The End

After today I will no longer be "An American Librarian in Norwich, England" so the blog will stay up as a record but I won't be adding any new posts. If you miss me you can always visit my other blogs, although they aren't so much about my personal life.

What I Really Think is where I review juvenile books I've read. I managed to read quite a few British juvenile books during my stay here and thoroughly enjoyed experiencing the unadulterated text. (British books published in America tend to be edited to take out colloquialisms.)

Sound and Sense is a blog I started recently which should get more attention now that I am done with this one. It is a place for me to muse on the relationship between the spoken word and what it means using mostly everyday examples. This is an area of interest for me, but I am in no way an expert.

So, this is it! John and I are packed. I spent the day cleaning. I cleaned both bathrooms, although the lower one really just needed a once over after the most recent cleaning. I cleaned the kitchen counters and floor. I want to say, the kitchen floor was particularly gruesome and wasn't really clean even when we first moved in. I also vacuumed all the rooms as much as I was able with our pitiful power sweeper.

John pitched moving to England to me by reminding me that I wanted to "have an adventure." An adventure it has surely been, between learning to live in a foreign country and learning to live with John. (Remember that we moved immediately after getting married.) I know that we will always look back on our time here fondly, but it is with excitement that we embark on our next "adventure."

Goodbye Guitar

So, it's farewell to the purple velvet marshmallow. I looked into getting a hard case so the guitar could travel on the airplane today and there were a couple of problems.

1) There were no hard cases for 3/4 size guitars in all of down town Norwich.

2) The full sized cases cost more than the guitar did when it was new.

Based on these facts I am forced to conclude that although my lovely guitar has served me well the time has come for us to part. It is not meant to travel abroad.

As for my playing, do you think if I played air guitar on a street corner with a hat out I could raise funds to buy another real guitar?

Actually I have access to a guitar at home until I can save up for a nice one.

Like Watching Paint Dry

John had his last final today and FedEx was supposed to bring us boxes to pack our books in. So I was stuck inside all day. By myself. And, to make matters worse, because John was studying all day yesterday I felt compelled to be productive and did a lot of packing then. There wasn't much left to do today.

Here is what I accomplished:

I got my blood test results from the health center (normal, of course). I thought I was going to have to pick them up, but they e-mailed them to me! Much easier. Don't worry, the test was a normal thing they do during pregnancy and the only reason I want it is because I don't want anything that was done for free over here redone for monies back in the US.

I looked into renting a car so we can drive ourselves and our mountain of luggage to the airport on Friday but my looking mostly led me to believe that it's not going to happen. If British people prefer manuals how come the rental companies always run out of automatics?

I got an e-mail from SOS (Southern Order of Storytellers) saying that they are holding auditions which will supply them with tellers for the next year's worth of events. They accept submissions by mail so I started thinking about what I might send them.

That's about when the thumb twiddling began. I talked to Amanda for a little while and then I spent a long time reading. I really wanted to read on the back porch and enjoy the nice weather, but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to hear if someone came to the door.

Needless to say, the FedEx guy never came, but John has agreed to be housebound tomorrow so I can run errands in town.

Packed

Almost everything I won't be using before Friday is packed!

I feel like I've been doing a complicated puzzle trying to get everything to fit.

Warm

I wore a t-shirt outside today!

It's going to be a real shock when I get back to Georgia and it's hot.

No TV

An added bonus of meeting Rachel and Paul was that Paul decided to buy some of our stuff. This is very exciting because we don't have to go through the effort of selling it on ebay. He picked everything up last night. We weren't sure how we would adjust to losing the TV, but it's been okay because now John gets to show me all those movies he's always downloading and I never want to watch. The computer screen is a little smaller, but the company is good.

Perpetual Motion

I'm still trying to work on my running. I seriously lost some ground from all our vacations and, you know, having to share my blood flow and oxygen with another person. I had gotten up to three miles and now I'm back down to one. I was determined to run two miles this morning (this although I am now without an ipod since the iphone got sold and I thoughtlessly left my old ipod in Georgia). Yeah, I didn't run two miles. But it was such a nice day out and I was feeling good, so I ran the first mile and alternated walking and running on the second one. It's something.

John fixed our shower a while ago. Did I mention that? It was sort of anticlimactic since it needed cleaning to be really useable and we didn't clean it right away. But it is fully functional now and John wanted the downstairs bathroom cleaned and out of use so that it is one part of the flat we don't have to worry about. Well, I cleaned that bathroom today. Funny how much dirtier it gets when we use it all the time. There weren't any spider incidents.

Then I packed all my books in one suitcase. But John is undecided on whether we will actually take our books on the plane with us or ship them, so I might be repacking later. Still, they are off the shelf so it sort of seems like I've accomplished something.

Learning Experience

I spent most of the day working on another job application. It took me twice as long as it should have because after I filled in the PDF the first time I tried to save it. Turns out, saving a PDF clears the form. Everything I had typed disappeared and I had to do it again.

I did take a break to have lunch with John and some of his students. He wanted to give them advice and guidance before they head to the US in a few weeks. He's such a good guy. :)

National Family Week

I was at the library all day today for National Family Week. In the morning I shared my power point presentation with some children in the Memorial Library. Then they looked around the Memorial Library at the displays and some memorabilia that the staff had put out. After that they went into the children's area to make paper airplanes and color assembly ships.

I had lunch at a restaurant by myself, which I don't usually do since there is a coffee shop in the Forum, but I could smell the pizza upstairs and it was too tempting. I got some good reading in.

In the afternoon I helped out with a special story time session. Another guest was there with Charlie the Crocodile talking about keeping your teeth clean. So we heard from Charlie and then we took turns reading books about teeth. Afterwords the children had some coloring and activity sheets to work on.

Everyone seemed aware that they probably wouldn't see me again and they were very appreciative of my volunteer work. All I can say is they helped me stay sane by giving me something to do! Not only that, but I do feel that some of the work I have done has helped me grow as a librarian and as a person. I was a very timid traveler, but no more after all my train and bus trips to various parts of Norfolk. And I've really enjoyed working more with school children, even if the boys are a little breast-obsessed. Finally, lets not forget that these experiences have given me lots of stories to tell!

