Little Known Fact

John and I went to see Quantum of Solace in the city today and also get an iphone for me. The movie was fun and it was good to get out and do something together besides walk around and shop.

After the movie I was standing outside the men's room waiting for John when I overheard this conversation.

Child: What was the bad guy trying to do?
Mother: He was trying to control foreign governments. Just like France controls our government.

Does anyone else in England (or France, for that matter) know about this? And, how did James Bond let it happen?

Name That Accent

Earlier this week John and I ate lunch at the Subway in town. John ordered first, but when I started talking the young man making my sub said, "Hey that's a cool accent. Where are you from?" At first I thought it was strange that he commented on my accent and not John's. But then I realized that I had asked for the "Italian herb and cheddar" bread. The British pronounce the "h" in "herb" and Americans do not and I suppose leaving out a letter entirely gets you noticed.

Today, a man from the UK Green Party came by our flat. He was going door to door. I let him talk for a minute or two because he didn't really seem to want anything and I didn't think it would take long. At some point John came downstairs to see who was at the door. Then the gentleman asked about how we like the new wheelie bins, so we told him that it's hard to keep track of which to put out when, but we're glad they recycle plastic now. After hearing us talk he asked, "Are you UK citizens?"
"No."
"Are you Canadian?" Again, I think he was specifically asking me, and not John.
"American."
"Oh, you don't have a strong accent."

I know I don't sound British, so I think what he meant was that he couldn't place my accent. And truthfully, I'd be hard pressed to place it myself. I learned how to talk from New Yorkers but lived most of my life in the South, so it's a little of both and neither. Let's say it's American, and leave it at that.

Cold Water, Warm Hearts

Happy Thanksgiving from the land the Pilgrims left behind.

John arranged a Thanksgiving potluck for the American Law students at school. We spent several hours yesterday cooking three large turkey breasts and making gravy. Once we arrived, John choreographed the setting up of tables and chairs for dining and tables for holding the feast. There were some traditional Thanksgiving foods like mashed potatoes, and some that were new like an Indian fried onion thing I can't pronounce the name of. There was even real pumpkin pie, like not from a can.

One of the undergraduates asked Ashby to tell them the Thanksgiving story. He talked about how the first Thanksgiving was between the Pilgrims and Native Americans and was a celebration of the harvest. He also said that even though he missed spending Thanksgiving with his family, he thought our celebration was very much in the spirit of the original Thanksgiving because we were different people coming together for a meal.

I like that. I think we were all thankful that we got to spend Thanksgiving together.

I am also thankful that after today there should be hot water flowing through the pipes again. And that although not having hot water for the past couple of days has not been ideal, the radiators still work, and the instant heating shower in the extra bathroom still works. So it could be worse. (The boiler is heating water, but the valve that diverts hot water into the pipes is broken so hot water is only going to the radiators.)

Today will be a day of catching up on chores and eating leftover turkey.

Teen Book Discussion Group

Yesterday Tessa and I headed into the city for lunch and some light shopping before I hiked over to County Hall to catch another ride to a book discussion group.

This time, the group was attended by librarians who work in the high schools. They read a list of teen books and also collected reviews from students who read the books. One of them was Just Henry (which I read and reviewed) and another was Kiki Strike (which I am currently reading and will review when I finish).

The dubious scheme for teaching children to read came up in this group also. This time I grabbed my pen: the Ruth Miskin Literacy Programme. Since these librarians only work with high schoolers, any students they encounter who aren't strong readers need serious help. But again, there was some doubt as to whether Ruth Miskin could help them. They seem to especially dislike the fact that her program is exclusive. The child is not suposed to read anything else while on it. And schools have to purchase the program as a complete package, they can not just take the pieces of it that they like.

I learned that school librarians here are hesitant to allow a student to check out a book the librarian believes to be on too high a maturity level. They fear backlash from parents and sometimes ask for a note before allowing a book to go home with a student. They did ask me how librarians handle this in the U.S. and I explained that if the book is in the library, the student is allowed to check it out. If a parent doesn't want their child to read a certain book it is their responsibility to prevent their child from checking it out.

When I returned home John, Tessa, and I took a fun trip to Asda and then ate sushi! Tessa left early this morning, but we will definatly have to visit her and the Cornwallian again before we move back to the States.

Cornwall

John and I got up early to catch a train on Saturday morning and it was snowing in Norwich!




















We rode a train from Norwich to Cambridge, from Cambridge to London King's Cross, the tube from King's Cross to Paddington, and a last train from Paddington to Exeter, St. David. In Exeter, the Cornwallian picked us up and drove is to the home he and Tessa have in Cornwall. We stopped to have a Cornish pasty on the way.

