with the reception class, it's relatively little learning and lots of activities or, using one of the students words, "doing whatever they like." Im basically there as an extra pair of hands. Today was particularly manic* because the substitute had absolutely no idea what to do! after the first 45 minutes of doing the alphabet, it's activities time and all hell breaks loose. through my shift, mr. campbell would look at me worried and just utterly confused. he was clearly asking for help, but what could I do, it was only my second time there! so we just kinda let the children do their own thing at their respective stations. I helped 4 girls paint animals. during this time, mr. campbell came up to me and said "it's pure mayhem!" and that pretty much sums it up. we chitchatted a little bit at a time while patrolling the class, then we took a coffee break together.
this was my first interaction/conversation with a real british person. mr. campbell, i awkardly forgot to ask him for his first name, is probably in his late 20s early 30s and he's a floater teacher that helps out at different local schools when they need help. today he volunteered here because the teachers were at their training. So, we chatted about london and traveling, and turns out we had both lived in japan for three years and neither of us bothered to learn the language haha. I told him that I plan on walking around Soho in the afternoon, and he lamented the fact that the area's losing its essence as chain restaurants like "pizza express" are taking over. but he recommended one of his favorite italian restaurants, "lorelei." apparently it's one of those places that's been there for years, has little decoration but serves real hearty meals. ill definitely be going there since I want to explore where the locals go, and stay away from chains like "spaghetti house." (what a horrible name)
the best part of the conversation was when we talked about london weather. he said, "londoners spend 9 months in anticipation for good weather, and 3 months in disappointment." apparently londoners are pretty consistently miserable, until they get a glimpse of the sun and they whip out their shorts and shades. seeing that mr. campbell was a substitute teacher, i'll never see him again, but at least I've had a enjoyable conversation with a brit!
during the two hours, a couple student cautiously approached me and told me they remembered me, and that made my day.
the espresso room! my new local coffee shop. since this was such a great find, i intend to go to all the coffee shops mentioned in the nyt.com article.
then i headed to the national gallery to go to a free lecture. don't be too impressed because I had to go to in order to fulfill a lecture requirement for one of my nyu classes. nevertheless i still found it interesting. It was about the artist carlo crivelli, whom I had never heard of before, and I always like learning about the under dogs. afterwards I spent an hour looking through the 17th century collection. lots of rembrandt and claude and peter paul rubens. then, I walked back from the national gallery to campus, which I've never done. turns out it's only a 20-25 walk in straight line pretty much. again, putting london pieces together and london's feeling a little smaller and more manageable.
nelson's column, big ben and whitehall.
i had an interesting experience on the tube today. I frantically got off the tube at leicester sq. because I was running late to the lecture. I was also slightly bummed out the today wasn't as sunny as it was yesterday. as I made my way towards the exit, I heard busker playing "here comes the sun" on this guitar. how weird that i should hear him play that song, the day after it was the title of my blogpost and I had been humming it all day yesterday. the busker put me in a good mood.
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