Black Friday

We just got home from having a Thanksgiving meal with our small group from church. It is an afternoon where we can relax, fellowship, and and take part in one of the best holidays that the United States has to offer. It is fun to watch our British friends resist the temptation to make roast potatoes and to instead mash them, to see two of our friends pulling on opposite sides of a wishbone, or watch our priest-in-charge try pumpkin pie for the first time.

Both years I have given an abridged version of the history of thanksgiving and we go around the table and share things that we are thankful for. All around it is a fun day; especially this year having homemade mulled cider.

The question I dread though is this, 'What is Black Friday?'

You see they don't have anything like it over here and the concept is foreign to them. There is not one high holy day of consumerism where people worship under the guise of preparing for one of Christianity's holiest days. It just doesn't happen. So they are shocked when I explain to them that stores/shops open at midnight and that you have to be one of the first people in the store or else you won't get the $2 toaster (that is regularly priced at $29.99). They are gobsmacked to hear that people camp outside stores for days in order to get the latest video game system or the ticklish new toy, and they don't know what to make of people pushing, shoving, and using pepper spray!?!?! to get a good deal.

My opinion of Black Friday has changed since being in England. I used to think of it as a slightly pathetic but harmless way to spend the day after Thanksgiving. I now find it to be one of the most embarrassing parts of the culture that I come from. As one of my English friends today commented, many of the people that go out are acting as strongly religious people, committed to their belief that bargain prices are worth their time and energy.

I know it is not the only 'religion' that runs amok in U.S. culture (God and I are still chatting about my fascination with professional sports) but it is one that saddens me, especially when I have to explain it to outsiders who are celebrating a day that at it's core encourages gratefulness.

Updates on Life

Clive is 28 weeks old today, (where has the time gone?) and we have been shamefully bad about keeping up-to-date, not only with him, but with jobs, family, future plans, etc. Here's my attempt to do better at that.

Clive has been eating real people food now for about 6 weeks, and it has made a wonderful (though challenging and messy) change in our lives. He seems to thrive on it. You may remember that initially he would only eat banana or banana+other stuff. Thankfully, he is past that stage (or he'd be 10 years old eating an In-N-Out Burger with banana smashed all over it) and now eats yogurt, cheese, meat, quiche, pizza, etc and he can reasonably feed himself bread and ravioli with his hands. We are so proud of our big boy! Plus, his weight has picked up dramatically with the introduction of food. I look back on the days when he was sick and losing weight and I'm so glad that now we a thriving and chubby baby.
He also sleeps through the night now, which is a HUGE improvement over waking every hour like he was doing only a few weeks ago, and taking more regular naps. Basically, he is happy, healthy, smiling and laughing, and to not risk sounding like an obsessed parent I'll stop there.

Zac had a big step forward last week, and that was starting the process of ordination in the Church of England. He meet with our Diocesan Director of Ordinands and the meeting went so well that the DDO said that he was confident that Zac should begin the process. The process is at least a year long and involves a lot of work, meetings, selection committees, etc, and there are LOTS of opportunities for them to decide not to advance a candidate. We are excited to have made this first step and praying that God will affirm for Zac his calling in ministry and make it obvious to the diocese people. Your prayers in this area are appreciated!

Erica (that's me, so I'll switch to the first person) I'm continuing my freelance graphic design work, which is very flexible and allows me to still take care of Clive during the day. I have only a few clients at the moment, which is good because I have only a few hours a day to devote to it, but I am looking for more (hours and clients!). I really love doing my graphic design, and I love being my own boss :); satisfaction definitely trumping financial success right now. Recently I've started doing 4 hours a week of work at our church, during which time Clive is watched by a friend. I'll be completely re-vamping the church website, you can see the final product hopefully around Christmas!
I'd also like to welcome my new nephew into the world, born October 28th (so a few weeks ago now). He was born to my sister Allie and her husband Evan, and we're thrilled to have another little one in the family (I love babies, can you tell?). Alexei Sebastian Friesen, you are very cute and we can't wait to meet you at Christmas!

And in case you hadn't yet heard, we are going to spend our first Christmas in 2 years back in the US! I love living here in England, but Christmas is a hard time to be away from family. We'll be splitting our time between Ohio and California, in Ohio from Dec 16-Dec 25 and California Dec 25-Jan 4. We can't wait to see everyone!

Just One of Those Things

Erica and I have been in the UK for over two years, have adjusted to/accepted most of the cultural differences and yet I am always surprised by how much it bothers me.

The zippers over here are backwards.

Here's what I mean.

When I buy a jacket or hoodie, I put it on and as I go to zip it up the pull of the zipper is in my left hand rather than the right.

This really threw me off at first when I would be out browsing at a shop such as H&M (where I am never quite sure what are men's clothes and what are women's).

While I now understand that it is backwards to what I am used to; it is always strange when I put on a jacket for the first time and I routinely use my right hand to grab for the pull even on a jacket that I have owned for over a year.

As opposed to other left-handed peculiarities this is one that is not limited to the UK. While we were in Ukraine last year we met up with one of the missionaries who was there in Kiev. He was wearing a nice custom made track jacket with the name of the football team that he coached on it. I jokingly asked him if it had an 'American' zipper or a 'European' zipper. He made clear that it had a 'normal' zipper and that the rest of teams jackets all had the American style as well.

I guess in the changing of cultures there are some things that you just can't let go of.



In other news, yesterday I met up with a DDO named Clive. Details to follow shortly.