Saturday Night Dinner

One of the things that I love about living in this city is that every other person is from somewhere else. The farther out of town you get the more homogenous things become - but here in the city that word doesn't even compute. Most days I can walk down the street and not hear English for quite some time. On Saturday we had some people over for dinner, it was very spur of the moment because I realized that I was going to have a lot more food than we needed for our little group - so why not? On short notice this is what ended up at our dinner table. Two young Danish men, two Brazilians, one Philapina, one Scotsman and two Americans. A very international group. We had a great time. Variety IS definitely the spice of life.

It's Greek to Me!

It's taken me a while to catch up on everybody's life for the last week. So great to hear about Coop! Aimee - good luck on TV! We'll be thinking of you. Lynny - your house is looking scaaaaary with all those ghouls around. M & D - like that picture of the airport.

We've had an interesting week in Athens/Santorini. Some facts that may surprise you about Greece:

1. You cannot use t.p. in the toilets - yuck!



2. There are 150,000 stray dogs in Athens - they run in packs and can be a little intimidating under the right conditions. They spay them but do not take them off the streets.
3. There are zillions of cats - on the plus side - didn't see one rodent!
4. People in Greece smoke twice as much as the average European - which is a LOT!
5. Taxi drivers can be a wealth of information and totally untrustworthy when it comes to charging you for a ride or the infomation for that matter.

Here are a few pictures of our trip.



Socrates, Aristotle, Paul... the Kirk Family. You can see the Acropolis in the background.


The Temple of Zeus in the middle of Athens.


An interesting contrast between old and new.



A stooped, elderly woman walking through a hoard of birds in front of the Archeology Museum. This picture wasn't nearly as interesting as the real thing. I wish I'd been a little quicker on the draw.



Moving on to Santorini. This is a beautiful little island (approx. 75 km) which was formed by a volcano. This was our little home away from home.



And this was our little car that got us where we needed to go. You all know how I feel about heights. I really had to suck it up a little while exploring this island. Who needs barriers??? even when there is a 1000 foot drop to the ocean.



Santorini had some breathtaking views.



We had two beautiful sunny days and one that was a little wet.



This was an old catholic church (long story) on top of one of the cliffs in Santorini. The catholic priest had one of the most amazing houses in town with a view that you just couldn't believe. What would it be like to get up every morning and see that? I can't imagine. I never saw where the Greek Orthodox priest lives. Hopefully, he was right next door.

Our last night in Athens we were sitting on the 8th floor of the Marriott where the pool was located. We were reminiscing about our trip. Laughing about the low moments and recalling the good ones. To the right of us was an incredible view of the Acropolis. In front of us were the beautiful hills/mountains of the surrounding area and to the left was a sparkling view of the ocean. We took another look around us and marveled at where we were and we all decided that it was indeed a trip worth taking.

See You in a Week

I'm just giving you fair warning that there will (most likely) be no posting for the next week. After all the excitement of the last few days we are all heading to Greece for a week of rest and relaxation - well, okay, a week of a change of scenery and adventure. I will be sure to have lots of pictures and stories when we return. Have a great week.

Welcome Daniel -

Although I don't know a great deal more than the last time I posted, I am pleased to welcome Daniel as a future member of our family. We are really looking forward to having another guy around. Jeff's excited about all those long hikes, backpacking trips, all those high adventures that he's always wanted to do. Hope you're up for that Daniel!! (Didn't quite know what you were in for did you???)
The date is still a mystery. But we're working on it - I can tell you this: it will be after Christmas and before summer. Does that help?

BIG NEWS - OCTOBER 15TH - MEGHAN IS ENGAGED!

It was the 15th for most of you and 4:00 am in the morning of the 16th for US! It's official, Meghan is going to get married. I think the tentative plan is for mid February but I'll be more precise when I've had a chance to talk to her. Many of you are probably getting the news as we speak so I'll leave it at that.

Congratulations Meghan and Daniel! We're looking forward to having a guy in the family!

