Mid Term Break & Patriots at Wembley

Probably the best piece of the UK educational system that the US could adopt ... one week off between each new term...of course the flip side of that would mean that students and teachers would attend school until mid July, and the summer holiday would be shortened to six or seven weeks, rather than the ten weeks that is currently enjoyed. While I think I prefer an early release in the month of June, the one week off at this point in my exchange has been a welcome break, if not purely for the sake of getting back to London to do more sightseeing. Sadly, the opportunities provided for the US Fulbright contingency to the UK is not what our counterparts enjoy back in the United States, so we must make the most of our own opportunities. While I had hoped to bring Micaela to Paris on this break, the petrol expenses to travel to and from Peterchurch have mounted up, and my budget has been somewhat curtailed, so three nights in London at a budget hotel, coinciding with the Patriots football game, was all I could manage.

The first term at Fairfield ended on a good note. Year 7 successfully completed their autobiographies - all have been supplied with comments regarding use of paragraphs and creativity, and many students earned house points for their excellent work effort. Year 8 successfully completed reading and presenting oral presentations for the novel Holes (a book I am all too thankful is past me) - all students have been marked and supplied with comments for the appropriate RAF skills. Year 9 students wrote and passed in comparative essays on Roger McGough poetry - again all of which have been successfully marked and supplied with comments prior to leaving school on Friday. Seemingly starved for some opportunity to assess student work - I threw myself into the assessment and comments for these assignments immediately each day. Year 10 finally achieved completion of their coursework essays on Great Expectations, although for one reason or another ten were not yet passed in as of Friday afternoon. I have put these essays aside for the week and will tackle them wholeheartedly with the AQA mark scheme upon return to school next week. Year 11, the house group I currently instruct, had nothing to be assessed, but did complete their initial work with Heney, Clark and pre-1914 poetry. Upon return to school on Monday we will begin working with writing "to argue, persuade and advise."

The highlight of our weekend in London was the much anticipated Patriots vs Tampa Bay NFL football game. It was a beautiful sight to see Patriots jerseys, and all NFL jersey's, displayed on people as they walked the streets of London throughout the weekend. One would assume that a large contingency of Americans had flown into Heathrow airport anytime on Saturday and Sunday to make their way to the stadium, and while that was indeed the case, there were a significant amount of Brits wearing their jerseys in the crowd at the stadium also. There is a pretty big following of American football in England and so of the 85,000 fans in attendance, a majority of them seemingly Tampa Bay fans, the Brits were well represented.

The pre-game ceremonies were heavy hype for the Tampa Bay Bucanneers, as a I later learned, the owner of the Bucs and the owner of Manchester United (a UK soccer/football team) are one and the same- also the Bucs were considered the home team. As Brady and contingency proved, however, hype means nothing if your team cannot perform on the field of play.

My football starved brain was very excited to be at this game... the seats were fairly decent, offering a very good view of warm ups and the game. The stadium is extremely clean, modern and well kept. Americans will be happy to learn that food and beverages are also a rip off at Wembley, as the price of a cold beer was 4 pounds (the equivalent of a little over $6.00). These prices were fairly equal both in and out of the stadium.

Upon arrival at the stadium we were greeted by ware mongers selling all kinds of NFL paraphernalia... and of course Miceala got her t-shirt, while I settled for the souvenir scarf. The weather was fantastic - sun shine with a bit of clouds, a bit of a breeze but balmy for the most part. No heavy winter jackets, scarves, hats or gloves for this game... it was almost early September weather; even after the sun went down it was still not really cold. We got a snack of fish 'n chips and a soda and a cider and took up residence on a bridge-like structure from where we had a view of the NFL Tailgate party - a ticketed event. We were lucky enough to eventually get some tickets from the NFL guy outside the gate and we attended part of the festivities with live band and entertainment before entering the stadium.

The Patriots certainly came to play football on this Sunday afternoon, across the pond, and the score of 34-7 certainly was an old fashioned trouncing, reminiscent of a revolution! Job well done and well worth the time and effort of a short letter way back in the spring!