Christmas @ Harrow High and Vaughn Schools

Well, here is a quick look at the Maths Depart. (minus a few aides and one teacher). *Notice the 's' after Math - this is not a mistake - they call Math "Maths" here. These folks could not have been nicer! All of them are top notch people...I am lucky to have them as colleagues and friends. Without these guys in this picture, I would have jumped out of a window!!!

Here is my favorite class! I looked forward to teaching them each day! They are clever and determined to do well. Unfortunately, I took this picture the day before Christmas Holiday, and 10 kids are missing, (well 6 are missing, and 4 cannot have their pictures taken for religous reasons). I only posted this class because I really like these kids!!!! Thought you may enjoy hearing a few familiar Christmas carols, sung with that darling English accent! Just a few snippets of both, as videos have to be short! Mason is in the orange hat in the back. (And on all videos, you must hit the play button - the arrow - twice, for some reason).


Notice the decorations right above Shayna's head. (She's the only girl in gray, front row).They are religious - a crown, a cross, etc. This is a public school but they told the entire Christmas story during this program! Coming from our politically correct public schools who now call the Christmas Sing the "Holiday Sing" and Christmas break, "Winter Break", it was refreshing! Even though this burrough is more ethnically and religiously diverse than Park Ridge, they embraced the entire holiday. They celebrate each religious holiday for what it is - Ead, Ramadan, Diwali, etc. We have separation of church and state but they do not. Many people I have met here claim not to be religious or go to church so I find it so odd that they embrace (or at least allow!) the true story of Christmas to be shared. Ok, I'll get off my soap box;) Enjoy!

Christmas in London - a few tidbits

We've noticed that Christmas here is less commercialized, more muted. Only about one in ten houses hang lights in their window or have some sort of decoration. (At least in the area we live in, maybe others are different). Stores have a bit of fluff but not over-the-top like in -ahem- SOME places;) Hyde Park has a small ice rink (you must make reservations way in advance!) and some carnival rides. Keely and beau went down at night... ...while we went during the day. Here is a "Haunted Mansion" below and Carousel above.
There was a circle of little wooden houses like these, selling gift items from different countries. There was also a place to buy some 'mulled wine' and a sausage or mince pie.
Loved these wooden mobiles! Couldn't get close enough to even find the prices, tho. (Aren't zoom lenses wonderful?) We were there on Saturday afternoon with half the population of London, I'm sure;)
Another English Christmas tradition is the Christmas 'Panto' or 'Pantomime'. It is a fairy tale play (we saw Cinderella) with a twist - there are always one or two women's parts that are played by males. There is audience participation, where you yell when the 'baddie' appears or boo the evil characters and there are lots of gags. Below are the evil stepsisters in Cinderella, played by men.

And even tho we think of pantomimes being silent, these are not at all!
The other little fun surprise is that the school kids all send/exchange Christmas cards and make little mailboxes to receive them. They do not do this at Valentines day like we do, they do it now. Also, many cards have a Robin on them - a common symbol of Christmas here.
Not a cardinal in the lot.
Hope all of you enjoy a healthy and blessed Christmas!
love,
US!

Unexpected Bonus

When we envisioned moving to London, we did have certain pictures in our minds.
Castles.
Double decker buses.
Darling little front gardens.
Men wearing those chimney-sweep hats.
People having tea mid-day.
All that.
But what we didn't realize was the richness of London's (and it's Burroughs')
ethnic diversity. For example: Jer and I were very kindly invited to a
Holiday Drinks party just this past weekend. The hosts were parents of one
of Shayna's friends and were very gracious to include us in their annual
party. In the span of just a few very enjoyable hours, we spoke not only to some
very wonderful Brits but also people from Brazil, Italy and Israel. There were
probably more from other countries that we just didn't get a chance to meet
(we hung by the snacks and drink tables - duh!). Then, throw us, the Americans,
in there and it was a very international soiree!
The thing is, that would be a big deal in America.
But here, it's just part of the package.
A very nice part.

Ciao!

Birthday Bonanza!

