Reflecting on a Year in Lonon
November 4, 2009, David and Shaunda landed in London. On November 14, 2009, Gray and Zane joined us. It’s been quite a whirlwind! Especially the months up to the move. We are still very grateful and appreciative of all of the family and friends who came and helped us get the house emptied. It was a monumental task, and could never have happened without everyone. An extra super huge THANK YOU to family for taking care of our boys for a couple of weeks and finishing off the house. Thanks to God for selling it so quickly!It’s really difficult to think of how our lives have changed because we are right in the middle of it. I’m curious to hear what others notice when we return (Nope—no specific plan for that yet.)
There are many differences in language. They are pretty subtle, but very noticeable when an American is speaking to someone from Britain. For example, I was talking to a 7 year old girl, and asked her about a stain on her “pants.” She exclaimed, in a very surprised voice, “These aren’t my pants!” You see, pants are what you wear under your trousers. David received a similar shocked response from co-workers when he talked about his “pants” fitting looser. They received that as Too Much Information!
We go to the “toilet” or “loo” instead of the “bathroom.” We dispose of “rubbish” instead of “trash.” We have a “pint” instead of a “beer.” We use “trolleys” instead of “grocery carts.” Cars run on “petrol.” We use the “lift” to get us to the top floor of our building. We use a “torch” to help us see when walking through the woods at night. A “subway” is an underground walkway, and one of our primary modes of transport is “the Tube.” The kids received “loads” of gifts for Christmas. We have even caught Zane referring to his mother as, “Mum.” We go to “the shops” for whatever we need—food, clothes, household items. And, “the chemist” gives us our medication. We use “mince” to make hamburgers or Spaghetti Bolognese. The boys eat “sweets” at Halloween and Christmas instead of “candy.” “Pudding” is generic term for any dessert, but it often refers to a type of cake that takes a month to prepare.
We use the words “proper,” “brilliant’ and “sorted” more than we ever did. When things need doing ASAP, we say, “as a matter of urgency.” We use ‘single quotes’ instead of “double,” and we do not use a “full stop” after a salutation like “Mr, Mrs or Dr.”
We have been in 7 countries in one year! Of course, we have been in the US and England. We have travelled to Germany, Italy, and Ireland (twice!), France and spent a few hours in Wales. Let’s count the cities: Munich and driven in the Bavarian Alps in Germany; Rome, Venice, Florence, Pisa, (Italy); Paris, Versailles (France); Rochester, Dover, Brighton, Isle of Wight, St Albans, Chessington, Littlehampton, Windsor (and Legoland!) ( England); Holyhead, Wales; Dublin, Wicklow, Arklow, Limerick, Galwick, Ring of Kerry, and the Dingle Peninsula (Ireland).
The list of places to see is more numerous than the places we have been! We would very much like to visit friends in Stockholm, Sweden and Alicante, Spain. Barcelona and Madrid in Spain are ‘must see’ places. In addition: The Canary Islands, Portugal, Southern France, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, other parts of Germany, Hungary, Istanbul, Morocco, Tunisia, Greece, Scotland, Northern Ireland, more of Wales, many other places in England (Yorkshire, Cornwall, Liverpool, Devon, Lake District just to name a few...). Feel free to offer suggestions—just remember we stay here until we’ve seen it ALL!
We have seen “loads” of theatre productions: Wicked, Blood Brothers, 39 Steps, Dirty Dancing, Avenue Q, Jersey Boys,
We have seen ‘loads’ of castles and huge, ornate cathedrals, yet we have not yet seen the insides of Westminster Abbey or St. Paul’s Cathedral! The boys are very tired of old, huge buildings! The actually didn’t care much for the palace at Versailles or Notre Dame Cathedral... *sigh*. Cobblestone roads are really nice to look at, but torture to walk on. The diversity in Architecture is awesome, the diversity in people enriching.
