The Days are Jam Packed...

Hello again...school is finished and I'm about to set on an epic adventure--can you tell I'm excited?! Yesterday was and today is a blur of activity...packing, sorting, getting last-minute things for the trip, moving most of my things to my new home in Chase Cross, dropping unneeded things off at the thrift store, changing my address, getting my hair cut, buying euros for the trip, exchanging last-minute emails and phone calls with Karen about what we're each bringing.

Here's my new home in Chase Cross: 20 Bushy Close Romford RM1 4WN. That's my house on the left.
Romford (the nearest town with a rail station) at about 11 pm on Wednesday night on my way back to Barking.
Last night, David and I went to one of the Proms...this is the famous British Proms that go on for most of two months over the summer. Britten, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich were all on the war-themed program. The people in the centre on the lower level all paid 5 pounds for a standing (promming) space in the middle.
This afternoon, I'm going to the LMC for one last game of Settlers with my Menno friends before heading off. I'm also dropping off my laptop for care with one of my friends there, since I'd rather it not be sitting in an empty house (either Barking or Chase Cross) for the duration of my trip. I will check email as often as I can on my trip when internet cafes are available, but our original plan to use Karen's Notebook backfired when it (bought a month ago specifically for this trip) died on her. So this is it...adios amigos. I'm looking forward to having lots of stories and photos to share in the next month.

Wine and Cheese Party at the LMC

So much has happened...where to begin? Last week, I spent a lot of time and energy trying to figure out where I'll be living after my Europe trip, and how the move will be accomplished. After looking at two other options, I have settled on the option of moving to a village called Chase Cross, northeast of Barking. I'll be getting a double room in a modern house, which I'm sharing with three others. My biggest concern, that it would be far from Tube/train options appears to have been unfounded. Since I will be gone in August, Jody (the manager of Accomodations Solutions, who provides my housing) will move my things for me. The purging and packing has begun already, and will reach fever notch on Thursday/Friday just before Karen's Saturday morning arrival.

The last weekend before Karen arrives passed quickly. I went to a TimePlan social in Romford (a town just south of Chase Cross) Friday night, where I met two of my three flatmates, Esther and Ann. We had a good chat, and it was good for both them and I to meet each other now. As Ann commented, it's a bit disconcerting leaving on holiday, wondering who will be living in your house when you arrive back. We all felt good about the exchange, and I have their phone numbers to make arrangements this week to go and see the place before my trip.

Saturday I went to the LMC for an afternoon of Settlers with some friends from Wood Green. I played virtually no games the first months I was here, so it's nice to have found some friends who enjoy doing that. Then we headed off to Hampstead Heath (a large park area in NW London) for a birthday picnic. Three of us brought nearly identical foods, so there was plenty of carrots and hummus to go around! We nevertheless had a good time.

Yesterday, I went to Barking Baptist in the morning to say goodbye to friends there. They have just moved back into their main sanctuary after about six months of meeting in the fellowship hall during renovations to the sanctuary. So I was there for the re-dedication of the sanctuary. Then I flew home, grabbed lunch on the run and left again in about 7 minutes for Wood Green. We had a small group yesterday, as many folks were away, and some were helping at the London Catholic Worker soup kitchen yesterday. We considered the theme of journey through the lectionary readings and the songs we sang. As well, we welcomed back a newly-married Will, whose bride is still in China, awaiting processing of immigration documents before she joins him here in 2-3 months time. He invited us all back to the LMC afterward for an impromptu wine and cheese party to celebrate with him. It was a lovely day to sit in the garden and chat with friends over nibbles.

So now, I have three days of tutoring left followed by two days of packing/visiting my new house/changing all my address information. The excitement is building...

Two weeks left...

Hello again. It's been a busy weekend here and I have neglected until now to update my blog. As it is looking increasingly like a no-work day today, I think I will do it now.

I had a great weekend, no schoolwork at all. I met David down at Canary Wharf on Friday night for a concert, Requiem in Blue. Unbeknownst to me, David had brought homemade shortbread with strawberries and clotted cream, after I had expressed to him a month or two ago that I like having strawberry shortcake for my birthday. As he is vegan himself, I appreciated the gesture very much.

