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Tuesday 11 September 2012

LSNED Day 9 and 10

I cant post photos because Im away from home and only have my ipad! There probably is a way, I just dont know how to do it!!!!!!! I will add photos when I work out how, or when I get back home to Singapore! Honest - I have done my pages!

Here's my thinking......... about learning and listening from those who have gone before me, on a day I had been moaning about for quite a while - just be thankful if you didnt have to listen - if you did hear me I am truly sorry!  Sunday 9th was a 37 hour day in my world! 32 of those hours spent in the air! Its a long way from Singapore to Houston!

I was thinking about two of my great great grand aunts - Kate who went to the USA and Emily who went to Australia around 1900,  they didnt ever return to England, they never saw each other again but they wrote to each other often, through their words I learnt about their lives and realised how similar they were  to ours as expats - although they were immigrants I realised we shared many similarities - anxiety about those who were elsewhere, sadness when people passed away and a sense of helplessness when they couldnt change things they were not particularly happy about. They loved, they explored new countries, they made new lives and learnt new things in their adopted homes, but they also brought with them things from England that were dear to them, and they shared their stories and memories!  

Emily would have made a great Scrapbooker - her letters are beautifully written - full of detail about her life, loves and losses! I owe her a lot, she taught me to write in my own hand and from the heart, because seeing her writing made me realise the power of the hand written word. I never met them, they died even before my mother and Aunt were born but by 'listening' to her words I feel I know her in a strange kind of way! 
 




For me it kinda cemented what Shimelle says in two of the classes I took - you can find them at Shimelle.com the 'Worth a thousand words' and 'True Stories' classes in particular helped me to work on the journalling side of Scrapbooking, and although I have an obsessive love of all things sparkly, and stash related- I hope when my descendants look at my pages, they feel pleased to meet me, in the way that I feel pleased to have met Kate and Emily!!!!


LSNED Day 10 was a list assignment mine is about our potential move to Houston, and this is what I learnt about Texas on day 1 of oir trip!

1 Jet lag is easier travelling east to west
2.Coffee and bacon sandwiches taste good anywhere - it was starbucks just in case you are wondering :D
3 I can fix American Cable TV faults even when the man on the helpline cut me off and didnt call back....... on my own! I am particularly proud of this one! :D
4 Its good to meet my husband for lunch!
5 Early morning in Houston was lovely
6 My English accent amuses people
7 People dont walk anywhere here!
8 Mc Donalds here sell milk - I cant function without proper English tea!
9 Portions here are HUGE
10 I wish I could speak a bit of Spanish - because here a lot of people do!


And here is the page I created!


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4 comments:

  1. I love the fact that you have got to know your great great grand aunts through their letter and that the letters are still in the family's possession.
    Your 10 on the 10th wow I can relate to all except the 10 because I felt the same when we went to Florida this year.
    I not only managed to get some English tea bags I actually found Yorkshire tea but boy wasn't it expensive, still it was worth it.
    I also noticed that they don't conserve things in the same way as we do. the amount of plastic carrier bags our shopping was packed into was ridiculous in the giant supermarket they did the packing as they rung the items through and sometimes there was just one item in a bag.

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    1. Thanks for taking the time to stop by Mary, and for your kind words! my other passion is genealogy and it was Kates great great grandson who scanned and sent me every page of every letter - there was a suitcase full of them it was so moving to read them and I am so grateful to him for sending them to me!

      I know what you mean about English tea, I brought some English tea here, it had already gone to Singapore so it must be the best travelled tea in the world! They do the same with the bags in Singapore - I tell them only to put things that could leak in bags! You occasionally get the heavy duty reusable ones there but I took some from Sainsburys and they look at me very strange when I tell them I have my own bags - it makes me feel so eccentric! Im ok with that (s)

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  2. Hello Alison,
    Thank you for your help with the scrapbooking on Docrafts, I was hoping to follow your blog but cannot find the followers button. (I will pop back another time) In the meantime have a fabulous holiday, this is very interesting reading, can't wait to see the pictures too.
    Teresa x

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  3. Sorry just had to giggle about you taking Sainsburys bags with you, I would do exactly the same :o)
    I also took Teabags to America for my Daughter who lives out there and misses her English tea. (and Cadburys chocolate)

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