Unexpected differences

We expected England to be a lot different from home, obviously, but one thing that I'm having trouble getting used to is the outlets. Not that the prongs are different, that I expected. Not that the voltage is different, that I expected as well. The pictures are from our kitchen in our TLF, they have both American and English outlets, both voltages.



At least everywhere on base, we'll see if it's the same off base eventually, every outlet has it's own on/off switch. OK, big deal, right? Well, I've plugged in my laptop only to have it give me the 2 minute battery warning 40 minutes into a session... and I'm thinking, but it's plugged in!! It has taken some getting used to. The power strip my curling iron is plugged into won't seem to turn on ~ it's the outlet switch that's not on.


Oh, and in the picture above, both outlets are off. So what looks like "on" to me as an American, is actually "off". At least I'm figuring it out. :)


Here's another difference:

This happened at the Subway on base ~ Midway through making my sandwich, the maker said "Salad, please?" I'm like, Um, no, I ordered a sandwich, which you're making right now... LOL If I had never been to Subway before I'd have had no idea that this is British for "What vegetables would you like on your sandwich?" Fortunately, I have been to Subway, so when he said "Salad, please?" I replied, "Everything except onions and peppers." Yay, disaster averted. :)

Arrival and Getting Settled in England

So yes, the flight was long, but that was expected. And it was $483 to upgrade all of us to coach plus, with more legroom… no thanks. We watched a lot of movies (Hurt Locker, The Brothers Bloom and Terminator Salvation for me and Scott), ate two meals and I restrained myself after only one lovely vodka tonic ~ this is no time to be lowering my immunity after all. :)

We were all tired and ready to get out long before we landed, but we counted our blessings as the connection gates were read out as we landed… many people on our flight were traveling on to all over the world from London.

One exciting little note on our landing ~ after we landed, the pilot came on and asked us all to remain in our seats even after we reached the gate because there was a MEDICAL EMERGENCY on our flight! Scott and I hadn’t noticed anyone getting special attention, so we figured it was someone with an upgrade from coach, not in our cabin. The pilot repeated his admonition to stay in our seats about 20 times between landing and arriving at the gate, but he came on one more time as we arrived and said Really, everyone, please do stay in your seats until the medical personnel have been able to help the passenger in need off the plane. Everyone on board was respectful and did remain in their seats.

So we’re just waiting for the ok to get up when two large, armed UK POLICE OFFICERS come walking into our section and stop on the aisle about 3 rows behind ours! They removed a young man from his seat (he cooperated, looking a bit abashed) asked him which carry-ons were his, and escorted him off the plane. After he left, the rest of us (still in our seats) started making eye contact with each other and there were a lot of raised eyebrows. I noted to my neighbor across the aisle (an Eastern European looking man about my age with a Kazakhstan shirt on) that they didn’t look like EMTs to me, and he laughed and agreed. Scott later saw them searching the arrested young man’s bags in customs. Interesting.

We arrived in London at 7:30 in the morning, which felt to us like 11:30 at night. Our sponsors (Scott’s new boss Kevin and his wife Linda) met us at the airport and got us to the shuttle. The driver got us out of Heathrow and on our way to RAF Croughton. We asked some questions along the way, but he was a little hard of hearing and we had to keep repeating ourselves, so we mostly just watched the cars flying by, passing in the right hand lanes… that will take some getting used to, but we’ll probably be really good, careful drivers when we do start driving.

The countryside was lovely as we passed through on the motorway, the trees are all changing colors. The motorway reminded me of the highway between Atlanta and Savannah, with big tall pine trees and lots of greenery. We saw a rainbow on the road to Croughton, that was pretty cool. Both girls fell asleep on the 45 minute ride.

We exited the motorway and went through some small, fast traffic circles, crazy stuff! We arrived at the Temporary Lodging Facility (TLF) and found that we have a 2 bedroom duplex. It is comfortable, but a bit small with only one small bathroom and not a lot of counter space. Add that to the fact that THERE IS NO INTERNET CONNECTION and we were immediately ready to get out and look at houses to rent off base.

We are making a substantial per diem profit while we are here though, so financially there’s no rush. So now it’s a tug of war between comfort and profit. The TLF will be one of Scott’s facilities in his job here, so I’ve made it *very* clear that internet should be a priority. We feel like our hands are tied, trying to look at houses online, communicate with friends and family with an 8 hour time difference , bank, get the school’s lunch menus, and everything else you do online, while having to walk over to the library or community center to log on. I am learning to work offline and upload when I get there, but simple things like bus schedules and maps and what not are a hassle without internet service.

Meridian made herself right at home by taping up a bunch of the pictures she took the last few days in California. I had given her my old film camera, and she took some really good pictures.

