Christmas Party & Holiday Plans!

This past weekend we had a Christmas party with some friends who are also away from home for the holidays! It was a great time with mulled wine, and jello shots (which some have never had before). It's been a slow week this week as I am counting down the days until we head to Germany for Christmas! I am sooooooo excited! We fly out bright and early (we are leaving for the airport 4am on Friday morning) to Frankfurt and take a train from there to Wurzburg where we will be staying until the 28th. After that we return to Birmingham then off to London from the 29th until the 1st where Christina will join us to ring in the New Year. I'll be sure to post all about it and put all my pictures up as soon as I can! Until then I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Aston Hall By Candlelight!

I totally forgot to blog about this fantastic event last weekend! I can't believe I didn't do it immediately!

We attended Aston Hall by candlelight on Saturday evening. Aston Hall is the massive Jacobean style manor house built in the early 1600s (I posted pictures a couple of months ago).
Every year during the Christmas season they open the house up and stage it as it would have been when it was first completed. The house was filled with candles and actors (historical interpreters) were scattered throughout the house to fill you in with facts about the rooms you entered. There were various characters who have history with the house including Queen Victoria!

After wandering through the entire house your journey ends in the Great Hall (the entry way) where you were handed a page of lyrics to Christmas carols. A Victorian band was sitting playing various instruments and everyone joined in the singing. It was really neat and definitely got me into the mood for Christmas! It's kind of hard to get in the mood for the season when the weather doesn't exactly match the month!

The beautiful chandelier in the Great Hall all lit up with candles.

Funny English Candy

After a sweet tooth arose a couple of weeks ago, Robyn and I decided to venture to our local corner store to curb the craving. Candy hunting is quite the adventure here and there are millions of weird chocolate/ candy combinations that I have never heard of. We've been sampling this large haul for the past little while. I have to say my favourite is the yorkie bar (with biscuit and raisins yummmmm)!

End of November Post

November has been a relatively unexciting month with not a whole lot happening other than work!
We did have the opportunity to go see Hanson play at the HMV Institute in town! They are amazing live....I really suggest everyone go see them if you get the chance (they are currently on a world tour).

There is still no sign of snow in this country and I really don't think it'll be falling anytime soon as the average temperature during the day is about 10 or 11 degrees.Although the weather is weird for this time of year we are slowly getting into the Christmas spirit by visiting the Frankfurt Christmas Markets, listening to Christmas music, and watching Christmas movies.

Next weekend we are attending Aston Hall by candlelight, which is a Christmas event put on by the city of Birmingham. The old hall will be in full working order (complete with about 300 candles and actors) as it would have been about 400 years ago. So prepare yourselves for another post soon!

German Christmas Markets!!

It has been a long time since I have posted here.....but there haven't been that many exciting things for me to share with you!
Yesterday night the Frankfurt Christmas Markets opened in Victoria Square and this year they are huge!! They stretch all the way from Broad street, through Paradise Forum, Victoria Square, and all the way down New Street to the Bullring. This area usually takes about 20 minutes to walk through (going one way)....there are literally hundreds of stalls.
We met up with some friends and enjoyed some German beer and some hot chocolate with Baileys (in the cutest little mugs...I stole mine and brought it home).

Stratford-upon-Avon (Mary Arden's Farm)

Mary Arden's farm, is a working Tudor farm in Wilcote (set in the1570s, complete with animals and actors).
Mary Arden was the mother of William, she lived here until she married his father and moved to the town of Stratford (William's birth home).

Stratford-upon-Avon (Anne Hathaway's Cottage)

Anne Hathaway was the wife of William Shakespeare. They were married when he was only 18 and she was 26. She was the eldest daughter of the Hathaway family and they where very well off. She was left a dowry for when she married while William at the time was overshadowed by his father's debt. It was thought that they married for love since it did not make sense financially for Anne to marry someone without money. They were married very quickly as Anne was pregnant and the exact date as well as the location of the wedding are still a mystery.
The Hathaway Cottage was still inhabited by the descendants of Anne's brother until the early 1900s, although plumbing, and electric were never added as they were very poor.

