Toast NZ

The Feelers - not that you can see them.


Getting a dose of NZ culture

Goodies from home flanked by a Speights and L&P

Polo action

Nathan and I had a great day at Toast NZ today. The day kicked off sourcing NZ goodies! We thought mellowpuffs at £1 per packet was a good deal (even though we knew they were expired). Unfortunately the biscuit has gone stale and the marshmellow bit a little hard. Nath was easily excited by the sale of speights and I spotted some cans of L&P. The rest of the day I drank HB sav :) There were also stalls set up to lure us into buying cheap travel deals. We took a sample of pamphlets to look through. 2 for 1 deals on sail Croatia, Im pretty keen aye.

We watched a polo match, Eng v NZ, NZ lost by one goal. There were performances from the Ngati Ranana Maori club and headline act The Feelers. The weather played its part and I got a touch of sunburn. Summer is on its way.

I have scored a sweet job for 2 weeks. Hopefully I am going to be totally awesome and they keep me on for longer. I will be working for Transport for London (TFL) and teaching primary aged students how to use the tube safely. We set up displays with information and the students come to us, then also have seminars from the Police and Fire departments. Hopefully students will be on their best behaviour as they are on an outing from school. Much of my day will be spent travelling to sites around London, setting up the display, then talking to groups of students, 5-10 in a group, for 10min then they move off and I get a new group to entertain. The job sounds like fun, is good pay, I get provided with a travel card (free tube), polo shirts, I can wear jeans and finish at 4ish. Nice.

Had a night out with Amy last night. A friend of hers, Simzy, was playing at a local pub so we wandered down and had a good time. Simzy played some classic Kiwi covers and we sung our heads off. Plus, cause Amy went to see him play, he bought us a bottle of wine on his tab :) To be fair I wasn't up for a day of drinking when I woke up this morning. But in true never give up style, I pulled it together and had some wines today. Legend. All this one day after telling my Mum Im not drinking or going out much at the moment.

Definately bed time. Nite all.

Dover

Hi Guys,

Loads of pics to update you with. May just do one big random entry, rather than lots of little ones.Firstly I caught up with my cousin Alicia and her boyf Rob. It was a really nice sunny day so we met them down at the park (you can see from the photos they got a bit too much sun!). The day ended back at Alicia's flat with too many gins on the deck and the boys spotting aeroplanes. Was great to catch up with a familiar face, even though Leesh and I haven't seen each other since Christmas 2006 (we think). Rob is into snowboarding so we were already making plans for a ski trip during the dark and lonely winter months!We have moved in, and settled, into our flat. Our flatties, Brendan and Catherine, have been busy buying loads of shelves from Ikea which makes the flat look really nice. Nath and I scored a toaster for £4 pounds from Sainsburys, 4x tea towels for £1 and a vaccum cleaner for £40. They have been our major contributions to the flat. Yes the tea towels are shit, guess somethings you should never skimp on, though I can't imagine I would ever want to spend much money on tea towels!! The flat is in a mint location and we are loving being so close to the shops, pubs, supermarket and tube station (4min walk - at Naths pace, 8min for me!). It is really weird not having a seperate laundary room, we only have a front loader machine in the kitchen and no washing line. Its a real mission getting sheets dried - use the dining room chairs to drape them over.Our room

The kitchen and laundary, wee bit tiny!

Lounge, looking through to dining room

Our bathroom, luckily we don't have to share :)

Over the long weekend we decided to visit Dover. Nath was super keen as Dover is the site of a big castle and played a part in WWI and WWII. Before and during WWII secret tunnels were dug out in the soft chalky earth and the evacuation of Dunkirk was masterminded from rooms within these tunnels. Over the long weekend they had memorials for Dunkirk and there were 'soldiers' and war re-enactments. It was great day and we ended up spending 5 and half hours wandering through the castle, watching war games, exploring underground tunnels and going to look out points, used in the war to alert others of impending air attacks or invasions by sea.

