About a Champion Bday Weekend, 9kg Package of Austrian Apples Meeiking Me Right Chuffed, Snow Chaos and Angus & Julia Stone

Ta Luv reports back from a snowy Dickens-like England...

outskirts of Leeds

Even though snow in England means wet feet, slush everywhere you go, the inability to walk and complete chaos, there can also be found images that remind me of Dicken's novels...there are so many beautiful spots to be discovered up North! 
 

As Christmas is approaching in big steps I’ve been busy to prepare something special for my students to let them experience a bit of Austrian Christmas…so I decided I’ll do an Adventcalender for my two schools… It sounded like an easy thing to do, but it was almost impossible to get hold of the things I needed. My initial idea was to make little bags and put them on a cardboard, but it was an impossible endeavor to find a cardboard in Leeds. Well we’ve got like 10 different card shops but no one sells you cardboards…so a different solution had to be found. In the end I decided to pin them on a string, which was probably the best solution. After getting all the items, Arun helped me to cut the felt into 48 squares, which I would saw by hand…but lucky me Arun called some favours and asked one of his friends to sew the little bags for me. This was really fortunate, because it would have taken ages to do it. What a great job!!!!

Arun busy figuring out how to cut the felt

The Adventcalender was indeed a joint project, as Arun was in charge of the “sweat shop” to sew them and then dear Shannon and Cielito were so nice to help me fill them and wrap them up. In the end we had to brilliant Adventcalender!!!

Shannon & Álvaro helping me to make my Adventcalender

Her we go, done!!!

Apart from that I was also trying to improve my baking skills – made some deli cinnamon buns for my school – as like everywhere in the world it is custom to bring a cake on your birthday…they turned out quite well. And how could it be different as I am getting older and older (even though I decided two years ago that I’m not going to turn older than 25 hahahaha) I treated myself with a baking book – something rather embarrassing to confess, but guys that’s how it is ;). 

My birthday weekend was truly marvelous and fabulous! It started on Friday with some delicious Thai food and a couple of mulled wines at the German Christmas Market, where Kathrin works. The market is not too bad, it looks really good. The only thing that I find slightly strange is that they also sell Steins – so it is almost like an Austrian “Zeltfest”, or a “October Fest meets Xmas” kind of event…After that we went back home and within one hour Leeds was totally covered in snow, unbelievable! Who would have thought? So I had a white Birthday…would be nicer to have a white Xmas though…

in Skitpon

Skipton

On the 27^th Chris and I we went to Skipton, a small town about 40 minutes from Leeds, on the border to the Yorkshire Dales. We visited Skipton castle and then had a coffee and nice cake in a typical English café. Loved it!!!

Skipton Castle

Afterwards we watches some rugby and then the guys came over and I got two mouthwatering cakes: An authentic Sachertorte made by a Spanish and Austrian gal and a yummy cheesecake made by my lovely Canadian housemate! It was so sweet!!!! I got tons of incredible presents…what a lucky girl I am!!! After pizza, drinks and pictures we hit Call Lane (the place where we normally go out), all dressed up, and equipped with a cool “Birthday Girl Badge” Alex, Kathi and Xisca got for me, to have a couple of drinks. What a night out!!

the girls with my two yummy bday cakes!!!

tim and dave were also there!!!

pizza and drinks before going out

I even got packages from back home, Oliver and Maria sent me a self-made Adventcalender (24 tiny socks, like we had it in our old flat!). I love it guys, it hangs in our living room and I think about you every day when I see it! Judith made me some warm and cozy socks which keep me warm and then the funniest and most unusual present was sent to me by my brother!!! I couldn’t believe it when I saw it he sent me 9 kg of my favorite apples. Before I left I told him that it is a pity that I won’t get those yummy apples, so he thought…well why not send her some. Some people might think about sending maybe 3 apples as a symbolic present, but no dear Loco (and he truly lived up to this name now) sent me 9 kilograms to England!!! I absolutely loved it though!!! Thanks!

me and my brilliant present from Austria

Sunday was a fab day too as we went to Roundhay Park (where I lived the first two weeks) for a walk and came into a blizzard, Shannon’s hair was frozen and Olly and Chris were totally covered in snow. It was such a great day though, “magical” as Olly would describe it. Followed by gorgeous pub food and some TV later on. What a great weekend, turning 27 was not that painful…even though to be honest I still have to get used to it…

