High Achievers

December was a banner month for the children. Aside from enjoying a Cambridge Christmas, they've been busy with some interests of their own. Mike and I are very proud of them.

Timmy has taken great pride in learning to ride a bike. He was the least interested in getting a bike and now he's the most enthusiastic about riding. He had a similar experience with ice skating. His school arranged a field trip and Timmy begged me to deny him permission to go. When that didn't work, he insisted that he would be sick with fever on the day of the trip. Mom didn't budge and school staff assured him that he wouldn't be forced to skate, although he would have to go with his class. I went too, as a chaperone, helping other children and waving to Timmy through the window as I went around. Imagine my surprise when he approached me and coolly asked for a pair of skates. He went right out there and did it. He was so excited that he wanted to go back the next day! Earlier in the month, Timmy was invested into the local scouting group called Cubs. He is now officially a member of two scout groups, one in England and one in the US. He's been earning badges from both groups. Finally, Timmy has taken an interest in comic book writing, using computer software to facilitate the process. For a school talent demonstration, he and Mike made a video to demonstrate how he creates comic books.

Annie has had several firsts this month. In addition to her stage debut in the Nutcracker, Annie has also learned to ride a bike and ice skate. Additionally, she lost her first two teeth. Annie has rejected the popular practice of leaving her teeth for the tooth fairy. She just doesn't want to part with them. After finding her softly weeping over the prospect, we struck a deal that she could keep the teeth and Mom would just give her a little money instead of the tooth fairy. Fair, right?

Colin's big accomplishment has been learning to read. For a kid who claims he hates his school and complains daily about going, he's doing remarkably well. I volunteer in the classroom about once a week and I can see that he is completely comfortable and adjusted there. He is really soaking up the literacy instruction, which incorporates a wide varieties of techniques to teach the children "funics", as Colin calls phonics. It is very exciting to see the lights turning on for him. He doesn't want to sit with me and read the books his teacher sends home, but he's very curious about words and tries to read signs in the community and books we have at home. He's writing words and sentences too. It's great to see him working out the puzzle of how to put his thoughts on paper. Maybe he'll be writing blog entries before our year is up!

Happy New Year to all.

A visit from a Monk

My brother, Boniface Hicks, a Benedictine Monk (hard to miss his vocation when you see his getup) came to visit us for a few days in early December. He was at the halfway point of a trip to India to give a conference paper (in Hyderabad) and visit and work with Mother Theresa's Missionaries of Charity, in Kolkata (a.k.a., Calcutta). We were all very pleased to receive our first visitor from the States, and we very certainly hope he is the first of many!

The visit was just a couple of days, but fun-filled. Kim and I spent a half day with Boniface wandering around Cambridge, and visiting some of the historic places. We visited Trinity College which boasts many famous alumni. The picture to the left is the ante-chapel of the Trinity Chapel, and it contains statues of many famous "Trinitarians," including Newton, Francis Bacon, and Lord Byron.

We also visited King's College chapel (again), but this time had our cameras with us! The stained glass windows are just beautiful, particularly when the sun outside reflects the colors into the chapel interior.

We also took the occasion of a visiting Benedictine as an opportunity to visit St. Benedict's Church (a.k.a., St. Bene't's), the oldest building in Cambridge, dating from 1025, in Saxon times. It's modest, and nestled away off of King's Parade.

No visit is complete, of course, without a trip to the pub! We went to our family favorite, the Salisbury Arms. Many pubs in Cambridge are gastro-pubs, which is to say they try to cook fancy food. The Salisbury Arms sticks to traditional fare, which is more appealing to the youngsters -- fish 'n chips all around! And nothing goes so well with chips as "brown sauce" (more properly HP Sauce). It reminds me of the McDonalds' Bar-B-Que sauce that they serve with their chicken nuggets.

The kids were very glad to see their Uncle and sorry to see him go. Christmas was on full display in Cambridge during the visit. Soon it shall be here!

Our new favorite hymn

We are growing to love Gabriel's Message.

