London

Advanced language lessons have become part of my every day dialogue. Here’s some of the new words and phrases I have learned recently:

plaster – also known as a bandaid in Texanspeak. (When Keali was teaching me how to properly refer to her bandaid, I mean plaster, she tried to explain what plimsolls were compared to trainers. Suffice it to say, both are shoes but no one in this house understands why they are called what they’re called. We only know which ones to grab when the dress code calls for one or the other.)

silencer – the muffler of a car

pants – panties or underwear, some nice Brits say knickers, but it seems to depend on the region they come from.

bollocks – technically meaning testicles, it is used to say something is nonsense. For example, if someone tells you something ludicrous, you may respond with “Bollocks!”

the dog’s bollocks – quite the opposite of what you might think – and it means great. Used to perhaps refer to someone great at work or their job: “They’re the dog’s bollocks!”

rude health – if someone looks well and healthy, they are in “rude health”. I’m still struggling to understand this one!

pissed – extremely drunk. I have seen many people at the pub totally pissed, but they weren’t fighting as they would be in the States…

noughts and crosses – obviously it is very clear what that means. And if you have to ask, then you don’t have google in front of you like I did to find out what it was… tic-tac-toe.

We continue to improve our English skills. We hope to hold on to our TexanSpeak though as well for our eventual return one day…

So we are 10 days into Scott being gone. So far, so good. The kids and I had a great Sunday after a not great Saturday. Sunday included beautiful weather, a scooter trip into Kew, a trip to the bookstore for gifts for their friends, and cooking. The most fun part of the day though without question was Extreme Uno. It is by far the most fun kids’ game I have ever played. I was literally begging the kids to play again and again. Uno has long been there favorite card game (insert **snoooooooze** here). But Extreme Uno has only one descriptor: FUN.

The last 10 days or so have included less work for me (back to a pseudo-normal 40-50 hour work week), more time with the kids, and lots of sleep.

The extra sleep has given me time for musings…

I’ve been so proud of the little kids recently. Caden is now reading like a champ, and while he hates doing homework, his levels have so drastically improved that it is amazing. His report card included phrases like “quite a character”, “very talkative”, “always contributing”, and the all-telling “filled with mischievousness”. They have him pegged. No lack of confidence with Caden. We don’t have the normal conversation at home about not talking to strangers. With Caden, we have the conversation about which strangers are safer than others and what to watch out for. No sense in trying to change this leopard’s spots.

Keali is also doing very well. She is in the equivalent of PK4 here and can already read. She’s doing math and loves going to school where she is learning ballet. She is now in swimming class at school as well which serves as a close second for favorites, next only to ballet. For Easter break, the kids are out for 3.5 weeks. Caden’s all boy school has a camp for four days of the break where they take the boys to “boy activities”. Keali went to the camp over Christmas, and (after crying the first day at drop off since she was the only girl) she absolutely loved it. They are both excited about Easter camp week. We absolutely love the schools the kids are in. Regis School in Houston is the only other place we have seen that is as great as their current schools.

I also realized that I have been underestimating my recent adventures. The UK is a beautiful country. It has some fun (and somewhat odd) corners to it. Last week I was in Wales. All the public signs, road signs, parking, etc are written in English as well as in Welsh. It was like being back in Holland with the multiple consonants and too few vowels. The pronunciation is just as difficult too. The country is beautiful, even if the language is impossible. Thankfully, English is widely accepted and all Welsh speak English. Whew.

The kids and I may venture out into England and away from London next weekend to explore. We’ll see what the need is for a pajama day by time Saturday rolls around! In the mean time, we’ll be counting the days for trial in the US to be over. Opening statements are tomorrow, so we’re on the downhill slide.

I had my birthday in January. For the first time in four years, I wasn’t at a company meeting for it. My lovely work friends got me a birthday cake and took me out for cocktails and dinner. My sweet husband gave me a birthweek. Forever, I have wanted to stay in a castle. Check.

We spent a great night in Amberley Castle. What a beautiful and amazing place. Scott arranged for us to have a seven course tasting menu dinner. In a private room. With a roaring fireplace. And our own waiter and sommelier. Talk about spoiling me! Happy birthday me!

The week was awesome. (The gift-per-day was a nice touch too!) One of the other cool things I was treated to for my birthday was going to see Amos Lee in concert here in London.

He was amazing!

I have had an unforgettable year. Lucky beyond all expectations, we live a dream life. Some people worry about getting older, and I am thankful for continuing to get older. Every year has gotten better and I look forward to this year and hope to get many more.

Last week, I felt I might be transitioning to a Brit. While out with a guy on my team, I asked him if I could “put my rucksack in his boot”. Of course for my Texan friends, I was asking if I could put my backpack in his trunk. I giggled a bit at the ability to actually ask this question.

I have been having a bit of an identity crisis lately. Virtually 90% of my communications on email are with British people. While it is all English, it is quite different that American English as mentioned in a previous post. However, it isn’t just the words now that I am more aware of, it is the spelling.

Here’s a little example:

British English:
My favourite neighbour whose young boy has been ill of late has gone to her paediatrician. They immediately recognised that he needed surgery and rushed him off to theatres. The doctor adviced that he would need long term treatment.

Now in Texan:
My favorite neighbor whose little boy has been sick lately took him to the pediatrician. They immediately recognized that he needed surgery and rushed him off to the OR. The doctor advised that he would need long term treatment.

So the delimma is this. I work with all these nice British people, one of whom informed me last week she thought I just didn’t have good spelling (not realizing/realising the differences between English and British…). It would be quite easy to change my spell check in Outlook to British English, but for some reason, it feels like I am giving up my American roots. I’m here based on my American experiences, so why turn my back on that? BUT to not change it, most of the folks here think I am lacking… What to do, what to do?

For now, I shall continue to be a US English speller. I hope I can stick it out for the remainder of our stay in the UK.

While this is a silly and fun thought to even worry about, I simply have to add: What a lucky world I live in for this to be a “problem” that even requires thought!

Scott surprised us with another mini-vacation. This time, instead of going towards London central, we went away. We drove south of London to Leeds Castle. What an amazing place to see! It was such a beautiful place. The kids enjoyed the footpath through the woods to get up the the castle. The inside was interesting and antique and fun to walk through. Perhaps the neatest part of the day was the English maze we made our way through. Finally making it to the middle allowed us to go up a small hill to see where we had painstakingly made our way through. After the hill, we went down some steps to an underground cavern which was appropriately dark and spooky and fun to walk through. I of course appreciated that this was the easy exit since we were able to walk right out of the maze this way.

The kids’ favorite part of the castle trip was the incredible playground. I can’t describe it adequately, but suffice it to say that it was by far the most fun playground I had ever seen.

The highlight of the very cool day was going down the street to the hotel where there was an indoor heated swimming pool. The kids wore themselves out and then we had a quick in-room dinner. They passed out. Beautiful sleeping kids. (Perhaps the most beautiful when they are sleeping!)

A nice escape to our hectic high-energy life we live. Bring on Friday for our trip back to the US for 3 days!

The video highlights: