3 Months

Exactly 3 months from today we'll be moving back to the United States. I'm excited to finally know where, as it makes it much easier to plan the move. Although Milwaukee wasn't our first choice, financially it just made more sense, and there are a lot of positive aspects to living in Wisconsin. For example, Chris already has Ironman plans :)

We just returned from four days in Prague and in a little over two weeks we leave for our 12 day U.S. visit. We're both very excited to visit home but at the same time it's overwhelming how much we have planned in our short time remaining. In June and July, we're spending 11 days combined in Athens, Berlin and Paris, in addition to spending a weekend at Exmoor National Park in SW England.

Being Adventurous

Some people say I'm adventurous for living abroad but I certainly don't feel that I am. Especially after chatting with my friend Becky over dinner last night. She was recently accepted onto a summer program in Madagascar to study lemur behavior for 8 weeks and was all set to go until his she got a call with questions about her health check. It turns out she's allergic to an important medication she'd need to take in order to live there, so she's now looking for alternate programs. The most recent application she submitted is to teach art in Thailand. I'd admire her courage, as she would be doing this with just a couple other English speaking volunteers.

I would say it's Becky's young age (23) that gives her the freedom to be a world traveler, but an even more adventurous friend who's exactly my age (29) has been teaching in China for the past two years. She doesn't speak Mandarin and had never even been to China before accepting the job. I'm referring to a British girl named Claire who we met on our France and Italy tour last summer. We've kept in touch and she's told me that she's ready to move back to Europe but not the UK. So she'll continue to live in a non-English speaking country.

I, on the other hand, am most looking forward to returning home to all the familarity and comforts of the United States. Granted southern California may feel foreign at first, but I think I'll quickly adapt to the warm, sunny weather :)

Awaiting Reimbursement

I'm annoyed at the moment regarding the fact that we have to pay for all of Chris' expenses this week up front and wait to be reimbursed. It's not as though post-docs get paid the type of salary that allows for large disposable incomes. kk

I just got an e-mail from Chris saying that two big things which were suppose to be paid for ahead of time were not. Total cost = $750 (conference registration and hotel room). So I quickly transferred money tonight but it often takes a week for our pounds to be transferred into dollars, so hopefully it goes through in time. We can't use our UK debit card because it's a Maestro card which is accepted nowhere except the UK. The whole situation is extremely frustrating!

Another annoying factor is the fact that Chris had no choice in where he stayed, so for example we're awaiting reimbursement for the $300 per night hotel he stayed at in La Jolla, CA. At least Chris got to stay in a beautiful oceanside hotel for that price.

On My Own

I'm enjoying being on my own this week. It's like a mini-vacation because I can eat cereal for every meal without having the protein policeman after me :) I don't like being on my own at night though. Our flat doesn't feel very secure and also our friend Dario was attacked this past weekend. He was out running during daylight hours in a very busy part of the downtown area when two guys jumped him. Luckily he got away with just bruises. It's so senseless, they didn't even take his Ipod, so what was the point?

Chris' interview in San Diego went well and he has been offered a post-doc position at The Scripps Research Institute. It's his first choice, so unless he's really impressed with the Milwaukee guy tomorrow I foresee that we're moving to California.

I did some calculations today to determine how we'll be moving and was surprised that it would be quite a bit cheaper for us to fly. To rent a minivan and drive to California would cost $3141 versus $1575 to fly, taking into account all of the related costs. Although we'd have to replace some things like my bike, it seems it would still be worthwhile to fly.

One More Day

Just one more day until Chris leaves for the U.S. We're both so excited that the time has finally come. We badly want to know where we'll be living and Chris is excited to meet the men that he might be working for. He put together a very impressive looking poster for his conference in Atlanta. It's huge (3x6 feet), so he had to unroll it on the floor for me to see it. I, of course, understand nothing on the poster, but his data does seem to be presented well :)


It'll be a long, quiet week at home without Chris. My co-worker today was asking me if I'm going to have a girls' night at our flat while he's away. She wants to drink cocktails and watch Sex & the City with two other co-workers. I reminded her that we have no TV and it'd be a bit cozy for the four of us to watch it on the laptop, so she's coming up with an alternate plan :)

Obesity Postcards

While waiting for a friend at a movie theatre last weekend, I came across some very amusing postcards in the lobby. I was especially surprised to see the first postcard below considering the amount of junk food sold at movie theatres.

By the way, I was at the theatre to see 27 Dresses which is a great chick flick. My friend and I both loved it!

We'll Know Soon!!

Chris has arranged his San Diego interview and it's in 10 days! He will fly to San Diego from Atlanta for a quick interview on Monday April 14 and then be back in Atlanta on Wednesday for his lunch meeting for the Blood Institute (Milwaukee) job. Of course, he'll also be attending the American Heart Association conference, which is the reason for his trip to Atlanta :)

I am so excited that we will soon know where we're moving!! Warm, sunny SoCal would be a shock to our systems after living in rainy England for two years. I think I could easily get used to 70 degree temperatures year-round :) Of course, Wisconsin would be wonderful as it's home to me and Chris loves the Wisconsin landscape for cycling, camping and sailing.

UK Coins

I was surprised to read a news story today that new coins are being released into circulation because at first I thought they meant additional coin values. However, it turns out they're just introducing new designs.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3666992.ece

For those who are unfamiliar with the insane number of coin values we have, there are eight in total...one pence, two pence, five pence, ten pence, twenty pence, fifty pence, one pound and two pounds. I find the image below, which I found online, amusing because I'm not sure why a US penny is in the picture? Perhaps as a size comparison? Anyway, it shows all the coins, minus the 2 pound one.

Of course the reason for so many coins is partially because the lowest note (bill) is 5 pounds, so the one and two pound coins are used quite frequently. I've noticed that women's wallets here have a much bigger change part and most men's wallets have a zippered change area. Incidentally, I should also mention during this little British lesson that women's wallets are known as purses, and purses are known as handbags. Men still carry wallets though :)

Update

Branden is headed back to London today, in hopes that his Monday morning flight takes off from Heathrow's Terminal 5. Chris is taking full advantage of having Branden here. Below is a picture of their 2-day Axis & Allies game.

Chris got some exciting news yesterday. He's been asked to interview for a post-doc position at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA. They still need to decide on a date and I'm hopeful the interview will happen soon, so that we finally know where we'll be living! He's offered to interview Chris in Europe, so he seems quite interested.

kk

We switched to daylight savings time last night, or British Summertime as it's known here, so we're back to the standard time difference. I'm happy that we'll have more daylight in the evenings now. After two days of constant heavy rain, the sun is out today and it definitely feels like spring.

