Snow and the V and A Museum and Little South Asia

London has been dumped with massive amounts of snow this week...approximately 1 inch or so. It's also been extremely cold this week--about -2 C or thereabouts. For this reason, most sensible and paranoid Londoners have stayed home instead of going out into the dreadful weather. My school however, opted to stay open since the main roads were clear (and Gascoigne is located on a main road). The teachers in my staff room were joking that if this were the London Blitz, our head would have said, "The skies are clear. School's open." Sarcasm aside, it has felt damp and chilly this week, and unfortunately the children have not be allowed out to play in it because none of them have snowsuits--an unheard-of thing in London. So they've been pretty hyper this week as it's been an entire week of indoor recesses (and they REALLY want to play in the snow since it's such a novelty), after two weeks of holiday excesses and being spoiled rotten. Furthermore, it's been less than 15 C in my classroom this week as one of the radiators wasn't working. It hasn't been a great week for teaching. However, I've been trying to keep the above things in mind and not take it personally when they get up and start pacing around the room in the middle of a lesson. I'm hoping it warms up soon so they can get outside again.

I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum with a friend from church today. I believe it started out as a gallery for Victoria and Albert's collection of things. It's an extensive museum now, somewhat like the ROM in Toronto. We spent four hours touring through three exhibits: sculptures from Medieval and Renaissance Europe, including Roman fountains and depictions of the three magi among other things; various artifacts from China: Ming vases and furniture from various dynasties, clothing and grave relics (I'm not sure if that's the proper term...various articles that were buried with the dead) and some modern art pieces; and finally an exhibit of photography, of which my favourite was a photograph of a woman selling newpapers while behind her was a flurry of activity making a statement about the constant motion of time about us.

For dinner, we walked down Brick Lane, which was clearly a hub of Indian and other South Asian restaurants and stores. At each restaurant, there was a man outside doing a hard sell job on each person who passed to convince them to come into his establishment. Free wine and beer were on offer, as well as 25-30% discounts off menu prices, and special deals where you get an appetizer plus main course plus dessert and drinks for a single rate. We were accosted more than a dozen times in the span of two blocks by these marketers. I had to laugh as each man politely waited for the man in front of him to finish his spiele, and then as soon as we walked on towards him, he'd launch into his appeal for why his restaurant was better and how many awards it had won from various sources and what better deals he could give us . It reminded me of time our family spent in Nigeria some twenty-odd years ago, when fruit sellers would complain, "Why do you not buy from my hand?" after my mother had purchased bananas from a competing trader.

Have a good week all. JKN

Dresden and music geek stuff around Leipzig

Yesterday, Judith and I spent the day in Dresden. To get there and back, Judith went online to look for carpools/shared transportation options available. She called several people who were offering rides between Leipzig and Dresden, and we ended up walking three blocks to meet a couple with a red Chevrolet Aveo at 9 am yesterday morning. She had also arranged with someone else to meet at the Dresden train station at 6:15 pm for a group train ticket deal. This woman had paid €28 for 5 people to travel, so she posted the information on the net in order to find other people who could help pay for the ticket. Interesting...I haven't seen people doing that in Canada hardly at all but in Germany it is absolutely commonplace. Instead of spending the money on a full-price train ticket or a tank of gas for only one commuter, they arrange €5 rides with total strangers to visit grandma in Berlin or to make a day trip somewhere.
So we arrived in Dresden shortly after 10 am and made our way to the tourist information office. We got some maps there, and discovered we could rent audio guides for walking tours of the city as well. Since it was getting close to noon, we headed for the Frauenkirche for an organ concert, a historic church that has been beautifully rebuilt several times, most recently reopened in 2005. The church was packed for the concert and a woman spoke about the history of the church and its structure. Judith translated parts of it for me. Apparently, the church was most recently flattened in the aftermath of the air raids on Dresden (two 30-minute attacks in February 1945). The church actually survived the actual bombings, saving 300 people who were sheltered in the basement, but the next day when fires were raging all over the city the heat of the fires proved too great and the structure collapsed. The church was left in its ruins for quite a while after the war because people wanted to leave it as a memorial, a reminder of what had happened. They finally decided to rebuild, but chose to reuse the bricks that survived intact. So the chuch structure vividly shows its history with the coal-blackened (from Dresden's long mining history) stones laid in amongst the new ones. The impressive cupola at the top of the church weighs 13 000 tonnes.

Judith and I in front of the Frauenkirche
Porcelain bells frame the clock at the Zwinger Palace; during warm weather, the bells ring every hour.

