Strangers in a not-so-strange land

We have been in England a little over a week now...it still seems hard to believe we're really here!  The trip here went about as well as we could have expected...it turns out I should have been less worried about how the girls would do on the flights and more prepared for jet lag afterwards!  We didn't even get out the toys, coloring books, or iPad for them.  They watched the movies provided on the plane, read, or slept the majority of the time.  Thank goodness!

We had three flights and a total travel time of 16 hours.  The first flight was really rough...small plane, lots of turbulence, and me about to toss my cookies.  The most pleasant part of that flight was sitting in the plane bathroom with my head between my knees.  Ick.

Thankfully, the next two flights were on bigger planes, much smoother, and in business class (which I had never flown before and now I don't think there's any other way to fly...as long as I'm not paying for it, that is).  There was actually decent food and the seats were comfortable enough to sleep in.  The girls slept most of our last flight, which was overnight.

Oh, and just before the last flight as we were waiting to board, we were letting the girls run around in an empty area and they made their first little British friend.  Her name was Tilly, she said she was "nearly four years old" in the most adorable accent ever, and she and Cbear became immediate best friends chasing each other and falling into giggling heaps.  Heart. melted.  Tilly's parents were very friendly and gave us their contact info in case we needed any help in our new area.

We arrived in Birmingham, England at 7 a.m. (1 a.m. central time) and went through customs.  It was actually really easy.  Nobody searched us or went through our stuff...just a few questions for Clint, fingerprints taken and they made sure all our passport photos matched up with our faces.  All our luggage arrived (yay!) and the driver we had arranged to pick us up was waiting.  We made a short stop to exchange currency (ouch!  The exchange rate wasn't particularly favorable that day) and then we loaded up in a van for the short drive to Warwick (about 25 minutes).

After a bit of a long wait (with tired kids about to lose their shtuff), the man who was to let us in the apartment finally arrived, and we got to look at our temporary home.  For the most part it was clean and nice, and fairly roomy.  Over the next few days we found a few things that have made us ready to move into our new house...like leftover fish someone forgot about in the oven, and the gross moldy washing machine with water that keeps backing up in it.  I'm not even attempting to use it and just washing our clothes in the bathtub instead...going all pioneer women on it here.  The beds aren't great and it just doesn't feel like home, but it will definitely make us appreciate our own space once we have it again.

We spent the first day settling in and resting, and met up with our friends Ryan, Lindsey, and their adorable little girl Maggie.  They have been here a week longer than us and so were a little more familiar with the area.  We all walked to a pizza place nearby for dinner, and after that we were exhausted.

We spent the next few days trying to overcome jet lag.  You know what the weirdest part about that is?  Waking up in the middle of the night and wanting to eat dinner.  We have been hungry at the oddest hours. After a week, its finally getting better and the girls aren't waking up as often.  We can't wait to start sleeping all night again.

On our third day here we met up with a realtor and started looking for houses to rent.  Our realtor's name was Jenny and she was a hoot.  A little high-strung and crazy driver (I swear I though we were going to hit a pedestrian on multiple occasions!) but super nice and helpful.  She not only showed us the houses but also drove us around and pointed out things we might be interested in.  We looked at six properties the first day.  There were several we liked, but we ended up going for a large, modern house in the neighborhood we really liked. There is a play set and play house in the back yard, a playground, a few small shops, and fitness center within walking distance, plus it's close enough to Clint's work that he could walk or bike there on a nice day.  We feel very fortunate to have found such a nice place!  We'll probably even be a bit spoiled once we go back to the States.

