EGGscapades

Well I guess the best place to begin is where I last left off.....on Friday night we went over to Luke's place and played Rock Band with Graham. I got to sing and pretty much was amazing even though I had never played before. it was prlly because I have done Sing Star at camp and with Sam. We also ordered Indian food, which I have not had much of in the past. I stuck with something simple and went with just a side order of prawn fried rice since we had eaten shortly before going to Luke's. I got to try bite of everyone’s stuff. I decided that I'm not really a fan of Indian food and will gladly stick to getting prawn fried rice in the future, as it was very delicious.

I am betting a lot of you probably don’t realize that Indian food is kindof a big thing around here. there are Indian food shops everywhere around here and a big Indian population. and they have a very wide delivery range with no delivery charges over here. it’s amazing. plus no tipping, which is even better. however, i guess some delivery guys will conveniently not have change with them so they can keep any extra you might be forced to hand over since you yourself dont have exact change for the order. i think that’s pretty sneaky. luckily the guy that delivered ours had change.

speaking of the food (if any of you are wondering what its like), the food is quite different over here. sure they have a lot of the same stuff we do in America, but nobody really eats like we do in America. everything is covered in sauces or gravies, not much plain unless you ask for it that way. and even then they usually wanna give the sauce to you on the side. also, a lot of things come in sandwich form if it has no sauce....and then they wanna put condiments on it like mayo. they are big on mayo here on sandwiches. and butter on sandwiches as well. and then, of course, potatoes. lots of them. there is rarely a meal i have that doesn’t include potatoes. and they often have several different kinds of potatoes offered at one meal. and chicken is much more popular than beef. i eat mostly chicken. or fish, of course, but since Alex and his dad dont really care for fish much (unless its fish and chips) i dont have much of it in Alex's house. speaking of fish and chips....yuck. i dont approve. i love fish, but its really greasy. and the chips (french fries) are really greasy as well and traditionally have these spices on them that make them orange....they call them orange chips, but worry not, they dont taste like oranges. lol. i always pass on those. as for veggies, they have a lot of them, but they are usually mixed in the dish somewhere. like in whatever the main part of the meal is....weather it be a stew, pasta, rice, or tortilla wrap dish. dont get me wrong, i am not complaining about the food. i like most of what i eat and avoid anything greasy looking, with curry powder, or Mexican spices (cuz that tastes kinda curryish for some reason. however, when i went to a proper mexican restaurant the spices are good).

also an interesting few things to note about going out to eat - every restaurant you go, no matter what kind of food they serve, is English cuisine inspired. lol. everywhere has fish and chips option. and there are always chips and orange chips as a side item option....even at the Indian restaurant! also, a lot of the food is blander than i am used to. well, the chinese and mexican anyways. they are good, but dont have as many seasonings and flavor i am used to in America. with the exception of Indian food, which is stronger flavored. and that makes sense because there are a lot of Indian people around and not as many mexicans or chinese. altho there are some. i also find it odd that they dont do refills over here at most restaurants. and if they do its rare and a self serve deal....but even at subways and whatnot they dont allow refills, despite the machines being self serve. oooo, and they give you water in a bottle at a lot of cafes and hand you a glass in which they expect you to pour the water and drink from. strange. ive been told its so you dont share your drink - cuz more people are prone to share from a bottle but not from a glass. strange. itd be your own fault if you did anyways since there aren’t free refills.....

i could go on for a lot longer with cultural differences in eating habits alone BUT this is already lengthy and I have a lot more to chit chat about....

