It has begun!

I can't believe I have finally arrived and this adventure has begun!

Right now, Mandy (housemate, co-teacher and definite sidekick you will be hearing much more about) and I  are staying with the wonderful Angela Taylor (another Tollbar teacher) in Grimsby, UK until we find our own appartment-a search which has turned out to be much more trying than we'd expected it to be.

      Mandy out in front of Angela's place

I can't believe I have only been here for three days.
We've been running around trying to open a "hach"SBC bank account, getting SIM cards and groceries, going out for dinner (which is lunch) and tea (which is dinner-ya, my head is spinning too) with new friends and co-workers all while trying to keep up with going for runs and keeping in touch with home..

Out for dinner with new friends Laura, Angela and John


At a local pub with Mandy, Chris, Angela (taking the pic) and John

I saw Tollbar for the first time yesterday and it is MUCH bigger than Google Earth led me to believe. When we pulled up (Angela refuses to let Mandy and I take a bus anywhere-apparently its not something they do much here as Angela cringes at the mention of it saying she wouldn't want to be caught dead sitting beside "commoners"haha) I saw the front of the school as I had on Street View but, as it turns out, that is one block of NINE that this school of over 2,000 students is made up of. I am going to get lost. Thankfully, my boss Carl, (a Kareoke Master as we found out recently) assured me we'll be getting maps at orientation this Thursday. PHEW. But I know what some of you are thinking...THAT is not going to help Natalie...you're probably right.

Tomorrow Mandy and our new friends Chris and John and I are going to check out the shopping/restaurants in Leeds which is apparently a cool city. I'll post pictures fo sho!

Oh and before I end this first post, I think I should start listing the things I have learned here so far:

1.Stuff is CHEAP here!!! Groceries, household stuff and eating out costs nothing compared to Canadian prices-I'm not coming back.

• Rent on a three bedroom house between Many and I is going to be abount 250 pounds/month each
• I bought a bottle of Fair Trade Merlot for 4.99 yesterday
• Iphone monthly plans for 13/month
• Groceries and toiletries always offer crazy specials:

(crisps aka chips buy 1 get 2 FREE and Budweiser 3 for 20.00 oh and STELLA-2bottles for 1 pound?!)

• At a fancy restaurant, I got a drink, haddock/risotto dinner and a specialty coffee for 30 dollars

2. I am destined to pick up Brittish expressions (on the phone yesterday describing a place Mandy and I had just looked at, I told Angela it was "absolute rubbish"..haha)

3. People in Cleethorpes/Grimsby LOVE Canadians and are generally super friendly people.

4. It actually isn't ALWAYS rainy.

5. Flying kites is a big deal here (spent the afternoon flying kites on the beach with Chris and John and plan on getting good enough to move to the "sweet spot" known by locals for kite flying).

6. I need to learn how to play netball. Two reasons: I will be teaching it and there's a league teachers play in and I OBVIOUSLY want to join.

That's all for now,
Next week: seeing Leeds and York and I start Tollbar training!

Cheers,
Nat x