USA! USA! USA1

Posted on July 3, 2011 by Mike

So I’ve had a few people now wondering exactly what our plans are and when we’re going to be back in BC again. This provides a natural opportunity to get everyone up-to-speed at once. I normally don’t like to advertise our future plans too much, lest the folks at PleaseRobMe.com deduce that our house will be unoccupied for certain dates. But with our move and summer plans it’s a bit different – now, I’m only concerned about pirates in the North Atlantic hijacking our worldly goods as they make their way back to Vancouver.

We’re now just a few weeks away from leaving England, which we’re all quite sad about. It’s been a great year here and it will be hard to say goodbye. Despite what so many English people seem to feel, this really is a great country and I think we all take things we have for granted.

School finishes here on July 22nd (yes, they go to school in July), and on the 23rd we will be down in Devon celebrating Rachel’s parents’ 40th wedding anniversary. Then we will be leaving the UK on July 24th and traveling across America on the train. I’ve said to some people that we’re going back to Vancouver “the long way”.

The details of our trip are on the USA 2011 page, which is also on the top menu of the blog. Basically, we’re flying to Miami and then traveling through New York, Niagara Falls, Chicago, the Grand Canyon, San Diego, San Francisco, Portland, and on to Vancouver. We’re pretty excited about the trip and we’ll be posting lots of updates as we go along.

We’ll be back in Vancouver on August 26th, and we’ll eventually be moving back into our house in early September after our renters have moved out.

In the meantime, things are pretty busy. We’re sorting out all of the practical details while also trying to make time to see people and do things we’re still wanting to do. Sadly we won’t get to everything on our list, but looking back I do feel that we’ve made the most of our time.

So that’s pretty much it. You can always post a comment if you have any questions. If I get a chance I’ll put up another post in the next little while talking more about the emotional impact of moving again, which is another topic in its own right.

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Family Time

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Mike

Well it’s time to write another post about what’s been going on lately. Yes, I know it’s been a while, and I apologize to those legions of you who check this blog daily for updates and leave feeling somewhat disappointed.

On that front, this seems like as good a time as any to thank all of you who do read this and who are interested in what we’re up to. Well done – I realize there are so many other things you could be doing with your time.

So. We’ve done a few things since I last wrote an update. In late May my Gran (Oma) celebrated her 97th birthday. We all went paintballing and bungee jumping. OK not really. Instead, my family (my parents, brother & sister-in-law and niece) came over from Vancouver and I met them there for a couple of days to have a nice little celebration. It’s pretty great to be able to just fly over to Germany and be there in an hour. It also gave me another opportunity to sample some German pretzels and sausages. Sorry beer-fans, it’s just not my thing I’m afraid.

So after Germany me and the rest of my family (sans Oma) made it back over to England and we had a weekend at CenterParcs, which is kind of like a holiday camp with self-catering villas set in the forest (a bit like fancy camping) and lots of activities – swimming, boating, cycling, etc. Emma, our one-year-old niece, celebrated the event by walking on her own for the first time. We all had a great time enjoying different activities and time together as a family.

Then we came back to Bristol and spent the rest of the week with our family here. It’s great to have my side of the family here to see where we live and to get a feel for our life here in Bristol.

Hockey

Of course one of the big things going on back in Vancouver at the moment is the Stanley Cup ice hockey playoffs, where the Vancouver Canucks have (for only the third time in their history) made it to the finals. The last time they were in the finals was 1994, coinciding with the first time I came to England to live. Back then I could only follow the team’s fortunes on the burgeoning Internet, with boxscore updates the next day via email. Now, I am able to watch all of the games live on TV- starting at 1am UK time. Yes, I have been staying up from 1am to 4am every other morning for the past two weeks.

It’s an odd experience being here when the city is going Canuck crazy over there. You can do lots to feel a part of it, but because you aren’t surrounded in it and because no one here knows or cares, it nevertheless feels like it’s something on the periphery. Game 7 is tomorrow night; now that my parents are here I believe my Mom shall be joining in the 1am viewing of this final game.

