What We've Learned So Far (Part 3)

One year on from our arrival, some additional observations on settling in to our new country:

Having a marvellous time, thank you.

You don't need to live near the Tube to get into and around London easily.  The overground trains are as reliable and fast as the Tube, for the most part, and no where near as crowded.

We're committed tea drinkers now.  We're coffee drinkers too, but there are few things more lovely than a nice cup of tea.

There are only very few things that we plan to buy on trips to the States.  Taco sauce, kosher salt...there's a brand of lotion Bethie likes...the point is that we're pretty well accustomed to the food, etc shopping here.

We're making great new friends. 

We miss our friends back in the States.  We love having visitors. 

We aren't big television watchers, but there are some programmes we can recommend for your Netflix/illegal downloading (though not necessarily for your kids): Outnumbered, If Walls Could Talk, Friday Night Dinner, The Inbetweeners, Gavin and Stacey, Peep Show.  No need to tell you about Downton Abbey, I suppose.

Oh, add contact lens solution to the list of things we buy in the States.  It's £7 or so for a 240ml bottle here.  I got two much larger bottles at Target for $5 when we were in Mount Vernon.  Really not sure why there's such a difference.

People here are generally very friendly, the same way people are everywhere in the world if you are friendly too.

It's been really nice not having a car, but I have a feeling those days are numbered.

I'm a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur and the local Crystal Palace FC.  The first is due to some lobbying by a friend and a sense that I shouldn't be a Chelsea fan (the closest Premier League team to home); the second is our neighbourhood team.

When people would say that Charlotte will have an English accent, I thought, "wow, that will be adorable".  Now when we can detect it in certain words she says, I think, "wow, she's growing up so fast!"

Speaking of which, if we have another child, she/he will almost certainly not be eligible to be President of the United States.  Queen of England is still, I believe, on the table.

Bethie's received paychecks from the estate of a Lord and Lady, and from the holdings of the Queen.  I think that's really cool.

Travelling to and from the United States with Charlotte was nightmarish.  Being with our family and friends over Christmas was bliss.

Getting used to where the @ is on the keyboards here took a while.

We really like it here.  It's home.

Alba Pizza is still some of the best pizza we've ever had.

What I've learned so far . . .

-John Lewis department stores far surpass any other department store I've been to. They have seven floors of shops and restaurants. We purchased our couch there. (It should be arriving on Tuesday! Woo hoo!)

-I have no idea how to work my washing machine. Not a clue. It is currently full of clothes and detergent but I can't get it to work. It lights up, but won't turn on. Blergh.

-Ikea is just the same in the UK as it is in the US except they offer donuts instead of cinnamon rolls. Oh, and they deliver!

-Coffee makers are a bit hard to find here. There were about four or five at John Lewis. If you are looking for an electric kettle, however, you will have no problem finding the perfect one. There were well over twenty different options.

-There are lots of kids and babies in our neighborhood.

-To touch on the previous observation, I will also note that if your child is screaming on your afternoon walk (despite having recently eaten and having recently had a diaper change), and there is no obvious place to sit and nurse her (without going into a cafe) it appears to be okay to nurse her in your local Sainsburys.

-I can't find the battery charger for the camera and the camera is dead. :(

-Alba Pizza is some of the best pizza I've ever had.

-I have no idea how to regulate the temperature in my shower. I think it is just going to be easier to stick to baths (good thing I'm bath person!).

-If you lock the door to our flat from the outside, there is no way to open it from the inside unless you have a key. This could be a problem if someone is ringing your doorbell (to deliver your new iPhones) and you can't find a set of keys!

-Last, but not least, I've learned that Charlotte's playmat allows me to get a shower AND breakfast! I have even had time to do a little organizing, emailing and blogging. :)

Cheerio!

We made it to London safe and sound! Charlotte did a great job on the flight and we were all able to get a little sleep (although they had such a great selection of "on demand" movies to watch, it was tempting to just stay awake!) We got to our flat and all napped for an hour or two before heading out on the town. We didn't get as many errands done as we had hoped, but we did pick up some pots and pans and ordered our sofa-bed! We also got to know our neighborhood a little bit better. It is really a cute/fun area! We're looking forward to exploring a bit more. Now we are back in our flat and are going to pick up a pizza from down the street for dinner. Looks like a cute place.

One big lesson we learned today is that the tube isn't as convenient to take a baby on as is the DC metro. Many of the stations don't have elevators so we one of us would carry the stroller while the other carried Charlotte in her carrier. It was a hassle with two people but it would be too much to handle with just one. Next time we take the tube with Charlotte it will probably be in a baby carrier!

We won't get our internet hooked up until next week, but we've decided to pay to join a local network until we get our own service. We also don't have phones yet, but the plan is to get some iPhones within the next couple of days. In fact, we tried to get them tonight, but they were all out! Jason reserved some online tonight and we should get them tomorrow (along with an American number for all y'all to call us on!).

Time to go pick up our pizza! Here's the description. Sounds yummy: mushrooms, mozzarella, olives, olive oil, garlic and herbs with tomato sauce.