We (Try to) Party with our German Exchange Student

  

     We were blessed this spring to have our German exchange student, Emilia Wengortz, return to stay with us for a second year in a row, from the middle of March to the middle of April.

 

Imogen welcoming Emilia for her second exchange tour here

     When Emilia stayed with us last spring, she was an incredibly responsible, gracious, and helpful guest.  So when she asked if she could come again this year, Tim and I had no hesitation in saying yes.  This meant that we had an excuse get out and about and enjoy some of the things that San Diego has to offer. Tim is always one for making the most of his precious time off work, so showing Emilia around was no hardship.
     We thought an all-American experience might plausibly include a baseball game, so Tim got us all tickets to see the San Diego Padres play at Petco Park.  It was on a Tuesday night, so I had to meet them coming from USD, as I had to teach an Ethics class that afternoon.  I can't even remember how we got everyone to the stadium from their various places (Ramona, Rancho Bernardo, Poway), but the logistics were worth it.  The game was so much fun!  There was a great atmosphere there, and Petco Park is a really nice stadium.  The Padres lost to the LA Dodgers, but that didn't matter very much to us.

San Diego Padres game in Petco Park, downtown San Diego

       We also took Emilia to the world-famous San Diego Zoo - something we didn't manage to pack in during her last visit, somehow.



Emilia and Imogen at the San Diego Zoo





     2016 marks the 100th anniversary of the San Diego Zoo, so there was the cool lion logo everywhere, which you can see in the above picture.  We started off the trip by watching one of the Zoo shows, featuring a cheetah and an impressively obedient seal.

 

Stage before the show - very clean, I thought

 

A very fast cheetah

 

A very well trained seal

     It was warm, but the zoo was manageable, and is always interesting.  My favorite animal there is the tortoise.  I love the fact that these guys are about 100 years old.  Anything old is good, in my book.

 

A tortoise racing up the pathway (this took a while)

Komodo Dragon - I actually didn't know what these were until I watched Skyfall

 

     It just so happened that Universal Studios near LA opened The Wizarding World of Harry Potter during the time that Emilia was staying with us.  So, there was no question, Imogen and Emilia had to go.  Tim had a day off of work and gladly fulfilled his duty of a good host parent.

     I didn't go on that trip, so Imogen has very graciously done a little guest blog for us about it:   

 

     Imogen:  'Right when we walked into The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, we saw a ton of Diagon Alley-like buildings on both sides of a cobble stone road that led up to a mock Hogwarts building. In the buildings were all types of stores that exist in the Harry Potter books, such as Honeydukes Candy Shop and Olivanders Wand Shop. There were also stores that sold robes and different items of clothing featured in the movies.

 

Emilia and Imogen make it to Hogwarts!

 



An imposing Hogwarts



 

     While we were there, we made sure we had some butterbeer from a little cart right by Hogwarts.

The Hogwarts building contained the line to the main Harry Potter ride which was a 4D virtual ride, which we all found very impressive. While waiting in line we saw different rooms featured in the movies including Dumbledoors office, common rooms and various classrooms. All in all, the park simulated Harry Potter sets very well.'

 

Emilia and Imogen enjoying butterbeer

  

Tim is not too old for any of this ....

 

The gargoyle at the bottom of the staircase leading to Dumbledoor's office

 

     Other highlights included many trips to the San Diego beaches, despite the unseasonably cool weather this spring.  There were plenty of lowlights as well, like living the crazy overscheduled life of your average American family.  Indeed, that was probably just a much an education about America as anything else.  We've magnified the Protestant work ethic so much that we have very little time to do or thing about anything else; something which still feels very foreign to my British husband.  