Branden is Back

Branden was scheduled to fly from London to Oslo this morning. However, chaos ensued when the new terminal 5 opened at Heathrow yesterday, so shortly after midnight he received an e-mail notifying him that his 7:15am flight was cancelled until Monday! So we have him back for the weekend :)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7318337.stm

The other front page news story today was in relation to the sentencing of two boys who murdered a girl and tried to kill her boyfriend because they were "goths." I was horrified to read that the parents of the killers joked and laughed in court about what they had done. It's not hard to guess who steered these two kids in the wrong direction.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/7316601.stm

As I scrolled through the online news headlines earlier, I noticed a seemingly related article in Time Magazine about Britain's Out-of-Control Kids. The story is so dead-on as to what life is like here.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1725547,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

Chip & Pin

Has chip and pin hit the United States yet? It's all over Europe and it's incredibly annoying when traveling. It's as though the system is designed entirely to keep tourists from making purchases. I'm curious if credit card fraud is actually any lower with the new system. I can think of a few examples that have annoyed us.

In Amsterdam all of the train ticket machines accepted Netherlands issued credit/debit cards only (no cash and no other cards). Luckily, they did have a ticket counter where you could pay cash after taking a number and waiting your turn with every other tourist that needed a ticket. It was worse than waiting at the DMV!

We didn't get as lucky this past weekend when we tried filling our rental car up with gas before returning it to the airport. Very few gas stations were open on Easter Monday. We found one open that was the unmanned type only accepting cards...and you guessed it, only French cards! We gave up as our car got lower and lower on gas (or diesel to be more accurate) and returned it empty. The charge hasn't come through yet, and I'm somewhat terrified to see how much it's going to be.

I don't really think about it here, but having visitors always reminds me that the UK is just as bad. We first realized this when Chris' Dad tried paying the deposit on his rental car and they would only accept a chip & pin card. I was reminded again this weekend when we were buying train tickets to get home from the airport and looked for a ticket machine which would allow my brother to use cash. It was really bad because the machines only accepted chip & pin and there was no ticket window to pay cash!

Packing

It's weird to be in the position again of deciding what's worth moving. Earlier this week at work a co-worker started making a list of all the things she wants when we leave. All are electronic items which she knows we can't take with us. The past two years have just flown by. I easily remember sitting in our Madison apartment making decisions about what to bring with us here.

Today as I packed for our upcoming trip to France, I decided to start sorting through our clothes. I tried on everything that had made it's way to the back to the closet and filled an entire trash bag with clothes that neither of us wears. It's so much easier to do it now then just before the move because I also remember frantically sorting through clothes in late June 2006, with my brother making multiple trips to Goodwill for us.

Another reason it's important to start making decisions now about what we'll take back to the U.S. because our first suitcase full will go with Chris in April for his Atlanta trip (his parents are meeting him there) just two weeks after we return from France. We'll be able to move quite a bit home considering Chris' trip in April, our visit home in May and then the eventual move home in July.

A Quiet Weekend

Chris and I are both sick, which means it's going to be a quiet weekend. Just colds, but annoying all the same. His is respiratory and greatly affected by his asthma. The timing is ok though. The forecast is for heavy rains all weekend and we have no commitments, with the exception of a 6 mile charity run on Sunday that Chris will no longer be able to do.

We're both hopeful that we feel 100% for my brother's arrival on Thursday. We're excited to see him and visit Normandy in France. The boys will also be spending some time in London at the Imperial War Museum. I never imagined I'd marry someone who enjoys reading about WWII as much as my brother. It's freaky how similar they are!

Chris' job search is moving very slowly but we finally have a lead, so we're clinging to that. Chris has been asked to a lunch meeting during his conference in Atlanta next month to discuss a post-doc opportunity at the Blood Center of Wisconsin (connected with the Medical College in Milwaukee).

It's so strange to think about moving back to Wisconsin. I never thought it was a possibility until now. Chris is so excited at the thought of getting back into triathlons and being able to collaborate with his former colleagues at UW. Of course, I'm excited at the idea of being close to most of my friends and family again. We'll know more after April 16!

Free Time

I've been thinking today about how much free time we have living here and how little free time we'll have upon returning to the States...if all goes according to plan and we have kids right away. This occurred to me while picking up books at the library earlier today. I read more now than I ever have and I love it...well non-school books that is :)

Something else which I'm sure will not occur as frequently is having friends over. Tonight we had our friend Dario over for dinner and to play our favorite game (Catan). Chris made two Chinese dishes - broccoli & chicken and pork & mushrooms. In addition, he made homemade fortune cookies, which turned out very well.

Our traveling will definitely come to an end soon. Neither of us would possibly have enough vacation time in the States to travel the way we do here. We just finalized our last trip which will be 6 days in Paris in July. We're very excited about this trip because we're staying in Central Paris in an apartment. Our brief visit to Paris last summer wasn't enough for us to experience everything we wanted to. This time we're planning to take day trips to Giverny and Versailles, and also see some of the amazing museums such as the Louvre, Rodin and the Orsay.

The Date is Set, The Destination is Not

We received part 1 of our UK tax refund which means we definitely can spend no longer than two years in the UK. We have tickets to return home on July 30 (we arrived here on July 31, 2006). We fly into Chicago and will drive to Madison to pick up all the items my Mom has kindly been storing in her basement for us. Chris has pointed out that we may need to rent a small trailer if we intend to take everything with us at once. Where will be going with this trailer is still unknown, but Chris is working very hard to obtain a second post-doc somewhere in the San Francisco area. Stay tuned...

Typical Weekend

Today is a pretty typical Saturday. I'm getting ready for our next trip by looking up train schedules, packing, booking reservations, etc because we leave for a 3-day trip to Amsterdam on Tuesday. Chris will be in lab all weekend working on the papers that he needs to get published before we leave in July.

Tonight we're meeting our friends Dario and Majd (Chris' labmates) for Chinese food and then going to a pub where Jun (another labmate) will be playing (drums and piano). I like that we now live in a "My Space" age because I was able to listen to the other bands that will be performing tonight. I discovered that I really want to hear an Irish duo named Fola who are performing directly after Jun.

http://www.myspace.com/folamusic

I've also been trying to sort out car rental insurance for our visit home in May and our move home in July. I've become increasingly frustrated while trying to figure out what our options are, partially because I'm searching from the UK so all my Google hits are UK related. There are lots of great options for UK residents, but from what I can tell we're going to be stuck with using the insurance offered by the car rental company which costs an arm and a leg.

Visa offers decent coverage if certain measures are taken, such as declining CDW insurance offered by the car rental company, however it's very basic and I'm not sure that Chris and I should rely on that. Particularly if we're going to be driving from the Midwest to California in August.

