Frozen Britain...

Well, a fun and adventurous week-end is now behind me but the adventure has definitely not stopped for a lot of people in and around Britain. The week ended on a really good note for me. We only had a half-day of school on Friday and I also had first and second period spares so I only needed to teach one class! It was a Year 7 class and they are really good except they are SUPER ENERGETIC!!! Plus, it being a shortened period and the last day of school didn’t help. They needed to do their assessment performances for their unit except there were a lot of students missing so only two groups ended up actually being able to perform. After that we just played games for the remaining time until they had to head back to their tutor groups for PM registration before heading home. I also had the opportunity to meet Ms. Downes, the teacher whom I have been covering these last few weeks. She was able to come in and say hello to everyone and we had some lovely conversations about how the classes have been going and where they all are at this point. She has good mobility but it’s going to be a progressive return to the classroom, hence why I am booked in until February half term at the earliest. She is going to be slowly taking on a full week’s schedule over those weeks and I will be retaining most of the Key Stage 3 classes while she’s doing that. I’m definitely looking forward to it and the fact that I have eight more weeks of guaranteed work is a big weight off of my shoulders going into the holiday season. At the end of the day the staff all gathered in the staff room for a couple speeches for people who are leaving at the end of this term. While this was going on a snow storm was beginning to rage outside so we booked it out of there as quickly as possible before people couldn’t get their cars out of the car park. It stopped relatively soon afterwards and I was able to make it back on the train without any problem. That evening I went out to The Durell Arms in Fulham for the Cheam Staff Social. It’s an end of the term Christmas party/ Pub Quiz night that they apparently have every year. It was a lot of fun and I had the chance to meet and get to know a few more people than I had before. My team was really bad at the quiz and we ended up not finishing it because we were so far behind in last place ha ha ha. Still, the Guinesses went down nicely and the conversation flowed. All in all, a really fun evening.

Saturday and Sunday I spent just lounging around the house. It was nice to finally be on a break without having to worry about work at all so I just chilled. Sometime during the night on Friday however it ended up snowing another 10 cm or so and this is where the story really begins. “Frozen Britain” the headlines read across the nation after the last two days of travel chaos all around the country. There have been varying amounts of snow all over the place but there’s a lot of ice build-up that occurs on the roads because they can’t clear the snow fast enough. Runways at Heathrow and Gatwick have stalled air traffic for a huge chunk of time. There are crashes all over the motorways, trains not running on time, and tube disruptions all over the place. It’s unbelievable that this could happen a second time when the country was disrupted so severely only a few weeks ago. The biggest problem here is it happened to be on the busiest travelling days of the year, the week-end before Christmas. Not only are there hundreds of thousands of people trying to fly out of the country but there’s just as many trying to fly in. Heathrow and Gatwick were both closed entirely on Saturday and yesterday they only let a handful of flights go out of the airports with no arrivals at either. BAA has been spending a fortune on hotels for stranded passengers and thousands of people have had to spend the last two nights sleeping in the terminals of Heathrow. Two of my flatmates have been thrown around left, right, and centre trying to figure out how to get a flight home for Christmas Day, plus Jeremy has now had his flight from Belfast cancelled twice (though he’s supposed to be on one at 5:30 tonight…we’ll see if that remains on schedule). The biggest problem is not just the ice and snow build-up but because of where the airports are located in the jet stream through here. There’s a lot of snowstorms floating around us right now (we’re supposed to get another 5-10 cm tonight) so if planes take off and get caught up really quickly in a white out there’s going to be some serious trouble in the air. BA is trying to keep it safe but they’re in a “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” situation right now. There’s thousands of people pissed off at them for grounding flights but if they allow flights to go ahead and one slips on the runway and crashes people will be pissed that they didn’t ground the flights to avoid a tragedy. There’s a lot of irrational anger happening on all sides of the fence right now and a lot of it stems from people just wanting to be with family for the holidays. Hopefully everything will get sorted out but the important thing is that people get off the ground safely.

