March 25, 2008

We've been having a very good visit with Hope and Jen, full of the exciting and the everyday, which is always more fun with friends. Yesterday we went out to Ely Cathedral and took the Octogon tower tour, which I love even though I've been on it like 5 times. :) We wandered around Cambridge and went and played games with a friend of ours from TEAM. Today we went to Tesco and had a 2 hour adventure there, and we went into Cambridge and hit the market and the post office and random other things.

Some people like to plan out their vacations in minute detail, following a schedule closely and knowing in advance what they'll do. I used to be like that, before I went to Cambodia, but over time I have given up that lifestyle of extreme planning and prefer to fly by the seat of my pants. :) I find that too much planning just causes needless stress when things change, which they will. We had intended to drive up to the Peak District tonight, and stay the night there, but rather than rush around and try to stick to that plan we decided to just drive up tomorrow morning instead. What are we going to do there? Well, we plan to see Chatsworth at some point, see the Hope Valley at some point, and at some point drive on to Wales. What will we do in Wales? See some castles, and stop at cool places. That's the extent of our plan. Fortunately Hope and Jen are as flexible as we are, and enjoy a good adventure the same as we do. If you decide to come visit and you don't like that style, your visit will be more enjoyable if you say that in advance and do a bit of research yourself so that we can make a more structured plan. :)

The Peak District is about 2.5 hours from here, and our first intended stop in North Wales is about 1.5 hours from there. So we'll be having some good road trip time in the car, most likely reading Mansfield Park and reading the Wales guidebook. :) When we get back I'll put up some images from there and let you know what Wales is like.

The weather has been more normal here now that the snow phase is over- I hope you're finally getting a bit of warm weather (those of you who are in Michigan). :)

March 22, 2008 Jen and Hope arrived

For those who are interested, Hope and Jen made it here safe and sound, though not without excitement. There was a 2 hour flight departure delay in Detroit due to a snowstorm, followed by a discovery that there were line works on the train route they were supposed to take, forcing them to take an unknown route from Gatwick into London Bridge, followed by a confusing Underground experience, during which they managed to get to King's Cross, and after a confusing "where is the Cambridge train departing from" they made it here around 3pm. Whew. They managed to arrive in the middle of a Cambridge "snow storm" involving hail of the smallish variety. :) We're heading into town to walk around, and I'm sure photos will be appearing at some point, detailing any adventures. :)

March 21, 2008

Today is the first day of spring- those of you in Michigan will find that hard to believe since you're getting snow even as I'm typing this. :) It's also Good Friday, the day that C's remember JC's death, and what it means for us. It might be interesting for some of you to know that JC is a historical figure- not someone who was made up, a figment of someone's imagination. His life is well attested outside of C literature, and also his death was interesting enough to be commented on by several ancient historians. You can poke around for yourself on the internet if you're interested in reading the writings of Josephus, or others who were historians of that time frame.

This weekend is a good time to just take a second to think about JC 's life and death- his teachings are unique, and were very controversial during his time, perhaps more so even than in ours. The claims he made about himself and about Gd were striking, insulting to some even. Given how well documented his life and death were, I think it's good to consider whether his teachings were right or not. There are basically 3 options to investigate in determining whether his teaching was true or not. If we want to get down to the truth we have to ask ourselves some questions about each of these options:

1. He was lying. If he wasn't Gd's son, then he lied about the whole thing, deceived his 12 closest friends (or else they lied along with him), and when he died his friends just kept up the lie. But those 12 men died cruel deaths as well, some tortured to death, many imprisoned. Did they endure that because they didn't want to tell the truth?

2. He was out of his mind, totally insane. He had some sort of complex that made him think he was Gd's son, and somehow his friends went along with it. But the same question about those friends has to be asked- not just the 12 closest ones, but hundreds who believed that what he taught was true. Were they all deceived by his lunatic teaching? Does his teaching seem like something a person who was insane would teach? Why did people believe him, and why did the rlgious leaders of his time feel he was threatening enough to have put to death?

