Back to School

School started for the kids on Wednesday, 24 August (note how we have to change how we write our dates).  They are at TASIS in England which is an American International school.  There are several American schools in the London area to choose from.  This one actually has the students in uniforms, which is a new experience for us.  Keep reading and I promise a picture of the kids below.

With regard to the uniform, it is more of a dress code.  The students wear white or light blue tops and navy blue or dark gray to black bottoms.  Dress shoes are required; no trainers (that's sneakers here).  Everything in the UK is more expensive than in the US.  I had found this on our previous assignment.  If something is $3.00 in the US, then it will be 3 pounds in the UK which is actually the equivalent of $4.50.  Knowing this, we purchased pants, skirts and shirts in the U.S. before leaving.  Socks and shoes were on our shopping list as well.  With a suitcase full of clothes for school, we arrived in the UK. 

Once here, there were still a few things we needed to buy for the uniforms.  At the school, we purchased the school pullover with a crest on it.  We also picked up P.E. uniforms for each child.  Even Cameron in second grade changes for P.E.  At the grocery store, we found a large section in the seasonal area dedicated to school uniforms.  Since all children in the UK wear uniforms, this is a huge business and very competitive.  This was something that I was not prepared for.  Our last assigment had us in a different area of the UK and the children went to an American school without a dress code.  Uniform shopping was totally new to me.  Come to find there is something in the UK much cheaper than in the US!!! 

Proper socks to be worn with dress shoes are GBP 4 for 7 pairs!  I could not even find proper socks for the boys in the US.  The selection of tights, knee highs and ankle socks for Katie is staggering.  They even package hair accessories.  Next are white golf type shirts.  For Jacob, I purchased a package of 3 for GBP 4 and for Cameron, who is a smaller size, they were 3 for GBP 3!  (GBP = British Pounds)  The girls all seem to be wearing skirts and not trousers, so I picked up another skirt for Katie at GBP 7 at a more expensive Department store and another white blouse for the same price.  For the winter, they need sweats for P.E. and I found plain navy pullovers at the Grocery store for GBP 2 each.  I am still stunned by the savings.  I'll remember that next year!  The Lands End and Gap pieces will wear much nicer and are softer, but considering the savings, I don't know if I can justify a whole wardrobe from those stores in the future.

All three don't mind the uniform, most likely because everyone is in a uniform.  Believe it or not, the fleece pullovers have been worn every day this past week and a welcome part of the uniform.  The temperature here is not over 65F.  We are getting very accustomed to coming off the bus and going up to change into play clothes before getting a snack.

Besides a uniform, another aspect of school that is very different than in the US is that they are not allowed to bring their own lunch.  The school provides the hot lunch and snacks for all the students as part of our fees.  The kids have to figure out how to fill their bellies with the food offered to them.  The first day of school was a pasta day which was a great way to start the year with my kids!  Everyone was happy.  The rest of the week went well as there always seems to be something they can find to eat.  Cameron even tried the pork on Friday.  This week on Wednesday is lamb stew.  I am waiting to hear the verdict on that one! 

The kids are back on a bus to school.  We are actually 25 minutes to the school if we drive directly there.  We happen to be the furthest out on our bus so are the first pick up.  On a regular day, they are picked up at 7:10am for an 8:15 start.  Wednesday is a late start day and they don't get picked up until 8am for a 9:15 start.  We have to set the alarm, but Jacob would have been heading to the bus at that time anyway, so I can't really complain that I can't stay in bed until 7.  Our bus driver is a great guy named Mark whose mother happens to teach at the school.  There are only 5 other students on the bus and one happens to be another 4th grade girl in Katie's class.  They all prefer the bus.  I had the chance to drive them home on Thursday and they all asked if they could ride the bus instead. 

Tomorrow starts the first full week.  I hope we make it through without being too tired.  Katie starts football (soccer) this week, but all other after school activities start next week.  More about that in a future blog!  I will also get my sea freight next Monday, Labor Day, so I will finally get to settle in the house.  Lots to look forward to.  Have a great week!

