Regaining a "grip" on things...

Ok so first thing's first: I have learned A LOT of new words/"proper" words for things and the "Grip Story" I am about to share is a little sample of just this...
So last week I was teaching PE to my favorite classes (yes, teachers DO have favorites), it was a Netball lesson (yes, I teach a sport I have NEVER played that is basically a weak version of basketball) and we were working on passing so the girls were in pairs passing to one-another. Suddenly, one of the girls came running up to me looking quite concerned and stressed saying: "Miss! Miss! I've lost my grip!!" So I thought she was talking about having trouble catching the ball-totally expected because they are a low-band which basically means that they are not sporty, quite scared of the ball and don't have much hope of catching it..so I respond quite enthusiastically, encouraging her that "that's TOTALLY FINE, we all loose our grip on the ball sometimes, just pick it up, try again..you'll get your grip back in no time!" This didn't seem to assure her. Her face still looked worried and now she also looked a bit confused. She started pointing at her hair and responded: "No, no Miss, my GRIP, I've lost my GRIP!!" So now I'm thinking, wow, poor girl's been trying to catch the ball with her head, NO WONDER she hasn't got a grip on the ball..So I tell her that she's gotta catch the ball with both hands, encourage her that loosing one's grip is so normal when you're learning something new and to keep trying. She wasn't getting it. Well, I thought she wasn't, but it was actually ME who wasn't getting it. It took her then removing a BOBBY PIN from her hair, holding it up in front of my face and her pointing at it saying "MY GRIP...I'VE LOST ONE OF THESE!" for me to get that the poor girl was just trying to tell me she'd lost one of her fancy bobby pins (like I said, LOW-band PE class here..) so I responded "OHHHHH YOU'RE BOBBY PIN!!!" which, to a group of young, English girls, is a HILLARIOUS saying to have their young PE teacher say because it's apparently what "old ladies" call them...ya, we all had a good laugh about it. my lesson was DEFINITELY not affected my the laughter or jokes to follow that incident...hehe
POINT BEING: the English say things a wee bit differently here and it's taken some getting used to but I think I have made some good progress over the last couple weeks. I now say "you alright?" when walking by people (learned after much confusion it's just like saying "how's it goin'?"...they don't actually think it looks like something's wrong with me..). I now call my pants TROUSERS (asked a guy where he got his pants and had him pull up his briefs to find the tag...whoops)..I use the toilet, not the washroom (got some pretty weird looks asking for that one..my friends literally thought I needed a place to wash myself in the middle of dinner..haha) and dinner is TEA (it's a drink as well as a full meal..gets confusing sometimes).

School is getting better and better. My "bad" class is dwindling down (one girl has changed schools, another is on a behavioral contract and another is in "inclusion"-basically a portable for all-day detention- all week) so it's becoming more manageable and I am getting through full lessons now with that group which feels pretty good!

I have started playing basketball with a group of people that play in a men's and women's league locally so they all scrimmage Tuesday nights, the guys practice Wednesday nights and the girls are on Sunday so I have been getting lots of playing in going to those which feels awesome!

This past Saturday Mandy and I visited the infamous Chatsworth house-aka Mr. Darcy's house and it was so amazing! It took so long to get to that we basically only had about an hour to see it-I shall be going back for sure-but the grounds, gardens and of course the house were absolutely beautiful!

Walking through fields of sheep was a new experience!

 

The garden had some interesting sculptures up...

Today after church, I had some new friends show me around a local town where we had lunch (they call it dinner), visited an old minstrel and walked through a local park filled with streams and lots of beautiful trees.

The river right outside my place in Grimsby:)

Along the road from my place to City Church...

 

Walking through the town of Louth...

I have really been blessed with new friendships over the past couple weeks. Meeting new people through basketball and church and getting closer to people at work and my two housemates has made this whole transition so much easier. Having other Canadians going through the same adjustments as I am and having local friends so eager to show me around their towns and teaching me the ropes is so awesome, I have such an appreciation for everyone in my life over here.

 

The crew in front of Louth cathedral

I had a lot of trouble settling into this new job. It gets really hard sometimes and there were moments in the weeks that passed where I wondered if I had made the right decision in coming here; if I had what it takes to do this job, to adjust to this culture and to really benefit from my experience out here. I am now at a place where I feel more confidant and really hopeful about everything. Maybe it's my new friends or perhaps my old ones and family back home encouraging me so much; maybe it's the progress I have made with even my toughest of classes or maybe it's all of that PLUS the fact that half-term break is two weeks away and we're going to Paris and the South of France!!!!!
Many pictures will follow that adventure!

I hope you are all doing well in our beautiful Tim Horton's-drinking, washroom-using and bobby pin-wearing land where my students think it's the LAW to own a moose...
I miss you all dearly and would love updates from you all:)

cheers,

Nat
x