A November to Remember (Part 5 of 4)

On the Friday before the term ended we (the American students) decided that we needed to do a true Pub Crawl in a country where bars are actually called pubs. We also had not really gone out together (just the students without the Tutors) since we had gotten there. AND we wanted one last hoorah before we said goodbye to the 2 students from River Forest (Adam and Nathaniel) and the one student from Bronxville (Martin). So we mapped out our plan of attack, attempting to hit all of the major pubs of renown in the Cambridge area. Our starting point was “The Anchor.” This pub is one of the nicer pubs in Cambridge. Guinness is the best pint here (which tastes very smooth in England by the way). This pub also overlooks the Cam, giving it a nice ambiance. Our next stop was “The Eagle.” This pub is famous for being the spot where Watson and Crick announced their discovery of DNA. To celebrate this we sat at the table where they sat. The pub is also very “pub like” in that the seats and floors are all wooden, with low ceilings and dimmer lighting. I asked the bartender for a pint of their cheapest (one of two ways to make it through a British pub crawl without breaking the bank). After this short stay we headed down to “The Miter.” This pub was pretty packed and you could tell they drew a younger crowd. We ended up standing next to a trivia machine where the guys gathered around and cheered for our own right answers to trivia questions, and also our own dumb luck to answering them correctly. I ordered nothing (the other way to make it through a British pub crawl). Then, a short distance down the road led us to “The Pickerel.” C.S. Lewis used to frequent this pub when he was teaching in Cambridge. It is also darker and older (and smaller as you can see) leading to a good pub atmosphere. I split a pint with Adam that Yeager bought him (smooth, I know). After a long (not really that long) trudge up a hill we made it to “The Castle Inn.” This is the same pub that we stopped at after the Guy Fawkes celebration. It was packed inside so we stood outside in a light Cambridge mist. It was fairly warm this evening so we got good weather for walking around, except when it poured between our walk from The Anchor to The Eagle. Never leave the house without an umbrella in England. Our last pub stop was “The County Arms.” A more modern American bar style pub, but it was pretty empty so we all sat together and had a good time. And no good pub-crawl is complete without getting something greasy to eat afterwards. Half of the group went to The Maharajah which is an Indian (not Native American) restaurant specializing in dishes containing curry. I personally think curry is nasty, so Mandy and I opted to go down to The Trailer of Life. This is a trailer that parks in the city market square at night cooking burgers and chips (fries). We ordered a small chips (which is pretty big) with Ketchup, Mayo and vinegar. Europeans apparently eat their fries with Mayo so, when in Rome…The group met back together at Westfield House to sit in the living room and chat before we all went soundly to bed, feeling like we conquered the Cambridge pub system.

A November to Remember (Part 4 of 4)

Mandy and I joined a choir in Cambridge. No, we’re not singing at King’s college or anything like that, (although they are accepting auditions in January). One of the students at Westfield House lives in Cambridge and used to be a High School music teacher. He asked us to join his small choral group, just for fun, and start up a little choir. It sounded fun, so we did it. We meet in Tapani’s (the choir conductor’s) house for rehearsals and sing in their living room. It’s not the best for sound, but it works for us. We met fortnightly (read: bi-weekly) on Tuesdays for a while, until we decided that we were going to sing for a seasonal service that we would put on. We then met weekly, because we needed the practice, and because most of the songs, save 1, were in German and Latin. It’s a small choir with 3 Sopranos, 3 Altos, 2 Tenors and 3 Basses, although we lost 1 Bass at break who went back to Concordia Bronxville. Our service was held at Resurrection Lutheran church (our church, the Lutheran church in Cambridge) where we sang at the front. It went better than I expected with the short amount of rehearsal time that we had. A good crowd showed up as well. Jon Rusnak and I even invited our German teacher from Cambridge University, and she actually showed up. She said it was very good (although I think she was being nice). The service was only ½ hour long, but that’s all the music we could prepare in the short amount of time that we had. Afterwards we had a reception with free wine (which was used as an incentive to get people to come hear us). We will be singing in the choir again next term where we will learn something not in English as well I’m sure.

Check out the pictures of Aaron as the only person in Cambridge to not own a pair of black trousers.

A November to Remember (Part 3 of 4)