It's a traditional European hymn (Basque), translated to English by Sabine Baring-Gould in the late 19th century.  I've heard the school kids sing it with great gusto on the walk to school, and Year 6 at St. Albans sang it during the Advent service.  We sang it during Mass today.  So moved were we that we ran out to Heffer's to buy a CD that includes it.

The first time I'd heard it was Sting's version.  This version is closer to the one on our new CD.

Cycling on Argyle St.

As this picture shows, Anne had a big moment today -- she started riding her bicycle without stabilizers! At first, we just raised them up a bit, so she could get used to riding without relying on them. But after 15 minutes or so, she was getting pretty good at it, so I suggested we just take them off. "Okay" she says, without any trepidation. And off she goes!

Tim saw this and must have thought: "If Anne can do it, I can do it!" So he asked me to take his stabilizers off, too. Pretty quickly he was also doing quite well. Here's what he has to say about the experience:

''Hello,
Well it was very fun. I quite enjoyed myself most of the time.

But not always.

If you want to see me in action please watch the handy movie below.''



Perhaps we'll be riding to school by the time next term rolls around ...

Benjamin, Clara, and the Kung Fu Fighter

Christmas is a time for...family, giving, peace. Well, yes, but here in England, it's also a time for theater. All of the children participated in Christmas productions at their schools this month. Timmy's Year 4 class joined 3 other grades in presenting a series of Biblical plays, similar to Passion plays in format. We all gathered at the school and moved around to different areas of the grounds for performances in song, poetry and drama. Timmy's group related the Old Testament stories of the the twelve sons of Jacob and the plagues in Egypt. Since the plays were held outdoors, costumes had to accommodate the weather. Here is Timmy in costume as Benjamin, son of Jacob.

The plays covered the highlights of the Old Testament, ending with the Nativity story. They were beautifully done. It was cold, dark, and past bedtime when we finished. On the walk home, Colin said, "Mom, I wish I was already in my bed and snuggled up." At least he went to bed easily that night.

Annie's Year 2 class worked with Year 1 on an abridged version of the Nutcracker, omitting the ballet, and inserting a few songs from other settings. Annie played the part of Clara. She was brilliant, as was the rest of the ensemble. When Annie first came home and told us about her role, I think I was the only person in the family who realized that she was playing one of the lead characters. But I didn't let on so she wouldn't get too nervous about it. And she didn't: she memorized all her lines and performed with aplomb, cool as a cucumber.

Now you're thinking, "OK, I get Benjamin and Clara, but what about the Kung Fu Fighter?" Colin's school presented an original production titled "The Three Kings Get Fit for Christmas". It had a lot of not so subtle messages about eating right and getting exercise. There were a cameo appearances by Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus. Colin was among a group demonstrating Kung Fu to the Kings. They did a little choreography to the music from Kung Fu Panda (appealing to the younger audience members) and additional steps to that Christmas classic "I Want to Ride My Bicycle" by Queen (an obvious nod to the parents in the crowd).

We'll end this month by attending a professional theater (or theatre) production of Jack and the Beanstalk, a pantomime. Panto, as it is called, is a British holiday tradition in which a classic tale is performed. As I understand it, the female characters are played by men in outrageous costume and the male characters are played by women in less outrageous costume. The whole affair involves audience participation and is supposed to be a delight for the entire family. We are looking forward to it.

The Fun Never Stops; It Just Slows Down.

Our regular readers might have noticed a lull in our blog posts lately. This is because some of our adventures can easily be summed up in a few words and they may not be of interest to a wide audience. But to fill in the gap, here's a sample of our month: school, rain, head lice, laundromat, fog, constipation, homework, head lice, rain, chest infection, sleet, and one day of no heat. This doesn't even include Mike's trip back to the US and our visa project. But that's another story.

