Remember Us?

Yeah, that's okay. It's been a while. Life got busy, then busier, then there was too much to catch you all up on, and more busy, some more procrastinating, more procrastinating, and now this snowball of excuses that could have just been summed up by saying life happens. I've been blogging to you all in my mind. You didn't see those posts? Ah, well, moving on...

I can't catch you up completely, so let's review briefly some things we've learned.

Britishy Halloween

Britishy Halloween is not the same holiday as American Halloween.

In America, our brand new country with very little frightening history, Halloween is a time when kids dress up in costumes as princesses or superheroes and everyone gives them candy. Older kids go to "haunted houses" and get startled, we carve pumpkins, go on hay rides, and we all have good clean spooky fun.

In Britland, an ancient country with a past full of druids and churches and witchcraft and starving peasants, Halloween is a time to celebrate evil and real live scariness. Not for everyone, but it has a seriousness to it I have never even considered before. Here are some examples of our experiences with this:

Cap'n Jack, our 7 yr old, goes to a Church of England Primary school. During Religious Education class one day they asked the kids to tell them some activities we might do in a church. Jimmy D and I were frantically organizing the Halloween party (the American kind of Halloween) for our church at the time, so Cap'n Jack shot his hand up and said "Halloween parties!!". I think his teacher might have passed out. After regaining consciousness, eye twitching and gripping a crucifix, she shakily but firmly said, "No. We do NOT have Halloween parties at churches."

I was going to physio (physical therapy) in October. While stretching my leg all sorts of ways I don't think it was meant to go, my eccentric elderly therapist likes to chat. The week of Halloween she asked what I'd been up to. I told her I'd been busy organizing the Halloween party at my church and told her a bit about what we had planned. (Trick-or-treating to cars in the car park, games, pie bake-off, etc.)

She looked very grim and said, "I hate Halloween." (bending my leg farther) "I think it's horrid to see the children running up to my door. It all goes back to the time when people didn't know if they were going to survive the winter, you see." (yanking my leg behind my head and over my shoulder) "They would go door to door looking for food to get them through. I don't agree with children celebrating a holiday about who's going to survive and who will die." (now ripping my leg off and throwing it out the window) "But... I buy a bag of Mars bars and just hand those out instead of telling them all this. It's just easier that way."

Ahhh, Halloween. I'll never look at you the same again. But I'll still dress up and get candy all the same, and hang on to my innocent, naive way of celebrating.

*******

Look at that face! Is that the face of pure evil or what!?

Evil clown, Scary Fairy, and under his sweatshirt is a skeleton. We had to scary up the costumes to make them Britishy Halloween costumes.

Me painting faces at the controversial church Halloween party. Admittedly, most of the boys asked for bloody scars, but still...

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Parental Visit!!

My parents came to visit during the last 2 weeks of November! Yay! It went by so fast! We went in to London a few times, hit the Portobello Road Market, road tripped to Bath and Wales, had Thanksgiving, went to Leeds Castle, and let my Dad try driving on the left side of the road from the right side of the car. It was pretty freezing while they were here, and there's not much daylight this time of year to sight see by, but it was fun anyway! The kids had fun seeing Granny V and Grampa T. They hadn't seen Sunshine in almost a year, so she was a whole new person for them to meet. She kept calling my dad Grama. He didn't seem to mind.

My Dad liked seeing England through the lives of residents, instead of just a tourist in hotels. He might have been saying this to make us feel better about the lack of sightseeing they got to do, but I guess it's true. They didn't just hit tourist spots, they went to an assembly at a Britishy school, grocery shopped at Aldi, chatted with the fishmonger at the market, and ate cheese and crackers while we watched Gavin and Stacey episodes.

Our next guests are Jimmy D's parents and 2 of his sisters in May, so our Guest Suite is available for bookings until then! Come get an authentic taste of life in the Britishy countryside. Our kids may run in to use your toilet at 6 am, but it's all part of the experience.

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Granny V and Grampa T freezing at Stonehenge

My motley crew at Leeds Castle

Stinker's not too sure about that goose... it has shifty eyes...

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Thanksgiving In The Motherland

If you happen to be having Thanksgiving in Britland, make friends with someone in the US Armed Forces so you can get a turkey. Either that or be willing to pay enough for it that you won't want to eat it, because it's too valuable. This is fair enough, I guess, since turkey dinner only seems to roll out for Christmas over here, but still. Cut a foreign girl some slack! Also, you can find tinned (canned) pumpkin at Waitrose.