Other than that there’s really not that much going on. I’m just eagerly waiting to find out if Jer’s flight this evening is going to go ahead as scheduled. If not, it’ll just be another lazy night in I suppose. I think I just might take this spare time to catch up on a bunch of writing I’ve been meaning to get done recently. Might as well be productive right? Anyways, wherever you are going this holiday season I hope you make it there without any trouble and safely. Happy holidays to everyone!

Cheers and love,

Erik

Review: Deathtrap

Dilemmas…everybody has them and most of us don’t know what to do about them. People in this world deal with dilemmas both large and small and often have to resort to extreme measures to dig themselves out. This is a very real part of everyday human life and is an almost intrinsic element of theatre. Every piece of theatre out there involves some sort of a dilemma for a character that the show (usually) revolves around and how they are able to identify their problem and find a solution that may or may not be successful. In “Deathtrap” Ira Levin is able to take the commonality of a human dilemma and turn it completely on its head producing a well written and twisted murder thriller.

I had the opportunity to view the show about a week ago with Laura and Alisha, two wonderful people whom I know are going to become dear friends of mine after becoming almost attached at the hip for a good week-end. We decided impromptu to go and see a show in the West End on a Saturday and we started coming up with suggestions. They both wanted to see a musical but I’m not exactly the musical type. I suggested “Deathtrap” because it had received very good reviews, it ended soon, and it starred Jonathon Groff (of “Glee” fame) alongside a host of others. This was “go” at that point and we picked up tickets on the day of thanks to a lovely cheap ticket shop called TKTS and were in to the Noel Coward Theatre to see the show.

From lights down you knew that you were in for a treat. The production used a clever technique to project an image of the title of the show being typed onto the curtain like a typewriter. This instantly screamed big budget and when the curtains came up the set confirmed it. The stage was lavishly decorated from downstage to upstage, left and right. The setting is a study in a hunting lodge owned by the main character Sidney. The designers (and the builders for that matter) clearly took a considerable amount of time to put this all together. There are working doors at two different points on stage, a fire place practical enough to actually burn paper in, tables, chairs, desks, medieval weapons, hunting trophies, knick knacks, and more festooned all over the place. It had the organization that a proper set should have while still portraying the chaos that a writer’s thinking space should have. This set is changed periodically throughout the show but since it entirely takes place in this study there’s no need to have everything movable. It was a work of art to behold and difficult to capture in words. There was a true feeling of being welcomed into the home of Sidney and his wife while being voyeurs into the escapades that would unfold.

The story itself was very twisted and, I must admit, difficult to follow at times. I don’t want to talk too much about the plot of the show because I don’t want to ruin the “ah ha!” moments. As it is a thriller there are many different moments where you think something has happened onstage when it’s the opposite, lots of twists. M. Night Shyamalan would be a fan. The storyline moves at an incredible pace throughout the first act with actors almost tripping over their own lines as they move about the stage. This is where all of the action takes place involving Sidney, his wife, and Clifford (played by Groff). After this action packed first act, the second act is pedestrian at best and deliberately so. The characters now become much more intertwined than before and we begin to delve into their relationships and intentions…information we were not privy to only scenes before. It helps to clarify what has happened before and we get to move on. I thought it was especially well conceived because we were able to enjoy the first act for what it was, have a break, and then dive into some serious character analysis in the second act before everything is wrapped up. The two acts are a lovely contrast to one another and full of unpredictable events.

The acting was also quite enjoyable for the most part. Simon Russell Beale and Groff are wonderful as Sydney and Clifford respectively. The entire show surrounds their turbid relationship as professionals and more twisted and winding through a plot of inconceivable atrocity. Beale played a man who was clearly at a cross roads in his life and could for his life think of what to do. He deliberately does not stop pacing around the stage and there is hardly a moment when he is not calm or standing still. This becomes a contrast in the second half when he becomes much more calm, comfortable, and stationary (much like the plot) with Clifford around. Groff’s character is fun, energetic, and youthful. He cuts an innocent, enthusiastic type but tantalizes us with his range of acting skills as we are revealed to his true intentions. I was unfortunately disappointed with Claire Skinner’s portrayal of Myra, Sydney’s wife. Although the character is quite the caregiver for Sydney, there was no sense of softness or love in her voice at all. This is a character that becomes highly emotionally wrapped up in the play’s events and has a severe heart condition but the lines Skinner delivers were bland and almost indulgent to a point. She did not seem within her own element in the performance and it’s unfortunate because there are elements of what I wanted to see from her but it just wasn’t coming through as much as I would have liked.  Terry Beaver and Estelle Parsons play Porter and Helga respectively. Porter is Sydney’s lawyer and, although a minor character, he is integral to driving the story. Helga is a wonderfully hilarious psychic who becomes intertwined in the plot while warning the cast of things to come. Some much needed comic relief to the intense and thrilling scenes surrounding her appearances. Most of the actors talked extremely quickly and were spitting out speeches like they were on the meter. However, the plot moved along smoothly (particularly in the second half) and became easier to follow as it progressed.

One of the most delightfully confusing elements to this entire production is the play “Deathtrap” itself. Now…you’re probably a little confused right now. The play “Deathtrap” is a script being written on stage by the characters…whilst also performing the play “Deathtrap”. The actors are literally performing the play that’s being written as it’s being written. So, it’s a play being written in a play that is the play that it’s being written in. With me so far? I know…don’t worry too much about it. It gets quite confusing in the show itself but it’s also used as a fascinating plot device. Now, the first act is already written in terms of the “Deathtrap” that is being written in the show. However, once we hit the midway point the characters are working on the second act of the show while in the second act of the show. Soon, they work so far ahead that they are writing an ending to their show before we’ve even seen it! It almost becomes frustrating but we are inevitably hooked to seeing everything take place that only seem like they were written on a whim on stage. One hilarious moment takes place when Sydney begins to read the set description while walking around the stage. Of course, in his world he thinks he is just reading a set interpretation of his house when in fact he is reading a literal description of what is around him in terms of props and set design. Again, it’s very VERY difficult to place into words, it’s something you’d have to see in order to appreciate.

Although the acting becomes a bit rapid and points and the plot itself becomes jumbled within about six different dimensions, “Deathtrap” by Ira Levin is a wonderful show. I have not seen it being performed anywhere else before but if any of you get the chance to please go and see it. I cannot for the life of me do the ingenious plot design justice with my feeble words. It’s something that needs to be experienced through sight and sound rather than stationary words on a computer screen. The perpetual confusion that takes place within this show becomes entirely representative of what Levin is really trying to show…dilemma, and with that he succeeds with flying colours.

Happy Christmas Break Eve!

Well, almost another week has gone by…but this one has been quite different. There’s something oddly “festive” about it. It’s almost like something amazing is going to be happening at the end of it all. Oh yeah, IT’S CHRISTMAS BREAK EVE!!!!! A little name I like to give this time of year when knowing that the next day is that last of the school term for two weeks. A two week break in which we get to spend time at home, enjoy the holidays, and to ring in a New Year! I definitely look forward to all of these things, but first; let’s see how we got here…

The school week has been moving along at quite a nice pace up to this point. All of my Year 7 and 8 classes are performing their assessment tasks for the second unit. They all had time last week to work together with their groups to create their performances and this week is the time to show them on stage. For the most part they have all been quite enjoyable. There are always the odd groups that should have used their time a bit more wisely, but it’s great to see what some of the students come up with for their scenarios. Plus, it’s funny to be able to pick out some of the students that are definitely going to stick with this subject as an option subject and most likely do very well. One downside however, the Everest of marking that I am now slowly chipping away at. I know, I know…it’s part of the deal. I get to come into work and lead these classes in a subject that I absolutely love, direct and help them with their scenes, and then get to watch them. But, somewhere in there I have to be a teacher and nothing says “Teacher” more than marking. It’s going slowly but surely, I’ve got most of their performances done but I also have to mark a response for each individual student which is eating up the most amount of time. It’ll get done though.

Tuesday was a bit of an easier day. Cheam was having an Activity Day that day so I was able to participate in it. An Activity Day for the school is a day in which all of the different subjects take students on either a field trip or have somebody come into the school for a workshop. The Music Department had a musician come in to teach for a day, the English department went to the Globe for a performance, the French department went to France for two days (yeah), and Drama went to a matinee production of “Jersey Boys”. I hadn’t seen it before and I also haven’t been to see a musical in the West End yet so this provided me with a wonderful opportunity to catch a show for educational purposes!!...and for free. I’ll post a review of the experience soon.

Wednesday and Thursday have been lurching by at much the same pace as the previous couple of days. I did find out on Wednesday that I would be kept on at Cheam until February half term at the earliest! They’re not sure exactly how long they’re going to need me for so I’m booked until then and after that point everything will be re-evaluated. I’m definitely looking forward to having a lot of these classes for a consistent basis and getting to know the kids a lot of better. I definitely want to try and build something in the classroom and who knows…maybe it might turn into something even bigger if they feel like I’ve become an important part of the department. I don’t want to get ahead of myself though. On Thursday I had a great opportunity to watch a PEP class work on their pantomime performance for tomorrow. PEP is the Post-16 Entry Level Programme. It’s a sixth form program for post 16 students with a statement of moderate learning disabilities who want to do vocational or life skills courses at further education or residential colleges. The program provides a stepping stone for those who aren’t ready by the age of 16 to do so. The students in the class were absolutely amazing and very funny! The show itself is a funny take on Cinderella taking place in Sutton itself. The teachers in this program are also very kind and patient and they were amazing to allow me to sit in and watch. It’s definitely a performance worth seeing for those in the program.

That’s about it so far…things will be a lot more interesting once the week-end starts I promise. Tomorrow’s only a half day before the holidays begin so it will be a short one and then I’m heading out tomorrow night with a bunch of the other staff members for a pub quiz night in Fulham which I’m really looking forward to. Saturday I’m going to see a Christmas pantomime show of Peter Pan starring DAVID HASSELHOFF as Hook!!! Right? Weird I know. That should be interesting….hopefully he won’t appear on stage drunk wielding a cheeseburger instead of a sword. On Sunday, Jeremy arrives! After that it’s fun times had by all. 

Until then…

Cheers, love, and happy holidays!!!

Erik

One Amazing Week...

There are times in a year when you look back at the week you just had and think about everything that has happened. All of the people you’ve met, the things you’ve seen or done, and decide whether or not that week deserves a thumbs up or a thumbs down. This past week definitely gets a gigantic thumbs up, one of the best since I’ve been in London so far. A lovely time in the classroom, amazing moments working on the musical, and social events galore dedicated to the holiday season!

My week at Cheam definitely set the tone for the entire week by the classroom environments I’m in. The students are mostly amazing and really make it fun to teach. Some of the students are quite bright and they really surprise you sometimes with their abilities to empathize and critically think about a problem or issue that we’re tackling as a theme for scene work. It can seem a little repetitive to be teaching the same lesson to the same year groups throughout the entire week but the individual classes vary so much that each one presents its own challenges that keep me on my toes for the full hour. I have different SEN classes that require support teachers in the classroom as well as many high energy students that just want to get up and work on scenes instead of sitting and listening to an explanation. There are some behavioural issues as well (normal) with two classes in particular that cannot handle practical work because they go mental and start running around and hitting each other. It creates a very unsafe environment for the other students in the class so we’ve brought them down to written work until they can prove that they can handle the practical work safely and properly and that they can listen to instructions beforehand without being disruptive. It’s going to be a bit of an uphill battle on that one but at least it’s providing me with a challenge. I really want to be able to do practical work with them because that’s what Drama is all about and it’s how they develop their skills. I just need to get them to see that.

My Year 7’s are finishing up their unit on Bullying with a scene presentation for this coming week and my Year 8’s are going to be presenting a series of scenes about Peer Pressure. That’s one of the amazing things about these classes (and Drama in general), they use them to teach the students technical and acting skills but also get them thinking about serious issues in their lives and in the school itself. A great double whammy that the students may not even realize when they are working on it. I had to deal with a couple of instances involving some bullying as well this week and it’s interesting how the lesson can provoke a student to confide in you as a teacher when these things have happened because they recognize it through the lesson. I had a really fulfilling week and I think that I really helped some kids out this week and had a lot of fun with them too.

I love it when I can joke around in my classes and have a lot of fun with the students. Drama is all about fun and I shouldn’t feel like a giant dictator in the classroom but more of a mentor and a guide. In one of my Year 7 classes, whom I didn’t have last week because of the snow days, there was one such funny instance. I was doing the register (attendance) and when I called out a little girl’s name she asked me if I could call her “Kitty” which I assume is a nickname. This work combined with the accent made me think she was saying “Katie”. So I repeated “You want me to call you Katie?”. “No sir, Kitty” “Katie?” No, Kitty!” “Like….like a cat?” At this point the class all started laughing when I had finally figured it out. When I continued through the register I called a boy’s name to which he replied “Sir, can you call me dragon please?” To which I obviously did and he was quite happy. By the end of register I had one Kitty, a Dragon, a Gorilla, and an Old Chap in my class. The funny thing is when you have that kind of a start to a class they get completely on board with you and they were my go to kids the entire class because they participated so well. These are the types of classes that I really want to have and every one of them can be this way, it’s just a matter of getting through to the students who disrupt the lesson before t even begins.

In other news at the school the musical is starting to really get up and running. We had a rehearsal on Monday after school and ran through the blocking for Act 1 and it’s actually not too bad. The kids all seem to know what they’re doing for the most part and it’s just a matter of polishing the scenes up after we’re back in the New Year. I ran a character development workshop on Wednesday after school for the students that we there because a lot of them (mainly the younger ones) are having a tough time being their character on stage. It’s just from a lack of experience in the subject and on the stage so I’m working with a lot of them to get them thinking about how they can really be somebody else on stage and have the audience believe in it too. The kids really enjoyed it and apparently called me a “legend” to Lucy after I had already left that evening. I love doing these types of things as well because it allows me to use my experience in the theatre as an actor to direct the students from a production standpoint. I got really into it and it seemed like they were having a fun time too. They were laughing a lot which is always a good sign, especially in character and scene work. If they’re not having fun then they’ll start to lose interest so it’s about creating a positive environment for them to enjoy the work that they’re doing and it will show on stage when they finally do perform it. I’ll be going through the same workshop again on Monday for the students that missed out on Wednesday and I’ll also be creating a handout for the kids to read through and refer to when they are learning their lines over the holidays (hopefully).

This week Protocol also hosted a couple of Christmas related social events in London for teachers as well as consultants. On Wednesday evening the Secondary Consultant Team hosted a drinks night at a pub local to the Protocol offices on Chancery Lane. There was a relatively small group of us but I had the chance to meet a bunch of different consultants that I’ve talked to many times over the phone when I’ve called in for work. I’ve never been able to match a voice to a face before and it was nice to be able to actually sit down and chat with them outside of work hours. They are all quite pleasant and were keen to know how my placement at Cheam was going. It was also nice to get to thank them all for the help they have given me since my arrival in the UK and in getting me set-up with the job. A very pleasant evening indeed.

