The NHS

I have been very curious about the NHS since moving here, because I hope to practice within it and also due to my interest in natioanized care. The English people with whom I have discussed the NHS seem to either abhore it (one lady said she would rather starve than go without her private insursance) or think that it is "fine." No one has been too enthusiastic in a positive way. I have had my own frustrations, such as not being able to get either the swine flu nor the influenza vaccine for Aaron and Linnea, as they do not fall into the high risk groups.

Unfortunately, when Meade's parents arrived for their visit, Meade's dad, Don, was very sick ("unwell" as they say here). He intermittently has episodes of persistent nausea and vomiting, which at times require hospitalization to resolve, and this one was pretty severe. So, after a while, we decided he needed to be hospitalized and he and I went off to find a hospital that had an open A & E (ER). We ended up at the West Middlesex University Hospital and because his diagnosis was "hematemesis" or vomiting blood, we did not wait long. We went through the usual exhausting experience of telling the history to 18 different people (no difference from US system), he was evaluated by an awkward intern (to whom I was probably a very annoying patient advocate), and after only about seven hours or so, he was admitted (not bad I thought). He was in a six person room with a few men; one who Don describes as "the crazy guy," who would hide from the nurses in the linen closet and run around naked with a catheter (sounds like Harborview), a crochety old englishmen who constantly complained about the tea and wrote his son out of his will due to his inattentions, and a few other interesting characters.

Overall, the care was a little weird but probably average and definitely adequate. He survived the night and after some custard and tea in the morning headed home. And here is the one difference from the U.S. system- he walked out of there with no questions about his finances, where to send the bill, etc. We think that that was it. Completely free, even for a non-resident of England. Crazy.

The City Lights

Every once in a while, we venture out of our little village to the big city....a little more often lately actually which has been great. I saw Pink Martini, an Oregon band (that I love) a couple of weeks ago with a friend. I found out last minute that they were in town and decided on a whim to go on a Monday night. They were incredible. Last night, I saw Les Miserables in London with some teacher friends and a friend of mine from college, Janine, who is currently living in England. It was, of course, excellent. That was the first time I have seen a West End show, and look forward to many more. Meade is out at Depeche Mode right now!

A Christmas crazed country

I thought that the United States went a little overboard with the commer-cialization of Christmas beginning in late November. Well, the UK takes what we do to another level...and then some. As Thanksgiving is no distraction, that leaves much of November and December to get into the Christmas spirit. And do they ever. It is everywhere! And, as apparently the entire country is filled with Christians, there does not seem to be much concern with those of other religions being offended or annoyed. No, it is all about Christmas, no "Happy Holidays" here. They teach the children Christmas songs in preschool and place Cristmas trees all over the place. It's very interesting to me.

We have been enjoying this celebratory ambience in the city and around. We visited one of the German Christmas markets in London, the one on in Hyde PArk, which I think is the largest. It consisted of a fair with lots of rides and games, stall upon stall selling hot chocolate, mulled wine, sweets and sausages or arts and crafts, and an ice skating rink. The kids loved it to say the least. The following day, we visited Santa in Savill Garden, which is near our house. Aaron actually was the braver of the two and did talk with Santa a bit, though no one sat on his lap (not sure that was even an option). Neither knew what they wanted for Christmas, but Santa said he knew and had received the email that we moved to England so he knew where to find us.....

The twins has a Christmas party and show last Friday. They have learned several Christmas songs at school (several with dance moves as well), which they sang for the parents followed by a pot luck lunch. Aaron and Linnea both did really well- Aaron was out in front showing off his dance moves, which you can sort of appreciate in the photos.

The photo of Linnea and Aaron and the two boys are their twin friends, Gabriel and Elliot, who are 4 years old and from California. Aaron and Linnea are crazy about them.

Some recent photos

I can't seem to get these photos where I want them. Anyway, this is (1) Linnea climbing a tree while on a bike ride in the park (2) Meade with a mustache, which he grew along with several other teachers for a worldwide Prostate Cancer awareness fundraiser, "Movember," nice huh? More later on that (3) a tree in our backyard, which a flock of green parrots (barely seen) has been visiting daily to eat the little apples..why are they here? I don't know! (4) Aaron pensive in Windsor Park (5) Aaron planting bulbs.

Thanksgiving

We celebrated thanksgiving on Saturday (as Thursday was of course a regular working day) with a large gathering at our house consisting of several Americans, a few Australlians, several Canadians, a South African, an El Salvadorian, a few Brits, and our honored guest...Abby!

Abby is one of Meade's former students from Garfield and was our "mother's helper" a few days per week when the twins were age 3 months to about 7 months and, following that, our babysitter occassionally. She is curently traveling through Europed visiting firends on her way to India and spent a few days with us. The kids were SO happy to be with her.

