Radio Silent

We are moving into our new house officially tomorrow.  Though we’ve signed up for internet, phone, and television, the ever speedy folks at Virgin Media have assigned our “turn on” date as:

July 8 between 8am – 1pm

So, if you don’t hear from us for awhile, don’t worry.  We’re fine!

Our temporary apartment

Not to completely overload you on housing posts, but I wanted to show you the temporary apartment we stayed in before we get too far into being “settled” in our new home. For four glorious weeks, the Primer Apartments on St. Thomas Street was our home.


So a few things. First, it was an easy walk, by Bristol standards (meaning there was only one major hill & two minor ones to climb), from the apartment to my office. It was about a 20 minute walk. I did enjoy this. Adam walked me most days. I’m pretty sure the receptionist thinks I’m a 10 year old child who has to be escorted everywhere. Oh well! It was also rather larger for a one bedroom apartment in the UK. It had a full “American-style” refrigerator. They get very excited when they have large fridges because most of theirs are the size of the one I took to ACU. It also had a washer/dryer combo unit and a dishwasher. Both of these appliances gave Adam some trouble from time to time, but he eventually figured out how to work them.

The bed, though hard as a rock, was a queen size. They don’t so much believe in sheets and a comforter – Lenae your employer with the sheet fascination would not have been impressed! They opted for the flat sheet on bottom and a comforter for covers. If you get warm, just go coverless or open the windows.

I think we were supposed to have a dining area; however we used it more as Adam’s “find a real house / get into the MBA program command center”. As he completed both of these tasks successfully, I think it was a good use of the table.

I would usually say something like ‘just off the dining room was the sitting area,’ but in reality, it wasn’t just off as much as it was right up against. A nice two-seater sofa, coffee table and a television to the side made up the space. The television, I might add was used to find a channel that runs nearly 24-hour a day programming of Top Gear repeats.

Into the kitchen. We did use it several nights. Those who know me, know that I extremely dislike eating out alot. Not, I dislike it alot, I dislike doing it repeatedly. About 2 weeks into busy season every year, I’ve exhausted every meal I like from every restaurant we order from & I just start eating desert every night. So after about 10 nights of trying places in Bristol – which we did find some we really do enjoy, I started getting fussy. This is about the time that we were having major house scouting problems, so Adam would probably tell you that I was just cranky in general, but I’m going to maintain that part of it was due to the lack of ability to eat at home (in my pj’s...on the sofa). Adam picking up on this issue, made a couple of trips to Tessco and came up with some meals that you can cook with minimal ingredients and one pot and one oven pan. It was a constant source of entertainment and I was so happy to eat “at home.”

Oh, the washing machine. I feel like Adam should tell this story as it really is him who did the laundry during this time and struggled so with the appliance, but he says this is my narrative, not his. On our walk to my office in the morning, I would ask (nearly) every day, ‘so what are your plans?’. He would usually respond with something to the effect of ‘go for a jog, touch base with the relocation team to see if there are more houses to go visit .’ One day, about a week and half into our stay he said ‘I think I’ll do laundry. We might need some clean socks soon.’ I agreed, so he said he’d get some detergent at the store & try to do a few loads of laundry. That evening, when he picked me up, I asked how the laundry went. His whole face dropped, ‘I did a load, but now I can’t get the door open to get the clothes out.’ After laughing (probably longer than I should have to still be considered a loving, considerate, supportive wife), I told him that I would open it when we got home. That night, I tried. I couldn’t open it. Adam then took his turn at laughing. The next day, Adam called the maintenance department for help who said they’d send someone right up.

This was often their response when we asked a question.

‘Our shower is flooding our bathroom everytime we shower.’
‘We’ll send someone right up.’ - 6 day wait

‘Our telephone has no dial tone.’
‘We’ll send someone right up.’ – Noone ever showed – Adam eventually fixed it

‘There is an awful electrical smell when the vent fan and dishwasher run at the same time.’
‘We’ll send someone right up.’ – only 2 days (electrical fires are taken very seriously around here!)