Summer Plans

And finally, we’ve made some plans for a special holiday this summer. In essence, we will be going the long way from England back to Vancouver, by flying from London to Miami and then traveling from Miami to Port Coquitlam by train (via New York, Chicago, San Diego, and other places). I’ve created a page which will chronicle our trip, and we’ll be posting regular updates while we’re away.

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Summertime

Posted on May 3, 2011 by Mike

It’s a strange time over here a the moment. Several things have now confirmed what I have long known: April/May is officially English Summertime. Forget July, when school is still in session, or August when the weather is consistently awful – April is where it’s at.

River Avon towards Bristol

A typical day in Early April

We’re in a period of time where our kids are in school for only 21 out of a possible 40 weekdays. Easter Break, two bank holidays in May, a Royal Wedding, and late May half-term – school’s out for just under 50% of these 8 weeks (not that my kids would be able to do that calculation, seeing as they’re hardly in school).

But don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. It’s been a fun little spell here, helped enormously by consistently nice, dare I say perfect, weather. Mid-20’s, sunny with hardly any rain – fantastic. And we’ve taken full advantage, with some little trips over the past few weeks.

Germany

We made a return visit to Germany in mid-April to have another visit with my (soon-to-be) 97 year old Gran. For those of you who I haven’t told this to already, my Gran is amazing – she still lives on her own in her first-floor apartment (no elevator; three flights of stairs) and she’s doing really well.

Our German side of the family

Our German side of the family

This time we flew from London to Cologne and took the train from Cologne to Frankfurt. The return journey on the train as it wound its way along the Rhine river was particularly nice. We also enjoyed sightseeing in Cologne for a few hours, including the chocolate museum (don’t pay to go in; the gift shop is all you need to see) and indulging in the delights of Germany’s popular dish of currywurst (yes, that’s sausages with a curry sauce – how this became to be a popular German dish I do not know. Regardless, I successfully managed to eat German sausages on all five days of our visit).

Cologne Cathedral

Cologne Cathedral: huge!

German speciality: Curry Wurst

Curry Wurst: Mmmmm

Giant Lindt bunny made out of hanging bells

Giant Lindt bunny at Frankfurt train station

Frankfurt Römer

Frankfurt Römer

Mobile frankfurter salesman

Mobile frankfurter salesman: genius

Scotland

Scotland by train

Scotland by train

After our trip to Germany we had a short stay at home followed by another little trip to Scotland. We took an overnight sleeper train from London to Glasgow, and then we did a day-trip on the train all the way up to Mallaig , which is quite far north in Scotland, but still not as far as the Northern BC border. We spent a day touring Glasgow, then we went over to Edinburgh and spent a day sightseeing there, before heading back to London on the overnight sleeper train again. Glasgow is a bit more authentic than Edinburgh (the latter is much more touristy), but both were great cities with a lot of history and since we traveled in April we were assured of great weather.

Crossing the viaduct bridge near Glenfinnan

Crossing the viaduct bridge near Glenfinnan

Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle

More Sightseeing

Roman Baths

Ancient Roman Baths (hot springs)

Even before our Easter trips we’ve been to the ancient Roman Baths in, erm, Bath – what a fantastic museum and display. These are ancient hot springs during roman times that were undiscovered until the 19th century when someone discovered a water leak in their house – turns out their house was built over these ancient ruins. Rachel and I also drove to Stonehenge, which was nice but very cold. Our error here was traveling in March, which is clearly still English winter.

Stonehenge

I could build that

Although we’ve been away quite a bit, we really felt that we wanted to make the most of our time here, and explore some different sights that are unique to England. But we’re all glad to be back home again now, and I particularly am looking forward to the regular routine again.

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The Impact of Reducing your Options

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Mike

Well it seems like my blogging output has fallen off, as so many blogs tend to do. It would almost seem predictable; nevertheless I will soldier on.

