Making the most of Spalding.

Yesterday I walked to the outlet mall! Woohoo! Not all that exciting actually. The walk was really nice. I pretty much just followed the river for a half hour and then there it was. It was a very pretty walk. This is St. Paul's Church of Spalding.


The only store that I was tempted to buy anything in was Gap and as far as I'm concerned, things weren't really as inexpensive as they should be in an outlet store so I managed to come out of there without having bought anything! It was good. Very good.

I wasn't the only one who decided it was a good day to go to the mall...


I'm really trying not to spend money on anything but transportation since that is so expensive and I do want to be able to get around and see places. I bought a few Christmas gifts but other than that I just wanted to go for a walk and find something new. Besides, buying people gifts doesn't really count as spending money. The gardens at Springfields, that's the name of the shopping center, are really nice so I walked around there for a bit too.

On the way back I found these plants near the river. I'm not exactly sure what they are but they look like the fake Chinese Lantern plants that Paige and I used to have in our room, so I had to take a picture. Those fake plants really made our room perfect. They have good memories.

I don't think that the kids know I'm leaving this weekend but things have been a little better with them. They've been a bit friendlier to me and I can tell they're trying to be more polite. There are still enough explosions of bad behavior that I know I've made the right decision about leaving. The parents have been very kind to me and I think I would feel welcome in their home if I ever chose to come back to Spalding. Things have been a little crazy here as some relatives were visiting this weekend and a new au pair has moved in. She actually was their au pair last year and they are SO excited to have her here. She doesn't speak much English but is very nice and I've enjoyed having her here because it keeps the kids occupied ; )

Today I want to my tap class and had a wonderful time! I've learned a lot just in the last two weeks and I can pretty much keep up with everything that's going on. It was a good feeling.

A little later on I ventured over to the farmers market in the center of Spalding. It was fun walking around the market and doing a bit of people watching. I bought some produce, some of which I used to make dinner, then did some grocery shopping and headed back to the house.

Dinner tonight was very successful. I made salmon and cous cous. I've never really been interested in cous cous because it's tiny and can seem mushy. Texture issue, you know? But I didn't really know what else I should serve with salmon because we just had rice the other day so I chopped up some red pepper, zucchini and sweet potato really small, cooked them, threw in some salt, pepper, butter, and garlic and mixed it in with the cous cous. It was quite lovely and I was feeling rather proud. I even ate some of it! I'm still not all that into eating dinner. Not sure why. I tend to only want cereal at this time of day. Actually, all times of the day : )

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I don't really have anything super exciting or funny to say so... that's it for now. I'll try to live funnier in the next few days so that the next post is more entertaining!

Peace.

Steph

"I've just had an apostrophe."

(Insert appropriate response quote here. Movie? Tara can tackle this one if no one else wants to.)

Apostrophe/Epiphany: I am so capable. It's true. I can do this by myself and it's amazing! I've never really tried to do anything like this before and I'm just so impressed to find that I can do it without really even feeling anxious or anything. I can research train schedules. I can walk to the train station. I can transfer to 4 different trains in one journey including one leg on the underground. I can navigate the underground system. I can buy my own tickets. I can find the bus station. I can read all of the signs and follow their directions. And I can even ask questions when I really can't figure out what I need to do or where I need to be. Pretty cool, huh? It sounds silly to be so easily excited about my own personal capability and newly found independence but just every now and then when I'm traveling around to new places I think, "Wow. I'm doing this all by myself and I'm surviving." And all of the sudden I have this "I can do anything" feeling. I'm invincible. It's great.

(This is the only picture I took this weekend while waiting for the Tube)

So anyhow, I went to Surrey this weekend -- Virginia Water, to be exact -- to meet the family I'm going to be working for and it was a wonderful experience. The town they live in is lovely. There are green trees everywhere and the shops are cute and when I got off the train it smelled like autumn, which I enjoy. The neighborhood is beautiful. All of the houses have gated driveways and spacious yards ("gardens") with lots of trees and hedges for privacy. The house I'm going to be living in is huge and I have a lovely room with a nice big bed and a window that overlooks the backyard.

The family is very nice. They have two teenage daughters who will be turning 15 and 13 next month, and a very sweet dog named Nelson. We all really enjoyed getting to know each other and last night the girls and I had dinner in Richmond and saw Julie and Julia, which I very much enjoyed.

Before the movie started there was a Jennifer Anniston movie preview and they kept showing Seattle and the Space Needle and I was getting all excited about it and kept saying, "Look! That's my city. There. Yes! There. And.... there it is again! That's the Space Needle!" Of course, the girls didn't really care all that much but it made me pretty happy.

I'm going to be moving in with them next Sunday. That gives me exactly one week to figure out what's left in Spalding that I really want to see, and see it. And take lots of pictures. And blog about it. Just for you :-) I can't wait to go back to Virginia Water so I can take pictures there and show you how pretty it is.

