3 Countries in less than 3 hours.

Living in Europe definitely has more than a few benefits. One of those being the fact that you can visit and experience many different nations and cultures within a days drive! I rode on the Euro Tunnel train for the first time without any explanation to how our car would get across the channel. :P Little did I know that we drive our car right onto the train and sit in it while we dive a few hundred feet below the water's surface for an easy half hour ride. Val had the great idea of driving our cars onto planes when we fly so everyone gets their own space! Although I'm pretty sure that would take up a lot more space and gasoline...
Anyways, we came out of the tunnel onto French soil! The port is in Calais, France. It was beautiful to drive through the French countryside as we made our way to Brugge, Belgium. I had never been to France and will hopefully get to do more exploring there someday, but we watched a gorgeous sunset before driving over the border.
Brugge is really a cute place - cobble-stoned streets, bike roads, canals, bridges, teashops, clock towers, WAFFLES and homemade chocolate on every corner, and even some horse-drawn carriages! Flemish is the language mostly spoken there (I guess it's sort of a combination of French and Dutch), though almost everyone we interacted with knew some if not perfect English. I'm sure the majority also know more than two or three languages. That fascinated me actually! To be in a place where I couldn't understand a word made me want to learn how to speak in five different languages!
My Uncle Steve, cousin Dan, Val, Audrey and I went out to a nice dinner a few blocks from our hotel. The primer/appetizer they brought out was a salmon puree or mousse; not the most appetizing appetizer to me. But I did try it and gave the rest of it to sixteen-month-old Audrey who somehow loved it! We did get some awesome mushroom soup that was almost as good as my moms. :) I tried a Belgian beer with a Brill fish and potato dish that was all very good. To top it off my uncle and I split a lemon sorbet doused in champagne for dessert. To say the least we were all very happily filled!
The next day us girls (Val, Audge, and I) walked around the cute town and did some shopping. We found some treasures and tasted some great Belgian chocolates (which may or may not make it back home with me.. :P). A smoked ham and goat cheese panini was the perfect meal to tide us over until an afternoon Belgian waffle dessert. Tell me what is better than eating a Belgian waffle topped with icing sugar, whipped cream, and fresh strawberries in Belgium?! It definitely left us with good thoughts of Brugge as we headed back to the UK!

Belgian waffles in Brugge...

...need I say more

Trip to Oxford Welcomes 2011

December 30th, 2010 to January 1st, 2011 I experienced the English college town of Oxford to bring in the new year! Daniel, Valerie, Audrey and I joined by my Auntie Annie, Uncle Steve, and cousins Jeff, Jessa, and Emmie drove two hours north to visit Oxford University where Jess will be spending the semester studying through a program called The Summit. Oxford is bigger than Canterbury, but has a cute downtown center filled with shops and cafes and crawling with people at the right time of day. It was nice to stay at a hotel within walking distance from everywhere we wanted to be. For our first night's dinner we strolled down to the Eagle and Child Pub, famously known for being the regular meeting spot of J.R. Tolken and C.S. Lewis. We enjoyed some beef and ale pies (quite the English pub meal), along with a ginger beer that I found actually pretty tasty! It was fun to be out with family exploring a new place.
New Year's Eve we shopped around town, then decided to go to the cinema to see the newest Narnia movie. I have to say that English movie theatre popcorn is not nearly as butter-loaded as ours! It was a great movie and Audrey made it half-way through before she started yelling and "Poppy" (Uncle Steve :P) had to take her for an adventure outside. After the movie we all went to a nice dinner at an Italian chain restaurant called Zizzi's. I had an excellent pizza and taught Uncle Steve how the 3D movie glasses come in handy even after the 3D movie! Back at the hotel the eight of us gathered in one room to celebrate the New Year together. We continued a great tradition of talking about and recording the highlights and significant events of the past year, 2010. It amazes me how each year that goes by only goes by faster than the last! Next we all gave our predictions for the next year, 2011, relating to anything really! It was fun to hear what everyone thought and to dream a little about what the future holds. We spent the last thirty minutes of 2010 praying with each other, thanking the Lord for all that He has done and all that He's going to do, and simply dedicating the year 2011 to Him and His purposes. At midnight we pulled some poppers and were surprised by a little fireworks show outside our hotel window. Though it was a different kind of New Year's celebration, I was so content to be where I was at, surrounded by people who care about me and who want to please and praise the Lord we serve.
It was a great trip to bring closure to 2010 and welcome in the year 2011!

English to English Translations...

Ok, so a lot of you have asked what new words and phrases I've learned over here. I'm thinking I will start a little list here and when I remember more (or learn more!) I will continue to add to it!

