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This past weekend my local friend Davinia (who teaches geography at Holmesdale) took Sabrina and I on a day trip to Brighton. Brighton is located on the south coast of England -- it's the most southern you can go before you end up in France. And you know what this means -- BEACH! Although this isn't exactly the best time of year to visit a beach, we did have a beautiful sunny day, and it was certainly nice to look at. The beach is very pretty, although it's not sand, but rather stones -- not as pleasant for the bare feet I'm sure.
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There is this massive pier that you can walk down, which hosts carnival-like activities, featuring a funfare, rides, restaurants, and arcade halls. I childlishly, and without shame, suggested that we ride the carousel -- so much fun (although taking pictures while you're moving up and down, trying to balance yourself on a deceptively slippery surface, actually proved to be quite a difficult task). Sabrina and I had so much fun on it that we decided to ride the Crazy Mouse rollercoaster as well. It was definitely fun to enjoy some rides.
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After we spent probably far too much time on the pier, we decided to have some lunch at the fish and chips restaurant on the way back into town. This was my first fish and chips meal, and it did not disappoint! I have never actually eaten cod before, but I was very impressed. It was scrumptious - and the chips were REAL potatoes, which made the meal that much better. Also, as I was scanning the menu, I noticed a little something I've always wanted to experience: spotted dick. I have wanted to know about/try spotted dick since I was like thirteen and watched
King Ralph. So I insisted that we get an order of spotted dick for dessert. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed - it didn't look at all like a...well, you know. It wasn't bad tasting - there was a strong cinnamon taste. It isn't something I would order all the time though.
After lunch we decided to do some shopping -- let me just say that I really want to make it back to Brighton sometime soon, just so that I can do some more SHOPPING! There were sooooooooo many stores! It is just street beyond street of shopping - a little overwhelming, believe it or not. And the stores were very unique as well; like, cool stuff I haven't seen anywhere else. It was lots of fun -- and I even got some Christmas shopping done!
So after this very long day in the bright sunshine, and with our arms full of shopping bags, we had to make our way back to the car. Oh - did I mention that all this beach and shopping is at the bottom of an absolutely MASSIVE hill?! Well. It is. And I thought I was going to die. Not just a little hill, either. It was like walking on an eliptical machine for a half an hour, carrying like twenty pounds of stuff. Need I say more?
Other than the heart-attack of a walk back to the car, though, I had a wonderful day in Brighton and cannot wait to go back!
On Thursday night my school hosted their annual Open Evening - a night when all the Year 6 students and their parents come to the school to check out the facilities, the teachers, and the content of each subject so they can make an informed decision about what school their children attend in Year 7. Each school goes all out -- it's like this gigantic competition between schools to see who gets the most enrollments. Everyone worked SO hard all week (not to mention the day-of, as most teachers, including myself, worked the whole day through, from 8am-9pm) to get everything ready and looking brilliant -- every room had to be spic and span, and most departments had some sort of fun, interactive activity going on (the history department, for example, had a murder mystery, "Cluedo"). The English department didn't really have a major activity like that, but rather each teacher did their own thing. My room was the POPcorn Poetry room. I had two helper students for the evening; Jake, who manned the popcorn table, and Sam, who tried her hardest to convince the Year sixes to write a poem about popcorn (believe it or not, the popcorn was more popular than the poetry). They were great, though, and my room was definitely a favourite, as people could smell the popcorn from the other side of the school and were "following their noses" to find the source. All in all it was a good, although very tiring, evening.