When Tessa got home from work we went shopping for our Thanksgiving feast. Chicken, bread, a butternut squash, and a swede. I cooked the chicken and it was very burned. Tessa made the swede and it was delicious!

On Sunday, John and I explored Cornwall while Tessa and her hubby were at work.















































Tessa drove us back to Norwich and she is visiting us for a couple days! I lured her here with promises of a tapas restaurant that serves jalapeno poppers. Here is a picture of me and Tessa and her two dogs Pegasus and Toucan. (Toucan is the one that almost isn't in the picture.)





















Today I had a quick health check so that I can use John's health center. The nurse (who was new) thought I had claimed to be 11 stone when I had actually written down that I weighed 115 lbs. She was shocked that I had so grossly overestimated my weight when I had actually just done another dumb American thing and used the wrong units.

But then Tessa and I went into the city and had the promised jalapeno poppers. Hooray!

Radio Silence

John and I are going to Cornwall this weekend to have an early Thanksgiving celebration with Tessa and "the Cornwallian." I am not bringing my laptop, so I will be incommunicado. But I should have plenty of pictures and stories once we get back!

I'll be Home for Christmas

John and I are flying home on the 16th of December and then coming back to England on the 30th. Start booking your time with us now before it's all gone!

I met with Libby today to talk more about doing school visits. I showed her the PowerPoint I've been working on (the one I had to redo thanks to another computer hiccup - and by hiccup I mean my hard drive died) and the paper airplanes I made (which were thankfully analog and so immune to my computer's problems).

She really liked them. She is going to see about scheduling some school visits beginning in January and I'll probably be doing programs in the library as well.

I'm looking forward to spending the holidays with my family and then being really busy when I return to Norwich.

KS1 Book Reviews

Our Big Blue Sofa by Tim Hopgood

A brother and sister like to bounce on their big blue sofa and imagine that it is other things, like a big blue car, or hot air balloon.

I love to touch things so the flocked sofa (on every page, as advertised) is pretty neat. The story is simple and fanciful, probably something I would read for story time. In the middle of the children's imaginative play with the sofa there is an interjection about how granny doesn't like it because it is old and hurts her back. This paragraph confused me and I thought it was unnecessary. It makes more sense once you get to the end and the sofa falls apart, but even so, I wouldn't have broken up the flow of the story in this way.

Not a Box by Antoinette Portis

A bunny demonstrates several ways that a box can be anything but a box, like a robot or space ship.

I have read this book in story time. The story is told through words and pictures which encourages participation. The illustrations are simple with bold colors and thick lines. In every picture you can see the box and how it is not a box. The narrative style is like that of Willems's Pigeon books. The bunny is talking directly to you. I really like this book.

Two Frogs by Chris Wormell

One frog has a stick for defending himself against dogs. The other frog is telling him how unlikely it is that he will encounter a dog in the middle of the lake when they find themselves face to face with some more common frog eaters.

At first I thought this story was going to have some sort of moral, but really it is just a combination of a few strange twists of fate. It is fun and the frogs have some great facial expressions. Each illustration is a two page spread with space left at the bottom for the text.

The Bear in the Cave by Michael Rosen

A bear goes on a sing-song journey from his cave by the sea into the city and back again. The illustrations are two-page spreads with bright colors. The story is sweet and, thanks to the rhythms, one that kids will want to chant along with you.

Kit the Cat by Alison Maloney

Kit the Cat finally flops Flash the Fish out of the pond, only to be foiled by Dig the Dog.

The tongue-twisting rhymes remind me of Dr. Seuss and the illustrations are sassy. I'm not sure I agree with the cat being categorized as the villain, though.

The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon by Mini Grey

The dish and the spoon run away together and make it big performing but they blow all their money and then get in trouble with a loan shark.

More two page spreads. The illustrations are very busy. The story is cute but I don't think most children would get it.

I went to a discussion group today for "Key Stage One" books. The School Library Service lends books to teachers and then meets with them about every six months to hear what their students thought of them. Unfortunately, when I met the School Library Service people weeks ago, they accidentally gave me the wrong pile of books (there are two Key State One discussion groups), so the only book I read that everyone else had read was The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon. They had pretty much the same opinion of it as I did. But I did learn that Mini Grey is a very popular children's author and people who knew her work expected something different.

The teachers got into a lengthy discussion about a reading program that some people are very into here. The books in the program have no pictures and only contain words with the sounds that the child has learned up to that point. I learned on the car ride back that there is pressure on the public libraries to carry these books because parents want their children to learn to read faster. The teachers didn't seem to think much of this system. They believe there is nothing wrong with children using pictures for context clues and that they are more interested in pleasing language and interesting stories.

