UK from Julieanne's Perspective

Heya,
I love England! And I’m not just saying that; I really think that God has brought me and my family here for a good reason. So far the adventure has been great, but there have been some ups and downs. For example, school is pretty cool but we get out so late I have almost no free time by the time I get home and finish my homework (or prep, as they call it). All the stores close at 5:30 which is the exact same time that I get out of school, big bummer. That means that if we have to do any shopping that involves me and Anna Catherine we have to do it on the weekend. There are no bells at school so if the teacher decides to keep you late, too bad for you, you’re not going anywhere until the lesson is finished . Once in physics our teacher Dr. Young kept us 10 minutes late so we only had 15 minutes to eat our lunch and be on to our next lesson. It’s so unfair. Don’t let me make you think everything is terrible and I hate it here because there are so many good things about England.

There are a few that I will name. 1. The house is beautiful and our (Me and AC’s) room has the most awesome view. 2. School is huge but is very warm and everyone is nice to me with the exception of my history teacher Mr. Clack. Oh, and everyone in school either refers to me as the cute 1st year with the big smile or Miss America. 3. Church is pretty cool too we worship a little less formally but we sing a lot of the same songs which is encouraging.


School is going to be a great opportunity since I am taking a class called R.S which stands for religious studies. We were filling out a simple little sheet on what we believe and I noticed that one of my friends named Siobhan had written this question: “What do you think happens to us when we die?” She had answered the question like this. I’m not sure. And she had said that there was no such thing as evil. So I think that there is a great chance for me to be a witness there.


My Birthday
I had a grand birthday. 1st we went to the Harry Potter castle. I loved it because there was so much to look at like the keep (where the Duke and Duchess still live), Harry Potter tour, the children’s area and just wandering around the old castle. 2nd we had a Westergreen breakfast on Wednesday where I opened their awesome presents. I got a pack of gel pens, stationary, and cool seals that go on your letters. That day at school I received a pink purse, a necklace, and lots of candy. At dinner that night we had a delicious dinner and I got a Hannah Montana CD from Nathan. From mom and dad I got a sports bag and a cool I-pod case and either a north face or watch they are going to let me choose. That’s a no brainer. AC wants to take me on a shopping spree for my b-day.

Well that’s it for now and thanks for your prayers.


Love ,



Julieanne

Julieanne turns 12

We celebrate birthdays with just family one year and then have a friends party the next until your 10th birthday. This was a family party year (no surprise there). We have another special friend party for 13 and we’ll do a big 16 and maybe 18, I suppose, but we haven’t gotten that far. This helps us keep the party monster manageable. It’s always a challenge to be creative for family party years so that they don’t become the bummer year. For Julieanne’s 12th, we rented a Harry Potter movie on Friday night to watch and then headed over to Alnwick Castle on Saturday where the scenes for “Hogwarts” from the first two Harry Potter movies were filmed.

This castle has been home to the Percy family for over 700 years although it dates back to the 11th Century! It is the second largest inhabited castle in England, second only to Windsor Castle. The oldest son of the family inherits the castle, the title Duke of Northumberland and what used to be great land owning responsibility. They still own and manage 120,000 acres of land but it doesn’t come with peasants, farmlands, disputes that need settling and knights to lead into war. Aln was once considered the strongest fortress in England, strategically situated on the northern border holding out the Vikings or Scots. It was never successfully broken into as it is that well fortified. A young college age docent who reminded us of Josh Suich toured us through the courtyard where most of the filming was done and detailed the 10-15 hurdles an enemy would have to live through in order to storm the castle. We toured the keep (home) and saw the 40,000 volume library and lounge, dining room that seats 65 and other formal rooms. The current Duke didn’t expect to ever be the Duke as he is the second son but his older brother died unmarried so he holds the family inheritance along with the Duchess and four kids (mostly grown). One cool fact from the dining room: it has two concealed doors in the intricately carved ceiling that house the chandeliers (20’ up). These chandeliers are lowered through the ceiling. The docent told us they used to change the glass panes on the chandelier each night to match the color of the Dutchess’s dress. They always hoped she didn’t change her dress at the last minute.

The famous Harry the Hotspur was born and raised in this castle. He was what some call the first English hero. He is in part of Shakespeare’s Henry IV and is said of him by Shakespeare 'By his light did all the chivalry of England move to brave acts: he was indeed the glass wherein the noble youth did dress themselves'.
To read more about the castle visit http://www.alnwickcastle.com/history.php
Okay, well that’s probably more history than you really wanted today from England but that is some of what you’ll get in the blog. So that is where we went for part one of Julieanne’s b-day. We ended with dinner in the large eastern city of New Castle and then drove back across the country at night. (You can do that in just a few hours).