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

Love,
Steph

p.s. just in case anyone doesn't get the "apostrophe" thing, in that context apostrophe=epiphany. It's from a line in the movie Hook. Sometimes I talk in movies or in songs.

Confessions of a Confounded Cook.

Confession: I've been living on a diet of cereal, toast, chocolate and tea. Sometimes I throw in a little broccoli or cheese to spice things up but otherwise, that's pretty much it. And you know what the worst part is about all of that? I'm the one doing the cooking! That means I should be eating loads of food because it's my own food. But it's not. It's different. Their ingredients are different and usually I can't even find all of the ingredients so I just have to make strange substitutions all the time.

I'm so bummed about it! All of my comfort food recipes are doing me absolutely no good. Baked spaghetti--all wrong. Beef stroganoff--all wrong. They just don't taste right! The only thing that I actually thought was quite wonderful was the Shepherd's Pie I made the other night but that doesn't even count because it's not one of my favorite recipes that I brought with me, it's just the only thing I could make with the ingredients that were in the house.

I need to figure this out. I need to figure out how to cook and cook well with what they have here. I'm so used to always being surrounded by good food that I just don't know what to do with myself. I've never had unsuccessful meals before! (okay, probably not never) But seriously, I couldn't even make tuna casserole if I wanted to because their mac and cheese is strange. Fortunately, everyone here thinks my cooking is fabulous and it's probably fine, it just doesn't taste the way I want it to. It doesn't taste like home. What's the point of eating if it doesn't taste that good? Of course, maybe it would be better for me to eat something that doesn't taste that good rather than having 4 pieces of toast and 2 bowls of cereal and 8 pieces of chocolate a day...

I have to work on this.

Guess what I've done.

No, actually, I don't think you could possibly guess because no one else would do anything like this. In fact, I can only think of one person who would even consider doing anything like this and that person is Paige. Well, I'll just tell you then. I have this bookshelf right next to my bed. I'm so used to being surrounded by books at home that I took it upon myself to check out enough library books that I could fill up this small shelf! Pretty impressive, yes? And what a marvelous idea! Too bad you have to switch them out every 4 weeks huh? Of course, I'll be taking these all back sooner than that...

Yes, I did strategically place my bear, my duck and my blanket so you could see that they are also well and safe. You can see my cereal boxes down in the corner. I hide them in my room so no one else can eat them. And there's my planner and my journal and my listbook and my recipe book. I'm all set!

I just wanted to share that with you.

Big News

I have decided that I am not going to continue working for and living with this family here in Spalding. I have been having a really difficult time here. The children are very poorly behaved and the parents are very busy and stressed out. I thought for a while that it was okay and that maybe I could help them to sort things out and get their kids on track but I've since changed my mind. I try to keep my blog pretty upbeat so if you want the depressing details, you'll have to e-mail me or find me on skype or something. Basically, I have never been treated like this before and even though I have babysat difficult kids before, it's never been this bad.

I was so happy in London this weekend that it made me realize how unhappy I am here at the house. When I came back on Sunday I was willing to give them another chance and thought I'd stick it out but within 24 I knew things were bad enough here that I would soon be miserable. I'm not a quiter so please believe me when I say this just isn't a healthy place for me to be. On Monday night I told them I had decided not to stay and I explained exactly why. They needed to know. They were understanding and kind about the whole thing.

I'm in the process of choosing another family to go live with. I'm deciding between two families right now and they both sound wonderful. I want to leave as soon as possible but I will probably stay here in Spalding until the end of the month and start with the new family in the first week of October.

I'll keep you posted.

p.s. if you were thinking about mailing me anything please hold off until I give you my new address. Steven sent me a letter over a week ago and I still haven't received it so I'm not sure how long it really takes and I don't want anything to arrive here after I've left. I do want mail though so if you haven't already thought about that, you really should. I'll write back, I promise.

"Es-cap-e!"

"Funny, it's spelled just like the word escape." Escape. That's exactly what I did this weekend. I escaped to London. And I made a big mistake. Huge. I fell in love, with London. Five minutes after walking out of Kings Cross Station, I was already enchanted. I adore the city. I'm a total city girl and I was enthralled. My dad's friend, Ed, met me at the train station and we took a taxi to meet up with his wife Christina where she works at the US Embassy. We arrived just in time for the 9/11 Memorial Service in the park. They had lots of music and different people speaking and it was very enjoyable. Plus, it gave me a chance to just stand in the park and take everything in.

Their flat is tiny but beautifully decorated and so homey. I was very comfortable and happy to be there. Their shower has an on/off button, sort of like my car, and it swivels so you can choose the temperature but they just keep it set at the perfect temperature so you just push the button and hop in. It's brilliant! I forgot to take a picture so I'll send you one later. We went out for fish and chips and while walking, I found at least two cooking schools that I would love to attend! Who wants to fund that endeavor? Any takers?

