UK Drivers: Beware!

Big news: We bought a used car! Dorian and I were running to the bus stop in town a couple of weeks ago and when we were just a few feet from the boarding area, the bus took off and nasty words unexpectedly spilled from my mouth (oops!). I decided then and there that we didn't need anything fancy, but we'd definitely benefit from having a set of wheels. FREEEEEEDOM!

We got referred by several people to a used car centre in Reading. This car lot gets very new, used cars that have been leased by companies and barely used. We picked ourselves up a nice little Ford Focus Estate (aka station wagon). I know what you're thinking: WTH guys, a FORD?! So in the states, Ford Focus's don't have the best reputation, but here, they're one of the most sought after cars! Seriously! Anyway, considering the roads are so narrow that you're bound to scrape the heck out of your passenger side door at some point, it didn't make sense to get the fancy Range Rover I knew I'd look awesome in (joking). Here's Stegen sealing the deal with Chris after he drove the car all the way to our house to test drive--helllllooooo customer service!

The process for registering a car here is pretty simple. After paying for it at the car centre, Chris filled out some paperwork and took Stegen to the Post Office. We thought we'd just be mailing it off and getting a registration sticker in a few days, but the Post Office actually processed it right then and there and provided us with the car tax disc immediately--crazy! 

We were able to get our insurance all sorted out (if you're moving out of the country, make sure you get a letter from your previous insurer detailing the number of years you've gone without filing a claim...some insurance companies will accept that and give you a little "No Claims Discount"), road tax has been paid, and MOT (smog) has been done. Petrol (gas) works out to be about $9.00/gallon here, so our new baby might be spending most of its time in the garage (or shall I say "gare-edge").

Now that the Smiths are back on the roads again, UK drivers need to be even more alert...especially when I get behind the wheel--which I successfully did today! Holy cow, we were scared, but as you can tell, Stegen and I made it the 1 mile drive home safely.

I know it seems like I should have all the time in the world to be responding to emails, blogging, and cleaning, but I swear everyday passes in the blink of an eye and I'm too exhausted by the end of it to do anything but watch Orange is the New Black (just sayin'). So since I haven't updated in awhile and I'm soo tired my eyelashes hurt, I'll finish this post with bullet points...here I go:

- Audrey had a new friend in class named Georgia. She just moved here after living in France for a year and living in North Carolina before that...cool!

- It's almost Chinese New Year and for the first time ever, I'm super superstitious and going to try to figure out how to cook a whole fish for a year of good fortune.

- Back home around Chinese New Year, all the banks stocked up on new bills and red envelopes. When I went to the banks for red envelopes today, the tellers all looked at me like I had an octopus suctioned to my face.

- Ni Hao Kai Lan is on UK Netflix! Every episode still teaches kids some Chinese, but all of the characters have been voiced over to speak with a British accent...what??

- We finally each have our own pairs of Wellies/Wellingtons/rainboots. Why? Because it won't stop freaking raining and I realized that it's embarrassing showing up at someone's house for dinner, peeling your boots off, revealing wet socks, and not being able to take said wet socks off because you haven't had a pedicure since, oh, early October?

- I met a new friend who has moved here permanently from Texas. Our kids are almost exactly the same age and we're both (as the Brits would say) "Oriental". I feel like I've known her forever! Here's Audrey with their giant, super gentle dog, Frank.

- Audrey's school topic this term is Brazil. Next week they learn the Samba, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and other Brazilian dance. It all ends with a whole school performance of Brazil's Carnival. I hope I get at least one good picture...they're really strict about privacy here!

- We're in the process of applying Audrey for cello lessons and my fingers are crossed that they'll let me sit in and learn too!

- Dorian is on his way to being out of nappies/diapers (thank The Lord!). His preschool teachers put him up on the "We Are Brilliant" tree for his efforts. I'm just praying I don't have to wash anymore poo out of his underwear!

I can't believe Audrey will be a 6 year-old next Friday...in my mind, she's still 6 months old, pulling herself up on the side of the couch and cracking up every time she falls on her bottom. I'll be taking her and a few of her friends to paint some ceramic mugs and plates for her birthday. I'll definitely be allowed to take pictures for that!

Well, Stegen's winking at me to end this so that we can start on our next episode of Orange is the New Black.  I'll leave you with a special treat: 30 Seconds With Audrey!

We're At The Center Of The World!

Well, at least as far as time is concerned!  This weekend, we took a short holiday to Greenwich (note: silent "e" and silent "w" = "Grenich") in London. It's a beautiful city, with an amazing park, and so many wonderful things to see.

The journey there was uneventful, but long--we made it to Greenwich in two hours. We found a great deal at the Novotel Hotel adjacent to the Greenwich train station, which is just a couple blocks from some of the city's main attractions.

We made our way to The Cutty Sark, the last remaining sailing ship which transported tea from the Far East to England.  It was the fastest ship of its time, and made many maritime records.

Audrey posing in front of the Cutty Sark

When you go into the Cutty Sark, they take you through an interactive tour of the internals of the ship. We strolled through the crew's living quarters and gawked at their 3 foot long racks.  The first mate had his own room and rack, but the second mates had to share a room.  It's good to be the King, or at least the Captain, especially when you're in charge of the ship!

With the ship's most recent restoration, visitors now get to enjoy the beautiful brass hull of the Cutty Sark while standing below it--it's stunning!

Below the Cutty Sark with its brass hull

Audrey with a display of figureheads

We ended our first day of Greenwich exploration with a walk through the grounds of the Royal Naval Academy. We popped into the Painted Hall and Audrey got a personalised tour and lesson from very nice yeoman.  I hope we're making her more interested in arts and history.

