On December 31, we arrived in Great Britain. Our ride picked us up and drove us to our flat. Our land lord showed us our flat because Dad was doing something outside. After that, Dad showed us our rooms and I found out I have to share a room with my brother, Zeke. After that, we took a walk around the city, and I rode the tube for the first time. ( Allison and Zeke weren't there because I was getting my tube pass) On the 31st, I also got hooked on Wipeout. Anyway, not much stuff on the 31st.
On January 1st, none of us slept very well. We went to the New Year's day parade (I recommend watching it on TV, not in person because the crowds there are crazy) and ate at Pizza Express, my new tied favorite restaurant. (my other favorite restaurant is Friendly's.) We got "American" but their American makes actual American pizza look bad.
On January 2nd, once again, none of us slept very well. We had a very big breakfast, so we decided to skip lunch. (don't worry, we didn't mind, we didn't even realize it was after lunch until I was notified by dad) We went to a muddy park were we saw lots of people, a few dogs, some ducks, and 3 or 4 swans. Later that day, we went to Piccadilly circus (it sounds like a circus, but it's really an ultra urban spot in London.) and Hamley's a 6 floor toy store in Piccadilly circus.
On January 3rd, you guessed it, none of us slept well. It was our first homeschooling session. I rode on a Double Decker bus for the first time, on the top deck in the front too. However, the place we went to Primark, was a clothing store. ( If you like to shop for clothes, then I'll tell you that I saw some stuff there that does NOT belong in public or a blog)
Today, we had another homeschooling session, only this time, Zeke was playing his leap pad while we were learning.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
First Days in London Outtakes
While Matt and Jacob have done an excellent job in blogging the highlights of the early days in London, I thought you may enjoy the more mundane and ridiculous side of our adventure so far. The not always pretty, a little bit bumpy parts of adjusting to a new city and new country.
1. We made an awesome first impression on our neighbors!
New Years Day, Matt and I decided to make omelets for the family breakfast. Matt is more an omelet expert than I am, so I stayed perched on the couch while he began cooking. He was just exclaiming over his perfect omelet when a piercing noise cut through the silence. The smoke detector? But there was no smoke! None the less, the piercing squeal continued, echoing through the flat and we assumed through the whole building (there are 3 other flats in this building) as they are all connected. We searched in vain for the oven fan and found nothing. There was no turning this "smoke detector" off!
Matt climbed up on chairs to hit the re-set button on every "smoke detector" and noticed in very small print that they are HEAT detectors, not smoke detectors, which go off if the room gets too hot, which apparently the tiny kitchen did in just one omelet.
We began cooking all of our meals with the window open (chilly on a windy day like yesterday) until finally we emailed the previous faculty advisor to ask where a vent fan might be (we could see the fan, just not how to turn the thing on). He responded with a photo, saying that it took him until the last few weeks of his stay in the flat to figure it out as well. At least we aren't the only stupid Americans! (We are now fairly certain at least 2 of the 3 flats were empty on New Years Day, so only one of our neighbors must hate us).
2. TOMS shoes are not appropriate footwear for a morning at the park.
Monday, as Matt detailed, we decided to explore Hampstead Heath, a huge park just north of us. I love my TOMS shoes. They are comfortable and light and cute. So when we had 0% chance of rain according to weather.com, I figured they would be fine for a day of running around London, including a trip to the Heath. I didn't take British mud into account in my footwear selection.
We entered the park down a series of unpaved steps and began tromping around searching for the playground. The entire path was unpaved, sometimes a bit bumpy and grassy, others just mud and always a small incline. A little boy near us on the path had his bicycle and told his father "I wish we didn't have to do this part." You and me both, kid!
I was fine carefully working my way through the path with Zeke as Matt and the older kids forged ahead, until we hit a more steep hill. There were no little stones embedded in the mud to give me any traction. My feet slid out from under me and I fell (dragging Zeke down with me) sliding down the rest of the short hill on my rear. A pleasant father said "Looks like someone chose the sensible shoes today." Gotta love the British wit. Must buy boots pronto!
3. Objects pictured may appear larger than they are.
We had our first grocery delivery yesterday (the nearest large grocery store is quite a trek away and it isn't exactly convenient to travel on the bus or tube weighed down by the grocery load it takes to feed a family of five). I ordered several packages of fruit-apples, pears and strawberries- that were supposed to be 500 grams each (about 1 pound). They probably did weigh about that, but the fruit delivered was not exactly what I expected.
That would be my Iphone in the middle of the puny fruit that came with our groceries. Meanwhile the baby carrots are roughly the width of a baby's fist, though still short. And our kitchen cabinets were built for giants. Matt needs a chair to reach the top cabinets.
There are a number of quirks to our flat that we are both enjoying and laughing about. The kids and I are going to film a video tour so you can see for yourselves. 1000 square feet, but very efficiently used!
1. We made an awesome first impression on our neighbors!
New Years Day, Matt and I decided to make omelets for the family breakfast. Matt is more an omelet expert than I am, so I stayed perched on the couch while he began cooking. He was just exclaiming over his perfect omelet when a piercing noise cut through the silence. The smoke detector? But there was no smoke! None the less, the piercing squeal continued, echoing through the flat and we assumed through the whole building (there are 3 other flats in this building) as they are all connected. We searched in vain for the oven fan and found nothing. There was no turning this "smoke detector" off!
Matt climbed up on chairs to hit the re-set button on every "smoke detector" and noticed in very small print that they are HEAT detectors, not smoke detectors, which go off if the room gets too hot, which apparently the tiny kitchen did in just one omelet.
We began cooking all of our meals with the window open (chilly on a windy day like yesterday) until finally we emailed the previous faculty advisor to ask where a vent fan might be (we could see the fan, just not how to turn the thing on). He responded with a photo, saying that it took him until the last few weeks of his stay in the flat to figure it out as well. At least we aren't the only stupid Americans! (We are now fairly certain at least 2 of the 3 flats were empty on New Years Day, so only one of our neighbors must hate us).
2. TOMS shoes are not appropriate footwear for a morning at the park.
Monday, as Matt detailed, we decided to explore Hampstead Heath, a huge park just north of us. I love my TOMS shoes. They are comfortable and light and cute. So when we had 0% chance of rain according to weather.com, I figured they would be fine for a day of running around London, including a trip to the Heath. I didn't take British mud into account in my footwear selection.
We entered the park down a series of unpaved steps and began tromping around searching for the playground. The entire path was unpaved, sometimes a bit bumpy and grassy, others just mud and always a small incline. A little boy near us on the path had his bicycle and told his father "I wish we didn't have to do this part." You and me both, kid!
I was fine carefully working my way through the path with Zeke as Matt and the older kids forged ahead, until we hit a more steep hill. There were no little stones embedded in the mud to give me any traction. My feet slid out from under me and I fell (dragging Zeke down with me) sliding down the rest of the short hill on my rear. A pleasant father said "Looks like someone chose the sensible shoes today." Gotta love the British wit. Must buy boots pronto!
3. Objects pictured may appear larger than they are.
We had our first grocery delivery yesterday (the nearest large grocery store is quite a trek away and it isn't exactly convenient to travel on the bus or tube weighed down by the grocery load it takes to feed a family of five). I ordered several packages of fruit-apples, pears and strawberries- that were supposed to be 500 grams each (about 1 pound). They probably did weigh about that, but the fruit delivered was not exactly what I expected.
That would be my Iphone in the middle of the puny fruit that came with our groceries. Meanwhile the baby carrots are roughly the width of a baby's fist, though still short. And our kitchen cabinets were built for giants. Matt needs a chair to reach the top cabinets.
There are a number of quirks to our flat that we are both enjoying and laughing about. The kids and I are going to film a video tour so you can see for yourselves. 1000 square feet, but very efficiently used!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Leaving US and first few days in London
On Friday, December 30th, we were slated to leave the US for four months to go to London. All was well in the family ... mostly. The older two kids were quite nervous about leaving their friends for so long and about the idea of a foreign country in general. The adults were running around like crazy to make sure everything got done. Then, at 1:00, a limo came to pick us up and take us to the airport. That's just the way we roll ... and that was the cheapest way to do the 3 hour drive with us and all our luggage.
The limo came at 1:00 and things were all smiles. The trip to Newark was uneventful and the best part is, we really didn't have to see Newark (up there on my list with Detroit, MI and Gary, IN as the worst places in America). Thankfully, the airport is just fine. We got to Newark early, checked in, ate, relaxed while waiting for boarding, and got on board for our 9:25 flight. All kids slept at least a little, and certainly enjoyed having a TV screen on the seat in front of them that they could use to watch any show they wanted. When we arrived (a bit early), everyone was still all smiles:
The limo came at 1:00 and things were all smiles. The trip to Newark was uneventful and the best part is, we really didn't have to see Newark (up there on my list with Detroit, MI and Gary, IN as the worst places in America). Thankfully, the airport is just fine. We got to Newark early, checked in, ate, relaxed while waiting for boarding, and got on board for our 9:25 flight. All kids slept at least a little, and certainly enjoyed having a TV screen on the seat in front of them that they could use to watch any show they wanted. When we arrived (a bit early), everyone was still all smiles:
Everything went really smoothly that morning and we arrived at our flat about 10:00 AM on December 31st. Then we spent the rest of the day unpacking and doing a bit of exploring the neighborhood. We let the kids take very short naps, and all the kids fell asleep at a reasonable hour on New Year's Eve (8:00 or so).