The famous white cliffs

The main tower of the Castle


Looking out from the top of the Castle

View of the Castle from down in Dover

This week it is mid term break so no work for me, then 6 weeks left til summer holidays. I'm still applying for permanent jobs starting Sept, so far no luck. Will wait and see what happens. I'm fairly confident I will get a position it just may not be at a very good school!! Have applied for some private schools so I have my fingers crossed for those schools. Yesterday I caught up with ex-flattie Amy which was good times. She has moved to London so no doubt will see a lot of her. Nath is loving his job. Has got his laptop fixed but we are still waiting for internet to get connected at home. Should happen within the next 7 days. I am meant to be at the internet cafe applying for jobs so I better go.

Chiswick

Just a really quick update as Im in an internet cafe and should be updating my cv!
Nath and I have moved into our flat. Its a brilliant location, just off the Chiswick high st, but unfortunately the walls are very thin and we can hear the people upstairs and even our flatmates in the next room quite easily. Things you don't find out about a place until you move in!! It is quite a newish building and the flat itself is quite big, 2 bdrm, 2 bathrm which is awesome. Will post some pics soon. Still waiting for internet to get connected at home. BT have to connect the phone line before O2 can hook up the net. Even then, our laptop has got another virus/crapped out yet again. So eve if we did have internet we wouldn't have access. Ugh.
Long weekend here coming up. Really feel the pressure to go somewhere exciting but unfortunately we have decided not to, and put the £ towards a new laptop.
Nath is loving his job. It seems fairly cruisy (how does he get cushy jobs all the time!!) and he wears jeans and t-shirt to work. Only wears a suit when having meetings. He has landed a sales/marketing job with a fairly new company that is still in the set up stages. Great business experience for Nath.
Not a lot of work around for me coming up to half term. Have been booked for a PE job starting after half term and going til the end of the school year. Still persisting with applying for permanent jobs for Sept start. Hence the CV update im supposed to be doing.
Better go, only 19min of internet time left (after being on facebook for a large chunck of the 1st 40min!!!).
Hope the rain has stopped in NZ.

Venice

Speed boat racing

Night time in the Piazza

Nathan, myself and a group of 8 others spent the weekend in Venice. It was an amazing weekend away and it still hasn't sunk in that we went to an international destination just for the weekend! Crazy. Up early Saturday morning, taxi picked us up at 5am, and we flew into Bologne. From there we hired a car and drove to Venice.Once in Venice we got a water taxi to take us to the island of Murano - the home of Venitian glass. Here we saw a glass blowing demonstration and wandered through the many shops selling glass creations. Had our first gelato of the weekend in Murano. Headed back to the mainland to have a look around and check in to our accom just off the Piazza San Marco.

Everyone spoke English and we did not once have to speak any Italian. Very different to South America where even in tourist destinations there is no english spoken.

On Sunday morning we did the quintessential Venetian gondola ride. It was very relaxing and surreal. We got up early so the canals were not to crowded. There was a racing carnival on so we got to see all the gondola crews dressed in racing stripes and warming up along the grand canal. On our canal ride we went past Mozarts house, Marco Polo's house and something else I can't remember! It was amazing to see the water lapping at people's front doors. Unfortunately global warming is causing the water levels to rise and this causes big problems for the population of Venice.

We had planned to do a walking tour after the gondola ride but our informant got the time wrong so we missed it. We did our own walking tour instead along the canals and because we had a GPS we explored the back streets, weaving in and out of narrow alley ways and over bridges that cross the canals.

We left Venice early arvo to give us time to have a wee look around Bologne before our flight home. When we first parked up we were in a bit of a dodgy area so busted a move fairly quickly to a nicer part of town. Found a lovely road side restaurant for alfresco dining that had amazing food before flying back to London (Stanstead). We were lucky that we got home as Stanstead was the only airport open as the others were closed due to ash.

Today Nath has had his first day working at his job. Will let you know how it went. Hopefully he liked it. He is working for a company that markets and sells financial software to the NHS and other big organisations. He is on a base salary plus comission - so he has incentive to work hard.

