Father Christmas is Coming!

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Geo: 51.3287, 1.41078

Sorry I skipped the update last week. We have been crazy busy. Our sea shipment arrived on Friday, December 7th so it's been unpacking and organizing and doing some creative storing.

I started work on the 3rd. That is going well. I am adjusting to my surroundings and slowly moving all of my stuff that I had at my desk in Ann Arbor to my desk here. I am taking the bus to and from which is also going well except for one bit of bus confusion. You see, we always have the same guy driving our bus. Well, last Wednesday I went out to the bus stop after work and there was no bus. Huh, he is always here waiting. There was a group of about six of us waiting and wondering. After about fifteen minutes our driver pulled up. Ok, we handed him our RAMSGATE tickets and we boarded the bus. Before we knew it we were heading towards Canterbury not Ramsgate. One of the six Ramsgaters got up and asked the driver if he was going to go to Ramsgate. He replied, "No, this is the Ash/Erythorne bus." WHAT!!! While all this was happening I was texting Steve telling him of the bus confusion and that I would need to be picked up from somewhere. The problem, Steve had gone out that day to visit a friend from high school and then had plans to hook up with Phil so I was getting no reply. Shit! So us Ramsgaters got off at the first stop in Ash (a tiny town with not much going on). The others called cabs but I refused to pay for a cab so I walked down the deserted street to a pub called The Volunteer. I went in, ordered a pint and waited. The bar tender was very nice and she kept me entertained until Steve could arrive. It all ended fine, Steve picked me up, but I received a phone call later that evening from the nice bartender at The Volunteer informing me that I had left my cell phone at the pub. Double Shit! That was a rough day. I am also learning a lot from my coworkers. We break for tea twice daily (10am and 3pm). This is a great time for cultural exchange. They often sit in silence until one of them thinks of a topic to discuss with me. I think they find me very entertaining. One day my boss asked how I was adjusting to the weather here. I replied that we were becoming acclimated. This cause an eruption of laughter. He was convinced that I had made up the word acclimated. I asked what they would say....he replied, "Acclimatized. (Well, spelled acclimatised.)" This caused an eruption of laughter from me. Seriously, acclimatized!! I went to dictionary.com and looked up acclimatized.....definition: to become acclimated. HA!!!

Other learnings: Not a huge fan of Christmas pudding. This is huge here right now. So Steve and I bought a couple from our local grocery (I was told by colleagues that this store makes the best). It kind of weirds me out that they are at least a year old. We tried....it was ok, nothing spectacular. I have a girl from the Czech Republic in my group, Iva (pronounced Eva), when she tried it for the first time I asked for her non-British opinion. She replied, "It's ok. I miss pumpkin pie." Didn't know the Czechs did pumpkin pie. Although there are a lot of things about the Czechs (or Eastern Europeans) that I didn't/don't know. She told me that they buy a live fish (carp) for Christmas dinner. They keep it alive in the sink or tub until Christmas and then they kill it and eat it for dinner. Sometimes they will even name it. Crazy. I also tried mince pie. On Friday someone from the group brings in treats to share at tea. Rob brought in little mince pies that his wife made. Not bad. Kind of like Christmas pudding filling (fruity, etc.) but sweet. The crust was yummy. Then after finishing and declaring that I liked it, he informed me that the filling contained suet (definition: the hard fatty tissue about the loins and kidneys of beef, sheep, etc., used in cooking or processed to yield tallow.) and the crust contained lard!!!!! Com'on people! Are you trying to kill me! I was also informed that back in the day mince pie actually contained mince meat, hence the name. Not sure but I think I might prefer mince meat to suet!! So anyway, I am thinking that I would like to make something very American for my British friends. What should I make? I am open to suggestions. The requirements are these: should probably be some kind of dessert and should be able to be made in individual size.

While we are on the topic of food, I must comment on the potato chips (crisps). Imagine roasted chicken, T-bone steak, oriental ribs.....these are some of the flavors available. I am completely addicted to the roasted chicken. They are heavenly. I think I could scarf down a whole bag on my own....in one sitting. Sorry to our veggie friends, they are not veggie approved (which would be clearly indicated on the bag if they were).

We have furniture!!! And a bed. And our clothes. Yeah! I was at work when the movers came so I missed all that action. Apparently our couch would not fit through the front door or the garage door so the movers had to lift that thing over our garden wall. Glad I missed that. When the movers were unloading there was this grubby old man nosing around. Steve had his Michigan shirt on (GO BLUE!) and the man said, "You know where Michigan is?" Steve replied, "I have a pretty good idea." They started talking and as it turns out he just moved in next door about three months ago. He used to live in London. He went to Michigan!!! And his son currently lives in Chicago. They exchanged numbers and may get together for a pint. We call him Crazy Dan. Small world. We have a dryer. We bought a vacuum. We bought a TV due to be delivered on Wednesday. Feels more like home everyday.