So the last time I wrote a post of any substance was to announce that we had decided to move back to Vancouver. In the aftermath of that decision I’ve found it a very interesting period of self-discovery. I had always assumed that making this decision about whether to stay or move back would be very similar to the decision to come here in the first place. I’ve since found that it’s not – it’s very different.

When we chose to come here, we were opening new possibilities without fully closing the door on our “old life”. England was a place of unknown opportunities; it felt exciting. In so many ways this experience has fulfilled those anticipations – you try and take out of a place the things you like, especially those things that are different from what you’ve known.

The decision of whether to move back or to stay here is one that closes opportunities – it is the opposite of last year. I wasn’t prepared for that, and I can see why some people find it so hard to make decisions like this. You feel genuinely torn, and you don’t want to close the door on either option. But we also knew that we wanted to make a decision so that we could move on and put roots down. As long as you are straddling two options and never fully committing, your options are open but your commitment is shallow.

I also found it interesting that as soon as you shut the door on a place it immediately holds greater value to you (you start to focus on what you’re losing). It is hard to talk to friends here and tell them that we’re going to be leaving. In addition to feeling a bit guilty, you’re also not sure how to invest in relationships – do you try to continue to build bonds knowing that they’re not going to last? But then we still have four months here and it doesn’t seem right to just while away time until then.

I want to try and continue building relationships, despite the fact that we’ll be leaving in a few months – it seems the right thing for me to do. The caveat is that you don’t want to create an unnecessary void when you do leave. It also makes me realize again how important it is with friendships to try and build deeper bonds – I hope to do that more when we move back to Vancouver again.

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Moving back to Canada (only for grade fives)

Posted on February 19, 2011 by Connie

Hi guys!
I am moving back to Canada for Grade 6 next year. Mr. Schiemann has written my name down in PEN! I have made a lot of new friends here. My best friend in England is a girl called Isabelle Wilson (or Izzy W. for short). She is very fun to be with and is quite the person that can make you laugh! I miss you guys very much and hope to see you all next year. If you will not be there, comment me on the blog and it will go into my email inbox. Hope to see you soon!
Connie

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Decision Made

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Mike

When we set out to come here, we had always said we would stay for a year and then decide whether we were going to make it a permanent move or come back to Canada. Well, we’ve come to the point where the decision has been made: we’re heading back to Canada.

This has been a difficult choice for all of us. In a way I hoped it would be a difficult choice, because it means that you’re choosing amongst good options. If it was an easy choice, then something has gone wrong somewhere. We have really enjoyed our time in Bristol, but we have all felt that Vancouver is the place for us for the long-term.

We’re going to miss it here, although we still have several months before we head back. We will miss our family here – wherever we are we are always apart from some of our family. We will also miss Bristol Vineyard – we have felt such a great connection and friendship with the church since we came.

I have to say that the process of working through a decision like this has been really good. When you allow yourself to consider both the practical aspects as well as the emotional aspects of life choices, you settle on a decision not in a moment but over time. Working this through as a couple, you want to come to a mutual decision – if one tries to persuade the other, that only creates problems when things get difficult after the decision is made. Going through this process has been good for our marriage.

So we’re both looking forward to going back, and sad to leave – it feels bittersweet but then that’s the way it should be.

Posted in England vs Canada, Update | 2 Comments

On the Blog Again

Posted on January 29, 2011 by Mike

Wow. Well it has been some time since I last submitted an entry. I could cite all the usual reasons why I have delinquent, but in truth I have been watching a substantial amount of television. Oh yeah, and that Christmas thing really does put a crimp in one’s normal schedule. Either way, here we are once again.

Before Christmas I got about halfway through writing our (quasi-) annual Christmas message, and then life started to happen. So I’m going to post this entry first, and then I’ll finish our the review of 2010 and post it in the next couple of days. I was also delaying a bit because I needed to organize our 300+ pictures that had been sitting in our camera for the last few months. These are now up on our Picasa photo album.

