Palace, Picnic and Punting

We've just had a lovely British summer day with our friend Carrie Ginder and her friend Rupa. Ginder is a good friend from Gustavus - Brian knew her from physics and I knew her from my roomies.

We visiting Blenheim Palace, had a tasty picnic in the gardens for lunch and then went punting for the evening activity. (Which of course included a mandatory stop at the Victoria Arms pub.)

Topped off the evening with some Indian food from Spice Lounge and then we dropped into the Dew Drop Inn (our local).

Off to London today!

Summertime in Oxford

It's been a pretty relaxed July here in Oxford. The weather this month started out sunny and warm and actually summery. Lately, it's been really grey, but the rain has been minimal and the temperature and humidity still up. Before August hits, I just thought I'd touch on a few things we've been up to this month.

This photo of the Thames River in London, is after the OBA London Ball I attended in June. Such a great example of the amazing place we live and work in right now in our lives!

Went to London on a Friday afternoon for Brian's favorite band at a summer festival at Hyde Park - Pearl Jam!

There was a perfect Friday afternoon of punting down the Cherwell River - one of the best things to do in Oxford ever. Of course it was with multiple punts of physicists, but means I can just sit back and enjoy!

We took a couple of picnics with friends in the University Park, which is a favorite British summer past time.

For the first time, we went bowling in the UK. Pretty much exactly the same over here as it is back home. But they don't call air hockey, air hockey - it's called air football (soccer)!

Dr Smith's new webpage

Check out Brian's new official webpage on the Keble College website. Great pic of Brian from our trip to Snowdonia Mountain in Wales 2007.

June Black Tie Work Do

One of the most fun things about living in Oxford and working for the University is that we get to dress up and attend posh dinners!

On Saturday 12 June, I had a work event in London - the Oxford Business Alumni London annual Ball. It was held at a great venue called Middle Temple Hall (Middle Temple is where the British law society is housed in London). The event included; drinks reception in the garden, 3-course dinner, live band, casino tables and a huge chocolate fountain. Since it was the same evening of the US vs England world cup game, a huge screen TV was also on for the fans.

I didn't get a chance for any pictures of myself, but one of me on the dancefloor with some new friends can be found here.

GAC Alumni Award Ceremony & Reunion Banquet

Last weekend was a blast - Brian and I were home in Minnesota to see family and celebrate Brian's receipt of the Gustavus male Alumni Decade Award. I am a very proud wife!

We arrived on Thursday evening and spent a relaxing night with Brian's dad Tom and Karen in Ellesworth, WI. It was beautiful weather and we were excited to grill out and sit out on the back porch. The jet lag was hitting fast though, so we couldn't stay up too late! It was great to see how well Tom is doing after his car accident.

Friday we drove into St Peter so we could have some time to meet up with the physics profs, check in with the alumni office, and have a little down time to ourselves. We stayed on campus in the Guest House, and it's a lovely home with 7 guest rooms and a shared living area and kitchen, all decorated in a Swedish style. We hit our our old favorite watering hole, Patrick's and enjoyed in the bar's culinary delights - burger basket for Kelly and chicken strips for Brian! Yum!

Saturday is when the excitement began. We were still waking up early, so we went down to Oodles cafe for a good 'ol American greasy spoon breakfast and it was heaven. Then Kelly checked out the Swedish Kontur shop (fabulous!) while Brian went to the coffee shop to finish writing up his speech. Well lo and behold we run into cousin Ben and brother Charlie! John and Marcy were not too far behind and we all went for lunch back up on the hill in the caf. A couple more hours to get ready, and check into the hotel in Mankato.

Afternoon tea began at 2:30 and family and physics professors began to roll in. It was a hot day, so everyone thought we were a bit crazy for serving hot tea and coffee! I was just thrilled to have the tray of Gustavus bars to snack on! It was fun to have some group pics taken with all of our families in attendance. And especially the photo of our big family of Gustie alumni!

