Hallowed Grounds

People say the English are obsessed with tea and this is true to a certain extent but pales in comparison to Americans love affair with COFFEE. Imagine if tea was so popular in the UK that almost everyone you saw on the street was carrying a supersized thermos flask to sip from when necessary, if there were drive thru tea shops on every corner where people went any hour of the day or night to spend literally hundreds of pounds a month on luke warm polystyrene cups of tea. Ridiculous? No - reality here in the US but with coffee! It was one of the first things we all noticed when we arrived. Everyone wanders round with portable cups of coffee. Check out any US TV programme and you will start spotting it. They even take their coffee into the Autopsy rooms in the police shows. At first I thought it was crazy and found it very hard to relate to. However my 'acclimatization'

continues apace and I have searched high and low to find a way to blend in! Haha 'blend' geddit? Firstly there was the single cup coffee peculator. The drawback with this is the coffee never gets really blisteringly hot. So now my prayers have been answered in the form of coffee BAGS and a large silver travel mug! This is a winning combination of filter coffee taste but tongue burning heat. Do they sell these bags in the UK? If not I may have to bring a suitcase full back in June! God help me I have even started bringing DECAF in the evening.

The biggest problem is however that there are NO KETTLES at work. So if you want (need) a hot drink you have to bring it in the morning or pop out to Dunkin Donuts when the urge strikes. A staffroom without hot tea on tap - the horror.

Visit From The Boss.

This past week I was lucky enough to host a visit from my Headteacher, Mrs Cathy Byrne. Mrs Byrne had applied for funding from Fulbright's Head Teacher Study Visit.

Mrs Byrne arrived via Amtrak at Schenectady Station on Friday night. We spent Saturday touring the delights of Schenectady *muffles snort*. Mrs Byrne agreed with me, that it is so strange to be 'downtown' in a city centre and for it to be so quiet and empty. We strolled up to Schenectady Museum and took in the exhibits there, mainly it seemed to be a collection of 'Washing Machines Through The Ages' plus we had to PAY!!! As I recall, all museums in Hull are free (for the moment!). We then walked round my favourite area of Schenectady, The Stockade. These are the oldest houses in the area and some have been there since the Dutch colonised the area. It reminds me very much of The Avenues in Hull. We stopped in The Van Dyke for a beverage and to avoid a snowstorm!

Sunday started with a visit to St Anthony's Church where we experienced a Catholic Mass in Spanish with my friend and teaching assistant Mercedes. This was lovely and the people there were so welcoming, it didn't matter that I didn't understand much. There was some lovely singing. We then took Mrs Byrne shopping at Walmart. Oh the fun never ends round here! The day finished with dinner at The Brudos's. Fantastic beef from their own cows and i tried beetroot for the first time EVER! It was OK really!

The reason for the visit, of course, was for Mrs Byrne to see the US Education system and Dan had set up a fantastic schedule for the week. Visits to other local schools, the High School and even lunch with the Superintendent of Schenectady! The week passed so quickly. Mrs Byrne reiterated our opinion that people here are so warm and friendly. Before she left on Friday, we held a British Tea Party for children and parents in my class. It was fantastic. I even bakes scones. (Yes Mum, second time baking this week!) It was fabulous seeing the class decorated with Union Jacks and everyone sipping tea from dainty cups and nibbling cucumber sandwiches over the strains of God Save The Queen. We shared out the Dairy Milk my Mum had sent across and the children LOVED it! I have had an excellent week and it has been great fun showing Schenectady and the school off to Mrs Byrne.

St Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day is a big deal in the US. I expected this before I came. Even in the UK I have never been over fond of Valentine's Day. It seems too forced. Why should you have to have a special day to tell the person you love how you feel? Oh yes, to make money. It is so contrived and focused on buying THINGS!! Also I dislike the way some people brag about what they got for Valentine's Day, the subtext being... see how much more LOVED I am than you!

