It’s hard to believe I’ve been here a month already. I take this as bittersweet: sweet that I love it so much that time is passing so quickly, bitter that in no time I’ll be booking my flight back to America and my year of adventure will come to an end. I feel as though I have so much to accomplish in my time here and 1/12 of my time is already passed. But I guess I’ll take each day as it comes and write down everything both for you to read and stay connected to my life and for me to not forget my time here.
Monday I already forget what I did so it couldn’t have been that exciting. I got a package in the mail from my mom with Malley's in it and the girls went crazy.
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| Kate, Abbie & Beth with their Malley' |
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Tuesday I had Kate and we went to meet up with Agne and Petrea for a coffee. Petrea is from Denmark and lives just down the street from me in a town called Marsworth. She is extremely tall, at least a foot taller than me and we sported identical white converse. She doesn’t have a car so it’s not easy to get around on top of other things that make her situation not the most enjoyable. We went into Tring and had a coffee at Costa a pretty popular coffee shop chain.
I drove them both home and got a tour of their houses, very cool. Agne lives in a very old English house in the town of Ivinghoe with a bunch of little rooms and cool nooks and crannies. The house had so much English charm and exactly what you would expect to find in a town like this. Petrea lives in a newer house, by English standards, with a huge remodeled kitchen. It was really a mess and under construction so I couldn’t get a good feel for it…the whole house was a little crazy to say the least.
Wednesday I officially became a member of the Mentmore Country Club gym! I had my induction where my trainer personalizes a program for me and of course had my weigh in…I made sure to eat everything unhealthy beforehand. I’ve once again made the decision to attempt training for a half marathon, Lisa too, so fingers crossed I can make this happen. I also received my email this week and am successfully signed up for the moonwalk here in London! I guess it is really hard to get in but they take first timers before anyone else.
The next day Kate had ballet again so I dropped her off and went shopping on the high street (aka 2 stores). After I picked her up the day quickly went downhill. She wanted a sweetie(candy) so we stopped at the little store on the corner and waited in line for about 10 minutes while the older woman at the front bought lottery ticket after lottery ticket. I finally told Kate to put the candy down and we’d go to the next store over sending her into a meltdown. You know those moms you see in stores with the screaming child, that was me. I tried to explain we were just walking to the next store to get her sweetie and if she didn’t stop crying we wouldn’t be able to get any, which made her cry even louder! At that point we headed straight for the car and quickly home…please God don’t make this happen again. One the other hand, she now says she loves me so I guess they are adjusting well.
Friday was pretty uneventful… went to workout, picked the girls up from school and relaxed while Lisa took them swimming. Gordon was out of town for work and got to ride on the Orient Express, this high class “posh” as they say, train with fine dining and beautiful carriages. I watched the girls at night while Lisa went to the cricket club for poker night. I was up till way late trying to plan trips and looking up various flights but was finally able to sleep in a bit.
Minus Kate screaming and Abbie knocking on my door at 8:30am I was able to sleep till 10am and spent the whole morning sitting on the couch.
Saturday night I went out with Petrea, Agne, Coralie and her friend to The Akeman. Lisa and Gordon were also going to the Akeman for their friends’ 30th birthday (yes, they have an au pair and still call a babysitter). It was my turn to drive but Lisa and Gordon insisted I have a drink (you know me, so hard to convince). Lisa volunteered to drive so I indulged in a couple brewskis, a Carlsberg and an Oxford Gold to be exact (and half a Thatcher’s which is cider almost like Strongbow). The pub was hopping and we had such a good time. Later in the night we met up with Lisa, Gordon and friends who loved my au pair friends. At first it felt a little weird drinking at a bar with my "host parents" but by the end of the night Lisa drove us around just like Big Bri does in Lakewood(thanks dad), some things never change. Their friends are so fun and I sat there thinking “I am so lucky to have gotten this family.” But seriously, after talking with the other au pairs and hearing their stories and what not, I lucked out majorly with my family. We hit up the late night food place again and Gordon treated everyone to chips and cheese...we should do this more often!
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| Friend, Agne, Coralie, Me and Petrea |
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| The Akeman |
Today, Sunday I woke up feeling pretty good. Of course it would be raining again, which makes for a relaxing day. Lisa cooked a traditional Sunday roast for dinner consisting of the roast(obviously), turnips & carrots, roasted potatoes, yorkshire pie, cauliflower & broccoli... followed by after eights(mint chocolates), cheesecake with this toffee crunchy topping & sticky toffee pudding ice cream! Not surprised I was overly stuffed by the end of that one. What a good way to end another great week.
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