Then and Now

The past few days have come and gone in the blink of an eye. Since Thursday things have been completely non stop, extremely busy, but a great time.
Thursday started off a regular teaching day, but we were finished school at lunch time in order to prepare for open evening. Secondary schools here work much like Universities in that the students choose where they want to go versus being assigned to a school based on residency (because there are so many schools). In the Science department we ran a series of experiments that the prospective year 6s could participate in. I was lighting kids' hands on fire all night. Although that was exciting in itself, I was more enjoyable to see another side of my coworkers. We played music and just made the lonnnnggg night as much fun as we could. I say long because school ended at 1:20, we weren't allowed to leave school in the time between because of set up, and open evening ran from 5:30-9.
We also got a tour of the new building. It is incredible, I love it. So modern, and a real consideration into new pedagogical technologies was really taken into consideration of the design. I am exciting for the opportunities it can bring and really hope that the students rise to the challenge.

Friday I was involved in a science conference for new teachers. It was interesting, however I felt extremely out of place. Science teachers here call themselves scientists and are pretty hard core about their science. Science is their life. I like science, I enjoyed it in high school, but that's also when I stopped it. I found it difficult to talk to others because all they talked about chemical bonding, and other "sciencey" things. Although, I'm sure if it was the reverse and it was a physical education conference and a science teacher were there they'd probably say the same about us. It kind of made me feel bad for my students in a way as well, because all of these other teachers were so passionate about science and I have zero passion for science. Maybe it will develop? Or the biology unit will be way more exciting than the physics and chemistry!

Friday evening is when the real adventure began though. After the conference I officially started my real travelling. I booked myself a night in a hotel in central London. Which after walking around in circles, getting mixed directions from people and taxi driver telling me he wouldn't drive me because it was across the street, 1.5 hour later I was finally at the hotel. The hotel was not across the street, but a right turn, a left turn, 15 minutes down the street, another right turn and you're there. And it was pouring rain! It was at that point that I decided I would be horrible on the Amazing Race. It was all made worth it though by a nice big comfy bed without springs poking through and a long, hot, powerful shower and a room service dinner. It was tough to leave the next day (especially at 7:20am).

My hotel was the first pick up point, so my day started with a nice tour of London. It was nice at this time, pretty quiet, got to see a whole new side than what I'm used to. The bus slowly became more and more full, until it was completely jam packed. Out of random seating, I ended up finding myself in the middle of three grandmas travelling the world because they're retired TEACHERS. My escape from teaching and I still end up talking about school.

The first stop of the day was Windsor Castle. When I visited England in high school, I had done a tour of Windsor Castle. It was nice to see it again. I'm not a huge history person, and the way this tour was set up was perfect for me. The bus drives you to your locations, tells you when you need to be back on the bus and lets you go free. Our tour price included admission into the state rooms, so although I've seen them, it was nice to go through again. I walked through, at my own pace (much quicker than most), no tour guide, no one talking to me, just going through looking at what I want to. After the rooms, I still had plenty of time and wandered about taking pictures, and going through the little shops, taking in the atmosphere. One of the things I love about travelling is the culture and atmosphere of new places, but soaking that in often gets missed. You get so caught up in seeing the sites that you just look at things, but not really experience them. Although travelling on your own sometimes gets lonely, it is nice to be able to sit there and just take in the moment and really "see" the sites.

Our second stop of the day was the Roman Baths. Our time in Bath was short, enough time to wander the museum and that was about it. The museum was incredible though. We went right into a Roman Bath, saw the hot springs, the pools, etc. They provided the audio phones, which I started listening too, but gave up real quick. I found it much more interesting to walk around and imagine how it was used, what it was like, what it looked like just full of people bathing, what kind of community it created before all of the illness and then after the illnesses. It certain areas, the museum had these projections on the walls of videos that showed you the image. They videos of the people communicating, interacting, in and out of the pools and it really gave you the sense of what really happened. The museum was a lively piece of history. The town of Bath itself looked beautiful, full of cute shops and stories. I only got into two of those shops, an ice cream shop and a jewelry store where I bought my first piece of travel jewelry. Bath is definitely somewhere I will have to go back and visit.

The final stop of the day was Stonehenge. In high school I skipped out on going to Stonehenge, since then I have always wondered what it looked like. After seeing it, I am glad I didn't go 6 years ago. I actually really enjoyed seeing it, but that was the photographer in me coming out. As a tourist 6 years ago I would not have been interested at all and would have then missed out on the opportunities I had yesterday.

Revisiting some of the sites I did 6 years ago has been a great opportunity to look back on how far I have come, what I have done, what I still have yet to do, how much I have changed and how much I have learned. It's been pretty obvious each year through University how much I have changed, I am no longer that shy, quiet girl, scared of everything. Through this travelling and thinking back on the last time I visited these places, and how I see them now really provides some concrete evidence and enlightens me to those facts.

This week I start the new adventure of science only, and embark on a new teaching journey. I am nervous, excited, scared, but ready for the challenge! I really am going to miss some of my students that I will no longer be teaching and there others that I could not jump any higher of joy that I will not be seeing. All of my doubts of my impact were washed away by my year 7s on Thursday when after telling them I won't be their teacher anymore I was attacked in group hug of little kids. It has also confirmed for me the age group I like teaching. At home I am trained in middle school. Here I have been teaching the lower levels of high school. I belong in the middle school world and have started the hunt for a new location and a middle school for next years adventure.

You can find my pictures from Saturday here.