Kindness of Strangers...

There are a lot experiences in life that can humble a person.  Moving overseas has been the most humbling experience.  Everything, even the language at times, is foreign.  For those first few weeks, ever time we did something, it was our first time.  Moving overseas is not like going on a vacation.  There are all those tasks associated with moving that must be completed.  To complicate matters, when you move overseas, you have no credit history and often times do not understand the process for each task. 

From the moment we arrived in the UK, we have been reliant on the kindness of strangers to answer our questions, explain forms, point us in the correct direction, even give us a drive.  One of the first tasks we had to complete was setting up a bank account.  AJ's company provides each expat family with a letter that helps the family open a bank account, but we still had to fill out the forms.  We tried our best to complete the forms before going to the bank to ask our questions.  Upon arrival, we attempted to ask one of the employees our questions, so we could submit the application.  Initially, she just told us to have a seat a table and "Give it a go!"  After getting this answer three times, she and another employee realized we were truly clueless and needed their assistance.  They then helped us complete the application, which immediately lifted a weight off our shoulders. 

When we moved into our house, there was a host of tasks that needed to be completed.  The first task was switching the utilities into our name.  I called the utilities company to complete this task.  A man with a thick Gordie accent answered to assist me.  At this point, I was still working on understanding the various accents.  As I attempted to understand his questions enough to provide the correct information, I could tell that he was having just as much difficulty understanding me.  After sensing my slight frustration that I could not understand the information he wanted, he politely transferred me to another employee.  This employee was much easier for me to understand and patiently explained everything I needed to do and know. 

 Finally, our neighbors, who initially were strangers, but have quickly become friends, have shown us continual kindness.  Three sets of neighbors introduced themselves to us within two days of our arrival.  They have shown us how to set our security system, pick up train tickets, operate the washing machine, move furniture, and how to lock and unlock the house.  While we were grateful for their help with each of those tasks, we are truly appreciative of the sense of community, friendship, and security they have given us.  So much of life overseas can easily become overwhelming in those initial days and weeks, but our neighbors' kindness has made this new country start to feel like home.

So, as you walk through life, remember that a bit of kindness can be the burst of sunshine in a stranger's day, and that our lights will always be on!

~W 

Laundry...the never-ending story...

Laundry...this was the primary topic or concern of our friends when we announced we were moving to the UK.  After the congratulations and logistical questions, the questions about appliances, specifically the washer, dryer, and refrigerator began.  Would we have American-sized appliances?  How big are the washers and dryers really?  How long would a load take?  How are towels, sheets, and comforters washed and dried?  Am I going to spend my days in the UK just doing laundry?

Our UK washer and dryer in our mudroom.

The rumors are true.  The washers and dryers are smaller than their American counterparts.  We do not have American-sized appliances, but typical UK appliances.  We are fortunate to have a separate room off the kitchen for our washer and dryer.  Many homes in the UK have the washer and dryer in the kitchen.  Our mudroom houses our washer and dryer as well as additional storage.  It also provides a great spot for sorting and folding laundry.

It has taken me a few loads to figure out exactly how much laundry the washer can handle.  The door and opening is quite small, so I was hesitant to overfill the washer.  Putting the clothes in the washer in a certain way allows me to get more in each load.  One load of laundry takes anywhere from 90 minutes to 180 minutes depending upon the type of wash.  I can luckily fit all of the clothes from the washer into the dryer at once.  Each load takes 60 to 90 minutes to dry.  Many of our UK neighbors have a clothesline or rotary dryer (a fancier clothesline) in their back gardens that they use instead of a dryer.  We have not yet purchased a clothesline, but it is on our list!  I have not yet tackled washing comforters or duvets, but have managed to successfully wash our other linens.  Two towels, one fitted sheet, and two pillowcases fit into one load. 

Two loads of laundry to be folded!

When comparing our laundry from the states to the UK, I do twice as many loads, and it takes twice the time.  All in all, the laundry situation has not been daunting at all.  I typically just take one day to do all of our laundry.  I am sure that this would be different if we had children, who produced much more laundry!