Then on to the banquet in the President's Dining Room at 5pm. Our group took up 5 tables and were close to the front for Brian. They served a GAC meal I can remember - chicken breast with cream of mushroom, wild rice and veggies. So Minnesotan/Scandinavian! I loved it . . .

We were celebrating the alumni reunions of classes of 1960, 1955, 1950, and further out. We were also recognizing 5 alumni award winners (2 Decade Award winners, 2 Alumni Achievement winners, and the Greater Gustavus award). It was a great event of Gustavus pride!

Brian's Gustavus Physics Advisor, Paul Saulnier, gave a great introduction to Brian for his award. They had a great relationship when Brian was Paul's student, and they've maintained a friendship throughout Brian's career.

You can watch the video of both Paul's and Brian's speeches here.

And you can see more photos from this weekend here.

After the banquet dinner, the award winners and guests were kindly invited to the President's home for a drinks reception. President Ohle and his wife Kris, have a beautiful home on the ring road of campus. It was a nice chance to visit with Gustavus administrators and take some more fun pics!

Then our party could finally put our hair down and relax at Patrick's for some local brews and  visit with our Gustie buddies that came to see us, Laura, Jacob (well a Johnny) and Meghan.

The night was not complete without late night pizza's from our fave pizza joint in Mankato - Pagliai's - which we enjoyed at the Best Western in Mankato, where many of us stayed for the one night.

Still waking up early due to jet lag and excitement, Kelly went down to the pool area of the hotel to visit with cousins Patty/Scott and their girlie girls. Aunt & Uncle Cal & Dorothy were down as well as Grandma Pat and Grandpa Dick. So was nice to visit with them all before things got busy again!

We all headed back to St Peter for brunch at Whiskey River and were able to be joined by some family members whom couldn't make Saturday night. So it was a great chance to catch up with Colvin's and Schlauderaff's!

Brunch was the official end of the celebrating excitement - a mere 24 hours of fun!

Sunday afternoon was spent with a little more shopping with John, Marcy and Charlie, and then to Mapleton with just Al & Jackie, Gram, Marit and Tom. The weather cooled a bit, but we still had a fab BBQ and a good night's sleep! Monday was sunny again and we just enjoyed Memorial Day lounging around relaxing.

The weekend went by quickly, but it's amazing how much we can pack in, in four days! We flew out Monday night and were so so thankful for such a great time, such a great family and such a great alma mater!

Friday fun with Lisa

Friday was a long but super fun day! We were up and at 'em at 6am. Just enough time to get ready for the day, stop by Starbucks for coffee/muffins, catch the taxi to the bus station, and get on the 7:50 bus to London!

A sunny beautiful day for England - Lisa and her group were so lucky to be here during this weather as it's absolutely amazing and unique for these parts.

We met up with her Weslyan group at University College of London at 11am where the auto-icon of Jeremy Bentham is located. Unique thing to visit for a bunch of psychologists and myself. Then across the street for a pub lunch at the Bentham pub.

One of the highlights of the day for us both was the next stop - visiting the Freud home museum. Wow, what an insight to the amazing homes in the famous area of London (Hampstead were celebrities Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law live) and mainly into the life of an extraordinary scientist and psychologist of the day - Sigmund Freud. He actually only lived in the house for his last year of life, as he was escaping from Nazi Austria. Our group also was in the presence of a journalist who lived in London and was friend's with Freud's daughter and attended kindergarten with her. He was visiting the home after 40 years and said it looked very similar to as he remembered.

We enjoyed free time after the museum, so Lisa and I left the group for more exploring and shopping! We were close enough to the fun, funky area of Camden for more shopping and checking out the London scene. We ran into some very nice blokes from Australia and chatted with them for a few minutes while enjoying our refreshing drinks while overlooking the Camden Locks in the sun.

We grabbed dinner at an easy Chinese buffet, which was fun and then on to possibly catch the Jack the Ripper ghost walking tour!