Christmas

Snow! Looking East down our street

One of the things we were excited about with moving here for the year is to be able to be in England for Christmas again. It’s the first time since 2002 that we’ve celebrated Christmas with Rachel’s side of the family.

And so, on Christmas Eve we drove down to Devon, amidst the snow and -5C temperatures. Christmas Eve was really nice – just our family and Rachel’s Mum & Dad. We opened our presents for each other, as is the German tradition.

All the cousins at Christmas

Christmas Day. If Christmas Eve was calm, sedate, and slow-paced, Christmas Day was pretty much the opposite; in a good way, of course. I realized (as if I shouldn’t have figured it out already) that Christmas gift-giving is an equation of exponential growth. Each person you add to the group means that everyone else brings one more gift. And so we had our own family of four, Rachel’s sister’s family of six, Rachel’s brother’s family of four, as well as Mum, Dad, In-Laws, Gran, and Auntie.

Christmas dinner! Mmmmm

The food was plentiful and fantastic as always. The giving and receiving of gifts was plentiful and long. Our girls had a great time; in years past they haven’t had anyone there of a similar age.

Our plan was to drive back that evening, to be back in Bristol for Boxing Day. It was a very cold night; -12C at times, and not two minutes into our journey the engine light came on and the engine temperature guage was right at the top. To condense the story, we turned around and went back to Mum & Dad’s, eventually determining that there was a problem with the engine coolant system. So we were able to borrow Rachel’s Mum’s car and our car was towed & repaired a few days later.

It's real

Our Christmas Tree

Relaxing on the recliners

Family Christmas at our house

Norwich

New Years with the Snells and Pointers

After Christmas we had a relatively quiet week. We did have all of Rachel’s Mum’s side of the family over on the 29th of December; it was nice to be able to host this family gathering and it all went very well.

Then for New Years we planned to drive up to Norwich to visit some of our old friends from when we used to live there, 11 years ago. We hadn’t seem some of these people since 2004, and it was really nice to reconnect. I personally only spent 2 1/2 years in Norwich, but it was a special time with some excellent relationships – the kind of friends who you share a closeness with even if you don’t see each other very often anymore.

It was a bit of a whirlwind tour though, seeing eight families in four days. By the time we were doing the four-hour drive back to Bristol, I was developing the inevitable post-Christmas cold. Rachel caught it too, so for the first week of January we were just in survival mode.

Paris

Tour Eiffel

We planned a long-weekend excursion to Paris for January 15-18. This is the kind of cool thing you can do when you live in Europe – one hour on the plane and you’re in a completely different culture. One hour from Vancouver and you’re in Calgary (with all due respect, of course).

We spent two days in Paris visiting all of the popular sights. More pictures are in our photo album if you’re interested. Then we tacked on a couple of extra days and went to Disneyland Paris, where we were able to get a really cheap deal after collecting some newspaper tokens. Where the weather in Paris was sunny and nice if a bit cool, the weather on our days at Disneyland was foggy, damp, and very cold. Quite unusual when our Disney experiences in times past are connected with warm weather. Of course it didn’t dampen the spirits of our girls.

On the ferris wheel at Place de la Concorde

There were lots of highlights, but I think the best part was ice skating on the Eiffel Tower, for free no less. They had a small (real) ice rink set up and it was a surreal experience skating on the platform the equivalent height of a 20-storey building.

Also, visiting France proved something I really already knew: my French is truly horrible. I’m sure that I have to shoulder some of that blame, but I can’t help but feel the BC education system should at least be partly responsible.

Champs-Élysées

Ok that’s good enough for now. Once again I praise you for managing to read this far. These days Rachel and I are spending a fair bit of time talking about what our future plans are going to be – we’d like to come to a decision in the next month, because frankly it’s difficult to make any kind of plans when you’re not sure where you’re going to be in six months time. So we’ll keep you posted as we work through the decision process.

