Thanksgiving Week and a Local Glassmaker



Pilgrims and Indians sharing a feast

Well, our Thanksgiving assembly on Monday was a success!  The kids did an awesome job, and I was very proud of them.  Between their performance and the two short Youtube powerpoint videos I showed, feedback was that people truly didn't know what our Thanksgiving was all about, nor did they realize that the Indians and Pilgrims helped one another.  It was gratifying to be able to facilitate an understanding of a significant part of our American culture.  Then, on Wednesday was the school Thanksgiving dinner at lunchtime, complete with the pumpkin pies Trudy was so proud of making from the pie filling she ordered from America.  Yummy (and the kids even liked it)!  Mrs. Barnes and Mrs. Norris had arrived on Tuesday, so they were able to join us at school for the Thanksgiving extravaganza!  Trudy even went so far as to decorate the whole hall in American motif consisting of flag banners, trukey pictures, and year-six students decked out in Uncle Sam hats and vests!  Very festive!  



Mrs. Norris and our fearless leader shmoozing with kids.  Notice anything backwards?

Yankee Doodle Dandies

Naan bread just out of clay oven



Thanksgiving at Indigo

On Thursday evening (after a day of WORKING on Thanksgiving Day), the three of us went with Eileen and Maureen (another T.A. at school) for Thanksgiving dinner . . . at an Indian restaurant!  My first time having Indian food (not counting curry at Carol's house).  The owner of the beautiful restaurant called Indigo even gave us a tour of the kitchen and demonstrated how they make naan breads in a traditional clay oven.     

After dinner we went to the Crooked House Pub (which I had visited previously in this blog).  Let the photos speak for themselves.  It was the weirdest--and best--Thanksgiving ever!





Friday night found the three of us and Eileen in Birmingham at the largest German Christmas market outside of Germany.  It was quite magical with Christmas lights and vendor stalls constructed like little German log houses--and, of couse, lots and lots of people.  A lovely evening before the two travellers, who certainly crammed everything they could of London and Stourbridge and Birmingham into one short week, had to return to the reality of Colorado and Steele School on Saturday morning.  It was such a treat having them here!  They got to spend time at the school, experience a little of my "adopted" culture, and meet the wonderful, quirky friends I've made, like Carol, who told Georgie, when she was trying to fasten her seatbelt in Carol's car, to "just fasten yourself in and get on with it!"  (Funny with the Black Country accent.)  To which Georgie replied, "Boy, you're bossy!"

Yesterday as I sat on the bus home from Merry Hill Mall, observing and listening to old women with their shopping bags greeting one another and talking about things in their lives in thick Black Country accents and saying "Ta ra!" as they came to their stops, and old men having just been to the pub where they'd obviously tipped a few pints, and young people with their fast, cheeky slang, and everyone telling the bus driver "Cheers, Mate" as they got off the bus, I thought to myself, "I'm going to miss this."  These little insignificent, meaningless slices of daily life have become dear to me, and I'm going to miss them.

Today I walked down to the Stourbridge Glass factory because Eileen had texted me that there was a Christmas market there this weekend.  Stourbridge glass and crystal used to be very famous, and apparently the old stuff is hard to find now.  There wasn't much in the way of a craft fair, but I discovered wonderful shops and studios I hadn't realized were there before!  It's a beautiful old building right next to the canal and even has a lovely little tea house that Georgie and Carolyn discovered when they ventured there one day while I was at work.  (They had tea and found out what crumpets were.)  I did my part to help the local economy and bought a couple of Christmas presents (and a little something for myself), and I even got to watch a glassmaking demonstration.  A lovely way to spend an afternoon in the neighborhood before having to return home to finish laundry and mark papers.

     





Preparing for Thanksgiving . . . in England?

It's getting busier at school as the kids rehearse and prepare for both my class's little Thanksgiving performance and for the school Nativity play.  Yes, Thanksgiving AND Christmas.  Picture me trying to get 30 squirmy, energetic, impulsive, talkative, constantly-poking-each-other 6-year-olds with NO OFF SWITCH to rehearse two little Thanksgiving skits that they will perform (God willing) for a school assembly.  It's a bit like herding butterflies, and me without a net.  Now, picture children ages 4 to 6 (the three "infants" classes--reception, year one, and my class) rehearsing for the Christmas play . . . 85 OF THEM! . . . with only three teachers to wrangle them.  They do this every year, so apparently it's doable.  Pass the Advil, please.


My kids had fun making these silly turkeys.

