Kat's Cambridge Catch Up #4

The River Cam - Punting boats ready to go

I cannot believe January is done and dusted already!! Time is going way too fast! I hope the start of your 2017 is going well. I'd love to hear what you've been up to! January has been a pretty busy and eventful month for me so I hope you enjoy this post!

We had one of our good friends, FK from uni stay with us for New Year's Eve. It was great to see him again as it's been a while at least for me as I finished uni a while ago but hubby use to work in the same building as him. We took him around the sights of Cambridge - the River Cam, the Moot (Castle Hill), Wetherspoons & other English pubs and Ely. The boys bought a huge-ass firework to light up for new year's eve! Apparently it's legal to set them off in your own property and we could hear many in the area that night. 

Photo courtesy of FK

Foods from The Hopbine Pub and Zizzi Italian

We celebrated MH's birthday at a really nice, laid back and rustic restaurant called St John's Chop House. They had a small menu but all of the dishes sounded amazing. We had the early bird special which was something 3 courses for under £20 which is an awesome deal! I had a selection of cured fish, sausages and mash and pear crumble. Super full by the end of that night!

In the middle of January, parts of the UK was dusted in snow! Luckily, Cambridge some as well (not as much as other places north from here). Even though I've seen snow in Aus and in the Swiss Alps, I haven't the snow falling. I was so excited when I was a little snow fall on my way to work one morning that I stopped in a little driveway to capture the moment. I think people thought I was a bit strange but it made me happy to experience it (however short it was).

I bought tickets to see a show put on by Cambridge University Dance Society called Poetry In Motion at the ADC Theatre, mainly to watch one of my aerial teachers perform. It showcased a variety of acts in different genres including contemporary, lyrical, pole dance, aerial silks, traditional culture, acro-aerobics and hop hop. It was amazing to watch! I do miss dancing!

We celebrated Australia Day at MH and KC's place! They really got into the spirit which was awesome and put us actual Aussies to shame haha! We had burgers and Coopers beer for dinner and watched Crocodile Dundee. I know in Sydney it was super hot that day. Man, what a good day it would have been for the beach!

Work has been really awesome as well! I love working across two schools and imparting my knowledge into the role as a science technician. I was lucky to be asked to go along to a science and tech challenge day at our partnering school with students competing from across our three campuses. It was a joy to see the kids work outside their regular environment and step out of their comfort zone. I know I wouldn't have been able to do that when I was their age. 

In my last Cambridge Catch Up way back in November, I mentioned that I started learning aerial silks at Cambridge Community Circus. Somehow, at the beginning of the year I found myself around the trapeze and I haven't left it! It has been a very challenging month learning skills on the trapeze but we have some great and inspirational teachers. My strength, flexibility and confidence has come a long way since starting aerial in October and I'm excited to see where this takes me. Only last week I was signed off on the apparatus for unsupervised training. I have some choreographic ideas to try and put together and hopefully one day I can perform something. After every lesson, I come away calloused, bruised, sore and tired but it's so worth it! I'm going to try a different aerial discipline (alongside trapeze) in March as well! I definitely encourage anyone who has thought about trying a circus skill to go for it! I even tried juggling for a bit but that didn't come very naturally - practise practise practise! Follow my Instagram for future circus photos @ninja_kat! 

Thanks for reading and keeping up with my adventures in the UK!