On Saturday, Ed took me on the Big Bus Tour around the London area. I really appreciated it and it was nice to see everything all at once so that when I go back later I know where I want to spend more of my time.


Our tour guide was pretty entertaining but a little bizarre. The weather was fantastic! I think I've been really lucky with the weather here. Everyone talks about how it rains all the time but I've hardly seen any rain at all. I guess that's how people are about Seattle too though and we all know the truth about Seattle. It's beautiful and green and hardly ever rains except to replenish the greenness.

I have about eight pictures of Big Ben but I thought I'd spare you having to scroll through all of them. They'll show up in the facebook album.

Okay, well, actually here's another one but I had to throw this one in there because this view, the London bridge with Big Ben in the background, is in Hook when Tink is flying with Peter all knocked out and wrapped in a blanket and they fly over that kissing couple and dump pixie dust on them. Just thought I'd put that out there for ya. Figured you'd enjoy it as much as I did.

Westminster Abbey. I'm definitely going to have to go back to this one. There are quite a few places in London that you can visit for free but the ones you have to pay for seem so expensive! Everything in London is expensive (actually, in this entire country), except, however, the mobile phone that Ed insisted I purchase this weekend. It cost just under 7 pounds and then since it's pay-as-you-go I put 20 pounds worth of minutes on it. So, now I have a phone! It just sits in my back pocket and does nothing but that's okay. I have it if I need it.

These little signs on the road with arrows painted next to them saved my life! I love them!! I hardly even have to think about which way to look, I just have to read.

"Feed the birds, tuppence a bag." I know that in some places in London it isn't actually legal to feed the pigeons but I'm guessing it is here because this lady was definitely having a good time feeding them. She must have dumped three bags of bread crumbs out for them. I thought it was cute. I can't imagine caring enough about pigeons to bring them bags of bread crumbs. Maybe someday. They're just not so cute as our little birds at home.

After riding around on the bus for a couple of hours, we went back to the flat for lunch. Later I went back out on my own. I walked through Green Park to Buckingham Palace then around Hyde Park where I hopped back on the tour bus. I saw a many more beautiful buildings that I don't know the names of then hopped back off again and walked through Kensington Gardens. I had to go find Peter Pan. I heard on the bus that when Mr. Barry donated this statue, he had it delivered in the middle of the night so that when school children walked by the next day they would think it had appeared by magic. I like that. A lot.

Did you know that all of the swans in England belong to Her Majesty, the Queen? Probably you did. In fact I think I've even heard that before but I still thought it was sort of funny. Is it all right if all of the bald eagles in the world belong to me?

Ed took me to church with him on Sunday and afterwards we sat at Starbucks and read the newspaper for a couple of hours. I had a caramel macchiato, of course, and this fantastic piece of shortbread that had a layer of caramel and a layer of dark chocolate on top of it. Oh. My. Goodness. It's a good thing we don't have those at our Starbucks stores. It was divine.

I had a marvelous time in London and was not at all excited to come back to Spalding. Ed and Christina offered me a key to the flat and said that I can come back whenever I like. I'm not going to wait too long before going back.

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Hope your weekend was as good as mine!

Cheers!

Steph

Punting in Cambridge

Okay, who knows what punting is? The only thing I could think of when I heard the term was football. (the American kind obviously, not the soccer kind) Turns out, it involves floating down the river in a long boat.



This trip was actually over a week ago. On the second full day that I was here we drove into Cambridge for Friday evening and went punting. I kept putting off posting it because I really can't decide what pictures to put up, so if you want to see all of them, I think I'll put them on facebook.

Cambridge is definitely a college town. It's beautiful but without the college buildings and the college students to run things, I'm not sure what all would really be there.

I had a few minutes to walk around before we hopped into the boats and I found this lovely little church. I think it was actually called the "round church." Original, no?

I don't know what these buildings are but I like the patterns and the contrast and the different shapes the buildings make.

On the river... this bridge has something to do with being a replica of some bridge in Venice... or was it Vienna? I don't know. I was still really tired and I was just relaxing and enjoying the scenery, not listening a whole lot.

I'm rather fond of this picture. Again, no idea about the building. Most of the buildings here are all part of the college. They're either dormitories or buildings where classrooms are held. I love SPU and I think it's a very lovely campus but this, well, this takes the University experience to a whole new level.

It was really a fun and unique experience. I think it's probably a great way to see a lot of the city pretty quickly. Everyone was friendly and I enjoyed seeing all of the little pubs and restaurants that were right on the river. Our boat even pulled over so that one of the guys in it could hop out at one of the pubs and buy a glass (or rather, plastic cup) of beer.

I would definitely like to spend some more time in Cambridge if I get the chance. I need to get some better daylight pictures of all of that fantastic architecture.