When life hands you lemons....

Heathrow really needs to get their act together, but while they do, we are making the most of our time in London! I have in fact spent so much time here that I can successfully get from our flat to the tube station (using a map...), I know the colours of tube routes, and I know the location of at least six Starbucks.

On Monday we went to the Cabinet War Rooms and Winston Churchill Museum. Hidden in the basement of the treasury, the war council met there during bomb raids to discuss the war. Churchill used it as a private place to call President Roosevelt and, if needed, Churchill and his wife had a protected place to live. After the Cabinet War Rooms, we walked across the street to Westminster Abbey for an Advent Evensong. It was a beautiful service as well as the first children's choir I've heard over here!

On Tuesday we went on a river cruise down the Thames! Although I still can't quite figure out how to pronounce it - Tims, times, or tames? - I did finally see the London Bridge! Which 1. is not falling down and 2. is not very pretty. We got on the boat at the London Eye and took it down to Greenwich, which was absolutely amazing! Greenwich is a World Heritage sight and although most of it has been torn down, there was a Tudor Palace (the stalking of Henry VIII and Anne Boelyn continues...). Monticello is also a World Heritage Sight, so we found a picture of Charlottesville in the museum! Very Exciting! England's Old Royal Naval College is also there which was built by Christopher Wren and is famous for it's Painted Ceiling and Chapel. We went inside the Queen's House, the last remaining building of the palace, which will be hosting equestrian olympic events in 2012. On the chance that my flight still hasn't left yet or there is still "too much snow on the ground"I would be happy to attend. We also got to see the Prime Meridian Line! I had no idea that there would be anything good in Greenwich (other than lunch) and was pleasantly surprised!


After the cruise I met up with Charlottesville friends. We went to Guy Ritchie's pub, Punchbowl, and The Golden Hind for Fish n Chips. It was really fun and so nice to see familiar faces!


Today we went to Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery and then to see the longest running play - 'The Mousetrap' by Agatha Christie. A "classic whodunnit" the cast made us promise not to tell...The rest of the week we are trying to make Christmas Eve reservations, find a Christmas Eve service, get Christmas presents (as though we have any room to bring them back) and get in the Christmas spirit for our (hopefully) Christmas flight!

I'll be home for Christmas....if only in my dreams.

Mom, Dad and I spent the past week exploring England! My last weekend at Cambridge was very similar to my first. Visited Homerton, walked around the city, went to the market, tried to find Great St. Mary's (this time, we actually found it), went in the same Cambridge stores, and went back to Pink Floyd's Grantchester Meadows! This time, no goose attacks, now cow attacks probably because instead of walking, we drove (so nice to be in a car). We ate lunch at the Red Lion again. Mom and Dad had their first experience with poppers - we had quite the scare, couldn't find Mom's toy magnifying glass for a while...After we finally found Great St. Mary's, we climbed the bell tower. Too many flights of stairs to count (probably about 7, let's be real) and a lot of maneuvering later we got to the top and had a beautiful view of the city. Afterward, we tried to go into King's College, but unfortunately BBC was filming the men's and boy's Christmas special. And by tried, what I mean is went inside until we were asked to leave. Then we went to a Christmas Candlelight Service at the Baptist Church in Cambridge to really get into the Christmas Spirit!

On Monday, after saying good bye to Pete and the Avimore, we drove down to Goudhurst, near Kent. It was amazing! Goudhurst is exactly like every Christmas Village I've ever imagined. On top of the hill is the old church - built in the 11th century- then there is the vicar's house, the butcher shoppe, the sweet shoppe, the general store, the news store, and a couple restaurants. We stayed in a Coach house (still don't really know what that means) on Lidwells Lane with a beautiful view! I had my first attempt at making mushy peas, but with no recipe and no idea what to do, made peas that were, in fact, mushy, but definitely did not make mushy peas. We went to the Butcher Shoppe for fresh fruit, vegetables and milk every day. It was great, the man behind the counter actually added up all the goods by hand!

