This was mostly a quiet week. As a result, I was able to enjoy the start of the autumnal changes on the trees. There has been a thick rolling fog that visits between dark-thirty and through the morning until mid-afternoon, then the sun comes into view for warm weather until dusk. I have to say, I really enjoy the fog and warmer weather while the autumn leaves begin their change. It certainly feels like the fall semester is in full swing.

Friday night was the first time out to a local pub and my first Guiness in the UK, with co-workers from the school. It turned out to be quite the night of great conversations, hilarious stories, and walks through cobbled streets. At 8:00pm, we met at the Kings Arms on West Street in Dorking, then all 18 of us walked over to a Curry House restaurant, (where I did not eat anything to save my stomach from revolting later in the evening - I know, so sad I can't have East Indian food).

After, we headed over to the pub called the Cricketer, where they were hosting a Beer Fest out back. I was able to have a few tastes of two different ales, (one tasted like a Belgum - citris flavor, and the other was like a red), but I stuck to my favorite, an IPA, & later had a shot of Glennlivit to end my night. It was such a great time to share with new friends and get a comepletely different feel for a small town. While I enjoyed it, I will probably not be doing this very often, but hopefully there will be another night before the end of my 3 months stay.

Saturday turned into a beautiful sunny day, and I decided to go for a stroll through downtown & the antiques row for a bit of window shopping. I was able to find a few more necessary books for the Altered Books lessons at a second hand shop for a good deal. Everyone who was shopping, seemed to be in a pleasant mood... or I was just high on life and only saw people with smiles, like in a happy musical. I was lucky to have found a fabulous leather purse for myself. I just know that I'll use it while traveling and back home.

At lunchtime, I met Annie at the one Mexican restaurant in town... it was medium quality and only half-way-mexican-american-like food. But, it was filling and a fair price. Their tortilla chips were like Doritos. I may only go back there for an emergency quesadilla. When I just can't help myself. LOL

Sunday was a day of being lazy and going out for more sun-kissed walks all over town and in parks. I found myself exploring more of the town. Even if I am still a guest here, I'm definitely beginning to feel more comfortable in my travels. After, I met with Annie to go for lunch at a little cafe. A great place for lattes and sandwiches.

While talking, we decided it was too late in the afternoon to go on an hour train ride to London this time. So, instead we made travel plans for the next 2 weekends: the upcoming one, we will be going back to London to visit the TATE Museum, and a few other hot spots. I'd like to see Big Ben and Westminster Abby. The following weekend, we want to go on an all day tour from London to Stonehenge, Bath, and Windsor.

Oh yeah, the best part of my day... I got to book and plan my own trip to Paris for 2 nights later in October, during our 2 week mid-term break! This is the first time I've ever been able to book a trip for just myself to go to another country. (Aside from coming to the UK) I'll be staying in an all female dorm room in a hostel, and it's near The Louvre! It gets better.... wait for it.... since I'm an art teacher here, I will be able to get in for free! I'm so excited that I'm going to have a hard time falling asleep.

And with that... I will say good night.

On Saturday, Sept. 21st, Annie and I went to London for the day. She had been there twice before, so had a good understanding of how to use the trains & underground system. She is such a life-saver to help me figure things out.

The train station is literally 5 minutes away from my residence and the train leaves every half hour, so it is super easy to get around. We wanted to go see a couple of the many museums in London, and walk through the Kensington Park, then onto Oxford Street for a bit of (window shopping for me), shopping. We first went into the Natural History Museum where we saw a plethora of nature, anmials, fossils, rocks, minerals, and even some awesome dinosaurs! Then, we crossed the street to the V&A Museum (where I was advised holds many textiles), and saw to our amazement that they had not one, but four floors of various hostorial periods of art work, architecture, stained glass, sculpture, paintings, and much, much more. There was so much, that we were only able to see a tenth of it in about 2 hours.

The walk through Kensington Park was just beautiful. We walked for quite a while, in hopes of following our maps to go see the Kensignton Palace. There were directories in the park, but the lines of paths were like spider-webs that were difficult to follow. But, as we followed the Serpentine waters, we found the Landcaster Road that led us to the Round Pond and the sight of the palace was clearly visible. I was so thankful for my Uncle gifting me a pocket book with detailed maps of London. All in all, it was a sight to see, along with all of the birds, paddle boats, and horses.

Even though we didn't get over to Big Ben, the Eye of London, or London Bridge, It was an amazing day to walk all over and visit a great variety of sights. I now know what it means to be in a LARGE city. At one point, there were wall to wall people on Oxford Street, so that I was unable to get a clear spot for a picture of myself in the area. It made me want to hop on a double decker bus to be above the traffic and crowds. That will be on the agenda for next time.
Below is a link to my Flikr with more photos to view...

