St. George's Day Weekend

Friday: Last week, my Dad and I decided we'd train up to do a 5-10k run in the fall (autumn for our English readers), so I ran much further than usual on Friday. I will have to start wearing a t-shirt for running, because it is getting much too warm to wear my normal athletic wear. Much later in the evening, I popped next door to babysit the boys. 7 caused a bit of trouble, trying to delay his bedtime, but 13 helped me out and soon, the younger brother was fast asleep. As the older boys spent their evening listening to loud music and playing computer games in 14's room, I spent my evening on Skype and facebook… wow, that sounds a bit sad… I wish I could say I spent the evening reading or something, but I didn't.

Saturday: The Mum and Oldest arrived home from their trips on Friday night, so I welcomed them back on Saturday morning. Both were quite cheerful and friendly! I walked down to the High St. to check out the farmer's market before heading into the city centre for the St. George's  day celebrations. St. George's Day is the national day of England and has apparently been growing in recent years as English people seek to cultivate an English identity separate from the Britain that encompasses Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It's called 'St. George's Day' because St. George is the patron saint of England (and Georgia, and Portugal, and Ethiopia…) St. George was a Roman soldier and priest who was executed for refusing to worship pagan gods above Jesus… but most people just know him because of a legend that says he slayed a dragon.

Wow! I was not expecting such a great afternoon! One of the dj's I listen to in the mornings had given me the impression that St.George's day was not really celebrated with any enthusiasm— but  that was NOT the case. The city had set up three different venues with English crafts, beer, cider, cakes, a Saxon village and slave-market, sword-fighting demonstrations and— the best part— live music! I saw 2 really great bands: The Old Dance School and Demon Barbers.

I saw a family I knew from church, so I went over to say 'hello' and I ended up joining them for the rest of the afternoon; the invited me to have a picnic with them. It was really lovely of them to invite me, because I would have wandered around by myself, otherwise. We listened to the bands for a while, and while we were eating our picnic, we saw some Morris Dancers. Now, Morris Dancers are very traditionally English… but they are ridiculous. They are grown men, dressed in white and wearing silly straw hats with silk flowers, waistcoats made of brightly-coloured rags and bells on their knees. They hop around with handkerchiefs and sticks. These particular Morris dancers were performing in the churchyard of the Birmingham Cathedral, where all the highschool-aged emo-kids hang out. The Morris dancers actually got some of the punks to join in— it was hilarious! I also enjoyed some local cider before I headed home to have some curry with Aussie (who has been preparing for her Ofsted inspection all weekend.) So, St. George's Day was pretty cool… but not as cool as Canada Day (which I will have to celebrate in England this year.)

Photos: St. George stilt-walker, Katy Price look-a-like in St. George's garb, silly Morris dancers, emo-kid doing Morris dance, English step-dancers, men from 'Demon Barbers' doing sa-weet sword dance!
Sorry the pictures suck so bad. I was an idiot and forgot my camera, so I was stuck with the crappy camera on my phone.

Sunday: Today, I helped out with the 5-11 year-olds at church. It is always fun to play games and do crafts with kids, and so sweet to hear their questions about God. They are so curious and not at all embarrassed to talk about Jesus. One of the little girls will be moving later this year (her parents will be missionaries) and I asked her if she was excited. She said "Yes, but it's mostly for my parents, because they are going to tell people about Jesus." Adorable. After church, I was invited to lunch at a friend's house where I got to meet some new people. I was a little shy today, though. I don't like when I'm shy, I just feel awkward and not myself. :S I decided to go to the evening service at church because I had missed the message in the morning. We are continuing to look at the book of Esther and the focus today was on Esther taking a life-endangering risk to save the Jewish people. We were challenged to be bold and to not be afraid of the potential risks of living how God intends us or to tell people about Jesus. Now… I'm not going to post a full-on Gospel presentation on my blog, but I will tell you that Jesus loves you! If you are interested in talking more about it, so am I!

*sigh* back to normality tomorrow… Mop-Day.