Easter 2016

 

     Easter was early this year.  It fell on March 27, which is Georgiana's birthday.  Actually, Georgie was born on Easter Sunday in 2005, and I think this was the first time since then that the stars were aligned - or, the moon, I suppose - and Easter fell once again on her birthday.
     So, it was all systems go - again - for this wonderful, most important Christian holiday.  Fortunately, the University of San Diego held its Spring Break during Holy Week, which made my life much, much, much easier.  However, between me and all the children I think we had something like three separate spring break weeks.  Somehow we managed to make it work.  We had Easter weekend together, and that was the main thing.  I may have written about this before, but Americans really are no good at holidays.  One has to fight to maintain holiday traditions in this country, a sad indictment on our work culture.
     Anyway, let us start at the beginning.  I got to use the first part of my week off supporting Abigail as she got all four of her wisdom teeth out.  The process was painful and she was pretty incapacitated for a day or two. She was really unhappy that she had to get them out during Easter week, since this meant she couldn't eat very much.  It just added a whole layer of drama and interest to the whole week, and but we had to take in our stride.

Abigail after the wisdom teeth removal - not a happy bunny!

     Despite our teenage problems - which we will always have with us, I'm afraid - we still had to get on with the usual Easter crafts at the beginning of the week.  We usually do at least two crafts - one is our big 'Easter craft' where we make a model from some part of the Easter story - be it the Cross, the Garden Tomb, the Last Supper, and so on. The other is a craft from one of Jesus's parables which he gave during Holy Week, which appear in different places in the four gospels.  For our parable craft, we decided to keep it simple and go for the 'Sheep and the Goats' parable from Matthew 25.  So we made clay models of sheep, which had the distinct advantage of multi-faceted symbolism: we are the Lord's sheep, we want to be found on His right hand on Judgment Day; also, Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and the Lamb of God (Agnes Dei), and so forth.



The Sommers and Ian McMillian join us for our Easter project

     For our big Easter craft, we decided to do a model of the Garden of Gethsemane.  For several years, Tim has been suggesting - in a rather tight-lipped way - that I direct smaller, less ambitious, craft projects that we don't have to shove in some random place in our garage when Easter is over.  So I tried to do a scaled-down version of the model.  We looked online at pictures of the olive trees in Gethsemane, and I had the kids make gnarled tree trunks out of terra cotta Sculpy.  We then made a garden by gluing the trunks within a rock wall.  We didn't even buy glue - just used a water and flour paste.

Samuel, Verity and Eleanor building the rock wall with newspaper, rocks, flour and water

     A few days later, when the glue had dried, Abigail took a break from convalescing and very kindly finished off our Easter Garden.

Our minimalist Garden of Gethsemane, 2016

     Everything started in earnest on Maundy Thursday, when we had our annual Jerusalem meal, which is our commemoration of the Last Supper.  I don't try to replicate the Passover itself, since I'm not Jewish and I don't think I should be trying to execute rituals that are sacred to religions other than my own.  But, of course, the Last Supper was a Passover meal, so in that sense I try to replicate what Jesus might have done at this meal, and how He used the symbolism of the Passover to explain the events that were about to take place with the Atonement.  So we have a pared-down Christian version of the Seder plate, including a piece of lamb, horseradish, haroseth, and unleavened bread, to remind us of the Paschal Lamb, the bitterness and hardship of slavery to the Egyptians, and the commandment to leave Egypt in haste.  In Christian terms, Jesus is the Paschal Lamb, and He came to deliver us from the bitterness and hardship of sin and death.  I always put olives on the table, to remind us of Jesus's suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane.  We also enjoyed a lamb and saffron stew, cheeses, nuts and dried figs.  The meal always ends with an English Simnel cake, to remind us of Judas's betrayal after the meal.
    This year we had our friends Cathy and Carrie Woolley join us for the dinner, as well as our German exchange student, Emilia.  The missionaries came, too.  Abigail was still very sore from her wisdom teeth extraction, so she couldn't do her usual entertainment at the meal, which is to eat a piece of horseradish straight up.  But she provided entertainment, anyway.

Cathy and Carrie Woolley at Passover, with Emilia in the background, and a suffering Abigail

     Various children had school on Good Friday - because this is America, you know - so our Good Friday brunch has now been moved, permanently, I fear, to Easter Sunday.  We kept busy with plenty of other projects, like making marshmallow eggs, the requisite hot cross buns, and decorating Easter eggs.  We ended the day with our legendary Good Friday dinner of fish and saffron pie, and our 'Easter Story in Eggs' activity.

