welcome to the real world

need i say more.

school, plus some

well, i am dead tired, but i have had a great week. I was complaining to a housemate on Tuesday how i was actually really quite scared to go to school. and i kind of still am. The kids are hard to figure out and there is a lot of planning to do, but i am sure i will get on top of that eventually.

Wednesday was great, no kids at school, just a training day. And then thursday and friday i had 5/7 kids in class. And friday afternoon i had 2 children who were very unsettled (one was throwing the other across the room or half-strangling him because he was too excited and didn't know what to do with all his energy) but then i put on the wiggles during drink and fruit and by the time we got to afternoon circle we put hi-5 on and all the kids were very calm. It was seriously AMAZING... a blessing and a great way to end my friday afternoon at school. I still have heaps of planning, but my headteachers advice was don't get overwhelmed, so i won't. ha. I am loving school and will learn a lot from being in an autistic class for 5 months.

umm, have had 2 friends from sydney stay with me this week, Bin and Shavarsh. It has been fab. we went to the producers tonight at Theatre Royal which was geat. Very funny, a bit crude, but a good show. And have hung out every night since wednesday either in town or at a nice pub or something. it has been nice to chill out and catch up with them and see some sights of LONDON.

and for those of you who know carrie, she comes tomorrow to stay for a month to work at the BBC, so things are all go here. But seeing as she is working, i can stay a bit later at school to do planning and we can do lots on the weekends or in the evenings. Although we will probably be getting to bed a bit earlier than i have previous nights.... oh well, tourists don't stay here that often, so i have to have a bit of fun with them. And i am turning into a boring sod never going into town anymore... too Lazy... bah.

well, bed now. will write in a few days.
love
deev
yes mum, i am looking after myself!!! about 15kgs more than i was in sydney!! ha, just joking, not quite that bad yet.

Happy new year!!!

well, what is New Years without a friend getting thrown out of a pub for breaking someone's nose?? ha.

my plans for New Years fell through, so i went to a friend from uni's place for a bit of a celebration. we ended up going to the Walkabout (good old aussie pub) which was lucky, because it is a 2 minute walk from my house, so it was easy for me to get home. So we had a great night in an aussie pub with heaps of aussies, although to describe it think first year uni at North Sydney. But even though i was with some great people, the rest of the crowd were your typical drunk people who have one thing on their mind (and it was very crowded, so there were a lot of people wishing for some fun on new years eve)... so everytime someone walked past you you had to protect yourself from wandering hands. No wonder my friend tried to protect his girlfriend. But seeing as he had had a bit to drink, he thought headbutting the offender was the best way... the security guards weren't too happy with that, so our new years celebrations ended at about 1:15am. Not too bad an effort.

Oh and we got to see the fireworks from the Thames on the tv, in a much warmer environment than actually being there. And as much fun as having trousers soaked up to the mid-shin in beer is, i don't know how soon i will be going back to the walkabout. ha. But all in all, i did have a good evening.

I was missing home, but i was glad to be with friends! An intersting adventure for New Years to say the least.

well, sleep for me now i think.
HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all! Hope you had fun bringing it in with people you love.

love you all,
deev

WHite Boxing Day

so we didn't get the white Christmas that I wanted, but it was only a day late. It snowed on BOxing Day and all the way up until I left Brussels.

I am now home and not wanting to face work starting next week and all the responsibility that will bring. I have work to do before i start school and much more to do on the weekends and afternoons. Once again, welcome to the real world deev... ha, but my class is wonderful (despite a few quirks) and i am really looking forward going to the same place everyday.

well, here are some photos of the snow, yay

Christmas at the Vercnocke's.

Well, am now in Overjise in Belgium. It is not very far South East of Brussels. I am here with Jen and Mike (my dad's cousin somehow), their children Catherine and Tom and Jen's mum and dad. And we had an absolutely smashing Christmas with lots of cheese, wine and turkey. The cheeses are very exotic from France, Devon and Belgium too!!! And the wines were French or Spanish and the beer was a grand 8.something% and from Belgium, where they can be as strong as 12%.

Umm, we went to the Christmas markets today in Brussels which were pretty. And we are hoping for snow, although unfortunately it was not a white Christmas. Well, off now to watch Doctor WHo with the family and then maybe play a bit of Playstation 2 with the eyetoy... ever so much fun!

love you all and missing you all. Hope you had a GREAT Christmas.
deev
p.s. tried to put the photos on, but they froze the computer... sorry, will add them when i get home. WIll be back in London for New Years, yay.
love ya

feliz navidad, joyeux noel, happy christmas

well, louis (infront of me) and marion (right of me) have left and we now have another mathieu and angelique. But, you get the gist.... Merry Christmas from all at 62!!! this was taken at our beautiful chrissie dinner.

love you all,
bisous
deev

c'est moi avec mon nouvel ordinateur

c'est moi avec mon nouvel ordinateur. c'est tres bon!!!

no really, it is exciting, cos i can now use the internet at home. YAY. well, i am off to Brussels on Friday for Christmas and then back home for new years. then preparing for my job that i start on Jan 4th, for 4 months. It is at an autistic centre. the kids are 5years old and i have about 7 (still not sure how many).

