The Beginning of a New Chapter

Good evening followers! (Well its afternoon in Ontario time)

Needless to say, this week has been quite crazy for me. However, for those who are following this blog and check back often for updates--I plan to blog on Sundays--hopefully this will give you a better schedule to follow than checking everyday.

Events of the Week
After the most amazing week in London with my sister, I finally had to say goodbye on Thursday morning. We left our hotel around 5am and by 7am I was officially on my own in England. Saying goodbye to Sarah was one of the hardest things thus far in this journey--for those who don't know she is not only my sister but my best friend. I don't know what we would do without Facebook and Skype!

I made it back to Luton and had the great pleasure of meeting a couple who are also here from Canada teaching at schools within my federation. When they heard that I would be back at Luton early in the morning but would not be able to move into my house until 1pm, they allowed me to store my luggage in their hotel room for the morning and met me for lunch in the midst of all their flat showings. 1pm came quickly and I met my roomate, Alisha to get the keys to our place.

I'm still in love with our house. It truly is a British roadside house---many have compared it to looking like Coronation Street from the outside. Alisha and I spent the first afternoon getting supplies for our house and then met some other teachers for dinner and drinks. Friday we had an Induction day from the agency who hired us all at the school I will be teaching at. The school is BEAUTIFUL! It is not only huge but has all new computers and technology in every classroom, different wings for different teaching areas and a huge quad in the centre with a water flowing pond and bridge to cross it. I've never seen such a beautiful school before. After spending the day at the school, we came back home and gave our bathroom and kitchen a solid cleaning then met up with almost all the teachers in our federation for a buffet dinner (a little over priced for the quality and quantity of food).

Things seemed to be going a little too good since I arrived in England a week before so of course something was bound to happen. Friday morning, before our Induction day, I woke up early with plans to shower. I turned the hot water tap on and it was cold...I waited about 10 minutes with it running and it was still cold. We spoke with our letting agency and a plumber showed up that night to look at it. He determined that there was something indeed wrong with it (not just Alisha and I being incompetent when it comes to working British pay as you go heating systems) and promised us he would be back the following day at noon. We did have plan to go to the shops and buy more stuff for our house on Saturday plus visit our new friend Carmel's new flat and help her carry some stuff over, but we obviously would post pone for hot water. We waiting around all morning and by 1:30pm there was no sign of our plumber. After calling around, the companies "handy man" came by to see if he could assist but determined the problem was beyond his control. We finally heard from the plumber---there had been an emergency at another client and he was post-poned but would be at our place around 5pm. We had an hour at this point before he would arrive, so we ran to the grocery store to grab some necessities for the night and following morning. 5pm comes around and no plumber....great. Once again we called the letting agency and they tried getting hold of the plumber but there was no response. WHAT HAPPENED? Instead they sent another plumber around to see if they could help. This plumber was from out of town and drove 1/2 hour to help us...not to mention he was the nicest looking British man I have seen since I've been here. He determined the problem but needed to replace a part and because stores close here early he could not buy one. He told our letting agency and they were going to get the original plumber to purchase the part and come by the following morning.

Turns out...this weekend is a bank holiday in England and hardware stores are closed on Sundays and bank holidays (I am actually a bit skeptical about this and just dont think the plumber wanted to work because every other store in the world was open today and tomorrow). So no hot water still. Luckily, my new friend Carmel offered her shower so I finally got a nice hot shower for the first time since Wednesday night when I had one at the London hotel. I have never scrubbed so hard in a shower to feel clean again. We are hoping that on Tuesday the plumber shows up and we will finally have hot water...if not, there will be at least one angry Canadian roaming the streets of Luton...better watch out.

Overall though, I am having a great time--the hot water is one little set back. We had a great meal tonight---it was 6pounds for a HUGE plate of different meats (pork, turkey, beef and gammon) plus as much carrots, beans, peas, corn, cauliflower, mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes and stuffing as you want. It was the perfect Sunday meal. We have decided to come back at least on Canadian Thanksgiving for a little taste of home.

Living in Luton
Many people back home were a little concerned with the reputation that Luton holds in England. Trust me, when I entered my home for the first time and read the paper...the first page labelled Luton as the second worst city in all of England along with many other not so great titles. However, after living here for a few days and getting to know the area it continuously proves to me that Luton is the Oshawa of Ontario. It has a pretty bad reputation for the people living in it and behaviours that occur but there are safe and nice neighbourhoods as well. The town centre area has been violence free since I arrived and I have had no issues at all. Our neighbourhood is great and very family orientated. There are some bad neighbourhoods, just like in Oshawa, Marsh Farms to be specific where people living in the area of told us to avoid because of the gang violence in them but these areas are FAR from where I live, shop or work and are very secluded. People who have lived here all their lives love it and have never had a problem. I've lived in Oshawa my whole life (give or take 10 years) and can 100% compare it to Luton.