- when asking for the restrooms, however weird it sounds, ask for the toilets (or "the loo" of course!)
- to take a short "kip" is equivalent to a little nap
- a "spag bowl" is short for a bowl of spaghetti
- a "nappy" is not a nice rest but a baby's diaper :P
- a "trolley" is not something you ride in but that your groceries do; a grocery cart!
- "zed" is how they call the letter "z" ('ex', 'why', 'zed')
- a "cuppa" is simply a cup of tea
- a "pie" is not a dessert here and may come with strange meats buried inside! (kydney, steak, chicken...)
- don't say "pants" around English friends (to them it means what's under your pants); here we say "trousers"
- gas station is a "petrol" station because that's what goes in your car, petrol (I've found the British to be much more literal than Americans)
- "quid" is the slang for money (pounds), like how we would use "bucks" instead of dollars

A White Christmas

This Christmas was a very different kind than I have had the last 20 years. My sister Kate was celebrating on the islands of Tahiti in the sweltering heat, I was freezing my toes off in the English snowy weather, while the other four members of our family enjoyed the traditions of stockings, presents, Christmas breakfast, and the joy of sitting in around a Christmas tree as Dad reads the real story of why this holiday exists. As I pondered these past delights I remembered that though I am not with my family doing all the familiar things we do around this time, I should be celebrating the best gift ever given - the gift of God's very own Son sent to our humble and broken world to deliver us from the bonds of sin so that we can freely enter His presence! How incredible is that?! Though we celebrated the day with festive gingerbread house making (it was pretty much a masterpiece if you haven't seen it...) and songs of baby Jesus and good times and good food, it was refreshing to attend the Christmas Eve service at our little church down the road in our village of Bridge.
Upon entering the very rustic old church each of us were given a "Christingle." This is a Christmas tradition originating in Germany back in the 1600s, but in the more recent centuries has traveled to England as part of their Christmas celebration. The Christingle is an orange with a red ribbon around it symbolizing the world and Christ's blood shed for it. Then sticking out of the top of the fruit is a white candle that reminds us that Jesus is the "light of the world." Around the candle are four cocktail sticks (toothpicks :P) with little gummy candies stuck on top of them representing that Jesus rules the four seasons and four corners of the earth and provides us with daily food. The tradition is to light the Christingle and place it in your window on Christmas day to share with the world the light of Jesus Christ. A pretty cool idea, huh?! I think the US could benefit from this Christ-based Christmas tradition. :)
Well, I hope you all had a blessed Christmas and remembered to dwell on the greatest gift we could ever receive!

Hello Snow

Yesterday, we had the grand idea to venture to the nearest Costco (about an hour's drive toward London) to grab some lunch and do some serious shopping - American style. But we were surprised by a white storm only twenty minutes down the road! Though most of the English make fun of us driving an "SUV" around the streets of Canterbury, we were the ones laughing when none of the 2-wheel drive cars could make it up a 10% grade hill on the highway! There were two police men who were literally pushing cars uphill in the blizzard as we motored by. It was incredible how fast the snow dumped on us - almost six inches within an hour or two! So our Costco adventure was cut short as we wisely turned around to avoid getting caught in a gridlock (that would actually last hours!). We had quite the winter wonderland adventure though! Here are a few pictures of the snow :)

The "Panto"

Yesterday i was privileged enough to see my first British pantomime! Dan, Val, Audrey and I went to watch Robin Hood under the temporary tent serving as Marlowe Theatre. It was really fun and interactive! The narrator, who was also a funny character in the show was dishing out jokes the entire time and asked the audience to participate with sound effects, singing, clapping and answering questions throughout the performance. I was actually impressed with their singing and dancing! It was fun to watch and so many of the kids in the arena were on the edge of their seats waving their flashing glow sticks around, boo-ing at the villain, and cheering for the hero, Robin Hood! It was great fun, and even though I didn't understand all of the British humor I was quite entertained and loved experiencing the English tradition of the pantomime.

My English 21st Birthday!

December 1st 2010 I reached the great old age of 21!!! I pulled back my curtains for the first gift of the day - SNOW! I've never had snow on my birthday before so that was a happy surprise! Val and I started out the day right with a delicious brunch at Mama Feelgoods, a cute cafe down the road in Patrixbourne. We had a pot of tea and cream alongside an amazing english muffin sandwich with poached egg and bacon that is better than any American bacon I've had! To finish off our breakfast we each had a piece of the richest coffee and walnut cake! It was a wonderful snowy day and we spent the rest of it enjoying the weather, baking mom's traditional chocolate kahlua cake, and talking with friends and family! I got to pick out the bottle for our dinner wine but wasn't carded at the little corner store :( Haha! Val and I watched a chick flick before bed. And one of the best surprises of the day was getting to skype my sis Kate in Tahiti!! It was seriously such a blessing to see your face, Kate lady! I loved it :)
To keep the celebration going, on Friday I was able to visit my friends Brandi, Emily E., Emily B., and Stef in London! We spent a great day in London town by ice skating at the Somerset House (hosted by Tiffany & Co.!), eating at London's best Thai restaurant, walking around the city, visiting Hyde Park where we experienced the Winter Wonderland carnival with icing sugar covered spanish churros and hot mulled wine, walked through Harrod's department store, and got some inner-city pizza that only cost 2 pounds! It was a great train ride and a full day of blessed time with friends from across the world. I would say it was a very memorable 21st birthday :)