We filled our house with our family, 2 other American families, the missionaries from our church, my parents, and 2 Britishy families. I have 2 Britishy friends who had called their spot for Thanksgiving back in July. I don't blame them, it's the best holiday ever. You think of all the things you are thankful for, eat a ton of food, sleep, eat more food, play games or veg on the couch, and eat pie. Really, what more could you want from a holiday? They loved it!

*******

Food! Glorious food!

Elder Morrison is wondering if we're going to make him sit at the kiddie table.

**********

I'll fill you in on Christmas next post. It won't be in April either, I promise!

APC to the rescue!

What's APC? Read on.

I have a bloggy story for ya, but since I don't have pictures, I drew some for ya. Enjoy.

A week-ish or so ago, I went outside to clean the car out. JimmyD was inside with the kids, and I was in a hurry so I could get done before leaving for Book and Pudding Club. (Which is awesome, by the way.) After a few minutes, JimmyD came outside with a jar of calamine cream.

"How much was in here?" he asked.

I looked inside.

"More than that," I said. "Why?"

"I think Sunshine may have eaten a bunch. I found her with this, and she had it all over her hands and face."

He then went inside to Google the effects of eating calamine cream and get the number for Britishy Poison Control. I finished the car, then went in to see how things were going. JimmyD had gotten Sunshine drinking fluids, and called the poison number he had found online.

It didn't work, so he tried another....

( Several minutes later....... )

(Lots more minutes and lots more attempted numbers later.....)

(That's his phone....)

I went into his office to see if I could find any other numbers to call online. The webpage on the screen was one JimmyD had found about what happens if you eat calamine cream. At the bottom of the page, a phone number caught my eye.

AMERICAN POISON CONTROL!!!!!

Of course! I picked up the phone on the desk that calls America for free. (Voice-over IP phone for JimmyD to call American co-workers... and for us to call family.. and poison control)

"Hello, Poison Control..."

30 seconds later, I was speeding off to Book Club, secure with the knowlegde that the worst danger to come from Sunshine's snack was a few explosive diapers.

THE END

**Just so you all know, I guess you call NHS Direct for poisonings. Or America.

Proper Classy

Say it like this: Prah-pa Clossy. Then you are.

In the spirit of good blogging, I am willing to tell stories that make me look like an idiot in order to entertain you all. You're welcome. This story is set in classy Cornwall.... (cue flashback wavy lines and harps...)

Phyllis and the Cream Tea

Whilst on holiday in Cornwall, I decided it was high time I sat down to a proper English Cream Tea. Finding a cafe advertising said tea, I went in. When I made it to the front of the queue, the cashier lady was down the counter at the till with the previous customer, so I waited patiently like a good British Folk should for her to return. A man behind the counter was in the middle of scooping ice-cream into a blender, when he suddenly looked up and said "You all right there?" That usually equates to "How are you?" or a similar greeting, but the way he said it was more demanding, like I was doing something weird that needed to be addressed. "Yep. Just waiting for my turn to order." "Well?" the man asks impatiently. I guess I was supposed to have assumed that he meant to multi-task by taking my order while he scooped and blended, even though he hadn't said anything or even looked up at me yet.

I ordered the boys some ice cream and a cream tea for myself. I pointed to a row of boxes of tea on display and asked if these were the flavors of tea I could choose from. (They were boxes there for purchase, like, buy the whole box, not these are the flavors we have today. I assumed they were the options I had, the question was more rhetorical.) He stared at me blank-faced for a second then said in a very slow and careful way, "The tea comes with scones, and jam and clotted cream to put on the scones." "Great...(?)" I said, nodding. Then he pointed to the boxes of tea and said, "Which kind of tea would you like? The kinds we have are just over there" (pointing to the boxes I had just asked about.) I refrained from rolling my eyes and shaking my head, picked some tea, and sat down.

I told Jimmy D about the tea man and how he was treating me like I was a very stupid person who didn't understand English. The tea man kept glancing over at me like I was a phenomenon beyond his comprehension. Not in a good way, either. I could understand that if I had actually done something stupid, but I hadn't, so I was kind of bugged. He brought over the tea and scones, and on the saucer was a tiny, light brown sugar cube. I hadn't seen a brown sugar cube before, but assumed it was something trendy or organic or whatnot, dropped it into my teacup, then poured my tea over it. The man, who had been watching me closely from behind the counter in a suspicious way, came over to me and said (loudly) "That's not sugar. That's fudge. I can bring you some sugar if you'd like."

