Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Oxford!

We are very much enjoying our final weeks of just a twosome and sleeping in a lot! Since we haven't made any big plans of travel or exploring, we are cleaning, rearranging furniture and doing lots of laundry. It sure is nice to be lazy and not feel guilty about it!


December has been a fun month, with a final European jaunt to visit Bettina and Stefan in their new flat and life in Bonn, Germany. We visited an indoor and the outdoor Christmas markets, some shopping and just relaxed and ate well at their spacious place. It was so nice to see them before our lives change with baby on the way! And while it was still easy to travel!

We also had the annual physics Christmas party, this year at St Anthony's College. Not the prettiest of colleges, but I would say the food was good and the Senior Common Room for the presentations was warm and comfy. Obviously baby is making himself known by now!

On Christmas day, we were kindly invited over to Ian and Kate Walmsley's again for dinner - same place we went to in 2007. It was fun to see the work they've done to the house and how much their kids have grown in five years. Really puts into perspective how long we've lived here already!

We plan to spend New Year's Eve at our friend's Adam and Maggie's - little Izzy is already 2 and she has a brother/sister on the way due in April.  Lots of babies this year!

Best wishes for 2012!!

British Weddings 2 & 3

Argh, I'm blowing my post at least once a month! Well I'll catch up a bit on two weddings in one post. They were both in the lovely English countryside - the famous Cotswolds.

My good friend and former colleague from the Business School and her now hubby Giles, both met working together at the Business School. It was fun at the wedding, because I knew so many of the guests - Business School colleagues and Charlotte's Hen Do - close girlfriends.

There wedding in early September was in a lovely market town called Tetbury, and from the looks of it, one of the posh Cotswold towns. Prince Charles has one of his stately homes and garden just on the outskirts, so the town fits the royal image well. We stayed two nights in a lovely B&B right in the centre of town. Enjoy pizza out Friday night on our own, and then saw Charlotte for a drink later on. It was easy to get to the lovely Barn venue where the ceremony was being held, as there was a coach to collect us all, and the drive us back in the evening.

The weather was sunny and warmish, although a bit breezy. We started with a short drinks reception, then the ceremony in the posh Barn, and a further drinks reception for awhile, while the Barn was then redone up with tables for dinner. Brian and I sat with her Hen Do friends and their partners. After a lovely meal of chicken, one more clear out so they could set up the dance floor. A really unique and beautiful wedding in the Cotswolds!

Wedding number 3 was also of a former colleague from the University Alumni Office - Jo and her now hubby Toby. They also met at work, and have a cute story about him sending her anonymous flowers on Valentine's Day.

There wedding in the Cotswolds was during the warmest weekend on record in England, and especially unique because it was the first weekend of October - it was 85 degrees and full sun. Even the locals weren't complaining on the 'hot' weather since we have had such a cool grey summer. Their wedding was also out on a farm - but a bit more rustic and relaxed. It was a weekend, hangout, pitch in, relax type of affair.

 The wedding ceremony was in the apple orchard and there were dogs, and kiddos, and everyone just chilling. There were then fun and games, a tennis court, indoor swimming pool, a bouncy castle, game room, chickens, cows, etc. We were there with a number of my former colleagues and their partners - who all especially enjoyed the bouncy castle! Dinner was in the barn and we had a pork roast (a little tricky for Brian, but there were some alternatives). Beer was brewed by the local brewery and some English sweets to pick at as well. It was a really lovely day as well. We were able to just train/taxi to and from home, so we didn't have to spend the night anywhere this time (and save a little dough)!

We felt so blessed that we've made good friends here (British friends!) so that we could help them celebrate their weddings. It was very fun for us to experience and especially as they were all so uniquely different. Overall, I'd say that weddings in the UK are more or less the same as in the US, with just some small differences.

My first Hen Do (aka Bachlorette Party)!

A few weekends ago, I was invited to my former colleague and friend Charlotte's Hen Do. Hen = Bachelorette and Do = Party. It was a lovely full weekend away in the English countryside, just outside of the beautiful town of Bath. Charlotte is getting married in early September to another one of my current colleagues Giles. I was the only colleague from work invited to the Do, and the other gals there were friends of hers from home or University. This is the view from the back garden of where we were staying in a lovely village called Chew Magna for the weekend.

We spent the weekend at a large farm house, which has been modernised a bit for groups of hen parties to hire out for weekends in the summer. The owners live in the home attached, and provide things such as the linens, breakfast food, etc. The owners also realised that many of the hen groups were heading into Bath for a spa day, so they decided to build a spa on sight. So now across the street is an outdoor pool, hot tub, sauna, and treatment room.

