Monday, August 21, 2006
I fully intended on keeping an up to date weekly blog but with the long hours, one day off per week, no access to a computer and the drinking and partying I just couldn't do it. I will try to sum up my 7 weeks as quick as possible. I have already done the first and second week so....
After leaving peaceful, tranquil Gloucester, I was sent to Uxbridge (a complete hole that looks like on big council estate), supposedly in London - my arse London!! It is the last stop on the western Picadilly line. It took about 1.5 hours to get to the centre of London. Luckily it was too expensive to go in so I stayed in Uxbridge most of the time.
I arrived at the centre 3 weeks into its starting date where I was hit automatically by the site of over 500 kids. It was total mayhem. I was bascially thrown in and I must admit the first couple of days were real hard for me. The teachers had already known each othere for 3 weeks so everyone had already established friendship circles. The first class I was given was just evil. I was warned it was going to be be bad, but I was not prepared for what I would see. I arrived into my class and was faced with 20 psycho 15 year old Italian kids who acted like little monsters. It was aweful!! It was like babysitting but this time the kids were not really kids. I couldn't control them and any lesson planning I did basically went out the window because I couldn't implement it. I very nearly quit, but by the 2nd day I had had enough and decided that if I couldn't beat them then join them. The kids weren't bad like you get in UK schools, it's just that they were high spirited/ boisterous/ don't know how to channel their energy (teacher talk for they were little sh!ts). I also forced myself into the established teacher circles - how??? Through alcohol. I quickly discovered the teachers liked to drink into the wee hours so I just joined in. From that day on in Uxbridge I averaged 4 hours a night on sleep, but I had fun.
The staff were great and came from all walks of life. Truely international people from UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Poland, Greece, Finland, Italy, India, and of course Canada. I met some great people - Simon, Emma & Komal from the UK, Karita from Finland, Tim from Hong Kong and Steve from NZ. I also made great friends with 2 guys from Spain, Pablo and Miguel. They were just amazing guys and I fully intend to visit them next year.
An interesting fact I discovered on one of our drinking evenings: I am 10.5 Carlsberg (330ml) cans tall. I will upload the picture when I get access to a scanner.
Anyway, I finished on August 18th. Although sad that it's over I'm happy to be in the real world and unemployed.
After leaving peaceful, tranquil Gloucester, I was sent to Uxbridge (a complete hole that looks like on big council estate), supposedly in London - my arse London!! It is the last stop on the western Picadilly line. It took about 1.5 hours to get to the centre of London. Luckily it was too expensive to go in so I stayed in Uxbridge most of the time.
I arrived at the centre 3 weeks into its starting date where I was hit automatically by the site of over 500 kids. It was total mayhem. I was bascially thrown in and I must admit the first couple of days were real hard for me. The teachers had already known each othere for 3 weeks so everyone had already established friendship circles. The first class I was given was just evil. I was warned it was going to be be bad, but I was not prepared for what I would see. I arrived into my class and was faced with 20 psycho 15 year old Italian kids who acted like little monsters. It was aweful!! It was like babysitting but this time the kids were not really kids. I couldn't control them and any lesson planning I did basically went out the window because I couldn't implement it. I very nearly quit, but by the 2nd day I had had enough and decided that if I couldn't beat them then join them. The kids weren't bad like you get in UK schools, it's just that they were high spirited/ boisterous/ don't know how to channel their energy (teacher talk for they were little sh!ts). I also forced myself into the established teacher circles - how??? Through alcohol. I quickly discovered the teachers liked to drink into the wee hours so I just joined in. From that day on in Uxbridge I averaged 4 hours a night on sleep, but I had fun.
The staff were great and came from all walks of life. Truely international people from UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Poland, Greece, Finland, Italy, India, and of course Canada. I met some great people - Simon, Emma & Komal from the UK, Karita from Finland, Tim from Hong Kong and Steve from NZ. I also made great friends with 2 guys from Spain, Pablo and Miguel. They were just amazing guys and I fully intend to visit them next year.
An interesting fact I discovered on one of our drinking evenings: I am 10.5 Carlsberg (330ml) cans tall. I will upload the picture when I get access to a scanner.
Anyway, I finished on August 18th. Although sad that it's over I'm happy to be in the real world and unemployed.
Week 2 - Gloucester
Well Itlay won the World Cup of course. It was mayhem. The Italians and the French were kept in separate venues and when Italy won I thought there was going to be a war. It was crazy. I was in charge of keeping the Italians away from the French but after the final penalty there was no way I was going to stand in a front of 100 charging Italian kids!! No trouble arose beyond shouting but it was pretty scary.
We had a cross dress disco which was fun. We got the male teachers to dress as women. My mate Gemma and I thought it was the funniest thing in the world and had a blast dressing them up!! the whole campus could hear us howling with laughter as we got them ready for the dance.
Beyond that the week was quite and nothing really happened.
Well Itlay won the World Cup of course. It was mayhem. The Italians and the French were kept in separate venues and when Italy won I thought there was going to be a war. It was crazy. I was in charge of keeping the Italians away from the French but after the final penalty there was no way I was going to stand in a front of 100 charging Italian kids!! No trouble arose beyond shouting but it was pretty scary.
We had a cross dress disco which was fun. We got the male teachers to dress as women. My mate Gemma and I thought it was the funniest thing in the world and had a blast dressing them up!! the whole campus could hear us howling with laughter as we got them ready for the dance.
Beyond that the week was quite and nothing really happened.
