school days

here's my little british schoolboy. for multicultural week at school, the kids gave presentations of their family heritage. we have no trinkets or traditions, sad to say, from greece and finland, (and other various scandinavian countries on greg's side of the family,) and were really at a loss for what to do. finally, last minute, i suggested to francis that he choose great britain: i spent a few years of my childhood there, and have trinkets and memories in abundance. greg has been there too, and has much fondness and memories as well. so francis was very excited to do that. he wanted to wear my school uniform's coat and scarf, (which hasn't changed) and chose black pants and a blue checkered button-up shirt, to look like the boys school uniform. very clever! we then scoured our house for british souvenirs, which was quite easy. he brought a ribena can (my favorite drink), a smarties pack, a toy double-decker bus, a london mug, a tote bag of the london underground, and some photographs of me in my school uniform from when i was about 7 or 8. but i sadly couldn't find any coins. (i know i have some somewhere.)he was very cute giving his presentation. he had interviewed me on things that are different in the UK, things that a kid would be interested in. the kids in his class were very surprised to hear that if they lived in england they would all be wearing uniforms, would most likely have tea-time at 4 o'clock, and their favorite drink would probably be black currant! they didn't even know what black currant was! also, francis shared the sad plight of the double decker bus, and the iconic telephone boxes, to also show that many things are indeed changing. (modernity! ever forwards and upwards!) strangely, top on his list of places to visit someday, next to london, is Dover! he saw on special on tv about it recently, and has been talking nonstop about it. (the WWII museum, the castles, the cliffs!) then i really surpised him even more by (serious digging this time) finding my chalk rocks from dover that i had stored in a jar, which i found way back under my bed. needless to say, he was very impressed. i do hope to take him there someday...we're workin' on it.