Wimbledon

To start off the insane amount of catch-up blogging, we're going with the most recent stuff because it's fresh in our memory and mostly because Brent already wrote it out (nice of him to do the hard work for me, right?). So here it is, our Wimbledon experience with a slideshow of pics at the end. Keep in mind as you're reading that this is something Brent has wanted to do since he was a little boy and walked around all day like a kid at Disneyland for the first time. It was awesome.

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We woke up at 5am, left the house at 5:30, took two buses, and arrived at Wimbledon about 6:30. We found the end of the 'The Queue' as it is officially named at 6:40 and they handed us official numbered queue cards. We were numbers 799 & 800. We sat on our blanket until about 7:10 when they began condensing the line and moving us closer to the gates. We began in one of the car parks and wound our way through the edge of a golf course. We bought some breakfast sandwiches and ate them in line. Then it began to rain about 7:45. There was a bit of tree cover but we had to hide under our blanket to stay dry since we hadn't brought any umbrellas. Luckily it began to clear up after 45 minutes or so and we didn't get too soaked as we worried we might.

At about 8:00 they had gone through from the front handing out wristbands for Centre Court and Courts 1 & 2, the top show courts. We amazingly still had a shot at a choice of any of those. We selected Court 2 because it appeared more interesting for the day. Centre Court and Court 1 had 2 matches each of the Women's singles quarterfinals. But that meant each had a Williams sister and we didn't know the others and weren't too interested. Besides it was £62 and £74 each for 1 or Centre Court and it didn't seem worth it. Had it been Wendesday it would have because it would have been Federer, Murray and the other top men playing. But alas the timing didn't work out. However we both agreed had it been Wednesday we would not have been that close in line arriving at 6:40 and it would not have been likely that Centre Court would be available even if we were 800 in line because the 1st 500 people would surely have taken them all. People were already there queueing/camping over 24 hrs in advance!

So anyway, we chose the £35 Court 2 tickets which seemed a bigger bang for buck and it was. At about 8:45 they began moving us through the metal detector security check and then up to the ticket booths and then up to a holding area just outside the park. At 9:30 they let us in a bit further to where we could get programmes for the day and wander through a few shops until 10:30 when they officially opened and let us go anywhere. We first went to Henman Hill and laid our blanket out to dry and sat for 45 minutes or so taking in the view over Wimbledon and planning our day a bit. So at 11:15 we began making our way over to Court 2. We passed a few of the courts where some boys and girls had begun their matches at 11. It was surreal the first few we saw as we felt so close and that it wasn't real. We made it to Court 2 about 11:45 and at 12 the players came out and warmed up and then it began. We watched mixed doubles first and cheered on a Brazilian and his partner from Taipei but they lost. It was a fun match. In between that match and the next, we walked out and caught a few games of an American boy playing a Brazilian boy. They were probably 16 years old or so but still really good. The Brazilian was ranked so he was beating the American pretty good but it was fun to sit literally on the front row, 10 feet or so from the court. Then we saw men's doubles back in our Court 2 seats (which by the way were assigned, meaning we could come and go all day as we pleased, the other courts 5-19 we could walk by and get seats if they were available but no seats are assigned and so are up for grabs.) and that match was really good because it was the guy that had beat Roddick in singles the day before and his partner against the guy that had lost to Federer in singles the day before and his partner. So they were really really good serving at 100-125 mph and hitting some amazing shots while we sat 15-20 feet away.

After that 2nd match we took a break because the sun was out and really really hot. We had forgotten how intense the sun is this time of year as up here we are closer to it. We got some strawberries and cream (free because we picked up a coupon from our bank that happens to be the sponsor!). Then after wandering in a few other shops we found a bench in the shade of Court 1 and got a Wimbledon Sundae (strawberries & cream and chocolate ice creams with burnt almonds and waffle cone pieces topped with lots of hot fudge) and then Emily laid down and fell asleep for about a half hour or so while I checked scores of other matches.

By this time it was about 17:30 and so went and bought some dinner and ate it near Court 2 where we could see a few of the smaller courts where there was some girls doubles matches going on. Then we went into Court 2 for the final match that started about 18:25. It was the ladies invitational doubles. We watched Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova (both recent former players) take on much older former British players who I had never heard of: Anne Hobbs and Samantha Smith. Of course the younger pair easily one but it lasted about an hour as the older pair fought hard and made a bit of a run at the end but then fell short.

So we left about 7:35pm and caught a bus back to Richmond and then decided to walk home from there. Got home about 9 and were showered and asleep by 10.

An exhausting day but very fun to experience Wimbledon.

Human Again

So it's probably no surprise to you all that I haven't been myself for awhile now (like 6 months?). I'm blaming the ridiculously long and depressing English winter we survived (barely) and we've been hosting visitors and/or travelling since mid-March. Don't worry, I'm not complaining about that last one but it certainly has sapped any energy/motivation I've had to do anything other than pack, clean, wash clothes, repeat. And even though I am still really jet lagged and exhausted from our recent travels, I don't feel like this anymore which is pretty monumental.