3. He was telling the truth. Upon close investigation, I think he was telling the truth. The accurate accounts of his life, the dramatic and unusual way that he died, and his being physically seen by over 500 people after his death are just a few reasons that I think that.

Over the weekend I hope you'll take a second to think about this unusual man, and maybe investigate a little for yourself. You might be surprised at what you find.

March 16, 2008 4 men, 2 handsaws, a chainsaw, and me

Just in case you're wondering from the title- no, I wasn't the one with the chainsaw. :) But I would have been more than happy to man it. What we were supposed to be doing around 4:30pm today was heading to STAG- I happened to hear our landlord outside though and wondered if he'd finally enlisted someone to whack back that eucalyptus, so I went upstairs to our bedroom to look out the window and sure enough, there was his son in the tree, and they were trying to prevent a rather large limb from falling onto the neighbor's rather flimsy fence. I'm sure that none of you are surprised that I volunteered to help them by hooking a rope around one of the branches and holding it from the window while they took the branch off. :) We managed to fell it right onto the path, which was perfect.

There are some people who can just sit by and watch people do something physical like that- either from lack of strength or lack of expertise or lack of being asked they prefer not to do anything. I have never been one of those sorts of people- growing up in a house where we always did everything ourselves, and there being only 4 of us, we all just helped do everything. When I look around my parents' house inside and out I see family projects everywhere, from the shed we built ourselves, to the deck we added ourselves, to the stone path we put in ourselves....the list goes on. In any case there's no way I'm going to sit inside and be busy when of the 3 of us (the landlord, his son, and me) I have 2 summers' experience working for Grounds, felling trees and all sorts of similar things. So out I went, and G came as well since we both think it's all good fun. :)

I had a blast- the fact is I love working with my hands, sawing, and throwing in my 2 cents about the best way to prevent the giant branch from smashing my entire garden. :) I've put some pictures up for your amusement. G is very handy with knots, and by his suggestions several times we reduced the garden damage and prevented anyone from losing a leg. Alas they don't believe in real chainsaws here (this is a Nanny "state" after all) so they had to use this ridiculously underpowered, teeny toothed electric chainsaw. It wasn't much better than the hand saw I have, if it was better at all.

2 hours later and we had removed the 3 Whomping branches, and generally trimmed the tree up to look nicer. I also convinced our landlord to whack back the ugly English Ivy which had completely taken over the fence, and it turns out WAS the fence by this point, as the wood had rotted where they ivy was. :) Things are looking ok in the garden- most of the plants were still small and managed to not be too harmed by the proceedings, although a few will need to be pruned back and allowed to grow again. Most of the small flowers weren't flowering yet, so the carnage was indeed minimized.

By 6:30 it was too dark to continue, although all that's left is to cut the largest of the logs into small pieces for our fireplaces. I can't wait to burn some- it smells very good, and there's nothing like enjoying the fruits of your own labor. I felt fortunate that my being a woman didn't encourage them to eliminate me from using a hand saw, loppers, or hauling logs and branches. In fact I was blessed that the landlord considered me a bit of an expert, which at least made me feel like I wasn't overlooked, which has been known to happen all too often to perfectly capable women in a field that is dominated by men who all think they know what they're doing. :D Of course since I had the camera there are no pictures of me- you'll just have to use your imagination I suppose. Ld willing we'll sleep free of the noise of thrashing branches every 30 minutes during the night tonight and from here on out. :)

To top this story off, Richard happened to mention to me that he had previously sold this cottage, some 20 years ago, which is why he was putting up the fence (which is now sadly decrept.) He said his putting it up was a contractual agreement with the buyer, and he took a bit too long in putting it up, which he acknowledged. However when he finally did put the fence up, the man who had bought the place decided to sit outside in the small garden and read his paper while Richard put the fence up. I found that story to be unbelievable- how anyone could sit and watch someone put up a fence while they sit by and read a paper is beyond me. Richard is a nice man, very kind and friendly, although he does tend to take a while to get things done, which is sort of typically British. But the buyer of this cottage was North American- either American or Canadian, and perhaps he thought he was making a good neighbor out of Richard by examining his progress? In the same situation I wouldn't do the same thing, and I hope that it could never be said of me that something was being done and I just watched it happen when I could have positively contributed in some way. Even if it was just to offer tea or water and praise the progress of the work, and watched it going on and chatted with the workers if I could do nothing else.