Steve had an interview at Pfizer (or Pfizers if you are a local) last week. He saw an ad for an events manager for a "major pharmaceutical company in Kent".....hmmm, wonder which company that could be??? So after some craziness he was asked in for an interview. Everything looked great although the hiring manager said he thought Steve was over qualified. He should hear if he got it on Wednesday. Fingers crossed.

The Saturday after we got our stuff we needed to get out of the house so we decided to go into town and hit a few pubs. We popped into the fish & chips place for a quick bite and ran into a very funny, very drunk man. He started a conversation with Steve at the counter. "Are you Canadian?" "I'm pissed mother fucker" (Pissed is drunk here) "I've been to America." "New Orleans" "Unfortunately I had a girl friend who was murdered there in '85." The guy was hilarious. I wonder if he made it home that night.

Steve has been busy lately. He went and visited a friend from high school, Fiona. She moved here about 17 years ago. They figure it's been about 18 years since they've seen each other. She is married and has a six year old daughter. They live a very small town called Burwash. It's about 1 hour 40 minutes from here. They had a nice visit and we are going to try to make a date for dinner. He also got together with his friend Phil and brewed a batch of Imperial Stout beer. They put two kinds of malt, one kind of barley, three kinds of malt extract, two jars of honey, half pound of coffee and four kinds of hops in it. Sounds fantastic! Can't wait to try. They expect it to be about 11% alcohol when done. HUGE! Steve also got to meet Phil's Dad. Great guy. Very nice. They own a home in northern Italy and offered it to us if we'd like to go. Wow! Steve is also making good friends with our local fish monger, Simon. We had FRESH Dover sole. It was yummy. Not flaky like regular fish. Kind of a cross between skate and fish. Very good. We will definitely be having that again.

Yesterday we shopped. Westwood Cross. We have been generating a list of things to buy for the house. A cabinet for all of our bathroom things, rugs, shelving, etc. We were very successful and the egg car was great for hauling big items. We found a cabinet we liked and the guy told us that they could deliver it on Monday because it probably wouldn't fit in our car. He obviously was unaware that we had the egg. It fit....barely. We also went across the street to St. Augustine's Abbey for a Christmas Bazaar. The flyers listed "bric-a-brac" as one of the items available. Well, don't we all need more bric-a-brac! There was bric-a-brac and plants and Christmas stuff. They also had a load of used books extremely cheap. We bought six books for about £6. We met two women who were thrilled to have Americans in the neighborhood. They gave us their contact information in case we ever needed anything and told us that Father Benedict could get a hold of them if needed. They also invited us to midnight mass on Christmas. They were very nice. St. Augustine established the Catholic religion in England in 597AD, I think. To check out info on the monks see their website: http://www.ramsgatebenedictines.com/
The buildings are very pretty. The stone that is shown between the brick and the photo of the church on the main page is flint. They crack the ends off to expose the inside. It is used a lot in buildings and walls around here. When the sun hits it, it is shiny. Really pretty. The abbey is across the street and the church is just down from our house. We can see the bell tower from our garden. The bell rings every night at 6pm and several times on Sunday. Love it. The church, the abbey and the grange (house next to the church) were all designed by Augustus Pugin. He also helped with the design of the Parliament buildings in London. You can read more info about him at http://www.pugin.com/
If you click on the links under his work in Kent you can read about the Grange, Church and Abbey. You can also click on Ramsgate under his life. No. 1 Royal Crescent is a long apartment building just down the street from us. West Cliffe, or West Cliff Lodge is right next door and where our landlords live. Chartham Terrace is on the other side of us (between us and the Grange/Church) is where Crazy Dan lives. Just a bit of local info.

Spice Girls have invaded our news here. They just had their first concert in London last night. Argh!! They also do commercials for Tesco. Not a fan.

It was absolutely gorgeous here today. Cool but sunny. So we decided to take a drive along the coast. We took lots o' pictures. Enjoy!

Well, that's all for now. I have one more week before Christmas break. We are thinking of going somewhere, not sure where yet. Mainland Europe.

Love to all.

Oh, we received our passports back from DVLA in six days and got our provisional licenses in seven days. Pretty quick. Now we have one year to pass all the tests.

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