It's been interesting teaching my students about the American tradition of Thanksgiving.  I think, as an American, I tend to assume that, surely, the rest of the world knows about our American Thanksgiving, but they really don't.  (That's one thing I've learned on this journey--not to assume.)   So now, with this little assembly we're putting together on Monday that consists of a couple of short YouTube videos and the children's skits (imagine the Wampanoag Indians with English accents), the parents and the rest of the school will know about Thanksgiving as well.  One boy's mom reminded me of a typical Steele parent because she offered right off the bat to make Pilgrim hats and collars, so the kids will be decked out in a little bit of costuming (over their school uniforms) to delineate the Indians from the Pilgrims.  Very cute.  On Wednesday (not quite Thanksgiving Day, but close enough), Trudy, the head dinner lady, is graciously and enthusiastically preparing a Thanksgiving dinner for the school.  Get this: you can't find canned pumpkin here for pumpkin pies, so Trudy has ordered it online!  How sweet is that!  She's pretty sure the kids won't like pumpkin pie, but she's giving it a go.  I'll give you a report.

I'm looking forward to Georgie and Carolyn's (Mrs. Barnes and Mrs. Norris) visit next week!!  I can't believe they are actually coming!  They'll spend a couple of days in London before coming here, so I'll see them on Tuesday.  They will have Thanksgiving dinner at the school on Wednesday and get to see where I'm teaching.  Then, the rest of the week while I'm at work (yes, even on Thanksgiving day--waahh!), they will go and explore this lovely area of England.  We have things planned for the evenings they are here--dinner at a friend's house, a pub night, and going to the big Christmas market in Birmingham.  Their visit is one more thing to add to my list of things to be thankful for during this holiday season.  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Poppies and Mushrooms and Castles, Oh My!

Felt like going to a castle this weekend, so I did!  Yesterday (Saturday) I took a train to Ludlow in Shropshire.  I just love taking these train rides through the beautiful English countryside, and this route to Ludlow was very hilly as it is in Wales.  Ludlow is about an hour and a half train ride from where I'm living and about 15 miles or so from Wales.  It was one of the places on my ever-growing-and-have-to-prioritize must-see list.  When I got off the train in Ludlow there wasn't even a train station--it was more like a bus station.  So I looked around, crossed the street, and asked a passerby where the town center and the castle were.  She very kindly showed me the way.  It wasn't very far, and Ludlow Castle was right at the edge of the village center.  As I walked toward the village, I became more and more excited because I was seeing centuries-old Tudor houses and shops.  Ahhh, here was the Old English charm I was looking for!  I marveled at the black-and-white clay and timber houses and shops with their old beveled, stained glass windows and imagined life as it must have been hundreds of years ago.  One of the more interesting shops I saw was a butcher with a whole string of dead pheasants hanging outside of it!  Then I went into an antiques flea market where I was surprised at what I saw sitting on one vendor's table.  It was a bust of a cowboy that I recognized immediately as a Michael Garman sculpture!  I couldn't believe it!  I told the vendor that Michael Garman is a very well known American sculptor whose studio is in the town I come from in Colorado.  She told me that she thought I should buy it and take it back to its home.  I passed.  I wandered around more shops and then explored side streets.  I stopped in front of one house that was sort of leaning into the street, its ancient, imperfect charm leading me to inquire of the man who was white washing it how old it was.  He got down from his ladder and told me that his house dated back to around 1468 during the time of King Richard III.  Can you imagine living in a house over 500 years old?! 

I then walked up to Ludlow Castle and gladly paid the £5 entrance fee. The castle is a massive 11th century medieval castle that was originally a Norman fortress and Welsh stronghold and later became a royal palace.  What a contrast to come through the entrance to the castle grounds from the bustling market town to the haunting quiet of the castle (there were only a few other people there besides me).  The narrow stairway spiraled up and up to the towers much like ones Nadine and I climbed at Blarney Castle in Ireland.  A beautiful day in Ye Olde England.

Today was even warmer than yesterday with clear blue skies beckoning me out for a walk.  I ventured to Stourbridge (about an hour's walk from where I live) and took a detour along a canal I discovered on my way back home.  As I walked along, I looked down and saw the most amazing mushrooms! They were red with white dots and huge!  The funny thing is, whenever I teach my students how to draw mushrooms, I always draw red mushrooms with white polka dots.  Who knew I'd actually find these fairytale mushrooms on a stroll in England!  A nice couple stopped and asked me what I was taking pictures of, and they were amazed as I was because they said they'd never seen them before.  We had the loveliest chat and they gave me more recommendations for places I must visit before I return to the good ol' USA.  They asked me how I was enjoying my stay here and expressed their chagrin at the seemingly prevalent attitude that the West Midlands is just an industrial part of the country (which it used to be) and had not much to offer.  They sang its praises as having the most beautiful countryside in England, the warmest people, and many, many historic sites.  I couldn't agree more.  They were thrilled that I was in Ludlow the day before.  Later in the evening I went with Eileen and her boyfriend, Bryan, to an Irish club to see an Irish concert.  It was a lovely evening of old-fashioned Irish music, but I didn't get home until midnight, and that 5 a.m. alarm is a cruel reality for this teacher.

