Hiya my dear readers:
Ta Luv reports back…after a week away down South, I’m back in the North…
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| Ilfracombe [in the north of Devon] |
Last week was half term which meant that we (Kathrin, I and of course my dear new friend Dave) packed our stuff and headed down South, where we met another language assistant (Barbara ),who got on the bus in Oxford.
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| Three Austrian gals, one Yorkshire Dales guy travelling South |
During our travelling we became more than ever aware of the apparent North-South divide that marks Great Britain…Whenever somebody asked us where we lived they were excited about Oxford, while the reaction to our beautiful city up North was rather “Ah gosh,…poor you”. Southerners thing of Northern people in a quite negative way, they see them as simpletons, working class, while people up North think that “those” down South are arrogant snobs"…well, steretotypes - what's more to say?! I for sure had a blast down South and also very much love the North!!!
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| North-South Divide |
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During this one week we made some miles: We saw Southampton, Bournemouth, Poole, where we visited Brownsea Island (my housemate Chris’s tip as his parents have a house in Poole), Exeter, Jurassic Coast [or as often mispronounced “Jurassic Park Coast”…does not have to do a lot with dinosaurs though!], Ilfracombe and finally Bath and Bristol. Well and I almost forgot, we stayed two nights in the famous and well known town of Devizes… hahaha this is where my former flatmate Alex’s boyfriend lives. They opened their doors for us, cooked for us and showed us Stonehenge. It was fabulous!!! So as you can see we saw quite a bit of Britain.
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| Bournemouth |
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| trying to open Álvaro's suitcase...had to break his lock ;( |
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| Dave's first steps on Bournemouth beach |
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| our MA-2412 experience in Bournemouth, that was our hotel...full of pictures |
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| on our way to Brawnsea Island (Poole) |
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| on Brawnsea Island - the origin of Scouts |
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| typical English countryside |
But not only did we see a lot we also met some interesting people and had numerous hilarious moments. Our journey was not really planned, so the first thing we always had to do was to find a place to live – here we stayed in super fancy hotels, but also in rather 'special 'places with nice receptionists who reminded us of Monty Piton or the Austrian MA2412… the place was kind of cool though, full of records and big pictures of musicians, among others the Beatles. Who knows maybe they really stayed there ;). As some of you know I kind of like quirky places...so I enjoyed the stay there!
One highlight followed the next. After Bournemouth and Poole we stayed in a Bed and Breakfast in Weymouth where we played Bingo with the seniors. It was good fun, and we even won some money: The night was full of phrases like “two fat ladies wobble wobble 88” “3 and 0, 30 dirty Girty at number 30” or “rice and shine 49”,… which is apparently the way you play Bingo here.
After Bingo we participated in a quizz - England vs. Austria or "60+ meets 20+." It was a fun night, very English B’n’B-like.
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| Bingo Baby!!!! |
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| winning ticket - 5,50 who would have thought! |
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| in Weymouth |
THE most exciting thing about our trip was that thanks to Barbara we decided to rent a car. We found our gorgeous Opel Corsa which we called Georgie.
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| our Georgie in Exeter!!! |
He became our dear companion for 48 hours and served us well. And believe it or not I was driving!!!! It was such a good feeling, apart from some minor difficulties in the beginning (entered the roundabout once from the wrong side…lucky me there was nobody in it) it went really smooth. I enjoyed it a hundred percent and will definitely do it again!!! So look out British roads for an Austrian cruising your streets!!!
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| Jurrasic Coast |
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| funny faces in Ilfracombe [great tip Olly!!] |
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| look at that B'n'B |
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| yummy real British breakfast!!! no wonder that Britain is the European country with the highest obesity rate ;) |
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| Kathrin and our hosts Neil and Alex in Devizes |
Our last stop was Bath and Devizes where we set foot on the place Thomas Hardy situated his novel “Tess D’Urbersville” – one of the most famous rock formation in the world: Stonehenge.
The eastward pillars and their architraves stood up blackly against the light, and the great flame-shaped Sun-stone beyond them; and the Stone of Sacrifice midway. Presently the night wind died out, and the quivering little pools in the cup-like hollows of the stones lay still. (Hardy, 504)
It was spectacular and I honestly enjoyed it. Just incredible how people managed to bring those massive rocks there…and the big mystery continues to exist: “What do they mean? – Mere decadency or a calendar?!” Mmmh I suppose we’ll never find out.
All in all our trip was really exciting, but also pretty exhausting. On our last day in Bristol, Kathrin and I were hardly able to do anything hahaha we carried our bags through the city and did some last sight-seeing. In the end we decided to have some tea and coffee and sit in a nice cafe.
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| too exciting to stand up, in front of Bristol's suspension bridge |
Back in Leeds life kept being busy…it seems as if I am doing things here which I am not normally doing. Not only did I drive, but I also went to a shop to buy some running shoes, which was fun for my flatmates as they could watch me running in the shop…I finally decided in favour of some purple shoes (how could it be different – pink was my first choice though)…I’ll get them on Thursday and then I’ll sign up for a gym, because I’m having way too much sweets, fish and chips and pints…
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| With Chris and Arun out'n'about in Call Lane |
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| Adam, Cielito, Sadie and Mario |
Had some good nights out, some nice cuppas, and breakfasts (Olly made some deli fish for breakfast)…life is good and I really enjoy it here. I even got tickets for the ANGUS & JULIA STONE concert in Leeds – which I am SOOOOOOOO excited about – they are my absolute favourite band. I am really looking forward to them, will be good to finally see them live!
Apart from lots of social things also my working life is going very well!!! I am officially “Miss Hoeller" now, as this week I got my teacher's badge yeaaahhhhh. So this means I do no longer have to sign in everyday and ask somebody to accompany me to the classrooms or even the toilet. The thing is they are very strict about "health and security". Thus my Austrian police check was not enough, so I had to wait for an English CRB (police check). Until one does not have this check, one is not allowed to be alone. This meant that I had to be picked up at the reception [visitors always have to sign in before they enter the school building] and accompanied everywhere. It was a bit of a pain…also for my teachers as they always had to look after me. So now it is really cool that I can be on my own and I feel like a real staff member!!!
Teaching is good fun and the students are really nice. Even did some teaching on my own as my teacher was ill and the cover teacher did not speak a single word of German. Was good fun. Tomorrow I’m off to check out another job…need some extra cash!
Well last but not least, some bits and pieces on British culture:
In terms of pubs it is important to notice that one must not sit down and wait for the waiter or waitress to come, but you normally go to the bar and order there. It can be kind of confusing in the beginning…
Another interesting/funny thing is that as everyone knows smoking is no longer permitted in the UK. The air in clubs, etc. can be rather bad, though. Thus the Brits decide to spray with toilet spray - to give it the "sea" or "pine forest" kinda smell – which does not really make it better to be honest. In addition, if you stand too close to a waiter who is freshening up the air, it can happen that you smell like "pine forest" afterwards. Adam (he lives in the house next door) was 'lucky' and got a full load of toilet spray…well, he would not have had to put on perfume that night hahaha
Finally let me 'educate' you a bit more in terms of Great Britain and Geography hahahaha – there is something some continental Europeans might not be aware of…Apart from the North-South divide within the UK it is also important to acknowledge that the United Kingdom is NOT Europe. British People often refer to Austrians, French, etc. as “Europeans”…mmh maybe I did not pay enough attention in Geography ;)
Good people let's call it a day, I read you soon, greetings from England to my European friends ;)
Ta luv!
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