Summer Recap, Part I

Oh, hello. Indeed, I haven't forgotten about my little blog space here on the world wide web. I've actually been itching to get back and write here for weeks upon weeks, during which time you may have noticed my neglect.

But this past summer has been one of the absolute busiest we've ever had. If we didn't have house guests one week, then we were traveling to and fro the next week, meeting up with friends and family.

So I thought--now that we're {ahem} well into Fall--I would play catch-up a bit. Before I go back to June, I thought I'd start with the most recent: a lovely extended visit from my dear friend, Jane. You would have met Jane on my blog before, as I first met her when we worked together in England. Then Jane paid me a visit when I was working in Hungary during Matt's deployment.

We had a fabulous time together exploring our charming little suburb, visiting my hometown of St. Joseph, taking a trip to my parents' house in Dayton, and even showing her the nice parts of downtown Detroit. Our days were filled with coffees, teas, ice creams, shopping excursions, dining out, making homemade meals, the cinema, picnics in the park, and {of course} lots and lots of snuggles with Makenna.

Jane brought a large box of PG Tips for me {one of Britain's most-popular tea brands}. You can find these stateside
but, of course, they just taste more British coming straight off the plane.

A visit from Jane wouldn't be complete without some silliness! This random prop is parked out front of an ice cream stand.

We got up and headed straight to the shores of Lake Michigan on a bright, glorious morning in St. Joseph. Makenna decided to make mischief and dig into the contents of my purse.

I showed Jane how to look for beach glass at our favorite secret beach.

These two sure adored one another. It made my heart melt every time!

I kept telling Jane that until she saw Lake Michigan in person, she couldn't understand how much it looks like an ocean {and she agreed}. That's true, really, of any person who has never seen Lake Michigan. I am so blessed to have grown up along these gorgeous waters.

Trying out Clementine's famous onion rings.

A visit to St. Joseph is never complete without a sunset stroll along the pier.

Makenna remains to be such a versatile, easy-going baby, making traveling with her a breeze.

I wanted to visit the Detroit Zoo with Jane, but seeing as how it was 94 degrees that day, we decided to take a picnic to the park instead and lounge in the shade.

As always, Jane and I shared so many giggles. She really is one of the dearest, sweetest souls you'll ever meet. The world is so much better just because Jane is in it.

And naturally, being around Jane brought my jealousy of NOT having a British accent to front and center. Although, after only a day or two with her, I easily slid into my old habits of using words and phrases like "bits" "rubbish" "corridor" "car park" "buggy {stroller}" "nappy {diaper}" "trousers" "post" "queue", many of which I used regularly when I worked in England. And it reminded me how much I really prefer a lot of British words and phrases to our American ones. They just sound nicer to me.

It was very sad, indeed, to see our lovely visit come to an end.

From here, I'll back it up to June and recap our summer adventures!

A few things...

Sziasztok! I have a few random things to share with you...

First of all, of course with today being Veteran's Day, I am extra proud of Matthew and his service to America. I truly have a whole new perspective on what it means to serve one's country. I'm also thinking of my Grandpa and Grandma Moss today, as they, too, endured a period of separation when my grandpa served in the Korean War. However, their separation was much longer and they had hardly any communication the whole time they were apart. I am so grateful for what they gave.

This past Sunday, we were discussing the topic of thankfulness at church. Some children in the church went to the front to share with the congregation something they were thankful for. Little 7 year old Agi {whom I mentioned gave me a teddy bear in an earlier post}, and whom has become a dear little friend to me, was the first to the microphone. She said {in Hungarian}, "I am thankful for Deanne." Oh my goodness...my heart just melted!

I just arrived back to the Bridge building this evening from a concert: Michael W. Smith. That's right! Michael W. Smith came to Debrecen, Hungary, to give a concert during his European tour! For those of you who don't know, Michael W. Smith is a Christian recording artist who has been gracing the world with his talents for over 20 years. I had some of his cassette tapes when I was a little girl and have loved his music ever since. His music is also very dear to my heart for another reason. Michael W. Smith released an album entitled "Freedom" which is entirely instrumental, performed by an orchestra. He wrote all the music on this album and it's just hauntingly beautiful. It sounds a bit like a movie soundtrack. At me and Matt's wedding, I chose to not have live music because I wanted all our wedding music to be Celtic-themed, chosen specifically from my very large library of Celtic music I own. From Michael W. Smith's "Freedom" album, I chose the song I walked down the aisle to with my daddy on our wedding day. The song's title is appropriately called "The Giving." Anyway, this concert was so incredible and was a very meaningful worship experience. It will be such a special memory from my time here in Debrecen.

