Thanksgiving at the Coronation House

When I proposed to the Brits in my department that we have Thanksgiving at my house this year, I was not thinking that it would have such a positive response. That's right! Last night Claudia and I celebrated Thanksgiving at Coronation house with nearly ten others; eight of whom were new to the experience.

During the day Claudia made sure to clean the house and make it look presentable for our guests. The bed was made, carpets were fluffed, candles were lit, plants and carpets were strategically placed, and the lighting was tuned to be just right. I have included some mildly artistic photos here to show just how sleek Coronation house can get with a little bit of TLC. You can compare these photos with those that I added last month when we first moved in.

Claudia and I spent much of the early day preparing dinner sides in the traditional Thanksgiving way: there's the stuffing, the cranberry sauce, the mashed potatoes, the gravy, and just when the kitchen was reaching capacity, there was the 11 pound turkey. Unfortunately things got off to a bit of a slow start ... someone (hmm, hmm ... Bret) mistook turmeric for tarragon and left the stuffing smelling like a typical Indian curry. This forced me to start again after waisting about an hour of time cooking some onions, carrots, and pear in turmeric. We'll try and use this odd mixture to make a soup.

After this rough start, everything seemed to fall into place without any further problems. We finished cooking around 6pm, in plenty of time for ourguests who began arriving at 6:30. The food was a smashing success! Others brought desserts, beer, and wine, making this one of the largest feasts that I've ever hosted. Everything turned out delicious and there was plenty to go around for all twelve of us. We spent the night dining, chatting, and playing mafia (see Halloween entry below) until things settled at 12:30 or so.

It's interesting to note that for the past two years I cooked Thanksgivingdinners in Pennsylvania for friends who were stuck in town, and each time I probably got around half the number of people that showed up last night. Of course this is mainly due to the fact that in the US, Thanksgiving is such a family-oriented holiday that few people are without their families. So it's pretty cool at how popular you can become by hosting such a gluttonous holidayin a foreign country. This implies to me that deep down inside, everyone is a fan of Thanksgiving.

Our day in York

Phew! We have had a blast! Bret and I just returned from York. We left this morning around 10:00, and 45 minutes later, we had arrived in York. The minute we got into the train station, we knew we were in a cool city. The station was tall and grand, and there were bikes everywhere. Suddenly we had a realisation: Durham is a suburban wasteland compared to this gem of a city!

Ok, so Durham isn't that bad. It is gorgeous too, but much much smaller. York has lots more shops: department stores like Fenwicks, international shops like L'Occitane, and cool boutiques everywhere (Boho Belle was my fave cuz the clothes is so Kate Moss and the perfume was French). Basically it's got the shopping and restaurant life of Newcastle, plus the quaintness of Durham. For dinner we ate delicious South East Asian, but there was also a Pakistani restaurant, a Turkish restaurant, and Thai food. The most exotic we get here in Durham is a traditional Indian curry.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me tell you what we did before dinner. First, we went into the cool cosmopolitan sandwich shop for lunch. After Bret downed some hummus and peppers and I chowed on chicken with mango chutney, we headed over to the National Railroad Museum, where we checked out old railroads and rode on a giant ferris wheel with magnificent views of the city. From the top, we saw green parks, stately homes, and the York Minster (the largest gothic cathedral in the UK).

After we finished the ride, we decided to head to York Minster ("The Minster") and check it out a bit closer. As we walked towards it, the bells tolled louder and louder (ding, ding, dong-ding, ding ... ding, ding, dong-ding, ding ...). People swarmed the narrow streets, and smells of delicious nuts, sweets, and butter filled the air. We had arrived in the hotspot of York.

The cathedral looked impressive. As we walked in, we could hear the boys choir singing dramatic classical songs. The ceiling rose up high, candles abounded, the mysterious scent of incense infused our noses. But then we realised that to experience more, we would have to pay 5 quid.

Suddenly feeling like the Durham cathedral (which is free) was good enough, we opted to walk around the York city shops rather than check out anymore of the minster.

In York, there is an area called "The Shambles." Actually, it's a really narrow cobblestone street, with tudor-style buildings that lean over the road. It's all windy and bustling. Really great fun! There was an outdoor market, some home decor shops, and cute little pubs. Really small alleyways are called "snickleways"...I think those were the little alleys leading out of The Shambles. They are dark and hovering and give the impression that a hairy burly beefcake bearded Viking will pop out on the other side (side note: York was the Viking capital in England).

