The Eye, the London bridge and a fire evacuation.......

 What a day, what a day! Mark and I were up and on the go early. We had a nice breakfast at the hotel (although, I still think it is odd to have beans at breakfast) and then headed out to sign out at the job fair. We had to turn in our name badges, turn in an evaluation and a summary sheet. We made a firm decision not to go to one country. It was hard in some ways because sometimes you want to take something, but you have to be smart about it and see if you would really want to live and work in that country. It would have been so hot and I just can't do such extreme heat anymore (that is why I don't live in Phoenix). We did have a message in our box regarding one school and I am hoping to hear back from another one that I would LOVE to get.

Once we were finished at the hotel we bought an all day tube and bus ticket. We then set off on the tube to Waterloo. I love all of the names here. Very cute and sooo english. We were headed to The Eye. We had purchased tickets the night before for 10:00. Perfect timing....we arrived just as it was opening. It has been shut down for the past few weeks. Luckily, we had today to go. It is about a 30 minute trip in a glass enclosure. It looks like a big ferris wheel. You get a 360 degree view. I really enjoyed the ride.

We headed to The Tower Bridge and the tower, which is an old palace. They were doing a lot of work there (and actually every where) getting ready for the queen's diamond jubilee. I would like to be here for that, but I know it would be so crowded. We toured the palace and saw the “bloody tower” and the royal jewels. We had a guide who was dressed up and boy oh boy was he mean to some people. We went into a church and a woman was standing up. He yelled at her, “It is really disruptive having you stand!”. So, we all thought she would sit....nope! He began to talk again to our group and I guess the lady was trying to leave. Holy moly......the guide rushed back there, threw open the door and then yelled as he walked back to the front of the church, “How rude can she be?!”. Everyone was afraid to move or even breathe. Yikers!!! We then got to leave the tour and look around on our own.Much better than being terrorized.

By this time Mark and I were starving so we found a nice place to eat at St. Katherine's Dock. It is a very nice area right on the water. We went to an Italian restaurant named Zizzi. We were starving so we had some olive appetizers and waited for our clazones to be ready. This is where the lunch became crazy. Our food was served and we were eating (maybe about 10 minutes passed) when all of a sudden the fire alarm went off. No one was moving or telling us we needed to leave so we all just ignored it. Then the waiter came to apologize and to tell us we would all have to leave and go to the assigned meeting point. I thought he was kidding because we had ad another fire evacuation this past Saturday. We were freezing. The fire marshall was there telling everyone they had not located what set the alarm off so we would have to stay in the area. The fire department sent over a fire truck. I asked the lady near me who worked in one of the stores if it was a drill. She chuckled and told me they don't have drills and that the alarm usually goes off every 6-7 weeks. It was so cold and windy I thought I would freeze. We didn't want to take off because we didn't want it to look like we were going to skip out on paying our bill. The restaurant people were not concerned about us. Once they told us we could return to the building Mark and I went back to pay.When we got there the waiter told us it was nice of us to return because most people just take off and think “Wow, that was great timing!”. I couldn't believe it. Had I known he didn't care I might have left. Wouldn't you think he would give us a little break for our honesty? No!

After that craziness we went to find the London bridge. There is a lot of shopping, restaurants and business all around. It was so cold that we were trying to see if it was worth walking to the Globe Theatre, but it was too far. We had walked and walked and walked. My legs are very tired tonight. We knew we had to beat the rush hour traffic on the tube. It gets so crowded you have no room to even stand.

We ended our outing at, of course, Starbucks. Let me say one thing about the millions of Starbucks they have in London...they are so much better than our Starbucks. They sell wonderful drinks that we do not have, yummy treats that we do not have, and very welcoming sitting areas where people sit and hang out. I love it!

We are now back at our hotel and have packed up and are all set with a taxi to arrive at 6:00 AM. We have to get up at 5:00 AM. We are suppose to arrive in Denver at 4:30ish PM. It is going to feel like 11:30ish PM to our bodies. I am going to be exhausted, but it all is worth it.

Once we get home we have Wednesday to recover before going back to work. Speaking of back to work, we will begin the second phase of our overseas teaching job hunt. Like I read today on the Search website.....it is VERY early in the recruiting season and jobs are offered until the summer. So, I know the right positions will come along for Mark and myself.

I will see you all of you soon! (Well, if you live in Colorado Springs).

I am looking forward to seeing my little babies!!!

One more day in London........

Well, Mark and I just had a very delicious dinner at The Swan. It is very good, although I would say some things on the menu crack me up. I like the meals that come with "peas or mashed peas". What is with the peas? It cracks me up. I do love how they all talk. Mark and I shared a delicious dessert and a cappuccino. Yum!
 
Tomorrow we are going to hit the town for our last full day. I am hoping we get to go up on the EYE tomorrow. If we do we will have great photos to post. We have had a very nice time here, and we will see what happens.