Filed Under 'Not B'

My old filing system, in my old office, was to put all the papers I thought I ought to hold on to in one of the desk drawers. Now I don't really have desk drawers, so I needed a new filing system. Thanks to John getting a hanging file box of one size and hanging files of another, I got a free hanging file box! Now my important papers are arranged by category.

I decided to try and learn even more Christmas songs on guitar because, theoretically, I can. I had been practicing about 8 songs, but have upped the number to (ha, I just counted and it's more than I thought) 17. One of the new songs is "Deck the Halls." You should check out the link because Wikipedia has the lyrics in Welsh!

Anyway, I discovered while I was practicing that this addition was maybe a little ambitious because it included two different four-finger chords. I have only gotten so far in my studies and "so far" means I pretty much only feel confident playing three(or fewer)-finger chords. Strangely enough, I had gotten attached to the song in my mangled attempt at playing it, so rather than cut it from the play list I decided to change the key.

Since it was originally in the key of F, I gave numbers to each of the notes in the F scale (starting with I) and then changed all the chords in the song into numbers. "Deck the Halls" calls for the following chords, I, V, V7, IIIm, VIm, II7, and IV. Notice that there are chords based off of notes I through VI of the scale. Since I haven't officially learned any of the B chords, I decided that should be the note to be excluded. There are no chords based on VII, and B is the seventh note of C scale, so my new version of "Deck the Halls" is in the key of C.

Now I just have to hope I can sing it 3 and a half steps higher or 2 and a half steps lower than it was written.

Migration

I moved my office upstairs into our bedroom. This is partly because I felt a little crowded in the old office and mostly because I felt cold. It is much warmer upstairs.

But future visitors, don't worry. I'll get a nice fluffy comforter to go on the bed in the downstairs room.

I had a picture of my new office set up but I can't get it to upload. I will withhold my theory on why this has happened. It is probably unrelated to the fact that John just got an expansion pack for World of Warcraft and is using up all our bandwidth playing it. At least, that's what the computer genius man says.

The Culture of Shopping

It is strange the things about your environment you take for granted. For example, in the U.S. I have stores I like to shop at, and know which ones I like for which reasons. Some are good for inexpensive things, others for quality, others for trendy. There are some stores I almost never go in because they are too expensive, or just not my style. Occasionally I will find I have misjudged a store and will recategorize it in my mind. Or a new store might open up and I will go in to investigate.

Here, all the stores are new to me. It would be nice if I could find parallels to my favorite places back home. There is a Payless equivalent, called Priceless (one of the upshots of buying cheap shoes is that you are almost guaranteed that they are not leather). I have found nothing like Target which is one of my favorite U.S. stores. And although I don't shop at the Gap often, I could have used one today since it is the only store I have found that makes jeans in my size (I have short legs).

John's loan money came today and so I set out to find a pair of skinny leg jeans. I wanted skinny jeans because the only waterproof shoes I have are my boots and they fit more easily over skinny jeans. I used to have a pair, but the library ruined them.

Having recently scoured the mall for 1940s clothing, I had learned that H&M has trendy clothing that isn't too expensive. I was pretty happy with their jeans, although they were all a bit long. But finding a decent store was only half the battle. The sizes over here are all different.

I started off with two pairs of jeans in the two smallest sizes I saw on the rack. To compound my private embarrassment, the skinny legs of the jeans were so close fitting I couldn't get the first pair over my calves. I tried on a total of 4 jeans before I found an appropriate size and style (because there are different kinds of skinny jeans).

The H&M jeans were less expensive than my Gap jeans and they are more or less what I was hunting for. I'd say, it was worth it for dry feet. And now I've conquered another aspect of living in England: shopping for jeans.

1940s

So, for this 1940s Christmas at Ancient House I need to look the part. I didn't bring my full wardrobe with me to England, so even if I own something 1940ish, its not here. I looked in a few thrift shops and even regular clothing stores and haven't found anything to my liking.







It occurs to me that dressing like Rosie the Riveter might be the easiest way to go, but maybe she's too American? I'm open to suggestions...or clothing donations.

In Case You Were Wondering

Sometimes I make cooking experiments so that no one else has to.

Falafel is not a good covering for chicken. If you buy some, you should probably make it into balls like the box suggests.

