Kids are Funny

One of the most wonderful aspects of my job is the time I get to have with my kids one-on-one (the Brits say "one-to-one") and in small groups. It makes the process of getting to know them so much faster. I gave my Saturday students a "Getting to Know You" form last week, and interestingly enough, the following question elicited the most laughs from me. Here it is, followed by some of their answers.


If I found £10, I would spend it on…


- buying some chocolate


- noodles


- in the church


- top up


- keep for future


- buying beautiful things


- Who cares, it’s only 10 quid!


- Give it to teacher, cause that not mine.


Another funny story: 


A student told me that when he was younger he did judo, but he didn't like it very much because it was only about defensive moves. However, his mother didn't want him doing anything too dangerous. Now he's into a hobby called "parcour," also known as free running. That could be the European name for it, but I had no idea what he was talking about. He showed me what he meant with a YouTube clip.





I'm pretty sure that it's more dangerous than American football, rugby, and ultimate fighting put together. His skill in this was confirmed by the headmaster, who had several of the international students over for Sunday lunch. The head asked the student to get some apples out of their tree, and the kid was up there "faster than a rat up a drain pipe." 


Dang, I love funny kids.

Also, check out this video of my school that just came out today. I'm so proud!

Culture Shock

http://www2.pacific.edu/sis/culture/


The website above will take you to a really useful module - kind of like an online class - for people who are transitioning to different cultures. I condensed it and helped train my Saturday students about it, but I think it's worth a read-through if you are living somewhere outside of your home country or are thinking about it. Best case scenario would be that you read it before you go and a few times while you're there and again before you go home.


I'll admit, the format is quite old school. The pictures are dated too. In fact, it looks like something one of my fellow Intercultural Communications classmates could have made in 2002. Just sayin'...It's got some great content though. Check it out!

Credit

And just in case you're tuned into the fact that I work until 10:30 on Wednesday nights and noticed that this was (hopefully) posted at 7:00 p.m., I figured out how to schedule posts! I can write a handful of different posts and publish them one at a time anytime later on in the week from the comfort of my own home. Now, why did that take me three years to learn?

El Coche Nuevo

Here she is... our Ford Fiesta! Ay ay ay! She's a no-frills chica. Anything not completely necessary to make a car move is not included, including an RPM gauge or a re-circulated air feature or an adjustable rear view mirror or a lever to pop the trunk from inside the car.


With a model name like Fiesta, I knew she needed a Spanish name. I mentioned this to my sister on Skype the night we got her, and she broke out in song.





And that's how she was bestowed the name Encarnacion.


We are so grateful to God for the way this worked out. I was nearly in tears walking to work last Thursday, knowing we had to move on Friday and that I needed to take quite a bit over to school for the first Saturday program. On my walk home, Nathan pulled up next to me in the new car, and I was overjoyed! We went to McDonald's to celebrate with some 99p ice cream.

I Know He's Got a New Driver

As I was going through the pictures on our camera to pick some for our second house tour (as opposed to our first house tour), I found these that Nathan took. He shattered his driver at the driving range, and he couldn't have been more chuffed.

Chuffed means pleased.

My super-strong, handsome, intelligent, husband just didn't know his own strength. It's one of his biggest weaknesses, ironically.

Two more pictures for the golfing enthusiasts who read this blog... who... actually, there are probably no golf enthusiasts who read this blog.

Which reminded me of this amazing Brian Regan clip...

House Tour Numero Dos

This was last Friday in the North Barn. Working as a team, all of our stuff was out of there and the house was completely clean in about four hours. Pretty sweet if you ask me. 

For some reason, Nathan insisted that he look like a total creeper in this picture.

Here we are at Herons Court. This is our little back garden. Pamela and Cullen planted some hydrangeas (oh, Atlanta!) and a slate border around the beds. They found the slate around the corner from a roof that was being torn off. So awesome. There was already a huge rosemary bush and some sage too. Yummy!