As many of you know, Shayna and Owen have December birthdays, only 4 days apart. Shayna celebrated by going to "The Doll's House" with her friends for ridiculously rich hot chocolate and cakes. Fortunately, we had the downstairs lounge to ourselves...
Owen had a great celebration too! He spent the weekend hanging out with friends, culminating with going to see one pal's band play VERY LOUD MUSIC in a hip downtown London club.
Here he's modeling his new birthday hat (thanks N and L!) and showing off his new game (thanks, Grandma and Grandpa Patt!).

More birthday duds. (And smiling from the cards, emails and checks he recieved;) Thanks!

Now, on to Christmas!

England Tip #261

Put a star by the rental ads that list flats with
'double-glazed windows'. We kind of thought that
was a given.

But now that freezing air is blowing through
our very old, single-paned, unglazed windows,
actually making the curtains sway,
we're thinking we should have paid better attention.

Walk with me!

I'm going to town on one of my many errands. This time, it's to get wrapping paper for Shayna's birthday presents. As I cross the street (our 'flat' is on the far left), I check down "Pinner View" for cars that could potentially run me over, as I still occasionally look left first, instead of right. I've safely crossed and now I'm walking west down Pinner Road, toward the 'mall'. The 'semi-attached' (tho they look all attached to me) houses line just about every block. The left side of the street has mostly shops - 'green grocers', 'fruit and veg shops' and 'off license'(liquor) shops.

As we pass by Monty's we give a sniff and wipe a tear, as this is where we met our first friend, John, owner of Monty's cafe. He was a real hoot - called Jer and all his male customers 'guv' and always had a naughty joke at the ready. Then he betrayed us by selling the shop just a few short months after our arrival.
Was it something we said?

We now walk down about a dozen steps to go under the 'roundabout'. Roundabouts are very clever intersections where no one has to stop, just ease in and go around until you get to the street you want to exit. Then make a mad dash for it. At least, that's how it feels when you're inside a car or bus on the 'wrong' side of the road, absolutely certain you are going to crash. Anyway, there is a pedestrian and biker roundabout below the street one. It's very well lit up and, like in many places in England, is under 24 hr camera surveillance. A bit creepy-big-brotherish, but also somewhat comforting as criminals probably aren't anxious to get caught on tape;)
Didn't think you needed a photo of the card shop - the mall looks like any other in the US.

And now, here we are with the Birthday girl. Are you singing?

The angel food cake mix from Grandma arrived early this morning, with just enough time for me to realize I did not have a mixer, an angel food cake PAN, and no prospect of getting one as no one here has ever even heard of angel food cake. Luckily, the box did provide directions on how to make it in 2 bread loaf pans. (Ahh, the camping experience continues...) And lucky for me, they were small enough to fit snuggly in my Easy Bake Oven.

Happy 12th Birthday, Shayna!

Meet our Guardian Angels!

Here are the famous sisters Janet and Dottie, our guardian angels, chauffers, personal shoppers, providers of every utensil, plate, tv, extension cord, endtable and fluffy towel in our entire flat. I cannot tell you how many things they helped us with, both before our move and after our arrival. In fact, on this recent visit to our humble abode, they came bearing a huge sack of wrapped gifts, jars of homemade jams and relishes, a poinsettia and even plans to bring us our own Christmas tree, decorations and all!
We're thinking of making a quick trip to Rome to have them Cannonized (sp?).
To fully understand their generosity, you must know that we had never met either of them before. Ever. The only tie was that my cousin had babysat for Janet's children way back when, in MN. Here we are in our elaborately decorated 'reception room' after our lunch and TEA;)

On the post labled 'Places we have stayed', there is a picture of the front of Janet's house in Northern England. This is a shot from their very back garden. I believe Jer and I stayed in the room at the top of the peak in the middle - the most luxurious place we've stayed by far. Janet even had candies and bottled water by everyone's bed and provided Robes and Slippers just like the Ritz! Classy lady.
This gate (below) is what you'd see if you turned 180 degrees from the top picture. This gate leads out to first a road and then the beach and sea beyond!
The kids and Jer and Janet's husband Steven took a long walk out this gate to the ocean. It was misty and overcast but fun for them to run around.
I, on the other hand, felt it was my duty to stay inside and test out the Jacuzzi. And the coffee pot.

I am happy to report both were in safe, working order.