THE BIG DRAW

This weekend Andrea had a couple of friends over for a sleepover. I let them hang out on Friday night - talking, giggling, talking, playing Wii, singing karaoke, talking. Then I was ready to do SOMETHING on Saturday. I got them up in the morning, told them we were going to have a great day and told them to get ready.
The first thing that they wanted to do was go get a Frappaccino at Starbucks. So I allowed them that little freedom and then I told them they we were all going to go to Covent Garden and check out this year's BIG DRAW.
I guess the purpose of this 8-year tradition is to get everyone in an artsy way - either appreciating or doing. The girls took up the challenge - Taylore a little more seriously than the rest of us. There were all sorts of drawing activities going on. Character drawing, scenic drawing, mural drawing, drawing yourself, chalk drawing on the sidewalk, etc. I'm sure you get the 'picture.' (That was so clever!) The kids lasted about 15 minutes and were ready to go. Short attention spans.
So then I thought we would check out this new mexican restaurant that came to town. The name - Wahaca - is obviously a phonetic version of one of my favorite places in Mexico - Oaxaca. The food was not bad, at least for here and the prices were pretty reasonable, at least for here.
I later left the whole bunch home and went to a concert with some friends at the oldest baroque church here in the city. Concert was good but it was amazing looking at the architecture inside this old church.

Jeff got home okay from the funeral. Although the reason for getting together was a sad one he said it was great to see everyone and talk to his long-lost cousins. That's it for now.

WHEN IN DOUBT - GOOGLE!

[Q] From SK AND JbF: “I’m curious about the idiom warm the cockles of your heart.”
[A] It’s one of the more lovely idioms in the language, isn’t it? Something that warms the cockles of one’s heart induces a glow of pleasure, sympathy, affection, or some such similar emotion. What gets warmed is the innermost part of one’s being. It’s not that surprising that it should be associated with the heart, that being the presumed seat of the emotions for most people. But what are the cockles?
We’re not sure. We do know that the expression turns up first in the middle of the seventeenth century, and that the earliest form of the idiom was rejoice the cockles of one’s heart.
Cockles are a type of bivalve mollusc, once a staple part of the diet for many British people (you may recall that Sweet Molly Malone once wheeled her wheelbarrow through Dublin’s fair city, crying “cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh!”). They are frequently heart-shaped (their formal zoological genus was at one time Cardium, of the heart), with ribbed shells.
It may be that the shape and spiral ribbing of the ventricles of the heart reminded surgeons of the two valves of the cockle. But I can’t find an example of the word cockle being applied to the heart outside this expression, which makes me suspicious of this explanation. It may be that the shape of the cockleshell, suggesting the heart as it so obviously does, gave rise to cockles of the heart as an expansion.
After this piece appeared in the Newsletter, James Woodfield pointed out that there is another possible explanation. In medieval Latin, the ventricles of the heart were at times called cochleae cordis, where the second word is an inflected form of cor, heart. Those unversed in Latin could have misinterpreted cochleae as cockles, or it might have started out as a university in-joke. Oddly, cochlea in Latin is the word for a snail (from the shape of the ventricles — it’s also the name given to the spiral cavity of the inner ear), so if this story is right we should really be speaking of warming the snails of one’s heart.

What ARE cockles?

I want to hear some more of those old sayings that we say even if we don't know exactly what they mean. What are your favorites??

SCHOOL DAZE

As many of you know I am working in a primary school here in town this year. The grade that I am working with is 2nd year which is equivalent to a 1st grade class in the United States. There are approximately 28-30 children in this class, 6 girls and the rest boys. The reason that I say approximately is that it seems that the population undulates a little depending on the behaviour of the students. For example, if someone is misbehaving in another class they can be sent to this class and visa versa.

At any given time there are 1-3 helpers in this classroom. I am one of them. My job primarily is to work one on one with the students. As they are given an assignment or task I will sit at a table with 6-8 students and help them individually. I was thinking at the beginining of the year that I was in a little over my head. They were too young, they were too silly, they were too.... honest (one student telling me that I needed to exercise a little more).

But yesterday, I went into class having not been there for a week. I had to skip a day last week because my kids were home from school and we were celebrating Tay's birthday. So I went in yesterday and I got a great welcome. As I was working with some of the kids on a writing project, little 6 year old Hussain came up and whispered in my ear, "I missed you!" That was enough to warm the cockles of my heart and even convinced me that maybe I do like these 'silly' little ones!