Dad got a lot of practice driving the rest of the week. On Tuesday we went to Canterbury Cathedral; on Wednesday we went to the Castle at Leeds, where Anne Boelyn and Henry the VIII lived; on Thursday we went to Hever, which was so cool! It is the house that Anne Boelyn grew up in, so we stood in her bedroom as well as Henry VIII's! All of the castles were decorated for Christmas - Leeds had a fairy tale theme with the alligator and clock, fairies, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and Hever had a mini Narnia inside. Then, we went to Winston Churchill's home, Chartwell. The house was closed, but the outside and grounds were beautiful. Then it started snowing before we left Goudhurst.....

On Friday, we drove to London, where we thought we'd be spending the next three days. Turns out, it's more like the next nine days! There are maybe 3 inches of snow on the ground and Heathrow has now been closed for 3 days. Thirteen-thousand people have been living in Gatwick airport waiting to make flights home. London is insanity right now! Luckily for us, the flat we've been staying in was available for the rest of the week, so we have a place to stay and a lot longer to explore the city. Must be positive!

Notting Hill is one of my favorite movies, and we are staying in the middle of Notting Hill! We've run to Hyde Park, been to the travel bookshop, been to Portabello Market, the next step is spotting a blue door and Hugh himself. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. On Friday we went to Oxford Street to see all of the shops and Christmas lights - some of the displays were a bit intense, but most of it was gorgeous!


On Saturday we went to the Beatles tour. The tour was led by the number one (I will most certainly let him have that title) Beatles Fan. Read for yourself: http://www.beatlesinlondon.com/Richard.htm. Unfortunately it started snowing and as Richard had to take a train out of London he cut the tour short. But, since we have so much time left on our hands, we can either go back on Tuesday for the rest of the tour, or explore more ourselves! Then we went to Portabello Market, where we met up with a friend from school, which was so fun! The market is almost two miles long and really fun to walk through! Not going to lie, was playing Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone in my head the whole time...

On Sunday we tried to go to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. The crowds were unbelievable! We caught a few glimpses of what was going on inside, but couldn't see very well. Was almost just as fun to watch people pushing each other through the crowd. Then we went to the Towre of London where we saw the crown jewels, lived any young boys dream (lots of guns, swords, soldiers) and then continued to stalk Anne Boelyn by going to the place she was kept prisoner and eventually beheaded. Went home early to attempt to pack (somehow my belongings seem to have quadrupled), but turns out we don't need to for six more days...

I know the title is completely dramatic, but that's sort of how it feels! Am thinking positive thoughts about no more snow and a flight home next week, but in the meantime- getting to know London as well as I can!

Day 1 of 37 days of Christmas Vacation....

This week was the last week of school. I'm now realizing that the only thing I regret about about this trip is having to say goodbye to 27 teary eyed children while they were asking me if they would ever see me again. Granted, they'd cry if they saw a pencil tip break, so we'll take the tears with a grain of salt. My tears, however, were embarrassing, but real. In order to explain why I was leaving England to go back to America (or at times, Australia and Africa, it's confusing), I showed them pictures of Charlottesville and my family explaining that I needed to go back because that's where they are. They were all really hung up by that boy standing next to me (my brother). I tried to leave them with a bit of America- gave them each a silly band, of which they all requested a different color and "more please," and a UVA pencil. I am amazed by how well these five year olds kept a secret - they each drew me a picture which they put into a huge book and no one told me! They had to keep the secret for five days - I don't think I could have done it....Friday was the last of the Christmas play. It seems like ours could have been a one class show. My children performed the dance moves of every other class, took on and off costumes (including regular articles of clothing) as they pleased, and sang while no one else was singing. During our song we have about 15 seconds of free dance, in rehearsals we had to really encourage them to actually dance, but when they saw that audience, they lost all inhibition. They did, however, remember that we told them no break-dancing. I am going to miss these children!

