Court and I also plan to get a massage. St Paddy’s day in Ireland is going to come up fairly quickly and after that it’s Turkey for ANZAC Day. No other trips planned yet but I’m sure it won’t be long.

One of the reasons I haven’t been blogging is that I usually blog at Starbucks but I am proud to admit I have given up buying a daily coffee! It was my New Years resolution and I have so far kept it. I am now having one of those Nescafé frothy things, which is pretty good. One box of eight is about the same price as one Starbucks coffee so I am going to put the money I am saving towards a holiday.

Will be back soon with more details.

Appreciating Friends

I can’t believe it is just over two weeks till I return to Australia. Crazy, just crazy.

I am coming back to see my best friend get married and I can’t wait. Chelsea is a friend who has always been there through some massive times in my life. She was the only friend who visited me regularly when I was in hospital and I am so glad I can be there to celebrate this time with her.

Catching up with people will be fantastic and I am going to be able to celebrate Christmas with my family before flying to Scotland for new years with some new friends.

I feel lucky that I have already met some great people here in the UK. My housemates and I hang out and go out fairly regularly and I also still catch up with people I met during my camping adventure.

Yesterday I took a trip to Southampton (about an hour and a half south on the train) to catch up and watch one of them play in a football match. Note that you are NOT allowed to call it soccer. I did that in front of a group of year six students the other day and got paid out mercilessly.

It is getting cold and wet here. Until the other day, I only owned one pair of everyday shoes (plus my runners) but have invested in some awesome polka dotted wellies on eBay (for £3!) and I am also planning to buy a pair of boots. So I will be all set for winter. I am really hoping for snow! Maybe not in London but at least in Scotland.

For New Years we have a three day trip around Scotland including the Isle of Skye before celebrating Hogmanay in Edinburgh.

Can’t wait to see you all.

How to carve a pumpkin in 15 simple steps

If you’ve never carved one before here’s how I did it (Note: these instructions worked for me, they may not work for everyone)

Step 1: Choose your pumpkin, I went for one with few blemishes and a nice round shape. I bought my carving pumpkin for £1 from our local fruit and veg shop.

Step 2: Decide on your design, simple designs are probably best. Although you think you will be able to create this

It will probably end up looking like this

Step 3: Cut out the top of your pumpkin around the stem. Make sure your hole is big enough for you to be able to scoop out the pumpkin guts.

Step 4: Start to scoop out the innards of the pumpkin with your metal cup measure. Notice you have bent your cup measure, quickly bend it back to shape, wash it and put it in the drawer so your housemates don’t know.

Step 4: Choose something else to scoop your pumpkin with. Continue to scoop with your implement and start to use your hands to assist you. Marvel at the amount of goo coming out of the pumpkin and the disturbing sounds it makes.

Step 5: Once you are satisfied with the hollowness of your pumpkin draw your image on for carving.

Step 6: Decide your pumpkin looks terrible, scrub your drawing out and start again.

Step 7: Begin carving carefully, small pieces at a time. Remind yourself your house only owns one knife so use it carefully.

Step 8: Continue carving until your pumpkin looks totally bad-ass.

Step 9: Try and work out how you will light the candles in your pumpkin. Decide to light newspaper and then light candles inside pumpkin.

Step 10: Scrape black ash out of your pumpkin as a result of the failure of step 9.

Step 11: Decide to light candle before putting it in pumpkin and lower in with tongs.

Step 12: Run finger under cold water for five minutes to relieve burn from cigarette lighter

Step 13: Successfully light candle and lower it into pumpkin. Add two more for an extra bright pumpkin.

Step 14: Place pumpkin lid back on to pumpkin stand back and admire the result.

Step 15: Clean pumpkin bits, wax and bits of burnt newspaper off kitchen floor. Place pumpkin out on the street for everyone to admire.

Teaching in London

I’m writing this on the tube on the way home from another day at work.

