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2002: The Year of Art and leisure




Once again it's been a while since we last made an update in our diary. We've moved into our new flat (see photos's above) and have thouroughly thrown ourselves into our new jobs. Tina's work is quite dull and don't go out much, by my work rocks! We go out most fridays to the local. What's more, three of them are kiwis!


Both of us are still full on into our fitness/weighloss. Tina is hoping to reach goal by christmas. She is doing really well. I, on the other hand, have been having a little to much fun on a few nights. My progress is good, if not sporadic.





Well we are preparing to move tommorrow to North West London. We have lived in our flat for 2 and a half years and you won't beleive the stuff we have. We have had to hire a transit van to move it all. I remember when we left NZ we had only 2 backpacks and a suitcase. We have lived in East London for 3 and a half years and can not wait to relocate in a new area. East London is not the safest area and I am loking forward to having Antipedians as nighbours. We are moving to an area called Cricklewood which is a ten minute walk from the underground stations of Kilburn and Willesden Green.

We are going to be living 3 doors down from the Broadway which means we finally get to experience the local pub on the corner. We are also excited as Paul's friend Bradley lives in the area as does 3 other flats of friends. We were usually the ones that had to commute all the time now we will be able to walk home.

It was very sad to leave my job in late july. I had been there for 3 years which is longer than i had taught in any other school ,also by teaching such a variety of age groups i had taught many children from the same family. I knew i wanted to try teaching in another area of london but that school had been very supportive and I had learnt so much. I got great presents and My Head Teacher said some very touching words which made me cry even more.

I have made many good friends at the school but i know i will keep in touch with them. I also had the oppportunity to visit my new school in July. It is going to be a very different experience as it is a small school with only one class per yeargroup. This means alot more of the preparation is left up to you and as I am teaching a year group i have not taught in England i will need to colllect alot of resources. I am also taking an ICT Co-ordinator job so was very disappointed to see that this schol uses a completely different operating system and completely different programs. Never mind that just means i need to familiarise myself with them, they are similar. Also think how good it will be on my CV for when i return to NZ with experience of both systems.

Paul has got a temporary job for September in a Catholic School runnning a Nursery probably till at least Xmas. He is only offered 7 weeks at a time as it is a sick leave position and she puts her medical certificate in every 7 weeks but she has been off for 2 years so it could definitely be for longer.

We had a fantastic holiday in Scotland and the Isle of Skye for our wedding anniversary in May/June and met lots of cool people. We also had the chance to go the Glastonbury Music Festival with some kiwi friends in June which we loved. Paul had a particularly good time and is going with Bradley to another weekend Festival in August called V2002. It has some good bands expected. While they are away I am having a driving/camping holiday with six girlfriends to the South of France which i am really looking forward to. When we return Paul and I are going away for 4 days to Amsterdam on a holiday I won. Pretty impressed as it is the first thing i have ever won. I won it at a bar and it had something to do with drinking sangria quickly (must have made my mum so proud ha ha ha ) I must admit i was disappointed not to win the trip to Barcelona as we have been to Amsterdam but it is on a 18-30s tour so we will meet cool people and it is free.

We have had freak good weather which is cool and we spent Saturday in Regents Park. I love London in Summer as i love the way people all crowd to the park and strip off.It is so funny after growing up on beaches. It is great for people watching and everyone is in such a good mood the minute sun comes out. We are still planning on returning in 2004. We are starting to save (Once we start our new jobs) to return home with a deposit for a house in NZ plus the necessary costs to set up a home. We are very lucky to have some lovely wedding presents still in NZ to use in our new home. We plan on coming back via an African Safari as it is one country that Paul and I both really want to visit.

We plan on visiting Ireland next year as we have not yet been there and it is also a country that we hear is gorgeous with friendly locals. The tour company we traveled to Scotland with run a tour to Ireland so we will have alot of fun I am sure. Also my parents are hopefully planning a trip back over to Austria next Christmas so we might get to have a white Christmas which will be good and get to see Toni, Hemut and gorgeous Tanja.

We have been so lucky to make some wonderful friends in London and we have been lucky that they have all extended their stay as we have done. But the end of this year many are returning to their home countries. This will be very sad as they have all been like our family being so far away from you all. I know we will meet new people as you always do in London but we will miss our good friends. The good thing is that we have wonderful friends all around the world to visit later in life.

