Fun and Games

Before I jump into today's memories, I thought I'd just say a sincere word of thanks to those of you following along, and those of you posting sweet comments along the way...  I read (and appreciate) every one.  I've been following certain friend's blogs, not mentioning (Jen...) any names (...Howell) for many, many moons, and just laugh and laugh and enjoy them so much, but have never once left a comment... I had no idea how encouraging they can be...so thank you to all of you, and sorry to Jen (your blog inspires me).  I think one reason I keep thinking, "People are really reading this?!?" is because my only prior attempt at writing was in my 10th grade journalism class, which my mom would remember was the one in which I cried every night an assignment was given because I thought I was so crummy at it...so, thanks guys...

Anyway, on to the "Fun and Games" of today's edition...so, the kids and I were walking along the "Backs" one day (which is what they call all the green, grassy fields, parks, etc. surrounding the BACKS of the colleges) and we happened upon this park, which instantly made and has remained in the kids "Top 10 Things About Cambridge" list.  Let me just explain about a few of these quite potentially deadly "apparati."  Take for instance the one above.  Yes, the innocent-looking saucer with Victoria in the middle...that's the one.  This contraption can be pushed until it goes VERTICAL to the ground, up and back.  Think about this for a moment.  It wasn't so bad when her head was up and feet down, but when her head was down and feet up, Victoria squealed with delight and Dianne squealed with terror.  An interesting footnote to this photo...do you see the...er...tree-looking growth just behind Victoria?  Yes, 'tis pruning season in Cambridge, and few lucky trees seem spared...just today, in fact, I was walking down the lane at Churchill College (where we live), and the once beautiful tree-lined footpaths we have enjoyed to date are now lined with...um...tree bobs, shall we say.  Looks like the boys tree climbing days here are numbered!

If the first picture scores a "9" on the "Scare-Mom-To-Death-Ometer", this one would be a solid "10".  (I can just hear some of the boys' friends saying, "YEAH,  bring it on!" :))  This is a stand up see-saw.  Sounds innocent enough.  Until we realized the goal was to bump the other one off, just like you would bump a regular see saw, only this one sent the kids soaring off into any number of unpredictable directions (note the soft black padding all around!), much to their complete delight, I might add...Note all the trees in this photo...nice, plump, branches...they better watch out...their turn's coming!

On to the "GAMES" portion of our "Fun and Games" Memory...

So, we saw that Cambridge University's premiere rugby team, the Cambridge Blues (the school color is light blue), were playing at a theatre near us...uh, wrong motto...they were actually playing on a field near Tyndale House, where Brad is studying.  So, we decided to take the kids to their (and our) first ever rugby game.  Oh my.  If only we had known what was happening...we watched and tried to act normal, like cheering when others around us cheered and acting completely offended when it appeared we were supposed to be.  At one point I leaned over to Brad and said, "Any idea what's going on?"  I was glad I was not alone. :)  The kids REALLY enjoyed it, though, so much so, in fact, that they want to play RUGBY at their next birthday party!  I'll need to brush up a bit on the rules before then..actually,.I think our brother-in-law used to play.  If this is true, Tuckerman, please begin preparing your rugby tutorial .   :)

And look what is a VERY common sight on the "Backs" every Saturday morning--rugby practice!  It is a very interesting sport to see for the first time as an adult--kind of like football, soccer and cheerleading (they lift up their players high overhead for some reason every now and again during the game---Tori is convinced they are doing a type of cheer to encourage their team on...maybe...)

On to bed tonight...Brad's horizontal after a day in London (!), and we are getting up early tomorrow to go to the Duxford Imperial War Museum, Europe's premiere aviation museum.  So if history, tanks, artillery, or aviation (Curtis) is your thing, stay tuned, tomorrow's coming...