I doubt that man thought about the impact that his completely justified albeit callous actions had on Richard, who also understood that the man was justified, but whose opinion of Americans was definitely shaded by him. People go on about how the world views American differently because of these wars and all the problems with our government, but when I see Americans abroad I sometimes wonder if their personal example could be doing more harm than the news.

Besides representing my country, like every person who believes in JC I'm representing him as well. I call myself a follower of his, and people gain an understanding about him and what Gd is like from my actions, as imperfect as they are. I hope that today Richard's impression of Americans will improve, and that his impression of followers of JC will be good as well.

Richard (our landlord) and his son Jason, who built the blue shed
there when he and his family lived in our house.

Jason making the first cuts.

George manning the rope to prevent the branch from crashing down.

The largest branch after it came down. Richard's friend in the background, and Jason's little daughter watching her dad cut the limbs. I remember watching my dad and grandpa cut a huge willow tree down at about her age.

This is of course the true "man discussion" about what to do next. :)

March 14, 2008

The wind storms have passed for the most part, so thankfully the Whomping Eucalyptus has been peaceful at night, much improving our sleep. :) And I haven't found any Giant House Spiders in at least a few days. The car brakes are all working properly, the cottage is looking nice with the new paint, and nice curtains are all hanging in the windows. Nelly is sleeping all night soundly now that we've been giving her wet food at night (let's just say we're taking a page from the Parents of Small Children book, tho Nelly is just a cat.) It seems we might be in danger of nothing exciting happening in Swavesey! :)

I have finally decided that it is time for a new mattress- our mattress is making it impossible for me to get restful sleep, so we've been looking into various options. We're going down to the Ikea tonight (which is about an hour away) to try some of their mattresses, and see if any of them might be firm enough. To be honest, I sleep the absolute best on the floor or ground with my sleeping bag and my Thermarest pad. Let me tell you I've been sorely tempted a few nights to forget the bed and pull out my sleeping bag...thoughts of Giant House Spiders crawling on me in the night has been the sole thing preventing me from doing so. :) The Thermarest pad is just a very thin (half an inch) air mattress basically, that's designed for camping. I never seem to get cold or hot in my sleeping bag, and I sleep like a rock. So a firmer mattress is in order, lest I start surrounding myself with a circle of Off to keep the spiders away and sleep on the floor anyway. :)

Mostly we're getting ready for the end of term here- home groups and ladies' study groups end next week. Our friends are arriving from the US next Saturday morning, which is also exciting. Stag has some Easter srvcs, on Friday and Sunday, and all of the UK just about has that week off. The spare room has not yet been converted into a sleeping room again yet, so next week the transformation of futon couch to comfy bed will be taking place, as well as moving some extra chairs into our living room so that more than 2 of us can sit comfortably. :)

It's good to praise Gd for peaceful and quiet weeks- we're thankful to have good health (all 3 of us), food to eat, a roof over our heads, and a car that runs. G has a great job that he loves, and we have a community here that loves us and cares about us. We have Vonage and Facebook that help us keep in touch with people, as well as email. We're very thankful for all of our blessings this Easter, and are looking forward to celebrating the true reason for Easter next weekend with 2 dear friends from the US. I was just thinking of that little song "Count your many blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessing see what Gd has done." I hope you can count and name some blessings this week as well.

March 11, 2008

Last night was our last night of Arena. We've learned so much from the course ourselves, about doing cross cultural work, and the experience has been great since we want to do cross cultural work overseas (farther than the UK. :D) We also have a lot to offer here since we have a lot of experience working with internationals, particularly Chinese students and scholars. Also through Arena I met a PhD student in ChemE who has put me in touch with some other ChemE's here in Cambridge who are interested in water systems and sustainable development. We'll see what comes out of it- I'm looking for something part time that would give me some experience while I'm here, but would allow time to keep meeting one on one with internationals and continue with things like Arena and our ladies' group.