Hysteria

In an earlier time, physicians believed that hysteria was caused by the womb moving around the body trying to take moisture from other organs (thus the alternate name, wandering womb disease). Women were thought to be naturally dry, which is why they were always trying to steal moisture from men. ;)

I'd say this theory no longer holds much water, but I have learned something rather interesting recently. When you are pregnant, your womb does move higher in your body, not to look for moisture, but actually because at some point the baby won't fit in the pelvis. Maybe this is more than you wanted to know, but I say it all by way of explaining my hysteria.

Meet the newest Nelson:
















It looks like John and I will be returning from England with a rather permanent souvenir.

In Real Life

So, I met an internet friend IRL!!!

Doesn't happen that often. Anyway, Rachel was in town, so John and I met up with her and her young man, Paul at a pub in the city center. Two of their friends showed up after a little while as well. It was nice to get out and spend time in the lovely sun talking and eating.

Then back at home there were more forms and job applications waiting for me. But I shouldn't complain. Once I've applied for all the jobs that are more or less in my field all I'll be able to do is wait to hear from them and start thinking of a backup plan.

Hey, I've got an idea. What jobs do you think I should apply for? Barista? Secretary? Waffle House cook?

Back to Work

Now that our guests have left it is time for me and John to get down to the business of wrapping up affairs here and making plans for life back in Georgia.

I spent most of today applying for one job. This is because it was a government job and therefore the application was very complicated. And I probably won't get it. Not being defeatist, just realizing how little I understood some of the eligibility requirements. But, now that my resume is on USA Jobs I can apply for more of these complicated jobs without spending quite so much time.

I also joined Linked In, on the request of someone connected with the Ed S program at UGA. This also took some time, but since it's a professional social networking site maybe just maybe it will help with the job search. I noticed that NONE of the storytelling groups I belong to are on Linked In, so maybe there is a little project for me here that will get me a name in said storytelling groups.

Forecast for tomorrow: more work, with some fun times thrown in!

London Trip

Thursday:
John and I arrived in London, chilled out at our hotel for a little while, then had dinner with Sarah, Jesse, and Barin (friend of Sarah's who is studying at the London School of Economics).

Friday:
Stonehenge. Fatality of the train tracks that held up the trains for about an hour. Oxford. Back to London to see Barin's flat.

Today:
Back home and worn out. It was great seeing people and having more adventures around England. But I think my next "vacation" is going to be a day spent sleeping on the beach. Lots of sun and no walking.

Hope Sarah and Jesse had a good flight home!

London

No internet in London. I'll update y'all later!

Buzz

I was a busy little bee today, applying for jobs and...

Yeah, that was mostly it. Applying for jobs. It just took all day.

Seriously, does anyone need a librarian?

Anyway, John and I are meeting Sarah and Jesse in London tomorrow. Hooray!

Sandringham

We tried to eat breakfast at The Waffle House this morning, but they were opening late due to being lame. So we had some McDonalds instead and then started on our journey to Sandringham.

First there was a train to Ely, then a train to King's Lynn, and then a bus to Sandringham Estate. This is a home that belongs to the Queen and is where she lives for part of the year. When she isn't there, parts of the house are set up for public viewing. We also walked through a museum that had a bunch of gifts given to the royal family, taxidermied animal heads, and old cars. I especially liked the child sized cars they had. Much fancier than my Barbie Jeep.

Once we finally got back to Norwich we went to The Waffle House for dinner. Now we are all worn out!

Norwich Castle

I took Sarah and Jesse to the Norwich Castle this morning while John waited for the plumber. The plumber never came (bummer) and so John met us for the battlements tour and walking around town.

This evening we tried out the Romans game John and I bought at Hadrian's Wall. We discovered that the "long" version of the game is basically never ending, but we had fun playing it. The spirit of Julius Caesar was truly with me!

Visitors!

Sarah and Jesse arrived in Norwich today after flying into London yesterday. Unfortunately there was a small mix-up with the train schedule because of weekend rail work. So, John and I thought we were running late getting to the train station, but were actually very early. We ate lunch while we waited so it wasn't a big deal.

We gave them a preliminary tour of Norwich and tomorrow, more adventures!

To recent commenter Edward, and anyone else who may need to contact me off-blog, my e-mail address is voxfabularum@gmail.com. Thanks for reading!

Spider

As any day before guests arrives usually is, today was a cleaning day.

I started with the downstairs bathroom which was dirtier than usual because John and I have actually been using it regularly. (Our shower and bathroom sink are still clogged. A plumber is coming on Monday.)

There has been a spider living in that bathroom but he doesn't always come out of hiding. When he does though, watch out. He once dropped right into my face while I was trying to brush my teeth and although I generally don't mind spiders I do mind them suddenly appearing in my face. The spider made an appearance while I was cleaning and I decided to take the opportunity to relocate him since my sister-in-law does not like spiders. I caught him and dropped him out the window which was already open to lower cleaning fumes. Several minutes later he caught a breeze and flew back into the bath tub. I removed him once again and this time I shut the window after he was out. Sorry Mr. Long Legs, but this is not the place for you!

After that I turned my office into a bedroom, straightened up the living room and even swept the stairs. My sinuses are irritated and the flat is more or less presentable. Sounds like a typical day of cleaning.

Home Again

Well, John and I are back in Norwich for the final stretch. The next time we fly to Georgia it is to stay!

Our rental agency has started showing our apartment to potential renters. I'm all for this since we can get out of our lease a few days early if someone else wants to move in. But I've never lived in a place that was being shown before. Apparently some people came by when we were out of town, and another trio showed up today. The agency doesn't seem to care that we haven't done anything to prepare for these showings but I do feel a little bad that our flat isn't as neat as it could be. Good thing Sarah and Jesse's visit is forcing me to really clean.

Surprise!

John and I traveled to Georgia! When Amanda found out we would be living in England this year she complained, "You're always out of the country when I graduate." I was indeed studying abroad in Rome when she graduated from high school and would presumably be in England on May 9th, 2009 when she graduated from college. But I decided that even though we are moving back to Georgia very soon I would come for a short visit to surprise her and see her stand up with the rest of the College of Arts and Sciences to move her tassel.

Rather fortuitously, I am also here for Mother's Day. Thanks for birthin' me, Mom!

Yay

John turned in his paper so he is done with his second semester! Now he just has to write his thesis and he'll be LLM-ed! We are doing some more traveling to celebrate so we may be radio silent for a couple of days.

Oh, and UGA asked me if I wanted to move up the Specialist degree in Education for School Library Media and I said yes! I got into a competitive program without even applying to it. And without having any previous Education degrees. Anyway, with a little extra work this will successfully get me certified to be a Media Specialist in Georgia and may even bump me to a higher pay scale.

May Fayre

The Internet fixed itself sometime during the night. Is there an emoticon for rolling your eyes?

I told stories at the Itteringham May Fayre yesterday. I had a little tent and two sessions during the day. Luckily, Libby had brought books from the library because the kids ended up being teeny tiny. The best part of the day was when a little boy came running up to me several minutes after he and his family had listened to some stories and said "Can I hear another story?" I let him pick out a book and he had a good time pointing to the pictures he really liked.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Oops!

I broke the Internet. Somehow. Updates tomorrow!

Lawn

So John is still working on his paper(s?) leaving me alone all day to try and entertain myself. His ploy has worked because I decided to try and mow the lawn.

Factors working against me:
Floppy British grass
Very long grass that was neglected all winter
Damp
Our crappy man(or, in this case, woman)-powered push mower
The dull blades on said mower

I managed to sort of cut almost half of it (remember our garden is not that large) before I had to give up due to exhaustion and frustrations. The biggest problem was that clumps of grass would get caught in the mower and the blades would stop turning. I would pull out the grass clumps only to catch more on the next push of the mower. Either John will have to do the rest or I'll attack it little by little over the next few days.

While I was outside I noticed pieces of John's hair from when I cut it back before our road trip. I guess neither the winds nor the birds wanted it. At least I did a better job cutting John's hair than I did cutting the lawn (John had better agree, or else!).

Dream

I had a dream last night that I was hanging out with Amanda and I saw two praying mantises. At first I was like, "Hey, there are two praying mantises. Cool." But then one of them tried to attack me. I caught it gently and we tried to put it into a bag. It got out. I think we put it into a box the second time. Basically it kept escaping but I didn't want to kill it and I couldn't ignore it because it really was coming after me. So we just kept trying. I think we were going to try and take both mantises outside but then I woke up. Strange.

Happy

I realized this morning that I was happy.

Not that I am generally an unhappy person or that I have been unhappy recently. But I do have a problem with focusing on the present and noticing that right now, in this moment, I am happy. This morning, I noticed. I was happy just hanging out in the flat, going for a run, getting ready for my day. Happy. So I sang in the shower. Which made me even happier!

Busy Day

I actually kept pretty busy today. I found another job to apply for, then I went into town to talk to some of the librarians about upcoming events. John is still working on his papers every day so I told him I would run errands for him in town. I bought more drain-unclogger and stopped by the pharmacy. Then I came home. So it doesn't sound like much, but it was a pretty day to walk around town.

Book Review

Not much to report today. I wrote a review of the latest book I've read. And, when I was cleaning my office this morning I actually went through the canvas bag I got at the conference on Monday and discovered a free book! It's an advance copy of The Sisters Club by Megan McDonald. It's been a while since I've read a novel for younger readers, but this is a good one to get me back into it. Really enjoyable so far.

Hair

I forgot that one of the problems with having short hair (especially short hair that isn't all the same length) is that you have to cut it pretty frequently to keep it looking nice. My hair really needs a trim, but John doesn't want to authorize that expenditure because:

1. We are waiting on loan money

2. He thinks my hair looks fine (sometimes it's nice when your husband thinks you are beautiful no matter what, but there are drawbacks)

3. He doesn't understand why a cheap salon can't do it (trust me, they can't)

Boys just don't understand these things.

YLG Conference

I went to a conference today for librarians and the focus was on phonics and how children learn to read. The speaker emphasized the need for children to understand what they are reading (not just what individual words mean but what the whole story is about) and enjoy reading. I think what we do as librarians is very important to this goal because by reading to children from a young age and modeling reading aloud for parents we are enabling children to understand and enjoy stories. So, once they start reading on their own maybe that part can come more naturally.

May I say this is why I am not the biggest fan of things like Lexile, because as far as I can tell, the difficulty of the books is calculated only based on how hard the text is to decode. The maturity level of the story and how much it might appeal to a certain age group is not considered at all.

The speaker said that there is no such thing as a book that is too easy, but there are books that are too difficult. Now I have been frustrated when I have seen grade school children flying through board books trying to "cheat" at summer reading. But for a child who is genuinely interested in a book that could be considered below his reading level, if he is going to get something out of it, yeah, what's the harm?

Movie

We walked into town today to see the new Fast and Furious movie. John, because he wanted to see that movie. Me, because there was popcorn involved.

The popcorn at British movie theaters isn't as good as in American theaters (it isn't fresh). But it's better than no popcorn at all.

Colchester Castle

Today I visited Colchester Castle with some staff and volunteers from Ancient House and the children in the Museum Club and the History Club. These clubs both meet regularly at Ancient House where they work on projects, listen to guest speakers, and participate in various other activities. Sometimes they go on trips, like they did today.

There was one adult assigned to every three children. My children were Georgia, Hadyn, and Connor. Georgia wants me to move to England permanently, Hadyn looks like a Weasley (but isn't too mischievous), and Connor prefers the Greeks to the Romans.

We walked down to the parking lot to get on the coach. I wasn't sure how much room there would be so I sat in the seat next to Georgia. After I saw all the empty seats I was sure my kids thought I was lame for sticking so close to them. But I had a nice conversation with Georgia and she asked me to sit with her on the ride back so I guess I wasn't too uncool.

The castle has been converted into a museum, so we started out by exploring the first floor in our groups. My favorite thing was Boudicea's chariot. It is actually the chariot that was used in a movie about Boudicea.