We stumbled upon a crowded Chinese restaurant (finally! Chinese food!) on our way back to the hotel. We were served heaping platefuls of bland noodles with a side of bad service.

Nevertheless, we were thrilled that we could finally get some greasy noodles in our system, and the price was as cheap as we've seen for Chinese since we've arrived in the UK.  That's not saying much, though.  We're thinking of starting our own Chinese food restaurant in Henley.  Here's the plan: we'll smuggle Jenise's father over to kickstart the menu, Jenise can then take up the cooking, Audrey can work the front counter, I can clean dishes, and Dorian can throw things at people, or hit them.

Day 2 started with a trip to the (free) National Maritime Museum. If you're in Greenwich, I'd definitely suggest spending a good half day here--there are so many interesting exhibits for adults as well as kids.

Dorian in awe of a ship

A world to sail around

Arrrr matey! 

Who knew where these phrases came from?

After our quick jaunt through the museum, we took a long walk through one of the biggest parks we've seen--there was no way we could walk the entire thing.

Can you see the end?!  Neither can I, but we walked there!

At the top of the steep, long road is the Royal Observatory.  It was fascinating learning about the history of time keeping, and the history of astronomy in England.  While we were there, we had to take the obligatory shots.

So do I stay on the left, or the right?

It was a beautiful weekend, but of course it wouldn't be complete without a little hiccup--people were messing with our travel plans to get home.

What?!

After consulting Google Maps, it told us to take the 880 bus for 6 stops, then walk .2 miles, and we'd be right at the train--easy.  Two bus trips, a reload to the oyster card, and a bit of profanity later, we ultimately got to the train station.  We just had to jump on the Bakerloo to the Jubilee line heading to Waterloo.

WHAT?!?

Well, this threw us for a short loop.  Thankfully we didn't have to go towards Stanmore, we just needed to make it to Waterloo, but it was still a little unnerving.  We did get an obligatory tube shot of Audrey, though (oh wait, I think this was from the beginning of our trek out to Greenwich!).

Not falling down.

We eventually got to Paddington, and an hour and a half later we were back home.  It only took us about 4 hours to go 30 some odd miles.  That's how travel works here, so you just accept it.  With that said, we've come to the conclusion that it's about time for us to get a car.  I think we'll be shopping for one this weekend!  We'll keep you posted with how that goes.

Anyways, that, in a nutshell, was our weekend!  I'm sure that you can tell, by now, that this wasn't the witty narrative that Jenise would normally write.  She's been feeling tired as of late, and I (not Audrey or Dorian) took it upon myself to write this one.  

Is This a Test?

One of our neighbors is about 94 years old and the widow of an admiral. She approached me yesterday to spread some new year cheer and ask me for my (wait for it)..."Christian name"!#%*^!

Several thoughts ran through my head: Is this a test?! Will we be expelled from the cul-de-sac?! What the heck is my Christian name?! Did my parents forget to get me one?? If I don't come up with one stat, will she know I'm a sinner?!

A lot of stuttering and 30 seconds later, she threw me a bone and clarified that she was asking for my first name. Well, shoot...why didn't you just say so, lady?

Anyway, we hope you all had a safe and fun New Year's celebration. We went to a friend's house in town centre and somehow made it past midnight (including all of the children!). Here are some shots from the night:

We discovered that things can get very crazy at the pubs in Henley. A single policeman had to calmly chat with a lady who was sitting outside of the Catherine Wheel, trying to responsibly sober up...what an animal! (Totally joking...our Bay Area parties would blow these people's minds!!)

It's been raining cats and dogs over here and the river has been pretty full. The kids and I were cut off on our walk to the Rowing Museum and had to depend on a very strong man nearby to cradle my heavy pushchair over some planters, to dry land! 

The path for walking usually goes all the way to where the wooden posts are sticking up!!

In other news, I've had to cancel our super cool organic weekly fruit and veg box. It turns out, I'm not cut out for cleaning and prepping all this organic goodness...it's a little TOO organic!

Of course, I couldn't sound too pathetic when I wrote to cancel, so my official reason is that the quantity of fruit and veg delivered just wasn't enough bang for my buck. Yeah, that sounds cooler.

In addition to taking scalding hot showers to rid myself of any slug cooties, I've also been spending (insane amounts of) time working with Audrey on her winter break project. This coming school term, the entire school's curriculum will be worked around a theme: Brazil! The kids will be learning the language, their dancing, places to travel to, food, etc. Audrey's job was to research Brazil and present 3 interesting facts. We decided to paint one of our egg cartons and call it her treasure chest of facts. Inside, she has some pretty "golden" facts! (When does she graduate again?)

In addition to learning about Brazil, Audrey's also been working on being polite to her brother and using her words to express herself. She wrote this apology after interrupting Dorian's story and taped it to the wall. Quite a crack-up when we finally saw it!

Anyway, over the break, we were introduced to Google Hangout by our friends Will and Anne. It's a fun app and I'll definitely need to set it up for our dads who have Android phones and can't get in on the FaceTime action. Here we are chatting with Anne and...Kermit?

I've been thinking about our move lately. I remember considering this move to England and convincing myself and Stegen that it was the best time in our lives to do it. Audrey and Dorian were still too little to be traumatized and they'd settle in and make friends without issue. It's all been true--they've both settled in so well and we've all made friends. But then I realize that this thing isn't permanent and that when Audrey's about 10, we'll have to rip her away from her good friends...it won't be so easy then. The only way to ease that trauma will be to keep her in touch with her friends back in America while we're here and vice versa. Speaking of her friends, we got this sweet message from her ballet teacher and best friends back home--heart-breaking and heart-warming at the same time. 

Happy New Year, everyone!! We love hearing from you and hope to see you back in the States this summer.