‘We can’t get the door to the washer open.’
‘We’ll send someone right up.’ – EIGHT DAYS! (believe me, we tried to open it daily, if not hourly, during this time to no avail)

According to Adam, I wasn’t home at the time, he walked in, and first try popped it open. So defeating for the Americans. We did more laundry after this first foray – I would say we never had mastery of the elusive door, but usually could get it open within an hour or so of the end of the load. As a side note, the washing machine at the new house has a clearly labelled button for opening and we are able to work it much easier.

I’ve mentioned that the shower goes everywhere. Well, they didn’t exactly fix it, but they did add a rubber piece to the bottom of the enclosure door which slowed the leakage. We took it as a win. I think the main problem was that this was never meant to be a shower. It was originally built as only a tub that they then added a vertical pipe to make a shower. Water containment...something I’d taken for granted all these years.

I don’t usually take pictures of toilets, but I’d like to point out a trend I’ve noticed. Toilets aren’t exactly tied down around here. Not that I’m really expecting them to fly off the ground, but I’m sure at some point in the last 28 years, my father has told me the importance of the ring bolts (yes, Daddy, I listen to everything you tell me!), and I find it odd that I haven’t found any actually secured.

I mentioned in one of my first posts about moving here about the hot water tank. You have to “wake” it up every morning so that it will heat water. So every morning, my alarm would go off at 6:15, I’d get up, press the little button on the tank, climb back to bed and sleep another 45 minutes.

Except that I wouldn’t really sleep another 45 minutes. You see, the building across the street from our apartment is under construction. And because it is the summer (and we’re so far north), the sun rises at 5 or so am. And because construction workers around the world (apparently) are morning people, they liked to start work at about 6am...weekdays and weekends. So instead of getting an extra mini nap, I listened to hammering and moving of large dumpsters for 45 minutes a morning. We’ll come back when they finish the renovations on that building and take a tour. I really hope it’s beautiful inside.

I was standing on the balcony of the apartment to take the photo above, so it’s only fitting that I stand in the construction site and take a photo of the balcony. Two bits of disclosure. Yes, I did take this picture while there were mass tools above my head and yes, Adam did scold me for doing so. But, isn’t it a lovely little balcony?

Okay. Now you’ve seen more on our living spaces than you’ll ever care to, but Grandma Teresa told me one time that she really likes seeing where and how people live because it helps her imagine what they do on a daily basis. So, Grandma, I’ve taken your words to heart...even if it is a week after we moved out of the apartment.

House Pictures

Wanted to post a few pics of the house - Will post more as we get furniture :) We're going bachelor style for awhile until we can find some "charity shops" AKA Goodwill to purchase some basics.


The woman who lived here had to move into a nursing home. Her daughter is our landlord. From what we can tell, it's a delicate situation that has been needing to happen for a few years now and the daughter finally overruled her Mom's wishes to be at home and moved her to keep her safe. Mom was an amazing gardener in her time, but most is now pretty overgrown and in need of some love. There is an apple tree and several berry bushes that I haven't quite figured out yet. I only hope my limited green thumb skills are able to honor all the work that has been put in over the years.


The house has 4 (yes, four!) bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, and two living rooms. It's big, but keep in mind that a UK bedroom is big enough for a bed & not much else and none of them have closets. All that being said, we will have plenty of room for guests (you know...when we get some beds).

So, on to the official house tour:

The back garden taken from the far back corner

The back garden from the back of the house

The dining room

The kitchen
note the refrigerator on the right that doesn't quite go all the way up... but a double oven is pretty cool

The utility area just off the kitchen (dishwasher & washing machine on the bottom, dryer up top), I think well add some shelving on the left for extra storage and a curtain rod to hide it all

Living room #1 - with a gas insert fireplace and the sun room off the back - most likely the one we'll primarily use

Living room #2 - a bit smaller than the first and has part of the stairs running through part of it, but it'll make a nice sitting room...if we get a sofa :)

Stairs - Not really that exciting, but Ginger & Daisy are going to love going up & down them! We've never had a house with stairs, but anywhere we've visited with them, all they do is run up & down.

