The type of Christmas that warms my heart...

December 1^st: Dress up the kid in their Sunday best and hurry on down to Devonshire Mall, where you can wait in an hour long line up at Santa’s Village, and place your child on a complete strangers lap.

???? Why do we do this?  Only for our sweet little darlings to grow up and realize that, “Santa” or “Santa’s helper”, as my mom used to tell me when I asked, “how can Santa be at Devonshire AND Tecumseh mall all at the same time?”  

If you were to ask any Child, “Why does Santa come to your house on Christmas Eve night?” they may respond with, “To give me presents!”  Which I can’t blame them for saying, because we have made Christmas out to be this over commercialized wonderland that screams money!  This year has been so nice to witness some true Christmas traditions that scream love as oppose to money, here is what we have been a part of so far.

It’s hard to believe that I am a primary teacher, I have no decorations up in our flat and it is nearly Christmas!  I am not the type of person who starts decorating for Christmas on Halloween, or starts shopping for Christmas gifts in September, and I am definitely not the type of person who bakes up a storm and plays Christmas music.  

Baking! Hahahah reminds me of the time my mom and I went to a ‘baking exchange’.  We brought a bottle of Baileys.... which explains it all.

What has been amazing this year, are the wonderful people that we have met and the amazing traditions that we have learned and have been a part of.  I hope to share with you the Christmas spirit Ryan and I have been a part of, beginning with Nicci and Dave’s gift to us.

Nicci, I promised to explain more about her from a previous post so here we go.  Nicci, is that kind of person who you seriously aspire to be like.  You know the yellow ‘what would Jesus do’ bracelets?  Well there should be a ‘What would Nicci do’ bracelet, because she truly thinks of others before herself continuously, and is the most thoughtful person I have ever met!

How we met (because I love this story so much):

I met Nicci in an Issues class, in Windsor last year.  We sat across from one another and she spotted my ‘X’ ring.  The lecture was about to begin, but she said “Hey you went to X!  My brother went there”.  Well, let me tell you, when you went to a ‘uni’ that has the population of about 10 people! You become intrigued when people’s brothers have gone to the same one.  The lecture started, so we as good students got quiet and listened in.  I, with my ADD, looked over at Nicci and realized within 10 seconds who her brother was.  I was soooo excited that I blurted it out (OOoopsS!).  “Your brother is Reeder!” Hahahah still makes me laugh.... anywhosy Reeder is Ryan and My really good friend.  He is our MC at our wedding and we cannot wait to visit with him again!

So that is how we met!  Earlier last year Nicci went on to explain how she would be moving to England to teach while her husband attended medical school here at Northumbria University.  At the time I thought, wow! Could you image! Teaching in another country!  So funny to think now that we are both here teaching British students all about how wonderful Canada is!

Nicci, unlike me, has that primary teacher thing going.  She has already decorated her flat, baked up a storm, got her Christmas pictures done, sent out Christmas cards, got Christmas lessons ready for her classes and continued to stay on top with her family, as she calls them, in Tanzania.  Unbelievable!  That to me means Christmas more than any man dressed up as Santa, who is probably getting paid.

Our first Christmas gift this year came from Nicci, she converted pringle cylinders into cookie packages and baked an enormous amount of sugar cookies for more than have the population of Newcastle, kidding! But she did make a lot! Also inside her British cards, was a professionally taken photo of her a Dave, along with a cookie cutter and the recipe for her amazing sugar cookies!  It was sooo thoughtful of her to give us a gift!  Ryan loved the cookies, I quote him saying “These are Legit!” made me wonder why I couldn’t “Be like Nicci!” haha... Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of her lovely gift so you will just have to trust me that they were really cute and well done packages!

Our next gift came promptly on December 6^th which is what the Germans know as, Saint Nikolaos.  Our flat mate, Anne is also one of those ‘let’s bake for Christmas!’ kind of people.  I have already posted about Anne in a previous blog, so you can find out more about her here, Ope.  

Saint Nikolaos is an old German tradition and is consequently where the modern day Santa Claus comes from.  Saint Nikolaos was traditionally known for his miracles, and went on to be notorious for his secret gift-giving.  Saint Nikolaos specifically would place coins into people’s shoes that had been left out on the night of December 5^th.  The tradition changed throughout the centuries, primarily from coins to peanuts, then to sweets and fruits.  Anne explained to me today, that it has become commercialized just like Christmas has, and that children get actual gifts left in their shoes on the night of December 5^th.