The Merry Month of November

November is a busy month for celebrations here in Cambridge. November 5 is Guy Fawkes Day, also known as Bonfire Night. Guy Fawkes Day is a recognition of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, a secret plan to overthrow the king and blow up the Parliament building with a stash of gunpowder. The highlight of the celebration is a grand fireworks display and a huge bonfire, which traditionally burned an effigy of Guy Fawkes and sometimes the Pope (because conspirators were Catholic), but apparently naming the effigy is not politically correct, so now effigies are anonymous. I honestly couldn't see whether there was any such thing at the bonfire we attended. But the fun wasn't limited to just one night. We actually saw fireworks from the windows of our home on several nights before and after November 5. I guess with no Independence Day celebrations, this is their big opportunity to enjoy the fireworks. One advantage to the November spectacle is that it gets dark early enough for even the children to enjoy the display before bedtime.




November 11 is known here as Remembrance Day which commemorates the lives lost in times of war, with specific attention to the First World War. The British suffered nearly 1 million deaths resulting from World War I. Remembrance Day was marked nationwide with visits to gravesites and memorials, wreaths of red poppies, and two minutes of silence at 11:00 am. Even the school children participated. I was impressed by the observation of the holiday. Growing up in the US, I have not found Veteran's Day to have the same widespread reverence.

November 16 brought the arrival of the official Christmas shopping season in Cambridge. The celebration included a parade, concert, Father Christmas, and the "Switch On" of the decorative lights in town. All of this was conducted in miserable fog and rain. Mind you, there's no shying away from saying Christmas here. I'll wait to see if people wish me "Happy Christmas" or just "Happy Holidays".

Windsor Castle

The second part of our trip to Windsor was a visit to the great Windsor Castle, which sits right in the middle of the town, although I suppose the castle came first. Windsor Castle is around 1000 years old and has been in continuous royal use since it was first built by William the Conqueror. Queen Elizabeth II considers it her primary home and lives there nearly every weekend. About 150 other people also live on the castle grounds.

This round tower is the site of the original fortress. If the Queen is present, her seal will fly from the flagpole instead of the Union Jack. Annie was disappointed to learn that the Queen was not home during our visit. Maybe they could have had a little chat.

This is an exterior view of the State Apartments, which were previously used as living quarters for monarchs. Today they are used for official functions of the monarchy, including entertaining other heads of state. We were able to tour the inside. The rooms are filled with artwork by Rubens, Van Dyck, and Rembrandt, among many others.

We also visited Saint George's Chapel, which is housed within the Castle. It dates from the mid-1300's (though the present building I believe was completed in the late 1400's) and is the burial site of 10 English monarchs. Today it remains an active Church of England parish.

The tour was self-guided with audio accompaniment, with a version for adults and another for children. Timmy and Annie especially enjoyed using the audio device to learn about the history of the castle. It was fun to see them concentrating and staring at displays or artwork in obvious response to the audio track.

Poor Colin. He didn't want to visit another castle. He didn't like the audio tour. He just wanted to play with his Happy Meal toy, which he did, plopping himself down on the floor of the State Apartments and sending the toy whizzing under the barrier that prevents commoners like us from touching anything. Those royal guards can be so helpful about retrieving things. Luckily, there was a special activity for children at the castle on the day of our visit. The Big Draw is a nationwide project to engage people of all ages in drawing. Windsor Castle was supporting the effort by inviting the children to add to a large mural of castle life. Colin is really interested in drawing and creating lately, so he was thrilled. We practically had to drag him away!

Legoland

The British school year is divided into 3 terms with week long breaks at each half term and longer breaks between terms. As far as I can tell there are seldom any other days off. So this past week was our first half term break. Like many of our new friends here, we decided to do a little traveling. We went to Windsor which is west of London to visit Legoland and Windsor Castle.

We traveled by rail, changing trains at London's King's Cross Station. We alighted at platform 9, which is just steps away from Platform 9 3/4, familiar to any Harry Potter fan. Here's Annie preparing to push her luggage cart through the magical wall.

It turns out that Harry Potter and Hagrid beat us to Legoland!