Crap!!!! I wasn't supposed to give him a valid reason to assume I was just another stupid American tourist! Darn you pretentious tea man!!! Why couldn't you have just let me sip my fudgy tea in ignorant bliss! Sigh.

"Oh... well.... no thanks..." I said, fishing my fudge out of my teacup as the entire cafe looked on.

There you go. Proper Classy.

(Note the look of deep concentration on my face. I had to be sure not to do something else to further discredit myself, like spreading jam on my teacup or eating the cream with a spoon or anything.)

Cornucopia O' British-y Fun

Remember me? No? Well, my fault, I guess. I'll hopefully be a better bloggy-pal now since the boys are back in school (woo-hoooo!) but I was looking over another blog of mine and realizing I've made these empty promises before, so I won't fill this one full of well-intentioned lies, too. I have a lot to tell you, so instead of make a long post about one event and then make more empty promises to post about the rest, how about a Cornucopia O' Britishy Fun? Alright then.

*We went on a family vacation to Cornwall. It was rainy a lot and kind of chilly for the beach, but we expected that, so it was still buckets of fun. Buckets. On the beach just down the road from where we were staying they had a contest I've never seen before. No, no, before you even go there, everyone was fully clothed. Come back to me now... out of the gutter... there. They had about 30 numbered stakes in the sand along the shore. Groups of about 4-8-ish people each had around 45 minutes to build a giant sand pile by their stake, and then everyone from the group had to stand on top of it. Then you wait. And wait. Eventually the tide comes in, and if anyone from your sand mound gets wet, your group is out. Last ones standing win. It was about as exciting as it sounds.... "C'mon, Liam, dig faster!" "Go on, Gav, pat that sand down 'round the sides there!" "Here comes one! Oh! 'Bout got yer foot there, eh?" Really, though, it was a great example of Britishy competition. Americans would be too easily bored and give up after the first hour...or two... or three... but the Britishy Folks are amazingly patient and awesome and like their slow-paced fun times. Even when we gave up after a few hours, there were still about 10 groups standing and a whole crowd of eager sand...mound..standing..(?) fans there cheering them on. I love it.

About 2 hrs into the contest:

...and now about 3 hrs in...

*Another Cornwall highlight was Kynance Cove. It's like the Disneyland of beaches, and we had a blast. You have to hike down some cliffs to get there, and it's only there at low tide. Since the sand spends half the time underwater, it is perfect for sand castles. The tide leaves little kiddie-sized pools in the sand behind the big rocks, and the ocean-although freakin' freezin'- has good boogie-boarding waves. You can buy wet-suits, sand toys, and boogie boards in the beach shop, and the whole place is just amazingly beautiful. If you are in Cornwall, go there. Or else. (fist shaking)

*Moving on from our "holiday", Cap'n Jack (our 7-yr old) had a whole day of Culture-Training. (shaking head sadly.) He now is filled with such vital information as the fact that Britishy Folks like to talk about the weather, don't embrace change, and are often found waiting in queues. I don't know how he could have survived life here without that amazing 7 hour course. JimmyD had to do his business-y Culture Training at work, but we weaseled out of the whole Saturday they had scheduled for the entire family session. It would have been a great thing if they had bothered to do it before we moved here, or even within the first month... or two... or three of getting here. So the moral of the story? If they offer you culture training, get them to do it before you go or right after you arrive, or else just laugh at them and tell them you "couldn't be bothered" to do the course, thus showing your Britishy culture skills in your diss.

*The TV Licensing people are after us. We haven't gotten a license since we don't watch live TV, so they keep sending us threatening letters. We might have to get one, I don't really know. They have threatened a few times now to stop by and inspect our TV setup, and I really wish they would, so we would know once and for all if we really have to get the license. (Our TV is hooked up to a computer with all our TV shows, movies, and music on it. I don't know if we could get live TV on our setup.) On the plus side, it makes me feel all edgy and wild to be evading the TV police.

*Stinker has officially decided to refer to tomatoes as to-mah-toes. It was a long and well-thought out decision on his part, and he seems to be pleased with the course he has chosen. He also now refers to "having a turn" as "having a go". Like this: "Mom, can I have a go on the Wii now?"