The Master bedroom. You can fit a queen bed & two night stands...we think...at least that's what we bought at IKEA yesterday...we'll let you know on Thursday when it's delivered.

Master bath - it's an ensuite, a really big deal over here! 

The "double" guest bedroom, which just means it's big enough to fit a double bed in it.

The single guest bedroom. Just big enough for a twin bed.

The other single bedroom.
We're going to use this one as the office so Adam has a full space to
study and think about MBA-y type things.

The guest bath. Note, there is no shower. Hope people coming to visit like to take baths (or you can use the one in the ensuite)!

And because I can't leave the last picture of the house being the washroom, here is a picture of the park near the house. It's a beautiful day here (hot by UK standards - the high was 81 F & they have issued heat stroke warnings; when I tell people it's been over 100 for 3 weeks straight they nearly faint). Anyway, people are out in the parks in droves. Most of them sitting or lying in their bikini's, an no, there isn't a beach around... I, however, love the flowers in all the parks!

Keys

These are the keys

that they gave to this guy


that go to this house


that we signed a lease on today!!

(For those keeping track, that makes the guy officially Hero Adam)

My husband rocks!

I’d really hoped that my next blog update was entitled “We have a house!!” But we don’t. Yet. We’re close. We have found one that we like and we’re working through the paperwork. I think there were less forms when we purchased our home in Texas. Seriously.

But that is not the point of today.

Today we are celebrating something different.

Today we are celebrating Adam.

Hmm. That didn’t come out the way I meant.

Today we’re excited because

Adam has been accepted to the University of the West of England International MBA program!

Woo Hoo!

Here’s a little excerpt of the email he sent me after his interview:

“Well the interview went really well. After [a few questions] she informed me that she would press the accept button on her computer and that the Admissions Administrator would be sending out an official offer letter. Exciting!

I am the only American in the program and that there are only 2 from the UK. The remaining 27 students are from seven different countries. She also told me to make sure and apply for the scholarships after I received my offer letter stating that she is the one who approves of all scholarships and felt certain I would be able to land one.

So really it was a pretty decent call I suppose."

I love his modesty. “pretty decent” how about “freaking amazing!”

Way to go, Adam! I’m so proud to be your wife.

Its not all sunshine

I’ve started this about a billion different ways in my head. I’ve even written a draft and scratched most of it. I don't like to talk about how hard my life is, especially as ACU is running a blog series on the Joplin tornados and I see how much pain there is, and will continue to be, in that region. And I think about the regions of Japan that may continue to be in upheaval for years. Then I think about some of our dear friends who are struggling with their own problems to grow their families. My struggles seem much lighter. Much more trivial. Much less painful.

But, I’ve been crying. Almost daily. Not in a pretty way. In a way that would scare away any normal human companion. Thank God Adam is stronger than I am.

Let me tell you the story.

I hate (and I don’t use that word lightly) feeling out of control, out of routine, out of sorts. I don’t handle it well. I forget to be polite to others. I cannot focus on anything except that my world is out of sorts. That is exactly where I am right now. I knew there would be an adjustment period with this whole moving to a foreign country thing, but I never imagined that I would feel so anxious about it.

We are having a major struggle finding a home. Very early on in our marriage, Adam and I were overly blessed by our house in Texas. It was bigger than we ever imagined we could afford, it was in a location that we loved, and it had a yard that was more that we could even dream about. While we were going through the negotiation process, we prayed one night that we wanted a home to bless others with. That night we heard, in one of those very clear, can only be God moments, that any house we’re given we will use to bless others with.

Isn’t that amazing.

The next morning we found out our offer was accepted. I knew at that moment that we would always have a place to live that we could share with family, friends, and those who needed it.

So, fast forward almost 6 years. Apparently the rental market in Bristol is one of the “hottest” rental markets in the UK. So much so that landlords are having their choice of 8-10 applicants per property rather than tenants viewing multiple properties. Throw in the unknown factor of renting to an American and two dogs and you have yourself a nearly impossible housing conundrum.

We have a letting agent through my relocation package with PwC. I know they are as frustrated with the situation as I am. I know they want the best for us. I know this stuff. My heart is trying to catch up to my brain.

We have looked at 7 properties now. Seven. That is how many we can find out of the approximately 420 properties meeting the 2-4 bedroom, £800-£1,200 per month in the Bristol area criteria that will rent to foreigners with pets. One of the seven was actually let before we saw it, so realistically we’re down to six out of 419. None are “the house”. Hence the start of the tears. None of them are close to meeting all our ideal criteria. Hence the start of the sobbing. None of them I can imagine us spending a year or two living in; a Christmas, a set of birthdays, an anniversary, and a host of new experiences. Hence the wailing. And none will offer a short term (3-6 months) lease. Hence the blubbering.

Then this morning, I read Lamentations. If there is a book in the Bible that understands pain, that understands crying, that understands ache, this is the one. As I read, trying to understand how painful it is to lose an entire city, to have no hope, I came to chapter 3:

21-32
(NIV)

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I
have hope:

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his
compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks
him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a
man to bear the yoke while he is young.

Let him sit alone in silence,
for the LORD has laid it on him. Let him bury his face in the dust—there may yet
be hope. Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be
filled with disgrace.

For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though
he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing
love.

Woah! As bad as I may think things are now, it is owing to the mercy of God that they are not worse. We have a temporary apartment (which the gracious partners in my office have agreed to pay for an additional two weeks than stated in my relocation contract), I have terrific friends and family back home that I can email at 2 in the afternoon and they have arranged for a local to call me with advice by 7:30 (Thanks again, Matt!!), and we have support network to keep us going.

God is compassionate. Afflictions do and will work for good. If tribulation begets patience, that patience will bring experience, and that experience will create hope. Happy shall we be, if we learn to receive affliction as laid upon us by the hand of God. Happy? Maybe, content. I’m still working on that one.

So, I think I should summarize. You may have either fallen asleep or think that we’re having a miserable time here (which we’re NOT!!! Read Adam’s posts for the warmer side – he’s the glass half full guy). We haven’t found a house yet. We’re working on it. It’s a much bigger hurdle than we expected. We have each other (and I haven’t scared Adam off yet). We have some possibilities. We will not be homeless. There is more cheerful news to come.

Final note... I just asked Adam to proof read my post before I made it ‘live’. I asked him if it was too strong. His response? (This is why I love him so) “It’s a bit heavy, but that is where your heart is right now. This blog is supposed to share what we’re doing with our loved ones. It’s not meant to only show the fun parts. Nobody believes that you only have great times when embarking on a trip like this. Someday we’ll need to remember this struggle.” He’s right...he usually is, just don’t tell him I said that.

Photo Update!!!

So, I was going to do a review of everything we had seen during our time in Bristol so far but decided that it would probably be far too long of an entry. Therefore, since a picture is worth a thousand words here is a 12,000+ word post for everyone to consume.  Hope you enjoy the photos and start planning what things you would like to see when you come to visit!

Queen's Square between the apartment and Amanda's office. Seems to be a great place for an afternoon picnic on a sunny summer day (assuming we ever find one of those!).

This statute of William III is in the center of Queen's Square. It was cast in 1733 to signify the cities loyalty to the King.

The base of the hill we walk up on the way to Amanda's office.It's quite a bit steeper in real life!!

Near the top of Brandon hill looking west. Can't quite see the states from up here.

Perhaps if I were to climb Cabot Tower (above) I could see the states. Maybe another day. I'll try to have the scaffolding down in time for visitors.

Near the top of Brandon Hill looking south.

View of the floating harbor off to the West.

Brunel's S.S. Great Britain from across the Harbor. Built in the local shipyards and launched in 1843 she served as the worlds first iron hulled, steam powered transatlantic ship. Throughout her history she has served as luxury passenger liner, troop ship and coal hulk among others. Scuttled and abandoned in 1937 near the Falkland Islands she remained there until 1970 when a massive salvage effort patched her holes and brought her back to Britain where the conservation and restoration effort took more than thirty years to complete. Can't wait to actually visit this museum.