Here is the short list of why:
-I was clearing out my inbox (217 emails that needed to be archived, deleted or responded to!) and came across a link to this blog which I totally adore.
-Summer weather, although humid and sticky with no A/C, means lots of sunshine and vitamin D and lots of pretty greenery and scenery here in England.
-This album has been helping me rock out.
-Our apple tree has at least 100 tiny apples growing on it. This will prove to be a much more successful harvest than last year's 2 apples (seriously, there were only 2 last year, and they were growing on the same branch). I have a feeling we will be making a lot of apple themed meals come Sept.
-We just got back from seeing family which filled up our reserves AND we got to hold and play with lots of kiddos while there.
-Speaking of kids, I think things are finally moving on our referral to this place.
-Found out today that our favorite private practice clinic now has facilities for maternity patients should we have good results with the IVF so we won't have to deal with NHS services.
-After who knows how many loads, I finally got all the laundry done. Well, except for the towels.
-We had an awesome BBQ with friends yesterday for my favorite holiday.
-Since we have no travel plans for at least another 2 months I finally have time to sit down and sort through and enjoy the pictures from all of the amazing places we've been in the last 4 months.
-Brent passed exam 7 which means as soon as he files the necessary paperwork, he will be an ACAS (Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society). Finally a milestone in the seemingly endless barrage of exams! 2 more and he'll be done for good.
-And last but certainly not least, I finally feel like blogging again! So keep your eyes out for lots of posts in the next few weeks because we've got quite a long list to cover including but not limited to: Christmas, New Years, Amsterdam, Paris (3 times!), Ireland, Wales, Italy, our trip home, Wimbledon and hopefully just some regular everyday musings stuff.

Happy Surprise-a-versary!

In December, Brent and I celebrated our 6th anniversary (what? how is that possible?) and per our usual tradition, we took our trip a bit early. We're not big anniversary present people, we prefer to take trips and since the big day is only 5 days before Christmas, we usually go the first weekend in Dec. This year we went to Dover and Bruges, Belgium.

On Friday night, we met at the train station and headed down to Dover. We found our B&B, got all checked in and settled then headed out for dinner. The B&B owner suggested and drove us to a nice little Italian restaurant. It was pretty small but had a loft area with more seating. Dinner was yummy and the gelato was fabulous.

On Saturday morning, we woke up extra early and picked up our rental then drove to the Eurotunnel terminal to catch our train to Calais, France then drove an hour to Bruges (3 different countries in the matter of one hour). The train was really interesting. We drove straight onto it and sat in the car for the 35 minutes it took to get through the Chunnel.

This part of our weekend was a total surprise to Brent (payback for last year's surprise trip). He knew we were going to Dover but had no clue about Belgium, until we were on our way to Dover Friday night and I asked him to help me plan the next day and handed him a map of Bruges.

So in Bruges:
-We saw windmills

-Ate waffles & drank hot chocolate
-Enjoyed the architecture

-Drove over the canals

-Went to the chocolate museum and the fry (as in potatoes) museum

-Had more waffles & hot chocolate
-Walked through the Christmas Market

-Went to the Snow and Ice festival which was SO cool. Everything was made of ice, the big structures didn't even have any support materials, it was all ice. Even the slide.

-Went back to the Christmas Market for more waffles & cocoa and dinner and to check out the lights and ice skating and buy some chocolaty souvenirs (man, those Belgians sure know how to do chocolate right!)

-Then we drove back to France, got on our train and headed back to Dover. We were there for about 8 hours and it was totally worth it. It was really beautiful and going at Christmas time to see the lights and market was a really fun.

On Sunday, we went to Canterbury for church but found once we got there, it was stake conference (somewhere else) so we used the extra time to walk around Canterbury. We didn't pay to go in to the cathedral but it was really big and quite ornate just on the outside. The town itself felt very medieval and still had lots of old buildings and character to it.

We went to the Canterbury Tales experience which was funny. It was built in an old church and followed a few of the characters from Chaucer's Tales. It was all animatronics and recorded sound bites. We learned a bit of Canterbury's history as well. After that we went to Tiny Tim's Tea House and had a light lunch. They had someone playing jazz piano as we enjoyed our lunch and hot chocolate. Then we headed back to Dover to spend the rest of the day relaxing in our B&B.

Monday, we went to Dover castle and Secret Wartime Tunnels (used in most of the wars since the Napoleonic Time, and most recently during the cold war).

The castle just went through a major renovation and has been restored to how it would have been back in the 1200's after it was first built.

After the castle, we walked about 15 minutes down the road to the start of the White Cliffs. I have always wanted to see the cliffs of Dover so I was pretty pumped. Unfortunately, it was really windy (which we knew it would be) but also rainy. We made it about 10 minutes down the trail before we decided to turn back and call it a day. The decision was made after Brent slipped in the mud and we were just sick of the stinging rain. We made our way down the hill back to town and had a quick dinner then headed home.

