Winter in Wales

Where to begin... lots of catch-up. Winter, a time of hibernation, reflection, busy-ness, holidays. Many, many photos included here to give you more of a taste of the flavour of my life these days. I've come to realize that this year is almost more about self-discovery on a personal basis, rather than professional. Of course, I am learning and growing as a teacher, but this time so tests and requires introspection of who I am in the world. It is amazingly challenging and exhilarating at the same time...


The winter fair at school, singing, food, selling of student projects, henna tatoos... families, teachers, students, all having fun. My class made and sold orange and clove pomanders for our Tudor unit.















A Welsh fashion show put on by the year 4 pupils - it was a blast!







My beautiful students...

















This is my very funny attempt at a Channukah menorah. I obviously did not have one, so improvised in a totally ridiculous way. A slice of bread, some birthday candle holders with birthday candles - I thought that I was very clever until I saw that letting the candle burn down by themselves also allowed the candle holders to completely burn down and integrate themselves with the bread. So, burnt blue bread. The project was abandoned after the second night...




Christmas at Severn Primary - our holiday concert and party. The children dressed as snowmen, elves, reindeer, Santa, the 3 wise men, etc, very clearly demonstrated the lack of separation of church and state in Great Britain.
















Lovely Dolores and Santa, available for Christmas photos with the kids.




























































My student, Alamin, as Santa, for our rendition of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" - an American theme.






































Partying chez moi. Importing my tradition of open house, I scaled down and invited my friend Louise and some people from work over for drinks and appetizers. This was not a
pot luck! Didn't know how that tradition would be received here.









Shopping at Tesco over the holidays, all signs in both English and Welsh.









The local Splott market, a source of truly cheap buys! Produce, a wild meat auction, and inside an enormous airplane hanger type building, tons of "stuff". Louise and I try to go Sunday mornings to stock up on veggie bargains.






















Waj, a friend from school, created an amazing henna tattoo for Louise for a special holiday dress. A work of art...
We were also lucky to be fed an amazing curry lunch!











This is my little Christmas tree. I am an equal opportunity holiday celebrator. If it's festive, I go for it. Some of my ornaments were little straw trinkets that I brought back from Prague.

Cardiff at Christmas, the whole town is decorated with lights and is simply beautiful. I love passing by the Castle daily on my way to work.






Christmas dinner was next door with Louise, her two lovely daughters, Danielle and Stephanie, Steph's boyfriend Stewart, and my old friend, Barbara, who flew in for the holidays from Los Angeles. We had a feast and could barely move after an incredible meal, Christmas pudding with custard and all!



Snow, snow, snow! Yes, all that has been said and written about the storms here is true. We've had extreme weather and it is very beautiful. I actually prefer it to the grey rain.


Morning. Waking up, looking out the bedroom window, going out the front door, watching it accumulate and wondering if school was on or not.



















Yes, we were going to make an attempt to open school, so I trudged down the empty, white streets to meet Bev, my ride, since I didn't trust my little car on the icy, slippery streets.












After arriving at school and finding out that many, many teachers could not make it in, (2 students showed up and were turned away) we were set free, told to go home! I felt like a kid, a day of freedom ahead of me. Spent the day nesting and catching up, with a brief adventure of a walk into the village of Whitchurch. Errands, the library, a shop or two, and an invigorating walk home to my cozy house...

Tonight, frigid temps and lots of ice. School tomorrow?

Edinburgh

So many surprising little gems of views when one peeks around a corner or through a doorway...called Closes and Wynds.













No, I didn't take a tour, but loved the cheerfulness of this bus in the midst of Grassmarket, a completely innocuous name with a vicious history of murder! Those Scots have a dry sense of humor - there's a pub called 'The Last Drop' in the square.
I am feeling very sheepish and quite embarrassed, but I learned something, actually a few things, but one for now. Edinburgh is pronounced Edin-boro, never berg. I felt so confused because I saw this, had seen it spelled the other way, thought, "Okay, another different pronunciation/spelling." Finally got it when I came out and just asked. Silly me. Also, learnt is a word here. Insisted it isn't, but in Cardiff, it is.
The roof tops of Edinburgh are just beautiful. Stone with all of these rows of chimneys. I love them. This is a view from the window of Lin and Jan's flat. Sunday morning breakfast - a full Scottish one (minus the haggis) including eggs, beans, fried tomatoes, toast and no bacon for me! Sacrilegious! To top it all off, the appearance of this magical rainbow...



Flew out of Cardiff for the first time and it's a lot easier than my usual flights from Bristol, an hour's drive away. Just that the available flights are much more limited here. It was so nice to actually be met at the airport when I arrived, not typical for me during my travels. Lin is an amazingly gracious friend and hostess.
As usual, a lot of walking and just looking at the city, a very manageable size, truly lovely. I've been reading and enjoying the light 44 Scotland Street series of books, by Alexander McCall Smith, which are set in Edinburgh, so this was kind of my version of the Sex and the City tour here. It was fun seeing some of the places that I'd read about, including Valvona and Crolla, a fancy food shop.
Lin and I did a great walk around the city on Saturday after a cozy evening home Friday night. We saw a lot in a short time and managed to do so before the rain really started coming down.
This is in front of the palace where the Queen stays while in Edinburgh. Quite beautiful.
We joined sister Val for tea at The Dome, which was majorly decked out for Christmas, including fake snow (soap suds!) falling in front of the entrance, quite convincing at first, until I realized it was foamy.



