Susan Boyle, well done!

The past few weeks I've read many an essay from my SAT students regarding 'not judging a book by its cover.' Most of them were painfully boring, some were delightful.. all led to good discussions about what makes an interesting thesis... and thus.. essay.... I stressed the importance of being UNIQUE.

Today, my sister sent me a link to a video of a woman who performed recently on Britain's Got Talent. Like the other audience members, and I am sure people watching at home, I was thinking that she would take the stage and be a complete flop. Instead, her performance is beautiful, really.. it is awesome. I think what was so moving about the video, for a 7 minute youtube video is it captures Susan Boyle living her dream; one can't help but find that moving.

I would like to show this video to all my SAT students, though I won't have the opportunity. They find it difficult to discuss unique experiences in their essays. These are students that attend a prestigious boarding school; are from all over the world; have traveled all over the world; have had every advantage available to young people; 99% of them will go to university. They are a unique group and I feel really lucky to be teaching them. The past few weeks we have discussed multiple facets of grammar, writing skills, reading comprehension tricks; yet, I think that the most important idea I would like them to absorb is the confidence to go into the SAT, and any situation with confidence.

Susan Boyle says that she is going to 'make that audience rock' and boy, does she. I have never watched or enjoyed reality talent shows... I may start to make an exception.

Planes trains and automobiles...

I am no stranger to long trips and in particular long and arduous trips in sometimes cramped and uncomfortable situations; from night trains in Thailand, buses across the Egyptian desert to my miraculous two car rides, three flights and two trains that I took to arrive in England last September. To date, the latter mentioned journey is the greatest amount of different vehicles (planes, trains, automobiles) I had experienced in a single journey. Yesterday, I topped that. woo! I rule.

Yesterday morning I left Chester on a train around 10:30 in the morning. After my two hour train ride (on which I was very tired) I went up and down the stairs in the underground system of London. Not too bad here, only two underground trains, and I did manage to find the lift in the Green Park station which made life a little more happy :o) On the way to Heathrow, there was a delay at one point because... according to the announcements, there was 'an intruder' on the tracks between two of the stations. No worries, only a few minutes lost and she/he was apprehended (said the conductor) and we were off again to the airport. At the airport I went through a more strict security check than I have recently experienced whilst flying. I think this is probably to do with the G20 summit recently. Alright! Then onto my flight!

I was booked a seat in the very middle of the plane on this Delta flight, but luckily there was a really lovely family traveling to New York to celebrate their daughter's 18th birthday and they asked if I would switch to the aisle so that they could sit together. yes please! That worked out well. In addition to giving me a better seat, the time past more quickly in their company as we discussed culture and education and educational systems etc. Great people. I am glad because our flight was delayed in the take off and also upon our arrival to JFK, where we circled around the airport for an hour. That was a little less fun. But hey... got another 15 minutes of sleep, which put me at about an hour and half of sleep for the day. not bad... not bad...

Finally arriving to the terminal I went through customs and was one of the few Americans, so that was nice because they let me go first. Good to be home, wish it was that easy always. I then took what is called the air shuttle to the place where my enterprise shuttle was waiting to take me to the rental car place to pick up my car. This was all a pleasant experience, the people were very friendly. I forgot how nice customer service and genuine conversation with strangers can be. After loading up my car and heading out I got a little turned around ( multiple factors are at play here including but not limited to the fact that I have not driven in months and passengering on the other side of the road in England, it was night, I was in New York, with not the greatest directions). I finally made it to the White Stone Bridge and ALMOST got stuck in the easy pass lanes and yelled at by a cop (again... that happened last year as well... not okay. not fun) but instead I cut a bunch of people off and went through the cash only lanes like I was meant to do in the first place.

