Computer in Shop

Am writing from the lounge of my posh London health club as my poor computer is being diagnosed by the Mac Docs as we speak. I'll know in three to seven business days what the problem is and how expensive a solution will be.

Had an uncomfortable multi-cultural experience this morning. Headed into Shepherd's Bush to an area I had read was a fabric store mecca. Mecca is probably the right word here since everyone in this neighborhood is Middle Eastern. I felt extremely blond and conspicuous and quite uncomfortable about my discomfort. At one point I was in a shop buying felt for Maddie (she's learning to hand sew and felt is much easier to work with than cotton or other fabric). While the shop wasn't that small, it was so crammed with rolls of fabric, there wasn't much room to stand. I was waiting on a very nice man to cut my fabric and four women dressed literally from head to toe in black with only their eyes showing came into the shop. They were having a great time and looking at some really ornate fabric. I so badly wanted to ask them what they used such fabric for since they were all dressed in black. Do they dress differently at home or for special occasions. I didn't know if they would be happy to answer my questions or if such questions would seem rude and intrusive. I guessed the latter.

Next time I go into that neighborhood I am atleast wearing a hat. I felt like my blond head of hair was glowing! Mmmmm. You think you're all multi-cutural and ethnically enlighted and then you find yourself the only blue-eyed blond in a two-block radius and it all goes out the window.

Skip's Birthday Weekend

Skip's birthday was Tuesday, and while we celebrated with a cake, a nice dinner at home and presents, we all agreed that Saturday would be his day to do what he wanted for his birthday. The first thing he wanted was to sleep in (we saw him for the first time at 10:40 this morning). Then he wanted us all to go to Windsor for the day to see the castle.

Here are some pics from Tuesday with more on Windsor to come



Happy Birthday



It's Skip's favorite (cheesecake), but Maddie didn't like the smell of the burning candles



Maddie had some friends over Friday night to watch the UK premiere of Camp Rock and she thought that was part of Skip's birthday celebration as well.

Skin Deep

I would say that overall, I am doing well in London. Maddie is settling into her new school groove and seems really happy with her teachers and her friends. Although Skip is growing quite weary of his daily commute, he continues to receive affirmation from the people he works with and for about the job he is doing. He was recently asked to take on a new project that he thinks is going to be interesting and engaging.

So it seems like all is well here unless you look at my face. My skin is not liking London. I don't know if it's the hard water or the pollution or what, but I'm breaking out like I haven't done since my high school or college days. Without any make-up, my face just looks blotchy and irritated. Maddie woke up in the middle of the night last night for a minor reason and after I got her back to bed, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and am amazed she didn't have nightmares later on. Not only was my face broken out and blotchy, but it was a little puffy and had pillow lines running every which way. I looked like I was ready for Halloween. I had reverted back to a less scary version of myself by morning, but have got to find some way to sooth my troubled skin. But hey, troubled skin is always preferable to a troubled soul. They have a spa at the gym I belong to, but I fear their skin care expert's solution might be a little pricey. At 18, I might have been willing to invest a large sum of money on clear skin, but at 38, I might be willing to settle for some really stellar cover-up.

The Late Bus

Well, I survived. Maddie's first after-school German class was today. She's taking German with a brother and a sister who are from Germany and who actually live near here and ride the bus with her each day. If you stay for an afterschool activity at ACS, you have the option of taking the late bus. The late bus leaves school at 5 p.m. and doesn't do door-to-door like the regular bus. It drops off at certain points where parents have to meet the bus.

I offered to come and pick her up, but she was all about taking the late bus with her friends. The whole idea kind of freaked me out, which is weird because I usually don't worry about stuff like this. I've seen that the school has the whole process of keeping up with which kid is supposed to be where down cold. It's really impressive. But the idea of my seven-year-old leaving on the bus at 7:30 in the morning and returning to Chiswick Park Station 5:40 at night in one of the world's biggest cities made me a little apprehensive.

But it all worked out okay, and Maddie had a great time riding the late bus. She also got to hang out in between German class and the bus departure at the high school library where she played with the i-photo program on the computers. There's a teacher who supervises in the library and makes sure all the kids get on the right bus. Maddie was supposed to get her home work done during this time, but the lure of the computer was just too great. She's off the hook since this was the first day, but she's been warned to buckle down come next Wednesday.

Of course, I got to the bus stop way early...just in case and had a chance to look around the area. I drive past this part of town, but haven't ever been on foot. It's right before the grocery store where I do most of my food shopping. It's a funky little corner by this train station. There's a little antique furniture shop that also sells guitar strings. Don't know what that's about. A Chinese restaurant. A completely overstuffed party supply store and a barber shop that also sells vacuum cleaner parts and bags. An array of services in a very small space.

