Going where no teacher has gone before...

...well sort of...Anthony and I have had an interesting week back at school this past week.  It has definitely been a long week which is what Anthony predicted.  I figured it wouldn't be too bad just busy with a lot of work but I was wrong this time, work was so slow but we are finally at the end of another weekend.  We are both definitely exhausted - we got so much sleep over our break but then we had to get back into school routine.  Our sleeping schedules were so off this past week and I'm still recovering I swear, but it's all good, we're starting to settle back in.  

The good news, is that the weather has FINALLY started to warm up and it's staying consistently around 15 degrees for the most part.  The sun is even out almost every day and that is totally out of the ordinary for the UK.  It's so nice!!! Last Sunday it got up to 17 degrees but there isn't really a lot of humidity here like there is at home, so it doesn't feel as warm.  Shouldn't complain...it's better than rain! 

This week of teaching has been quite interesting to say the least and both Anthony and I have been bounced around a lot.  Anthony switched school entirely and is now in one of the schools that I did supply work in for one day - Longhill which is only about 20 minutes away.  SO NICE that neither of us have to take the train.  Now Anthony and I have both had to teach most subjects but Anthony got the surprise of his life when the school told him that he would be teaching Math (or in the UK they called it maths).  To date, there hasn't been any other PE teaching jobs so we will have to see how the math job sorts itself out.  Anthony isn't too confident and I don't blame him because the subject is NOT one that either of us are comfortable with.  So needless to say, this Math teaching job for Anthony has been a little difficult and challenging.  The positive side to all this is that the experience for him in another subject is always a good thing - he's even wearing a shirt and tie to school almost every day.  HE HATES IT!!! LOL...most guys don't like dressing up but Anthony in particular, hates it but I like the change ;-) 

As far as school goes with me, I am currently in a school within an hour from Brighton in Portslade at a Secondary school Academy teaching Science and yes ...Math!! LOL...it looks like Anthony and I both got unlucky in the same week.  I couldn't believe that the first day there on Tuesday was all Math classes.  I have NEVER taught a Math class in my life and the ones that I have had supply work for up to date have just been hand outs since my background in Math is limited to none.  So this week has been curious and challenging for me because I have to re-learn Math and then teach it to my Year 7 (Grade 6) class.  It isn't as hard as what I thought it would be but it's definitely not easy.  Science however, has been a great experience so far and I already have my own classes so it will be nice to get to know the students and try and make the lessons more fun.  For both Anthony and I we are looking at long term supply work which might last till the end of the school year in July.  So we're hoping that that at least stays consistent.  I also have had the privilege to be part of my first UK teaching job interview.  I put in my application for a full time Music Teaching job that just opened last month.  It was fortunately at a school where I have been doing some cover/supply work already so that made things a little easier.  The interview took place this past Thursday and I felt that it went well.  There were a few things that needed to fixed but it's done and over with now but unfortunately after shortlisting the candidates again, I was NOT part of that list.  When one door closes another opens....that's all I can think positively at the moment because just going through the interview process was an amazing experience.  We had a formal interview and lesson observation so I'm still waiting on overall feedback but I guess this just wasn't the job that I was meant to do (at least for the time being).  

Other than our extremely busy week at school and the interview, we just crashed this weekend thinking of all the sleep that we have been missing!  Church was fantastic as normal today and very energetic which was encouraging.  

We will keep everyone updated on everything again soon and let us know ;) 

<3 Steph & Anthony 

And Easter Break continues...

So we're finally starting to run out of things to do on our 2 week break.  We've pretty much been sitting around for a week already inside relaxing and trying to soak in whatever sun may come out of the clouds.  We've only seen it  a couple of times but it's so nice once it comes out and it's better than the wind storms we've been having!  We DID however get the wonderful pleasure of going to see the Cliffs of Dover!  It was my idea all along, but Anthony didn't seem too fixed on the idea.  I thought it would be a good idea to walk along the cliffs and have a picnic while we're at it plus it's on a budget so it works.  We took the train all the way to Dover with one stop over and it ended up being bout 2 hours and 15 minutes one way but it was worth it in the end.