so lots of stuff happening here.

well, Merry Christmas to you all

love

deev

me

two housemates moving out and two new ones moving in (all french)... december holds lots of fun things in store. The dynamics of the house will change heaps.

umm, Marion went shopping in Selfridges the other day and bought a really nice pair of jeans, she had never heard of the brand, but nonetheless, it was sass and bide... go sydney...

went to order a laptop yesterday with lots of issues with my funding... I HATE the banks over here. so alas, no computer, hopefully sometime next week i will order it, who knows if it will arrive before christmas. as if not, i will not be able to pick it up, cos chrissie in brussels this year... who knows where i'll be for new years.

well, better get to tami's new place for dinner,

love you all
deev.
xx

northern ireland

had a great weekend with Carrie in Northern Ireland. Ummm, the weather was cold, but it was fun. And we had a great chance to catch up which was fantastic. She lives close to the sea and we took lots of photos, but unfortunatly i can't load them yet... hohumm boring.

umm,what else is news??? I played mixed doubles tennis tonight, it was great. the onlything missing was doubles partner either Schelle or Kristy. maybe in the future... ha

don't think there is much else to write. am still having a good time. winter starts tomorrow, but it hasn't been too cold yet.

well, to bed with me.
love
deev

Harry Potter

tonight i went to see Harry Potter with some friends from uni. I really enjoyed it. We decided that it would be a good movie to see again, so strongly recommend it!

Umm, oh, not sure if i said, but this winter is meant to be the coldest winter since 1963 or something. And on Friday the frost was really thick and we still had ice in the playground at 11:00am. So thinking it might be getting a bit chillier every day now.

Saw that they have outdoor ice-rinks in a few venues in London. Might go with a few of the housemates to check them out or with the uni friends. The main city streets are looking quite nice with all the decorations for Christmas and the roasted chestnuts on the side of the road. I am getting myself ready for a cold Christmas which will be quite bizarre. Although plans are that I will be in Brussels, not England... as for New Years... who knows??

that's all for now...
go see Harry Potter!

love ya

not every day...

it's not every day you walk down the street to the internet cafe passed by 5 police cars and also another one on the side of the road frisking a guy... or is it!!?? hopefully not! ha.

well, almost at the end of another week and what have i done?? I have worked, not done much else, but I am having fun.

Oh last night, i went to see Tim Freedman live at Bush Hall, just a walk from my home, not too bad. I managed to convince one of my housemates to go and met two girls from church there. Had a great night!! Hopefully i won't make myself poor by seeing gigs all the time. and Sat will be the next Harry Potter movie with some uni friends...

hope you are all well!!
love ya,
deev

oh my goodness...

well, we have had a lovely french/mexican couple living on our loungeroom floor for the past two weeks and they decided to give us a thank you present. Not only did Celeste cook a mean tikka masala (as well as other culinary delights throughtout the fortnight), but JB and Celeste decided to give us a fussball table. Who could ask for anything more??!!

Also, I am a changed person! And i am still trying to figure out if it is for the better. When we were putting the fussball table together, we had Robbie playing in the background and i was singing along... And believe it or not, I have a new found liking for the guy. See, I saw his Berlin Concert on TV and he is a fantastic entertainer. You could see from his eyes that he felt honoured to be performing the the German crowd - AMAZING!!

What else?? ummmm, finally booked my tickets to Northern Ireland. I'm going to visit Carrie on the weekend November 25th. And hopefully seeing Harry Potter next weekend, can't wait for that!!!! I played tennis on Friday night with one of my housemates, Clément. It was sooooo great to play after such a long time. Might try and get along to some mixed doubles nights so that I can keep it up.

Have been teaching every day since half-term, which has been great for money and experience. I have been at a variety of schools. I have decided that High Supports needs is not a field that i want to go into full time, but i enjoy teaching it every now and then. I have also been at a high school for students with medical troubles, austistic classes and mainstream classes reception to Year 6. On Wednesday I had a great arvo giving students massages listening to relaxing music. We had 5 students and me and 4 teaching assistants, it was FANTASTIC.

think that is all for the moment.
bisous,
deev

the photos are
first:us making the table.
second:left to right top: Celeste, JB, Mathieu, Louis, bottom:Me, José et Clément.

i'm fine now!!!

don't stress about me, my homesickness was gone the next day, praise God!!!

i am back to loving life over here!!! yay

love
deev

P.S. jana, it was not your fault at all!!! i loved Germany!!! thanks for having me!

homesickness

homesickness has juststarted to kick in.

ha, crazy, it's only been 4 months.

i think it was coming home to the daily grind after spending an awesome week in Germany with Jana, talking about Aus and all that sort of stuff, ahhhh, Masthead Island... ahhhh, the sun and sand... ahhhhh the rain and dreariness of England, will apparently be our worst winter since 63, waiting to see whether the weather reporters have it right.

but it was great to see Jana, and had fun over there (germany). and all in all i am having a good time over here (london). work is great!! and 'home' is great too!!!
and will hopefully get to Nthn Ireland soon... yay.

well, hope you are all well
bless you all
deev

photos in Münster

here are some photos from Münster... Jana and her friend Hannah at their uni cafe. Hannah with her new buy looking like a Yeti. J-na and our bikes (with my new coat in a bag on the back of mine), J-na and me pulling some kind of face, but looking tired and sick at her house.

oh and one of me and schelle (awwww) outside harrods... no that wasn't in germany, but i thought i would put it on anways!