We're nearing the end of February, which is Chris' self-imposed deadline for obtaining a faculty job. So far none of the schools that expressed interest in him by asking for references have asked him to interview. Therefore it's onto plan B which is a second post-doc. There are many schools that's he's interested in, with quite a few of them being in California. I'm trying to be patient but I really want to know where we're going to be living in 6 months!

It's Always Something

Lately it seems as if there's always something going wrong. I was reminded of this while sitting at home today waiting on the carpenters who were repairing the hole they created in our kitchen back in November. We got a call from the landlord saying they'd be here between 9-10am. Chris has mouse surgeries all week, so I was stuck staying home. I got three subsequent calls from the carpenter each giving me a different arrival time. They showed up around noon, discovered they had the wrong color wood, and left to go shopping. They finally finished around 3pm, which meant I wasn't able to go to work at all today. Sounds ok in theory, but I need to make those hours up and it feels like a complete waste of a day.

Since I'm bored, I thought I might bore you with photos of our on-going kitchen saga. It started in November when our washer stopped working. First the plumber came, he determined that the washer could not be pulled out due to the way the cabinets had been built around it. So then a few days later the carpenter came to remove a cabinet. Next the plumber came back and fixed the washer. Three months later, the carpenter came back to install a new smaller cabinet...actually a wine rack. I would imagine the worse possible place for a wine rack would be in the kitchen next to the oven. We certainly won't be storing wine in it.

A stuck washer in November...


A fixed washer, but missing cabinet in November.


A replacement "cabinet" installed in February!

As I mentioned in a previous blog entry, we had computer problems when our anti-virus software expired. Luckily, re-formatting the hard drive has seemingly solved the problems we were having. However, we now have new problems. For example, the space bar on our keyboard came off and so I'm typing this on an external USB keyboard. It only cost 9 pounds, but it's taking up valuable USB space (only 3 of the 4 are working). We could get all our laptop problems fixed under warranty but that would involve transferring our warranty to the UK which seems silly considering we're moving home this summer. I just hope nothing else goes wrong in the meantime. It's only when a computer is not working that you realize just how often you need it.

I purchased flight tickets to move home last night, but that didn't go smoothly either. We bought them through studentuniverse.com which offers discounted airfare to students and faculty. We haven't purchased flights through them since moving here but had bought quite a few when living in the U.S. Anyway, I didn't realize until after buying our tickets that they had to call the HR departments where we work to determine if we were faculty members. Apparently, you cannot simply be a staff member, you actually have to be a professor. Luckily, we were able to get the tickets cancelled. We think Chris would have qualified, but I definitely did not. So now it's back to the web to search for cheap one-way tickets home in July.

Super Pancake Tuesday

Today is Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday as it's officially known. Historically, rich foods such as fat, butter and eggs were used up on Shrove Tuesday because they were forbidden throughout the 40-day fasting period of Lent...so what better to make than pancakes!

As you can tell from the photo above our idea of pancakes differs from the British idea. Their pancakes are very thin and have a variety of fillings/toppings. It is amazing how talk at the office today revolved around pancakes. Questions such as...are you making them at home or going out for pancakes? What toppings will you use? (Lemon and sugar are the most common).

kk

I wish I was home to vote in the presidential primary. We're now 99% sure that we'll home to cast our ballots in November. Shockingly, Chris and I actually agree on who we'd cast our vote for if he makes it onto the final ballot. I refer to our favoriate candidate as Osama, Chris calls him Yo Mama :)

kk

Today is also my sister's 15th birthday, happy birthday Brianne!!

Rounds

We went to a pub for an engagement party last night (one of Chris' labmates is getting married). It's been awhile since we've been out with Brits and I had sort of forgotten how popular and annoying "rounds" are. A round is when someone decides they need another drink then asks everyone standing/sitting near them who else would like a drink. The idea is that someone different offers to buy everyone a round the next time around.

You can, of course, imagine the problem with this system. Not everyone wants a drink at the same time and people leave throughout the night, so each round has a different number of people. With a big group you might end up buying 20 drinks, but by the end of the night someone who's just taking their turn might only buy 5 drinks for the remaining people.

Nobody seems to really keep track or be offended if they'd had to buy more drinks than others. It's just an accepted practice when going to the pub. I've also found that Brits don't like it when people aren't drinking, so even when you say you're done for the night, the drinks keep coming.

The picture below, from last night, is of Yotis (Canadian labmate), Chris and Chris (boyfriend of a labmate). The Chris on the far right joined the picture of the two North American boys because he's wearing a Minnesota shirt :) He's never been to the U.S, he just liked the shirt. Those types of shirts are quite popular here which I find strange, especially because it's random states. Florida, New York or California would make sense, but instead it's often states from the heartland of America.

Random Ramblings

Weather

The weather here has been fantastic lately, with temps in the 50s and lots of sunshine. Granted it never really gets that cold, but temps in December with mostly in the 30s and we got lots of rain, so I'm quite enjoying the difference. It's strange to hear birds and other spring sounds in January, it reminds me of April in Wisconsin. I've always hated cold weather, and as much as I'm looking forward to returning home, I'm not excited about the prospect of living in a state with long, cold winters again.

Income Taxes

I recently researched a tax clause we had heard about prior to moving here, in which teachers and researchers who stay in the UK less than two years are exempt from paying income tax. I never thought we'd be here less than two years so I never seriously looked into it but that now that it's becoming a serious possibility I've written to the Birmingham tax office for more information. The amount is quite significant and worth leaving in July for, as Chris pays 350 pounds/700 dollars per month in income taxes. On a related note, we just found out that our landlord will not allow us to a month-to-month lease after August, so it's all the more incentive to leave in July.

Famous Footwear

The company I worked for in Madison might be shutting down. There was always a rumor of this happening even when I worked there, as the company headquarters are in St. Louis, but I still thought I might go back to work there one day if Chris and I ever returned to Madison.

http://www.channel3000.com/money/15137831/detail.html

Pet Girl

I read a strange newspaper story here the other day about a girl who acts like a pet, and while I'm sure something like this could just as easily happen in the U.S., I'm almost certain that this kid would not be allowed to live off welfare like she does here. It's so depressing to think that my UK tax money is supporting her lifestyle.

Tasha Maltby, 19, told British newspapers she was the "pet" of her 25-year-old fiance Dani Graves. The articles go on to say that The couple, who live on benefits (neither one works) in a council house (free housing) and plan to start a family, have been friends for years.

"I am a pet," she told the Daily Mail. "I generally act animal-like and I lead a really easy life. I don't cook or clean and I don't go anywhere without Dani. It might seem strange but it makes us both happy. It's my culture and my choice. It isn't hurting anyone."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKL2388251520080123

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=509713

Right Brain vs Left Brain

I think it's interesting see the difference between how left-brained and right-brained people think. Chris and I are very obvious examples of predominantly thinking with one hemisphere. This was confirmed when taking the Right Brain vs Left Brain Creativity Test which was designed by researchers at The Art Institute of Vancouver.