Once we made it to Dover, we decided to walk over to the Cliffs instead of paying for the bus.  We expected to get quite a bit of exercise that day but what we didn't know what was ahead the rest of the day.  We were pretty much climbing mountains uphill most of the way but we did manage to have a resting stop here and there.  It was definitely an experience and we had a really fun, romantic but exhausting day.

Picture of our massive 3 hour hike -- definitely NOT for the faint of heart.

The best view of the the Cliffs of Dover - the rock was just like chalk - so interesting...

This was our first view of the cliffs when we were starting our hike...

One of the thin walkways that we took all over the cliffs...we were lucky, this was good - most of the pathways were only a few inches wide and right on the edge...

Proof that I actually climbed all the way over the Cliffs of Dover...

Walking along the path and admiring the view...

Anthony and the view of the Dover Harbour...

We decided to take a rest and plant ourselves by the edge of the cliff and enjoy a romantic picnic.  It was beautiful, and really comfortable surprisingly.  We had a great lunch and reenergized for our walk back up the cliff...

Just a quick couple of snapshots before we left our picnic spot...

Amazing view of the harbour and parts of the Dover Cliffs...

Last view of the highest point of the cliff before we turned to walk all the way back...

Anthony had the bright idea of walking up the side of the cliff because it was a shortcut and there were stairs -- so much for stairs, it was just the ground carved out and extremely difficult to climb, not to mention that it was an 85 degree incline all the way up at least 100 feet...NEVER again!! LOL...

If you asked me if I wanted to go back and see the cliffs again, I would probably decline knowing what a hike the cliffs were.  I expected the cliffs to be an easy incline most of the way up and down, and it turned out to be an unreal and hard workout that I do not want to repeat.  I did however, think of the family Sovereign Thanksgiving hikes that we have every year and THIS one would have been the cherry on top of the cake!

Wish all of you Sovereigns were here to do the hike with us it would've been a good one!

Till next time...cheerio!

GO JAYS GO!!!!! 

So it has come to the time of Opening Day for the Blue Jays and we can't just sit here and not support our home team so we've pulled out all the stops (that are free) LOL...and we are ready to stay up half the night (or all night, depending on how the game goes) to watch the Opening ceremonies plus the first Jays game of the season.  

Anthony's prediction about the Jays season:

R.A. Dickey --> 2.84 ERA

                                   225 K

                                   19 W

                                   4 L

Jose Reyes --> .308 AVG   

                               11 HR   

                               58 RBI   

                              44 SB

Jose Bautista --> .274 AVG

                                    42 HR

                                    108 RBI

                                    3 SB

Excited to see all the new players this year (Reyes, Dickey, Johnson, Bonifacio, Buehrle, Cabrera) and many more.  The Jays should maintain a constant pace throughout the season which should give them a fighting chance when it comes to the Playoffs.  

Game starts in 10 minutes and we are all ready to kick off the 2013 season and here are the pictures to prove it...

You had to know that Anthony brought more 2 Jays jerseys and 2 Jays t-shirts to the UK along with many other baseball shirts...I'll give it to him, he's prepared! It wouldn't be the same watching the Opening Day without a little support from us ;-)

Anthony was pretty excited HOURS before the actual game started - 7:07pm EST or 12:07am GMT

I decided to get on board with the excitement and Jays support instead of sleeping...who needs sleep?? LOL :)

Pre-game food for an upcoming Jays game that should be epic - homemade chicken fingers and cactus cut potatoes...mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm yummy!! 

Enjoy the game for those of you who are lucky enough to be at the game tonight and for the people that aren't make sure you are watching it!!! WISH we were there, but we'll just have to support the Jays from the UK instead! 

GO JAYS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!