Our British adventure: Settling down

Things are going well here. Last week was pretty busy with Ben's Induction week, but everything went well. I also got in touch with Carewatch and will officially start my training next Tuesday. I am excited! This means that this week is already my last week working at Oxford Brookes. I know it seems crazy not to continue on with this job since it pays better and I would get to see Ben all the time, but I really feel that I should go with Carewatch, so I am...I think that I will find it challenging, but I have really been wanting to volunteer or work somewhere I can help somehow.

Besides that, not much. The weather and city have been beautiful. Ben is on his second day and things are going well thus far. We looked at his schedule last week and I had completely forgotten how CRAZY they are here when it comes to school. It is going to be A LOT of work! I think that Ben is going to be well-prepared though...He is really happy.

We finally got approved to get REAL phones on Saturday, which is good..It was getting too expensive. And no, believe it or not, we still do not have the Internet. It is getting really frustrating, but we are working on it. The good thing is that we at least have a TV now, and no, we don't have to pay for the basic channels, for now at least...

 The "Island" we are on is not really an island. We are surrounded by water but there are bridges everywhere so you don't even realize you are on an island. It is hard to explain.

Lifestyles are similar to the U.S. in many ways here. People work, not as much but still a lot, they have families the same way, they go to school the same..but the environment is different. You are taxed quite a bit but don't pay a penny for health care, and welfare is great. Everything is a lot smaller, but there are lots and lots of parks everywhere so people get to be out quite a bit. And there are a lot of cultural activities where we are. The way things look are very, very different too. It is all so old and has a lot of character. So far, I can say that Britain is the European version of the States...if that makes sense. I love it!