Well over here, times all that by 10! Everyone is included in Valentine's Day, not just the ones in relationships (unrequited or not). All the children at school bought special child orientated mini V Day cards (which come in class packs). I received more cards for Valentine's Day than I did for Christmas. Some bought gifts for their friends, others bought cookies and cupcakes. During snack time we passed out the cards and gifts and ate the treats. It was very different. I also received cards and gifts from the children and (because I had an idea this would happen) I had baked heart shape sugar cookies for them. I can just about accept all of this in the name of 'Cultural Exchange' but I still fail to see how Valentine's Day is a 'holiday'. We are at work, it is made up by retailers. It is not a holiday. I suppose some things are a leap too far even for me!

In The Bleak Mid-Winter....

I've not been updating much recently as not much has been going on!! January / February are always a quiet time but throw in massive amounts of snow and I feel like I am hibernating! There have been a few interesting moments though..

• President Obama visited Schenectady to give a talk at General Electric as they are making some kind of eco energy. I was teaching all day but it was still exciting for the kids. The Principal got a special invitation to meet him when her got off Air Force One, with a couple of the older kids from the school. That must have been amazing.



• Me and Ron have gone on a diet. The food situation had become ridiculous, it's not as if there is any American food that we even really like. We were being slowly brainwashed by the fast food adverts that are constantly on tv. Why bother stuffing your food that doesn't actually taste good?? Hopefully we can lose loads and return to the UK nice and slim and ready to east our own bodyweight in fish and chips, Cadbury's chocolate, nice cheese (Halloumi cheese doesn't seem to exist in NY state!) So far we are both down a good 10 pounds each. RESULT!!



• Frog update - the frogs, millipedes and crabs from my classroom have been rehoused, with 3 of the frogs coming to live with us! Just don't ask me what I'm going to do with them when we go back to the UK!!



• The Hull Daily Mail asked me to write 200 words on my stay so far and send them a picture of me "teaching". I sent off the above photo so keep your eye out for it in the paper. They have interviewed Meredith as well.
  

The boss is coming to stay on Friday so that should be the catalyst for us crawling out of our hibernation cave! Unless it is still snowing. In which case I shall crawl back in and stay there till April.

Care Parcel

This was our Christmas food parcel from England. It arrived today - 27 days too late! I am sure we will still put all the lovely food to good use though! There is even a Christmas pudding and a jar of brandy butter YUM! Thanks for the lovely gesture Mum but I am looking forward to the real thing at your house next Christmas!

Frog / Crab update - No casualties! Woop.

Another Snow Day

While I am ecstatically happy to have a day lounging around at home instead of working, it comes right after a three day weekend for Martin Luther King. That means I haven't been at school for 4 days. I am very worried about the creatures who are living in my classroom. I have about 15 African dwarf frogs and 12 or so tiny crabs. This is for our 'Animal Studies' science module. We have already suffered the deaths of 3 craps - reason unknown and I don't know how 4 days without food or heat will effect them. It was very strange at first to have creatures in the classroom but I have got used to them now and would hate to turn up tomorrow morning to discover an aquatic annihilation. Plus the millipedes arrive this week.

Snowtubing.

After seeing photos of some of my lovely fellow Fulbrighters snowtubing I was desperate to give it a go. Today was a beautiful sunny day so we headed off with my wonderful 'exchange parents' to Willard Mountain, Greenwich, NY. Snow tubing entails being pulled up a hill by a ski lift type thing, sitting in a massive inflatable tyre. When you get to the top, you slide down to the bottom. No tubes are involved at all. A more accurate name would be tyre sledging! It was as fun as I had expected but very, very cold. At one point my toes were so cold I was wondering if frostbite and toe amputation would be covered on the medical insurance. The place was packed, New Yorkers are a vey 'outdoorsy' bunch. Sailing and hiking in the summer and winter sports in the snow.

I'm spending the night in a much more relaxed manner, watching The Golden Globes with a nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc.