London With My Parents

So I definitely have some catching up to do, and I finally have time to do it!

We had SO much fun with my parents when they came to visit us! They came to visit us in London for a weekend, then they went to Portugal. After Portugal we got to hang out with them in Wales and the midlands of England. Then they went off on their own adventures, then came back to spend a few days with us in London before flying out. So here are some of the photos of our adventures with them that first weekend in London.

Sam and me in front of Kensington Palace

Sam and me with my parents in front of the palace

My Momma in me in front of the palace! By the way this is the palace where Princess Diana lived. It is about 3 blocks from our flat

Paige and me at the BYU London Centre where she lived while in London

My parents in front of Garfunkels

All of us in front of Garfunkels where we ate that night. It reminded me of a Chilis or something, which is a welcome break for me!

Banksy sighting in Notting Hill on our way to the amazing antiques market--Portobello Road

Royal Wedding Sneak Peek

Sorry I have been on a blog hiatus lately!! Between school finishing and traveling things have been crazy, but they are slowing down now. Here is a sneak peek of our day yesterday waiting on the mall for the royal wedding route! We were on the first row of the crowd! I am still so excited that I got this picture!! More pictures of the wedding and our Iberian vacation to come!

Videos from Trip to Wales

We took a trip with Brittany's parents last week to see where her ancestors on both sides lived and tour some of the medieval castles in Wales. We had a blast, and it was a very humbling experience to think about the rich heritage of this country and the legacy left from our forebears. Brittany capitalized on the experience for a class assignment on identity, so I look forward to seeing some of those photos signifying her roots on here soon.

Seaton
On Friday after work and school, we took the train from London to Basingstoke to meet up with Mark and Susan. We then headed southwest for Seaton, a town on the southern coast of England. Our hotel/B&B was literally across the street from the Atlantic Ocean. It was here in Seaton that William Walton was a vicar at the parish church in 1627. He was the one that later immigrated with his family to the United States. I apologize I haven't really edited these videos much, so there will likely be parts that are kind of boring for most of you. Maybe someday I'll actually put a little time into cutting it up into a more cohesive package. Anyway, on with the show.


Chepstow Castle
Saturday we drove up to Wales, with our first stop at Chepstow Castle. Although parts of it were in ruins, it was breathtaking on the cliffs of the River Wye. It was originally built in the 11th century by the Normans. Because of limitations on YouTube, I had to split the video into two parts. So here is a playlist that includes both parts in succession.


Big Pit
Later on we traveled to visit Big Pit, an old coal and iron mine in Wales where some of Brittany's ancestors on her mom's side worked. (It was primarily an iron mine when they worked there.) Although the mine is no longer actively mined, they still operate by the standard safety codes for mines because they provide guided tours there. It was a really cool experience. It was very humbling to learn how dangerous and difficult the conditions were there. We actually weren't allowed to take any cell phones or cameras down into the shaft because the batteries can cause sparks that would ignite the methane gas that's released from the coal. So this video is just on the surface above the mine.

It's a good thing they gave us hard hats, as my head hit the ceiling several times. I don't know how the workers' backs could have taken being crouched over so much day in and day out, let alone the strenuous physical labor they endured for around 72 hours a week. It was also sad to learn about the "pit ponies" that were used to haul the carts of coal back and forth. Once they went down the shaft, they pretty much lived and worked the rest of their lives hundreds of feet below ground in darkness. On rare occasions, they were taken above ground for a brief break, but would go blind if taken up in the daytime. Their eyes needed to adjust to sunlight more gradually overnight.


Benbow Pond and Wales
This is actually a collection of clips from our trip through Wales, including some of the churches in around Blaenavon and a visit to Benbow Pond. It was here that Wilford Woodruff baptized about 600 people from the United Brethren in 1840, including a couple of Brittany's ancestors on the Bowen side. The LDS Church now owns the land and has a little fence around the pond to protect it.


Raglan Castle
Raglan Castle in southern Wales, is a 14th-century castle that was ransacked during the English Civil War in 1646. Even in ruins, though, it still gives you a great sense of its former majesty and grandeur. I think this was probably when I've felt the most immersed in a medieval castle and could imagine archers defending the castle walls by the moat, and the residents and servants living and working here like a small city.


Berrington Hall
We later toured a neoclassical mansion in Herefordshire, built in the late 18th century. Our visit to Berrington Hall included a guided tour by someone portraying the lead laundry maiden, explaining what life would have been like for the servants of the estate. The home and the grounds were immaculate.


Croft Castle
This one was rushed, because we were running out of time before we had to head to the train station. We basically just ran in and took some pictures/videos of the outside. Croft Castle in Herefordshire was a different kind of castle, because it wasn't really designed for defensive purposes with walls, moats, and defense towers and turrets. Instead it was primarily a residence. A beautiful one, yes, but it wasn't quite as fascinating.


Leominster
Unfortunately, our trip finally had to come to and end. Not before Brittany and Susan had a chance to frolic with a flock of sheep, though. Just outside Leominster, we were driving past a farm where lots of young lambs were bounding through the field behind their mothers. They just couldn't resist. And who could blame them... the lambs were pretty cute. The second half of the video, taken at the Leominster train station right before we headed back to London, is rather odd. While we were waiting for our train, I saw some young people running from the police in a field just behind the station. We were watching from afar as the situation unfolded, and the teens kept trying to flee. Kind of random; probably not interesting enough for Real TV.


And with that, we bid farewell to Mark & Susan--for a week anyway. They're traveling up to Snowdonia and Scotland for a little bit before they come back to London for a few days. Their visit here will overlap with Jeremy & Maria's for a couple days, so that should be fun. Looking forward to it. After celebrating Jimmer Fredette's 52 points to help BYU finally beat New Mexico last night, now onto the Arsenal game versus Manchester United. Cheers mates!

Sam's 27th Birthday Celebration

For Sam's birthday we went to see Usher at the O2 arena! It was such a fun concert! We were up and dancing the entire time.

Yes of course Usher had his shirt off quite often

Such a great production!

We were so happy that he sang a lot of his old songs too.

He also did a Michael Jackson tribute. It was incredible! For those of you who know Sam well.. MJ+Usher was like a dream. haha.

Sam and I in front of the arena!

Sam with his soccer birthday cake. 

 

 

 

 

 

It is so weird to me that Sam is 27! Where did time go?? It seems like just yesterday I was making him a birthday cake at his Michael Jackson birthday party to get him to like me! haha. I love you babe. I am so grateful to be married to my best friend. You are the most amazing man. I am so blessed to be your wife. Thanks for making me laugh every day!!

Pictures of Stonehenge, Salisbury and Bath

So Sam already posted videos of this trip, but I'll just follow up with some pictures!

Stonehenge

LOVE sheep! They are just so cute! I take after my Mum with my love of little lambies!

Salisbury

World's oldest working clock

Bath

In front of Jane Austen's home in Bath

Costco/Ikea Trip, KPMG, and Portobello Road Pictures

At the Costco here! It was a nice little taste of home. Looks just like the one at home, yea?

Loved their Costco food court. So many more options for me! I had some Cottage Pie and it was fantastic. Sam had BBQ Chicken pizza, a Jacket Potato, and a hot dog....gotta love Sam's metabolism..haha

Loved these Cadbury Creme Egg storage jars!!

Sam on the tram on the way home from Costco and Ikea. That was his load to carry and I had the suitcase. I think I got the better end of the deal!

Sam at the KPMG offices. Such a cool and modern office building!

KPMG building from the outside. The Queen actually came to dedicate the building. So cool!

We met up with Paige Knudsen at Portobello Road market!

Sam eating the rest of my delicious (and GIANT) donut. For more details on this donut and other aspects of our Portobello Road trip see the video below.

Sam holding our new shopping trolley. I liked the Give Way sign.

Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Bath

Last Saturday we took a bus tour into the countryside. We visited Stonehenge, which was basically just one of those things to check off the list. It was interesting, though, to think that the stones had probably been in the same exact spot for over 4,000 years! I always wondered how the stones on top had stood so strong for millennia. Like many "magic" tricks, the answer is surprisingly simple. Much like the way your hip joint works, there's basically a ball and socket. (In nephew talk, it's like a giant Lego.) They sculpted a round knob on several of the bottom stones which stand vertically, and then sculpt a socket out of the stone that lays flat across two of the bottom stones.



Next we visited Salisbury, which is not the birthplace of Salisbury Steak! It is, however, very rich in history, and is home to one of the largest cathedrals in the United Kingdom. Salisbury Cathedral is spectacularly beautiful. The intricate Gothic architecture, combined with its sheer size is pretty captivating. We also enjoyed some delicious fish and chips for lunch at British pub The Cloisters, which has been operating since the 1750s.