So this is Dorking, Surrey, UK. Last Saturday morning I arrived at my place of residence after meeting my educators abroad, Mr. T, (a name I will call him for the sake of being annonymous), in London Heathrow airport. Mr. T gave me a lift in his car for a 40 minute drive south of London, to Dorking. While he drove on the highway to give me a brief drive-by tour of Boxhill School, I noticed how different things were in this country. The first was obviously the cars and driving. Not only is it strange to see everything opposite, but everyone seems to drive nimbly fast through small and narrow streets.

Now, keep in mind that at this point I've had about 6 hours of sleep over the last 24 hours. The total travel time was bout 18 hours; driving to airport, flight, stand-by time of 4 hours, flight #2, and then another drive. Sleep was an elusive animal.

Meeting the new residency landlords, Mr & Mrs Smith, (all names have been changed to be kept anonymous) and my roommate, Annie, went well, as they openly welcomed me into their home. I couldn't help but feel relieved and oh-so-lucky to have been offered an affordable room at a place that is only 5 minutes away by bus, from the school. The house is in a picturesque setting of similar styles along the street, with a cozy atmosphere, and the interior is much more roomy than I had expected. There were a few surprises about the residence: there are 4 large dogs, 6 cats, and 7 residents in this house. The animals stay outside mostly. Good thing I like dogs and cats!

After getting s little settled, since it was 11:00am, I wanted to stay up most of the day, to try and get to sleep at night fall & try to adjust my sleeping. So, I decided to go out for a walk into town to see some of the shops and neighborhood. The roomie Annie joined along side me and showed me the area. I was happy to find that the downtown area of Dorking was really only a 5-10 minute walk from the house. That includes the grocery stores, shops, post office, restaurants, cafes, a park, and pubs. This also means I will be walking quite a lot & this is so good!

The first experience of grocery shopping was fun as I was noticing all of the different kinds of foods & merchandise they have that is both similar and different than in the US. Things that made me smile: Yogurt, Cheese, Creams, Bread, Chocolate, Berries, Granola, Honey, Salads, & Pasty Pies. There are only a few things here that I have had a hard time finding the right kind: Coffee, Paper, 3-ring-binders. Everyone here drinks tea and if they do drink coffee, they are not coffee snobs like myself. Most drink instant coffee and to me, that is only used as a last resort. All of their paper sizes are much different, and that means so are their binders, folders, etc.

There were a few other things I noticed that are interestingly different in the home as well: Outlets not only use 3 pins, but there are on/off switches next to each outlet to control the electricity.  How do people in the UK wash their clothes? There is a washer wth control panel for heat, similar choices of types of clothing to wash like delicates, regular, but also a wider variety of options. Also, there is no dryer for clothes. Instead, you can choose to put them in the water extractor, or just hang them up to dry. When you want to heat up a pot of water you don't use the kettle on the stove, you use the electric kettle that miraculously takes 1 minute to boil!

Moving onto another start of the week, after I slept and rested most of the weekend, on Monday, I went to my first day at Boxhill School in Dorking, Surrey UK. Annie was kind enough to escort me to the bus and the school, so that I could meet with my cooperating teacher. That was a great day where I met so many people: the staff, administrators, professors, and students in many classes. Fortunately, the first week was meant as observation. I was able to adjust to my settings, soak it all in, and learn about what is to come for the lessons. I did find out that I will be working with not only one cooperative teacher, Mrs L in her textiles art classes, but also work with two other art teachers, Mrs Beth and Mr M (he is the head of the art department). So, I will have a very heavy schedule and work load in the upcoming weeks. By October, it will be busy, and by November I will be slammed with exciting work! On Friday, I met with my Educators Abroad supervisor Mr. T, and we went over my first impressions, adjustments, observations, and expectations of the program. Everything has been a success thus far.

Through out the week, I learned about some of the different types of art classes, schedules, curriculum, and the grading/levels structure of the international school. I also was able to begin working on lesson plans to teach for a few of next weeks classes. Below are pictures of the mixed-media sketchbook I created for demos, the textiles art class, and some more pictures of the school, Dorking, and a chapel.

Below is the link to my Flikr account where I've put together a set of photos of Dorking UK for my friends & family to view:

After about 19 hours of travel, I arrived in London at 8:35am today, went through customs, then met with my teaching supervisor, who gave me a ride to my place of residence in Dorking, Surrey UK. It was a long and tiring process, but I am relieved that I made it in one piece with enough brain power to hold a good conversation with the supervisor, my new roommate, and landlords. After, I even went out with the roomie for a walk around the neighborhood & into the downtown for some groceries. All on 6 hours of intermitten sleep!
I learned so many things about what I can do while traveling alone across 5,000 miles. About 48 hours before departure & I was a little worried about how I would do it all, but I did it. While waiting for the second leg of my plane in Charolotte, NC, I was able to have some fun conversation with a few people on their way to London. I found it to be invigorating to get a chance to meet new people and hear their stories of travel, homes, and why they were out and about.
The next challenge will be to get a good nights sleep & feel refreshed tomorrow. While Monday will be day 1 of meeting my cooperating art teacher, seeing the school, and the classes of students.