blogging from a real place of residence

yes, it has finally FINALLY happened. after months of living in a hostel, sharing a room, I have earned the rights (and more effectively the funds) to live in a real house. In fact, I am sitting in my (rather pink - which may change in january) large room. I have now slept in a real bed, NOT A COT, for the past two nights, cooked two dinners of my own....and even had the luxury of breakfast this morning! In the past month, breakfast has been whatever muffin struck my fancy at 7am in starbucks as I passed by it to wait for my bus. Accompanied of course by the oh-so-necessary coffee I did not have the means to make myself.

It's really amazing, what you take for granted and just how relieving the comforts of life you become accustomed to. That's not to say that I was living horribly in the hostel, but little things - like being able to have some me-time at a time of my choosing, lasting as long as I would like it to. A task completed by closing my bedroom door and just leaving socialization when that door goes "click." Things like not having to listen to my music through ear buds. Being able to choose what goes into my food. Brewing a pot of coffee or tea. Being able to dry my hair in my room, not in the corridor so as not to wake up sleeping roommates. Turning the lights on and off at my discretion. Things like that. I appreciate a lot more than I think I expected I would now that I am back to being in a room of my own. I can create, I can practice, I can just jam on my guitar without disturbing others, or having eyes and ears peering over the 2-7 feet of space between myself and the next person.

Today's triumph was learning how to turn on and regulate the amount of heat generated by the radiator. Since London has decided that it is going to hover around the freezing mark this week, I would say that is a pretty important and significant triumph. Especially when I consider the fact that I left my parka at home. My parka and I are not separated by too much time though, as I will be home in only 3 more sleeps. Unless you count the inevitable nap that I plan on taking on the plane - whilst over the ocean, of course, because then there isn't that much to see. I do plan on seeing some ocean though, as I will be flying backwards through time into daylight, if only to gain perspective of the vastness of the Atlantic.

Three more sleeps, and Canadian winter awaiting me on the other side.

the girl has a postcode

Yes, ladies and gents who may or may not read this - i have a post code now. I found a place to live out my time in London-town in the Marylebone area. It's big, it's a shared house, it's not a hostel. Essentially those were my criteria - minus the "it's big" bit. I didn't necessarily care that the room was large, but that's a perk, to be certain.

The reason I was able to come across such good news is because I had some other good news pass my way about a month ago. I have a job, working in a primary school as the music teacher. The way it is working out is that I am covering for a woman who is on her maternity leave. The school is up in Harrow, and from my former position, I was commuting about an hour each way to and from Notting Hill. I'm quite pleased to say that now, my travel time has been cut down by about half an hour. That will make everything much easier on my system, I'm sure. The school is great, and my schedule has me teaching music solid all day long on tuesdays and thursdays, then monday/wednesday/friday I float amongst the classes covering various prep times, illness absences, and absences due to course attendances.

Things are definitely looking up from where they were not too long ago.

I am going home to Canada in 7 days to spend 14 days rushing around seeing people and doing things over the Christmas holidays. I get to be home for exactly 14 days, then back to London, back to working, back to living in a beautiful flat.

Since I only have 7 days left here, 5 of which are going to be spent working, I need to do some Christmas shopping this afternoon so I can bring back gifts that are, hopefully, pleasingly British for all the people on my list. I have about 4 hours to do this in. Can she do it? That question will be answered by dinner tonight, for tomorrow I move all of my things out of this ruddy hostel and into a real place.

It's exciting, folks. Hopefully the next blog entry won't be so far in the future like this one was from the last one (thanksgiving....wow....where has time gone?)

turkish delight.

ok well, not turkish, but turKEY! in a land where thanksgiving is not a celebrated holiday, but remains a day with warm (only after stepping in from the cold) memories and good times, it was going to be an accepted truth that thanksgiving was going to, for lack of a better word, suck this year. However, the opposite was true. I may have said this previously, but one night whilst stumbling about covent garden in and around the maple leaf pub, i noticed a sign for thanksgiving dinner. a traditional thanksgiving dinner with turkey, veggies, potatoes, and most importantly, pumpkin pie. This was definitely on the list of events though that I did not want to attend myself. Through facebook status updates, I noted that my friend Andrew was feeling particularly homesick due to a bath bomb he sells at Lush that smelled like the traditional scents of thanksgiving and pumpkin pie. Naturally this jarred the memory reflex in my brain and reservations were made, and two happy Canadian ex-patriates went to thanksgiving dinner last night.

Here, Andrew is proudly displaying his on-tap pint of Sleeman's. Appropriate for two Guelph alumni to be drinking this as well.

I'm not entirely sure I have ever really truly made advanced reservations for anywhere. Look how official it all was!

A feast, to be sure.

When this is set down in front of you, you can't help but continue to grin like a cheshire cat.

Same thing applies to pie. Especially when it's pumpkin pie!

Note the recipe for the "Crumble" - this was quite likely one of the most delicious, autumnal alcoholic beverages I have ever had. It's a new favourite. I took this picture in order to remember the recipe. Orchard fizz ended up just tasting like a wee bit of fruit and black licorice. Not recommended unless you really really like drambuie or sambuca.

So, that was my thanksgiving. There was a wee club jump later on just to keep the festivities going. However, the clubs were PACKED for a monday night (what's with that?), and in the end my need for my bed overcame my desire to stay out and pretend to dance (which is really just an extended effort to not get crushed in a crowd or fall down).

One thing that I forgot to mention, on Sunday night when I went to put down the deposit for the reservation for last night's feast, I happened upon some interesting things in Covent Garden. First of all, I'll mention that I saw one of the best street performance acts I've seen in a long time. It involved stunts, chainsaws, a really tall unicycle, juggling knives, and a man running around in the freezing cold in bright pink underpants. I laughed. I clapped. I had a good time of it. It was really quite by chance because it was a cold night, and I went into the piazza to grab a quick hot chocolate before the kiosk closed up shop for the night, and I heard a chainsaw going. Naturally this sparked my interest, so I figured I'd go watch whatever street performer was in Covent Garden that night. Needless to say I was not disappointed. I like when little random jolts of entertainment are infused into my day.

Last, as I was walking back towards the tube, I cut through the piazza again and saw THIS

How I missed this the first time through, or any other time that I didn't notice a giant silver inflated bunny rabbit is beyond me.

Anywho, my headphones finally bit the biscuit and it's time to replace them. I'd like to say this is a simple want and not a need, but if anyone who reads this has ever taken public transit as their main form of getting around, you know that a silent ride or one without music can be quite painful.

Off I go!

Wax On, Wax Off

so it's thanksgiving. the first one i've had away from home. that's okay though, because i discovered that the maple leaf pub in covent garden does thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey, stuffing, potatoes, veggies, and pumpkin pie. essentially, the whole nine yards.

so i'm quite excited for that in a few hours. i've been eating tiny tiny amounts all day so that i am sure to have room for the upcoming feast.

this past weekend, helen and i went to madam tussaud's wax museum here in london up on baker street. i discovered in my time there that i only felt normal height beside james dean, einstein, chaplin, and child-mozart. otherwise i just felt quite short. oscar wilde and the princes dwarfed me! anyways, here are some photos from that....

spider-man, spider-man.....

it's SHREK!

and he's enormous

i'm so short. prince william is so tall. dreamy.....?

the author of the picture of dorian gray - oscar wilde. a literary hero of mine.

William Shakespeare!!!!!

Helen with Vincent Van Gogh

Another hero, but non-literary, Sir Isaac Newton!!! and his prism.

Another hero but of the musical persuasion - Freddie Mercury!!! good lord i'm short.

EINSTEIN! he's short! i feel better now.

Ok, i got really excited because i'd read about this guy in the bathroom reader i had at dad's over and over (because there was only one reader in our possession) - Vlad the Impaler. the father of the original dracula. cool, non?

I felt like i had to.

Despite many people seeming to think this is hitler, this is actually charlie chaplin.

SO, this is not in the wax museum, but it was outside the cinema where helen and i went to see zombieland. This is a plaque that when you're facing it to read it, indicates the direction of canada/ottawa as well as how far it is. i forget how far it said, shoulda taken a picture of it closer up. but i at least know where it is now!

Well, i'm off to get clean and ready for turkey time! :)

I finally had purpose!

I had purpose on monday! My agency finally phoned me for a supply day. I ended up way out the OTHER SIDE of this city. The tale begins at 8:20am when I was still very much asleep. It was a monday and me being myself, I had a slob-day sunday and was banking on showering monday. Now, I could have probably gotten up early and showered and whatnot and then just crawled back into bed in case they called (which i do now every. single. day). However, as the case may be, with the odds in my favour in this gamble, i stayed in bed. I awoke to my ringtone and wondered "this is odd, who's calling?" and lo and behold, at 8:20am, my agency was calling me to come to the aid of a school who had a teacher call in sick that morning. I think they may have noticed that I sounded groggy and freshly woken, so the lady assumed "oh, so you're not really ready to go to work then are you" and my response: "not right now, but I can be in 5 minutes". So great, i got directions on what tube to take and I told the agency lady to tell the school that there was no way I would be getting that far by 9am. It takes 20 minutes just to get to the other side of the downtown core most days.

