Sunday, 18 October, 2009 4:44PM Houghton Le Spring, England
Yesterday’s travel day went well. 3 countries in 1 day, haven’t done that before...
No one got sick, which was nice. We watched Robin Hood on the bus, it brought back many child memories for me. My brothers are always quoting lines from it. I haven’t seen it in forever.
We also started watching Chronicles of Narnia. It’s quite confusing for the kids and parts of it are a bit scary, so we are trying to explain as we go so they understand, I’m hoping they do by the end, but we will see. It’s a bit too complex for them.
So we are staying here for 6 nights total, but getting 2 host families. 3 nights and 3 nights. They did it that way because a lot of people wanted to host so this way more people get a chance.
The hosts I have now live 15- 20 minutes away, we go past the Durham Cathedral on the way. It’s really spectacular at night. Jenny went there this afternoon with her host family and said it’s worth visiting. It was built in the 1100’s! There’s also Durham Castle which is now a University, I’m not sure if you can visit it or not. My hosts live out in the country sort of, and they have this beautiful forest as their backyard as well as a football field (not the same size, but it’s pretty big) The boys really like it. I found a baby hedgehog rustling through the leaves, I took a photo, but it blends in so it’s hard to spot.
I love when the leaves change color. They are that pink/red/orange. It’s so nice. I’m not a big Autumn person, but I love the leaves changing colors, and knowing that Christmas is coming soon. I don’t like that it’s getting cold though. I find it much colder here, which is a bit strange. I haven’t checked the temperature, it’s not something you worry about when your on tour, it’s just cold or hot, then you move on to the next thing.
The boy in our host family is into knights, so half the floor in his bedroom is castles with armies and animals. It reminds me of the Chronicles of Narnia and Night at The Museum. He has animals galore, rubber ones and stuff animals. I didn’t know if I’d sleep, but I woke up not knowing where I was, it hasn’t happened to me much on tour. I was pretty tired. I don’t like when that happens, it makes me nervous to not know where I am.
You know how sometimes when you sleep in a different bed and you wake up and think it’s your own and then realize it isn’t? Well, some of you may not. But if you sleepover at someone’s house for a night. It doesn’t happen to me often, but it hasn’t happened to me at all on tour. I thought it would, it’s almost like my brain is conditioned to know I’m not in my own bed. I do miss having my own bed sometimes, but it’s really not that hard for me to switch beds so often. It’s hard to leave hosts that have comfy big beds though, and to wake up in the morning as well.
Tuesday, 20 October, 2009 4:55PM Same Location
So we change hosts tonight. I will miss them, the boys really enjoyed staying there. It was cute, they had a drum and were trying to teach the son how to play. Maxwell prayed at dinner that James would learn how to play the drum really good. Today we performed at a school in the morning, that went really well.
Today we had school, we did a group class review on telling time. So Michelle took the clock off the wall and we had contests to see who could get the answers right. At first some wrote 5:8 instead of 5:08 and then another boy put 6:012 instead of 6:12, but they know it now, it was a good day. The kids got really competitive with each other and were praying for their fellow team mates to get the answer right. I should have taken a video, I didn't think of it at the time.
I have decided that I will stay in Scotland after tour, just to relax. So I will returning home sometime in January. You are all welcome to help me find flights. I will be flying out of Edinburgh, most likely to London and then Vancouver. I'd like to be home by the 10th at the latest. But the first week of January is more ideal. I'm sure I will be rested by then. I'm really looking forward to being home again with everyone. I will miss the kids terribly, life will be completely different for me.
Wednesday, 21 October, 2009 2:34PM
I'm so grateful for host families. Since being on tour I have been constantly reminded not to judge people without first giving them a chance. If you look for good things in a person, you will see them, if you look for things you don't like, your never going to see those good things. Hosts are really willing to do whatever it takes to make sure your stay is a good one, sometimes you just need to give them the opportunity.
I've really been blessed with some great great host families.
Update: I have been meaning to let you all know about my No chocolate no crisps diet. Let's just say it was more successful than not...
I had hot chocolate at Starbucks, didn't even think twice about what it was, drank it, went along like nothing happened. The next day I went to "Tim Hortons" not a real one, but the corner stores and petrol stations have them in N. Ireland. Didn't get a chocolate doughnut because I knew, but then I got a hot chocolate. It hit me walking back. I said to Jenny "I can't believe I just got hot CHOCOLATE."
She said "Why???" (I had told all the other chaperones of my decision and to hold me to it.)
She went with me to Starbucks the day before as well, and it slipped her mind just as much as mine.
I didn't feel bad because I didn't intentionally try to have chocolate. So I told myself I would remember for next time.
When we stayed in Larne, they had bough Doritos for us. I was really craving chips by then, and had told myself, I never mentioned Doritos, it was just potato chips. So I had a few, and a few more and a few more. Then I had to stop myself. Doritos are addicting. I don't know anyone who likes them and doesn't have a hard time stopping themselves from eating half a bag. (The bags are smaller here by the way)
Anyway, I felt bad about that. But didn't really punish myself in anyway.
