Shaping Up!

Its been a while since the last blog, but it hasn't been all too eventful to be honest. The past couple of weeks have involved mostly settling in and getting used to our surroundings. We moved into our apartment on the weekend of the 11th. It was exciting to finally have our own space but it was pretty boring for the first few days, just waiting around to get called in for work and making trips downtown to cafes to get internet. I have to say that our first impressions of the flat were not too positive, seeing as one of our doorknobs fell apart and neither our oven or washing machine appeared to be working (the oven wouldn't heat and the washing machine overflowed). Yet, we did figure out how to use the household devices in a few days - I guess some appliances just work a little differently over here. We also took a trip to ikea to get a memory foam mattress topper so our back wouldn't be mangled by the horrible mattress. So now that all those things are taken care of, I can honestly say we are very happy about the place and it is really beginning to feel like home. It's spacious, in a pretty area, we are close to everything we need, and we are within walking distance to both buses and metro. So, all in all, things are well with our "new castle". Bahaha, I'm so clever.

Though most of these past weeks have consisted of errand upon errand, last weekend we did manage to get out and have some fun. We went to the Tynemouth area to play some mini-golf. But not just any mini-golf: Lost World Adventure Golf! It was basically a dinosaur themed minigolf courses where the dinosaurs shoot water at you if you get the ball in certain places. It was pretty darn epic. It may just be the best mini-golf experience I've ever had. Though, it did get quite competitive. I did better on the first half and Trevor did better on the second - in the end it was a tie. Which Trev thought was pretty anti-climactic, but I thought it was funny, seeing how hard we were try to beat each other. After golf we went to the beach by the castle, not sure what its called, but its very pretty. The waves were huge that day and there was a herd of surfers! It was nice just to walk around and view the coastal landscape of the northeast. Everyone keeps asking "why come to the northeast?" and walking along the shoreline, its pretty easy to see why. Tynemouth is a beautiful area. And apparently it has a really good cupcake shop, which I will be taking a visit to soon, very soon. (always comes back to cupcakes!)

I almost forgot - The weekend before last, we went to the Bluereef aquarium at Tynemouth. It had rays, sharks, otters, seals and fish that looked like razor toothed grandfathers!

On the work front, its been slow. like, reeealllly slow. I was beginning to get quite irritated with Protocol for telling us they could give us enough work and then getting next to no work. However, they have assured us that things would pick up. As of right now, I have no reason to doubt them, since our work has started to pick up somewhat. Trevor has worked a couple times at a SEN (special educational needs) school and I have worked at a school for children with ASD. It is a really nice school, and it shocked me to find out that it is actually a public school. They have the most amazing resources, fabulous staff and a really warm atmosphere. I am scheduled to go back again some more next week, but I hope that I can get in for a long term position (plleaaassse!!). They said they would really like to try and place Trevor at that school as well. Protocol says they have sent our resumes out to all the schools they service, so here's hoping something more long term comes up, or at least steady supply. At this point, i'll take anything! I'll friggin' teach high school if I have too! I just want work! No work = Very sad Melissa and Trevor. I realize teaching recruitment agencies probably have very little say on how much work opportunities come in from schools......but what about good old fashioned threats, or envelopes with viruses in them? That would bring in more work for us! - What are you waiting for Protocol? Get us a job!

On a not so side note: THEY HAVE SHAPES CRACKERS IN ENGLAND!!! Shapes are a cracker brand I was addicted to when I was in Australia for 7 months, and even after all this time I still get random cravings for them (key ingredient: crack?). So when I walked by a shelf stocked with them I nearly started hyperventilating (Trevor can attest to this). We have already gone through several, sodium-licious shapes boxes! Especially pizza flavor. SHAPES!!! eeeeeeeeeeeeee!

That is all I have to say about that.

Love,

Liss