It has been snowing the entire week, so the city is really chaotic. I must say, my dear Brits you are not at all prepared for snow. Not only does school start later, it happened three times that it closed down entirely, as it is impossible to get to work or because they’ve got problems with their power supply… As English people don’t have winter tires the cars slide around and it is not advisable to go outside. It happens that buses stop going, that shops close down and that everyone stays home. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that nobody was outside, but when I started walking I realized why: it is indeed impossible to walk around as you have to be extra careful. They apparently don’t have snow ploughs and neither do they use salt to a massive extent, and if they do the slush stays there and it is really slippery…but well that’s how it is ;) a further funny experience in Motherland Britain!

the city in distress...which gave me three days off

making snow angels

On Saturday did a trip with the other assistants to Liverpool and visited the Beatles’ Museum and the town…we even went to the Cavern (a famous venue where the Beatles played). It’s amazing how they started their band at 15 and how they managed to bring the entire world in their ban within only 7 years of being a band. Incredible talent!! I was gobsmacked when I heard that in the beginning nobody wanted to contract them, and in the end they turned out to be such a huge success…well some of the dear record label owner might have bitten themselves in the a**

Liverpool

Beatles Museum in Liverpool

Liverpoole_Albert Docks...

Sunday is going to be even more exciting I’m finally going to see my absolute favorite band ANGUS & JULIA STONE. They are two siblings from Australia, singing folk music. Can’t wait to be honest. I am sooooo excited, so I hope it will be good, no I know it will be absolutely fabulous! Will get my camera ready and be a crazy fan ;)…so maybe it turns into a Stonemania one day ;)

So in Yorkshire fashion

“Ta-ra happen I see ya lads and lasses soon. Aye, I would right be chuffed when I ‘eard from ya soon!! Aye, that’s champion! Ta-ra mi ducks, flowers and loves!

PS. Some Comments on the Way Yorkshire Chaps Talk

Canal Leeds-Liverpool

+ famous pet names in Britain and first and foremost in n regions is "duck, love, flower"

+ The accent here is quite special. Pronunciation wise some striking features are:

-"t's" are often not pronounced, tons of letters are swallowed 

- the famous “u” sound, as in love, bus, summer

- ‘meeik’ for make, ‘sooin’ for soon, ‘rooad’ for road

+ vocabulary wise there is an immense north-south divide noticeable:

~ mill for "factory" 

~ bairn for child

~ owt and nowt (something and nothing)

~ happen (perhaps),  

~ aye and naye (yes, no),  

~ mun (must)

~ brass (money)

~ chuffed (pleased)  

~ champion (excellent)

+ famous Yorkshire sayings:

~ Tha don’t get owt for nowt! [You don’t get something for nothing]

~ Where there’s muck, there’s brass. [Where there is dirt/smoke, there is money]

For those who are interested in some Yorkshire lyrics, I’ve heard the song “Windmills” by Eddie Lawler, which nicely illustrates the different accent… here the first paragraph [hoping to not do some plagiarism…]

I wandered lonely as a clown

From Dobroyd over t’top to Cornholme

Couldn’t miss’em spinnin’ round

Them windmills, twenty-four on’em

Bowlin’ overarms in t’ breeze, or

Like angels laikin’ at being trees

[…]

It’s nowt to do wi’ light, it’s power

[Eddie Lawler, "Windmills"]

Joannie, Kim, Shannon, Kathrin and me waiting for Angus & Julia

ADDITION:

So exiting, I finally saw Angus & Julia Stone live! It was soooooo good and I felt as if I were 16 years old back in the crazy fan-mania mindset hahaha, I was so excited when we came to “The Wardrobe”, where the gig took place. After an amazing Norwegian band, they finally came and they were absolutely mind-blowing, awesome, fantastic, wonderful, stunning…, there are no words to describe their performance. I love listening to their songs but they are even better live. Julia is such a sweet person, she is absolutely gorgeous and charms everyone. Her voice is incredible and she plays so many instruments. Their performance was very genuine, sweet, personal and funny. Angus is quite an interesting character, he has something to him, but hardly says anything…while Julia is the one who decides what they are going to do hahaha well I suppose you do when you are the big sister! It was a stunning performance and I can recommend them to you guys, you should really start listening to them!!!

Check out their homepage: http://www.angusandjuliastone.com/

Angus & Julia in the Wardrobe!!!

About Titus Salt, Charlotte Brontë, Austrian winning Cinnamon Swallowing Competition and Bday Cakes

Well, time is going by too quickly and I haven’t written for a while…

Bonfire night @Jim's (5th of November)

Loads of things happened: On the 10^th of November Chris turned 24, so we decorated the house with balloons and cookies. Micky and I used all our housewifely skills and baked a tasty cake, which we ate before going to watch a football match in a pub in Headingly [a very student part of Leeds, just about 15 minutes from our place]. 

