Post Fete Fete

Every year, TASIS holds a holiday fair (or fayre) called the Fete de Noel.  Holiday vendors come to the campus to sell their gifts, crafts or decorations, they set up a Candy Cane Cafe for snacks and goodies, and the kids can shop and do crafts in the Kids Club.  It's a lovely event, and we decided to piggy back on it for the

FIRST ANNUAL SASSO POST FETE FETE!

Let's just say this event was the proverbial snowball.  It started with us casually inviting a few families over for dinner after the Fete.  We've done this before, and it's usually a low key affair - the adults have wine and pizza, the kids run completely amok in and and out of the pool (we scored and indoor pool with makes us very popular with the under 12 set).  But on Tuesday before the Fete, Augusto calls me (from destinations unknown) and says "I think this should be a Tree Decorating Party.  I've always wanted a Tree Decorating Party".  I am reluctant.  It's November 15th.  Really?  Four days before the event.  Who even sells trees this early?  "You can make it happen" he says.  Well.  Them's fightin words people. 

Perhaps I was a little bored, a little stir crazy, or having a mild manic episode.  But I ran with it.  First, the tree.  I was right.  No one wanted to sell me a cut tree 6 weeks before Christmas.  So I scoured the internet and found Black Hawk Tree Farms.  The good man at Black Hawk was not yet open for business, but agreed to meet me to sell me a tree early.  Victory!  So I drove out to his "farm".  First sign of trouble was the cardboard sign propped up on a tree that read BLACK HAWK TREES in black poster paint, which looked like it had been painted by someone with a broken arm.  I soldiered on.  I drove down a long, wooded driveway, and popped out into a clearing which featured a trailer home, an abandoned school bus, a tractor with a broken window, and a shed.  I quickly texted my friend Paulie to let her know my exact whereabouts.  Safety first.  My tree hero emerges from the trailer to meet me - wearing either pajamas or lounge pants - and is a very nice guy.  "So...How does this work?  Where are the trees?" I ask, not wanting to be ungracious.  He makes a sweeping motion with his arm "Walk around - you see a tree?  I'll cut it down".  Huh?  It then dawns on me that Black Hawk Tree Farms is possibly this guy's back yard, and he is capitalizing on the Brit's Christmas fanaticism.  But I am desperate.  So I walk around, find a decent tree (so it has an S shaped trunk and is 12 feet tall, so what?) and sure enough, he cuts it down and delivers it to my house!  In retrospect, this may have not been one of my more savvy urban moments, but it all worked out! 

Tree?  Check.  Decorations?  In the attic in California.  Good excuse for a shopping spree.  Augusto wanted a tree party?  Oh, I'll GIVE him a tree party.  400 or so ornaments and just a few pounds later, we're ready to go.  Food?  Well, I'm going to be busy decorating, so I can't cook (hey, no laughing.  It could have happened).  Must hire caterer.  And really, why go half-assed at this point.  Let's cater a three course dinner, with passed canapes for starters.  We don't want anyone drinking on an empty stomach.  So, the guest list now stands at 12 adults and 15 kids.  Seating might be a problem.  Solution? Party rentals!  Yes!  Tables, chivari chairs (really, you can't use mismatched chairs, just tacky), linens, china.  Check. Check. Check. 

And I have to say - it may have been one of the most fun nights we've had in England yet.  Great people, great food, lots of laughs.  Here it is, in pictures:

This was the "Adult Room" for dinner -the kids had their own room.

The kid room wasn't as fancy,  but it did feature costumes. Here's Caroline and her friend Parker demonstrating:

The tree was on the tall side, so we enlisted our awesome friends Paulie and John Gould to help us set it up before the event.  Here's John's brilliant idea on how to get the angel on the top.  He works for Dell.  He's smart this way:

Let the festivities begin!  The kids pounce on the ornaments!

  Here's someone you might know!  Sadly, Shauna was out of town so she couldn't come.  We missed her terribly!

But it soon becomes clear that they are going to need a little help!  The dads are called in as reinforcements (ripping them away from the outdoor fire pit - what is it with men and fire?)

Just to give you an idea how tall the tree is - here is our friend Sean lifting Caroline to the top.  Sean is about 6 foot 3.

The finished result!  Dads and kids alike are proud!

Moms are happy and well into the champagne!

These are some of my amazing friends...from left to right it's Tav, Shelly, Stacey and Paulie.  Awesome ladies! 

It was so much darn fun we've decided to make it an annual event!  Already looking forward to the next Post Fete Fete!  And...we're all ready for Christmas! 

Early Holiday love to all!