Meade cooked the turkey and stuffing (in our neighbor's oven, as ours was too small) and our friends brought the rest. It was a fantastic meal and a great time. The kids enjoyed the unlimited access to chips (crisps, whatever!), the pumpkin spice cookies and playing with their friend Christy Anne, who is the 11 year old daughter of one the teachers and often the only other child at school social functions. It did not get too crazy (vs our party a couple months ago) with all heading home after a little late night dancing by about midnight.

The next day, we took Abby to visit the home of Charles Darwin, which is in Kent, about an hour from us by car. It was interesting- we all learned more about the life of this brilliant scientist. I did not know that he had several children! We got to see the chair in which he sat while he wrote The Origin of Species, the gardens in which he performed natural history experiments, his laboratory, etc. The kids were not as impressed with this, even though they did get to use the headphones like at Stonehenge. There was a small area with manipulatives, so that provided a little relief (see photo with Abby). We did the turbo tour, as usual.

Stonehenge

Last weekend, we visited Stonehenge. It was a beautiful, clear day and we enjoyed walking around the fascinating site. Aaron and Linnea even liked it- we gave them the little audio headset to listen to as we walked along, and, as you can see in every photo, they really listened to it and felt quite important. We then visited the village of Salisbury and Salisbury catherdral, which boasts the highest spire in all of Britain. I slipped away for a quick peak inside the cathedral while the twins napped in the car with Meade- it is spectacular. Then, we strolled along the quaint streets, enjoyed a leisurely cappucino.......yes, i am kidding, we visited the playground (quite a nice one. :) and that was it!

Halloween!

Halloween is not much of a holiday here in the UK, so Meade's school (which has a lot of Americans) organizes some activities in the gym followed by and trick or treating in decorated car trunks in the school parking lot- quite an efficient way to get way too much candy. We went with some friends of ours who have four year old twin boys. Aaron and Linnea loved it. Linnea caught on quickly and hurried from one to the next saying "trick or treat," while Aaron remained reticent and perplexed that he was receiving so much candy, but more than happy to participate. As you can see, Linnea chose to be a princess (surprise) and Aaron wanted to be the Queen of England. Unfortunately, shortly before the day, he figured out that queens are girls,
so we modified it to a prince.

Mallorca- highlights

One of the highlights of the trip was Linnea's pony ride (which I think was a stretch of the word "pony," the thing was huge!) The stable allows people to lead the pony alone through the forest. This obstinate "pony" repeatedly ran (and at one point seriously galloped) for the bushes in order to eat, refusing to walk, with Linnea sitting in the saddle looking happy and unconcerned as could be. Aaron chose not to participate and walked along with us.

Probably our best day there was our time at Cala Mondrago, which is a beach within a national park and the most beautiful beach we visited. The kids loved all the beaches, but this one was especially nice. The water was as torquoise blue as I have ever seen it, the sand white and fine and the sun warm and bright. The kids spent hours playing in the sand, building sand castles and playing in the water (even Aaron took a few dips in the sea to our surprise).

Mallorca, our days

The kids transitioned to a 9am to 9pm schedule easily (it is one hour later there, and the other hour was a gift), which was fantastic. We generally went to a beach in the morning, they napped in the care mid-day, and then, you guessed it, a playground in the afternoon. However, for two days, it poured rain, so these days were less fun. On one of the rainy days, we took the highly regarded train ride from Palma to Soller. The train is a fragile-looking wood paneled train that has been in operation since 1912. Aaron loved it. The rickety train travels through countryside, olive gardens and mountains to the charming town of Soller in a valley. The town was quite lovely and, I am sure, interesting, but nothing is very much fun in a rainstorm with two three year olds, so off we were on the next train back to Palma where the rain had stopped and we found a playground.

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Mallorca!

For Meade's "mid-term" break last week, we had the opportunity to visit Mallorca, which, as you may know, is an island off the east coast of northern Spain. We stayed in an apartment owned by the couple that Meade stayed with (and befriended) when he first arrived in England. Mallorca can be a totally fifferent experience depending on what one is looking for- it is comprised of fancy all-inclusive resorts and gorgeous beaches as well as poor, sleepy little towns. Like anywhere I guess, except that the juxtapopsition of these setting so close together on a small island makes it more notable. The town in which we stayed, Campos, is definitey as far from fancy resort as one can get. We did not see one other tourist while in there. The town was quaint, though kind of dirty and run down at the same time. The people there were friendly an happy. Unfortunately, we have no photos of the town.

We had read that they speak Mallorquin, which is a version of Catalan spoken in Barcelona, etc., and that they did not necessarily speak Spanish. However, we found that in general everyone spoke Spanish (and minimal English) and enjoyed the opportunity to use our Spanish. German was spoken more often than English, at least in the areas we visited- the place was full of Germans and some English and not a one American that we encountered.

