For a start, I will write about the HOSTUK programme, which is this homestay programme with a British family. It's something which I did not initially planned to do, but hey one day this flyer just came in through our doorway and all of us Loughborough ppl were considering doing it. And we decided to sign up in pairs with our roomies....After all, it wld be cool to at least live with the Brits and see what's their average lifestyle like...
Application was sent out and me and Ben waited for the response, which I was rather surprised at. It turned out that our hosts were a middle-aged couple (Brian and Julia Westhead) with 2 young girls aged 13 and 9 (Sasha and Lydia), something which is very different from the other hosts our friends were assigned to. (Cos most hosts are usually old couples who are happily retired) I remember me and Ben were joking abt whether we were gonna have a granny and grandpa for company for the weekend or a family with really hot daughters instead!! Argh ok...wishful thinking....muhahaha....Anw our hosts sent us a few links to inform us more about themselves, which I thought was rather cool and different from other hosts.
http://www.headwest-productions.co.uk/
http://www.aognewmills.org.uk/about/college.php
http://www.headwest-productions.co.uk/newsletters/2007.pdf
However, I must admit I was kinda taken aback at the strong Christian faith displayed by our hosts. I am a free-thinker (a bit on the apathetic side too) while Ben is a bit of a half-Christian (the dude doesn't follow rules!!), so we mused that this trip is going to be really really interesting for the both of us.
Nevertheless, keeping an open mind, we travelled to our host's location. New Mills, which is a small town in Derbyshire, located in the rural heart of UK in the Peak District. The journey took 2 train changes at Derby and Sheffield before arriving at New Mills Central. Along the way, can't help but notice the rolling plains and uneven terrain of what is known as the Peak District. (Loughborough is relatively flat btw :p)
And we have finally arrived!!!
Mr Brian Westhead picked us up from the station in his car and it was a short drive uphill to his house. It's situated on a really steep slope, the whole terrain of the Peak District as I described was hilly and many of the residential areas in New Mills are based on the slopes. My first impressions: The Westheads are a middle-class family in sub-urbia England. Their house is relatively spacious and very comfortable. We were greeted by Millie, their beloved dog (I think it's an English Shepherd...) who seemed to take great interest in blocking our paths (my path actually...haha....she was more interested in smelling my crotch for some reason) But Ben was really good at handling dogs and Millie warmed up to us in no time....and I followed suit by scratching Millie's underbelly....(hmm....all dogs seem to love it...according to Ben).
Ooh...look! Ben and Millie's colours really blend in....no wonder they hit it off so well at first! Muhahaha!
Brian then showed us around the house. It's about 3 stories high, well actually since it's situated on the slope, it's such that the 3 levels start from the top and run to the bottom. The living room as shown.
The music room, with some really cute figurines and deco in it. The Westheads actually play for the local church. Brian is the lead guitarist and Julia is the lead singer. Their daughters are also well-versed at playing the piano and Lydia played us a tune to demonstrate her musical talents. Music bonds this family together.
The view from the balcony and overlooking New Mills
The backyard consists of the playground and garden, which is really quite a bit of space. The shed and garden were built by Brian.
And here's Lydia, the 9 yr old daughter of the Westheads who's not shy of us and was really eager to show us around the house. She told us that her parents have played hosts to many other students like us before, which includes Iranians, Italians, Americans, Chinese, Koreans....etc...so I guess she's really used to this and glad about it for the company too!
The Westheads fixed a really simple but delicious dinner for us. Bread (taste surprisingly flavour-ful and went really well with butter and mustard), ham, salad, pork pies (yummy!!)
We had a really nice sit-down conversation with our hosts during dinner, where we spoke a bit more of Singapore. They have heard of it but have no idea what it is like in Singapore. And they were really amazed at our command of the English language (compliments which we have already gotten used to by now in the UK...muhahaha!!)
We were interrupted by Lydia who was eager to share with us her sweets. Friday is apparently her "Sweets Day" where she is allowed to have sweets after dinner! And as explained by Julia, New Mills also happens to be home to Swizzels Matlow, a UK-based sweet manufacturer and is the biggest employer here in New Mills. They literally hand out bags of sweets to all the children.....FREE!!
