The Big Easy

I've made many wonderful new friends here in the south and this weekend two of those lovely people tied the knot in New Orleans. I was lucky enough to be able to join them and decided to make along weekend of it. There were a lot one teachers from my school attending and by Thursday lunchtime the exodus had started. 3pm saw myself, MJ & Brooke sitting in the bar at the airport. Hey, it was five o'clock somewhere!

We hit the ground running, heading straight out to Pat O'Brien's (home of the hurricane) to meet other wedding guests. From there, we wandered the rest of Bourbon Street, picking up beads along the way. They throw those things hard!

I'll admit, there was a LOT of booze consumed, but the next day I was fine. We kicked things off a with a hearty breakfast, then headed out to grab a streetcar. We rode it all the way to the end of the line at the French Market and meandered our way back home via Cafe Du Monde (and beignets, naturally) and Jackson Square. I even tried the Gator Jambalaya! I'm not a fan ;-) Friday evening brought the rehearsal dinner, this first I've ever attended, as its not a part of UK weddings.

The day of the wedding could not have been more glorious, and the bride was absolutely radiant. I even got a little sunburnt at the outside ceremony ;-) Another new tradition for me was the cake pull. Such a sweet idea and I was thrilled to have my wee charm as a souvenir of such a wonderful day. I had the most amazing time and the evidence is below. Yet, another pic spam ;-) enjoy!

Giving thanks

So it seems I wrote this, but forgot to click publish. Sorry! It's a tad epic, but well, there was a lot to cram in!

I've been living my southern dream for four months now, and they have been the best four months I could have asked for. The climate suits my soul here and I love the pace of life. Speaking of lives...I finally have one! I fully embraced the adventurous nature of this exchange and am saying "yes!" to as much as I can. There have been grape-stompings and wine tastings, vintage cars and long loud scares, backyard juke joints and the craziness of college football.

However, my first Thanksgiving was an experience I wouldn't trade for the world. It truly was a picture perfect week, just like you see in the movies. It kicked off early, a full week before T-Day itself, with the arrival of another Exchange teacher. Lynsey is based in California, but flew east to share the holidays with me. I drove over to Atlanta to collect her and the drive home was filled with gossip, laughter and country music.

The following night we hit the town, and not only painted it red, but I'm sure every other color of the rainbow too! This meant that Saturday was a very quiet day, filled with naps, good food and movies on the sofa.

Unlike most of the country, we did not have the whole week off, so Monday and Tuesday brought a load of reluctant teachers together for some professional development. It was clear that our hearts and minds had already left for a much needed vacation, but we tried our hardest to be good students. Tuesday evening, Lynsey and I returned to the airport in Atlanta to collect Morna, who joined us from Kansas. We spent the trip back to Dixie swapping stories about our respective placements, and the culture shock moments we had experienced.

I honestly cannot tell you how good it felt to sleep in the next morning! To just doze and snuggle til my body was ready to wake, rather than be jolted to life by the wail of the alarm, was a simple pleasure, but a much enjoyed one! We kicked off the day with pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs, before hitting the stores. I had an early Christmas gift when I fitted into a skirt in Banana Republic that was three sizes smaller than the one I wore when I arrived ;-)

We were lucky enough to be invited to a family gathering that evening and we were looking forward to experiencing a real "family" Thanksgiving. The drive out to the lake was beautiful and although we did knock on the wrong door originally,we eventually found our destination. Aunt Lucie & Uncle Jonathon treated all three British incomers as though we were their own family. The welcome was truly staggering, as was the food. There were children playing, laughing, fighting, and adults chatting, refereeing and chatting up with those they hadn't seen in a while. It was exactly how I imagined Thanksgiving to be, and I know that all three of us were beyond grateful to be included in the family's time together. It made our first Thanksgiving even more special.

That night, when we made it home, we set to work preparing the vegetables for the next day. I had collected recipes from friends, colleagues and parents and we were fixing to make a true southern feast. All night I got up and down to baste the beast and by the time we surfaced the following day, he was cooked to a turn.