The tour didn't start until 10pm though. Lisa was so tired and I had to catch a bus back to Oxford. So we had permission to miss out, and I got Lisa back to the hotel. They were leaving for Paris bright and early the next morning so she has some packing to do. I caught my bus home and was at my Oxford flat by about 1am.

We had so much fun and it was so special and such a joy to have cousin Lisa here! We really enjoyed just the quality cousin and girl time together - I hope she will always remember our great time together!

Thursday with Lisa in Oxford

Cousin Lisa (my mom's sister's youngest daughter, aka my cousin) made it to the UK without incident this past Tuesday. She enjoyed some time exploring London with her tour group, and then made a day trip to Oxford on Thursday. I met up with their group while they were on on the Oxford Walking Tour and could spot Lisa right away with her long hair and cute hat! Here she is just leaving the Bodleain Library and into the courtyard of the famous Oxford Radcliffe Camera.

After briefly meeting her professor and the tour guide, we were granted permission to take off on our own and hang out in Oxford. I could give her the same tour with more fun girlie notes anyway! We enjoyed combing the main streets of Oxford for some cute summer dresses and Oxford souvenirs. There was still time to visit the requisite Christ Church College - seeing the Harry Potter dining hall and beautiful church within the college. We had shopping success in the Covered Market and British high street shops, and of course the Oxford University souvenirs shops as well.

We popped into the local downtown pub, which everyone likes found down a hidden alleyway, the Turf pub. Found a nice table outside and had a bit of brew on tap. Then we walked home (30 min) to Kelly & Brian's flat in North Oxford. Saw Brian's office building and his college (Keble) along the walk. Lisa was getting pretty tired, as she had only been in the country for two days without much downtime so far. So finally was a chance to relax a bit at the flat!

We went for a nice dinner just up the road in our neighborhood (Summertown) at a place called Portobello. Great food, but typical slow British service. So was time to get Lisa home so we could Skype with her parents Bob and Diane (so fun on video!) and so she could call her boyfriend (I'm pretty sure he's official boyfriend status now) Gordon (who is a doll according to the pictures and stories I heard from Lisa!). :)

Lisa was able to spend the night with me in Oxford, which was great for a girls night (Brian was in the US for a conference). I think she enjoyed having a room to herself instead of sharing with 3 others from her tour group. I'm pretty sure she slept well that night!

More fun was had Friday in London and a new blog post on that coming soon!

Cousin Lisa to visit! (if the airports stay open!)

Cousin Lisa Jungbluth has just graduated from University in Nebraska this weekend and is planning a fun  post-graduate European trip! She is joining a class with a few other graduates and professor to study Freud in the UK, France and Italy.  They are to fly out tomorrow (Monday) to London Heathrow (arriving Tuesday am). They will spend a couple of days in London with a side trip to Oxford. Luckily she got permission to spend one night in Oxford with me - so excited! Then we'll head back into London so she can catch her trip to Paris the next day.

Unfortunately, the winds are changing and the airports in Northern UK are currently closed again due to volcanic ash. I have my fingers and toes crossed for her that they will be able to make it!! As of this minute Heathrow is still open . . . 

More on holiday: Koh Yao Noi in Thailand

"Koh" means island in Thai, and Yao Noi was the name of the small island in Phang Nga Bay in the Andaman Sea where we stayed for four nights of tropical bliss. We stayed at a boutique resort called Paradise Koh Yao and it was definitely paradise to us!

To get there, we flew from Bangkok to one of the larger, more known islands called Phuket on the west side of Thailand. Then a car was booked to take us to the marina, where then the resort speed boat picked us up, and another French couple, and took us 45 minutes to the resort on the northern tip of the island.