Our shoes must have been properly scrubbed and shined because on December 6^th Saint Nikolaos paid a visit to 12 Craghall Dene. 

That morning, as I was getting ready for work (in the dark, because it’s always dark in England) I noticed a basket on our living room table.  I thought Anne, who had just left for work herself, had forgotten the sweets she was bringing to work that day.  I took a closer look at the packages inside the basket and to my excitement one of the packages was labelled ‘For the Canadians’.  Yay!  After work, Ryan and I opened the packages that were left by Saint Nikolaos (Anne).  There was fruit, mince pies (English Danish that is yummy!), Canadian peanut butter (FINALLY!) and maple syrup.  Anne has been asking Ryan to make blueberry pancakes all week, and now I know why!  Hahah she has supplied us with blueberries and maple syrup so on Sunday when we get our Christmas tree we are going to make pancakes.

On a side note I made the German and her British Daniel try our peanut butter and they agreed that it is different than the stuff here and that it is lovely! Aha!

Day of Action in Newcastle

Today all service sectors in England are protesting their shrinking retirement funds by taking part in a day of action walk out.  Here in England the schools are not organized by a school board.  The schools are part of a council connected to the government.  Therefore, today the teachers are stepping out and taking part in a day of action to fight for their shrinking retirement funds.  What does this mean to me?  Most Schools in Newcastle are closed, thus no supply work needed meaning no work for me today.  The metro is also closed, so Ryan was unable to take his usual mode of transportation to work.  Thankfully he has met some fantastic people at work who have gone out of their way to come and pick him up at our doorstep. 

I truly do feel for these service sector workers.  I have been reading a few articles and seeing the amount of cut backs these workers are facing, and it’s ridiculous to say the least.  The amount allotted to the workers for their pensions is laughable.  I feel just awful because what if the councils are unable to negotiate with the people? Are they simply supposed to live off nothing, once they reach their retirement age?  Another scary thing is that Canada still looks to England as a model when planning our own platform as a country, so maybe I’m witnessing my own future... YIKES!

Read more about the day of action here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-15936663

I would make my way into town to witness and learn more about this mess, but I would need a metro ride to get there.... and with them all closed today I am stuck in Gosforth and Jesmond all day.

No decorations but a blazin' good time!

In order to scare away all the mischievous behaviour from Devils night, most children around the world dress up in scary costumes, the night after devils night, to scare all the devils away.   This is known of course as ‘Halloween’.  And to follow we are blessed with All Saints day.  This is what we Canadians are used to doing for Halloween.

Throughout the years I would have my parents rack their brains in trying to come up with wonderful ideas for Halloween costumes for me.  The biggest challenge for my parents was to think of a great costume that would be able to fit over a snowsuit or 3 layers of clothes.  Although my costumes were never really that scary, I mean if you count the year that I was a ‘Pepsi can’ or the one that I was a ‘dice’ I assume I did not do a great job of scarring off any evil spirits.   

Why the trip down memory lane?  Because, believe it or not the British celebrate this time of year differently than us.   They must not have many devils surfacing from the grave yards on October 30^th because there were little to no celebration on the 31^st.

The week leading up to Halloween Ryan and I noticed that there were no Halloween decorations around the ‘toon’.  I started to ask a few locals about the absence of Halloween decorations, and I learned that here in England it is not a commercial festivity.  Like many things that the Canadians and the US have made into a money grab the English have remained untouched by the spooky music playing, pumpkin lights, stuffed dummies that sit on porches, scarecrows looming in yards, and pumpkin carving extravaganza madness.  I do have to say I did miss the big nonsense around my neighbourhood.  The worst part was the absent excited children walking about their streets with their friends and family trick-or-treating!

On Halloween I was heading home from work, when I noticed that even though it had started to get dark there were many children on the metro not in costumes or getting ready to go out and trick-or-treat.  I didn’t think much into it and decided to get off at a stop before my regular stop to walk the streets and see the trick-or-treaters, still nothing.... ummmm what is going on???  I saw a few pumpkins glowing from a far that I assume where either Canadians or Americans par taking in the event, but I saw 1 witch hat walk by and an older guy wearing leopard print tights (which could have been a normal day for him).  

What I did learn is that even though there was no Halloween commercialized craziness going on in England, the British do celebrate another festivity a week later.  Don’t get your hopes up, because this event doesn’t have anything to do with spirits or saints it has to do with bombs and parliament with an undertone of anti-Catholicism.

