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2000: The Year of Bonding

Well its winter again in London which is dark and misreable but slightly more bearable as we have purchased a car not long ago which has opened up London for us. We have been braver and are driving around to visit people lots more. I even braved the blackwall tunnel to visit a friend in South London. We havent been away at all since our wedding in May. Actually thats a lie, I went away without Paul for a weekend in Nov to Austria to visit my Aunty Toni, who had my cousin Kay and Aunty Glenyce and Kay's gorgeous daughter visiting who was born while i was over here. It was a fantastic time seeing family who i have missed terribly.

Im also looking forward to March when my Mum is coming to Austria too to visit Toni and help with the new arrival to Toni and Helmut's family so i will be going back to Austria then to spend time with them. Teaching has been busy. Paul is loving teaching 5 year olds, I think he has found his niche. They all tell him he looks like a WWW wrestler, i guess to them he looks giant. They all love him to bits though as many of them don't have Dads around in their lives. My job is extremely stressful as we have had a network put in and as administrator is alot of extra work. I also have a challenging class which i am learning a lot from. I love the kids and we have a great relationship they just have problems in their lives that cause them not to be able to deal with their anger well. All good experience though.

I am currently also enrolled in the graduate teacher programme which enables me to English teaching equivalent. It is a hugely patronising process, English teachers don't have to go though it if they teach in nz. I have got my tutor coming from Canterbury Christ College coming to watch me teach in January. I also have to write a 4000 word essay comparing nz teaching and english which i am not impressed about. Also i have to sit a math exam. Im supposed to finish that in March so I'l let you know how it gets on.

Paul has become somewhat famous in London. A few months ago he appeared on the front cover of a newspaper supplement. There was also another 3 pics of him in the article. He was interviewed about life as an overseas teacher in East London. Well now it's stepped up a gear as he is now going to be in a documentary for the BBC about the same thing. Even i might be on it as we were filmed and interviewed during our teaching agencies Christmas party. They also came in to film Paul and the head teacher taking an assembly. They are coming back on Jan the 9th to film Paul teaching aswell. Ill keep you posted and of course tape the show.

We are still living in our cute house and relish living by ourselves. We are closer than ever and marriage has cemented our relationship.

We have managed to catch up with Bradley a few times lately and we both love his company and have a great time all going out clubbing together. Its wonderful having such a good friend of Pauls overhere. He even came and babysat Paul while i went over to Austria. I have two really amazing friends here. One is Canadian called Karen and her South African boyfriend Craig and we met them a month after i got here. They have joined us in most of our antics and she was the fantastic one who surprised us at our wedding. Also I have a good friend called Sarah, an aussie who has joined us in our group. Both the girls work with Paul at his school so we see each other alot.

Anyway we must go. I am writing this in an Internet Cafe in Amsterdam where Paul and I have come on a city break for Xmas as we wanted to do something different. We have a gorgeous hotel too. We are spending New years Eve in LOndon clubbing with friends.

Anyway love and miss you all Love Tina




Yet another dark and miserable London winter month. Darkness by 4pm and cold and wet to boot. Thank god we have a car now, otherwise the public transport would have driven us into depression. We have been searching the internet for package trips to sunny locations. Most package deals are already booked and those that ARE available are to second rate locations. We just need the suns presence...is that too much to ask?

Paul has made contact with a group of drama students with whom he will be soon working on a play to take to the Edinbourgh fringe festival. He is quite excited by this upcoming project. More to come soon.

Socially? We have yet again found the early darkness to quell our energy. Appart from 2 parties and a couple of visits to the pub, we have been quite sad by cuddling up at home watching tv. We really must get out more...




Both working hard to pay of debt and build up the savings. Paul got a great assessment at his work. The fitness program is falling behind a bit due to the lose of daylight savings and the early nights. Tina is finding her new position quite a lot of work. She runs the I.T suite at her work, something that will be invaluable in future positions.

Apart from the odd weekend's clubbing or pary, most of the available time we have is spent planning and sleeping. It can't be an 'adventure' all the time :(




August has been an eventful month. We both had summer holidays but were not paid for the time due to the terms of our temporary employment. It left us with a difficult decision regarding travel. We ended up buying a car for 250 pounds (a cute little 990cc run-about). We have wanted to travel up to manchester (two friends highly recomended it) and now we had the transportation. With our tent and a few clothes along with the remainder of our canned food we set of in our little car. (read about it here

On return to London with enough money to pay rent (not much more than we had when we had left london). We spent the next several days prepping for the new school year with the odd weekend of clubbing (economy style). Paul helped Bradley Jacques move into his new "mature" flat ;) He seems to be enjoying London as we both are.