We had a lovely concert, a Requiem written by Harvey Brough, an ecclectic composer/performer/

conductor/musician who works with a broad variety of musical genres. It was based on the Requiem mass text, but with interpolations of various other musical bits...everything from Black is the Colour of my True Love's Hair, to Old Abram Brown is dead and gone, to Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child, as well as improvised solos by various members of the band. The ensemble on stage included a bass guitar, violin, flute, french horn, harp, lute, organ/piano, and two soprano soloists, as well as five adult choirs and four children's choirs. It reminded me a bit of Britten's War Requiem, in which you have all the dissonant, jarring, despairing music of war sung by the soloists and adult choir, with hope entering occasionally in the angelic voices of the children's choir, a stark contrast.

After the concert, we joined some other church friends (one of whom sang in one of the adult choirs) and went to a pub for drinks.

On Saturday, I went to Parliament Hill again for some fresh veggies and fruits. I do miss being close by to farmer's markets here, but savour the opportunity when I can get it. I'm enjoying fresh strawberries again this week!

Sunday, we had a fellowship meal at the LMC again--after several days of hot, muggy weather almost rivalling S Ontario summers, the humidity has lifted somewhat, so it was quite lovely for sitting out in the garden. In yesterday's service, we remembered the two-year anniversary of a young woman who died from cancer at the age of 20 with an offering to help other young people who want to attend social functions (for example MWC) that Esther enjoyed. We also had a speaker come to talk about diverting our taxes away from the military budget for the purposes of peace. I think it's a good idea, though I'm unsure how effective it is. As someone else pointed out, if it's a small group of people diverting their taxes, the government could just use 0.1 percent of everyone else's taxes for defense.

The countdown is on now for Europe. I have a maximum of ten (probably nine now, since TimePlan still--at 9:55--hasn't called me for work today) days of work left. Karen has booked all of our accomodations as well as the train trips, and I've been doing some thinking about activities for London, as well as other activities during the trip.

After several weeks of hot, sunny weather, this week looks to be much rainier, which is mostly good since the plants need it by now. Just as glad though, that I won't be supplying for most of the week, as kids get major cabin fever after several days of rain keeps them indoors.

Hope this finds you well. Ciao...

Canada Day, London-style

The weather here has been lovely for the last two weeks...oops, better not say that too loud or it may change on me. We've had mostly sunny days, mid-to-high twenties. Hard to believe we changed the calendar to July this week. I've been here in England over ten months now...a lot has happened in that time, though it's felt like it has gone quickly.

On Thursday evening, I came home from school, dropped my teaching junk in my room, and headed into Central London for the Canada Day festivities in Trafalgar Square. Unfortunately in my hurry, I neglected to take my cell phone or camera with me. Knowing how busy Trafalgar Square can be when there's an event on, I wondered if I would find David whom I had arranged to meet there.

Anyway, I got there and found a mass of Canadians (plus a few wannabe Canadians) decked out in red-and-white, some Blue Jays or Team Canada jerseys around. Tim Hortons was there, the first Timmy's I've seen in ten months--there was a line about three miles long, and a sign saying, "Sorry, no more iced capps", and there were booths selling curly fries (also foreign to Britain), Sleeman's beer, and bison burgers. Bombardier was there, showing off some new train carriages they're building for Transport for London, the governmental body that operates public transportation here. I walked around for a bit without finding David, and then ran into one of my Nipissing friends (Erin) who was there. I chatted with her and the friends she was with for a bit, and then took another walk around. I did find David then, and we walked around together. He was interested in trying some Canadian food. We settled on curly fries and waited in another long line for that, only to find when we got to the front that they were charging 5 pounds for a medium-sized basket of fries. We decided that was a major rip-off and walked away...the bison burgers, which were quite good-sized, were also selling for 5 pounds, though as a vegetarian David wasn't interested in that. We headed back to the Timmy's tent and stood in the line, which did move pretty quickly. David was quite favourably impressed with their coffee and the Boston cream donut he had. He also entered a draw for a free flight to Canada with a UK operator that leads tours across Canada.

We also ran into Wayne and Lois, some other Wood Green friends, just back from a two week anniversary-trip to Scandinavia. Lois had seen my Facebook post that morning and decided to check it out. They had a band shell set up with various individuals and groups performing and she wanted to hear "The Canadian Tenors," a group I wasn't familiar with. We stayed until a bit after 9 and heard most of Sarah Harmer's act, the only performer whom I was familiar with.

There was certainly lots of patriotism in Trafalgar Square on Thursday night. One of the performers asked people to identify which sports teams they supported, from which I surmised that most of the people in attendance were likely Ontarians, given the Senators and Leafs fans. Not too surprising...the vast majority of Cdn teachers I know are from Ontario as well. One of the teachers I talked to commented that her thought was, "Timmy's! I've gotta go there...and then after she had been, she thought, "Oh yeah...their donuts really aren't all that special..." Lots of homesick Canadians were looking for a little piece of home in London on July 1.