Micky and I with our fab Swiss Role

Happy Bday Chris!

 

out on Saturday to celebrate Chris's bday

The three girls of the Archeries _ Micky, Michi and Shannon

Bday Kiss

Chris and Álvaro pole dancing...

Chris is really fond of almost every kind of sport – so as it was his bday there was no other option ;) Who would have thought: Me and watching football – and surprise, surprise this was not the only sport I watched the last weekend. Not only did I go to the screening of a boxing match, but I even watched Formula 1 – so who knows maybe in the end I’ll turn into a sports fanatic hahahaha. To be honest, it was all good fun and it helped me in the end to impress my students with my sport knowledge – good icebreaker for some guys!!! 

On Saturday I visited Saltaire with some other assistants, a town just 10 minutes from Leeds, which was founded by Titus Salt, who constructed a city that caters for all needs: education, work, health service, … 

Kathrin, Aude, me and Alex

It’s a charming town and it hosts the David Hockney exhibition. Hockney was born in 1937 in Bradford and is a famous 20^th century British artist, who was very influential for the Pop Art Movement. First and foremost, he is well known for his innovative photography. I’ll just add one of his pictures here because I really like it and it shows us in what different ways we perceive the same image/situation. And of course, here we go again, those who know a bit about my thesis already know that I always use the metaphor of the “bridge,” “the crossroads” or the “road” and well how could it be different a picture of a road.

Pearblossom Highway

On the right hand side the image shows us what the driver (of English cars!) experiences. Here, the focus is much more on road signs than on the scenery, while the person sitting next to the driver enjoys the scenery and does not really perceive the street signs. Well it is the same with everything, even though we might travel the same route, it is never exactly the same, as we always perceive things very differently. And that’s the beauty of life…it’s so interesting to see how different people judge the same event in a completely other way. This is in particular fascinating if different cultures meet and clash. So I judge things entirely different then my English colleagues might do, but then again there are also so many similar ways of seeing things. But enough philosophizing…what’s new in Leeds…

This week was pretty tranquil, went to school had a couple of dinners and I went to the gym because I’ve finally got my new trainers – they are really cool and it makes me feel a 100% more sporty hahaha. It’s good fun, going to the gym…we’ll see how long I’ll be motivated, though.. On Thursday we went to Bradford to have a school dinner with a couple of teachers, which was really good fun and gave me the opportunity to talk to Vicky and other MFL teachers in a private surrounding. School is always rather “business like” and busy but going out for dinner with them was really great.

Winter is unfortunately hitting Britain, it is rather cold, really windy and rainy. But well I’m well equipped – at least in terms of a jacket and my beanie. Also bought some boots, they are not that good though, so I’ll have to continue looking for warm and most importantly water-prove footwear...and of course winter means also Christmas, which means lots of Kitsch and Christmas markets, which I love.

random xmas decoration in Haworth

I am working more and more, two of my students asked for extra hours – so this means that I’m getting increasingly more to do, but I enjoy it. We were working on the Berlin Wall and the DDR, thus I had to read up quite a bit, as I did not know enough to teach it. It was really interesting though and I learned quite a lot, I am sure that it would be an interesting field to work on a bit more in depth. Some of my students amazed me with their knowledge, I’ve got some really bright kids, sometimes I feel I know less than they do ;) We were working a bit with Good Bye Lenin and did some presentations…

Step by step I feel increasingly part of the teacher group, they are all very friendly and open and I’ve even visited a special needs class, where I might pop by once in a while and help out a bit. It is really interesting and gives me the opportunity to see something different. The first time I went was amazing, they started looking up words in German and wanted to know different expressions, so that they could impress their teacher (who is German). So cute. The other day one of the kids met me on the corridor, and she got all excited and happy – which brought a big grin on my face.