With the parade on the tv (you have no idea how childishly excited we were about seeing Santa!) and our best clothes at the ready, we made our final preparations for our meal. We were joined by a friend from work and the four of us ate our body weight in great food, enjoyed the company and then ate some more. We even followed tradition by curling up on the sofa to watch the ball game after lunch.

Being vaguely health conscious, we eventually dragged our stuffed to the brim asses out and took a walk around Vulcan Park. My pal MJ was kind enough to give us a fabulous driving tour of the city, showing us the sights and the lights of the Magic City. We rounded out the evening with the new Bond movie, and experiencing the Midnight Madness at a local mall.

Friday brought yet another new experience for me... choosing a real Christmas tree! Living in a third floor apartment, I had little choice but to settle on a fake tree, so you can imagine how excited I was about this wee trip. The day started with a delicious brunch with my exchange partners parents. They have a beautiful wee farm not far from Birmingham itself and we had a lot of fun playing in the woods, feeding the duckies and collecting pine cones etc, before sitting down to our food.

After the meal, we piled back into the cars to head to the tree farm. Now I'm not known for my decisive qualities, but I choose my baby real quick. We wandered up and down a few rows, but I'd seen my perfect tree early on and it didn't take me long to decide that there was no better option. I grabbed the saw Steve offered and set to work bring it down.

With the tree safely stowed in Steve's truck, we decided to explore the rest of the farm and we wandered through a cornfield and picked cotton before finally heading back into the city to decorate my tree.

Saturday saw M returning to Kansas, and L and I kept things quiet Sunday. Granted, I didn't want to go back to work Monday morning, but with the memories of our perfect holiday week behind me, it wasn't nearly as bad as the usual return after a break.

It really has been the highlight of my trip so far, but I know that there are so many more things ahead of me. Right now, I've got my sights on my trip home. It really is the only place to spend the holiday season, and though I know I'll be missing out on things here, I need to be with my family for a spell. In true movie fashion, I arrive home Christmas Eve and I am beyond excited.

Happy holidays! & enjoy the pic spam

Cookie swap!

So tomorrow I'm taking part in my first ever cookie swap and in my usual fashion, I may have taken on more than I can chew. As I am making my own dress (and knitting the wrap to match) for a wedding next weekend, it's been a craft sweatshop in my house. I just didn't have time to type out, or print out and copy all the recipes for the cookies I made. I decided to save the planet a little and just post my recipes here instead. So here goes!

I began with an old favorite from home which are relatively healthy as cookies go.

Chocolate Fork Cookies

100g margarine
50g caster sugar
120g Self raising flour
15g (tbsp) cocoa powder

Preheat your oven to 355f

Beat all the ingredients together to form a paste.
Roll into walnut sized balls and place on a cookie tray.
Bake for 10-15 mins

My 2nd effort was a recipe that was given to me years ago and I've been unable to try as the UK doesn't sell peanut butter chips.

Banana Peanut Butter Cookies

2/3 cup ripe bananas
1 1/2 cups melted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1cup (tightly packed) brown sugar
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups plain flour
2 cups peanut butter chips

Melt the butter
Stir in the sugars, salt and bicarb
Blend in the bananas
Mix in the flour gradually
Add the PB chips and stir til everything is incorporated

Chill the dough for 1-4 hours
Roll into walnut sized balls
Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown

The final cookie of the three is a simple sugar cookie recipe that was found on Pinterest and you can see the recipe here. http://pinterest.com/pin/221943087857897259/

Fingers and toes crossed I don't poison anyone!

Driving along in my automobile

So last weekend I felt brave enough and took my first extended drive. I headed northeast, up into Tennessee to see my friend Gmama. Thursday evening I filled the tank with gas and the trunk with goodies do that I would be ready to head the second I could leave school.

I've been pretty stubborn about my driving do far, tending to stick to actual maps, rather than relying on the Sat Nav, but with a nearly five hour drive ahead of me I plugged that baby in and was happy to let it lead the way.