Homemade marshmallow eggs - complete with egg whites and LOTS of golden syrup

Imogen and Nelly decorating eggs

The once-a-year hot cross buns project

      Easter Saturday was just like the rest of Easter week - full of friends, family and activity.  In the morning, the three little girls did an Easter egg hunt at a friend's house.  I think Samuel declined to join, or at least threatened to decline.  The waning interest is inevitable, I suppose, but it's still a little bit sad for me.

My little one still likes Easter egg hunts!
 

Eleanor enjoying herself at the hunt

Will this be Georgie's last hunt? 

      Then it was off to meet Tim's cousin Emma, who was visiting from the UK with some work colleagues from the BBC.  They had all attended a conference in San Diego the week before, and luckily Emma was able to get away and stay with us on Saturday night so we could spend some time with her.  But we thought it would be fun to do something together on the Saturday, so we went for the famous San Diego whale-watching tour.  It's about a 2 hour boat ride, in which you go out to sea and spot the whales. 

Tim, Samuel and Nelly ready to see the whales!

The teenagers aren't too cool for the whales!  I think they might have even had a good time ...

     I was all ready to go, and very happy about it, too.  When the boat started moving I was fine, and had a nice chat with Emma and her work colleagues, catching up on events in the UK and so forth.  I wanted to see the whales just as much as anyone else.  But about 20 minutes into the boat ride, I was so sea-sick that I could barely think, and my skin had a very pale - though very distinct - green tinge to it.  Thankfully there was a very nice lady who worked on the boat helping idiots like me who didn't think they needed sea-sick medicine.  She told me to sit at the back of the boat, focus on one point on the horizon, and never look anywhere else.  That did the trick, but it meant that all I remember from the trip is this:

My view from the back of the boat

     From what I hear, the others did get to see the whales, and it was very cool.  I had to content myself with dolphins who kindly positioned themselves at the back of the boat, so they were in my line of vision when they jumped up.
    

The whole whale watching party

    The next morning was Easter!  It was also Georgie's birthday, and so we had to do the whole 'breakfast and presents in bed' thing along with the Easter devotional and Easter basket thing.  We did Georgie's birthday first, so we all gathered in her room to give her breakfast and watch her open her pile of presents.



Happy 11th birthday, Georgie!

     Then we did our Easter devotional in her room, by reading the account of Easter Sunday in John 20.  I especially like this account because it describes how Mary was the first one to see the resurrected Jesus.  Tim and I bore our testimonies of Jesus to the kids.  It was then downstairs to see the Easter baskets, and get ready for our Easter brunch and then, of course, our church service.

Easter morning, 2016!

Tim got a tie, as per usual, and Emilia got a starfish

     Easter brunch was an occasion, with all the usual suspects, like hot cross buns and my new favorite, Greek Tsoureki bread.




Easter Sunday brunch, 2016, with our guests Emma and Emilia

Passion fruit confiture:  the star of the brunch!

My Greek Tsoureki bread - what's not to like?

     Our church service was really wonderful.  I was very blessed in that I had been asked to be one of two people to address the congregation on Easter Sunday, so I got to spend Easter week studying the scriptures and thinking a bit more intensely about Jesus than perhaps I do normally.  In preparing for my talk, I was really moved by this quote from Elder Boyd K. Packer:  'Upon Christ was the burden of all human transgression, all human guilt ... He by choice accepted the penalty in behalf of all mankind for the sum total of all wickedness and depravity; for brutality, immorality, perversion, and corruption; for the killings and torture and terror - for all of it that ever had been or all that ever would be enacted upon this earth.  In so choosing He faced the awesome power of the evil one, who was not confined to flesh or subject to mortal pain.  That was Gethsemane!'
     That quote got me thinking quite deeply about just what it means that Jesus has suffered for my sins; indeed, what it means for Him to have suffered the burden of everyone's sins.  I thought a lot about the suffering that comes as a result of sin.  That led me to ponder especially Matthew 26:36-38 and Mark 14:33, where it recounts Jesus's suffering in Gethsemane.  It says that Jesus was exceedingly sad, troubled, and distressed in His soul, which is psyche in the Greek.  So, in my church address, I talked a bit about the kind of parallel suffering that happens between us and Christ regarding our sins.  Sin always brings about a kind of mental anguish - that is, we all suffer for our sins to some degree.  But our suffering can be swallowed up in the suffering of Christ, because His suffering has a unique kind of power to cleanse us, sanctify us, and overcome evil.
     I also used this quote in my talk from C. S. Lewis:  'The central Christian belief is that Christ's death has somehow put us right with God and given us a fresh start ... We are told that Christ was killed for us, that His death has washed out our sins, and that by dying He disabled death itself.  That is the formula.  That is Christianity ... We believe that the death of Christ is just that point in history at which something absolutely unimaginable from the outside shows through into our own world.'
     After church, we had our special Easter roast meal of lamb, roasted potatoes, vegetables, and ending with the perennial Strawberry Rhubarb trifle.  We sang Happy Birthday to Georgie, and dived into her birthday carrot-bunny-Easter garden cake.  Life is good, especially at Easter.