After that we ate lunch, then we went underground where a woman from the museum talked to us about the Romans. Under Claudius the Romans took over the land of the Trinovantes, including the capital city of Camulodunum (which is now Colchester). They made the local people build a temple to Claudius after he died. The underground chambers we were sitting in were filled with sand to support the weight of the temple. When Boudicea led the Britons against the Romans they burned the temple to the ground and took Camulodunum. Later on the Normans moved in and built a castle on top of the temple ruins. They used Roman debris, making Colchester the only red castle.

The woman from the museum led us upstairs where the kids got to handle some Roman artifacts and try their hand at building a round house and a Roman villa. When they were finished we looked around at the rest of the museum. Then we came home!

Dereham

I mentioned that I visited the library in Dereham last Saturday as part of the America Week celebration. Today I visited the school to talk about Americans in Norwich during WWII, partly because of America Week and partly because the third years just started learning about WWII.

So, this morning I showed my PowerPoint and did the paper airplane craft with two groups of 50 children.

Then I ate lunch at a sandwich shop.

Then I went to the library. The third years walked up to the library (in two separate groups of 50, again) to listen to me tell American stories.

The PowerPoint went pretty well. Sometimes I get discouraged because the facial expressions don't change, but all the other adults seem to read that as "paying attention," so I guess that's a good thing.

Every time I have worked with grade school children in England there has been an incident with boys and boobies. Today was no exception. The first classroom I was in had a male teacher and I hung out in the classroom after my presentation because they had just a few minutes before they would go to a short recess. One of the boys in the class pulled his pant leg up and told his teacher to look at his socks. They had a picture of a lady in a bikini. The teacher just laughed and asked him where he had gotten them. He said he borrowed them from his dad.

This afternoon was the first time I got to perform the whole program of American stories I had planned. One of the new things I was trying out was making rattlesnake soup. In my book of American folklore I found a little story about cowboys talking up rattlesnake soup to the new guy until he gets really interested, then laughing at him and telling him they don't eat that stuff. I thought I could adapt the story by making imaginary rattlesnake soup with the kids, allowing them to suggest lots of ingredients, going through all the motions, then instructing them to taste it. After they tasted it I would tell them that we "don't really eat that stuff." Well, it actually went better than I could have hoped because when the kids tasted their soup they immediately started saying, "Ew!" "Yuck!" "You poisoned me!" Very good sports.

Johnbook

I am, admittedly, on facebook a lot these days because I spend a lot of time at home and it is a diversion. John has a facebook account (two actually) but he's almost never on.

But now that he has been going into school to work on his papers he updates his status twice a day. Thanks for keeping us posted on your progress, John. And that's a fine picture of you eating haggis.

Real Life

So now that I'm done blogging about our holiday I suppose I'll have to go back to blogging about real life. Not as exciting, I'm afraid.

John has been working on his term papers. I have been applying for jobs. I did go do some storytelling at the Dereham library last Saturday. There weren't many takers but the kids who did listen were sweet. I'm going back on Friday to talk about Americans in Norwich during WWII (that PowerPoint presentation I've been working on) at a school. (It is America Week, a celebration connected with Abraham Lincoln's bicentenary. Lincoln had some relatives from Norfolk.)

We have a really bad clog in our shower drain. I cleaned the bathroom before we left so that the mold wouldn't take over. But it did anyway. In the drain. We have tried lots of chemicals and a home made coat hanger snake (once I figured out how exactly to jam it down the pipe) but alas, nothing has worked thus far. We have been using the downstairs bathroom for days (thank goodness it is warmer, at least - the downstairs bathroom isn't heated) and last night slept in another room because of real or imagined fumes.

Hadrian's Wall

On Friday we stopped by Hadrian's Wall on our way home!


















































I finally got it all down. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Edinburgh

We spent Thursday in Edinburgh.

First we went to the cathedral of St. Giles.





































Then we went to the castle. Patrick Stewart was also at the castle. We didn't say anything to him because we saw another fan-girl gush at him and he was nice to her but looked like he wanted to be left alone.

















We also went on a ghost tour where we learned about witches, narrow squalid streets, and mad monks! Our ghostly tour guide pretended to smother me in a demonstration about men who killed people to donate as medical cadavers.

Conwy

On Wednesday we saw Conwy castle.












































And then we drove to Scotland!

Beaumaris

We also went to Beaumaris castle on Tuesday.

Caernarfon

Tuesday we visited Caernarfon castle.

Criccieth

We also visited Criccieth castle on Monday.

Harlech

On Monday we saw Harlech castle.





























I don't feel too bad that I didn't get in any running on our holiday since I climbed up and down lots of tower stairs.

Carreg Cennin

On Easter Morning we went to Carreg Cennin castle. It's a good thing traffic was so light because we had to drive on some seriously narrow country roads.

Caerphilly Castle

We went to Caerphilly castle on Saturday. It was one of the largest castles we saw and the surrounding lake and motes were filled.

Into Wales

We stopped by Tintern Abbey on the way to Cardiff. John stopped at an observation point a few miles up to write some lines.















We had to wait until Saturday morning to get good pictures in Cardiff. Here is the Millennium building.














And here is John, sneaking into Torchwood.

Bath Day Two

We explored the city of Bath on Friday.

Here are some slightly frightening sculptures, the minotaur and she-rabbit.














This is from the Roman Baths. There were statues of several prominent Romans, including my buddy JC. But I have chosen to share with you the statue of Suetonius Paulinus, because he was the governor of Britain during the Boudicean revolt.



















This is water flowing into the Roman Baths.















We also saw a street performer who was pretty entertaining, and ate lunch at the Pump House, the restaurant attached to the Roman Baths. And we tried the water. Warm and sulfurous. Before moving on to the next city we visited the William Herschel Museum. William and his sister Caroline were astronomers. He built much stronger telescopes than previously existed and discovered the planet Uranus. Caroline discovered several comets.

Bath Day One

This morning we left Cornwall and drove to Bath. We took a long walk by the canal where we saw more green hills, playful lambs, and boats!

Cornwall Day Two

On Wednesday we went to Tintagel. This is supposedly where King Arthur was born. There was a castle and an ocean and lots of green hills.

Cornwall Day One

We arrived in Cornwall on Monday night and Tuesday Tessa drove us around to see pretty places!
