Interesting People We're Meeting

We're meeting some very interesting people here.  I'm just realizing I'm not getting all their photos, but here's a few:

Meet Ranald Macauley, who is the director, of sorts, of the Round Church.  We had the priviledge of spending part of one afternoon with him.  He is married to the former Susan Schaeffer, Francis and Edith Schaeffer's daughter.  (Francis Schaeffer was a famous American theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor.) I love the next photo...here's a man who's a "big deal" to many people, yet he intentionally took  a special interest in the kids.  When he found out Tori's name was Victoria, he immediatly took her hand and gently led her to this place in the Round Church where Queen Victoria (yes, THE Queen Victoria) had placed the stone (one with her initials, "VR"--can you see it?).  He told her all about it, right at her eye level...precious...

 Our next person of interest is Rt. Rev. John B. Taylor, a retired bishop (one of 16) in Queen Elizabeth's Royal Court.  He spoke at a weekly chapel service they have at Tyndale House, where Brad is studying.  While in the Queen's Court, he had the distinction of, every Maudy Thursday, washing the queen's feet!  He has since retired, but every Christmas he gets a hand-written Christmas card from the Queen, and the mail carrier salutes him when he signs for it.  He remains to this day a dear friend of hers, and often has tea with her--IMAGINE! They are standing in a little English garden (we can't wait until the flowers bloom this Spring) in back of Tyndale House...

OK, we'll play a little game for the kids following along...while we were in Trinity College's Chapel, there were many statues of different people thru the centuries that had attended Trinity College and made some sort of significant contribution to society.  Victoria chose this man with whom to have her picture taken because of his name.  Here are some clues as to who he is.  See if you can guess.  First clue:  He was a famous 16th century philosopher and politician.  Second clue:  He liked to wear big fluffy collars and pantaloons. :)  Third clue:  His first name has already been mentioned as a man's name on this blog.  Fourth clue:  His last name is a common breakfast food often served with eggs.  Did anybody guess it?  I'll put the answer at the end of the blog--no peeking!

Both as a science major in college and then in medical school, I studied

DNA extensively.  When we went to the Cavendish Laboratory, I was surprised at how moved I was.  These two men who made a discovery that literally changed so much of how life and medicine is understood and studied today, did it right here...One note of interest, even with this discovery, Crick was an atheist until the day he died, and, according to the tour guide (who was a Christian), Watson is still alive but is an atheist as well...unbelievable...talk about some serious denial these men had going on! (I'm reading a book now, in fact, that mentions these two men and their discovery, called, "I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist--a good read--excellent, in fact-- on apologetics.)

So, this shot just proves you can see just about anything on the streets of Cambridge.  A couple of things to note:  bicycles, streets made of brick, the old, the new, people WALKING (note dark colors of their clothing), posters on fence (no billboards).  In particular:  The moving astronaut/aluminum foil man, who called himself "The Sonic Manipulator" is one whom we have seen on two different occasions.  He is doing some sort of rhythmic-rap-rhyme-jive-thing into a voice modulator of sorts that makes you want to run and scream, not necessarily in that order.  Another interesting historical note...there is a small trough between the bricks of the street and the curb?  Do you see it?  Any ideas what it is?  You history buffs, (Robbie Hinton), any ideas?  It used to be a watering trough for the horses before the days of cars, with fresh water running thru the entire city...interesting, eh?

Well, that about wraps it up here in Cambridgeshire for now...until next time...

Cheerio, Dianne

P.S.  Victoria is standing next to.........FRANCIS BACON......did you get it right?

Our First Visitor and the Hairless Headman

So, it's time for the "Our First Visitor" story.  You see, here in Britain they have this absolutely ingenious at-home delivery grocery service.  The way it works is, you select your groceries online (Tesco.com, if anyone is interested), pay the equivalent of about $5.00 delivery charge plus what you buy, and the next day (or whenever you request), your groceries are delivered TO YOUR DOOR!!  They will even unload them into the kitchen if you want!  So, we were intrigued by this whole concept, and decided to give it a whirl.  Oh, I had SO much fun clicking away on all these never-before-heard-of items whose pictures looked irresistible...anyway, we've always had lots of folks in and out of our home, but not knowing anyone, we haven't had anyone over the whole time we've been here.  On the day of the scheduled delivery, all day long the kids were asking how much longer until the man from Tesco would arrive.  Well, we were all so excited that someone was coming over, that we cleaned the entire flat, everyone took baths, and when he rang the doorbell, we all 5 opened the door, and there we stood in a semicircle with big smiles all welcoming the Tesco man to our home!  It was quite a moment!   He was very good-natured, quite amused, and assured us that he'd NEVER had a delivery like this one!  So, here he is...our first visitor! HOORAY!!