I think she and Cambria are enjoying sharing a room, and being able to see each other but having their own beds.

After we got our luggage put away, Kevin and Linda took us around the base to familiarize us with the surroundings, and to introduce us to lots of people (and to do their best to keep us awake). We also started our in-processing (ID cards, mailbox codes, etc.). One thing I checked out right away was the list of ITT (Information, Tickets & Tours) and Outdoor Recreation’s planned events and trips. There’s canoeing on some river system, a shopping trip to Bath (that I think we’ll sign up for), trips to Cologne, Amsterdam, and Germany, Euro Disney packages and many others. We just missed the trip to see Wicked in London. These services are going to be a great resource!

Kevin and Linda took us into Adderbury to a Red Lion pub (I believe it’s a chain) that evening, and we had our first dinner out. Fish and Chips for me, what else?? The fish had skin on it… that was different. It was very good though. The waitress was European, but she had a bit of an English accent on top of it ~ when I asked her what beers they had on tap, I didn’t understand a SINGLE WORD of her reply. I looked blankly at Kevin, then at Scott, to no avail. I asked if she had a stout, she looked confused. I asked if she had Guinness and that she understood. Ah, the universal language of Guinness. LOL

That's Cambria's hand in the photo of my dinner above, she was eating some of my peas. She has a tooth that is about to fall out that she's being very careful with ~ she's only been eating soft foods.

Kevin was pleased to learn that I like a good stout, he’s an avid beer fan. He told us about some local breweries we might like to visit. Now if Scott and I become fans of cricket, we’ll probably be his favorites! LOL The other services flight chief Al and his wife both went to dinner with us. Al was very friendly, I think he’ll be great for Scott to work with. Everyone else seems to have experience at so many bases overseas ~ they’ve all been to Italy, Germany, DC, and even England previously. I feel very lost compared to them, but they all understand since they had their first overseas post at one point too.

Poor Meridian was so tired (she didn’t sleep at all on the plane, neither did I), she kept falling asleep anytime she sat down all day. Cambria was tired, but did better since she slept for a few hours on the plane. We’ll have to do a better job sleeping on future trips.

And now, we’re beginning our house search!

Leaving Home

We had a very busy final week in California. The kids’ last day of school went well, they both had great attitudes about the move. I went in and snapped a few pictures of the girls and their friends before school got out. They gave each child in their class a mini Crunchie bar and our new contact information.

Meridian’s class, teachers and ex-teachers wrote letters to her in a book (thanks to Lydia Clark for bringing the book and getting everyone to sign it!), and the kids each made a note that Mr. Nemeth put on a key ring for her. She took both on the flight with her. As we drove away from school, Meridian noted that the best thing about having to move was that everyone said really nice things about you. She really enjoyed hearing what a good friend she was and how much she would be missed. I pointed out that it was a good reminder not to wait until someone moves away to tell them what you appreciate about them. I might be a little obsessed with teachable moments, ha!

Cambria’s teacher, Mrs. Curry, put together a book with some pictures of the class and letters with drawings from each child. Cambria loved seeing what her friends wrote and drew, and she carried hers on the plane as well. Cambria said the saddest thing about leaving Ophir Elementary was that she didn’t get to go on a field trip with her class in first grade. Funny, when we got to England and toured her new school, her new class was away on their first field trip… just one school day before she would have joined them! I guess she doesn’t have good luck that way. I assured her that there would be more field trips. I’m actually taking a break from my excessive volunteer application forms to write this.

We had Scott’s going away party at work Friday afternoon. It was a nice dinner, with kind presentations to Scott. Mumu (my mom ~ it’s Finn for Grandma) took the kids home from Beale and Scott and I went to the Sisks’ Halloween party in Ophir. That was fun, but I had to think as I learned more about some very fun and interesting people that it was a bummer that we weren’t going to be able to build those relationships any further for the next few years. But it was still fun. In the British spirit, Scott and I went as soccer hooligans (thanks to Eric, Jason & Shelly for letting us borrow their Reading fan gear), but I couldn’t find the fake blood I had so we ended up looking more like fans instead. Whatever, it was fun.

Saturday brought us our going away potluck at our empty house in Ophir. We had many friends, some long lost, come up to say goodbye. I think we had about 60 people over the course of the evening. It was hard to chat with everyone as much as I wanted, but it was still great to see everyone.

Sunday we went to breakfast with the Pierces and Holders, then met up with the Chases too, to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. The girls had each earned free movie tickets in the Walk a Thon at school, and wanted to use them. After the movie we picked up a sundae at Foster’s Freeze that Cambria had earned in Kindergarten, and the rest of us enjoyed ice cream and a final chat too. These goodbyes were the beginning of the hardest, the girls’ best friends Katie & Jessica, my good friends Barbara and Elayne, and Elayne’s kids Ethan and especially Diana, who hits it off with Cambria fabulously every time they see each other. Diana’s many tears made me lose it for the first time.

