2nd Update from England -- 18th June 2006

Hi there everyone again,

This update has taken me quite a lot longer, as you can imagine we are no longer living in Paraguay tranquillo time! We have been trying our best to sort out the job market, which as yet has been quite disappointing. It seems as though things are more complicated than we thought. Some agencies give us the twice over, whereas others try to rip us off. We have found one agency so far that is aussie-run and is really good. Last week we had 5 days between us of supply (relieving) teaching which is good for the wallet, but insane for the brain!! We really can’t believe the standard of behavior here, it is absolutely shocking and makes you want to walk out and let them do what they want!

It has been good to work though, and we have had to leave home about 6:50am and we get back home anywhere between 5-7pm. That is mainly because we are living north of London and have to spend quite a lot of time & money on the train system, although the system is very good.

We have had time to do a few other things though, such as paint some windows and varnish some doors here where we are staying. We visited the British museum, (Jon enjoyed this, I couldn't wait to get out) Big Ben, and other sights around London. (see photos). We also had a trip further north into the country last weekend, and watched England unfortunately beat Paraguay in the world cup. The football (soccer) here is quite big, we have been watching a few matches.

We have had some awesome weather since we have been here, and it has actually got hot. IT really intrigued us the other day when we were wandering around London about 5-6pm that on every corner (literally) there was a pub, but instead of the patrons drinking inside, they were out on the street (see photos) enjoying the weather, standing on the footpath in groups. Was quite interesting and strange for us. The pub scene here is actually really nice, it is open to everyone, (has family areas) and serves great food. It’s great to watch sports games in too!

Last night we went into London to catch up with Mahala a friend I went to school with. We walked down 'Brick Lane' a street famous for Indian curries, where at every shop an Indian came out and tried to offer us a good deal -- reminded us a bit of South America. My Argentinean shirt and the Italian one Jon was wearing created a bit of attention!

Been good to hear about the All Blacks winning, and so weird to hear about the snow in Christchurch! It’s been good to keep 'in the loop'. It seems as though these 3 weeks have been the hardest in regards to homesickness etc. but I'm sure things will start to get better!

Anyway that's all from us this time round, one more week before we head to the Ukraine.

Be good to hear from ya,

Love,

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