On Tuesday night, we went to the last formal dinner at Homerton College. At formal, they had finally opened and revealed a painting on the wall that has been curtained off the entire time we've been here! The dinner was candlelit, they had a beautiful Christmas tree, and there were poppers. The food was great, until we tried a traditional Christmas pudding, which was actually just really dry fruitcake with some white sauce drizzled on top...On Wednesday night we had a combined good bye and Christmas dinner with Helen and her husband, Ellie and Richard, and all of us. All of this is reminding me of Jim Carrey, "I hate goodbyes....shhh, just go."


Then, on Friday, Mom and Dad got here! We went to dinner at the Rock, then a quick walk around Cambridge and off to bed. On Saturday, I tried to show them as much of Cambridge as I could. It was actually a fairly warm, sunny day! We went to Homerton, where again, we saw the mysterious painting, to the Round Church, punting (Peyton and Caity - another Paul Bunyan sighting), to the Mitre for lunch, the Fitzwilliam after, then to the Prince Regent for some orange dark hot chocolate and the Oak Bistro for dinner. Exhausted after hours of walking, we came back to the B&B to talk to Katherine, Turner and Colin and then off to bed!

It's so exciting to be here at Christmas time! We'll be in Cambridge for the next two days, South England for three, London for three and then back to Charlottesville!

What language do you speak? Can't be English...

I still haven't really figured out where the children in my class think I'm from. I get Austria, Africa and Australia. We have an advent calender and each day the special person gets to find the day's date, read the name of the country and inside the flap is the greeting in that country. Today we read the Hebrew greeting, 'Shalom,' and then one of my students raised her hand and asked, where is your country's greeting? I told her that I speak English and her response was, "but you never use the right words."


This weekend we went to the Mill Rd Festival. We saw Father Christmas! And Tigger? There were stands filled with cakes, hot chocolate, mulled wine, and flowers, and the streets were filled with parades, stilts, and folk dances. Made the mistake of watching one folk dance for too long. Emily was chosen out of the crowd as the "Virgin Sacrifice." I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.



We have Christmas formal dinner tomorrow night at Homerton, Christmas play Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and then Mom and Dad are coming!

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful....

It's so cold! But, it's also been snowing! Apparently this is much colder than it usually is at this time of the year, but after buying some camping socks and finally seeing SNOW, I can't complain. We haven't had any snow days, but how could we when we have a Christmas play to plan! Somehow I ended up choreographing our class dance to Take That's Shine...let's just say my dancing skills are comparable to that of a typical five year old.


We are trying to check off every part of NY Times 36 hours in Cambridge to-do list. So, we went to the Fitzwilliam Art museum and while the Sussanian coin section was of little interest, the British, French, and Italian rooms were amazing. Then we went to Ellie's Russian symphony where we heard the world's youngest (not really) pianist whose Justin Beiber haircut bounced along with every note. On Sunday we finally went punting! Although it was negative degrees (still don't really understand what that means in celcius...) we bundled up with blankets that may or may not have stolen from another punt. Although soaking wet and tired from punting all day, our guides told us a lot about the colleges we were passing, 90% of which they said was true, 10% purely entertaining. Definitely enjoyed the 10% the most.

Then, we went to a Candlelit Carol Service! Because the students are leaving this week, the church essentially had an early Christmas Eve service for the students. Candlelit was an understatement. There were candles everywhere. Seriously. We sat in the balcony and there was teeny ledge with tons of candles on it. It felt like if we breathed too hard they'd fall and we'd burn the whole place down. Anywho, in spite of the fire hazard, and the speaker (I'm not going to go there, but there were children and he said something terrible about Santa) it was a beautiful service!


Yesterday was Emily's birthday!! We woke up to a beautiful, birthday-filled dining hall, with a cake on the breakfast table...had some more biscuits at class, went to dinner and then back to the B&B to eat cake with Pete! And because you asked, Katherine -


Apparently December 1 is the traditional first day of the Christmas season, it's snowing (!!!!) and we have dress rehearsal for the Christmas play tomorrow!!

Miss Turner! They aren't called tooth picks. That's silly, you don't pick your teeth with them...

She may not, but we Americans definitely do. Last week was Book Week at school, so not only did I get to see the new (and best so far) Harry Potter film, but I got to dress as a book character at school. Guess who I chose? Hint: not Ron or Harry...After being told that the large diet coke we ordered was probably a small in America, we went to the 10:45 showing and spent 2.5 hours glued to the screen.


