I figured it was time for a little update. We've been in the country for almost 3 months now and have been settling into our house/village about a month.
And it's good. And hard. And good. Lots of highs and lows.
I'm loving our house - but not the cleaning/set-up. The kids have risen to the challenge of increased chore load especially considering in some ways we were starting from scratch (we tried to maintain chores while in Colorado at least but hotel living isn't conducive to that) so I think it will be managable once I have my routines but I gotta get to that point. And just hanging curtains here is proving to be a multi-week activity. But it's coming along.
We're loving village life. I know Brits aren't known for their small talk and outgoingness but I have not found that to be true. Maybe it's Covid and everyone is more appreciative of face to face time or maybe we just live in a very friendly village (which is what we've been told) but everyone from the neighbors to the people waiting in line with me to post a letter have been quite chatty and friendly. I even spent almost an hour walking the dog around the village fields with a lady after running into her at a dog running field. And the village FB page just makes me smile, people putting out extra apples to share or updating people on the status of their sheep and reminding us that when lambing starts, we're welcome to pop over and help out.
Lucy loves walking around the village by herself, exploring all the many little paths and nooks or even running over to the market by herself. The littles love the great playground and I love all the footpaths and dog walking spots. There are lots of areas where she can run free and its been a lot of fun for her although I normally come home caked in mud - and sometimes I have "fun" stories to share. Like how Lizzie found a hole in the fence of a field once, ran through and I had to climb over barbed wire and through a super muddy field to where she was rounding up sheep to get her back. She was obviously very proud of her sheep rounding skills but I was soaked and much less enthused. I'm just glad no one except Lucy was around to watch me because I was definitely channeling Anne Shirley and the cows in the cabbage scene!
Lockdown is over! Except when your a big family, that doesn't change all that much. Meet-ups of more than 6 people are for the most part prohibited. And we are a family of 6. So, yeah. Still no playdates. But we were able to go to the pub for a meal and out to a store to get curtains and even to a estate to wander the gardens and enjoy the Christmas decor.
The highlight of last week was a Wild+Free nature study meet-up. It was supposed to be about winter birds but we ended up learning all about the fungus, King Alfred's Cakes. Ours our drying and we'll probably give them a test run as a fire starter today. This was such a great day for all of us. Turns out, socializing is really important and when you don't have any face to face interactions in 3 months, it starts to wear on you. Who knew :-)
Waiting for Santa to drive down the village in his tractor :-)
The lows - its been a long, hard transition period for us and while we are normally a jump right in and get involved kind of family, that isn't really possible. I am looking into sports for after the holidays because those aren't as limited as church interactions seem to be. But for now, nerves are a bit raw and homesickness is in full force. We've definitely stepped up Christmas decor this year. Partly because we are in the heart of the village so don't want to be lame. But also because we needed it. Our couch came through the move ripped and covered in mold so our living room was looking pretty sad and lonely before our big gorgeous tree filled up that empty space. We actually have two trees this year. That's new for us! And while some of the little people here are upset we can't do some of the traditions outside our home that we have done "EVERY YEAR OF OUR ENTIRE LIVES" I am doing what I can to keep our family traditions intact as much as possible. We did St. Lucia's day this morning and the older the kids get, the better it is for me. I helped the kids make the St. Lucia buns last night but they made their own crowns and came down in the morning to make the hot chocolate themselves. All I had to do was show up! And turn on YouTube for us to watch Hanna's Christmas being read by the author. It's all about Hanna having her first St. Lucia's Day and Christmas in a new country and dealing with homesickness. The perfect book for us!
Kid's only wanted Christmas tree for lighting. That means we had a nice slow breakfast - with really bad pictures!
(On a related side note, I've been trying to come up with Christmas movies for us to watch. When I heard the song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," for a split second I thought we'd add Meet Me in St. Louis to the list until I remembered the storyline. I'm pretty sure that would have us all in tears. Crisis Averted!)
So we are also opening the very same Christmas pictures books we open every advent lining our new window sills. And our very same advent wreath and our very same advent chapter book (Jotham's journey series on rotation). Although hanging stockings on a real mantle has been a change everyone can get behind !
Advent with a fire is fun - even if it takes a lot of work to keep the toddler safe still. He is learning though!
I'm slowly getting used to cooking over here with all the different temperatures and measurements and ingredients. It's almost the same - but not. Sometimes I think its a great, fun challenge and sometimes I just want my canned tomatoes to actually have juice! But I love getting eggs from a regular grocery store and finding a little chicken feather stuck to them and a nice bright yellow yolk inside. Or swinging by the local Milk Shack to pick up fresh milk and the best tasting yogurt I've ever tasted in my entire life. I'm hoping for a kitchen scale for Christmas (hint hint Craig) and I think that will take care of most of the "cons" of cooking here, leaving me a happy chef. Especially since I can always send Craig to the military commisary to buy some dill pickles and "normal" bacon if I get desperate for what are apparently my american staples.
Since I want this to be an honest record of our experience, I have to say that all the tradition keeping on top of dealing with country changes (everything takes more effort. Even a trip to the store to get a lightbulb might take three tries to get right - luckily the store is a 2 minute walk!) and home set-up (plus potty training and homeschooling and regular cooking/cleaning) has me pretty close to burn out. I'm just exhausted. That said, I don't think I've ever looked forward to a Christmas break so much! One more week and I'm going to pause, not just school, but all attempts to hang things on walls or organize or almost anything productive and switch to our plans for cookie baking and gingerbread house making and puzzles and crafts. It's making my advent thoughts really reflect the true seasons - the advent of waiting and hoping with desperation and the knowledge that Christmas is coming!
Sunset at the playground. Of course, this pictures was taken before 4pm but that's what sad lights and vitamin D drops are for.
And we have these moments of just joy - a kid using a cute British expression. My turning down a cute little footpath or driving to my doctors past these fields and just smiling because it's so poetically beautiful here. Little things that make me realize I'm living my dream. I really am!
I've had to go to the hospital 4 times to get my regular thryoid prescriptions set up again but I got it all worked out - and the view on the drive is pretty fantastic.
So overall, I'm pretty confident we will love it's gonna take some time and pushing through both regular assimilation emotions with a Covid induced cherry on top.
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