The Queen's Country Digs



Just a short 20 minute drive from our house is one of the Queen's many residences - Windsor Castle!  Windsor is a beautiful little town with lots of shops and restaurants, and it makes for a great day trip.  You can tour the castle and walk the grounds. 

Adjacent to the castle is Great Windsor Park - hundreds of acres of beautiful gardens and woods.  I took a trail ride on horseback through there with a group of women from the American Women's Association. 

The Royal Lamp Post!

The town of Windsor

No pictures inside - but my little castle guards still had a good time posing:

Just one of many sights on the Castles and Churches tour!  More to follow!

Therapy Session

Now that I have given you the touristy and home life highlights, let's talk for a second.  I put that sign up there just because I like it - it means "Elderly People Crossing" and they have them everywhere here.   I'm not sure if I like that one or "DishDash Crossing" better, but either way, still funny.

Expat life can sometimes take you by surprise.  I thought it would be terribly hard to move to Dubai, and super easy to move to England.  After all - they speak English!  They wear regular clothes (sort of)!  We share the same cultural standard!  Well, it turns out that the opposite was true.  Living in Dubai was like being on Spring Break for a year.  Living in England is amazing - but it is a lot more work.  Now that I have settled in, these are very small matters and we are honestly super happy.  Two months ago they had me crying on the bathroom floor.  So, without further ado, I will explain to you...

WHY A CALIFORNIA GIRL HAS TO ADJUST TO ENGLAND

1) DRIVING - "Driving in England requires real skill and dexterity, and it is not for the faint of heart"  - from Day Trips from London.   Yes, yes...they drive on the wrong side of the road here.  I was worried about that.  Turns out - that's not hard at all!   Here's the problem.  There seems to be a small congestion problem in England.  As in, extremely narrow roads (think bike lane) packed with many, many vehicles.  Most of the driving here is windy, fast, two lane roads.  Basically, you have to skim the sides of the cars on either sides of you to get through.  I admit to closing my eyes and hoping for the best occasionally.  And since parking is at a premium, people just pull over and abandon ship - blocking one of the two "lanes".  Often, you have to drive up on the curb and wave off pedestrians to get by a particularly large bus or truck.  Let me demonstrate.  This is downtown Weybridge, our town:

And then there's the whole "Roundabout" situation.  England loves roundabouts.  And they really do help with traffic flow.  However, there are all kinds of rules about right of way, lines on the road, turn signals, on and on... I do not understand these rules.  I am unclear on which direction my blinker should indicate.  I mean, it's a circle that you are eventually going to exit.  Does the blinker point in the circle? Out of the circle? Both?  The end result is that I go back and forth back and forth back and forth in a veritable epileptic fury of blinking.  I'm sure the drivers behind me are confused.  And I'm sure they know I'm American. 

2) PARKING - Even as I write this, it sounds silly.  But parking is a big stressor here!  As in, there is none!  So, conducting your everyday life (Marketing, Dry Cleaner, Bank, Subway) becomes a stressful, sweat inducing challenge.  I thought that since we were living in the "Country" it would be wide open spaces - which some parts of it are - but essentially it is still London, and still very, very urban.  I actually cannot park in my town's supermarket lot because my car is genuinely TOO BIG to fit through the entry.  And it's not just too big for my pathetic car handling skills - Augusto can't fit in either!  It's an X5 by the way...the Escalade would have been like driving a battleship. 

Here's a picture of the gorgeous church in our town.  Just to keep you interested.  The oldest records date from 1127.

3. LAUNDRY - Yes.  This is a small matter.  Small being the operative word.  Our washing machine holds either one sheet and one pillowcase, OR a pair of jeans and a shirt OR four American Girl Doll outfits.  Seriously.  And the drier doesn't actually dry stuff - it's more of a salad spinner for clothes.  So we hang dry everything.  You are rolling your eyes at me for being a whiner, but seriously.  Try only putting two or three items in your giant Maytag at a time and see how long it takes you to get through the laundry. 

4. WEATHER - I have to admit, the weather here has not been nearly as bad as expected.  But it is very, very grey.  Expats here have special light bulbs or lamps (nicknamed Happy Lights) that we install to simulate sunlight.  Plus, we take vitamin D.  And we vacation in sunny places.  Yes, it is definitely cold.  And wet.  But it's really nice to have an actual Fall!  This is our backyard in Fall:

You like that enormous play structure?  Our friends who opted to live in Central London came over for dinner and asked if they could move into it, because it is larger than their apartment in the city. 

Despite the minor challenges, each day we love living here more and more.  The natural beauty, the history, even the weather - it is definitely worth it! 