We all arrived on Friday afternoon and settled into the house. It was a beautiful warm day, so we were able to sit out in the back garden, eat canapes and wine and get to know one another with some fun games. We stayed at the house for dinner, and Charlotte cooked as a thank you to all of us for coming.  We then did some more fun evening Hen games - like 'Pin the Trunks on the the Hunk' who was  George Michael during Wham days - so British! We also got Charlotte up karaoking and pretending to be dancing to Riverdance. Finally, we designed Charlotte and her friend's 'wedding dress' with toilet paper and plastic, in which they looked beautiful of course in the outcome!

Saturday we were up to have breakfast at 9, so we could be across the street by 10 for the spa time. The weather was probably 60 degrees and mainly cloudy. But that didn't stop the British girls for going for a swim! I didn't know if I thought they were crazy or impressive. . . Everyone took turns with 30 min spa treatments such as facials, back massage or pedicure. We then enjoyed a picnic lunch again in the garden as the sun began to peek out. After lunch, everyone was tired and wanted to rest a bit before our night on the town. So naps all around.

We gathered together at 5pm for a few more games, before we started to get ready for our night out. A minibus was collecting us at 7pm and driving us into Bath. We first went to the roof top bar of a pretty cool new gastropub in downtown. It was definitely chilly, but was a fun start. Then headed to our dinner location, which was a Spanish tapas place and really yummy. It was a cozy intimate setting, so a bit loud, but it worked out well. Last we went around the corner to a perfect downstairs bar lounge, and had a few night caps. All in all, we were very civilised group - as the girls kept saying. We were in fun dresses and outfits, with a splash of green, and our bits of '80's accents to show that we were a hen do all together. Much better outfits than other hen dos in Bath, which were just pretty embarrassing!

Sunday brought a final nice cooked breakfast at the house, cleaning up and then everyone parting ways around 1pm. It was lovely to meet some new ladies and Charlotte's friends were extremely nice. It was fun to hear about their reminiscing days, just like I would do with my friends, but in a different culture. Fun to hear about many topics that were similar and many that were different (music, tv shows, hair/clothes styles, relationships, etc.).

And then I took a nice big nap when I arrived home that afternoon!

First British Wedding

Last weekend, we attended our first of three British weddings this summer. It was our first ever British wedding, and probably the most traditional/formal of the three. It was very similar to a traditional church wedding in the US, with of course, many of the smaller differences.

The groom is a former colleague of Brian's from here at Oxford. His now wife was also a student at Oxford in medicine, which is where they met a number of years ago. They are a super fun couple, and we were so glad to be invited to their big day.

The wedding was in Salisbury, which is around 40 miles southeast of Oxford. Since we still don't have a car (but we both now can legally drive in the UK!) we took the train. Salisbury is where the famed Salisbury Cathedral is located- and is very close to Stonehenge. It's an absolutely lovely British town, well kept, amazing mix of historical British architecture, and cozy traditional pubs.

We arrived Friday evening, checked into our lovely and quaint B&B (the nicest we've stayed in so far, had a lovely big bay window overlooking the entire street). We ventured down the street to an old pub with low timber ceilings and a huge garden in the back. It was the place to be,  and we had dinner there in the evening.

After lovely breakfast, we checked out a bit of the town centre and the Saturday market. It was nice, but those markets are now just getting taken over by those cheap clothes stalls. It's a real shame. We grabbed a quick bite, then back to the B&B to get ready for the wedding. We had to be at St Thomas church before 2. The church is older than the cathedral, as it's the one that was built for the workers building the Cathedral. I believe it's the church where the bride grew up in, since her family is from Salisbury.  The ceremony was very similar to a US-church style wedding. The only difference that stood out was that they signed the registered during the ceremony, rather than after.

The reception was in the gardens of the Salisbury children's School, overlooking the Cathedral. It was a beautiful day, and beautiful garden to celebrate within. We had a drinks and nibbles reception outside, and then moved in to this grand marquee on the grounds for dinner. Dinner was a carvery buffet, and it was delicious. We sat at the FROG table, some physics acronym, with former colleagues of Brian and partners, which was fun.

