Week THREE.

     Sorry for the lack of updates the last few days.  I actually was going to post on Monday........but then got sick.  It was AWFUL.  Not only was I sick, but I was sick in ENGLAND.  The place where the last thing I want to do is not feel well.  However, no worries, I recovered and am feeling LOADS better.  (sidenote: I could hear myself saying all that in a British accent in my head...this country is rubbing off on me.)

     Moving on.

     This past weekend was wonderful.  I studied and such for my praxis tests, and then attended a British dinner party.  My host family had a few of their friends who used to work at the school for the night.  I loved it.  I loved getting to meet so many different people who had a different insight to teaching than we do in the United States.  I also met a woman who used to work in the English department who is originally from Pennsylvania.  Crazy.  You want to know how she ended up here?  After college, she and a friend decided to backpack Europe.  For real.  They traveled EVERYWHERE.  Her friend decided to stay in Greece (AHHH!  GREECE!), and the woman continued on her own until she ended up back in Britain, met a guy, and never moved back to the States.  How cool is that?  She's been just about everywhere it seems, and I was so fortunate as to be able to talk to her about many of the places she went to visit.  For dinner, we ate smoked salmon with some type of cheesy sauce, salad, and buttered bread (this was only the appetizer).  THEN we had chicken malobar (I don't know how to spell that).  But it was chicken and some stuff with some kind of curry on it and then coconut rice.  DELICIOUS.  And dessert?  Apple pie with homemade ice cream or some type of blackberry ice cream cake thing.  I tried both.  WONDERFUL.  I even ate apple pie for dessert on Sunday.  I can't get enough of it.

     Then it was back to the grind on Monday with school.  I enjoyed every bit of it.  I sat in on some different lessons (since this is week 2 of the timetable, they classes are all different for the most part), and found out some important things about British culture:

Britain                       America

Biscuit-----------------Cookie

Scone------------------Biscuit (in some instances)

Pudding---------------All desserts

     Mind blown.

     Then I didn't have a good Monday night or Tuesday...see the first paragraph.

     BUT on Wednesday, I was feeling much better and went back to school.  And there I got to teach my first geography lesson to a bunch of year 10 students (9th graders).  I loved being able to teach.  The class seemed to respond well to me even though they were probably making fun of my accent behind my back, haha.  In the lesson, we learned about the reasons why we need to protect our coastlines.  In doing so, we talked about the 2004 tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.  I even found some pictures to go along.  They especially were interested in the tsunami pictures.  One showed the actual wave coming toward the photographer.  And he wasn't running away.  The kids were stunned by the pictures.

     Today, though, I was going to have a day of absolutely nothing at school.  I had FOUR free periods and then one class.  So, I was able to instead take a trip up to Chatsworth and many other places in Derbyshire.  And it was the only day both Steve and Lorraine could come!  After picking up a friend, we headed drove for an hour.  And finally....we got there.  I can't even describe how beautiful the countryside is.  It literally took my breath away.  And when we got to the house?  My jaw literally dropped.  (I'll post a few pics below, but the rest are on Facebook....I took about 150 or so pictures....I didn't even post all of them on FB.)  Anyway, I'll post a few pics below and be on my way!

     Actually...I'll post them in another post.  The internet isn't cooperating right now....please hold.