See what I mean!! Bags of sweets!! Tried the Drumstick lollies and Refreshers. Chewy and fruity!!
Brian then took us to one of the local pubs, the Fox Inn, which is one of the oldest pubs in town. This kinda surprised us as we were not really expecting our hosts to take us 2 young lads to go drinking. And yes I could tell that Ben was extremely happy that there was beer!! Heck he was worried that he had to go sober over the weekend!! Anw Brian also brought a friend, Ian, to meet us at the pub where we had a couple of beer and even more conversation.
Ahhhh!!! Good ol' beer to warm our hearts!!
The music room, with some really cute figurines and deco in it. The Westheads actually play for the local church. Brian is the lead guitarist and Julia is the lead singer. Their daughters are also well-versed at playing the piano and Lydia played us a tune to demonstrate her musical talents. Music bonds this family together.
The view from the balcony and overlooking New Mills
The backyard consists of the playground and garden, which is really quite a bit of space. The shed and garden were built by Brian.
And here's Lydia, the 9 yr old daughter of the Westheads who's not shy of us and was really eager to show us around the house. She told us that her parents have played hosts to many other students like us before, which includes Iranians, Italians, Americans, Chinese, Koreans....etc...so I guess she's really used to this and glad about it for the company too!
The Westheads fixed a really simple but delicious dinner for us. Bread (taste surprisingly flavour-ful and went really well with butter and mustard), ham, salad, pork pies (yummy!!)
We had a really nice sit-down conversation with our hosts during dinner, where we spoke a bit more of Singapore. They have heard of it but have no idea what it is like in Singapore. And they were really amazed at our command of the English language (compliments which we have already gotten used to by now in the UK...muhahaha!!)
We were interrupted by Lydia who was eager to share with us her sweets. Friday is apparently her "Sweets Day" where she is allowed to have sweets after dinner! And as explained by Julia, New Mills also happens to be home to Swizzels Matlow, a UK-based sweet manufacturer and is the biggest employer here in New Mills. They literally hand out bags of sweets to all the children.....FREE!!
See what I mean!! Bags of sweets!! Tried the Drumstick lollies and Refreshers. Chewy and fruity!!
Brian then took us to one of the local pubs, the Fox Inn, which is one of the oldest pubs in town. This kinda surprised us as we were not really expecting our hosts to take us 2 young lads to go drinking. And yes I could tell that Ben was extremely happy that there was beer!! Heck he was worried that he had to go sober over the weekend!! Anw Brian also brought a friend, Ian, to meet us at the pub where we had a couple of beer and even more conversation.
Ahhhh!!! Good ol' beer to warm our hearts!!
Ian is a very interesting person. He works in a museum in Manchester. In short, his work involves designing exhibitions and creating a creative and learning environment for children. And he was really interested to know what kind of museums we have as well as how children learn in Singapore. The whole conversation led to our discussion of Singapore's education system with streaming, bell curves, our fast pace of life and little tolerance for failure.....a bit of Singapore-bashing actually....lol.....to which both Brian and Ian were really amazed to hear of. (Esp. that bell curve part!!!)
The night ended with us taking a short leisurely stroll back along the dirt track amidst the darkness of sub-urbia New Mills and the illuminating lights of nearby Manchester. It's possible to spot Manchester from a distance from our point up. A very short, brief intro to the Westheads, and I am already feeling very comfortable with them. Wondering what's gonna be in store for us over the weekend? Certainly looking forward to it!
Part II coming soon....
The night ended with us taking a short leisurely stroll back along the dirt track amidst the darkness of sub-urbia New Mills and the illuminating lights of nearby Manchester. It's possible to spot Manchester from a distance from our point up. A very short, brief intro to the Westheads, and I am already feeling very comfortable with them. Wondering what's gonna be in store for us over the weekend? Certainly looking forward to it!
Part II coming soon....
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