I have an interview on Wednesday for a Head of Girls' PE position. Not sure Im suited to the job as I haven't had a chance to get my head around the curriculum and the key stage levels yet. Have a timetable for the interview day and it is hard core. 5 applicants, all rostered to teach a lesson and have a formal interview. Im there from 8:30-4! Will def need a drink after that one. I have researched the school and my first impression is not that great but will see when I get there. Unfortuantely it is on the other side of London to where we will be living!! We are moving flats that night (if all goes well). We have found a flat Chiswick (where Colin Firth lives) and are flatting with an English couple. The flat is in a brilliant location but maybe not as nice as we wanted. I guess once we get our stuff in there it will feel a lot nicer. I will have to work a lot more than I have been now that we have rent and bills to pay.

Hope all you Kiwi's are snuggling into winter.

Get your fires going.

Photo's (to keep you interested in my blog!)

Inside the Museum of natural History. The building itself was as amazing as the exhibits.

Outside the Norwich Cathedral.

The Tower of London. The guards exchanging the password. The password must be said to get into the tower at night.


Tower of London.

Looking out from our deck to the Thames. The Thames is one of only a few tidal rivers in the world.

1st Month over already

Nath and I are into our 5th week in London. Time has gone by so quickly.
Since our last blog we have been keeping a fairly low profile in London. We have:

• been to the Museum of Natural History
• caught up with my friend Sara from Uni
• been to the British Museum
• caught up with Nick and Alicia who we often ski with
• had a day trip Norwich where Nath had an interview
• moved house (twice!) and still not in our final destination. Still looking for a room somewhere, staying with friends at the moment (Boz - you know them. We are staying with Philippa Brown who worked at EY with you)
• caught up with Helen and Chris (yay). Had an afternoon at the pub followed by a rugby match at Twickenham. The stadium is amazing and I was super excited to be at such a big venue. Helen is hopefully sourcing tickets for England v All Blacks in November. Go the ABs (All Whites are still my number 1 team though xxx)
• crossed off a few more London landmarks - covent garden, trafalgar square, leicester square, hyde park, royal albert theatre, kensington gardens

At the moment I am working for a week at the same school doing PE relief. Its an ok school but does take 90min to commute each way :( Next week I start a 4wk block with a school in South London, Cator Park, so that should be all good. I have started applying for permanent jobs for the start of the school year. A family has emailed wanting me to live with them in Rome and speak English to their 2 girls over the summer break. Im looking into it.

Nath's job hunt continues. He has a few interviews each week which is promising.

We randomly booked flights to Venice with a group of 8 friends. We are going in 3wks and its just for the weekend. Totally bizzarre that we can go to another country just for the night!! Awesome. Nath reckons if the canal ride is too expensive he will row (?) the gondolar himself!!!

Thats all folks.

If you want to get in contact or leave a comment but aren't sure how to do it via the blog, email me on hey_mich@lycos.com or nathan at nathan.andrews@yahoo.co.nz

Brighton

My Uncle's church - built in 1795

The main st in Brighton, heading down towards the sea

At dinner in a curry house down Brick Lane. I put this photo up to prove we have friends in London!

The rear end view of St Pauls Cathedral

Nath and I went to Brighton over Easter weekend to catch up with my Uncle and to see a bit more of the mother land.

Brighton is cool - I liked the vibrancy of the people. A lot more colourful than Londoners! We went to Brighton Pier which is totally tacky and the 2nd most visited tourist attraction in all of England!! We also went to church!! I only went because my Uncle is the priest and he said I would get easter eggs if I went. So you know that I'd do anything for chocolate. Poor Nath was a little out of his depth and didn't enjoy the experience at all (not even the easter egg hunt at the end of the service!).

Thursday before easter we had a dinner in Brick Lane with Bhavik, Emma, Fraser and a few others. Brick Lane is a road that is totally covered in Indian restaurants and you can bargain with restaurants for meal deals before going in. It was fun and reminded me of South America where we would negotiate free drinks before entering restaurants. We then hit a kareoke bar to send Anu back to NZ in style.

It is school holidays over here so no work for me for 2wks, and unlike in NZ, no pay either :(

Nathan is busy with job interviews this week, he has at least 3 lined up already. Bought himself a nice snazzy suit so hopefully that will help the job prospects.

Obviously now we are not travelling and settling into 'normal' life again the blog wont get updated as much. I dont want to bore you with everyday life stories.

Still keep checking back though cause I will keep you posted with anything exciting that we have done.

For now though,

Over and out.