Christmas and other festive doings

After returning home from Salzburg, my flatmates and I went out for Sunday roast. We were going to try to find a pub right around the house which turned out to be quite a job to find a place to eat. Either they had no seating or not the roast we were looking for. We discovered that Sunday roast is meant to take place earlier in the evening, not at 19:00 like we normally eat dinner, so a couple of places had run out of roast. Our search ended up as a walking tour of Notting Hill and all of its pubs! After an hour of walking and checking pubs we finally caught the tube to the West End and found a pub with roast. The food was delicious and we had a great night!

Monday and Tuesday was teacher in service days which I attended. The first day was for teacher training and the second was for team development. Both days were really easy with no kids and all the teachers were dressed casually and quite laid back. Both nights we went out to the pubs to have numerous pints. I had an enjoyable time with my co workers and go to know them quite well. One night we were all discussing our weights which became quite intensive because I operate in pounds, Rebecca in kilos, Lynda in stones, and Peter was doing all the converting. What a riot! Wednesday, December 21st I worked the largest celebrity event in London! You can check out the web for more details. I signed a confidentiality agreement not to discuss it. If you have any questions, send me an email and I may or may not address itJ.

Thursday I met Eric B for a pub lunch in Hammersmith. It was the first time we had met since he got here, only a couple of days. After lunch I found a park to read in until I had to work again. This was my last shift as a caterer until after the New Year!!! I celebrated afterwards with a pint at the nearest pub! In felt good to know I would be done serving for a bit. As of that night, I would be on holiday until January 4th! I was excited! The same night I learned the rules to Aussie football. This is a sport that is quite different than anything we have in the States. I suggest you get online and do some research to figure out exactly what this sport is.

Friday was a day for catching up with chores of life. A haircut, fix my phone, pay rent, pick up a package from Grandma, and on to Notting Hill to do some Christmas shopping.

Christmas Eve! Eric came over and we made lunch (pizza bread and cookie dough). Now this is the first time I have had cookie dough while here and I absolutely loved it. The sugar in my teeth and the sweetness of it; I actually had a bad stomach after that because I am not use to the richness. After lunch, I wrapped Christmas presents, and then joined Emily’s family (both her Aunts, Grandma, and three kids Rhian, Jordan, and Noah 8, 9, 6 respectively) for mass. The mass was incredibly boring but in a beautiful cathedral. I barely survived through mass but was rewarded with home made chicken noodle soup and a warm family atmosphere. As midnight approached, I left so I would get home before transport stopped. At 00:00 Dec. 25th, everything would stop. With some misguided information on times from a London transport worker, I managed to make a couple of poor decisions and it ended up taking my three times as long to get home. Fortunately though I did not have to walk the couple of miles I anticipated because a bus was running until 01:00. At home and on the phone with Dad’s side of the family, being passed around. The feeling to talk with the family was brilliant. I was so happy to talk to everyone. I now know what Uncle Gibbs feels like. On to bed!

Christmas! I slept in and awoke to an empty flat. My flatmates were in Barcelona and Paris so I had the place to myself. With transport down, I took the four to five mile walk to Emily’s family’s rented flat in Knightsbridge quite happily. There was no snow, but we had 10C and sun so I was smiling. My walk took my through Kensington Gardens as well as Hyde Park, so I saw loads of families and birds. I had my i-pod and my mind so I was able to entertain myself. When I arrived at the flat, Emily’s aunts had a massive breakfast laid out for me. It seriously was 10 dishes. Amazing! After a bit of Christmas movie watching and the Queens’ Christmas address, I suggested we take the youngins to the park. We played on the equipment and fed the birds…what a lovely Christmas afternoon. For dinner we had Harrods’s roast, mashed potatoes, and pastries from the Italian patisserie at the top of the street. The night was capped off with yet another Christmas movie. I was again able to talk to Mom and the siblings, nephews, and nieces.

I received presents from Emily’s family as well as Emily so Christmas was great. I handled being away from the family quite well because it is only one year. I know family is important and I had an adopted family for the holiday so it was not very bad. Next Christmas with the family will be nice though.

The next two days were again spent with Emily’s family participating in high tea (a aristocratic tradition that is quite luxurious), a Thames River Cruise, touring Tower Bridge, a massive Chinese dinner, and packing for Scotland!

On to Scotland for New Years!!!!