World Book Day

Can I just say how much I love being a librarian?

It is funny how now that I'm not doing programs that often I let myself get all nervous and doubtful. When I was working at the library and did two storytimes a week minimum with possible branch visits, school visits, and auditorium programs on top of that I couldn't stress. It would have made me crazy. And today was a shining example of why I should not worry now: I'm good at this.

Through Libby, the library in Long Stratton asked me to come do storytimes today for World Book Day. I told them I would bring some of the American picture books from the Second Air Division Memorial Library collection and talk about how books can teach you about other parts of the world. They made arrangements for three primary school classes (ages 5-7) to come throughout the day.

My program:
* Sing "My Aunt Came Back"
* Read The Perfect Nest
* Talk about the accents the three birds in The Perfect Nest have
* Tell the story of "Mr Wiggle and Mr Waggle"
* Read Mama Don't Allow
* Sing the song "Mama Don't Allow" inserting instrument names suggested by the children
* Read King Bidgood's in the Bathtub with an introduction about how America has a president, but the American colonies had a king under England's rule
* Sing the "Hokey Pokey" after explaining that it is the American version of the "Hokey Cokey"
* Invite children to color

The children were all willing to participate and seemed to have a great time. They were very bright and answered even my more difficult questions like "Who is 'in charge' in America?" (I was looking for "the President," but some children actually said "Barack Obama.")

I had a break after the first two groups during which I walked to a local bakery to eat lunch. After I got back, the librarians were warning me about the last class because they both had children in there. Truth be told, the final class was a little rowdier than the first two. (Not due to the librarians' children, as far as I could tell.) But they were also the most interested in the books. Many of them spent the whole time that was alloted for coloring looking at books. I sat on the floor with a couple of boys looking at an atlas. I had to giggle because the boys on the couch had found the parenting section and had pulled out a book that had pictures of boobies. Their teacher didn't think it was very funny, though. Someone did drop a dictionary on my leg, which reminded me that being a librarian is a job that comes with a certain amount of risk. (In Athens, I once got headbutted in the pelvis mid-book. I kept reading without letting on that it hurt quite a lot.) But it was so sweet to see the kids so interested in reading and learning.

Basically, I had a fantastic day. I am so thankful that I have been allowed to volunteer, because I just don't know what I would do with myself otherwise. I may not be making money, but I'm keeping busy and I'm having a good time doing it.

Mexican?

John called me yesterday when I was in town to say that he had found a Mexican restaurant. We both love Mexican food and have missed it since we have been here. John was so excited he called Ashby to see if he and Christine would want to eat there with us tonight. Ashby told him that they had eaten there before and weren't impressed.

Nevertheless, John and I decided to form our own opinion. Besides, even if the food wasn't that great, we could still have margaritas.

We did go there for dinner tonight. Not even the margaritas were good.

I'm beginning to think that only Mexicans make good Mexican food. And there are significantly more Mexicans in Georgia than there are in Norwich.

Things To Do

Sometimes I feel like I don't have enough to do. But today was one of those days when I did all the little things I should be doing, and of course, I proved to myself that I have plenty to keep me busy.

My day:

yoga
breakfast
shower
trip to co-op
prepare chicken in marinade for dinner
lunch
clean the dishes
start laundry
trip into town to get a new library book, and buy light bulbs, yarn, and a watch
take down yesterday's dry laundry and hang up wet laundry
practice guitar
write in blog

And here we are. Time to cook dinner and relax.

What's Up?

Recently, Amanda was telling me about her linguistics professor's shortcomings and I finally asked her what her professor wrote her thesis on. She teaches this intro class but claims to have expertise in English as a second language. Her thesis topic: prepositions.

I once had a teacher describe prepositions as anywhere a squirrel can be in relation to a table. The squirrel is on the table. The squirrel is under the table. etc.

I asked Amanda if her professor's thesis was made up entirely of phrases describing a squirrel and a table. The squirrel is around the table. The squirrel is beside the table. The squirrel is in the table.

Wait a minute. A squirrel can't be in a table!

Amanda pointed out the obvious. He can if there is a drawer.

Needless to say, there are plenty of prepositions that the squirrel and table duo can't quite handle. Maybe Amanda's linguistics professor's thesis addresses this issue.

And remember, a preposition is a terrible thing to end a sentence with.

Dishes

Somehow, when we moved into a flat without a dishwasher, I convinced John that he should be responsible for cleaning the dishes and I would clean everything else. But John hates cleaning dishes as much as I do, so finally, after 5 months, the system has fallen apart. Together John and I cleaned ALL the dishes today (something that hasn't happened in a while), and then I cleaned the kitchen (something that hasn't happened ever). Maybe starting back from the beginning we can keep the situation with the dishes under control. Both of us. We are in agreement that we need a dishwasher when we move back to the US.

I reviewed another book today: The Knife of Never Letting Go. I love this book. Like, it is up there with the His Dark Materials series. In fact it is the first book in the Chaos Walking series. And since it is a new book, the rest of the series isn't published yet. The last time I read a series as it was published was when Stephen King published The Green Mile in serial form. If I don't get hooked until all the books are out - instant gratification! It was very sneaky of this book to be so good that I MUST have more and then make me wait!

Whitlingham Country Park

John and I picked up a cycling map of Norwich a while ago thinking it might come in handy. This morning I pulled the map out, pointed to the large park on the opposite side of the city from us, and said to John, "I want to go there."

John cycled in the lead and we stopped occasionally to consult the map on the most traffic-free route. On the way we discovered that Norwich has its own ski slopes.

At the park we walked around for a little while reading the informational signs. The broads (bodies of water more shallow than a lake) in the park formed from people mining the area for peat.

We saw the site of wood henge. (The henge isn't actually there anymore.) Now, if there is a stone henge, and a wood henge, my question is: where did the first little pig build straw henge? Since straw doesn't tend to last for a long time, we may never know. If I wanted to get all philosophical I might conclude from this that time is the big bad wolf.

But I digress. There was a cafe in the visitor's center so we had lunch there, cycled around the park, and then came home. John had to do some more fancy navigating because the road by County Hall was very busy due to a football game.

We live in a nice area that is good for exploring on foot or on bike and I really enjoyed the park. I am glad we were able to get out today, even though we will probably be very sore tomorrow.

Another London Trip

John has really wanted to see The Magic Flute for a while. So we saw it and we both enjoyed it and birthday accomplished!

I am a bit wiped out today. John booked us a bargain hotel room which ended up meaning that the "hotel" was sort of half hotel and half residence in what must once have been a dorm. There were people living there. And there were communal bathrooms. We didn't know any of this before we arrived.

But we both laughed it off. This is an adventure! And then, lest we escape irony, my stomach picked this hotel, of all places, to be unhappy. The hotel where the nearest bathroom was on another floor.

I didn't get much sleep and then we walked around all morning until it was time to catch the train. I am looking forward to a bath and uninterrupted sleep.

John keeps talking about The Magic Flute, though. And I can tell he's really happy we got to see it. And that makes me happy.