So with the help of hairspray and bobby pins, i fixed the mop on my head. I literally whipped out the clothing I keep on top of the pile in my closet specifically for teaching emergencies and threw them on. Gathered my stuff and was out the door down to the central line as fast as i could. My commute was going well, and at about 9:10 I had surfaced out of the underground still on the tube (but on a different line - i had switched to the district line for the final part of my journey). Called the agency for the rest of the directions (which they texted to me), and they were shocked that I had made it that far that quickly so of course, it was assumed I'd be at the school around 9:40.

That's when everything went downhill. My train conductor announced that the final destination of the train had changed and was now stopping BEFORE the station I needed. So I de-trained. Waited 4 minutes for the next one, got on, and ended up at my stop. Then it was time to embark on a bus. The bus took 10 minutes to come (and it was raining. joy). Then, about halfway to the bus stop I needed to get off at for the school, a dump truck had decided to park in the MIDDLE OF THE ROAD and was clearly not leaving until his job was done. That took a good 10 minutes. By the end of it, I got to the school at 10:18. Right before the kids went off to morning assembly (a daily thing in that school) and their morning recess. Great.

So the rest of the day went very well. We altered our schedule a little bit to include all the important lessons that I needed to cover. Thankfully the lady I was subbing for went handout photocopying crazy and I was never at a lack of activities for the children. Bless those teachers who do that.

The restaurant I gave 6 hours of my time to on a trial shift never called me back. Thanks, jerks. Not even to tell me that they were going another direction. Not exactly the kind of place I'd want to work for anyways if that is how they conduct their business.

But on the up side, I will get paid for monday, and I learned my lesson. I now wake up at 6 or 630 (depending on whether or not i really need to wash my hair that day) and am dressed by 7. make up on, everything. Call the agency and tell them that I am available to work and am ready to go at a moment's notice. No more of that "i haven't showered in days and here i go to work" thing. Never. Again.

We shall see what the rest of the week brings. However I must say even working ONE DAY has  lifted my spirits. Now a few more days and I'll be one happy bird.

sometimes i think man i'm such a tourist

ok, that's not so much true anymore. i haven't been doing as many tourist-ey things lately. the last thing i did that i would classify as truly tourist-esque would be going to the british museum. and that was last week. so it feels like it's been a while.

i'm still unemployed and that is starting to really really get to me. i just want to fill my days with SOMETHING rather than sifting continuously through ad after boring ad on gumtree (a classifieds site for london). the perk to that i suppose is that it can be done in the comfort of sweat pants and a tshirt.

i had a trial run at a restaurant up in islington. it wasn't too bad, actually. i could probably happily work there. i just wish i was TEACHING which is what i came here to do. the agency is kind of letting me down hardcore right now. it's been almost a month since i landed and i've had one interview for teaching. that's not exactly what i would consider to be "okay," or anywhere CLOSE to "okay." SOMETHING will come up I'm sure - i guess i'm just going to have to keep on trying. maybe i'll wrestle with the printer downstairs and print off a whackload of resume's and start meandering to various shops and stores and beg for a job. i hate that it has come down to this. i really do. and the weather turned cold today - the one day that would be a guaranteed good day to be in the park busking. perhaps if it is sunny instead of cloudy tomorrow that's what i'll be doing.

it's time to wander off. i have restless legs.

sure can start....

My two weeks of having Helen in the city with me have come to an end. Sigh. No more daily dinners - although that may relieve my wallet for a while. Probably for the best.

I've decided that regardless of the teaching front, come monday I'm going to restaurants. I had to cancel the last restaurant gig interview for a teaching interview because of time conflicts. Next time, whether or not I believe that teaching does come first because that is why I am here, unless it's a PAID JOB, I'm going to schedule which ever came first around the other. This unemployment thing has to end. Now.