We picked, well actually Brian did the leg work and found this resort, because we wanted something relaxing and amongst the natural beauty of the Adaman Sea and limestone cliffs/rocks. We wanted to avoid the crowds, parties, drinking etc on the big island (atmosphere more like cancun during college spring break). We just wanted to be old people - up early to enjoy the day, happy hour at 5ish, dinner at 7 ish, more post dinner drinks and to bed early!

The island was my favorite part of our entire trip - it was just spectacular. Our first full day we booked a kayak tour.  The resort puts us in their long tail boat with a boat driver and tour guide and we boat around the limestone cliffs and islands. When the tide was low, we sea kayaked through low caves and into amazing lagoons. The lagoons housed unique birds, fish that have legs!, monkeys (but we didn't see any), bats (yuck) and mangrove trees with very cool root systems. Liam was our guide. He is Thai, 22 and left school at 14 since he could make money working in the tourism industry. He was very nice and could speak English fairly well.

We stopped on a small island with a private beach to eat our packed lunch. As we were the only couple who had booked the trip this day, we basically had a private day and tour - it was incredible!

One of the most famous islands they call the "James Bond" island from the 70s move - JB and the Man with the Golden Gun. It's off another island which you can walk around to take pictures. Usually being a blonde gal in other parts of the world, I get a lot of attention from the local guys. But not at all in Thailand. That is the one area that was so nice for a change. Ironically, it was Brian who drew the attention. American culture is very popular there. Brian being a tall, strong, handsome American guy was really interesting to the Thai guys. So they would come up to him and ask to get their picture with him. They must really like American baseball since they would try to talk to him about baseball - funny he doesn't know much in that area!

The next two days, we enjoyed the kayaking so much that we hired the sea kayak ourselves and explored the area looking for private beaches where we could chill and hike a bit into the jungle (not too far in). We would return to the resort by around 2pm and then relax on the beach for another hour or so before the typical late afternoon rain moved in.





Around 3pm, the resort staff would walk around with fresh fruit to choose from as a snack. Fun tropical stuff such as: dragon fruit, lynchees, yellow watermelon, papaya and something else I didn't even know!

While I expected the food to be pretty decent on the resort and lots of proper Thai food (which we were excited about), we were pleased to experience absolutely amazing food! The chef was a top notch French chef who decided to leave the high class french cuisine restaurants and live on a Thai island and live a bit more relaxed. So the food was incredible. We still ate Thai every night, which his kitchen did very well (still spicy for me!) but they also did western, italian and mediterranean cuisine as well. Plus, and amazing breakfast buffet every morning - my fave!!

Our room was very cool - an outdoor shower (still protected by walls, but one you can push back and watch the trees and sea while you get clean!); a huge bed with the mosquito netting (although the mozzies really weren't that bad); and a really great patio with a lounge swing (which Brian really enjoyed).

We were able to relax, enjoy one another's company and appreciate the absolute beauty around us. It was definitely paradise!

Official Start as Oxford Lecturer

Brian officially started his new job this week. As his colleague, the Senior Physics Tutor at Keble College, was stuck in Singapore, Brian had to jump right in (he's a big fan of baptism by fire). So yesterday he met with the undergraduate physics students as they return for the start of the third term of the academic year (called Trinity Term). And today, he administered their review exams - to find out how much they have been studying during their 6 week break in-between terms. Academics must wear their academic gown (which Brian had to borrow) and the students wear a certain black and white outfit called sub fusc. Doesn't he look good in the gown?! Very academic looking I must say . . .

Colleagues Returning

Just thought I'd share - while the news is talking about how the airlines are all back to normal over here in the UK and Europe - there is still a lot of chaos. The airlines are doing their best to stick to their regularly planned schedules for the current day. Which means that people who already have tickets have "Priority"over the poor people who were stuck from last week. The stuck people are being put on stand by flights and rebooked, but in many cases not for another week or longer! Two colleagues still stuck in NYC are on flights finally this weekend, same for a colleague in California. A friend stuck in North Carolina is put on a flight back next week. And the colleague in Hong Kong - the soonest they could rebook her flight is not until May 13!!!