*Here's a brief overview on shops (stores to us Americans):

-Boots sells beauty products and medicines, not... well... boots.

-Aldi has super-kick-butt-awesome prices on food. Go there.

-Go to the Market (market stalls, sometimes everyday, sometimes weekends, depending on where you live) for your butcher, cheese, and produce.

-Next has such cute little tiny girl clothes and shoes that it is dangerous, but in a good way.

-Marks and Spencers is pricey and posh, but has good quality and inexpensive school uniforms.

-Lush is... well... lush. Ahhh, the hippie-meets-valley-girl goodness of that bath and body store is heavenly.

-Sainsbury's has everything, like a Super Wal-Mart or Super-Target, but not at the same low prices. You can find deals on things like clothes or home supply stuff, but not really on food.

-Argos has what you need for your home and toys for the kids, and my kids can be entertained for hours looking through their ginormous catalogue. Once they are done looking at it you can use it as their booster-seat at the table.

Well, time to pretend to help as JimmyD gets the kids into bed. What? No, I mean... time to get them in bed. I hope the uber-random post I've just given you will fill the void I've left his last month or so, and I plan on doing smaller posts more often. Oh, I did it, there's a potentially empty promise. At least know, if it goes unfulfilled, that I have every intention of keeping it right now. Life (and amazingly slow internet connections) just get in the way sometimes. Until next time, may your oversized car fit into the tiny parking spaces of the Britishy world.

Scottish Top Ten

We took a roadtrip up to Edinburgh (you say it like this: Ehd-in-burrah) Scotland about a week ago. It took nearly 9 hours to get there, but someone without kids might be able to get there in 6 1/2 or 7 hours. Or, if you drive like my brother, 3 hours.

There was so much we fit into the three non-driving days of our vacation, I have decided to present it Top Ten List style for ya.

From the home office in... well, in a non-specified English village, it's

The Top 10 Reasons You Should Visit Scotland!!!

Presenting tonight's list... Old Man With Shaggy Eyebrows! (He has nothing to do with the trip, but has amazing eyebrows, so he got the job.)

Reason # 10: ...to check out the world's only Emo cows :

...and the cows do tricks:

Reason # 9.... Time-out facilities in every castle:

Reason # 8.... for 20 Quid they'll shoot yer kids out of a cannon:


Reason # 7.... Thoughtful hooligans clearly label their work:


Reason # 6... kids love it!

Reason # 5.... Scottish men ain't afraid to show a little leg:

Reason # 4.... Recreate scenes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail at Doune Castle, where it was filmed:

Reason # 3.... You promised you would take The Ring to Mordor:

Reason # 2... Look what he can do!

And the number one reason to visit Scotland.....

because these guys said to.

Corny, confusing, and politically incorrect, but there you have it. We visit Cornwall next week, so I'll have some blog-worthy tales to tell, I'm sure!

Settled In

I've been thinking a lot lately about what seems normal, what seems weird, what is still cool, and what I'm used to about being all Britishy. (Did you follow that? No? It's cool- read on.) We've lived here about 3 months now- and we've had our stuff for a little over half that time. We are now... officially... settled!

For the first month or so after arrival, people's favorite question was "Are you settling in alright?" The answer then was "No, because I'm sleeping on the floor and cooking with less stuff than you take camping." It took a while, even after getting our belongings... and unpacking and assembling all the Ikea furniture... to feel settled. I guess for all you future expats, here's what we found needed to happen (besides having our stuff) before we felt settled:

- Getting financial things set up.
This meant bank account here, transferring money home, reimbursements for our moving expenses all sorted out, setting up bill-pay for utilities, (well, first figuring out what utilities there were to set up), getting checks, figuring out how to write them, getting our debit cards, figuring out how to use them, etc. There are a million of things like that to get all set up and arranged. Even getting used to the new appearance of cash takes a while before it feels natural.

-Getting the kids in school and a routine.
This involved researching and visiting local schools, applying to the county school board, waiting, waiting more, meeting new teachers, getting uniforms figured out, and getting Stinker used to even attending school at all. He was only in pre-school at home three mornings a week, and here he's all-day real school. He did pretty well. Even after getting all the official things figured out, there are still new habits to form- where to leave backpacks and homework so we can find them, when to do homework, what to do in the morning vs. in the night to get ready.... all those things. We figured them all out just in time for school to let out for the summer.

