Sweater Weather

Hello!

The best part about having a blog is the fact that you are always on the lookout for exciting news items to take place so you can write about them. 

Then the realization hits that life is sometimes very ordinary, whatever part of the world you live in, and you understand that it's not the external factors that make life grand, its those little everyday occurrences and a positive outlook that allows us to see how life can be so marvelous! How often we forget to give thanks! "Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name." Psalm 103:1

 Here is a little recap of some of the past week's activities. In no specific order, although moving from AM to PM. 

 Good morning world! Everyone is still tucked into bed in their terrace homes when I start my walk to my carpool's house. Everyone, that is, except for the faithful dog walker that has two exceptionally excitable puppies that seem to be attracted to green uniforms. I've learned to walk on the other side of the road. 

On weekend mornings, after our park run I often have breakfast with Tiffany. Then I sing the song for the rest of the day.

The sausage you see here are complements of Danielle's part time job at "Fuel." I tell her she is literally the breadwinner in our household. We all appreciate the food she brings home.

Speaking of food... look what arrived from Canada! 

My mom wanted to share a little Thanksgiving cheer! Who can resist nutella and pumpkin cookies. Much appreciated. 

Look what the wind blew in... you don't know what you will discover strolling through the race course. This man was using a parachute and a skateboard to whiz around the park. Sadly, later the parachute ended up tangled in a tree.

On a sunday afternoon walk we circled the obelisk that so many of the roads here are named after. If you are looking for an address you can bet it will be on "obelisk rise." 

Moving on to the evening : Our second thanksgiving dinner was a smashing success.

Finished the night with a gluten free pumpkin pie and a game of settlers.

When you don't have a car, you realize how night time activities become less accessible, however you get to experience different modes of transportation like riding on the top deck of this Uni bus. Last time I rode the bus it was packed and the football team decided to hand out a slice of pizza to everyone! 

Climb on! Found the local climbing gym and I joined the university climbing club so Sophy and I can go for free! It's way across town and I ended up getting a flat on my bike on the way home...I was glad for Sophy's company for the 50 min walk home. 

Ah... I miss my friends in Canada to have a nightcap with! Instead I drink wine and eat cheesy curls in my sleeping bag. I bought these cheesy treats from the corner-store down the street and didn't have enough change, so the store owner said, no problem! You can pay me next time. Does that even happen anymore?

In light of the shootings in Ottawa, I'm thankful for health and safety, and reminded to pray for our government and continued freedoms that we can still enjoy.

Take care of yourself! 

Love from England. 

Everything is Awesome!

Hi Everyone! 

I'm happy to be back here to "connect" again will all of you!
Today, everything is awesome. 
I'm 7 days into my 9 week placement, and I am loving learning how to think and act like an OT. England is getting some of it's notorious rainfall, but the days are full of learning, building relationships and reflecting on this fabulous opportunity! 

Who doesn't love a fresh new ID badge! Best part of the uniform for sure. I did my first initial interview yesterday, the typical questions like do you know what day it is, have stairs, cook your own meals, do your own laundry...some days I wonder if I would pass myself.

If you haven't already met these lovely folks on my Facebook page, here are the faces of the Stallions Wheelchair Basketball team.

 Who knew all those years maneuvering wheelchairs and shooting hoops in hopes of making the high school basketball team would finally pay off! I love this sport. The training is intense, apparently falling out of your wheelchair is to be expected! Can't wait to be back into the competitive sports scene! I've already been asked to fix a few chairs...

 The Best part about being in a country like England is the architecture I don't even know what this building is, who know its could be a post office and still look fascinating! Not to mention the fact that most of these buildings are older than my country! 

One day we ventured to the aquadrome, sometimes having an accent comes in handy, the security guard waved the 10GBP parking fee for us lost tourists, and let us walk around for free.

