How my life has changed in 2 years living in London....

It is so hard to believe that we have been living in London for 2 years.  The time has passed in an instant, and in just a few months, London will be the place that Drew and Alison have lived the longest, and will probably remember the most.  I don't think Alison remembers living in New Jersey at all, and only remembers the last year or so of Kentucky.  I have been thinking over the past couple of weeks about how many things are different here, and how my life has changed.  Some ways are fairly significant (like walking everywhere rather than driving), while others are just because British people do certain things differently.

These are in no particular order, just the order of how they came to me.

1. I now dry my hair outside of the bathroom since they are no real plugs in bathrooms here.  Only plugs for shavers.  I guess they are afraid people are going to electrocute themselves.  (Another note on the bathrooms here: the flush power is amazing, which is interesting considering the water pressure in our rental house was RUBBISH!!!  So very thankful that our new house is a vast improvement.)

2. I have discovered that I am a city person....I LOVE being able to walk and take public transportation everywhere.  I miss getting my step goal when I not in my normal routine.  The public transportation system is this country is PHENOMENAL!  And Citymapper is my favourite app for figuring out how to get places.

3. I have learned how to do about 90% of my grocery shopping by delivery.  But I am still not that saavy at is because I still find myself going to the grocery almost everyday because I forgot something.  (but it's so convenient to do that here!)

4. We have taken advantage of the NHS.  Between the kids, I think we have been to A&E at least 8 times, two of them have gotten glasses, 4 free epi-pens, and numerous free antibiotic prescriptions.

5. Running is much better when you have more than one route to run from your house.  The route that I ran around Hillcrest was not nearly as exciting as trying to decide which way I should run!  (However, I do miss my running buddy Kristen!)

6. I have discovered the beauty of uniforms!  Not only does it make for much less laundry and fewer arguments about what to wear in the morning, they look so stinking cute in their uniforms!

7. My palette has expanded: I have tried leeks, beets, brussel sprouts, and parsnips and must say I really like them all.

8. I have gotten 9 new stamps in my passport (and that doesn't include all the stamps from the UK airports on my visa.)  I am so thankful we are able to take advantage of Europe at our doorstep!   So many fabulous memories and experiences in new places.

9. I have made friends from so many different countries, who speak different languages and have a different religion than me, and have learned so much from them.  What a great lesson for our kids to learn that the world is comprised of people who are different from them but at the end of the day, people all have the same basic needs of love and compassion.

10. I have been fortunate enough to accompany my children and their classes to awesome places for field trips, most using public transportation: Hampton Court, Science Museum, the Monument, British Museum, Museum of London, HMS Belfast and Godstone Farms.  The looks that people give when they see a large group of kids in their high-vis vests in priceless.

11. I have learned how to shop without Target, which means that I pretty much have to go to several different shops to get lightbulbs, printer cartridges, toothpaste and paper towels.  But it probably takes less time and I don't end up buying 10 things I didn't have on my list except the one thing I went to Target to purchase!  (But that doesn't mean I don't miss Target!)

12. I have developed a love for the British pub.  First of all, you pay for the your food when order at the bar which means when you are finished eating, you can leave (unless you want another drink of course).  Second of all, most of them have things for kids to do and they are not irritated by the presence of children (at least until about 9 PM.)  And of course, the Sunday roast and the food in general; there is nothing like fish and chips and a proper British pub.

13. I have drunk more Prosecco than I ever imagined and I LOVE it!!

14. I got the first bike I have had since I was a kid.  I still have only ridden it two times, but I am afraid of driving it on the road.  However, one of my goals for 2017 is to become more proficient on my bike.  It will be good cross training for the marathon.

15. Airbnb is our friend, travelling as a family of 5 with severe food allergies.  We have had such great luck so far (touch wood).  I am grateful to the people who have let us use their spaces for our holiday!

16. I have decided that our kids need to learn another language.  There are so many children at their school who speak English as well as one or even two other languages fluently!  And that amazes me so much, and many of the parents didn't speak one work of english when they arrived here.  Maybe I should make learning a new language one of my new years resolutions too.

17. I have been introduced to new fair games: tombola is my favorite.  It's a way to get rid of random stuff  that you don't want, and the school can make easy money as it's £1 for 3 tries to win someone else's unwanted stuff.

18. The kids now know to stop and EVERY corner of the street before crossing.

19. We discovered Google translate, which is especially useful for reading labels in countries where they don't speak English.

20.  The kids watch MUCH less TV, since we only have one television and it's in the reception room, which is not connected to the kitchen where we spend the majority of our time.

21.  I have gotten accustomed to hearing swear words and seeing body parts on TV as they don't have such strict communication laws here as in the US.

22.  Riding in a car is a treat...so I never say no to a ride anywhere.  Although I did get my UK driver's liscense, I haven't driven alone in a car yet.  I hope I remember how when the time comes....

23.  I have become both a recycle AND compost nazi.  They collect compost every week, so there's really no reason not to compost.

24. I have not had to put my mail on hold while on vacation because we have a mail slot where all mail can be delivered anytime.  It's brilliant!

25.I can convert temperatures from Celius to Farenheit (Not as saavy going the other way), but I am still struggling with cm to inches and kg to pounds.  So whenever they weigh the kids at the doctor, they sounds really tall and really light to me!

26. I use a scale for baking to measure butter (and dry ingredients if it is a British recipe) since butter is sold in packages marked in grams, rather than tbsp and cups.  It was a bit challenging at first, but I have gotten pretty good at estimating.  Although, I do still have to look at my handy chart to convert tbsp/cups to grams....

27.  I am still baffled why the paper sizes are different here (letter vs A4).  It's not that much difference, but enough that all the folders and notebooks that I brought from the US annoy because the paper sticks out of the top!

28. The kids have discovered new authors: Julia Donaldson, Jaqueline Wilson and Roald Dahl (I know he was in the US, but not nearly as popular as here even though he spent a great deal of time in the US and wrote many of his books there as I discovered while reading a biography to Alison.)

29.  I have gotten very creative in terms of storage and realized that we still have too much stuff.  Having a small house where almost every inch is utilized every day makes it very obvious how much stuff we had in the US!  And so much is not necessary!

30.. Skype/FaceTime/Whats App make this adventure so much easier because I can talk to and
see my family on video.  I think it would be so much harder if I had to pay for all the phone calls I make home.

31.  I find myself signing e-mails and texts with either "Kind regards" or "xx" depending on the audience.  I read a funny facebook post from someone in the US whose company flagged an e-mail from a British family member because of the "xxx" in the e-mail.  Hysterical!

32. I am amazed at the number of different types of lightbulbs that are available in this country.  Way too many!!!

33. I signed up to run my first marathon.  Training officially starts next week. I am looking forward to it, but I am still feeling overwhelmed by the amount of running I will be doing in the next 16 weeks.  (And apparently the amount of food I will consume.)  If anyone fancies a trip to Copenhagen, the marathon starts at 9:30 on Sunday 21 May.

The one thing I miss the most is my family and the ability to see my close friends more than once a year.  I miss celebrating birthdays and Thanksgiving with family.  But I know this experience is completely amazing for all 5 of us, and we have made so many great friends and fabulous memories here.  (And we bought a house which I never thought we would do.)

who knows where the future will take us, but I am thankful for this amazing experience!


And an interesting thing I learned last year....
doctors do house calls.  How cool is that?  I saw one of the doctors from our surgery coming out of a house close by and I said "I didn't know doctors made housecalls."  And he responded with "Of course GPs make house calls!"  Not in America.....