The weeks leading up to...

Coming to terms-

When I returned to my flat, Erin L from Po Co was in town with her new husband and a roommate of hers. I met them in Piccadilly Circus and took them to the White Horse for a quick drink. I have not seen Erin in ages so it was quite nice to see her. We arranged for me to show them around London on Thursday (being I did not have school for the rest of the week). I took them to all the big sites: Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, a pub lunch, Tower Bridge, and Harrods. We parted ways. Later that night, I walked from Liverpool Street all the way to Euston station. The walk took me over an hour, but the night was clear and mild and I was in the mood for a quiet walk through the beautiful City.

Friday I decided to explore some weekday markets that I normally would not get to see. I started off at the Bermondsey Market (antique market) and then headed for the Borough Street Market (fresh food). The Bermondsey had some really interesting antiques along with what looked like worthless junk. The people were definitely hard core collectors and I was well out of my league. The Borough Street Market on the other hand was well nice. This market was devoted to fresh food…the brightest and biggest fruits and vegetables I have seen, fresh octopus (whole), squid, eel, shark, tuna, and hundreds of other varieties. Fresh meat with gutted rabbits and deer hanging in the stalls. Cheeses and breads were all over to sample. Dried fruits, organic smoothies, and stall upon stall of on the spot cooked food. I had a venision burger with fried onions and salad (lettuce, cucumber, and tomoto), with a cranberry sauce on top of it all. I then had an apple, pear, and kiwi smoothie, fresh strawberries, and dried mango. The food was brilliant!

From the market I headed out to Stratford, home of the 2012 Olympics, and basically nothing else right now. I walked around for a couple of hours and finally caught a bus back into central London. Friday night was to be JP’s night. We started off at his old pub in Sloan Square and had a mighty good time. From here, Adam met us and we headed to Tottenham Court Road to get chips and go to the clubs. JP picked his favourite club and Adam and I accompanied him. The club was a rather new experience for both of us! We had a great time, but we lost JP in the end…although he did have his glasses and watch (a joke only we will understand).

Saturday I slept in to a glorious 12:00. I made the rounds to four different grocery stores (do not ask why, it was just how it happened).

That night I went to Hammersmith for the school disco. This is a club where everyone dresses as school kids in uniform being public school kids wear uniforms. I went with my teacher friends and it was a blast. Lisa, Helen, Carly, Annleigh, Sally, Michelle, Sarah, Kathy, Adam, Tom, Pete, Andy, Andy, Tom, Ray, and I am sure a couple of others made it too all went. We had a brilliant time. We started at Lloyd’s and then moved to the Palais. A great time and another late night. Here I would like to tell you a bit about the English drinking culture, something called rounds. People fight to buy other people drinks. You rarely ever go to the bar and just buy yourself a drink, in fact, you rarely go to the bar to buy a drink. Everyone takes such joy in buying others a drink; it is really an interesting thing to experience.

Unfortunately I had to work the next day, but fortunately it was an easy, close, short event and it was at London Fashion Week. I was able to see some fit models and experience the whole fashion world.

Afterwards, Adam and I had sushi in Nottinghill on Portobella Road. Here we seemed to be the same person…too funny.

19:00 brought family dinner at the other’s house. Faitek cooked us some great steak. My household brought Toberyion Mash (a secret creation) and it was a great hit. After dinner, we played charades and Mafia (oh yeah, it was a major hit and made me miss my VISION group).

Monday- school was fine. During the evening, I met Emma for dinner and a movie. We had Aussie pies, tea, and watched Munich at Shephard’s Bush.

Tuesday- school and catering job at the Royal Academy of Arts…a quite boring event although I worked with some fun people.

Wednesday- school and dinner with Eric. I went up to Eric's place and we made a gorgeous tuna steak in a vegtable based pasta sauce. Very good!

Thursday- school and catering job again. This event was one of my favourites. A woman living in Notting Hill, only 10 minutes from my house was hosting a birthday party for herself. She was a proper English woman (about 30) and was having a group of about 50 people. This woman has a novel in to the publishers due out next year as well as writing for some big papers over here. I was in charge of the "bar," her dining room table and all of the sushi. She had a great group of friends and we had a great time. I felt as though I was their friends. I had a 40 year old woman hitting on me; it was great. At the end of the night, I had a 25 pound tip!!!!

Friday- school, Goals with the teachers until about 19:00 and then on to Sarah's place. We had take-away (kebab rolls) and then went to Southall for the night. We went to a proper English pub in a rough neighbourhood. I was able to dance with the English ladies all night long!!!!

Saturday- day trip to Canterbury with Eric. We left Charing Cross at 9:00. In Canterbury, we went to the Roman Museum, the Cathedral, an art gallery, a castle, and had lunch and dinner. The town was quite small and very nice. It was the perfect place to take a day trip and enjoy some fresh air and small town life outside of London.

Upon my return, JP, Adam, and I decided to try out a club in Shoreditch, 333. The club had loads of people our age, great music on all three floors, and most importantly a 50 something DJ on the third floor at the Mother Bar. All in all, the night was quite nice.

Sunday- A nice long sleep in after a long week and a hard weekend. I was planning on playing quite low and indeed I did. I went for a run and played frisbee in Hyde Park with Eric. For dinner, JP, Adam, and I went to Angie's African Restaurant, right near our flat. We had plantains and a large land snail for starters...they were both quite good.

Monday- a tough day at work. We had some of the worst kids in school all day together. In all, we had about 17 start with us- four were sent home and one pushed me to escape. The day was a long day but I had quite a good time. Going into the day, we all knew it was going to be rough and that things would not get accomplished. We treated the kids like 5 year olds at time and had to guard the door for the better half of the day. The abuse we withstand for the sake of these kids is amazing. Most think they are like 20 but act as if they are 10. I am not sure what will turn up for them.

Tomorrow will be another challenging day, we have 22 slotted in tomorrow. Wednesday will be the same, but these kids are not quite as naughty as the rest (plus most of them are younger).

Life is great here!!!