People

John told me some people from school were going to eat at the bar where Christine (of Ashby and Christine, the people who let us live with them when we were homeless) works after class today. It took some strategic planning on my part to get there. It starts getting dark at 4pm here and John's class was getting out at 7pm. So, I left the flat at 4 and walked down town. I stayed in the Forum (first the library, then the coffee shop) until John came to meet me. (I took my lap top and got lots of work done, but unfortunately couldn't get internet.) Then we went to Frank's Bar.

I had such a great time talking to people. Real people. Not an interview. Not people I'm volunteering for. College kid people. People like me. Except from lots of different countries. Drinking and talking about the problem with translating jokes into another language people. Oh man, I miss college. No, I just miss people. I need to get out more.

Upcoming Performances

Friday December 5th: Christmas Under Fire!
Ancient House is celebrating Christmas 1940s style. I will be bringing my guitar to Thetford where I will try to get visitors to the museum to sing Christmas carols with me.

Friday January 2nd: Toys and Tales!
This is another Ancient House event. There will be stories and toys from the past. I'll be doing some Roman storytelling.

Saturday January 17th: So You Want to be President
I am doing an American themed story time for the children's library to celebrate the inauguration of our new president.

Memorial Trust Meeting

Libby, the librarian with the Second Air Division Memorial Library, invited me to come to the Annual General Meeting of the Trust this morning. The library is a living memorial and so funding and memorial related events are run by the Trust. She told me several times that I was by no means expected to come, especially since I had been given rather short notice. But I'm sure, thanks to my rather lack-luster blog posts of late, my faithful readers are painfully aware that on the average day I certainly have nothing better to do.

I met with Libby and the library director at the Millennium Library (where the Memorial Library is housed) and traveled with them to County Hall for the meeting.

Parts of the actual meeting I enjoyed:

Learning about the group that makes this library possible.

The stockbroker's report. I know this sounds boring, but he explained the reasons for the recession really well. I've never been much good with economics and I think I actually get it now.

The summary of their recent trip to Dallas for a convention with the American Second Air Division group.

Listening to the memories of one of the Trust Governors who was retiring. He was ten years old when Americans starting coming to East Anglia to fight in World War II. He and his family befriended many of them only to hear about their deaths weeks or even days later. It is truly amazing to hear about the impact that Americans had on this area and on the individuals who lived here. Those pilots were every little boy's heroes.

And lets not forget the fact that both the Chairman and Libby mentioned me and spoke highly of my volunteer work for the library. (Although thus far, I haven't done that much. But I have big plans!)

Parts of after-the-meeting I enjoyed:

Free lunch.

Pretty much every person there came up to talk to me during the informal lunch. I talked to at least two British lawyers, and two American World War II veterans. One of the vets started talking politics and I just smiled at him until he was finished.
Finally he looked at me and said, "But you probably voted for Obama."
"I did."
Then he said to me, "Well, now he's our president and I will support him."
This man (who was, by the way, wearing a tie with small outlines of the state of Texas all over it) was the most polite person I have ever disagreed with.

Date Night

When John took me shopping recently I bought this dress. Then when I put it on at home I realized that it was a little dressier than I thought it was. My solution was to tell John that we needed to go on a date. Yeah, there are things that look like shoelaces attached to the sleeves. Makes me look like an asylum escapee. Crazy British fashion.

Here's what John wore on the date.






















We walked into town and ate at the Waffle House because most places close really early on Sunday. But, we like the Waffle House, so it was a good date.


In other news, the lolcats know about the pigeon mafia.


more animals

Chaturanga Dandasana

I have gotten to really like running, to the point where I am kind of sad on the days when I can't run. The problem is that because of my flat feet, I get shin splints. I haven't been able to totally prevent them, but I avoid doing serious damage by taking days off when my shins hurt more than a little.

Yesterday was one of those days when I couldn't run. I did yoga instead. This turned out pretty well. My legs (which get stiff and sore in all kinds of places) felt amazingly good after my workout. I discovered some tight places that probably don't get stretched enough during running warm ups and cool downs. I even spent some time upside down, which is always fun.

But perhaps the funniest thing about my yoga routine is that I tend to try to do the same poses even when I haven't done yoga in a while. Chaturanga dandasana gets me every time. During my workout I may or may not actually be able to do it depending on how out of shape I am. Either way, I can hardly lift my arms over my head the next day. Running this morning was a pleasure. Washing my hair, not so much.

Just Plain Drama

I haven't had much luck finding a job, (I never heard back from Build-a-Bear. It was just like last time!) so John suggested I look into some sort of continuing education classes or something...

Well, I looked around online and saw that the local theatre offers acting classes. Could be fun. The website gave some information on the classes but said if you wanted more info you should come to The Garage. John and I walked up there today to talk to them.

