Ta Luv reports back from a snowy Dickens-like England...
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!
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| outskirts of Leeds |
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!!!!
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| Arun busy figuring out how to cut the felt |
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| Shannon & Álvaro helping me to make my Adventcalender |
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| 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…
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| in Skitpon |
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| Skipton |
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| Skipton Castle |
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| the girls with my two yummy bday cakes!!! |
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| tim and dave were also there!!! |
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| pizza and drinks before going out |
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| 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…
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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!
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| the city in distress...which gave me three days off |
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| making snow angels |
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| Liverpool |
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| Beatles Museum in Liverpool |
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| 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!
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| Canal Leeds-Liverpool |
+ 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…]
[Eddie Lawler, "Windmills"]
ADDITION:
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
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| 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/
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| Angus & Julia in the Wardrobe!!! |
