Hello.

That's English for "hello." Because I'm in England, see. Apparently UK English isn't the same as North American English, because people in France tell me so. Oh, right, my bad. I'm not actually speaking to people here in London as much as we're misunderstanding one another's completely foreign language. Got it. It also turns out that I have a fair bit of 'cheek' in me. Who knew?
So, I know it's been a good while since I wrote you all, and I'll try to remember the things I forgot to write about when last I forgot to write. To..... at from.
School the last 2 weeks has been really not easy, at all. My kids, who are high energy, low attention span anyway have been bouncing off the walls 1. because it was sunny and 65ish for the better half of February, and 2. we were so close to Winter/Carnival Break. My lessons on travel vocab required them to read sentence-length questions for the first time, and I gave them those small, cheap, folded Valentine's cards (thanks Mom!) that we good ole U.S. folk share with our classmates in time-consumingly cute shoe boxes. These particular ones had farm animals in cute/funny poses saying things like "I choose ewe" and "Are you too chicken to be my Valentine," which I capitally regretted having to translate 30x in each class. "Yours says 'be my Valentine. So does yours. And that one too." The only term of affection that I know in French is mon petit choux ("my little cabbage"), which I used as a translation for cutie pie and all the other cute animal plays-on-words messages. Some kids were so excited they vowed not to open it, and break the heart sticker, but to preserve it in its folded state forever. My third graders thought I was the best thing ever. Ahhh, to be a child's hero for $.001 worth of paper.
The rest of my time went into planning this trip. I'll give a quick version of how it's gone so far.
Thursday 22 Feb: Taught from 8:45 to 4:15, ran home, showered, packed, took 3 buses, a train and a flight to get to London around 10:30pm. Walked around for an hour to find my hostel in King's Cross, checked in, fought with reception for clean sheets, crashed.
Friday: Got up before everyone else for a hot shower (per the hostelworld.com user recommendations), first crack at breakfast, etc. Walked all of Oxford Street to Kensington Gardens, walked all the way around, saw Kensington Palace (Princess Diana's home) from outside, read and wrote letters from Starbucks, back to hostel to meet an Indian-Spanish guy in town to interview for med schools, a German couple who only spoke German (sweet language practice!), and some other interesting fellow travellers who left in intervals to go to pubs.
Saturday: Same early morning routine, checked out of hostel, walked to Camden Town and Camden Market. Reference: Woodstock, circa right now, but a lot bigger. Lots of shops with self-glorifying goth/punk/leather wear, and/or tie-dye + hemp, all with the smell of incense and pot. I did find a great little Indian place for lunch. Only a half hour into the British Library (home to Shakespeare original copies and the Magna Carta) I got a call from Dave, a friend and co-worker from my Miami Classics Dept. student worker days studying 'in town.' An hour and a half later we got to his place 40 miles west of 'town', hung out with British freshman and had a very college student dinner: noodles, chicken soup, fish and Doritos. Didn't say bad, just very college. Really quite good...
Sunday: Bused from Dave's to the Griesser's. The Griessers are the parents of my friend Lynn from my semester in Lux (already 2 years ago. Man am I old...) who are working as expats here in London for Proctor & Gamble. They actually live just outside of London in a gorgeous house, complete with internet, free calling to the US, cable, P&G products, the works. On top of it all, they're great, interesting people, and definitely my new London parents!
Monday: The only forecasted "nice" day in London. Nice here means a 20% chance or lower of rain. Accordingly, I saw the outsides of just about everything worth seeing from the outside: Parliament, Westminister, St. Paul's, Covent Garden, etc., with the understanding that I'll be back later this week (tomorrow?) to see inside things. I also made it to Evensong at Westminister, which I highly recommend. P.S. London is a bit backwards in terms of visiting: the amazing museums are completely free to everyone, but to get in the churches you're looking at 8-10 pounds ($16-20) just to see the inside. Nah thanks.
Tuesday: Spent the day with Mrs. G. We went for an 'English Breakfast' in a French restaurant which, while delicious, was apparently lacking in several of the vital dishes that make an English breakfast. I guess I missed out on 'blood pudding' and baked beans. I also got a nice walking tour of Weybridge, where the Griessers live, with an economic range of upper class to blue blood. They are personal acquaintances of the Greys, the Shakespeares, and the Beringers, have you not heard.
Today: Finally a day just to relax! Slept until noon, had a nice big brunch, caught up on email, writing a big email/blog post, and I hope to curl up in the sun room (actually it's on 20 minute intervals of INTENSE RAIN AND HAIL and sun and partly cloudy) with a book before dozing off for an afternoon nap. There are many kinds of vacation, and I hope to explore them all before this week is over. Tonight the G.s are treating me out to a local tapas bar! What clever thank you gift for a neat couple who already has lots of neat stuff...
The near future: Tomorrow is another day in the city, but an emphasis on museums (things old and things beautiful) and hopefully at least one concert (St. Martin's in the Field or London Philharmonic). Friday to Leeds to visit a fellow English teacher, Saturday Manchester(?), Monday Scotland(?), and next week misc. small towns, perhaps Dublin if I can get a cheap flight, and back to London for my return trip to France the 11th. Don't cry, this vacation isn't so much over as on pause: I only work March 13th - April 12th, then another 2 weeks of vacation, but this time with Mom and Dad!
So there you have it. Unfortunately for you, no pictures until I get back to France and have time to sort, edit, and spend a few hours getting the various web albLums to take them.