It has been 5 days since our last post and what a 5 days it has been. We have been very busy exploring the nearby villages, eating the local cuisine, looking at potential houses, as well as taking another trip to London. We are starting to get a better feel for the local area and have found some areas that we really like. I’m starting to think that I’m a natural at driving on the left side of the road in a right side drive car. Andrea has only had to correct me a “couple” of times, usually when driving in a car park (that’s parking lot in UK speak). We haven’t started looking for a car yet, but we should be buying one soon. We are spending most of our time looking for a place to live.
A Major in my new Squadron called last week telling us that he had a house for rent in an area called Ely, a village about 25 minutes from base. We hadn’t looked in Ely up to this point. We didn’t think we wanted to live there, but we were surprised. Ely pretty much provided everything we wanted in a village. We wanted to live in a place that offered a walking lifestyle. We wanted to be close to markets, pubs, shopping, and other attractions. His house was about a 15 minute walk from downtown, multiple restaurants and pubs, a train station, a 900 year old cathedral, and the home of Oliver Cromwell a historical Military and Political leader. We really liked the house and they were going to throw in a lot of things to make it a great deal. Unfortunately we thought it was going to be a little small. I was pretty sold on it until I woke up the next morning and realized that in the living room we wouldn’t be able to have even a coffee table. It was still on the top of our list but we wanted to do more looking in Ely. We found a village that we like now we had to find a house.
We checked all the local rental agencies but were not finding much that we liked. We are moving at an unfortunate time. Not many people are moving right now and the market is pretty scarce. I found a couple places for rent that were listed with our local housing office and called on them but was not having much luck. On Christmas Eve I got a call from the last house I was waiting on. We went and looked at it on the 26
th and loved it! It is a 4 bedroom 3 ½ bath house in Ely. It is right across the street from a park in a very nice neighborhood. Andrea's favorite thing about the house is that it has a huge walk-in closet! A rarity in England. I think this house has more storage than our house in Spokane. The really cool thing is that it is only 4 doors down from a good friend of mine, Micah Vanderveen. Micah and I went to SPU together and have run into each other multiple times since we joined the Air Force. We are really excited about this place and we think we will be able to move in on the 13th of January.
On Christmas Eve, Andrea and I went down to London to see the Nutcracker. We were really excited to see it and hoped for a good show. It was a good show but interesting; very modern and an interesting take on a classic. I thought it looked like the Nutcracker done by Dr. Seuss. I personally enjoyed it a little more than the original, it kept me interested because it was different. I don’t think Andrea enjoyed it as much as the one at the Pacific Northwest Ballet. We both agreed that the dancers were very talented and that it was a good show, just different. After the show, we met up with Micah and his wife Jennie to walk around downtown London. We browsed around Covent Garden as well as a couple of other areas in London. For Christmas Day, Andrea and I joined our friends Kurt and Jessica Wampole for dinner and games. We had a great time and some good food. Jessica's step mom was there and she has a history of English Christmases. She brought a lot of local delicacies for us to try and enjoy. The most interesting thing was called Christmas Pudding. It looked like a round chocolate cake that was covered in rum, lit on fire, and served with custard when cooled. I'm not sure what was in it but raisins and a gooey chocolate cake type stuff. It was different and I'm sure if we grew up on it we would have loved it, but I'm not sure if it will go into the dessert rotation for next Christmas. It definitely was different not being home for Christmas, especially living out of a hotel room with our gifts stacked under the lamp. We really missed being home and being with our families but we had a great Christmas together with our friends.
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We are really excited to get moved into our new house and get started with our life here in England. Don’t worry, the house has plenty of room, including a very large guest room. I personally can’t wait to start visiting the local pubs and trying some of the local beers. This area has some good local beers but I haven’t found anything that can compare to my favorite northwest beers, but I have 3 years to look.
It has been 5 days since our last post and what a 5 days it has been. We have been very busy exploring the nearby villages, eating the local cuisine, looking at potential houses, as well as taking another trip to London. We are starting to get a better feel for the local area and have found some areas that we really like. I’m starting to think that I’m a natural at driving on the left side of the road in a right side drive car. Andrea has only had to correct me a “couple” of times, usually when driving in a car park (that’s parking lot in UK speak). We haven’t started looking for a car yet, but we should be buying one soon. We are spending most of our time looking for a place to live.
A Major in my new Squadron called last week telling us that he had a house for rent in an area called Ely, a village about 25 minutes from base. We hadn’t looked in Ely up to this point. We didn’t think we wanted to live there, but we were surprised. Ely pretty much provided everything we wanted in a village. We wanted to live in a place that offered a walking lifestyle. We wanted to be close to markets, pubs, shopping, and other attractions. His house was about a 15 minute walk from downtown, multiple restaurants and pubs, a train station, a 900 year old cathedral, and the home of Oliver Cromwell a historical Military and Political leader. We really liked the house and they were going to throw in a lot of things to make it a great deal. Unfortunately we thought it was going to be a little small. I was pretty sold on it until I woke up the next morning and realized that in the living room we wouldn’t be able to have even a coffee table. It was still on the top of our list but we wanted to do more looking in Ely. We found a village that we like now we had to find a house.
We checked all the local rental agencies but were not finding much that we liked. We are moving at an unfortunate time. Not many people are moving right now and the market is pretty scarce. I found a couple places for rent that were listed with our local housing office and called on them but was not having much luck. On Christmas Eve I got a call from the last house I was waiting on. We went and looked at it on the 26th and loved it! It is a 4 bedroom 3 ½ bath house in Ely. It is right across the street from a park in a very nice neighborhood. Andrea's favorite thing about the house is that it has a huge walk-in closet! A rarity in England. I think this house has more storage than our house in Spokane. The really cool thing is that it is only 4 doors down from a good friend of mine, Micah Vanderveen. Micah and I went to SPU together and have run into each other multiple times since we joined the Air Force. We are really excited about this place and we think we will be able to move in on the 13th of January. 
On Christmas Eve, Andrea and I went down to London to see the Nutcracker. We were really excited to see it and hoped for a good show. It was a good show but interesting; very modern and an interesting take on a classic. I thought it looked like the Nutcracker done by Dr. Seuss. I personally enjoyed it a little more than the original, it kept me interested because it was different. I don’t think Andrea enjoyed it as much as the one at the Pacific Northwest Ballet. We both agreed that the dancers were very talented and that it was a good show, just different. After the show, we met up with Micah and his wife Jennie to walk around downtown London. We browsed around Covent Garden as well as a couple of other areas in London. For Christmas Day, Andrea and I joined our friends Kurt and Jessica Wampole for dinner and games. We had a great time and some good food. Jessica's step mom was there and she has a history of English Christmases. She brought a lot of local delicacies for us to try and enjoy. The most interesting thing was called Christmas Pudding. It looked like a round chocolate cake that was covered in rum, lit on fire, and served with custard when cooled. I'm not sure what was in it but raisins and a gooey chocolate cake type stuff. It was different and I'm sure if we grew up on it we would have loved it, but I'm not sure if it will go into the dessert rotation for next Christmas. It definitely was different not being home for Christmas, especially living out of a hotel room with our gifts stacked under the lamp. We really missed being home and being with our families but we had a great Christmas together with our friends..JPG)
We are really excited to get moved into our new house and get started with our life here in England. Don’t worry, the house has plenty of room, including a very large guest room. I personally can’t wait to start visiting the local pubs and trying some of the local beers. This area has some good local beers but I haven’t found anything that can compare to my favorite northwest beers, but I have 3 years to look. 
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