G has been adjusting after the jetlag, and we've been enjoying the purchases that he made in the US- namely a wok, Red Hot, a pointy shovel head, and photo frames for my prints. Tacos just aren't the same without Red Hot I think. Being quite sensitive to smell, I'm also sensitive to taste, and in my mind tacos have a specific flavor, which is caused by the specific ingredients and how they are put on the taco. In my house growing up it was basically a science. :) I didn't realize just what level taco making had grown to until I saw G make a taco at our house and was shocked that he put cheese on the meat! Too funny. :) Anyway between the wonderful blessing of taco seasoning packets, and the Red Hot, we had a fabulous American taco dinner. Although I never buy Old El Paso brand in Ann Arbor (I always buy a locally made taco shell) I'm thankful for them here because they are the ONLY option for taco shells. "Mexican" food is a new thing here, a growing market, which would be great if the salsa and tortilla chips other things didn't taste like British food. :)

I wish I could say that all the painting was completely finished before G got back, but that was simply not the case- a lot of it did, but there's still bits here and there that I'm trying to finish before our visitors come in March 22nd. But I've included some pictures of the bedroom before and after so you can see for yourselves how it turned out. I don't think dark blue would suit everyone for a bedroom color, but we really like it.

This is the before.

And the after. Oops- I didn't realize this was blurry. Ah well, you get the idea.

I've gotten thoroughly spoiled by having G around to capture the occasional Giant House Spider for me. One night last week one of the beasts appeared in the bedroom along the wall, likely forced to move by my shifting all the furniture around (the thought of those giant things living in my bedroom is not very pleasant) and I had to capture his (or her) little furry body myself. Not enjoyable. But out he went.

A particularly large spider that G had to force out from under the refrigerator where he ran to hide. The more we get rid of the less breeding spiders there will be. :)

We've been having what they call here a Winter Storm. You will laugh when you hear what that entails: really strong winds, and rain all day and night, with occasionally small hail. I saw online that Columbus got 20 inches of snow last week, and somehow that seems more Winter Storm to me. :) Anyway the Whomping Eucalyptus has been pounding on our bedroom roof and wall for a few days now. We're thinking of you all and a real winter in Michigan. :)

March 7, 2008

Well George gets back tomorrow, and true to my word I've been tackling household projects left and right. :) The bedroom is almost done- I'm going to finish that up tonight. The stairway took 5 hours total to paint because I had to use a small brush to get in the corners of each stair. Plus the railing, which has 1 inch slats about 2 inches apart. I've just finished the front door and the front outside window, and it makes such a difference- it's as if our little cottage has a new lease on life. :) I've also been putting up new curtains, new curtain rods (aka bamboo), and those sheer things which seem to be the staple of every cottage. Emmaus House has been great- I've gotten all my curtains there for very cheap.

I have to add for those of you who are not married- it is amazing how much less laundry I have to do when it's just me. :) I honestly thought I was having phantom memories of how I only did laundry every 2 weeks before I was married, but I was not mis-remembering after all. I haven't needed to do laundry once this week! :) Gentlemen, if you have a wife who does your laundry for you I hope you are thankful, and grateful. :)

My nephew is turning 8 tomorrow, and I've just been thinking about what a blessing it is to be part of his family. We don't often think of things that way I guess, but I'm so grateful to be a part of Trevor's life. I would never have known Trevor, except that my brother fell in love with his mom and they got married! It was so cool to gain a sister-in-law and a nephew all at the same time, followed by a niece. I think it's amazing how Gd puts people into different families- some by birth, and some by marriage.

This is Trevor in December at Danni's birthday party.

