Cambridge Life

I thought I would give a little cultural view into our world. While we do speak the same language there are many differences.

A baby in your belly is referred to as a bump.
Squash is a concentrated juice, butternut squash you eat.
Pants are your underwear, you wear trousers.
A biscuit is a cookie, they don't have traditional southern biscuits.
A bathroom is called a toilet, you go to take a wee.
A band aid is called a plaster.
A theatre is were you have surgery, not see a movie.
A surgery is a doctor's office.
A shot is called a jab.
A lady bug is called a lady bird.
When you are being bad you are cheeky.

Other Interesting Items:
There are 110 pubs (local bars [but so much more] that serve food) in Cambridge, 1 McDonalds and 2 Burger Kings. One is actually in the hospital.

Cambridge was established around A.D. 40 by the Romans.
Cambridge University was founded in 1209. It will celebrate it's 800th anniversary this year.

Famous People who went to Cambridge: Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon, Charles Darwin, Oliver Cromwell, Stephen Hawking, Jane Goodall, C.S. Lewis, Prince Charles, Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie, and some 82 Nobel Prize winners.

There are a 110,000 people in Cambridge, 25% of them ride their bikes to work. There are 22,000 students which almost all have bikes. This city is full of bikes. Bicycles are the main transportation followed by walking, buses and cabs.

Every neighborhood has it's own pub and grocery store. Literally you could walk 5 blocks in any direction and you would find both.

There is a Walmart here, it is called ASDA. I have not been there yet.

All major grocery stores deliver. You just go online, get what you want, pick a delivery time, and they bring it to your door for a small fee. It would be impossible to haul a weeks worth of groceries on the bus and then walk to your house. You also have to take your own bags to the store with you, if not you have to buy them there. Most people use cloth bags.

An interesting sign that is found in our neighborhood.

Jacob's Birthday

Jacob is 3 today!! Happy Valentine's Day!!

A Snowy Week

Last Monday started our week of snow. We got about 5 inches on Monday, which is a lot for England. In fact, it was the most snow here in 18 years. It basically put the country in chaos. They don't really have the equipment to deal with that much snow. It would be like getting 5 inches of snow in Florida.

Well, the snow did not end there. On Thursday, we got another 3 inches of snow. By then, they had run out of salt for roads and sidewalks. People were using table salt. Since a lot of snow is a rarity here, there is a lack of snow shovels. Sledding would have been great, but you cannot find sled here either.

Thursday's are the day we head to church for a Bible Study. They called and said, "If you can get here, come on, we are still meeting." It was an adventure. I got the kids all bundled up and we headed out. But since there are no snow shovels our sidewalks were covered with snow and ice. I realized that strollers don't really go at all on snow. I almost had to call it quits before I left our apartment complex. I did make it to the bus stop only to wait for over about 45 minutes for a bus. Finally one came, it wasn't the right one, but got us to close enough. We had the same problem on the way home, no buses. We left our house at 9:30 am and got home at 1:00. The Bible study is only an hour and a half. The rest of that time was traveling.

On Friday, we woke up to another Winter Wonderland. It snowed most of the morning and we got another 3 inches.

The worst part of the snow was no grocery delivery. Since most people here travel on foot, bike and bus the grocery stores deliver. It is so nice. I go online, shop, pick my time to deliver and they bring them right to your kitchen. I placed an order for delivery on Thursday, but it didn't come. In fact, it didn't come until today (Monday). Our cabinets were bare, we ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly.

The forecast is for more snow tomorrow.

Snow, Snow, Snow

It finally snowed here. It started last night and has continued to snow all day. Reading the news today, it is the worst snow storm in 18 years. The kids are so excited, although Jacob likes it much better watching it from the window than being outside in it. Kiah loves the snow and would stay out all day if she could. We don't have good snow gloves so we have to take breaks and let our gloves dry on the heater since we don't have a dryer.

Heavy snow falling this morning.

The bikes covered in snow.

Jon getting ready to scrape the snow off his bike.

Off he goes to school. He said it was good snow to ride in.

Kids out in the snow. Kiah trying to catch a flake on her tongue.

Training Jacob

This past week we have spent most of out time trying to potty train Jacob. He has done a great job and is about to get it. Kiah has been the head cheerleader for him. She always runs to the bathroom with him and gives us play by play details of what is happening.

This was my first attempt at braiding Kiah's hair. I had attempted a french braid but had to quit because it was really bad. Maybe some practice will help me.

Back in Cambridge

We arrived back in Cambridge on January 11th. The trip back was good, the kids did so well on the plane. It was quite the adventure getting our three 50 pound bags, a large carry-on, 2 kid backpacks, a computer bag, and camera bag through 2 train stations and the London Underground. Jon pulled most of it, while I got the kids up and down the escalators. It was good to finally get back out our flat after 20 hours of traveling. We all crashed when we got back.

We are getting back in the swing of things, back to walking, riding the bus and bike. Kiah will start homeschooling again on Monday. Jon has been working on scholarship and grants for next year. Jacob is working on potty training, so far, he has done well. He gets so excited when he succeeds.

The pregnancy is going well. On Tuesday, it will be 19 weeks. At the beginning of February, we go for the big 20 week scan. Last week, Kiah went to the doctor with me and get to hear the heartbeat. She thought that was really cool.

While we miss some of the conveniences of home like cars, dishwashers and laundry in our house. I think we are all glad to be back in Cambridge.