I have been working at a Church of England school yesterday and today in a Yr 4 classroom. It has been a lovely school it is so nice to be at the same school and in the same classroom for more than one day.

By the end of this week I will have visited four schools that were completely new to me. That’s four days of trying to find the school, meeting the staff, meeting different children, trying to learn 30 new names (120 names by the end of the week.) like Mubarak, Mohammed, Muhammed, Abeisha, Abshetha, Rotimi and my personal favourite Chardonnay! In seven weeks of teaching in the UK I have visited 17 different schools.

Working out the times and lesson plans each morning can be difficult, some teachers are extremely organised and have things running on a very tight ship but I was in a class the other day where a teacher has been in the same room for 20 years and looks like she has never thrown anything away. She had lots of porcelain cats everywhere and no one could find any of the children’s books.

The structure of lessons is very different to Australia, maths and English lessons are often scheduled in the afternoon when the kids focus is at their lowest. All hell will break loose if you change the lesson order.

I like to be out the front of a new school by 8am, often this means leaving the house by 6:50am. I know I can’t believe I do that either! But it’s too stressful if I’m late and not 100 percent sure where I’m going. Sometimes, like today I don’t get home till 6, usually though I’m home by 5:30.

Schools place a lot of emphasis on their marking, each piece of work must be acknowledged and not just with a tick! Often work will have a whole sentence comment like ‘Timmy don’t forget to add capital letters and full stops to your work’ the irony being Timmy is six and can’t read the comment. I think it’s mostly for the parents benefit. So I do spend a lot of time marking, I usually try and have morning tea in the staff room to meet the staff and spend the majority of my lunchtime marking. If I didn’t do this I could easily be at school past 5pm.

Children start formal school very young. I taught a nursery class this week of 3-4 year olds. Some students had only turned 3 in August. Their schooling is play based but they do wear a uniform and are assessed and expected to sit at school gatherings and listen.

All this sounds like I am complaining, but I’m definitely not. I haven’t had a bad class yet. There is one school I have told my agency I wont go back to, but that was not because of the children but the staff.

Going to new schools each day is challenging, but the benefits I am gaining are amazing. Getting to see how different classrooms are run is fantastic and the confidence I am gaining in myself and my teaching is invaluable.

My agency have asked me if I would like to take on a full time position. I have thought about it but don’t think I would take on anything more than a term. My Aussie housemate who came to the UK at the same time as me has taken on a job until July 2013. Although the guaranteed income would be great there is a lot of accountability that comes with it. And lets face it, I didn’t move to the UK to gain a career.

Well my train is about to pull into the station. Hope you enjoyed my rambling!

Zombie Zombie Zombie heya heya

On Saturday my Aussie housemate and I went out on a zombie pub crawl. It is held every year in London to raise money for the homeless charity St Mungos. It basically is as easy as it sounds, you get dressed up as a zombie and move from pub to pub.

Getting ready to go was pretty funny, we tried to convince our English housemates to come along, however they were pretty reluctant to get dressed up, although one of them agreed to meet us later “when it was dark”. We didn’t put a massive effort into our costume. £2.50 cotton tops from Primark covered in food dye and some black and white face paint from the pound store and we were set.

Traveling to the starting point on the tube was hilarious, lots of stares and comments (it was only 1pm!) we tried to smile and wave at any kids we saw so they weren’t too scared and we even got some high fives from some brave ones. We also got stopped for lots of photos. My favourite thing to do was to stand next to people at traffic lights and wait for them to notice me and freak out. It cracked me up every time. London people are funny though, they don’t acknowledge each other so it was nice to get some reactions and make people laugh.

Here are some pics of my day. The pubs were a lot of fun, very busy and crowded but it was a great friendly atmosphere.

All ready to go out with my housemate.

I love this picture, great memory of London

Dad, meet my future husband. Ha ha just kidding

My housemate and friends.