Stratford-upon-Avon (Hall's Croft)

Hall's croft was the home of Susanna Shakespeare (William's daughter) and her husband the only doctor in Stratford at the time John Hall.

Stratford-upon-Avon (Holy Trinity Church)

Holy Trinity Church upon Avon.

William Shakespeare is buried in front of the alter.
During the era in which he diedit was common for those who were buried in the church yard to be dug up after about 20 or so years and have their bones burned in a bone fire (bonfire) and the plot be resold. William opted to be buried in the church itself (17 ft under) and have his resting place be permanent. He even laid a curse on his stone warning all those who dare move his bones.

Stratford-upon-Avon (Royal Shakespeare Theatre...opened in the 1930s)

Stratford-upon-Avon (New Place & Nash's house)

New Place archaeological dig (currently in progress!)....the house was purchased by William in 1597, at the time it was the second biggest home in Stratford, he lived here with his wife and children until his death in 1616.The house in the background is Nash's house and which to William's granddaughter and her husband.
About 150 years after Shakespeare's death the man who owned both New Place and Nash's house became sick of visitors coming to the home that belonged to Shakespeare. He decided to apply for permission to extend his lot, with that came a tax increase on the house which he refused to pay. Instead he demolished the house and moved into Nash's house next door (which is still standing and now a visitors centre).

The Dig.

The beautiful gardens behind New Place and Nash's House.

Stratford-upon-Avon (Birth House)

The "birth" house where William Shakespeare was born to John Shakespeare (a glove maker) and Mary Arden. He grew up in this house and lived with his wife for the first 5 or so years of their marriage.

A view from the street.

A view from the gardens at the back of the house. These once would have housed the tanning pools to produce the leather for the gloves (a lovely mixture involving animal urine), a chicken coop, and possibly a pig or two.

National Sea Life Centre

Taking in a 4d version of Happy Feet and a quick snap of one of the tanks.

October Update!

It's been a while since last time I updated this! I've been working and not getting up to many adventures lately. We are just starting to explore and make plans for the winter months so I will be updating this more often. This week was half term so we decided to do a little bit of exploring in the area. We visited the National Sea Life Centre and went on a day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon (the birth place and home of William Shakespeare). We have also booked tickets for an event called Aston Hall by Candlelight (December 10th). This means we will get to see the hall lit up with over 300 candles and witness some reenactments from the 1600s. I am super excited for this! I checked out some pictures from previous years on their website and it looks amazing!
You can check it out here:

Unfortunately this year I won't be coming home for Christmas as it is WAYYYY to expensive to fly overseas in December. Instead I will be spending the holidays in........GERMANY! We got a great deal on flights and will be staying with Robyn's friend (a former exchange student at her highschool) for Christmas in Wurzburg.

Aston Hall (and inside) & Aston Parish Church (grounds...last picture)

Aston Hall

Yesterday we went to visit Aston Hall, a jacobean style mansion, built 1618-1631 by the Holte family. It was damaged by Parliamentarians in a siege in 1643 (cannon ball holes which have been patched can be seen in the walls of one wing of the house and a large hole in the oak staircase). The house was built and owned by someone named Sir Thomas Holte who had a horrible reputation for his temper. Our tour guide even told us a horrific story about Sir Thomas hitting his chef over the head with a butcher's knife and killing him because dinner was not ready on time. He disowned a son for marrying a woman who came from a family that was not as rich as he would have liked, and there is even a rumour that he locked away a daughter for refusing to marry a man he had chosen for her and letting her starve to death.
The Hall remained in the Holte family for a few hundred years before it was purchased by a group of bankers for a small amount of time (they sold off a lot of the surrounding land). The Hall was purchased in the mid 1800s by the Birmingham City Council and became a museum which it is still today. Fortunately the house is still very much the same as it was when it was first built, there have been some changes but no major changes to the architecture of the house.
Afterwards we wandered across the street to wander through the graveyard at Aston Parish Church. It was really creepy but pretty neat! The church actually predates the house (the main tower was built in 1480).

