Bree and I were forceably split up today...

MONDAY

Today was a sad day - Bree started work! In our entire married life- two weeks and two days- we'd been separated for a mere 4 hours. Bree would have to be at work early in the morning... 9:30 a.m. I must say I greatly prefer the Brit schedule. And she'll usually be off at 5:30.
Since she was busy making money, I immediately sought out ways to spend it. First, I found a British "hardware" store, which had more kitchen appliances than anything else. We needed a converter so we could plug in the laptop. (We have some but we haven't shipped them yet.) So you know, many electronics with power boxes are compatible if you have a converter.
Then it was back to the Internet underground. I got on IM, but most of you were still in bed. Then I spent some time trying to pull myself out of the ranks of the unemployed. Some progress today, finally.
Using the Internet was so much easier using my own computer. Even as seldom as we use the @ symbol, it's still highly annoying when it's way over where the semi-colon goes.
I went home for lunch, to have the maid ignore the privacy sign on the door again. The first time Bree and I were still asleep!
Then it was out to look at more flats. I'm on the tube in between boroughs as I write. I may not totally belong yet, but I have my headphones on like the locals do, partially tuning out the clanging of wheels and track.
It's starting to sink in exactly how much time I'll spend in the mass transit system over the next couple years. Unfortunately I still can't find a Visa Underground card to start accumulating miles. Another tragedy is not having a cell phone- I traveled 45 minutes to view a flat only to learn that it had already been let. The evening included a couple more flat visits. We feel kind of old - neither of us objects to going to bed at 10:00.

Flat: British for a difficult to find apartment

(I know I'm missing a couple days here... but this is what I've got with me right now to post.)

SATURDAY JANUARY 29
The flat hunting continued! The pace wasn't too bad today with just a couple appointments, so we managed to be on time. After visiting several different parts of the city, we realized that some parts of it are not that different from U.S. Cities. For instance, Canary Wharf seems a lot like New York, with a financial center composed of towering skyscrapers.
We think we'll choose to live somewhere that seems a bit more Londony, probably to the southwest. I can't imagine shopping for a house, as just finding a place to live for the next six months has been plenty difficult.

SUNDAY JANUARY 30
So we finally made it to church as a married couple! (we're not really counting last week's attempt.) Both of us were extremely refreshed to worship alongside our UK peers to the sounds of Hillsong and Matt Redman music. We visited a church start that meets at a theater on the London School of Economics campus, and I think there were only 3 people over the age of 30. They really rocked it out during praise and worship; their energy was contagious.
We also listened to some Christian radio after flipping past Kenneth Copeland's broadcast. Afternoon entertainment included Mr. Bean and finishing up our books: The Bourne Supremacy and Gates of Splendor by Elizabeth Elliot, both of which I recommend. A honeydew melon was the most exciting food of the day! It was a relaxing Sunday, except for an intense game of scrabble in which Bree handily avenged her humiliation from earlier in the week. We agreed that we love married life and managed to fall asleep at a reasonable hour after a couple phone conversations.

Would you like a bit of tea with your croissant?

JANUARY 24
So Sunday morning’s excursion to find a church was not very fruitful. We attended an Anglican mass at a beautiful building with people who were nice enough, but whose emphasis on some issues didn’t exactly mesh with our own – you’ll have to ask for details in person.

We returned to Flat 2C to make turkey and cheese croissants followed by a much too long nap.We tried again to find a place of worship Sunday night – walking 25 minutes to the southeast, probably through some less than prime neighborhoods, only to find that the address was just that of an empty flat. Oh well.

An unexpected benefit of the trip was finding postings of flats for let in realtor windows. Thus began our search for a new home. We walked for over an hour and returned by passing the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. We did our first Marks and Spencer shopping trip and made noodles for dinner.

The highlight of the night was our first telephone conversations with our parents, after we deciphered the phone card issues. It is much cheaper, both in sum and especially for us for them to call here. Some lame movie Simply Irresistable was the nightcap.