I had a lot of comments and questions about my forehead. Not sure if you can tell by the pics but I have a flap of skin hanging down, exposing a rather nasty wound.

How it was done is very simple, I didn’t use latex or anything fancy. I literally glued a couple of layers of tissue to my head using ordinary white glue. When it dried I peeled it from the top of the tissue down to about halfway. I then painted the exposed skin black, and then added red food dye (in paste form) on top. Simple! For my skin I used a mixture of white face paint and a cheap mud face mask. As the mask dried it made my skin look cracked and peeled and even more dead!

Learning to Shop: Finding the right fit

I have only recently truly started to understand and enjoy shopping for clothes. For a long time after starting recovery from my eating disorder I found shopping very difficult. The clothes that I thought I should have to fit into, didn’t fit, plain and simple.

I remember shopping for a bra with my Mum at Bras ‘n’ Things after leaving hospital. I hadn’t bought a bra in probably 18 months and had just continued to wear what I had. I picked out some size eights to try on, as that was the size I had last been in my clothing. They were far too small, and straight away I burst into tears. Mum tried to organise some different sizes with the sales lady who I heard say “I don’t know why she ever thought she would fit into a size eight” I quickly put on my clothes and got out of there, poor bewildered Mum trailing behind me.

What I used to do was find the top or dress I liked and pick out the size 10. This was the size I thought I was/wanted to be. Size 10 is a safe size. If the size 10 was too small I put it back on the shelf and walked away. Not a very practical way of shopping I know, but anorexia is not a practical disorder.

I have come a long way since then but it’s only recently that I really feel I have a handle on this shopping thing. I have started looking for clothes that feel and look good on me. When I see a something I like I have a good look at it. I measure it against myself and I try on the one I think will fit me, whether it’s a 10, 12 or 14 I choose the clothing that fits me best and I don’t worry what size it ends up being.

I now have clothes in a range of sizes, because I have finally realized that size is not the same across all stores, in fact some vary ridiculously. Even within the same store, a top that might be 12 in one style will be too tight or too loose in another.

This change in thinking is resulting in a wardrobe I really like. I am trying to incorporate more colour in what I wear as I tend to play it safe with blues and blacks and I am trying new things. It has become a lot of fun.

Mind you, I am not going overboard. Taking stock of my wardrobe I still only have one jumper and one cardigan for the London winter ahead. Looks like I have some more shopping to do.

The Cake and Bake Show

I recently bought a ticket to the Cake and Bake show held in London. The show had lots of exhibitors related to baking and cooking but I would say the majority of them were demonstrating products related to cake decorating.

I absolutely love the idea of cake decorating, I have attended courses, I buy wedding magazines and have a wedding app on my phone just to look at the cakes. Unfortunately although I love cake decorating I rarely practice it like I should. Cake decorating is something that takes lots of practice, like anything else you can have an aptitude for it, or an interest in it but you can only really excel when you practice. Unfortunately years ago, just after buying my first cake decorating book and when I was just getting excited about it someone said to me “I don’t think you would be any good at cake decorating, you aren’t very creative”

Now I know rationally, that person was an arsehole who had no confidence and had to bring me down in order to make himself feel good. But that comment still affects me, and that really sucks. It sucks that they took something that should be fun and made me feel bad about it. It’s something I am really going to try and work on.

Phew! Totally didn’t mean to go down that road! So I will now try and distract you with some cool pictures. The show was amazing, I got some awesome one-on-one time with some fantastic decorators, there was plenty of demonstrations and tutorials, all free! I ended up spending nine hours there! I later heard that tickets to the show (which were £15 pound) ended up being sold for £85 pound on eBay. It was very popular!

These bears were made by Debbie Brown to promote her new book. Aren’t they amazing? I have a couple of her books but didn’t purchase this one.