so Saturday began our week of being duck keepers and chicken wrangler's for his uncle Martin and his wife Sara whom are on a holiday in Wales for the week. The only live a few blocks away so Alex and I got down 3 times a day to care for them, take in the mail, and open/shut the curtains. we are caring for 2 ducks, a bantam i've renamed Chester (seriously Brynn, if your dog Chester were a bantam...theyd be twins!), a mother hen and her chick, a slightly sickly speckled chicken that’s currently laying eggs, one evil rooster, and 5ish other hens. we have to let them out of their respective pens in the morning and feed them (the ducks are used to me by now and follow me around while I’m feeding everyone else and then plunk in the pond when im leaving), come back in the afternoon to check on them, collect any eggs, and feed them again, then put them to bed every night. the hens and rooster all put themselves in the coop (thankfully) but we usually have to wait around a bit for the last one to get in there. hes a black on that’s new to the run doesn’t quite get the routine yet. ive named him pokey. Chester is usually in his pen already and so is the sickly one (Martin isnt sure what happened to her but shes missing spot of feathers and has been really inactive. he sais she might die when we are looking after her but shes still laying eggs and has been more active as of yesterday). the mother and chick will go pretty easily with a few waves of this magical fishing net that all the chickens are scared of, and the ducks were difficult the first 2 days but now follow me right into the yard and hop in bed with no struggle.....

The horrible part is putting the chickens to bed really. if we come to early they wont be in the coop and then we have to just sit and wait. the first night we waited for 2 hrs before they went to bed! now we have it down and they only pain is getting any chickens to bed that have gotten out of the run and into the yard with the bantam, mamma and baby, and the sick one. yesterday a bunch of the chickens broke out of the run and were all over in the yard. the yard isnt that big, but its full of corners for them to run and places for them to hide so it was very difficult to get them in the run and to the coop. AND that’s when i had my first run in with the evil rooster. he had escaped with 2 of the chickens from the run and had put himself to bed in the nest where the injured one lays her eggs. mother, baby, and the injured one have their own little cages in this shed that have empty nest areas above them that dont have doors. its where all the chickens lay their eggs and is all lined with hay and why not. so i walked into this shed (which has a long, narrow pathway from the door to the back where theres a 3 foot square of space before the wall of nests and cages, AND it isnt tall enough for me to stand up in) all hunched over to lock the cages. i herded in the mother and chick, and managed to wave out pokey and redirect him to the pathway to the door. i saw more feathers where the eggs are laid and thought maybe another hen decided to lay....so i poked it with my magical fishnet....and it turned around and poked its head out but got stuck....cuz it was the fat evil rooster! it started squawking at me so i tried to back my way out before it became unstuck and came after me. i held the magical stick in front of me but it did no good cuz the evil rooster ran for me, rammed into my wellies (big rubber farm/rain boots) and pushes past me to the door. luckily he didnt get me very much. then i had to get him out of the corner and open the gate to the run so he could go to bed. i literally unlocked the door, poked at him with the magical fishnet, ran behind the chicken wire door to the run. he went right up into bed after that.

the next afternoon, Alex and I went over to feed them. and he was out....again. in an attempt to get him back in his pen, i started throwing feed into the run, but not in the yard where he was. well this pissed him off and he began to run for me while i was grabbing feed. i picked up the magical fishnet and started waving it at him (it worked as a defence for all of the other chickens quite well), it didnt save me. he actually rammed into it and then kept coming for me. i just backwards into the shed and stuck my foot out in defence as is jumped at me. it ran into my boot and then kept jumping at me. he ended up cutting my leg with his beak as i was trying to shut the door from the inside which, of course, got stuck open. he jumped at me again and gave me a good welt on the same leg before i was able to push him away by opening the run door when he was backing into a corner. he jumped again and i shut the door on him. it bumped him and he ran inside...luckily none of the others got out.

the next time i went over was by myself since Alex as working. he was once again in the yard but i was able to get him in the bantam's pen while i fed the rest of the chickens. i waited until that night when Alex was there to help me get him back in the run. of course he was managed to squeeze back through the hole by then and wasnt a bother....not that Alex wouldve been much help, hes more terrified of the evil rooster than i am! we plugged up all of the holes with slate slabs and moved one of the walls of the run over a bit and secured it all down. now none of them can get out and i can avoid the evil rooster....hopefully.

