Dear family and friends,
There is no need to send out search and rescue for me. I do
apologize that I have not written a blog in far too long! It has been quite
busy here with teaching, lesson planning, traveling around England, preparing
for Children’s church, participating in a Life Group, and moving to a new home.
Once again I have felt so blessed! Where should I begin?
Let’s start with my new home because many of you have asked
about that. Two Fridays ago I moved to a new house. My first week has been absolutely
fantastic! I truly feel like part of a family. I live with R and A and their 2
boys B and J (3years and 15 months). They are an absolutely beautiful family
and have welcomed me with opened arms. I get up at 5:30 and leave the house by
6:40 in which time the boys are awake and wave bye to me from their living room
window. When I come home, the boys greet me with big smiles and hugs and because
I am often not home in time for tea at 5pm, they prepare me a plate and set it
aside for me with a cover on it and my name on it. I then eat my food and hang
out with the boys until it’s time for them to go to bed. Once they’re in bed, I
mark papers and lesson plan in front of the tele with the company of R or A,
depending on who’s home and who’s not at a meeting or volunteering somewhere.
Today was the first Saturday that I was living here. I
thought I would be able to sleep in and chill out… but I just couldn’t sleep in
much longer than 7:30. I heard my new ‘nephew’s’ and wanted to play with them
right awayJ. But
it was not a problem at all, it was just perfect for me today. B and I had a
cuddle this morning while the tele was on. He’s told me that he likes me, which
makes me feel so good.
The Stewarts have only known me for a short time and have
already invited me to their family Christmas this year and told me that their
expectation is that I join them for family events and things on their calendar.
They also clarified that if I’m able to join them, not to feel bad because they
do understand that I am still young and will have my own plans. I just feel so
blessed to have a family in England.
Speaking of family… for half term break (26 Oct – 4 Nov) I
had the opportunity to visit some family in northern England. First I went to
Sheffield to visit some friends of dad’s – she used to live on the same street
as dad’s family when he lived in England. I had such a good time with them. She
is a retired teacher and has recently taken to researching ancestry. She has
done so much work for find our family tree on the Ollies’ side and on the
Buchanan’s side and found people as far back as 1850s. It was pretty neat to
read about their jobs and their travels. By reading through census and other papers,
she even found another Ollies (generations ago) who moved to Hamilton, Ontario.
She also found one who ended up in Southern England (where I am now) – It’s
sort of like a circle. Unfortunately, that family never carried on. She also
found that the name Ollies has had several variations… Hollas, Ollis, Olliss,
Ollis… so it still is a unique name J.
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| Looking through a window. |
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| Family friends (Barbara and Brian) |
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| Hardwich Hall |
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| John Ryland's library |
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| Uncle and Autie |
After Sheffield, we drove through the bleak, yet beautiful Pennines
to go to Manchester to visit dad’s Uncle and Auntie. We did so much in 3 days.
We visited an art gallery, a historical library still in use, the Manchester
Cathedral, had fish ‘n chips, watched Les Miserables – an opera version- in the
comforts of their home, and drove through the peak district to visit a
picturesque village surrounded by mountain peaks. It was all so brilliant.
The next leg of my journey was to Chester to visit my long
lost Ollies’ relatives. What a superb end to a great week! I got off the train
in Chester, I knew right away who my cousin (2nd cousin to be specific)
was – Andy looked just as I thought he would from his facebook photos. It was
not awkward at all meeting him because we had so much to talk about – family,
jobs, and friends. He brought me back to his house where his girlfriend had
Mexican food ready for us. After tea, they took me to a pub overlooking the
town from a hill… it was dark, but the house lights still made the view
gorgeous. We were at the pub for just over an hour and were talking quite
comfortably during that time. The next day, we took his girlfriend’s family’s dog
for a walk by a river, went for a walk around Chester, and was treated with a
bottle of Champaign from his uncle at a local pub.
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After being warmly welcomed
by Uncle, we went to the Cathedral in Chester. It may have been the best Cathedral,
I have visited so far. It was so elaborate and huge. We explored during the
right time, because there was an evensong while we were there and lots of
organs and singing. After our little adventure into town we got ready to meet the
rest of the family at an Indian restaurant, but first we quickly skyped mom and
Michael so they could be introduced to some other Ollies. The meal was delicious
and the company was grand. Tony and Paul were talking about the taboo
happenings of the family and about their memories of their cousin, my dad.
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| Indian food with the Ollies |
After
tea, Andy, his girlfriend and I went to meet their friends. Guess where we met
them…. That’s right at another pub (the third one in 2 days J). Though the music
wasn’t the greatest, it was just fun to play fuse ball and to mock the music.
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| Mocking the 'Heavy Metal Music' at the pub. |
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| Andy (my 2nd cousin), Mal, Tony and Paul (cousincs to my dad) |
We left the pub kind of early and went back to Andy’s place. That evening we stayed
up to the early morning hours and talked and talked about life and so so much.
Finally, on Sunday I met the rest of the family, showed them the Ollies’ family
tree, exchanged stories and took family photos. When Andy’s Auntie first saw me
she commented that I looked just like Clive. I love hearing that… 1st
someone who knows my dad and 2nd someone who comments that I’m like
him. They all took me to the train station and wished me well. It was actually
pretty hard for me to leave. In fact on the train, Andy and I were texting each
other and each time I received a text from him I just cried. It was just so
surreal to visit people who were related to me for the first time and who
shared some mannerisms with me. I will absolutely visit that family again in
Chester and I hope they will be able to visit Chichester sometime soon!
Half term was a well needed break from school and was a
great time to rejuvenate… though I admit that this week was pretty hard to get into
the swing of things. Though, as for school, things do seem to be settling down.
I hope to write about all of the ins and outs of teaching at the Academy next
post.
Till then... keep being yourself, find something to give you hope and continue loving.
Lots of love,
Kristen
ps. Hopefully the next post won't be so far away :).
