I arrived here in the bustling, crowded city of London on Sunday morning, August 24th. Gatwick Airport, one of the smaller airports, proved to be easier to get around than I had envisioned. Evan, Jodie and I picked up our luggage and proceeded to wait more than 90 minutes for someone to pick us up. We finally decided that person wasn't showing up and that we would have to find our own way out of the airport. A train station was connected to the airport and once we figured out how to get tickets we, not so easily, hopped on a train. The difficult part was that we each had about 100 pounds of baggage - a couple of suitcases, kit bag, and laptop case each. We arrived in Clapham Junction about 30 minutes later and met up with people from Impact Teachers. Clapham Junction, is in fact home to Impact Teachers, the train station being only blocks away from the office.

This was Evan's stop since he was going to be staying with Maribeth, however, this was not the end of the line for Jodie and I. I could go on about how long we sat in a coffee shop, then later in the Impact office trying to confirm our lodgings but I won't bore you with the minute details. Perhaps when you are traveling you too will be threatened with a stay at a hostel. If you are like me you will do whatever it takes to stay elsewhere. Now, to be fair to hostels, I, myself, have never actually stepped foot into one. Though I hear there are some decent ones, it is on principle that my life continues to remain hostel-free. Hostel. The word itself is terrible. It's too close to hostile, or hostage. Couldn't they have thought of a more pleasing name? Anyhow, I digress. In the end we verified that someone would be at the school in Benfleet and they would let us into the school house on the same property. Done and done. 2 hours later, after we had so desperately maneuvered our many bags on and off of buses, trains and tubes, of which doors only remained opened for one or two minutes, we arrived in the town of Benfleet, in the county of Essex.

A very nice man at the school who takes care of the school property on Sundays let us into the house then proceeded to take us for a quick drive around Benfleet, allowing us to buy a few items of food. We stayed in this house for a few days, sleeping in the same bedroom in separate twin beds. We were happy to have a place to lay our heads, even if the shower didn't work. Thursday, the day we were to be out, loomed on the horizon. Living out of suitcases in a home that was not our own was not to last long. We began our flat search early Monday morning. We had very little luck in the flat search. Furnished flats proved to be few and far between, while non-furnished flats were expensive and well, empty. Did we want to spend a lot of money monthly and on top of that buy everything from beds to can openers? We decided that home was a place we could do our work, lay our heads, shower and eat. During the week we would be spending countless hours at school; weekends we would be off exploring England; and holidays we would spend in other countries. Would that be economical, or even possible, if we lived in our own flat? We decided to call a number we were given by the administrator of the school. It was to a woman named Jan who lived about a 15 minute bus ride away in a town called Leigh-on-Sea. Jan worked at The Appleton School for over 20 years and retired just this summer. She had a couple of spare rooms in her home that was was looking to rent out. It was worth a try.

As it turns out, Jan is a middle-aged widow living in a lovely 4 bedroom house with a 20 year old daughter, who in a month will be off to university. As for Jan, she likes to spend her time in Kent with her partner. For only a few hundred pound each a month, Jodie and I can live here in all the comforts of home. We moved in directly. Leigh-on-Sea is a beautiful town with both the advantages of being close to stores and restaurants as well as the benefits of rural life. We have beautiful views of the river Thames and are only a few minutes walk from a little fishing village called Old Leigh. It is lined with cobblestone roads with pubs and restaurants lining either side.

We are loving our little town on the Thames. It is quaint, yet has all the comforts of home. Unlike London, we don't have to wade in crowds of people; nor do we live in a concrete jungle. If we do, however, decide that we love being around a lot of people and we want to walk building to building we can jump on the train, only a 15 minute walk away and in under an hour, we're in London.