A weekend homestay
4:38 PM Edit This
Well, haven't had time to update my blog. I'm just lazy. haha... and with courseworks and presentations coming up, it gives me more reasons to slack on blogging. hee... So I'll just update briefly what has happened so far - which is quite alot =_="
First up, HOST UK. This is a homestay programme most of my exchange mates signed up, including myself. We're all allocated to different homes of locals to have an insight to their everyday life and of course, interact with them. MY roomie hazel and I were sent off a house amongst the fields in the tiny town called Ludford village, half hours drive away from Louth. Heard of this place before? Neither did we. haha... tht's what homestay is bout! Locals bringing us to un-touristy places and the real life of Brits. :)
Our host was Caroline, who has 2 dogs - Brandy and Ruby, 6 hens and 1 cockerel, 2 guinea pigs, alot of birds. haha...all in her really mini farm in the backyard.
ever-so-lazy Brandy
Hyper Ruby - just 1 yr old pup who loves to jump around when excited
Mini backyard
the chickens turning up in full force
very cute birds she has :)
I'm a dog lover, so got quite a number of pics with her doggies. hehe...
Brandy basking in the warm sunlight
Hm... tht's what buddies do tog =P
Both of them hounding neighbour's pet bunny. haha
Now into our host's cosy lil house
Living room
her window in ther living room, overlooking the fields
Hazel & I in the dining room - took this in the middle of our lunch
OUr room. Caroline prepared to separate bedrooms for us, but Hazel & I decided to share a bed.. hehe...
Morning view over the field of greens - refreshing
Well, bcuz of our host's background - she's a widow and participates actively in many community activities, she didnt have time to personally cook food for us when the organiser was telling how good a cook she is. I was really looking forward to a cosy homecooked meal like a mini family gathering with our host. I just tried to convince myself that she just didnt have time for it, and probably the weekend we were there coincides with her busy schedule.
This is because, the first activity we did was to attend an AGM meeting with her in a pub. So Hazel and I just walked around to take some shots. The pub is just beside a town church, which is just beside her house.
Interior of pub
the pub owner collects coasters from all over the world!
Hazel looking out into the graveyard in front of the church
Next, she brought us to her friend's birthday party - which was the highlight of the day. It's actually her friend's mum's birthday, but she was invited and so brought us along. Her friend is more well-to-do and her house was very warm and nicely decorated.
We all sat the her patio which looks out to her garden. Look at the lunch feast on the table! The entire occasion was like a family gathering cum high-tea session. haha... her friend's uncle and dad will tell us casually bout their days in army back in WWII and how Singapore was just a passing stop for them when they were moving on to HK. haha... Her friend even mentioned that Singapore is an exotic place for them to travel to, and she showed us her 1984 pics when she was in Haw Par Villa! haha... Makes me wonder whatever happened to our famous Tiger Balm Park.
As the typical English lifestyle, tea was served after meals. haha... no, not tea and scones. Just nice warm English tea in small lil' English tea cups to sip from. After that, we walked around her mini orchard across the road.
On Sunday, we were invited to her friend, Mandy's house for a typical English Sunday lunch. It's supposed to be dinner, but because Mandy's hosting 2 other students who needs to leave after lunch, she thought it'd be a good idea for us to gather before they leave :) So, Caroline decided to bake some desserts and we chipped in!
Hazel cutting strawberries while i arranged it... and TADA!
Strawberry flan cake! :D
Caroline also made a super yummy apple crumble which I only had a spoonful from Hazel's plate :S
Before going to Mandy's place, Caroline took us on a spin around the fields. We spotted some cows along the way :)
After another sumptuous lunch at Mandy's place, we headed down to an English beach! Woohoo!~
It looks quite different from the typical beach resorts kinda beach bcuz this is actually an estuarine environment. haha.. cheemo, i just asked Hazel how to spell tht word. Estuarine is where the river enters the sea. haha.. learnt a new geog term :)
Cute boy walking along the beach.
Alot of families will come here during the summer.
there's even a beach tram! and what's a day at the beach without ice-cream? :)
After a long day out, we're back at Caroline's place doing what English does best. Drink tea!
Nosy hens ...
Finally, what I was looking forward to. A nice homecooked meal prepared by our host. Well, in the end, it's nice of her bringing us to their friend's place to have really feastlike English meals. I still think it's the best when we can just sit down to have a meal prepared by our host :)
A last pic with our host Caroline :)
On the way back, fields of grapeseed plant flowers bloom...
