not quite....

Walking to play squash with my friend, in sub-zero temperatures, but necessarily if outlandishly clothed in a sheepskin jacket, scarf, gym shorts and sneakers ("trainers" in British parlance). A Geordie walking the other way looks at my outfit in disbelief and says to his friend, "He's gotta be a Russian!"

For those of you reading about education cuts....

....in England, yes, my students are pissed (in the American sense, not the British).

To wit, the peaceful takeover of a building on campus:

http://ncluniocc.blogspot.com/

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Greetings to all friends, family, and loved ones! Hope it's a great day--we are thinking of you all!

We've been graced with three inches of snow overnight, as Thomas Turkey is stuffed with seasonings and waiting patiently outside in the cold for his curtain call tonight. R (friend from Columbus) and M are bustling in the kitchen--the apple pie is in the oven and a final run to the market is in the works. I'm fetching coffee for everyone, rearranging the living room, washing dishes when necessary, and generally trying to stay out the way.

We've invited 14 people, although 2 might not be able to make it due to illness, which will be fascinating as we try and cram everyone in our flat. Our menu:

turkey n' gravy
sausage stuffing
cranberry sauce
mashed potato
sweet potato casserole
spinach cranberry pear and walnut salad
roasted veggies

pumpkin roll
apple pie
pecan pie
possibly pumpkin pie.

Going traditional all the way--trying to export a little bit of America 'cross the pond....

Hope everyone has an amazing day! Happy Thanksgiving!

Newcastle is officially cool, apparently....

One of my eagle-eyed friends noticed this and sent it on. Newcastle in the New York Times travel section:

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/11/10/travel/20101114-SURFACING.html

Our email sent to friends in England....

Dear all:

As some of you may know, November 25 marks this year’s Thanksgiving—that great American holiday celebrating the moment when colonials and Native Americans broke bread together in a spirit of harmony and thankfulness for God’s providence.

The reality that this never actually happened, that the colonials were basically starving to death before Native Americans educated them on the ways of the land, whereupon said colonials gave thanks by wiping out the Native Americans in epic proportions, of course only makes this holiday even more quintessentially American. The original name, “Turkey Genocide Day,” also quickly fell into disuse in favor of “Thanksgiving.”

As two Americans who know a little something about being completely clueless in a foreign land, Michelle and I would like to invite you to partake in a traditional American Thanksgiving meal at our flat on Nov. 25 at 7:00.

As we would in America, we plan to give a cursory moment to being grateful for life’s blessings before plunging into a epic feast of considerable proportions and then falling asleep on the sofa in front of a NFL game subpar even by American football standards. And, more substantially, share this repast with some of our good friends and new extended family who have welcomed us in building a new home in Old Blighty.

We hope to see you there! While quarters will be quite tight as our flat is rather small, we trust that will only help with the chumminess—and we understand that circulation is wise after a big meal anyway. Please do RSVP so we can think about where we will stack you. Of course please let us know about any allergies, food restrictions, and such too.

B & M

Birthday flowers...

...for Michelle.

Includes a couple orange-ish Cala Lilies, which are a fave for a couple reasons....

what the hell....?

M mentioned we joined an organic food coop/scheme. Imagine my surprise when I go to pick up the veg bag and found the above.

It's a weird cauliflower variant; luckily, it tastes more broccoli-ish because I hate cauliflower. But we call it Viking veg because it looks like something you'd impale in someone instead of eating it....

