I think there are about five guys present in this packed theatre. Caroline has gotten six of us girls tickets to see the latest rage in Hollywood chickflickdom: He's Just Not That Into You. We giggle excitedly as we take our seats in the posh Empire Theatre, the sight of hundreds of movie premiers, and waste no time retrieving our snuck-in candy from our purses. I wonder how many celebrities have sat in this very seat. I think as I munch on my maltesers. Rather than having only one storyline, the film is a conglo [View Full Entry]

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In the morning, the world is smothered in a thick white blanket. Catherine and I jump up and immediately turn on the news. "This is the worst snowstorm in 13 years," they say. "More snow is expected to fall. We could have 10 inches within 24 hours." "There's no way we still have school," I say to Catherine. She jumps onto Steph's laptop to check the internet. I call the school, but there's no answer. "Almost all the tube lines are down," Catherine reports. "Yes! Then I can't go even if it is open!" But then I won't get paid, either. [View Full Entry]

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Stephanie: Homemade chili Catherine: Guacamole dip, chips, and litte cream cheese rolls Me: Sweet cornbread Catherine, Steph, and I sit on the air mattress and eat while we watch The Family Stone, which I'd never seen before, but rather enjoyed (surprisingly). I really wanted to see Journey's opening act, but we miss it somehow. Journey rules, y'all. Jennifer Hudson sings the best version of the national anthem I think I've ever heard. I get all teary-eyed, probably because I've been feeling all patriotic lately. Anyway, it's a great game. I'm pulling for the Cardinals, because [View Full Entry]

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In September of 2008, Stephanie came to Europe for a vacation. Her first stop was London, and on her first night here, she went to a bar called Henry's, in Covent Garden, and met Dean. Tonight, we gather with friends and family at Henry's to celebrate their engagement. This is a beautiful area of London, with lots of cute shops and restaurants and cobblestoned squares. Henry's is a nice bar, with a big downstairs, which is where we sit on leather couches, enjoying the fingers foods and wine. We have hummus, pita bread, olives, stuffed peppers, little cold fishes, french bread, [View Full Entry]

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Police are investigating an incident involving some of my students. Four boys from my school, two of which are my students, came across a cat in their neighborhood and started hurting it. Enjoying the cat's pain, they continued to do one thing to it after another. I won't go into detail about what they did, because I wish I could get those images out of my mind. Upon learning what they did to this innocent cat, my throat closes up, my stomach lurches, and tears spring to my eyes. But not enough tears to actually cry. My students tortured a cat [View Full Entry]

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When I switched from teaching science to humanities, I also inherited four business classes. Actually, the course is called "enterprise", which is a combination of citizenship and business. Upon completing the coursework, the students will receive two GCSE's, which are basically qualifications in a certain field. I've seen job ads in the paper that say, "Applicant must have a GCSE in maths and science" or "Must have GCSE in food technology." Anyway, I'm completely unqualified to teach this class. You might as well ask me to be the new CEO for Microsoft or a senator. I don't even know where [View Full Entry]

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I've never seen so much bullying in my life. The kids at this school literally have no regard for each other. They are heartless and cruel. It makes me sick. We have a situation where these four obnoxious girls are bullying a quiet, introverted boy. He's about fed up with it, so he's starting to lash out at them in retaliation. At the end of my class, last period of the day on Fridays, I have the students put their chairs on their desks so the floor can be cleaned. While the chairs were up, one of the girls acted like [View Full Entry]

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Victoria Westcott, the author of Guide to Teaching in London: A Survival Guide for Canadians and founder of the teacher recruitment agency Classroom Canada, scheduled an appointment for me at her office in Oxford Circus. I freakin' love Oxford Circus! It's so busy and huge and colorful. The shopping Mecca of London. Everyone is happy on Oxford Street. Deon, Victoria's colleague, greets me warmly and has me fill out the registration forms. They photocopy my passport, current visa, university degree, and Tennessee teaching license. Then Deon says, "So Victoria told me about you and [View Full Entry]

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One of the ladies who works in the front office at school has cancer from asbestos. It's all over the school and in practically every building in England. At home, schools are condemned, torn down and rebuilt if they have asbestos. Here, they'd have to tear down the whole country to get rid of it. It's just everywhere. So we've been planning a fundraiser ball for Nicky to raise money for asbestos cancer awareness. I had assumed the fundraiser was for her and her family, because cancer treatment is expensive. Then I remembered, Oh, yeah! Universal health care. They don't have [View Full Entry]

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I'm stunned. They actually let me out of school early so I can go watch the Inauguration Celebration. I'm on my way to London, now. First stop.... Madame Tussaud's (Madame Tussaud's Official Website) In 1770's Paris, Madame Tussaud learned to sculpt wax likenesses of people and eventually became the art teacher of King Louis XVI's sister at the Palace of Versailles. She later came to the UK with a travelling exhibition. By 1835, Madame Tussaud's exhibition permanently joined London's Baker Street Bazaar. Shortly after, her work [View Full Entry]

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