10 February - 23 February
After the first week of settling in and getting to know everyone, I am starting to feel more comfortable and at home in Thames Ditton. This week went rather smoothly at school, I was placed in different year 4 classes throughout the week to get to know the kids and the teachers. My duties mostly consisted of helping specific children and just roaming around the classroom to answer questions and assist where needed. I discovered that most of the children were highly interested in where I was from and why I was there, so I found myself answering lots of questions when the kids should be working. Luckily I realised this in time and I was able to steer the conversations back towards their work before it interfered too much. (hehe)
At the end of the week, I drove down to Bognor Regis to spend the first half of the half-term break with my girlfriend, who lives down there.
The second half of the half-term break was for exploring more of London. On Thursday Mirjam and I did some food-shopping in Kingston. On Friday we ventured into Central London to visit some picturesque places. While in Central London we visited Kensington to meet up with a friend from America, after that we went to see the Big Ben and the London Eye, only to walk all the way towards the Tower Bridge after. From the Tower Bridge, we hopped on a tube towards Shoreditch to look at all the street art that can be found all around town. We stopped for an elaborate photo moment at The Redemption bar where on one of the outside walls a great pair of wings was painted. When we were finally satisfied with the photos we took, we headed inside the cafe to have a cup of tea before making our way back towards Thames Ditton.
Once back home we were both so tired from walking that we went our separate ways and went to bed almost instantly. The next day we met up again to go to a farmers market that was set up in the village. The market was small but fairly crowded. All the stalls that were there were set up with an assortment of home-made bits and bobs. There was a vegetable stall with a wide array of locally grown veggies, two stands with home-made tote bags, multiple food stalls with the best selection of cakes, pastries and other treats. Because Mirjam's host family had friends staying with them, she slept over at mine. The following day we decided to go to Kempton Park Palace where King Henry VIII spent a good portion of his life. This was a highly interesting place to visit as a lot of different paintings and rooms from that time were almost perfectly preserved.
By now I am certain you can tell that I'm enjoying my stay here and that I'm making the most of my time here.
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