Appliances are in place and appear to be working...so far.

We have been in the U.K. for a full week now.  I am starting to feel like the house is becoming a home.  The hums of domestic life are all around me now.  We had a few bumps along the way, but I think the kinks are working their way out.

Our first appliance nightmare was actually the hot water heater.  Once we finally figured out how to turn the heater on after a late evening call to the owner of the house on the day of our arrival, at least one of us was warm and clean.  I was clean, but not warm, unfortunately.  It appeared that the water heater didn't really have enough hot water for two nice showers.  We chalked it up to not having enough time to fully warm up.  Tuesday night the kids had warm showers.  At least Jacob and Cameron's were warm.  Katie's shower, the third of the night, was a bit lukewarm.  This water heater was starting to aggravate me.  Wednesday morning Steve hopped in and stepped out clean and warm.  No problems.  My turn.  I couldn't even get past lukewarm.  I didn't even get into the shower but decided to wait to see if the water heater needed to warm up.  However, an hour later and the water was even colder.  A little more than miffed, I sent my husband a message to talk to the property manager to get this fixed.  After much cajoling, a plumber was sent out on Friday to rectify the situation.  It turns out the owner knew of a possible problem with the heating unit on the water heater.  Once that was replaced all was well.  The three kids can even take showers successively and each have equally comfortable water.  Aaah.  Problem solved.  Now that we were all clean, we had to do something about our clothing.

When Steve found the house and looked it over, he knew that there was only a washing machine and no tumble dryer.  The owner was not interested in installing a tumble dryer.  We received permission to install one ourselves.  When we arrived on Monday, we actually ended up at a mall in Camberley where I picked up the latest Argos catalog.  For those of you who can remember the old Sears catalogs and maybe even stopping at the catalog only sites to place orders, you will be able to imagine an Argos store.  However, now there are computer terminals to enter your order right there.  There is little merchandise in the store; however, my kids are sneaking off to bed with the tome of a catalog to dream of Christmas Wish Lists for Santa!  I found a tumble dryer and a refrigerator model that I thought would do the trick for us and passed the information off to Steve.  He actually ordered the items for me since internet access was still not available to me.  Argos is much better than SKY, our internet, tv, phone provider.  SKY informed us it would take 10 days before they could come out and install our utilities (I'm still waiting, they come on Saturday), but Argos said they would call on Friday to arrange delivery.  Today is Monday and by 10:24am two lovely men set up my dryer and even gave me a tip to hook up the washer better.  They also installed a larger refrigerator.  By 10:45 the washing machine was going.  Success.

Now I just want to expound a bit on the washing machines and dryers here in the UK.  First, they are smaller.  Not a little smaller, I mean really smaller.  My Rubbermaid laundry basket filled with clothes will fill my machine in Illinois.  I do have a really great He Frontloader.  I found today that the same basket will actually be split into three loads for the machine here.  The dryer doesn't fit anymore than that either.  Second, wash time is much longer.  The first load that I put into the machine was a load of whites that I was doing in warmer water anyway, so a long cycle is good, so I skipped pressing the "Quick Wash" button.  Two Hours and Twenty minutes later the wash was done and I could open the door!  If I had pressed Quick Wash, the cycle would have been done about 45 minutes earlier.  It has something to do with eliminating a rinse cycle.  I must admit, my clothes are really clean.  The dryer really isn't much better, but I do have the option of High Heat or Low Heat.  I put in some light colored shirts and shorts for 60 minutes at the lower heat setting and everything was pretty much still wet at the end.  I don't want to kill my clothes with the high heat, but for 20 minutes I took my chances and everything was dry.  So far I have done five loads today and will have another done before bed.  Yeah!

