Work-wise, its been a good month meaning a fairly steady income. I've been working 5 days most weeks although I sometimes end up doing a day of nursery nursing here and there, but its not too bad - less pay but easier work day :). I'm still on the look-out for permanent work and actually had a trial teaching day for a Year 2 class at one of my schools. Unfortunately I didn't get the position (I will however continue to supply there), but it was good to get feedback and hopefully improve. My agent is taking my updated CV to several other schools so we'll just have to see what comes up.
A few weeks ago, I went with my agency to see "Blood Brothers" - its a musical about a poor mother who has too many children and gives one twin away to a rich family down the street in secret. The two boys meet and become best friends despite their mothers' attempts to keep them apart, yet grow up very differently, fall in love with the same woman and come to a tragic end. Its very well performed, if a bit gloomy - the opening scene is the of the funeral. Its definitely not one to see if you want a bit of lighthearted entertainment (which is what I usually go to the theater for), but a great drama. The next show I'm going to see is "Grease" ... we all wanted a bit of a change after that :). What's really unfortunate and which has me kinda bummed is that "Avenue Q" is finishing this week and is completely sold out. This was one show I really wanted to see... I guess this is what I get for procrastinating for so long. Maybe I'll be able to catch it on tour somewhere.
For those keeners who noticed the time of this blog, you're all probably wondering why I'm posting something at 1pm on a school day. Well, this week is the Autumn Half-Term which means schools are closed all week! Its so nice to get up at 10am (that's "get up" not "wake up" because my internal clock still wakes me up at 7am... stupid clock) and have a nice, lazy, "bitty" day. Yes, I said "bitty"... its a new English slang term that I'm starting to use more... basically it refers to doing a bunch of small tasks/errands throughout the day. Speaking of slang, on Friday I attended a school assembly where one of the classes performed a drama bit comparing the US to England and one part looked at different North American slang. Needless to say, it was quite amusing :).
Since I am on holiday and have been making a decent wage for the last two months, I've decided that it was high time to jet off on another one of Bryan's European Adventures. This week I'll be visiting Reykjavík, Iceland, home of the famous volcanic hot springs, glaciers and Aurora Borealis. Yes, I like bucking the normal trend and will be going somewhere colder for my holidays! I'll only have 3 days there so I'm trying to pack in as much as I can - I have a tour to search for the Northern Lights (since its a natural phenomenon they can't guarantee that they'll be visible) and another one to hike along a glacier. A friend has also recommended the city tour, Blue Lagoon and/or geyser bus tour. I'm not sure about the geyser park tour, but I'll try to get over to the Blue Lagoon... it would be a shame to visit Iceland and not experience a hot spring... maybe even a massage as well :).