Tomorrow evening I am traveling to Budapest to meet my friend Jane who is visiting from England! I met Jane in 2008 when I worked in England for the summer at Richard Language college in Bournemouth. {incidentally, this period of time in England was the reason I originally started this blog, so go back to the 2008 archives if you're interested in reading about my summer in England!} Jane is about 45 years old, single, and one of the sweetest and most generous individuals I have ever known. We'll spend the whole weekend in Budapest and come back to Debrecen on Monday evening. Jane will spend a week here before she returns to England. I'm so excited to see her again!

Finally, last night, I went to a friend from the church's flat for dinner. Her name is Noémi and she comes from Transylvania originally. Another friend of ours from church, Zsuzsi, was there also. Noémi prepared delicious traditional Transylvanian foods for us and everything was superb. It was a wonderful evening with lots of girl talk and giggles! And it was a great language practice evening as well because Noémi doesn't speak any English. Zsuzsi speaks English fluently, so she could translate if needed, but Noémi speaks German and since I studied German for several years, we mostly speak to one another in German with some simpler Hungarian mixed in. Our evening was a jumbled mixture of English, German, and Hungarian! I also tutored Rachel Steiner in French yesterday afternoon, so my day consisted of four different languages which is something that couldn't have made me any happier. :)



The table is set with appetizers {all homemade}: bread, delectable jam
made from rose hips, cheeses, and an eggplant spread.



My dear and beautiful friend and hostess, Noémi.

I can't remember the name of this traditional Transylvanian entrée, but it
was pork covered in a French cream sauce and topped with a fried egg.
It was served with rice and was absolutely scrumptious!

My final days in England

But at my back I always hear
Time's winged chariot hurrying near
~Andrew Marvell

I came across this quote a few years ago and it has stuck with me ever since. I have found that my life has been divided into many chapters and as I near each chapter's end, however long it may be, I find myself very pensive. There is a certain sadness that comes with the ending of each chapter as I feel it approaching. I find myself wishing that I could stop time dead in its tracks. But for me, the important thing is that at the end of each chapter, I can look back and truly appreciate all I experienced and all I learned about myself. My chapter in England has been no exception.

My last two days of work for Richard Language college are on Tuesday and Wednesday this week and then I fly back to the US on Thursday. I will be ending my job on Wednesday with a half-day excursion to Winchester. My friend Jane is going to drive me to the airport on Thursday....such a sweetheart. She volunteered to do that for me and it means I don't have to pay to ride a coach for four hours to the airport!

I'm trying to squeeze in as much as I can these next two days, but my job doesn't leave me much time for that. I have a few things I'd like to do in/around Bournemouth, loose ends to tie up as I prepare to pass my job along to the next person, and of course, lots of packing to do. The amazing thing is I think I will leave England with less than when I came in. For anyone who knows me, that is truly a miracle!

This past week, my host "parents" had their three granddaughters stay with them. The girls are ages 7, 6, and 4 and they are absolutely adorable. They are so sweet and polite, and full of questions! I always wanted to laugh because each time one of the girls would want to ask me a question, they'd begin with, "ummmm.... (long pause while they're trying to remember my name)....Dee Anne?" I loved the way they turned my first name into two names. The littlest one especially took a liking to me. Her name is Bea and she is a tiny thing with wispy blonde angel hair, little freckles across her nose and cheeks, and a precious little voice. She asked me, in her sweet little English accent," Um, Dee Anne? Will you come back next year please? When we're here?" I wish I could have spent more time with the girls but unfortunately my job keeps me on the go and leaves me little time with my host family. Each of the girls gave me a great big hug on Saturday morning when we said our goodbyes.