I am off to relax. I know you all are waiting for a big announcement...but we are looking into a few things. We don't want to just  take a position to have an overseas position. There is a lot to think  about.

More tomorrow...........

Busy day.....

   The first day of the job fair has almost ended. We are waiting in the “candidate lounge” waiting for the recruiter/candidate mixer to begin at 6:30. A funny thing happened when we were in the presentation for a school in Italy......we had to all exit because the fire alarm was going off. Everyone had to evacuate the building. Now, this would not have been so bad except for the fact that most people had their coats checked into the cloak room. Yep, that was us. We had to go out in the cold and wind. Mark was kind enough to give me his suit jacket. Brrrrr...it was cold. We never found out if it was a false alarm or what. We did luck out and get to get in and actually find a seat at one of the tables. It is usually so packed you have to hang out in the halls and wait around.

We are going to have two interviews tomorrow, and hopefully we will get a follow up interview for a school or two. I have to say that we are really thinking about a couple of places I never though I would consider. So, you will all have to wait and see how this plays out. I am hoping we will know something this weekend, however some places said they will not be finalizing everything at this moment. If we leave with something that would be WONDERFUL, but if we don't it doesn't mean no one wants us. I did have one school let me know that they called our references in Colorado and heard good things. That makes us both very happy.

We have met many nice people here at the fair. I met someone who knows the Munros, another person who knew someone who worked at Rampart in Colorado Springs, another candidate who works in Venezuela and knows Steve Sibley. It really is such a small world.

OK, I am signing off for now. I will write more if anything of interest happens at the mixer or afterwards. Otherwise you will be updated tomorrow.

We are off to “mix” at the mixer.

The job fair begins.....

Today was the first day of the job fair. I have no pictures to post since this isn't really some place that you would be taking photos.

We had to get to the hotel early so that we could self-register and check our mail boxes. Once we did that we filled out some letters of interest to several schools. The hardest part of all this is that you really have schools you want to get an interview, but that school's vacancies have changed. It happens quit often, but you move on and go with the flow.

Once we did what we needed to do we had to get back to our hotel because I had a Skype interview with a    school. I feel like the interview went well. I will see what happens because it isn't a position that they will know in the next few days. Time will tell.

After the interview Mark and I went out and had a delicious 11th anniversary lunch. I had a very tasty vegetable tart. It was very good (probably better than it sounds). Then we headed back to the hotel to do some more research on schools.

When it was time we headed back to the job fair hotel to sign up for interviews for Saturday and Sunday. We have several interviews this weekend. Some at schools that we had not even considered, but we are going in with a very open mind. I am very excited about our first interview tomorrow. I am hoping it leads to a second interview. As you probably noticed I am not mentioning any schools or countries. I don't want outside opinions to interfere with what Mark and I decide. We will see where the best fit for us will be.

We do know that we may not be offered a job at the far for many different reasons. Some schools take back the information and then we could have to do a Skype interview with a principal at the school.

We will keep you posted. Just keep sending out good thoughts and it will all work out.

Stayed tuned for more....

Zilli Cafe and sardines....

Zilli Cafe and packed in like sardines.....

Today is Thursday and it is our last day to do what we want and not worry too much about where to be and when to be there. The only time constraints we had today was to be back in our hotel for my 1:00 PM (London time) Skype call. We were here with plenty of time to spare. I had Mark all ready to head out to the pub that is located next to our hotel, but he never got to go. There was a problem between the computers. I am not sure what happened. My computer said I was online while showing the person I was to talk to offline. On her computer it said I was offline while she was online. It was crazy. We did get to chat for a very brief time to reschedule for tomorrow. So, I will try it again. I am sure it will all work out. Once that was over Mark and I headed out to find the Zilli Cafe. That's right, not only do I own a clothing store in Italy, but I also own a restaurant/cafe in London. I am just so international.

The Aldo Zilli restaurant website showed a cafe and a fish restaurant. It also showed very nice Zilli mugs. I was hoping to go to the cafe and be able to buy a mug for myself. Nope, they only had generic mugs. Nothing to purchase for a souvenir. Mark and I did have delicious meal there though. I had gnocchi and Mark had a light pasta dish. Mmmmmmmmm....it didn't stop there. We had dessert (a lemon tart and a tiramisu) to share along with our cappuccinos. It is funny how I am drawn to the Italian restaurants. It was fun sitting in the Zilli Cafe where my last name was on the menus and the walls. Pretty fun. I made sure I paid with one of my cards that I had the Zilli name on it instead of Mark using him Acuff).

We were able to take the tube and travel to all different areas today. We tried to get to the Globe Theatre where they have different performances throughout the year. We didn't make it all the way there before it got dark. We are hoping that we might be able to go Sunday or Monday after the job fair.

Speaking of the job fair....it begins tomorrow. We have three alarms set (TV, Computer, Cell Phone) to make sure we get up early enough to get ready and have some breakfast. One thing that is never good is if you do not eat. It is easy to get caught up in all the running around. I will have to come back for my Skype conversation. We then go back to the hotel where the fair is to sign up for the interviews between 7:15-9:00 PM. Then we will know more of what our Saturday will look like. Good news though, we had another school who wrote to let us know they would be very interested in interviewing us. We will see what happens. I feel very good about this!