As far as the wonderful Spanish food we had been looking forward to, after two consecutive nights of attempts at eating in restaurants, with Aaron breaking a fancy glass of milk one night and Linnea the next, and overall unenjoyable for all, we decided to avoid the restaurants and eat at home whenever possible. Luckily, Meade is of course a fatastci cook, so we enjoyed paella a la Meade, shrimp and rice, tostones, platanos, fresh fruits, and good, inexpensive wine in the comfort of our little apratment while the twins slept. During the day, we pretty much subsisted on baguettes, cheese and pork (mainly salami). Between the four of us, I'd say we consumed about 70 baguette sandwiches. It reminded us of our independent travels in Europe years ago after college, living off baguettes and cheese and nutella. It is cheap and it works. A few days into the trip, I asked Linnea and Aaron what was their favorite thing about Mallorca, and they answered, "the airplane" and "pirate's booty and goldfish crackers," which they had on the airplane. So simple, isn't it?

Thank you Deb!

A friend of mine from work, Deb, came through town for a night on her way to Sierra Leone, where she is currently doing some medical relief work. She asked me in advance if I wanted anything from Trader Joe's.....Did I ever. I felt a bit guilty as she brought bags of oat bran, flax seed meal and dried mangos out of the bag that also contained medical supplies. I hope they did not have to skimp on the normal saline bags and medicine to accomodate our chocolate and crackers. The kids were thrilled with the treats from home, and now I can bake the muffins that serve as great snacks for the little ones. We really apppreciate it Deb, thank you!

Last weekend

We had a nice weekend in the local area. We just obtained some bike seats for the kids and a bike for me from a family who is moving back to the states. We headed out to Great Windsor Park for a little ride, passing by people on horseback, cows in pasture, deer, deer and more deer and breathtaking scenery. The kids tolerated it, even liked it I think.

A fair, called Carter's Steam Fair, came to our village for the weekend. They set up in the field ("the green") close to our house. It was a nice, well run, little country fair. Linnea and Aaron loved it. She was into playing games, and, in fact, won the option to choose any prize, of which she chose the cheapest and loudest barbie phone of course. Aaron was very into the rides and was atypically more brave and adventurous than Linnea. He sat on the train, horse, etc. looking very serious and pensive during the ride, then hopping off it smiling with glee when it was over.

All day pre-school?!

I think I may have mentioned that the government pays for or subsidizes early childhood education here. Most schools cost more than the government pays, so we have to pay a portion of the fee. The will pay for up to 5 half day sessions per week. We were using just three of these (three mornings). The director of the school suggested that we increase to 5 half days, as the increase in cost is minimal (20 pounds-about 32 dollars- each for 12 weeks) and she thought they could handle it. We did so, and so thisweek they attended preschool from 9-3:30 on two days. They were especially excited about bringing their own lunch (like Kyle and Jess do). The teachers said they were fine and they seemed pretty happy (though tired). Today, they had football (soccer), which Linnea looks forward to all week. According to the teacher (and according to Linnea), she is quite good.

I miss them while they are gone. It is very different than whileI was working when I hardly had time to think about anything else. The free time it affords me is somewhat overwhelming. I have not had time like this since...well....actually I am not sure when. Before medical school maybe? I am trying to adjust. :)

In the photos above, they are not at their school, but rather in the back garden of the pub by our house. I love them in their little school sweatshirts (not a uniform, though most schools do have one of course).

Fall has arrived!

We had a beautiful September. It was sunny and warm (low 70s) essentially all month, with the exception of occassional mild rain. We were wearing flip flops and shorts (well, Linnea was of course wearing her "uniform"- that pink flowered skirt) and having picnics in the park or backyard nearly daily. A few days ago, this came to an abrupt end. The clouds came in, the temperature dropped and the leaves are changing. It is currently pouring rain. It is a nice change in some ways I guess- the air is crisp and fresh, the colors are beautiful....but it really limits what a mom with two three year olds can do (as everyone in Seattle knows). We are beginning to explore some indoor play areas and looking into classes like dance (can boys do ballet?) and music. I have been told (and I happily though maybe naively believe it) that the weather in Seattle is actually worse (less sun, more rain) than in England. I guess we will see.

Aaron with an English accent!

Aaron has somehow already developed an English accent (or something like it), and it is hilarious. He turns it on and off, and it is especially prominent after he has been to pre-school or been playing with other kids. I am not sure whether he is doing it intentionally or not, it seems intentional to me, like he is kind of trying it out. He also has adopted certain phrases, such as “let’s have a look,” he uses “children” instead of kids, etc. Linnea has not changed her speech at all. Afer the first couple days of pre-school, she asked me, "mama, how do you say tomato?" There is a garden at school in which they grow tomatoes, so I knew where this was coming from. I explained the different pronunciation of tomato in England vs. in th U.S. She listened and then decidedly said, in Seattle, we say tomato!" clearing rejecting this funny new way of speaking.