I ended up buying a book written by this amazing new(ish) cake decorator who has just written his first book. His name is Carlos Lischetti and his work is simply stunning. After signing his book for me I asked him if he could demonstrate some of his work. And he did! All for me! It was brilliant, he took some sugar paste, twirled it and suddenly this sugar became this sexy ballerina leg.

He is the owner of this work.

I went to a tutorial on making handmade roses for cupcakes. Without using a wire or petal cutters. Pretty special.

I also watched a tutorial that was run by Laura Edwards of Mamma Jamma Cakes. The cake she showed us how to carve was a Koi Carp. It wasn’t my style of cake but she had some great tips for cake carving and air brushing.

What an awesome day!

River Cottage Autumn Fair

I have been really busy and haven’t had a chance to write about my day at River Cottage yet. So before I forget let’s begin,

Not a lot of people know Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. My British housemates had no idea who I was talking about. Hugh has a cooking show and is very passionate about using local and homegrown seasonal produce. He is famous for cooking a human placenta, turning it into pate and feeding it to the baby’s family. (Who said it was delicious!) He has a farm in the south of England where he runs cooking classes and has open days.

Visiting River Cottage was very high on my list of things to do while living in the UK so when I noticed they were having an Autumn Fair I jumped at the chance.

I hired a car to drive down to Uplyme, Dorset the location of Park Farm (River Cottage) the countryside was absolutely beautiful. Such a lovely drive, it took me about three hours.

I was beyond excited when I arrived and jumped on a tractor to go down to the farm. Check out the views

Stunning huh? I thought so, and just a little bit drizzly and grey. Typical England!

There was lots to see and taste. It was basically just a farmers market, they also had cooking demonstrations and farming and falconry demonstrations.

I’m a little bit undecided about the falconry. The birds were beautiful but I couldn’t help wishing they were free. I asked the falconer why they come back. He said they have been with him for more than 15 years, he is their family.

I bought River Cottage Veg, one of Hugh’s books. I have been wanting to try it for quite a while as I do want to learn to cook more vegetarian food. I haven’t used it yet but my housemates have.

I met Hugh which was very exciting, he was lovely and said he has plans to visit Australia next year. Look at him isn’t he gorgeous.

I went to a chocolate demonstration and learnt a lot about chocolate that I didn’t know. Good quality dark chocolate has no dairy so is safe for me to eat! It was run by Claire Burnet from Chococo. Their chocolates are simply amazing. She made a chocolate fondant with strawberries, frozen cherries (awesome idea!) and chocolate chip cookies.

The most exciting part of the day for me was that I entered the jam I made into a “best produce” competition. It was judged by Tim Maddams (below) and Hugh himself. I didn’t win but my jam made the final round! It was very exciting, I lost out to an all raspberry and vanilla jam. Hut having Hugh and Tim taste something I have made was a win for me.

All in all it was a fantastic day. I spent the next day exploring more of south England but I will save that for another post. I think I will definitely keep my eye out for the next River Cottage Fair!

This is the house that crap built

Time for an update on our rental house.

Negotiations have progressed with our landlord regarding the mold situation and I finally convinced her to come and have a look (and smell) of the kitchen.

She came over with her handyman (I use that term loosely, he isn’t very good and I’m not being mean just honest.) He speaks little English which is tricky and so far his inspection of the mouldy kitchen has consisted of knocking on walls and seeing what sound it makes. He also shrugs a lot and puts his hands in the air.

But anyway! Our landlord came over and I showed her the extent of the mould, under the kitchen skirting board thing, behind the washing machine, in the cupboards and she was actually very receptive. She is going to have her handyman take apart the dishwasher and remove the washing machine to try and find the source and has contacted her insurer for repairs! Success! She even admitted that a coat of paint wasn’t going to fix it like she initially said!

I also asked her if I could organise a quote to have the carpets cleaned as they haven’t been done in two years and we are all new tenants and she agreed to that too!

I think she might be someone who comes across quite harsh in emails but is much more personable (?) in person.

Stay tuned as repairs start to happen!