Christmas in London with the Parkers 2009

Well, as always it has been months since I've updated my blog so I am going to try to capture a bit of what has been going on since December! YIKES!

Christmas was lovely and a majority of it was spent in the little area of Chelsea where my sister, Kathryn, lives. She is a graduated student at Christie's. The entire Parker family flew from both ends of the globe and met in London! I flew from Tokyo while mom and dad flew from Nashville! One flight and many hours later I found myself in the London Heathrow airport! I was greeted by my family with big smiles and hugs!

We spent the chilly days walking the streets of London enjoying market places, fantastic pubs, drinking wine and beer along with coffee and tea and a mulled wine too, and the special less well know areas of London like Notting Hill and Primrose Hill! We laughed and watched movies and even enjoyed the snow three times!

Christmas was spent in Kathryn's apartment snuggling by our lovely pointsetta "tree". We placed all of the presents under our beautiful tree and enjoyed a delicious meal provided by Whole Foods. We ate turkey, stuffing, dressing, cranberry sauce, green beans, sweet potatoes, and delicious bread! We listened to Christmas music and enjoy staying curled up in our pajamas :)

I spent a total of almost three weeks in London. I enjoyed meeting Kathryn's friends, nights out dancing, nights in snuggling with sissy and watching movies, eating out, drinking Starbucks, going to small pubs, riding in taxis, walking around, going to Kensington High Street, eating at Whole Foods (Lord, I miss that STORE!) and really just enjoying the life of a "Londoner" not a "tourist".

To check out all the photos click on the links below!:

• http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036254&id=54500082&l=cb4f1270d1
  
• http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036548&id=54500082&l=a6ea6d73c2

Traveling Play

I was brought back to my elementary and junior high school days when I was told the afternoon was free because of entertainment.

A play was being brought to our school. To my amazement when I reached the gymnasium the entire stage had been transformed into an unrecognizable Itako 2nd JHS stage. It was incredible. I was quite excited that the next two hours of my afternoon were going to be spent being entertained by Japanese actors. You would think this would be quite the headache but it ended up being rather pleasurable. I knew that some of my students were involved because in 3rd period they said they needed to go to "dance practice".

The play was called Asian Paradise. It was a perfect little play in which I was able to kind of follow. That is the lovely thing with expressions, music, and setting you can usually figure out what it is about when you are unable to comprehend the language. It was a nice play because it was so cold outside (who am I kidding it was freezing inside too...I was bundled up to my nose in my scarf and jacket) but they did a great job of depicting a very hot atmosphere.

The gist of the play was there was this hostel which the old woman ran it included all the relationships and interactions that people would perhaps have on a day to day basis. It included conflict and love. The hostel housed people from all over the world. The acting was good from what I could see and understand and I was honestly very happy to have spent my afternoon watching it!

Here are a few pictures from the play! My students were even involved at the very end!! Really fun! :)