Goodbye England, Hello Germany

((Sorry this is so long and delayed))

Monday was painting day for Lisa and Gordon, 2 rooms a day is the plan. I decided I would get the kids out of the house so we went to Kid Zone for 5.5hrs! We later met Lisa and Gordon on the Tring main street, still decorated from Christmas, for a yummy Italian dinner at Prezzo (http://www.prezzorestaurants.co.uk/). We talked about the trips we would plan to visit each other in California and Ohio, a realization that I am leaving in less than a week.

Tuesday we had a bit of an experience with…ugh head lice. It was so gross I don’t even like thinking about it. I know this may be word vomit that nobody wants to hear but since this blog is the good, the bad and the ugly that I want to remember, I thought I’d throw this in here.

Abbie’s birthday party was on Wednesday at Kid Zone so we were there for most of the afternoon with all her little friends. Beth talked me into going in the play area and of course it turned into me chasing the little kids around the whole time. Needless to say I was exhausted and sweating before we even had cake.

Abbie looking stylish in her birthday outfit from me :)

Kate and the birthday girl

Her actual birthday was on Thursday so we went out to lunch in Milton Keynes with Lisa’s brother Brian and his wife Lindsay who were in town. We went to a Mexican restaurant called Chimichanga, where (I thought this was so crazy) Brian and Lindsay had never heard of a quesadilla before and when it came out they had never seen one before (I thought maybe they just called it something else).

I picked Jaclyn up at the airport on Friday, which of course didn’t run smoothly but I’m not sure why I thought it would. When I finally got concerned after an hour of sitting in the car that maybe she was being held hostage in the airport, I decided to park and go into the airport to locate my lost friend. Seconds after entering the arrivals area I here “hey” later to find out her phone had died and she had no money to pay for internet to email me until she exchanged her few US dollars. Jaclyn and anyone that knows Jaclyn understands why this is no surprise.

Anyhow, we went into London to meet up with Jami, a girl from Pittsburgh who is an au pair in Germany kind of close to where I will be. We checked into Clink78, our hostel, and found our 4^th roommate and friend for the evening Justine from Tazmania(cool, I know). We all went out together and it was so fun. As the minutes quickly passed and we were still stuck in the underground we thought we may end up spending our nye in the metro, but after some of the craziest and fun few minutes of my life pushing up the stairs, the clock turned to midnight and we pushed out onto the crowded London streets and found a spot to see the fireworks between two buildings. We popped a bottle of champagne and cheered with a street full of strangers and friends old and new.

One of the few pictures of the night. Justine, Jami, Jaclyn and me

New Year’s day we toured around the city a bit, first stopping at Abbey Road (so cool!). We went down to Westminster and did all the “tourist” stuff yet again before heading to Bag’a’nails for a pub lunch of fish and chips. It started to rain so we caught our train back to Tring and went to dinner at Olive and Limes(something like that) for a typical British curry to end my time here.

Harry Potter 

Signing the wall

Love this picture!

Sunday was leaving day so I was full of mixed emotions. I was so nervous about border patrol so I just wanted to get to Germany already, but saying bye to the girls wasn’t going to be fun. Kate and Abbie were fine and said their goodbyes but poor Beth was not handling it well. She cried and cried and would not let go of my arm which was truly heart wrenching. Gordon literally pulled her off me so I could get out of the house but she ran out for one last hug before I got in the car. They all stood at the window and waved goodbye as we pulled away. If that doesn’t make the job worth it I don’t know what does. Lisa drove me to the airport, loaded up my 4 bags and we sadly parted ways. I’ll miss them all that’s for sure.

Landing in Frankfurt

Looking back at 2010 seems like a whirlwind of events. I started the year in Athens with some of my best friends in the best place. I graduated from OU (with a degree I currently can do nothing with…but that’s beside the point) and moved back to Cleveland where I spent the summer with my family and “home” best friends before deciding to start this next adventure. I moved to London where I met the Mackintosh family and before long I was booking a flight to Germany to meet my new family, the Cates. I couldn’t have planned this year better and feel so lucky to have these experiences to remember.  2010 has been good to me, no doubt about that, so I’m looking forward to what 2011 holds. From the look of things I better buckle up and enjoy the crazy ride. 

Happy New Year to all of you and I wish you all the best in 2011. I hope it’s a year of good health, plenty of happiness and vacations to Germany! I’ll be waiting for you.