So the Frauenkirche was the highlight for both Judith and I. We also checked out the Zwinger Palace with its many Baroque sculpures and curly-cues. We went into a store selling all Christmas things German, so I picked up a few decorations--some wood-carved angels bearing different musical instruments, and one of these carousels with a horizontal wind turbine at the top that moves the carousel when you light a candle on the side. If this makes no sense to you whatsoever, I'll post a picture later.... : ) After a cold, windy afternoon outside, we were glad to finally get inside again and made our train connection without difficulty.

All Dresden's noteworthies on a long mural.

Mendelssohn's study.


Today I travelled around Leipzig on my own again, checking out the Grassi Museum musical instruments exhibition as well as the Mendelssohn Haus. I saw some interesting instruments--a serpent, as well as a viola da gamba, instruments I had really only heard about before, as well as some experimental instrument inventions that didn't survive, such as the plexi-glass flute and the violin-with-a-phonograph-horn-attached to amplify the sound. I enjoyed also seeing Mendelssohn's study and the house generally. It showed signs of wealth such as the red and gold trim around the ceilings, though not ostentatiously so.

Tomorow, we're going to a New Year's concert at the Thomaskirche, the 4th, 5th, and 6th cantatas from Bach's Christmas Oratorio. Then I'll be getting home on Friday afternoon.

Christmas Day and beyond

Hi again. I am now sitting at my friend Judith's laptop which has a slightly different keyboard (y's and z's are switched among other things) so if I make more typos than usual, you've been warned.

Back to Christmas Day...after a long day in Cambridge, I slept well at the London Mennonite Centre on Christmas Eve, then woke up around 8 and helped Sam prepare Eggs Benedict for the residents of the LMC. We had a lovely breakfast of fruit salad and a bubbly cocktail drink to go with the eggs benedict. At 11:30, several others from the church showed up for our service. This was folllowed by lunch at 2 pm. We had a great variety of vegetables: peas, beans, carrots, turnip, roasted-rather than mashed-potatoes along with turkey and rolls and gravy. After the main course, we had a Christmas pudding, which had a very similar hard (caramel) sauce to the one my grandma makes, though it featured cranberries rather than dried fruit, and a Christmas cake which was made out of digestive biscuits and chocolate and iced with white chocolate, and garnished with a beautiful sprig of holly which grows abundantly at the LMC. We had an enjoyable walk through a nearby park and then those of us who stayed around played a game that was a bit like Broken Telephone on paper combined with Pictionary. Each person wrote one sentence at the top of the page. They passed this to the next person who had to read the sentence and draw a picture illustrating the words. Then they turned over the words so that the next person could only see the picture. This person had to write a sentence corresponding to the picture they saw. It went on like this until we reached the end of the page at which point we unfolded the page and laughed at the hilarious results. Once I'm home again, I may post one or two examples. So I had a good day Christmas day of visiting with my LMC friends and eatng too much.

Boxing Day:

I got up in fairly good time and made a few last-minute preparations for my flight to Leipzig. My cab came promptly at 11 as ordered and I got to the airport without hassle. The flight went without a hitch, and I landed about 4:30 local time (Leipzig is one hour ahead of London) . After an hour bus ride which I also caught without difficulty, I met Judith at the Leipzig train station. We took the local bus back to the apartment she shares with her boyfriend and I met Christian and had supper and did some catching up. Christian has an impressive display of seashells all around the flat, painstakingly collected on various holidays to Greece.Sunday December 27:

Judith and I got up in good time to get to the Thomas Kirche for a cantata service. This is the church where JS Bach spent the last 27 years of his life as music director and it is clear that he is highly venerated in Leipzig and particularly in that church. We heard the third cantata from his Christmas Oratorio performed yesterday morning...it was a thrill to be there for that. The conductor turned around several times and took the bass solo part as required. I thought Bach would have approved of such flexibility--fill in wherever needed! I got pictures of the church and of his grave inside the church.

After church, we walked around Leipzig for a bit, and then stopped for lunch. I had a delicious pumpkin lasagna at a nearby restaurant. Then Judith took me to a museum detailing the history of East Germany through the Communist era. It was very interesting to see, as I had been a child when the Berlin Wall came down and really understood none of the background behind that history. People lived in prefabricated cookie-cutter homes and there was no incentive for people to take care of land or homes they didn't own so there was a lot of pollution and general lack of maintenance (trashing). One in ten people was a volunteer (e.g. unpaid) spy for the government, betraying friends and family for the cause. The churches were hotbeds of resistance toward the end, and I believe it was at the Nikolai Kirche that 200 000 people gathered on the night of October 16, 1989 for the culmination of the Peaceful Revolution.

Monday December 28:

Today, I went downtown on my own and explored around. The Schumann House, which I had hoped to see, was closed, so I just meandered around town for a few hours. I saw the Nikolai Kirche that had played such an important role during the Peaceful Revolution, and I had some bratwurst for lunch. Then I found a wonderful kitchen accessories store and walked around there for a while, picking up some better-than-tupperware containers as well as some silicone muffin cups for Judith.