So on September 19, her actual birth-day, we started the day with breakfast with the Westergeens as they had sent a birthday package complete with cards for all of us. Off to school they went and when they came home we put our bargain barbeque together (that’s a grill) in order to grill marinated lamp chops! Yum. Incidentally, you can only buy charcoal through the end of September here. One of Dennis’ colleagues said we would soon find out why they don’t grill in the winter. Dennis assured him we were die hard southerners when it came to grilling. We’ll see how we do. Nevertheless, we’ll have to stock up on charcoal before it disappears for the season.

Julieanne continues to bring us smiles and laughter. She has an adventurous spirit, is a valiant competitor and a tender heart. Pray that this year she will begin to own her faith as she wrestles with what and why she believes in Christ. This is a good environment to ask questions and see differences.

Scrapbook #1

<-- Almost looks like a postcard. This lake, called "Wastwater" is the deepest lake in England at about 100 meters in depth. It is about a 20 minute drive from our home.

The girls in front of the many stone walls. The thrill of seeing sheep everywhere is beginning to wear off. In fact, we are begginning to realize that Scripture's comparison of us to sheep is not really much of a compliment. -->

I like this picture of the kids in front of an old sheep gate. It symbolizes an entry point into the unknown adventure ahead. I wish all 5 of us were in the picture, but up to this point, we haven't figured out how to get the sheep to take our picture! -->

The kids take a break at the "beach" after school.

The views from our home. Note the soccer and rugby fields. Also toward the coast, you can see what looks like a large smoke stack. That is actually one of the old ventilation lines from an now abandoned mine.

<-- Many of you have rightly asked for a picture of Nathan. We have not yet taken a picture of Nathan with his school uniform, because it has not yet come in. But here is a picture of happy Nathan in front of his school.

AC's First Impressions

Ok, these are my impressions of my first few weeks here.

So far I like it ok, I mean it’s not awful or anything and the weather isn’t that bad yet, all though it did rain for the first time today, woohoo! I really like our house, except that I have to go up 40 stairs to get to my room ughh! but the view is awesome! I can see the whole valley, the harbor and across the sea (on a clear day u can see Scotland!). It’s really pretty. Julieanne and I share the third floor all by ourselves! I feel kind of separated from everybody else sometimes but I like the new privacy. Julieanne and I have already become a lot closer as sisters. We stay up for hours talking about our days and the new people we’ve met and our interesting experiences. For example in school, they don’t write in pencil at all, everything is done in pen. So me and Julieanne who have been taught to primarily write in pencil have been given some pretty strange looks. In fact, Julieanne got “taught off” for it (that means the teacher was not happy with her “elementary behavior” so he talked to her about it and told her that if she was caught writing in pencil again she would get detention! harsh!) So the house is great and the town is nice too, so far my favorite part about the town is the wharf/harbor. I love going down there, it’s so pretty.

School is fine so far, I have made two good friends who I really like. They aren’t Christians but I like their personalities a lot. Their names are mollie- I cant spell her last name (Isla Frost-Benington, or something like that). Isla lives in Muncaster castle (it’s a real castle too, look it up on line, http://www.muncaster.co.uk/). Everybody gets on to me about the way I say things and the phrases I use and stuff like that. For example, I say trash can they say bin, I say eraser they say rubber, I say yall and they don’t say anything like that, I say potayto they say potaughto (u get what I mean), I say white-out they say tipp-ecks (I don’t get that one either?), I say aluminum they say aluminium. The list goes on and on. But my day is filled with snickers and questions about America and about the way I say things. They think that I am the American expert, even the teachers refer to me whenever something about America is mentioned. My class is fairly small, there are only about 40 kids in my whole grade! Most of them are guys but all the guys are really immature. For some strange reason I got put in the top set for every subject! I don’t know how I did that! (They have sets for each subject and set 1 is the highest, there are usually 3). I'm in biology, chemistry (yikes!), physics (double yikes!!), English, maths,(they combine all their math classes into one and split up all their sciences! strange) history (that teacher really doesn’t like me), music (really boring we don’t even play our instruments! we just sit and listen to the guy talk about sound waves and junk like that! and he smells like “smoke” all the time and he has really bad teeth!), and Spanish. That’s a lot of classes! Also we have morning break which is tea and cakes, then we have lunch which is always really good and then we have a break after school before our afternoon activities which lasts 'till about 5:30. I really like how they give out the homework or “prep”. You have assigned days for prep in each subject so that you only have 3 “preps” each day! I like that method allot better! So that’s school in a nut shell, ohhh! I forgot about our uniforms! yay~! We have a school uniform which is black tights, black heels,”(ouch!) a kilt, a white blouse and a navy blue blazer and a tie, which I finally tied all by myself today! Also we have to always wear our hair back, boohoo! There’s also our games “kit” or uniform, it’s a navy blue short skirt, a light blue colored shirt and bright blue socks that go all the way up and over your shin gaurds, sounds lovely right! But wait! it gets even better. I have to do CCF, which is caddete something something. Basically its training for the army! It's hilarious, I have to wear army green pants that are about 5 sizes to big for me with a thick army green belt that doesn’t stay buckled so my pants are always falling down, black shiny laced up army boots which I tuck my pants into, an army green shirt that again is 3 sizes to big and last but not least an army green berett that you wear tilted on your head with you're hair in a bun. It's quite attractive actually! ha! so that’s a summary of school. Sounds pretty great!