We were woken up by a loud boom, and looked out our window to enjoy the New Year's Eve fireworks. They went on for quite a while (no July 4th to celebrate here, I guess) and were pretty spectacular. That was watched by both grown ups and Allison (who woke up with the noise). Our flat is maybe 2-3 miles from downtown and we have a great view of downtown London (and the London Eye).
Other notes on the first few days:
- We went to the London New Year's Day Parade, but it was a bit of a letdown. There was a crowd 5-6 people deep before we got there, and couldn't see much. We found an elevated perch from Trafalgar Square to see a bit, however.
- We walked through Hampstead Heath. Found a playground at the end (the park is massive, so it took a while to find it).
- We walked in the Piccadilly Circus area and went to Hamley's - a 200+ year old store. There are 7 stories to this store, and it is probably the best toy store I've ever seen. (we thought it was better than the time square toy stores)
Finally - here are a couple pictures from our flat. Downtown is way in the background.
That's all for now ... Homeschooling started for the kids and Amanda. Matt worked on preparing for the students to arrive on Saturday and the class he's teaching.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Jacob's first post
One hour and 26 minutes later, I was in the limo, living one of my dreams. Here is a picture of me in it to the side. Besides what you see, there was a lot of drinks in a thing of ice cubes, (not inside the cubes) and a bunch of lights above us that changed colors every 4-6 seconds. There was also enough room to lie down and sleep. After a while, we were on a plane. I didn't know what movie too watch, but I finally settled on Puss in Boots. I already saw it so after a while, I decided to text Allison. (I didn't get a response.) However, Dad made me attempt to sleep. We will pick up next time, because that is the end of that day. (the plane went after midnight.)
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Rousu Family Highlights of 2011
Rousu Family Highlights of 2011
Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Rousus. We hope you had a great 2011.
Before we get to some of our highlights, here are some brief updates on the children:
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Jacob is 10 and in the 4th grade. He is in Tae Kwon Do and Cub Scouts and he also enjoys reading and video games.
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Allison is 8 and in the 3rd grade. She is in Tae Kwon Do and Girl Scouts and she also enjoys crafts, reading, singing, and dancing.
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Ezekiel is 5 and in his 2nd year of pre-school. He likes Phineas and Ferb, anything relating to technology, and cars, trucks, and trains. We discovered in February that Zeke has a "cookie bite" hearing loss, which means that he doesn't hear many consonants clearly. He now has hearing aids, which has helped his speech tremendously and allows him to participate in preschool more than before.
We had a busy and fun 2011-some highlights:
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We spent New Year's Day traveling to Disney World. We decided there's no better place to begin a year than the happiest place on earth!
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In April we spent a weekend in Washington D.C. with Mandy’s parents, Dick and Tish. We saw the Cherry Blossom parade, spent time roaming the Mall, toured the Capitol and had a fun time.
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In July we had a short trip to Pittsburgh (coinciding with a conference of Matt's). That trip including visits to the zoo, the science and children's museum, and taking the incline for fun views of the city.
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Matt and Amanda also had individual trips to various places, including Harrisburg and Kansas (church trips for Amanda), and London, Minnesota, and Las Vegas (work and non-work trips for Matt).
We will be starting 2012 in London, England, where we're spending four months. Matt is supervising a group of 25 Susquehanna University students who are studying abroad. We will be homeschooling the kids and taking advantage of all of the sites and opportunities London provides.
If you wish to reach us in London, our contact information is:
3 Steeles Road, Flat 4
Belsize Park
London NW3 4SE
Phone (UK number): 0207 722 0919 or 0791 924 6723
Phone (US number through Vonage): 1 570 504 7748
We'll be posting updates at our family blog: quesoviejo.blogspot.com and on facebook.
Have a great 2012!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Reviving
This blog has been dormant for some time now, but we'll be reviving it now as our family begins to plan for 4 months in London. More coming soon!
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