March 6, 2008

When you live in a different country, there are moments that make you just want to pack your things back up and go back home. It's usually a bunch of small things that add up, until you just feel like you've had it. :) My trip to Tesco today was one of those moments. I saw it coming when I walked up to the front of the store and it said "We've been improving things!" or whatever- code language for "We've totally rearranged the entire store Mwha ha ha ha!" I needed a bike pump and a few other things, and I was right about the rearranging- EVERYTHING is somewhere else, even the cat litter I made fun of last week, is in a new aisle. They thoughtfully moved the stinky household cleaning chemicals into the row next to the sheets and household things...in case you're thinking about how dirty your kitchen counters are when you're buying sheets. :)

What makes it even more difficult is that no one knows where anything is, so they are all standing around the aisles looking puzzled, and since that Tesco is extremely busy it becomes a sort of obstacle course getting through to the aisle where the X used to be but is no longer, and turning around and going back through to try to find it's new location. It would all be so funny if it didn't keep happening again and again, and if there was any other place to get food. :)

Next time you're at Meijer or Kroger be thankful that in America we like to streamline and make things more efficient- that simply isn't a value in other parts of the world.

March 3, 2008

One of the projects that sort of hit the back burner was applying for a UK provisional driver's license (which they spell as licence in case you're interested.) We bought a manual car, and even if we manage to get our US licenses exchanged for Canadian and then into UK we can still only drive an automatic. In any case, just in case that doesn't work I'm starting the process for the provisional license-you have to complete the licensing system here before your 12 months is up, and let me tell you it is a LONG and complicated system.

First off, it doesn't matter that I've been driving for almost 13 years now- you simply can't exchange a US license for a UK one. Period. The UK system involves the following:

1. Application for a provisional license, where you have to go and get your own photo taken at one of those random booths, have a person who has known you for 2 years and been a UK resident for 2 years (and not a relative) sign the back of your photo and on this form as proof of your identity. All of that gets sent off to the DVLA office. They send your license and passport back.
2. You have to take a written test which they call the "theory" test.
3. At the same time as the theory test you have to take a visual Hazard Perception test.
4. Only after you've gone through all of the above can you begin the driving lessons which are basically standard, and although not required the instructor will grade you more harshly if you don't take them. Most people take something like 10 lessons of 2 hours each.
5. Sign up to take the license driver's test, where only 60% of people pass. The test includes backing around a corner and some other unusual aspects of driving.

I wish I could agree with the British folks who say that this testing makes the roads safer, but unfortunately that is not the case. Because once you have a license you have it for life- you never need to retake anything, renew, or anything else. That basically sets up a system where people drive however they feel like after they get the license. I've ridden with many drivers here and some are just not safe drivers at all.

Since we're coming back for Marc and Adrienne's wedding in April I have to get this stuff sent out and sent back (they claim they'll return your passport in 10 days) so I can have the passport to come back for the wedding. I've taken some sample theory tests and they're no problem, and the hazard perception isn't an issue I think if you're an experienced driver. So I'm aiming to get those things out of the way before I come back in April, leaving only the driving lessons (which is the most expensive part) in case I can't swing the Canadian system either. But if I have to take lessons I'll probably just take 2 or 3 to learn what they are expecting for the test (such as putting your emergency brake which they call the "hand brake" on every single time you stop at an intersection or anything else.)

I just got back from Arena (I wrote everything previous to this this morning) and we had an excellent conversation about grace and works, and S decided to follow JC! Thanks for your prs- pr for him now that he'd be able to meet with someone until the next C Life course starts up next term (in a few weeks.) L is understanding more and wanting to read the bbl more herself, and we had a new girl a C from the underground ch in China, which was exciting. I'll be meeting one and one with her I think in the next few weeks.

G says hello, and although very tired is getting some work done and meeting folks there at his office in Redmond.

March 2, 2008

I think I forgot to mention that Lauren's friend A made it out of Serbia and safely to Vienna- she may get to go back to Serbia if things calm down.

G is on his way to Seattle- this very moment he's on the plane. At least he has a direct flight- it's only a 10 hour flight if you go directly there, so that's cool. His practice talk the other day went really well, and he feels prepared for the conference talk. It's a little weird with it being evening and him not here!