Interestingly enough, it seems I'm better suited than Chris to be a lab scientist :) Some occupations usually held by a left-brained person include a lab scientist, banker, judge, lawyer, mathematician, librarian, and skating judge. Some occupations usually held by a right-brained person are forest ranger, athlete, beautician, actor/actress, craftsman, and artist.

Left Hemisphere Style
- Is planned and structured
- Prefers established, certain information
- Likely to read an instruction manual before trying

Right Hemisphere Style
- Is fluid and spontaneous
- Prefers elusive, uncertain information
- Trouble prioritising, often late, impulsive

I'm curious how many couples are like us and think very differently. It certainly works well when we travel because I plan it all out and Chris is willing to talk to anyone, no matter what language they speak, once we're there :)

Anti-Virus Software

I've never thought much about anti-virus software because UW provided free Norton software to all students. We were pleasantly surprised when Norton continued to work after Chris graduated but became very unhappy last week when we were suddenly cut off. I knew the day would come eventually however we had no warning, so almost immediately we were inundated with viruses.

I assumed we'd need to purchase new software but so far a free program recommended by Chris' labmate seems to be doing the trick. We're using the free version of AVG and I'm hopeful it will offer sufficient protection.

http://free.grisoft.com/

So my PSA for the day is - don't let your anti-virus software expire because trying to do work on a computer plagued with viruses is maddening! This is also a warning to my brother who was hoping to take advantage of UW's free software post-graduation :)

Same Logo

A student at work brought a website to the attention of a staff member yesterday. Turns out this website shares the same logo which we just started using when the college name changed.

Needless to say the higher ups at our very Catholic college are not happy! I'm quite curious to see what happens over the next few days. I highly anticipate a logo change.

http://www.abortionrights.org.uk/

Double Taxation

I'm working on our taxes this weekend. It annoys me that we have to file U.S. taxes despite having earned no U.S. income. It's actually relatively painless, except for the calculation of our income which has to be done on a daily exchange rate basis.










Thankfully we each earned well under the $82,400 federal cap (and the $80,000 Wisconsin cap...yes we even have file state taxes!), so we will not have any U.S. tax liability, it's merely the formality of filing the paperwork. We would only have to pay U.S. taxes if either of us earned the equivalent of $82,400 a year. The U.S. is one of the very few countries that double taxes its citizens. Most countries have agreements preventing double taxation.

Newman University College

kk
The college I work for was recently granted taught degree awarding powers, which essentially means it can now grant it's own degrees. This also means the name changed from Newman College to Newman University College...a small but annoying change in my eyes. The official change was yesterday which meant all new stationary and hours spent changing document templates. In general, a lot of time and resources wasted.
kk
The term college here is quite different than the U.S. In general, college refers to further education, which is what students do after they "leave school" at the age of 16. It reminds me of community and technical colleges in the U.S. So at age 16 you go to college and at age 18 you go to university. There are a few higher education colleges, which really confuses the situation. A higher education college offers university level degrees but cannot award it's own degrees, it has to be affiliated with a university. A "university college" can award it's own degrees but still isn't big enough (student and program-wise) to be a full-fledged university.
kk
Brits get confused when Americans refer to university as college. It's also confusing to them when I say I went to the University of Wisconsin and Edgewood College. They want to know the difference and I honestly have no idea. I assume it's similar in that larger schools which offer more programs (undergraduate, masters and doctoral) are known as universities and smaller schools are simply colleges. If anyone knows more, clue me in because I'm curious and wikipedia wasn't as helpful as usual when I searched earlier.

Just Like Christmas Eve

It feels like Christmas Eve tonight. We've each opened gifts, shoes for Chris and books for me (thanks John & Judy!). There are appetizers in the oven...a Kuckleburg family tradition, the only thing missing is oyster stew to make Chris feel like he backs in Springfield. I'm going to watch one of my favorite holiday movies, Love Actually, later tonight while Chris finishes reviewing a journal paper.

Tomorrow we fly to Barcelona and we return from Lisbon on New Year's Day. The forecast isn't quite as warm as I had hoped but it will be about 10-15 degrees warmer than here, so a bit better. Cold weather is hard to pack for when backpacks are your only form of luggage, as warm clothes are quite bulky. I think we'll end up needing to do laundry at some point during our 11 day trip. Planning and packing for this trip reminded me of why I love tours so much. Of course the biggest advantage is that they're the cheapest way to travel, but also they take much of the worry and stress out of traveling. Unfortunately we couldn't find a tour during the dates I have off work, so we have to do this trip on our own.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas! We're very much looking forward to being home next year to celebrate with friends and family. One more Christmas card to share with you...yet another brussel sprout card, which I still find bizarre. We've received lots of cards this year, partially due to my participation in a UK-Yankee (Americans living in the UK) card exchange :)

Christmas Cards and Music

I love Christmas cards, especially those that contain photos and/or long letters...you know the type that give highlights of the family's year. I suppose I'm most excited to see photos and read letters from people that don't keep blogs, aren't on Facebook, etc..


I've picked my favorite card of those that I've received so far and it is one that says..."Blimey! I went out to celebrate after work on Christmas Eve and got totally bladdered, yet this morning I don't seem to have a hangover," though Jackie, not realising it was now the 3rd of January.

No doubt you guessed it was from a British co-worker. The words they choose to use and their pronunciation of certain words never ceases to amuse me. One that makes me laugh everytime is the word controversy, here it's pronounced con.tra.va.see.

The strangest card I've received (also from a British co-worker) says...Give a sprout a home this Christmas (and has a picture of a brussel sprout).

Another aspect of Christmas that I love is the music. As I was riding the bus home tonight listening to Christmas songs on my MP3 player I was thinking about what I'd consider to be my favorite Christmas albums and songs. Here's what I came up with (it's a long boring bus ride)...

Favorite Albums -
Singers Unlimited
Martina McBride
Alabama Christmas (vol 1)

Favorite Songs -
River - Sarah McLachlan
It Could Happen Again - Collin Raye
God Bless The Child - Shania Twain

I miss having my binder of Christmas song lyrics which I created a few years ago so that I could sing along to every verse of my favorites (it's currently stored in my Mom's basement). I imagine that sounds quite lame, but I did have a lot of time on my hands when I worked at Weather Central :) The best was when I had one of my Mom's pianos in my apartment and I could play and sing my favorite songs!

Office Politics

My department at work shares office space with two other departments and like most offices, everyone does not always get along. The latest saga revolves around Christmas decorating. This morning my boss (who normally stays out of these things) came in with bags full of Christmas decorations because the other two departments had decked their areas last week and left us out. Due to our placement between them, if left our area looking quite bare, but my boss fixed that today with banners, garland, and a tree. I had to take a picture of what our department tree ended up looking like after my 3 male co-workers finished decorating it :)


People here seem to celebrate Christmas at work more so than I experienced in the States. In addition to Christmas decorations throughout the office, Christmas work parties are very popular and planned months in advance. Unfortunately they tend to be quite expensive because restaurants only offer set menus for work parties (kind of like dining out on New Year's Eve in the U.S.). Another example is that everyone exchanges cards. It reminds me of Valentine's Day school in elementary school :)

Shut Up and Sing

I watched a really interesting documentary tonight called Shut Up and Sing, which tells the story of The Dixie Chicks controversy. The Republican hubby had no interest in watching it with me. I didn't realize how bad things had gotten for them, until I saw the footage of their police escort into a Dallas concert due to death threats. One letter actually said the date and time that their lead singer Natalie would be shot to death.

Back in 2003 I didn't realize that Natalie's comments were made during a London concert. It's no surprise to me that she got a very supportive reaction after telling the crowd "Just so you know, we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas." I have yet to meet a Brit who has anything good to say about Bush.

To date many radio stations south of the Mason-Dixon line still refuse to play Dixie Chicks music despite their most recent album debuting at number 1 on the charts. It would be quite an experience if Chris' job took us to one of those states. Either way, I just pray I'm home in time to vote in the next presidential election. After all, everyone knows overseas ballots have a way of disappearing :)

My favorite song from their recent album is "Not Ready to Make Nice", specifically the following verse...

I made my bed and I sleep like a baby

With no regrets and I don’t mind sayin’

It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her

Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger

And how in the world can the words that I said

Send somebody so over the edge

That they’d write me a letter

Sayin’ that I better shut up and sing

Or my life will be over

UK Crisps

I always thought that flavors of chips (called crisps here) were quite odd in the UK, but my opinion was sealed today when I saw turkey & stuffing flavored chips! I brought them home for Chris to try who was shocked to discover that they did in fact taste exactly like turkey & stuffing.


I think part of what makes the flavors so strange is how many are meat related. For example, they have the following meat flavors...
lamb & mint
gammon (ham)
roast beef
BBQ rib
roast chicken
smoky bacon
steak & onion

Other flavors that I find odd include...
tomato ketchup
worcestershire sauce
prawn (shrimp) cocktail
marmite yeast extract

Brits love their crisps and there is an entire half aisle devoted to them at the store (the only item that has more shelf space at the grocery store is alcohol!).

Religion

This week at work I've been doing a lot of data entry, specifically student registration forms. One question on the form asks students to state their religion and the most common response is "No Religion". I wonder how many people in their twenties & thirties go to church anymore. I don't have any friends who attend church, other than a few services before their wedding and perhaps a few before the baptism of their child. Chris, on the other hand, has two very religious friends who speak of Jesus quite frequently in e-mails and blog postings. kk

On the Americans in the UK web forum I read, someone recently posted the question – "Is Thanksgiving a religious holiday?" No doubt asked after attempting to explain to British people what Thanksgiving is. What I found interesting were the varied responses, split between those who thought it was and those who thought it wasn't. Those who said it was argued – you say grace before you eat and churches hold services on Thanksgiving. Those who said it wasn't argued – the pilgrims wanted religious freedom and it's not a celebration of Jesus' birth or death, therefore it can't be a religious holiday. Oh and my favourite, a girl who's Jewish argued that as a Jew she celebrates Thanksgiving, therefore it can't be a religious holiday.

A quote from the forum that I find quite amusing -

"Thanksgiving is about the Indians and the pilgrims having a meal to celebrate the harvest. Yes, they thanked god but they weren't celebrating a religious event. Jesus didn't come down and show himself and give them a bounty."

Pub Culture

Last night we walked to the nearest pub (it's cold outside!) and had a bottle of wine, while people watching and discussing our plans to return to the U.S. Chris is in the process of sending out applications now and just about every corner of the U.S. in being covered in his job search. For example, he's applying for jobs at...

University of Washington (Seattle)
University of Colorado (Denver)
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
University of Tulsa (Oklahoma)
Rice University (Texas)
University of Massachusetts (Boston)
Duke University (North Carolina)

Anyway, back to being at the pub. I've found that going to a pub here is quite different to going to a bar back home. What we've found most surprising is how many old people go out. Women in their 40s and 50s dressed like teenagers (revealing way too much flesh!). Also, men in their 50s and 60s looking and acting sleazy, attempting to pick up women half their age.

Pubs have various dress codes, the most typical is no tennis shoes and no football (soccer) jerseys. Last night we discovered a new one though. Another rule is no hoods, which my winter jacket has. The idea is that hoods are associated with "hoodies."

According to Wikipedia...
In the UK, hoodies have recently been the subject of much criticism: some shoplifters have used the hood to conceal their identities from CCTV cameras in shopping centres. Particularly when worn with a baseball cap, the hoodie has become a trademark of "chavs." Chav is a mainly derogatory slang term in the UK for a subcultural stereotype fixated on fashions derived from American hip hop such as imitation gold, poorly made jewellery and fake designer clothing, combined with elements of working class British street fashion.

I understand that the rules must apply to everyone, but being told I must remove my hooded winter jacket reminds me of being patted down at the airport to ensure I'm not an Islamic terrorist.

Taking Responsibility For Your World

Our friend Dario recently shared a blog posting with me that I now want to share with you. The author is a 24 year-old American guy.

November 14th, 2007

It always makes me laugh when people say they’re too busy or that they don’t have enough time.

Yes, many of us do have busy lives. But, there are 24 hours in each day, 168 hours in each week and 8,760 hours in each year (and an extra 24 in 2008)! Ultimately, we make the decision for how those hours are spent.

We may choose to spend 50 hours a week at work, or maybe we’ll choose 30 or 20. Many people will say that they have to work long work weeks to feed their family and pay their mortgage. Well, there are smaller mortgages and creating a family is a choice (even for straight folks).

Perhaps a $100,000 home would allow for more freedom than a $175,000 home. We all make choices, and how we spend our time is a consequence of those choices.

We have a tremendous amount of freedom, but we don’t always choose to see it. We are not slaves and the clock is not our master.

Ultimately, it comes down to priorities. We spend our time on the things that we decide are important.

Perhaps someone watches an hour of TV every day but claims that they are too busy for the gym. In reality, watching TV is more important to that person. And that’s fine. But it’s not because you’re too busy.