Come to think of it, this homestay was pretty interesting afterall. It was more fun for Hazel cuz Caroline was very knowledgeable in Geog stuff, so they've got alot to talk about. Well, I just listen and learn and have a good time :)
First up, HOST UK. This is a homestay programme most of my exchange mates signed up, including myself. We're all allocated to different homes of locals to have an insight to their everyday life and of course, interact with them. MY roomie hazel and I were sent off a house amongst the fields in the tiny town called Ludford village, half hours drive away from Louth. Heard of this place before? Neither did we. haha... tht's what homestay is bout! Locals bringing us to un-touristy places and the real life of Brits. :)
Our host was Caroline, who has 2 dogs - Brandy and Ruby, 6 hens and 1 cockerel, 2 guinea pigs, alot of birds. haha...all in her really mini farm in the backyard.
ever-so-lazy Brandy
Hyper Ruby - just 1 yr old pup who loves to jump around when excited
Mini backyard
the chickens turning up in full force
very cute birds she has :)
I'm a dog lover, so got quite a number of pics with her doggies. hehe...
Brandy basking in the warm sunlight
Hm... tht's what buddies do tog =P
Both of them hounding neighbour's pet bunny. haha
Now into our host's cosy lil house
Living room
her window in ther living room, overlooking the fields
Hazel & I in the dining room - took this in the middle of our lunch
OUr room. Caroline prepared to separate bedrooms for us, but Hazel & I decided to share a bed.. hehe...
Morning view over the field of greens - refreshing
Well, bcuz of our host's background - she's a widow and participates actively in many community activities, she didnt have time to personally cook food for us when the organiser was telling how good a cook she is. I was really looking forward to a cosy homecooked meal like a mini family gathering with our host. I just tried to convince myself that she just didnt have time for it, and probably the weekend we were there coincides with her busy schedule.
This is because, the first activity we did was to attend an AGM meeting with her in a pub. So Hazel and I just walked around to take some shots. The pub is just beside a town church, which is just beside her house.
Interior of pub
the pub owner collects coasters from all over the world!
Hazel looking out into the graveyard in front of the church
Next, she brought us to her friend's birthday party - which was the highlight of the day. It's actually her friend's mum's birthday, but she was invited and so brought us along. Her friend is more well-to-do and her house was very warm and nicely decorated.
We all sat the her patio which looks out to her garden. Look at the lunch feast on the table! The entire occasion was like a family gathering cum high-tea session. haha... her friend's uncle and dad will tell us casually bout their days in army back in WWII and how Singapore was just a passing stop for them when they were moving on to HK. haha... Her friend even mentioned that Singapore is an exotic place for them to travel to, and she showed us her 1984 pics when she was in Haw Par Villa! haha... Makes me wonder whatever happened to our famous Tiger Balm Park.
As the typical English lifestyle, tea was served after meals. haha... no, not tea and scones. Just nice warm English tea in small lil' English tea cups to sip from. After that, we walked around her mini orchard across the road.
On Sunday, we were invited to her friend, Mandy's house for a typical English Sunday lunch. It's supposed to be dinner, but because Mandy's hosting 2 other students who needs to leave after lunch, she thought it'd be a good idea for us to gather before they leave :) So, Caroline decided to bake some desserts and we chipped in!
Hazel cutting strawberries while i arranged it... and TADA!
Strawberry flan cake! :D
Caroline also made a super yummy apple crumble which I only had a spoonful from Hazel's plate :S
Before going to Mandy's place, Caroline took us on a spin around the fields. We spotted some cows along the way :)
After another sumptuous lunch at Mandy's place, we headed down to an English beach! Woohoo!~
It looks quite different from the typical beach resorts kinda beach bcuz this is actually an estuarine environment. haha.. cheemo, i just asked Hazel how to spell tht word. Estuarine is where the river enters the sea. haha.. learnt a new geog term :)
Cute boy walking along the beach.
Alot of families will come here during the summer.
there's even a beach tram! and what's a day at the beach without ice-cream? :)
After a long day out, we're back at Caroline's place doing what English does best. Drink tea!
Nosy hens ...
Finally, what I was looking forward to. A nice homecooked meal prepared by our host. Well, in the end, it's nice of her bringing us to their friend's place to have really feastlike English meals. I still think it's the best when we can just sit down to have a meal prepared by our host :)
A last pic with our host Caroline :)
On the way back, fields of grapeseed plant flowers bloom...
Come to think of it, this homestay was pretty interesting afterall. It was more fun for Hazel cuz Caroline was very knowledgeable in Geog stuff, so they've got alot to talk about. Well, I just listen and learn and have a good time :)