Turkey cooking away!

Thanksgiving & What I discovered today......

This weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving abroad with a South African and an Australian! We managed to cook an entire turkey dinner with all the fixings including a pumpkin pie in our super tiny kitchen! Dinner was great and we are still enjoying turkey left overs.
Unfortunately this turkey lead to the discovery that rats are attracted to meat!!! I came home today to discover a rat had chewed a perfect hole in the middle of a garbage bag and picked a turkey carcass clean in our front garden! So gross!!

Flat 1, 40 Stirling Road

I finally managed to snap some pictures of our flat!! Enjoy!

Moseley Bog

So since Robyn and I both had the afternoon off I decided we needed to go on an adventure. I originally wanted to go to Weoley Castle ruins but the buses were too complicated (we'll save that site for another day).We ended up in Moseley bog which happens to be the childhood hangout of JRR Tolkien and is rumoured to have inspired the settings for his books.

Anderton Park Primary School

This morning I had the opportunity to supply in a year two classroom at Anderton Park Primary School. The kids were so cute and the school was one of the neatest buildings I have ever been in! At first I thought it may have once been a convent of some sort just based on the architecture. As it turns out it has always been a school, it has just happened to be open since the mid 1890s without very many changes.

Finally Moved In!!

It's been a while since the last time I updated this thing! We've moved into our new flat in Edgbaston and it is awesome! Feel free to send me mail....and send me your addresses on facebook or email them to me if you'd like a postcard!

I'm at
Jill Scriver
Flat 1, 40 Stirling Road
Birmingham, United Kingdom
B16 9BL

I've been working fairly steadily since we've moved in and just got the internet hooked up today (thank god). I'll be posting more pictures on here soon of my city adventures and some pictures of my very very tiny but efficient apartment. Who knew that your laundry, kitchen, dining area, and living room could all fit into an area so small!

Chamberlain Clock in the Jewelry Quarter

Typical tourist picture with the phone booths at the top of New Street!

St. Paul's Square

Birmingham Assay Office

The Assay office was established in Birmingham in the late 1700s used to assay gold and silver for use in the jewelry quarter. The current assay office pictured above has been in use 1877. It is the largest existing assay office in Europe.

Sunday Dinner

Roast beef dinner and a pint for 6 pound....yes please!

It's been a little while since I updated this! We went on a skating adventure with a South African, a Swede, a Hungarian, and a German on wednesday! It was really fun although the skates were pretty horrible and their indoor arena was even worse. Over the weekend we didn't get up to much but managed to get out for some fun. We headed to the gay quarter of Birmingham for a lady gaga night which was pretty fantastic! Tomorrow we will finally get to move into our flat (we were waiting for the carpet, tile, and kitchen to be installed). So I will update and post some pictures when we get settled in!

I taught for the first time yesterday afternoon in a reception class (3/4 year olds). They were super cute but super busy! No funny questions about Canada today from this group, but I'm pretty sure they had no idea what I was talking about some of the time. For example at the end of the day I picked up a sweat shirt from the floor "Oh don't forget your sweater". The reply I got was "my whaaa? that's not what that is". "When I say sweater I mean jumper". Which was met with a couple of confused looks.
Afterwards we had a few drinks with a couple of the girls from the hostel where I was introduced to something called Magners flavoured cider which is SUPER delicious. No work in the schools today so this morning we had our first full ENGLISH breakfast at a place called the Big Bulls Head down the street from where we are staying.
As for tonight we are taking a few foreigners ice skating....so wish us luck!