In we come through the back door. Here is a table and chairs. That's it for the dining room. Except for my Ivanhoe's cup, which everyone at school thinks is a complete freak of nature because of its large size.

Here's the kitchen. You probably figured that out.

Pamela's futuristic coffee machines are on the counter, and we now have amassed quite the collection of wooden spoons. There's no such thing as too many wooden spoons.

Our former landlords dropped off a housewarming card and the beautiful flowers in the window. Isn't that amazing?

Here's the pantry/laundry room. Pamela made our spice rack (on the top shelf of the wire rack) out of boxes and duct tape. She rocks. Notice the huge Costco sized spices from Uncle Bob and Aunt Deanie at the top of the picture. If anyone in England needs some Pappy's BBQ rub, I'm your girl.

Moving on to the living room, Pamela painted that picture. So beautiful!

Straight ahead we have the Bergstrom's couch and Catherine's aloe plant. To your left we have our new neighbors' leather couch they were giving away and the Blackwell's mirror.

From another angle..

Right-O. Now we're up the stairs to the second floor (first floor if you're British) landing. The McKenneys found this awesome piece of furniture at a charity shop, and it's adorned with another of her paintings and some other mementos.

Here is Cullen and Pamela's room. She made that bed skirt out of burlap she discovered at a fabric shop down some alley in town. Good grief, she's talented.

These pictures are of their lounge/study/guest room. They scored some great finds in their first few weeks here, and they brought a lot of home with them to make this truly an amazing space!

I love this little bay window nook.

They also salvaged some big bricks from a dumpster, covered them with ordinance maps, and made them book ends and door stops. So clever!

And now... OUR FLOOR!!! Are you so excited?!?!?!?! Well, to be honest, I haven't really been home much this week. Nathan's been at a church conference in the Lakes, and I've basically been a boarder at work. I hope to get some more things organized this weekend. I promise to give you another tour when it's presentable. 

So, the bed's made, but we need to get a lampshade for that horrible swinging compact fluorescent light bulb. Those big pink fuzzy things are my yeti socks, which I needed to sleep in every night - along with my hooded sweatshirt and puffy vest - because I was without my built in bed-heater (Nathan) this week.

Stuff everywhere makes my eyes twitch.

The guest room. At least I can close the door on this one.

*choking sound*...Something... must... be... done...

More stuff without a home yet, most of it swimming in Tesco bags

Nathan's office. I have a feeling the door is going to stay permanently closed on this room.

Yeah, but at least the books are in bookshelves... that he's outgrown already. Aaack!

Here's to keepin' it real.

I'm Back

I'm back only to say that I'll be back later. There is so much to catch you up on! You have several posts to look forward to:

1) We got a new (to us) car last Thursday!
2) We moved on Friday!
3) I started the Saturday School program on Saturday!
4) We had new friends over for lunch after church and tried to get settled in the house on Sunday!
5) We had dinner with some other friends on Monday!
6) Today is Tuesday!
7) So many exclamation marks!!!

Happily, work has kept me quite busy. There are no signs of slowing just yet, but I hope to write several posts soon, accompanied, of course, with pictures.

To tide you over, here is a picture of what the British call, "moving house." For example...

'I'm shattered. We moved house over the weekend.'

'Oh! What a complete nightmare. Don't worry, pet. You'll put your own personal stamp on the place before too long. Shall we queue up for tea?'

100 Years of Style

Enjoy this little video about 100 years of style in London. I was saving it for today because of the date at the end. :)

I think I won't be posting on Wednesdays any more because of my duties at school lasting until 10:30. See you again on Thursday! We'll be getting ready to clear out of the North Barn. Friday is our last day here. 

I DID IT!!!

Thanks everyone who checked to make sure I was still alive after the race yesterday. God was so good to me for my first race! We had gorgeous fall weather, and I made it through the 6.5 miles (I know that a 10K is 6.2 miles, but this was 6.5 for some reason) without stopping. In fact, I felt like I could keep going!