On 17^th I went to work in the Leeds Learning Center to participate in a project which is called the "Experience". It’s like a workshop where 11 to 13 years old kids come to practise either Spanish, French or German with native speakers. We took over the role of shopping assistants or group leaders and helped them to fulfill reading, listening activities and to buy hot chocolate and fake fruit/veg/bread, etc. on a market. Was an extremely interesting experience and fascinating how the kids get more and more used to using a foreign language. One boy of my pupils was quite unmotivated and said he can’t talk and he does not understand me. But in the end of the day he was all excited and happy and said how cool German was! I think this kind of project would also be good in Austria, unfortunately in Leeds they are going to cut it as there is not enough funding, and modern foreign languages are more and more unpopular. What a shame… 

On Friday Arun played a prank on me – he bet that I could not swallow a spoon of cinnamon….but we Austrian’s can do it hahahaha I did it – even twice, well, dear Arun still prefers to pretend that I cheated – sneaky sneaky little Arun… After the cinnamon eating competition we were off to see the musical “The Beauty and the Beast” with Shannon, Olly, Ferret and Adam in the Grand – soooo exciting. 

Shannon and I dressed up in our fancy dress ready to go to see Beauty and the Beast!!!

Was a good night out. I really enjoyed it even though theater in Vienna is definitely something different. First of all, we are not allowed to take our coats into the auditorium and secondly, we would not eat crisps and drink during a performance…

And today (Saturday) we decided to visit the place where Mr. Rochester and dear Jane came into existence: Haworth – the Brontë family’s home that inspired dear Charlotte Brontë to come up with exciting English tales. 

in Haworth

Haworth trainstation seconds before magic happened ;)

getting ready for Sunday Carvery...yummy roast

It was an absolutely charming town. We walked around, saw some Carol singers, visited a Xmas market and had some delicious Roast. In the end we even caught a glimpse of a real steam train in one of the smallest and oldest railway stations in the country [at least they advertise it that way]. It was a magical journey back in time! What a good weekend!

Hear from you soon, have a fabulous week!

Ta luv!

About 3 and 0 Dirty Girty, Left Driving, Cover Teachers and Random Nights out in Leeds

Hiya my dear readers:

Ta Luv reports back…after a week away down South, I’m back in the North…

Ilfracombe [in the north of Devon]

Last week was half term which meant that we (Kathrin, I and of course my dear new friend Dave) packed our stuff and headed down South, where we met another language assistant (Barbara ),who got on the bus in Oxford. 

Three Austrian gals, one Yorkshire Dales guy travelling South

During our travelling we became more than ever aware of the apparent North-South divide that marks Great Britain…Whenever somebody asked us where we lived they were excited about Oxford, while the reaction to our beautiful city up North was rather “Ah gosh,…poor you”.  Southerners thing of Northern people  in a quite negative way, they see them as simpletons, working class, while people up North think that “those” down South are arrogant snobs"…well, steretotypes - what's more to say?! I for sure had a blast down South and also very much love the North!!!

North-South Divide

During this one week we made some miles: We saw Southampton, Bournemouth, Poole, where we visited Brownsea Island (my housemate Chris’s tip as his parents have a house in Poole), Exeter, Jurassic Coast [or as often mispronounced “Jurassic Park Coast”…does not have to do a lot with dinosaurs though!], Ilfracombe and finally Bath and Bristol. Well and I almost forgot, we stayed two nights in the famous and well known town of Devizes… hahaha this is where my former flatmate Alex’s boyfriend lives. They opened their doors for us, cooked for us and showed us Stonehenge. It was fabulous!!! So as you can see we saw quite a bit of Britain. 

Bournemouth

trying to open Álvaro's suitcase...had to break his lock ;(

Dave's first steps on Bournemouth beach

our MA-2412 experience in Bournemouth, that was our hotel...full of pictures

on our way to Brawnsea Island (Poole)

on Brawnsea Island - the origin of Scouts

typical English countryside

But not only did we see a lot we also met some interesting people and had numerous hilarious moments. Our journey was not really planned, so the first thing we always had to do was to find a place to live – here we stayed in super fancy hotels, but also in rather 'special 'places with nice receptionists who reminded us of Monty Piton or the Austrian MA2412… the place was kind of cool though, full of records and big pictures of musicians, among others the Beatles. Who knows maybe they really stayed there ;). As some of you know I kind of like quirky places...so I enjoyed the stay there!

One highlight followed the next. After Bournemouth and Poole we stayed in a Bed and Breakfast in Weymouth where we played Bingo with the seniors. It was good fun, and we even won some money: The night was full of phrases like “two fat ladies wobble wobble 88” “3 and 0, 30 dirty Girty at number 30” or “rice and shine 49”,… which is apparently the way you play Bingo here. 
After Bingo we participated in a quizz - England vs. Austria or "60+ meets 20+."  It was a fun night, very English B’n’B-like.

Bingo Baby!!!!

winning ticket - 5,50 who would have thought!

in Weymouth

THE most exciting thing about our trip was that thanks to Barbara we decided to rent a car. We found our gorgeous Opel Corsa which we called Georgie. 

our Georgie in Exeter!!!