So when we go to England crisps were put in front of me, and the week had been up. I wasn't sure how many days it was, but I decided not to eat them to make up for the Doritos incident. It was hard. Mostly because every other person in the room was eating them. It was over 30 people. Talk about torture. I think I left the room or got up and walked around a bit. It's sad really.
Yesterday, we had them again for lunch. So I took my bag and said I would save it for when I decided to eat them again. It was easier because I knew I was going to get them, I just didn't know when.
For our staff meeting Angee brought chocolate with her. It was Cadbury's and it was some that I hadn't tried before. She was quizzing us on child protection stuff to see if we knew, and I got an answer right and she threw some at me. At that point I had decided I would be able to have some chocolate. It was great, I can't lie. I had another one and then stopped so I wouldn't get carried away. (It was a Crunchie and a Curly Wurly, both really good.)
Later on I walked by the table where my crisps I saved were sitting all alone. They are Worcestershire Sauce flavor, which I like. They are strong, a lot of people probably wouldn't like them, but I do because they are different. There are many different flavors here. Prawn Cocktail is a main flavor, which is nasty. I tried one, and it was enough. If I get it in my lunch, I trade with the kids. The girls like it because the bag is usually pink. Works for me. I'm trying to think of the others... Chicken, BBQ Rib, Steak and Onion, Ready Salted would be like plain, Cheese and Onion, Salt and Vinegar. Those are the main ones.
Well, I ate them. Loved them too. Today I didn't have any. It wasn't easy, I almost went and grabbed a bag like 4 times. But I know if I eat them, I will keep doing it. I probably will go another week. After that I will just limit myself to max 3 times a week, but even that seems like a lot.
I realized this past week I've been eating a lot of yogurt as well. It's a regular thing to eat for breakfast or lunch. It's good here and so I always want it. It's like a healthy dessert. (that can make you gain weight if you eat it everyday haha)
Hope I'm not making you hungry with all my food talk. Food is a regular part of my life back home. I think about it all the time. It's something I miss a lot about home. It's not easy eating almost the same thing everyday, so I'm trying to find ways to not get so sick of everything.
I was just reading about Worcestershire Sause and HP Sauce. They call HP Sauce "brown sauce" here.
I'm having McDonald's for dinner. No fries. Fries are worse than crisps. I forgot o mention I had fries twice and was eating them thinking how much worse they are for me, so when I was offered them (we have them for meals on a regular basis) I said no thank you.
I was looking for flights home last night and they were all over $1000. I can't believe how much it costs to travel. I will need to keep looking, and need some financial support in order to get me home or I could be here longer than I want to be. Hopefully it doesn't come to that though.
Tour is going really well. School today went really smoothly. They all were learning, and we could see it, it's always good when that happens. Now that we are in England it feels that much closer to the end. It's slowly creeping up.
OH! I meant to tell you about my bus partner system. So for the last 3 months of tour I haven't had a bus partner. Most of us do, but some don't. Sometimes I miss having Nompie next to me, but it's also nice to have the extra space to put my things, especially when I am doing admin stuff, I've got papers everywhere sometimes.
All of a sudden the other day a bunch of the kids were asking to sit with me. Normally I say no because I have work to do, and once I let one, they all want to. So I told them I would put their name down and when I didn't have work to do they could sit with me. I had 5 kids on my list within a minute and it's now at 10. Once the rest realize they will start asking I'm sure. It's "nice to sit with an Auntie." That's what they would say. The use the word nice like it's a very big deal. Nice in that sentence would mean a really special treat and I feel loved. I've realized they will soon be back in SA and I will wish I had let them sit with me all those time I said no I have work to do. So what I'm doing is trying to get my work done before the concerts and at night before I go to bed so that I can sit with someone every trip. I've been successful so far. To make it that much more special I take our picture together in our seats. They really like it. Some of the pictures didn't turn out great, but we both still enjoy it.
Right now I am staying with Nompie and Tintswalo. They are the complete opposite of each other. Nompie is one of the loudest girls and Tintswalo is the most shy. She will talk to me because I am her teacher in school, but even with that extra time with me, she's still very quiet and it takes a lot for her to open up.
Nompie is one of the girls that stayed with me for the 13 nights in Edinburgh with Anna and Robin, if you remember me talking about them. So she got very comfortable around me. She sometimes tries to get away with things with me, so I have to keep my eyes on her. She makes me laugh and I really love her. I love them both.
My brother is interested in sponsoring a child in my choir which is really exciting. It's especially exciting because I am able to tell him about the child, which will make it that much of an experience for him. I will also have tons of photos of the child. He probably will choose a boy, and I would like to sponsor a girl so we can keep in contact with 2. I will still be able to write the other children though.
If any of you are interested in sponsoring a child from our choir they are still in need of sponsorship, please let me know. I highly recommend it. :) They are absolutely amazing. You are also able to got o South Africa and meet them if you wish to do so.
I'm going to look for flights now.
No comments:
Post a Comment