The Crazy Street

Saturday is always an entertaining day to be on Cornmarket Street in the centre of Oxford...if you can handle the psycho crowdedness, you can experience pretty much any type of faith conversion you want (last week we had a Christian street preacher at one end, Muslims in the middle, I think a Jewish table, and of course the JW's at the end). But besides the hardy religious encounter, you can experience death defying feats! Oh yes, we have a guy walking on a tightrope playing the violin at one end, and a guy juggling fire at the other end. Oh and don't forget the guy that plays the African longhorn (or whatever it's called) or the girl who draws with sidewalk chalk and gives people directions for money (she is actually a really decent artist). But Tom's favorite at the moment is the Latino jazz band (trumpet player is amazing, accordion guy is super talented, and the percussion guy looks like he's just along for the ride). Good times.

Lingo

You know you are not in 'Kansas' anymore, when someone says to you "We played dodgem's and then ate some candy floss, then we checked out the steampunk.

That actually happened to me this week. It makes me smile just thinking about it....and I am kind of proud of the fact that I totally understood what it meant.

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.