For the children, Legoland was the highlight of the trip. It is a typical amusement park but the stand apart feature is Miniland, an extensive area of scenes from Europe entirely recreated with Legos. Timmy could not think of enough superlatives and exclamations to describe Miniland. Mike and I had to agree. Here are a few photos to give you a taste.

Buckingham Palace is just one of the many London scenes to see. There's even a mini Queen in there.

This is St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Noticing Timmy's interest makes me hope he'll be more interested when we see the real thing!

I think this is Town Hall in Brussels, Belgium.

The USA was represented by Mount Rushmore and NASA's launch pad.

It was a fun, cold, long day which culminated with shopping for Lego souvenirs.

Overheard

"Joan, feel like a cuppa?  I'll put the kettle on."

It's bit brisk here today.  I think I'll put the kettle on myself.

Punting on the Cam

Today we went punting on the Cam. For the uninitiated:

(After our trip, someone said "I really enjoyed the punt ride today," and Colin responded "I really liked the boat ride!")

The Cam is the river for which the town of Cambridge is named. We started our tour at Magdalen bridge, which is the site of the first Cam bridge, back in the 800's, we were told.

We lazed southward to the end of the city centre, and then back again. We did not do the punting ourselves, but that's a popular thing to do. Also risky: novices are known to lose their balance and fall in the river! We saw the beautiful backs of several colleges, including St. John's:

Going past it, we went under the bridge we had stood on a few weeks ago when touring the college.

We also came upon Trinity College, which we learned is the richest college in Cambridge. It has roughly 2.4 billion pounds in assets. There are less than 2000 students in attendance, so that's a pretty good per capita money to student ratio! Also, it turns out that 31 Nobel prize winners have come from Trinity. Only three countries can boast more.

This is the Trinity College bridge that I often ride over on the way to Microsoft and the Computer Lab (I ride there coming from the left, and ride home coming from the right). The red brick building behind the bridge is meant to look like a ship coming into port.

King's college, which we also visited before, came next. Here's the King's college chapel that we spent much time in:

There were several other colleges we passed before getting to the end, but my camera battery died. Sigh. It was a lovely day for a lovely ride. We hope to try again, but next time I'd like to do the poling!

Ely Cathedral

Last Sunday we joined a couple of friends, Gareth and Jess, on a roughly 18-mile train ride to Ely, to see the Ely Cathedral. Ely sits on the river Cam, the same river that runs through Cambridge.

Ely is a small town (pop. 12,000) in a remote place in the middle of the fens, so one immediately wonders why there is such a large, ornate Cathedral there. Turns out the Cathedral came first.

Ely was the site of a monastery founded by St. Etheldreda in 672. This monastery operated modestly until 870 when it was destroyed by Vikings.

After nearly 100 years, Benedictines took up the place, and by the year 1000 Ely was a flourishing market town with a powerful abbey. The Cathedral was started in 1080 by the Abbot Simeon, and work continued for three centuries.

Work began at the east end with the choir (the east end is the very right of the first photo at the top of this post). The above photo was taken, facing east, from within the octagonal tower toward the center of the cathedral (the nave is behind me). The tower construction began in 1322 when the old tower collapsed.

The upper part of the octagon is called "the lantern." Each corner of the lantern's octagon, on the interior, is a single 60-foot beam constructed from a single English oak tree, and the fan moulding beneath is made of Baltic pine. The lantern also contains copious amounts of lead and glass and weighs two hundred tons. It is supported by a "hammerbeam," a device apparently invented here and used in countless medieval churches elsewhere.

The Cathedral continues westward to the nave (I'm facing toward the choir in the above photo, with the nave behind me), and the nave itself ends at the second, taller tower.

Though construction of the nave likely took 60 or 70 years, it is remarkably consistent. We heard that the artist who painted the ceiling died halfway through, from licking his fingers which were coated with lead paint. We tried to figure out where the apprentice started work after the master died, but it wasn't obvious.