New Street

Canals beside Gas Street

We had a pretty laid back Sunday (went out for a roast & pint) then viewed a house share on the resevior in Edgbaston which was cute with big rooms that we'd be sharing with a couple other girls before heading back to where we are staying for a night of movies.
Today we headed down to the office to fill in some more paperwork, and view a flat on Stirling Road.(You can view it on street view for google maps at 40 Stirling Road...it's the one with the the baby blue door...which is actually black now) And we are taking it...we're just waiting on the landlord to finish installing the new carpets and finish installing the BRAND NEW kitchen!! We move in Sunday!
We also headed to the jewelry quarter this afternoon for a little stroll through St.Peter's square (a graveyard turned park would be the only way to describe it). It was really nice and had HUGE trees and probably the most quiet area we've been in since we've arrived here.

Super Saturday

Today we managed to find ourselves a bus tour, the Big Brum Buz! It was pretty awesome! It began at the museum in Victoria square and covered Victorian buildings in the city centre, the jewelry quarter (where they still manufacture over 40% of silver and gold jewelry in the United Kingdom),and all the major downtown historical areas, parks and churches (including a really cool church and graveyard that we are going to go check out on foot one of these days). We also checked out Edgbaston where J.R.R. Tolkien grew up, married and lived for most of his life. It was a really nice area of the city and a really ritzy area to live in the past few centuries. The Birmingham University campus was also located in this part of the city and is SUPER nice.
After the tour we headed back into the museum for another wander, and stumbled upon a section we skipped the other day that displays ALL the metal work and jewelry.
Other then that it's been a pretty laid back day.
We've also started the hunt for flats which has so far been not too bad aside from the fact that it's sometimes hard to get past the accent on the other side of the phone! We have been to see two but are still looking for something that'll suit us. Hopefully we'll have some luck this coming week!

First Day in the Classroom!

Today we had an observing day in the classroom where we were able to go into a UK classroom and observe their morning routine. I was placed in a year 4 classroom with a Canadian teacher, coincidentally she happened to be from Chatham, Ontario! I helped out a bit with her lessons but it turned out to be a rapid fire interview courtesy of half a dozen eight year olds that went a little something like this:

"Oh my, Miss your accent is sooooo funny"
"That's because I'm from Canada"
"CANADA! Mrs. W went on her holiday there did you see her?"
"Nope I just met her today"
"Ohhhhh, where's your mum and dad?"
"In Canada"
"Is your whole family there?"
"Yes"
"Well how did you get here"
"On a plane"
"On a plane!? Was it expensive?"
"A little bit, but it was in Canadian dollars"
"Canada! Does it rain there?"
"Yes but not as much as here, it snows sometimes."
"When it snows do your neighbours all go stand outside?"
"Not a lot of people go out when it snows, it can get pretty cold"
"If you go outside with sandals on would your toes fall off right away?"

.....And that last one was a serious question.

Lazy Thursday

Today we had a little bit of a lazy day just apartment hunting and wandering around town. We stopped in at a cute little pub and I had a FULL Irish breakfast including white pudding which was soooo good but I regret googling the ingredients because I can now feel my arteries clogging...the two main ingredients are pork and pork fat (yum). After all that we headed to the library to get our sign out cards woo hoo.

Things I've learned so far:
yoghurt = yogurt
tyres = tires
apologise = apologize
car park = parking garage
lift = elevator
ranch dressing & popcorn don't exist & door knobs all turn the wrong way!

Victoria Square fountain & City Hall

We've Arrived!!

The first two days in Birmingham have been crazy...so much to see and do! After a day of training, setting up bank accounts, cell phones, and somewhat apartment hunting I managed to fit in some sight-seeing! We checked out Broad street, New Street, Paradise Forum, and the Bull Ring with tons of neat bars, restaurants, and shops before heading into the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (which houses the Staffordshire Hoard -- the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver discovered). After all that I topped off the day with my very first pint at a pub and a walk beside the canals!