God is good and I still have my family! They are what get me through the day, seeing Julieanne’s bright and forever smiling face always perks me up and hearing about nathan’s constant success is always encouraging... thanx for praying for him. Mom and I have had a lot of “slap happy” moments where we just start laughing so hard that we start to cry! And its about things that aren’t really even that funny, we are just glad to be together. So that’s encouraging thanks again for all your prayers, keep it up!

I luv all of u and miss u dearly,

Anna Catherine

Digging in a Little Deeper

Monday I was able to travel to two very picturesque towns (Keswick and Windemere) in the Lake District with four ladies whose husbands are on the Sellafield project proposal. The Washington Group, headed up by Bob Pedde, is bidding on the next big nuclear facility, Sellafield, to come available. I’ve heard Sellafield described as the Savannah River Site inside 1 square mile, so it is a huge project. These people on the proposal are now living the limbo we lived all those months. Some of them are living in Manchester while their husbands work on the proposal. One was here just checking things out. (I recognized the look on her face and the quietness in her demeanor as I was the same way when I came to see for myself where I might be living). It was good to be with Linda Pedde. She’s leaving for the States today and will be back there for two weeks.

You’d be proud of me – I’m putting myself out there trying to learn my way around, navigating through the bureaucracy to try to find how to get a “wheely bin” or roadside trashcan, a phone book, yellow pages, football (soccer) team for Nathan, ballet school for AC, a library card or learn who owns the garages behind our street to see if we could rent one for our bikes when they arrive. I just ask lots of questions and explain that I’m not from here and don’t know what that means or how to go about that. So far, I don’t feel like an idiot.

Tuesday I got to experience the British medical system. Anna Catherine’s eczema has been way out of control ever since she went to camp mid July. We had seen the doctor in Augusta before leaving and had some medicine but it was clearly not better – keeping her up at night and looking like a terrible disease. I went to “register” the family with the local doctor or “surgery” as they call it. We saw the doctor and got the diagnosis of infected pores or hair follicles for which we were prescribed numerous medications. We then went to the pharmacy where I checked the box “under 16” for her before submitting the prescriptions. We then received two bags full of antibiotic creams, pills, steroid creams, bandages, etc. for the low, low price of $0. Yes, that’s right – nothing, welcome to the UK’s nationalized health care system. We paid nothing for the doctor or the medicine because she was under 16 but if you stay in school, it continues to be free. Wow! Of course it was a funny experience in the waiting room as we kept seeing people just get up and go into the examination room area but no nurse ever came out to call them. I finally got up to have a look to see if there was some number board I missed that was queuing them to go in or if it was a Candid Camera kind of thing. Finally, I realized the digital news board on the ceiling would change every once in a while posting what patient was to report to what examination room. Then I wondered if we had missed our queue. After inquiring the receptionist told me we were soon.

Dennis is digging into work, having meetings, working on schedules, trying to build bridges. I’ll let him tell you more about that.

The kids continue to enjoy going to school, though it is quite different. I’m trying to get used to the fact that I get little to no information from St. Bees so I’m having to rely completely on the girls for filling in the blanks and handling the details which they are very sketchy on as well. Things like showing up for a guitar or cello lesson and not being able to find the teacher. (Found out later, he was out back having a smoke. Oops didn’t think to look there. The kids continue to get a laugh at the different words they and we have for the same things like trashcan/bin, trapezoid/trapezium, tuck in/tuck up, line/que, listen/use lot. We’ll have to start a little British vocab section on this blog. Look for that in future installments.