Finally, we visited the Roman baths and the Jane Austen center in the city of Bath. Don't pronounce it like you're taking a "bath," though. It's more like "bawth." Unfortunately, we didn't really have any time to go through the Jane Austen center, so we had to settle for a quick stroll through the gift shop. We did, however, walk over to Jane Austen's house, where she lived for a few years in her 20s. There's now a dentist's office there. Anybody looking to open a dental practice in England? (hint, hint)

Portobello Antiques Market

Last Saturday, we made a trip up to Notting Hill to Portobello Antiques Market. We had actually gone there in 2009 when we visited London, but we really enjoyed it, and now we've got a little more time to relax and enjoy everything going on around us. Supposedly, it's actually the largest antiques market in the world. And yes, the movie Notting Hill was filmed in the neighborhood. The market has 3 main sections--antiques, food, and a flea market. We picked up a few things in all three areas.

I apologize for the quality of the video. As much as we love our new little camcorder, I have not yet matured into an Oscar-caliber cinematographer. I think I learned my lesson not to go crazy with the zoom without a tripod or something. Anyway, below is a video of our little jaunt north to Notting Hill and a little antiques reconnaissance work for Brittany's parents when they come visit.



The video is about 13 minutes long (I just combined 17 shorter clips together), and here are some of the highlights:

• Brief tour of our neighborhood in Kensington and some of the shopping just down the street
• Tube ride to Notting Hill (only one stop down, actually!)
• Me getting politely asked to turn off the camera
• More old Singer sewing machines than you can shake a stick at
• One very large donut
• An education on how to pronounce "admiral"

Loving London

I know I still need to play catch up with all the things that happened before we moved, like Disneyland, San Diego, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. As you can probably guess, things were a bit crazy. Between school and work, life has been a little insane. I will catch up on those things eventually, but so I don't overwhelm myself right now, I'll just show you guys a few pictures of our flat here. I'll post some pictures of things we have been doing lately tomorrow! Our flat:

The view from our living room... I'm so in love with this garden!

Our cute little living room with our couch that does not fit two very long adults

Where we spend most of our time

Another look at our amazing view

Our cute little hidden washing machine/dryer. Yes it does both in one machine! Didn't know that existed until we moved here... Unfortunately it takes like half a day to do a load!

Our kitchen. It actually has quite a bit of storage space, since we don't have a ton of extra dishes and appliances. Love having a gas stove again!

Our bedroom! We have a full bed, which is what I grew up sleeping in. It is a little small for us, but if my parents could have a full bed for like 15 years, we can handle it for 6 months!

Our bathroom... I was a little disappointed we don't have a bidet, but we will have to make do! haha.

We love you and miss you all!!

First Week in London

Well, we made it! We're getting settled into our new flat on Kensington Square and enjoying our new surroundings. Our one-bedroom flat isn't the biggest place in the world, but the location is spectacular. It is to be expected that square footage in the heart of London comes at a premium. It's definitely sufficient for us, though, and we should have enough room for people to come visit, as well.

We have had to make some adjustments, including...

Most Everything Is Smaller
Tiny dishwasher, mini fridge, smaller beds, narrower hallways, and a little laundry machine that serves as both a washer and a dryer. The last one kind of made us laugh when we discovered it, but it's definitely an improvement to be able to do laundry in our own home now!

Weather
The weather is different, obviously, from sunny California. The transition was actually much more gradual than we expected. It was cold and rainy during our last few days in California, and it was sunnier and warmer than usual here our first two days. It's since cooled down a little bit, but it hasn't been bitterly freezing cold yet. I'm sure that time will come, but I haven't had occasion yet to break out my overcoat, so I think we've still got some wiggle room. We have had a few hints of sunshine, but the sky is typically pretty gray. The days are also shorter here, given the higher latitude. It's usually pitch black here by 4:30 or 5:00pm.

Public Transportation
Not having a car means having to work to shop and get groceries. As much as I love driving and the freedom to go pretty much wherever you want whenever you want, we both have very manageable commutes to work/school (35-40 minutes each). London does have a really great transportation system. We also live just a block away from a really great shopping district, so we don't have to carry groceries too far. Our flat is on the 2nd floor (which would actually be the 3rd floor in the States--they don't count the ground floor as the 1st floor), so lugging up four 70-pound suitcases upon our arrival did catch me a little out of breath. Our flat came "fully furnished," but we ventured out to Croydon to get a bunch of household items at Costco and IKEA to fill in all the gaps.