Once a term Westfield House likes to get everyone to go out together for a house meal. So on the 26^th of November we all went out together to a place called Anatolia. It is a Turkish restaurant and so we would hence have a fairly authentic Turkish meal. It was also a good deal for the students because the house only charged ₤5 per person and picked up the tab for the rest of the meal. The first course was wine, which was fairly nice. Next there were plates with a bunch of different dips along with bread to dip it in. There was hummus, couscous, a fish tasting thing, a cucumber dip and a couple others. Very good stuff, and apparently Turkish. While we ate this we watched someone grill the meat on a grill near our tables. He wheeled his blue office chair (seen behind flames to the left) up to the grill and sat there turning the skewers of meat. The main dish then was…meat, on top of rice. Not sure what kind really, but there were three different types. Possibly chicken and lamb and maybe beef, but we weren’t really sure. Everything was going great and we were just waiting for the dessert course when the unexpected happened. The music got louder and the owner told us he had a special surprise for us. Then out came a belly dancer. Apparently this is normal for a Turkish meal, but it’s not normal for a British meal. It was slightly entertaining for about the first 5 seconds, and then it just got weird. We got pretty uncomfortable with this girl gyrating around us and either looked away or starred in disbelief. Then the owner picked out some of the guys from our group and had them stand up and dance too. Don’t worry, it got weirder. Then the owner cleared off a spot and had her dance on the table. We politely clapped along to the music in the background (as was prompted by the owner), until we couldn’t take it anymore. A group of us decided to draw attention away from the belly dancer and the strange situation and get up to dance ourselves. This at least eased the tension a little bit and we could laugh at each other instead of stare at the lone belly dancer. The owner then had me dance with him (check the weird pictures) to show me that I was doing it wrong. I never got it, oh well. Luckily he ended it after that song and told us, “You will all come back now.” Um…no, we won’t, but it was an experience we won’t forget. Then the baklava came out for the dessert course, and it was delicious. If you’ve never had it, try it. Good stuff. So Turkish pros are cucumber dip, hummus and baklava, and cons are unexpected belly dancers.

Link to Pictures (PG: Parental Guidance Suggested)

A November to Remember (Part 2 of 4)

Being a house full of Americans we decided that we had to have a real Thanksgiving celebration. The Brits, of course, do not celebrate Thanksgiving, but they do have their own Harvest celebration that was had back at the beginning of October (It’s very informal and you can kind of pick whichever Sunday you want to have it on) . So we put up a sign-up sheet to get a decent head count and determine who would bring what (gotta love potlucks). All of the Americans signed up, the rest of the students in the house, and also one of the Tutor’s families, some couples from the church, and our Finnish friend Samuli. Altogether we had about 30 people for our Thanksgiving feast. Once we realized it would be a large bunch, we had to make sure we had enough food. Everybody picked their dish to pass, and Mandy and I picked mashed potatoes and gravy. It seemed like it would be easy at the time, until we remembered that we had to peel potatoes for 30 people. Plus I had no idea as to how to make gravy. We ended up buying 22 pounds of potatoes, and we bought some cheap packets of gravy that were “just add water”. Some Thanksgiving purists decided that we had to have giblet gravy as well, so I let them deal with that.
We wanted to do the dinner on Thanksgiving, but with the wives working and the guys in classes all day it wouldn’t have worked out, so Friday it was. For Thursday festivities I hooked up my computer to the TV in the house and we watched the Packers/Lions game. The Lions looked sad as usual, even when they made a desperate attempt to come back in the end. Same old lions, same old Thanksgiving tradition.
On Friday we decided that Thanksgiving just isn’t Thanksgiving without a friendly game of touch (American) football. So the manly men went out to the park and played for a good 2+ hours while we let the 3 turkeys bake in the ovens. After the wives got home from work the kitchen was in a flurry until the dinner began at 8:00 p.m. We finished mashing and mixing about 2 minutes before the dinner was supposed to begin…good timing for hot mashed potatoes. We had the meal in the hall of the church because there was such a crowd. The spread looked amazing, and it tasted the same. We also had some live music and a message from Andrew Yeager concerning the 1st Thanksgiving. Altogether it was a great Thanksgiving feast in the UK. The only thing missing was green bean casserole, but we lived.
And Thanksgiving also isn’t Thanksgiving without lots and lots of leftovers. The next evening we had Thanksgiving part II and everyone in the house prepared their own leftover plate. The mashed potatoes still were not gone after this. They were finished off after another day or 2 (we may have made too many). However, we now know how to make mass quantities of mashed potatoes and gravy, so we’re prepared for next time. In our home away from home we had a great Thanksgiving with the Westfield House family.
To see pictures of the game, the preparation, the feast and Thanksgiving part II, click here.

A November to Remember (Part 1 of 4)

Well it's now December and we didn't hold up to our promise of posting often...we didn't even post again in November. Mea Culpa. The good news is that now you get to read a Mega November Issue. Here goes...
On November 5th we celebrated, along with the rest of England "Guy Fawkes Day." It's kind of strange because it is a day dedicated to when Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the houses of parliament on November 5th, 1605, but his plan was foiled. He was then hung,drawn and quartered or something worse than that for his attempted terrorism. Every year they celebrate his squashed attempt and a poem was written that is usually recited:
“Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder, treason and plot,
I know of no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.”
In Cambridge they had a large fireworks show which is what most cities have on that evening, like our 4th of July. Most cities also have a large bonfire that they light. Another tradition is to have an effigy of Guy Fawkes which is paraded and then burned on the bonfire, but many counties (including Cambridgeshire) outlaw this because of obvious reasons. Cambridge at least had the bonfire. If at all interested in learning a little more about it, the movie V for Vendetta is based on these themes. This is one of the biggest British holidays so we are glad we got some good English culture by participating. Then in good English style we stopped at a pub for a pint on our way back to the house. More November to come...