-Meeting people.
No matter how outgoing and friendly you are, you can only remember so many names and info about people in the first few weeks. Some people can remember all that easily, but for me it took three... or four... or more times of hearing or asking some names before I really knew them. You need to know people's sense of humor, attitudes, etc. before you can really feel comfortable chatting with them. Even if you put forth a huge effort, you just have to hang around people for a while before you feel like they are not a new person to you. And then you have to hope that they aren't scared off by your vast amounts of crazy. Maybe that's just me, though... ; ) I was also busy worrying about the kids... and JimmyD... hoping they were getting to know people, too.

- Feeling like everyday things are familiar.
Roads, stores, pubs(restaurants), what food is at the grocery store, how your appliances work.... Whenever you move to a new place there are a few things that you have to get used to. In a new country, it sometimes seems like everything is just different enough to throw you off. Road signs are different, shopping carts are different (they move sideways like at Ikea and you have to pay to unchain them! You get your money back when you return it.) how and where you go out to eat are different. I can go to the store now without having to really concentrate. I swear I'm not a blonde. It's harder than you'd think!

-Language.
Now, I know that in England they speak the same language as we do in America, but they really don't. I felt extremely handicapped when I tried to speak. It's not just that some words are different- the phrasing is different, too. Then there are the times when a word or phrase that I know, but just don't usually use, is what's normal here. Confused? Here, I'll show you. An American would say "Just park by the curb while I run into the store real quick for some milk." Or at least a Rednecked American. A Britishy person might say, "If you'll just wait by the kerb to stop us getting towed, I'll pop into the shop for some milk." This is actually kind of a fun game. Let's try another one. Hmmm.... A Rednecked American out to eat with a kid throwing a tantrum would say, "Kid, if you don't knock it off right now you'll be sittin' in the truck while we eat." A Britishy person out to eat wouldn't have a child throwing a tantrum, but if they did, they might say "Thomas, let's not have a strop in the middle of the pub. I shouldn't like to have to put you in the Mini whist the rest of us all sit comfortably indoors to eat our supper. There's a good lad." The point of all this was: it takes a while before you feel like you can talk without sounding like an idiot. Then there's the whole accent thing. It threw me at first, but now I kind of forget that people have an accent. I forget that I'm the one with the accent, I guess. I'm always a little surprised when people on the phone know who I am before I say my name, but then I remember that I have a crazy American accent giving me away.

Things now are just about right. I don't feel so out of place that I have to figure out everything I do or say all day long. I do still notice the differences enough to feel like I'm on an adventure. Jimmy D and I still say to each other, "Hey- guess what? We live in England. Weird!"


PS- We dicided to take a long weekend holiday to Edinburgh, Scotland and a week holiday to Cornwall here in England. We'll fill you in on those as they happen.

Ho-li-day (say it like in the Weezer song)

Let's go away! Let's go away! On a ho-li-day!

I'm done singing now.

The boys get their summer holiday soon, and since it only lasts about 6 weeks, we already set aside a week for a long "holiday", and a long weekend for a short one. Now we just have to decide where to go! We need some places that both the kids and adults will enjoy and that are relatively easy to travel to, whether by train, car, or cheap plane tickets.

I've been checking out some Rick Steves info on destinations, and asking around to see where other people have gone. Personally, I'm more of a chillin' vacation type. Not so much the crazy-whirlwind-see-it-all-theme-parkin'-all-week kind. Those kinds make me tired to even think about trying with kids. Here's some places we are interested in:

Southern England: Stonehenge, Bath, Leeds Castle

Northern England: nature and villages and stuff. Lots of walks and hiking and things. Maybe better in the spring/fall for a half-term vacation.

Scotland: Edinburgh, castles, kilts, the whole shabang.

Rome: I've already decided this one is a no-kids trip.

The Netherlands: Don't know too much about them, errr, it....? but people we know have been there and loved it. There is a theme park there I've heard is great... even if the pictures on the website look a bit creepy. Isn't that where there's a lot of windmills and maybe wooden shoes and whatnot? (Man, I'm just so cultured it hurts!)

Germany/Switzerland/Austria: My dad will want to go there when he visits, he served his mission for our church there... a long long time ago. Jimmy D's grampa is from Germany, so his parents will want to go there when they visit, too. So, not this summer then.