I'm still not doing a good job of getting out and seeing London during the week, but I am making plans to do so. Especially now with the late bus option. That gives me a long period of time to see the sites! But mostly, I've just been going to the gym. That's even weirder than my anxiety about the late bus.

We're really not that different

It is a scene that I would have thought was uniquely American, but apparently plays out across the globe. A large group of housewives gather in a room to step up and down to the beat of driving dance music, spurred on by an enthusiastic, effeminate man with zero percent body fat. They gather there several times weekly hoping to maintain or perhaps reclaim the body they had 10, 20 and even 30 years ago.

The women gathered can be segmented into three categories.

There are the women (like me) who gather because without a leader to tell them what to do next, they tend to quit working out whenever they become tired. These are the women who working against their natural instinct, which is to fill free time with sitting on a couch reading or writing or knitting or simply watching TV. They are here with the hopes that perhaps the next bathing suit season won't be quite as humiliating or that they can keep their bodies from turning into large doughy lumps.

Then there are the women who gather because exercise is as natural a part of their life as brushing their teeth or doing laundry. It's just something they do. They go through the motions of the class looking neither exhausted (as the first group) or euphoric (as the next group). It's simply what one does.

And then there are the addicts. These are the women who add an extra riser to their step. The ones who use heavier hand weights than everyone else. The ones who leave their steps in tact when it's time to pull out the sit-up mats because they're staying for the next class. Their bodies are in good shape, but whatever it is they are trying to exorcise by exercising must be mighty demonic indeed.

What a weird world we live in that in parts of the world women must step and sweat to work off all the food we eat and to tone our bodies that have gone slack from car riding, automated everything and too much time in front of screens, and in other parts of the world women go without food to try to make sure their children have enough to eat. I might have the time to solve this problem if I didn't have to get to my class at the gym.

Feeling old

We took Maddie for her first concert last night to see the Jonas Brothers. Slight miscalculation on my part. I was booking the Jonas Brothers of Disney fame. I really didn't understand that they had reached international pop star status. Expecting to see other parents like us with their elementary-age kids in tow, we found a packed house of screaming teenage girls. The decibel level was beyond belief. We may have some permanent hearing damage, not from the music volume, but from the shrieks of a thousand 21st century-style teeny boppers.

The doors opened at 6:30 and we expected the show to start around 7:30. At 7:45 some generic girl group that the crowd seemed excited about took the stage and sang four songs while dancing around in really short dresses (see how old I'm getting?). Then there was an intermission that lasted FOREVER. Maddie was asleep in my lap when the Jonas Brothers finally took the stage at 8:45. That roused Maddie and she was really excited. If she stood on her chair, she could see really well. That is, until all the other people in front of us started standing on their chairs. The girl in front of me turned around to ask if we could see and when I said, "no, not really", she just shrugged and turned back around to watch from her elevated position. So Skip held Maddie for a big portion of the concert. You realize your child is caught in some odd in-between age when she is resting her head on her daddy's shoulder with one fist raised in the air pounding to the beat.

At 9:45, we called it quits. Maddie said she would like to stay, but she was just too tired. Since we left early, we were able to grab a cab home, rather than walk to the tube, wait for a train and walk home. Maddie was asleep and in bed by 10. She rallied this morning to put on her concert t-shirt and catch the bus for school.

I knew that my age had caught up with me when I commented to Skip that it was really too bad that there were so many hysterical teenagers, because the Jonas Brothers really do put on a good show. It would nice to see them without all the screaming. Skip commented that he now had a sense of what it was like when the Beatles hit the US.


Despite the late hour, the screaming and all the waiting, Maddie says she had a really good time. She even got to see Demi Lovato (the Jonas' Camp Rock co-star) make a special appearance on-stage. So at age 7, Maddie has been bitten by the concert bug. Next time, I'll take along some ear plugs.

Nationalized Healthcare and Making Hay While the Sun Shines

Maddie and I had to go register with the National Health System yesterday (Skip took care of his registration a while back). Germany's system is a little different and because we had private pay insurance, we kind of skirted the socialized medicine issue. Both Maddie's and mine and Skip's physicians only accepted private pay patients, so our healthcare was handled basically like it was in the US, although the experience was quite a different one. Faithful readers of this blog will remember my vitamin infusion IV.

Here, apparently, it doesn't matter what kind of insurance you have, you have to get registered with the system before you can make an appointment. If we did not get registered and one of us got sick, we would have to go to an emergency clinic. Even though it was kind of a pain, it made sense. The nurse spent about 10 minutes on each of taking our health history--allergies, illnesses, family health problems--and height and weight. So that the first time we go to the doc, all that info will be in our files. And that will be important. There's a sign posted in the waiting room that says,

"All doctor's appointments are 10 minutes. If you have more than one problem or feel you have a problem that requires more time, please ask of a double appointment when you call."