Long Time No Post

This is M! I haven't posted in a really long time. Writing for my ganny was a huge motivation and kept me close to home, and I know that since she's passed I haven't been up to posting, but now I am!
Things have changed, in a major way in the Houston household. I've landed an editorial and marketing 'paid' (read, not really paid much) internship at the Press in Edinburgh, at the University. I have a 1.5 hour commute on the train, one way, but they're letting me work from home 2 days per week, which has helped out tremendously! I am teaching my own zumba and yoga classes and average about 80 people in each class---it's amazing how its taken off here. I have one lady who has lost about 60 pounds since she started my classes. It's so nice to have a huge group of women having so much fun and doing so much good for their health several times per week. On top of this, I've just finished a freelance editing job for several lawyers compiling a volume of essays. I was working around the clock for 2 weeks straight and B was cooking, cleaning, running errands, everything!
Since I am working in Scotland and living and working (zumba-ing) in England, I have developed a real sense of belonging here. It took about 6 months to actually be able to exhale here, and now, it's becoming second nature. I've made friends with a few really great women, so I get my 'girl' time and have friends that I can be myself around--not just the "so what do you do?" type of friends. I've helped some thru break-ups and normal 'catastrophes', they've helped me thru missing my family and my Ganny's death, so it's nice to have a sense of belonging here. We exercise, shop, and go see movies together. B has made some great friends and plays squash and football (soccer) each week, so we're achieving a nice balance!
I've also always loved cooking, but now I am obsessed. We've joined an organic vegetable delivery scheme where each week we get a bag of fresh, organic, fairtrade and/or local fruit and eggs. I read food blogs all the time.
I've discovered an amazing yoga podcast that I try and do as much as possible (I've meaning to tell you, Nadia, if you're reading!). It's Elsie's Yoga Podcast on iTunes....you won't be sorry!
While everything is new and continues to be new, it also develops into something so great, constantly! I miss home. I miss family, I miss rituals at home, I miss friends, but we have established our own rituals which is exciting. Not a replacement, but nice:) We are so excited to come home for Christmas--we haven' t been home in so long, and we have a long list of babies to see. Two of my best friends have had babies, (one more coming) since I left and the others were wee-little things, so we have lots of people to see. Not to mention all the family we can't wait to hug and squeeze!! Last but not least, Ethan will be coming home with us!!! FINALLY! I've made it without him, but honestly, have no clue how!
Our one year wedding anniversary is coming up (what a year!!) and we are escaping to a B&B in the English countryside for a couple days.
Thanksgiving is approaching and England doesn't do canned (they call it tin), pumpkin. However, a high-end department store (Fenwicks) has an American food section where I scored 7 cans for Thanksgiving! I'm taking off work and making a a proper Thanksgiving meal with all of our friends---very packed house!
I'm sure there's more and will post more details about the funny Scotsman I work with, and lots of other details....until then, BYE!

Another day; another castle (Warkworth Castle and Hermitage)

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/warkworth-castle-and-hermitage/

http://www.strollingguides.co.uk/books/northumbria/places/warkworthhermitage.php

http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=warkworth+castle&fb=1&hq=warkworth+castle&hnear=warkworth+castle&cid=0,0,12537291456872143668&ei=ialvTL-mB9DK4gbw__TeCA&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=2&ved=0CB8QnwIwAQ

A meal of family and friends (B speaking).

On our last wander around a farmer's market in Newcastle city centre, there was a farmer selling lovely assorted meats, including a good pork butt at a great price. We figured that was our excuse to have a couple friends over for a Dixie-style meal, which we've been wanting to do for awhile.

In honor of my father and all of his splendid culinary teaching, it was time to break out the eastern Carolina vinegar style pork. Armed with a trusty and reliable recipe from my friend Craig (thanks, mate), I cooked the pork for about seven hours in the crockpot. This particular hunk of meat had the fat wrapped around it in sort of a rind/shell, which I wasn't used to, and I should have salted it to do up crackling, had I been thinking about it. But the butcher had scored it that way with lots of deep slits, so I had the good sense to take some chilies from our new plant (see above) and dice them so I could stuff them into the slits as it slow-cooked for extra spiciness. As I stuffed and tucked, I was thinking of all the Thanksgiving and Christmases that I had seen Mom, Nik, and El do much the same thing with various roasts and meats. So in a sense everyone was there with me, family and friends.

M stepped up her game with greens, some gorgeous cornbread made from scratch (she's really getting away from all processed and non-natural foods as much as possible--I tell her she needs to start a food blog), plus some baked mac n' cheese (with three cheeses over the pasta that my cousin and her boyfriend left with us when they departed from the UK.) Topped off with some good English beer and some cookies that M made too, it was, in a word, unbelievable. We are happily stuffed. Thanks to all who helped--even though you weren't here, you were a part of it.

Alnwick Castle

Yesterday's outing was to Alnwick [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alnwick] and the impressively maintained castle there. Fans of the movies about a certain bespectacled juvenile wizard-in-training may recognize this particular castle, which was/is home to seven generations of the Percies, including Harry, nicknamed Hotspur, who you may recall is a minor character in Shakespeare's Henry IV. (Neither did I, but they talk about it in the castle literature.)

Parenthetically: there's a strange tradition at some of these castles. It stems from the fact that some of these places continue to be functioning homes for the Dukes and Duchesses of the area. (In Alnwick Castle's case, it's still the Percy family, one of whom was chancellor of my university a few decades ago.) So you'll go into the library, say, and it'll be this amazing historic room, with two stories of books surrounding you and this elaborate furniture, but then they have tables filled with pictures and mementos of the present-day family, which is just strange on a few levels. Are they trying to make the place seem more real, or more modern, by having the present-day inhabitants represented too? Or are they trying too hard to place themselves in such august lineage? Or are you meant to appreciate the castle more because people still live there?

