Family Visit
I am back from my family visit! It was definitely the highlight of my time in England so far :)
Friday evening we all left our cozy home in Notting Hill for a relaxing weekend in Gloucester (pronounced Gloss-ter). After an almost 3 hour drive, we arrived at a fabric store (I know, kind of random), which is where our families picked us up. Sarah S. and I were placed with the Hartnett family. No, they don't know Josh. Our host mom Sue picked us up and brought us back to her home. There we met our host dad Christy and our host sisters Sam (14) and Charlotte (11). They also have 4 cats: Ollie, Molly, Shadow, and Tembo. Tembo is Swahili for something like "strong elephant". He was found as a kitten in a cardboard box on the side of the road with the rest of his litter, but he was the only one alive. That's how he became Tembo. Friday evening, we talked with Sue and Christy before heading off to sleep.
Saturday morning we had a wonderful breakfast of cereal and croissants with lemon curd. We met up with the rest of our group in town to go see the sights of Gloucester. The Gloucester Cathedral was amazing. They filmed parts of the Harry Potter movies in the cloisters. There was a bit of miscommunication between the coordinator and the students, so we ended up missing the other planned events and walking around town. Sue picked us up at 5 and took us home. That night we had the most amazing dinner ever. We had Shepherd's pie and a Apple & Blackberry Crumble for dessert. They poured custard all over the crumble which made it even better. Sue gave us the recipes...I can't wait to make them! After dinner, we (minus Christy) played board games all evening. It was so nice because both sides of my family can spend HOURS playing board/card games. I felt very much at home.
Sunday morning we all went to mass and then to the grocery store. Christy works at the store and Sue wanted to show us all of the different things we could buy here. Sarah and I loved that store so much, we are planning on going to the one near us tonight. After shopping, we had a typical Sunday dinner. We had roast beef, anya (spelled wrong) potatoes, veggies, Yorkshire pancakes (you fill them with gravy...they're amazing!), and a traditional bread and butter pudding for dessert. The food was sooooooo good. It is awful being back in the house with no one to cook for us.
Overall my family visit was much better than I could have ever imagined. Our family had such interesting stories to share with us, and we also never stopped laughing. Christy is from Ireland (Dublin) and used to be a Catholic priest. He spent some time doing missionary work in the Congo. Later, he met Sue and left the priesthood. He told us that it was more difficult telling his Irish family that he was marrying an English woman than it was to tell them that he was no longer a priest! There were many other stories as well, but it would take too long to repeat them all. Overall, they are amazing people and I am so thankful that I had this experience. The whole purpose of this semester is for me to break out of my comfort zone and to be more outgoing...this weekend definitely did that. I will definitely stay in touch with them.
Today I have class at 2, so I'm just reading Oliver Twist until it's time to go. I'm going to try and update my pictures before I leave, so you may want to check my picture site out.
Oh, about the big announcement...it definitely has to do with traveling at the end of the semester. You all are crazy....although a washing machine would be really nice :)
Friday evening we all left our cozy home in Notting Hill for a relaxing weekend in Gloucester (pronounced Gloss-ter). After an almost 3 hour drive, we arrived at a fabric store (I know, kind of random), which is where our families picked us up. Sarah S. and I were placed with the Hartnett family. No, they don't know Josh. Our host mom Sue picked us up and brought us back to her home. There we met our host dad Christy and our host sisters Sam (14) and Charlotte (11). They also have 4 cats: Ollie, Molly, Shadow, and Tembo. Tembo is Swahili for something like "strong elephant". He was found as a kitten in a cardboard box on the side of the road with the rest of his litter, but he was the only one alive. That's how he became Tembo. Friday evening, we talked with Sue and Christy before heading off to sleep.
Saturday morning we had a wonderful breakfast of cereal and croissants with lemon curd. We met up with the rest of our group in town to go see the sights of Gloucester. The Gloucester Cathedral was amazing. They filmed parts of the Harry Potter movies in the cloisters. There was a bit of miscommunication between the coordinator and the students, so we ended up missing the other planned events and walking around town. Sue picked us up at 5 and took us home. That night we had the most amazing dinner ever. We had Shepherd's pie and a Apple & Blackberry Crumble for dessert. They poured custard all over the crumble which made it even better. Sue gave us the recipes...I can't wait to make them! After dinner, we (minus Christy) played board games all evening. It was so nice because both sides of my family can spend HOURS playing board/card games. I felt very much at home.
Sunday morning we all went to mass and then to the grocery store. Christy works at the store and Sue wanted to show us all of the different things we could buy here. Sarah and I loved that store so much, we are planning on going to the one near us tonight. After shopping, we had a typical Sunday dinner. We had roast beef, anya (spelled wrong) potatoes, veggies, Yorkshire pancakes (you fill them with gravy...they're amazing!), and a traditional bread and butter pudding for dessert. The food was sooooooo good. It is awful being back in the house with no one to cook for us.
Overall my family visit was much better than I could have ever imagined. Our family had such interesting stories to share with us, and we also never stopped laughing. Christy is from Ireland (Dublin) and used to be a Catholic priest. He spent some time doing missionary work in the Congo. Later, he met Sue and left the priesthood. He told us that it was more difficult telling his Irish family that he was marrying an English woman than it was to tell them that he was no longer a priest! There were many other stories as well, but it would take too long to repeat them all. Overall, they are amazing people and I am so thankful that I had this experience. The whole purpose of this semester is for me to break out of my comfort zone and to be more outgoing...this weekend definitely did that. I will definitely stay in touch with them.
Today I have class at 2, so I'm just reading Oliver Twist until it's time to go. I'm going to try and update my pictures before I leave, so you may want to check my picture site out.
Oh, about the big announcement...it definitely has to do with traveling at the end of the semester. You all are crazy....although a washing machine would be really nice :)
posted by Jen at 1:46 AM
3 Comments:
Hey Jen,
Mom told me about the comment about playing games and you felt like you were at home again. Thats great to hear. Also I know what the surprise is...I'm happy for you even though I was personally hoping for something different. Wondering do your pants still fit you after all this wonderful food you are eating? I expect when you come back to visit that you will bring to Chicago some of your culinary experience and cook me a wonderful meal. Love ya and keep having fun. Auntie Ro.
Pants? Maybe its the traveling kind.
Beware the pigeons!
oh man stop talking about the food, it's making me hungry again and i just ate half a large pizza lol
glad your host family wasnt like two old blind, deaf people as we feared. did they like the frango?
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