Etiquette Tip

Here's a little tip that might save my fellow American expats a bit of embarrassment:
It is expected that you will offer the (insert any type of worker who comes to your house) a cup of tea.  A biscuit to go with it would be nice as well.

Source: poietes.wordpress.com via Paul on Pinterest

I must admit that I did not offer our movers anything.  We didn't have a kettle, or any cups for that matter.  Movers must be used to this, because they brought their own!

But every gent who has shown up to fix something at my place since then has been offered (and accepted) a cup of tea.  With milk, thank you very much.

I am still a bit uncomfortable with this tradition.  It's just not part of American culture.  Am I supposed to sit with him and have a chat while he drinks the tea?  Do I offer it upon arrival?  In the middle of the job?  Or at the end as a way of saying "thanks"?

This ritual is further complicated by the fact that we have exactly 4 cups in our house.  Two are teeny tiny demitasse cups we bought to make babyccinos for the kids.  One is a standard white cup which we bought because the mugs in our old apartment didn't fit under the fancy coffee machine.  And one is a big cup with the words "Yummy Mummy" on it, purchased at the Mother's Day Stall last year by my darling daughter.  Can you picture a middle aged plumber with a few missing teeth sipping tea from a "Yummy Mummy" mug?  Neither can I.  That's why my sweet husband has to use the Yummy Mummy mug for his morning coffee.

I've got to have that one cup ready at all times.  You never know who might drop in for a cup of tea.

Beautiful Bath

This weekend we set out on our first UK road trip.  We decided to head to Bath if only because it is in our "easy day trips guide" and another expat had casually mentioned that it was a good place to go.

As it turns out, Bath was an excellent choice.  Bath is to London what Santa Barbara is to Los Angeles.  It is close enough but still feels worlds away.  It has great shopping and a great atmosphere.  Lots of restaurants, beautiful buildings, plenty to do.  And Bath has the added attraction of the historic Roman Baths.

We started the first morning off with a free Mayor's walking tour of the city.  Our guide was charming and loved sharing interesting stories about his city.  The tour is meant to be 2 hours and takes you past all the major sites of the city.  Our boys petered out at about the 1.5 hour mark so we didn't get the full tour but I would recommend this as a great overview of the city.

Pulteney Bridge

After the tour we needed some lunch.  While browsing along the sidewalk a kind woman recommended the Lime Lounge.  It turns out she was the chef's mother!  So of course we had to try it.  It was delicious!  A great find and child friendly too.

Next up was the highlight of the trip for the little people in the family.  We found the most amazing playground at the Queen Victoria Park.  Seriously, they could charge admission this playground is so great.  Giant zip line, huge basket swings, tunnel slides, climbing walls . . . it just goes on and on and on.  We are on a mission to visit all the best playgrounds in Europe and I'd say we are off to a jolly good start thanks to the Queen Victoria Playground.  If you're planning a trip to Bath, don't miss it.  It is quite near the Royal Crescent.

On day two we visited the Roman Baths.  No pushchairs (aka strollers) allowed but they have free loaner backpacks on hand.  The Baths were fascinating- just to think the stones we walked upon were the same ones walked upon by the Romans 2000 years ago.  We were all captivated by it.

After finishing up our tour of Bath we decided to make a little side trip and check out Stonehenge- why not?  It was only about 30 miles away.  I thought it was amazing.  The little guy was less impressed.

Overall, our first family road trip was a great success.  Can't wait to see more of this culturally and historically rich country! 

Windsor Great Park (from the back of a horse)

Here's how I spent my day:

Not a bad view, huh?
I joined my local American Woman's Club because, let's face it, I need friends.  They have a saddle club (and a book club, and a group for country walks, art lectures, English history lectures, day trips, French lessons- you name it, they've got it).  I signed up for heaps of activities.  I mean, why not?  I have a perfectly good calendar that needs filling up. 

So today, with absolutely picture perfect weather, I set out for my first hack with the Saddle Club.  We trotted through Windsor Great Park.  The scenery was stunning.  I wish I could have taken more photos, but I was riding Lulu- the most opinionated horse in the field.  After some initial bumps we got on quite well.  It was a lovely ride through a gorgeous place.  I haven't seriously ridden a horse in 25 years so I had a constant string of  instructions running through my head, "heels down", "toes in" "bring in the reins".  About half way through I reminded myself to smile.  I'm here, in England, riding a beautiful horse through this amazing park where Queens and Kings have ridden for 100s of years.  And I'm soaking it all in.   Even if I don't have friends yet, I'm lucky to be here.  If I just keep trotting along it will all fall into place.

First Things First- Finding A School

The first order of business regarding our move to the UK was to find a school for our children.  Given everything we had heard about the school system there, we knew it was going to be a bit complicated.  Schools are all graded by Ofsted reports and the schools with the top scores are typically oversubscribed.  Unlike the U.S., living within the school's catchment area does not guarantee your child a spot at that school.  Since our move was scheduled for August we quickly abandoned all hope of finding a spot for our kids at a good state run school.  They would all certainly be full well before then.

Private schools were also ruled out for the sole reason that the high tuition fees would not be covered by our company.

Which leaves us with American or International Schools.  These schools also have outrageously high fees, but our company agreed to cover them as part of the contract.  So we quickly focused our search on the three main American options.