View of the Floating Harbor towards the East.

Above is The Hole in the Wall tavern which claims to be location of the Spyglass from Treasure Island.

A side shot of St. Mary Redcliffe which is about two hundred yards from our apartment.

The spire of St. Mary Redcliffe. Still haven't been inside yet but the exterior is rather impressive.

I hope you enjoyed a brief view of Bristol. We will continue to post pictures in hopes that it will motivate all of our friends and family to come visit us soon and often.

Cheers!

It's Saturday, must be time for a Bath

After the last week and a half of attempting to get settled and not being able to find a house (more on this adventure later), we decided to take a day to be tourists and visit the city of Bath. Bath is situated about 15 miles east of Bristol and is one of the stops between Bristol and London on the high speed train.  Amanda insisted on taking a picture of the train.  Maybe someday the mode of transportation won’t be as exciting for her…

We arrived at 9:45 in the morning and ambled about for a bit until we came upon The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Bath or as you & I know it, Bath Abbey.

The Abbey is quite amazing as you can probably imagine and the inside is absolutely beautiful, however before we went in we had to find the free walking tour that I had read about in one of Rick Steve’s travel guides. Volunteers lead the two hour walking tour around the city weekday mornings and afternoons and at 10:30 on Saturdays. The tour began just outside the Abbey were the guide spoke briefly about the history of the area and explained the significance of the hot springs that well up from beneath the earth only a few hundred meters away. After the brief introductory of the area and the Abbey the tour began in earnest and we started walking. Much of Bath’s appeal is generated by its Georgian architecture which dominates both the city and the tour. If you like symmetrically constructed stone buildings with columns, then Bath is the place for you! As we progressed through the tour, we got to see The Circus, Royal Crescent (my favorite) and Queens Square which were all designed by John Wood the elder and his son John Wood the younger (Sr. and Jr. need not apply).  Amanda and I found the tour very entertaining and would definitely recommend it anyone who visits Bath.

The tour ended just outside the new Bath Spa which we decided we would try on another trip when we were actually prepared to spend a day lounging by the pool and soaking up the naturally heated mineral waters that the spa pumps into its facilities.

Being a little peckish after walking around for more than two hours we found a Cornish Bakery were Amanda had a pasty filled with English bacon, potato and cheese and I satiated my hunger with a Panini consisting of English bacon, tomato and mozzarella. Both were very satisfying.  

We then entered the Abbey and marveled at the amazingly detailed ceilings...

... and many of the centuries old monuments to past parishioners.

Amanda grabbed a leaflet for a self guided tour and we slowly wandered the hallowed aisles for nearly an hour as we took in everything around us, like the stunning stained glass windows that a photograph simply can’t do justice and the huge pipe organ that is still played during service despite being damaged during WWII (it was rebuilt in 1997).

The city of Bath provided a great day of entertainment and enlightenment and we look forward to returning to learn more about this fascinating British city. Perhaps next time we'll learn take a closer look at the ancient Roman Bath’s for which the city is named.   

Call me Sir Francis Drake

As Amanda has told you, we made it to BRISTOL!  We’ve now had three days of wondering the city to try to get our bearings.  We’ve generally left the temporary apartment around 10in the morning and walked towards City Center and Harborside / residential areas. The River Avon wraps around the center of the city to the south and provides several nice walks around town.  The girls are going to love it when they get here.  We’ve already noted many areas that we think their noses will really enjoy exploring.

A few blocks from our current apartment is the Old City and Queen’s Square. (As a side note, you can’t go more than a few blocks without coming across something named “Queen” “King” or “Princess”).  Queen’s Square was particularly nice with a large open park gravel paths that emanate from the center of the park out towards a square path that constitutes the outer border of the park. As we meandered through the park, we watched the seagulls search for picnic scraps and observed the locals relaxing on a bright warm (for this part of the world) spring mornings.

