Roaming Bella

Wait, I can see it now…you’re thinking "Holy hell! Leigh actually wrote on her blog! Stranger things have happened!" Well yes, and you’re right. Stranger things do happen!

I finally decided today, of all days, that because the sun is shining strongly at 28 degrees…oh yeah, you heard right: 28 DRIPPING-SWEAT DEGREEES!....that I must write a blog. So seeing as the sun has made the effort, I should too.

So I left you in March, a cold, dreary month of the year.

Since then I’ve been really living it up and having fun :) No home sickness for me! Too many amazing things to do.

Well the evening out with the girls in March, proved to be very posh and full of fun! Firstly, walking around the prominent, upper class streets of Sloane Square, we happened to walk straight past Liam Neeson – as one does; we enjoyed a fantastic assortment of delights: champagne, whisky, mini sandwiches, scones, jam and cream, English tea, all with a roaring fire place to keep us toasty. The evening ended with typical drunkenness…so can’t go into detail there (memory cells depleted).

Cass, Dave & I finally went and watched the most funniest musical ever: Spamalot! I had been looking forward to this for quite some time, and it was well worth it. I think people sitting around me might have been slightly annoyed that I knew basically every line in the show… Oooh and the Italian restaurant we went to for dinner was fantastic! The waiters all spoke Italian and were very courteous ;)

Easter Long Weekend saw Cass, Spides and I hire a car where we drove all through the gorgeous, chilly English side on our way to York. I cannot give justice to my love of York and this area through words – it is a place that must be seen to believed! I absolutely revelled in the delight of having a car to a) drive (anyone who knows me knows this!) and b) not having to rely on public transport! York is an amazing, medieval city, that still has a truly old English feel to it. The long and deep history of the place and the surrounding countryside tugged on every heart string within me. I truly fell in love with the place – and more than likely the very heavy snowfall also helped! We woke up Sunday morning to find everything covered in a thick blanket of snow. We ventured to a nearby field and built snowmen, later driving through the Yorkshire Moors during numerous light snowfalls. It was definitely something out of a Disney Christmas movie. (There is a longer version of a blog I wrote on York, that will be completed one day…).

On the Monday we explored some gorgeous areas of The Cotswolds, driving down little country lanes and eating lunch at a scrummy English pub. Ended our Easter adventure with a very proper and traditional afternoon tea and scones :) The only downside: I did not want to return the car. It has suddenly opened up a whole new perspective on weekends in the UK.

There’s been arrivals and farewells: our good Kiwi friend Harriet headed back to the Southern Hemisphere, sensibly moving to Sydney and moving in with Emma G.

Shannon arrived back from the Sunshine Coast, so weekends have been lots of fun :)

One of my goals was to get back into Netball. Luckily a close friend has a team which I was able to join. Am really enjoying catching up with new friends every Wed night and getting back into the swing of things. Only issue is, my knee, I had operated on back in 2003, has been giving me grief again. So we’ll see how next season pans out.  

However, the three most major things that have happened these past few months are that I started a new job teaching Yr5 at a school 10mins walk from home, spent a girls weekend in the stunning capital of Denmark, Copenhagen, AND that I travelled around Egypt for 2 weeks! These have definitely been highlights of my overseas experience so far. When I say "highlights" I do refer to the phrase "experiences I will never forget…"

Egypt was amazing. (Separate blogs to follow). Short and quick: Visit Dahab. It is, and will always be, one of the most beautiful and amazing places I have ever been. I went scuba diving, and saw fish the colours of the rainbow. I climbed the sacred Mt Sinai from midnight to 3am, camping out under the stars to see the sunrise. I sailed down (up!) the Nile on a traditional Felucca boat (that’s right: no toilets on board!). I visited Tutankhamun’s tomb after being drawn to the mystery of it when I was 12yrs old. And at the end of it all, had an amazing time :) – even got a tan!

And teaching…well lets say, I am prepared for anything when I return to Oz! I came for a challenge, and I have been challenged beyond anything I imagined. It’s been a very stressful and sleepless month and a half of late (I have back-aches that an 80yr old could relate to!), but the end is in sight…and I can’t wait! I would have been teaching for 6 months at the end of July, and that’s it for me – for awhile at least! I am now one of the most successful children’s negotiators around. Any lesson/idea I think of teaching, has been scrutinised from every single angle so all goes smoothly – regardless, this rarely happens!

