Fine line between funny and offensive

So my colleagues are known for sending around funny emails to the whole company, I think it's part of the whole young, creative atmosphere. This week there were some emails floating around about a possible barbecue, and I replied and said, 'I'll be there! Americans never miss a good BBQ!'


Which someone then responded to with the picture below. You tell me:hilarious or offensive?

A Car-less Year

While we were out saving the earth the other day (read: going shopping in the city) we saw this add and thought it was a great starting point for a public transit post. We have been here one year and learned a great deal about what life and travel look like for those who can’t (or choose not to) own a car. When moving here, we were excited about the prospect of living in a European city and living “the simple life” car-free. We soon learned that England is much closer to America than Europe in its car ownership culture and basically everyone that can own a car, does. Central London seems like the exception, but for the most part, travel in England without a car is challenging.

Worried about the cost and difficulty of getting a UK licence (the test is ridiculous, with most people spending hundreds of pounds in lessons to pass) and owning a car, we have been happy to see this as what could likely be the one time in our lives where we don’t own a vehicle and try to experience it for what it is, taking in the good and the bad.

On the good side, we have really come to love train journeys, both for long trips and work commutes. The difference between fighting your way through rush hour traffic and sitting on a train reading to and from work is huge, and living on a train line that lets us both ride and walk to work has been a great experience. Over mid-length trips to cities, the train is hard to beat as well. We’ve visited Liverpool, Manchester, London, and even Paris by train, and would say they are far superior to cars both in the relaxing journey as well as the arrival. Pulling into the main train station in the heart of these cities and getting off on the busy central streets is a great first way to experience a place, contrasted with fighting traffic looking for a parking garage somewhere on the city outskirts.

While trains are great for regular commutes and intercity trips, they just don’t work for trips to the country, and can be very difficult if you want a stop on a different line. We have managed to fill in with busses, but these are painfully slow and still can require several transfers to get where you’re going. In short, public transit makes spontaneity difficult, and many areas are essentially off-limits without a car.

As our circle of friends here grows and we learn more about the places that we are missing just off our bus and train routes, we have realized that getting a cheap little car actually makes a lot of sense and will be working on that this fall. We’re glad that we did this year though, and learned a lot about life on the trains and busses from the experience. Our weekly hour-bus-rides to a friend’s house are real studies of British sociology, and the people who you meet on buses are incredibly varied and quite different to those we encounter in our professional lives. As transport solutions other than the personal auto become more of a hot topic, I feel like our car-less life has yielded some insight into the realities of public transit “on the ground.” Hopefully, like all of our experiences here, we’ll be able to file this away for whatever the future holds.

Until then, man is it going to be great to drive again. Do you think a bald eagle graphic on the hood would be too subtle? Maybe we need a flag too…

A Holland Holiday

Our latest trip out from this conveniently-placed island was a 4 day trip to the city on the Amstel: Amsterdam. We had an amazing time with Megs and Andrew, just exploring the city with them as they enjoyed their first visit to a non-English-speaking country. We loved the place, and decided that Amsterdam has a bit of PR problem, since for many just the name conjures up images of hippies, drugs, and the red light district. While these elements were present in small pockets, what this description misses is the 100km of beautiful tree-lined canals, the peaceful quiet of a city with very few cars, the great museums and galleries that we visited while there, and yes—it must be said—the hundreds of unique and ancient bridges that pepper the city (see our trip pictures here). Even the narrow, leaning buildings that line the canal streets are colorful and full of character. The houses were taxed on width, so most of them are 5-6 stories high and only 2-3 windows wide. Since the stairs are so narrow and small, each house has a hook hanging from a beam on top of the gable, which is used to lift furniture through windows into the house.

We had great weather there and managed to avoid any public transit until the last day: we just walked everywhere. We visited Anne Frank's house, the Van Gogh and Rembrandt museums, and the Heineken Brewery, as well as one of the famous parks and a clandestine church in an attic. Between a boat tour and renting a water-bike for the afternoon, we made good use of the canals and explored much of the city from the water. We also made a day trip out to see some working windmills and wooden clog-maker which was super-cool. We tried on some clogs and walked around the shop, but couldn't possibly think of any practical reason for owning a pair, so we had to appeal to reason and leave them behind.

The Van Gogh Gallery was really neat because it followed the life of one artist, which lets you really get to understand his work and development, rather than jumping from artist to artist like in a large, general museum. Anne Frank’s house was really good to visit too, and a bit of the reality of what it would be like to hide from daylight behind thick curtains came through. They hid for over 2 years from the Nazis, and were found because of an anonymous tip. There were just a few months left in the war, but still 7 of the 8 hideaways died in camps. It did a good job conveying the terror of the time for Jews. The boat tour on our last full day was one of our favorite parts of the trip, and a great way to see Amsterdam and enjoy a sunny day.

Check out or trip pictures, and we’ll try to put some more up of the rest of our visit with Megan and Andrew soon!