Spain: It sound cool, and JimmyD speaks Spanish.. Ooo, and flan. About all we have to say, but good enough for me.

There's probably more- I didn't even mention Paris... I'm kind of "meh" about going there.

So, there you have the greatest dilemma facing us right now. Where to "holiday" in Europe. Life's rough, isn't it? ; )

Blogging with Agelsfy

Today's post will be written by Phyllis's sister, who we'll call Agelsfy. She's and her friend are visiting us right now. So we make them blog for us.


Guest blogger time! Hooray! Or my sister just couldn't be bothered to post one today and is making me do it...but that works, cuz my friend KK and I just got back from a tour around the UK. We went to Stonehenge, Bath, Wales, Dublin, Edinburgh, and more little stops along the way. This post, as so helpfully suggested by my dear sister, is about the do-s and don't-s of what to bring/other stuff in the UK.

First things first. Pack light. If you're like me, you'll be buying seven pairs of shoes, among way too many other things, and won't need to bring a plethora of shirts or shoes, as I also did. Yes yes, I have traveled before, but I didn't remember how much I tend to buy (because let's face it, isn't that why I was saving the money in the first place? Yes). KK was smarter. This time...

Don't worry too much about getting a lot of cash exchanged. I've basically used my Visa the whole time I've been here. Of course, it is always a good idea to have some cash for places that don't take cards (but most places do), and also also a good idea to put little stashes away in different bags/pockets/treasure chests just in case one bag gets stolen. That way you still have money even though the douche who took your bag has your credit card. Cancel that asap.

On a lighter note, and you'll get the painfully lame pun here in a minute, don't bring all of your hair heating accessories (i.e. curling iron, flat iron, blow dryer) because the voltages don't work here and will spontaneously combust. See, the pun now comes into play by my use of the word "lighter", seeing as your bags will indeed be lighter. HA! It's funny. Laugh. If you can't live without your hair gadgets, there's a lovely little store here called Boots. It's everywhere. I'm not joking. Everywhere we went. It's like a Rite-Aid, and has a little of everything and for reasonable prices. Go for that. Plus, all of the hotels we stayed in had blow dryers. Phyllis sent me with hers and it just ended up taking up precious room in my shoe bag. I mean suitcase. No, shoe bag.

DO bring an umbrella! The weather is on an equal plane of ridiculousness with Utah weather. It'll be stiflingly hot one moment and then downpouring the next. The key to this tip is to bring one of those midget umbrellas that can fit in your purse/man satchel so you're not fed up with it the whole time. Like jackets. But those are also good to bring with you.

If you're worried about forgetting to bring something, don't. They have it all over here too and it's usually better than yours.

For electronics, Jimmy D equipped us with an air card and pay-as-you-go cell phones. There's a place called Vodaphone and Carphone Warehouse that are abundant in these. Top-up vouchers are the way to go. You can get the phones for pretty cheap, like super cheap. Like three pounds. Or so Phyllis says. If she lied, don't blame me. It was a set-up. Umm...oh yeah, most of the hotels we stayed in also had free wifi in the lobby. Not all of them, but I'd say about half...ish. Maybe more. They're not living in the stone age over here (minus the severe lack of air conditioning).

Oyster cards are a must for getting around on the tube. London's undergrounds are generally pretty easy to navigate, and the British are such polite and helpful people if you need to ask for directions. Also on the topic of travel, train tickets tend to be cheaper or be on deals when you buy more than one, so if you're traveling with someone else, it wouldn't hurt to ask if there's a deal going on. Off-peak (not during rush hour) are usually cheaper as well.

As for passing out from intense jet lag, we didn't get too much sleep on the flights over here. We did bring some Ambien, but for reasons unknown, didn't take it. Take it. Sleep is good. KK immediately passed out as soon as we got into Phyllis's car from the airport. I apparently had the opposite side effect and didn't end up going to bed until after everyone else in the house did. Not cool either. Sleep on the plane. Take drugs.

Aaand I think that'll do it for today. Until next time, you stay classy, San Diego.

Bits and Bobs

If you read my Britishy translation post, you'd know that means odds and ends. Here are some of the pictures I have been wanting to share, but they just don't seem to fit into any posts.

Okay, I had to show you the real picture of this because it looked so much like the stick figure one I drew. Eh? Eh?