In any case, it was fun to be there and celebrate my country's birthday--in spite of my misgivings about the terrible things that happened in Toronto last weekend. Methinks Harper, McGuinty, and the Toronto Chief of Police have a lot of explaining and apologizing to do.

One Gorgeous Saturday...

Howdy...the week has gone quickly here--I was off with a nasty cold Monday and Tuesday this week, and have been recovering since. From the number of kids with sniffly noses I tutored this week, they (colds, that is) seem to have been going around. Enjoyed tutoring even more than usual this week. I made a cup of tea for one kid with a sore throat and he really appreciated the effort, and I had a good laugh with another kid over his misreading of operation as "opertion" and his mis-spelling of umbrella as "umbrelly." He laughed and laughed for about five minutes, and I decided to join him rather than try to move on. I've heard that kids learn more when they're having fun, so perhaps he'll remember the funny moment and the correct spelling of umbrella the next time he needs that word.

I got news yesterday morning that good friends from my Stirling community are expecting their first baby, so I took the opportunity to call them last night to congratulate them. It was fun to chat with Bethany again and find out how her pregnancy is progressing.

This morning I did some work on completing some tutoring reports--my kids have come in staggered clumps, so some are just finished now, and others will be going right until the end of July. I've also gotten out for walks around Barking a couple of time today. It has been beautiful here this week--high 20s and sunny, just the kind of weather I had been missing. I found out some of my British friends don't appreciate it though...some of them were finding it too hot and were wishing it would cool down a bit. I was called a "hardy Canadian type" by someone on Facebook--I knew Canadians were famous for being able to stand all kinds of cold weather, but I didn't really think that enjoying 27-28 C was meritorious of the "hardy" moniker. After dinner, I walked up the road to check out a little place called "Afters." My friend Karen, who's coming in a month and I are both fans of the "Just Desserts" chain in Canada, and this was along the same lines. Waffles, cakes, milkshakes, a full ice cream bar, lassis and Indian milkshakes (yes, there is a high Indian population in the community) are all on the menu. From my brief examination, it looks like a good spot to come some evening--certainly my ice cream was quite satisfactory. I had a good chinwag with Karen this afternoon too--as it's been a pretty quiet weekend here, it's nice just to catch up with friends from back home who I haven't talked to in a while. We're busy planning the details for our epic trip around Europe in August. Stay tuned for more details...she's bringing her laptop with her, so I will be able to update my blog while on the trip.

I'm going to Wood Green again tomorrow. Will, our usual song leader just left for China yesterday to meet his fiance there. They will get married on July 3, honeymoon there, and then he comes back here alone for three months or so until she is able to be cleared by the immigration people--they have to be married already before the application can be finalized, so she will come over and join him in October or so. Since Chris, our other musician is back in the States for two months, I have volunteered to take over music leadership for the few weeks until Will is back.

In other Wood Green news, the London Mennonite Centre trustees have made a decision to sell all of the property at which the current LMC is based. They will be finding an interim location, with the intention of buying and settling in a new location, probably in North or East London by fall 2011. This will certainly have implications for the Mennonite church, which has long had a strong connection to the LMC--almost half of our members live at, or are employed within the LMC. In addition, the church has traditionally used the LMC for fellowship meals and communion suppers, and indeed had been hoping to be able to move worship services from the current location (the fellowship hall of a Baptist church) to the LMC. Wood Green and the LMC are deeply enmeshed with each other, so this decision to sell the current LMC building will have profound impacts on the congregation--where we worship, how we do church, etc.

Hope this finds you all healthy and happy.

Julie

Strawberries!

Greetings again. Last time I wrote, Emily and I had just finished our trip through the Cotswolds and a visit to Windsor Castle. A quiet two weeks has passed since then...I've been tutoring three days a week since the half-term, which is quite fine by me--I enjoy it more than supply.