This festivity is known as the, Guy Fawkes Night and it falls on the 5^th of November.  I am soooo upset to announce that our computer decided to acquire a virus about a week ago, and my wonderful pictures of this night are nowhere to be found.  Thus, it will be hard to explain just what it was like here on the 5^th of November.

First things first, the history of Guy Fawkes;   Guy Fawkes was a member of the Gunpowder plot, and was planning to place explosives under the Parliament houses of England.  King James, who served a long reign over Scotland, Ireland and England was the main target of this plot, but ultimately survived the great ordeal.  The commemoration of November 5^th is amongst other things to celebrate his survival.  

Today in England the British celebrate the survival of the explosions by having their own explosive parties.

The day of November 5^th, I noticed a large flat bed truck filled with enough wood to build a house (no lie) travel down our street to the alley way behind us.  I thought that someone must be planning a remodel on their home.  The wood was dropped off and sat in a hump behind my house for the rest of the day.  Ryan and I, and our roommates were getting ready to go and see a friend’s band in the ‘toon’ when I spotted a huge flame outside our living room window.  Mind you, we live adjacent to one of the largest parks in Newcastle (Jesmond Dene) so I was weary at first that some hooligans had set fire to one of my favourite spots in Jesmond L.  My roommates quickly let me know that the Dene was in fact in fine shape and that our neighbours were just commemorating King James and his survival by celebrating Guy Fawkes.  I soooo wish I could find my pictures because the size of this fire was unreal!  We went outside and made our way to the massive wood pile, which stood about 10 feet tall, and its base was about 10 feet thick.

We walked up to a fire that had started to create a crowd of about 15-20 people.  The people were all neighbours and have made their way up to the blaze either out of us curiosity like us, or out of tradition of being there year after year.  We were offered food from one family and asked about where we were living and getting to know the neighbourhood.  

Then out of nowhere a shriek of fireworks blared in the distance.  These fireworks were not like what we are used to during the July 1^st july 4^th celebration that we see at the river front every year.  This sounded like Newcastle had started a war of bombs!!!!!!! It was absolute madness!  And again I am sorry about the absent photos!  My heart was pumping and the bombs continued to blast away as we watched our neighbours add huge pallets to the fire!  It was all so different and great to experience.

One of our neighbours is a history teacher at a secondary school here in Newcastle.  He explained how this exact fire has been lit every November 5^th for the past 97 years!  This fire is almost as old as Windsor itself!  He assured me that over the 97 years Jesmond Dene has never gone up in smoke!  So I felt better about the situation and was able to relax a bit and enjoy their celebrations.  

Even though mine was a better .... here are some pictures from flicker that will give you an idea of the night:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/syncros/4079127180/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/syncros/4078368429/

OPE

I have been looking through my pictures for the last 30 minutes, trying to figure out where to start blogging.

 So much has happened since we arrived here and I want to share as much as I can with you.   

Ummmm where to start??? I am going to have to start with ‘Ope’.  

Opeongo Lake, is the Aschaber family’s favourite lake in Algonquin National Park, Ontario Canada.  Even more specifically is the ‘American Plan,’ which I do believe is self named by the Aschaber’s and the Brun’s.    

Soooo.. why do you need to know this?  We need to know this because; this is where I got to know Anne Dreyer (aka Hair Dryer).  Anne is our German friend who we met through Amy, Ryan’s sister.  We met her just this summer!  She coincidently has been living in Newcastle and has recently become our new roommate.   

Anne I know we are tipsy here but I still love this picture!

While un-packing her things, and drinking wine with me (what else would I be doing on a Saturday?) I was re-united with ‘Ope’! 

Now because there was a lot of wine drinking going on I felt the need to take a photo shoot of ‘Ope’ in his new surroundings.

Ope (named after the infamous opeongo lake) was purchased in the gift shop on Opeongo Lake in Canada by the wonderful Mrs. Aschaber. It was great meeting up Anne and with Ope again in another country!

It has already been a month now that Anne has joined us!  We have also gained a weekender roommate, her boyfriend Daniel.  

Daniel is from the good old North East of England and has been such a great tour guide and teacher.  He has shown us the true English Pubs, English music, great coastal grounds, old buildings ruins and castles and has taught us so much about the world!  He is a photographer among other things and has toured to most countries around the world.  He has not travelled to Canada yet, but we will not hold that against him.

He also enjoys romantic shared meals with Ryan....

