New Year

Hello everybody. It has been another couple weeks since I posted. What have I done since?

David and I went into Central London on New Years' Eve, but waited too late to get a front place view of the fireworks, as all access points had just been closed off by the time we arrived shortly after 11. So we walked up to Trafalgar Square and watched the New Year in on the jumbotron screen instead. Lots of drunken partiers and piles of rubbish on the sidewalks! I got sprayed by champagne at midnight by one enthusiastic reveler.

I spent that weekend at David's place and we had a really good and relaxing time together. We discovered a mutual interest in Scrabble amongst other things, and tuned in to part of the 12-day BBC special feature on Mozart (over the first 12 days of the New Year, they're playing every single piece of music the guy ever wrote!)

I met my friend Trish (from my Rouge Valley church family)--who was visiting various friends spread around the outskirts of London--in London on Wednesday last week, and we had a good time walking through Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, and Covent Garden and then going to the British Museum for part of the afternoon. It was a nice chance to catch up with her and to receive and send greetings to folks back home.

I went into school again on Thursday last week (the kids had returned on Wednesday) to get organized for this school term, and did a bit of tutoring on Friday. Then I met Trish and David downtown for drinks on Friday night before Trish went to see west-end show, Billy Elliot. Again, we had a lovely time together.

After spending Friday night and Satuday morning with David, I came home on Saturday afternoon, to allow him to spend some time preparing for an interview--which by the time I write this, should be over or almost over. He is interviewing for a public health job, which involves researching/asking questions relative to the government's proposal to get rid of a layer of middle management within the health system and delegate a lot of managing to GPs instead. This is an area of personal concern for David, and he is eager to be involved in asking relevant questions about how this might work, or indeed, what the long-term outcomes of such a decision might be. So he has spent a good chunk of the last week boning up on the current structure of the NHS (National Health Services) familiarizing himself with the relevant information/terminology.

Today I have taken off work, since the school at which I tutor is being inspected by OFSTED today and tomorrow. This is an inspection in which teachers are each evaluated during their lessons as to the effectiveness of their teaching and the school is evaluated as well. It is a high-stress event for all concerned, particularly for schools which have received poor results in the past.

Tomorrow I will be back at my other school, Five Elms again, and then Wednesday I am going to meet the head at another school in order to get started tutoring there in the next week.

Hope you are having a good start to 2011. 'Til next time,

Julie

Christmas with the Armes Family

The UK did have a white Christmas...first time in at least forty years! These two photos are taken just outside my house (above) and on Collier Row Road (the main road I walk along to get groceries).
Greetings...I am back in Romford again after spending Christmas Eve until today with David's family in Letchworth (north of London in Hertfordshire). I took the train up to Letchworth on Friday afternoon where I was met by David and his sister, Jo.

We have had a lovely weekend together. Joan (David's mom) spent a large part of the weekend in the kitchen for the big family meals each of the three days we were all there. Both David and Jo's husband, John are vegetarians, so there were vegetarian entrees at each meal in addition to the fish, turkey, and ham the rest of us had. The rest of us tried to pitch in and help where we could.

I had my first real experience with the crackers that that British like to hand out at Christmas. They're like a wish bone, in that two people pull the cracker and the person who gets the middle (filled) part of the cracker is supposed to win it. It contains a joke and a (gag) toy of some kind--a protractor with shape cutouts you can trace, or a tangram, or a miniature set of playing cards. Another popular tradition seems to be the little firecrackers that pop when you pull the string and send a stream of tissue paper strings across the table at the person at whom they are aimed. Each person's placemat was adorned with both of these items at both the Christmas Day dinner (just family present) and the Boxing Day buffet (to which two of Jeff and Joan's friends were invited).

Stevie, Jeff (Grandad), and (Uncle) David at the beautifully decorated table for Christmas Day dinner.

We had several games of Charades (which I initially heard as Sheraz) as well as completing a 500-piece jigsaw of Europe on Christmas Day, and then the 1000-piece one pictured below last night and this morning.
The three most persistent puzzlers--Jo, daughter Stevie, and yours truly. David and John and Joan also gave us some help at various points along the way.

