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 :)

Pretend Thanksgiving!

Last Thursday was the truly tradition American holiday of Thanksgiving, celebrating the blessing that the Native Americans were to the early pilgrims landing in a new world after escaping the religious restraint that Great Britain had on them. So here I am in our "motherland" missing our American pride and tradition of stuffing ourselves to bursting points, watching American football and being with family. We decided that improvisation was in order - Val called up some of their friends here in the UK and we planned to have them over for an American Thanksgiving in England! We ended up hosting six guests (all such fun people to get to know!) to show them how we Americans get festive :) Val and I had picked up some colorful construction paper and lots of sparkly glitter to make decorations! We cut out feathers and leaves and glittered them up along with some real leaves and walnuts from our backyard. The glittery feathers hung from the ceiling in between twinkling Christmas lights creating a fun, cozy, festive atmosphere in our little dining room. Dan and I slaved in the kitchen under the great management of Val who led the show! Our menu wasn't missing a dish - a slow oven-cooked turkey, yummy stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potato dish covered with browned marshmallows and pecans, cover biscuit-like rolls (grandma's fantastic recipe!), and pumpkin pie with vanilla ice cream! Our British friends introduced us to a yummy cider like juice made of pear and elderflower which was surprisingly delicious! After filling ourselves as full as you can imagine we rallied in both a Bananagrams/Speed Scrabble and Spoons tournament!!! Not to brag but I did get a few wins under my belt! :P   It was quite the English Thanksgiving experience.

Work days :)

I feel like one lucky girl to be given the privilege to live in England while getting paid! But that doesn't come without a little work :) Dan and I have started working in the greenhouse about a 25 minute drive from our village. We did a lot of rearranging of plants last week to organize our space (over 2,000 strawberry plants!). This week we have started the process of cross-breeding the different strawberry plant varieties. It has been great so far to learn from Dan's knowledge and experience. It's also such a fun environment to work around living plants most the day. And, though we can see the cloudy or rainy skies above us, we are kept comfortably warm with the greenhouse heater that is meant to keep the plants flourishing in the winter time! We will most likely get to visit some partners and clients throughout Europe over the next few weeks, so I am looking forward to that as well! So far it has been quite an adventure :)

London bridges!

So, it has taken me a while to get this on, but I wanted to tell you all a bit about my trip to London last Monday! The city was amazing! - like New York or San Francisco, yet something totally different. We took the hour long ride on the high speed train (up to 120mph!) from Canterbury into London and hopped on the underground or tube to get to where we needed to be! We decided to do the original tour of the city from the top of a double-decker tour bus, how else when in London?! The queen's home at Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Big Ben, Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square, and the River Thames were just a few of the sights that held my attention whilst (common British word!) whizzing past! It was incredible to see these structures and landmarks in person. Dan, Val, Audrey, Dan's grandparents and I all enjoyed a delicious lunch at a pretty posh French restaurant in Covent Garden. Four courses and nearly two hours later we toured a bit more of the city on foot and headed to England's most expensive department store - Harrod's. To top off a wonderful day I got to meet my friend Brandi for a little while there in London where she is studying abroad! It was great to catch up and hopefully we will make another trip to see each other again before she heads back to the states :) London really is a beautiful city - though FREEZING in the winter months! We made the quick trek back home to Canterbury by train and enjoyed the rest of the evening in our warm little cottage :)

Sunshine!...in an English winter?

It is freezing cold and the days are really short - I think the sun rises around 8 (though I have gotten up at 10:30 and 11:30 so I'm not really sure...) and then sets around 4 or 5!! BUT we had SUNSHINE almost the whole day yesterday though today the sky has stayed a dark gray. Val and Audrey and I took a nice hour walk today from our village of Bridge to Bishopsbourne about a mile away. It was a really beautiful stroll on this tiny road (the British consider it a 2-way street, however only one car could really fit driving down this road at a time without smashing a sheep fence). Yes, there were giant pastures of sheep on both sides!! I will have to try to post a video because it really was as ridiculous/beautiful as you would imagine it to be :) 

God is already teaching me so much in just needing to rely on Him when I'm lonely and confused and afraid. I'm learning a lot about His grace and just the role it plays in forgiveness and Christ-like living. Please pray that I focus on the right things here! I love you and miss you all back home and far away!

My First Day in the UK!

So here is a short snippet of what went on that first day in England! Dan, Val, Audrey and I arrived to our quaint little holiday let called Primrose Cottage after an exhausting day of 4.5 hours driving (thank you greg), 10 hours of flying, and one more hour and 45 minutes of driving! To say the least were ready to be fed, bathed, and put into bed ASAP. We did take the time to walk down to the local pub, The Red Lion Inn, for what we thought was going to be a quick bite to eat (which ended up taking over an hour...but the food was delicious!)

After nearly 13 hrs of sleep we ventured out to Morrison's, the grocery store in Canterbury (our cottage is in the village of Bridge 3miles outside of Cant.). We walked around our street and took some more videos which I will have to figure out how to best post. This afternoon we visited the greenhouse where I will be doing the most work with Dan while we are here. Audrey has been great so far! So fun actually to have around :) On our way back from the nursery we went south toward Dover and saw the Dover Castle lit up (yes it's dark here at 4:30pm) and the port at dover where all the big carrier ships come in and ferries take you over to the coast of France! I guess on a clear day you can see across the English channel to France. We saw some lights that Dan said could be the French coast! We are going back in the daytime next week when Dan's other grandparents come to visit. Besides all that we are just getting things together here at Primrose cottage :) Today went really fast but I have a feeling the days will soon start to feel much longer. Please pray that I trust in God's plan and that I would use every minute of my time here to glorify Him!