BTW, many have asked about where we live...in this picture you can see a bit of our courtyard, and to the right, our persimmon tree (it's the one with 2 twig-type shoots coming out of the ground) that has ONE persimmon on it, and I (Dianne) have already claimed it!  There's a gate, which you can make out behind us, which locks, and this enclosed courtyard is the location of many happy hours of soccer for the kids...

Anyway, here we are happily putting away our groceries--I debated about whether or not to include this photo--captures the moment, but looks like I'm pregnant...I'm not. You also get a peek at  part of our kitchen...Tori is holding the digestive biscuits that she so loves and that I blogged about earlier, Caleb has the "washing up" liquid, and Daniel was just about to put away the single cream, which we hope is 1/2 and 1/2 for Brad's coffee.  Our choices were:  single cream, double cream, or whipping cream.  Which would you have chosen?  What a delightful experience this was!  We are all looking forward to ordering groceries again!

Another "oh dear, you must be Americans" story is the one involving hair clippers and a South America shaped bald spot on the side of my husband's head.  You see, Brad cuts the boys and his hair with clippers, so we brought ours from home.  Only thing is that there seemed to be some problem when we plugged them in.  We very adeptly noticed this when they emitted this sound SO loud that it vibrated the windows and made Tori cry.  So, a couple of days later, we decided it was REALLY time for all Green boys to get hair cuts, and figured that we must have misremembered how loud the noise was when we turned them on--surely we could  put up with it long enough to do 3 buzz haircuts!  So, we tried it again--I'm telling you, this time it was so loud the glasses were vibrating...so, Brad decided he'd just do it the old-fashioned way, with scissors and a razor blade.  He started--and (thankfully) ended with-- himself...my own hairless headman, so to speak. :)  UPDATE:  we met some friends that have offered us their clippers, which were bought in the UK, so soon everyone should have nice, EVEN haircuts!

Our First Weekend, Part II

Before I get "officially" started on today's edition of "Cambridge Capers", I thought I might briefly address a couple of comments that have appeared on the blog.  First of all, I am both blown away and blessed by those of you who are following our adventure...thank you for all your kind comments...which leads me to the fact that a couple folks mentioned they were having trouble leaving comments--I'm working on that from this end --see if it's getting any easier and please let me know.  I hope to one day know how to respond to each person individually, but I haven't quite figured that out yet.  Secondly,  several have commented on the Spicy Thai Chicken chips.  I regret to inform you that I misspoke.  They are not SPICY Thai chicken flavored chips, but rather SWEET Thai Chicken flavored chips.  Let me know if you still want me to send boxes your way.  Also, we are 6 hours ahead of central time; in other words, 3pm Central Time is 9pm Cambridge Time.  I hope the queries (as they call questions over here) are because someone would like to call--YEAH!!  Our phone has rung once (it was today - yippee!) in our 10 days here, and it was a time of grand celebration, I can tell you!!

Anyway, back to our first weekend... we visited Eden Baptist Church and enjoyed it immensely.  Something interesting we noticed...people don't often tell their name when they first meet you.  During the "meet and greet" time at church, I was sitting next to a quite friendly chap, and sometime during the service realized I hadn't even gotten his name...no, because he didn't give it.  I've since learned that that is very British, because sharing your name involves some level of intimacy, and it's not uncommon to have several conversations before learning someones name!  Interesting, because the first thing we say to visitors in the States is, "Hi, I'm _______ welcome to our church..."
After chuch, we went on a tour of Cambridge, starting at the Round Chuch, which is, well, round. :)  A couple of interesting historical notes: it was built in 1130 (!) by crusaders returning from the first crusade to Jerusalem.  It is modeled after The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was built by the Roman Emperor Constantine and stands (in Jerusalem) directly over the site of the Resurrection.  The street out in front of the church is a former Roman Road (no, not the one to Salvation :)), and inside the church there is a copy of the Canterbury Gospels, the oldest illustrated Bible manuscript in the world. 