Remember, our lights are always on, but luckily I am not stuck in the laundry room all day long!

~W

Now I Can...July 2014 edition

As a speech-language pathologist, one of my primary responsibilities was to identify a skill that was weak, identify a goal to target the deficit, and then provide opportunities and practice to learn or strengthen the necessary skill.  Setting and achieving goals is how you challenge yourself and grow.   I saw a quote that said, "The struggle you are in today is developing the strength you need for tomorrow."  Honestly, there is so much that is rewarding about this experience, but there is equally as much as that is difficult and a struggle.  Some days everything is hard and tedious, due to unfamiliarity, language barriers, or inexperience.  Some struggles are bigger than others, but each achievement brings a bit of normalcy with it.

"Struggles" has a negative connotation, however, I have chosen during this adventure to use those struggles as a springboard.  Each struggle offers the opportunity to learn and grow.  Since the list of unfamiliar, difficult, or new experiences seems ever-ending, I decided to make monthly goals for myself.  Breaking the list up into smaller bits has made the overwhelming task of transitioning to life in the UK a bit more manageable!  July offered daily challenges and successes; each of which has helped make life feel more routine! 

Now I can...

1.  Cross the street without looking like an American; I now naturally look to my right to check for oncoming traffic!

2.  Pay using exact change in all British coins without having to look at the value of each coin.

3.  Catch a bus from the city center to take me home.

4.  Order food at a pub with confidence and without the server having to ask 20 questions! 

5.  Relay my UK mobile number and address without having to look it up!

6.  Tell you how to buy a TV license and why you must have one!

7.  Use my pin and chip debit card without assistance.
8.  Lock and unlock our front door (the only real entrance into the house) without standing at the door for five minutes just praying for it to open!
9.  Cross a roundabout and know exactly where to look for traffic!  

By the end of August, I hope to be able to...

1.  Drive around our local area with some level of confidence, not too much anxiety, and without hitting the curbs!

2.  Join a local gym.

3.  Learn what all the road and highway signs mean.

4.  Pay our bills using the pay point system.
5.  Obtain a library card.  


As I check goals off, remember our lights will always be on!

~W

What I Learned Living in a Hotel...

We have officially been in our new home for a week now!  Through the relocation, we had packers that did all of the wrapping, packing, and labeling.  It was quite the operation.  It was a first for us…we have usually just moved using the beer and pizza bribe method to get friends to take pity on us!  By the 18th of June, everything was bubbled-wrapped, so off to the hotel we went.  Due to unforeseen circumstances, we were in a hotel once we arrived in the UK for 25 days!  We survived and have some fun stories about that chapter of our adventure.  Living in a hotel for an extended period time while not on a vacation, teaches you a lot about yourself and life! 

Here is what I learned…

7.  As glamorous as it sounds to lounge by the pool, eat the hotel breakfast buffet, eat out each dinner, and have someone else clean your room, the novelty wears off quickly.  I began to long for a routine and even those dreaded chores!  I established my "hotel routine," but I knew it would be temporary and change once we moved into our house.

6.  Restaurant food is delicious; however, after over 60 meals at a restaurant, I began to crave home-cooked food.   Our first home-cooked meal at our house never tasted so good!

5.  Hotel chairs are really not meant to be sat in for long periods of time!  Our hotel room was just that...a room, with a bed, desk, and one chair.  The seating options in our room were the bed or a chair designed more for looks than functionality and comfort.  I would often go out for most of the day, but would come back to the room in the late afternoon to wait for AJ.  Since the cool looking chair was not very comfortable, I spent a lot of time lounging on the bed, reading a book or occupying my time on the computer.  It felt much more unproductive doing these activities on a bed versus if I would have been sitting at a table or desk!  It is a matter of perception, I guess!

