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!"