The town centre has great restaurants, a mall and more for us to occupy our time with. It has a clock tower in the centre and this weekend a small fair/festival happening where they have brought a beach in and a cover band is performing (very funny to hear British people sing American songs).

England 101- Part 2. 
Last blog I made a list of things that I have learnt about England thus far and in the last few days I have learnt so much more that I had to write another one!

1. Kids in England are very strange in comparison to Canadian kids. From Asian mullets to kids laying on department store floors playing video games.
2. Train doors don't open unless you push a button requesting them too
3. Train stations lack elevators and often escalators 
4. Starbucks does not carry Iced Passion Tea Lemonade (almost a deal breaker)
5. Public restrooms do not offer paper towels
6. Streets, malls and stations lack garbage cans but the streets/malls and stations are always very clean because of the overwhelming number of street cleaners
7. City buses (at least in Luton) are not standard fees, you tell the driver where you are getting off and pay a fee accordingly
8. Old Navy style flip flops are non-existent..guess I need to grow up and buy an adult pair of sandals
9. Loose sheets for bedding are non-existent...perfect for me who kicks them off in the night anyways
10. Meal portion sizes are GIGANTIC and take out containers are non-existent. 
11. Windows don't have screens---yet minus a few rare cases, bugs don't fly in often
12. Waiters always assume you are paying together, not separately...even in groups of 15
13. Never go to Marsh Farms...you will be knifed 
14. You can buy alcohol at grocery and corner stores
15. Chips come in large bags with 6 small Halloween sized bags within it...the only chips (or crisps as we Brits call it) that you can buy in a large bag are American Doritos and even that bag is small compared to the ones sold in Canada. PORTION CONTROL! No obese people in the UK!
16. Eggs are stored on the counter not the fridge
17. Smartie McFlurry's still exist! 
18. Everything closes at 6pm...everyday. 
19. If you look under 25 you will get your ID checked when buying knives or scissors...it has happened to me at least twice now. 
20. Shopping from a catalogue is very popular. An entire store is dedicated to it. 

We'll Always Have London

Third day in  London and have we ever been busy!

Down River and Back
Sarah and I have done so many things in London in the last few days...its hard to believe.

Monday

• Trafalgar Square
• Big Ben
• Parliament Square
• Westminster Abbey
• St. James Park
• Buckingham Palace
• Beatles tribute show, "Let it Be"

We went to another great English pub for dinner. I had some very very British Bangers and Mash...delicious!

Tuesday
We started the day off experiencing a double decker bus!

 We did a river boat tour of the River Thames where we saw many locations including the popular:

• London Eye (later we went back and went up the London Eye)
• Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
• Tower Bridge
• London Tower  (we got off at London Tower and went inside on a guided tour where we learnt about executions and infamous people that occurred inside!)
• St. Paul's Cathedral

We attended yet another English pub and both got the largest order of Fish and Chips ever!

ENGLAND 101
Here are some of the things I have learnt thus far while in England...

1. English drivers are the best defensive drivers
2. English people pronounce it "vit-a-mins" not "vi-ta-mins"
3. Always Mind the Gap
4. When a train is delayed they are truly sorry and are distraught by the inconvenience it may cause you---it is nearly unforgiveable
5. There is no tax
6. Tipping is not expected
7. The worst commercials in the world
8. There is a tv station dedicated to silly game shows. Plays them all day long
9. They have pay as you go for everything...heating and utilities are on a pay as you go plan
10. Starbucks charges extra if you stay and eat versus taking it to go
11. People in England cannot walk
12. McDonalds stops people before going to the bathroom to ensure they purchased something
13. H&M has a home décor department
14. Hotels don't have ice machines
15. Free refills don't exist
16. Haddock comes with skin and bones
17. H&M carries all the same clothes as it does in Canada at the same time
18. You Pay for Food before receiving it at pubs
19. Look the other way on a one way street than in Canada to see if there is any oncoming traffic...almost died several times
20. Converting everything from pounds to Canadian dollars will drive you crazy realizing how much Canadian dollars everything will cost
21. Dogs are rare sightings, but when they are sighted most are labs

London-Luton-London: There and Back Again- A Canadians Tale

Hello from across the pond to all my followers (which may be no one, or just Jordann Pool)!



Wow! These last few days have been crazy but everything is coming together.