Disneyland Paris

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English Christmas (and some other stuff)

Posted on December 5, 2010 by Mike

Hmm. My lack of recent blogging has meant that there are lots of little things piling up. I’ll now try and make up for it with some rambling.

Let’s talk about the weather

They say that the national English pastime is talking about the weather. I can confirm this is true. We’ve had quite a cold snap here lately; highs of -5ºC during the day. Most of the country has had a fair bit of snow, but Bristol has so far been (exclusively?) left out – Connie and Heidi are most disappointed.

I’m personally getting tired of telling people how it doesn’t get this cold in Vancouver. The stereotype of “Canada is Cold” is deeply rooted, and combined with the aforementioned compulsion to talk about the weather, I have to explain to everyone that Vancouver actually has quite a temperate climate.

Some things are the same

I am able to watch Hockey Night in Canada here, which is rebroadcast on ESPN America every Saturday night (well, Sunday morning). It has surprised me how much of an emotional impact this has had on me – not so much the hockey itself but the experience of enjoying something very familiar in a foreign place. When you’re away from home, these visual and auditory cues of something familiar bring home closer.

The only other thing that has kind of compared to this is… Costco. Yes, they have Costco here, and it is exactly the same as Costco at home. The oppressive fluorescent lighting, the familiar nondescript price tags with products on industrial shelving, and of course, the cookie-cutter store layout – it’s like stepping through a wormhole back to Port Coquitlam.

Happy and sad at the same time

On Monday I drove up to Telford, a two-hour drive north to watch an afternoon session of the UK Championships snooker tournament. I saw two legends of the game, Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White, and I had a great time. The fact that I did this and enjoyed it makes me out to be somewhat sad, in the pathetic sense of the word. No matter – I submit that I am the only person in the world who has a keen appreciation of both ice hockey and snooker. There, my epitaph is now written.

English Christmas

I like Christmas in England. It’s not that different than Christmas in Canada I think, but there are some quirky English Christmas traditions – not so much the ancient traditions of a millennial society, but the kind of traditions that seem to have been born in the 60’s and are now so cheesy and old-fashioned that they have become endearing.

1. Strange Christmas food: Christmas pudding (stodgy fruitcake) and mince pies are, I’m afraid to say, not a few of my favourite things. These are almost made up for by a plethora of Christmas-themed chocolate. There is also a noticeable lack of candy canes here.

2. Christmas pop music: It is perhaps the pinnacle of success as a musician if you can be at the top of the charts during the week of Christmas – ie. the Christmas Number 1. Since the popular music charts are dominantly influenced by teenage girls, and since teenage girls don’t much like traditional Christmas carols or Salvation Army brass bands, the Christmas Number 1 is almost always a pop song dressed up with festive words and some jingle bells. This strange mix has yielded a back-catalog of former Christmas Number 1’s that are trotted out every year to create England’s musical Christmas backdrop. It’s less “White Christmas” by the classic Bing Crosby and more “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday” by 70’s glam-rock band Wizzard.

3. Christmas dinner: When I was growing up, “Sunday Lunch” usually meant McDonald’s after church. In England, “Sunday Lunch” is a tradition that is as protected as ancient listed buildings. It’s a roast dinner (beef, pork, or chicken) with roast potatoes, yorkshire puddings, and lots of vegetables. I highly recommend it. And then we have Christmas dinner, which from what I can make out is just Sunday Lunch with a bigger chicken (read: Turkey). The major difference is that everyone is obligated to open a Christmas cracker, place the thin paper crown on your head, read out your incredibly bad joke, and play with your MADE IN CHINA ‘gift’. Of course you can buy Christmas crackers in Canada, but here they are mandatory.

4. Santa Claus: A lot of the Santa stuff here is the same as what I’m familiar with, although people insist that Santa lives in Lapland, which is somewhere in northern Finland. I find this personally offensive, since everyone knows that Santa is Canadian, living as he does at the North Pole. But when you go to the mall and you want to get a picture of your child with Santa Claus, you will find him in “Santa’s Grotto”, which I always think sounds a bit, well, creepy.