Also, because the law requires that there are so many appointments available for pre-book and so many available for same-day service, you can only make appointments day of, 48 hours in advance or a week in advance. You cannot call on Monday for an appointment on Thursday. You would need to wait until Tuesday to make a Thursday appointment. Or you could call on Monday for an appointment on the following Monday. I also noticed that there's a "freezing clinic" once a month. If you have a wart, you got a once a month shot at getting it removed. This is never going to fly in the US.

I imagine for the short time we will be here this system will work well for us. If Maddie has an ear ache or I have a sore throat or Skip needs a prescription refilled, I bet we can get in and out and get what we need without a lot of waiting or fuss. But if we were going to be here long-term, it would make me really nervous. In the states, I often have to wait quite a bit to see my primary healthcare doctor, but that's because she actually takes the time to listen to her patients and ask questions and is familiar with their health history. If something is off on my annual physical, I'm guessing she's a lot more likely to notice that the doc who sees me for five minutes at a time. Also, here, the government has a say in what kind of treatment you can have. There is always something in the news about a cancer patient hoping to live long enough for a council to hear an appeal about a treatment they are hoping will save their lives. I know that people in the States battle insurance companies for the same issues, but it seems that the lines are drawn a bit tighter here. We're used to pulling out all the stops and doing everything possible even against all odds, but the healthcare system here doesn't seem to be inclined to play the odds. Which is odd (not to be confused with odds), since this country seems obsessed with gambling. You can buy a lottery ticket or bet on a sports game at any store front. You can even bet through you television while you're watching a game. But the healthcare system doesn't seem to be into it.

Am pausing to make this blog entry because I was all ready to walk out the door to deliver some shirts to the dry cleaner and run a few errands when the rain started. The sky was perfectly clear when I went upstairs to get some shoes and brush my teeth, and by the time I made it back down, it was pouring. Am going to give it another half-hour before I fell I must venture out in the rain. Duesseldorf is excellent training for London. While other American ex-pats are having to adjust to the weather, Skip and Maddie and I are used to slogging through the wet. Maddie calls it the "Duesseldorf Spirit."

An Evening in London

Maddie spent the night at her friend Megan's house on Saturday, so Skip and I headed into London and hit the half-price ticket booth to see what cheap (relatively speaking!) seats were available. We got seats in the 9th row to see Monty Python's Spam-a-lot. I see that the touring company will be in Fayetteville in December. It's definitely worth seeing.

We had some time before the show, so we sought out a little Japanese take out chain we had spotted last weekend. Wasabi is kind of a build-your-own- sushi takeout place. They do have a few seats in the restaurant, so we each got a little container and picked out different pieces of sushi rolls. It was good, but it's definitely better is you get it to go. They charge you a fee to sit and eat there, and they even tacked on the price of packets of soy sauce and wasabi. But all in all, it was a fairly inexpensive and tasty dinner in downtown London. We wandered through a little market set up in the courtyard of St. James Church where the poet William Blake was baptized. We made our way into the sanctuary and just missed a rehearsal of a string ensemble practicing for a Mozart concert later in the evening. It seems like there is always a place to hear free music somewhere in the city.

We still had some time before the show, so we defaulted to our comfort zone. We found the biggest bookstore around and browsed. How many times have we made fun of Little Rock for having so little to do that everyone ends up at the Barnes and Noble on a Friday or Saturday night, yet here we were in the middle of Picadilly Circus in London hanging out in the Waterstones. Five stories of books. We could have stayed all night.

Made our way to the theater not knowing exactly what to expect, except that it was a musical comedy and had gotten good reviews. It was a musical version of Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail, but part of its humor was to make fun of musical theater in general. It was really funny. The lead was played by an Indian actor who created that wacky show, The Kumar's of No. 42 where an Indian family uses public access tv to host a talk show out of their home. The diva part was played by a Swedish actress who won the role on a reality show in Sweden where they searched for someone to play this part. Boy, did she have some pipes on her. Some of the humor was a bit tasteless, but all in all it was very funny show with good music to boot.

We made it to our smells and bells church on Sunday. The first Sunday of the month is a family service and when they say that, they mean it. The only sermon is a children's sermon. And that works fine in an Anglican service where the main focus of the service is communion. Maddie doesn't really care for the crosses that still have Jesus hanging on them, but at least there isn't a stained glass of St. George defeating a dragon.

Spirit Week

ACS had spirit week this week and Maddie got to wear a different outfit each day. We didn't get Blue and White day or Pajama Day on film, but here's the rest of the week.



Country Day: You were supposed to come in the colors or traditional costume of your country of origin. Maddie wore her dirndel because, she's "half German".



