Canst thou figure in thy pate, what makes this blog come so late?

Um, cuz of my insane life, homies. Here is the last few days in brief:
wednesday: shepherd's play rehearsal from 9:30 to 11:00, then a Foundation Course lecture from an Iranian artista fighting for womens' rights through art. I asked her if she had heard of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of Infidel, the book everyone must read, and she hadn't. No volleyball, as I had received a card from the coach saying we would resume our sessions on January 18th. So I spent the night in, writing cards and sipping hot cocoa and warming myself in my chair next to the radiator in my room, while the Amelie soundtrack plink plonked away in the background.

thursday: food centre in the morning, home for lunch, then to the farm until 4:30 and then off to shepherd's play rehearsal, then I went to Hall South for supper with Marie Reine. I love going to other houses for meals because every house operates slightly differently. In Hall South, much like in Old Bototn Farm, they put the spreads in baskets on the table, and there are always teaspoons on the table as well. David Adams, the house father and husband of Marie Reine, is really funny and kind hearted, a large man with a large heart. They are such a funny looking couple, him being so large (not fat, just tall and thick), and her head barely passing my chin! After supper I went to choir, where Claire led us in many a lovely carol. The Christmas pieces are so beautiful, I will bring my camera to our next rehearsal and record a song or two.

friday: food centre in the morning, then to High Farm for lunch. Claire had to leave before lunch to fetch Joe from school. Have I mentioned Joe? He comes to all the co-worker parties, he's kind of immature sometimes but also really smart and into maths and sciences and goes to the Yarm School, a "right proper school" to which he has a big rugby/brainy scholarship. Claire was worried about driving on the roads and still very shocked from the accident on Tuesday, and then Emma Dreary showed up. Emma is one of a few villagers who can't speak and only communicates with noises and hand movements. Claire, who used to be her house mother, understands her a lot. She asked me to take charge of Emma because I can give her clear boundaries and guidence. I was sort of thinking, "oh crap, this is going to be chaos," because Sejin and I were the only co-workers in the house for lunch, I was in charge of Emma, and there was still Kathryn, John, David and Federico to look after. Oh, and Sejin's english is quite limited. It all went fine though. Emma had a few little freak outs (I think, I mean it's hard to know what a really loud squeal means coming from her) but I kept her calm and occupied and then helped her make some Barley Cup (british coffee substitute) then sent her home.
Sejin and I sat an talked over coffee for a bit. She's so nice and sweet, I really like her. She's from the middle of South Korea, and she prefers country life to the bustle of the city, and she feels ignored a lot of the time by the villagers because they know her english is not so great and that makes her very sad. In the first few weeks she cried a lot because it was so hard, but things are better now and she is developing a report with the villagers she lives and works with.

saturday: I did breakfast for Phil since he did it for me one morning, then did chores and made tea break and then made some pasta for lunch. Spent the afternoon in bed reading and watching Gossip Girl online (shout out to my girl Lindsaaaayyy) and eventually falling asleep. Being Saturday, we had Bible Evening at 7:45, but when I woke up at 7:00 I had a headache and body aches and was just generally needing to go to bed, so I asked Nick if that would be alright. Paule had been gone all day taking Alma to the theatre in Leeds and she hadn't returned yet so he was preparing the supper. I knew he could have used my help but I was just so sore and tired I slumped off to bed and was asleep by 8:00.

today: After breakfast Paule gave Phil and I a lift to our Shepherd's Play rehearsal, which went until 12:00. It's coming along, and the reheasals are hilarious. Daniel, the nurse in the health centre and house father (by himself) in Thomas Wheis House (home for elderly) is Romanian, and super over-dramatic with rolling his r's and jumping about.
After a delicious lunch of roast pork (from High Farm I believe...I think I saw him alive last Friday!) and brussel sprouts and rice with yoghurt for dessert, Nick gave me a lift to the centre where I met Ben and Magda and Liza (Leeza) and Ben's house father drove us to Middlesborough! It was lovely to be out with them, but we really had to get down to business and do our Christmas shopping. We were actually really efficient, me especially! Mom you would have been so proud of how organized I was! No dawdling, no purchasing of anything I didn't need, I didn't even LOOK at Starbucks. Here's wha I got:
Stephanie: cat calendar
Felicity: james bond calendar (daniel craig to be exact!)
David: Beatles "Love" album
Phil: Joni Mitchell "Blue"
Nick: a sciencey philosphy type book called The Happiness Hypothesis: Putting Ancient Wisdome and Philosophy to the Test of Modern Science. It sounded really interesting, and right up Nick's ally.
Emily: fancy hair band

I looked high an low for gardening gloves for Paule, but I think I'm just going to have to burn her a copy of the Amelie soundtrack. I feel funny about it now because I bought CD's for Phil and David and I'm burning her's so it wont have the liner notes or anything...
And I also still need to get things for Anthony and Katie. And I need like 25 blank CDs to make mixes for everyone else. Humph. The stores were all closing around 5:00 since it's Sunday...I thought maybe they would be open longer since it's the holiday season or whatever, but no such luck. Oh well. We got home in time for me to prepare the supper and I did the washing up afterwards since I had to leave lunch early. Then we all went to the hall to see the Fairytale, a eurethmy story performed by teh villagers. It was very colorful and cute.

Okay, now I'm tired. Think I'll polish off a glass of wine and fall to sleep.

Peace.