Now the refrigerator.  Steve told me the refrigerator was small.  The one that was installed in the house already is about 132 cubic liters.  That probably doesn't mean much, so I am including pictures.  The picture of the one with the food in it is the one that was in the kitchen.  We were going to see about bringing over our refrigerator from the US (it was purchased in South Africa...really, another long story there) but the company won't insure or pay to transport appliances.  If we shipped it on our own we would have probably paid more than getting one here.  It was best to not have a U.S. sized refrigerator anyway as I am not sure it would have fit through the doorways or in the narrow space in the kitchen.  We moved the smaller one into the laundry room which is now a bit crowded, but workable.  My mother-in-law will be so happy to visit and find cold drinks in the house.  Our first overseas assignment in Holland found us negotiating with a refrigerator the size of the one here, but we didn't consider installing a bigger one.  When it came to deciding if the milk would be cold or the Diet Coke, the milk for the three kids under age 5 won out every time and I learned to drink warm soda.  Now we can luxuriate in cold pop and juice!  I feel like we have arrived.

Here is the one the owner installed:

Here is my new one:

So as long as no circuits pop as I overload the system with more work, we should be in good shape.  Happy Laundering to All!

Landed in the UK and Boy I'm Cold

Well, we made it to England.  We left a very rainy N.J. and woke up in surprisingly sunny England.  We were able to go straight to our new house and claim our bedrooms.  We did not let the children take naps but rather corralled them into the car and headed into town for some lunch.  Another pleasant surprise is the size of Camberley.  The high street includes quite a mall and entertainment center with theaters, bowling and such.  We spent quite a bit of time browsing and then straightening out some banking issues.  A trip to the grocery store rounded out the trip. 

When we got home, I cooked dinner and Jacob stole away for a nap!  Not so much fun trying to get him to join us for dinner.  After dinner, the bedtime routine ensued.  Showers were in order.  This is when the bone chilling cold of England started to set in.  Apparently there are several knobs and switches that need to be turned and flicked in order to turn on the water heater.  Believing we had taken care of all of that we waited for warm water.  And we waited.  Finally we sent the kids to bed with clean teeth but smelly feet to try again on Tuesday for showers.  Steve was hesitant, but I was a bit insistent, so he called the landlord to ask what we were doing wrong.  Further instruction led us to another switch and all was sorted.  Or so we thought.

Steve hopped into the shower and enjoyed a somewhat warm dousing.  Then it was my turn.  I should remember that ladies always go first.  I had enough warm water to wash my hair and wash my body, but not enough to rinse out my hair.  I was very dissapointed that the water heater would not accommodate two showers.  I figured it just needed time to fully warm up.

Tuesday the kids and I went out and about.  The house was chilly when we got up so I put on pants, a t-shirt and a pullover.  Jacob had on jeans and a t-shirt, Katie her soccer gear (she is in soccer camp all week) and Cameron in shorts and a t-shirt.  I managed to convince Cameron to put on a sweatshirt.  The others complained that it was cold.  A quick glance at the dashboard of the car indicated it was only about 58 degrees outside.  The radio alerted us to the estimated high of about 70 for the day.  The gray sky wasn't helping to warm us in spite of the temperature.  We made it through with socks.

As evening came upon us so did the bedtime routine.  It was time to try the showers again.  We had been washing dishes in warm water and found warm water in the other sinks, so this was promising.  We kept a watch on the time so that no one could use too much hot water; however, Katie's shower, the last one, was lukewarm at best.  Thankfully she has a snuggly comforter on her bed and long pajamas from her Oma to keep her warm.

This morning Steve was pleasantly surprised by a nice inviting warm shower.  Our problems seemed to be over.  He was ready to leave for work, so I endeavoured (like the UK spelling there) to wash the stench off of me.  I turned on the water to find it barely lukewarm.  I did not hide the aggravation or annoyance in my voice as I told Steve before he headed out the door.  We agreed I should wait an hour to see if it got better.  A little more than an hour later I tried the water again and was greeted by colder water than before from the shower faucet.  I actually started to cry.  Then I looked at the separate tub and thought maybe this was a shower problem and not a system problem.  I turned the hot water on and found it to be very warm, so I started to fill the tub.  My prayers were answered.  At least they were until I had soap in my hair.  Then the water was running cold!  For the second day, I had to rinse my hair in cold water. 

The landlord is sending a contractor out to sort the situation as soon as possible, but as it is going to take 10 days to install Internet, Cable and phone service, I am wondering how long it will take to fix a water heater.  I have threatened Steve that I am going to go to a hotel and charge the room fees back to the landlord until the situation is sorted, but he feels I am being a bit rash.  Well, he leaves for China on Saturday and a nice warm shower Sunday in a cozy hotel.  Let's hope our problem is fixed before then or I may stowe away in his suitcase (he'll have to pay the oversized luggage fee).

Packed Up!

Yes, it has been a long time since my last blog, but now I am ready to commit to writing.

On Monday morning, August 1st, the packers arrived at our house promptly fifteen minutes early at quarter past eight in the morning.  At least I was showered and dressed.  They asked me to show them around the house pointing out only that which would be shipped Air Freight and that which was going into storage.  Everything else would be sea freight and not packed until Wednesday.  I managed to show them around the house pointing indicating what was going to be shipped and what was going into storage. 

Now, I have done this type of move several times.  This is actually the fifth time I have been packed up for an international move.  I have a pretty good idea of the amount of stuff that can be shipped in what is known by the moving company as an LDN container.  We are allotted two LDN containers which hold more than one dozen averaged sized packing boxes.  These containers go onto the airplane for air shipping.  I had only pointed out some kitchen ware and my clothes when the manager of our move told me that I would be exceeding my air shipment limit if I asked for any more to be packed.  I was a bit dismayed.  Actually, I think I was frantic.  In our first move, I actually had Cameron's crib go in the air freight container.  We agreed to start packing what I had pointed out and I started moving things from the air freight to the sea freight pile.  I was a bit annoyed by it all because I was fairly confident that we were allowed more inventory in the air shipment.

In this day and age, we don't have to accept what we are told as fact.  With the internet at my fingertips, I was easily able to take a deep breath, step aside and Google.  It was so easy.  I just googled "LDN Container" and within seconds was looking at a picture of such a shipping box on my computer screen.  It gave the dimensions and the cubic capacity.  Steve was working from home and contacted the moving company office to discuss the situation.  I showed the picture of the container I believed I was allowed to one of the movers who contacted his office.  Before lunch everyone agreed that we were allowed more than originally thought by the crew and I quickly threw more stuff at the guys to box up for me.  Let's be honest, we will need legos and some videos to get us by as we try to set up the house.

After that, the boxing up and loading of the trucks went fairly smoothly.  Tuesday saw the air freight and storage items loaded on the truck.  We still had enough around the house to stay at Belaire Court for the night.  I even cooked dinner in an effort to empty the refrigerator.  Wednesday was another day of packing boxes and by then we had to check in to the hotel and take the dog to the kennel for the next few days.  Thursday was the most anxious day.  The truck with the shipping container arrived at ten minutes to eight in the morning and I started to cry.  I had to splash water on my face before I could talk to the moving crew.  Now we would see if everything would fit.  At nine thirty I was looking into the truck and was a bit nervous.  Every ten minutes I would check again.  Finally, the manager of the team told me that I could relax.  In his estimate there would actually be some room left over...not much, but everything would fit.  I did feel better after that but still kept an eye on the shrinking capacity in the truck.  It is amazing how these guys fit it all in like a giant puzzle.  When they closed the door I took one last look into the truck.  I made a mental note that if I buy any furniture in England, I will have to get rid of something I brought over if it is going to fit in the container home!