Look Kids, Big Ben!

Of course, one of our first day outings was to see all of the sights in Central London - or at least as many as we could before the torrential downpour thwarted our plans for picnicing in the park!  It is only a  25 minute train ride from the Weybridge train station, which is about a mile from our house.  Driving in to Central London is pretty much impossible - not only is there a special Congestion Charge if you drive in, but the 25 minute train ride can equate to a 90 minute car drive...or more!  Here are our rail travelers, ready for action!



The train takes you to Waterloo Station, where you can walk to the London Eye, Parliament, Big Ben and then over to Westminster Abbey.

We love these adorable cabs - a London standard - especially because we get to ride backwards.

Alas, our first day of touring was cut short, as it didn't just rain, it RAINED.  It just goes to show you how quickly the weather can turn - I actually took that picture above of Big Ben about 30 minutes before the downpour.  Check out the blue skies!  So we ducked in to a little cosy restaurant for lunch, and lived to tour another day!



Salisbury & Stonehenge

When we decided to make the move to London, we were of course looking forward to all the fabulous European travel that could be easily accessed from our doorstep.  What we failed to realize is that England alone could provide enough history and tourism to last a decade!  Think about it - Stonehenge, Canterbury, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Hampton Court, Windsor Castle, Oxford, Cambridge...it's all right here! 

We bought a book called the Best Day Trips from London and started with the most obvious - Stonehenge.  Of course, every time I think of Stonehenge I think of the part of the movie This is Spinal Tap where in an attempt to be theatrically mystical the band accidentally recreates a miniature version of Stonehenge and then proceeds to crush it underfoot during their performance.  Nice historical reference, eh?

Only about a 40 minute drive from our house, Stonehenge is a brief trip but is certainly worth checking out.  Caroline has become addicted to audio tours, so she listens intently to the entire tour, while Georgia does various interpertive dances or picks grass and dirt. 

 

As you can see from their attire, even though it was early September it is already quite cool!

The nearest town to Stonehenge is Salisbury, and it is picturesque English countryside.  The Cathedral dates from the 13th century.

Georgia was very excited about the older country homes in England.  She calls them "Hagrid Houses" after Hagrid's hut in Harry Potter.  And don't think that the whole Harry Potter thing wasn't part of the whole "Moving to England" sales package.  But it is undeniably beautiful! 



Missing all of our friends and family back home! 

Moving Readiness...A Quiz

Pip Pip and Cheerio! 

Well, here we are!  Touched down in beautiful London after an AMAZEBALLS summer with friends and family.  Frankly, I had forgotten how much I liked some of you.  You are all pretty darn cool, and we really miss you already!  And no, you have not missed several blog installments.  I am just now getting to it, so let's just pretend it's August, OK?

Before we get started with all the details...I have designed a quiz for you, just to see how much we all learned from Dubai.  And, really, Dubai is just too funny to let it be.   Remember, our boxes were packed in Dubai and shipped to London.  Ready? 

DUBAI PACKING IDENTIFICATION QUIZ

Please identify what would be the content of the boxes marked as follows:

1) Dumbles

2) Wight Ma Chin

3) Wheel

4) Glass Dresser
5) Dresses for Table

If you guessed the following - congratulations!  You have learned the language of Dubai!  Here's what was in the boxes:

1) Books
2) A Scale
3) A bicycle
4) The Dining Room Side Bar
5) Tablecloths

So, it was with mirth and a little sadness that we bid Dubai a very fond goodbye!  It was a wonderful adventure!  But we are very excited to get started in London!  And about that...

We are living in an area just outside of central London in a county called Surrey.  Our town is Weybridge and the community is called St. George's Hill.  We went back and forth between living in the center of the city and sending the kids to the American School of London in St. John's Wood, or living outside the city where we could have more space.  In the end, the call of the yard and the ability to have both our canine companions join us won out, and we opted for the country!  Augusto is taking one for the team and commutes in to the city for work - but it's only a 25 minute train ride, so not too bad!  The part I love?  All the homes have names instead of numbers for addresses.  Ours is "Pinebrook House".  Here's the new Casa Sasso!

The area we live in is extremely GREEN!  One of the benefits of being outside the city!  Here is the drive on to our street - Brooks Close:

As we waited for our shipment to arrive, we stayed in a gorgeous hotel run by the good people who run the Hotel Bel Air!  Just like home!  It is called Coworth Park, and is picturesque British countryside...check it out!

The main hotel:

The polo fields:

The grounds and the restaurant:

We're off to a great start!  Missing friends and family already - come pay us a visit!