Canterbury and Snow

It has been over three weeks since I last posted... much has happened. On Dec 2, my teacher friends and I went into London for the annual tree-lighting ceremony in Trafalgar Square of the 70-ft tall Norwegian pine given to London by the people of Oslo for their support during WWII. Then we celebrated Chelsea's birthday by going to a South Asian restaurant called Inamo that enabled us to order our meal off the table. That is to say, it was a touch-sensitive table with drop-down menus that displayed a picture of any selected dish on your plate. You drag and drop your menu selections into the shopping basket and they bring it to you. While you were waiting, you could play battleship with the person sitting across fro you, solve a jigsaw puzzle, look at a map of the area around the restaurant, or view a video of the chefs working in the kitchen.

On Dec 4, David and I visited his parents in Letchworth. We had a lovely visit, and they invited me to spend Christmas with them.

A week ago, we had our TimePlan Christmas social at the Christmas Market in Hyde Park. We went skating at the rink set up for one month over Christmas. It was rather rough, wet ice, and a very packed rink. Funny to watch the Londoners careen around or cling to the wall.

On Tuesday of this past week, David came out to my choir concert on Tuesday afternoon. We sang for a seniors group at a church in Romford, who were very appreciative of our efforts. We sang a variety of John Rutter carols as well as an arrangement of Auld Lang Syne and a few other seasonal pieces.

Friday I finished my tutoring work for the term, and my Bible Study group (from Chase Cross) had a Christas social. Then on Saturday, David and Esther (my housemate) and I went to Canterbury for the day. We saw the Cathedral and did some shopping. Canterbury is a gorgeous town, and was especially so after 10 c of snow fell.

With David, before snow.
Esther and I.

Entrance to Canterbury Cathedral.

This week I a enjoying a quiet week at hoe. Which is good, since the English cannot--CANNOT--deal with snow in any quantity. Trains, planes, and buses are all affected by the snow. I have several friends whose flights have been cancelled, and have heard of someone who sat on a plane for 5-6 hours on Saturday, the third plane in the queue to depart before finally being sent back home and told to return on Thursday. Heathrow has just closed the airport to any new passengers hoping to fly, as it is packed wall-to-wall with people hoping, waiting. There are massive lineups and delays and cancellations on Eurostar services too. More snow and colder weather is predicted for the rest of this week, so it sees all but certain that Britain will have a white Christmas this year. We are beginning to wonder if we might have a quiet Christmas, just the four of us here if even the local trains are shut down on Thursday and Friday this week. I am glad that I had no big travelling plans this month.

Update

Well, I suppose it is time for another update. It has been another full couple of weeks since I last blogged. Last weekend was the wedding celebration of Will, a member of the Wood Green congregation, and staff of the LMC (Metanoia Books), and Yvonne, his Chinese wife. Will is 65 or so and has never been married, and has been a well-loved part of Wood Green for the last three decades. It was clear that everyone was delighted to be celebrating with him....a joy to be there.

I suppose the bigger news for me personally is that I have been dating my friend David now for about three weeks. We have been hanging out as friends regularly for the last ten or eleven months, but despite repeated coaxing from him I had resisted the idea of us dating. I finally decided I had nothing to lose by (to use a British expression) giving it a go. I have decided to press forward in spite of my reservations about the 12 years age difference between us, the complication of a cross-continental relationship, and my own phobias about dating and see where this goes. Theres a part of me that would like to be able to see down the road and see what the long-term prospects of this relationship are, but I know I need to relax and take it one step at a time. I do believe this is where God calls me to be right now.

David is a mental health researcher whose passion to help people with mental health issues stems from his own experience as someone who was first diagnosed with mental health issues sixteen years ago, and who has learned a lot of coping strategies and ways of reframing the way he thinks about things. I met him at Wood Green almost a year ago, as we were just reminiscing today, at the LMCs annual Leaf Party--that is, property cleanup/preparation for winter party.

He is a patient, gentle person with a good sense of humour and we talk about anything and everything. We both tend to analyze things quite a bit, which I realize can be both a good and a bad thing. But I feel really comfortable with him and we genuinely enjoy spending time together. So I continue to commit our relationship to a lot of prayer asking for continued discernment as we move forward.

May you be blessed as we enter this Advent season!

Quiet Sunday

Hello again,

I have been less diligent lately in keeping my blog updated. This is due to my becoming more involved socially with various other groups in the area in which I live. Ill report briefly on the events of the last two weeks.

Two weeks ago now, I joined a Bible study group at the church in Chase Cross that I attend. There were five of us there, all in the late twenties/early thirties demographic. Like the church, I found them a very friendly bunch...they meet every other week, so Ill be going again this Tuesday.

Wednesdays are choir night. I carpool with two of the other choristers, Joy and Connie to the church in Elm Park where we rehearse.

On Monday of this past week, Elaine from Chase Cross Baptist invited Jess and I to come to her house for dinner while her son Mike was visiting fro the Philipines. We suspected her of trying to set him up with one of us...he intimated as much to us. We had a laugh.

On Tuesday, I joined Lyn, Jess, and Jen in going to the theatre to see Made in Dagenham. It is a film about the women machinists campaign at Ford in Dagenham to achieve equal pay with their male counterparts in the late 1960s.

On Thursday, I took up Joys offer (from choir) to come and use her electric piano to practice on. I have been asked to play at a wedding for a friend from the Mennonite church this coming Saturday, and I need to get my chops back in shape again after a long sabbatical from playing more than the odd hymn. I have also been stealing moments on the pianos at Richard Alibon when I find them free before school or at lunch for the same reason.

Friday I met two Newfie teachers who recently arrived here at the TimePlan social, a bowling event. Bowling didn't actually get started until 9:40, so I didn't bother, but I had a nice time with Ashley and Jen.

On Saturday, David and I went to the Lord Mayors Show in central London. It is a 600-plus year old parade that happens once a year, encompassing everything fro a show of the military(Marines, the Navy, arching bands, even tanks from WWII), some commercial enterprises (a fleet of plumber trucks), The Red Cross, the Blue Cross, church groups, representations of the different guilds that used to operate in England--one of which, farmers, had a combine represented in the parade--and lots of officials in carriages, on horses, and on foot.

Today I went to Chase Cross in the morning and opted to stay home this afternoon rather than fight the throngs of Londoners trying to get on the few remaining tube lines that are still open today.

Social life aside, school is going well. My housemate Jen, who had been out of a long-term job since the end of October, has a new job (a reception--like kindergarten--class which she likes--as of January, which they are preparing her for by easing her in two days a week for the rest of this term. They are also giving her some supply work, so she is feeling much better about her prospects here.

Ciao!

Visit to the Netherlands

A full week has elapsed since I returned from my trip to the Netherlands to visit friends I knew from Nigeria and had last seen almost 22 years ago. I had a wonderful time, and it is only because I have been busy with other things that I have not gotten around to updating this blog before now.

I arrived at Schipol airport around 6 pm on Tuesday, the 26th of October, where I was

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et by Djurre and Alis son and his girlfriend. We took the train back to Hoogeveen, about a two-hour trip from the airport, and Ali and Djurre were waiting for us when we got there. Over a delicious meal of soup and scones, we did some catching up...what each of our family members are up to now, etc. After looking at some photo albums, we went to bed, with plans to go into Meppel (a neighbouring town) the next day and look at Nigeria slides that night.

Their house is quite large by English standards, and my room was in the attic at the top of a set of stairs that were very nearly a ladder, they were so narrow. They have a lovely garden in the backyard, and a wall with a door into the neighbours backyard, which they frequently leave open.

The next day, we made the promised trip into Meppel, which, like many European cities and towns, is car-free in the centre. We visited an art gallery and saw the varied works of a talented artist named Jo Alting. In the afternoon, Ali took

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e to see the toy library where she works. For 25 euros, you join this lending library of puzzles, games, outdoor play toys and musical instruents. Their focus is on toys for children with disabilities, e.g. blind or autistic. It was very interesting to see, and very labour-intensive for the volunteers who work there--they have recently stopped keeping 1000-piece puzzles in stock because the labour to count them all each time a puzzle was returned was too much.

Ali and I in Meppel

That night, we had the most wonderful time looking at their old slides of our time in Nigeria, some of which Djurre and Ali had not looked at in decades, if ever. They told funny anecdotes about some of the experiences they had, and some of the people we knew there. It felt like coming home in many respects.