These are some of the geese outside the hotel where Tessa works. They saw her car in the parking lot and thought she might feed them.















Tessa did not feed the geese, but she did feed us! She made a yummy dinner on Tuesday night that was all vegan Indian food.

Travels

John and I are on a road trip. I may not be able to post every day, but I'll do a full account once we get back home.

Worried Girl

John and I are about to embark on our Amazing England Adventure (driving around for days in the rented car) and to keep the mold from completely taking over the flat while we are gone I decided to clean the bathroom. I've managed to not catch John's cold so far but I'm afraid the cleaning chemicals might have irritated my sinuses enough to give the germs a foot hold. Let's hope my mucus membranes rebuild themselves and kick the germs out!

I convinced John that I deserved to see a movie because I worked so hard this morning. So, we finally went to see The Boat that Rocked. The ads for it came out a while ago, so I feel like I've been waiting forever. I enjoyed it!

I've still been working away at my guitar playing. Since I decided to learn guitar I've been harboring some vague hope of writing the occasional folk song, but like David Rees, with Bush gone I've been wondering what there is to make social/political commentary on. The economy?

21st Century Worried Girl Blues (sung to the tune of Worried Man Blues)

Chorus:
It takes a worried girl to sing a worried song
It takes a worried girl to sing a worried song
It takes a worried girl to sing a worried song
I’m worried now, but I won’t be worried long

I’m looking for a job, but no one will hire me
I’m looking for a job, but no one will hire me
I’m looking for a job, but no one will hire me
They say that Ponzi has ruined our economy

Chorus

I’ve applied all over town but I haven’t heard a thing
I’ve applied all over town but I haven’t heard a thing
I’ve applied all over town but I haven’t heard a thing
You need a PhD to work for Burger King

Chorus

I’ve been goin’ to school for the past 21 years
I’ve been goin’ to school for the past 21 years
I’ve been goin’ to school for the past 21 years
And all I’ve got, is loans up to my ears

Chorus

I ain’t got no way to pay back all these loans
I ain’t got no way to pay back all these loans
I ain’t got no way to pay back all these loans
I hope my folks will let me move back home

Chorus

Surely I am the voice of the 21st century 20-something...

What are you worried about? Leave your own verses in the comments.

Funny Bunny Day

The train trip to Thetford:

When I picked up my pre-booked tickets at the station I discovered it was only a ticket. I had somehow managed to buy a single to Thetford, but not a return back. I went into the ticket office to see about buying the return ticket and the woman was kind enough to refund my single and then sell me the whole journey at once, since it was cheaper that way.

The train was very crowded, probably because Easter break just started. I sat in a table seat with three other people. The table seat across the aisle from me had parents and their small child. During the train ride the child started coughing and sounded like he was going to throw up. Instead of hurrying her child to the bathroom, the mother put her hand in front of his mouth to catch the vomit. Needless to say, her one hand didn't even beging to cut it. The kid started coughing again and then threw up all over the table and floor. Thankfully, the Thetford stop came up soon.

Funny Bunny Day:

I was in one of the front rooms at Ancient House armed with my bunny books. The staff decided to provide me with a taxidermied rabbit in a plastic box. There was a hole in the box so that you could reach in and pet the bunny. They warned me that the bunny's paws were delicate and to encourage the kids to pet him on the head. Well, I told every single child to pet the bunny on the head nicely and almost every one tried to put a death grip on the paw. Like a magnet.

One of the books I brought was Antoinette Portis's Not a Box. It went over really well with the very little kids, one of whom had been playing in a box just this morning! On one page the bunny is imagining that his box is a burning sky scraper that he is putting out. A dad commented that this must be an American book based on the sky scraper and the "FD" on the rabbit's helmet for "Fire Department." Guilty as charged. Two of the three books I brought were American.

After the bulk of the visitors had come to hear me read, the staff asked me to help out upstairs because there was a unmanned craft table. So, I spent the rest of the day helping children make rabbit ear headbands, masks, and finger puppets.

The train ride back to Norwich:

The train was almost as crowded as it was this morning. I saw a man sitting alone at a table seat and decided that was as much space as I was going to get. I sat down accross from him before I noticed his dog under the table. It was a nice dog and really didn't bother me, but I could tell that the man was pretty tense for the rest of the ride worrying about how his dog was behaving.

John drove me to and from the train station. What a sweetie!

Mummy?

I checked out a few books to read at Funny Bunny Day tomorrow at Ancient House. One of them is Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems. I read through it today in preparation and then on page 21 I read the sentence: "As soon as Trixie's mummy opened the door, she asked, 'Where's Knuffle Bunny.'"

??!

Mummy?

It's been a while since I've read the book but I am almost certain the original American publication says "mom" or "mommy." I've heard that British books that get published in America are edited to take some of the Britishisms out. Apparently it goes both ways. Since I've been reading so many British books over here I can state with some authority that none of the colloquialisms have made the books impossible to understand. The local color makes them more interesting. And once in a while I learn something. So this business of translating books that are already in English (whether the change is Anglicizing or Americanizing) I'm very much opposed to.

Leg Over Leg the Dog Went to Dover

We went by car.















Yup. They're white.


I like the stratification here. This is where dirt has eroded from the side of a field near the cliffs.















And here is John. It was windy.

Happy April Fools Day

I was sort of trying to pull a hoax claiming that I had tea with the Queen, but I just saw that the Prez is meeting with her and no one would believe I had tea with them both.

I went to the library today to meet with one of the children's librarians about an upcoming event. We used the office in the Memorial Library to talk, and both the ladies working in there today told us that a mom came in to say that her daughter was in one of the classes that came on the library tour a few weeks ago and it was the first time she had come home from school talking about what she did that day. Clearly the paper airplanes made an impression.

John and I went to watch some of his students in a moot court trial this afternoon. Moot court is not as much fun to watch as mock trial. I really wanted to bust into the Law and Order opening music followed by an enthusiastic "chum chum!" to liven things up. All the students did a great job arguing their case even though they didn't entertain me.