On Sunday we went to "The Big Switch On," which is a very clever name for the night that they switch all the lights on. It was in the market square, we got to watch a parade, listen to some music, Michael Jackson made an appearance (too soon, too weird), and Santa Claus came!! It didn't hold a candle to the Lighting of the Lawn (pun intended), but it was fun to sing Christmas songs! Afterward we went to dinner with Peyton's parents at the Anchor. Spent the rest of the week in anticipation...


HAPPY TURKEY DAY! School on Thanksgiving? Weird. On Wednesday I led a school-wide assembly (200 children are more intimidating than they seem) about Thanksgiving and was surprised when I found out that almost none of the teachers even knew why we celebrate it. We acted out the story with pilgrim and indian hats and talked about what we have to be thankful for. Here's what some of the students at Cherry Hinton are thankful for:

- squash (3 of them said this until I realized I was holding up a picture of squash...whoops)
- hot dogs
- sausage
- cakes
(I may have emphasized the food aspect of the holiday a bit much...)
- Then, FINALLY, mum and dad
- my class (that was one of my students!)
- and my TEACHER (which could have been any of the 7 adults that work in our class, but I know who I'm pretending she was talking about...)


Then, on Thursday, we woke up to a beautiful spread as prepared by Pete: salmon and omlettes, sausage, ham, melon, tomatoes, oranges. After school, we headed over to Ellie and Richard's flat for a traditional thanksgiving dinner where we made stuffing, green beans and new potatoes (my contribution), sweet potato casserole, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes, turkey, and....drumroll please....HELEN MADE US A PECAN PIE! Before we ate, we all said what we were thankful for- I think only about 5 out of 10 were actually crying... Then, after dinner we opened our poppers, wore our crowns, told our jokes, and enjoyed our party favors. Still trying to work out what I'll be doing with my new cuff links...


This weekend we are going to Ellie's City of Cambridge Symphony Orchestra concert, ICE SKATING AT PARKER'S PIECE, and may be Christmas Caroling on Sunday...It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Football, Formal, Food and fLondon (?)

After a long walk and a lot of persuading that we were actually students, we went to the Cambridge United vs. Huddersfield Town football game. The game was naught to naught and after watching Cambridge United fumble around with the ball for two hours, it was a relief that the game (match?) didn't go into overtime. It was only after the game started that we figured out why both teams were separated- in the midst of cheers about Barry Fry, boys no older than eight were shouting, "sit down, shut up, sit down, shut up." Almost reminded me of Katherine at Richmond Basketball games.....After the game we went to a frisbee social themed tight and bright - we played musical chairs, mingle and mix and a late night frisbee game!

Then, we did something that actually seemed like it was straight out of Harry Potter (you're welcome, Hannah) - on Sunday, we went to formal dinner at Downing College and then Tuesday to one at Homerton. Most of the colleges have formal dinner once a week. The dress is formal (just to be clear) and, for students, dress robes are required. The tables are arranged so that the students are together on one level and the professors sit on a raised platform. The story we've been told (which I'm obviously choosing to believe) is that the dining hall at Homerton was looked at to be the one in Harry Potter, but the college refused to take down a huge painting and the movie was forced to move....it's possible. At Downing a choir sang the blessing and at Homerton the Head entered last, blessed the food and we ate. Again, we had to convince someone to let us in - we don't have access to a printer (not to mention the fact that I had forgotten to sign up on time) so we came with no tickets and a pictureless/nameless ID card, but somehow worked our way in. Both dinners were really fun, and we are hoping to go back to Homerton's before we leave! The next night, three of us went to our weekly dinner with Ellie and Richard and actually ended up sitting at the same booth where Watson and Crick (** Rosalind Franklin **) worked their magic with DNA.