4.  I learned what possessions I truly value and give me a sense of security.  For over a month, the only possessions we had were our checked luggage.  We had a variety of clothes, DVDs, and books.  We had no photos or mementos, as they were all in our sea shipment.  As the weeks dragged by, I really did not miss clothing or jewelry; but I missed seeing the items that made a space feel familiar.  I had brought one of my favorite fluffy blankets in our checked luggage.  On those days and nights that I was homesick, I would curl up on the hotel bed with my blanket.  It felt a bit like home. 

3.  At home in the states, I never realized how comfy our bed was until I slept on a hotel mattress for a month!  We both often woke up stiff and sore from the bed.  Our hotel bed also was two twin beds pushed together to make a king.  We definitely did not miss the hills and valleys of our hotel mattress!  Of all our possessions, I think we were the most excited to be reunited with our bed!  We were overjoyed to just lay on our comfy bed once we moved into our house. 

2.  AJ and I can successfully live with each other in an single 15x15 room for a month.  Tight quarters, like our hotel room, demand compromise and communication at all times!  Only one occasion, involving a World Cup soccer game, resulted in a disagreement! I would say we did pretty good. 

1.  When faced with no other options, it is amazing what we can make work.  Living in a 15x15 room for a month is not the worst thing in the world to experience, but can be quite dreadful; however, when that is the only option, we figured it out and made the best of it.  Our living arrangements added another layer of difficulty as we tried to establish our new life in the UK, but everything was accomplished. 

Living in a hotel for an extended period of time made moving into our new home even sweeter! Now that we are out of a hotel room and have more space, our lights are truly always on to welcome you!

~W

Another Trip Around the Sun...

Yesterday was my birthday!  This was my first birthday, since I was a preteen, that I have celebrated away from home and my parents.  Having a summer birthday allowed me to celebrate the whole day with my folks all throughout college and adulthood.  Well, the usual birthday scene was a bit different.

As I have been adjusting to my new surroundings and new home, I have been struck by how much I have clung to various traditions of life in the states.  Growing up, my mom and dad would always start my brother's and mine birthday celebrations with a longjohn donut and chocolate milk from DunkinDounts.  As I have celebrated more birthdays, this tradition had matured into an iced coffee and muffin with my folks.  Well in a completely new place where just about everything seems foreign, I revisited my childhood birthday tradition.  There is no DunkinDonuts in Durham, but there is a KrispyKreme Donut.  It was such a happy surprise!  Even though DunkinDonuts was my preferred donut maker while living in the states, I was more than willing to celebrate my birthday with a chocolate-frosted sprinkle donut from KrispyKreme and an iced coffee chiller.

Not the healthiest birthday meal...but definitely a taste of home!

The weather forecast had called for a significantly gloomy day with loads of rain; however, the day turned out to be gorgeous.  The sun shined the majority of the day.  I took advantage of the lovely British weather and walked to the Durham city center.  I tried a cupcake shop in the Durham Marketplace for lunch.  I stopped in and enjoyed a sandwich, cupcake, and a pot of tea.  It was a lovely way to celebrate my first English birthday!

A great way to celebrate my first English birthday...tea and a cupcake!

I spent the majority of the day doing things that I love...reading a good book in a lovely English pub garden, walking around the city, looking at Pinterest, reading blogs, eating a delicious dinner with AJ, and talking to my family.  Not a bad first English birthday in my book!
 

Before we left the states, AJ had bought my birthday present (since it would be cheaper there!), so I have known about it for two weeks.  Even though I have known that he was giving me a very nice DSLR camera, I refused to use it and learn about it until my birthday!  So today, I took the camera out of the box and started fiddling with the settings and learning about it.  I am quite excited about this present for two specific reasons!  First, it will give me something to occupy my time learning in the initial months of our new life in the UK.  Secondly, it will allow us to properly document all of the beauty we will see on our European adventure.  It is bound to take better pictures than my iPhone...or at least I hope!!

A great present from AJ! 

AJ had planned a few birthday surprises for me.  We went for our usual walk around Durham city center before heading to our dinner reservations.  We had a tasty dinner at Bella Italia, which may quickly become a new favorite!

