Home Sweet Flat

We finally have pictures of our flat up! It is a cozy two-bedroom flat above a shop, in a nice, diverse neighborhood called Acocks Green. Ironically, it was the cheapest flat that we looked at, and by far and away the nicest on the inside. They don't seem to have the same rules regarding tenants' decorating as the States, so most of the ones we looked at had hideous carpeting and wallpaper, and at least one room clearly done up as the "kids room." It made us question why we were getting such an incredible deal for our place, and worry that we happened into a really bad area or something. We haven't had any problems in the last couple months though - we feel totally safe, and are getting to know the people who work in the shops on our street. Any remaining doubts we had were put to rest Sunday, when our first visitors came. They didn't say, "We can't believe you live in this godforsaken place." Instead they said, "Wow, your place is really nice! How did you find it?" making us feel like we had pulled one over on the locals :-).

We haven't totally let down our guard though. When I told my dad (Norm) that we were living above a shop, across from a school and next to a flower shop, he said it sounds like the setting of an Agatha Christie - just a word of caution for you soon-to-be visitors!

Nerd Camp

Since it took us like a month and a half of being here to launch this blog, there is a decent backlog of ‘significant’ things that happened we still need to get to. Since most of our blog-reading public don’t know much about Nick’s company here, Arup, we thought to write a bit on his Graduate Induction Weekend, which gives a good feel for the company.
Arup is an international design firm with about 7,000 designing buildings, infrastructure, and a whole lot of other things as well. They are well known for their design of the Sydney Opera house in the 1960s. Anyway, as a new starter, Nick went to a week-long introduction camp with about 180 other new hires from across Europe…

The first part of the week was spent in Cheltenham, which is near the southern border of Wales and England. I wasn’t sure if there would be any other Americans starting in Europe, and sure enough, it ended up being me and 179 Brits at the induction weekend, with a few eastern Europeans and one guy from Arup’s Botswana office (what are we doing here =). Other than late nights at the pub, the weekend was all about getting to know people, ‘team building’, and learning about Arup from the directors, etc.

The weekend was very relaxed, and the team building exercises, though there were far too many of them, were pretty fun. The highlight of the weekend for my team was this bottle-rocket competition, where about 18 teams had 3 tries each to launch a bottle half filled with water as far as possible (see pictures). To launch the rocket, you had to insert a specially fitted bicycle pump end into a rubber valve, and pump until the end popped out, spewing water out the valve and sending the rocket flying. After two embarrassingly mediocre launches, we decided to rig the valve up, and used brute force to shove the pump end through the valve completely, then used some blue tac to seal the valve. When we pumped this time, it got to the point where the guy pumping could barely push the pump down, and we thought the valve would never pop. Finally it did, soaking our whole team, and sending the rocket climbing for what seemed like forever. The whole assembly went quiet, watching as our rocket flew like no bottle-rocket ever flew before. The farthest rocket to that point was maybe a third of the way down this huge field, and our rocket finally set down in the bushes at the back of the field, utterly destroying the competition and apparently flying the farthest of any year ever. We won a case of beer, pokemon desk trophies, and unending glory and respect =). Not a bad day.

After the induction weekend, the civils group headed down to Cardiff on the southern coast of Wales for our skills week, perhaps the nerdiest part of nerd camp. We met in groups and learned a lot about a large new motorway project in southern Wales. Later in the week, we went on a site visit to see some of the fields and houses that the new road will actually pass through, and learned about the views of the local community, which are basically that they are angry.

While in Cardiff, we got to check out the city some, and were staying in the back of this huge new concert hall on the waterfront called the Millennium Centre. Arup designed this as well as a number of buildings on the Cardiff waterfront, and I was generally really impressed with the city. Maybe we’ll have to go back some time while we’re over here. Anyone up for flying over and coming with?

Breaking through the British Barrier

(I'm a fan of alliteration).

Life here in England is really great - Nick and I love the chance to spend so much time together, and I'm enjoying the break from the working world. My life is so segmented - I went from being at work all the time consulting and home nearly never, to being at home almost all the time. Normalcy is not a concept I can relate to! We like the hours that Nick works, and cooking dinner together, and lazy Saturdays.

It's a hard and lonely life, too, though. One of the biggest challenges so far has been making friends. We've met lots of people through work and church, and plenty of people who really like, but we have yet to transition beyond the acquaintances barrier. There are several reasons for this. For one, the culture is much more formal. There's not an immediate sense of friendship or ease that we're used to in America. Also, people are really busy schedule-wise - there's less time for last-minute plans and just hanging out. Partly this is a culture difference, but it's also a geographical difference. No one lives too far from their families, or from friends that they have always had. Some (almost) friends asked if we lived close to my family. I said yes, only a three hour drive (which is rounding down from the actual little over 3 1/2 hour drive). They laughed and said they could tell I'm from America because that is really far here. People's lives seem so full of relationships already, and it is hard to break through that. I told Nick that I'll be so excited on the day someone just calls me up and asks me to hang out.

I hope this doesn't sound like whining! We just wanted to share the highlights and the lowlights of being an expat. The cultural barriers to close relationships is a definite lowlight. It also reminds us to be so grateful for all of the incredible friendships we already have - it's not something we'll take for granted, and it's a big reason why we'll be happy to move back home (whenever that may be). This weekend though, we are having our first guests! It is as clean and nice as the flat has ever been, so we'll take pictures and post them soon.

- Lauren

Happy Birthday Lauren!

Today is Lauren’s 25th birthday, but this is not just any birthday. This is her uber-birthday, where for one time in her life, she can say her age and birth date are THE SAME. That’s right, today Lauren turns 25 on the 25th. We celebrated this weekend with a trip to Rome, which, amazingly is possible now that we are just a quick hop away with plenty of cheap airlines fighting for our business. We had a great time, and it was great to enjoy travel and adventure with my wonderful wife.
As many of you have experienced, Lauren is an incredibly thoughtful and compassionate person who is always willing to laugh with those who laugh, and mourn with those who mourn. This move to England has been especially hard for her, but through it all she has been amazingly strong and supportive. Every day I get to come home to her smile and great cooking, and I never want to forget what a gift and blessing Lauren is. I know that like me, you are thankful for Lauren and her 25 years of life, so feel free to post or email her a happy birthday message!

-Nick

Stratford-upon-Avon

While there are some serious gaps in this blog, like what our flat is like, how daily life is here, Nick’s company and job, Lauren’s job hunt, etc., were are going to have to save all this for future posts and at least get through the pictures we have posted to date on our photo album. You, the blog-reading community, will have to wait in eager suspense for a post on some of the things above.

Right, so Stratford-upon-Avon, Bill Shakespeare country… After a few weeks of city living, we were missing green and open air, so one Saturday we took the train about 45 minutes south to the town of Stratford on the Avon river, birthplace of William Shakespeare. The town is exactly what you would picture an idyllic English town to be: There are quaint shoppes (sic) and narrow streets with some thatched roofs and lots of taverns and inns. The main attraction in town is a series of houses where Shakespeare grew up, lived, visited, did shingling work, etc. We made it to the three houses in the town center including The Birthplace, Hall’s Croft (his daughter’s house), and Nash House (the home of his granddaughter and next to the remains of Shakespeare’s adult home).

After the house tours and having learned quite a bit about the bard, we got lunch at a street fair from a Frenchman who didn’t speak English, other than to say ‘Bon Appetit’ when our crepes were done. After eating, we walked down to the river area which is beautiful, and there is plenty of entertainment as people awkwardly bang down the river in rented row boats. The town was formed thanks to a bridge built there in the 1400s, with the bridge-builder gaining fame and fortune, the respect due someone of his craft. We got coffee at a table on the riverbank, and just enjoyed being outside on a rare warm and clear day. Take a look at our pictures from the trip for more! This would definitely be a great and easy day trip for any visitors ;-).

Challenges of the Subtitle

There are many challenges to starting your own blog: getting a good template, choosing your audience, and having time to maintain it once it's up. While these may be important, the critical factor for us was getting the blog name right. A bad, un-funny name can totally ruin a blog by boring people before they even get to the contents. Something like "A chronicle of Nick and Lauren's 'new' life in Birmingham England by weblog" would have our potential readers signing off en masse. Our subtitle "2 American cowboys rustlin' us up some culture"didn't come easily; there were quite a few rejects. Read on for the ones that didn't make the cut, and let us know if you think we made a mistake.

YANKS IN THE UK:

-What happens when two 20-somethings leave the American bubble for life in England?

-The adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Europe edition

-Two American Patriots bringing the "No taxation without representation" mantra straight to King George...230 years too late.

