Joey Joe Joe: April 2014

Ten thousand people in the state of fever,
I'm blinded by flashing lights
Turn my back on the stage I gotta make an escape,
While the driver waits outside
It's gonna be a long day I need a long night
I want you to do me right

- Take me, Paloma Faith!

I hear the sound of the alarm blaring at me. 6:00am. It is so dark outside! I want to crawl under my covers and so I do! I hit snooze and roll over. After hitting snooze three times I throw my covers back, get out of bed and turn on the light! It's still dark, I'm still tired, but I have 28 little boys and girls waiting to learn! Once I'm up I'm ok. I'm actually excited to go to work and see my little grasshoppers!

My children are amazing. Each and everyone at 4 or 5 has such a distinct and real personality. Sometimes I forget how little they are, especially with how cleaver they are (4 of them are already working in the Year 1 curriculum). But, sometimes they remind me how small they really are when they laugh or cry or say something like ‘I was born in 2010’. They are amazing though and are constantly making me laugh with the things they say or do. We are working closely with a child who is still finding it difficult to form his r with it mostly looking like a n. It wouldn’t be such a major deal but his name is Curt and he writes it at the top of every piece of work.

In London, an organisation, called Ofstead come into school regularly to observe and rank school. They look at the teaching, the students, the management and parent interaction and grade the school: Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement or Inadequate. It is scary to watch the school get the phone call the day before and begin to crumble. Outstanding teachers begin stressing out. I really didn’t like it and am glad it is over for our school now.

The team of teachers I work with in Reception (Kindergarten) are amazing and as much as I beg them to come to Sydney - so I can keep working with them - I fear it is a losing battle. I never imagined I would enjoy scratch that love teaching Reception so much. If I stayed in London I think I would deffers stay here for another year or two, but in returning home to Sydney I am excited to work with the older years again.

The weekdays are full of work and daily life and honestly, can feel exactly like life in Hinchinbrook. I wake up, I go to work, I come home, I do errands, paper work, school work, eat, relax, sleep and wake up to do it all again. But, there are also days that I do the exact same thing yet am struck and excited by the fact I am actually in London, working and living like I always said I would be.

Some weekdays are livened up by concerts, shows or meeting friends for drinks at locations I had previously only been when playing Monopoly.

Some are full of chaos and craziness thanks to my amazing housemates.

These days, this life feels quite normal now and I look at returning to Sydney as I used to look at life in London. Unknown, exciting and, even a little scary.

The weekends are full of amazements, new discoveries and anticipation. I am still amazed how after 15 months there are still new places and new experiences to be had.

Today, however, I woke up excited for school holidays! I started my day by rollerbladed along the Thames to London Bridge. It’s these moments I praise God and truly feel like a spoilt child, the sun was out and Iconic London unveiled before me.

I still get excited when I see a narrow street. It’s so European, and even though frequent in London, they always remind me of exactly where I am.

And the street performers - some absolutely amazing and astonishing, some are less than.

(Can you see that. he is balanced by having one foot on his mates head! KRAYZIE)

AND THERE ARE SO MANY STATUES!

Everywhere there is a statue of someone influential and not in ‘we give almost anyone a statue’ but in a, ‘we have so much history and are such an old nation we have so many people to celebrate’. It is amazing. I am still amazed when people talk about something being ‘modern’ , you know the last 200-400 years. THAT’S MY WHOLE COUNTRY MATE! It truly is breath taking!

English food is great. Recently, Alison and I had a delicious Sunday Roast (A tradition I may have to continue when I return to Sydney, just like mulled wine I cannot go back to living without it!)

I even tried a scotch egg…I didn’t like it neither hot nor cold, sorry England! : (

That rumour is true, you cannot escape it London will make you gain weight. It’s too cold to do anything but sit in a pub and eat and drink during winter. And then in summer you’re so excited to have sun there’s nothing else but sitting in the sun with a picnic and a few drinks! It’s been so beautiful at the moment, with the sun I’ve been able to dust off my thongs (Flip-Flops here) and wear short sleaves as the sun shines above us. It has been amazing, the sun has started setting at 8pm and most days are from 12-17 degrees, BEAUTIFUL!!!

I do feel constantly on a countdown now – as much as I try not to – and four more months rings constantly in my ear! As much as I am excited to come home, I know the life and the friends I have made here will be incredibly hard to give up come September! My mum, asks me constantly, “Have you got this travel thing out of your system now, ready to come home.” And as much as I feel ready to come home this ‘travel thing’ has only been growing since I left Sydney. Every time I visit somewhere, I meet people or see things and discover another 5 places I now need to go! I guess if she didn’t want me to be a traveller she shouldn’t have been taken me overseas since I was 10 months old.

So life in London is amazing, beyond what I could have imagined and most definitely, blessed and prepared by God. Before I left my Uncle Tony told me, “It will be the best thing you ever do.” He was so very right!