Last night, David and I went to the Sound of Music Singalong at the Prince Charles Theatre in Central London. Though I had been to a similar singalong in Waterloo a few years ago, this was something else. People came dressed as everything from the hills to ray: a drop of golden sun, to boys in Austrian lederhosen, a good imitation of Leisl, and of course lots of nuns in various forms. First Candy Floss (decked out in a gauzy pink outfit) came out to prep us for the event. We each received a bag with various props (little cards dsplaying things like the will'o the wisp from How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?) to be taken out and held up in the air at the appropriate time. She gave us instructions about what to hold up when, and proceeded to rehearse us through these cues: we were to bleat like sheep for four minutes at the beginning as the camera zooms in on the Austrian landscape, holler our lungs out whenever we saw Maria, say a collective "Awwww..." whenever the von Trapp children came on the screen, bark for Ralph, hiss for the Baroness (and meow whenever she was particularly catty--from the people around me, one would gather that every word she uttered was mean and spiteful) and boo the Nazis. Candy's mic level was about 30 decibels too loud in my view, and I found the whole thing more than a bit overdone. Then to top it all off, we got a sideshow shortly after the intermission when two drunken nuns in the audience stood up and started duking it out, volleying insults and obscenities at each other, impervious to the increasingly hostile response of audience members around them to knock it off and shut up, until two security officers finally hauled them away after two or three such outbursts. The dad beside me (plus many others) kept up an almost constant cacophony of bleats, awws, hisses, meows, yahoos, boos, and barking throughout. it was an experience...but not one I think I will pay to see again.

This week I have been wanting to discover some of the London farmers' markets around. My mother was telling me about their bumper strawberry crop this year last weekend, and since I can't pick me own as I'd really like to, I was really itching to at least taste a real strawberry again. So I set off this morning for Parliament Hill Farmers' Market. I took the Overground train from Barking to Gospel Oak and then it was a short ten minute walk to the market. My visit was definitely worthwhile: I picked up some very luscious-looking strawberries (four baskets) and raspberries, from the dealer who seemed to have the best produce available--this was confirmed by another customer who remarked to his partner that this producer was the best. Having tasted both the strawberries and raspberries, I can confirm I was not disappointed...a little piece of heaven here on earth. I also picked up some asparagus and tomatoes, as well as a few individual quiches that I can freeze for quick shool-night dinners. Finally I also found a table of stunning baked goods, and succumbed to the millionaire's shortbread.

the haul from this morning...

Tomorrow, I'm going to a barbecue hosted by Erin (one of my teacher friends from Nipissing) and her housemates. I can hardly believe I'm getting close to halfway through my time here. I arrived last September, and my visa ends August 2011. This year as 22 seconds! :)

Windsor Castle

One of the things Emily wanted to do while she was here was to visit a castle with classic castle features (turrets, keep, suits of armour, etc) that was older than anything she could see in Canada. With this criteria in mind, she chose Windsor Castle for our last day together in London.

On Saturday morning, Emily and I took the tube to Waterloo station where we caught a South West train to Windsor and Eton Riverside, the nearest station. From there, it was a five-minute walk to the castle. The seemingly lengthy line actually moved pretty quickly once we queued up.

We're wearing free audio guides around our necks to give us information about the different buildings.

We got lots of pictures of the outside of the buildings; no pictures were allowed within any of the buildings. We visited St. George's chapel, the final resting place of Henry VIII as well as Charles VI, I believe.

For me, seeing Queen Mary's doll house was a highlight. Princess Marie Louise, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, wanted to give her gcousin Queen Mary a gift and since Mary collected lots of miniature things, she chose to give her this dollhouse--a mini-replica of Buckhingham Palace--complete with running water and electricity. In addition, it was to be a monument for posterity of how the royal family lived. Many different artisans came together to provide the different pieces of furniture, everything from a bathtub to a bicycle or a chandalier. It was completed in 1924.

Close-up of the castle wall.

Then we walked through the state apartments all beautifully furnished. The grand reception hall was especially impressive with its gold leaf decor. Some of the rooms had magnificent paintings covering the ceilings, and there was one room for the Queen to gather with her knights, and a number of rooms for various kinds of functions with important international guests. Emily got into an interesting discussion with one of the tour guides about the lead crystal in the chandaliers.

An old door at the exit gate.

We left around 4:30 and got home in time to make a quick supper and then get off to bed. Sunday morning we were up at 4:40 to catch four buses to Gatwick airport (no trains running before 7 on Sunday). After checking her in, we went to a sparsely attended Anglican service in the airport chapel, where we met a British woman travelling to Toronto on the same flight as Emily. We chatted with her for a bit, and then I said goodbye to both of them and left them at the security gate.

I managed to make it back in time for the end of the church lunch at the LMC...without even bringing a contribution this time. Good food as always. I love being part of a church that values potlucks!