of course this morning i had to go again by myself cuz Alex works. not really a problem and i dont mind doing it alone since it isnt hard or far away. BUTT as luck would have it i encountered the evil rooster again and he got me on the thigh this time. i have a nice welt. no, none of the chickens escaped the coop during the night.....one of the hens decided to start laying eggs as well....and laid one last night in the coop. this morning when i opened the door they kicked it out on the ground. i, of course, thought i needed to check the coop for more eggs and try to separate out the one that’s laying...and collect the one off the ground.....dumb idea, i know. i figured i was brave and could do it. but the rooster saw and once again was not scared of the magical fish net, and ran into it a few times before i managed to kick him away from me. of course, he still pecked me in the thigh, like i said, and i dropped the egg on the ground. mission failed. i decided to wait until Alex gets back this evening to try and sort out which one needs to be removed from the run. im pretty sure i know which ones laying....and if im correct its pokey sooo hopefully im right and she will still be the only one awake this evening when the rest are in bed.....that will equal safe and quick separation.

back to the rest of my days....Sunday i did early church and then went to watch Alex play football (soccer) in an ASDA football cup (ASDA is where he works. its like a walmart kinda. each store in the area had a team there). it was way fun and a beautiful day to be out and about. Alex's team didnt all show up so they had to play the first half of their games short players. needless to say they didnt win any, but they held there own against some good teams. a few more people finally showed and joined up with them. of course the ones that were there from the get go with Alex were all exhausted from already playing several games over several hours with not enough players and clearly no subs. but i was their little cheerleader and even kicked the ball a few times when they were warming up.

then Alex had to go to work, but only for a few hours. so i worked on my resumes and sending in applications. i spent all afternoon/evening going this. and in the end i applied for 3 jobs online. all of them are close by, none of them require me to have a car (altho one might give me a car allowance), all make good starting money and all of them are social work. i am on the right track! from what i gather, i am very much qualified for all of these jobs so hopefully i will get shortlisted and be able to go interview for them. unfortunately, a lot of the work i did went to waste for the moment because i sent an email with the application explaining my situation, fiddled with my resume, and sent a cover letter......and i got an email from 2 of them this morning that they wont accept my resume or cover letter unless i am shortlisted. soooo hopefully i will be shortlisted and then i can actually use them. oh well. i tried, right? my fingers are crossed that i hear from them soon. i dont know why i wouldnt.....ive been told that most people in the UK dont want these kinds of jobs/arent qualified for them AND since i am qualified and have lots of applicable experiences PLUS am so young compared to other people in the field with my experience/job interest i am hoping that gives me an edge of some kind. after all of that was done then i hung out with Alex and his family.

Monday Alex worked and i cleaned. we went to Walsall with Anna (his sister) and helped her pick up her cell phone from the shop. then took care of the chickens and Luke came to get us so we could go out. we went to his neat indy/rock club next called the Warf that was next to a water levy. it was kinda dangerous i would imagine because there was no fence around it. apparently lots of drunken people fall into it being idiots or playing on the docks. Alex and i had one drink each and chatted with Luke, Jo, and Graham outside and people watched. we then made out way inside since Jo and I were freezing and listened to the really good music (i knew almost all of the songs! they were dancey/ indy/ emoy/ rocky kinda stuff), chatted, danced a bit, and watched the second Lord of the Rings that was projected on the wall (well the boys half watched it and chatted, Jo and I ignored the film). it was very fun.

today im not doing too much. sending some emails, cleaning a bit around the house....i figure i can at least help his mom by cleaning a bit every day. they are feeding me every day and letting me stay here for 2 months after all! dont know whats on the agenda for the night. of course chicken duty but prlly not too much else. maybe we will watch a movie or something. Alex is off work tomorrow. There will be more tennis if its nice out, if not then i think they boys were talking about going to the gym and working out/ swimming. i totally hope we do that because i am all about using an elliptical machine tomorrow! not so much the swimming i dont think. maybe the hot tub tho.... we shall see. Alex and I are also going to look into booking a day trip somewhere in the next few weeks and we are going to go shopping. days when he doesn’t work are my favorite!

welp, i am off. hope everybodys well in the good old US of A. i miss everyone!! **MWAH!**