JANUARY 25
Monday was the busiest day yet by far. In the morning, we walked several blocks to locate a dry cleaner, also purchasing a wallet that can hold the oversize British notes, of which we have a few but hope for more.

We also logged on at an Internet café – finding only slight keyboard differences. After another sandwich lunch, this time complemented with cottage cheese with pineapple and celery sticks with sour cream and chives, we set out to find new arrivals – Melanie and Katherine who will be working with Bree. We found them in the subway, which is merely an underground passageway, not to be confused with The Tube. It was our first time to see friends in a nine-day span with the brief exception in Hollywood. We enjoyed catching up with them and talking about College Stationites. Of course we took them on the daily outing to the grocery store and we just might have made enough purchases to skip Tuesday! We also had our daily nap.

Matt then spent some time doing research at an Internet café, as Bree prepared our first dinner with protein – noodles with meat sauce. She didn’t even have to ask how to brown the meat! We watched yet another sub-par movie Deep Blue Sea and tried to go to bed early enough to get back on schedule.

Leaving, on a jet plane...

We used our cell phones for the last time at the airport. It was a strange feeling converting our cash into pounds. We boarded the plane only to sit there for an hour and a half because the pilot had not shown up yet. This only served to further mess up our biological clocks. Other passengers were less than pleasant upon hearing the news; especially when they were told that they could not deboard – apparently once you have boarded an international flight, you are deemed to have left the country.

We watched “The Forgotten” and “The First Daughter,” neither of which I would recommend or ever watch again. I watched part of “The Village” just to get a feel for it, but Bree would never watch it with me.

We were thrilled to not have to mess with getting stopped by customs, as we weren’t certain that we’d ever get our bags shut again if they were opened. But it was a 10-mile walk before we found a luggage cart.

TAXI?
One man asked us if we needed a taxi and we followed him to an unmarked car. I began to ask him questions, but felt uncomfortable taking what was apparently an unauthorized cab. I don’t mind being a sucker every once in awhile, but definitely not on our first ride in London and not with 10 bags each. We then had a long walk to the usual cab area. It was a 60 pound cab ride – I tried to give 65 to tip him for the tour pointers he gave us, but he told us that was too large of a tip, that he’d salute us for 50 pence.

And then we were at our temporary home. We couldn’t believe it – I was overwhelmed with excitement. 92 Middlesex, Flat 2C, just down the street from Liverpool Station. Peter, the house manager on duty, showed us to our place. The living room was equipped with Sky TV and was larger than we’d expected. The downstairs had the bedroom, the bathroom, and the kitchen. Bree took a nap; I took and a shower and then we took a walk. We went and saw the station which had trains as well as the Underground system. We decided to go to the Tesco and make our supper for the first time as a married couple.

We went all out and made pizza in the oven. We spent 13 pounds at the store and hopefully have enough food to last us until dinner tomorrow. The kitchen is very nice, with the appliances hidden behind cupboards. We even have a combined washer-dryer which we definitely need to use.

Both of us have been guilty of wearing clothes multiple days to avoid opening our bigger suitcases and un-vacuum sealing our clothes. We had a very pleasant dinner and then went upstairs to watch Monk. Yes, they have a lot of American TV. We saw lots of billboards for Desperate Housewives and even a commercial for American Idol.

As long as we have Sky TV, we won’t be in want. However, on that matter, the posted price for this one bedroom, nice though it is, extravagant it is not: 1070 pounds before the Value Added Tax which is more than sales tax in Texas. At the current exchange rate, that is roughly $2,000 PER WEEK. We’ll definitely be moving out as soon as the company stops picking up the tab. We’ll definitely be maximizing our time here, so we figure it’s okay for us to watch TV while we have it.

Sunday morning we were woken up to the sounds of clanging as they set up a market place right outside our window. What a wonderful place! Welcome to living in the big city.