-New meets Olde: when worldes collide

-All this rain is hell on our cowboy chaps.

-Two ungrateful yanks undo all their ancestors hard immigratin' work by moving right back where they came from.

-Is Leicestershire even pronounceable?

-Watch as two apple-pie loving, backyard barbequing Americans experience a life of porridge and meat pies.

-What the heck are we doing here?

Happy Birthday, Meggy!

October 18th is my (Lauren's) sister's birthday! She turns 22 today. Meggy and I are exactly 3 years apart in age, minus one week. We would have a joint birthday party with family on the weekend in between our birthdays, so it is hard to be apart at this time of year. To celebrate Megan, or Meggy, or Meg, or Lindsay, here's a little bit about her:
-She's a senior at Eastern Kentucky University. She finishes classes in December, and then will move back home to student teach.
- She is the most beautiful person I've met, inside and out. She has an effervescent, warm and compassionate personality.
- She is passionate about caring for other people, which is part of why she wants to be a teacher.
- Meggy is very in love with her boyfriend, Andrew (that's him in the picture). We love him too and he's like family.
- She likes to sleep in, watch movies, and her favorite food is pizza.
- She is just an all-around awesome sister, and I love her dearly.

Megan, I hope that you have a really special day!

 

10 Days in Ireland (this is a long one)

Our trip to Ireland is probably better understood in pictures, since so much of it was just awe-inspiring natural beauty. We posted photos of our time in Dublin, the Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland on our new online photo album here. For a summary and some thoughts on the trip, read on…

We got into Dublin Friday morning, and spent Saturday by ourselves touring the city some. We saw the Book of Kells which is an amazingly decorated gospel from a monastery in Scotland from the 5th century and went to the Guinness Storehouse. After finding out all about how Guinness is made, shipped, and marketed, they give you a free pint in the Gravity Bar, which is a round bar 7 stories up with glass walls looking out over the whole city. We both liked Dublin, but agreed that it's sort of a low point in Ireland. The country-side is so magnificent that it seems a shame to spend too much time there. The next morning we departed on our bus tour around the coast of Ireland. There were 25 passengers on the bus, most in their mid-20's although we had some in their 30's and 40's. There was one girl from S. Africa, a couple from Italy, a couple fromAustria, several Kiwis (New Zealand), three other Americans, and all of the rest were Ozzies (Australians). Australia seems like the best-traveled country by far! We had such a great time, and made some close friends. We especially bonded with the Austrian couple, and can't wait to go visit them, maybe this winter some time.

The weather while we were in Ireland was, for the most part, exactly what you would expect: cold, raining, windy. At least that was the case every day except the two days we were outside all day, when the weather was warm and sunny all day. The first of those two days was Great Blasket Island. Great Blasket Island is off the coast of the Dingle Peninsula. It is probably about 1 mile across and 3 miles wide (that is a very rough estimate!). It was inhabited, although only by 15 families, until the 1950's when the government made everyone move to the mainland because it was too dangerous. The weather was awful there in the winter, and there was no guarantee the ferry would be able to bring them supplies or that they would get medical attention when they needed it. Now only 1 woman lives out there (I never understood why she was allowed to stay), and the near side of the island is a patchwork of stone ruins. We spent a few hours out there, and Nick and I explored it to the fullest. We climbed to the highest peak and saw the ruins of a lookout tower, we walked along the incongruously beautiful beach and put our feet in the ocean. Most of the island met the ocean in cliffs or rocks, except one beach which could have been straight out of Caribbean. We also played with donkeys, who let us walk right up to them, and sheep, which were a little scared of us. It was Ireland at its most visually stunning.

