Just Call Me Julia

Child, that is.

To properly celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday last weekend, I traveled up north again (this time to Hull) to meet up with Fulbrighters Natalie, Rebecca and Jessica at Jessica's house. We wanted to cook a traditional Thanksgiving feast, and even though none of us had actually ever cooked the whole meal deal on our own before, we were determined to make it work. Thankfully, we had some help from our moms! Jessica's mom sent us some darling table decorations, and so did my sweet Momma, along with copies of her famous recipes that we've been eating every Thanksgiving for years. Now that we had the supplies, we just had to figure out how to make it all come together. As Bridget Jones would say, "Very tricky..."

As soon as I arrived at the Hull train station Friday night, Jess and I headed over to the giant Tesco (which I LOVE because there's just small grocery shops near my house) to "do our big shop," as they say in England. We filled our huge "buggy" and managed to find just about everything on our list except for chicken broth, which apparently isn't something readily available in cans and cartons like back home. Instead, we had to buy a bunch of concentrated chicken stock jelly thinggies that we would later add to hot water. Slightly odd, but we went with it. :)

Of course, Friday night was spent just laughing and catching up and enjoying Jessica's huge home, per our usual routine when we get together. We've all gotten used to living in compact spaces, so spreading out the giant coach and in big arm chairs was a nice treat for us.

Saturday morning, we had a real treat when Rebecca made us a true Southern breakfast. Rebecca is from Alabama, and she sure knows how to cook grits! I've actually never enjoyed them, but Rebecca's were nice! She also made her grandma's sausage roll and sausage balls reciepes, and both were delish! Coupled with eggs and mimosas, we were already completely full and a little fuzzy headed by 10 a.m. But there was some serious cooking to be done, so it was back to the kitchen we went. And that's pretty much where we spent the day--in the kitchen dicing and sprinkling and chopping and grilling and tasting and mostly just laughing. It was fabulous! I had volunteered to prep the turkey and make the gravy and stuffing since they all go together, so I was feeling a little self-inflicted pressure (I didn't want it to be like that scene in Christmas vacation when we cut into our turkey). But all those years my mom forced me to help her clean out our turkey paid off. Although there were some moments of confusion and a few "ummm, what the heck is this?" panicked questions, it all came together in the end! We all worked together really well and had such a fun time making all our dishes.

One of the tricky things about cooking in an English kitchen is space. The kitchens here tend to be smaller than what we're used to back home. Jessica's kitchen is actually quite large, and it was perfect for all of us while we were working together, but our plump turkey took up most of the oven. That meant we couldn't finish baking our side dishes until the turkey was done. No worries, though, we entertained ourselves while we waited for those items to bake by opening Christmas crackers I put together from a kit where you just add your own prizes. Jess and I found some fabulous toys in the Tesco vending machine, and they made excellent prizes along with some candies and goodies. Who can resist Christmas crackers, even on the wrong holiday?

Then it was time for our feast! Yum! We said a prayer and shared our blessings we are most thankful for. It was really a beautiful day.

Our turkey! It looked a little odd, but tasted great!

I'm quite proud. :)

Ok, so see that blender off to the far left? We had limited kitchenware and kept running out of things to hold our liquids, so we got creative and used the blender. :) 

Rebecca and her tears-free onion chopping! 

Jessica made a beautiful tablescape. Sandra Lee would have been proud! 

Jess having a go at her cracker.

What's inside? So exciting! 

I think Natalie is saying, "heyyy" or "yaaaaaaay" here!

Rebecca and Jessica in their Christmas Thanksgiving crowns. 

Natalie and I, looking a bit crocked in our crowns. 

Burry pic of our feast

My momma's sausage-bacon-mushroom stuffing. BOMB!

My momma's thyme corn, which really didn't turn out very well but everyone still ate it and nobody complained! 

The turkey I've manage to completely butcher. I definitely don't have my dad's keen carving skills!

Feast!

But a funny thing happened to me. Several times throughout the day, I'd feel that old familiar lump in the back of my throat (no, I wasn't sick from our cooking!). You know, that lump you get right before your eyes well up with tears. I wasn't sad, really I wasn't. I was just feeling so blessed and so cared for by my new friends. Before beginning this crazy adventure, one of my biggest fears was what I would do without my family and my amazing girl friends back home. And during this past week of Thanksgiving celebrations, I've realized I don't need to worry about that anymore.

In our matching aprons, sewed by my mom! 