The wedding speeches were the best I've ever heard. The father of the bride, the groom and then the best man. Very clever, witty, honest, funny loving and entertaining. There was a wedding quiz, which our table didn't do so well on, and then the evening activity was a ceili dance. Which is Scottish named in origin, but was more like American square dancing, which was pretty fun. Funny too, as the caller lady was clearly American, from Cali and loves to square dance!

As the evening wound down, my favourite part of the night was out on the expansive lawn looking up at the glowing Cathedral and seeing the huge night sky of stars. I don't get many chances to be in a wide open space at night here, when the stars are even out, to enjoy the British night time sky. It was a pretty spectacular and surreal sight!

Beautiful Switzerland

One of the best benefits being married to the physicist working for Oxford, are the opportunities for travel. Recently, Brian was invited to give a talk on his latest work at a conference being held  in the Swiss Alps. Oh rough. We knew Switzerland was a expensive country to go visit, so this was an opportune time to take advance of some travel freebies from the conference. As he'll get his flight, hotel and train tickets paid for, it's then more economical to just pay for me to come over as well.

Brian went on Wednesday, so he was there for the conference through Saturday (and had a trip to CERN particle accelerator - like kids in the candy store). I arrived on Friday and enjoyed Saturday on my own just relaxing and exploring.

We flew into Geneva, and took the train around Lake Geneva to a town called Aigle. The lake and it's views were magnificent. They call it the riviera of Switzerland or more like Tuscany. I had no idea, but this part of the country is a large wine making region, and there were wineries and grapes dotting the landscape along the lake, interspersed with Swiss chalets, with the mountains in the background. Just stunning scenes. White grapes for Chablis, seem to grow best in their climate - but they aren't exporters of the wine, they keep it to enjoy for themselves in Switzerland!

Upon arrival in Aigle, then it's a little cog train up the mountain to Leysin, which is a ski resort town. The weather now was sunny and warm, so no snow for skiing. And it's the shoulder season, so the tourists were fewer, but made it more enjoyable for us. Leysin also is home to a number of international schools, one American even, so there were Asian and American kids all over the little ski resort town as well. I just grabbed a good book, found a beautiful view, and enjoyed the sun and mountains for my afternoon!

  The food was pretty decent and hearty in Switzerland, although I wouldn't rave about it. But we had very good meals with meat and potatoes (well fish for Brian) with lots of yummy Swiss cheese (raclette, guryere, etc). This is our cute Swiss looking restaurant at our hotel (wood panels, red/white placemats, flowers, etc).

Leaving Leysin, and so Brian could actually take a few days vacation, we took one of the popular scenic train rides through the Alps to Interlaken Switzerland. We paid for first class in the Classic Golden Pass train - it was really neat with dark wood paneling, gold and fabric embellishments - just as you'd think of the Orient Express. Of course we were served drinks (beer/wine) and snacks along the route. It was so beautiful and relaxing. As it only took 3 hours, we arrived in Interlaken later in the afternoon and found our B&B called Hotel Rossli close to the station.

Now, hotels are not cheap in Switzerland. Our room was very nice, new and clean. But small and had the bathroom built into the corner of the room (rather than a separate room). And were were paying London hotel prices. It definitely did the trick, but again, not cheap or big. Food as well is not cheap. The hotels/B&Bs offer a nice yet standard cold breakfast buffet (muesli, croissants, toast, fruit, yogurt, sliced meat/cheese, boiled eggs, coffee, tea, juice.) We'd take extra food from breakfast or from the grocery store for picnic lunch, and then eat out at dinner.

Interlaken was familiar to me, as I was there with my college friend Beth Nelson Boyum during our senior year at GAC. So I was excited to be there again and show Brian. I recalled it being a charming, laid back Swiss village like town. Well, when we arrived, and walked down the main drag, it was full of touristy shops, bus loads of Asian and Indian tourists, and didn't feel local and charming at all! But I realised we were now in a completely different part of town than where I had been before. The Asian tourists weren't so much of a surprise to see, but the bus loads of Indian tourists were (I've just never seen them touring Europe before). Well, we learned it was because of Bollywood- many of the popular dance sequences in Bollywood movies are filmed in front of the Swiss Mountains (to represent the Kashmir mountains in India). So they all make the pilgrimage to see their fave movies scenes!

Our first full day, we hired bicycles to go around one of the two large lakes which Interlaken sits between. The weather was gorgeous sunny and upper 70s. We embarked on a 30 km trip which took us about 6 hours (including stops for views, pics, lunch, etc). I was pretty proud of myself for that long - although at hour 5 I was ready to be back and Brian sure heard about it! But it was probably my favorite day, the little Swiss villages we cycled through, views of the lake and mountains, an amazing waterfall, cows with their Swiss cowbells on, alpine flowers, blue sky, sun - oh, it was just spectacular. And a good workout!

