Back to school

Hi everyone!

So I woke up at 6.45am today and called Protocol. Nothing! Called Vibe. Nothing. But then five minutes later and it was Vibe saying they had work for me. It was my first day working with Vibe today and I can already say they're miles ahead of Protocol in some aspects. They didn't pressure me, they gave me heaps of info about the school and they messaged and called me throughout the day to see how I was finding it. Brill!

I had a really great day. I flew out the door like a mad woman after taking five minutes to get ready and got to Old Street. I got the tube to King's Cross and then to Paddington. This is where things got interesting. City mapper (an app that helps you get anywhere via public transport) told me the 8.03am train was cancelled. Accepting defeat, I strolled leisurely to platform 10, coming to terms with the fact that I was going to be half an hour late to school. But as I approached the platform I saw the 8.03 sitting there ready to leave. At this stage it was 8.02am and 08 seconds. The doors close at 20 seconds past. I ran like the wind, flying through the ticket gate losing my shoe in the process. Grabbed my shoe and ran the rest partially barefoot. The man on the platform had already blown his whistle at this point, but I didn't give up!! I threw myself through the doors as they closed....I MADE IT!!!!!

After a 1.25 hour commute (oh well, I need the money!) I walked to school and signed in. Here I met Scarlett, also here as a supply teacher for Vibe. Also from Melbourne. Also an AFL nut (North Melb!). Also lives in Old Street, just a few minutes from me! We got on so well and chatted in our breaks. 

My first class was year 8 science which went fairly well. Then I had a free followed by year 12 Biology. I rewound my brain back to 2009 when I did year 12 Biology and was surprised at how much I could actually help them with!! Then I had another year 8 science class. This class were terrible. Wouldn't listen to a thing I said, and a lot of them were actually really rude. They started making fun of the way I said "data" (English people say it like "day-ta") so I put on the worst posh English accent I could muster, and when they all looked at me weird I gave them a lecture about how technically it's a racist insult if you're actually being nasty about how someone speaks (they were - they weren't just joking or having fun). This shut them up (which was good because I was beginning to become seriously self conscious about the way I was speaking....!). Finally I had year 7 science. These year 7s are the equivalent of grade 6 at home, and as today was only the third day of term, they were only three days into high school! They were completely lovely and made up for the year 8s. They participated really well in the lesson and all thanked me for teaching them as they left :)

I caught the train home with Scarlett and quickly made myself a ham, cheese and mushroom omelette, which I then took with me as I left to get the train to Jamie's. For some reason instead of my usual route (walk to Liverpool St and get the national rail one stop to Stratford) I decided getting the tube from Old St to Stratford via Bank was a good idea. NEVER. AGAIN. Peak hour, packed out trains, not fitting on trains. And after all that we got held up at Mile End due to a passenger alarm. The tube in peak hour is like a free sauna + leg workout, with bonus BO. Yuck. 

I've been typing my blog on the train and now I'm on my way to Jamie's to do a boxing class with him. I'll then eat my dinner I made and then head home. 

Wish me luck for getting work tmro - I'm back at the same school as today on Friday! If I have Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday off I think I might take a day trip to Oxford, it's meant to be sunny all week and was today!

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox