AUSTRALIA DAY!

Me with Australian Flag on my Head trying

to celebrate Australia Day

On Wednesday, Febuary 26th was "Australia Day" which apparently is the "biggest holiday in Australia" all year. Emma (the aussie gap student) wanted to go out to celebrate this day as I think she was feeling a bit homesick seeing all of her friends pictures and mobile uploads of them floating in the ocean and frolicking around in bathing suits.

We went out and invited a few of her hockey male (yes field hockey) is primarily a men's sport over here.....
Anyways ... we went to this nice bar called the boathouse to begin the celebration. I was trying to be funny, make friends with some of her friends, and try to be the charming, pleasant, delightful erin rigby you all know and love ;) . Unfortunately - not one person thought I was funny and it got to a point where almost every time I tried to make a joke/comment...you could literally here crickets. Emma courtesy laughed at my jokes which I was thankful for !!!!

Womp. Womp. Better luck next time!

LAX!!!!!!!!!!

Lax or Die (I know ... colors are Purple and White... don't judge)

On Saturday I got to play in my first lacrosse game for "Whirral" (which sounds nothing like Whirl). We played Birmingham and beat them 15-11. It was awesome to be playing again.

The lax was pretty good competition! They hardly call anything and the style of play was a lot scrapier (meaning you got slashed pretty hard going for ground balls). It was a fun game because they let a lot go and the whistle wasn't blown every 2 seconds.

This is my friend Beth Nimmo. She comes to help coach lacrosse with me 2 days a week and invited me to play on her club team!

There is a tournament this weekend! While I can't play on Saturday, I am going to play some of the games on Sunday.

Soccer Game

Live.Love.Lax

Soccer Club Team

Joined a soccer team and had our first practice Wedns night. The ages ranged from 17-30. However...there were 2 girls that played with their hair down.....which drove me nuts. I nearly offered them my extra hair ties because I dont understand how a girl with long hair can play a sport with their hair in their face.

I took a taxi to practice but met a girl who lives right by Prestfelde and was riding her bike home so I walked next to her on the way home. It was nice to meet some more people! We have our first game on Sunday which I am pretty excited for.

Lacrosse vs. Packwood

We had our first game on Wednesday. Unfortunately we ended in a tie (11-11), however Packwood is our biggest rival and their coach is known for being a cheater. She did in fact cheat and we still squeaked out a tie so I wasn't to upset. Next game we play against her I am going to ref/coach so I can make sure the calls are fair. We were down by 5 goals with 3 minutes left and the girls miraculously scored 5 goals to tie it up!

I gave all the girls some pre-wrap for their hair before the game which they loved. I was very proud of them, but we definitely have a lot to work on before the next game! I am taking them back to basics!

We have lacrosse club 2 nights a week. We started with only 3 girls, and now we get 10 regulars who come. I am interested to see the numbers next Monday night. The girls that are coming are getting a lot better and I can tell are really interested in learning the sport and wanting to get better at it.

There is one boarder who I give private little clinics to on Tuesday nights when she stays over. She is definitely one of the better girls, but has a problem being a ball hog. No me gusta ball hogs.

Pictures / Video of House Match to come!

Hair Braiding

Every night at the boarding house the matron prepares an activity for the boarders. Last night the activity was hair braiding...I used my Sands Beach Club skills to become the most requested hair braider. (an by braid I mean wrap string around a strand of hair)

The kids are really cute! The older woman you see in one of the pictures is known as "Matron." She is the stand in "mother" to all of the kids when they are boarding. She cleans, cooks, (folded my laundry one time), and is very stern when she needs to be!

We had to reprimand one boy at the dinner table last night for throwing water on a girl. He then started crying. I wanted to tell im to suck it up and stop crying because he was in fact a 12 year old boy...

Prestfelde School "Gappies"

Paul (Paulie) - South African, Me, Emma - Aussie, Stuart - South African

These are the 3 people I am spending the majority of my time with! (Watch out Fuchs...friends list is getting a tad long!!!) Emma took me out on Saturday to meet some of her hockey(field hockey) friends. I met up with Stu and Paul for lunch on Sunday in the town of Shrewsbury. They wanted to go out for a nice lunch...so suggested either Subway or McDonalds. I put the kibosh on that and we went to a cute little bistro where I had- shocker .... chicken, pesto, & mozzarella panini! We stopped at a candy store on the way home where Stu got some skittles. I got some sour skittles which are SO different from the sour skittles at home that I couldn't even eat them.

Tonight (Sunday), Paul and I went to a local pub the watch some of the Jets/Pats game! He is a Rugby player so it was hard to argue with him why American Football is manlier than rugby... I also got into a little "skuttle" Saturday night at the bar with a few people who tried to tell me that football was stupid as well. Quite frustrating however I don't fancy losing arguments :)

SICK :(

I came down with a pretty bad sore throat/think it is tonsilitus etc. I went to the doctor's in town...and yes healthcare really is free. Sue, aka "the matron" was really nice and took me there and to the pharmacy to make sure I had everything.

When I told the Doctor I was from American and did not have NHS, she said usually I would have to set up a private appointment. When I told her I was working at Prestfelde, she said that she had a kid there. She was feeling overly nice and wrote a prescription for me on NHS paper. So, I took the rest of Thursday off and reemerged at dinner hoping to find something edible...alas it was "tiger prawn" aka shrimp risotto....

Weird Nigel gave me some sort of vapor rub you can only get in Thailand to rub on my throat and said if you also rub a little on your upper lip it will knock you right out. It worked....

Dominos Incident....

The other day on the menu for dinner was "lamb," mashed potatoes and peas. To paint a picture of the cafeteria, you have to go through the kitchen area where the chefs serve you the food and you walk back to your seats. I just got mashed potatoes for dinner. When Anthony (the breakdancing chef who I am pretty good friends with now) asked why just mashed potatoes tonight, I claimed it was because of my sore throat (which was partially true). Meanwhile, I had ordered dominos under the table with my cellphone and knew that it would be arriving shortly (thank you pizza tracker ;)

I excused myself from dinner early as to have a skype date with my family! I was waiting where I thought the pizza guy would be coming as I knew the pizza was "in transit." Unfortunately...they delivered the pizza to the Anthony in the kitchen and got a text saying return to the kitchen ASAP. Anthony kindly paid the pizza man, as I buried my hands in my head in shame and reimbursed him the money.

Awkward (insert animal/tree etc). I don't think he was offended...

Week 2: Update

Hi All!
I am still working on getting my bank account squared away so I can get the internet! I should have that all settled by tomorrow.... Everything moves a bit slower of here.


FOOD:Burgers:
Had my first English Cheeseburger. It was MASSIVE in circumference, but not as thick or juicy as an American burger. They don’t ask how you want it cooked, so my burger was very very overcooked…and we know me and my red meat!

Words of Week:Babbalas: Hangover
Chin Chang Cha: Rock Paper Scissors
“Eina” – I’m Sore (which the boys scream a lot)

AMERICAN STEROTYPES: ( I will create an ongoing list...)
Little Boy: Are you American?
Me: Yes
Little Boy: Do you all own Guns?

Little Boy to Paul (South African): Do you know the American Girl?
Paul: Yes…
Little Boy: Does she work at McDonalds?

Random Kid: In American Schools, do you see pregnant people walking down the hallways?

Original Email to All:

Hey Everyone!

I have not been able to set up my blog yet because I do not have wireless internet in my room. I've noticed thats one key difference between America and the rest of the world... technology. Its easy to piggyback onto the internet or get other people's wireless wherever you go back home. I think people here (english, south africans, aussies ) can't comprehend the access we have to all sorts of technology. I just found out about a local catholic high school in the area that doesn't have one computer in their school (which does not make sense to me).

I am settling in nicely! Everyone here is "lovely" and has been showing me around the place and offering me anything that I need. I am living in the "Beckbury House." I have a small little bed, kitchen area, bathroom, and a table where people can come over and sit for tea....

TEA:
Another thing that makes me laugh is how many times a day people stop to break for "tea." Tea breaks are literally ALL the time and it is all anyone ever offers you! It is a really social thing here and all of the teachers gather in the common room for tea and to talk about students. It is very funny how they talk about their students. They have a list of all of the kids in the school in the staff room... which they write down sanctions (or infractions) and punish the students accordingly.

FOOD:
I am not dying in terms of food...even being a tad adventurous. It is true that I ate peas and carrots the other day. I also tried a Mango Lassie... which was vulgar.

One thing that makes me very self-conscious is that everyone finishes everything on their plate. I don't know if it is a cultural thing, but I don't ever finish everything on my plate unless it is a cheddar burger from Barnacle Bills or Doritos.

The other day, when I was having "tea" at a Teacher's (Weird Nigel - curious bloke who has an Old England mindset that lives on Campus) with my Aussie friend Emma, I was asked what my favorite food was. Obviously I replied with "cheddar burger and a medium rare prime rib."  Apparently that was the most American response I could have given. More stories about Weird Nigel to come.

SOUTH AFRICANS: ( I know I mentioned to some people that 2 South Africans were going to be starting at same time as me)
It snowed this morning here! It was the first time the "South African Chaps" have ever seen snow. They are a tad wimpy...always complaining that it is 35C at home. Which..of course had no idea how to convert C-->F and learned that it is 95F. I am still trying to grasp the Celsius conversion as the ugly American in me thinks that only the F system makes the most sense. However they are so polite, always standing up when a women sits down at a table, always offering to get things for you, and eating really strangely with their forks and knives. I can't really explain it...I tried to emulate them and all the food fell off my fork.

HEART:
Uncle Carlos I have yet to find my soulmate.

TELE:
I only have 4 channels: BBC1, BBC2, BBCtv, BBC4 :)

STUDENTS:
They are really cute...who knew I would enjoy kids so much! They are ridiculously well-behaved and good-mannered. Always opening the door first, overly polite, and very engaged and interested in what you have to say. They don't make noise in church (which was very different from my experience at RBC!). I think their punishment is much more severe than anything i've ever seen. Carolyn: apparently the gossip in the staff room yesterday is that two students were caught snogging in the corridor!!!!!!!!

My favorite things have to be all the stories people have, and the different words and expressions I am learning. They are so entertaining. (my favorite has been "tactical chunder"- which translate to making yourself throw up)

This afternoon there was a schoolwide cross country match where the winner gets  a trophy.The school is broken into 4 houses (celts, saxons, normans, vikings). In the cafeteria, if a house wins something they get a trophy.... sounds a bit familiar.... (harry potter)?! I have been assigned to the Celts house...(which reminds me a bit of Gryffindor although the colors match Slytherin...)

Well miss everyone! I am going to go coach lacrosse to Year 3 and 4's now (3rd and 4th graders...)
Love,
Erin

Video Blog to come when I get my wireless internet!