On Saturday, I led my last full-day excursion. We went to London and I was the only guide since we were a smaller group. After I led the walking tour through London, I released the students for their free time. I suddenly found myself standing completely alone in the center of London. I was so excited! A few hours all to myself in London? I couldn't believe it! All the other times I had been to London, I was with Marco, the other social organiser, and many times a few students would choose to stay with us during their free time. The unfortunate thing is that though I have been to London many times now, I still have never had the time to do some of the things I've really wanted to do there. When it gets to be "free time," I only have two hours or so before I have to meet the students back at the coach, so I don't have enough time to say, for example, go visit the Tower of London (which I'm still dying to do). I technically could have visited London on my own on one of my days off, but I've had so few days off that I've really never felt ambitious enough to do something like that. Mostly, I've just wanted to catch up on sleep! It was lovely to eat lunch sitting in Leicester Square and then spend the afternoon wandering the streets and shops of central London. I can't wait to go back someday!

I hope you have enjoyed hearing about some of my adventures in England. It has been fun sharing updates and photos! I have learned so much about myself in my time here and I know, in ways, I will be forever changed by England. One thing I so relish about traveling is falling in love with a place, whether it be a restaurant, a coastline, a village, a city, or a country. When you leave, you take a part of that place with you and carry it in your heart. It is always with you, and always whispering to you, calling you back once again.

Signing off for my last time from England......

Cheers!

About to start our Friday night BBQ...

Grilling some burgers and chicken with Chris, a student.

The sun shining on Leicester Square.




I took this picture just because I thought this building looked lovely.

Trafalgar Square. You can't see it in this picture, but there was a giant
screen in the square broadcasting the Olympics live.

Love these trademark phone booths.

Looking out over the River Thames, saying goodbye

to London (for now).

A cream tea. Very English.

Me with my cream tea and scone. I think I might adopt "afternoon tea"

into my daily routine when I go home.

I had to chase this little guy off of the road in the New Forest.

He decided to come back to get a second look at me.

We found this small estate for sale. I was SO tempted to buy it!

We found this randomly on the side of a country road in the New Forest.

It reads, "Community Service Bisterne Style." I was just checking

to make sure it wasn't a real person!

Fields of heather.

Time flies when you're having fun



Stonehenge.





Salisbury Cathedral.





It's tea time! (again!)





Matt decided to finish up my tea for me...





Me and Kyra, one of the assistants for the French students. Such a doll!





Friday night with Bea (Hungary) and Annemarie (Germany).





In Oxford, Matt and I ate at the Eagle and Child Pub for lunch. This is
where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien used to meet with their literary
group of friends. They called themselves the "Inklings," and they
met here often while teaching at Oxford to discuss literature,
theology, and philosophy. Matt and I love these authors.





A view of the pub from our table. As we were eating,
a man wearing a traditional Scottish kilt walked by
outside playing the bagpipes! How perfect!





My lunch at the Eagle and Child Pub---a sort-of chicken pot pie.





A picture of ourselves at the pub, to document the moment.
Can you tell by my over-abundance of photos of this event
that we were so excited to be at the watering hole of some of our
most favorite authors?





St. Magdalen's church in Oxford.





Under our umbrella, trying to stay as dry as we could!





The University of Oxford's church with the Divinity School in the background.





A lovely view.



Christ Church College of Oxford. This is probably
the most famous of Oxford's colleges. Some scenes from
a few of the "Harry Potter" movies were also filmed here.
(I know, I know...I'm a dork!)



The clouds and the rain didn't hinder the beauty of Oxford.



More of Christ Church College.



Matt and me at the end of our day in Oxford.



Today was sad for me because Matt left to go home. I took him to the bus station and he left at 8:00am. However, this time it wasn't nearly as hard saying goodbye because I will see Matt again in only 10 days. Can you believe it? I only have 10 days left here in England!!! I'm so thankful that Matt was able to come here and share in my experiences. He met some of the wonderful people that I've been blessed to become friends with. I'm afraid it was probably more enjoyable for me to have Matt here than it was for him to be here, only because he had to "tag along" with me as I did everything that goes along with this job, and I know he got bored sometimes. He helped me a lot with work, especially at the BBQs! I know the students really enjoyed getting to know him as well as other staff members. Today, I received so many comments from people expressing how much they liked Matt. I'm not surprised one bit! :)

We stayed very busy this past week and weekend. We took about 50 students to the park to play volleyball on Monday evening but we were lucky that on Tuesday evening, bad weather cancelled our activity, so we had the evening to ourselves. Wednesday, we did a half-day excursion to Stonehenge and Salisbury. Matt's been to Stonehenge before but not Salisbury. Unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time in Salisbury as it was only a half-day excursion, but we had a chance to wander through the famous Cathedral (built in the 1200's) and then have some tea. On Thursday evening, we took some students to the cinema and Friday evening was, of course, a BBQ!