Linnea continues to ask to ask to go back to Seattle, though no longer every day. She asks, “am I five yet?” as that is when we have told her we are returning. She and Aaron play airplane every day, in which they take trips to Seattle.

Out and about....

We have been spending most weekends in the local area, but did get out to Oxford and the Cotswolds via car a couple of weeks ago. The history and architecture was incredible, though with the twins we didn’t see too much of it. (There is a nice playground in Oxford though!)

I recently had the opportunity to go to London to see Coldplay at Wembley Stadium with a couple of our friends who teach with Meade. (Meade generously stayed at home with the kids). It was an awesome show, full of energy and creativity, I loved it.

This past Saturday, we went to the horses races/beer garden festival in Ascot, a nearby town, with the kids and some friends. It was not what I was expecting. It turns out that this is one of the biggest horse races in the country. And the people were dressed for it! Fancy hats and high heels, they were out in their best (and us in our jeans of course). The kids chose the horses, and we did not win, but it was fun for all.

6th grade, not so bad

Meade is well into his teaching. He particularly enjoys the 6th graders, who he says are “excited by everything” and often burst into spontaneous applause. The kids are overall quite motivated and several are very smart- one kid has memorized the entire phylogenetic tree (just because). He has a lot of prep time during the day compared to at Garfield, which allows him to get a lot done and come home sooner. There is a great group of mainly new teachers with whom we are spending a fair amount of time. They are pretty much all single and in their early 30s to early 40s and like to party and see the country. They are always doing something, and generally we are able to bring Aaron and Linnea in tow.

More documentation!!!!

I am enjoying my free time while they are in school, as they are no longer napping (arrghhhh!) so the time is particularly precious. I try to pack in a run, errands, relaxing time, and (now) working on my paperwork to become certified to practice medicine. I finally received notice that my application requires LOTS of additional “verification” of documents and additional documents, etc. It was pretty disappointing. I am therefore now in the throes of obtaining additional signatures, documents, etc. from the U.S., which is not easy. I am still hopeful that this will work out and that eventually I will be certified, though not on the timeline I had originally hoped. I may have to figure out what else I am qualified to do other than practice medicine.... I do have a lot of experience waiting tables.....

Nursery school

Aaron and Linnea just completed their third week of pre-school (nursery school here). They are going to a Montessori school three mornings per week. It is very close to our house, so we can walk. They seem to enjoy it very much, no tears when I have left them the first day and since. I think they are pretty happy to be back in a social setting like this.

It is very different from our co-op experience over the last two years, in which the parents are very involved and all is touchy-feely and free. An example of the difference is that at the end of the session at co-op in Seattle, the kids run to and hug the teacher. Here, at the conclusion, the teacher stands at the threshold of the door and one by one she bids the child goodbye, instructing them, “I look in your eyes and you look in mine and we say good afternoon” with a formal handshake. Aaron and Linnea have not quite got this down yet.

Organics & recycling- not as bad as initially reported!

Thank you for your suggestions and lamentations regarding the organics/recycling situation. I am happy to report that my initial description of the situation was inaccurate. It has taken a little time and investigation, but there are organics available in certain grocery stores with a pretty good selection, depending on the day. It is a very small town, so that is in part the issue. We also found a farm store in Windsor that has a fair selection of organic produce. We just had to look a little harder- there is certainly nothing like Trader Joes or PCC. Additionally, we have found that we can take our cardboard/plastics to certain recycling centers or bins. Lastly, we are planning to (eventually) start a compost in our backyard. So, that is all looking a lot better and I am less troubled.

Meade's teaching

Meade has been in school for a couple weeks now, and it has been going well for him. He has only six students in one of his classes and the most he has in any class is 17- very different from Garfield… He is teaching IB Chemistry , junior year science, and 6th grade science. (Yes, sixth grade!)

I still don’t know when I will hear about my ability to work, but hope to know by Nov. or December. I am in contact with the locums agency and hope to have all my paperwork ready so that if and when I am certified to work, I will be ready to start. For now, I am a stay at home mom.

The kids are overall doing well, but I think just now really beginning to understand that we are very far away from home and not going back anytime soon. Out of the blue the other day, Linnea looked at me with big, sad eyes and said, “I want to go back to my Seattle house.” It’s difficult to explain time to a three year old, two years is forever to them. They do seem to be assimilating to their new country however. I asked Aaron how much the pretend train ride will cost and he said "40 pounds." Linnea asked me the other day if I would like some tea, and I swear she said "tee-ee?" with that extra little something on the end. They begin pre-school this week, which we are all looking forward to.