- Julie

Thompson Kids go to British Schools

September 6, 2007

The kids have now been to British schools for three days. The first day was a bit overwhelming but each day has gotten better. They were so brave marching in where they new no one and none of the system – but I was the only one who cried. I just kept reminding myself that many folks back home were praying for them and God had gone before them placing them in whatever situation they needed to be in.

The girls started their day at St. Bees first in the boarding house - Bega House – “base” for girls their age. Julieanne is at a great advantage because everyone is new in her grade so they all start out on equal footing. She’s taking Latin, French, English, Maths as they call it, art, music, religious education, chemistry, physics, biology (they separate the class into three individual classes) and PE and games. Oh and guitar lessons.

Anna Catherine is taking the basics as well English, English Lit, physics, chemistry, biology, religious education, PE, music –(which includes history, performance, technique, composition,etc.) She said her teacher for that class looks like Einstein. She’s also taking Spanish 2, US History, maths, and I can’t remember what else. Oh yes, cello lessons.

The girls have been introduced to very formal uniforms and field hockey. Many of their peers board at the school year round or just for the week. Most of the kids are from the northern part of England. There are also kids from several countries but they are certainly “rare” being Americans. Someone asked Julieanne if she knew Orlando Bloom.

Nathan’s teacher, Mrs. Agnew, was described by her principal (head master) as “exceptional”. He is at Jericho Primary School. Mrs. Agnew is about my age, very spunky, uses a Smartboard and seems genuinely interested in understanding Nathan and helping him make a good transition. He’s sticking to a few boys, one in particular named Ben. I will meet with her tomorrow to assess how the week went. We’ve been driving Na to school. 8:45-3:30 is his day. Today it was so pretty, I walked to pick him up. It took 12 minutes. All of the kids are from the neighborhood surrounding the school so parents and grandparents crowd the school yard taking while they wait for their student to be released. I just observed.

We still don’t have internet in the house- we are definitely still transitioning. The days are busy taking the kids to and from school, figuring out what to cook without recipes, daily chores and looking for items to help organize or decorate the house. Today I drove (scary thought isn’t it) to a town 12 miles away to the nursery so I could start making some nice pots and window type boxes to go on our fence. I like flowers. They are especially pretty here at the end of the summer – flower containers and baskets abound. They don’t fry like my poor plants in Augusta did.

Today when I passed a window washer I enquired about having our windows washed. (they seem especially dirty) He said he couldn’t fit me in because he cleaned 200 houses regularly. Bewildered, I asked how often people had their windows cleaned to which he replied, “every three weeks.” Appalled, I said, “are you kidding? I only wash my windows once a year back home.” Of course he was floored. Just one more thing that is “different”


We miss y’all
Julie

Steady Progress

September 3, 2007

Wow, let’s see how to catch you up on the last few days. I had my first crack at the wheel on Saturday evening when Dennis took me out, first to his office complex where there were no cars. I got another shot on Sunday when I dropped he and Na off for a rugby match and then I went exp0loring a little on my own. It’s not so bad when there’s no traffic. Dennis’ company signed me up for a driving class the middle of September so I can learn all of the road signs and practice more over here. The kids want me to get a big red L which learners display on their car to warn the other motorists. They say it’s for Looser not for Learner. Oh well. Dennis seems smooth with the car now – he took us on this fell road (mountain road) it made me nervous but the kids loved it because the sheep roamed right up to the road or rather one paved lane with no shoulder. It had a gorgeous view – sea to the right, green fields and mountains to the left.

Yesterday we explored New Life Christian Church. The kids were real troopers, participating and meeting kids. There were about 8 secondary age kids and 7 primary age kids. They have a little worship band leading the congregation of fifty or so – a mixed crowd in age and profession. Julieanne was impressed with the secondary room that was decorated cool with bean bags for chairs. Na’s class had foosball, darts and xbox for later use. Apparently Na was very eager in his class because he kept raising his hand to answer the questions on Saul’s conversion. Meanwhile D, AC and I were enjoying the great sermon from Zachariah. The kids said they want to go back next week.

So far, we’ve had mostly clear days while we’ve explored. We’ve had to do a lot of shopping for school shoes, and pants, and tennis shoes and hockey sticks. Today we had to drive back over to Manchester to shop at the IKEA and let Dennis meet with the main office people. So far he’s only been discussing finances, and details for the move. He’s eager to get cracking on the transition stuff that they brought him here to do. The IKEA gave new meaning to shop til you drop! I’ve never been in a store so big – it had two restaurants in it. We’re having to look for lots of stuff to organize and furnish the house. We were there for hours! Na and Julieanne played on the playground and with the Playstation. I made the mistake of wearing a new pair shoes ( a no-no for my feet) by the end I was walking barefoot through the store.

