Origins

We had a classic TCK conversation with our kids in the car:

Joshua: How do you know where you are from?
Steve: Well that is an easy question for some people and more difficult for others.
Joshua: Does it depend on where you were born?
Debs: Not always.
Rose: Right, because we were born in the Philippines but mummy and daddy are English.
Joshua: So we are English?

Rose: I think that we are English because mum and dad are from England.  Is that right?
Steve: That works for me.  Josh, where do you think you are from?
Joshua: I think I am English.

Traditions

The girls and I started making a new set of Jesse Tree ornaments for our English tree.  We got 7 finished before running out of card.  It was cool to sit with them, working on a joint project.  It is also very cool to me that the Jesse Tree is a family tradition we have brought with us from the Philippines.  We do not seem to have carried many family traditions over as our routine here is so different.  I had told the kids we would keep Saturday pancakes, but that has not happened.  So here is something that links both our worlds and I am happy about that.

Day at the Fayre

It's funny how nothing happens for a while, then everything happens at once!  Today it was the school Christmas Fayre.  Rose was helping as part of her entrepreneur club.  She was encouraging people to buy their childrens' baubles.  

Jenny and I wandered around.  Emma had a cake stall and she did pretty well.  There were some good stalls there and fun games for the kids.

As we were heading out Steve, his mum, Simon, Naomi and Josh were arriving.  I had some lunch and headed back to school because I was manning the "booze alley".  (Skittles with bottles of alcohol.  You throw a 20p coin and the one who gets it closest to the bottle wins it).

We had a late family dinner to finish off the afternoon.

Milestones

Joshua won man of the match today at football.  He scored his team's only goal and they were actually one up at halftime.  Unfortunately, they went on to lose but they have been playing with much less of a deficit the last few games.  Uncle Simon had gone to watch so he got a great photo of Josh.

man of the match

how cute!

This evening we celebrated Steve's 40th birthday with a shared meal of jacket potatoes and fillings and then line and barn dancing.  It was fun.  Our kids are getting really good at dancing with all the practice they've gained over the years.
It's funny to think I have known Steve for 20 years.  20 years ago, 40 seemed a long way off and old! Now it's here.  I have been privileged to have been part of Steve's life and it is so cool to see the ways he has grown and matured through this time. 

Steve's present from his mum

I'm Back

I left Detroit on the 4 p.m. flight (9 p.m. GMT) and arrived in Amsterdam at 5:20 a.m. (4:20 GMT).  I tried to sleep on the flight but had little success.  The breakfast on the 'plane was not to my taste so the first thing I wanted to do was find food when I landed.  There was no gate number for my flight to Birmingham and a lot of flights were cancelled on the board but my numb brain didn't really care right then.  I found an open coffee shop (I think I was on one of the first flights of the day as the airport was still shut) and got a coffee and croissant.

After reading for a while I decided I had better find out what was going on with my flight so I went to the transfer desk and discovered my flight was cancelled due to fog and, at that point, they weren't sure there would be a flight that day.

I called Steve (forgetting the one hour difference!) as I didn't want him to have left to get me.  That cost an arm and a leg as I had to use my card.  Then I had to wait for my number to come up to organise a new flight.

Thankfully, I was able to get on a 10:15 flight. That meant I arrived at 10:30 but Steve didn't arrive till 11:30 as he knew it was an hour's flight but we both forgot the 1 hour difference.  

Rose was at home when we got back as school had asked for her to be collected as she wasn't feeling well.  I suspect it was because mummy was getting back.  She wanted to put her new pyjamas that I had bought for her on straight away.

She helped keep me awake till the other two got home.  Josh didn't really want to say hello all that much but when I showed him what I had got for him (lego) he was very excited. Naomi loved her pyjamas too.

I managed to stave off bed till 8, after a lovely bath.

Family Thanksgiving

Today I had the privilege of experiencing a real American Thanksgiving.  I have really appreciated the hospitality of Bonnie and her family over my time here.  And I am so thankful for our friendship and the love her family have extended to me.