Either way, the effect is jarring: over the mantel is a giant oil portrait of Duke William Ichabod Johnson the XVI ("The Good" or "The Righteous" or whatever nickname they have), with the faithful hunting dog nuzzling his hand, and then on the table you have a c. 1992 photo (and usually not a very good one) with his descendant wearing a Yankees hat and smiling crookedly for a random wannabe Kodak moment. And nearby is a foosball table and an autographed picture of Muhammed Ali (true story, in Alnick's case). It's just a very bizarre juxtaposition.

Hexham & Corbridge (B speaking).

My second cousin and her boyfriend just finished a summer stint at University of Stirling, in Scotland, as part of some college course credit, and now they are down here for a week visiting the northeast. It's so fun to see them, and gives us an excuse to wander around to bits here that we've not yet seen.

Witness yesterday, where,with some colleagues/friends of our from work, we took a train to Hexham [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexham] and set off on a hike that rambled through fields, forest, and along the Tyne river (the same river that eventually goes through Newcastle) before ending up at Corbridge [http://www.thisiscorbridge.co.uk/] for a well-deserved pint (and, in Michelle's case, the largest fried cod as part of a fish and chips dinner you've ever seen....) Cute towns, and unbelievable scenery. As usual, it never fails to amaze me: the bridge pictured in our Corbridge pictures is older than the United States of America (and itself replaces a medieval version.) Unbelievable.

Of course, the one picture proves that my cousin was acting up, so we had to put her in a medieval time-out....

More soon!

Jesmond Dene.

Just by way of following up from below: http://www.jesmonddene.org.uk/
and some pics....

And all this a ten minute walk from our flat. Pretty awesome.

Alfie. (B speaking).

This is Alfie. Alfie is the dog of our school administrator, who is attending her daughter's graduation today, which is why Alfie is drooling all over our kitchen floor. ("School" in England is equivalent to "department" in the US, so the school administrator is sort of like the office manager, but even more important--she oversees the budget and pretty much everything else. We like our administrator quite a bit, but doubly so given that last year she found money that the school hadn't spent yet in sufficient quantities to the extent that they were able to hire me!)

Alfie used to be a guide dog, so he's extremely smart, curious, and fearless. His one weakness is food, and it's enough to make him go off the reservation discipline-wise: the enticing presence of it, or even just the hope and hint that it's around the corner. Apparently he's been known to go into the lunch bags slung over a wheelchair or a toddler's stroller ("pram"), or jump up on a picnic table to feast ravenously during walks, so much so that our friend carries around a few five-pound notes along with the leash and poop bags to compensate anyone who Alfie "robs" during the day.

And, needless to say, he's making us miss Ethan.

For what it's worth, a random observation. One hears a lot about how class-conscious Britain is, and it's undeniably true. Speaking of our school administrator, I couldn't help but notice that not only is all of history's office staff named interchangeably among the professors on our website, but they routinely attend meetings (and contribute, not just take notes and such.) That would never happen in US departments, in my experience.

More generally....hello! it's been awhile since we've written. I'm writing this along with the help of some french-pressed coffee as M sips her cup and waters our plants, and as I hear Alfie's tail beating like a metronome against our wall, furniture, and pretty much everything else. I've got a bit of a sinus thing which I'm trying to fight off, so my voice sounds vaguely Kermit the Frog-ish. It's been a summer chock-full of work and fun. M is teaching like crazy--she's got some more classes lined up through some connections she's made, and is especially excited about some new yoga ones. I've been trying to revise my manuscript, and just sent a redone chapter off to a friend. It's been a gorgeous summer so far, which we plan to exploit by taking Alfie to the Jesmond Dene this afternoon (a sprawling, beautiful urban park with one edge that touches our neighborhood). We are off to visit friends in Manchester this weekend, and at the end of the month will be going to London for a wedding and hopefully get some culture ("kultchur") or something too.

serious trouble....

We have snails or slugs or some such creature in our new plants!!! M is FUMING....

What a Day!

It's been such a picture-perfect day, and we haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd do it now. B is finally done marking his exams after a long and energy-zapping time of it! He is smiling again:)
Once a month, there is a Farmer's Market downtown, with all local produce, organic meats, cheeses, etc. We went this morning and found some great stuff--great bread, chorizo, homemade curry sauces, seasonal jams...yum! We also picked up a couple plants and more pots for our garden. I've managed to not kill my tomato plants, basil, chives, and lettuce, but R.I.P corriander (aka: cilantro) and sweet peppers. I may still try and replace those. Our yard is actually concrete, so I have to keep everything in containers. We're starting our composting system. The city council sells them, so we're going greener! We've got a patio set which I've been using a lot. Its been 70 degrees and sunny (I actually have a bit of a burn--but I AM NOT complaining!). I usually sit out and read the paper in the morning and try and soak up as much as I can. We've been warned that it doesn't stay for too long. It's motivation, however, to use the sun and time wisely when we have it. After shopping downtown, we ran some errands back in our neighborhood--finally framing our pictures from our honeymoon and fun things like that. We had lunch, outside at an Italian deli called Adriano's. The menu is more like a guideline rather than set-the owner added/deleted things he thought we'd like or not like. We had great paninis, followed up by gelato:) I've been trying to organize the garden, and B is playing soccer with his friends.