We now do most of our shopping (grocery and otherwise) online, and have it delivered. If we decide to do a big grocery shop in the store, we use a cab to get home. It’s about the same cost as having it delivered, and much easier than having the four of us piled down with bags on buses and tubes! For the odd litre of milk or loaf of bread, we bribe one of the boys to ride their bikes to the convenience store near the house. OH! Eggs are not in the refrigerator section, and I have not seen one single white egg here!
Public transportation is great, and you can get anywhere you need to be... but you have to walk to get somewhere where a bus or tube will pick you up, and wait in whatever weather condition. Also, during rush hour, buses and tubes are PACKED! It is amazing how many people can pack in those things! There have been times when a bus will pass up one of its stops because it is full. AND, it takes about 30 minutes to go about 5 miles. That’s on the tube. On the bus, 5 miles may take over an hour! On the other hand, we have a lot more time to read now...
Our job is a difficult one. It’s a challenge to make the decision whether to leave a child with much less than great parents, or put them in a completely strange and, for the child, scarier situation. Obviously, safety rules, but that term becomes very ambiguous sometimes. On the other hand, some families actually want our help, and it is very rewarding to help them and see them make positive changes. We are also meeting some great people, and overall, it is a very rich experience. One of the best things about working here is that we get 27 days of vacation a year! Even with all of our travel and taking time off at Christmas, we still have almost weeks left (until April 1, when it starts all over again!)
The boys don’t love school so much. Zane likes school more than Gray does, but we are certain they wouldn’t like it any better in Overland Park! School does work much differently here. High school starts at age 11. Gray has 14 classes that he attends over a two week period. Both boys take themselves to school—Zane walks about 5 minutes, and Gray rides his bike for about 10 minutes. The good thing is that they have both made friends, and their friends are really nice, good kids. Most of Zane’s friends are from India, and Gray has a friend whose mother is Swedish. (It seems that almost everyone is from somewhere other than London!)
Gray says the best part of being in London is getting to see ‘loads’ of Supercars: Lamborghini’s, Ferrari’s, Porche’s, Astin Martin’s, Maserati’s, Rolls Royce’s and Bentley’s are common sights. We have even seen a Bugatti Veyron (the world’s fastest production car) and a Koenigsegg CCXR (a very exclusive super car made in Sweden—only 6 the world!) He most misses friends and family, and just the life he had in the US. He also misses wide open spaces. He is the most ready to move back to the US.
Zane says the best part of being in London is all the transportation options: buses, tubes, trains, boats—any one or a combination will take you anywhere. He most misses friends and family, and some of the food. (We cannot get decent Mexican food here!)
David most enjoys the adventure and the things that we get to see. He appreciates the shared experiences we have as a family, and the ways we learn and grow from our experiences. He also misses friends and family. Sometimes he would like more of the quiet of the country, and seeing the stars at night.
Like David, Shaunda enjoys the adventure- seeing and experiencing new things and the growth and enrichment that results. She also loves the huge diversity in people and culture. She misses friends and family, and the conveniences of day to day life.
At this point, we don’t have plans to visit the US. We are thinking that if we are going to be here only 2-3 years, we will take advantage of our location and explore this part of the world. Travel throughout Europe is much more affordable than travel within the US. For the cost of taking the 4 of us to the US, we can see 2 to 3 European cities. We shall see what we decide...
Looking ahead, besides more European (or African!) adventures, we have a Royal Wedding, and The Olympics! Obviously, we won’t get to see the actual wedding, and in order to get any decent view of the processionals, we would probably have to camp out along the route the night before! We missed the deadline to sign up to volunteer for the Olympics... L But, we work for one of the Host Boroughs and there are opportunities that way, as well as another scheme through the Mayor of London. Tickets for Olympic events go on sale in March. It will be a lottery system—you sign up for events you want to see, and if your name is randomly drawn, you buy those tickets. The same system goes for the Opening and Closing ceremonies. Tickets cost from £20-£2000! Crazy, huh!
We truly value the support and friendship of our friends and family. We do hope that ALL of you will be able to visit before we leave! Get yourselves here and we will be the best hosts we know how to be! In the meantime, we are on email, Facebook and Skype. Please do keep in touch!
David, Shaunda, Gray and Zane Irwin