As you have probably guessed by now, there is much to see and do and explore in Leipzig. I will post pictures when I get home again. Ciao...

Christmas Eve 2009

Hello! Belated Merry Christmas to you all. Before I begin my tale of my Christmas Eve adventure, I thought I'd include a picture of a London at Christmas--this one (above) in Covent Garden.

So on Wednesday afternoon, I met my friends Wayne and Lois and their daughter Melissa (who's visiting from the States right now) as well as another LMC resident, Sam, and we headed for King's Cross station. The ride (north) to Cambridge only took 50 minutes since we were on the express train. We settled ourselves at our hostel and headed out to check out the town and in particular find out what we could about this King's College Lessons and Carols service which we had come up for. We found the University of Cambridge and in fact talked to some people who were spending the night at the gate in order to assure themselves first place in line the next morning. One man had in fact been there for two nights already--clearly a diehard fanatic! As it was a cold, drizzly night and these people were armed only with lawn chairs, sleeping bags, and a few tarps to keep them warm, we didn't envy them in the slightest. However, they convinced us that it would definitely be in our best interests to arrive before the gates were opened at 7:30, seeing that the chapel only had room for 150 people, and the ante chapel (with room for 450) was located behind the organ chancel and therefore would block our view of the choir. Two of our party wanted to leave the hostel at 5, but the majority (three) ruled for a 6:00 departure from the hostel. After that discussion, we headed to the Eagle (a local pub) for some grub. On the way, we found this clock, which I understand is supposed to be symbolic of time being "eaten" metaphorically (in this case by a very large insect!)

So we got to King's College about 6:35 the next morning and stood in line outside the gate. We quickly started talking with the people immediately in front and behind us in the line and ended up sharing food, chairs, and holding places in the line for each other throughout the remainder of the day. The picture below was taken around 7:45 in the morning after we had been let through the gate, looking back at the library behind us.
It was a very cold day, and we made numerous short forays throughout the day to find warm drinks, the loo, and just to walk around and get the blood flowing to numb hands and feet again. Once in line, people were expected to stay in the line except for brief breaks, and no one could hold a place for someone not yet arrived. This was a largely self-regulating policy, since everyone knew the people who had been there with them since the beginning, though there were some security people patrolling around as well.

Here are some roasted chestnuts (the first I've ever eaten) that were a welcome snack on a cold day. I ended up going to the campus shop to buy myself an additional pair of socks to put on and warm my frozen feet. Around 1 pm, a group of some of the older choristers came outside and sang a few light-hearted Christmas songs in beautiful harmony for the assembled crowd, and then walked down the queue to another group of people and sang for them.

Around 1:30, they let us into the chapel, and we did get into the chapel, though the way it was set up we couldn't see the choir real well. Instead of our seats facing the choir, we were facing the audience on the other side of the chapel and had to turn our heads to the left to see the choir.

ante chapel organ choir people us altar

At 2:30 the organist played, and the concert started just after 3. It went until about 4:45. It was nevertheless a magnificent concert and I'm glad I went. The pure treble voices of the young boys combined with the rich voices of the young men's choir. It was also a good opportunity to get to know some of my friends from church better.

I had hoped to write a post about Christmas Day now too, but my taxi for my trip to Leipzig arrives in 30 minutes and I think I should make a few last minute-checks before leaving the house. I will be on again after my return on New Year's Day if not before. Happy 2010 everyone.

First Snowflakes

Hello:

My kids were pretty wired today, after we had our Year 1 Christmas party yesterday, and then we were decorating gingerbread people today. Then to top it off, it started snowing around 11 am. The kids went wild. Unfortunately, it had turned to sleet by early afternoon, and it felt damp and very cold when I was walking home tonight. Given that one of the two heaters in my room has been malfunctioning for two days (we wore our coats inside this morning) I was very grateful to arrive home to a warm house tonight. We are supposed to be in for more of this weather over the next 48 hours. Someone predicted 4 inches, which sounded like it could just about bring London to a standstill. I can hear the guffaws from my North Bay friends already! Anyway, I'm down to one day left with the kids. We're melting chocolate (reindeer droppings) in the morning, and then watching a movie with the other year one classes in the afternoon. Now I'm trying to get some materials made up for my "big writing" display beginning in January.

It's amazing how many cards (half a dozen anyway) I've gotten from kids who aren't in my class and whose names I don't even know. Do their parents buy cards for every kid in their class and every teacher in their school? I also have two gifts of chocolate, one from a girl in my class and one from a TA who I worked with when I was doing day-to-day supply.

