Wollaton

We've been having some absolutely gorgeous fall weather here, with lows in the low 40s (no hard freeze yet) and highs in the upper 50s. There is concern about the drought here (though we had one rainy day this week), but we have appreciated all the sunshine.

Lake at the Deer Park, Hall in the background

Mary and I have taken advantage of the weather to take some long afternoon walks. Our favorite spot has become Wollaton Deer Park. This is the 500 acre grounds surrounding the Elizabethan manor house, Wollaton Hall, which was built in the 1580s by the Willoughby family, using the design of Robert Smythson, who was later the architect of Hardwick Hall (see below).

Unlike Hardwick Hall (which we visited once again this weekend with a different group of our students), the Willoughby family and Wollaton Hall fell on rather hard times. The house was not kept in as grand a fashion as some others around the area, and stood vacant for over 100 years before being taken over by the city of Nottingham, refurbished, and turned into a museum.

Front view of Wayne Manor (aka Wallaton Hall)

Wollaton Hall's exterior will be featured as "Wayne Manor" in the upcoming Batman movie, to be released in the summer of 2012.

Some of the 18th and 19th century Willoughbys were known as great explorers and collectors, so it is appropriate that Wollaton Hall now serves as the Nottingham Natural History Museum, featuring a number of stuffed animals that old Willoughbys shot on safari, or rocks and shells they collected from travels around the world. The adjacent stables are now the Nottingham Industrial Museum, as well as a restaurant.

Mary walking toward the stables, next to the Hall

The grounds surrounding the Hall are now a city park, open for walking, biking, picnics, and as a venue for the occasional rock concert or other event. And yes, it's called Wollaton Deer Park because there are two small herds, two different species of deer. Since it's only a short drive from our home here, it makes a great place to get some exercise.

Autumnal Musings

I'm just wondering a few things about Britain...

• In the UK, the government assigns your car a registration number, but it's then up to you to find a sign company who will make your license plates for you. I wonder what the prison inmates do if they're not stamping out license plates?
• The Nottingham City Council has announced that there will be no more yard waste collections until April. We haven't had a killing frost yet, the leaves are still on the trees, and the grass is still growing. Why does yard waste collection stop at the time of year one needs it most?
• The National Health Service does not advise flu shots for persons under age 65. They do not consider students living in dormitories a high risk group for flu. Are flu shots over-sold in the U.S. or under-advised here?
• Among the food items one can't get and no one has ever heard of here is molasses. So if someone is really moving slowly what metaphor do they use in place of "slower than molasses?"
  {Mary just learned the answer to that one: They call it Black Treacle here. But somehow, "Slower than Black Treacle" just doesn't have the same ring to it.}
• Most light bulbs here snap into place with two metal pins in the base. Do they, then, have no jokes about "How many [Brits] does it take to screw in a light bulb?"
• A major political controversy here right now, in the midst of the whole Euro crisis, is whether the UK ought to cease to be part of the European Union. If Britain is no longer part of Europe, will Parliament declare the island to be a separate continent?
• A recent New York Times article noted that the average price of gasoline in the U.S. has dropped 50 cents a gallon since summer. We are still paying the equivalent of $8.30 per gallon for "petrol" here, and it hasn't changed much since we arrived. I don't have to wonder if that's the reason we see hardly any pick up trucks or SUVs here, but how does the market manage to keep the price so stable?
• We're told that pumpkins come from America, and that trick-or-treat is an American invention. But all of the pubs having Halloween parties, for which the patrons are invited to come "in fancy dress" (costumes). Does that mean that Halloween here is for adults instead of kids?

...just wondering.

York

We led a student day-trip to York on Saturday, 22 October. The students have been here long enough to be fairly independent, so we arranged for a walking tour of the old, walled city as an orientation, and then cut them loose to explore the museums. We met at the end of the day for Choral Evensong at the huge Yorkminster Cathedral.

Recently restored west "heart" window in Yorkminster

According to the files, some groups in the past have not really liked York very much. In recent years, directors have been simply stopping by briefly on their way to destinations farther north. Some former students have suggested skipping York altogether.

