Today was a fun day! We spent the afternoon at a fair in Buckingham with our house mates and another friend, Melissa. We left Aylesbury at 2:30 pm and spent a few hours at the fair. We haven't been to a fair in ages! It was fun just walking around, going on rides, eating bad-for-you foods and playing games. There are a few standard rules when you go to a fair: go on rides that make you feel sick, play games where you get ripped off by carnies and buy cotton candy! Will, Melissa, Ebony and Damien went on this crazy ride that went REALLY high into the air and upside down...we can't think of what the name of it was...I (Bri) was the official bag-holder for that ride! I finally decided to go on a ... read more

Guess where we're going!? - SPAIN!!! Well, Barcelona to be exact. The English school year includes a one-week break each term, and the first break is October 20th to 28th. Tonight we booked our flights, hotel and tickets to a few attractions. We fly out of London the morning of Saturday, October 20th and we will be returning Friday, October 26th. We purchased a 5 day 'Barcelona Card' which gives us free entry to many museums and attractions, discounts at some shops and restaurents and unlimited travel on public transport. Some attractions we may visit are: Museum of Decorative Arts, Natural Sciences Museum, Botanical Gardens, Picasso Museum, the temple of the Sagrada Familia, the Perfume Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art. We can also go on a guided walk of the Gothic Quarter, or of ... read more

This week was pretty "normal" and laid back. We went to a PD (professional development) training course on Monday in Aylesbury. It was actually quite useful. It was geared towards overseas trained teachers new to the Math teaching profession. We got to sleep in a bit since we live in Aylesbury and didn't have far to go! The rest of the week at the school went by pretty fast. We are always happy when the weekend arrives! Tonight we plan on going out with our housemates for dining and dancing. We're going to a Pad Thai restaurant, followed by some drinks and dancing at a local pub. There may be another teacher from Canada who works at the same school as two of our housemates coming out with us as well. It should be a fun ... read more

Hello everyone! Since we've been in England we have encountered many new words in the "English" language. Here they are: jumper = sweater, lift = elevator, pants = underwear (we found that out the funny way when the kids laughed at us when we asked them to tuck their shirt into their pants), quid = pound (similar to a buck is a dollar), tramp = homeless person, nicked = steal, tick = checkmark, bumbershoot = umbrella, petrol = gas, mobile = cell phone, bin = trash can, rubbish = trash, rubber = eraser (not condom). If we come across any more, we'll let you know! The Buckingham School is an interesting school. It is a specialist Sports College with approximately 1200 students ranging from grade 7 to 13. The school system and students are completely different ... read more

Well, our travel adventure has started...in Hamilton, ON!!! We arrived at the airport last night 3 hours ahead of our departure time, only to find out that 2 hours previous to that, the airline had decided to delay the flight until today (Aug.27) because of mechanical issues (the plane was still in Europe). Thankfully, we were put up at the Sheraton hotel in downtown Hamilton and provided $50 each per day to use towards food and drink. (So last night we took advantage of it and drank free beer ). We have not yet been notified of our new flight details. So far we've spent the day using the pool at the hotel, watching tv, and bugging the front desk every hour asking if they have any info. Hopefully we can get to England soon...all of ... read more