The Culmination

As the wedding didn't take place till 4, we were able to have a relaxed morning.  Bonnie's dad brought bagels for breakfast and we ended up at Bonnie's parents' house so that Kate could do the bridesmaid's hair.  (I took the opportunity to walk around the block and take photos).
Then Kate, Liz and I went off to get ready and meet the others at the church for photos at 1ish.  I forgot to take the map Bonnie's dad made for me but, thankfully, he had mentioned each of the roads so we only made one slight mistake and figured out fairly quickly we were driving in the right direction.
We helped put out all the truffles on the tables then took off to decorate the apartment in the only window of time we had.
Sharon was feeling really rough too but was amazingly stoic and managed to do all the photos.  Thankfully, she felt much better for the actual ceremony and dinner.
The wedding was lovely and Bonnie looked radiant - as every bride should!

You can see the rest of my wedding photos here.

Rehearsal

For lunch we had a special high tea.  Unfortunately, the English Breakfast was slightly weak. Fortunately, I had extra teabags I have been carrying around with me, so I added one to the pot.  Much better!  We had soup?!, sandwiches, cakes and pastries and "scones" - which were really more like shortbread.  The cream had lemon in it too.

But - strange elements aside - it was lovely.  Bonnie's sister and family had driven through the night to join us.
This afternoon was dominated by the rehearsal and then dinner together.

After dinner we had a little fun with Bonnie - bowling and video.

Let it snow!

Bonnie had the day off school today so we went over to Daniel's apartment - where they will be living - and helped unpack some of the boxes we had packed.  We had lunch and bought a couple of drawer sets to help with the unpacking and as we left the shop, it was snowing!  (My kids will be jealous!)
Our friend Kate arrived tonight. The momentum is building.

A bit of this, a bit of that

Sarah and I dropped Bonnie off at work so we could use her car and, armed with a map, we proceeded to spend a busy day doing jobs to help Bonnie out.  Plus a couple of special errands of our own - decorating materials for a mini hen night and the new apartment.

Museum

Bonnie's mum and I went to do a bit of shopping and then to the airport to pick up Bonnie's friend Sarah. Sarah came to visit Bonnie in the Philippines so it was good to pick up again with her.

Martha graciously took us to the Henry Ford museum for lunch and a walk around.
It was a cool place.  We saw the limousine that JFK was shot in and a cool house in the round amongst other things.

Sarah and I also made up all the truffle boxes for the wedding favours.  That was rather more eventful than it should have been, but it gave us a good laugh.

Sunday

We went to Bonnie's church this morning.  It is their mission conference.  It was cool to see a family from Faith Academy - the French's - banner on the wall. 

We then visited the French bakery for some amazing cakes and ate them in the dry fountain in the park.
Then we met Bonnie's cousin and went to lunch.  Despite watching both Bonnie and Kirstin get water from the fizzy drinks dispenser I still missed the key button and ended up with lemonade instead.  I apologised to the cashier and paid for my lemonade.  He thanked me for my honesty and gave me a bigger cup.  I also was obviously not watching when people added ice to their cup as it kept coming and I realised it was only stopped when I pulled my cup away.  I ended up with a lot of ice!
After lunch we went to the first of two book sales.  This is where the library sells off old stock for cheap prices.  A kind of heaven.

Out for lunch

As Detroit is so close to the border with Canada we went south and crossed into Windsor.  We went to Canada via a tunnel and back to the U.S. via the bridge.  

Looking to Detroit from Canada

After lunch Bonnie and I went shopping. It was fun to go round the supermarket.  I think anyone going back to the U.S from abroad must have greater reverse culture shock than we do.  There is so much more food than we have.  And there are different foods too.  I knew we get a lot of American brands in the Philippines but there were some I still hadn’t realised were American till we were walking round.

This ice-cream cracked me up, though.  This probably reinforces the stereotype of the American that we British hold.