The next morning, we went to the community garden where Djurre has a plot of land. Despite thievery by mice and various other critters, he found two pails worth of produce to bring home. After a relaxed lunch and quiet tie at the house, we went out for a walk...somewhere not too far from Hoogeveen, though I couldnt tell you where. We ended up at a very quaint teashop, lovely spot.

a kerosene la

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p inviting us towards the tea shop on a walk

Then we headed home to celebrate Siebe Jan having passed his driving test that morning. He had already failed once and what with the cost involved--they had already spent about 2000 (almost 3000 CAD) euros on driving lessons and tests--was very uptight that he not fail again. So we celebrated the pass (his examiner told him he drove perfectly, high praise) with Dutch sausages, chips/fries, and several delicious salads made by Daniel.

Djurre and Ali with two of their three sons

On Friday, we drove north into Friesland to visit several Mennonite (or more specifically Menno Simons) sites. We went to Witmarsum first, where he was born and grew up. Outside Witmarsum there is a scuplture of an open church building in various colours to represent the diversity of the Mennonite church today, that was conceived by Alis brother, who is a conceptual designer. Then we went to Pingjum, his fathers hometown where he was appointed chaplain in 1524, where we went inside one of the secret churches that existed around 1600, shortly after Si

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ons death.

Djurre outside of one of the hidden churches, homes with secret meeting rooms in the back during the 17th century

We carried on to Zurich, where I stood on the dike looking out over the Wadden Sea on a very chilly (read windy) day. We had a lovely lunch in the town of Harlingen nearby, another town set on a canal system before heading back to their place to get ready to fly back to London. Their sons kindly took

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e to the airport again for

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y 930 pm flight.

Standing on the dike in Zurich (NL), with the Wadden Sea on my right, and the town on my left.

After an hour delay, and a rush to get to my gate a 25-min walk away (I cant say I am impressed with Schipol organization, in not publishing the gate number until the plane has landed, when it is a long walk and the plane is already late), I caught my plane and the flight back to London was uneventful. Then another almost 2-hour commute back ho

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e to Chase Cross.

Church Retreat

Hello again. I'm recently home from a church retreat in Aylesford. We had a wonderful time at The Friars, the home of a Carmelite monastic order. The beautiful buildings date back to the Middle Ages in a very quiet and contemplative setting.

The theme of the weekend, led by Wayne and Lois (Mennonite Mission Network pastors who are part of our church community) was on relationships--within ourselves, with others, the world and the natural environment. One of the highlights for me was the creative expressions of community that we came up with on Saturday morning in groups. Some people created a board gae while others created a sculpture, wrote a poem or created a photo collage. My group created a song, based on the song, Ubi Caritas. In between repetitions of the theme, we sustained the E and wove other elements around it...a litany of some of the things that people have to learn to live with as community over some vocal percussion, and a Gregorian chant naming some of the ways that we experience and deal with conflict, and then a Bible passage read over the drone, interwoven with the Ubi Caritas theme.

I also quite enjoyed the Cabaret evening on Saturday night. We had a rich variety of acts, everything for musical acts to an excellently dramatic rendition of The Highwayman, to a game show (Call my Bluff, like Balderdash/Dictionary) , and lots of humourous acts too. One I remember is the song one person sang called There Were Ten, Ten Constipated Men in the Bible (to the tune of There were Beans, Beans Trying on some Jeans In the Corner Grocery Store).

For instance,

Noah...who for forty days passed only water

Moses...who took two tablets

Peter....who was a rock

Paul...who laboured for the Lord

Titus...whose name says it all

It was quite a funny song, which she learned for a warden, who learned it from a group of nuns.

Comedy aside, we had a lovely weekend for it. There had been predictions of rain, but we only saw about 5 minutes of rain total all weekend. Sue and I had a nice walk yesterday afternoon, and after returning from that, I led a group of people in a music jamming session. Lots of fun.

It was nice to spend time in a relaxing setting with friends from Wood Green. Now I'm beginning my week of half-term holidays...off to the Netherlands on Tuesday. I will blog after that again.

Auf wiedersehen.