After a long period of time off from work I gladly walked back into a classroom that I got to be in charge of. The first week was good but definitely difficult when walking into a classroom for the last two months of school. Luckily, the students have gotten to know me since January so it wasn't like they didn't know me at all. I am trying my best to keep the classroom as much like it was with the previous teacher but trust me I am definitely corrected by the darlings when that is not what they usually do.
One thing that I did find incredibly funny and interesting was the health and safety orientation I had to sit through. So I figured it would be like the states and they would just touch on some important things about safety in the school, but no, health and safety is something taken very seriously in the UK. I received a 6 page, single spaced, 10 font print out of all the safety regulations that we had to go through. And yes, we went through all of it. I luckily got to skip three sections on the CPR, defibrillator and first aid since I am certified in all three in the states. Come to find out though my certification isn't valid in the UK. My favorite part of the orientation is when she taught me about how to lift a box properly so that I do not strain my back. I had to hold back laughter but she was dead serious. Then the second part that I found hysterical was when she said "lets take a look at your workspace". Wasn't sure what she meant by this but went along with it. All of a sudden she tells me to sit down in my chair and she is down on her knees adjusting my chair so that I have proper lumbar support and that I do not create varicose veins in my legs. WHAT??? Then I had to pull myself up to my computer desk and she observed whether or not my computer was eye level with the top of the monitor. Then I had to show her how I position my mouse because if it is too far away from me I can injure my shoulder. I also had to pick up the phone to see the distance it was from where I was seated at the computer. I was then instructed not to put the phone on my shoulder because it can strain my neck. At this point I was in shock by the detailed safety instruction that I thought would take 10 minutes. Try 30 with just her and I. So there are so many things that the UK could improve on business wise but man they have gone to the extreme when talking about safety. If you have been following the news about the volcanic ash flight cancellations they are stating on the news that the UK safety regulations may be to blame for this chaos in the airports because they are just to cautious about everything, and I mean everything. Meaning they closed the airports longer than what was needed. Each American person I have met has a funny story about a safety regulation that they have not met and were informed about immediately in the work place.
New Car/Glamis Castle
Clifton and I took the train to Dunfermline to pick up my new car last weekend and on the way back we decided to stop by Glamis Castle. To date, this was our favorite castle to visit. We took some pictures on the road up to Glamis Castle of the scenery. The Scottish hillside is so beautiful this time of year.
Glamis Castle has a been a Royal residence since 1372. The Castle perhaps best known as the childhood home of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. It is also the birthplace of her daughter, Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret. The present Queen Elizabeth was not born here just to clear up any confusion but her mother was. Clifton and I had no clue that Queen Elizabeth is half Scottish and her husband is the Duke of Edinburgh. So no wonder the Scots love the Queen!! The Bowes Lyon family still live on the property. Can you imagine living in a portion of that castle. It is absolutely gorgeous. There were all sorts of private gardens and driveways you are not allowed to go in due to the family still being present.
The gardens that were public were absolutely amazing and you could spend a whole day going to each one just walking around. Clifton and I also had our first encounter with the highland cows. We could only get close to the younger ones so we have plenty of pictures of them but the older ones are too aggressive so they keep you at a distance. They are so precious and there was a black one I have a picture of that acted like a puppy. There were two black labs right next to us when we were taking pictures and the cow kept playing with it jumping back and forth and running off. It is funny to say that we saw a cow playing. Most of the time they just stand there stupid! Clifton was also very impressed with the amount of pheasants on the property. They are so pretty and they were everywhere.
All in all we had another amazing weekend picking up my awesome new car and visiting Glamis. Just in case anyone would like to know my driving is improving a little bit everyday but I still have a long ways to go before I would consider myself to be a good driver!
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