So my nights and days lately - well I've been getting stuff done. I did laundry for the first time in 3 weeks yesterday! and it only cost me 3.70! AND holy crap the machines here are amazing - so everything is REALLY clean and easy to fold and it was all done in 1.5 hours. Yes, i just geeked out about laundry.
Other than that, I had a pyjama day on thursday, just out of laziness and mild spite. I slept quite a bit and now feel better. Other nights out have been spent in the gay bars in soho with friends. You can't not have fun in them! One even had barbie dolls stuck to the ceiling and weird cushion-ey nook tables. very bizarre. OH and if you weren't in a nook, you could sit on a plate on top of a gnome's head. I think that place may have been the most hilarious space I had ever been in.

Last night was Covent Garden to the Maple Leaf because I figured Helen, having spent 5 years in Canada, should at least experience the Canadian themed bar. It's just so stereotypically ridiculous! Then to the porterhouse, a bar Claire wanted to try out - it was like being on a pirate ship! because it was all decks and crazy floors (6 floors high!) and then there was a band in the basement playing some of those classic bar hits that sometimes even I can't help but sing along to. Though there was too much U2 for my liking.

Today looks to be pretty mellow. YAY! I need mellow today.

I swear, they gave me the tourist fork.

I figured since I'm on an updating BLITZ of sorts, that I'd at least do another blog with photos.

Also, that waitressing job went on the back-burner. As these things tend to happen, the instant I attempt to stray from the path I'm just sitting on waiting for something to move (kind of like sitting on a stalled tube train - you think about jumping into the tunnel and attempting to hop onto another moving train - which would actually result in death - then it starts to move again). I got a job interview to teach, contract, full time, in Hackney Wick area. For those of you who may be unaware, that is the WORST area of London (so I've been told). I've been told to stay the hell away from there and to not even wander there on a whim just to see if the rumors are true. So that is where my job interview is tomorrow. They need a teacher, so chances are higher I'll be offered the job. However, I think it may be in my best interest to use this interview as a practice. I.....just don't think I want to dive in to my first teaching job in an area that's known for constant crime and violence. As much as the kids need it, I don't think that my lack of experience will help them in any way. In fact, I think it may make for a very long year and a very worn out Sarah who no longer wants to teach.

Anyways. Practice. It's practice. That way the next time I'll be less nervous. I think I'm equating it somewhat to house-hunting. You never buy the first one you find. Nor do you rent the first apartment/flat you find either. You have to shop around. I do not need a contract. I can supply teach. Unfortunately, the waitressing job interview was at the same time. Teaching/career comes first. Regardless of location. So it won out in the end. However, the coffee shop I go to on a nearly regular basis is hiring again. They're always hiring. But their food and their coffee is (surprisingly) AMAZING. And the vibe in there is really cool. So unless something ELSE pops up on wednesday morning I'll just wander there for a coffee and casual CV drop off.

On to the photographs!

Helen and I on a night out on the town. I think this was at All Bar One in Covent Garden.

Cousin Maggie and I on her brief pass through of London. This photo was actually taken to ease my uncle David's worries that I was no longer living. And here....look! I'm even STANDING!

Another night out on the town. Helen....kind of failed at the drinking of BOOZE as she sipped her tea like soup. Yes, this is how she consumed the ENTIRE cup of tea.

Same place. This is probably one of the few times I've ever felt tall in my entire life. These doorways required either ducking or, as I am demonstrating, odd bodily contortions in order to get through them. Otherwise you're embarrassing yourself by smacking face first into the door frame.

Tonight, a rather tame night. Indian food in the Victoria neighbourhood - this was my dessert. It's some delicious ice cream with toffee in a freakin' POT (!) and that's not all....

This is the utensil I was given to eat it with. WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING!?!?! Don't tell me it's a fork. It is NOT a fork. It has two tines and one horribly misshapen thing on it! Like a tumoresque tine.

SEE??

The horror. THE HORROR. I don't know what this thing is for!!!

Though, when I went up to pay, the waiter asked if I was on vacation. I assume this is the fork they hand to whomever they presume to be a tourist. I got the tourist fork. It was horrifying.

On the way back to the tube, we came across this. All guilded and pretty, just standing there. Thankfully everything abnormal (and even some normal things) have plaques explaining their existence. This is LITTLE BEN. Helen is in front of it. No it is not cold out. Yes she is cold. She is from Bermuda. Poor woman.

So. On that note, I guess I should go to bed soon and prepare myself to decline a job even though it seems to go against everything I stand for to decline work opportunities, I just don't think that this will be the best fit, nor a wise decision for myself - a newly qualified teacher in a foreign country.

Conflicted.