The entire cathedral is incredibly ornate, down to the minutest detail. Here is a bit of carving from the altar at the east end of the church, in the choir:

The shrine of St. Etheldreda (near the statue shown earlier) is in the area behind the altar. There are lots of ornate tombs of past bishops throughout the choir area (in the mid-1500's, during the Reformation, the monastery was taken over by the crown and made King's New College, and the Cathedral was assumed by the Church of England, as it remains today).

Ely was also home to Oliver Cromwell and his family for a time.

A beautiful place, and a fun trip.

Learning New Vocabulary

We've collected a bunch of English vocabulary that was new to us---sometimes new words, sometimes old words but different uses.

Everyone (parents and children) contributed to the list. There are others that we know but we haven't really used (thankfully, in the case of "sacked" for "fired"!), so we've left them off.

Add your own!

Food
jelly=jello
biscuit=cookie
chips=french fries
crisps=(potato) chips
rashers=bacon
courgettes=zucchini
aubergine=eggplant
coriander=cilantro
turtle beans=black beans
pudding=dessert (sometimes; pudding is used in a variety of ways referring to foods)
school dinners=hot lunch

Household
rubbish=trash
plaster=band aid (bandage)
cling film=plastic wrap
bin=can (e.g., rubbish bin instead of trash can)

School
maths=math
spellings=spelling
English=language arts
head teacher=principal
rubber=eraser

Clothing
wellies=rain boots (short for "wellingtons")
jumper=(nice) sweatshirt
vest=tank-top undershirt
plimsoles=lightweight, slip-on, flat-soled shoes

Transportation
lorry=truck
boot=trunk (of your car)
cycling=biking

Others
cross=disappointed
noughts and crosses=x's and o's (naught=0, cross=x)
toilets=restrooms
take away=carry out
football=soccer
holiday=vacation
pancake day=mardi gras
Mum=Mom
fringe=bangs (noun---part of your hairstyle)

What Shall I Do?

Isn't this what I have waited 8 years for?

I find myself in the enviable position of being in Cambridge (England, not Maryland!), unemployed but fully funded, with all three children in school all day.  I have -- gasp -- time to myself!

What shall I do?

At first, my newfound freedom left me feeling a bit guilty. With fewer commitments and a smaller house, less is actually required of me here than in Maryland. But I am quite unaccustomed to not being in demand. The first day that I had the opportunity to wander the quaint City Centre streets and shops, I was ill at ease.  I kept mentally checking that I had no outstanding responsibilities. Children safe and cared for? Check. Cell phone at the ready? Check. Not supposed to be somewhere else? Check. Food available for the next meal? Check. Household not falling apart from neglect? Check. Well then, what shall I do?

It's been a fun, easy question to answer. I've been exploring the neighborhoods, checking out the old buildings and the winding streets. I'm browsing in tiny, crowded stores, slowly and without fear. I've been to a free lunchtime concert featuring British violinist Jennifer Pike.  I'm practicing riding my bike. I'm people watching. I'm nursing cappuccino while composing blog posts. I'm sampling new foods. I'm researching opportunities for weekend family activities. I'm reading British writers (this month Ian McEwan and Charles Dickens). I'm applying to do some volunteer work at the schools. And of course laundry management is always on my mind -- I have to be vigilant about the weather and drying clothes outside!  One thing I'm not really doing is exercising, but any given day brings a few miles of walking or biking, so I'm not stressing about that.

So lest you think I might be bored with no baby at home to keep me busy, I'm here to tell you that this sabbatical year is going great. So glad that Mike could work out this opportunity for me to change my routines and find new and stimulating experiences to inspire me when I get back to my old job. A great guy he is for sacrificing some time in Maryland for me to hang out in this old English city for a while. Got to make the best of it.

What shall I do next?

Marmite

If you're British you know what Marmite is. It's a spread with a strong, salty flavour that is often served on toast, with butter. A yeast extract, Marmite is by-product from the process of brewing beer. I've read that Marmite is to British children as peanut butter is to American children, and Nutella is to French children: it's part of the fabric of life.

