A Strange Slighty Morbid Tradition

I can't concentrate. As I sit at my computer, all I can hear is tons and tons of fireworks outside. I keep getting up out of my chair to run to the window and watch the fireworks--it's been going on for hours. We live next to several fields so fireworks have been going crazy all night and we have an amazing view from our top floor flat. It's insane...like it's the 4th of July but bigger, I think. Seriously, people GO NUTS with the fireworks. Why? Because today is Guy Fawkes Day.

It's a crazy holiday of sorts here in Oxford (in all of England actually). It's a bizarre tradition...they have big bonfires and fireworks on this day to celebrate the day in 1605 when Guy Fawkes along with others were caught in their attempt to blow up the Parliament building. As a result they say burned him alive (which is untrue I think he was hung), and since then every 5th of November they celebrate it by having fireworks and bonfires...pretty strange! It's sort of morbid, like Halloween morbid, but with a healthy dose of weird.

Look at : http://www.novareinna.com/festive/guy.html if you are interested...

What is it with the fact that when I hear the boom I have to go look outside? Why is it that we have this 'must see' attitude when we hear the sounds of fireworks? I think for me it's the wonder of what it might look like & hoping that it's huge. I hear it again...must...go...look....and I know I will get to the window and it will be over. I just know it.

I Love My Kitchen

Basically, the title says it all.

My Sweet Tree.

Who needs flowers, when you could get a ... duh dun duhhhh!

A Brussel Sprout tree.

Yes that's right, this was my splurge today at the supermarket (if you can call spending a pound a splurge--well maybe when you convert it to Canadian it's a splurge!). Anyways, yes this is my "British Brussel Sprout Tree" and it's amazing. I love it. Found it in the produce aisle. And the best part is, when I get tired of looking at it, I can just eat it. Too bad it's brussel sprouts. Maybe I will just look at it for a while.

So Long Old Friend...

I must now say good-bye to my good friend, my temporary passport. We've been through a lot together, and now I give my tribute.

Without you, I would never have been able to go home for my Grandma's funeral, and break up the long 6 month stint in England with a much needed trip to the true North strong and free.

Without you, I wouldn't have been able to go home for the whole summer, resting in the 30 degree sunshiny B.C. days and avoiding the horrible British summer rain. I would never have been able to spend countless hours doing 'nothing' with those I love.

Without you, I would never have been able to go on a crazy week long trip to Oregon...one truck, 4 adults, a 5 year old, and a 3 year old. How could I not have so many great memories?

Without you, I would not have been able to go on that sweet trip to Italy with Tom and Nemo, and eat tons of authentic delicious Italian food.

I will miss how cool you made me look at the airport, and how people in line with me thought I was some sort of special agent because I had a cool white passport, even though, if I was a special agent, why would I get a white passport that totally stood out?! But anyways...

It's been fun. And I want you to know, even though my old passport does have a visa to be in the UK until 2014, I will never love it as much as I loved you.

You, and the Canadian Embassy that is.

Turkey for Me, Turkey for You...

When I went to staff meeting this morning, I did not think I was having a thanksgiving dinner at my house that evening!! But once my staff team realized what day it was, they decided we had to do something special after all, as they said, they are my English family. So at about 6pm a few of us hopped on the bus, when to the local Sainsbury's on the way home, bought a couple of roasted chickens and all the other thanksgiving fixings (yes I know chicken isn't turkey, but I am in England and we had about an hour to make dinner, so work with me people!!) And there were about seven of us for dinner. A few of us girls actually pulled off this amazing dinner full with home-cooked pumpkin pie in like an hour! It was a thanksgiving miracle!

Oh and here's my favorite thanksgiving song at the moment. It's my ringtone. I just put in a little segment, because some of it at the end (of the full song) is kind of crude -- it is Adam Sandler, after all. But anyways, here's my ringtone for the week. I am trying to be in the spirit; I even bought a miniature pumpkin to put on my table today.

Inspired to Write

Wow. It's been awhile. And it's not like I haven't been inspired to write. I did travel to Italy for a week, basking in the amazing food and culture of the south with a day trip to Rome (note: one day to see Rome=insanity...really needed more time). And then I spent a lovely (oh the British lingo is getting to me again) summer on the west coast...and took an amazing week trip to Oregon Coast which was fantastic! The beaches and crashing waves were incredible, not to mention the sand dunes and the giant Sequoia trees in the tip of California...oh there was a lot to write, but there was the summer's overpowering lack of discipline to do so.

My parents came back to England with us, and just left last night, spending over a month in the UK and pretty much seeing more than Tom and I have seen in a year. It was so nice to have them here--totally helped with any home-sickness. We had tons of family around in early September, for a few weeks there we felt like we were running a free B&B. But we got a great new flat, so we love having guests. My sister-in-law got married in Scotland early September...also a noteworthy event, it being an Indian-Canadian-German wedding in Scotland, but nope, no news post. But alas, autumn (yes, that's what we call it here) has come and it's time to catch up with life. Hopefully that will mean I can process some thoughts on here and document my crazy life in Britain.

And believe me, it's crazy. For example, I spent the last two weeks selling a free contest to win 'a moral dilemma' involving two goats and an ipod. Good times. And yes, sometimes I do walk down the busy Oxford streets and think, "My life is one big strange adventure".

Phrases of the Week

Here's are two of the best phrases I have heard in the last week:

"It was all pistols in the morning!"

and...

"Like, I'm not making you guys suck eggs"

Haha! The dilemma, do I just let you ponder these...or do I explain them? Such a hard decision...