Just outside of Queen’s Square is Pero’s Bridge which spans a small harbor where some of the local ferry’s dock to unload their passengers and take on new fairs as well as a housing a few dining barges which seem to be rather popular around town. It’s on our list to try one, but Amanda wanted to wait until she was over the jetlag, because as she has stated, jetlag and seasickness are not a good combination when trying to eat. Several times through our meandering, we have been walking on a road only to find out we’re not at all on the street we thought we were on.  It seems Bristol, and possible the entire UK, don’t find the use of street signs necessary. Instead, they post the street name on buildings throughout town however since the buildings are different throughout the city the location of the street name is not the same place on all the buildings. It has taken  us several wrong turns along the way to figure this out and there several times when we were unable to locate a street name anywhere. Driving will be difficult.

However, this little misstep has led us to some fabulous photo ops. Just outside the Bristol Choir Church is a row of trees and in the first of those trees you can find pairs of shoes hanging from the limbs. We weren’t able to determine which local custom this harkens back to but we decided to keep our shoes with us. The Cathedral Choir Church is also quite impressive although we were so confused by the shoes that we almost neglected to get a photo of the church.  In addition, I have located my hamburger competition.  Once we eat at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen, I’ll provide a full report.

Also as Amanda mentioned, something we never heard about before coming we discovered quickly on day one: Bristol has hills! For awhile the first morning, we were reasonably happy with the walk. It wasn’t very strenuous and the weather was absolutely amazing with the temperature in the Low 70’s. Boy, did that change!  We wanted to look at some of the flats we’d seen online. So we decided to walk to one, then down to Amanda’s office then to the other.  We turned north when we reached the western end of Brandon Hill Park looking for Constitution Hill Rd which would take us to the first property on York Place. The closer we got to Constitution the steeper the walk began to get. After hiking about a half mile up the hill we found a post man walking his route and asked how to get to York Place since we hadn’t seen Constitution Hill. He pointed a little further up the road and told us that was Constitution Hill and that it was a “killer” to walk up.  We thanked the postman for his assistance and walked towards Constitution Hill. When we got to the street we looked up! This is about the time we realized that walking Bristol on a daily basis might be a little more difficult than we initially thought…especially in the rain…and snow…and ice.  We made it up the hill and were able to see the outside of the property.  I think we could like it, if only we could see the inside of it.

Speaking of seeing the inside of houses, we’ve had a setback.  The relocation company who was supposed to take us around to view properties canceled on us late Thursday afternoon.  The agent said that several of the properties that she had set up for us to view had been let (rented) Wednesday and Thursday, so she was going to have reschedule. At this point we don’t have a date rescheduled yet and since Amanda’s first week at work starts Monday, we’re not exactly sure when we will get a chance to view properties, but hopefully soon.

After walking around looking at areas we might like to live, provided any properties come available, we strolled down to Amanda’s new office. After she took a photo of the exterior of her new office building (she says to point out that they have not updated to the new logo yet), we entered Brandon Hill Park which is directly across the street from her new office. It’s a nice hilly park with a medieval tower perched at the top and the views to the south are incredible.



One of our more interesting people watching spots was @Bristol. This is a large open area that has fountains and reflecting pools surrounded by café’s and shops. We took a break while we sat there watching the kids play in the reflecting pools we saw that most of the children, little girls included, were topless or completely nude. Now I don’t surprise at people’s activities very easily, mostly because of my time working in an extremely rough area of Ft. Worth known as Stop Six, but seeing this was quite a shock. If I had to guess the kids ranged in age from one to four and their parents certainly weren’t all that concerned.

As this is getting to be novel length, I’ll just tell you about one of the restaurants we have found so far. Just off of Queen’s Square is a small pub called Shakespeare’s Tavern. It’s in an old row building from the 1700’s and has retained much of the charm associated with the centuries gone by. The food was good, I had a dish called Hunters Chicken which is grilled chicken wrapped in English style bacon and topped with bar-b-que sauce and English cheddar cheese. Amanda had a jacket potato (baked potato) with cheese and we spent our evening playing tri-minoes and visiting with the waiter and bar keep who were wondering why two Americans had come to invade their cozy little establishment and were more than willing to dole out advice on were to live and what areas to avoid. It has been the best place to eat we have found so far.