Here are some catch up pictures of the places that the British man and the German girl have been taking us!

Our new roommate Anne at the coast!

Coast Line

Anne running away fromme, and me trying to get her in the picture!

Ryan sneezing on the coast !

Anne, Daniel and Ryan

Always great stuff to know...

Shopping

Since being in the United Kingdom I have acquired a few new loves here in Newcastle:

1) Grainger market

2) Wilkinsons

This may sound shallow, but I do not care!  My love for the Grainger Market is understandable by most people.  But I can understand why people might not share in my love for Wilkinsons, and I am quite okay with that!

Before Daniel makes me feel ungrateful for being here (heehee), I am intrigued with the history and culture of our new country, but it doesn't take a lot to get me excited and thus is why I have dedicated an entire blog to shopping.

Now, if you know me well, you know that I hate to shop!  And most importantly that I am probably the most cheapest person on this earth.  Begs the question... soo why am I so excited to blog about shopping? Well the shopping that I am talking about is not the ‘regular girl’ type of shopping.  It is of course about discount shopping!  I think I may have inherited some genes from Nancy.  Or possibly the entire Bouliane  family.  The “oh so memorable” conversation with a Bouliane sister...

Me: “That is an awesome shirt!”

Bouliane sister: “Oh Thanks, TJ Max $10 bucks!”

It does not matter which sister it is... you will know the amount they paid and which store they have purchased it from.

The best evidence of this is the “baby Tommy story” about his grandmas shirt being from Walmart.... mind you the child was probably 2 years old at this time..... anywho I’m waaaaaayyyy off topic!

Back to Wilkindsons...

Wilkinsons, is a cheap discount store that sells virtually everything!  I have been trying to think of a Canadian store that it resembles, but that has been difficult.  Maybe a Giant Tiger???

Anyway!!!!!!!!! This fantastic store puts a smile on my face whenever I walk into it.  Ryan doesn’t understand my infatuation with this discount store, but in a way he does because he understands my cheap way of living.

Okay soooo I was introduced to Wilkinsons by my lovely teaching partner/actual agent (heehee) very good friend Nicci.  I feel as if I may need an entire separate blog for Nicci but for now we just know that she introduced me to Wilkinsons.

Wilkinsons is a 3 story building dedicated to discounted items.  This store carries everything from toiletries to carpeting and furniture for your home all at a ridiculous discounted price.  This is how wonderful it is:

12 pieces of dishes = 4 pounds

1 Hair dryer = 6 pounds

3 candles 2 throws = 3 pounds

1 toaster = 3 pounds

1 iron = 4 pounds

For 20 pounds in Canada you could not get all of this anywhere!  A hairdryer alone is usually $40.00.  This is why I love Wilkinsons.  It also has awesome books and supplies for teaching which makes me :).

Now that I have introduced to you my first love, I will now reminisce with you about my second love, Grainger Market.

Grainger Market is a huge farmers market style set in a huge older building in the middle of City Centre.  It takes me 4 metro stops to arrive at this wonderful place.  This market sells everything.  There are plenty of butchers, vegetable markets, cafes, shoe stores, book stores, florists ect.

Every Saturday, Ryan and I have made it a routine to do our grocery shopping together.  We have made it into a afternoon date by grabbing lunch, or a coffee during our Grocery shopping.

Ryan during one of our Grainger Market lunch dates

The majority of our food comes from the Grainger Market, because the market has ridiculously low prices:

3 pieces of chicken

3 pieces of flank frying steaks

1lb of ground beef

= 5 pounds from our lovely butcher ‘Oliver and Dean Brothers’ (love you guys)

10 potatoes

2 large onions

1 head of lettuce

3 peppers

1 box of Strawberries

5 apples

1 bushel of broccoli

= 5 pounds at the most

We get all this for 10 pounds, and then grab a frothy milk coffee for 80pents.

Remarkable is the word for it!  We do have to go to Tesco (the local grocery store) for things like cereal yogurt and pasta/rice ect.  But that ever only costs us around 15 pounds a little more if we buy beer or a bottle of wine.

But what this means is that for groceries for a week we spend 30 pounds.  That is approximately $48.00 a week.  We used to spend for the 2 of us for one week of groceries in Canada about $85.00- $100.00 easily.

Inside Grainger at a place we eat at sometimes

This has been fun introducing you to my infatuation with discounted market shopping!  Can't wait to catch you up with all the other fun stuff we have been up to here in Newcastle! Blog to you all soon :)