Then,I got my first visitor from home! Mark came to Cambridge and after exploring Homerton and the City Centre we went to London for the first time this whole trip! We took the coach to London on Saturday, went straight to a Jack the Ripper tour (surprisingly enough, it didn't give me nightmares), explored the city a bit and then went on the London Eye at night, which was gorgeous. We saw Big Ben, Parliament, the house that the Prime Minister lives in, and a poor museum guard being taunted by tourists. Wasn't lost the entire time - until Mark left - and then, of course, I discovered that there are two Victoria "Coach" Stations and that I was at the wrong one. Missed my bus, but managed to get to the right station, buy tickets for the next bus and made a friend or two along the way.

Side note: not only does England not have Splenda, but the Starbucks here don't have the pumpkin spice latte...I did get my first red cup of the season though! And am now listening to Christmas Music while I write a Thanksgiving lesson plan....

Packed Lunch or School Dinner?

This week marks our first full week of school. There has been a lot of learning this week- pants are trousers and underpants are pants, sweatshirts are jumpers, registry is attendance, packed lunch is packed lunch and bought lunch is school dinner. Instead of saying, "good job" or "well done" it's "good boy" or "good girl." We're looking for "smart sitters" and "brilliant" girls and boys. I spend half the day translating and the other half thinking about how adorable all the children are. I've learned that almost everyone who's been to America has to been to Disney World, that I really shouldn't eat the food in America (this, according to a five year old), and that there is no difference between Virginia and West Virginia. What else have I learned? Clearly not how to send a postcard. Apparently I only needed one stamp, but instead got to buy and lick 32.

Yesterday after school we met up with Ellie to go to Evensong at King's College. King's College is renowned for their daily service and especially for their Men's and Boy's choir. Afterward we went to a pub called The Eagle, which is famous because Watson and Crick came up with their theory about the structure of DNA there. We, on the other hand, ate. We are staying in Cambridge this weekend for Guy Fawkes Day - Fireworks on Friday, football on Saturday, and formal dinner on Sunday. "Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November!"

Planes, trains and automobiles.

This past week was half-term- meaning we had two whopping days of hard work at school and then off to Ireland for the week! We took a bus from Cambridge to London, a train from London to Chester, a train from Chester to Holyhead, then a ferry from Holyhead to Dublin and then did it all over again. I guess the title should really be, "Boats, trains and autmobiles," but that just doesn't sound as good. We stayed in Dublin for the first four days, Galway for the next two and then back to Dublin. Dublin was beautiful! Our hostel was close to the River Liffy and rated the number one hostel in Europe! Needless to say, our first hostel spoiled us for the second...

In Dublin we went to the Kilmanhaim Jail, the Old Kilmainham Hospital which is now home to the Modern Art Museum (whose pedestrian pathway was so beautiful, it almost seemed fake), the Guiness Factory, St. Patrick's Cathedral and park, and a few Starbucks along the way (we won't mention the McDonalds or the Burger King except to say that McDonalds had curly fries and a Rolo McFlurry that was absolutely not made with real Rolos). On Monday Dublin hosted a marathon, so I got my yearly marathon fix in since I'll be missing Dad in the Richmond Marathon this year! Afterward we went to lunch at a small cafe. When we asked what the soup of the day was, the waitress told us, in a very matter-of-fact tone (one which implied it should be obvious), "it's bank holiday, no soup." Still not quite sure what bank holiday is, but definitely skeptical.


On Tuesday we took a break from Dublin (rough life) and took a train to Galway for two days. Galway is a beautiful town, home to the Spanish Arch, the famous Claddagh Village and close to the Cliffs of Moher. Although rainy most of the time we were there, we took a bus tour to some caves (not very exciting ones, almost felt like a repeat of our field trip to the Luray Caverns), the Cliffs of Moher, which were beautiful, and a few other picture stops at castles and cathedrals. We also tried mushy peas (delicious!) and saw traditional Irish dance and music. Then back to Dublin, and finally, back to our clean B&B in Cambridge! We made a lot of friends along the way - a French Rugby Team, a Canadian who has a lot to say, an Austrian enjoying his "whooper" from burger king, and many a tour guide, but it's nice to be home. Tomorrow is Halloween and then off to our first full week of school!