Preparing for the move, I knew the kids would not really want to be at the house during all of this.  I was blessed by friends who scooped up the kids and whisked them away to their homes or the pool or even the zoo each day so they did not have to sit around watching the house box up and move out around them.  As each box was packed and each day wound down, things were calming down as well.  That is when I realized what was really happening.  I had spent so much of the previous few weeks focused on the details of moving that I did not really think about what it all meant.  Now that the boxes were packed, I had to turn around and realize that the house was empty and now I would have to say good bye.

Packing up the cookie sheets and towels and furniture all seems so important, but it's just stuff.  I was upset when the mover dropped a tea cup from my tea cup collection, but I didn't even cry.  But when a friend would drop off my children after helping me out by taking them to the pool and the movies, I realized that this what what the move was really breaking.  It's breaking my daily routine and it's going to make it more difficult to have those hour long phone chats that I am famous for.  As the truck pulled away, I cried as I realized it was now time for good byes.  I am sad that my friends won't fit in those boxes.  They are engraved on my heart, their phone numbers saved in my phone and email addresses in my email account, and  I'm taking each of them with me virtually on this adventure.  I hope they stick around and drink a glass of wine with me as they read this. 

Now let the adventure begin!

Inventory

Today I finally started working on our inventory.  If you have never had to do an international move, you may wonder what I mean.  For insurance purposes, we need to itemize our entire house right down to the number of teaspoons.  It gets complicated because I actually need to determine what is going to the UK and what will go into storage.  If it is going to the UK, I can ship about 1000 pounds in air freight that will arrive in about 10 days or it will go sea freight which will take about 5-6 weeks.  I have to remember to have school clothes, lunch boxes and backpacks in the air freight.  Once everything is itemized and categorized it needs to be given a replacement value in the currency of the location where it would need to be replaced.  Those items in storage get valued in US dollars and everything going to the UK needs to be valued in GB Pounds.  What is interesting about this is that it is replacement value, so the leather sofa costs $x in the US, but it will cost more than X times the exchange rate ($1.63 to the pound sterling) since everthing costs more in the UK (like an additional value added tax of 20% making our 8% sales tax look like chump change).  Do you have a headache thinking about it?  I do!  That is why there is a glass of wine at my elbow and I have taken a break to write this.

If you have seen some of my latest status updates on facebook, you will see that I have been getting punchy today as I have taken the first steps toward pulling together our inventory.  First, I found the file I created upon moving back from the UK in 2008.  This is a great starting point as it has some given values for tons of stuff in the house.  Then I started going through the master bedroom.  To be honest, the reason I get rid of stuff is that it seems a bit embarrassing to have to list some of this stuff and give it a value.  How much stuff have you stored in a Rubbermaid storage bin and put into the back of a closet or in the attic to go through later or just because you weren't ready to deal with it in any other way?  Now pull it out and inventory it.  Suddenly the value has dropped as quickly as the value of a new car as it is pulled off the lot. 

As I go through old t-shirts and suits that have not been worn in a decade, I put more and more in the Goodwill bin.  I never could have parted with some of it 10 years ago, but today it's a bit easier.  Styles have changed and I wouldn't be caught dead in some of this stuff.  In the case of some t-shirts, they were from former boyfriends and I really don't need to wear those around the house as reminders of all the men that taught me what I really DIDN'T want in a husband!  Don't worry, I didn't toss the INXS concert t-shirt or the Chi Omega rush shirt.  Some things need to be pulled out and worn around the house, like the wedding dress that I just had to take out of the box for the first time in 12 years.  I have been tempted to put it on for years.  I actually wanted to get it out on our 10th wedding anniversary, but I got nervous that it wouldn't fit.  Knowing that it will be years before I can be tempted again, I took it out.  First of all, it was my dress in the box.  I was never 100% sure; you hear stories, you know.  Then I quick showered to wash off any sweat;  don't want to stain it.  Then I stepped in and zipped it up.  I am not saying it was as comfortable to swish around in as it was 12 years ago, but it zipped and there was not sound of stitches popping!  It's back in the box and in the pile to go into storage.  Katie has seen it and can decide if that is her dream dress.  If it isn't, no problem.  That means more chances for me to be taunted by the dress..."don't you want to see if I still fit..."  I can't wait to see what I find next in a closet as I continue on with the inventory.  One room down, plenty more to go.