Friday seemed endless, but of course it wasn't and finally, tuning the radio to a country station and settling my cup of water in its slot, it was time to head out. At first, it was fine. I was sailing along roads I knew, as I'd been driving them for weeks, but suddenly the car started bumping along ominously. Immediately, I looked for a spot to pull over and got out to check the tires. I couldn't see anything wrong so I got back, cranked the volume again and set off.

Ten minutes later the car started bouncing around like a moon buggy again, so for the second time I found a spot, pulled over and got out to check the tires. Once again there was no sign of anything wrong so it was back behind the wheel and on the road again.

It was only after I'd repeated this wee routine three times that I realised what the problem was. The roads themselves were dreadful! Potholes, cracks and lumps galore all combined to make a dreadful driving experience. Thankfully after and hour or two, the began to improve and the rest of the drive was smooth as silk. I didn't even get lost ;-)

It was a lovely weekend, where we visited downtown Knoxville but mostly just relaxed and ate the wonderful food that Mr Gmama kindly made for us all. After whirlwind weeks of excitement and stress, it was great to be able to just relax with friends.

The drive home was much the same, though with the added delight of seeing some real bonafide rednecks on the way home. Literally. They were painted red to the waist, and driving in convoy of five trucks. One of their pickup trucks had a pair of silver bollocks hanging from the trailer hitch and I laughed so hard I almost cried.if only I'd had someone there to take a photo :-(

Thunder rolls

Is there anything quite so thrilling as watching the lightning strike and waiting for the thunder to roll? One thing I really missed from last time I was here in the states was the epic storms. When you're all tucked up inside and watching nature kick off, it just grabs you.

In a land where witches wear pink

What a whirlwind the last month has been! The final preparations for the big move kept me busy enough, but life since then has moved even faster!

On the 25th of July, I locked the front door of my wee flat for the final time, at least for a year. I flew to New York City, to spend a few short days with my pal, Effbit, and we crammed a fair amount into those days. However, my favorite moment had to be on the very first night. We took a walk in the evening, and wandered down to the east river ferry dock. We made there just in time, so that my first glimpse of Manhatten was filtered through a stunning sunset, that no camera could do justice to. At that moment, it finally dawned on me that I was really here, and really doing this. No tears for me, just sheer, unadulterated excitement.



Over the next days I took in Fifth Avenue, the Museum of Natural History, FAO Schwarz... And of course, Tiffany's. I loved spending time with my friend but all too soon it was over and I had to move on. Work was beckoning, so I hopped a train to Washington,DC for the next leg of my adventure.

After months of epic emails, and hours of skyping, I was finally going to meet my exchange partner! I arrived at the hotel first, and was very impressed with the huge room I was given, but I was too excited about meeting Rebecca to explore much at first. Luckily, I didn't have too long to wait before I heard the knock on my door.

I'm hoping that Reba will agree when I say we got on like a house on fire. We took every possible opportunity to escape the hotel and take in as many of the beautiful sights as we could and spend as much time together as we could.

Monday's destination was The Museum of American history, and amongst the other treasures, I was absolutely thrilled to see Dorothy's ruby slippers. Especially as Frank.L.Baums story became a recurring theme throughout our lectures.


It was a really interesting week meeting all the other Fulbrighters. We heard lots of interesting lecturers, and learnt a lot about the many different cultures represented. However, I was champing at the bit to get to my new home, and see my new school.

I'd heard a lot about southern hospitality, but nothing could have prepared me for the reality. The welcome I received was totally overwhelming and the sheer generosity of Rebecca's family and friends was heartwarming. I could not have been made to feel more at home, and I'm more convinced than ever that this year is going to be amazing.

I'm not naive, I know that culture shock will hit, and I know that there will be bad days, but I'm pretty sure that the people around me will support me through it.

I'm ready for school. Are you?

Strength lies in nights of peaceful slumbers

Well according to Julie Andrews it does! Sadly peaceful slumbers are not something I'm getting much of these days. With so much to be done before the big move ( just 65 days away now), I see lists and forms everywhere, including the back of my eyelids! Who knew there would be quite so much to do?

