Welcome back to England

It was the closest I was to "going home" for a 9 day holiday. I went back to Southern England and stayed with the Gaukroger's again last week. It was so nice to be part of a "family" again and to be able to speak English ALL THE TIME. I must say that I transitioned better this time - in regards to switching between French and English in the airports and such. However, my brain took awhile to realize that I could ask people questions......in English. Right now I work so hard at formulating questions in my head (in French ahead of time) that I had to keep reminding myself I could just ask them straight out. Not a bad problem to have though. Maralee was also there for the first 4 days of my trip and then she had to go back to school (she's in a different school than me at this time).

Now however, it's back to "French-land" for me and back to school. Let's just say it's been kind of a rough week. I'm almost at the "half-way" point in my language learning and it was hard to come back here after England. (I really like it there, if you hadn't picked that up beforehand.) I think I'm having a bit of culture stress at the moment, which is normal, but still not so fun to go through. Basically, everyone gets it when they are in major life transitions - so it doesn't matter if you move from Michigan to Switzerland, or to Indiana, you'll get it! That description makes it sound more like a disease......not quite. :)

So, I decided to post pictures with short captions to explain some of the sights and sounds of England, instead of writing a 5 page blog entry. Amusez-vous bien! (aka - Enjoy!)

I got to go riding through a local town on this beautiful Oldenburg mare (she's a showjumper), thanks to the "connections" that Jan has! It was the best day ever. We had fish & chips for dinner too. :)

Some of the cattle and sheep I saw - they made me laugh with their "shag" hair coats.

We visited "Mary Alden's Farm" - Shakespeare's Mother's birthplace. I got to participate in the falcon show......it is a working historic farm with beautiful grounds and fields.


Another day we walked to this amazing farm in the country and had a "cream tea" with friends of Steve & Jan's. It's tea (or coffee) and scones with jam and clotted cream - delicious.


Maralee and I in the gardens of the Discovery Center in Luton. The other picture is the actual inside of Shakespeare's birthplace (Stratford upon Avon)....very interesting and so old. It made me realize how young the USA really is.




We also got to visit the Wycliffe Centre in England and had a tour. It was much bigger than I pictured in my head and a nice place to relax and have a mug of hot chocolate. I had a laugh out of the sign in the pond between the buildings.



We went back to Oxford one afternoon and went punting on the river. This is what it looked like - Maralee even attempted to "punt" our boat with the pole and did a great job. The weather was beautiful and the sky such a brilliant blue against the buildings as we walked around.

This is Christ Church university in Oxford - famous for the many scholars that attended and taught there. However, now it's also known as a film location for the Harry Potter films. We attended an Evensong service in the chapel......a way to get in and experience a different type of service.


These are ruins of an old estate (Minster Lovell) from the 15th century! We had a picnic on the grounds and walked all around and through the foundations. Not many people know about this place and it is very impressive to see - I could imagine life back then......but don't think I would want to go back quite that far!

I have a lot more pictures - but those will have to wait until I get home. Won't you all love sitting through my "missionary slide show"............ ha ha