Sorry to any of you who got a virus off us as we ended up getting a virus that sends emails to everyone on our address book and we were unaware. We have just got our PC back from being rebuilt and again we kicked ourselves for not saving files as we lost lots of photos from our video camera. Never mind our PC is back working again and i am being ruthless and not opening anything from anyone we dont know. THe annoying thing is we had a virus checker that this clever virus disabled plus i got if from somebody who i was in their address book so it wasnt from an unknown person.

Anyway i hope you are all well and looking after yourselves I need to go clean the oven and fridge, yay how much fun.

Luv Tina
x x x



Been a bit slack updating this, so we thought it was time to let you know what we’ve been up to.

The Annie production is in full swing. I have rehearsals most nights and it’s coming along nicely. I play the part of Rooster, involving two songs and 4 scenes. It’s a lot of work, but I’m really enjoying it. The show is for 3 nights and we will be getting a video of it a few weeks after it’s over. I will try to get some of the footage onto the web so you can see my bit.

We went on a bus tour around the Isle of Skye and several other areas of Scotland on the way. The people on the tour were great and we made a few new friends. We have got the photos on line you can view by clicking HERE if you want to see them. Not many shots of me, but a few of Tina. Lots of nice scenic shots however.

We only have 5 more weeks in east London. Already we are showing prospective buyers through out house 2 nights a week. Tina has been enrolling at various real estate agents, and we will have to be rather less fussy than we had initially intended. Still, with a new area will come less crime and a fresh outlook for the few years we are here. We will both be joining local gyms and using our holidays productively.

I still haven’t found a job for next year (August) but I expect to get a few calls from my agency next week. I seem to be one of only 2 teachers who have expressed interest in working at Nursery level so hopefully I should have no problems. If the worst happens, and I still don’t have a job, I will supply teach until one comes up.

Well that’s about it for June. When the production is over and the holidays begin in 4 weeks I will write a longer letter.


Paul
X x x




TIna here!
March started with a weekend away for both of us. Me and Karen decided to have a girlie weekend visiting a girlfriend living in Edinburgh. It was a weekend of shopping, yummy food and of course lots of wine and dancing. Paul went to the Isle of Wight for a weekend with the boys and said he had a good time.

March was the start of the job hunting for me, the jobs for this september have started to be advertised. I was looking for an IT co-ordinator job in North London and the first ad i saw looked promising. I went to visit the school before putting in my application and was soooo impressed. It is a little one level entry school in Finchley Central. The grounds were beautiful and shock horror it has a field on the grounds( The first I have seen in London) The school is well resourced with a new electronic whiteboard and a PC suite plus computers in each classroom. A week later i was invited for an interview which i was extremely nervous about as I had not had a formal interview since arriving in the country. It went well and i was pleased to hear that afternoon I had got the job. What a relief it makes the rest of the school year in East London stressfree and what a wonderful start to the easter holidays.

THe holidays were spent in London catching up with friends and getting lots of relaxation and rest. I went to see Boy Georges new musical Taboo with Karen and Steph the other day which i enjoyed. We also caught up with lots of friends at the CHURCH (the sunday drinking session) at the beginning of Easter.




Back at school. Working hard. I've scanned some pics of our little car and current flat. Our's is the second floor up. .The BBC TV program with me in (based around a selection of Australasian teachers) aired and it is supprising how many people saw it. I have had a few people jokingly ask me for autographs. I should start charging.

We both had a week off for mid-term break. Due to our strict budget and rigid savings reguime, we we forced to stay home and used the time wisely and Cleaned the house. Our landlady came arround to sign our new lease for yet another year.


We went out for Vallentines day and saw a one-man-play called 'sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. Quite good, but rather longwinded. After the play we went further into town to a dive of a place called 'Maz's olde time rock and blues' where we had a great night with two Louisiana friends and a mate of mine whose band was playing. Didn't get home till 5am.


We've had a few Car Problems but they've been fixed by a strange but friendly man in Eastham who loves pornography and campervans. .He claims to recognise me drive by each day as he is just up the road from my work. Nonetheless, the job he did was cheap and seems to have done the car wonders. A good thing concidering the ammount of snow we've had lately...


Paul.
x x x




Tina here!
Well it was a bit of an anticlimax being back in London in January. It was cold and very wet. Not long after we arrived back our car died again we decided that it was time to get rid of it and go back to using the tubes. They are very reliable in London and it was laziness that kept us wanting the car.

Supply work for Paul was slow and then the silly billy sprained his ankle getting off the tube drunk one night so we have not saved as much as we wanted in Jan this means postponing our Ireland tour till August not April as originally planned.