I'll be honest, the stressful nature of the last few weeks has put quite the crimp in my enthusiasm. Hopefully, by the end of next week, and the month, I'll have a visa, flights and my energy back to normal.

I'm really looking forward to telling my pupils and having them help me to learn more about where I'm going to be. It really is a big undertaking, and I'll be so so far away from my family and the things I know so well, but I just need to keep thinking about the new experiences I'll have out there.

Any advice folks? What should I expect from the deep south?

Emergency Paging Dr Beat.

This was meant to be my first ever post. Written in the hospital bed that started this whole ball rolling. It truly belongs in the Feb 2010 folder, so try to imagine it there if you can ;-)

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I’ll, be honest, I’ve heard of blogs, and understand the concept. I just didn’t think it would be something I would ever do. After all, I’m no writer, and with my terminal case of verbal diarrhoea you’re lucky if I make sense at all. However, this week I’ve found myself a reluctant resident in one of the NHS’s finest medical establishments and after listening to my tales of life chez l’hôpital, one of my guests suggested I have a stab at documenting life on the front line. Naturally, my first instinct was to laugh it off, but after 4 days here, I’ll try anything to relieve my boredom.

I arrived here on Monday morning bright and early. Admittedly, I’m not much of a morning person and don’t so much leap out of bed, as reluctantly peel away the duvet and drag my zombie-like body towards the bathroom for some cold water to kick start the day. Monday was no exception. I’ve not been sleeping well lately and hadn’t slept at all that night, so I was feeling particularly useless on my rise from the dead...sorry bed. I wandered into the bathroom, parked myself on the loo, with the day’s ‘to-do’ list scrolling through my head, and promptly blacked out. Not your Hollywood swoon with a graceful slide to the floor, but a cheek plastered to the wall and drooling down my chin job. So attractive! I came to a few minutes later and decided that just maybe, rather than driving myself to A+E, I should perhaps ask my neighbour to drive instead.

I’m amazingly lucky in my flat, in that I have fab neighbours on my floor. It’s a bit like being back in Dorms again, but more importantly, I like to think they’re good mates. So after a minute or two to wipe up the drool and make sure I was covered, if not decent, I banged on Charlie’s door. She looked just as awake as I felt, but didn’t hesitate to offer to drive me in, and we were suited and booted and on our way in to casualty in no time at all.

Now, I’m pretty cack-handed and have spent my fair share of time sampling the delights of various emergency departments, and so I wasn’t that worried about going in. After all, it was 8.30 on a Monday morning, how busy could it be? It wasn’t as if I had to contend with weekend drunks or sporting heroes. Judging from my years of experience, I reckoned we’d be in and out in about 2 hours or so. Perfect. Get them to check me over just in case, then crawl back into my bed and attempt to catch up on my missed sleep. It was the perfect plan...and like the best laid plans, destined to go awry.

It all started so well. The department was empty and I was seen by the triage nurse in less than 5 minutes. We settled down for the expected hour and half wait to see the docs. True to form, an hour and a half later I was called through to a cubicle. Thankfully, the lovely Charlie had stayed with me and was on hand to keep me entertained. See I’m not a good patient, I hate to wait for anything and have a tendency to forget or underplay my symptoms, and after calling me through , the rather scary doctor clutching the obligatory clipboard and sporting a 5 o’clock shadow, proceeded to disappear like the after eights at a party. There wasn’t hint nor hair of him for another hour, and just as I was settling in for my toddler in a tantrum scene, he finally reappeared. Man he was scary, he barked out questions like a drill sergeant on parade, and treated me like a specimen on a glass slide. He ordered some bloods and vanished yet again...for another bloody hour!

Thankfully, he was swiftly replaced by a very handsome young registrar, who made me go through the whole damn rigmarole again. Why do they bother taking a history and triage notes, if you’re going to have to go through it again and again? Still, I wasn’t so pleased to see him when he said that they were going to keep me in for observation. ‘Just 24 hours’ he promised. ‘Just let the cardiologist take a look then you can go home.’ I should bloody coco. I’m still here 5 days later!