From there we ventured to many a college to see many a marvel.  Among them were the statues seen in the next two pictures.  I'd tell you all about them if I could remember.  The best I can tell you is that every building in Cambridge is like looking at a Highlights (magazine for kids) Hidden Picture page.  There are more statues and symbols and busts and names and figurines and historical meanings, messages, and mysteries etched on, in, and around every building that I lost count of who was whom by the time we got to, oh, the second building.

Wait!  I just had a breakthrough...this statue is of Thomas Clarkson, who was good friends with William Wilberforce, who led the campaign to abolish slavery in the UK.  That's right, he is holding the chains in his hand, and at his feet is the broken chain...

 I think the dude on the right below is Charles Darwin--NOT the guy in the green jacket and white hair--that's Peter, the tour guide--Darwin is the statue on the right, I'm most certain.  Does it look like him?

This is St. John's College's Chapel.  Do you see on the lawn where the grass looks messed up?  That is the outline of where the original chapel stood.   The doors below are the ORIGINAL doors (dated 1511!) to St. John's College..impressive...

Brad is standing in the courtyard in front of the fountain at Cambridge University's Trinity College (founded in 1350 (!)).  The grass is beautiful, so beautiful, in fact, that no one is allowed to walk on it! Trinity College is where most of the aristocrats of British society have gone thru the centuries...Prince Charles went here among many others...an interesting note here is that Bill Gates' daughter is a student at Cambridge University...good chance she's enrolled here at Trinity College.  (I'm hoping to meet her and tell her about a great classical, Christian school in Jackson, TN!)  That about wraps it up for today...stay tuned for another exciting episode when we share about our very first visitor!

Our First Weekend, Part I

Today's topic is bicycles, which they call simply, "cycles". To give you an idea, there are 32 colleges which comprise the University of Cambridge, with a combined total of 23,000 students. Each student is given a bicycle when they arrive (it's actually just a loan--they have to return it), so in a town the size that you can just about walk all the way around, there are AT LEAST 23,000 bicycles! And they are confident and determined riders, I might add...that plus the fact that pedestrians don't have the right-of-way, has led to some close calls for us pedestrian-type folk. It's been interesting seeing all the different types of bicycle-ish modes of transportation...our favorite has been an adult-sized bike with 3 wheels--Yes, a giant tricycle, complete with a basket in front!...a great conversation piece!

So, enough about the bikes...they are everywhere and line all the streets, lanes, trees, shrubs, and people who aren't moving. We actually had decided to take a look around Cambridge our first weekend here--there's much to enjoy and explore around here...one of the first not-in-Jackson type of sights we saw was this pantomime. He was entertaining quite a group of folks.

The kids didn't know quite what to make of him...there were lots of people taking photos, and he was inviting someone to come and stand next to him for a photo--no one was taking him up on his offer until Brad Green's quiet and subdued wife said, "BRAD, GO ON UP THERE--IT'LL MAKE A MEMORY!! And so it did. The kids favorite part was the white paint that was left on daddy's head...

For all the kiddos who may be viewing the blog, we wanted to point out a couple of interesting differences we noticed right away. Their mail boxes (I think they call them "post boxes") do not say USPS on them, but rather, "Royal Mail", and there are these red telephone booths everywhere. (How these phone booths would have come in handy for my youth group scavenger hunt days, when there was ALWAYS the mandate to take a Polaroid picture (ask your parents what that is) inside a phone booth!)..