Perhaps another person spends 70 hours a week working but claims that they are too busy for a relationship. In reality, working (perhaps to maintain a large home, extravagant lifestyle or just to get ahead) is more important. And that’s fine too.

But we all have the time. And we have the freedom, through our choices, to spend it as we wish.

If we expand the picture, it’s not just about time. Our freedom doesn’t end there. We are so beautifully free. Every moment brings an infinite number of choices that we can take.

It’s all part of taking responsibility for our lives, and realizing the only brush painting our canvas is our own. We are the Michaelangelo of our own masterpiece.

Thanksgiving

It's cold, dark and rainy here tonight. Typical November weather I suppose. The sun is now setting around 4:00 and lately I feel as though I'm absolutely frozen while standing at the bus stop each night after work. I don't like riding the bus in general, but standing by myself in the dark leaves me hating the experience even more.

We're enjoying having our weekends free lately, as much as we do love to travel, it's nice to get caught up on life in between trips :) We're going to have a quiet Thanksgiving this year with just the two of us. We came close to having guests, which we were really excited about. Chris' cousin Margaret and her husband Carl recently moved to Belgium and planned to visit us, but Carl now has to be back in the U.S. to get his visa sorted, so they're unable to come. I'm so happy our visas were taken care of before we made the move! It sounds like Belgian laws are quite a bit stricter than UK laws. So anyway, we'll be having a Thanksgiving meal on that Saturday and we also plan to put up our Christmas tree :)


This is the first time that either of us has done Thanksgiving on our own and it's been interesting discussing what we should have to eat and what we should do that day (on the day we're celebrating). I want to watch the Macy's parade, which I'm sure I can find online, but Chris has absolutely no interest in that. He doesn't want cranberries and neither of us wants green bean casserole. His number one request is yams and mine is baking powder biscuits. He wants pumpkin pie. I'd prefer raspberry chiffon pie, but am unable to make it without our stand mixer (best wedding gift ever!), so we'll have pumpkin pie.

High School Reunion

Today is my 10th high school reunion at a bar in Madison. I'm not sure I'd attend even if I was living in Madison because I haven't really kept in touch with many of my classmates. Although I have quite enjoyed reconnecting with several people through Facebook (51 of my 422 classmates are on). It's such a great way to quickly see what people are up to.

Actually just looking through the replies to the Evite invitation was quite interesting because many people listed where they're living now. The most popular cities are Chicago, Twin Cities, Boston, NYC, Denver, Seattle and LA. A fair number still live in Madison as well. A few are living abroad in Japan, China, Italy, Poland and even another in England. I need to get in touch with her to see why she's here. The one location I found most intriguing though was Sioux Falls, SD. I've got to find out what made her move there! :)

Booze Cruises

According to Urban Dictionary, booze cruises are "A fun event where one takes a family car to a port in southern England, hops the channel by ferry or chunnel, loads up the car with alcohol and tobacco (which is much cheaper on the continent due to the lower tax), refuels the car (fuel again is cheaper), then heads home."

The first time I heard someone talk about doing this I thought it was quite strange to go through that much effort just to buy alcohol. However, it is substantially cheaper and you are free to return home with an unlimited amount of alcohol "provided it's for personal consumption." So it is possible to stock up and make the trip worthwhile.

In case you're curious what the alcohol-loving Brits deem a reasonable amount of alcohol...according to The Times, you won't be questioned if you keep it under 120 bottles of wine, 250 cans of beer, and 12 bottles of vodka.


You can even book a "tour" through a travel agent which involves riding a coach bus to the ferry crossing, for the sole purpose of purchasing alcohol.

Pumpkin Biscotti

Canned pumpkin is rare here, but there is one grocery store here that stocks it only in the fall. So last week I picked up five cans and Chris has gone crazy ever since trying recipes :) This past week he has made pumpkin cookies, muffins, biscotti and pie. Our favorite was definitely the pumpkin biscotti...in fact he used it as a crust for his pumpkin pie. Below is the recipe he found on the Simply Recipes website.


2 1/2 cups of flour
1 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
Pinch of ginger
Pinch of cloves
Pinch of salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup of pumpkin purée
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and spices into a large bowl.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin purée, and vanilla extract. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Give it a rough stir to generally incorporate the ingredients, the dough will be crumbly.

Flour your hands and a clean kitchen surface and lightly knead the dough. Lightly grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper. Form the dough into a large log, roughly about 15-20 inches by 6-7 inches. The loaves should be relatively flat, only about 1/2 inch high. Bake for 22-30 minutes at 350 F, until the center is firm to the touch. (Feel free to also form two smaller logs for cute two-bite biscotti; just cut the baking time to 18-24 minutes.)

Let biscotti cool for 15 minutes and then using a serrated knife cut into 1 inch wide pieces. Turn the oven to 300 F and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes. Cool completely.

Biscotti may be still a tad moist and chewy, so if you prefer it crisp let it sit uncovered overnight in a dry space. Serve and enjoy.

Makes approximately 15 cookies.

Atonement

I saw the movie Atonement tonight with my friend Becky. It's done very well at the box office here and I can see why, as it's a really powerful movie. Extremely depressing, but still a good film. I was surprised to read online that it's not being released in the U.S. until December considering that we typically have to wait months after a U.S. release date.

http://www.atonementthemovie.co.uk/site/site.html

What To Wear?

I'm packing for our Ireland trip tonight (we leave tomorrow morning) and I realized that I wasn't sure what we should wear to a medieval banquet we're going to while there. So looking for more information online, I realized that I could search Flickr, a website which people share their photos on. Sure enough, I found recent pictures from the medieval banquet at Dunguaire Castle in Kinvara, Ireland. From a quick scan of various people's vacation pictures I determined that jeans were appropriate...you gotta love the worldwide web.

USB Flash Memory Car Adapter

We recently purchased a USB adapter for the car and I'm really happy with it! It might sound like a very silly purchase considering that we don't own a car, but it only cost 5 pounds ($10) and we rent cars often enough that we knew it'd come in handy. We tested it out this past weekend and we're surprised how excellent the sound quality is considering the cheap price.

It's really cool because it works with any USB flash drive, so I loaded up a 2GB one tonight with songs for our 5-day road trip through Ireland, which starts on Saturday. In case you haven't seen one of these before, below is the picture from Amazon where we purchased it. It plugs into the cigarette lighter and then you tune it to an unused radio frequency...much like a drive-in movie :)

Read It Swap It

I recently joined a free online group here in the U.K. called Read It Swap It and am really happy with it. The idea is simple - all members post books that they want to trade. If you see a book you like on someone's list you submit a request to trade with them. If they're interested in a book on your list, you swap books. Otherwise you just indicate you're not interested in any of their books.