When I mentioned this assessment to my friend Gavin, he told me that he and his children absolutely love Marmite, but that his (Slovenian) wife Mateja absolutely hates it. This is apparently not an uncommon assessment -- Marmite's slogan is Love it or hate it. They get pretty creative in their adverts, as with http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Marmite-Kiss-Marmite/29606.

Gavin was really curious to see whether we might like Marmite, so a week or so back he bought us a small bottle (photo above). The next evening, as we sat down to dinner, Kim put out a piece of buttered toast, with a thin layer of Marmite spread on top, sliced into four triangles.

First up: me. I like it! Very salty, strong flavour.

Next up: Tim. He takes a bite, contemplates, and says "Tastes like soy sauce." I think that's a fair assessment (this observation is also mentioned in the Wikipedia article). He takes a couple of more bites but does not finish.

Next up: Kim. She is skeptical, but takes an aggressive chomp. (She is committed to showing Anne that trying a new food should be a positive experience.) But then: Eeeww! She contorts her face and sets it down. A decided vote against.

At this point, Anne and Colin are scared off, so they don't even try it.

So in total, we have about 1.5 votes in favor, 1 vote against, and 2 abstaining.

Since the taste test, I've been the only one to eat the stuff. Yum!

A trip to the Tower

On Friday evening we decided to spend Saturday visiting the Tower of London.

We took a coach to London (much cheaper than the train), which should have taken us straight there, but roadwork confused our driver, and he skipped our stop at Tower Hill. Instead he dropped us off at Kings X station, from which we took the Underground to Tower Hill. The trip had been irritating enough that I'd begun to think we shouldn't have bothered, but then we emerged from the station to see the Tower looming in front of us. My anxiety was replaced with awe at the sight of its northern face (the picture doesn't do it justice).

Then we wandered around ...

... toward the entry gate, on the southwestern side.
(The green grass is where the moat once was - they have lovely lawns in England!)

According to the Tower web site:

In the early 1080s, William the Conqueror began to build a massive stone tower at the centre of his London fortress. Nothing like it had ever been seen before.

Through the centuries that followed, successive monarchs added to the fortifications. This short history charts the different stages of its construction and explains its role as fortress, palace and prison.

The central tower he started building, called the White Tower, is well within the outermost walls there today, as can be seen on this map (you can see the entry gate at the bottom of the map, and the tower is the big building in the middle).

In the photo, the wall to the lower left is an earlier Norman ruin that was used as part of other construction. Across the street from the Tower is piece of a Roman wall. Reduce, reuse, recycle, don't you know! (And "restore;" notice the right side of the White Tower is covered with white plastic, to cover up a renovation.)

Everyone had a good time. The boys particular enjoyed the hands-on weapons display.


We also ran into some employees dressed in 12th century attire. They explained to us the process of how a boy became a knight, starting as a page. "Sir John" used Tim to demonstrate some of the page's functions, such as carrying the knight's weapons.


Notice in the foreground the gold noggin. That's Colin wearing his knight costume that Kim made him for Halloween last year. It was his idea to bring it but he was too shy to wear it at first. After Sir John seemed to be a fun guy, Colin put it on. Sir John immediately started calling him "Sir Colin" and observed that he must be a very rich knight to have gold mail, as most knights could only afford steel!

After seeing a lot (but less than we should have, if not for the bus mishap) we caught our ride home without a hitch. Our first visit to an English castle!

Top 10 Lists

The children have generated some things they like about England and some things they miss about home. I'll leave it up to you to guess who said what.

10 things we like about England

• my school
• school dinners (this refers to hot lunches)
• seeing everything when we walk
• meeting new friends
• our church
• listening to people’s accents
• learning French in school
• "Skype"ing people
• having a goldfish
• tire swing at the playground

We thought of one more: riding in the front seat on the upper level of a double decker bus!

10 things we miss about home

• the van
• Grandparents
• Bionicle Legos
• Thomas the Tank trains
• My Little Pony teapot toy
• Maryland Day at University of Maryland
• Cub Scouts
• Playmobil Castle
• Seeing our friends
• The Cousins

Camera's back!