-Sarah

happy monday

Well, this is my second monday in London. I suppose that means that tomorrow marks an official two weeks away from home. I miss it less and less each day. Seeing as Guelph does not count as a "city" per se, seeing as it's downtown was comparable in size to the one in Goderich, (okay, Guelph's was slightly bigger, but the "size matters" debate has no place here). This is my first time in a city. A large one anyways. This means I am constantly being surprised by things or fascinated. Human nature fascinates me and to be honest, I want to spend half a day on a park bench tucked away and just watch how strangers interact when they pass each other - what happens when people bump into one another (options being appologize, ignore it, or if you're me - probably fall down)? How many people are PROBABLY lost but are afraid to admit it to the ever watching public who probably aren't watching at all? Things like that. Maybe if I some how find more money than I know what to do with, I should invest in a psych degree?

I figure with 15 minutes left before the school day starts that today is another day of unemployment for me. I think it may be time to go downstairs, wrestle with the printer, and attempt to print off a CV to work in a coffee shop. As much as I loved my job before, it's not necessarily my first priority to do that again across the ocean. BUT the dwindling numbers in my bank account suggest that I should probably do something to remedy the situation.

Ohhhh the real world.


UPDATE: it's later on in this monday morning and I have now applied online for a couple of waitressing jobs. Seeing as work in my actual profession hasn't started yet and my belief that it actually will start soon is fading ever so slightly (but not entirely), I figured why the hell not. I found one that is at a place in Notting Hill Gate where I live right now - still in a hostel - but hey, work is work, right? I  may even be able to keep the bar-tending part of the job if that is what I am hired for (assuming I get hired), when I am teaching for some extra cash - hellooooo leaving the hostel!
Also, I got an email BACK asking me to come in for an interview tomorrow at 1pm. Now that I have done this I will likely get a call telling me I am teaching, as that is the way that the world seems to work. Odd.

Would you like some chichen with your gingle ale?

Helen and I discovered some AMAZING chinese food tonight in Camden Town. Well, ok....maybe discovered is a bad, or maybe more vague (?) term...we discovered a place to EAT said food, the food itself I am pretty sure was all things we had tasted before. So, London, you have some good chinese food. The best part being that the buffet's dessert display actually had a label on it with, I kid you not, the words "THE HAPPY SECTION" on it. I snickered. Which I realized, very quickly, actually sounded like I was about to sneeze on the food. So I forced that snicker back in. 

Also, in true form, there were some really amusing/amazing spelling errors....such as "gingle" ale (I'm assuming ginger ale?) and chichen. That makes the experience all come together in wonderfulness.

Yesterday, we hit an Italian restaurant just up the street from my hostel. Holy. Mother. Of. Crap. That place was astoundingly great. The home-y feel, the warmth, the lively staff, and the food....oh man. THE FOOD. It was a work of art. WORK. OF. ART. I almost didn't want to eat my meal it was so beautiful. However, hunger and biological necessity (ie, the requirement that I take in nourishment in order to maintain my cells along with oxygen and whatnot...) won over in the end and in it went.

London is making my stomach very happy. Thankfully, I walk around all the time. So my pants still fit. Sadly, the only other pair of jeans I brought has a broken zipper. Don't be fooled, I still wear them fly open and all - however, those are the days when long shirts are very necessary. Otherwise....if you stare in the right place at the right time you get to know the colour of my underwear - which if I were to pay attention, I may just tell you anyways. 

So. London is good. It's growing on me each day. The more places I see, the more I like it here. I'm sure eventually it will feel like home and I'll urbanize myself. Crowds still frighten me. AND moving to the city where there are stairs everywhere....and uneven sidewalks....and devilish tufts of grass....mean that I still fall down all the time. I'm essentially an embarrassing person to walk beside. Or dangerous, depending on whether or not you get in my way.

I hope I work tomorrow. Unemployment gets old really quickly.

-sarah

another day, another fantastic viewing of this city

So, excitement of all excitements, my friend Helen from Bermuda whom I met while I was at Guelph has moved to England too! She's in London for the next couple of weeks and then is off to Redding, but for the meantime I have a familiar face!! This makes me very happy. So for the last two evenings, we've been making use of the short period of time we have to do tourist-ey things before they become silly as we'll eventually just be locals.

Tonight, we went on the London Eye! That giant ferris wheel that's on many of those postcard shots of London. They called it an "observation wheel" but really, it's a gigantic ferris wheel. I mean, come on. It's a ferris wheel.

