Thanksgiving in a winter wonderland

The thing that I was most excited about, when the exchange began to sink in, was being able to celebrate Thanksgiving. Years of watching Friends (and seeing Monica's spread) and reading American books had wet my appetite for this most American of holidays (and pumpkin pie of course). On top of this, my class were very excited about it too, giving me lots of details about pie, pie and more pie as well as wishbone pulling and having a great feast with friends and family.

Finally the day arrived! We started this morning with the Greely hockey turkey trot 5K from the high school, braving slippy paths and listening to the ice crunch beneath our sneakers as we dashed for the finish line. Sadly, no-one was dressed up as a turkey!

With that mission accomplished, it was on to a much harder task...eating the feast. Sarah had invited me to join her family at her sister's house and so we set off with various vegetables and desserts to add to the table. I decided that I couldn't quite face tofurkey as it really didn't look appetising so it was vegetables, cranberries and stuffing all the way for me. Very nice it was too!

All was eclipsed, however, by the much anticipated pie course...pumpkin (it's traditional), pecan (it smelt so delicious when it was baking yesterday), butterfinger (well, it's an American candy bar made into pie) and a few escaped cherries from the cherry pie (they looked too good to miss!). I had to resist apple and chocolate as my stomach refused to expand any more. No thermals needed, I have all the blubber I need!!

After dinner, as we lay about and groaned, it was game time. I did incredibly badly when the round centred on African-American politicians and early Beatles songs (much to everyone's disappointment in me as a British person), however, I redeemed myself by excelling on...wait for it...The British Royal Family!!!!! I could name them all. And I thought I wasn't a royalist!

Thanks to Sarah's family for making me feel so welcome. I had a great first Thanksgiving and can't wait to celebrate next year with family and friends at home. I'm already planning the pie menu...

Sunsets and shovelling

Well another action packed weekend has passed. There was no time for any rest as I had to ensure Mum and Jim squeezed as much in to their 10 days as possible! On Friday night we went to the most amazing vegetarian restaurant where they served delicious thai dishes. Tempura asparagus...yum! I did ask the owner if she would set up a branch in Northampton but she complained about the distance of the commute. What a wimp!

A highlight of the weekend was catching the mail boat that visits the islands of Casco bay twice daily. It was gloriously sunny and perfect for standing out on deck, watching the sun set and gettting a snap shot of what life must be like on the islands. Lots of people had been grocery shopping in Portland and were transporting them on and off the boat in big carts.

However, no trip to Maine is complete without a trip to L.L.Bean...

It's weird not having them here any more but they escaped just in time. We had oodles (in British terms) of snow overnight and I did my first snow shovelling today...lucky me!

Look who the cat dragged all the way to Maine!

My first visitors to Maine arrived last Saturday on the bus from Boston. After their fair share of travel nightmares - mum having entered her passport number incorrectly on her visa, had to go and buy another in an internet cafe in Heathrow before she was allowed to check-in - Mum and Jim arrived, bringing with them their good company as well as the missing components from my winter wardrobe.

We started their trip, as promised, with a trip to Stones for breakfast and very nice it was too. Then in was a drive around Maine in search of a craft fair, the famous light house and the lovely Old port. I am taking full advantage of having a chef in residence and to date have enjoyed 5 yummy meals cooked by my mother!

This week has also seen me reach minor celebrity status. My name in lights...well, almost. I made the school sign!!!

The PTO wanted to find a way for more children and parents to meet me as the school is so huge and the kids are so fascinated by my funny way of talking. I did suggest a bonfire night party but this was rather ambitious what with needing fire licenses etc so we decided on having a British tea party instead.

I had no idea that it would be quite as big an event as it was. A team of volunteers set tables in British colours and bunting was made from flags children had coloured. Everyone sat down to eat scones, jam and cream and drink tea from proper cups and saucers. It was an incredible event. 

Then there was the entertainment...oh that was me. Very very bizarre. I did a quiz on all things British where I was the most amazing quiz master. Anne Robinson better watch out (or not...in the sport round, I asked which sport the picture showed, then proceeded to say how it was a picture of Northampton's rugby team). The wierdest part for me, however, was being asked questions by the kids. I can't imagine ever being this interesting to anyone ever again. What is your favourite thing? and What is your favourite dress? were two of my favourites. Everyone now knows about my Toots obsession, my love of Reese's peanut butter cups, that I miss Jaffa cakes and that in the UK we call American football, American football. The bookings for future events have been rolling in ever since!