Sunday night we had dinner at Mumu’s and said our goodbyes to Eric and Jen and Ben and Bridget. Sad stuff, but we held it together. We took some family pictures since it'll be awhile before we're together again.

Monday we finished up re-packing and moving out of the motor home and spent a lot of the day cleaning the house and fridges. It was really, really dumb not to hire someone to clean the house. Our renters said not to worry about it, but then I couldn’t leave it gross. We turned off all the lights as we left our empty house, and we walked out saying, “Goodbye Ophir house, we’ll miss you”! We took both the trucks down to Citrus Heights, Cambria rode with me and as we left she was playing her Nintendo DS. As we caught our last glimpse of the house, I asked her if she was sad that we were leaving Ophir. She said “Yeah, but I have my DS.” LOL, there’s one thing in favor of a portable game system!

By the way, Scott’s cousin Rachael bought our Vibe, and is also moving into our house, so if you see her driving around Ophir, wave hello!

Monday night we had dinner with the Pierces and a nice long chat. In a lot of ways it felt like any other night, since we have had dinner together so often. The kids were all playing computer games and watching tv, so we told them to turn it all off and talk to each other since it’d be a while before we could see them again in person. They ended up staring at each other, which was pretty funny. We adults all held it together pretty well, but I cried in the car driving away. We will miss them a lot.

I had mentioned to my mom that I would like to hit Joe’s Crab Shack and Old Sacramento one more time before we took off, so she and Dave took us down there for lunch on Tuesday. Scott got caught up at work and even though we delayed our arrival time, he didn’t make it in time to join us. Later, my baby brother Jason gave me grief for not inviting him since he works mere blocks away… I just wasn’t thinking.

Tuesday night we had dinner again at Mumu’s, with Jason and Shelly and Scott’s parents Gail and Bill and his sister Lisa. Jason wanted to ask the girls to be in their wedding next fall, but he couldn’t even talk to me about it without tearing up. We decided to wait and do it on Skype sometime. It looks like we’ll be back in California next September for their wedding! The girls will be very excited for the wedding and their participation, and of course for the visit home.

Goodbyes with Jason and Shelly and Lisa were hard that night. Lisa sees the girls as much as possible and they will miss her a lot. We hope stay in the loop with Jason and Shelly’s wedding plans, but it won’t be the same as being there.

Gail and Bill came over and helped drive us and all our crap to the airport the next morning. Mumu and Grandma Gail were both a mess at the airport, and had me crying too. Dave and Bill seemed to hold it together a bit better. After we checked in, we saw there was no line at security and we could have stayed and chatted a little longer with the grandparents, but with all the tears we decided to just go upstairs. I think we had all said what we wanted by that point anyway.

Mumu had given the girls each a wrapped package, and they opened them when we got settled upstairs. She had made them each a photo Storybook, with pictures from their births until now. Hundreds of pictures were in each book, it must have been a lot of work. The girls thought they were really cool. They each have them on their nightstands here in England.

About 14 hours after that last goodbye we were arriving in London… but that’s another blog. :)

Our last week in California

This afternoon I realized the cord I packed to download pictures from my camera is the wrong cord. The correct cord is already on it's way to England, so though I have pictures to illustrate this rambling with, I cannot access them until I get a new cord. Use your imagination until then. :) REVISION: I bought a new SD card reader, pictures below!


We have begun our last week in California with the first major storm of the season. Our power went out yesterday for about 8 hours, fortunately after the movers had gone for the day.




Sleeping in a motor home in the rain and wind is not the idyllic experience it may seem. The rain is really loud and we get rocked with every gust of wind.








We are a little cramped with all our suitcases and carry-ons in here too, so we're looking forward to being able to spread out a little by moving our suitcases and bathroom stuff inside again once the movers have gone. (imagine photos of a messy motor home, and of the kids in bed HERE)

Thank goodness we have the motor home to use though, it'd be a drag to not be on site during the move.

All of our stuff is wrapped up in paper and tagged, as I write this Wednesday afternoon they are finishing loading the third truck, (in the pouring rain).





They couldn't get a semi up here, so they used 3 smaller moving trucks. (imagine photo of large items wrapped in paper in my garage HERE)


These next few days should be fun, now that the moving will be done. We have lots of dinners and parties and last chance activities we're going to try to fit in before we fly out on Wednesday morning.

This Saturday (10/17) we're having a potluck going away party here in our empty house. It starts at 3pm, bring your own chairs and a dish to share. Drop by and say goodbye! Email me if you need directions.