A day or two after that we spent the night on Inis Mor, the largest of the three Aran Islands. We took the ferry out, then had the day to explore. We rented bikes and biked around almost the entire island. This was no small feat, since the island is about 9 miles long. Like everything in Ireland, the real length is not known. That seems to be the case with all of Irish history and distances – even things that should be clear are not. Inis Mor is a patchwork of stone walls, everywhere you look. I'm not wholly sure of the purpose of all of the walls – each walled-in square is only about ¼ acre. I think maybe they were to put animals in for a little bit, let them eat all the grass, then move them into another area. In some areas, they just built walls to get the stones out of the fields so they could plant. There is a lighthouse at the end of the island, and a lookout tower at the highest peak. The most impressive part of the island, however, is Dun Aengus. This is a fort that they believe was built around the 900's. It is circular in shape, but only goes half of the way around, because it is built on the edge of a huge cliff. The cliffs are similar in height to the Cliffs of Moher, and you are allowed to walk around the fort right up to the edge of the cliff. It is unbelievably dangerous, and I'm surprised people don't die often. It is definitely the most secure fort I've ever seen. In addition to the cliff wall protecting it halfway around, there is an outer and inner wall. Beyond the outer wall there is an acre-wide band around the fort of sharp limestone rocks stuck up in the ground. It would prevent horses or even people from easily getting to the outer wall. After we left the fort, we swam in the ocean on another beautiful beach. It was cold, but not as bad as we expected. Once you got used to the water we could have stayed in for a while.
The days we spent on the islands were some of the highlights of the trip. It was nice to be off of the bus and able to break away from the groups for a while and explore on our own.

The last two days we spent in Northern Ireland. It was amazing to us that almost as soon as we crossed the border, it began to look like England. The road signs were different, there were gigantic supercenter stores instead of village shops, even the houses were different. Instead of the typical single-story homes, there were more row homes of double-story brick. We didn't like it very much, and missed the ol’ Republic. The cities we visited felt more dangerous, were more run-down and had more graffiti. This is a direct result of the Troubles. Derry is smaller and nicer than Belfast. It is the walled city, with an inner wall built into the city to protect it from attackers. The walls were built by London businessmen in, I believe, the 1400's, to protect their interests in the area. It was the home of the Troubles and Bloody Sunday. The city has worked hard since 1998 to reestablish itself, and things are much more peaceful. There were murals all over the city depicting the troubles and the struggle and work towards peace. The city is predominantly Catholic. Our tour guide said that people are much more at peace with each other and in general, and the city is trying to establish itself as a tourist destination. It felt like a city that was changing and healing.

Belfast did not. Belfast has had much more violence and problems over the years than Derry. This is partly because Derry had a natural water barrier between the Catholic and Protestant populations. In Belfast, the populations are more interspersed, and more evenly matched – it is roughly 50% Catholic and 50% Protestant. There are still problems and conflicts in Belfast, and the "peace wall," a wall erected to divide the two sides, is still standing. It is closed at night and during the weekend. I didn't realize something like this still existed, it felt so divisive and it seemed hard to work for peace in such a context. The murals were more belligerent as well. While the murals in Derry seemed aimed at remembering and laying to rest the past, the Belfast murals were designed to bolster up the individual sides. The Protestant murals included murals of sharpshooters who had killed tens of Catholics, and a mural celebrating Cromwell. The Catholic murals, on the other hand, celebrated their own "soldiers" and heroes. I think you'll understand better when we can show you the pictures. It was so disheartening. On the plus side, only a handful of people, 3 or 4, have died in conflict so far this year. The Northern Ireland government is just reforming, so everyone is watching to see what will happen. I'm glad we visited, but I don't especially want to go again.

After Belfast, we headed back to Dublin for a last afternoon and night before flying back (home? Where is home anyway?). Nick insisted on walking up the river Liffey to a bridge done by one of his favorite designers, Santiago Calatrava. After our bridge tour we walked the city and met some people from our tour group for dinner and Guinness. It was a great way to end our wonderful time on the Emerald Isle.

126A Yardley Road

Well we just got back from Ireland and wow, what a trip! We’re exhausted from the trip and too tired to write much on that now. Since we had a 5:30 am flight out of Dublin (You have to work for the cheapest fares!) we just stayed up all night and caught a cab to the airport at 3:30. Anyway, more on Ireland later.

For now, we signed our lease, got our keys, and finally have a place to call home, since leaving our apartment in Pittsburgh in late July. It feels great to actually unpack our things for good. Our place is really nice on the inside, with composite wood flooring and nice clean white walls and new appliances. Apparently the landlord just renovated the place last year. It has two bedrooms and is across from a private school and a flower shop on a fairly busy street corner, 5 minutes from the train station. It feels small and British, thanks heavily to the front door key. When they gave us a set of two antique-looking keys, we almost laughed. It looks like our key should unlock an ancient treasure chest or someone’s secret diary, not our front door. Apparently the modern tumble-lock has not caught on yet in England—so quaint!