Educational P.S.:

I work with a guy from the Netherlands, and I asked him what the correct term for the country was. I was surprised to hear that neither is really correct, though Netherlands is the official name, which means “lowlands” even though much of the country is not lowlands. Strictly speaking, “Holland” refers to the 3 (most prosperous) counties on the coast, though people in other counties will still say they are from Holland, and in national competitions like football their team is called Holland. It was funny to hear of their split identity, and I guess we take for granted the clarity of “United States of America.” That pretty much sums us up.

An Englishiversary: Reflections On....

Happy English-iversary to us!!! One year ago today we flew over from the States, completely unsure of what was in store. We had no friends, no money, nowhere to live, and only one of us was gainfully employed. It was a scary flight and an even scarier cab ride. One of our biggest fears was how we would get through the first few months financially. The cab driver who took us to the temporary housing we were staying at, when he found out Nick is a civil engineer, started laughing. ‘I make more than you!’ he said. ‘I hope you’re not planning on buying a house here, because you’ll NEVER be able to afford it!’ striking fear and dread into our nervous hearts!

We’ve come a long way from those first few cold, grey weeks of apartment-hunting and the growing pains of learning the ropes. In fact, there are days where we feel right at home here, happy and comfortable and content, and a little bit like we’ve been here all along. Then there are the days that we feel we’re back at square one, raging against the poor business hours, poor customer service, and poor weather, and spend the evening eating pancakes or BBQ and listening to country music.

We’ve been so busy with guests, though, that most days we just carry on with life, and don’t think too much about what country we’re in. We’ve done very little reflection on the journey, on what’s different or similar, and how we’re changing. The one-year mark seems like the perfect time to really reflect on the journey, while we can still remember what it’s like to be American. (just kidding – I’m sure we would still bleed red white and blue. Except that’s also the colors of the Union Jack, so it wouldn’t mean much!) I'm hoping to write a few posts on food, language and travel for starters, so stay posted.

Update: As a sign of just how far we've come, we actually celebrated the 'englishiversary' at work today! We had a proper 'English cream tea' with scones, jam and cream. After telling some real horror stories about my first four months (no friends, no job, no money, no reason to leave the flat for weeks at a time - I sounded like Debbie Downer!), I was told that I'd really earned the celebration! While we are enjoying our treat, someone asked me what the best and worst part of living here is. When I said the two best things were the work-life balance (ie number of holidays and number of hours worked per week), they were SHOCKED, because they see England as the hardest working country in Europe, and think they get a raw deal. I said the second best thing was the ability to travel to other countries so easily, and they found that funny: 'Oh yeah, because we go jetting across to the continent all the time!' Clearly not everyone has the same attitude to travel as us! They mostly agreed with me, though, when I said the worst thing was the cost of living, so at least we saw eye to eye on something.

I don't think we can add anything to this article in the newspaper this morning. It's clear that a general feeling of love and reconciliation has swept across Europe =).

Life as a Wedding Present

When our good college friends (and one of Nick's groomsmen) Kristian and Rae invited us to their wedding this September, we really felt the reality of how hard it is living an ocean away from our friends and family. When Kristian asked Nick to be a groomsman, telling him that we just couldn't make the trip was even worse. I was so disappointed to not be there for a friend who had stood up with me at my wedding. We tried to think of a way to make it work, but couldn't and resigned ourselves to missing the wedding.

Kristian was equally disappointed that we couldn't be there, and so his groomsman got to talking...and decided to give him a real-life Nick Burdette groomsman as a surprise present!!!

We couldn't believe they would spend their hard-earned money to fly us over. With generosity like that, Lauren and I had to do our best to live up to the surprise, and figured out something that the groomsman could give the happy couple at their combined party in July. Trying to say "The Brits will be there!!!" in pictures was challenging, but I think we pulled if off pretty well. Shawnee, PA, here we come!

The New Camera

Well, it finally arrived. It’s been a roller-coaster of emotion here in Acocks Green, from the low of our trusty digital camera lighting its last flash bulb in Paris, to the glorious arrival of its replacement: the Olympus SP-550 Ultra-Zoom. This attractive piece of glass and circuitry has all the features a travelling ex-pat could want in a surprisingly light case. With 18X optical zoom, we don’t even have to go anywhere anymore--we can just go up on a nearby hill and take pretty good shots of Mayan pyramids. So, if you see any future pics that look incredibly perilous—be cool—we were chilling miles away when we took that shot. This baby can store 1200 pictures on a single card, takes video, and even has a super-fast 15 frames-per-second bust mode to catch the typical “whale breaching” shot during fast action. It has a fully-manual mode too that I am learning so you can adjust “The big 3”: shutter-speed, aperture, and ISO to get the best exposure. In summary, look for sharper, professionaler, colourfuler, expensiver-looking travel pictures here from now on!

-Lauren (Ok, ok, you got me: it’s really Nick)

The 18x zoom in action at the Coventry Cathedral:

Great Tapestry from the back of the church

Great Tapestry at full zoom!