After window shopping for hours, and feeling sensory overload, we attempted to head over to 'the tower'...all I know about this tower is that in the medieval ages (in this case the 1100s), hundreds of Jews and Jewesses sought out protection in this tower, but they were killed because they refused to renounce their faith. We didn't learn more because it was a 3 quid entrance, and we had already bought a few goodies at the shops. Opting for consumerism over history- we are so post-modern.

Finally, it was getting dark (16:20) so we decided on an early dinner. I ordered a Japanese box of squid and meat, pickled veggies, cooked veggies, cabbage, and white rice. Bret had a Korean Bi Bim Bap. Gastronomically content and exhausted from the day's walking and looking, we headed back to the train station, and finally made our way to the Coronation Station at around 19:00.

Our Hallowe'en Party, Guy Fawkes Nite, and more

Ladies and Gents,
I have not forgotten my blog duties. I have been busy looking for employment, which has thus far been unsuccessful. I have discovered that teaching at a Community College is not the most sensible path, as I would have to go back to school for two years to get some silly certificate. If we were staying here permanently, it would make sense. But since we will only be here for 3 years and US Community Colleges do not require additional certification, it makes far more sense to work in another area, make money, expand my employment skills, and then return to my calling when we get to the US. Bret has been talking about settling down in Oregon. I have never been, but I took a city test, and Portland was my number one city. Health-conscious, dog-friendly, cultural, and clean. There I will be able to motivate young minds to enjoy reading and writing...
Anyway, this is not the time to think about the future. It's time to think about the past- past week in Durham UK, that is.
We hosted our first party on Hallowe'en (I don't know why the Brits do the apostrophe thing). As mentioned in a previous post, we decided to go potluck-style, given our poverty. I made a chicken mush in the crockpot, which turned out pretty tasty (though far from my best, I'm afraid), and our friends brought everything else, which means that we now have a 3 month supply of Gateaux and wine (another curious Brtishism: they call cake by its French name).
While we ate and drank, we dedided to up the merryness by teaching the Brits one of our fave games: Mafia. If you do not know how to play Mafia, I'll give you the quick explanation.
There is a Master of Ceremonies (Bret) to monitors the whole thing. Everyone is given secret cards to mean different things. You can get 1 or 4 options: Mafia, Detective, Medic, and Townsperson. The object of the game is to catch the Mafia, who is lurking amongst the group pretending to be a townsperson. Everyone closes their eyes, and the MC tells Mafia to open her eyes and 'kill' someone, then close her eyes. The MC asks the Detective and Medic to do a few things, and then at the end of the session, someone ends up dead unless the Medic saved the person. Everyone accuses each other of being Mafia. And then everyone votes on who to 'lynch'...if the Mafia was lynched, then the townspeople win, if not, you do another round of closing your eyes, etc. Usually, it takes awhile to catch the Mafia. And there are often a lot of innocent townspeople who are killed before the Mafia is killed. Anyway, it was really fun...

So we didn't have any trick or treaters. Hallowe'en is just starting to get big here. But it's not nearly as fun as in The States. And of course, there's no Thanksgiving, though we are going to host one for our friends. But amidst the super early Christmas decorations and shopping, there's a little Brit holiday called Guy Fawkes Nite.

Apparently, a Catholic named Guy Fawkes made a plot to blow up the corrupt Protestant Parliament (I do not mean to suggest that Protestantism is corrupt; only in this case I believe it was). He failed in his plot, and three months later, he was tortured and hanged. This all took place in 1605. And the country is still celebrating this nite. I think we are meant to be celebrating Guy Fawkes for his effort, but maybe we are celebrating the fact that he failed. I'm not clear on it.

Anyway, it's a big fireworks nite. And so Bren and Dave invited us over for some yummy lamb casserole and apple crumble with custard. We then went out to the freezing cold and watched the fireworks display. It was pretty fun, but not as cool as Independence Day in the states cuz Guy Fawkes nite doesn't have any music. I really thought they could have added a little Classical music, at least, but no, just pop pop, bang bang.

Anyway, so we are really pumped for the weekend, cuz we are going to see Into the Wild in Newcastle and have Jim and Kristen over for dinner. I am going to continue to look for a good job, possibly do some temping for the time being, and of course, do some creative writing. Surprisingly, I've been writing poetry. Most of it has turned out to be about Coronation House, actually. I have found the benefits of riding the bus: time to write. I just take my pen and notebook, and write while I wait and while I'm on the bus. That way, I'm not wasting time and I'm exercising my brain. I am not fond of being carless because buses take much longer, but at least I'm making good use of my time.