Our excursion on Saturday was to Oxford and it was Matt's first time visiting the city. We had some lovely English weather to complement our excursion---lots and lots of rain and wind. After we arrived, I took students on a walking tour of the city, giving bits of history and commentary as we went along....."This is the Bodelian Library, which was started in 1602 and contains over 6 million books...blah...blah...blah." At least the students seemed interested in what I was telling them! The students spent most of the day exploring the city on their own, so Matt and I were able to be alone for the remainder of the day, which was wonderful. We began by searching for the Eagle and Child Pub. We wanted to eat lunch there since this is where some of our favourite authors (Lewis and Tolkien) used to spend their time. The pub was full of character as it dates from the 1600's. The food was delicious and the pub was relatively quiet, which made it all the more enjoyable.

We spent some time in the Ashmolean Museum (England's oldest public museum) where I was mesmerized by amazing Egyptian, Greek, and Roman artifacts collected by past Oxford University archaeologists. We had tea in the museum's café and then we spent the afternoon wandering the rest of Oxford. At the end of the day, we found a bookshop nestled in the back alleyway of a street. I love buying books, and the older the better. There were so many amazing books in the shop, but I was able to maintain my self control. I was really drooling over a series of four books, written in French, costing 100 pounds each---books about the life of St. Marie Thérèse dating from the 1860's. I'm obviously not the least bit Catholic, but I really find the writings of this girl (she died at age 24) inspirational. Anyway, maybe someday I can come back and buy the books, if they're still there.

Matt then waited for me at our final stop, "The Alice Shop." Lewis Carroll, the author of the children's story "Alice in Wonderland," taught mathematics as Christ Church college (which is located just across the street from the shop) for many years. Carroll wrote the story for a real girl he knew named Alice. The Alice Shop used to be a general store where the real-life Alice shopped as a little girl. Now the shop sells every kind of Alice in Wonderland memorabilia imaginable. It's really an adorable shop!

On Sunday, Matt and I slept in, or as the English would say, "we had a lie-in." Then Jane took us out to lunch, her treat, to get a traditional English roast dinner. It was delicious! Jane is phenomenal and probably one of the most self-less and giving persons I have ever known.

Now I am trying to focus on enjoying my last 10 days here. I still can't believe the end is so near, but I knew the time would fly past, as it always does. It has been absolutely incredible here in England. I'm off to add onto the priceless memories I've made here, as I try to make the most of my remaining time here. So much to do, so little time! Ah, such is life.

Cheers!

My Husband is Here!!!



The little town of Burley in the New Forest.




Matt is here! We're about to depart on our Fireworks Cruise.



 



The boys -- Marc, Edward, Jonas, and Marco.




One of my favourite girls, Sarina. She loves me!





In Poole, about to re-board our boat to watch the fireworks show.





Bath Abbey.



A view of Bath over the River Avon. It was a gorgeous day!



We couldn't leave Bath without first having tea
at Sally Lunn's house, where we tried her famous brioche buns.





The Christchurch Priory. This place enchants me.



Well Matt is FINALLY here, but I’m going to start my tale from the day before his arrival. Last Wednesday, I took the students on an excursion to the New Forest. This is an ancient forest created by William the Conqueror in the 1080’s as his personal hunting grounds. Today it is an area of forests and grasslands where cows, ponies, and donkeys roam wild. There are several villages dotted throughout the New Forest, each quaint and charming in its own way.

