Pen Pals

Today the students here read your letters and wrote back to you. They were so excited to have pen pals. You will learn all about them and they also asked you alot of questions. I can't wait for you to see them!

Weekend Outing

On Saturday we went to the Aquarium. It is apparently the largest aquarium in the UK but there are definitely better ones in the US.

Afterward we went to the sea front and saw Smeaton's Tower (the lighthouse). That was really neat. There was also a Victorian Pool. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures right now because my camera died but I will get some from my friends and show you all later.

We also saw the Mayflower steps. This is where the Mayflower set sail to America.

Magistrate's Court

So on Friday we went to a Magistrate's court. It was really neat. The Magistrate's court is the lower court. They can only sentence up to 6 months in prison. If the offense is more serious than the trial is sent to the Crown's court. In the Crown's court, the judges wear long wigs and the lawyers (which they call solicitors) wear short wigs. I didn't get to see that however.
We watched three different cases. The first one was three people who had been arrested for squatting and burglary. They were given curfew and given a parole officer for 6 months. The defendants do not sit with their lawyer. They have to sit in the dock, which is a seperate section that is surrounded by glass. They let us sit in there in between trials and it felt like being in a cage. The court system definitely uses intimidation tactics. When the magistrate's walk into the courtroom they stare down the defendant. They seem really serious and intimidating in the courtroom but we got to meet them after and they were really nice guys. They let us ask them a bunch of questions. They are volunteers who get appointed and have all different kinds of backgrounds. They have to go through training each year though.
There is a barrister who is legally trained and serves as somewhat of a mediator between the magistrates and lawyers. They said that if they ever have any questions they can ask him. There is one chair magistrate who talks in the courtroom. The other two magistrates cannot talk in the courtroom but are have the same powers in the conference room.

Truro Express

So yesterday we got on a train and went to a city called Truro in Cornwall. The train ride was really cool. It was beautiful. The countryside was amazing and the houses are all stacked ontop of eachother in the cities.Here is a map that shows where it is: http://www.multimap.com/world/GB/England/Cornwall. I am staying in Plymouth. We wanted to go see a castle but buses dont run very often on Sunday so we missed the bus.The city was pretty neat except alot of things over here are closed on Sunday. We went out to eat at this cafe and got burgers but they do not taste like American burgers. I am having withdrawals for American food.

We went to a cathedral in the city that was very large and beautiful. It was built in the 1400's, which is pretty neat. It amazes me that they were able to construct such large and intricate buildings with the technology that they had.I really enjoy watching Mrs. Pryor, my teacher here, teach and am taking notes for all the strategies I want to use in my classroom.

I thought of some other words that are different here:

pants = trousers

underwear = pants

trash = rubbish

trash can = bin

clean = tidy

principal = head teacher

substitute teacher = supply teacher

Miss you all,

Ms. Marhefka

Plymouth Argyle

Hi all,

Today we went to the Plymouth Argyle, which is the soccer (football) team. It was lots of fun. Unfortunately the Plymouth team did not win. There were alot of people. Football is a really big sport here. I still havent gotten used to the weather. It is so cold and people here think it is warm.The food here is alot different. Also, we have to walk up and down hills all the time.The shower in the house is really weird. Its not connected to the faucet. You have to pull a string to start it. Also, the faucets here have two different spouts and they are not connected so you either get really hot or really cold.

Miss you guys,

Ms. Marhefka

Having fun in the UK

Hi everybody,

I am having lots of fun here in Plymouth. It took us 24 hours and 4 planes to get here. It was a very long and exhausting trip. Then the airline lost our luggage. We got it back the day after we arrived thankfully.This is the view from my bedroom window. Beautiful!

I started at my school, Widey Court Primary School on Tuesday and I love it. You can look at their website:(http://www.wideycourt.plymouth.sch.uk/) on Tuesday and I love it. My teacher is very nice and I am learning alot from her. I am doing alot of observing rather than teaching here.

There are alot of things that are different here than in Florida. I didnt think that it would be so different. One big thing is of course the driving. They drive on the left side of the road and also do not have any stop signs (they have roundabouts instead). Also, the light goes from red to yellow to green instead of straight to green.We've been taking the bus to and from school everyday which is a new experience for me. Its hard to figure out which bus to take if we want to go somewhere new. People are so nice here. We went to the grocery store and pizza hut last night and we wanted to call a cab so we asked the waitress if there was a phone anywhere that we could use for the taxi and she let us borrow her cell phone. Also, they gave us free soda at pizza hut as well. And today, we were going to the city centre to do some shopping and have dinner and we asked the teachers which bus we should take and one of them offered to drive us. There are alot of words here that are different as well:

restroom = toilet/loo

sneakers = trainers

to go = takeaway

cookies = biscuits

sweater = jumper

french fries = chips

potato chips = crisps

What are you all doing back home in Jacksonville? I miss you. Please write back.