Germany

Hello all,
I am here in Germany and having a great time!!! have to ask Jana for some help with how to put photos up... this blogsite has all it's instructions in German, so not the easiest... but I am kinda learning.
Went to 3 lectures with J-na yesterday and out to a uni 'math' faculty party last night. Was weird to be back at a uni event. And man German Boyz are tall... puts all my male friends to shame... couldn't believe it.
Today i went to uni again, but took a book to read. I mean fungi and algae is really interesting, but i had a bit of trouble understanding the language. After uni i went shopping, whoops. I finally have a winter coat, but spent a bit too much money on other stuff too... i really needed the t-shirt, trousers and hairclips... really!
Oh and everyone would be really proud of me. I rode a bike to uni today and around town... I think i was a bit slow for Jana, but i didn't even fall off... even if no one else is proud, i am proud of me!!!! YAY. am feeling super fit now!!!
Before i left London for the week i had breakfast with Jose, one of my housemates... he comes home from work at about 4:00am which is when i happened to be leaving for the airport. We often have meals together when i get home from work and he is about to go off for his night shift. I am loving home, all my housemates are lovely. i have even gone to the pub with the french ones a few times, they are all really friendly. I am also LOVING mid-terms (holidays), and school is awesome too. have been at some crazy schools over here, but they have all been good. and the work has been coming too. oh and catching up with friends has also been good.
so now all i have to find is a church... and i am looking into one, so i will see how that goes this week.
well, off to watch a german soap.
will post some photos soon, promise!!
love you all,
hugz from Münster
deev

'home'

well, this could be it for a while... 'home' that is... seems to have been a few places over the last little while.

had dinner last night with some people in my new place. I am living quite close to Shepherd's Bush tube in London. Close to heaps of buses and not far from Tami either. ummm, i am in 'Aussieville' but somehow living with 4 french and 1 spaniard, so not really part of the Aussieness.

so moved up to london last week, and lived on tami's floor for a week. found a place to rent and moved in on sunday. worked 3 days last week have 5 days this week by the time the week has finished, so not too bad.

Will have paid off my first months rent and bond hopefully soon so i will be able to do some travelling. not too sure where, but will see. Mid term holidays are in about 2 weeks, so that will be awesome.

well, back to the grind i suppose. don't have much fridge/cupboard space, so trying to buy light... will build up my supplies this week and will hopefully be settled by mid next week...

love youse all
deev
HUGZ

life...

well, i had a job... but i decided that it is way too much committment for a travelling girl. (they wanted me to go in to work in my holidays). so at the moment i am living on someone's floor, coughing up a lung in London hoping to be better for my last day of work tomorrow. then, hmmm, who knows what life will throw my way!!!!!! and if i am not better tomorrow, i guess i have the day to look for work and somewhere to live! although i won't get paid, the great thing about supply work is you don't get sick pay, oh well, that's the way it goes.

apart from being a bit sick and jobless, i have pretty much decided to move to london and give that a go... so not sure what life will throw my way in the next week.

well, 'home' to 'bed' for me!!! rest up so i can hopefully get to school tomorrow.

love you all
deev

life...

well, i had a job... but i decided that it is way too much committment for a travelling girl. (they wanted me to go in to work in my holidays). so at the moment i am living on someone's floor, coughing up a lung in London hoping to be better for my last day of work tomorrow. then, hmmm, who knows what life will throw my way!!!!!! and if i am not better tomorrow, i guess i have the day to look for work and somewhere to live! although i won't get paid, the great thing about supply work is you don't get sick pay, oh well, that's the way it goes.

apart from being a bit sick and jobless, i have pretty much decided to move to london and give that a go... so not sure what life will throw my way in the next week.

well, 'home' to 'bed' for me!!! rest up so i can hopefully get to school tomorrow.

love you all
deev

ho hum...

back to the daily grind of doing nothing!! waiting for news on the job front... apparently there is heaps out there, just waiting for the agencies to 'get back to me'. chased a few up. they say positive stuff and follow through with nothing but know all the right stuff to say to keep you waiting.

ummm, apart from that, back in Lindfield. not doing much, except reading, watching news and doing Su doku... i think i am a champion now!!

went to the All saints church across the road last night, i think that is keeping me sane at the moment, the group there is pretty cool and keeping me in their social loop, is nice.

at the mo, looking for job, house and church... not sure in which order, but it will all fall into place eventually!

love you all, miss you!
deev
p.s. am finding a lot of people like to ask me about the cricket... wonder what will happen today?? can we get it?