Sunderland

First proper English fish n chips. We had no idea how good or BIG this slab of fish would be. Slathered in vinegar and salt!

 

On Saturday we decided to take a spontaneous drive north east to Sunderland. We had no map, no gps, and no plan for the day. We just got in our car and drove. We drove about 15 miles and stopped when we saw the beautiful Roker Beach. We spent a good few hours walking on the sand, collecting sea glass and funny looking seashells.. We found a hole in the wall fish n chips joint, so we decided to give it a try. THE BEST I tell you. They pretty much slapped a whole fish in each one of our boxes, and piled on the chips (fries). Just when we thought our bodies couldn't take anymore food, we ordered ice cream cones and walked off our lunch along the boardwalk.

We drove along the coast for a few more miles, found the coolest lighthouse, and walked along the edge of the cliffs next to the ocean. I've never seen anything like it before. We drove north some more and saw the ruins of an old abbey in South Shields, then drove inland to Newcastle. Newcastle is a pretty big city, and Saturday night was the wrong night to drive around! We just wanted to see the Newcastle FC stadium up close, but on our way there we got a little lost and ended up in a bus and taxi only-zone. Our little car was sandwiched between huge double decker buses, and we were sitting their anxiously hoping nobody would notice we weren't a taxi, haha. But we made it out with no problem, and drove the 15 miles back home to Durham.  It was such a fun and refreshing day. I can't wait to see what else England/Europe has in store for us.

Confessions of a Back Seat Driver

It's official, we are true Brits now! Meet Meeka our Nissan Micra! Isn't it the cutest little European car you've ever seen?  It cost 500 British pounds, so about 900 American dollars. Cars are dirt cheap here because of their little engines. It gets 47 mpg in town, and has a little 1.0 liter engine, so it's basically a motorcycle on four wheels with a roof haha. It is SO WEIRD driving on the left side of the road here. Daniel did such a good job, especially since he even had to shift on the left side (so weird). We are going to go out late one of these nights and practice driving and shifting on the left. I have no problem with stick shift, I am just nervous about driving on the left side! We have had to re-train our brains a little bit. I think we are finally used to looking right first before crossing a road...the first few days we were here were a little rough in that aspect-I'm pretty sure we almost walked right in front of a bus a few times. Daniel and I both received callings in church on sunday, he will be with the young men, and I will be the young women's secretary! We are soo excited. But that was our main reason for buying a car. Our church is 10 miles away in a town called Stanley, and there are literally no buses that go out there on Sundays-so we have been mooching rides off of people in our ward for two weeks now. We knew we had to get a car, especially if we are going to be at mutual activities each Wednesday as well. It will just make it a little bit easier, and help us to do our callings the best we can! Can't wait for all the road trips that are going to happen in this little beaut.

Simplifying Our Lives...and the World's Smallest Couch

The world's smallest couch in all her tiny sheet-covered glory.

As I sit here typing: Monday chores are done, our hand-washed clothes are drying on the line, it is 70 degrees with no clouds in sight, and there is a long enjoyable work-off-all-that-hot-chocolate-from-the weekend (we party hard)- run in 20 minutes when I am done writing this post. 

Ever since we arrived in England, we have had to simplify our lives significantly. And I mean, taking the term minimalist to a whole new level-as you can see my pathetic attempt at decorating our flat- but don't worry, I am still in the process of making this place a home.

 We came to the UK with literally nothing but two suitcases each, with as much of our lives packed in as we could stuff.  I have learned just how good we really had it while living in the States. Here in our little flat we don't have a shower, which means baths for days! I feel like I'm 4 years old again playing in the bathtub, all I need now are some toys. We don't have a washing machine, we are still on the hunt for a decently priced used one-everyone has their washing machines in their kitchens here (which means they are miniature) so we have a space for one, just minus the machine. Not sure when we will actually purchase one, seeing as we have no way of getting it back to our flat-I'm sure the people on the bus would love two Americans bringing a washing machine along for the ride. I have been doing our laundry in our bathtub-Daniel had a good laugh today when he walked into the bathroom and I was in shorts, stomping and sloshing around on our clothes. At least it makes the house smell like fresh laundry! I have also learned about the joy of sun-dried clean clothes fresh from the line. Yum. Our flat came with two square tables pushed together to make our kitchen table, 3 ugly blue felt office chairs, a small (how surprising) fridge with moldy food inside, and the world's smallest couch! The underside of our charming kitchen table(s) unfortunately had been the victim of some chewed up gum-which I had the privilege of chiseling off with a pen. I bleached the crap out of our fridge and all the shelves-and it actually looks and runs pretty good now. As for our mini couch...we covered up the ugly and dirty black material with a cut-up sheet. I tried cleaning it and spraying it with fabric refresher-and it made our house smell like baby powder and lysol-not a good combo. So for now, the white cut-up sheet will have to do. So what happened to the the other pieces of that cut-up sheet you may ask? They now serve as our "drapes" in our room, and the spare bedroom. No, we are not allowed to nail holes in our walls, so yes, we did hang up those "drapes" with dental floss. Just keeping it classy over here! All joking aside, it has actually been kind of refreshing having to simplify our lives, and work a little harder to do the simple things that we were so spoiled with in the States. I feel like we have truly gone back to the basics. Hey, at least we have electricity and running water! Not to mention, heat for those chilly Durham nights. I have come to appreciate the little things a little bit better. It's nice to not hear the buzz of a tv constantly, or have a smartphone to mindlessly play on. Our bed may be a small double bed that takes up our whole room, but at least we have a warm place to sleep at night. I love our charming little flat with all it's windows that let so much light in, it's fresh new carpet, the train that goes by every 20 minutes like clockwork, and how we have our own front and back doors with a little courtyard.