Light

Before Danny's visit I replaced several light bulbs that had gone out. I don't know if it is a problem with the electricity or just cheap bulbs but we seem to lose lights frequently. And every time a bulb burns out it flips the breaker that all the lights in the flat are on. So we have to go find the breaker in the dark, flip it back, just to get all the lights back on minus the one that blew.

One of the light bulbs I replaced before Danny came was the one in the stairway. It dangles from a wire and is perfectly positioned so that it is too far over to reach from the top of the stairway and too far up to reach from the middle. I had to stand on a step stool at the top of the stairs, snag the cord on a broom stick, then hold onto the cord with one hand while changing the light with the other.

After Danny's visit I made another run to the store and replaced the rest of the burned out light bulbs in the flat because it is really so much nicer to have light. I wondered how long we could boast having all of our lights working.

Not long. The one light bulb in the fixture in my office that I didn't replace recently has just gone. You might not think it would be so, but it makes a big difference. It is dismal in here after the sun goes down and I had to move the bedside lamp onto my desk so I could see my guitar book.

Le sigh. I guess I'll have to go to the store again.

Sunshine!

Still no big adventures today but I did convince John to walk into town for lunch so we could enjoy the sun. The rain made it much colder outside the past few days so it is nice to have our spring weather back now.

We went by the school this afternoon to listen to the American law students talk about the universities they have chosen for their year in America. There are three, including Samford, that are partnered with UEA. The first year students had to say which university they have chosen and why. The second year students (who will spend next year in the US) had to give three facts about the place they are going. It was interesting to hear what they all thought were the most notable things about each place. I wish them well and hope that they learn as much from living in America as John and I have learned from living in England.

Not What I'd Planned

I didn't have a lot going on last week and I was really looking forward to this weekend when we would have the car and be able to go places. And we did go places yesterday...

...but not today. Today John was sick. So I tried to take care of him by telling him repeatedly how much more fun he is when he isn't sick, thereby motivating him to get better.

Instead of traveling we spent most of the day on the couch watching Dr. Who and playing Mario Party (a very low impact Wii game). It was a shame because there was actually less rain today.

Southwold

From what I understand some of my family line through Grandma Kay came from Southwold, which is in Suffolk County on the southern coast of East Anglia. I believe this is the place Southold, New York (which is also in Suffolk County) is named after.

Since John and I are renting a car currently we decided Southwold would be our first trip. It is not on the train line and also isn't that far from us (about an hour).

We had a very nice time. The coast is beautiful there. Very different from Great Yarmouth and a lot classier. John put it that they have expensive touristy things instead of cheap touristy things. It's true. There are a lot of art galleries.

We ate some coastal sea food at a local inn, then walked around looking for the old rail station (which was on the map we had). We couldn't find it, but we found the railway gift shop. The men in there were very friendly and I think they enjoyed talking to us. It turns out the old rail station is now the police station (which we had passed several times). They are trying to raise funds and get permission to get the old line running again. We bought some post cards and accepted a pamphlet talking about the rail foundation.

We considered going on a boat tour but decided we were already too wet from the rain. So instead we got pastries from the bakery and ate them on a bench overlooking the ocean.

We spent the rest of the afternoon driving around Norfolk because John is really enjoying having a car and his driving wasn't scaring me too much.

The coast:















I'm looking at the camera here, but the wind is blowing my hair in my face:

Shadows

I finally uploaded the pictures that were on my iphone. Here is one I thought was interesting.

Meanwhile Back at the Flat

I tried out a new running route today. I really like the park but I find that if I run too many laps in one place it is harder for me to be motivated to continue. Whereas if I run away from home and then have to run back that is great motivation to keep going. Especially when I will get cold pretty quickly if I stop moving!

So today I ran through the park, up to UEA, and around the lake. It went pretty well and I think it is about the same distance I've been running, but it was hard to tell because I got caught behind a group of elementary school children and that cost me a lot of time. There are also some hills which aren't fun to run on but provide an added challenge. And I am hoping that the fact that most of this run is on soft ground might help my shins.

After I got back home and spent a few hours thinking about it I finally cleaned the kitchen. It was a total disaster after last night's cooking adventures. Everything was covered in grease and there was Buffalo sauce spilled all over one counter and down the front of the washing machine (a great argument for not having laundry appliances in the kitchen). This is all not to mention the tremendous pile of dirty pots and pans. It took me over two hours but the kitchen is now as clean as it ever is. John went to school to work on some papers today and got home just as I was finishing up. Lucky boy.

American Food

There was an event at John's school tonight for the international students. Everyone was supposed to bring a dish from their country. We decided to try to make jalapeno poppers and Buffalo wings.

Fortunately, our car rental started today, so we were able to drive to one of the larger grocery stores. We found all the ingredients for making Buffalo wings, but no jalapenos. There were some fresh red chili peppers so we decided to try using them instead.

I made some vegan chili poppers just in case anyone who was coming was a vegan. Those I stuffed with a mixture of tofu, garlic, and a little oil and vinegar. I coated them with oil and gave them a light flour batter. This batter came off as soon as John put them in the oil.

The regular chili poppers were stuffed with cream cheese and had egg holding the batter on instead of oil. That batter stayed on a little better in the fry pan. My finger tips still burn from pitting the chilies.

John made the Buffalo wing sauce from the Anchor Bar recipe. It's mostly butter, cayenne pepper, and Tabasco sauce. Then he fried the wings and coated them in the sauce.

At the dinner we had lots of good international foods and our contributions were well received. Pretty much everyone liked the Buffalo wings. The chilies were a little hotter than we imagined. People from European countries had the hardest time with them, but the Nigerians said that they were just right.

As always it was great to share dinner with the other students. I hope we will all be able to get together again before everyone leaves for the summer.

John Crumbs

Today I went to sit on the couch after John had been there and saw that there were crumbs on the cushion. I asked John what he had been eating because I wanted to know how grossed out I should be by what I almost sat on.

He said they were John crumbs.

Is that better or worse than cookie crumbs?

Shiny

Nothing much interesting happened today, but look what came across my Google reader:



Enjoy!

Ten Bells

On Friday night John and I went to a birthday party for Ashby. I didn't write about it on Friday because once we got home the "Peaches" post was about all I could manage.