Of course we had to try fondue at least one night - and found a good local place close to our hotel. They serve it in a fondue pot with a handle and along side comes a basket of bread chunks, pickled onion pearls, pickles, small tomatoes, small potatoes and pear pieces. Sounds random, but really yummy all together!

The next day, we took the train further up into the mountains, and stopped at the foot of Jungfrau Mountain, where we hiked back down 6 miles to the town called Wengen. We were literally able to touch a glacier as we were that high up in elevation. Luckily, the sun was still out, although the air was cooler due to the altitude. Brian was in heaven and I enjoyed the fact that we hiked down, rather than up! Although down gets really tough too on the knees and shins! My favorite stop of the day was a hidden away restaurant in Wengen waiting for the train. It had a wraparound outside porch overlooking the town and with the glorious mountains looming just further beyond. Brian could have a frosty beverage and write postcards, and I had their homemade muesli as an afternoon snack. It was served like an ice cream sundae, but was a healthy Swiss muesli, yogurt and fruit concoction. Yum!

I had to have a Sound of Music moment of course, in the Swiss Alps. Not really in Austria here, but same mountain range!

We enjoyed another Swiss meal close to our hotel that night, and then worked on packing things up for our return flight to the UK the next day. Another successful European adventure!

Keble Ball 2011

Well, we had to try one of the biggest Oxford University collegiate event of the year - the college black tie spring ball. Brian's college, Keble College, hosted their annual event last night. Most of the 28 colleges have their own ball - so there can be many to choose from to attend. The Balls are student-planned events, and the college Fellows (a.k.a. the academics) and guests are invited by the students.

It's not a Ball in the sense of a ballroom with a band and long dresses. It's mainly a more modern day prom like affair, but much bigger and a wilder! The Ball is set up over most of the grounds of the college - many marquee tents set up to house 2 stages of live music, many food stalls, games, and plenty of drink options. Recall that the drinking age is 18 here and Oxford is by no means a "dry campus". So any kind of drink is flowing all night long. The Ball is not cheap to attend, tickets were 80 GBP, which is $120 per person. It starts at 8pm and lasts until 4am.

Luckly, as Brian is now a Fellow, we received more perks, which made going all the more attractive. We could purchase 1/2 price tickets, and we were able to retire to the Senior Common Room at any point to warm up, rest, enjoy a very good glass of wine and much better quality food. The Senior Common Room is only for the Fellows to use in college at anytime. The students have a Junior Common Room which is more like a bar with pool tables. Yes, it is just like this in Harry Potter (well minus the bar and pool tables).

We also went with one of Brian's physics colleagues Uwe who is also a Fellow, and his girlfriend Evette. I thought it might be a little weird if just Brian and I went and roamed around the students on our own. It was fun to get to know Uwe (German) and Evette (English) better - they were tons of fun. Unfortunately it was difficult to remember to get the camera out and it got dark quite quickly so we don't have many photos. But hopefully there will be some up on the Ball website.



Check out the Keble Ball website so you can get an idea of what it's all about.

Holy Moly where have I been?!

Obviously I've let my blogging slip a bit  . . . or a long bit! It was a 2011 New Year's resolution to get back into it - and here I am in early May!  Well it's better late than never. I don't want to give up the blogging because it's great for a number of reasons, 1) it's an online diary for Brian and I about our lives abroad 2) great way to share with friends and family with what we are up to and 3) gives me a good extracurricular activity to do!

I think the lack of blogging has to do with a number of things as well 1) shocker of getting over the fact that we'll be living abroad longer term now (not just a fun two years of being tourists, but realising this is our true life reality now) 2) after four years already in Oxford, amazingly I can say that the novelty starts to wear off (see point 1 - it's now our normal reality) and 3) I don't think we're doing as much interesting stuff (again point 1 - we're just working, cooking, cleaning like everyone else)!

But that last point isn't completely fair to say, looking back at our iPhoto library since August 2010 - there are a ton of fun things we've been up to. So I'm going to go through a quick recap of each month with some favorite highlights.

Going forward, my aim is to blog at least once a month. I know it's not as much as I used to when we first moved here - but it's what I think can be a sustainable amount at this point, and if there are more posts than one a month - then bonus!

I'm glad to be back!