Singing songs about the southlands

The last month has been a bit of a blur really. The Fulbright Commission made us wait until the last possible second before they put us out of our misery. They pushed back the announcement date a further week and when judgement day finally arrived they held out until 4pm before sending the email with our fate.

I was lucky, they had found me a match! When the email arrived, I was sitting in the waiting room at the dentist and I had to fight hard to resist the urge to demonstrate my victory dance to the other patients. My dentist was stunned at the change in me because usually I am an awful patient. She had never seen me so happy in her chair!

I've been paired with a lovely teacher from a school in Homewood, Alabama, where I will teach a 4th grade class. There are so many things to learn about the US education system and I'm going to have to adjust to having the same class of cherubs all day long. I've never been to Alabama and I'm so excited to learn more about my new home. I'll be there for the school year and I hope to travel some before I return to the UK the following year.

So what next? Well, I've been drowning under a small rainforest of paperwork for the last few weeks but I think I'm mostly up to date for now. Now I need to wait on some medical tests before visiting the US Embassy and sorting out my visa. My lovely partner and I are swapping long detailed emails, and skyping when we can, to get to know both each other and the job we will have to do. I'm taking this opportunity to gut and clear the tat from my flat before I go and I'm spending as much time as I can with my family and friends. 


I have no doubts that the year to come will be a hugely rewarding and fascintating experience and I'm very excited about 'The Big Move'. I have so many things to organise before I go that I've got lists for my lists and my penchant for buying stationary has paid off in spades. I'm begging friends for advice about living in the US, so if you've got any golden nuggets, leave me a comment below ;-) I'm off to make another list!


96 days and counting...The game is afoot!

This is your future calling....Hold please!

So it's been a long time since I posted...again. The half-term before christmas was really tough emotionally. I was working my ass off for school and well, the Mean Reds set in right after my last post and didn't lift til I went home to visit my family for Christmas. I was in a really bad place emotionally and I just wasn't sure how to move forward. Part of the reason for that is because my life has been on hold for a long time now. 

Around a year ago a colleague suggested that I might benefit from taking part in a teaching exchange. The more I thought about it, the more I realised that he was right. An exchange would give me the opportunity to experience life in a different country whilst retaining the security of my home and job here.

Being the go-getting gal I am, I immediately started researching the programmes which I was eligible for and after much searching I decided that the US/UK Fulbright Exchange was the one for me. I went and spoke to my boss and line manager, securing their support. I spoke to my family and friends for the same reason. Applications for the 2012/2013 cohort opened last September and my (endless) forms were submitted by the end of the second week. 

And thus the waiting game began. The wait until November to see if I made it through to the interview stage. 

Except they extended the deadline til January 9th. FML. Did I mention I have bugger all patience?

Luckily, I made it through to the interviews, which were at the end of January. I worked hard on the presentation they asked us to do, and found the perfect outfit. The big day came around pretty damn quick and I tootled off to London to give it my best shot.

After that I had to wait again. Only a week this time, to see whether I had made it to the shortlist. 

I did. 

So now I'm waiting for the last time. This time I'm waiting for a match. A teacher in the US who matches my skills/timetable, who would be suitable to swap with me. 

It's been four weeks since I heard I made the shortlist and those weeks have flown by. I wasn't bothered at all, as my life is busy and I knew that I wouldn't hear anything til March. However, the wording of their email was ambiguous. 

You will not hear from us again until March 2012. By Third week of March you will be notified whether or not it has been possible to find a US teacher to match you with.

Now to me, that means that I could hear from them any time between March 1st and March 21st. So I could know in 3 days...or 3 weeks. 

Patience has left the building people! I was fine during February, because I knew there was no way I would know until March. My mind could process that and live with it, but Holyshitsnacks people! I NEED a deadline! I need a finite point where this waiting game will end!

Right now I cannot look to the future. I cannot book theatre tickets or a holiday. For me, for now, life does not exist beyond the end of term in July. 

Pray for me people. I want this so badly, but right now, I just need to know either way, good or bad.

I need the wait to be over.