We started out at a pub near where Ashby and Christine live called Ten Bells. A lot of people from school were there. Ashby and a friend from the US played guitar for a while, which was pretty awesome. My favorite were the blues songs.

I talked to various law school people until the concert was over and then wandered over to the table with John and two of his students who are both Irish and are both studying in the US next year. I think my favorite part of the night was when John interrupted the conversation I was having with one of the Irish guys who yelled at him, "Hey, we're talking about international politics here!" It made me feel smart. (Just don't ask me to remember the specifics of the conversation now.)

The party headed over to Frank's Bar, where Christine works and where we were promised cake. John and I ended up on the patio with the Irish guys where John recounted the "bloody eye" story and we heard all about one of the young men's love interests. "She isn't a wee lass, if you know what I'm sayin'. She's quite busty." (I guess grown men aren't much different from grade school boys.)

Overall it was a pretty good night during which I didn't drink too much, but may have eaten too little.

Conversations in Cambridge

John and I took a trip to Cambridge today. We wandered around, got some lunch, looked in the Anthropology and Archaeology Museum. Then we went down to the bridge to see if we could catch a punter falling into the water. As we were standing on the bridge making our own commentary on the punters and the ducks we could overhear the two guys next to us doing the same thing.

The next thing I knew, one of those guys was talking to us about the lost dignity of a particular punter who had taken his shirt off. Soon both guys were talking to us about their opinions on Cambridge and US state governors and various other random things. (I mentioned to them Uncle Sonny's plan to solve Georgia's water shortage by stealing back land from Tennessee. They were quite amused.) We ended up spending the rest of our time in Cambridge hanging out with our new friends and watching a rugby game in a nearby pub.

The one young man who was not as interested in rugby talked to me at length about how so many people don't want to connect with other people. They are not interested in making conversation with strangers. This really bothered him. It occurred to me that I am often that kind of person. I'm terrible at small talk and I'm shy. I put in the effort to get to know people I will see often, but someone I'm never going to see again? The thing is that being somewhat more isolated living here and not going to school like John does, maybe I'm starved for human interaction. I'm starting to see the value in making new friends, if only for the afternoon.

John and I ended up sitting with a very chatty woman on the train ride back. And as it turns out, she lives in Norwich and gave us her card. So her, we may see again. It has been a very full day.

Peaches

The other day, I noticed that John smelled especially fruity. I asked him if he had used my shampoo. He admitted that he had used my new Fruictis. Now, I hadn't even used my new Frucitis yet. My old shampoo was running low but hadn't run out. I asked him why he had used it. "Why?" He said, "Why else? I was trying to control my frizz." I'm glad John was benefitting from my anti-frizz shampoo.
Once I started using it I noticed how differnent it smelled from the Fructis I last used. It smelled like a soft fruit with a skin you could eat. Oh yeah, a peach. How could I forget a peach? I've been away from Georgia too long.

More Boobies

The first group of kids I had in the library today ended up staying with me for an extra long time. Paper airplane flying can quickly devolve into complete chaos, so once it was clear they needed something else to do, I suggested they look around the Memorial Library at some of the model airplanes and memorabilia.
I saw two boys laughing at a book that was on display. It looked like it was pictures of '50s swimwear, and there was a woman in a bikini on the front. They were arguing over whether or not she was actually a man. I walked up to them and asked, "Why do you think that is a man?"
Their answer was, "Because there aren't any boobies."
Being somewhat more of an expert on boobies than elementary age boys I can assure you that the woman in the photograph did have breasts. They just weren't ginormous movie star breasts. The youth of today are clearly being taught to have unrealistic expectations.

Paper Airplanes Day 2

The groups that came in today were a little noisier but had more questions for me. One girl talked to me for several minutes while the rest of the children were trying out their airplanes. I tried to answer her questions about World War II planes as best I could, but finally she said, "I would think if I came from the country I would know more about it."
I'm pretty sure she meant that she thought I should be more of an expert simply because I am American. She didn't say it in a snotty way, just like she couldn't believe I couldn't tell her more. I searched for an explanation and finally admitted that I didn't learn about World War II in this detail when I was in school. I've actually learned much more about it living here than I ever did in America.
I hope she will come back to the library to get answers to the rest of her questions.

Following Directions

I helped out in the Memorial Library today because a class was visiting. They were going to see the whole library, but spend half an hour in the Memorial Library learning about WWII airplanes and making paper airplanes. They are learning about planes in school right now. They are also learning about following a set of instructions, so the directions we had for a specific paper airplane worked out well. I'll be going in again the next two days to do the same thing!

I did some more work on the website today. Starting fresh helped. Here is my problem:

For simple stuff I can find really straightforward instructions. How do you change the background color? There is a page in my book that tells you how to do exactly that. But now that I'm trying to do more complicated stuff, there aren't specific instructions. How do I get my YouTube video exactly where I want it on the screen without fixing it a certain distance from the edge? Turns out, it is possible but there isn't a page in the book on how to do it. There is a page in the book on how to give a division margins. I had to figure out myself that putting a large margin on just the left would move the video to the right of my navigation bar. I think the cavemen had it right. When you paint a buffalo on a certain spot on the wall, that buffalo is going to be on that spot on the wall. It doesn't need margins to make it stay there.

I Prefer Lanuages That Are For Speaking

Looking at my website can't fully convey they trouble I went through to get it to look like this.

Doesn't look that much different. But it's pretty much all I have done today. Not because I spent most of the day doing nothing. Because I spent hours changing between divs and tables and trying to get that YouTube video to go where I was telling it to go. I needed to know things that weren't in my book. I needed to know things John couldn't tell me how to do. I decided that I like this website.

I feel kind of fried. But the funny thing is that I haven't even made all the changes I want to make. There is more CSS in my future.

Joy.

Back to School

I got accepted to UGA's School Library Media Certification program!

What this means is that once I have the certificate I can be a media specialist in Georgia. Which means my life plan of having a job I love but also having time for future children and storytelling is coming together. It feels good to be on track.

Taxes

I was hoping to get out this weekend, but John was expecting a package today so we couldn't really go anywhere. Lame. (If you give a husband permission to buy a computer, he will decide he needs some accessories...)

