So Long Old Friend...

I must now say good-bye to my good friend, my temporary passport. We've been through a lot together, and now I give my tribute.

Without you, I would never have been able to go home for my Grandma's funeral, and break up the long 6 month stint in England with a much needed trip to the true North strong and free.

Without you, I wouldn't have been able to go home for the whole summer, resting in the 30 degree sunshiny B.C. days and avoiding the horrible British summer rain. I would never have been able to spend countless hours doing 'nothing' with those I love.

Without you, I would never have been able to go on a crazy week long trip to Oregon...one truck, 4 adults, a 5 year old, and a 3 year old. How could I not have so many great memories?

Without you, I would not have been able to go on that sweet trip to Italy with Tom and Nemo, and eat tons of authentic delicious Italian food.

I will miss how cool you made me look at the airport, and how people in line with me thought I was some sort of special agent because I had a cool white passport, even though, if I was a special agent, why would I get a white passport that totally stood out?! But anyways...

It's been fun. And I want you to know, even though my old passport does have a visa to be in the UK until 2014, I will never love it as much as I loved you.

You, and the Canadian Embassy that is.

Turkey for Me, Turkey for You...

When I went to staff meeting this morning, I did not think I was having a thanksgiving dinner at my house that evening!! But once my staff team realized what day it was, they decided we had to do something special after all, as they said, they are my English family. So at about 6pm a few of us hopped on the bus, when to the local Sainsbury's on the way home, bought a couple of roasted chickens and all the other thanksgiving fixings (yes I know chicken isn't turkey, but I am in England and we had about an hour to make dinner, so work with me people!!) And there were about seven of us for dinner. A few of us girls actually pulled off this amazing dinner full with home-cooked pumpkin pie in like an hour! It was a thanksgiving miracle!

Oh and here's my favorite thanksgiving song at the moment. It's my ringtone. I just put in a little segment, because some of it at the end (of the full song) is kind of crude -- it is Adam Sandler, after all. But anyways, here's my ringtone for the week. I am trying to be in the spirit; I even bought a miniature pumpkin to put on my table today.

Inspired to Write

Wow. It's been awhile. And it's not like I haven't been inspired to write. I did travel to Italy for a week, basking in the amazing food and culture of the south with a day trip to Rome (note: one day to see Rome=insanity...really needed more time). And then I spent a lovely (oh the British lingo is getting to me again) summer on the west coast...and took an amazing week trip to Oregon Coast which was fantastic! The beaches and crashing waves were incredible, not to mention the sand dunes and the giant Sequoia trees in the tip of California...oh there was a lot to write, but there was the summer's overpowering lack of discipline to do so.

My parents came back to England with us, and just left last night, spending over a month in the UK and pretty much seeing more than Tom and I have seen in a year. It was so nice to have them here--totally helped with any home-sickness. We had tons of family around in early September, for a few weeks there we felt like we were running a free B&B. But we got a great new flat, so we love having guests. My sister-in-law got married in Scotland early September...also a noteworthy event, it being an Indian-Canadian-German wedding in Scotland, but nope, no news post. But alas, autumn (yes, that's what we call it here) has come and it's time to catch up with life. Hopefully that will mean I can process some thoughts on here and document my crazy life in Britain.

And believe me, it's crazy. For example, I spent the last two weeks selling a free contest to win 'a moral dilemma' involving two goats and an ipod. Good times. And yes, sometimes I do walk down the busy Oxford streets and think, "My life is one big strange adventure".

Phrases of the Week

Here's are two of the best phrases I have heard in the last week:

"It was all pistols in the morning!"

and...

"Like, I'm not making you guys suck eggs"

Haha! The dilemma, do I just let you ponder these...or do I explain them? Such a hard decision...

Driving & My Science Experiment

So last Friday I conquered the British road system. And when I say conquered, I mean, I got pretty good, AFTER some minor adjusting...stalling while trying to maneuver a roundabout, and going up on a curb at one point (haha!) but after a little time of getting used to driving standard on the opposite side of the road while doing confusing roundabouts, I finally got it! And now I feel so comfortable driving here, it totally makes me want to get my own car. I really didn't want to give it back, especially since it was a new VW Golf, TDI. It was a sweet ride.

Well, later that night (after I got home from driving my team to a work meeting in another city) Tom and I decided to go out, because it's so rare that we actually have a car! So we headed out to this nice little restaurant in the town of Wheatley, just outside of Oxford. We headed in that direction because we heard their was an ASDA out there (like a Walmart) and we wanted to see if it was any good (kinda disappointing, not as big or stocked as a Walmart in Canada but oh well). Anyways...after our great dinner of ribs, I casually asked the waitress if I could have the rest of my meal 'wrapped up' to be taken home...totally forgetting that they don't do that in this country, they don't really get the whole idea of 'taking the rest home' and most restaurants would flat out say no and look at you like you are an idiot. But she said 'yeah sure' and so I didn't think anything of it. Then she comes back with my ribs in this pre-used big huge plastic container! It totally looked like a science experiment. It took everything I had to maintain a straight face as she went on to present me with a document, which I had to sign. It was actually a waiver saying that they were no longer legally responsible for the food! Like if I brought it home, then ate it when it was bad, I couldn't sue them. Baaaa! How come we don't have to fill out waiver's in Canada? Anyways, I signed it, and took my science experiment home to eat the next day. I will put a picture of it below, but it doesn't even capture the full extent of how strange it was!

M.I.A: The English Muffin

This is one weird thing about England...Where is this ever famous "english muffin" we use so much in Canada? It's bizarre...

Sure enough it is in the super market here (just called a 'muffin' of course) but other than the super market, I have never come across one! No one has ever offered me one, no restaurant has had it on the menu, and even their most famous traditions such as "Cream Tea" don't include it...it is a scone and jam...not an english muffin and jam. McDonald's doesn't even use them to make their egg McMuffin here! I had eggs benedict served on a bap...not an english muffin. What's a bap? you may be asking. It's like just a regular bun (I think the word bap actually refers to a whole morning sandwich, but it's served on a regular bun, I'm not sure actually, and too lazy to look it up). So yes, needless to say, I am somewhat disappointed with the english muffin presence or lack thereof in this country. After all, they are delicious.

Jousting at the Palace & Other Adventures

First of all, sorry for the blog-lacking (It's my blog, and I can make up words if I want to!). I don't know what has come over me, possibly a seasonal bout of laziness. And it's not that we haven't had blog-worthy events happen...two weeks ago we 'hired' a car and went gallivanting all over the south of England and even into Wales. Beachy Head, with the white cliffs (see pic below) was my favorite of the weekend...it even beat Stonehenge in my mind (although Tom yelling, "It's not worth it!" to poor tourists as we left Stonehenge made that stop better).

What I do want to mention is the fact that we went to watch 'Jousting' at Blenheim Palace last Saturday. Yah, that's right, jousting. Like in a Knight's tale (am pretty sure they may have even being playing the movie soundtrack). It was sweet!!! They totally dramatized it, and made it way cool...And the fact that it was held on the palace grounds (the same palace where Winston Churchill was born) was slightly amazing. To top it off, the day was beautiful, and we all had sunburns to prove it. Here's some fun pictures for you.



The white cliffs at Beachy Head...the seven peaks behind me are known as the "seven sisters".

Jousting at Blenheim Palace....


Sorry these are kind of small I know...

By far the coolest spectator of all! Actually lots of kids were dressed up!