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. :)