Our Costco/IKEA run was pretty hilarious. We were brave and decided to try public transportation over renting a car. Maybe a foolish choice, but we felt like superheroes when we finally made it back. We looked pretty funny to any observers on the tube, bus, or tram--Brittany wheeling my old suitcase stuffed with an inflatable mattress, a 4-pack of pillows, and a bunch of sheets and kitchenware; me struggling with a little plastic luggage cart toting several awkwardly large boxes strapped down with twine that nearly toppled over a few times when boarding and exiting the train.

Cash Over Credit
Cash is usually a much better option than paying with credit. In the US, we pay for everything with our credit cards in order to get reward points. I also like being able to track all of our budgets and spending patterns on Mint.com, and we avoid interest by paying everything off before the end of the billing cycle. When you use your credit card overseas, though, most credits cards charge a "foreign transaction fee" of about 3% on every purchase. They say it's to cover their costs of exchanging currencies, but basically it's just an excuse to charge bogus fees. So, with a few exceptions, we've started paying cash for just about everything. Certain banks like Barclays allow us to withdraw cash at their ATMs at a fair exchange rate without any fees. It is kind of annoying to have to carry cash around, but it is kind of fun to do the math with their notes (bills) and coins.

Staying Connected
Staying "connected" has certainly been more challenging. We're used to being able to make calls, check email, and surf the web any time, any place. One week without a fully functioning iPhone? How did we survive?! I got my Blackberry from work now, and we unlocked Brittany's iPhone and got a family plan so that we can talk anytime for free. Unlocking her phone was a nerve racking experience. We tried going to Apple in the US and the UK, and they said they couldn't unlock it. We tried AT&T in the US and every single carrier in the UK, and none of them said they could help us. Finally, we went to one of those shady corner shops to unlock it.

You hand them the phone, they take it into the back room to tinker, you wait nervously for about 40 minutes hoping you didn't just get scammed, and 15 GBP later, you have an unlocked/jailbroken iPhone. We then took it to Vodafone, and Brittany was back in the game. I wanted to wait to unlock mine until we see how Brittany's turned out. I actually hate my Blackberry, so I'll probably end up using it just for calls and work email, and then use my iPhone for everything else. At least now I have ammunition any time a Blackberry user starts trash talking on the iPhone.

We do have digital cable TV and wireless internet in our flat. We also discovered that Google Voice still works over here, so we are able to call US numbers for free as long as we're logged into our Gmail. So, if you ever need to talk and don't want to pay the international rates, just have us call you back. It'll be completely free, and the call quality's surprisingly good. Even if we call your cell phone, we'll be calling from a US number, so you still won't get charged international rates.

Roehampton University
Brittany had her orientation on Friday to get familiar with the campus and the university system. She had to work extra hard to get into the right classes for school. Roehampton University doesn't allow international students to pre-register for classes, and none of the classes she requested in her study abroad application were granted. We were nervous for the first hour or two that she wouldn't be able to take any classes that would help her get closer to her degree at SJSU.

There was a point in time we were seriously considering the possibility that it might not make sense for her to even participate in the study abroad program. Thankfully, we were able to catch the convener (think "dean") responsible for the photography program to discuss her situation. After a good share of explanation and negotiation we were finally able to get all three of her desired modules (think "classes"). Each module is the equivalent of two standard classes in the US, so she should be kept pretty busy this semester. She does only have classes Tuesday through Friday, but marks (think "grades") here are almost entirely comprised of one or two big assignments--either a huge paper or exam.

Working at KPMG
KPMG has a beautiful new office in Canary Wharf where I had my first day of work on Tuesday. Working in an urban setting definitely has a different feel to it. The office is amazing, though I'm still adjusting to having such an open floor plan. There aren't any cubicle walls, so it's challenging not get sucked into all the conversations and phone calls going on around you. I'm excited to get into the full swing of things this week, though, and it looks like I've got some exciting work ahead of me over the next six months.

Hyde Park Ward
Our ward here is much more, um, American than we were expecting. The Hyde Park Ward meets in a nice part of the city that's home to lots of famous museums. It seemed like over half the people there, including the bishopric, were from the States, though. There are a lot of other young American families here temporarily for work or school. We were actually looking forward to hearing lots of British accents at church, but I suppose the Yanks will suffice! The ward typically has a lot of visitors and tourists, including some of the students at the BYU London Centre. They actually labeled us as long-term residents, given that we'll be here for six months! So, over time, we should have plenty of opportunities to meet lots of different people and hear some interesting stories and accents.


Sorry for rambling on so long. I should probably have smaller, more frequent posts, rather than the occasional epic. If there's anything I skipped, though, feel free to leave a question in the comments. We love and miss all of you, and we look forward to seeing many of you over here in the coming months!