LONG HAIR - FRIEND OR FOE by Andrea Kirk

Long hair friend or foe???? What do u think??? Hey everyone my name's Andrea!!!! Well, my mum wanted me to tell you about my hair!! Personally I love it but I wouldn't mind having it short somtimes!! My hair gets caught on loads of things! Like on chairs and under peoples hands! Sometimes people use it like I'm a pony! Not nice. They also tease me with it by holding on and pulling me back by it!!! On the other hand I do get a lot of compliments from people! Even people I don't know which is kinda weird!! I don't mind it too much though!! In some positions it can touch the floor! Which as u might be thinking is gross. I agree with ya 100%!!! So I try not to let it ever touch the floor and I succeed!!! Yay!!! I also wouldn't mind it short. I think it would look really good!!! Others disagree w/ me there!!!!! Well that's it from me!!!! Hope to write again!!!! Oh and I love u Sarah, Chloe, Elsa, Junie, Jonny AND MEGHAN!!!!!! I know you'll be reading this!!!!!!!

Antarctica Anyone?

Today we coerced Andrea to go to the Antarctica Exhibition at the Natural History Museum. She's 13 - almost 14 and I have to tell you that going to a museum on Saturday is not high on her 'cool' list. But because she didn't see anyone she knows and she got to get a chocolate/banana crepe at the little french place down the street, I didn't hear her complain too much. The exhibition was pretty good - as usual. Here is our experience in a nutshell.

1. Be put into a freezer at -10 degrees celsius (only for 30 seconds) if we would have stayed in there for 30 minutes our fingers would have frostbite.

2. We learned about all the antarctic wildlife - with an emphasis on penguins. We actually got to see and smell - yes smell - penguin vomit and poo! How exciting is that.

3. We got to try on and look at all the clothing, food, an actual room where you would sleep, etc.

4. We played computer games - driving a snowmobile to pick up meteorite rocks.

5. We sat on a real snowmobile that they used on the exhibition.

6. We watched a movie of people diving under the ice.

Well, those are the highlights. It was a nice morning. It went crazy after that - but that's another story.

To Market We Go

I'm heading off to Bermondsey with a friend this morning. I've been trying to post for the last 2 days and keep hitting roadblocks. I'll take some time this afternoon to figure out what's going on with my little blogger or bloggee - until then, I'm exploring something new - as I love to do!

The Sleepy Teacher

I love teaching seminary. My friends that are not of my faith are incredulous when I tell them what time I gladly get up in the morning to spend the first hour of my day with 15-20 teenagers. When I explain the seminary program to them they just look at me like I'm crazy -- first that I would do it, then that I could actually GET 15-20 teenagers to come out at that time in the morning. I have to admit, I'm surprised that they show up myself sometimes.
I know that I am the teacher, but in true teaching fashion, I have learned a lot from these young men and women. Although they come from all different walks of life they have so much in common.

I'm not going to get too sappy here, but I think I can say that they are an impressive group of young men and women. They are bright group of kids - of that there is no doubt, but it is their character that sets them apart from so many youth today.
I am truly fortunate to be able to start my day in the company of these exceptional young men and women. I wouldn't have it any other way. This is probably the best kept secret in my church...



... being the seminary teacher is the best job you can get!!

Tay's Birthday

WAKE UP! It's 8:30 am the day BEFORE your birthday and we are giving you breakfast in bed. A family tradition!


11:30 We are on the bus heading to a new restaurant. I think they are going to like it - hamburger, fries and shakes!!




Uhmmmm, these are so bad.

Jeff and Tay head for Mamma Mia. They have both been wanting to see it!



Fast forward to Sunday - THE REAL BIRTHDAY. We've been to church. It's time for dinner and opening of the presents. Why don't I have a picture of this? But I do have a picture of her blowing out her candle. Her first luscious bite of some concoction I purchased at Harrods.


OK - enough for today. Tuesday over come the friends for a whole new round of celebrations!

Favorite Pasttimes

If you'll notice on my blog I've added some books that I am reading. Some books I have already read, some I'm in the process of reading, and some books I hope to read in the near future. I'm surprised that I don't have more time to read. I think it's this blasted blog that's taking up my spare time. But, I do love to read and you can see from my list I'm not particular to a certain genre. I DO like reading several books at once - which I cannot explain only to say that I need a little variety. Sometimes I'm in the mood for fiction, sometimes non-fiction. I spend a lot of time reading for my Seminary Class in the mornings which is why reading a book seems to take so long these days - unless I'm making that hellish flight across the ocean!