It was hard to believe as we drove by Big Ben and as we bought our groceries in pounds that this is really where we’re going to live for the next two years. We’re looking forward to our adventure, but still adjusting to all of the changes in our lives.

We miss you guys!
M&B

Honeymoon Part 2

SCARY MOVIE STORY
The movie, which we enjoyed, had a rather unpleasant experience attached which will be difficult to communicate on paper. Toward the end of the movie, the man seated in front of us began to snore or snort rather loudly, drawing the attention of everyone within an 8-seat radius. This was right at the climax of the movie. Afterwards when the lights came up, Bree and I and the two girls sitting in front of him lagged behind to wake him up. I say him – at the time we were unsure if it was a man or a woman. After talking loudly for a few minutes, we bgan to nudge him. The first time I put my hands on his wrist, I knew it was cold. One of the girls, though flipping out, went to call 911 and get some more help. We pulled the man into the aisle. Another passerby did CPR until the paramedics arrived. They shocked him back and had a slight pulse when they carried him from the scene. We were there for about 30 minutes – me holding the flashlight and IV bag, much to Bree’s dismay, as she was ready to get out of there. She had helped the other girl call the last number on the man’s phone, which turned out to be his brother. This will always be the strangest story of our honeymoon. The moral for us is that neither one of us will ever go see a movie alone. Nor will we let anyone around us sleep at the movies. Our heart rates eventually returned to normal.

DOWN TO BUSINESS
On Wednesday, we completed the business portion of our trip. We went to the British Consulate to obtain our visas. This was relatively uneventful, though we were disgruntled at having to wait as people who had showed up late for their appointments were allowed to cut in line. Now we have a magical page in our passports that allows us to travel freely back and forth to the UK for 5 years. We ate at Fish Tacos, which was surprisingly good. This time was the closest we came to arguing on the honeymoon as Matt wanted to walk the lengthy blocks to the beach and Bree wanted to just sit and relax in her dress shoes.

SURPRISE!
That evening, Matt had continuously hinted at wanting to eat an early dinner. Bree understood why when a limo showed up instead of a taxi. We dressed up and went to the Pacific Dining Car downtown, an old railway car that has been serving steak since the early 1900’s. We had a corner of the restaurant to ourselves to enjoy steak, lobster tail, and salmon. Also if you ever go, be sure to get the potatoes. The appetizer was also superb – jumbo shrimp with mango. The waitress asked if we were going to the Lakers game, as the restaurant shuttled many of its patrons to Staples Center. Matt vehemently shook his head yes, but through his expression made it known that this was a secret. “No? Okay, we just like to know,” the lady said. Bree, though she won’t admit it, was slightly disappointed. She’d heard at one point that a Lakers game was a possibility. She didn’t realize that we really were going until the limo pulled up to Staples Center.

Her joy was indescribable as we walked to 6th row seats at the top of the key. An Aggie alumnus from LA had provided the tickets just because we were a young Aggie couple. It was a fantastic game, despite not getting to see Kobe play. The Lakers came from behind to win 93-90. We enjoyed the limo ride home. Neither of us had ever taken a limo on a date before, so that was a first. We rode to the tunes of a CD that Sharon had created for us.

HOLLYWOOD
Thursday, like everyday, we slept in. Our first meal of the day was In and Out Burger, a delightful treat. We loved it so much that we ate lunch there again on Friday. We walked down Hollywood Boulevard and saw all of the attractions there, but didn’t really go inside anywhere. We came to the realization that for all of the glitz, Hollywood is not glamorous. Lots of poor but hopefully individuals live a very difficult life in the shadows of the stars. We stopped by the Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, looking for one of Bree’s former roommates. Karen took us to the Hollywood Urban Project where she works with youth in that area. It was neat to see her place of ministry, which is desperately needed.

MORE BASKETBALL
We raced off quickly, as we had learned that the Bruins were in town against Stanford at the Pauley Pavilion. Unfortunately, we wasted a lot of time with a cab driver who didn’t know where it was. We eventually got out of the car, deciding we would find it more easily on foot without his help. I bought tickets from a scalper, perhaps for the first time ever, and we sat on the 2nd row behind the basket (thanks Keith!). We were right next to the band and the atmosphere was incredible. Reed Arena still has some room for improvement. It was a good game for the most part. Bree recognized Maria Shriver leaving with a couple minutes left; Matt did not until he received some help. We then had a great walk on UCLA’s campus, resisting the urge to drop in on a frat party.

FRIDAY & SATURDAY: THE PLANE RIDE
The next morning, Friday, we had every intention of going to the Getty Center, but with sleeping in and packing, it just never happened.

Like I said, we returned to In and Out Burger and headed to the airport. And that was our honeymoon, or at least the part I feel like telling you about. We had a great time and enjoyed LA more than we’d expected.

If you’re honeymooning anytime soon, definitely go somewhere that you’re not going to be compelled to do everything touristy. We pretty much did one sightseeing excursion per day and really enjoyed ourselves. We enjoyed not having the stress of rushing around or trying to decide who got to go where they wanted to go.

Our Honeymoon Part 1

Week 1

Our life as a married couple started with a more solemn goodbye to our friends and family, knowing that we would be separated by more than 5,000 miles for at least the next two year span. We spent the first day of our honeymoon then with our families.

So after a second night in Odessa, we boarded the short flight to Dallas and then flew on to LAX. Getting to the taxi was no easy chore, as we had brought with us about a third of our total worldly possessions. They began to load us into a cab, and then realized that our luggage wasn’t going to fit. Out came the oversize rolling garment bag, the matching 26” upright and the 20” upright that we’d received from the hostesses at one of our wedding showers.

This time in a minivan we set out to the Luxe Summit Hotel on Sunset Boulevard. This hotel had a lot of names and most of our cab drivers informed us of several more that it has had through the years. Despite the changes in management, we liked the hotel. It was set off from everything else with lots of foliage, and a tower separate from the main lobby made it seem much more quiet and private in our room. We had a view of the pool, which we never got around to using.

Room service was a great blessing several times on our honeymoon and the first night in LA was one of them. The hotel apparently had an award winning restaurant and the room service was reflective of that fact.

Bree had salmon and we also shared alfredo with shrimp and crab meat. We definitely had more seafood than anything else on the honeymoon. The next day, a sports theme began to take over our honeymoon when we watched Friday Night Lights in the room. The sporting theme was not necessarily something that Matt was trying to force, but it was a welcomed occurrence. Of course, Bree’s love and/or tolerance is just one of the bonus features that make her a phenomenal wife and a dream partner.

That day we went to Ocean Pier on Santa Monica beach. We sat and ate more seafood – crab cakes, blackened yellowfish, and Pacific sole – overlooking the incoming tide. It was a beautiful day – I think it reached 90 – and Bree kept commenting that she couldn’t believe it was January. After eating, we watched the rest of the sunset from the beach.

Ocean Pier really is a great spot to visit in LA. There’s a ferris wheel and a roller coaster and putt putt that weren’t open while we were there but looked like fun. There’s several restaurants, a beautiful view, and a movie-like atmosphere.

In fact, it was the setting for part of the movie “First Daughter” which we watched on the plane a few days later. And one of our friends was proposed to there.

We observed one man’s hefty catch of crabs with a small net and several others were trying their luck with a rod. There were quite a few people, but it still seemed peaceful. We couldn’t imagine what it must be like in March or June. We walked a couple blocks down to the outdoor shopping center that we think is known as Third Street Promenade. We bought a ticket to the movie Coach Carter and then sat and visited for a while.

(I would have posted the rest of the honeymoon, but it's still hand-written on the hotel pad, so I have to type it up!)