As we explored around, we couldn't help but notice the new with the old. Notice the buildings in the foreground and background below. It's a little hard to tell, but most of Cambridge still looks like it has for, well, centuries, I guess. But just behind the old is the modern, all glass building...the children were glad to see something familiar-looking in the newer building. They are so bewildered that Cambridge is considered such a beautiful city. As Daniel so succinctly put it, "But it's all OLD!!" Yes, yes, young whipper-snapper, 'tis old...and beautiful...

You may recognize the pedestrians in the blue jackets...more about what those very pedestrians discovered their first weekend in the next exciting episode. Stay tuned...

1st Day Homeschooling!

It is true. We have officially homeschooled our first day. Actually, we all enjoyed it--it was typical of any first day of school, where we got organized, expectations laid out, and everything in line to "hit it hard" on Monday. The kids are all excited, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it as well. Thanks to the kindness of Mrs. Wagar (Tori's 2nd grade teacher), Mrs. McGough (Daniel's 3rd grade teacher), and Mr. Byrd (Caleb's 5th grade teacher), the children know what to do, how to do it, and I am well prepared. How I appreciate each of them!

The absolute funniest thing happened today at the laundry mat for our flat (as they call our apartment). The kids and I had ventured over to begin our weekly washing routine. Little did we know what lay before us. We had already been told that there are no dryers, so we had already located the drying racks in the apartment, and made our strategy for carrying home all the wet laundry to dry all over the flat. So, we loaded our clothes in 2 of the machines (photo courtesy of Brad Green), but I could not find a place to put in the detergent. "They must just sprinkle it on top," I thought. So we did that, then began loading two other washing machines. After a few minutes, Caleb said, "Mom, when does the water start?" I looked at the 2 already rotating machines we had loaded with all our dirty clothes and the dry detergent and figured maybe over here it just takes a while for the water to kick on...After ALL 4 machines were loaded with detergent, dirty clothes, and lots of money, Caleb asked the all important question, "Mom, the water still hasn't started. Could these be dryers?" Obviously not, I thought...and then...no place for detergent...no water...gasp...oh no...yes, you guessed it. We had just loaded everything to be washed into their 4 new DRYERS!! O dear. You can only imagine what the next few minutes entailed...needless to say, our clothes are now very clean (you know, with detergent in both the real washing machines and, thanks to us, in the dryers as well) and put away until next week...

The best part of the day was our family game night. We played spoons (even though the picture looks like we're playing WITH spoons, we actually played the game, "Spoons." :)) and Go Fish, and had loads (not to be confused with our loads of laundry) of fun!! We are enjoying family time and are so thankful for the opportunity to be here. Culture note: For snacks during our famiy game night we ate--get ready--something called," digestive biscuits"--I'm not making this up--Tori loves them. They are actually

cookies (biscuits) half-covered with milk chocolate, and I'm not sure what the "digestive" part is all about. Some things are better left unanswered. :)

Tesco and Hot Cross Buns

Checkers (at Tyndale House) are serious business around here...

Day number 3 (Thursday 1/14/10) . Today we decided to take a taxi and do a MAJOR shopping trip to Tesco, which is like Wal-Mart. The very first item I saw in the store was HOT CROSS BUNS (note lovely model on left ), just like the childrens song. Feeling very cultured, I bought 2 packs. We had such fun there-they even had an escalator on which you and your shopping cart could go up and down together to the second floor (in background of photo). I bought some yogurt in flavors--are you ready--NOT strawberry and strawberry-banana, but (and I am not kidding) gooseberry, blackcurrant, and rhubarb! But my favorite were the chip flavors in our variety pack: roast ham and mustard, flame grilled steak, and spicy thai chicken--outrageous! :)

The children are adjusting well to our new surroundings. We all keep saying to each other, "I can't believe we're in Cambridge!" Just like when Brad and I first got married, we often would comment, "Can you believe we're married?!" More than once I've thought of Zig Ziglar's quote about "wherever you go, there you are", meaning that we are still who we are, just in a different place. I guess we had so long anticipated and planned for being here that I somehow imagined everything to be different, including us...