We're also gearing up for the World Cup match between England and the US (where I will quiet my accent as much as possible because people are crazy here)! Every car here is covered with the flag of England, everyone is sporting shirts, hat, everything! It should be an exciting match. That's pretty much all I have to report in the soccer world, I am sure B will handle the rest. I miss baseball. I'd give anything to go to Dime-a-Dog night at the Clippers game, or an Indians game. I miss my tribe!!! I try and keep up as much as I can online, but its not the same. We went to County Durham a couple weekends ago. Its a small village that has a beautiful cathedral, and really gorgeous countryside. Cricket is a big "country" sport, while football tends to be a "city" sport. There was a cricket (game or match, not sure what the lingo is), and our friends explained it to us. Its pretty interesting, but certainly doesn't replace baseball--there's really not as much in common as I thought.
Overall, we are settling in more and more, and we've made a nice spot for ourselves here:) Things aren't as foreign as they used to be.
Funny little snippet: I was teaching a class at a local school, and the caretaker was locking up the doors and cleaning up and we were chatting. He says "Did you come far?" I said, "No, South Gosforth" (which is my neighborhood). He replies "Well, that sure doesn't sound like a Gosforth accent!" It hit me, that we aren't sharing the same accent, and I had to explain to him that when we say 'did you come far', we kind of mean it in the immediate sense. It's pretty telling that I am not as aware of my "not from around here" as I used to be.

More soon...

huh.

Boogers in England are called "bogies."

That is all. Carry on with your day.

hard to believe....(B speaking)

....that as of Thursday we've been married six months. Thank God we took it nice and easy over that time period, certainly not doing anything crazy like moving to a new country or starting a new job or something like that.

We celebrated with a bottle of red and dinner at a French bistro near the Quayside in Newcastle's city centre. I had a Northumbrian sirloin, and M had pan-seared cod with fresh clams and potatos and leeks. The destroyed plate was the lemon cheesecake that we split for dessert. Then a pint at the Crown Posada, which may be one of my fave pubs in the city. And...in bed by 11. Yep, we are married.

Little bit of a letdown after posting Malta pics, I suppose, but we thought we'd share anyway. ;)

Another milestone of sorts--taught my last classes (which are called modules) today, after which I permitted myself an exhausted if somewhat satisfied sigh of survival. However, the grading (which is called marking here) is piling up already. Which meant that I had to postpone reality by playing in a pickup soccer game. Scored two goals, but don't let that fool you into thinking that I'm actually any good....

Election

NB--from Ben. Check out this image from David Cameron's newspaper supporters. He is the Tory conservative candidate, and thus fundamentally opposed to Obama--and yet....:

It's an exciting time in the UK! Last night was the big election, and there is now a hung parliament (first since 1974). B was at our friend's house watching the results come in until around 5.30am. It was a really critical election for the country. I was trying to stay awake on the couch and woke up only to cheers when the Labour party secured their constituency. Obama has been referenced over and over, and it was interesting to watch the politicians here "lift" his strategy (or try to...). Change was the major theme! It's very interesting to be learning a new government, and watch the energy around the UK grow.

We're settling in after our exciting excursion to Malta, Sicily, and London. I know the volcanic ash situation was a problem, but I really couldn't complain about being stuck in Malta. It was so warm, and sunny:) It was nice, however, to get back to Newcastle and have it feel like home. I was really wondering if it would feel like that! I hope the pictures are enjoyable! It was such an amazing trip--even more amazing than I expected!
The weather has been pretty nice. It's not warm, but it's sunny and pretty mild. We are starting our garden! I already accidentally drowned two pots of herbs, but I have 4 left, so not too bad!

Cinco de Mayo was this week, such a fun day in America, but just a regular day in England. In order to compensate, we are having friends over and I am making a yummy mexican dinner on Saturday!

My classes are still taking off, I have over 60 people in some classes! I taught my first zumba class in the pool (sounds crazy, but it was actually fun!), and I am starting a kids camp soon.

More soon...

Malta, Mdina

Sicily: views of/from Mt Etna, including a house buried in the last volcano

Taormina, Sicily--Greco-Roman theater

Taormina, Sicily