Tea at this wonderful discovery off of the Grassmarket on Sunday afternoon with Lin and Jan, who had arrived from Vancouver on Saturday evening. Scones and all... It was tiny and had such a sense of history to it, all stone with tiny rooms, spanning three floors, photos on the wall. We were all charmed.


















Sunday, between breakfast and tea, I wandered the city on my own, which I love, while Lin and Jan ran errands. Loved the man in the kilt strolling down the street, the fantastic cobblestones strewn with autumn leaves in Greyfriar's Churchyard.








Although the main street, Princes Street, is totally torn up with work that began as reinstallation of the tram and became a major overhaul of the infrastructure of the city's pipes, water, etc, there are great alternate routes.
There are many lovely gardens and parks. This photo of the Edinburgh Castle was taken from the garden below. I later climbed up there - great walk. It is a fairly hilly city, with an area called The Mound in the middle, separating New Town from the Old Town.
Short, but oh so sweet, weekend. AND the offer of the flat if I want to return! What more could I ask for?
Thanksgiving in Cardiff, chez moi, tomorrow - turkey with all of the trimmings...

Thinking of Grandma Betty, aka Basia, in Krakow

Well, we took the night train, first time in a sleeper. It felt so old-worldy, so film noire. The thing about traveling in both Krakow and Prague was the true humility I felt. As many know, I love languages, have studied and proudly am fairly adept in French, dabble in Italian after a year's study and many visits, and can communicate very basically in Spanish after my month's lessons in Guatemala. Here, in Eastern Europe, I knew nothing, I mean truly nothing. Money felt like play money because I didn't truly grasp the exchange in either place. I believe that, as crazy as it sounds, it's important for everyone to experience such inadequacy at least once. (of course, my current experience has me feeling that way daily...)
So, we left at night, slept on fold-out bench-like "beds", equipped with sheets, pillows, and blankets, which we had to make up ourselves. Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot without the curtains. Not very well rested, we arrived in Krakow at 6:30 am, to a light rain.
We trudged up the cobblestone streets to our hostel, checked in, and Jean-Luc took off for a few hours for some independent exploration while I settled in. Meeting later on in the Old Square, we began our only day together in Krakow - Jean-Luc left for London the next morning to spend a day with Cayal in Oxford and then to fly back to NY.
I loved Krakow. Much smaller, much more manageable, many fewer tourists, it felt real to me. As usual, we walked - everywhere. We ate beets and dumplings, went into St. Mary's in the Old Square, the most beautiful church, with all of the intricately painted walls, and bought a few trinkets for friends. We found the best bookstore I've seen in Europe so far and both bought books (a love we have in common). I spoke with a lovely young woman there who directed us to some sights for later on. Toured the castle and searched for the Buddha Stone, one of seven in existence in the world, hidden in the castle courtyard.
It was colder than Prague, but we stopped for tea, bundled up, kept going, and somehow, I didn't mind it. The day was a bit hard, being so tired from the night's travels, but we managed to see a lot.

We continued on and walked around the old Jewish ghetto. Thousands of Jews before the war, and according to what we read, about 100 remaining in Krakow today. I thought of my grandma. I don't know where in Poland she came from, but waved and smiled to a little old lady in the window and thought of her.
After looking around, we found ourselves in a very funny restaurant. Huge, almost a beer palace, with massive portions of food, all heavy and about six different things on each plate. I'm sure that it was a place mainly for tourists, but we had a beer and had fun. Neither of us could finish our meal.













Next morning, a gray rainy day, Jean-Luc left for a train to the airport and I joined up with two guys from the hostel and headed off for Auschwitz. The weather was somehow perfect for the visit. Dismal. Can I explain the trip? Not really. We all know the history. I felt absolutely compelled to go there, to see it and experience it for myself. It was intense, to say the least. Overwhelming. The barracks. The barbed wire. The towers and exhibits of thousands of eyeglasses, shoes, luggage. The mounds of human hair. Standing in a cell for special prisoners. Plodding through the muddy walkways. All of it. The guide who led us through was amazing. Knowledgeable, compassionate, passionate. I don't know how she could do this daily and asked her. She said yes, it was difficult, but...


The juxtaposition of the soft and beautiful scenery outside the window during my bus ride back into the city.

That night I found what came to be my favorite little restaurant during my stay in Krakow - I went back again the next night, too. The city is small enough that I ran into several people from my hostel, and ended up talking to two guys at the next table, traveling around, from Australia.









The following morning found me on a bus to the salt mines, a must according to Maja, my friend of Polish ancestry. It was pretty incredible. This room is made entirely of salt, carved into walls, floors, chandeliers, sculptures, even a replica of The Last Supper, in relief. Our guide told us we could lick the wall and see for ourselves. Deciding that I wasn't quite up for that, I did lick my finger, rub it on the wall, and - voila! - it really was salt. This is just one exhibit amongst many, each made up of salt carvings, created by the miners over the years.


Loved coming across these two scenes, the wedding pictures being taken in the green park, the planta, running around the Old City center, and the photographer and model in the Jewish Ghetto, one of my favorite shots.
My last evening I came across the last bit of a walking tour in the Jewish ghetto, led by a young man, so personable, he was truly special. I was invited to join the group for a drink in a little cafe nearby, which of course, I accepted. I sat and spoke with a couple from Sweden (and thought of Kim) and had a lovely time.
It's funny how many preconceived ideas we have about things - I had no idea that I'd enjoy Poland so much...