We celebrated our 6 month mark with a visit from my husband's sister, mother and our niece and nephew. They arrived here 6 months to the day of our arrival into England. I think in someways, there packing was just as crazy as our was, just with less stuff. The weather kept changing and warm to the Brits is not the same as warm in Washington DC. There is low humidity and our temps here peak earlier in the day. Once the sun starts setting or if the wind kicks up, it is chilly.
We enjoyed our visit with them and we got to share a lot of the things that we have learned here.
So...what have we learned? Hmmm, where to begin.
Driving is pretty normal on the other side of the road. I still occasionally make some mistakes but normally, I catch them before I make them. My anxiety levels are mostly non-existent and I can get my little Tincan into challenging spaces with ease.
The kids are doing well in school and they all have good friends that they enjoy spending time with. Their teachers enjoy them and with few exceptions, they all have top marks. Liam and Cian are doing football (ie soccer) after school. Mark enjoys the Astronomy club and Colin does Art. Spring term ended on March 31 and Summer term starts when they go back to school April 23. They are all looking forward for swimming to start during the next term.
Shopping is still painful. The exchange rate is just not in our favor. I generally shop in the Tesco, an occasional market days and Marks & Spencer. I have not shopped the butchers much, though I really should. They are generally family owned and run. There is a little local pet store where we choose to get all of Chip's food. I also try and get him a toy every time that I am there are well. I am afraid that they are struggling a bit right now as they just opened. Buy local!
Sean grumbles about going to the cinema (ie the movie), because of the cost, so I just tell him to suck it up. We are behind the US in what movie are available for the most part. Hunger Games was released at the same time, but movies like The Muppets and The Lorax have had delayed releases.
I don't miss the political climate in the US. When I see on Facebook the news the craziness that is going on, I shake my head. There is no wonder that we Americans are thought to be a bit crazy in Europe. The political crazies really make me hope that we will be granted an extended stay. My friends here are in disbelief when I tell them about some of the craziness.
We have made some really nice friends that we really enjoy. There are some really nice families that we have really enjoyed getting together with, 4 of the families we have met though Raytheon. We also have met about the same number of families that we have met through the school as well. I have a nice little arrangement with one of my friends, we trade Pilates for nails! With that in mind I am probably going to start classes here at the house after school starts back at the end of the month.
The boys are still continuing with their American scouts. My older sons and Sean are going to spring camporee April 20-23. It should be a good time for them. We are also anticipating meeting up with one of my husband's fraternity brothers around the same time. We always love meeting up with anyone near the area. Mark goes to the British scouts as well. He had a great time when they visited the Secret Nuclear Bunker with the troop before break. We met another American family when we picked him up. My husband was not able to tell that he was American, he did not notice that accent!
In England, eggs are brown. So, this Easter we had a hard time with our egg coloring traditions. What they often do is paint their eggs. Instead, I got chocolate eggs that can be decorated and another little kit in which the boys painted a plastic shell. Liam and Cian seemed to enjoy doing it and did not seem to miss coloring the eggs. The only candy that is available is chocolate, particularly Cadbury. We were especially happy when my sister in law brought us Brachs speckled jelly bean eggs. Yum!
In England, music is big and the music festivals are fantastic. We talked about going to the Isle of Wright festival, which is a 3 day weekend. We were having problems deciding what to do with the kids. Instead, we are attending the V-Festivel in August, the list of bands is exciting!
While we have not developed a proper English accent, we have adopted their phrases and sayings. Sometimes, some things that the boys say does have a bit of an English sound. For the most part though, our American accents are still in place. We have to be careful when we are out because our accent really stand out and our voices tend to carry and stick out. I would not mind adopting an English accent, but it seems funny and I am afraid that they would think that I was making fun of them, so I don't try to hard to sound English. If it happens, it happens.
One thing that I really miss (besides our Kitties) is my grill. The weather has been nice enough lately to grill and I am sad that I do not have one to use. I have a George Foremen grill that I do use, but the burgers just do not taste the same. I did finally find some Americanish hotdogs, Cian's favorite. Typically when we see hotdogs, they are really sausage. It was the first time we have really had American hotdogs since we have been here.
