HAPPY MAY!
So last week the weather was really nice here. It was awesome during games because everyone was outside playing tennis, athletics (track), rounders and cricket. Now I am sure many of you have seen cricket played on the TV, well actually probably not since I didn’t see it till I came here, but it is a really weird game that is in a way like our baseball. I honestly don’t even understand it myself so I can’t not explain it, so if you are interested, look it up. Rounders, which is was I am teaching to the year 7s this term is a little bit like our softball, with a couple major differences. One. They can run even if they don’t hit the ball. (but you can only score a rounder if you get all the way around the bases before the next person it up.)
Two. You can score both half rounders and rounders. So if you get to second after you hit it, you get half a rounder, if you get all the way around it a full rounder.
Three. Once the next person is up your chance to score is over. So you don’t have to worry about getting a person out at home (which is not at the place where you hit the ball, its to the right) you can completely forget about them and worry about the new person up.
Four. You only get one good bowl or pitch. If it is a no-bowl or bad pitch you get another. Two bad pitches and you get half a rounder, but are still up.
Five and most absurd. They don’t wear gloves to catch the ball. They catch it with their bare hands!! I mean honestly we are wimps. The more I think about it, the more I realize that most of our games are a slightly varied games of their only we wear so much more equipment. Rugby, similar to football, tackling, etc, yet they wear absolutely no padding.
Cricket, similar to baseball, the ball is hit ridiculously hard, no gloves.
Rounders, similar to softball, and yet again no gloves.
I mean maybe we are just wimps??
Anyway last week was good fun because besides being on U12 rounders I am on rotation for games, so basically me and two other teachers take the rejects that don’t get picked for anything else and we play other things with them. American baseball, rounders, etc. When it is nice, it is fun. This week has been not as good though. It rain Monday, rained Tuesday, was alright yesterday, and is supposed to rain all day today. So I am starting to get the feel for a typical English summer.
On Sunday I played hockey as usual and then it was a really nice day so Luke and I went out to lunch., at this really nice hotel, their were all these fun couples planning weddings. We sat outside in the garden after lunch and then decided it was time I learned how to drive a stick shift or manual. I realized it was going to be hard, but dear god hard does not even explain it. First of all the whole driving with two feet baffled me. I have always been taught, one foot, especially after Alyse and my incident. Also I was scared to push the clutch down so hard; I don’t know why I thought I was going to break something. The hardest part for me though was starting. The whole take your foot off the clutch gently, as you put your foot on the gas. Weeelll I would slowly take my foot off the clutch and put gas on, panic a bit rip my foot off both the accelerator and the clutch and we would stall.
I have to say Luke was really patient, way more patient then I think I would have been. At one point we were at a red light that crosses us over a bridge. It is a three way light so if you miss the green it takes quite a while for it to come back. Well it would turn green, I would start to go, stall, and by the time I got it going again it would be red. This happened twice. The third time there was a car behind me so I had a lot more pressure to get myself going and I did.
Another thing that kind of bothers me is I don’t understand when you are travelling a short distance why the heck you would want to get all the way up to forth gear when you just have to go all the way back down again, what’s the point? I asked Luke this and he said umm because you are going to ruin my car. Okay fair enough.
So we finally got back to school and I had to park the car. Well as I was pulling into a space I panicked a bit and we stalled. So here we are sitting outside school in the middle of the parking lot trying to park the car. Did I mention it was a nice day and lots of people were out and about? Right, well I thought I should bring that up again. So about 15 tries go by, no lie. I can’t help laugh every time we stall and beg to give up. I am told no and to keep trying.
‘Your no quitter.’
‘No, but I really want to be.’
Three more tries.
‘I don’t understand why you are taking your foot off the clutch and not pressing the gas.’
‘I am pressing the gas I swear, look.’ (point to my foot, that is barely even touching it)
‘Marcy, see that thing right there (he said the name of it, but I obviously don’t remember it), that tells me how much gas you are giving it, and its not moving.’
Well about three tries later, much more sweating (I had to remove my coat) I finally pulled into the space, not very well, but it was done!
That was Sunday. So yesterday I had my second driving lesson. I was doing okay to start. It only took me one try to get going. It was not until I got a car behind me that I started to panic a bit. Luke had me pull into a little driveway to let it pass, but when I pulled back out into the road I stalled. So here we are in the middle of the road right after a curve, (not a really good spot) and I can’t get it started again. After much freaking out and yelling (by me) I finally did it. Another really not so good part about my driving is that I always forget what side to be one. Every time I pull onto a new street I ask what side. ‘The left, always the left I am told.’ Well I just can’t seem to accept that. I was slowing down to the same light I had stalled on three times on Sunday, when I said, ‘look I am doing good.’
‘Yes very good, but remember sheep, cows, your in England, so you might want to get on the other side of the road.’
‘Right, I knew that.’
Well the light turned green and I went to go, damn, stalled. The only good thing was, I was able to start it up again and go before it was red again. Getting better! So I completed my second lesson and I am already a much better driver. Two more lessons and you can call me Lewis Hamilton! If you don’t know who he is, then you can call me Ricky Bobby, and if you don't know who he is, well then you need to get out more.
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