London Zoo

I don't know if I want to grow up. The day at the zoo was great felt like I was a little 'n again. Our first stop suprisingly enough was the Africa section. There was a sign saying this way for the Okapis, well it didnt actually SAY it and in fact it was just an arrow with the name Okapi but you know what I mean. I'm from Africa and I was frowning with confusion beacuse I didn't know what an Okapi was I understood what the sign meant. At least I recognised it when I saw it and I have now decided that it is a REALLY cool looking animal.

The poor animal however is obviously not getting enough paint in it's diet because as we walked around the encloser he was standing by the keepers entrance sliding his mouth over the bars kinda like a type of ice lolly. He was cute though.
The giraffes were also cool - but then again they always are. Some of you might not know this but the giraffe has the same number of neck vertebrae as humans they are just longer. Joining the giraffes in the pic are Kelly, Thalia and Donna. You might recognise Thalia and Donna from Wales pics and Thalia is also featured in some Isle of Wight pics.

I also like to dig the otters. Look at the little dude with the big yawn on the left. I could just take him home with me. I don't think he would like being packed in my suitcase though so thought I would leave him to hang with his friends. ;)

We then entered the mouth of a BIG blown up caterpillar - it kinda looked like a jumping castle. Inside was a miniture butterfly world. Not as good as the one in Cape Town though. The butterfly on the right was about the size of my hand if not a little bigger - was really cool. After leaving the caterpillar we turned around an realised what goes in through the mouth must come out the a... I don't think that it offers a truly family kind of enviroment now does it. ;)

Now I know this may seem CRAZY but my favourite part of the zoo was the BUGS section. The first thing you see when you enter is this antfarm. It is not completely enclosed though so I immediately checked it over thinking how do they keep the ants in the farm. They have a rope linking different containers but the rope is suspended so that it doesnt touch any surfaces untill it is inside the next container.

Look closely and see the little ants carring the leaves to their home.

Here is another pic of a llama again at the petting zoo - he is cool though cos he is kinda a llama cross cow. Hee hee hee.






Peek-a-boo. This is a pic from the walk through monkey enclosure. They weren't as friendly as I would have hoped - he didn't jump on my shoulder but at least he played hide and seek with me.

The gorillas enclosure seemed to be 5 star compared to all the others. VERY popular dudes these. The zoo seems to focus on alot of fundraising for the gorillas. The enclosure was surrounded with mini videos playing regarding conservation of the gorilla. On the way out there is a little stand with gorilla curios and a machine where you put in £1 and get a little gorilla badge. You also vote as to how you think the money raised should be spent, ie. employ more workers to protect the areas, educate the children, better equipment etc. I thought it was a good way of raising money.

Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh My!! I didn't include pics of lions or tigers cos mom already has enough of those. The bears were pretty cool though, they looked a bit like giant dogs.

Lovebox

Lovebox is a music festival with a bunch of different stages and lots of different gigs going on at the same time. Taresa and I got there a bit late but it was still a good time. I think I landed up only seeing 3 gigs - Pull Tiger Tail, Soul II Soul and Blondie. Blondie was definitely my favourite. Spongebob enjoyed her too.

If you wondering where Spongebob fits in we all got finger puppets - he was my puppet. Below Taresa is showing off her llama and Sarah has a lion.

Another discovery was that jello shots are REALLY impractical - at least now I know that its not just me who can't make them. In my attempt to "drink" my jello shot I broke the tot "glass". I landed up with two halves and here I am trying to scoop out my jelly.

Even though I said Blondie was my favourite there was this beat box guy who came on between gigs on the main stage who was absolutely awesome. I have no idea what his name is but he definitely comes a very close to Blondie. Anyone recognise him?



My last story would be the end of the evening - my capture of Eeyore. I have always wanted my own BIG soft toy. We saw them at Chessington and you could win them but then I would need I sexy boy to win it for me. The girls I am sure will understand. Anyways leaving Lovebox and there was a guy handing out pamphlets but all I wanted was his Eeyore. He said that if I took apmphlet I could win him - LIES. So I took a pamphlet and told him that I had won. He said I could take Eeyore so I grabbed him and ran - didn't want him to change his mind.

Farewell Eastbrook

Last day at Eastbrook ... and there were no tears like the ones when I had to say good bye to Northcliff. It must mean I have learnt how to say goodbye. ;) I decided to take pics of a couple of my classes cos really the kids were not THAT bad. In order it is my small Yr 10 class, Yr 9's and Yr 8's.

The end of the school day was followed by a school BBQ for the teachers. There was eating, drinking, dancing, drinking, laughing, drinking, chatting, drinking and before I forget did I mention we were drinking. Heeheehee. Good time was had by all and I included a pic of Taresa picking on Mark ... again.

Rumana "learning" how to Sokkie.

Mireille, Rumana and PD on the dance floor going crazy.

Chessington

OK so it seems the norm on this side of the world to go out on a school outing which most kids don't attend. The Year 7's and Year 9's were all bussed off to Chessington and the Year 8's and Year 10's were bussed off to Thorpe Park. These are basically theme parks so nothing really educational about the trip at all.

I am not complaining I got free trip to Chessington and did not really have to do much babysitting for the day. The first thing we did was head off to petting zoo and took a picture of the VERY furry llama. Really cute though. They also had alot of little goats and a pig that responded to its name when we called it. Yeah I know you are wondering if I will ever grow up. But wait it gets worse ...

The REALLY cool rides had REALLY long ques cos as I said it seems the norm to take the school out for these adventures. There were lots of schools who took the kids to Chessington. So instead we chose to go on the "little peoples" rides - I am referring to little children.

We landed up on the ferris wheel, the flying elephants and the carousel ... told you it got worse.

Maths Dept Year End/Farewell

So for those of you who don't know, teaching at Eastbrook was a nightmare and everyday I wished that the Northcliff kids would be there to greet me instead. The thing that I think got me through it all was a fantastic department to work with. Jon and Bev were missing but let me introduce you to the ones in the photo starting from left: Mark, Hannah, Judith, Sofian, Taresa and Jim.

We all went out for drinks and dinner but the dinner experience was pretty new. As we were walking down the street (Bricklane) to the restaurant we were bombarded with all these people trying to get us to eat at their restaurant and offering us free bottles of wine. We landed up scoring 4 bottles free to go with our meal. No complaints here.

Here I am posing at one of the stops after dinner. The importance of this pic is the necklace that I am wearing. It is the gift I got from the department. Really pretty and the impressive part is that it was the boys in the department that chose the gifts. Taresa and Hannah also got necklaces and Judith got a bracelet.

You might be able to tell that this is a photo of our last stop. We had drinks beford dinner, all that wine during our meal and still went to two more places for drinks after. If drinking were a sport ... WOO HOO!!