Initially, I assumed the American School in London would be our first choice.  Tom will be spending a fair amount of time in the central London office and I fancied the idea of living in the heart of the city.  But my hopes were quickly dashed when I learned they would not even accept the little guy's application because they were so oversubscribed at the pre-kindergarten level.

So we expanded our search to the home counties where several American schools are located.  As it turns out, my two older kids now attend two different American schools in Surrey.  And I'm really happy about that decision.

The classes are small (14 kids), the teachers are excellent, the curriculum is challenging, and the schools are specifically prepared to help "third culture kids" adjust to life in their new country. 

When it comes to schools, I'm not easily impressed.  But, based on what I've seen so far, these schools are truly impressive.  I feel lucky that my kids will have this educational experience.  And living in the beautiful suburban English countryside is turning out to be a little fringe benefit.  So far, so good!

I'm Back!

After only 2 short weeks of darkness, British Telecom has us up and running with a working phone and DSL internet!  Everyone loves to complain about BT, but so far (knock wood) I have nothing bad to say about them.  (I know what you're thinking : "Just wait . . . .").

To celebrate my return to the 21st century, I thought I'd take you on a little photo tour of my new neighborhood.  We're living in Surrey, near London and it is gorgeous here.  Of course I still can't find my way to Waitrose (our supermarket) without the sat/nav, but it is slowly starting to feel like home.

 Our new place.  I think it might be the smallest house in the neighborhood.

 

Apparently the British love to name their houses.  It's so charming to hear people say, "I live at Woodbury House (or Watersteps, or Christmas Cottage)"

 

The view down our street.  Perfect for bike riding.  Of course, my kids have never ridden in the street before and are completely terrified that a car is going to come along and run them over.  I wonder how long it will take them to get over that?

 So that's what it means to be on the verge!

 

Baby Jack and I like to take afternoon walks to this little patisserie.  

Warm cheese and bacon croissant anyone?

 Near the patisserie we have a little mini-market endearingly called Budgens.  There are so many Americans in the neighborhood that they have a little "Americatessen" section.  I found this rather amusing- The British seem to think Americans love Hersheys (yes!), Goldfish (yes!), Jif (yes!) and- not one but two-different kinds of marshmallow fluff (what??).  

But, hey, it's good to know it's there if I need it. 

And finally, this is Mittens.  She came by to introduce herself the day we moved in.  We're hoping she becomes our surrogate pet.  You know, the kind the kids can play with and then send home to it's real owners who have all the responsibility.   That would be just perfect.

Shocking Discoveries

We've been in the UK for less than 5 days and I've already made a few shocking discoveries.  First, I was horrified to discover that there are NO electrical outlets in bathrooms here.  Seriously- none.  It's not allowed.  Apparently, they think people will be dropping electrical appliances into tubs full of water left and right.  I'm baffled by this.  We had 220v in Australia and I never heard of any problems with people being electrocuted in their own bathrooms.  I'm going to have to completely re-work my daily routine and find an alternate spot to use the multitude of electrical appliances that keep my hair from looking like John Bon Jovi's (a la 1989).

I don't want to look like this

My second shocking discovery was made this week while shopping for bed linen.  It seems that people here do not commonly use flat sheets.  Instead, it's just the fitted sheet and a duvet cover.  What happens when they get hot at night and want to kick off the duvet?  Isn't that what the top sheet is for?  I've been to several different department stores and I cannot find flat sheets for a "super king" size bed (which is the biggest size here but still smaller than a California King).  This may seem like a minor annoyance but when you think about how much time one spends in bed you can begin to grasp the magnitude of this problem.

My third discovery this week really cannot be described as shocking.  Everyone warned me.  But I was a bit surprised anyway.  Here's the thing:  the weather here sucks.  It's August for goodness sake!  And it's cold and raining and we're wearing jackets.  It feels like a bad February day in Southern California. I think it's going to be a long winter.

Good thing I got me a pair of Hunter wellies!

Now that I think about it, perhaps discovery #2 and #3 are related.  The weather here is so miserable that no one is ever hot at night so why bother with that pesky top sheet anyway?

I think I may be on to something . . .

How Washi Tape Helped Me Move

Hi Friends!  We're here!  Exhausted, a bit grumpy and overwhelmed, but we're here.  We've settled into a lovely hotel on the river Thames for a few days while we wait to move into our rental house.  I have so many things to tell you about and not enough time to even organize my thoughts! 

So I thought I would just share one little tip with you:  Washi Tape.  Have you seen this beautiful stuff?  I first read about it on Design Mom and quickly ordered some on etsy.

Each member of the family was assigned a different color/design of washi tape.  I applied the tape to the spines of our passports.  I can't tell you how much time and frustration this saves us going through security and immigration.  No more flipping through passports trying to figure out whose is whose!  I'm sure there is some law about defacing your US passport, but nobody said a thing about it. And that's the kind of girl I am- breaking the law for the sake of organization.

Then I made luggage tags and color coded those with washi tape, too.  We have 11 identical black suitcases (yes, our garage looks like we bought out a bag shop).  Now I can quickly identify which bag I need to open to get to the snacks/sweaters/toys or whatever it is that someone desperately needs at any given moment.  So much easier than unzipping 11 suitcases looking for the right one.

I'm sure there are 100 other uses for this fun tape.  I'm just glad I got my hands on some before our big move.

What do you think?  How would you use washi tape? 

I still have quite a bit left and I'd love some ideas.