We got the camera back from the shop today, and it works great. We are so happy!

Visiting King's and St. John's Colleges

Many of the Colleges in the City Centre opened their doors a little wider last Saturday for "open Cambridge." So we decided to have a look around.

Our first stop was the Cambridge McDonalds! It's the swankiest McDonalds I've ever been in. Really large dining room, nice tables. The food tasted the same: homogenization at its pinnacle!

Of course, the prices looked as if they should be in dollars, but were in pounds, so the meal was pretty expensive. This "it could be dollars" situation is quite common, unfortunately. A good bit of advice I received from another American I met, who has been here a year, is: don't do the conversion in your head every time. Just live your life and try to forget about how much it's costing you ... !

Afterwards we hustled over, Happy Meal toys in hand, to visit King's College. Our main activity was to take a tour of the magnificent chapel. Unfortunately, video cameras were not allowed inside, so I have no photos (still hadn't gotten the camera back from the shop yet; photos here are stills from digital video footage). But an interesting event at the start was that we were allowed on the grass, a privilege normally reserved for Fellows of the College.

Afterward we went to St. John's College. It also has a very beautiful chapel, though not on the scale of King's. The bridges over the river are very nice.

The famous one is the Bridge of Sighs, but visitors are not allowed to cross it. (This bridge is not to be confused with the one in Venice, which Tim knew about, and therefore was immediately skeptical that the one at St. Johns was named as I'd said.) Once across the river, they have a beautiful set of buildings adjacent to a large lawn.

I actually stayed in one of these buildings as a guest of one of the (former) Fellows, several years back.
In all I think we walked six miles during our day trip. All of this "exercise as part of daily life" has been adding up -- I've lost 5 pounds since I've been here. All in all, not a bad way to live!

A fish called Wanda

We bought a goldfish. We call it Wanda.


Anne's birthday was in August, and she told us she wanted a goldfish. We said she could have one, but we'd have to wait until we got to England. So now we're here and we had to pay up.

We went to Pets at Home a week ago to get the fish. We had thought to get just a bowl for it, but ended up getting a starter tank with a filter instead. When we tried to get the fish, too, the store told us that we needed to run the filter in the tank for a while (like 7 days) first, to prepare the tank for the fish. OK... But if preparing the water is so important, what happens when we must change the water? But perhaps the preparation is for the tank, not the water. So we oblige and take home just the tank.

On Friday I rode back and bought the fish. They made me fill out a form to attest that we'd had the tank for a while and run the filter. They also asked what size tank we had, so they could make sure the fish would fit. They wrote all this down on a form and kept a copy.

As I'm putting the bagged goldfish in my backpack I wonder aloud whether the fish will be OK for the ride home. The guy assures it'll be fine, but if I have trouble I can "bring the body back" and they'll take care of it. The body? And how will they "take care of it?"

Some people are pretty serious about fish.

On the ride home, I think, it will be fun if we call it Wanda, i.e., a fish called Wanda. Anne likes the name, and it sticks.

Anne says to me on Friday: what happens when our year here is up and move back? What will happen to the fish? I suggest we could eat it. "No! I won't eat my fish!" she says. "Why not?" I say, "you've eaten fish before, and you liked it." She says, "but this fish is my pet. You can't eat your pet."

Ah, I say, that is an important difference ...

Meeting some Americans

Before we left home we were lucky enough to be given the names of some people to contact in the Cambridge area. One family, the McIntosh/Pullen's, are friends of our UMD friends Pete and Rosana Keleher. Now that we are all here, we were able to meet Than and Amy and their two children, Ethan and Lydia. Even though there's no real language barrier between us and the English, I have to admit that I must put my full concentration into listening to the locals talk and understanding their pronunciation and idioms. So it was a surprising pleasure for me to be able to converse easily with fellow Yanks. It was nice to get together, and there's a sort of natural feeling of alliance as new members of this community. We've been trading information and survival tips. We hope to see more of them.