Of course, I think cutting people off while on that bridge built up some bad travelling Karma because then I proceeded to get very lost on my way to New Milford, and ended up on New Haven. After a few frustrated moments, I bought a map and a coffee and navigated my way through the back roads west to my destination. Stopping a few times to ask things like... what town is this? What road am I on right now? (not too well marked in this part of the country and it was really dark) So four hours after leaving the airport I arrived at my motel safe and sound and feeling pretty good for having navigated my way in an unfamiliar area after being awake for almost 20 hours (hour and a half nap) with just a map. woo! Very satisfying, though I did wish for a GPS and a cellphone a few times... but went the old fashioned way. I am actually really grateful that I was lost because I think if I had been on auto pilot to where I was going I may have fallen asleep at the wheel. As it was, being lost makes me hyper alert to everything around me, and that kept me going all the way to the Rocky River Motel. That, and deep thoughts like... hey if I while I am in America I only drive, and while in England I only ride shotgun, then I will always get in on the correct (and same) side of the car. whoa....

After a car ride, train ride, underground ride, plane flight, air shuttle, regular shuttle and four hours of lost back road driving... here I am in Connecticut/New York area for the next two weeks to teach the writing and reading portion of a SAT preparation course at the Kent School. hooray!

Foreign Currency

As I prepared for my travels back to the states in a few days, I went searching for my American dollars to bring with me... always nice to have a little cash on hand if you are able. I found them in this plastic bag which I had received upon my arrival in England last fall from the currency exchange desk at Heathrow airport. Originally it contained British pounds, and now it holds money from my homeland.


I am not sure what the significance of that would be, but it did give me a little chuckle, and it struck me as odd and probably because when I first glanced the American dollars and change did LOOK foreign to me, as their label might have suggested. hmm

Husband Nursery

In England, the word for a place where you leave your infants and small children to be watched is called a creche (sorry not sure how to adjust the accent above the e on my computer) . It is similar to the place we may call the nursery or daycare in the states. Well, there is a fairly common joke about the Pub being the husband creche, which I find hilarious. We encountered this sign whilst walking around Manchester, and I had to take a picture. Though I do not embrace the gender stereotypes which could possibly be perpetuated by such an advertisement... I also think it is really funny.

Manchester

I took a day trip to Manchester the other week. Though I had passed through it many times... as it is the transfer station for many destinations, I had never actually been to the city. The city itself is quite nice, lots of shops and people around. There was a football match that day and from what I could tell, some Italian team was playing and I think that they won. Everywhere that we walked around the city there were enthusiastic fans singing songs in the street in a language I couldn't really understand. The Manchester accent is quite strong, but I am fairly certain that this was not in English... amusing to witness... not in English. Manchester LOVES their football.

We walked around and stopped into URBIS which has an interesting display regarding the Black Panthers, interestingly enough as well as a cool building design and an elevator that feels like a roller coaster! We also went on the big Ferris Wheel that was like a Roller Coaster. I have not been on a ride like this in ages, I realized... having missed the Puyallup Fair now for many years running. I was a little... a lot... scared at first, but once I was able to rationalize that it was safely built by well paid, educated people, and that it was more likely I would be harmed walking across traffic than on this ride, I was able to relax and enjoy the beautiful view on such a sunny day. :o)

The Best Birthday Surprise Holiday!

I am the luckiest. It is quite possible that this year I received the best birthday present I could even dream to get. A while ago, Tim said that he wanted to take me somewhere for my birthday weekend, but it was a surprise. I love surprises!! Really, anywhere away for the weekend with such good company would be great! So I made some guesses in my head, but I would not let myself guess Stratford-Upon-Avon, because that would be too fantastic. Well we were off and running on Friday morning and I fell asleep in the car, when I woke up and there were signs for Stratford-Upon-Avon... and EVEN THEN... I thought... no, no way. So I asked Tim how much longer it would be until we arrived and he said it would be about an hour, then 5 minutes later he said, "we're here!" I was so excited!!!

We checked into our really beautiful Hotel, The Shakespeare Hotel, nonetheless. :o) Then as if that was not enough... Tim gave me tickets to the Royal Shakespeare Company's performance of The Tempest!! It was incredible. I felt so spoiled! We decided to walk about town a bit before the theatre that night and ate at a place called Mistress Quickly's, a place named after the Tavern keeper in the Henriad.Friday night, we dressed up and went out to a beautiful meal and saw a really incredible performance. I've read that the way in which The Tempest is often performed now is with a post-colonial slant. This performance would fit that description; most poignently when the last two lines of Prospero's epilouge, Caliban returns to the stage and they are spoken to him and not the audience. Brilliant. Really well done.

