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.
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.
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:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/102582703@N04/sets/72157635759493663/
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