Speaking of expectations being exceeded...before we came to England we had been mentally preparing ourselves to do without some of the things we've been accustomed to.  Surprisingly, that hasn't been the case at all.  We've been able to find most of the things we could ever need or want (with maybe the exception of decent ranch dressing...they have it here, but it just tastes like mayonnaise to me.  I've only been to two grocery stores though so I haven't given up on it.). We were prepared for small stores and limited selection, but there's a good size supermarket we've been walking to near the flat, and a larger one near our new house that's basically like a slightly smaller Wal-Mart or Super Target...lots of food, clothes, toiletries, and housewares.  We were even able to have a Mexican fiesta with Lindsey and Ryan, complete with corn tortilla chips and salsa!  The taco seasoning wasn't all that great, but once we're in our new place and I stock my pantry I can make some easily.  I'm just glad to find taco shells and tortillas!

Clint started work in the middle of last week and it's been going well for him (woohoo!).  The girls and I have explored a little, but plan on doing more this week especially because we got Jellybean a new "push chair" this weekend (stroller) since we hadn't brought one.  We've walked around town, seen the outside of the castle, tried a few pubs (all good!), taken the bus, driven through enough roundabouts to make Cbear and I carsick, visited a church, and spent lots of time with Lindsey, Ryan and Maggie.  The girls are in love with that family and get super excited when they come over or we go out!

I know I'm forgetting things, but I think I'll sign off for now.  We've been having a lazy morning and we need to figure out our plans for the day...it's sunny out so we should probably get outside for a bit. Cheers!

11 Random things about England

Hey there!  We made it across the pond and are working on settling in (and getting over jet lag...oy!).  I need to do a detailed post about our journey thus far, and hopefully I'll get to that soon.  But for now, I'm a little too tired to really get into a lengthy post so I'll just give you a few pieces of information about how life is different here...in my limited experience of being here less than a week.

1. All the electrical outlets have on/off switches. I had to have a come-to-Jesus meeting with the girls about how they were not toys to be flicked on and off repeatedly.  It's their favorite thing to do at the moment.

2. There are no outlets in the bathroom, except a little socket for electrical razors only.  Ladies, that means no blow-drying, curling, or flat ironing your hair in front of the bathroom mirror!  I guess they thought bathroom moisture and 220 volts of electricity weren't a good mix.  Also, the bathroom light is either on a pull chain or a switch just outside the bathroom.

3. Most people have their washing machines in the kitchen, rather than in a separate room or closet.  Many of them are combination washer/dryers, or people dry their clothes on a line, on airing racks, or draped over the radiators (the two latter happening at our flat right now!) We have the combo washer/dryer in the kitchen right now (the washing machine actually barely works, so we've been hand-washing a lot), but in our new house we actually have a laundry room with separate washer and dryer--score!

4. The grass is always green, even in the winter!  So even though it's chilly here and rains a lot (which is usually more like drizzle, not thunder-stormy) when the sun comes out it seems like early spring.

5. Just about everything is smaller, from appliances to cars to food packaging (which reminds me, I just bought milk yesterday and we're almost out.  The largest carton from the store I've gone to is 2 pints, but it says on there to use within 3 days.  Food seems to spoil quickly here..maybe it's fresher and less processed?).

6. If you order water at a restaurant, you have to specify tap water or they will bring you sparkling/fizzy water.

7. The snack/kid foods seem to be less sugary than what we have in the States (not a bad thing!).  I haven't actually compared sugar content, but from sampling yogurt, fruit snacks, peanut butter, and oatmeal bars, the products here seem significantly less sweet.  I actually kind of like it.  There are plenty of cookies (which are called biscuits here) and candy we haven't tried, though.

8. Eggs aren't refrigerated in the grocery store.

9. Pretty much everything is more expensive here.  I'm quickly learning to not convert pounds to dollars when I buy something because it's just depressing!

10. All the clocks are in military time.  My laptop screen, for instance, says 23:04 right now.

11. People don't seem overly friendly to strangers (hardly anyone smiles or says hello to someone they're passing on the street, for instance) but the folks we've actually been introduced to have been very warm and welcoming.  Hopefully we'll be making new friends soon!

That's all for now...hopefully I'll have time to write a more detailed post soon!