On Saturday we had a delicious breakfast and went around to all the Shakespeare historical sites! However, our first stop was a place I have longed hope to visit... The Royal Shakespeare Company Library and Archives :o) Many of you know that I study English Literature here in Leeds. You may not know is that I have loved reading and seeing Shakespeare since I first read it in Mr. Vinson's seventh grade class. What most of you don't know is that recently I decided on my thesis topic, and this particular topic would involve some research in the Royal Shakespeare Company Archives, with materials you can only really acquire in Stratford. It is a topic I really wanted to do, but wasn't sure if I could afford to get to Stratford, how I would get there, time, etc. This birthday present even offered me the opportunity to do some real research, was so great!! We were there for an hour or so, and I ordered some photocopies of documents whilst Tim sat very patiently reading his book. He is the best.

Some highlights from our tour around the gardens and houses are below, for the full effect of the trip and to see more pictures, you are welcome to look at the photos posted on my flickr account.

Tim and Rachel outside of Nash's House

In front of Anne Hathaway's Cottage!
Tim and I in the back of Shakespeare's Birthplace
In front of Shakespeare's Birthplace :o)

Tim explaining the way that they built houses in those days at Mary Arden's Farm!

All in all a pretty fantastic way to start my 27th year. Thanks Tim! x

Birthday Celebrations!

Birthdays are a funny... I find that people have drastically varied reactions to celebrating their day of birth; some prefer the day to pass unnoticed, and others enjoy all the bells and whistles you can demand on few other days. It may change as I get older, but thus far in my adult life, I have tended to fall into the later category. There is something really great about a chance to gather all your friends and loved ones around you... I suppose that is why I always think of my birthday as a holiday! This year, I wasn't sure how I was going to celebrate. I decided that I wanted to be around all the quality people I have met whilst in England, so I made a facebook invite for everyone to meet at the Faversham Pub near campus. But I am getting ahead of myself... Let's begin at the beginning... or just a little before....

Last Wednesday night signaled the beginning of the season of Lent with the Ash Wednesday Service. I can tell you that few things make you feel your mortality more acutely than hearing "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" the day before you turn another year older. That said, I had some mixed emotions because with the humbling aspect of the Ash Wednesday service, it has always instilled in me a sense of hope... which is a nice way to begin your birthday celebrations :o)

I woke up at 7AM on Thursday the 26th so that my lovely parents could sing to me over skype! Because of the time zone, they stayed up til 11PM the day before, and it was quit funny to see them tired and singing :o) After that, I went to wake up Maddy for a birthday morning walk, and she played Stevie Wonder's Happy Birthday song and we laughed!! Terry and Bara came over for breakfast and we had crepes and cakes and along with Maddy. Starting the day surrounded by friends and laughter is the best. Soon after they left, Tim arrived! with truffles!! :o) I was so happy that when I opened the door to go down and let him in the building and he was right outside my door I let out a little yelp and gave him a big hug :o) Before my seminar I went to meet some friends for coffee and Fiona had made my favorite Apple Cake... so delicious!!

Later in the evening, after I had on my party dress and pink tights, friends from my hall met in my flat to walk up to the Faversham Pub together where we had planned to have dinner and hang out, only to discover (thanks to Jim! phew! well done!) that it closed early that night. So I took the suggestion of going to Viva Latina where we had Tapas and dancing and more people joined us. It was a lovely night! I realized how lucky I am to have friends who make me handmade cards, and cakes, and sing and did everything to make sure I had a really lovely birthday, and I did. I think 27 is going to be the best year yet.

Maddy and I waiting for the lift before we left the Hall. Notice the matching sweater and shirt of Maddy's to the Birthday Badge, tights and my scarf. That's friendship.

Fiona, Bara and I shared some vegetarian tapas. I had a real hankering for nachos... good ones... and there they were!!

Fun table conversation abounds!

Bara explaining how to de-leg and head these things... I love this picture :o)