Brighton

Cotton candy. Pebbled beach. Arcades. Greasy fish and chips. Brightly colored, oversized stuffed animals. Boardwalk sweet shops. Overpriced, tacky fair rides. If you were playing a game of word association, these would all be fitting descriptions for Brighton, England. This weekend we decided to swap the dirty, dark city for a day of sun and fresh air by the sea.

Field Trip

Madeleine's class had a field trip. I had a babysitter. So I joined Madeleine and her classmates on a group outing to a farm outside of London to pick berries and all manner of veg. It was a nice, albeit exhausting, day. If you can imagine the fun of visiting the loo twice, not once but twice, with oodles of bouncy kindergarteners you can then with superb realism grasp the great joy of our day.

Hugs

For a moment, just one moment things almost seem perfect. Some pictures are hung. Only a few piles of homeless shirts, pictures, toys and blankets remain. TV service arrives this week. The wood floors are for a moment dust bunny-free. Only one more piece of furniture to assemble. Books are not only shelved, but also arranged in an aesthetically pleasing order. Today the sun's rays even make the flat smile. It almost feels perfect. For some odd reason it is at this moment that I am overcome with sadness. Such odd timing. We are making good friends here, no actually great friends. But my heart aches now for those we left behind. This moment could only be perfect with you here. My mind is flooded with many happy memories of you. So this one is for those we left behind, sending you big hugs from across the pond!

P.S. Did I mention we have a guest room?

Abercorn School

One of the biggest disadvantages of having your children attend two different schools, and I don't mean elementary school versus middle school, is the variation in the school-year calendar. Dallin had to wait nearly a whole week after Madeleine started school before he got to attend his first day of school!

Alas that day came and as a family we are beginning to navigate our way through the very different British school system. Can you say multiplication in French? No really, he has multiplication in French! It's intense alright, but despite the long days, high demands and ridiculous amount of homework Dallin wears a grin every afternoon coming off the school bus. His school is divided among three separate campuses. He is in the middle school at a campus quite a ways from our flat. Gratefully the school's lower school is just a 10-minute walk from us, and they offer a bus service to and from the middle and upper school campuses. It's quite a carpool this coach is.

Did I mention the smart uniforms?


Or the very old style grammar school building?


All seems a bit stuffy, doesn't it? Well all I can say is a big fat thank you to JK Rowling for making a shirt and tie seem like fun to an eight year-old boy!



The school even divides its students among four houses. Dallin is in Dickens house. Go Dickens!


Dallin is in year four, equivalent to third grade in the US


He has French on Fridays


Mondays and Fridays he learns things like cricket in PE


Thursdays is swimming a la speedo; Dallin wasn't so keen on this at first


He'll take field trips to places all over London, and in the spring they go to Devon for a week


Dallin, we think you're pretty great, especially for how you've handled all the change and for your great attitude adjusting to such a demanding new school!

American School in London

Many of you know that we were unable to get both Dallin and Madeleine into the same school; Dallin's school did not have a spot for Madeleine and likewise Madeleine's school did not have a place for Dallin. So for this first year Dallin is attending a private British school, whilst Madeleine is attending an international school, The American School in London. It's a school comprised mostly of American expats in London from kindergarten to twelfth grade, but also has students from all over the world. This year Madeleine is in what's called kindergarten 2. There are two years of kindergarten at this school, and kindergarten 2 is equivalent to kindergarten in the US.

Kindergarten has been an instant hit with Madeleine, love at first sight. She nearly bounces out of the flat each morning. We are lucky enough to live right next to the school, literally. My breakfast table window overlooks the school's roof. We use the rear fire escape for school drop off; the commute takes all of 90 seconds. She is having fun making all kinds of new friends and loves her two teachers, one British and one American.

Here's a peek at our kindergartener's first day . . .















Can I go in yet?


The pressure's on!

New Friends

While we miss our friends back home dearly, we are making great new friends here. We spent a fun summer's end afternoon playing at Hampstead Heath with some of our favorite new people:

Dirty Puddles

A dirty puddle. A dirty puddle with floating cigarette butts. I see these everywhere. It's not what most people think of when they think of London. Things like Big Ben, red phone booths, the theatre and palaces might normally spring to mind. But puddles, dirty puddles are most definitely London. And if I'm being honest, straying a bit from the fantasy of life living in London, my new life here often feels just like a dirty puddle. I thought about taking my camera out and shooting one of these oft seen dirty puddles, but right now the last thing I need is a homework assignment. I get why there are adverts to places like Cyprus, Tenerife and Spain just about everywhere you look here. I wanna get away too. I sit now in a cafe (don't get carried away with this romantic notion of European living lounging in cafes; I'm only in this cafe because I have a bit of time to kill between a teacher conference and back to school night and nowhere to go in the rain). So I sit here watching passersby all wearing the same overspent, soggy expressions. They are overladen with umbrellas, bags, purses and parcels, like some kind of acrobatics. Will they smile when they arrive at their destination? Will I? Why did we come here to the dirty puddle! Maybe tomorrow the sun will shine, but real life in London is hard, sometimes painful. So for all of you who are somewhat envious of our new supposed "cool" life in London, now you know the dirty truth. We left paradise for dirty puddles! What were we thinking!

Okay, thanks for indulging me in my vent session!

The Canterbury Tales

Our tale doesn't include a pardoner, a knight or a miller, but it does include a pilgrimage to Canterbury. We don't get Labor Day here, but we do get a three-day weekend near the end of August in the form of a "bank holiday." We decided to use one of these three days to take a day-trip out of London, and to take a break from settling in! We took a 90-minute train to the charming town of Canterbury in Kent located in south eastern England. It was an uncharacteristically beautiful, sunny day (these are rare in the UK, even in summer!).

Our day began here






We raced up to a hilltop monument






We walked the old city wall




And then stopped here for a snack


We made it to the town's focal point (note the sole photo of yours truly)




I love this kid; he's so much fun to tour around with. He takes such interest in the detail of the places we see.




Turn your screen upside down to see what this is :)


Madeleine is finally able to pick a nose in public without reprimanding


Beautiful scenes of Canterbury










Visiting an old Norman castle




This is what I think of when I think of Canterbury