On Thursday night Protocol hosted a Christmas dinner at the Slug and Lettuce just off of the Strand in London. The dinner was absolutely delicious, I had turkey with parsnips, broccoli, brussel sprouts, potatoes, and sausages. The dessert was Christmas pudding with custard which was also quite delicious. I had the chance to meet quite a few people there and made some connections for over the holidays to meet up with some people who are sticking around. I also bumped into Laura and Alisha (whom I met at the Ale Trail a couple weeks previous) and had a great time chatting with them. I ended up winning a trip through a draw at the end of the night as well! I have a choice between two different two day trips to Wales or a trip all through Oxford, Cotswolds, Bath, and Stonehenge. I’m not sure which one I’ll choose but it’s pretty cool that I won!

Friday night I ended up heading into the city to The Porterhouse in Covent Garden with my flatmates for drinks before Brittany headed back to Canada. We spent a good chunk of time at the bar, which had a live band playing covers for a little while, and then headed back to Colliers Wood to hit up the Tup until closing time. On Saturday I met up with Laura and Alisha in London to go see a performance of “Deathtrap” at the Noel Coward Theatre. It was a really enjoyable show and one of the performers was Jonathon Groff of “Spring Awakening” and “Glee” fame. I won’t get into too much detail with that because I’m going to be writing a review sometime during the week but it was very good. Afterwards we went out for dinner and drinks and made plans to meet in Camden on Sunday to walk through the markets.

Overall, quite the packed and enjoyable week. I have to buckle down for this week but it should go by relatively quickly because everyone wants to get through the day to get to the end of the week. Jeremy’s going to be arriving on Sunday the 19^th and spending the holidays straight through to January 3^rd. I’m really looking forward to that and being able to see and do and bunch of stuff in the city. I have to get through this week first!! Until then…

Cheers and Love

Erik

A Day In The Life Of A Drama Teacher...

I have been living in London now for almost three months and I have to say I have loved every minute of it. I’ve been able to explore many different regions of the city, see a lot of the sites, and truly get a feel for English culture. I have been working as a supply teacher for Protocol since the beginning of October and have been to a wide variety of different schools teaching many different subjects. Although I didn’t mind teaching whatever subject I was assigned for that day (such is the life of being a supply teacher) the biggest thing I wanted to accomplish here in London was to attain a long term position, or at least some significant experience, teaching my subject: drama.

I love the dramatic arts. I took it earnestly in high school, studied it as a major in university, participated in many productions, and lastly chose it as my primary teachable subject. It’s hard for me to put my finger on the exact reason why I love to be in drama…there’s too many reasons and would take too long to explain in this post alone. What I really want to talk about is what it means to be a drama teacher.

As some of you might have read before, I posted to Protocol’s blog my thoughts on funding the arts in schools. I truly believe that it is a vital subject for students to have because it taps their creative tendencies in many different ways. It challenges them to be able to speak confidently in front of their peers, to exchange ideas, work effectively in groups, and have an outlet for their emotions. I know from experience the release that being in drama can give to a student and how it can become a focus for students suffering from many different learning disabilities. I could go on and on but feel free to peruse my previous post on the subject to get a more rounded idea.

I’ve recently been placed in a long term position as a drama teacher at Cheam High School in Sutton. I have had the most wonderful time at this particular school so far and everything that I’ve been looking forward to as a drama teacher have already become to materialize. I mostly have Year 7 and 8 classes which I’ll admit is both a blessing and a bit of a curse. They are very young kids and so enjoy getting up, working together and creating scenes. However, they are also full of energy which equals a lot of noise and running around but reminding them of the safety factors involved in such behaviour will calm them down to a more manageable level. Leading the classes in this scene work has been loads of fun. For students so young it becomes important to establish the concepts of scenes, characters, themes, etc. After they grasp these basic building blocks they will be able to readily comprehend the more complicated aspects of performance. As a result, these years do a serious amount of scene work.

There’s something oddly satisfying about the distinct lack of paper in a drama classroom. The students are forced to get up, move their bodies, speak, and exchange ideas with one another while working on their scenes. It’s an intangible but highly creative atmosphere and as a teacher I can swim through their varying ideas as I move from group to group in order to facilitate their work. A drama teacher has a unique ability to be able to model the skills and techniques for their students to imitate at first and then build on in their own performances. You approach it from their own level without desks or chairs separating you. There’s no board to write on or pens and paper passed out. It’s a wonderful atmosphere that only the teachers of the arts can know.