On a long weekend in May, my amazing group of friends and I flew to Copenhagen to have a break and celebrate Shannon’s birthday. Drinking started early: in the waiting lounge at Heathrow airport, and basically ended not long before we departed our hotel for our flight back to London. It was an amazing weekend! So much laughing and exploring gorgeous Copenhagen in the sunshine :) I seriously could live there. It is such a clean and efficiently run city. Didn’t see Princess Mary, but I’m sure she sends her regards ;) We also caught a fast train over the strait to Sweden! and spent a lovely day lapping up the sunshine and drinking pear cider in Malmo. However, on our last day we found one of the biggest shopping centres ever and couldn’t stop grinning – luckily it was the day where it pissed down with rain and didn’t stop! 

Saw Pete Murray a few weeks back which was a great night out.

Had lunch with Queen Lizzie for her birthday celebrations – well okay, she was standing on Buck Palace’s balcony as I was eating a half-inch from Subway… 

Got all dolled up for Royal Ascot a couple of weekends ago, and had an amazing day (despite the shit weather!). Can’t wait to do this next year – didn’t win anything, but did see my old mate Queen Liz again! She and me are like this: XOXO!

And last, but not least, spent a very warm and sunny afternoon at Wimbledon – saw Chris Guccioni get slaughtered. Then on Sat just passed got up at some ungodly hour and lined up from 6.45am till about 10am in the long and windy queue to see a full day’s worth of Wimbledon! Sat in the sun drinking Pimms and red wine ALL day! In the afternoon bought a £5 resale ticket and got a seat in Court 1 and watched a doubles match where Alicia Molik and Renee Stubbs were against one another. Was very dehydrated on Sunday, but was well worth it! Can’t complain about going to Wimbledon twice in one week – who’s jealous? ;)

In between all of this, and with the weather warming up, there’s been many a night of scrummy dinners out, drinking at numerous local waterholes, sitting in parks enjoying wine and food, lots of time spent with friends laughing and on occasion, getting up to mischief, and generally just smiling when the sun comes out and makes everything all the more brighter.

Once teaching is over, I will be much more on top of this blog. I will finally get through the 665 photos from Egypt and upload them – including Copenhagen. I do hope you are all well and happy. I hope those in the South are keeping warm :) Stay safe. One piece of advice: get your butt’s over here and come visit!

All my love XXX

Afternoon Tea in Sloane Square

York 1

York 2 

Queen Lizzie’s Birthday – Trooping the Colours

Royal Ascot 2008 

Wimbledon 2008 – Day 1

Wimbledon 2008 – Day 6

What Do You Think?

Hi There from London Town!

Firstly, apologies for not updating my Blog for ages - as most of you know, I'm a terrible procrastinator!! So instead of that, I'm sending off a loooonnnnng one about my adventures since returning from Aus :)

So where to start!
Well I returned to London at the end of January, after an amazing 9 weeks back home in Aus, to fly into Heathrow with the report that it was 4 degrees outside with thick fog...YAH! 'Welcome Back', I thought ;) LOL

But since then I've been keeping myself busy.
I've been back for nearly 6 weeks now and have been back teaching for 4 weeks, with a term break in between.

First week back I just chilled and gently eased myself back into London Life, heading to an agency to sign up for teaching and catching up with friends. The weather was just beautiful, and has been ever since. I think we've had maybe 3 or 4 rainy mornings that have turned into blue skies and sunny afternoons. Of course, it has been cold, but after awhile you do become used to it. On one of my days, I went for a lovely afternoon stroll through Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, around Buckingham Palace and through St James Park. It made me realise why I love London so much. The history and character of this place is overwhelming at times. Makes you stop and smile, to think that you're part of it all.
Here's something I wrote (My Recount text! hahaha) whilst taking it all in on a park bench:

'There's something magical about London. Why, yes it is freezing cold, but once rugged up you quickly forget about it. Today was most magical of all. I woke up to a rich, blue sky, the sun glistening gold against the buildings outside my window. I realised this was why I had returned. On the way to lunch with my old workmate, I enjoyed travelling on my old bus route, peering down from a double-decker bus into shop windows, drooling over the yummy patisseries.
Afterwards, I caught the bus to Kensington Gardens - you can understand why a Princess would want this as their backyard! I strolled past the Round Pond and was in awe of the bird life - so many beautiful swans, stretching their necks ever so gracefully. Now I'm sitting by the side of the Serpentine River watching people enjoying themselves: rollerblading, cycling, mothers pushing prams, lovers arm-in-arm. You can understand why people of all ages and races are attracted to London - it has something for everyone all in one central place.
It's starting to get really chilly now. They're predicting snow for the end of this week - certainly feels like it! The sun is low on the horizon and it's only 3.30pm. It'll soon be dark.'