Counting My Blessings

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful, warm holiday in my family. I've always enjoyed the way we drop the crazy chaos of our lives for just one day and come together as a family to share some time together. And what I love most is that there are no presents and no pressure (well, aside from making sure the turkey and trimmings come out right). I was in a bit of denial about being away from home for one of my favorite holidays, and at first my plan was just to pretend it wasn't happening. I figured if I didn't make a big deal out of missing the holiday, then it would hurt so much. But luckily for me, my fabulous  work and Fulbright friends made sure that didn't happen.

After talking to some Fulbrighters, I realized that if I ignored Thanksgiving altogether, I would be missing an incredible opportunity to share American culture with my new students and colleagues. So while my family and American friends back home enjoyed the day off from work, feasting with their families,  I spent the day teaching my kids a little about the history of the holiday, then showing the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving video while we all made turkeys out of our hands and feet. And what a hit it was! I had to order special paper online to get the right colors, as well as some fun googly eyes, but it was so worth it to see the utter delight on my students faces as their turkeys came together. You would think I was some sort of crafting genius by the comments they made and how excited they were. I can't count how many times the girls squealed in delight as they glued on their eyeballs or cut out their hand tracings and held them up behind the turkey body, then and said something like, 'Oh Miss, this is so neat!' I was struck by how such an easy craft that's so common in American can be such a delight simply because it was new and exciting. I was also struck by how different each of the students' turkeys turned out. Haha! I'm not sure about the rules for posting photos of my girls, so here are a few without any faces.

On the feathers, they wrote different blessings in their lives that they are most thankful for.  

This little girl got a bit confused and took off her shoe before tracing her foot for her turkey body. :) Bless them! 

I really like this one's big, blond hair. But mostly, I love the blessings this student is thankful for: "That God love me, living in a home, being alive, that I have equal rights, my education, my family." Such humble, sweet and honest blessings that we should all be thankful for. And what's most striking is that this came from an 11-year old girl. 

This one has fancy eyelashes AND a ball cap AND an apron (I think)! But no feet. :)

Here's my demo turkey up on the board for the girls to model. And next to it is a lovely and sweet card from my dear friend and coworker Charlie. She also put funny Thanksgiving jokes on the back!  Above it is a true Thanksgiving miracle--a Thanksgiving note from my toughest class. I think I'm winning them over. ;)

Then after work, my friend and coworker Frances organized a little get together for a couple teachers at a local pub to celebrate the holiday. We had a nice toast to Thanksgiving and some good laughs. Then it was off to the pizza restaurant for a Thanksgiving pizza. :) It was definitely the most unique Thanksgiving I've had, but one that I loved and will definitely cherish in my memory.

Meeting Standards

Margaret Mead once said, "I learned the value of hard work by working hard."

Amen, sister.

I definitely learned the value of hard work last year as I dedicated most of my free time to completing my portfolio to become a National Board Certified teacher. For six months, I poured all my energy and stress into this process, and when I mailed the box off in March, I just about had a panic attack, doubting myself and wondering if I had really done absolutely everything I could to pass. The only time I felt more nervous than that moment at the Post Office was when I sat down at the assessment center for the big test in May.

But what I didn't realize then was even though that six months of hard work was behind me, waiting another six months for my scores would be almost as stressful. Then I finally started getting emails (from the board, from the state of Washington, from the teacher's union) in early November: The scores are coming! The scores are coming! Every time I thought about it, my stomach did flip flops and my palms got sweaty. I woke up early on Saturday November 17 to see a post in my Facebook feed from the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. It was only three words--Score are live. I popped out of bed, ran to my laptop, and with shaky hands, logged into my NBPTS account to see this:

Blurry because my phone camera is rubbish and I was in too big of a hurry to turn on the lights. But I passed!

My heart actually started beating harder when I saw the screen. Could it be real? I had to do a few double takes and then sign in and out of my account a couple times just to be sure it was real.

But it was. After all that hard work, I passed.

Sometimes, even when we work hard, things still don't turn out right. But sometimes, they do.

Things That Are Making Me Happy

There's been quite a few moments these past few weeks where I've stopped and thought to myself, "wow, I'm loving life." Here's a few of those moments (don't mind the poor quality on the cell phone camera photos):

Getting Up Really Early in the Morning to Watch the U.S. Election Results Come In:

The view I had as I laid bundled in a blanket at 5 a.m. on the couch.

Days When It Doesn't Rain on the Walk to Work:

One of my rainy walks to work. Now that it's getting colder, it's actually raining less and less.

London Lit Up for Christmas:

Oxford Street might be ridiculously crowded, but it such looks fabulous! 

Funky Carnaby Street is ready for a giant Christmas party!