True to my word I tackled some projects today- I cut back this dead tree and this crazy vine in the back garden with my trusty old hand saw, and I painted the bedroom white, which I've been meaning to do for ages. I'm actually going to paint the room blue I think, but white paint makes a good base and reduces the bleed through of other colors on the final coat. I also hung some privacy curtains that have been needing to be put up, as well as the usual household stuff. And I finally tackled looking at our taxes- we are going to need some help. I usually use Turbo tax but it's giving me fits about the foreign earned income, it won't let me enter how much tax I paid, and all this stuff, so I need some real help. If anyone knows how to do this let me know! :)

It's already 7:30pm and now that it's dark I'm not sure what to do with myself! :) Actually I do have some needlework projects that I've fallen behind on...sometimes I try to imagine what my life would be like if I didn't have some sort of project or other going on, and I think I'd die. :) I'm forever getting interested in something or other, and since my interests far outway the amount of time I have in my life, it's inevitable that some things just aren't going to get done. But I'm enjoying trying at least, and inbetween home group, ladies' group, Arena, and TEAM this week I'm going to come from behind at the very least. :)

Pr for G up in the air somewhere...his flight arrives in Seattle at 4pm Pacific time, which is 7pm Eastern, and midnight GMT (which is what Swavesey is in case you didn't know that.)

March 1, 2008

Somehow the time seems to go by faster when you keep a blog. That's been my experience at least. It seems like we just got back here and we've been here for a month just about. Just 4 weeks ago was our Scottish Dancing ball, and today in Cambridge we saw fields full of yellow daffodils at the colleges, and purple crocuses, and very bright green grass under an amazing golden hour sun. Absolutely beautiful.

The weather has been a bit strange of late- some of you may have heard about the earthquake Tuesday night (which technically isn't weather I suppose) which we did feel here in Swavesey. We woke up at around 1am when the windows in our room started rattling. The winds here can be very strong, and in my sleep deprived state I thought, " Tomorrow I'm going to have to wedge something between those windows- this is ridiculous." And then we found out at TEAM on Wednesday that there'd been a 5 ish earthquake. Last night we had an enormous wind storm with gale force winds coming off the fens, and neither of us slept much because just as we'd fall asleep either the windows would start rattling or the eucalyptus tree which is ear our house would start walloping on the roof (which forms the side of our bedroom) or the end of the house where some small stained glass windows made lots of noise as the branches raked across them. Argh. All night- it was still windy this morning. Even Nelly who usually tries to wake us up was sound asleep still at 9am. So last night I thought, "I'm going to have to get a chainsaw and cut that branch off that the landlord was supposed to do 6 months ago myself- this is ridiculous!" :)

We just returned from a fun little trip into Cambridge- we're feeling more British by the day without our car, as we try to figure out how to navigate without it. We took the 4pm bus into Cambridge, picked up G's boarding pass, walked down to The Backs (the gardened and lawned area behind the colleges which back on the river Cam) saw lots of flowers, walked through town, and made our way to the only grocery store in downtown Cambridge. Said grocery store is teeny- bigger than a party store, but only about 80 feet square if that. Naturally all of Cambridge is trying to get food there, making it outrageously crowded, compounded by the British habit of stocking all the shelves at the busiest time of the day. Getting food there is like running an obstacle course- there are random people walking every which direction, some people standing still trying to pick some food, some people lost and don't know where they're going, and some people waiting in the lines for the checkout. Everything is crammed tight- it was like China in there. :) It was a fun experience overall, and unlike Tesco I can find everything, and Sainsbury's doesn't have the space to randomly move stuff either. :)

Sometime tonight we'll have to pack a suitcase for G- the taxi is picking him up tomorrow at 10am if you'd like to pr for him. Getting to ch tomorrow will be interesting because I'll have to take a taxi to Bar Hill, get the local bus from there, and then I'll have to take a taxi the whole way back after ch because the last bus leaves at 5:45pm, before the srvc is done. Hopefully the car will be done Monday sometime, or I'll have to repeat that process to get to Arena tomorrow night and back. The garage guy said it should be done for sure by Tuesday.

I hope all of our crazyness is reminding you to be thankful for your car this week. :)