Pamela, me, Ashley

On Saturday night before race day, Nathan and I went to Adam and Ashley's at had a fabulous dinner. Ashley made a delicious baked ziti, salad, and bread, and a fabulous dessert of home made granola, hand picked local blackberries, creme fraiche, and chocolate shavings. I chugged a lot of water too, so much that I went to the bathroom twice at her house, twice again before bed, and twice in the middle of the night. I wanted to make sure I was properly hydrated.


While at their house, Nathan decided that he would run the race too. Yes, the night before. Cullen was running along with Pamela, Ashley, and me, and Nathan said he didn't want to be the fat guy at the finish line with the camera around his neck eating bon bons.


We arrived at the cricket club and signed up. There weren't too many people there - maybe 80-100 runners at most - which seemed a really nice size to me. Most of them were in their official running club jerseys and taking warm up laps around the cricket pitch. We Americans decided that the first mile of the race would be our warm up, and the last mile would be our cool down. No excessive exercise here.

Cullen and the girls

At the starting line, the guy with the whistle directed us to have a minute of silence in remembrance of the 9/11 attacks. I really appreciated that.


The whistle blew and we were off through the tall grass in a field. It wasn't three minutes later that Ashley, Nathan, and I were left in the dust by the running clubbers, along with the super fit former University of Georgia athletes Cullen (wrestling) and Pamela (soccer). We quickly figured out that this was not a "fun run" with dogs and baby strollers. This was a serious run. We didn't see anyone ahead of us for the rest of the race. There was one woman we passed about five minutes into things, who I admired immensely for even attempting the race. 


The course was really well marked and well manned. There was even a guy who had the job of keeping cows away from runners. One woman had cups of water for people out of the back of her van halfway through the race. We ran on trails through all kinds of scenery: classic English countryside with sheep, fields of grass, dense forest, a golf course, around ponds with fountains and shimmering lakes, through a neatly manicured park... It was really gorgeous. Some parts were muddy, and on the highest points of the course it was quite windy, but I really enjoyed the whole thing. The scenery was a great distraction.


Praise be to God, there wasn't any point where I thought, "I can't do this." I was kind of saving that thought for the worst part of the course. And, since I'd never been on the course, I didn't know where the worst part was exactly, so I didn't have to think it. Having Nathan behind me and Ashley ahead of me was a huge blessing. Ashley said, "If you get tired, start writing your blog post about the race in your head." Nathan carried my juice and would pat me on the back every once in a while and tell me he was so proud of me. It was awesome. 

Are you really surprised?

Nathan asked if we could hold hands across the finish line, so we did - tied for second-to-last. Which is better than last. Which is better than "did not finish." Which is better than "did not start." Frankly, I'm more proud of myself for starting the journey to fitness and sticking with it than for finishing this one race. 


When the path was wide enough at some points, the three of us would run side by side by side and talk. Ashley and I decided to plan a 5K Turkey Trot Thanksgiving weekend. We'll make our own course and invite friends to run off our big meals. And maybe we'll have a Jingle Bell Jog around Christmas. I'm kind of excited about that one too. Now that I've run a 10K+, I have to keep up my fitness. I am tired of starting over, so I guess that means I have to stop quitting. 

Sedgefield Serpentine Race Runners, extraordinaire!

Anyway, with everyone running, we didn't get any pictures crossing the finish line, but we took the ones above before and this one of Ashley and me after. You'll know it's after because my face is really red.

We did it!

If I can do it with God's help, anyone can.

One Last Visit

On Sunday we said some goodbyes. Our friend and my running/prayer buddy, Kristine, moved to London yesterday, and I miss her already! Before she left, we had lunch after church and then visited Crook Hall. Here are the last pictures we'll have there as official neighbors. Don't worry though. I'm sure we'll be back for more visits. Nathan might even dress up as an elf again.