Now, when deciding whether or not to move here, we were reeling from sticker shock on the price to rent in London. We kept saying we wanted to make sure we weren't going to be eating "London Ramen" for three years to compensate for rent. Well, we found the 'burbs and rent is much more manageable, but I thought you might like to see "London Ramen", so, here you go.

This is part of the wall that surrounded London in 80 AD when the Romans lived here. It is right outside Jimmy D's office.

This is one of my favorites. I might have even used it already, I dunno. I love all the footpaths here. You just mosey through fields and stuff. Sweet.

Now, I know it doesn't look like much, but this is a picture from the happiest day of my life. No joke. This is.... The Day Our Stuff Came!!!! Ahhhhhhhh!

This looked like strips of bacon, or bacon as I know it, so I bought it. After opening the package, I realized it wasn't two stacks of 5 or 6 pieces of bacon, it was just 2 really thick bacon-shaped pieces of meat. We tried to cook them like bacon, and they got really dry and tasted like burnt popcorn. Don't worry, we've hunted down a near-real bacon product since then.

I spent a looooong Saturday recently painting peacocks for a service project as part of Mormon Helping Hands. We did a mural on the wall of an education center for an animal reserve we were fixing up. Overall, it meant 10 hours of peacocks for me. Next time I'll sign up for sheep or something less... feathery.

We all made it to the London Temple a few weeks ago with a Primary activity. (The kids' classes in church.) A few wonderful adult leaders stayed outside with the kids- having a picnic, a scavenger hunt, and going to the Visitor's Center while a couple of us parents used the opportunity to attend the temple. It stayed sunny up until about 10 minutes after we came back out to get our kids, and then it majorly downpoured. I was very thankful Heavenly Father held off the rain while the kids were outside.

You can't see it well, but look closely- it's a 3 wheeled car! Crazy!

This is my favorite picture.

See ya tomorrow!

Comfort Food

Look, I'm here, as promised! Oh, yes, the blog-tastic week is here! It will kind of be catch-up, since I have a lot of things saved up for blogs, like pictures and whatnot.

Since we've arrived, I have been thinking a lot about different cultures' ways of doing things. Everyone on the planet has the same basic needs, and everyone has their own ways of meeting them. No two people are alike, which means there are as many ways to do things as there are people on the earth. When you take that into consideration, it's surprising how many things are similar about cultures and countries across the world. Aaaaand now I'm sounding too much like I'm about to break into an off-key rendition of "Heal the World", so let's move on.

One of the things we take for granted is the familiar food that surrounds us. We don't stop to question every thing we come across on the shelves at the grocery store, because we have seen those items for our whole lives. We know to look for a blue box if we want mac and cheese, or what to expect out of salad dressing. (Betcha didn't know you had expectations of your salad dressing! Well, you do.) There ends up being a lot of value in that easy relationship we form with the things around us. I never would have put it that way until I went food shopping here. It's like the twilight zone: everything is almost exactly the same, but just different enough to make you think way harder than you should have to about things like cheese and canned corn.

I had noticed this, but it didn't really hit home until I took a trip to The Food Company. They are a pricey store that sells a lot of foreign foods. (I'll do the exchange rate conversion for you and tell you the cost in US Dollars) Including...

MOUNTAIN DEW!!!!

only $2.12 a can!

American Marshmallows

$4.01 a bag

Cereal

$9.01 - $12.04 a box

10 packets Quaker Instant Oatmeal

$10.07 a box

(Are you couponers from the U.S. just dying at that?! I used to pick them up on sale, with coupon, for like 50 cents at Albertson's.)

Good ol' Aunt Jemima syrup

$8.56

Box o' Jell-O

only $2.65!

Reeses PB chips (my cookies miss these!!)

$7.50 a bag

Betty Crocker cake mix

$5.30

I didn't buy any more than Jimmy D's Father's Day Mt. Dew (it's like liquid gold!) and a bag of Goldfish crackers, but just seeing the familiar boxes and bags was enough to tempt me into being ripped off for the sake of the warm fuzzies they brought! I didn't expect to feel so emotional about those things! It's not like there aren't substitutes here that are as good (or better) than these products, but they are not mine. It's like rooting for the home team.

Still, I'm not gonna pay 12 bucks for cereal, even if I kind of want to hug the box and bask in its familiarity. So, send me some stuff. ; )