The negative attitude mystifies us, because Mary and I have always been quite taken by York's charming blend of histories, from Roman to modern. It's one of the few places one can see a Medieval street just as it was 700 years ago, with all of the buildings (not just churches) intact. Even large segments of the old, Medieval city wall are still standing.

The "Shambles" Medieval street in central York

Our group seemed, overall, to be pretty enthralled with York, and some were already making plans to come back for a weekend on their own, because they wished for more time. Groups differ, I guess.

We spent this, our third trip to York since our arrival in June, exploring some of the out of the way parish churches (some no longer in actual use for congregations), as well as renewing our acquaintance with the Minster.

Norman stone carvings in the crypt at Yorkminster

We joined a tour of the Minster with a good guide and learned a few things, then went down into the crypt, which has been greatly expanded since we were here ten years ago. The ruins of a Roman basilica beneath the foundations of the 7th century Anglo-Saxon church and the 11th century Norman church were discovered during some repair work in the 1970s. Much of that dig is now open to the public.

Short Trips --- Kedleston Hall and Southwell Workhouse

Our day trip to visit Hardwick Hall was so well received by the students that we took two more trips so that other students could to along.

Grand entrance to Keddleston

The first was to Kedleston Hall, which is a neo-classical mansion from the 1700s. It was designed for lavish entertainment and to show off an extensive collection of paintings, furnishings, and sculpture.  The grounds are extensive with a private lake, picturesque bridge and sheep grazing right on the front lawn. As we looked across the fields, the view was exactly as we had pictured the English countryside on a beautiful fall day.

Chasing sheep (with cameras) at Keddleston Hall

On the following day we took yet another group of students to the village of Southwell to see the parish church and The Workhouse. We had been to Southwell earlier in the summer and visited the Minster, an impressive church to be in such a small town. We stopped there again so the students could see it and then traveled on to The Workhouse.

Students explore Southwell Minster

The Workhouse was originally a place where poor people could live when all other options had been exhausted -- a 19th century version of welfare. People applied for admittance with the assumption that they wouldn't stay very long. By design, conditions were Spartan -- food was boring and meager (think Charles Dickens and Oliver: "More gruel please"), and idleness was not accepted.

The Workhouse -exterior

Families were separated, with men in one wing, women in another, and their children in yet another separate part of the building. There were also separate sections for the "aged and infirm," "weak minded" people, and those who were "morally deprived" (primarily, unwed mothers).

Recreated interior room

The British welfare system has changed a bit over the years!

The UK, our closest ally in the world, openly boasts a socialist system. Health care is free, cradle to grave (or as they say here, "basket to casket"). Old age pensions are generous compared to U.S. Social Security benefits. Nottingham has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy and one of the highest numbers of under-age unwed mothers anywhere in Europe. Those statistics center on our neighborhood! Rent-subsidized "Council housing" (what are called in American cities, "the projects") are nearby.

A Workhouse room as it was when the facility was closed in the 1970s

With audacious manor houses like Kedleston Hall standing near places like the Southwell Workhouse, England has long known about disparity between the very rich and the very poor. Nevertheless, as the Conservative government here pushes for cut-backs in spending, the Occupy Wall Street movement has caught on here, with a large camp on the grounds of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, and even a small camp in front of the Nottingham City Council Chambers. Any way you look at it, welfare in Britain isn't what it used to be! But the "right" system, perhaps, has yet to be found anywhere.

English Football

Earlier I believe I commented on how strange it is to move into someone else's house, complete with furnishings and decor essentially selected "by committee," as the collective work of 39 years of previous program directors. Not only does the house come with everything we need, it even comes equipped with that most valuable of features: best friends.

David and Kate Juggins live next door to us, and they have been friends of the program for a couple of decades. Their loyalty to the endless parade of Luther program directors has been recognized with the "Spirit of Luther" Award -- the same award recently given to the King and Queen of Norway. They have been great support and a font of information about England, Nottingham, and how things have been done by directors in the past.