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about being packed like sardines. Oh my goodness!!! We experienced the “tube” at rush hour. It was almost impossible to even get on where we did. We were shoved into the middle of the seat area standing. At each stop we would get pushed further and further in. At some stops people couldn't even get on because we were so packed in there. Finally, after what seemed like forever and a day it was our stop to get off. We honestly had to push our way off and then through the swarms of sardines that were trying to get off. I have never been so happy to be out into the subway air. I wish we could have taken some pictures, but there wouldn't have been room for the camera to come out.

I am off to relax and read a little. I will update you all tomorrow. Send good thoughts, prayers and angels our way so that we will be able to sign up for many, many interviews at schools we would like to work at next year!

Ciao from London!

A "Royal" Day

A Royal Day....

What a day, what a day! Mark and I were well rested and able to visit many places in London. We began our day at Starbuck's for breakfast. I know what many of you may be saying, “What? You go all the way to London and you eat at Starbuck's?” My answer is YES! It has wonderful fresh fruit and scones and muffins like nothing in the states. We didn't want a heavy breakfast, just something to get us going.

After our breakfast we headed to the Hammersmith subway entrance. We are very lucky because it is only about 10-15 minutes away from our hotel. We got our day pass and headed off to Piccadilly Circus. I do enjoy riding on the subways and appreciate how convenient they are for everyone to use and enjoy. I wish we had more in the states. Think of all of the fuel we would save. It is also a great place to people watch.

Emerging from down in the subway we were greeted by bright lights and lots of people. I didn't know what I was expecting to see, but I liked what I saw. There were street performers and giant ads like you would see at Time Square. As we began to walk we saw a monument that I knew was near Buckingham Palace. We headed off to see the palace because I wanted to see it up close and personal. Well, as we got closer and closer we noticed that some guards were walking down the main road we were on. Then we had to walk super speedy fast......I needed to be there to see the changing of the guard. Mark stayed on the opposite side of the street, but I raced over to be as close to the palace as possible. Now, we did not know this was the time of day the guards switched. We were very lucky to witness the change. The band left the palace in front of the area Mark was standing. I got to see the band go by and then the guards who were on duty leaving the palace. The guards were being lead by a few people playing the bagpipes. It was a very royal event! We walked around the St. James Park which is across from the palace. It is a large and beautiful park.

As we continued to follow the path by the park we saw Big Ben. I knew that meant that we were almost at the parliament building, which meant we were almost to The Eye! I was looking forward to riding in the eye to get a 360 degree view of London. It was not meant to be today...the eye is closed until January 21^st. Luckily, Mark and I should have some time on Monday afternoon to go back and hopefully take a ride. I am hoping we can get on. You never know how many others will have the same thought that us. We then headed off to see more sights.

We found ourselves in Trafalgar Square. Shopping, shopping everywhere! There is so much to see and so much to do. We really had to pick and chose because someone could stay in the shops all day. We did go to a very nice bookstore. I bought three books. I found a children's book that was written about “Going on a bear hunt”. It is a song I learned when I was in girl scouts and now I have it in a book. Mark thought I was making up the story when I would sing the song, but now he knows it is real! After a little shopping we decided we really needed to get something to eat. We came across a very charming area that had Italian restaurant after Italian restaurant. We chose one and I am glad we did because it is the first pizza that looked and tasted like the pizza we would get in Italy. YUM!!!!

By now, I have to say my feet were killing me. We had so much still to see and do so onward we went. We headed to the subway to get over to Harrods. Holy moly......Harrods is HUGE!!!! I could not believe how large this store was until I got in and looked around. Luckily they were having a large sale so many people were coming in and going out. We found the Egyptian escalators and went all the way to the top floor and worked our way down. Now, we only saw a teeny tiny portion of the store yet we were in there for some time. I have never seen a store like this one. On the bottom floor they have so many specialty food areas (fruits, teas, chocolates, etc.). What a sight. Mark couldn't believe the store. I told him if I lived close to the store I would need to take one weekend to look at each floor if I really wanted to see everything. I think one would have to really know the store well to take advantage of the sales.

After leaving this amazing sight we headed around the area. We were able to see some more street performers. They hang out in the subway and around the area where everyone exits. We found Hyde Park but it was too dark to see much at all. That may be tomorrow morning.

I have attached many photos from our day out. They will probably attach in a different order from how they were taken.

We are back in the hotel, almost 8 hours after we headed out for our day. My feet are thankful to be resting in their comfortable slippers. (Judy, I brought the ones you gave me in the stocking.)

Tomorrow will hopefully be another fun filled day. I do have to be back at the hotel for a 1:00 Skype interview. We will see how that goes.

Time to relax and read one of my new books!