Here is Tiffany, myself and Paula - a friend from church, at said aquadrome

Happy Belated Thanksgiving! I hope it was a joyful celebration with family or friends. Tiffany is helping to prepare our 1 of 2 Thanksgiving celebrations here. She would her Martha Stewart dress for the occasion.

Thanksgiving dinner was enjoyed by our Canadian classmates and their 20 or so flatmate friends. Needless to say there was plenty of food for everyone, and we all took turns saying what we were thankful for. To be fair, most were thankful for the food. But at this point we were all very hungry. 

                                                  

Someone contributed their amazing artistic talents to create this scrumptious thanksgiving cupcake.

Speaking of food, my most favorite meal at the moment are these spicy bean burgers from ASDA, the local grocery store. Next time you are at ASDA you should definitely give them a try!

This is the morning commute. 4 of us from Uni carpool to our placement, together we endure the traffic, variable weather, repetitive radio songs, and the deep questions about life that occasionally I spring on everyone. Have to keep things interesting right? Fun fact: all 4 of us come from different countries, England, Ireland, China and Canada!

                                                     

This is the least desirable part of my placement. Our office is on level 6 so either its a cardio workout taking the stairs (my usual choice) or a claustrophobic, get to know your college really well experience, in the most tiny lift I have ever been in. Literally we have 4 or 5 of us in here at a time. Also, something I find ironic about this whole scenario is the location of the yellow "caution wet floor" sign in the corner. First of all, why would you take up any more of the precious space, now we are down to 3 occupants, and second, where are we going to fall down? The lift is so small we wouldn't have anywhere to move to much less horizontally. 

It's the small things that keep life amusing. 

That's all for now! 

Before you know it, Christmas will be here, so enjoy today. 

Love from Northampton. 

The Calm before the Storm

Happy October 1! 

October brings with it a number of things, cooler days, falling leaves, Emily's birthday.

The local shops begin stocking their shelves with Christmas paraphernalia... and so it begins, the countdown to Christmas, the end of the year.. and placement! 

It's Wednesday so we are right in the middle of our week off "the calm before the storm" before placement. The days are spent furiously reading and prepping for some, and in a state of denial for others. In my defense, it's extremely distracting to study when the days are sunny, and there are all sorts of new clubs to try out! 

Our tutors said farewell to us for the year as classes are done, The send off this time was in form of a rap and then an impromptu karaoke session to Tina Turners "simply the best" - Yes, this is University! 

We quickly switched gears, giving our grey matter a rest and focused on exercising the other muscles. 

Tiff is really excited to be done school. I think she can jump higher than she is tall. Years of ballet paid off!

Nature is participating in our workout routine

The newest anti - spider remedy. These are conkers or horse chestnuts, the first time the British folk mentioned conkers I thought they were talking about a new board game. Also this photo gives a nice view of our backyard or "garden", along with the rest of the neighborhood's. 

We also receive the local paper which informs us about many things. For instance, the noise complaints that filled an entire spread  regarding Fresher's week on campus. This I found interesting as we are new to the area. I especially agree with # 1 and 3. 

Tiff, Sophy and I joined up with some local cyclists in what is known as "Critical Mass." Once a month you pull out whatever contraption on two wheels you can ride and cycle for an hour through town. This was a slightly hazardous event. Just imagine 30+ cyclists taking up an entire lane during rush hour. You don't need to go far to participate in extreme sports in Northampton.

This is the epitome of student life, Sophy is using the box our lawn mower came in as a table.

Sometimes we get invited out, but we'd rather stay home and play scrabble instead. This is what happens when you hit 25. The 18yr olds just don't understand...

I also had the opportunity to try out Rowing club with Danielle, Football and Choir! I'm most excited for our Christmas concert - perhaps it can be viewed on live feed. Oh and I have to mention a highlight of the weekend was skyping with my grandparents! I'm glad I got to see Grandpa's new teeth! Looks great! It's never to late to try something new! 

That's all for now, take care.