Christmas in Keele

Keele is a very quiet place, especially during winter holiday when most of the students are going back home for Christmas. We realise that there’s no way we’re gonna feel the atmosphere of a merry Christmas in such a remote village like Keele, it’s waaaay beyond our wildest imagination. So, we just forget the idea about having Christmas experience in British way and decide to enjoy what we have.

So, in the morning, after having coffee, the three of us decide to have a quick walk and have breakfast afterwards, while the other two decide to stay. We walk to Keele Hall, take some pictures, see some cute ducks swimming in the pond, see people walking their dogs to the woods, then we plan to go back home. On our way back, we pass by the Chapel and decide to see what’s going on inside. Then, there we are, looking around the Chapel and reading stuffs on the notice board when suddenly the Chaplain lady comes to us and asks if we need some helps. As we answer that we’re just visiting and wondering what’s going on inside the Chapel, the Chaplain offers us to join her for Christmas dinner. Well, since we’re students, and students are not supposed to reject such a nice offer, we end up sitting in her car heading to her house for the dinner.

We help the lady to prepare the dinner, cooking the turkey, vegetables, pudding, and then arranging the table, until the other two students from Germany and The Isle of Man come. We really never expect to have a fancy Christmas dinner like this. First, we have the turkey with gravy, potatoes, carrots and brussel sprouts as the main course. Then, before having the desserts, we watch TV to see the Queen giving the Christmas speech. Later on, we have christmas pudding, which is so yummy! After cleaning the dining table, we move to the living room and have coffee. While enjoying the coffee, we watch Catherine, the Chaplain lady, opening her Christmas presents sent by her friends. The dinner is so lovely!

Since we have two friends waiting at home and don’t have any idea of where we are, we think that we’d better leave soon before they call the police. So, it's time for us to say goodbye and millions of thanks to Catherine for inviting us to the dinner. For foreign students, having a British christmas dinner is such a nice experience. And somehow the experience comes when we least expect it... we only plan to have a quick walk to the woods wearing only sweatshirt, pants and trainers, and we end up having a quite fancy Christmas dinner in a real house… miracle does happen to nice people like us! ; )

ftd!