Happy Thanksgiving to all of you back in Canada enjoying a turkey dinner - Barret is exceedingly envious of all of you and the only way to get him a turkey here was to go to a farm and pick and pluck it myself. Sorry B - maybe next time.
Anyway, it's been a great and busy two weeks! Work has been insane, but in such a good way! I was able to take my year 5's to the Tate Modern to see an exhibit on the French painter Gauguin. I had to forewarn them about the possibility of seeing some paintings portraying some, ahem, females au natural... needless to say, as far as 10 and 11 year old boys go, they were very mature and made sure to snicker whilst not in my view or ear shot! It was great to take the kids to a gallery and watch how well they behaved in public (something new in my experience!)
Friday night I was prepared for my friend Mallory's arrival from home. However, Air Canada intervened and said we were not destined to meet until a day later. After some plane troubles she arrived in one piece yesterday morning. She came with a 2kg jar of Kraft peanut butter (THANK YOU MOM!!!) and a few other lovely things from home, including some maple leafs and a picture lovingly coloured by my 2 year old nephew Gabe. Thanks for all of those things Mom, Erin, and to Mallory for delivering! After Mal got settled and had a good nap, hot shower, and good meal we all headed out to see the "Best West End Show" of Wicked. And yeah, it was wicked! It's the story of the witches in the Wizard of Oz and how they got to be the way they did, as well as the lion, the scarecrow, and the tin man. It was so interesting and a fabulous show! We, the girls, loved it. The boys, however, did not fall asleep, so that means it was at least decent! When I say boys I mean Barret and our new flatmate Blair from my year at teacher's college. Now, I knew that Barret and Blair would get along... but it's kind of scary. Let me just put it this way - I've nicknamed them "Blairret".
Today the 4 of us went out to Windsor and Eton Riverside and paid a visit to Windsor Castle. I learned so much today. I was first excited because I thought the Queen was in because the Union Jack was flying high - however - that is only the case at Buckingham Palace. At the Queen's residence if the Royal Standard flag is flying then she is in, otherwise, she is elsewhere. We enjoyed the town as well and Mallory and Blair had their first traditional Sunday Roast. It was fantastic! I suppose it was as close to Thanksgiving dinner as we are going to get in this country and so it was good enough.
So, back to Blairret for a second. I have enjoyed having Blair around and I know that Barret is more than happy to have someone to talk to about sports. They've taken over the living room and it's finally persuaded me to buy a gym membership. So, all good things are coming out of this arrangement! We are scheduled to move into the new flat on November 2nd (I swear I wont let them make me carry any heavy boxes on my birthday!) and I can't wait. It should be a really good place for us all and I am happy to be getting out of the ghetto. I have made it about 9 months here and hopefully I will survive the mere 3 weeks I have left. Which, really, wont be that long because two weeks Tuesday we will be in the Canary Islands! Yeeehaw!
Well, that's the update for now.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone back home - our love to you all!
amy
Gabe's art work is pretty cute, as is he! Our fridge is littered with it. Awesome that Mallory came for a visit. We'd love to come but we keep having babies. By the by 4.5 weeks to go. So shortly after (or hopefully before) your move-in date you can anticipate an announcement. Any predictions?
ReplyDeleteEveryone here say hi. Gabe and Dani are doing great. Dani is walking (so cute) and Gabe is a super awesome big brother! Jason has only 3 weeks of work left:) and then it's the waiting game.
Say hi to Mallory and Bandito.
Team Stewart
p.s. 2 weeks, pft! I blogged way more when I was in Rwanda...you have no excuses slacker.