With a vehicle, our perspective of our local london area has changed. Learning a new road system has opened my eyes to how london is set out. Still, the traffic problem is one to make you fear being caught out after 7am or 4pm....




Well, july has come and gone and as at 21st July we started our summer holidays. We have brought a small car and intend to drive arround england/wales/scotland until our money runs out. More on this next month...

Earlier in the month we were in the rehearsals and performance of "Oliver". Tina had the part of Mr Brownstone, and Paul was 3 parts (man with beer, man with gun and Knifegrinder). It was a great time for both of of us and we made some great friends in the process.

Both Tina and Pauls parents came over for a holiday this month. Pauls parents stayed for 7 weeks before returning to New Zealand, Tinas for 2 weeks and then are renting a car to travel the country. They will be visiting us again within next month.

Still to catch up with newly arrived friends, Babbak and Peter. We have caught up with old friend, Bradley. A few great nights on the town with him. We have just heard that Patrick and Nicky are coming over in a moth or two also. ;)




Well we are back in London after a fantastic time in Las Vegas. What a mad city. We arrived in Vegas on the 29th and could not beieve the heat, unfortunately our bags did not arrive with us which was a bit stressful. We picked up an awesome green Mustang convertable and drove to the Excalibur. THe hotel was soo impressive. While waiting to check in we Had an amazing surprise as my parents came to greet us.



They had just decided that day to come out from New Zealand and as i hadnt seen them in a year and a half I was exstatic. 2 of our friends Karen and Claire from London had also flown out to share the wedding with us. Our wedding day was perfect, a blue sky and a ride in a limo to the gorgeous chapel.

Beautiful flowers and a wonderful minister created a service that was simple and covered everything we wanted. It felt good to know the wedding was being broadcasted live on the internet for friends and family to watch. The photos turned out fantastically aswell.



After the wedding we all drove down to L.A . WE had to sort out our visa for me to get back into England and my parents and the girls were sightseeing. Once the visa was sorted we drove back to vegas to enjoy the last weekend and our friends and parents flew back home. We will definitely be back in vegas, staying at a different hotel next time to experiment a new theme.

Thanks to everyone who sent cards and gifts we really appreciated your thoughts.

From the new Tina L Taylor




Hi all.
A big month for us. We have been rushing about trying to sort everything in time for our departure on the 28th. Been a very social month too, catching up with friends before we leave. We both had our respective stag/hens nights. Pauls left him a mess for days afterwards ;)

We're both looking forward to the drive between LV and LA. It'll be the first cross-state drive we've ever done.

PLAN

(MON 28th:5am-gmt) Plane departs.
(MON 28th:4pm-gmt) Arrive L.V
(WED 30th:8pm-gmt) Wedding (see 'travel' to watch it)
(WED 30th:1am-gmt) Drive to Los Angeles
(WED 30th:6am-gmt) Organise Re-entry Visa for Tina
(MON 5th:4pm-gmt) Leave LasVegas
(MON 6th:6am-gmt) Arrive London




It's been a quiet month. Both of us have been working hard to save enought money to make our vegas trip. Pauls been getting alot of work in short term stints including one of Tina's Friend's classes.

We've both been doing the fitness thing in conjunction with the diet. Pauls lost 14 Kg's and Tina's lost 12. Over the next few months we're starting up an training schedule that we plan to stick to. On July 31st, one of pauls mates is selling his weights and sit-up machine, so it's game on from that point on.

Paul.




Hi everyone,
just an update as were not sure if everyone knows all our news. Well the first one is that we have booked our wedding in Las Vegas, and we depart on May 29th which is getting very close. We have booked a fun holiday staying in the Excalibur hotel there and hired a car so we can do the Grand Canyon thing. WE have some friends from England trying to organise to come with us too. We are semi organised for it. THe dressmaker has started on my dress and we are hiring Pauls Tux out there as it is easier. The hotel pretty much does the rest.

THe other news is we finally shifted and got a flat by ourselves which is heaven, we forgot how great it is. Its just around the corner from our old one and even though its quite small its perfect and still a 3 minute walk to the WEst Ham station which is cool. It is a modern complex sort of block. Our landlords are great too.

Tina.
x x x