So far I've traded 9 books and I love it because the only related cost is postage, and light books cost as little as 50 pence to ship. I only wish I had all my books being stored back home because I'll probably never re-read them and was only hanging onto them because I didn't know what else to do with them.

It's been especially convenient for travel books as we don't intend to return to anywhere we've been, with the exception of London and Paris. For example, I recently traded our Venice pocket map for a Barcelona guidebook.

I still get most of my books from the library, but it's not very convenient for us to get to the library, the loan periods are short, and you're limited as to how many items you can take out at a time. I really, really miss the Madison public library system, but being able to swap books online is a nice alternative.

The Questions Never End!

I'm enrolling students this week at work, approximately 150 each day, and I cannot believe how many students comment on my accent. I get so many questions from each that it literally takes me twice as long as my co-workers to process students.

They are the same old questions...
- You're not from here, are you?
- Where are you from? (when I answer Wisconsin, it's always met with a very blank look)
- Why did you move here?
- Do you like living in the U.K.?
- Do you want to move back home?
- And my favorite question...are you sure you're American? You sound Canadian.

I'm sure all these questions seem innocent enough but the enrollment process doesn't really allow time for chit chat, so it's become quite annoying. Especially when the men tell me they want to talk more with me and then ask where my office is located (there is no academic reason that they would need to get in contact me with after enrollment).

Oh and the students who think they're being funny end our conversations with "have a nice day." Something you would never hear a British person say except when trying to imitate an American.

One Year Left

Well, in just one year now I will officially be old. In the meantime, I'm going to live it up and travel as much as possible because we've decided to start trying for kids next summer and then our lives will completely change! I suppose it's all relative and that many, many people think 30 is really young, but it's one of those ages where you have to really start seriously thinking about having kids, buying a house, making sure your career is on track and that you're contributing to a 401K.

This past year living in the UK has been an adventure and I'm happy to say that we feel really settled now and are definitely enjoying living here. Chris is back to his old habits. He's just purchased an Axis & Allies board game and he's also doing his first triathlon in England in less than 3 weeks. We never thought triathlons would be a possibility for him due to not owning a bike. However, our Italian friend Dario really badly wanted to try doing a triathlon and didn't want to do it alone, so he had his Dad drive a bike over from Italy for Chris to use.

As much as we love living here, we're both looking forward to returning home...hopefully in 2009, if everything goes as planned. Chris will start job searching as early as next summer, so we could be back even sooner!

Thank you to everyone who called and sent birthday cards. I really enjoyed hearing from you.

The End of Summer

It's hard to believe that the summer is almost over. Although without warm weather it never really did feel like summer here. I'm dreading the long days of darkness and colder weather that lies ahead. Granted it doesn't get nearly as cold here as it does in Wisconsin, those are very brutal winters, but it's hard to remember that when standing at a bus stop for an hour waiting for an overdue bus.

Do you remember when I mentioned that Karis is a more popular name here? Well, not only is it a more common first name, but also a more common last name. We recently took a walk to see "the two towers" which inspired J.R.R. Tolkien and found ourselves near a Karis Medical Clinic. Birmingham is quite proud that Tolkien spent time here and offer city tours of the places he frequented.

Random

It's pouring rain and 55 degrees here on this Saturday afternoon, so needless to say I'm spending the day indoors. Chris isn't though, he's paintballing right now with some labmates and I imagine he'll come home a muddy mess :) I like having these weekends in between trips to relax, although I've been spending quite a bit of time today planning our Belgium trip next weekend. So anyway, a couple random topics to blog about...Clearing and Free Things.

Clearing-
This past week was the beginning of Clearing at work. Clearing is used by college applicants who have not yet been accepted to a University. Approximately 30,000 students in the U.K. obtain their place in college through Clearing, which amazes me because it gives them very little time to prepare for where they're going, as classes start September 17. The timing of Clearing is based on A level results, which are exams that UK students take after taking classes for 2 years (what would be the last two years of high school of US students). All college offers are conditional until the A level results are released and it is only then that students know whether or not they will actually be able to attend their first choice college. If their grades aren't high enough, they get rejected and their places is then offered to another student during Clearing. I'm learning quite a bit about the UK educational system, but it was still scary this past week to be offering advice to students over the phone regarding their educational future!

Oh, in case you're wondering as to why I was helping with Clearing, it's because my department works closely with the Admissions department. My day-to-day job is still boring statistics and database management. If it weren't for the great people I work with, I'd probably be more serious about finding a job that doesn't bore me to death. At least now I know what career I do not want to pursue when we return home to the States :)

Free Things-
I've found that things which I expect to pay for here are free and things I don't expect to pay for are not free. For example, checks are free. You simply ask for a new book of checks at the bank and they mail them to you. Also, birth control pills are free. You just need a prescription and then you can get them from any pharmacy. All other prescriptions cost £6.65 ($13) for everyone between the ages of 19-59 (all prescriptions are free for children and the elderly).

People generally refer to the NHS as providing free healthcare, but we've found that many things are not free including routine dental and eye examinations. We pay £30 ($60) for dental cleanings and £40 ($80) for eye exams. That's not to say that I dislike the idea of universal healthcare, but when such an enormous portion of my paycheck goes toward national insurance it kind of sucks to have additional healthcare related costs.

Americans

I came across a couple interesting things recently regarding Americans. The first is a blog and here's how it is described..."I've travelled around several inner London Boroughs with an English friend. She approached people, and asked them--whats the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Americans? We then get their permission to take their picture and record what they say. These images and words make up the headings of the different posts here."

It's interesting to scroll through and see what words come to mind when describing Americans (it starts with the 31 May 2007 posting) - http://londoneyesamerica.blogspot.com/.

Something else I came across is a chart representing obesity and of course, America is #1 on the chart, but I found it fascinating to see who has simliar dietary habits to Americans.

Living Like Americans

We recently renewed our lease for another year, and we decided that we'd make our flat a bit more comfortable for the 2 additional years (maybe even more?) that we'll be here. So we purchased an additional small fridge, a condenser dryer, a microwave and vacuum. We've had our dryer just over 24 hours and I can't imagine ever going back to drying racks. It's so nice to be able to walk into our spare room and not have to navigate a maze of five drying racks. Not to mention having soft towels once again!

We weren't sure what a condenser dryer would be like, but it's not really any different then the vented dryers we're accustomed to. The only difference is that water needs to be removed from the machine after each cycle, which is easy to do. Below is a picture of the container the water collects in.



We purchased an additional fridge because things were constantly falling out of our tiny dorm size fridge. The fridge we have is a very common size here, in fact when I told my co-workers we were getting an additional fridge they were surprised that we'd need one with only two people. However, I think they are forgetting that one of us is an eating champion :) Below is a picture of our old fridge.


and then a picture of our new fridge...stocked with necessities like condiments and soda :) Chris had given up soda for awhile and was just drinking tea and coffee, but now he's back to drinking a 2 liter or so everyday.