We do eat differently here, we eat Brussel sprouts as part of our veggies now. We are eating a lot more fish and we now have Fish & Chip Friday. We enjoy the Steak & Ale pie, along with the various puds/desserts with Sponge cake and Rhubarb. The prepared foods here are yummy and contain little to no preservatives. There is HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) in some things in the UK, but for the most part they are trying to keep it our of their food, and they cite how it has affected American waistlines. With that said, we eat a lot more candy here. :)
TV is interesting. Along with enjoying TopGear, we have watched My Big Fat Gypsie Wedding (think of the Amish gone wrong), Sherlock, Dr. Who, and Supersize versus Superskinny. It is a show about bad eating habits all the way around. We also recently started watching Once Upon a Time.
I consider the weather as traditional island weather. Similar in some ways to Hawaii, just not as warm. I can usually count on seeing the sun at least a little bit everyday. We have been lucky though because the weather has been warmer then typical. Two weeks ago, the temps were in the high 60's. One of my sons' best friends commented on how he was "boiling" at school and my son was still wrapped up in his jumper (ie sweater) and blazer. One teen's boil is apparently another teen's cold!
I am still working my way around not having a UK Bank account. It is even getting easier as I have been able to start paying most of my bills online since my US credit union participates in Visa verisign.
We all like the school holiday schedule much better here. The kids are in school for basically 6-8 weeks and then there is a 1-2 week break. It is really nice. The kids work really hard when they are in school and they enjoy their break. They start school later, at the first of September and then end later, at the beginning of July. My boys are in private schools and they are actually are out about three weeks before the state schools. Time to start making plans for our Greek holiday!
We are really enjoying our time here, the 6 months have gone really fast. I anticipate that the next 6 months will as well. Sean and I decided that we will stay through our lease which ends at the end of October. The boys will go through the first half of fall term and then we will leave. That is of course, unless the company decides that they have other plans for us. We are open to anything. I did promise the kids that I would have our cats sent over if we don't go straight home. We do miss our kitties.
When we leave, I am going to miss my friends the most.
We enjoyed our visit with them and we got to share a lot of the things that we have learned here.
So...what have we learned? Hmmm, where to begin.
Driving is pretty normal on the other side of the road. I still occasionally make some mistakes but normally, I catch them before I make them. My anxiety levels are mostly non-existent and I can get my little Tincan into challenging spaces with ease.
The kids are doing well in school and they all have good friends that they enjoy spending time with. Their teachers enjoy them and with few exceptions, they all have top marks. Liam and Cian are doing football (ie soccer) after school. Mark enjoys the Astronomy club and Colin does Art. Spring term ended on March 31 and Summer term starts when they go back to school April 23. They are all looking forward for swimming to start during the next term.
Shopping is still painful. The exchange rate is just not in our favor. I generally shop in the Tesco, an occasional market days and Marks & Spencer. I have not shopped the butchers much, though I really should. They are generally family owned and run. There is a little local pet store where we choose to get all of Chip's food. I also try and get him a toy every time that I am there are well. I am afraid that they are struggling a bit right now as they just opened. Buy local!
Sean grumbles about going to the cinema (ie the movie), because of the cost, so I just tell him to suck it up. We are behind the US in what movie are available for the most part. Hunger Games was released at the same time, but movies like The Muppets and The Lorax have had delayed releases.
I don't miss the political climate in the US. When I see on Facebook the news the craziness that is going on, I shake my head. There is no wonder that we Americans are thought to be a bit crazy in Europe. The political crazies really make me hope that we will be granted an extended stay. My friends here are in disbelief when I tell them about some of the craziness.
We have made some really nice friends that we really enjoy. There are some really nice families that we have really enjoyed getting together with, 4 of the families we have met though Raytheon. We also have met about the same number of families that we have met through the school as well. I have a nice little arrangement with one of my friends, we trade Pilates for nails! With that in mind I am probably going to start classes here at the house after school starts back at the end of the month.
The boys are still continuing with their American scouts. My older sons and Sean are going to spring camporee April 20-23. It should be a good time for them. We are also anticipating meeting up with one of my husband's fraternity brothers around the same time. We always love meeting up with anyone near the area. Mark goes to the British scouts as well. He had a great time when they visited the Secret Nuclear Bunker with the troop before break. We met another American family when we picked him up. My husband was not able to tell that he was American, he did not notice that accent!
In England, eggs are brown. So, this Easter we had a hard time with our egg coloring traditions. What they often do is paint their eggs. Instead, I got chocolate eggs that can be decorated and another little kit in which the boys painted a plastic shell. Liam and Cian seemed to enjoy doing it and did not seem to miss coloring the eggs. The only candy that is available is chocolate, particularly Cadbury. We were especially happy when my sister in law brought us Brachs speckled jelly bean eggs. Yum!
In England, music is big and the music festivals are fantastic. We talked about going to the Isle of Wright festival, which is a 3 day weekend. We were having problems deciding what to do with the kids. Instead, we are attending the V-Festivel in August, the list of bands is exciting!
While we have not developed a proper English accent, we have adopted their phrases and sayings. Sometimes, some things that the boys say does have a bit of an English sound. For the most part though, our American accents are still in place. We have to be careful when we are out because our accent really stand out and our voices tend to carry and stick out. I would not mind adopting an English accent, but it seems funny and I am afraid that they would think that I was making fun of them, so I don't try to hard to sound English. If it happens, it happens.
One thing that I really miss (besides our Kitties) is my grill. The weather has been nice enough lately to grill and I am sad that I do not have one to use. I have a George Foremen grill that I do use, but the burgers just do not taste the same. I did finally find some Americanish hotdogs, Cian's favorite. Typically when we see hotdogs, they are really sausage. It was the first time we have really had American hotdogs since we have been here.
We do eat differently here, we eat Brussel sprouts as part of our veggies now. We are eating a lot more fish and we now have Fish & Chip Friday. We enjoy the Steak & Ale pie, along with the various puds/desserts with Sponge cake and Rhubarb. The prepared foods here are yummy and contain little to no preservatives. There is HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) in some things in the UK, but for the most part they are trying to keep it our of their food, and they cite how it has affected American waistlines. With that said, we eat a lot more candy here. :)
TV is interesting. Along with enjoying TopGear, we have watched My Big Fat Gypsie Wedding (think of the Amish gone wrong), Sherlock, Dr. Who, and Supersize versus Superskinny. It is a show about bad eating habits all the way around. We also recently started watching Once Upon a Time.
I consider the weather as traditional island weather. Similar in some ways to Hawaii, just not as warm. I can usually count on seeing the sun at least a little bit everyday. We have been lucky though because the weather has been warmer then typical. Two weeks ago, the temps were in the high 60's. One of my sons' best friends commented on how he was "boiling" at school and my son was still wrapped up in his jumper (ie sweater) and blazer. One teen's boil is apparently another teen's cold!
I am still working my way around not having a UK Bank account. It is even getting easier as I have been able to start paying most of my bills online since my US credit union participates in Visa verisign.
We all like the school holiday schedule much better here. The kids are in school for basically 6-8 weeks and then there is a 1-2 week break. It is really nice. The kids work really hard when they are in school and they enjoy their break. They start school later, at the first of September and then end later, at the beginning of July. My boys are in private schools and they are actually are out about three weeks before the state schools. Time to start making plans for our Greek holiday!
We are really enjoying our time here, the 6 months have gone really fast. I anticipate that the next 6 months will as well. Sean and I decided that we will stay through our lease which ends at the end of October. The boys will go through the first half of fall term and then we will leave. That is of course, unless the company decides that they have other plans for us. We are open to anything. I did promise the kids that I would have our cats sent over if we don't go straight home. We do miss our kitties.
When we leave, I am going to miss my friends the most.
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