It was a nice weekend getaway and now we've not only been to that area of England, but also Bruges. We are getting short on time here in the UK and may not make it back to see more of Belgium so I'm glad we had such a nice experience there.

Here is a link to more of the pictures.

One year ago today...

...We stepped off the plane into a whole new country and a whole new life. We were sick, tired, disoriented, nervous and a little bit lost. But more importantly we were ready to start this new, exciting journey.

Last night Brent and I were reminiscing on our first few days here and can't believe how much we have changed. We hadn't given that much thought before but as Brent pointed out, we are very different people now, but in a good way (hopefully). We've learned a lot and changed some bad habits and made some new ones and opened our minds a little.

Things we've learned in the last 365 days:
-What bangers & mash, treacle cakes, toad in the hole, pasties, squash, suet, swede; humped toucan, pelican and zebra crossings and WC's all are along with the new meanings to some of our standard terms (pants, vest, wallet, etc).
-English food tastes different. They don't use very many preservatives and no artificial colors or flavors and I haven't seen the words "partially hydrogenated" anywhere. That's not to say everything is healthy here but at least there are less chemicals.
-The difference between London, Kent, Somerset, Liverpool, Yorkshire, and Geordie accents. Not to mention the basics: Irish, Scottish, Australian and South African.
-South Africans are some of the nicest and funniest people we know and most of our friends (church and non) are South African.
-How to properly use words/phrases such as "right then", "sorry", "cheers", "ta", "eat in/take away", "quid", "p"
-How to pronounce odd looking English locations: Twickenham, Isleworth, Islington, Leicester, Leicestershire, High Wycombe, Slough, Weston-Super-Mare and countless others.
-Brent has had to learn lots of new spellings for words for when he writes reports at work.
-"Pudding" does not actually mean a smooth creamy substance eaten with a spoon for dessert or a snack. Depending on who you are talking to pudding could be cake, it could be like a bread pudding type thing or more commonly they could just mean dessert. Except for Yorkshire Pudding which is something completely different eaten with a savoury meal.
-The English typically don't make eye contact or smile at strangers on the street, which has been really hard to get used to. Don't get me wrong, they are pretty friendly once you get to know them but they aren't going to just smile at anybody, let alone look you in the eye if you don't know them. They are very personal people and don't bother with niceties in public. In fact, I once smiled at a woman's baby and she gave me a dirty look like I was going to steal her child or something. Now I hear this whole issue is more of a London thing, and we have had better experiences up north and in the south. But still, it takes some getting used to.
-If the sun is out, so are the people, usually scantily clad and sunburnt. This past summer was pretty warm and sunny and everywhere we went there was at least one man without a shirt on and a girl in a bikini top. And everyone was beet red.
-Once you make friends with them, British people are really funny and quiet at the same time.
-Speaking of quiet, everyone speaks so softly. I have the hardest time at the post office and the bank because they are quiet AND behind glass. I think I'm adjusting though, I don't find myself saying "sorry?" as often anymore. I don't think that means I've quieted down, I just think my ears have adjusted.
-London is a beautiful city, especially at night. Brent loves his walk to the train station and for most of the winter would tell me at least once a week how nice London looks at night with all of the lights and the river.
-Walking everywhere, although a hassle sometimes, isn't so bad. I haven't driven a car in over a year and Brent only drives when we're on vacation. Life without a car is interesting but we have both lost over 20 pounds mostly just because we walk so much.
-Spring in England is pretty much the closest thing I can think of to heaven. Last June when we took our road trip we were in awe the whole time. It's just so gorgeous.
-It's really not as scary as you think to move pick up and move halfway across the world. Thanks to skype and other modern conveniences, it's been a fairly easy adjustment.
-We are no longer apprehensive about travelling to other countries. In fact, it's really fun and we look forward to every chance we get to travel. Our first big trips were to Paris and Egypt and we were pretty nervous but since then we feel pretty confident.
-When we move back to the US, we need to travel more and explore the beauty of our own country. There are people here in England that have barely ever left the UK and that's just sad. It makes us think that we take advantage of our huge country with all of it's diversity. You could travel the US up and down for years and still not see everything.
-2 years is NOT enough time. Not only do we need more time to travel, we need more time to travel! We've only made a very small dent in our list of places to see and that just won't do.
-European PTO is fabulous. 25 days is standard and since we didn't know that last year, we got to carry our extra 5 over and now have 30 days this year. Sadly, we're already running low after the trips we have planned for this summer.
-Last but not least, living in England is exciting and fun and gives us lots of opportunities but for the most part it's just regular life in a different country. We still have our ups and downs and hard times and we're still struggling with exams and getting pregnant and we have church responsibilities and limited funds and even more limited time. It's not a 2 year vacation and it can't be all travel and excitement all the time but it's wonderful and amazing and we love it. We are so grateful that we get to have this experience. Once-in-a-lifetime.

So, Happy Anniversary, England! Thanks for letting us stay awhile.