Having a tasty birthday dinner at a corner table overlooking the river!

As I was mulling over the dessert options, two of the wait staff appeared singing with a cake and candles!  It was quite a fun surprise.  German chocolate cake has long been my favorite cake.  AJ searched high and low, questioned his British co-workers, and even googled it, but German chocolate cake does not exist in the UK!  With no possibility of German chocolate cake, he went with the next best thing...double chocolate cake!  It was a great and tasty dessert to end the evening!  As AJ was researching cake options and questioning his coworkers, one of the guys stated, "Here, kids get cake, wives get cards!"  Well, the cake was a definite hit with this wife!  AJ's thoughtfulness over all the little details for my birthday definitely warmed my heart! 

Double chocolate cake was a yummy substitution
for German chocolate cake!

As I think about my next year of life, I consistently think about how this upcoming year will be so unique and unlike any of my previous years!  This trip around the sun will hopefully include numerous weekend trips to see the incredible sights of the UK and some trips to mainland Europe.  Over the next twelve months, hopefully, all the aspects of British life that seem overwhelming and foreign right now will become routine and typical.  I am sure this trip around the sun will offer remarkable experiences as well as new obstacles to conquer.  As hard as it is to celebrate my birthday away from my family and friends, I am grateful for the opportunities AJ and I will be afforded by this experience!   

At the end of the day, this birthday was different from all my previous birthdays, but just as special and memorable.  If you are ever in our neck of the woods celebrating another trip around the sun, stop by because the lights will always be on...and we might even have a KrispyKreme sprinkled donut waiting for you!

~W

Most beautiful place in the UK...

After AJ got off work on July 4th, we headed out of town to one of the most beautiful places in the UK, the Lake District.  It is in the northwestern region of England.  There are multiple quaint towns that make up this area.  After about a two hour drive, we arrived in Keswick.  To be honest, we selected this town solely based upon the recommendation of Rick Steves, the travel writer.

Keswick was an important mining town for slate, copper, and lead throughout the Middle Ages, but then became a resort town in the 1800s.  It is lined with beautiful Victorian homes and building, many of which are now bed and breakfasts. 

The Heads lined with beautiful Victorian homes that now serve as bed and breakfasts for visitors.

The primary accommodations in this area are bed and breakfasts.  Again, on the recommendations of Rick and availablity on short notice, we checked into the Parkfield House run by Jon and Susan.  It is a beautiful home with lovely rooms.  Once we got all our bags settled into the room, we set out to find some dinner.  One of the most charming aspects of this town was its complete walkability.  We walked to a tapas restaurant and had a delicious meal.  One of the things that I truly appreciate about UK restaurants is the overall freshness and quality of the food.

Our lovely and charming accommodations for the weekend: Parkerfield House.

Keswick, which means cheese farm, has a beautiful city center to wander.  It is anchored by Moot Hall (Meeting Hall).  In the 16th century, this was the copper warehouse.  Saturday was market day, so the square was filled with vendors selling a variety of items from clothing to fresh produce.

Moot Hall after all the vendors had packed up for the day.

On Saturday morning, we woke up to a  beautiful day.  As with any bed and breakfast, we had another yummy meal.  Susan, one of the owners, cooks each patron's breakfast to order.  A full English breakfast was offered, but AJ and I just opted for scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast.  

Our beautiful morning view that we enjoyed on Saturday and Sunday during breakfast.

After breakfast, we took full advantage of the beautiful day. Derwentwater lake is the lake in Keswick.  There is a boat house, rowboats, and a large flock of geese and ducks!  They offer a boat ride that makes seven stops that you can get off to walk and explore.  We decided to take the boat ride that runs on the hour.  Since we had a bit of time to spare until the boat arrived, we fed the ducks and geese.  These ducks and geese were very accustommed to humans feeding them!  They instantly would flock towards anyone that was holding the brown paper bag of feed.  AJ was clearly braver than I, and let them eat straight from his hand!  