Happy weekend, friends! Do you have anything exciting planned? I'm running the 10K this Sunday. Prayers are much needed. I'll be sure to update you on Monday with pictures of my tomato-red, sweaty face at the finish line.

The First Week O' School

Have I really been MIA for three days? Thanks for stopping by again despite my lack of posting this week. As expected, I have been just zonked from the first week of school. 

Monday, as you'll recall, I didn't get home until very late because there was a dinner at school for the staff and their significant others after a full day of inservice. Tuesday we went to dinner at some friends' house (I had amazing guacamole, thanks to our American friend, Emily). Wednesday I had house duties at the girls' boarding house until 10:30. 

Tonight I left school at 5 p.m. and felt like I was playing hooky. The school day officially ends at 5 p.m., which is much later than I'm used to. However, the kids have an hour for lunch and two more 20 minute breaks during the day. Still, it makes for a long day.

On Tuesday I discovered a few changes in my schedule. I'll be working every Wednesday from 5-10:30 p.m. being the tutor on duty in the girls' boarding house. And, I'll be organizing and implementing Saturday school for the internationals, where they'll get intensive English help and go on some cultural field trips. This means that I'll be taking Fridays and Sundays off. We won't start until next Saturday at the latest, so I'll still be working tomorrow.

I'm a little bummed that I won't get two days in a row off this school year, but I think I'll be more motivated to do housekeeping things on Fridays and take a Sabbath and truly rest on Sundays.

And, for my mom, here is a picture of me on the first day of school, looking a little lopsided I'm afraid. We  had a late start and I didn't have to be there until 9:15, in case you were looking at the clock. :)

And, this week we said goodbye to Harriet. We sold her for scrap the other day and are truly carless. We tried to buy two different cars in the last week or so, but both deals fell through. The first one we agreed over the phone to purchase (after we looked at it) and the sellers said they'd deliver the car the next day. We never heard from them again, and all attempts to make contact have been fruitless. The second one we were keen to buy, but the seller sold it to someone else before we could get it. Grrr...

Does anyone have a car to sell us?

First Day of School

Source

It's nearly 9 p.m., and I just got home from my first day of school. All I wanted was a cup of tea, which Nathan obligingly made for me.


Like the lady pictured above, my eyes are bugging out from sensory overload. Although we've been in England for over a year now, I feel like I just landed in another country all over again. School here is so, so different. All of the terms, acronyms, jargon... it's like a foreign language. And the way meetings are run, hand outs are written, colleagues interact, everything. It's all different! I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I found myself incredibly confused more often than not. This school experience is going to be a major adjustment. 


On the whole though, I am encouraged today. I met some fantastic people who I'll be working with. I found out that I can eat all of my meals there for free - breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I wanted. I have another day of inservice (aka "inset") tomorrow, when I'll learn all about being an advisor (aka "tutor") in a girls' house (a la Hogwarts). New kids come tomorrow as well, and then everyone will be back on Wednesday for classes (aka "lessons"). I feel supremely grateful for this job, and I know that it will be a great year.


Thanks for checking in...

I Think I Did Something Cool

I added a new blog feature. Woop woop!


It's called "Link Within," and all it does is suggest more posts it thinks you might like based on the labels of the post you just read. I feel fancy today.


In case you were wondering about my new job, I think I will have more to tell you after the inservice on Monday. I wasn't able to do much yesterday because the room I'm supposed to be in is full of someone else's stuff, and the people I need to talk to were not available to help. I spent three hours there trying to get something done, but after pushing every metaphorical door I could to no avail, I gave up and went home.


Sigh...


Stuff like that really makes me miss a few things:

My mom's milkshakes

Chick-Fil-A

Whitefield

America

After my frustrating morning, I wanted all of the above. Bad. But here's to a day off one day after I start a new job! I suppose I'll be taking my Labor Day on a Friday. 


Happy (U.S.) holiday weekend everyone. I will hopefully have more interesting news about school related things when everyone comes back to kick off the new year on Monday.