Week One

So after the jet lag settled I was actually able to function again. Typical days for me are waking up around 645 and getting ready. I meet Jessie in the hall outside of our flat around 755 and we walk to breakfast together. We have the same options for breakfast every morning. Ham, sausage, hash browns, eggs, backed beans, half a fried tomato, and a croissant. I usually get a coffee too. Around 9 we begin our seminars. The time really does go by fast because it is a lot if discussions and activities. We also have a morning break to get coffee around 10:30. We break for lunch around 11:45 and we have the same options for lunch everyday. The food is pretty bland and leaves me craving some food from home. After Lunch we have seminars until about 3 and then have a break before dinner at 5. Dinner is usually the worst meal. There is only one option for dinner but potatoes are always offered so I try to fill up on those if dinner isn't something I will eat. After dinner we either go to our rooms to relax or go to a pub. Mostly we go to the pubs for a drink and to mingle with the locals. Pubs are very family oriented. You may even see a dog inside a pub.
On the days we teach we have to be at breakfast at 7:30am. We eat and grabbed a lunch that was packed by the kitchen staff and walk to the bus stop to take a bus to the school. We are all teaching at Much Woolten Catholic primary. Jessie Bailey and I are all teaching a fourth grade class. They refer to their fourth grade as a year five class. On our fist day their we observed our class. They were so precious!! They absolutely adored us and kept asking us to say things like banana and tomato. They even asked us to speak with British accents. Quickly after we were seated in the class I noticed a girl staring at me. Once I made eye contact I winked at her and she smiled. After that she was attached to my hip. Her name is Siobhan- which is pronounced "Shavaun." She is the sweetest thing. After their lunch we joined the classes on the school yard and they crowded around us, to show us dances and introduce us to their friends.
The British schools have a much different schedule than American schools. They begin with a morning assembly and that is a worship service with years 1 through years 6. Then they go to their classes. They have a morning play time for 15 minutes between assembly and lunch. They are split on two different play grounds. years 1 through 3 are on one and years 4 through 6 are on the other. Then they have class until lunch. For lunch they get 1 hour and 15 minutes. After they eat they head to the play ground again. In the afternoon they get a third play time. This one is also 15 minutes. Then they get out of school at 3. This equals four hours of schools and 2 hours of play. It seems like a lot but yet these children are incredibly bright! I am looking forward to teaching these students and seeing their abilities!!