Homesick

Well, there's no good way of sugar-coating this so I'll just put it out there.  After three weeks, I'm homesick.

The first two weeks in Chester were beautiful.  Weather in the 80s, sunny all day, and a slight subtle breeze in the air to keep you cool .  My husband's co-workers all commented on the fact that they hadn't had weather like that in ages.  Oh, oh, that doesn't bode well for the rest of the trip, does it?

And then...traditional English weather reared its ugly head.   All week it has been in the 50s, cloudy, not a drop of sun in the sky, and rainy. 



Needless to say, this weather doesn't make for good walking about town weather and I've been spending a good deal of time indoors.

I have been able to start writing again so I guess that's a good thing.

Here is a random smattering of things I miss:



1.  Seinfeld.  2.  Conan O'Brien.  3.  Chicken wings. 

4.  Annie's gluten-free mac & cheese

(yes, it's very random...)

I, of course, miss my mom (who god bless her is keeping watch over the house and children), my wonderful writing groups (shout out to Coffee & Critique and Saturday Writers), my awesome neighbors who are also helping to take care of the house (shout out to Kathy and Eddie!) and my four-legged children.

There are a few things that I'm enjoying whilst here:







1.  The mascot for EDF Energy.  I'm not quite sure what he is but he's super cute and on a bunch of commercials.  2.  Come Dine With Me (Shout out to my friend Norma for introducting me to this show.).  3.  Pork Belly (They love pork belly here and I love them for that.).  4.  Stella Artois (I know you can get this in the States but for some reason it just tastes better here.). 

On a Crohnie note, for some reason my appetite has really gone downhill since I've been here.  One very important thing for us is to eat little bits of food throughout the day so as to not shock our digestive system.  Well, it's hard to eat when you're not hungry.  But that, in turn, also messes with our digestive system so it's a no-win situation.  Has anyone else encountered losses in appetite whilst traveling?  All in all though, my health is well and I haven't had any horrible stomach aches or bathroom issues.

So here's hoping to a sunnier week and continued good health!



One Week Down, Many More To Go

It's official, I've been in Chester for one week.  I've done some exploring, am slowly learning the history of this lovely town, gone through a very stressful situation (more on that later), and have learned the following things:

1.  When crossing the street, LOOK RIGHT!  We, as Americans, are trained to look left first and then right.  Well, everything here is backwards and old habits die hard.  When I get to the corner I tell myself, "Look right.  Look left.  Look right again."  So far, so good. 

2.  There is a wonderful show on British TV called "Come Dine With Me".  The premise is that four strangers are brought together to have dinner at each other's homes.  Over the course of four days, each person holds their own dinner party while the other three judge the food from 1 to 10.  Whoever gets the most points wins 1000 pounds (roughly $1500).  We definitely need an American version of this show.

3.  It doesn't get dark here until after 10pm.  I'm not used to so much sunlight in one day but it is quite nice.

4.  People here eat late; usually 9pm or later.  I, for one, enjoy the late dinner but when my husband has to go to work at five or six in the morning we don't always get to partake in that tradition.

5.  The people here love American music.  Case in point: my husband and I were at a bar last night that had a DJ and next thing you know, everyone in the bar is singing along to Journey's "Don't Stop Believing"!  I didn't know Journey was so popular here. 

6.  A cooktop, or stovetop, is called a hob.

7.  I cannot make heads or tails of cricket. 

8.  The bartenders take the art of making cocktails very seriously.  They mix the ingredients in a shaker and then taste it and adjust accordingly.  This reminds me of chefs that taste their food before serving it to make sure it is properly seasoned.   

9.  And last but definitely not least but probably the grossest, eating the worm at the bottom of a bottle of tequila is so last year.  The popular thing now is (drumroll please) Scorpion Vodka.  Yuck.




That's it my friends.  In order to get rid of the bad taste the scorpion might have left in your mouth, here is a picture of the Eastgate Clock of Chester:

This clock stands on the site of the original entrance to the city and is the most photographed clock in England, after Big Ben.

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.  Enjoy your Sundays and, as always, good health to you all.