New Profession

Last weekend I had no plans to go out so I made myself useful by helping Jake fix up our backyard which looks like this at the moment:

And around the corner to your left, there is a small alley way. Unfortunately I forgot to take a before shot but if you look at the photo below, the part where it is has weeds, that's what the whole alley way looked like before I was set to work.

After 6 hours (with two short breaks in between), about 20 bags of sand, 28 pavers (not including the half pavers along the right hand side), a spade, a wheelbarrow, a bubble level, and a piece of wood for flattening... below is the finished product:

Now while Jake supervised, checked the technical side of it, emptied the heavy bags of sand and placed the pavers down that my little arms could not lift, the rest I can say I did all by myself! The alley way leads all the way down to my bedroom window so I thought because I did most of the work (though Jake may argue otherwise), I thought I should claim it as my piece of work!

Can you see what's on my window?

:)

Then last night I helped Jake fix the plumbing under our bathtub. It was leaking and the water had soaked a hole in the wall next to it which means we had to do something about it quickly. As his assistant, I held the torchlight and passed Jake his tools while watching him pull, prode, tighten, twist and assemble the bath back together. He's definitely a Mr. Fix It!

At this rate, I think I should count all this practical experience towards becoming a paver and a plumber! :)

Dirty Dancing the musical

One thing I will miss when I leave London is how often and so easily you can go see a musical. It's like going to the cinema, except it's more interactive.

There are a lot of websites and adverts that promote 50% off tickets or 10 pound promotion (which are usually not great seats) as well as dinner/theatre pakages where you basically get a free meal before the show at a reststaurant. Audrey sent me a link for one of the packages for Dirty Dancing and I immediately booked tickets! Booked two tickets, knowing Wern-Yi wouldn't be able to pass up the offer!

Our restaurant/bar was at a place called The Langley. Looks good from the photos but I think it was better known for its bar facilities rather than a restaurant. It did try to set a warm atmosphere with its velvet reds and browns.

Our table

My date for the night.

My meal: pan fried chicken breast on a bed of roasted potatoes and salad.


Wern-Yi's meal: Fish and chips!

Off to the theatre!

Inside the theatre: they had blue lights shining on the audience before the show started, probably to set the mood, but it was quite annoying when your seat was directly infront of it and the light was shining in your eyes. But it made a cool effect when taking photos! :)

And the musical? Well, it was FANTASTIC! :D The dancing was so amazing and, like every other dancing show/film, it made me want to start dancing again. The props and creative effects were so clever. I wonder how they come up with these ideas? During the show, one scene took place in the forest where a life size tree trunk was lowered down mechanically and filled most of the stage! Who would have thought of that? "How can we make a prop for this scene? I know, let's make a life size tree trunk and have it lowered down mechanically onto stage???" lol I would have loved to see the 'behind the scenes' of how they managed it!

My Cherubs

Some of you may know that I am currently at a primary school, teaching Prep (or as they call it over here, Reception). I have a beautiful class (minus one or two :P) and the staff are great. Below are my two girls who I absolutely adore! :) (The boy was being cheeky and decided he'd ruin the photo - boys will be boys!)

They usually wear uniform but that particular day was 'Colour Day'.

Natural History Museum

London has lots of museums to visit. You just have to choose the ones that are of interest to you.

I went along with WY and Jeremy to the Natural History Museum one weekend. An exhibition called 'The Deep' was on so we decided to go have a look.

The Deep exhibition has fascinating views of what the deep sea is really like from the surface all the way down to 11km below. As you walk in, you're greeted with an almost pitch black room with moody blue lighting to guide you around. Your first insight to 'the deep' is a wall of glass jars containing unusual and somewhat alien-like looking sea specimens that have been found at the very deep levels of the sea.

Above our heads was a huge roataing globe of the world. It went through two phases.

First showing the currents...

... and then the depth of the sea around the world.

On one of the walls it showed how deep the sea is and what animals can survive depending on the depth.

There was lots more but it was hard for me to take good photos due to the lack of lighting. The Deep exhibition was only part of the museum. They also had a butterfly house which I wanted to go to but didn't have time. There was a mini beast exhibition which I thought would be perfect for a school excursion.

After visiting the museum, I now know what I would have like to become if I couldn't be a teacher. A biologist. :)

iTunes Festival

My first and second music concert was at The Roundhouse in Chalk Farm.

Concert No. 1:
It was a small low key crowd, watching Tony Bennett perform live! :) Now, if you had asked me back home to attend his concert, I probably would have said no. But these tickets were free and I was going with good company so I told myself 'Why not?' And I'm so glad I did. Tony Bennett was so charming and really knew how to entertain the crowd - yes, even at 84 years old! His performance was simple yet he had a genuine warm lovable personality that made you want to listen to his songs all night! I was so disappointed when it was over! (still waiting for Anna to send me photos from the night.)

Then a week later, Anna managed to get another 2 tickets to the festival.

Concert No. 2:
This time it was for two younger bands that I had never heard of: Wild Beasts and The XX. Let's just say my second music concert wasn't as great as the first... mainly because it wasn't my type of music.

Wild Beasts - sorry, can't really see the band members in this photo.

The XX

The highlight of this night (besides spending it with Anna :P) was finally getting to experience one of these sparkly confetti machines! I've only ever watched it happen on TV and wondered what it was like to actually be on stage when it happens. And thanks to Anna, we were at the very front and therefore got to experience the full effect of it! It was so cool!

I feel sorry for the cleaners who have to clean up after it though! :P

Anna has Landed!

Anna has been here for nearly 2 months now and it has been great having a friend from Melbourne to hang out with. I had been looking forward to going out with Anna because I knew hanging out with her would mean I would be introduced to exciting and sometimes embarrasing things I would never try by myself :)

These photos were from the first Australia soccer match in the World Cup. We went to an Aussie Walkabout Pub in Finchley Road.

I know this photo is a little blurry but I really like it :)

Here's a better one for those of you squinting your eyes at the last one :)

Anna's first influence on me: introducing me to Bulmers Pear Cider!

It's not too bad... but still only managed to drink half a glass!

Nearly everyone in the pub had covered themselves in Australian outfits. From flags tied around their waist or used as capes, Australian flags painted on their arms, face, legs etc., gold and green clothing etc. The girls and I felt ashamed to be Australian at that point. Lucky for me, I had brought along my dear Oz Bear to feel somewhat patriotic!

It was a fun new experience watching my first ever soccer match AND watching it in a pub! If I have this much fun with Anna all the time then I can't wait till Melly arrives! Wonder what crazy adventures we three will get up to?! :D