I filed our taxes and it looks like we are getting a refund on both federal and state. John wasn't going to file since he didn't make enough money, but I decided to file us jointly in the hope that his school expenses would get us a better refund.

That is about all the excitement here for today.

If you looked at Sound and Sense yesterday and couldn't make any sense of it, fear not. I was looking back over it this morning and noticed that in changing between templates I lost paragraph and a half somewhere. It should be fixed now.

On Our Own Again

It was sad to see our first over-seas visitor go, but Danny is on to more adventures in London.

To fill the void I started a new blog. Am I turning into a blogoholic?

The truth is that this blog has shown me that daily blogging is good for me and I've been contemplating what to do when I am no longer the "American librarian in Norwich, England." Blogging so frequently when I am in the inherently interesting situation of living in a foreign country has not been easy. What would I talk about once I move home? So I decided to make my post-Norwich blog on a topic I feel I could speak on endlessly (who would have guessed that topic was not myself?): the spoken word.

Anyway, the new blog was meant to start after I came home from Norwich, but I have so many ideas now that I don't want to lose. And I find many opportunities here to talk about sound and sense that I don't want to pass up. Please check it out if the topic interests you. If not, you can keep reading about my Norwich adventures right here for a few more months.

Alright Yarmouth

After exhausting the most exciting parts of Norwich, I took Danny to Great Yarmouth today. He wanted to see a British coast.

So we went down to the beach and then looked for a museum to go through. I saw on the city website that they have several museums. But the website didn't exactly draw to my attention the fact that not all the museums are open in the winter.

We finally happened upon the Time and Tide museum, which was open. There we learned all about herring, and life in a coastal town.

When we stopped for chips we discovered that the pigeon mafia has nothing on the sea gull mafia. A bunch of pigeons were gathered around a child who was dropping chips on the ground. One of the sea gulls came down to investigate. Then he spread his wings out and honked loudly for his friends to come get some of these chips. They seemed to intimidate both the pigeons and the child.

More Norwich Adventures

I took Danny to the Castle today. We saw most of the exhibits in the museum and went on the battlements and dungeon tours. The tour guide this time was a different person than the one John and I had before. She said mostly different stuff so it was worth doing the tours again.

After that we met up with John and walked through the Cathedral. Then we got a pint at the Adam and Eve and went to dinner.

We had nice weather all day so walking outside was pleasant and we had a good view of the city from the battlements.

Danny

Danny is amazing at traveling. He was right on time, which means everything went as planned on each leg of his journey!

We met up around noon, had lunch, explored town, and then came home to eat Indian delivery with John.

Tomorrow, more adventures!

Hair

I was looking at my hair the other day and realized that it was ever-so-slightly, a different color on the bottom half than the top.

You see, I did dye my hair for a while a couple years ago, just for fun. As the wedding approached, I had to fix it. I went to one hair salon where they just dyed over my dye job. The result was that my roots showed very clearly when my hair grew out and my hair would still fade to a color lighter than what it should have been. So I went to a different salon where the stylist (good naturedly) lectured me about dying my hair from a box, stripped the old color, and dyed over my hair with semi-permanent dye. The result was that my hair would fade, but without leaving a distinct line. So she used the semi-permanent dye a few more times and my hair looked normal for my wedding.

Months later, I still think she did a great job, because it really wasn't that obvious that my hair wasn't all the same color. But the dyed hair was never going to be exactly the right color without repeat treatments of the semi-permanent dye.

I opted for cutting off the discolored hair.
















Of course, your hair always looks great the day you get it cut. What my hair will look like when I have to style it myself remains to be seen.

One More Thing

Danny, one of my friends from library school, is coming to visit us on Tuesday. I spent the day preparing for his visit by cleaning.

I scrubbed the guest bathroom, trying to get rid of live mold if not permanently ingrained mold stains. I tidied up the living room, putting away clutter that has been on the bookshelf and fireplace for months. I made my office look more like a bedroom by putting sheets on the bed and moving out a few of my things that might get in the way.

After all this, I took a break, had some lunch, and walked to the co-op with John. As we were walking back into the house I saw that John's bag had sprung a leak. John was ahead of me and he was letting the bag leak on the floor. "John!" I called out. He turned to look at me, and as he did he moved the bag towards the bed. "Not on the bed!" I yelled. But it was too late. The bag had leaked on the bed, too. John immediately saw what was going on and took the bag back outside.

Up until that point, we both thought the leak was milk. It was actually beer.

The good news is that the beer that did get on the bed didn't soak all the way through the duvet cover. Since the duvet itself will not fit in the washing machine I'm not sure what I would have done if it had gotten dirty. But the cover is in the wash, and Danny has escaped having to sleep in a bed that smells like beer.

Train Station

John and I talked about going on a short trip today, but we only made it as far as the train station. Only one bus was running, so we had to walk. By the time we got there is was kind of late to go somewhere, do something, and come back.

Anyway, we explored that part of town. Ate lunch at a Thai restaurant on the river and saw Young Victoria at a theater we hadn't been to before.

Popisms

You: Huh?
Pop: If you can "huh" you can hear.

You: So we were playing outside and...
Pop: What do you mean we? Do you have a mouse in your pocket?

You: *being too slow*
Pop: My grandmother was slow, but she was old.

You: Hey, Pop!
Pop: Hay is for horses, straw is cheaper.

You: Sorry I'm running late. I'm coming.
Pop: So is Christmas.

"Tell me this, people keep talking about how all our pollution is putting holes in the ozone layer. What do they think rockets are doing when we shoot 'em into space. How's a rocket going to get through the ozone without making a hole?"

Me (reading plaque with Mazzaferro crest on it): This says "mazza" means "club," and "ferro" means "iron." I guess "Mazzaferro" means "iron club."
Pop: You're just like this one (pointing at Grandma). It says "mazza" means "club." So it's "club iron."
Note: Someday Amanda and I are going to open a dance club called "Club Iron." Or a gym. That could work, too.

My grandfather left this world today, but he is still alive in our hearts and memories. Please leave your Popisms or memories about Pop in the comments.