 Life is good.

First Match

Today the university had it's first friendly match against Hartlepool academy team. Daniel played at right back the whole game, and did such a good job. We won 4 to 1. Daniel was #2 today, but here (like everywhere else in the world) they assign a number to you based on your position for that game. Similar to how American football does it. So Daniel was #2 for playing right back.

 I left our flat an hour before the game started, to walk to the Maiden Castle sports complex on campus. I bundled up real good when I left the house-it was sunny outside, but still pretty cold. Not even 1/4 of the way to campus I was sweating pretty good!  It was nice and sunny and warm outside, so I couldn't complain. Apparently, northern England where we are is sunnier than the rest of England, but colder-which I don't mind! It was so fun to watch Daniel play in a real game again. Ever since we first started dating, watching him play football has been one of my most favorite things to do. I love that it has been such a big part of our lives, and hopefully will continue to be!

The Place We Call Home

The Boathouse

Durham Cathedral

See that dent in the Lion's forehead? Legend has it, a few thousand years ago, a man was denied entry into the Cathedral-and in his anger he shot his bow and arrow right into the Lion's forehead.

I took this picture right as we walked into the cathedral, and right after I did, I read a sign that said no pictures or videos, so oops. Glad I snapped this one real quick though! This picture doesn't even do it justice. It was amazing inside.

Just walking the halls of Hogwarts like Harry Potter!

All of these were taken with our iPhone-my camera hardly had any battery left, so I settled with that. Yesterday Daniel and I decided to figure out the bus system, and take a little ride into Durham City. We technically have a Durham address, but we live a little over 2 miles way from the city centre in a little village called Langley Moor. Tuesday morning we tried to figure out the bus numbers and times as best we could (it is kind of confusing) and we headed across the street to the bus stop. It was a little bit nerve racking, not knowing if we had the right bus, or if we had the right amount of money, but it really wasn't hard at all. We got on the bus, told the bus driver we had never done this before, so he helped us know how much it was, and where we were going to get dropped off. When we got to the bus station in Durham City, we got off and started walking down the old cobblestone streets, with cafes and boutiques on either side of us. A few minutes into our walk, a cute old lady came up to us and said, "Do you know where you are going now? If you head straight up this road, you will come to the castle." She must of been on the bus and heard us asking the bus driver questions, and she just wanted to make sure we were ok! People are so nice here!! Two minutes later, another woman who must of been on our bus, came up to us and kindly told us that it doesn't cost any extra to buy a return ticket on the bus (we hadn't bought a return ticket, we were just going to walk home to save money). We thanked her, and we were on our way. We couldn't stop talking about how nice people are here. They will do anything and everything they can to help their fellow men! It is very cool. I thought people would hate us and think we are just dumb Americans, but they love Americans! They love to ask how we like it here in their country, and they love to hear that we love it. We spent the rest of the afternoon browsing little shops and touring the amazing cathedral on campus. I have never seen anything like it in my life. You think the outside looks cool, and then you get inside and it just makes you speechless. I was glad I was able to snap at least one picture of what it looked like right as we walked in, but after that I obeyed the rules and didn't take any more pictures. It was amazing to see something that was a few thousand years old! In America the history is usually hundreds of years old, but here in England things are thousands of years old! There were cute little English school kids in uniforms touring the cathedral, along with numerous families and older couples. I LOVED seeing all the places where Harry Potter was filmed. Daniel totally makes fun of me, but I love it ok! Daniel will just have to get used to the fact that he goes to school at Hogwarts. We stopped at a little pub called Varsity-apparently where all the Durham football players go to drink after practice, and we each had a 2.99 pound chicken wrap that was really good. We went and set up a bank account here, and they guy who was helping us kept saying "em" instead of "um" it was all I could do not to giggle a little bit. We shopped around and got a few things that we needed like bed sheets, some mugs and hot chocolate, and chocolate, and did I mention chocolate? The chocolate is amazing and cheap here. SO GOOD!! Mom I know you are jealous, but don't worry, I am going to send you a package full of the good stuff! Overall, it was such a fun day exploring our little city. I fell even more in love with this place than I already was. Later that day, Daniel headed off to practice, and I decided I was going to go on a little jog to campus to watch some of it. I had to bundle up really good because it was freezing outside! I ran the 2.7 miles to the sports complex, and when I got there I saw a sign that said "Appeal for more information," and it went on to talk about how a guy was fatally stabbed there just two weeks ago while he was jogging! So I decided I probably shouldn't stay and watch Daniel's practice, but that I should get home before it got dark! So I practically sprinted the 2.7 miles back home. I have never been so exhausted in my life! That day was also the first day since we had been here that I hadn't taken a nap, so I was still a little jet lagged, and my legs were about ready to give out, but I made it home quite proud of myself..5.4 miles! I guess running like a murderer is chasing you is pretty good motivation! Well that's it for now. We are excited to see what the rest of this week has in store for us. Cheers!