He became our dear companion for 48 hours and served us well. And believe it or not I was driving!!!! It was such a good feeling, apart from some minor difficulties in the beginning (entered the roundabout once from the wrong side…lucky me there was nobody in it) it went really smooth. I enjoyed it a hundred percent and will definitely do it again!!! So look out British roads for an Austrian cruising your streets!!!

Jurrasic Coast

funny faces in Ilfracombe [great tip Olly!!]

look at that B'n'B

yummy real British breakfast!!! no wonder that Britain is the European country with the highest obesity rate ;)

Kathrin and our hosts Neil and Alex in Devizes

Our last stop was Bath and Devizes where we set foot on the place Thomas Hardy situated his novel “Tess D’Urbersville” – one of the most famous rock formation in the world: Stonehenge.

The eastward pillars and their architraves stood up blackly against the light, and the great flame-shaped Sun-stone beyond them; and the Stone of Sacrifice midway. Presently the night wind died out, and the quivering little pools in the cup-like hollows of the stones lay still. (Hardy, 504)

It was spectacular and I honestly enjoyed it. Just incredible how people managed to bring those massive rocks there…and the big mystery continues to exist: “What do they mean? – Mere decadency or a calendar?!” Mmmh I suppose we’ll never find out.

All in all our trip was really exciting, but also pretty exhausting. On our last day in Bristol, Kathrin and I were hardly able to do anything hahaha we carried our bags through the city and did some last sight-seeing. In the end we decided to have some tea and coffee and sit in a nice cafe.

too exciting to stand up, in front of Bristol's suspension bridge

Back in Leeds life kept being busy…it seems as if I am doing things here which I am not normally doing. Not only did I drive, but I also went to a shop to buy some running shoes, which was fun for my flatmates as they could watch me running in the shop…I finally decided in favour of some purple shoes (how could it be different – pink was my first choice though)…I’ll get them on Thursday and then I’ll sign up for a gym, because I’m having way too much sweets, fish and chips and pints…

With Chris and Arun out'n'about in Call Lane

Adam, Cielito, Sadie and Mario

Had some good nights out, some nice cuppas, and breakfasts (Olly made some deli fish for breakfast)…life is good and I really enjoy it here. I even got tickets for the ANGUS & JULIA STONE concert in Leeds – which I am SOOOOOOOO excited about – they are my absolute favourite band. I am really looking forward to them, will be good to finally see them live!

Apart from lots of social things also my working life is going very well!!! I am officially “Miss Hoeller"  now, as this week I got my teacher's badge yeaaahhhhh. So this means I do no longer have to sign in everyday and ask somebody to accompany me to  the classrooms or even the toilet. The thing is they are very strict about "health and security". Thus my Austrian police check was not enough, so I had to wait for an English CRB (police check). Until one does not have this check, one is not allowed to be alone. This meant that I had to be picked up at the reception [visitors always have to sign in before they enter the school building] and accompanied everywhere. It was a bit of a pain…also for my teachers as they always had to look after me. So now it is really cool that I can be on my own and I feel like a real staff member!!!

Teaching is good fun and the students are really nice. Even did some teaching on my own as my teacher was ill and the cover teacher did not speak a single word of German. Was good fun. Tomorrow I’m off to check out another job…need some extra cash!

Well last but not least, some bits and pieces on British culture:

In terms of pubs it is important to notice that one must not sit down and wait for the waiter or waitress to come, but you normally go to the bar and order there. It can be kind of confusing in the beginning…

Another interesting/funny thing is that as everyone knows smoking is no longer permitted in the UK. The air in clubs, etc. can be rather bad, though. Thus the Brits decide to spray with toilet spray  - to give it the "sea" or "pine forest" kinda smell – which does not really make it better to be honest. In addition, if you stand  too close to a waiter who is freshening up the air, it can happen that you smell like "pine forest" afterwards. Adam (he lives in the house next door) was 'lucky' and got a full load of toilet spray…well, he would not have had to put on perfume that night hahaha

Finally let me 'educate' you a bit more in terms of Great Britain and Geography hahahaha – there is something some continental Europeans might not be aware of…Apart from the North-South divide within the UK it is also important to acknowledge that the United Kingdom is NOT Europe. British People often refer to Austrians, French, etc. as “Europeans”…mmh maybe I did not pay enough attention in Geography ;)

Good people let's call it a day, I read you soon, greetings from England to my European friends ;)


Ta luv!