A Day of Firsts

Windsor Castle

Today is officially the first day of school for students at TASIS and this includes K1. It's his first day in pre-kindergarten. It’s also my birthday. Yup. Every year I get the fun of pretending that having my birthday in the midst of school chaos with gifts of back to school clothes and back to school ice cream socials en lieu of birthday parties. 

As an adult, I find it’s a hard time of year to plan something special. People are busy. And tired. I am also one of those people. So tonight we sat down to a fancy crock pot dinner of chicken korma that Dave thankfully put together. I added the brown rice once I got home from school with the boys. The best part was the chocolate cake that Dave picked up, but decorated himself! K2 dove in as if it was his first piece of cake ever. His clothes were promptly put in the washing machine.

K1's classroom.
He's on the top floor of a quirky old building.

 

K1's breakfast with dad in TASIS dining hall

This is the wellie room. Please don't put your wellies on the ledge!

We’ve had our first visitor! Molly, Dave’s cousin, came to see us on her way into London for a work this past Sunday. She brought our final suitcase filled with coats and clothing for winter AND Annie's mac n' cheese and Jif crunchy peanut butter. Thank God.

We ventured out to Windsor again. This time we saw the inside of the castle and then picnicked on the green. This upcoming weekend we are excited to see friends of mine from the Peace Corps who are travelling through on their way to a sabbatical year in Spain. We hope to meet at Hampton Court Palace, also a 20 minute drive from us. Love that! 

Dave has finally been able to get out on his bike. Biking is a bit frightening here as there aren't really any shoulders and bike paths are minimal. Still, he's figuring it out. He rode with two of my colleagues' husbands. Sounds like they like having him on board since he pushes them faster than they'd normally go. 

Now let me take you back to school for a moment as I reflect on the changes for my own profession this year. I have to say that I have never felt so welcomed, included, and special by a school or employer before. Sure, TASIS has some money to throw around, but they are intentional about spending it as well as time with their new staff. We have had loads of barbecues with amazing cheeses and wines, an opening banquet with champagne, and even a welcome bag for the new families. The welcoming picnic for students and families had bounce houses and a DJ. I truly feel like I was asked here for a reason and that the school is happy to have me. I already feel appreciated and I haven’t even done anything!

I didn’t get the marching band welcome that Edina has each year, but I didn’t need it. It would have been too loud…I’m still recovering from all that wine and champagne. Truly though, the faculty and staff have gone above and beyond to make me feel at home. 

Finally, what you are all waiting for…an update on the flea issue. Our place was fumigated on Monday and we’re getting new carpet in about two weeks. Our new ikea furniture covers just showed up too, so we’re feeling a lot better. K1’s bites are all scabbed over and slowly disappearing. You can take my word for it. I’ll spare you the photos. Cross your fingers that we are flea free by this time next week.

Stress and Amusement. Repeat.

Tea at the Headmaster's House

The tea.

I’ve broken down… porridge for breakfast on Monday, eggs and beans on toast Tuesday morning, and nutella with peanut butter on demand. I think K2 is the biggest fan of English breakfasts. K1 will barely try the beans. Since we are trying get back to what we consider to be normal, I just resurrected my morning blender routine today. YUM! Banana, today’s berry (raspberry), almond milk, and peanut butter. That and a cup of coffee; I’m feeling great. I’ll have to look for some flax or chia to throw in as well!

K2 had a three hour settling in period with his child minder this past week. K1 was so excited to see other children and new toys that he asked to stay for a few hours as well. SOLD! I had three hours of freedom and my kids were in heaven.

This “settling in” period is very common here with everything from a child minder to a new job to a new house. I like the phrase. That’s what we’re doing…settling in. And we are actually doing it in fast forward. Most Brits are amazed at how quickly we’ve been able to purchase a car and get phone contracts, when we feel like it has taken ages. I think Dave and I just have the desire to feel settled in on all accounts. We need to hang some art, modernize a bit, and establish our routines. This will come. We need to relax and enjoy this process a bit. I think that’s possible. We waffle between stress and amusement daily.

Amusement is going to our first car boot sale Saturday morning and finding a bike for K1, a trike for K2 and Buddha statue (Peace & Tranquility) for the garden. Stress is waiting for a week to get my PIN # for my bank card only to have to have one re-issued. And it seems not much can be done without a PIN # around here!

Amusement is Dave and K1 taking an evening walk to a local pub where Dave can have a pint and K1 can climb on the outdoor climbing structures. Stress is when our Garmin takes us in circles and we can’t NOT follow it. 

Amusement is the new zip line at Gogmore Park behind our house. Dave has romanced it a bit with this video of K1’s first zip line experience.