A sparkling start to November

How can it be November already? It was strange having the 5th pass without the sound of fireworks popping, whizzing and crackling as soon as it got dark, however, I spent last week talking to lots of different classes about why we celebrate bonfire night. They enjoyed hearing about the demise of the villains and many did firework pictures with paint and glitter galore. I loved my Q and A sessions with the children - some great questions...Is King James still alive? Who was the good guy - the King or Guy Fawkes? Was Guy Fawkes a terrorist? How long did it take them to die?...not all of them easy to answer!

I also had a bizarre moment with my class when I realised what separation of church and state really means - no idea that, when watching an animated Christmas song video in French, the baby donkey is meant to symbolise Jesus. No child of school age in the UK would have any problem with that. It's going to be a strange December without the nativity play.

On Friday night, I went on the first Friday art walk in Portland. All the little galleries stay open late and you can wander round and admire some of the wonderful craftsmanship on display (some amazingly beautiful jewellery made using naturally expired butterfly's wings) and the not so wonderful, yet still horrendously expensive. You also get to chuckle at people discussing the colour pallet issues of arranging photographs taken with mobile phones...Pretentious? Moi?

This weekend also saw me complete the Great Osprey 10km run at Wolfe's neck state park in Freeport. What a beautiful location and a stunning day but brrrr...it was cold! I marvelled at the crazy people running in shorts and vests. It was a small event and we set off along quiet roads (with traffic still passing), went up and down some rather steep hills and finally came around by the ocean. It really was a stunning run and I was pleased to come in in 48 minutes and in a respectable 67th place (out of 294). Great to see my support team as I crossed the finish line!


The support team!

Yesterday I had another cultural experience. I went to see Sarah and Stuart perform with the Choral Arts Society, acompanied by the Kotzchmar organ, at the Merrill Auditorium in Portland. I sat next to a man in the second half who was on the 'Friends of the Kotzchmar organ' board so now for the trivia...The organ is one of only two surviving public organs in the United States (the other being in San Diego and is situated outdoors). It was a lovely concert and Stuart did a great job with his solo. So good, in fact, that I earwigged the people behind asking whether he was a professional singer.

Happy snowy halloween!

First snow in Maine...apparently a surprise to all those who live here too. I am being laughed at by many people here as I wander round already bundled up. "What ya gonna do when it really gets cold?" Err...wear even more!
What is amazing though is how fast the response to snow is here. Snow Saturday night, all plowed Sunday morning. Not quite the UK response! I went out in the sparking sunshine late yesterday for a run. I  kept to the road and didn't slide at all or get my feet soaked in slush.
Luckily we didn't get hit too badly here, although like with the hurricane, many people lost power for hours and hours. Being on the main town circuit is very advantageous for us!

Today I experienced Halloween American style. Someone at school had the idea of playing 'where's Waldo?' (or Wally to us Brits - who knew, another cultural difference!) so all teachers dressed in stripes and jeans and the kids had to spot the real Waldo. My class, slightly slow to cotton on, thought that it was slightly strange that Emily and I were dressed the same...

This aftrenoon, we had a party in class at school to launch our new reading unit on characters so children came as their favourite realistic fiction character and then got to eat cookies, cake and a token fruit or vegetable too. Sadly though, not many of these were home made due to power outages...and I was looking forward to some home made brownies. Children did have to do a little work first, stepping into role as their character and describing themselves to the class and their parents. It was a lovely event!

Then tonight we lit our lanterns and the twinkly lights for the trick or treaters. I stayed home for a while, then left Hagrid to deal with the madding crowds...

 whilst I went to experience what it was like out in the wild streets of Cumberland. Look who I found...

Too cute! Happy Halloween!

Denver along with too much time spent in airports

Our trip started well. On arriving at the airport we were asked “Which flight are you checking in for today?”

“The one to Philly.”

“You mean the one that has been cancelled?”

“Oh...”

We were then booked in on one four hours later so set off on a Portland bus to the nearby mall. The bus took a strange route…in the opposite direction and the bus driver eventually calls out “end of the line”.

Another “Oh!” Turns out we should have told him where we wanted to stop and that we were lucky not to be charged extra for having ridden the bus for so long!  An hour later we eventually arrive at the mall, kill some time and return to the airport only to see the delayed sign up by our flight via DC this time.

So we wait and wait and wait and wait until we’re told that anyone connecting in DC needs to speak to them. Basically we had to decide whether to chance making our connection in DC and be prepared to stay over there if we weren’t successful or go home and try again in the morning. Thankfully, we chose the latter. By the time our tickets had been rebooked, the flight we would have been on still hadn’t left and we would have been stranded.

Thursday morning we try again, this time through New York. All good except for the tiny plane – all 9 rows of it! Eeeek!  

Finally we made it to Denver and were the last ones there, although importantly made it in time for lunch. It was interesting to see the landscape change beneath us. First Manhattan, then very flat ground divided into neat squares of land with very little habitation in site until eventually the Rockies came into view. We also landed in  sunshine and luxury – an enormous hotel suite complete with a fire place!