Enjoying the amazing scenery before deciding to feed the ducks and geese!

AJ was much more adventurous feeding the geese!

Clearly, I was not enjoying the experience as much as AJ! 
I was slightly nervous about my feet getting pecked!

The boat rides are on beautiful wooden boats.  We got off at the second stop, Lordes Falls.  There is a lovely hotel and restaurant, just off the lake.  We walked over and had an afternoon tea and treat.  We decided to walk around a bit and explore.  The Lordes Falls is located about 200 yards from the hotel, so we trekked up there to see them.  That was the extent of our hiking, as our proper hiking boots and such are heading over to the UK on a boat currently!  

The beautiful boat we rode to explore the lake.

The beautiful hills that surround the lake! 

After our walk, we reboarded the boat to finish the tour around the lake.  The lake is surrounded by hills  and pastures that are home to sheep.  All of the hills, with sheep grazing, have walking paths and hiking trails for people to use to explore the countryside.  The sheep are completely unbothered by people walking about.  On our next visit, we will definitely take a few days to do that...with the proper shoes, of course!

Sheep just off the walking path, completely unfazed by our presence!

For dinner, we ate at a restaurant recommended to us by John and Susan.  Morrells is such a popular restaurant in the area that reservations are a must!  In order to get in, we had to eat at 5:30 and be out by 6:45!  In the UK, that is a speedy dinner!  All of the meals are prepared using local meat and produce.  Everything was delicious and tasty!  

On Sunday, we ate breakfast and then packed up the car.  We walked around the river in Keswick for a bit and then got on the road.  We had a wonderful weekend away!

Our view of the river and town of Keswick on our walk!

We are back in the hotel still waiting for all the paperwork on our new UK house to be finalized.  Hopefully, that process will be completed soon!  Both AJ and I are ready to be in our house and start making it a home!  Once we are there, remember the lights will always be on!

~W

4th of July...

4th of July...a date on the calendar or a national holiday...depends on where you are!  This is my first fourth of July not in the States.  Today is just another Friday here in the UK.  No flags are flying, and there are no red, white, and blue decorations.  No summertime barbeques, and everyone goes to work as usual.  The evening will not end with a spectacular fireworks display.

It is funny what you miss when you are gone.  4th of July was never one of my favorite holidays, but we still celebrated it.  I remember in the past being slightly annoyed going to watch the fireworks spectacular, it was late, there were crowds, and parking was always a hassle.  Now, that there will be no fireworks to celebrate independence, I kind of miss it!   So, today, I put on my most patriotic shirt to celebrate the 4th of July from across the pond!

This morning we headed into Durham, which is where we will stay until we move into our house.  Since we are not spending the weekend in Durham, I was without a place to hangout while Andrew worked during the day.  In my red, white, and blue shirt, I wandered Durham marketplace.  This is Durham city center and home to a vast array of shops.

To my surprise, I found a Starbucks tucked between all of the other tea rooms.  Since it is the 4th of July, I decide that Starbucks was as American as I was going to find in the Durham city center.  While it is a Starbucks, the menu and drink selection is quite different from the States.  Not aware of all of the differences, I ordered a caramel iced frappes in hopes of having a taste of home.  While it came in the standard Starbucks cup and was a blended drink, it was so much sweeter than my favorite American version.  As I sat and drank my drink, I thought of all my friends and family spending the day at the river, hanging by the pool, and grilling up some burgers.

At lunch, in my quest to personally celebrate the 4th of July, I visited a favorite pub of AJ's and mine.  It serves sweet potato fries that are remarkably similar to the American version.  I ate my sweet potato fries with ketchup (as Americans do!) and quietly thought of all that it means to be an American.

This 4th of July, there was no corn on the cob or burgers on the grill for us, but I still found a way to remember my country!  Next year, there will be corn on the cob, hot dogs, burgers, and all things American to mark this day, and the red, white, and blue lights will be on!!

~W