Soon to be Smokefree

Very soon England will be smokefree...the last country within the UK to do so. Bans in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all went into effect within the past two years. It's a much more comprehensive ban than the one implemented in Madison back in July 2005. There are very few areas that smoking will be allowed. Even smoking in your home is now regulated in the sense that you are not allowed to smoke before someone like a repairman visits or a baby sitter comes over.


All of the bus shelters have recently been decorated with no smoking signs, which is a lovely idea but how in the world is that going to be enforced? Today, a co-worker who smokes was complaining that all of the outdoor ashtrays have been removed and "it's not even July 1st yet." There are now only two areas outside that people can smoke at work and that is inside ventilated smoking shelters, which are also required by the new law.

My New Favorite Website

Not having a TV here is very tolerable because we simply watch DVDs on our laptop instead. However there's an annoying delay between when shows are aired in the U.S. and when they are available on DVD here. So I was very excited when someone shared a website that allows me to watch any TV show at any time! Especially because I've recently become quite addicted to the show Grey's Anatomy.

The quality varies depending on what format the show is shared in and not every episode is available, but I still think it's a fantastic way to be able to watch TV without owning one :)

http://www3.alluc.org/alluc/tv-shows.html?letterselect=A

The Big Issue

I had never heard of The Big Issue until arriving here, but once I was here it didn't take long for me to be asked to buy one, as there are people everywhere thoughout the UK selling them.


According to the website...
"The Big Issue is an international organisation that works with homeless people all over the world, from the United Kingdom to South Africa and Japan. At the centre of our work is The Big Issue magazine, an award-winning news, arts and current affairs magazine that is produced by professional journalists and sold on the streets by homeless people. They buy the magazine from us and sell it on at a profit, which they keep. Although financial exclusion is one of the key reasons people remain homeless - and one of the core aims of The Big Issue is to give people a legal way of making a living - there are other benefits of becoming a vendor."

They are only allowed to sell them in certain areas and they aren't very aggressive, but it's still annoying to frequently be asked to buy one when shopping downtown. We've never bought one of their "award winning magazines" but people who have say it's a crap magazine and they'd rather just donate the money.

Another American's Perspective

I love reading blogs and one that I frequently read is called The Madison Packard. I don't actually know the author, he's the uncle of a former co-worker, however I enjoy his blog because he often writes about very familiar Madison places and events such as Rhythm and Booms, Taste of Madison, Farmer's Market and Badger games. His latest post intrigued me because he blogged about a recent trip to the UK! It was very interesting to read another American's perspective on the country that I'm living in.

I was particularly interested in 10 observations he posted at the end of his blog entry...below are those observations in blue and my comments about his observations in white. If anyone is really bored and wants to read all about his trip, here's the link to the full blog post...
http://themadisonpackard.blogspot.com/2007/05/julie-and-i-returned-on-friday-from-8.html

Before closing, I want to add a few comments and observations about our adventure and life in the UK.

1. People in the UK appear to be MUCH healthier than us Americans. We hardly saw any significantly overweight persons. Obesity is simply not an issue over there, probably because mass transit is so prevalent that persons actually get out and walk once in awhile.

While it’s true that they are not nearly as many obese people, there are still quite a few overweight people. Both men and women have beer bellies here.

2. While we were hiking in the Lake District - on some rather challenging trails - Julie and I figure that at least half of the hikers we saw were persons in their 60's, 70's, and 80's. I guess you're only as old as you feel and as old as you let yourself think you are.

I’ve noticed this as well. Older people do seem to be more active here.

3. TV in the UK sucks!! It's channel after channel of PBS-like documentaries about things like gardening and cooking. No wonder everyone is out walking and staying fit!

This is an interesting comment because of the five BBC channels one shows nothing but American programming. Also, I certainly wouldn’t say that people are out walking instead of watching TV. My co-workers talk at length about the shows they watch each night. In fact, TV series on DVD are very popular here as well. My co-workers are currently watching Ally McBeal, 24, Sex & the City and Friends on DVD.

4. People in the UK eat some pretty big and wild breakfasts. Here is the typical menu we encountered: toast, eggs, broiled tomatoes, mushrooms, Cumberland sausage, back bacon, and baked beans. And we saw a LOT of people eating this, all piled up on one freakin' plate. You know, I've heard many times that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and the British take that seriously.

This is like saying that Americans eat pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausage everyday for breakfast. The Brits I talk to eat cereal and toast just like us. When eating out I’m sure Brits are more likely to order the “English breakfast, “ just as we would order cooked breakfast fare.

5. Folks in the UK generally don't seem to cook very well, say compared to the French, Italians, or even the McDonalds. While we had some tasty meat pies, most of the breakfasts we ate were only so-so. And the best meals we had were at Italian restaurants. If you go to Britain, don't go for the food!

This is SO true, but I think everyone already knows this fact :)

6. The UK is a lot farther north than I realized. We had daylight until 10 pm and the sun was coming up well before 5 am. I did some checking, and it turns out that the UK hovers around the 55th parallel of latitude. That puts it in-line with the middle of Canada. Wild, eh?

7. Gas in the UK is the exact same price as it was when we visited 7 years ago!!! It is 95 p (pence) a liter. Don't get me wrong -- it's expensive. When we visited in 2000, that 95 p equalled nearly 6 dollars a gallon. And with the weak US dollar, that 95 p now means that us Americans would be paying nearly 8 dollars per gallon. But for all of those UK-ers, it's the exact same 95 p that it's always been. Doesn't that make you wonder why the heck US gas prices fluctuate all over the place? Just who exactly is playing with us and why?

8. English people who speak English are somewhat difficult to understand. Scottish persons speaking English are nearly impossible to understand!!

Very, very true!

9. If you give soccer a chance, it can actually be a pretty exciting game. Julie and I watched the European Cup championship match between AC Milan and Liverpool, and found it to be quite enjoyable -- although we don't have a clue what some of the commentators said!

We haven’t been to a live game yet and we’ve only seen one match in the pub, but it sure doesn’t excite Chris or I.

10. Virtually everyone we encountered was very friendly and helpful. It was so nice to feel welcome in a foreign country.

This is true in general, however the one big exception is the service industry. Tipping is rare here, so people don’t need to be nearly as nice. I’ve found that hairdressers make small talk with each other instead of the client and service in restaurants can be very slow!

Photography

I've always liked photography and living here has given me so many opportunities to not only take photos but also see photo exhibits. The photos we saw at the Coventry art museum today were very inspiring! Below are three of my favorites from the exhibit.