5. Christmas TV: Perhaps it was during Victorian times that England developed the entrenched Christmas tradition of showing James Bond films on TV; I don’t know. Regardless, Christmas would not be Christmas without poring over the festive edition of the Radio Times (TV guide) and noting the broadcast of a one-off Christmas special of your favourite TV show. I’m not talking about kids cartoons like A Charlie Brown Christmas or The Grinch; it’s actually more like Christmas editions of Top Gear (a car show) or the soaps.

Our little bit of Christmas cheer

Other festive points of note

  • They’ve put up a couple of outdoor ice rinks here in Bristol. One, in the city center, is plastic ice, which is wrong on so many levels. But I’m impressed with the other rink – put up in the parking lot of the main mall on the outskirts of the city. I think we’ll go next week
  • We put up some Christmas lights this week, a rarity in England (partly because it’s hard to hang lights on brick & plaster)
  • They have a German Christmas market in Bristol’s city center, complete with Real Germans! A series of wooden huts with German sausages, pretzels, crepes, and a hog roast, along with Christmas crafts and the like. Now I’m not so disappointed that our visit to Germany was too early for the Christmas season

Well that’s enough for now – thanks for reading all the way to the bottom.

Posted in England vs Canada, Mike, Update | Tagged | 3 Comments

Germany

Posted on November 5, 2010 by Mike

Last weekend we went to Germany for a visit. For those of you who don’t know, my Gran lives in Frankfurt and she’s 96 years old. She lives on her own in a modest flat, and though she may be four years from a century she’s just as sharp as ever.

I was born in Germany but I’ve always felt Canadian rather than German. Our family moved to Canada when I was three, and although German was my first language I soon forgot it in favour of English. As a result my brother and I had to endure six years of German school on Saturday mornings, for which I have yet to forgive my parents. But I put that minor grudge aside whenever we visit my Gran; it’s good to be able to communicate with her, however stilted my Germany may be.

Recently I’ve developed more of an affinity for the Fatherland. That could be due to me recently acquiring a new German passport, after 16 years without one. However, I think the feeling was more solidified when we recently bought a rotisserie chicken and ate it at a nearby park, attempting to carve the bird with plastic utensils in the blowing wind. I’ve never felt more German.

Chicken in the Park

Spot the Kraut

And so we flew from Heathrow to Frankfurt on Friday morning and had a nice few days with my Gran. Our girls had never been there before, so it was nice for them to see where my Gran lives (she’s been in the same place for 46 years), and Connie and Heidi also enjoyed a trip to the big swimming pool nearby.

I must admit that I surprised myself at my proficiency in speaking German. Seems those years at German School were not a waste after all.

Whenever I go back to Germany I am confronted with my family’s history, which is really an amazing story. My Dad’s side of the family escaped from East Prussia (now Poland) on a boat during the war – there were two boats that carried civilians and one was sunk but the other made it. My Mom’s side of the family escaped the same region a few years after the war when communism had taken over and getting out was not a simple task. On both sides of the family they had to leave quickly with nothing but what they could carry. It kind of puts into perspective our own move, where we brought a living room full of boxes (mostly toys).

Germany is a scarred nation from all that they have been through over the past 100 years. And yet today they are thriving, relatively speaking, while many other nations are struggling. My gran has also been through a lot, and her memories of those unfathomable days are still strong. But she has also emerged, and I think she’s happy in her own way.

It was a good visit. I’m glad we went.

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Deanfield:)!!!!!!!!!!

Posted on October 24, 2010 by Connie

Hello everyone! I Just came back from Deanfield on Friday and I had so much fun! I am also holding the countdown to my birthday. 5 more days! Has the time gone by quickly? I hope my Half term week will be brilliant. Half Term is a whole week off of school! I will put up more blogs to tell you how i am going. Bye!!!!!!!!!!

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