Birthday Care Packages from Home:

Goodies galore! And the best part was the package came at the end of the school day, so I took it to the pub with us on Friday, and my work friends and I got a kick out of digging through all the surprises. :)

I adore this little bracelet my mom sent with Live, Laugh, Love (the motto I've adopted)

Making Thanksgiving Memories with my New British Friends:

I was going to cook a Thanksgiving dinner for some friends, but decided it would be way too hard. So instead, we went out for a fun roast dinner at a pub. But since I wanted to make it a fun Thanksgiving celebration, I took some of the napkins my mom sent me, stapled up the sides, and stuffed them with some American treasures (a corn candle and some Kisses). And voila, party favors!

My mom is a brilliant sewer, and she sent me some aprons for gifts. I decided to create a Thanksgiving trivia game and use this adorable apron as the prize. The girls loved the game, and they thought my cheeky party favors were really fun. 

It's not turkey, but it sure was tasty! This is a traditional Sunday roast in Britain. Meat, boiled then fried potatoes, grilled root veggies, spinach, yorkshire pudding (that's the puff pastry bread) and everything covered in glorious gravy. 

Anna, Leah, Rohanna and I at our "Thanksgiving" dinner. 

My Travel Treasures Wall:

Each time I travel somewhere new, if I see a postcard that I love, I buy it and then sticky tack it up on this wall in my bedroom. It started out as just a big, blank, white wall. Now it's quickly filling up with memories.

Buying Cool Old Books Printed in London:

"How to See the Country" was written during World War II as a manual for folks displaced to the countryside during the Blitz.  I thought "A Wanderer in London" was just the most perfect title for a book that I should add to my collection. And you can't tell in this grainy photo, but this copy of "The Old Man and the Sea" is gorgeous!

Dogs with Eyebrows Drawn In:

This isn't my photo, but I had to add it. This photo from Pinterest sends me into hysterics every time I look at it. I have it saved on my phone for whenever I need a good laugh. Google "dog with eyebrows" to see many more like it! :)

A Fabulous Weekend at Home

Last week, I spent the weekend in London, which is becoming something of a rarity for me as I've been traveling quite a bit and will continue to travel for the next few weekends. But having a nice, relaxing weekend at home was much needed and very enjoyable.

On Saturday, I slept in nice and late (such a treat!) and after cleaning the flat (it's funny how much of a mess I can make in such a compact space) I headed out for a tour of London. Earlier in the month, I purchased a Living Social deal for a walking tour called "Kings, Queens, Politics and Power." The tour guide was wonderfully cheesy (he even had a sound machine), which I love, and we learned all sorts of interesting things about London and it's politics as we walked around the Westminster area. Here are some highlights from the tour:

The tour guide is telling us about those circular blue plaques on the old houses. They tell what famous/influential people have lived in the home. This is one of the most posh streets in all of London, he said.

Queen Ann street. A couple neat things: (1) the residents of the street all put their money together to commission that statue of Queen Ann to make the street more jazzy (2) the little square plaque below the old street sign is the fire insurance mark. In the 18th century, if you didn't pay the fire brigade back in the day and get one of those plaques on your house, they wouldn't come help you put out the fire. Still, most people chose not to pay the fees (3) The large black, bricked rectangles behind the statue are old windows that were bricked up to avoid paying the window tax that the government instituted in the 18th and 19th centuries. 

This is blurry (oops!) and I didn't realize it at the time (I just thought the lantern snuff thing was neat) BUT...this is Sting's house!

Fall colors in St. James Park

St. James Park

There are tons of different bird species in St. James park. I thought this little duck diving for a snack was really cute.

Some huge pelicans and other birdies hang out near Duck Island Cottage in St. James Park.

The lamp posts in the Westminster area of London are painted with Coco Chanel's logo. The Duke of Westminster had an affair with Coco Chanel back in the 1920s, and this was one of his love tokens to her.

Abraham Lincoln statue, one of the many iconic men watching over Parliament Square. 

Parliament Square, with Big Ben and the London Eye.

Westminster Abbey. I still haven't been inside but will definitely head back there during another free weekend.

Crosses to commemorate fallen soldiers, placed in front of the abbey for Remembrance Day, which is celebrated on November 11.

I love the old taxi sign. Placed here outside Parliament for the MPs to hail a carriage after a long day at work.

What are those jolly policemen guarding?

The entrance to 10 Downing Street, where the Prime Minister David Cameron lives!

The grey house is 10 Downing Street

The memorial statue where the Queen and other important royal figures laid statues on Remembrance Day.

There really is only one word I can use to describe London: magical. The city is so vibrant, so alive, so rich in its history and culture. The more time I spend here, the more neighborhoods I explore, people I meet and stories I hear, the more I love London. It really is an enchanting city. I am so blessed to be here.