I approached the front desk and said, "I would like information on the adult acting classes."
The woman behind the counter said, "Just a moment." And picked up her phone. "I need someone from adult acting."
I looked at the bulletin board while waiting. Then a man walks up to me, hands me a pamphlet, and walks away.

My thoughts:

I came into town for that?

If this is all the information I need, and it fits on paper, why isn't it on the website?

If this is all the information I need, and it fits on paper, why did Mr. Too Important/Busy To Talk have to come downstairs to give it to me? Couldn't they keep these at the front desk?

If I enroll in the class, will he be my teacher, and will he always behave like such a horse's behind?

More Wheelie Bin Drama

Both times we got information about our new wheelie bins, the literature suggested that we mark them with our house number. I wrote on them with permanent marker, and then we purchased "wheelie bin numbers" the other day, but as of this morning I hadn't put them on yet. (Wheelie bin numbers are large, easy-to-see stickers.)

Sanitation picked up recycling this morning, which we collect in the blue wheelie bin. When I went out for my run I noticed that sanitation had not replaced our wheelie bin in front of our flat. I walked down the sidewalk and found the wheelie bin with "21" written on it in permanent marker in front of flat 25. I grabbed it and started wheeling it back to my flat when the resident of 25 appeared behind the closed front window and started gesturing for me to stop taking his wheelie bin. I pointed and yelled until he got the message that this was actually my wheelie bin. Then I continued wheeling it home.

How come I only meet my neighbors when I'm lurking outside their flats taking wheelie bins?

Nota bene: The "wheelie bin numbers" got affixed this afternoon.

Here are some more pictures of paper airplanes. I have acquired markers and decorated them.

A Penny for the Old Guy

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I can think of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

Election Day

I have never been very good at the school subject termed "social studies." History, Geography, Government, Economics. I find it difficult to get into these things. Nevertheless, I took both AP Government and AP Microeconomics my senior year of high school. I got a passing 3 on the Econ exam even though our teacher told us throughout the semester that she wasn't going to teach us "utils" (a unit for measuring utility) because they wouldn't be on the exam...and then they were on the exam. I got a not passing 2 on the Gov exam which is still remarkable because it is not the lowest score possible and I wrote all my essays in haiku form. A particular point of pride is the fact that before going into the exam everyone from our class agreed to work the made-up court case "Kramer vs Crosby" into one of the essays and I was able to do this even though I was writing in verse.

This same year many of my good friends and classmates decided that they were interested in things like politics and they created SPAC, the "Student Political Action Coalition." As a budding student group they needed all the members they could get, and they asked me to join. Meetings had snacks and didn't last too long, so, why not?

The big project SPAC undertook that year was setting up tables in the lunch room where students could register to vote. They asked me to register (I would be turning 18 before the next election). But lunch period was so short that I didn't really want to spend any of it not eating. Worst SPAC member evar.

Six years later I'm voluntarily reading about Roman history, World War II, and I am not only registered, but I voted! But I still write the occastional haiku.

I hope everyone voted for Ginger Cat!

Four Things You Need to Know

1. John is a double esquire because he passed the Georgia and Tennessee bar exams!

2. I finally finished Just Henry and reviewed it in my other blog.

3. John explored our loft. It has a bed pallet in it. Come one come all. We now have two guest beds, one pull-out couch, and one pallet, all in different rooms!

4. About.com has guitar tabs for Christmas music.

Blogs and Books

Since John and I are such big celebrities, we clearly need our own website. This is a project of John's. Not all the links are working yet, but you can read John's blog.

I've decided I really like the book I've been listening to while running. I found it amongst itunes' free podiobooks: Earthcore by Scott Sigler. This book was only published as a podcast. At first I thought, self publishing, probably means subpar quality. Actually it's quite good. It's no Great American Novel, but it is fun and I look forward to listening to it, which helps motivate me to run. I like audiobooks and I like free things, so I just thought I'd share!

Abundance

I did an abundance of running this morning. I was feeling pretty good at the end of my half hour so I did another lap which brings me up to about a three mile run.

I got an abundance of fun new things in town today. John decided (agreed) that I needed more warm clothes and the next guitar lesson book.

There was an abundance of rain which made both of us really glad we got new rain coats yesterday. We were surprisingly comfortable walking around town during the persistent downpour.

"The Foolish Frog" has had an abundance of views. About three times as many as the next most viewed video I've put on YouTube, "Mattie Groves," and nine times as many as most of the other videos. I can't figure out if people I know have been watching it over and over again, or if people I don't know are actually watching it.