David Juggins is a supporter of the Nottingham Forest Football Club. As has been explained to me by David's and Kate's son Phillip, there are mere "fans" of the game (which we Americans, alone in the world, call "soccer") and then there are team "supporters." Supporters make fans look like they are disinterested. Supporters are the real fanatics. Supporters stick with the team for life, win, lose, or draw.

David, along with some of his best friends (his "mates" in the English vernacular, as in shipmates, teammates, etc.), have had season tickets to Forest home matches -- in the very same seats -- for years. In younger years they traveled to every away match, as well. They know about every player and every play. They are not mere fans, they are supporters.

Last night one of the mates was out of town, so the spare ticket was offered to me. I accepted eagerly. English football is a unique feature of the culture here, and football fandom is a part of the English identity. I wanted to see it first-hand.

The Forest team has been having "a rough patch" so far this year, with only two victories in 11 games going into last night's match against Middleborough, a team ranked third in the league. The Forest manager (coach) just resigned last week, which means they are on their fourth manager in less than a year. Expectations were not high.

In addition, it was a cold, windy October evening. Thus, ONLY(!) 20,000 people showed up. Mere fans didn't come out. Even many of the supporters opted to stay home. But they missed quite a game!

Forest teammates celebrate a goal in last night's match.
News photo from http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02030/forest_2030813c.jpg

Forest outplayed their opponent and won 2-0! It was their first home win of the season. And it was quite a kick (no pun intended) to watch.

Some things one finds at an English football game that one won't find at an American football game:

• A major team sponsor and stadium advertiser is a betting company. Place your bets across from the concession stand in the stadium before the match.
• Home team spectators and visitor spectators are rigidly segregated, before, during, and after the match. "Stewards" in bright yellow coats enforce the boundaries between spectators in the stands. Empty seats in the visitors' stands will not be sold to home team fans under any circumstances. 
• Even the pubs are segregated -- one must show their stadium ticket to the bouncer at the door to go in for a pre-game drink. Visiting fans are not allowed to drink in home team pubs.
• No tailgating. Many people come on city buses and there are no large "car parks" (English for "parking lots"). Hence the need for the segregated pre-game pubs.
• No cheerleaders, no band. The fans sing a lot, but it's mostly spontaneous and not led by music over the PA system.
• No half-time show. All there is to watch are the grounds keepers who come out with their pitchforks to replace the divots in the turf.
• No game clock. Play is continuous without time-outs. Only the referee knows the time left to play, and at his discretion, he may add playing time if he feels players have delayed the game. They play until the referee says they're done.
• No winner or loser, at least not necessarily. Many football matches are played to a draw. There is no overtime, no sudden death finish. Fortunately for the loyal supporters, last night's match was a win. It was a win for me, too.

Cooking for Fourteen

One of the features of Luther's Nottingham Program is that all of the students sit down for a meal together with the Directors each evening, Monday through Friday, in the large dining room of the Flat. Another feature is that the Directors do not always prepare this meal. Students take turns.

Our cooking (and eating) crew, shortly after arrival.

Over the 39 year history of the Nottingham Program, tales of mealtime disasters have been handed down as part of the folklore. Because boxes of mac & cheese are not available here, and because many students have little experience in the kitchen, the potential for starvation (or more likely, the necessity of calling for delivery of pizzas) is very real.

Thanks in large measure to Mary's organizational skills, and in part to this surprisingly talented group of students we have, we have been eating exceptionally well. We have no disaster tales add to the folklore (yet). In fact, we were visited by two program alumni last week who told me they had not eaten as well even at the end of their Nottingham year as we are eating in our first month!

Before they arrived, Mary polled the group to ask who had cooking experience, and who was a novice. She then paired the experienced with the inexperienced to minimize the danger of having a kitchen full of people who are clueless. Students assigned to cook a particular evening must then select their menu and write down what they will need to prepare it.

Shopping is a major first step. The weekly chore sheet names two students to assist in keeping an inventory of what's in the pantry and accompanying us on one or more shopping expeditions. Many Britons still shop daily or several times a week (many do not have cars and huge piles of groceries don't work well on public transportation, and refrigerators here are much smaller). So the sight of two old folks and two students with two or three shopping carts piled high with $200-$300 worth of groceries draws some attention.