Another wonderful part of being a drama teacher is the ability to become involved in extracurricular productions for the school. At Cheam right now they are working on a production of “Bugsy Malone” due for presentation in March. It’s a musical in collaboration with the music and dance departments. As a teacher coming in I was keen to get involved as much as possible and for a production of this scale there was lots of areas in need. It’s a wonderful process to be a part of a school theatre production as a teacher. You work with these students on many different technical skills, you help them refine their performance abilities and understanding, and you practice them with practical work in the classroom. While this is true of many different subjects it usually stops here. With drama we have the unique ability to put these skills to use in a productive way that gives students the types of experiences that constitute working in theatre as a profession. They get more practical experience and it’s also just a lot of fun. It doesn’t even have to be drama teachers or students who get involved. Productions come in all shapes and sizes and it’s more encouraging to see students who don’t normally take drama to participate and gain those valuable skills that the subject can provide. For all of the teachers out there reading this, I urge you to try and get involved in a drama production in your school if you can. Even if it’s only ever once I can guarantee you that you will have fun, you will get a fabulous opportunity to bond and get to know your students outside of the classroom, and you might even find a love for an aspect of theatre that you didn’t even know you had.

I feel blessed to be where I am in teaching right now. It’s not a permanent position and I will eventually have to go back to supplying until the next opportunity rolls around but as a newly trained teacher these are the types of experiences I want. I would like to continue working in drama as a teacher and performer/designer for many years and it’s these experiences that will help lead to that. I look forward to the coming weeks in my classrooms and sharing some of those stories with you.

Good Day And Welcome To December...

Well, it has been quite an eventful week around here…and by “here” I mean Britain in general. As I know most of you have been hearing from either myself (or some other source out of the UK) it gets pretty mad here when it snows. I know, it seems like a rather ridiculous thing to think about. As Canadians we’re just so used to snow being a part of our lives in winter and we’re also well equipped to deal with it. Here in the UK however they don’t get it that often and it usually doesn’t accumulate that much. With a large weather system flowing down from Russia, Britain got hit….hard. People went absolutely mental around here because they’ve never gotten this much snow this early before…mind you it was just a couple of inches. We didn’t get hit as hard in London as they did up north and in Scotland, plus Surrey, Kent, and Essex were hit particularly hard. Cheam School is in Surrey so I ended up with a couple of days off this week, and here’s where our story begins.

 Monday and Tuesday were actually pretty good days. I’m slowly getting to know my classes and most of them are really good. The Year 8’s are a bit crazy and hard to handle but I think I’ve mentioned this before already. My Tuesday schedule is also considerably lighter than the other days of the week so I had a lot of free time. I’m also getting set for the students performing their assessment tasks in a couple of weeks…yes, seriously marking! It’s like I’m a real teacher! For those of you who can’t find the rather large amount of sarcasm in these words…now you know. I’m also helping out with the school musical. The teacher whom I am replacing at the moment was directing the acting portion of the show so it’s been in a bit of disarray since she’s been out. They’re performing “Bugsy Malone” which apparently was a musical on film released in the Seventies depicting old Prohibition-era gangsters but played entirely by children. I think there’s supposed to be irony in there somewhere but it seems like a pretty fun show, at least I read it that way. I’m going to have the chance to take on scenes to direct and help while the other teacher directs scenes. It’ll help to get more done and faster and I’m really excited to get my practical experience to help me out. Tuesday was also the day it started to snow and so of course the kids went absolutely crazy that day. It was quite a battle to get them to not throw snow at each other. There isn’t really a strict policy about it because the snow’s not usually around that much to worry about it but teachers were being very strict about it that day. One kid did end up taking a snowball in the head and getting cut….kids just don’t have some sense sometimes. Everybody left as soon as school finished that day because they were worried about having trouble getting home. They were right.

