Recently I have begun to make some new acquaintances along my blogging journey and it's truly been amazing to be able to swap stories and experiences about being an expat and about blogging in general with others in a similar position and interests.
Claire from ukdesperatehousewife.com kindly asked me if I would like to write a guest post about my experiences so far for her blog which I was thrilled to do.
Claire is an ‘expat’ who is pretty much seizing every opportunity she can in this strange and wonderful country (whilst also being a mother, wife and rather rubbish housewife.) She likes to debunk myths and probably confirm some cliches that we Brits have about America and Americans. After all, what we know, or think we know, is generally from movies and TV series…throughout her blog she shares the things that amuse, confuse and bemuse her and lots of stuff does!
Particularly amusing and enlightening during her journey so far is the cultural comparison between the USA and the UK!
Please click on the link below to read part 1 of my guest post.
http://ukdesperatehousewifeusa.com/2015/01/29/desperate-english-housewife-in-washington-chapter-561/
And part 2:
http://ukdesperatehousewifeusa.com/2015/02/01/desperate-english-housewife-in-washington-chapter-563/
Phew it's finally getting warmer! I know I'm English and in theory should be 'used to' the cold weather but I have always hated the cold even when I was little, I once remember being the only child in class who said they preferred the Summer when all the other kids said they loved Winter so they could play in the snow!
This Saturday we enrolled the girls to start Spanish lessons, our five year old couldn't wait to get started however our eight year old had been moaning about it for ages, 'It's too hard', 'What's the point?', 'I just don't want to go' and so on but we decided to insist she goes to enhance their future opportunities if nothing else and what happened next? our eight year old was the one who came home loving it the most and then spent the rest of the weekend initiating playtime with the Spanish work books, these children never cease to amaze me!
So I'm driving home one day last week and as I went over the brow of a hill my car sped up faster than I was expecting, no worries I thought I'll just put my foot on the brake unfortunately for me this particular day there was a police car parked on the other side of the hill with a speed gun. The next thing I see and hear is the siren and blue lights flashing behind me, I pull over and from my Texas driving training remember to stay in the car and wait for the police officer to approach me. I'm then asked if I knew I was doing 49 mph in a 30 zone? eek shit!
Next question can the officer see my driving license and insurance details? I was on my way back from the gym and didn't have my handbag in the car but I knew photocopies where in the glove box, however as I'm in an American state where guns are legalised and from the films at least guns are kept in car glove boxes I double checked with the officer if I could open the glove box to get the copies out? The last thing I needed was to be spread out over the bonnet of the car in the middle of the day! So $200 down I'm now even more cautious on the roads!
On Sunday we all went to the cinema and saw the film Paddington, we loved seeing the scenes of London and hearing non stop English accents for an hour and a half plus I'm pretty sure we were the only family in there laughing at the jokes!
America has welcomed us with big open arms but it does feel nice to dip into the English way now and again!
Happy New Year to you all!
In England we lived close to a beach and every New Years Day the local pub would host a 'dip' where everyone wears fancy dress (costume's) and runs into the almost freezing sea water.
So we couldn't believe it when we read that a similar thing happens at Barton Springs Pool, so wrapped up warm we head straight down there as my mother-in-law wanted to give it a go...and yes she is wearing a wig for extra wow factor! http://www.myfoxaustin.com/story/27744338/austinites-take-the-plunge-in-barton-springs-on-new-years-day
The children are back at school now and its officially winter here in Austin its chilly and occasionally rainy but no snow, ice or wind. This Friday however weather forecasters were anticipating ice on the roads, and I found out this week our school policy when expecting ice is at 4am the school staff drive out on the local routes into school THEMSELVES, assess whether the roads are safe to drive and make a decision by 5am whether to close the school and then email/text all parents, that is a pretty impressive system!
We finally made it to Emma Long Metropolitan Park this Sunday for a walk, we didn't quite make it down to the lake as our toes were getting cold!
Overall January is going to be fairly quiet after a busy December what I can tell you is I am already starting to plan our summer holiday, we'll also re-start our house hunting soon and we have two weeks left until our new puppy is ready to come home...