After a 7 hour flight, that left at 8pm Canadian time and arrived at 8am England time, Sarah and I were exhausted to say the least. We lugged all our baggage from south of London to north of London (where Luton is) on a train and made our way to our hotel, which was interesting... I can now honestly say never judge a hotel on its reviews. When deciding our hotels, there was some cheap locations right in the downtown of Luton but the reviews were AWFUL. Then there was our hotel....the reviews were great and the pictures looked awesome. We got to Luton and told the taxi driver where we were staying and he was as close to laughing as possible without laughing; as did every other  driver. As we got closer to the hotel we realized our hotel was in a predominate middle eastern community. The hotel had no one, ZERO, people staying at it other than us and they still charged us 15pounds to check in early. The rooms were quite nice and large but being at a hotel in a community where you don't speak the language or understand the customs is at times nerve racking to say the least. When I asked about restaurants near the hotel, the lady at the desk told us we had to cab into town because there was nothing we would like anywhere near our hotel. The most terrifying was that we were alone in the hotel, we both slept with one eye open in case our trip was going to start reflecting TAKEN...no joke. Essentially, our first day in Luton we slept all day (or tried too) with the assistance of Gravol because of the jet lag.

The goal of our trip was to find me a place to live...and we succeeded! The first day, before sleep was induced, we went to one estate agent (in the UK--or at least Luton---instead of signing leases and viewings with a single landperson, the landperson signs up through an agency that manages all the properties. it is a much safer and reliable way to rent housing). The first estate agent was a bust---they had zero 2 bedroom properties.... There was a solid 18 hours where I thought I had made the biggest mistake of my life, but have no fear, I am highly optimistic now. Saturday we went out again looking at places to live and found a great 2 bedroom house, a little further from the school than we had hoped but its great and a great price too! We saw some interesting places though---a few were run down, most were extremely small and one had cockroaches---overall they were DUMPS! The company we signed with was amazing too! They were so helpful in finding a place and getting everything set up plus giving us tips on restaurants, shops, etc. They even drove us back to our hotel so I could pick up a suitcase and drop it off at the house before we headed to London for a few days. Such great people!

We enjoyed a nice pub dinner downtown Luton as our first meal in 2 days (jet lag messed up our appetite the most), where Sarah got some delicious fish and chips. We had to ask the security at the front how to order---apparently at pubs in Luton you order at the bar and then sit at your table (food included)…who would have thought! I guess after we sat there long enough they would have started taking bets as to how long we would wait for a server to come.

Once we had a property picked out and a lease signed, we knew we wanted to come to London stat! We started our journey early in the morning Sunday (today) and after an hour delayed train and a re-routed Underground we made it to the hotel. The worst part about travelling in the UK is that most of the stations don’t have elevators or escalators…my body hurts from lugging all that baggage around everywhere. Once we dropped our baggage off at our new hotel---right near Oxford street in the heart of London (Oxford is the best shopping street in London) we hit the shops! Surprised? Our hotel here is very nice and there are MANY people staying at it…hopefully we will have a good night’s rest tonight! The rooms are small but it doesn’t matter, we won’t be in them much anyways!

 
Tomorrow we plan on hitting the sights and seeing the area around Buckingham Palace followed by hitting up the theatre for a show called Let it Be—a Beatles tribute.


I hope people are actually reading this and that you enjoy my updates! Post again soon!

The History of a Limey/ 2 Days and Counting!

Hello Everyone!

As I make the move across "the pond" to teach and live in the UK I decided to start up a blog for all my friends and family to follow in my adventures. Maybe this is a bit self-centered thinking that everyone cares enough to read my blog regularly, but I am the funniest person I know!

The History of  a Limey
So in creating this title, I thought...mmm, where did that term come from? Well really, I googled it for spelling and using it in plural form correctly as well as making sure it meant what I thought it meant. How embarrassing would that be if I titled my blog after incorrect terminology...yikes! Anyways, I used the trusty tool of Google and learnt why us North Americans often call those born/live in England, limeys. It actually started as a derogatory term for sailors in the Royal Navy because they drank lime juice/ate limes to prevent scurvy in their travels. By 1925, it was commonly accepted to refer to any Englishmen as a Limey---or so Wikipedia tells me (and we all know Wikipedia never lies). So I do not use this term in a derogatory nature, but in a fun and witty way to describe my life living in England.

2 Days and Counting!
For those who were worried that I had not started packing yet...don't worry, it's all done! I have managed to fit almost my entire life (or the material possessions needed overseas) into 2 suitcases and within 70lbs. Pretty impressive if I do say so myself.

Hardest thing to leave behind (besides my family and friends)? 1. My cat---when I pulled out the suitcases last week in a failed attempt to pack he was angry and ignored me. Now that I am actually packed, he is stalking me and wont leave my side. 2. My movies and books. Although I bought a program to download my dvds to an external hard drive---the hard drive was not big enough/I did not have enough time to get them all. Also, I was gifted with an E-reader, a great gift for an avid reader such as myself while I am travelling overseas but I will always miss the smell and feel of a book in my hands. My E-Reader is pretty cool though and pink....my step mom knows me well :)