We met up at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge City Centre. I believe it is part of the University of Cambridge. The museum houses a varied collection, including armor, paintings, Egyptian artifacts, and textiles. Colin and Timmy especially liked the armor exhibit. I enjoyed the miniature portraits of famous English royalty of old. I actually recognized a couple before seeing their names. The museum provides family activity kits to help engage children in the exhibits. Annie took charge of a little locked box filled with miniature clues to entice us to examine the galleries closely. She liked it a lot, although Timmy felt it inhibited us from looking around "just for fun."

Afterward we shuffled through the rain to find two pubs and McDonald's either closed or not serving food. Finally, a few blocks from our house, we found a reliable Turkish proprietor serving classic fish and chips. Wet and tired, Mike and I sank down on the plastic chairs and watched with amusement as the children (now deprived of tv for 2 full weeks) stared glassy-eyed at the cartoons. They didn't even seem to care that the characters were speaking Turkish!

Colin starts "Big School"

Colin started reception St. Philip's on September 8. I call it "Big School" because the program will eventually mean full time schooling for him, although for the next few weeks, they will gradually build up to a full day. Plus the school has over 300 students. It's a big change from the very intimate preschool he attended in Burtonsville.

Colin was happy to go to school. There's not the same feeling of being the "new kid" as there was for Timmy and Annie. In Colin's class it's largely new to all of them. He enjoyed the plentiful toys and activities available, especially Playmobil knights and a castle. I stayed for a while to observe today. While we had been hoping that Colin would be able to attend the same school as Timmy and Annie, that appears unlikely to happen, and I've begun to think that I might not be sorry about it after all. Colin's class here has only 20 children while the same class at St. Alban's has 30. I like the school and the staff. They seem to have plenty of resources, including a government initiative that provides free milk and fruit each day for the younger classes. (Although I learned today that Annie says her class gets fruit or vegetable every day also.)

In all, Colin's assessment of the day was, "It was a little great and a little boring." The "great" had to do with the Playmobil toys. The boring had to do with someone being "bad" on the playground. But he's willing to go back. I think he feels more like his brother and sister to be able to go to school too. Bonus for him: the more he's in school, the less he has to walk around the city with me.

Coffee

When I was contemplating living in Cambridge, I had this crazy idea that I'd start drinking tea and give up coffee. That hasn't happened. But lots of coffee drinking goes on in Cambridge, so I'm not out of place. We've seen two Starbucks and a bunch of other cafes specializing in coffee while walking around.

One reason I probably won't stop drinking coffee is that Microsoft Research (MSR) provides free coffee that is just outstanding. I've never had coffee this good. The machine that produces it is one of the "superautomatic" machines by La Cimbali (though the one we have is not shown in the linked page). Apparently it can be calibrated to produce coffee to the tastes of a particular region. Luca Cardelli, a principal researcher at MSR, personally ensures that the operator sets the machine to the Italian calibration. I probably have three cappuccinos a day. Yum!

The UK (perhaps all of Europe?) doesn't really do drip coffee like we do in the states, from what I understand. We have two coffee makers at home. One is a press; ours is by Bodum.

You spoon your ground coffee into the decanter, pour boiling water on top of it, and cover it with the lid. Underneath the top of the lid rests a movable metal filter. After a few minutes of soaking, you use a lever on the top of the lid to push the filter downward, which presses all the grounds to the bottom of the decanter, and keeps them there. Then you pour out the coffee. It's stronger than drip coffee, and I think I prefer it to drip.

We also bought a stovetop espresso maker at our local Limoncello store. We have the 3-cup variety.
It's got two parts that screw together. You stick the water in the bottom, and the coffee grounds rest in a filter above it. Then you screw on the top and stick it on the stove. After a while the water heats up and pushes through the filter, going through the grounds in the process, and ends up in the top part. It works pretty well, and produces pretty good espresso (as good as our espresso machine at home). Limoncello also has a nice supply of Italian coffee, too.

Hmm, after all this talk of coffee, I think I'll head downstairs and have an espresso ...