Anyways, the view from the eye is AMAZING. We did the ride at night, and it was totally worth it. The lights, the buildings all lit up from HIGH above. So great! So pretty. Magestic?

Here are some photos of that....

we are ready for the ride on the eye!

first we needed to buy tickets. and who was waiting to greet us? Pavarotti!

anyways....

first here, we have the grid work that holds the whole thing together. and next...onto the views!!!

i wish i knew what each building was. but really i know the clock tower and houses of parliament.

to the other side, there were more lights along the river. mmmm.

almost to the top!!!

a little fuzzy....but still, everywhere you looked out of the pod we were in there were city lights. it was amazing! gives you an idea of how HUGE this city is

see? ENORMOUS! it's just light after light as far as you can see.

behold....the TOP. and this is the pod that we followed around in a very identical pod.

these are two very excited tourists....who can only reasonably be tourists for a short period of time

so begins our descent

i zoomed in on this. it's a stadium that was very much far away from where we were (you can kind of see it in the picture before this one...about 3/4 of the way up on the left side of that picture). like i said, you can see everything from up here!

i am a pod person! with the houses of parliament behind me all lit up gold.

That was so worth the money, I don't care what you've heard. It's worth it! The views are amazing. Just amazing. And it's dorky fun all around.

The reason we didn't go yesterday was partly due to Helen fighting off jet lag and partly because yesterday, it POURED RAIN. The photo below is of one very drowned-rat-looking me.

oh and a ridiculous sundae that we devoured quite willingly. We were perfectly fine with taking our time with dinner yesterday. It was time spent out of the downpour. It actually rained hard enough that one of the tube stations shut down due to flooding. I thought it rained all the time over here...? Wouldn't that mean that the Brits would be ready for such a thing? 

Silly British.

Can you see the rain now? After dinner yesterday we toured by Buckingham Palace, because it was just right there at the Green Park station. So, for scale, here is me in front of it. I'm a tiny woman and those are some big gates. Oh, and I'm completely soaked. See that umbrella I'm holding? It did diddley squat. However, it redeemed itself on my walk home. I noticed later on that a bird had relieved itself on my umbrella, which meant that it missed me. So, umbrella, you only served one true purpose....shielding me from bird excrement. Rather than rain. In the rain, you kept inverting yourself. Therefore, you are a failure, umbrella. A. Failure.

We did a two-for-one deal/combo thing with the ride on the eye. We got tickets to Madame Tussaud's which should prove amusing and hilarious and awesome. 

Other than that I haven't much to update. I should be getting work any day now, which thrills me to no end. 

Having a friend in this city even for a short while made the homesick feeling disappear really quickly. I'd say pretty much instantly. 

Oh London, every day you change.

-sarah

it's a wonderful day in the neighbourhood....

I've now moved into my new place. I'm in the Notting Hill area near Portobello Market. Which I have now wandered through a couple of times. I love it here! So I've got some more photos from around the 'hood.

my street (took this while walking back towards my hostel)

this looked fancy.....but wait...there's more! that sign there, it could get you all hopeful (though I'm not)

because it says......

seriously. doubt. it.

Portobello market with its colourful and beautiful buildings

more market

the market on a different day - more vendors, these jewelry and antique vendors are ALL OVER the place selling some amazing things! for cheap!

a beautiful home on the corner near the market

back to the walk homeward - this is a street with some amazing buildings and plants. with a beautiful old church at the end there (you can see the steeple)

just another part of the walk to and from the market.

Honestly. this new neighbourhood is pretty great. The new room - it's definitely nicer than the last one. it's one of the old rooms in the hostel - i had the choice to be here or in a newer/refurbished room, but those were more expensive per week (by about 6 pounds). So I chose these. 

Note to dad - this was the last charge on the card. they wanted payment before they gave me my key and I was carrying about 70lbs of crap on my body - so rather than trek uphill to get some travellers cheques cashed, and then come back, i opted for the last (i promise!) charge on the card. for real! at least i have a place to live :) right? right?

Last night I found the canadian themed pub in covent garden. all i can say is....they did something horrible to that keg of sleemans. because it was NOT RIGHT. so not right. that's a beer that i have developed a long and loving relationship with and it was not right. tainted!

Should be teaching soon. I HOPE. (then dad, i can send you some money to pay for my living fees....!!)

more exploration to come, i'm sure. one of the next places I intend to go see is Westminster Abbey. Maybe I can even find some old churches to poke around.

OH - this blog is equipped with comments - so feel free to comment on anything. Let me know you're reading! ;)

-sarah