As we've mentioned below, shopping brings a number of challenges other than the quantity of food we need. Some things just aren't available here. Some are here, but under different names or hidden in other parts of the store. The recipe mom sent from home or discovered on the internet may call for ounces, but everything here is packaged in grams or milliliters. Even with four people, it takes a good hour, usually more, to get through the list.

After shopping, groceries are separated into five bins, one for each day of the week, according to the menus that have been planned. Fresh fruits and vegetables can be bought from the green grocer up the street on the day of the meal (we run a tab with them).

The Flat has a fairly large refrigerator/freezer (by European standards -- most Americans would find it tiny) and a larger frig in the pantry. We also have a large chest freezer in a shed behind our house. Refrigerator space is at a premium -- 12 kids go through a lot of milk.

Our dining room, table set.
[photo by student Alex Forbes]

Cooking for 14 is not easy. Even Mary, who is an accomplished cook, finds it a challenge. It's easy to have too much of something, and too little of something else. Timing the meal has proven to be the biggest challenge, and the closest thing we have had to disaster is meals that are late getting on the table. As students become involved in more and more evening activities, that's an issue.

But our young cooks have taken a rather competitive attitude toward their cooking. Despite Mary's constant reminders and a simple meal can be just as filling as a fancy one, each group seems determined to "out do" the meal of the night before. They often try on an average weeknight a dish that is only served on a special occasion back home. We suspect that will change as life gets busier and busier. Meanwhile, we are eating very well, even if not always on time.

Short Trips -- Hardwick Hall

Our brief, late summer appears to be over here (which, interestingly, all of the newspapers referred to as "Indian Summer," despite the fact that the only Indians here actually come from India). We are back to typical English weather. It rains only occasionally, but it is so constantly damp -- the air is just saturated -- that the pavement never dries between rains, and when outside, it feels as if it's almost, but not quite misting all the time. The sun shines occasionally, but not usually long enough to dry things out. They tell us to get used to it, because it will be this way until spring, only colder.

To take advantage of what half decent fall weather we have left, we've mapped out some short, half-day weekend trips by car to places near Nottingham. Since the car can seat five, we invite three students to accompany us on each. We suspect that some will not want to spend extra time with the old folks, while others will be eager to explore. So these are optional, and the first three to sign up for each trip get to go.

New Hall as viewed from the ruins of Old Hall

Last weekend's destination was Hardwick Hall. Just a half hour up the road, this house was built by the same family that built Chatsworth (see below). Indeed, the construction was instigated by the same woman, Elizabeth Hardwick Barlow Cavendish St. Loe Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury (c. 1521-1608), known as Bess of Hardwick for short. She was married four times (which is how she got so many names and titles), beginning at age 12, to a more wealthy and titled husband each time.

Mary and a student read about the tapestries

By the time she was 40 and three times a widow, as the second wealthiest woman in England, behind only her pal, Queen Elizabeth I, Bess had the cash to build opulent homes. Chatsworth was one, which stayed in the family descendent from her second husband, the Dukes of Devonshire. Hardwick Hall stayed with descendants of the fourth husband, the Earls of Shrewsbury. That family had other homes and put no money into remodeling Hardwick, so it remains essentially as it was in Elizabethan times!

There were two homes at this site: Old Hall, Bess's birthplace, which was left to deteriorate into a ruin, and New Hall, which is in excellent condition and was lived in by one of her descendants until 1960. As was customary in Elizabethan times, the walls are covered nearly everywhere with fine tapestries, most still in pretty good shape for 400 years of hanging!

Hardwick Hall has gained note more recently as film site for Malfoy Manor in the Harry Potter films. The filmmakers added a number of special effects to make the place appear far more sinister than it is.

It's Good to Be the Duke!

We were visited this week by Mary's sister, Alice from Sioux Falls; their sister-in-law, Mary from Omaha; and their cousin, Joanie from Tucson. This was primarily an all-girls family trip, but they needed a chauffeur at times, so I was pressed into service.