It’s interesting for me to see things that friends at Faith Academy have talked about and it’s really good to see where Bonnie is from.  I will be able to picture her there now.

Fly, baby, fly

I had a couple of interesting cultural experiences on my flight. 

One thing to note: do not travel in boots.  Only those people wearing boots were asked to take them off.  And, of course, all jackets had to be removed.

On the way to Amsterdam I was supposed to have a window seat but a couple were already sat in the row and they had left the aisle seat free.  I weighed up whether I was bothered or not about sitting by the window and, considering the time the flight was (55 mins) and that I could stretch out in the aisle seat I accepted the free seat.

Amsterdam felt chaotic.  My flight to Detroit was already boarding so I headed straight there.

I had bought a lucozade and pack of crisps at Birmingham airport to keep for my long flight - not realising that I would have to go through security again at Amsterdam.  So the guy wanted to confiscate my bottle so I opened it and practically drank the whole thing as quickly as possible with him hassling me to hand it over.  Then I went through the body scan and was told to come back as I had put my laptop in my case and it needed to come out.  (There was no sign saying so anywhere, I guess everyone else wears theirs). After that I had to wait to get on the 'plane and a nice American couple began chatting to me after looking at the book I was reading.  I don't think that would have ever happened if they were British!

Once on the 'plane a man was sat in my seat and when I finally tracked down the flight attendant the guy didn't speak any English so a nonsensical conversation went on as he insisted he was in the right seat and the attendant insisted he was not.  I said I could sit in his seat instead but the attendant said, "You will sit there".  I think she thought it was a better seat and she was not going to let him dictate to her.

When the meal was brought around the attendant said, "beverage?" I asked for a cup of tea.  She looked at me like I had 6 heads!  "Hot drinks are later," she said.  I have never travelled on an aeroplane before where hot drinks do not come with the meal - and I have travelled a lot!  Anyway, only coffee appeared later so I settled for that.  Actually, tea usually tastes yuck on a 'plane anyway.  Cold and weak.

I got out of immigration before Bonnie and her parents arrived but I was thrilled when Bonnie greeted me with a flask of hot, good tea.

The simple pleasures of life.

Animal marriage

On the way to school this morning, Joshua posed a classic question: "Do animals get married and, if they do, how do they know?"  Don't you love how big questions get asked when you have little time?!  In the end, I said that animals didn't have emotions like humans and so they didn't marry but some animals have one partner for life and others don't.  Whew!

Bonfire Night

The kids were so excited to celebrate bonfire night and it was very cool to experience a cultural event together.  I had forgotten how much of a community thing this is. 
It was cold - I had tried to warn the girls to bring warm clothes (we had gone to visit Granny T) because we would be stood watching fireworks and it would feel cold.  They didn't really get it - at times like this I realise they have no prior experience or memory to hang comments like these on. 
We went to a smallish affair but the fireworks were great and we got a spot next to the fence.  Rose and I had an ongoing discussion about whether it was better than Manila.  Yes, in that we were close up and enjoyed it. No, in that 15 minutes does not compare to over half an hour and a much wider spread of fireworks.  And it was definitely colder than Manila.  We had our traditional bonfire night clothing of hats, scarves and gloves.  Josh got very cold and asked if we could leave and Naomi wanted to go halfway through too, although I think she was tired as much as anything.  Before going she had said to me, "I might fall asleep like I did at the monster trucks".  But the kids finally understand what cold means!

biking

I bought a bike yesterday and picked it up last night.  I took it for its first spin today (while Steve jogged) along the long route in the forest.  We are so privileged to live so close to the forest.  In our housegroup we have begun going through Romans and I was meditating on the beauty of God's creation and understanding the truth that we see God in what He has made.  I also realise how much we do miss this time of year in the Philippines when the leaves turn and the air is cool but the sky so bright.  Of course, by the end of the bike ride the only thing I was meditating on was how to not scare the walkers with my laboured breathing!
The first thing I need to do is buy a comfy saddle though as it felt like I was sat on a slab of concrete!