For the past couple of weeks people all over England have been wearing poppy pins in anticipation of  "Poppy Day", nickname for Rememberance Day, an annual day of commemoration of all the fallen soldiers in the Commonwealth.  Poppy Day is celebrated on November 11th--specifically, 11-11-11, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year that connotes the day and time when WWI officially ended.  People buy these poppies with donations to the British Royal Legion which facilitates the recovery of wounded and disabled soldiers.  Poppy wreaths are laid on graves of soldiers.  At our school, all the children and staff headed out to the church's graveyard at 11:00 to lay paper poppy wreaths on the old graves of military heroes. There were hymns sung and two minutes of silence and a man played a somber bugle piece. 

Friday night a lot of the school staff went to the Grand Theatre in Wolverhampton to see a local performance of the musical version of A Christmas Carol.  It was pretty good, and seeing it with proper authentic English accents was a treat!  But it was raining cats and dogs.  Luckily, Carol had a brolly in the boot, but it was bost.  See?  I'm learning the language!

Back to Work and a Lovely Weekend

Autumn has finally come to the West Midlands, and it's beautiful.  Though there is a definite chill in the air and darkness is coming earlier with each passing day, it amazes and delights me how England's die hard gardeners manage to coax the last of late-summer blooms into clinging stubbornly to their stalks.  Although I love my home back home, I am not looking forward to leaving this, my adopted home.  I feel as though I've become part of the community.  This experience has opened up a whole new world of possibilities to me, and I've learned so much about myself and about the world around me.  I've always thought that England was somewhere "in my blood" which may explain why I've never really experienced homesickness.  The friends I've made here will be dear life-long friends.  Of that I am certain.

With Venice still on my mind, it was back to work on Tuesday.  (Monday was a professional development day, called "inset" here.)   No sooner had I just started teaching my class about American Thanksgiving did I find out that we needed to have the kids start learning songs and lines for the Christmas play--oh yeah, AND teach curriculum.  Hmmm . . . it's going to be an interesting few weeks.

During my outside duty on Tuesday, one of the year six boys came up to me and asked if beef burgers were really big in America.  I told him that we call them hamburgers, and yes, they can be big but generally they're just normal.  Then I told him about a restaurant in Colorado Springs that serves hamburgers as big as a dinner plate.  His response: "I've got to get me self to America!"

Thursday night I went home with Jane H. and had dinner with her lovely family, then we met up with Eileen and went to the cinema to see The Help.  I was really excited because I had read the book and was "gutted" (I'm learning the language) that I wouldn't get to see the film that came out in Colorado the day after I left.  So I was very surprised that it played here!  Good movie--book's always better.

Friday was Guy Fawkes Day and Bonfire Night, a holiday eagerly celebrated every November 5th in  Great Britain (Britain's answer to our Fourth of July).  A very brief history lesson: in the early 1600's there was a plot to kill King James I (Elizabeth's successor) because of his persecution of Catholics.  A group of conspirators stored gun powder under the Houses of Parliament, but the king found out about it, and Guy Fawkes, who was guarding the gun powder, was killed.  Subsequently there were bonfires all over London to celebrate the failed plot--hence, Bonfire Night where people bring stuff to the bonfire sites to burn, and sometimes there's a "guy" that they burn in effigy.  There are also many, many fireworks that are not contained to just bonfire night.  (I've been hearing them for a week and a half now.)

This weekend has been just gorgeous, weather-wise.  Today Eileen came and fetched me and we went for a nice long walk in the country and along the canals in Wombourne.  I kicked myself because I didn't have my camera with me.  (Note to self: take your camera EVERYWHERE.)  The country lanes we walked through were lined with trees dressed in autumn color that formed arches over the paths and narrow roads.  The lanes cut through idyllic farm land that stretched for acres and acres, green and populated by cows and horses and sheep.  There were lots of walkers and runners and bicyclists along the way, but also people on horseback.  The horses seemed huge and of sturdy stock, part Clydesdale I was informed when I asked a passing rider.  And instead of the cowboy hats we would most likely see in Colorado, these riders wore English riding hats.  I am definitely going to want to go walking there again--with camera.  What topped off the experience was on the way back to the car we heard the music of Scottish bagpipes comng from somewhere in the distance.  I've just been so fortunate to get to live in such a beautiful part of England.          

 I had invited Nigel over for a late lunch, so when I got back home I prepared a proper Colorado tex-mex meal of pork green chili burritos.  I couldn't find green chilies, so I had to use jalepenos which were in a jar marked "very hot" but were not at all and worked out fine.  By the way, I've heard it will be very difficult to find canned pumpkin for pumpkin pies as well.  I'll have to go on a Thanksgiving reconnaissance mission.