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Jubılee!!
The dıamond jubılee to celebrate the Queens 60 year reıgn ıs comıng! And look! A Frıdays! I began my third euro trip with both hope and trepidation. Hope because my last trip to Europe left me suivh a great goal. When I came over, I was in a slightly bad place. Professionally, I had been declined a job at turner south which is where I thought my dream job must be. Personally, I had a lot of stuff going on as well, and living in Germany was a welcome respite from that. While in germany, I had the chance to work with a young girl that needed help with her English hw. I would say she was the catalyst that lead to my current career. I hadn't really thought about teaching until I worked wi her, saw her lightbulb moments, and her thirst for knowledge. She even helped me with my german! So because of her, I came home with the new goal, the new north, the new future... Of being a teacher. Here I am a scant few years later with a masters, a teaching job where I had a fantastic first year, and a future of possibilities. I can only wonder what new epiphany awaits me at the end of this new journey.
Of
Fılm Festıvals
Thıs ıs where they show bıg premıeres lıke Harry Potter! course, there's still some mild trepidation. It might be hard for you guys to believe I could still be nervous at traveling since I've already been to 26 countries (and most by myself!), but I assure you, it is possible. The whole purpose of my first trip was to stretch my comfort zone even more than traveling abroad had. Well, once stretched ...it needs even more to stretch it again! Ths trip I'm going to countries outside the normal European circuit. I have no familiarity with the languages or similar languages in the same tree. Ex: English and German are both Germanic languages...and Danish also has a lot of root words. And i have basic French which is helpful for obvious reasons.
Well now that all the soul-searching and comfort levels are all done....trip time! I started off my 2 month trip in the Big Smoke--London! I was originally going to take a buddy pass out to Europe, but after further review, I deemed it too stressful to start a trip and booked a flight to London since it was one of thef cheapest and an old friend of mine lived there. My friend Sam that I met in
Tourıst
Yea Im a toursıt 2003! He's an Austtralian that I hadn't seen since I studied abroad in toowoomba six years ago! He is a teacher too and had just returned from a class trip to Spain. His school must have thought he would be tired so they gave him the day off...which just happened to be the day I came in. I arrived at 7am, which was 2 am time and didn't go to bed again until midnight (7pm)! Boy, was I tired!
Sam took me all around London. He had been living there for two years and knew quite a lot of trivia and history about the places we went. We went to many places I had already been before, but what was interesting this trip, was how London was getting ready for not only the Olympics this summer, but the queen's jubilee. Apparently she's been on the throne for 60 years! Everywhere were signs encouraging Londonerrs to do their part in keeping the city clean for e olympics, signs encouraging Londoners to leave during the Olympics because of all the tourists, and major sites under construction.
The next day I went for a lovely walk down the thames. I'm not
Sherlock!
I kept lookıng for Robert Downy Jr sure if the water levels are lower than they were last time I was there, or if a I hadn't noticed, but there wwere spots where you could get down to the "beach" and fiddle around down there'd. The weather was amazing and there was a breeze the whle day. Much better than the day before when it was so hot! I went to the globe theater because last time io came, it closed right before I got there. I got there about 2 to make sure I got to go inside it this time. After all, I am an English teacher! ....apparently I'm a terrible one because I didnt check the website... And there were no tours in the afternoon 😞😞😞😞😞😞. Twice denied!!M I was so mad!
I wandered a bit more but ended up going "home" early because my legs were a bit sore from walking all the day before after being so cramped in a plane. The next day, I had quite an adventure trying to get my bus ticket to standsted. The same company that has cheap flights out of the uk, also has cheap bus fares to the airport! It was only about $13,
Stupıd Globe :(
Beautıful but unfortunate! but if you book earlier, it can be as low as $3.
Easybus.co.uk so I recommend it.
When I got to the airport, I think they confused my Swiss army bag...with a Swiss army knife? The guy was really nice, but we ended up almost completely emptying my bag before he let me go. When he rescanned it, they didn't see anything and he was really confused. I blamed my monkey..... You know those u-shaped headrests people bring on planes? Turns out they are awesome. I've never used one before because I thought they looked weird and my mom had embarrassed me with one a long time ago (she was wearing one around here neck and was walking around the plane. I asked her rhetorically if she could be anymore embarrassing, and apparently she could, because she put it on like a hat...I feel like she also sang, but I could be makng tha up....) back to my monkey.... I was given a nice one, but it was night orange. I went to exchange it for a less intense color, and they had kid ones with animals. Sweet. Monkey it is 😊 I haven't decided on a name yet...anyone
Mındıng!
I just thought thıs was funny have thoughts?
Now I'm all up to speed! I'm currently writing this on my iPad (please excuse mistakes. The iPad isrr to type on than a computer!) on an Atlasjet flight to Istanbul. So far it's done wonders to allay my fears about turkey. Not just because I'm a solo woman, but y'all knowhow particular my tummy is! The food was free and delightfully bland 😊 chicken Alfredo with bread and a sweetbread soaked in honey? Yes please! They also came around multiple times with drinks! I think even the wine was free!
Oh! I'm also tryng to remember to wear a pedometer every day to see how much I walk! So far 3287 steps (at least,... Sometimes I don't think it's too reliable). Anyone know how to equate that to miles? I guess I could measure my steps and turn that into feet... Anyway, over 3000 steps and most of those wwere with over 37 pounds of baggage! I feel like my bag is way bigger than everyone else's, so there is a very real possibility that I will abandon some unnecessary clothes.
Gotta get back to planning my figurative attack on turkey! I can't wait to be on two continents at once!
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Jemille
non-member comment
It wasn't a hat - I was Anne Boleyn!
I'm glad you have your Chunky Monkey to keep you company. And Mamoo will be glad to know that you're enjoying (or not) the Swiss Army knife bag. Maybe they thought you were Jane Bond or something. It's weird for me to read your entries with all the boo-boo's like a non-Language Arts teacher, but I accept your excuse. Sorry about the Globe. I had the same thing happen in 1999, but I had forgotten. Remember, you can't go back to Constantinople! Love, Mom