Crazy Fashion Day: Maddie has this hat from a Karneval shop in Germany



Sports Day: You were supposed to come in your favorite team colors and Maddie wore her BVB t-shirt. No doubt as to where she has spent the last two years!

Ex-pat kind of day

Didn't quite get to play tourist like I thought I would today, but I did have a very ex-pat kind of day.

Hit an aerobics class at the gym taught by Debbie, a very dark-skinned woman is all muscle and very serious about her aerobics class. You put in 45 minutes in that class, and you've gotten your money's worth. Then I showered and changed at the gym. I like to do that because the shower in the gym is nicer than the one in my house, and that's just one less layer of calcium build-up I have to scrub off my shower. And there are doors on these showers and changing rooms in the locker room. England is a much less naked place than Germany. I was always in some ways impressed that women in Germany were so comfortable with themselves that they could strip down and shower in stalls without doors and dress in a large common area. I never quite got there. I'm just not comfortable with being naked in front of strangers, or close friends for that matter.

We still don't have some things for the house that we need--like kitchen garbage cans and a few other odds and ends. And I promised myself we would would work at making this house a home, no matter how long or short we are here. So I went in search of an England institution--Tescos. One of the ones that carries food and housewares. I didn't have a specific address for the navi, but thought I could get there anyway. WRONG! Let's just chalk that adventure up to more practice driving in London. It is just crazy! I'm going to have to get friend Gina to show me where it is next time she goes.

I did stumble upon an Aldi on my way home. Now Aldi shopping IS something I mastered in Germany, so I stopped and got a few of the things we like from there.

At home, I almost took myself out with the vacuum cleaner trying to vacuum our carpeted staircase. When I was half-way down the stairs, I thought the hose was a little longer than it is and I pulled the whole cannister down the stairs and almost fell the rest of the way.

It's always such fun figuring out all the things you have to figure out in a new house and a new city.

Our bathroom is still not fixed. Apparently they part they needed got lost somewhere in the Royal Mail system. Since we rented a two-bathroom house and have only had one bathroom for about a month, how much reduction in rent should I ask for?

Skip is off in North England on a retreat with his team of guys. They are shooting things--only skeet, nothing live. They're only shooting things on the first day and the second day, they've got a big, long meeting scheduled.

Perhaps Friday can be my tourist day.

The WAY downside of city life

Skip worked from home a half day to day because the train line that takes him into work was shut down for awhile because someone jumped onto the tracks. According to one of his co-workers, this happens about every month or so. How awful it must be for life to have become so unbearable that you hurl yourself in front a train.

On a lighter note, after a morning of writing and cleaning bathrooms, I headed to the gym for a belly dancing class. Wow! Did I look like an idiot! The good news is that everyone else--save the instructor--did as well. But the belly, waist and hip workout I got may be worth the humiliation.

Tomorrow, I'm going to go and take in a London site. I haven't decided what yet. I may hit the Victoria and Albert Museum or I may just go and sit for awhile at Westminster Abbey and soak in all the history and holiness. We'll see.

Oh, and I am really enjoying the whole Sarah Palin thing. I can't say that I'm super-fond of any of the candidates, but now, no matter which way it goes, it will be an historical Presidency. Okay, I suppose all Presidencies are historical, but you know what I mean. All the editorials and commentary are too good. I am loving the fact that all these churches who won't let a woman in the pulpit think it would be great to have Palin as a VP and potential President. Hope it doesn't come out that she once preached a sermon somewhere. That could be the thing to sink her!

Small World and Media Coverage

We had a nice treat yesterday. We got to see Skip's college roommate and groomsman in our wedding, Eric Gregory. We hadn't seen him since Maddie was a tiny baby. He's doing a post-doc at the University in Glasgow and is in Cambridge for a couple of weeks helping with a summer school program for students who've just finished the first year of a physics Ph.D. Yeah, he's like WAY smarter than the average bear. It was really fun to spend the day with him and hopefully we'll catch up with him again over this coming year.

I've been following the coverage of Gustav on the internet. I have been so glad to see all the people evacuating this time. If you ever doubted that the media in America is somewhat sensationalized, check out the current headlines from the New York Times vs. The UK Guardian.

NYT: Powerful Hurricane Lashes Gulf Coast
UKG: Gustav Downgraded to Category Two Storm

As for Sarah Palin, the British press is calling her the Barracuda, which was apparently her nickname on her high school basketball team.

Of course the big news here doesn't need any sensationalizing. It is the continued story of the mansion in Shropshire that was torched and the family who lived there killed. They just found the third body whom they believe to be the daughter. Really heinous.

Here's hoping the Gustav goes easy on coast. Oh, wait. Now even the Guardian is reporting that waves are battering the coast. Darn!