Before departing for our excursion, I was waiting outside the University for our coaches with the Japanese and French students. One of the Japanese leaders, an adorable woman named Akiko, asked me if my eyelashes were “real.” After I replied ‘yes,’ she said, “Oh! Really!” and rushed over to a group of Japanese girls. After saying something to them in Japanese, I suddenly found myself encircled by about 6 Japanese girls all staring at my eyes, going “oooohhh!” I assured them that I was telling the truth by pulling rather forcefully on my eyelashes and the girls erupted into giggles. They started asking me about the kind of mascara I use as they inched in to get a closer look. I noticed that all of these Japanese girls were wearing fake eyelashes! Then they all started pulling out their cameras and asking to get a picture with me. They made me feel like a celebrity! It was a funny and slightly embarrassing moment for me! J

Matt arrived on Thursday, August 31st by coach at around 3 pm. I went to meet him at the station and I saw him standing there waiting (his coach arrived early). I started walking towards him and as I got closer, he turned and saw me and then I broke into a run and we met and threw our arms around each other. It was a wonderful, amazing moment! We couldn’t let go of each other for a few minutes, just looking at each other and smiling (and kissing, of course). For the rest of the day, we would look at each other and both break into a huge grin. Matt coming here has almost become like a second honeymoon for us! It’s incredible!

Matt arrived in time to join us on an evening excursion. We took a small group of students on a cruise to the next town over, Poole. The sky threatened rain but during the hour-long boat ride to Poole, we all sat on the open deck, talking, laughing, and enjoying the fresh sea air. We arrived in Poole and the boat dropped us of at Poole Quay, in the center of the street festival. The quay was full of live bands, street performers, and lots of people. We grabbed an ice cream and strolled around for a bit. Just before we got back onto the boat, it started to rain. Once we got on board, it started absolutely pouring. We rushed inside the covered part of the boat and relaxed there. The rain was so heavy for a bit that I was afraid that they wouldn’t set off the fireworks. But the rain let up a bit and we did indeed get to watch a lovely fireworks display from the warmth and dryness of the indoor cabin,

It was so much fun to bring Matt to work with me on Friday and introduce him to everyone. He even accompanied me to our weekly staff meeting! Friday night, we had a small BBQ for about 15 people, and Marco had the night off, so it was just Matt and me running the show. We did the shopping together in the afternoon and Matt cooked ALL the burgers on the grill. He did wonderfully and I was so proud of him!

On Saturday, we went on an excursion to the city of Bath. I remembered my camera this time, though! I was worried because the morning started off with quite a bit of rain. (Rain….in England…go figure!) Once we arrived in Bath, I led the walking tour through the city. We had such a large group that sometimes I had to stand on a bench to be able to speak so everyone could hear. Bath is one of my favourite (notice the English spelling) cities and about 20 minutes into the walking tour, the rain stopped. About ten minutes after that, the sun came out and soon everyone was pulling off their jackets. The rest of the day turned out to be quite warm and absolutely beautiful, without a cloud in the sky. The buildings in Bath are especially beautiful in the sunlight because they have a golden color to them that is really only visible when the sun is shining. After we sent the students off on their free time, we relaxed by the river Avon and I tried to get a little sun on my very pale, no wait-- stark white legs.

I didn’t have to work on Sunday and Matt and I really enjoyed sleeping in. We ate a traditional meal with my host family at lunch. It was called Toad in a Hole and it was sausages in Yorkshire pudding. It might sound strange but it was really delicious! Matt and I are getting quite spoiled by my host mom’s wonderful cooking. I will have a lot to live up to when I get back to the US!

After lunch, Matt and I took the bus to the little town of Christchurch, which is located just to the east of Bournemouth. We walked around High Street and spent some time visiting Christchurch Priory, which I absolutely love. It then began raining, AGAIN, and we ducked into a tea room to share a cream tea and scones. Then it was time to hop on the bus back to Bournemouth, as we were meeting my friend Jane for dinner.

Jane picked us up and we ate at a restaurant called Harry Ramsden’s, which is located right along Bournemouth’s beaches. We had a table with a great view of the sea and we could see several people surfing. Jane took us to this restaurant because I asked her to take us to the place we could get the best Fish and Chips. We topped off our meals by enjoying some Butter Bread Pudding with custard.. Soooooo good! It was a great evening and I was glad for the chance for Matt and Jane to get to know one another a bit better!

This week’s been fairly quiet and tonight Matt and I happy to find that we have no evening activity! Once again, rain has “put a damper” on our plans, so to speak, and we had no students show up to do an activity. Matt has been waiting patiently here in the office with me as I write this blog. God bless him! So now I must finish so we can head into Bournemouth for a bit and enjoy an evening to ourselves.

Tomorrow is an excursion to Stonehenge and Salisbury, and Saturday we’ll go to Oxford. Of course I’ll update you again with more of our adventures!

Cheers!