First week working

Tea and cake at a cafe
on the main road

I have found somewhere to live after a thoroughly depressing tour of London accommodation. The lease is currently just for the month so I may look at moving if I can find somewhere better. The house is in Clapham Junction if anyone wants to look it up on Google Maps. The location is nice though transport is restricted to the overground and buses which is not ideal. Every single morning the train has been late so I have to factor that into travel times! My room is not too bad (especially compared to some of the places I saw) though at the limit of my budget in terms of rent. The major downside is no living room which means I have seen my housemates about 3 times in the week I have been living here. Certainly less than perfect in terms of not feeling lonely...

Early morning train ride

The agency did a fantastic job and I spent the week at a super fancy prep school in south west London. Rules here about privacy and protection of children are very strict and the school asked me not to name the school on social media which I think includes the blog too. Safe to say, I've been relieving mostly English classes of boys in year 5-8 and it has been a dream. No behaviour issues, friendly and responsive boys, and very welcoming teachers. They have 3 Kiwis on the staff and a couple of Australians too so it has been a very gentle ease into the relieving job. I am back there on Monday and then I am doing a two week paternity leave stint at another independent school teaching French (yes, they know I don't speak French!). Hopefully this will be a positive experience too.

My feet have been a major issue and dealing with almost constant pain is wearing on my optimism and general positive outlook. Being on them all the time has been much harder than I was anticipating. Simple things like getting to the train station, going grocery shopping, cooking dinner, standing on duty etc are that much harder when my feet are extremely sore. My parents suggested wearing my only comfyish shoes when walking and changing when I got to school. This has resulted in me looking like a complete fashion freak and wearing socks with sandals. I know, bit of disaster but hey, it helps. I have registered with a GP now so should hopefully be able to get a referral to someone who might be able to help. With the NHS though this may take a very long time. Those of you who are into praying, I'd appreciate your prayers about this please!

To end on a positive note, I am going to my first acro yoga class and jam tomorrow which I am super excited about. Hopefully there will be someone to partner with and a good opportunity to meet some cool people!