One more visit, one more week

I feel myself quite fortunate during my year here in the UK with the number of visits I’ve had from friends. I was able to visit with Matt, AJ and Erin in May; in June Amy came for a day and this last weekend in mid July I got a visit from Jill, her sister Karla and friend Karina. It has been a pleasant divergence from lesson planning and dealing with naughty students. It gives me a chance to act as host (albeit I always meet up with them in London rather than Colchester) and help them with their touring and travels. This past visit was a little more stressful than the others due mainly to the airlines losing Jill and Karla’s luggage. Though we were able to see a lot of the sights in London, including touring the reconstructed Globe Theatre, we needed to amend our sightseeing so we could be close to the hostel when the bags were returned. The luggage was eventually found and returned late Sunday, but the whole thing was constantly on our minds, particularly Jill and Karla. In the end, everybody got their belongings and we still got a chance to visit and tour.

England is currently going through an early heat wave, with temperatures as high as 36.3 °C. It is so hot that the roads are actually melting, causing the tar from the asphalt to run. And we are still in school, during this all. Some of the students feel they can get away with more because they think they won’t have to sit detentions. Since many are also aware that I will not be returning next year, they are acting up even more. Some of the better behaved kids have even become disrespectful citing their reasons is because I will not be staff at school for much longer.
Today also happens to be my birthday, and it went by without anyone making a big deal about it here. Whew! Actually I think people either didn’t know or forgot. Oh well. I’ll mention it at our end of year party tomorrow, and I’m sure to get some recognition for it.
One more day!
Shalom
Kevin