The long winter

I have not written for a while- there has not been too much going on for us. Well, "us" being the kids and me. Meade actually has gotten out and about a bit recently, though since he does not take photos, you will have to use your imagination. In late January, he went to Mombasa, Kenya for a teacher-training for his school. He spent most of his time indoors learning, but did have the opportunity to see the city and surrounds a little as well as to hang out with several African teachers, which was overall an interesting experience. In early February, he spent a week as one of two chaperones for a high school ski trip in Austria. His job was to ski with the advanced skiers, poor guy. (How does he always finagle these things, I really don't know!) They had 2 feet of fresh powder for much of the week and he had a fantastic time.


Here at home, we did just fine.
The bitterly cold winter continued on, but we were able to get out and have some fun. We visited Hampton Court Palace, which is located sort of between our house and London. The grounds are beautiful, and will be even more so in the spring when it is not 30 degrees out! We learned more about King Henry VIII; Aaron and Linnea are getting to know him quite well, though I think they are still calling him "Henry the ape!"

The photo on the right is mistletoe growing in the branches of a tree next to the palace. It is everywhere around here and so odd-looking.

My dad visited during part of the time that Meade was away, offering me some respite from solo- parenting. We mainly just hung out around our area, going to parks, playing at home, etc. We did take the train into London one day and visited the London aquarium, which the twins really enjoyed. Aaron and Linnea really loved having my dad here- they warmed up to him immediately and couldn't get enough of him.

My dad and I also went into London and saw Oliver, which was fabulous ("fab," as they say here).

I also had the opportunity to go into into London a couple times last week, once to see Mama Mia with some teacher girlfriends and then to see Dave Matthews with a my college friend, Janine. He is not so popular here, which was kind of funny- he played in an indoor amphitheatre and it was not even sold out. He was awesome though, so much fun.

We are still waiting for our spring to arrive. Temperatures are still in the 40s. We are supposed to hit 50 this week, which is actually exciting. It has been the coldest winter in 31 years. I have not been thrilled to be a part of this history. However, the daffodils are starting to come up, the days are getting longer, and I am hopeful for a nice spring.

Aaron and Linnea are doing well. They enjoy school and have made several friends. They went to a birthday party last weekend, which was a highlight for them. Linnea still talks about Seattle almost daily and asks to go to KK's house and Nana and Bapa's house frequently. Aaron follows her lead with this, but seems less invested in it. I do think that they are happy here, but they certainly miss their friends and family at home, as do we. We hope you are well.

Snow, snow and more snow!

Our backyard

As you may know, the UK was hit hard with snow and cold temperatures over in December and early January. It was the coldest consistent three weeks in 100 years or something and more snow than they have had in 30 years. We enjoyed this initially- playing in the snow, building snowmen (below is a photo of Linnea and Aaron with the neighborhood girls), sledding (sledging as they say here). Meade's school and the pre-school had several snow days, which is of course very unusal for here. They were fun, but I think we all were getting a little restless. One can only play, run, walk in sub-zero weather for so long.
As of earlier this week, the snow has all finally melted and the white replaced with green, which I must say is a welcome change.

Paris for New Years (with no kids!)

When we told Linnea and Aaron that we were going to Paris, France for a few days, Aaron responded, "Oh, you are going to eat a lot of baguettes mama!" And that we did, as, wow is Paris expensive! (much more so than England even).

Meade's parents took care of the kids for three nights, giving us this fantastic opportunity to spend time together in this incredible city. Our idea to spend new year's there was not very original; the city was crawling with tourists, busier even than summer we were told. We stayed in the lively Latin Quarter at a basic little hotel. Our tiny alleyway was packed full of Latin/French restaurants all competing for tourists over the best menu of the day and endless kebab shops that Meade at at daily. We spent a lot of time walking the streets. We also climbed 1/3 of the way up the Eiffel Tower, visited the Musee d'Orsay, the Louvre, and sat in cafes eating pain au chocolat and drinking cafe au lait (my favorite thing to do in Paris I think).

We spent New Year's eve with some friends of ours, Tammy and Chris. We enjoyed a decadent meal of fondue, rocklette and champagne, which was stupendous. We then headed over to Champs de Elysses amidst tens of thousands of people and then the Eiffel Tower for the count down to midnight accompanied by a light show on the tower. It was a fun and very memorable night.

Travels up north

The snow here in England started a few days before we (our family along with Meade's parents, Barb and Don) left on our trip to Scotland- there was still some snow and ice, but not too bad. In a rented van, we drove up to Buxton, a picturesque, small town in the Peak District National Park, which we thought would be about half way to Edinburgh.

As we left Buxton, unfortunately, another storm hit and we drove much of the the 250 miles to Edinburgh in a white-out snow storm. What we did not know at the time was that our sat nav took us the most direct route, which twice meant twice missing the motorway to take windy two-lane roads that were suitable only for scenic drives in good weather with a 4 x 4. It took us 9 hours to get there, but we made it. The kids were incredible troopers through it all. Toward the end of the journey, we told the kids we would be stopping for dinner (or tea as they say here). Aaron emphatically said "We are not having dinner, we are going to our Scotland house (all the more funny in his newly acquired accent).

Edinburgh, as you may know, is a supremely quaint, picturesque, petite city that is bathed in history. Walking along the ancient, winding cobblestone streets with Edinburgh castle looming over the city and countless, gorgeous historical buildings around every corner, one feels as though they have been transported back to another time. This was all more fairy tale-like carpeted with snow.

We stayed right on the "royal mile" in a little apartment just a block or two from the Edinburgh Castle. To get there, we had to climb up 5 flights of a stone, spiraling staircase that probably was over 500 years old. We visited a Christmas fair, the castle, the Scotland museum (see photos above of Aaron and Linnea dressed as traditional Scotts of days past), Arthur's seat (where we had a fantastic snowball fight) and enjoyed just walking the streets. Since Don and Barb were more than happy to stay in at night, each night, Meade and I went out to explore the pubs. There are more pubs per capita in Edinburgh than anywhere in the world, and they are loads of fun. We spent Christmas in Edinburgh. Most everything was closed, so we cooked in and had a mello, nice time. We then headed to York for a night.

York is a medieval city in Northern England. At its heart is the immense minster, thought to be one of the most beautiful Gothic cathedrals in the world. Our main purpose in visiting was to go to the National Railway Museum. Aaron has this "Big Book of Trains," which is based on this museum, and we always thought it would be great to take him there, as he is very into trains and this book. He was beyond excited, almost frantic in his quest to see and do everything- a real Bullet train, Mallard train, etc. It was too much for him to take it all in. We also visited the minster and explored the town. From there, we headed back home.

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.