The rest of Thursday flew by. It was great to catch up with everyone’s stories about teaching so far in the US. We also did a walking tour around Denver, led by a very quirky historian who told us all about the wild west: scalping, lawlessness and the numerous ghosts said to inhabit historic buildings. It was then time for some yummy frozen yoghurt followed by free wine at the hotel’s happy hour and a lovely dinner with an inspirational guest speaker. The icing on the cake was free cookies and milk before bed!


Friday saw us visiting a struggling neighbourhood elementary school in Denver whose principal had taken part in an exchange a few years ago. The school had a very mixed population and I was fascinated by the fact that children were instructed in a mixture of Spanish and English. They had books in Spanish and English and conversed freely between the two. I spent a good deal of time with some fifth graders doing math problems and absolutely loved it. One boy was very proud to have identified me as English as another of his classmates guessed was I Italian? Dutch? It really was a great morning which stimulated some good discussion and reflection and was also fascinating to visit a completely different school.

After some more work and a trip to the gym, we headed out for fondue and cocktails...

Can’t be bad! We had a delicious cheese fondue prepared at the table, followed by a very yummy chocolate one. Stuffed, I decided we had to explore some more of Denver’s sites. Anyone who has had the misfortune to travel with me knows I am fond of flicking through a guidebook and then enlisting everyone else to join me on the mission to tick off the must sees. So off we went in search of the sign on the steps of the capitol building for the mile high city which says ‘a mile above sea level’. On the way we passed the blue bear peering in to the convention center – a ginormous beast – and finally made it to the said step. As you can see, Emily was thrilled!!

On Saturday we said goodbye to most people and explored some more, catching waves of zombies parading through the city mixed with ‘occupy Denver’ protesters and anti-police demonstrators.  Interesting!  We visited the art museum in the hope of seeing a Van Gogh exhibition that I thought had just opened. How lucky we are to catch it, I thought…yep, not until 2012, just a little early! We had a stroll around anyway to take in some culture before heading to the shops. An enormous shopping mall kept us entertained for quite a while – at least 3 times bigger than anything in Maine was our excuse. 

Sunday we headed to the airport and everything seemed plain sailing. Good bus connection, flight on time, a minor moment when it dawned on me that I had checked in my boarding pass for the next flight, but otherwise all good until we reached Newark where systems had collapsed and therefore so had the flights. Oh well, at least there was ice cream. We eventually got on a plane which we had been told had been delayed due to mechanical problems. Imagine then our horror when, trundling away from the gate, the right propellor can be heard whirring yet out of our window the left one is motionless. Thankfully, just as our panic was really setting in...why hasn't anyone noticed?...it started up. What trauma! Crawled in to bed at half past 1 Monday morning and it is fair to say a cranky pants/zombie taught the class on Monday!

The Rockies - so near, yet so far

Skunks, chipmunks, wild turkeys and cheap-skates...

There are real live skunks in Maine (and in Massachusetts). This amazes me every day as I had no idea where skunks actually lived. In my mind they were fictional characters in children's animated films but no, they actually exist and yes they do really really stink! Until Salem, I hadn't actually seen one, just smelt their presence...largely as road kill. They are so whiffy, you can be 1/2 a mile down the road and still smell them. After lots of wafts of skunk, my first sighting of a real live one was very exciting. I can't believe I forgot about it!

There are also wild turkeys around here and they look very funny too. Not much meat on them as they wander aimlessly all day trying to avoid being road kill too.

Yesterday, I went further up the coast to Boothbay to visit Maine's coastal botanical gardens with Teresa. They really were beautiful and I even met a new man. He was a bit squashy but really I just loved his dog...

The gardens are a great place to wander and there is so much for kids based on popular children's books - a bear's cave, fairy houses, Mr McGregor's greenhouse and others I didn't recognise. You could have hours of fun there with a class of kids...

"We're going on a bear hunt. We're going to catch a big one What a beautiful day! We're not scared..."

There are also lots of walk ways with wonderful sculptures nestled in amongst the plants and I got to hear, then see, chipmunks. They were so cute! They were chattering to each other as they scampered around the forest collecting winter stores. Couldn't get a picture of one though as they move like lightning.

As for the cheap-skate, that was me! Yesterday evening, I went to watch Sleepy Hollow peformed by the Portland Ballet Company. Teresa is on the committee so had volunteered us to be ushers which meant free tickets. It was fun to meet and greet so many different types of people in a different setting and then the ballet was mesmerising, especially as the dancing was accompanied by members of the Portland Symphony Orchestra. Another great weekend in Maine.