Tomorrow, the kids start school uniforms and all. The girls have been able to walk around their school while Na has only seen his through a gate. We will drive the girls to their “house” at school – Bega House at 8:20 and then go meet Na’s principle, Mr. Monahan at 8:45.

Many of you joined us in praying that God would clarify things for us in terms of houses and schools. Since there was only one house with four bedrooms to rent at the time we took that as narrowing the choice. The school we wanted Na in is really outside of our area or what they call catchment area and it is oversubscribed which means classes are full and you have to appeal to try to get an overload or override on the class size. However, when we called there was one spot left in year four (what they call 3rd grade, they don’t say kindergarten, they just say year 1) So as we go into a school we’ve only read about and heard about from others never having met Nathan’s teacher, I keep reminding myself that God has gone before them and He will go with them into their new classes. We are very pleased with Nathan’s courage and good attitude. (He did break down last night in tears, missing his buddy Luke, saying he just had to see him, he couldn’t go a year without seeing him.)

We’re almost home now, I’ve been typing while Dennis has been driving. Our car (an Audi A4) has this very cool GPS system that takes all the irritation out of navigating. I was forever lagging behind in the anticipation of the next turn. With this thing the lady alerts you to what’s coming, how far, etc. Quite nifty. Dennis is impressed how she quickly modifies her route ef you don't heed her instructions. And she never gets irritated!

We missed being at the lake with all of you from church. Julian, we would have loved to have joined you too in your first home improvement moment.

Love to you all!
Julie

We Made It!

September 1, 2007

After a sunny drive through the beautiful Lake District, we are here at 5 Inkerman Terrace in Whitehaven. The sun comes and goes so we always enjoy the blue sky. It is much cooler though. Dennis figured out how to get the radiators working, and the fireplace in the den. We’re not used to jackets and long sleeves in August.

The house is on a hill in the city along with lots of other houses. The girl’s room on the third floor has a view of the harbor and rugby field as well as the town. They have been hard at work getting their room settled. The guest room is on their floor as well. Na is on the second floor with us, with his own bathroom. The kids all enjoyed bringing a new comforter from home to make their room feel more like them. The girls chose a lime green, brown stripe comforter while Na chose a navy sports ball theme. Dennis and I have a room on the front of the house with huge windows that overlook the city as well though not as much of a view since we’re not as high as the girls. Our room was furnished with white satiny sheets which looks pretty but you slide all over the place (very impractical). There is a room for an office on our floor as well.

The bottom floor has the den with a huge bay window, black leather couches and some antique wooden pieces and the iPod docking set. The ceilings in the house are very high (maybe 12’) so the walls are screaming for pictures and décor. The very most basic of furnishings are here. I’ve left many suitcases packed because there is no where to put the stuff yet. I counted – we went from a house with 16 closets (upstairs alone) and 5 dressers to a house with zero closets, 3 dressers and 3 wardrobes. It’s going to take some creative planning. We’ve already decided to pack up all the shorts and short sleeve shirts since we obviously won’t be needing those often and they use up valuable space. We’re meeting with the realtor today to talk through what else the landlord will provide before we go buy anything – even trashcans.

The kitchen is pretty- mostly black and white with a redish color solid wood cabinet and very old table.

Thank you for praying for the girl’s tests yesterday. They felt like they went okay though there were phrases and work they did not understand or feel as comfortable in. They got their uniforms too. Each day they will wear to school a plaid skirt, white blouse, tie, v neck navy sweater, navy blazer, navy knee socks and black shoes. They also have uniforms for PE and hockey – little navy skirts with bloomers underneath and rugby type shirts or a sweatshirt. We are leaving this morning to go buy them each a hockey stick and indoor and outdoor tennis shoes. The school has been very kind. We haven’t paid one penny yet and they are already enrolled with uniforms. we have to decide on AC’s electives to be sure they will transfer to Davidson. Their classes here are for two years – one class will be Spanish, one history and the other will either be music or geography.

We just drove by Nathan’s school – it had a gate in front. Russ, you’ll appreciate the fact that the teachers don’t even have to come back from holiday until the day before school starts. They have asked Na to come on Tuesday at 9:45 (4:45am back home) for the first time. J He’s a little bored right now – no toys, no TV, no computer, being dragged around to offices and such.

Dennis and Nathan head to a rugby match tomorrow. The Washington Group is the main sponsor of the team so they get to be in the “box seats” There weren’t enough tickets for all of us this time as many others from the company were already going – but the girls and I may watch a little from their window. We’ll try a church tomorrow as well.

- Julie