Easter Strawberry-Rhubarb trifle

Georgie with the standard bunny birthday cake

Bleakley Family, Easter 2016

We hit Disneyland!

     The day after I got home from my Oxford trip, my parents took the children to their first ever trip to Disneyland!  OK, ok, I talked myself into tagging along.  My mom said it was a ‘treat’, but I can’t quite remember what the rationale was for giving this particular treat to us at this particular time.  Anyway, I can’t say I’m always up for a good time, but Disneyland was too tempting to pass up.  So I pushed  my ‘to-do’ list for the day into some future mental space – where it could only trigger panic and anxiety sporadically, rather than constantly - and advised the children to do the same to their own lists.  Samuel wasn’t very good at it, though.  Throughout the day he kept saying he would rather be at school.  I’m a type-A and everything, but not even I could sympathize!

     It was, actually, unseasonably cool that day.  I don’t think it got above 60F.  Although I would have preferred the warmth, it also meant that people didn’t come to the park that day.  So it was fairly empty, and there was very little waiting time at each of the rides.

     It's true, Disneyland is magical.  We saw Mary Poppins and Burt walking around, and met Mickey Mouse - in his house, no less, but only after permission from Mickey’s agent, which was a bit surreal.  (Minnie has a separate house which is just next door.)  We got to eat at the Jolly Holiday café. 



Mary Poppins and Burt, in the flesh!

The Bleakley children with Mickey Mouse

The Jolly Holiday Café, which serves exquisite, um, grilled cheese sandwiches ....

     The parades are truly amazing!  They feature every Disney character you could possibly remember, along with ensembles from every story.  The costumes and floats are perfect!

The Lion King float and entourage

Belle, Cinderella, and Rapunzel

Rapunzel with her tower

Various Disney princesses, which look spookily like the ones in the movies

     The thing that struck me about Disneyland, though, is how old it is.  It started when my parents were children, and indeed, I think it has perhaps more to offer to that generation and my generation than it does to my own children.  My kids really don’t know much about Minnie Mouse or Donald Duck or Goofy or those little chipmunks (not to be confused with  The Three Chipmunks, but I have to say that my childhood entertainment experiences are blurring together a bit at this point). 

The kids in Toon-Town

     They don’t know much about the original Sleeping Beauty, Alice in Wonderland, or Peter Pan – all of which feature in the ‘Storyland’ part of the park. I’m not even sure they know the songs from the original Cinderella, like Bippity Boppity Boo.  Of course, the original Disneyland would have been focused on those Disney productions from the 1950’s and 1960’s  

Georgie, Nellie and Verity in line for the Peter Pan ride

 

The clocktower in Storyland

     I was so excited by the It’s a Small World After All ride, but of course my children have never heard that song.  I was struck, too, by how many rides featured the animatronics of the ‘50’s and ‘60’s.  My dad loved the ‘Tiki-tiki Room’, which was a very amusing show of mechanized flowers which move in and out, up and down, and sing.  It all seemed very quaint to me, but my dad couldn’t get enough of it.

     We stayed until the grandparents couldn’t take it anymore.  They did very well, being on their feet all day, politely opting out of rides, and quietly buying whatever their grandkids asked for.  I think we left the park around 8pm or so, and dined on uncharacteristically delicious homemade tuna sandwiches on the way home.

Disneyland, March 2016