I didn’t have any problems myself. The trains were still running without any issues at this time so I managed to get home without difficulty. The other teachers didn’t have it so lucky however. One of the other Drama teachers, Alexis, ended up stuck on the road just a mile away from the school, waiting for over an hour in standstill traffic, and finally having to abandon her car and walk the rest of the way home. There’s no comprehensive system for snow removal in the country and there’s also a massive shortage of salt for the roads. As a result there was a considerable build up of black ice on the major roadways, a lot of accidents, and people resorting to abandoning their vehicles. Most people don’t own snow brushes or shovels either so it was interesting watching them cleaning off their cars or driveways with whatever they had handy. Trains also operate on a third rail system that froze quite quickly in the very cold temperatures so people were stranded in train stations. Gatwick airport had to be closed for a couple of days and a lot of people had to bunk up at work because they couldn’t get home for the night. It was actually quite a nightmarish situation for a lot of people but still pretty crazy that this amount of snow would cause almost the entire country to ground to a halt. Now, I didn’t mind having a day off on Wednesday because of the snow but I lost a day of work on Thursday as well. It’s unfortunately because I can’t control the weather and it directly forced me to lose days of work which sucks. I guess that’s just part of life though. I did however end up getting work on Friday at Henry Compton School in Fulham. The schools closer to the main city didn’t get as much snow and the main roads were cleared pretty quickly because of the heavy traffic. They were open all week and they had a teacher out sick on Friday so I covered. It was a Food Tech classroom so I ended up watching a couple of classes cooking and got to taste some of it as well. There’s a technician that works in the classroom so she handled what they had to do and I just wandered around and observed. It was actually not a bad day and went by fairly quickly. I’ll hopefully be back at Cheam on Monday though. They’re going to be opening later than usual apparently because the site is still in rough shape as are the roads in the area. It’s been very warm out the last couple of days here however and most of the snow has melted so I’m thinking it shouldn’t be a problem.

Other than that I’ve had a pretty decent week-end. On Friday night I went with Brittany, Nicole, and Kim to the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland. It’s a really cool and massive Christmas market and carnival that gets set up in the park every year. I’ve been badgered by Scott to go check it out because he and Dusty went there together at this time last year when he was visiting. There are a ton of different shops set up selling all kinds of practical, crazy, or downright silly things. Lots of bars set up selling mulled wine, beer, and hot chocolate (which could be spiced up with a little Bailey’s if one was keen). Tons of different food options from your regular hot dogs, burgers, and cotton candy to bratwurst, crepes, Belgian waffles, and even a place that sold Haggis sandwiches (of which I might have to go back and check out). Plus there’s a skating rink set up and a bunch of different rides and games. It was really neat and set up right in the middle of the park in London, you really forget where you are when going through it. Afterwards, Kim and I met with a couple friends in Wimbledon for some drinks before heading home.

On Saturday I ended up sleeping in a bit and sitting around the house for the most part. We had people over to the house in the evening for a Secret Santa party before people all left and it was also a going away party for Brittany because she will be leaving us soon to head back to Canada. It was a fun party (a lot of people actually) and we ended up playing Christmas music all night and exchanged some funny gifts. We also ended up playing beer pong and for those of you who think I might have lost some skill having been over here…I dominated. When I come back to Canada it’s going to be on like Donkey Kong you’d better believe that.

Sitting here now I’ve got to sort out some script stuff for Bugsy tomorrow and then probably chat with my parents later on Skype about my week and there’s. I’m making up a scene breakdown chart for the show so we can organize rehearsals a bit better as well as breaking them up into scene groups to rehearse specific scenes simultaneously. I wasn’t asked to do it but it’ll help so of course I’m glad to do it. That’s another week in the books ladies and gents…only two more school weeks until the holidays start if you can believe that. It’ll be nice having some time off but I think I’ll definitely be looking forward to getting back to it in the New Year. Until then…

Cheers and love J

Erik