Home is Where the Heart Is

A home is where the family all comes together.  It doesn't have to be fancy, it just has to have a place for a table to share meals and beds to snuggle in safely.  A room with a couch for watching movies is also a plus.  Well, we have found such a snuggly home in the UK.  Our new address will be in Camberley England.  Steve found us a great home.  It looks like any 1970's construction around Naperville, but our goal was not to be charmed by the house.  We want to be charmed by all of the adventures we will be able to enjoy.  The modest home allows us a little extra cash for those trips that I have already started planning (more on that later!).  There are four bedrooms that aren't too much different from what we have here, other than the master.  Steve and I are spoiled with our master suite now and will be able to look forward to returning to it. In the meantime, we will be a bit cozier and maybe have to rethink the wardrobe as we will have to share (*gasp*) the closet. 

There are two big differences from the home we are in now versus the one we are moving into (besides 700 sq ft less and no storage in the UK home).  The first is that there is only one bathroom for the whole family to share.  There is a half bath on the ground floor, but otherwise we will all be tripping over our wet towels in a very modest (read that as small) family bath.  I don't believe there are any closets for storing linens or towels.  This is going to be interesting.  The next difference is there is no basement, so no place to let the kids run wild and let toys be free from their confines.  Life will need to be more orderly and some of those toys will have to take a break and go to storage for a few years.  The children are already balking at my directive that only 7 stuffed animals per child would be allowed passage to England.  I see some negotiating on this item in the near future.

So as we prepare to move to England we do so with the comfort of knowing that this house has been let. Now that the paperwork has been signed with the tenants, we can mess our home up again.  The kids are thrilled by this as making the bed everyday is a very daunting task during summer vacation.  Over the next week we will be moving stuff from the basement to the bedrooms as a way to classify what goes to England and what stays.  When it is all sorted, we will wonder why we actually need all that stuff that is going into storage.  But there is no need to fret about that today; we can address that when everything comes out of storage in three years.  Then we will open the boxes and put half of it at the curb.

"Oh, I can't think about this now!  I'll go crazy if I do! I'll think about it tomorrow." (Scarlett O'Hara - Gone with the Wind)

Preparations Underway for Big Move

So, a month has passed.  I have stayed away from blogging because we actually had a few weeks of nervous anticipation as we anxiously awaited the final approval of the job offer.  There were several days, almost a week actually, when I did not even want Steve to call me from the office as I kept thinking the call would be to tell me that the approval came through when in fact he just wanted to know what was for dinner.  I not so kindly asked him to only text me until approval came through. 

With all approval in place, things have started moving.  Steve has had an opportunity to start house hunting in the UK.  Due to the timing, I will be unable to participate in the process except through viewing listing online.  Thankfully so much is on the internet that it is a better process than seven years ago when we first moved overseas.  It has been a trying process as we attempt to balance commutes for the kids to school and Steve to the office and try to minimize time in the car for everyone.  The budget is the biggest constraint.  The kids are resigned to the fact that they will have to be very selective in the packing toys to go with us.  Many things will have to stay behind as it appears the house will be a bit smaller and we won't have a nice big playroom for them.  In addition, the boys will have to share a room.  It isn't the first time that the kids have shared rooms, but before it was always by choice and not necessity.  We talked today about how we aren't going to spend all of our time in the house anyway since we will want to do so much exploring of the countryside.  Katie just asked if we could see something other than just castles! 

I am hoping for good news from Steve tomorrow that we have a lease settled on for a home in England.  Then our focus will be on getting a the house here let.  Our fingers are crossed that we are close.