On Monday we drove to the neighboring county of Derbyshire, only an hour and a half or so away, into an area known as "The Peak District." This area is quite scenic and (as the name implies) very hilly. Some leaves are just starting to turn, and we continued unseasonably warm weather, so it was a beautiful outing.

Our first stop was the town of Chesterfield, where a design error caused the spire of the 13th century parish church to settle in an unexpected way. As one of the locals put it, "That spire was added in the year 1360 and the church is still trying to get their money back!"

Mary in Chatsworth gardens with her sister-in-law and sister in the background.

After some time to shop at market day in Chesterfield, we drove on to Chatsworth House, ancestral home of the the Cavendish family (better known as the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire) since 1549. The current house, begun in 1687, is now maintained by a private trust, but the family still rents the apartments and continues to live there.

The chamber music hall, Chatsworth

It's clear that it's good to be the Duke! Chatsworth does not quite match Blenheim Palace (see below), but it's opulent by any standard. Sculpture from classical to modern is featured both in the house and in the gardens, and the house is full of paintings (including a famous Rembrandt) and other art.

On Tuesday I caught up on work while Mary took her family members around Nottingham and to a play at the Royal Theatre downtown. Wednesday we did a day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon so they could see the Shakespeare sites. We put this lively trio onto the tram this morning, and hope they made it without incident to the train station and on to London today.  

Settling In

The first couple weeks of travel and orientation with the students have come to an end, and everyone is settling into something like a routine. Registration is complete and classes have officially begun.

Life in the flat involves assigning chores to everyone and my seeing that they are accomplished. It also means that the students have begun taking turns doing the cooking for our communal evening meals. Some have never spent much time in a kitchen at all. None have ever cooked for 14 people before. We've already had some "interesting" experimental meals thus far, but no one has been left starving. This will get better with experience, and with Mary's helpful guidance.

Registration for classes took place this week. It was a somewhat frustrating experience for our students, who are used to logging onto a website, seeing immediately what courses are offered, the times and places, and simply choosing from a menu until their schedule is complete. Here, it is a much more person-to-person process of going to meet with a faculty member, chatting about options, and in some cases being more or less told what to take. Nothing is online. And since British students usually only take courses in their major subject area, for our students who need to take courses in several different disciplines, it meant several meetings and different sets of rules in each department. But everyone is now registered, most for both the fall semester and for spring.

Few students had classes the first day or two. One went to a class where all of the students showed up but the instructor did not. So for most, that exciting first day of class is yet to take place. Classes meet less frequently at British universities, there is much more independent reading, the semester is much shorter, and there is generally only one paper and/or exam at the end of the term which is the entire grade for the course. This will be an adjustment for our students, who are used to starting earlier, meeting two or three times a week, and having lots of assignments due and quizzes to take throughout the semester. Some of them are nervous about it. I think they all should be. It's not unheard of (or even unusual) for American students with very high grade point averages to fail a course or two here because of the different style and expectations.

I am responsible for three courses for our students. The first, a year-long course based on their travels around Britain, has already begun with our first two trips and reflection some papers due. My responsibility has been to arrange all of the travel and grade the reflection papers -- different than teaching a regular course, but a lot of work, nonetheless, especially in the travel details. The second course is a fall term only class on British culture. Since I'm not exactly an expert on that, the course is primarily a series of guest speakers. My job, of course, has been arranging all of those, selecting readings to go along with each speaker, and of course, grading a lot of papers (this British notion of only one paper and/or exam per semester is looking more and more appealing from the instructor's point of view!). The third course is in my area of expertise, but won't begin until spring.

The students seem comfortable and content. They are getting around Nottingham easily on the bus system. They seem to have discovered that Nottingham is a huge shopping mecca, and even put on a "fashion show" for each other last night to model their new purchases (guys as well as gals -- even though one of the guys has only bought a pair of gym shorts thus far). The all-time record high temperatures have even made the weather cooperative. The students organized a good old-fashioned American bar-b-que in the church yard yesterday. This morning, we all attended church together at the English Lutheran service, where the congregation hosted a welcome pot-luck for us after the service. All in all, we're off to a great start.