Since then I've been following the tourist scene and attending many events/festivals - visited the National Gallery, which houses the most famous artworks from all over the world. Attended Waitangi Day (NZs National Day), which was a big piss-up that packed Parliament Sq - we missed the 'unofficial' Haka, but were entertained by dimwits climbing unsteady lamp posts! Had an exciting Valentine's Day, with a lovely surprise at my front door ;) Have been enjoying many nights out with the girls and Cass & Dave at different pubs/bars, drinking a few too many glasses of vino rosso and enjoying some great grub - Italian, All-you-can-eat Pizza, Wagamamas. Been into China Town twice for Yum Cha with Cass and Dave, and to celebrate Chinese New Year, watching traditional firecrackers zooming up into the sky in Leicester Sq. Have become a regular at Portobello Markets (from the movie Notting Hill) on Saturdays, to purchase quality fruit and veggies AND the famous Hummingbird Cupcakes. School had one week off for Term Break, so I headed out and did a free walking tour (fantastic company:
http://www.newlondon-tours.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=43) and FINALLY saw all the tourist sights in the Royal End of London - well finally heard the stories and history of the place, from our great Aussie tour guide Dave. Visited the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) and spent a few hours in there, only covering about a 1/6 of the place! And apart from all of that (if I've remembered everything!), I've just been doing the rounds at the gym, the shops - too much of this! - and working!!

Work is very challenging. I am supply (relief) teaching day-to-day, mainly in central-east London, which houses many African-Caribbeans and Middle-Eastern families in council estates. After returning home, late afternoons, I'm usually too buggered to do anything more. The children demand most of your attention and energy. Also, it's been hard adapting to the curriculum - a Year 5 student here is learning at the equivalent level of a Year 2 student in Australia. Means the work is easy for me to teach, but just feels so demeaning teaching a child in Year 5 how to add and subtract numbers together. Nothing like Year 6 at St Ives Park!! Apart from that, many of the children don't have very nice home-lives which affects their attitudes and behaviours at school. Being a female is tough, when you have children who have no respect for authority, adults and in particular women. I've had my fair-share of children that I could not handle. Extremely stressful and upsetting. You wonder how their full-time teacher deals with it; however, I think after awhile, the children would probably be used to their presence and ways of teaching/managing the class. In regards to that, the plan at the moment is to teach until the end of this term (April 4th), as the money is very good, and then go back to office work. Will probably take it up again when I've recharged my batteries!

Hope all is well at home. Mum and Luke keep me in touch with all the going-ons. Sounds like you've had a pretty wet summer! That's what we had last year in London, rained nearly every day!

To the Reedys and Ceravolos: I have a stack of great photos I took in Melb that I have to sort through. Will send you a link to an online album when I get around to collating them. Hope all is well and everyone is behaving themselves! Tell them that Cuz Leigh will swoop down on them teacher-style if they get out of line! Hahaha Was so fantastic to see you all in Jan :) XXX

And to everyone else, when are you coming to visit?? ;) I've already made some plans for the rest of the year: heading to Egypt for 2 weeks on the 26 April, spending a girls long weekend in Copenhagen at the end of May, and visiting Morocco for 8 days at the end of Sept. Thinking of spending a week in Scotland at the end of July, but will see what happens with work. Am very excited about Egypt - have always been fascinated by it ever since I was little!

Must head off and do some boring Saturday morning chores. Am heading out tonight with the bunch of girls I've become friends with. We're getting very dressed up to go to a hotel for afternoon drinks and mini-sandwiches (haha!). And if you know me, you know how long it takes me to get ready....

Lots of love and hugs to everyone. Sorry to those I didn't catch-up with when I was back home. And thank you to those I did catch-up with - was lovely seeing everyone and spending quality time with you all. Love always, Leigh XXX

Below are links to my photo albums from now to last year that are on Facebook, for those people who are not members:

Sunny London - No joke!

Random Photo from all over #1

Random Photos from all over #2

Chinese New Year

Outdoor Ice-Skating

Wales

More of Wales

London Pics

A Day in the Countryside - Canterbury

What Do You Think?