Doing stuff

Don't worry, I haven't abandoned my posting. (Haha get it?) Here is a picture of Big Ben. And also a picture of the Houses of Parliament.

I went there on the weekend so that I could say that I have seen it. I've realised that about myself: that I would hate to not be able to say I've tried lots of things. But I don't go on rides at theme parks and I haven't tried drugs. (I started watching Breaking Bad a few weeks ago and could not make it past the first two episodes, but tonight I pushed through...) Anyway you can't visit London and not take a far-away, cloudy & slightly skewif snap of the original source of the tune we can all play on the piano.

I like this photo because it has the London Eye, two cabs (at least I think the white one is a cab?), a red bus, letters on the road and a big building. And a massive crowd of tourists. 

Another thing I know now is that I need at least 8 hours of sleep each night in order to not feel like a zombie the next morning and not yawn all day. I started couch to 5k today and it's a good thing I've got a buddy (competitor) to do it with because it was exhausting! Rosie, you'd better have enough endurance for the both of us because I'd be very inclined not to go through that again. But we will get there! We are the jaguar!

I caved.

Yep, that's right. I got Facebook. I lasted well over a year without it just fine, but I was updating my profile on Google+ and I suddenly thought, Google+ stinks (that's not a new thought), I may as well get Facebook. I fought that thought for a good two minutes and ended up losing. Ah well.

Apples

I got Spotify premium. No more ads, and any song I want on my phone any time - I'm one happy chappy. But I might be sitting at the table and have my phone playing on the dock, and I'll think of something and want to Google it straight away - oh no! I can't! I think I'm apple-dicted. Oh well.

Yesterday I spent an hour or so thinking about my future. Result: I'm definitely staying in England until mid-late June of next year (except for the quick duck to Australia in 7 weeks!!). I'm hoping to start a Bachelor of Education (Primary) through UNE part time by distance in February next year, whilst over here obviously. I believe I'll have the time to do it because both the kids are at school full time as of next week. It will be good to get other parts of my brain active again. Until then I'm going to fill my time with a pottery course if I can find one that suits me, and volunteering at the kid's school if they'll have me. And more of the usual: watching TV, eating, more meeting up with friends & other Au Pairs, going to the nearby shopping centres... Oh and I'm going to get back into craft when I find a good shop. I'm also going to have to buy a new computer soon, as Horatio (current MacBook) is getting quite old and outdated. I guess I'll get a MacBook Pro, but I'll have to get one from home not the UK I suppose... It's awkward when I have to type the pound sign.

Well a lot of that was a bit trivial. About the primary teaching degree, maybe some (Mum) will read it and think 'UNE!?! Are you mad??' Well it's not the best uni but I'm already enrolled there (I deferred my arts degree for two years at the beginning of this year) and if I'm going to study by distance it may as well be from the one in my home town. Some may think 'primary teaching? are you mad??' Maybe. I thought I was sure about it a few months ago. Being a nanny has taught me a lot and sometimes makes me doubt I could do the job, but I had doubts about coping away from home and here I am - coping.

I still have to decide what I'm doing for the rest of my life?!

Hey I just got a link: Application - App - Apple. Clever sneaky people.

So I could stay on with what I'm doing after June next year, maybe till the new year. I like to round things off at a nice time. I probably ought to do some more traveling, but to be honest I'm not dying to go to Europe right away. If I never got to go I wouldn't really mind. I'd rather spend a year (or less - don't panic!) teaching at a school in South America. I've always wanted to do that. I'd also like to go to India. I won't have heaps of money saved when my visa runs out, and obviously I'll have to have somewhere to live and something to live on when I settle Down Under again to finish my degree. And then I'll be off again... or maybe not. Who knows. Some people want their life mapped out before them, but where's the fun in that? I've got lots of ideas floating around above my head - maybe they're apples - and if my choices didn't affect anybody I'd happily keep them up there until one was ripe and ready to eat. But you can't flit around carelessly like that. I'm going to make my decision about next year after the Australia trip. It's hardly a trip. More like a stop over. I wonder if anyone's getting married in Abu Dhabi while I'm there...

At the end of the day

Here we go: I miss my family and I feel like I've suddenly become (but am so unfit to be) a parent. I like my church and am making friends there. I'm excited about going home but still have no idea what I'll be doing in the second half of next year. A couple of big changes (not necessarily good ones) and some tough correspondence have given me much to think about (which I won't do enough of) but hardly anything to type because it's a public blog!?! Am I making sense? Oh well. Wanting to rant but I just can't! And I can't to my mum either. It's a good thing. But I get so teary when I watch movies where there's an emotional parting or a reunion of any kind... Oh I tried watching Breaking Bad but I couldn't get past the bodies... and the acid... yeeurgk. I need to buy welly boots (gumboots) because it's autumn and raining (genuine yay!) and I bought a cute pair of slippers that are zebras. I'm looking for a pottery course to do because I've always wanted to do that! I'm scared to come home for those few days. I have nightmares about the plane trips and I worry that it'll be so hard to leave again. I have planted myself here though and I'm definitely staying at least until I'm finished. But what then??

Sometimes I get the urge to do a bit of marketing for this blog. In all seriousness, sometimes I don't know what I should write here. Who reads it? Do they just want travel photos? That's what Google is for. Or day to day life? "Today I woke up and it had been raining. I had fruit salad for breakfast with honey and the kids were pretty good but didn't want to brush their teeth." Or lots and lots of feelings? Sometimes I think I'm writing to the whole world and sometimes I just want it to be my close or not-as-close-as-I-wish-they-were friends who see my confessions. SOMEONE VISIT ME PLEASE [big smiley face]

Today marks:
Being 21 for 1 month
Having broken my nose 2 months ago (all healed)
Having been here for 4 months and 1 day (wow!!)
Less than 2 months till I'm home!!! And Sarah and Dave get married!!!!!!
Also, next year I am twice my brother's age.

Miniland at Legoland

It was totally awesome. There were moving boats and trains and sounds and lots of London, as well as other parts of Europe. Legoland happens to be in Windsor.

Brighton Pier - been there!

Buckingham Palace with Will, Kate & Prince George in pram

Gherkin in background

Piccadilly Circus I think, with the underground

Brighton

Windsor

On bank holiday monday a few weeks back two friends from church and I went to Windsor for a day. (Apologies for that dodgy sentence). Just drag the map a bit - central London is to the East.


View Larger Map

Here are some photos... There's a butcher named after me! Yay!



So Windsor Castle is where the Queen lives sometimes. She wasn't in because the flag wasn't up. Anyway it was a great day.

Photos that aren't enough for a post on their own

Little Miss' drawing of her friend doing ballet

Here we go:

Garlic glove. Not bulb - clove.

Elephant.

The Roald Dahl Museum was interesting.
The mother fox figure was probably as tall as my hand,
or maybe my forearm.