Caleb verbalized his first impressions poignantly, "I like it." He also noticed right away that the steering wheels are on the opposite side in cars. Daniel first noticed the difference in the English accents, some of which are quite difficult to understand! And Victoria has noted how much more softly the English speak, both in conversation and when walking along the streets. It's been funny that we are having to intentionally lower our voices when we speak to each other, because normal talking tones for Americans are MUCH louder than normal talking tones for Brits.

17 Hours of Sleep Later...

Yes, the entire family slept 17 hours after our first day here...7pm to 12 noon. WOW. So, this is where we are staying: Churchhill College (founded by Winston Churchill and is his national memorial) at the University of Cambridge. See the snow? We're told it's the coldest winter in 50 years here. There's lots of global warming joking going on among folks here...

The boys have been very innovative in their athletic pursuits...they duct-taped this basketball goal to their bedroom wall, and are having regular b-ball tournaments...kind of our own version of Upward.

Our second day (following our sleepathon) we finished unpacking then ventured to Tyndale House, which is where Brad is studying these 4 months. It is an enjoyable half-hour walk, and we arrived at 4pm--tea time! We all felt very British. It was such a pleasure to meet different scholars from around the globe who are studying there. Many of them are here for 2-3 years, so it was interesting to hear from their perspectives about life in Cambridge.

First Day in Cambridge!

So, our first order of business after arriving was discovering a suitable lunch destination. We chose a quaint, traditional English pub called, "The Mitre." It has been operating since the 1700's, and we found it to be, to our complete delight, exactly that for which we were hoping. Brad ordered the infamous fish and chips, and the kids were mesmerized by the enormity of their meals. Culture note: apparently "to go" boxes are not the norm around here...we asked for one, and the waitress was very polite, but looked at us as if she'd never heard of such a thing. After quite some time, she came back with each item individually wrapped in a very nice container...so nice, in fact, that we now use it as our official "lunch pail" when out and about...

Our day's second adventure was to buy a few groceries at a neighborhood grocery. We found one called Sainsburys, and I was giddy with glee. I just love neighborhood grocery stores! Let's see, a couple of things that stand out in my mind: First of all, the shopping carts cost 1 pound (roughly $1.70) to use. We (along with everyone else) opted for baskets, which were free, but didn't hold much. I decided these small baskets must be one reason folks here have to shop every other day or so...Also, we noted that the entrance to the store was completely open...a sort of extension of outside, and shoppers stayed bundled up in coats, hats, scarves, mittens, the whole ensemble, throughout their shopping experience. I kind of felt like I was in Narnia--inside the wardrobe, but dressed for outside...Then when we checked out there was this completely delightful cashier who reminded me of before-super-stardom Susan Boyle. She was apparently a local, and so friendly. She just talked and talked to us. I think she was speaking English. Her English accent was so thick that I kept thinking, "Her lips are moving and syllables are coming out...hmmm...I wonder what she's saying...

Ready...Set...Go

A few days before we left, our dear friends Steve and Virginia Tilleros hosted in their home the Augustine Board and teachers for a "send-off" prayer time for us. We were both honored and humbled, and seized the opportunity to practice our "tea-drinking" skills in preparation for England. :)

Can you say multicolored luggage and matching coats? Yes, we intentionally packed light, and still ended up with 3 carts of very colorful luggage... but if our luggage was not to be matched, our coats were, thanks to Brad, my forward-thinking husband!

Meet Dan. He was our shuttle driver from the London Heathrow Airport to our "new" home at Cambridge University's Churchill College. Can you see his gloves? They don't have the tips of the fingers. British. Also note hat. Very British. And his accent, you guessed it, the real deal...been in England all his life, and very happy here...so happy, he informed us, that he doesn't have a passport and no intention of getting one. Brad shared the gospel with him in a very genuine and winsome way...I so admired him...even in a state of semi-consciousness from lack of sleep, Brad still shared the greatest story ever told. Dan was polite (very British), and genuinely interested in us, but not in Jesus. So, prayer alert: Dan, the shuttle man. Culture moment: besides the hat and gloves, note the dark colors of his clothes, and the bright colors (especially bag!) of the Americans!