A Wild Goose Chase

Literally. This was before Emily was attacked by a very angry (but not wild) cow. Sunday we walked through Grantchester Meadows up to the village. It's about an hour long walk from Cambridge and along the way we stopped at the Grantchester Church and Cemetary until we reached our final destination- the Red Lion Pub. We stopped for lunch and then off back through the fields, but this time we were more aware of the wildlife surrounding us. So aware that I managed to take 253 pictures...

Today we had our first real day of work! We went to Homerton where we were introduced to the library and successfully checked out 4 DVDs. (That's what libraries are for, right?) Then, we got ourselves put on the Homerton e-mail list so we can do things like attend the themed formal dinners (the Harry Potter one is unfortunately already sold out), play frisbee (our first practice is tomorrow!! And, no, I'm not kidding), and attend other social events at the college. We then went to lunch at the Buttery (you can tell we're really working hard) and then we actually had class. We have class with both our American and British Professors and learned all about the British School System, which seems to be really similar to the American school system just with a lot of words that I don't understand. We hit the really key notes, like don't say pants because that actually means underpants and probably would not go over well in a class of 5 year olds. Tomorrow we are going on a walking tour of the University and then off to frisbee practice! (Still in the process of looking for a pick-up football team to join as that is likely to be a lot less embarrassing.)

Haven't started classes yet, but getting smarter and smarter every day!

On Thursday, our professor, Ellie, and her husband took us to an Evensong at Clare College. An Evensong is a worship service meant to mimic the experience we will have in heaven - the congregation is listening to God's praise rather than singing it themselves and the members of the choir are like the angels in heaven singing it. At least that's what I took out of the bulletin. It was a beautiful service sung by about 30 students. Did you know that real live students in England (in other words, not just in Harry Potter) wear dress robes? We'd seen a few walking around in them and there was a sign encouraging students attending the service to wear their robes. Someone pointed out yesterday that Harry Potter was based off England and not the other way around, but it's really hard not to compare everything to something in Harry Potter! Then Ellie took us (it's so great having her here!) to the Scott Polar Institute where we got to see the clothing, weapons, and tools of the natives, fur outfits worn to keep warm on the expeditions, a mini outfit for a five year old (so cute!), and read the last letters the members of the expedition wrote when they knew they were dying. We also got to try on a super big, puffy, heavy coat that you wear on a polar expedition- I felt like a kid at space camp. Not mention how cool I looked. Then Ellie took us to her flat in Downing College. There is a huge lawn area surrounded by faculty flats, the Downing Chapel, the Downing Dining Hall and Downing College Dorms. In America, she had compared it to the lawn, but I'll let you judge. After exploring a bit, Ellie had us up to her flat for tea and biscuits (mostly biscuits at this point, but I'm trying!!).

Another part of Cambridge that reminds me of Charlottesville? A bridge that Caity and I found while walking to the city. Emily had given us the directions that we "followed."Later, Emily saw the pictures of the bridge and asked where we found it- whoops! We obviously didn't go the right way...and of course had no idea until then. But, anyway, it's just like Beta Bridge in Charlottesville! Couldn't find it again if I tried, but hopefully we'll stumble upon it again after it's been repainted. It's beautiful!

You know that scene at the end of Love Actually when everyone is hugging and Hugh Grant and that girl he falls in love with are finally kissing, and that adorable British girl is singing All I want for Christmas? Well, today was kind of like that. Ellie plays violin in the City of Cambridge Symphony Orchestra and did a showing of Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev, Flight of the Bumble Bee by Rimsky-Korsakov and many other children's songs. The music was beautiful and it was so fun to see Ellie perform; not to mention the adorable kids in the audience-"Mummy, can we dance? Mummy, may I have a snack? Mummy, I've got to go to the toilet." Then, Caity and I (sucessfully!! we tried using a map this time...) walked back home and went grocery shopping! Tomorrow we are going on a walk through the Grantchester meadows (cue Pink Floyd. But really - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfZPNQPNw-U) and then off to a pub for lunch and one of many five o'clock church services!