Here's a recap of my HOST UK visit to Mr. and Mrs. S's residence..
[ 24 February 2006 ]
It was 4pm and I was rushing back to halls.. My train to Sevenoaks was at 5pm, so I barely had any time to rest.. After packing my clothes, towel and toiletries, I went off.. After one and a half hours, I arrived at Waterloo, where I was supposed to meet Mr. S and hop onto another train to get to Sevenoaks..
From the SMS that we exchanged, Mr. S was wearing a light blue coat and cream coloured trousers plus a woolly hat.. He even said that he'd make a sign for me so that I could find him :) But in the end, it was unnecessary because by the time I got off onto the platform, he was already there waiting for me.. When I first met him, I thought he was really tall :D Mr. S and I talked all the way to Sevenoaks.. He told me about their sons, A and R.. He also told me how he and his wife met :) He wanted to show me the Kentish countryside outside the train window but unfortunately it was getting too dark to see anything :P
When we got to Sevenoaks, I met his wife, Mrs. S.. She gave me a warm welcome despite waiting for us in the freezing cold for a good ten minutes or so at the train station.. They brought me back to their home which is very lovely.. Their house is definitely a lot bigger than all the houses I've been to in Southampton.. It had two cosy lounges, each with a fireplace.. There's even a garden but the nightfall meant that I couldn't see a thing..
Mrs. S showed me to my room.. It was their son A's room, but he's living in a flat elsewhere.. There was a picture pinned onto a cork board on the wall and I asked Mrs. S, "Is this your son?"
She coolly replied, "No, no, that's Peter Schmeichel."
(Oops. Face turns red in embarrassment.)
Both Mr. and Mrs. S told me about how their son R wouldn't eat any fruits or vegetables and I just quietly sat there, nodding innocently.. In my HOST UK application form, I had earlier mentioned that I only eat halal meat and if that wasn't available, I would eat vegetarian food.. Later, we all had this huge vegetarian dinner together.. To tell you the truth, that dinner alone had to be the most amount of vegetables I've ever eaten in one sitting :D
Dessert was ice-cream, pears and homemade chocolate sauce.. Yummy.. She even baked some blueberry muffins which she kept for the next day.. Oh, did I tell you that Mr. S makes his own bread at home? :)
Afterwards, we talked about all sorts of things all the way to midnight.. I could tell that they're very passionate about their sons.. We talked about R's travels round the world, their old pet snake (!), Muslim prayers, the differences between men and women and even refugees at one point.. I even found out that Mrs. S doesn't like to drink tea.. She's definitely not your stereotypical English lady :D
Mr. and Mrs. S like to banter a lot with each other which I think is really sweet :)
I slept with a beautiful quilt Mrs. S made herself.. Can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store! :)
[ 25 February 2006 ]
I swear I set my alarm clock to 8.30am.. Unfortunately, I only woke up an hour later :P Breakfast was a couple of pan au chocolat (chocolate-filled rolls) which Mr. S bought from a supermarket at 9am earlier.. He doesn't like crowds so he's usually the first to get to the checkout counters on Saturday mornings..
Later, we visited Down House, an English Heritage site which used to be Charles Darwin's house.. When I was asked whether I recognized who he was, I meekly answered "Is he a famous writer?", to which Mrs. S answered "Well, he's the person who discovered the theory of evolution."
Duh, of course.. Darwin! How could I have forgotten? That's No. 2 on the personal embarrassment list :P
Mrs. S bought me a guidebook to Down House and we toured the area, armed with our personal audioguides.. Darwin was quite the family man.. When he first wanted to get married, he made a balance sheet to weigh the pros and cons of getting married.. In the end, he got married to his cousin, Emma.. He never separated his family life from his work.. His children were free to walk in and out of his study at all times.. When he's not working, he would spend time with his children and listen to his wife as she reads books or family letters.. She supported her husband's work through thick and thin.. What's most interesting is the fact that Darwin never released his theory of evolution until 20 years later, for fear of the public's outlash..
We had lunch at Chartwell.. We wanted to visit Churchill's house but unfortunately it was closed for the winter.. We went along Sundridge as we went round the Kentish countryside.. I saw oast houses, which are used to dry hops for making beer.. There were lots of sheeps but no cows were to be found :P
Later in the evening, we visited Royal Tunbridge Wells.. It had the Chalybeate Spring and the waters purportedly had health-giving properties.. Unfortunately, that was closed too so we just walked around The Pantiles nearby.. This was where my lovely hosts bought me a box of heavenly chocolates.. Mrs. S tried to close my eyes from seeing the amount on the cash register's display but the chocolatier firmly spoke out loud the total price.. Woops.. hehe :P
When we got back, I looked at their garden.. Mr. S had made a small pond at the back.. He even had a bird feeder as well.. Some of the notable birds we saw included a pheasant, a woodpecker and a robin.. Afterwards, we all read the paper and sat in front of the TV to watch all sorts of sports which I had never taken notice of before.. We watched England lose to Scotland in a 6 Nations match - now I know what a try is! - then a few events from the Winter Olympics in Turin.. It was the first time I've ever seen speed ice skating in my entire life.. I sat on their really comfortable rocking chair for the entire time :)
Dinner was made by Mr. S.. Pasta in creme fresh with salmon, pie nuts, spinach and cheddar.. Then I tried Mrs. S's blueberry muffins and they were gorgeous.. Oh, BTW, I made their son R eat a grand total of two grapes :D
[ 26 February 2006 ]
After breakfast, we drove to Knole Park, the biggest privately owned piece of land in Sevenoaks.. We saw more oast houses and Ightham Mote, a mansion with a moat.. It looked like something that came out of a medieval period movie.. Then, as Mr. S said, no visit to Sevenoaks is complete without seeing the seven oaks.. So we went to see the seven oak trees of Sevenoaks.. Well, only 1 of them were standing majestically tall.. The other six had to be replanted again because there was a hurricane that brought them down some time ago..
Before I left, Mrs. S gave me some hot chocolate and chocolate biscuits.. It was bliss.. She later packed a cheese sandwich and her blueberry muffins for my lunch..
Before I knew it, I was at the train station on my way back to Southampton.. Sigh..
I called my mom to tell her about my weekend and she told me that she never had the chance to do that when she studied overseas before.. In a way, I'm glad that I took this opportunity.. At least I fulfilled one of my mother's ungranted wishes.. I would definitely treasure the time I spent with Mr. and Mrs. S.. They were generous beyond compare and treated me like family.. I learned a lot about the Kentish countryside.. But I guess what I like the most is the way they live their lives.. They're such a happy, loving couple living in their dream home.. Mr. S told me that they had attributes which compliment each other, sort of in a yin-yang kind of way.. Please pardon the exaggeration, but I really think they represent the 'happily ever after' phase pretty well :)
This is gonna sound very cliche, but thanks to HOST UK for this invaluable experience.. I don't understand why none of my international friends here in Southampton have tried it before.. Maybe they're scared of the prospect of living with total strangers in a foreign land.. But take it from me, you have nothing to be afraid of.. These people can be the friendliest people you've ever seen.. It only takes a little bit of courage to take the first step of applying to HOST.. I'm seriously considering of applying again :)
Pictures at Yahoo! Photos.
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NHA at 12:45 AM ::
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