I hope this finds you well, and not dashing around too madly this Christmas season.

Julie

Four Days Left with Children Until Christmas!

Hello again. It has been a good week for me this week--the kids have been on the whole, a bit more manageable this week and we're into the final countdown to Christmas now. Thursday night, I went to a Christmas choral concert in Covent Garden. Lovely interplay between the choir and Gabriel Wolf, a long-time radio host and later actor, who did a wonderful job of bringing to life a series of heart-warming and funny Christmas readings and letters.

Last night I relaxed at home in front of the TV while finishing off my Christmas cards to folks in Canada so that I could post them all this morning.

Then this morning was a bit of a comedy of errors. I went to the post office and bought stamps for my cards, then went to my 10 am hair appointment. Unfortunately the colour job (highlighting again) took longer than I projected, and I only got out of there at 11:20 without getting my hair cut as I had hoped. I quickly jumped on the c2c/tube to get to Hyde Park Corner, where I was supposed to meet Jody (owner of Accomodations Solutions who arranged a place for me to live, and the social coordinator for TimePlan Essex and East Anglia) for a free ticket into the skating rink at Hyde Park at 11:30. After a longer-than-usual tube ride (it seemed as though half the city was coming to this event), I arrived at 12:20. Thinking I would have completely missed Jody and my ticket in, I dawdled around the Winter Wonderland market they had there. It was like little Germany all set up, complete with stalls for bratwurst and mulled wine (Gluh wein), Christmas stollen (cake), and all kinds of Christmas wood carvings from the Black Forest. I finally meandered up to the area where the skating arena was and miraculously ran into Jody and got my ticket. I had about 25 minutes to skate, which turned out to be a good amount of time, since it had been at least two years since I last put on skates. I was pretty uncertain on my feet for the first few minutes, though I warmed up to it. At the end, it suddenly started to rain without notice (i.e. the weather forecast had not predicted rain) and I left Hyde Park with a new friend I just made at Gascoigne this week, Rachel and her boyfriend Mark. Rachel is an American teaching with TimePlan and like me, she has come to Gascoigne and they've asked her to stay on a week at a time for several weeks. Anyway, we took the tube back east again to Bethnal Green (three-quarters of the way home for me) where we took in a Craft Sale that was happening there. I came home with a small bag of truffles and a meter of fabric (two different Christmas prints).

I should be doing some planning for this week, though it's to the point now where I hardly care. We're starting a new "Big Writing" initiative next term, so I need to learn more about that too.

Can't wait for the holidays to begin!

TGIF...

Thanks for reading. It's been another full week here. The kids have been a bit crazier this week than usual, less willing to listen than they were even last week, but I chalk that up to a) the fact that Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday were washouts with rain, so the kids couldn't get outside to play for most of the week, and b) due to frequent rehearsals for our Christmas assembly this week, we got out of schedule and ended up missing quite a bit of stuff, which really unsettled the kids too. Therefore, while it wasn't a great week for teaching overall, I'm feeling in a better frame of mind about it this week. After much practice, the Christmas assembly came off well this morning and I think the parents were quite proud. About thirty kids each had one line to say of the nativity story and it was cute to hear them all try to project their little voices. In their great effort, some of the lines came out in stammered bursts like: He---Is---Going---To----Give---You----A-----Baby!!!! Others came out in such rapid fire you had no idea what the child had just said. Interspersed with the text were Christmas songs which all the kids sang.

Funny anecdote: Today for PE, some of the kids started tittering because one of the boys was wearing no underwear (you'll remember that everyone changes in the classroom). He then proceeded to enlighten us that his mom only gives him pants to wear on PE days. I suggested to him that it really would be good to wear pants every day.

In my life outside of school, I had a fun evening last night. Melissa and I went downtown to Trafalgar Square where we witnessed the lighting of an 70-foot tall, 80-year old Christmas tree that had been specially given to London by the people of Oslo (an annual tradition since 1947) as a gesture of thanks for the support Britain, and particularly London gave Norwegians (many of whom fled to London) while Norway was under Nazi occupation during WWII. Then we had dinner with some friends at an American burger joint (burgers rival Licks back home) in Haymarket, an artsy, theatre-filled part of London. It was a really nice diversion from school.

Tonight we're having dinner at Nandos (wonderful chicken place down the street) and then going to see New Moon. I've never read the books or seen the first movie so I read the synopsis in preparation. I don't expect to become a Twilight fanatic, but it will be interesting to see what all the fuss is about. I'm probably (sunny weather permitting) going to a leaf-raking party at the London Mennonite Centre tomorrow, and sometime this weekend I want to get started on one of the two jigsaw puzzles I picked up second-hand last weekend.

Only ten days of teaching left until Christmas! Hope you are all filled with Christmas cheer...