K's World on a String

The front (street-side) of the house. Stunning, I know.

Stress is finding out that our house has a “slight” flea problem. Gross. Gross. Itchy. Gross. Poor K1 has gotten the bulk of the bites, but we’re dealing with it and our tiny washing and drying machines have worked overtime today. The previous tenants had two cats. Flea infested cats.

 

Our garden.

But…then amusement came when we took our first excursion late this afternoon to Windsor. Only a 20 minute drive and there we were on the Queen’s doorstep. We didn’t go in the castle today; running back and forth on the long walk was all the fun the boys needed. While watching them run, I had that moment I’ve been waiting for. My eyes got a little teary and my heart got squishy. Thankful for the choices we’ve made and energized for many more moments to come.

Windsor

Look closely in the left-hand corner. This was heaven for the boys.

Facing the Challenges

The first of many sweet treats for K1

Here's the thing... I wouldn't recommend living abroad with your family if your marriage is rocky. Luckily, Dave and I have a strong marriage, but I'm not going to lie. We have bickered more in the past two weeks than in the past two years or more combined. This is stressful. And challenging. And actually quite wonderful all at the same time. Lots of decisions to be made and transportation to be sorted. We have to remember that we are here for the experience and a big part of that is facing the challenges and becoming a stronger family unit as a result.

Staines Rail Station

K1 and K2 are doing great and almost back to a routine. Tonight K2 went to bed at 8:45pm and K1 at 10pm. So we're bridging the six hour gap and have about two more to go. 

First Train Ride Together_Staines to Chertsey

We managed to open a bank account today and order our cable/internet. Of course we don't have a TV yet, but Dave assures me one will need to be purchased sooner than later. No UK cell # yet. It seems we need a UK bank card for that and it'll take 5-7 business days to show up in the post. It's all a bit tricky, especially since I messed up MAJORLY on something really important. Our visas.

Yep, I totally screwed up. It's interesting how that happened. As an ESL/ESOL/ELL/EAL teacher, I often read instructions a little too closely. And when the form I was handed following my biometrics appointment only stated that I should send accompanying "documents" along with my passport to the UK consulate in NYC, I only included the documents (VISA application, biometrics approval, photos, etc) and NOT my family's passports. They were listed on my VISA application and I made an assumption that if the passports were needed, I would be notified and would expedite them to NYC. No notice was given. I had an uneasy feeling from the moment I sent the paperwork off, but couldn't find anyone or anywhere to find out if I had done something incorrectly. 

Sure enough, Dave and the boys were given a maximum of six months in country at airport immigration and told they must obtain new visas in the U.S. by then. Yes, IN the U.S.  Lovely. %&#$!!! I muttered many expletives and then tried to bribe the immigration agent with K2's adorableness. I got nothin'.  Soooo...let me know if anyone has ties to the UK embassy here so we can get sorted. Otherwise, it looks like we're coming home for Christmas after all! Ugh. NOT what we planned for. And financially a big blow.
I know this is a learning experience, but it's a very expensive, time-consuming, and frustrating one. 


 

We move into our house tomorrow (Thursday) and I am extremely anxious and excited about it. The four of us and all of our luggage have been crammed into a hotel room since 31 July with very little wiggle room. We are more than ready to unpack and the kids are ready to P-L-A-Y. Thanks to our new friend and taxi driver, Geoff, we should be moved in by 10am! 

TASIS Grounds

TASIS Lower School: My new place of employment

We've Arrived.

I wanted to have a wonderful blogpost ready to go, but now that we're arrived, I think we're all still a bit too tired and excited at the same time for me to concentrate.
Writing on the plane wasn't an option as K1 and K2 were sprawled all over us. Admittedly, it was one of the more painful travel sessions for us in regards to sleep. We all got very little. No delays though and we arrived to our hotel around 1:30pm on Sunday. Thank God for the porter at Heathrow airport. I have no idea how we would have gotten out of Heathrow without him.

Currently our lives fit into:
8 large pieces of luggage
2 bike boxes
2 car seats
1 double stroller
6 carry-on bags

The picture before we left doesn't quite capture it all.

Now we're dealing with a bit of jet lag and everyone's balance seems to be quite off (more than usual). Kristoff kept falling down outside and reopened a knee wound; Kaler fell off the bed last night and it looks as if he might get a black eye. Ouch!
More pictures to come. Cheers!

Under Construction...

This blog will commence upon arrival in the UK on August 3. 

Thanks for staying connected. 

We hope to write about all of our adventures and missteps while living in England and include all of you on our journey.

~The Schutz Family, (A, D, K1, K2)