Ash Over the UK

Well it's been five days now that UK airspace has been almost completely shut down and Heathrow airport has been closed. Some flights supposedly were able to fly in/out of Scotland. I have colleagues stuck in NYC, San Francisco, Hong Kong and Germany. Loads of Oxford students and professors are unable to make it make for the start of term soon. Brian starts his new job this week, and will already be jumping right into new responsiblities - the Senior Tutor in Physics is stuck in Singapore, so Brian will have to pick up some of the student meetings and give exams this week and next. Thank goodness we weren't on holiday (well being stuck in Singapore would have been great) but it sounds like a nightmare to get home to the UK. While other countries in Europe also have closed airports, the ground transport can still get everyone somewhere (great train system, bus systems and cars). But as the UK is a island, it's much more difficult. Brits are having to get to continental Europe first, and then try to get the Eurostar train (which travels from Paris/Brussels under the English Channel to London) or take a Ferry across the Channel. The trains and ferries are fully booked for weeks and sounds like the UK navy is heading to Spain to pick up stranded Brits and bring them home. What a mess!

Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok is definitely the most crazy overwhelming place I've ever been. While Singapore is a very Westernized city in southeast asia (feels very similar to big city America), Bangkok is definitely not. It's a huge Asia city, with lots of people, lights, sounds, smells, fashion, food, motorbikes, buses, pollution, shopping, and religion. It is a city that is used to tourism, but as a tourist it's a place to always be a bit weary and careful. Looking back, I'm so glad we went and visited, but I was also happy when we were leaving to the next place. It's an overwhelming and exhausting city. But spectacular, amazing and unique.

We stayed in a great location in the city - in a big shopping area and next to the University. The area was called Siam Square, and very popular with the Bangkok teens and twentysomethings. That was fun to see their energy and lifestyle. Fashion is a huge industry there so tons of great small boutiques, or huge shopping centres. Also any kind of spa, massage, and foot treatments are around every corner and super cheap. Even botox, hair colouring and other beauty treatments available at walk in centers. While I would not even question eating any food off the street in Singapore, I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole in Bangkok. They cook things like deep fried squid on a stick - yikes!

95% of people living in Thailand are Buddhists. It's a lovely religion that believes in reincarnation and having a successful afterlife. It's the fourth largest religion in the world. All over the city and country we were reminded of the Buddhist religion. There are spirit houses at each home/hotel/office, which protect the buildings from evil spirits. And there are Wats (Temples), which you could say are akin to churches, where you go pray to Buddha and get a blessing from the Monks. Depending on your prayers, you burn incense sticks, offer flowers, offer food/drink or gold leaf to Buddha.

Singapore and Thailand - First Four Days

Wow what an amazing trip! This was probably one of my top favorite holidays - for both adventure and relaxation! Even the professor finally had a chance to relax, tune out work, and just enjoy. Our first four days we spent in Singapore. Remember, the National University of Singapore has been Brian's employer for the past year. So now that he will be starting his new job with Oxford (soon on 19 April), he had some work, papers, and banking stuff to close down and wrap up. In the meantime, we still were able to check out some touristy things. One day we spent all day at the Singapore Zoo- fantastic - so many unique species to see there.

We even fed the 80 year old tortoise some apples! Another day we checked out Singapore's well known export beer brewery -Tiger beer. We've been on a lot of brewery tours (big surprise) and thought this was one of the best.

Our favourite things to do in Singapore include eating dinner in the Hawker centers (just think State Fair food stalls, but yummy Asian concoctions),  wandering the streets of Chinatown, and enjoying ice cream on the bridge at Clark Quay.

They have some odd flavoured ice cream. Including their smelly and disgusting fruit called the Durian, and a Sweet Corn flavour. Yes, I tried them both and they were both awful! (Was hoping the corn was somewhat edible to tell everyone from back home about corn ice cream.) :)