There were many things that I anticipated about making a move to England but was taken aback by how foreign everything feels. When you look around everything looks slightly unfamiliar, the houses are not built exactly same, car companies build modified frames, you get a yellow light before the red and the green, everyone has an accent, and the cars are on the wrong side of the street. I have reminded myself many times in this first week that if I was here on vacation it would all be exciting and humorous, but knowing that I have to adjust to all these differences, find my way around, and drive, has made them all just a little bit overwhelming. Despite this, I have had moments of real enthusiasm about the adventure we are embarking on.

This first week has been riddled with frustration and exhaustion as we try to adapt to the time change and get our life set up here. When we landed in London I was already tired and honestly probably crabby as I had not slept on the flight over, and waiting nearly an hour for our rental car did not help. Then we faced our  first time driving on the wrong side of the road where I felt both the oncoming traffic and the shoulder were far to close to me.  Arriving in Swindon did little to alleviate my concern as the roads got even more narrow and traffic circles appeared in front of us every fifty feet. Within minutes I was moaning that I would never be able to drive anywhere. Getting into the flat and dropping off the luggage at least left me feeling like we had a home base, albeit one without bedding, pots, towels, tv, food, or chocolate to make it feel more homey. With nothing else to be done, this meant an expensive trip to the local Walmart, which is luckily right down the road.

The next day dawned bright and sunny and so therefore full of promise and so off to church we all went. As we entered the building we were met with ' I know that my redeemer lives' pouring out of the chapel, and I knew that no matter what else might be different that at least some things would be the same. Following our meeting we made our way to the bishops house to join them in their Sunday dinner. We had hours of lovely conversation that taught us many of things we didn't know about the area and cleared up many of our questions, some we didn't even know we had. 

Monday was a bank holiday as so we were unable to get many of the list items done as so many places were closed and we used this sunny day to walk around the neighborhood, get more shopping done and generally get our bearings. Our community is relatively new and has large cobbled side walks, wide enough for the whole family to walk in a row on. We also have a great place for chips that as you get close to, wafts the smell of vinegar that hangs in the area delightfully and draws you in almost without you knowing it has. We also have a little grocery store and a hair salon so I may never actually need to leave here and will never have to drive here! As we walked around it was hard not to notice how green and lush everything was. Parks and gardens jump out from the red buildings with such contrast that it almost takes your breath away. I have to say, considering we rented sight unseen, we have lucked out with how lovely our small neighborhood really is.

The next few days were a blur of one frustration and struggle after another as we attempted to get the kids registered in school, set up my mobile, get a bank account, sign up for internet and get utilities to the flat. Every morning started with the commitment to work really hard in the morning and then spend the afternoon playing, and ended with us crawling back home somewhere around dinner with nothing to show for it. Obviously I have never moved to a new country before but I never would have expected how tedious trying to get these mundane tasks done would be for us. We were told we didn't have correct documentation or that we has to fill out paperwork or that we were in the wrong place. We were asked questions about things we would never know the answer to given how new to the country we were, as so it went for days. Always we were met with friendly people who I truly believe wanted to help us but were not always exactly sure how. One such person was Louis at HSBC, he was so pleasant and so desired to be helpful but I think was somewhat stumped by our situation. However it was his determination and our combined two hours that finally got us a bank account that hopefully by next weekend we will be able to use. We got to know quite a bit about one another in our time together, I learned that Louis would be a great guy to have on your team in a quiz game as he was full of funny trivia. One such is that the expression "Daylight Robbery" comes from a tax implemented here in early England. Apparently in order to determine how much property tax to charge land owners the would base it on the amount of windows they had, so these unfortunate home owners started to brick their windows up to  save on tax. It actually helped the time go much quicker than it might have so, thank you Louis. Finally by the end of the day on Thursday we were able to feel like most of the pressing needs were as accomplished as we could get them and we were free to plan some activities.

Slower to start on Friday than we may have hoped but determined to get out and enjoy the rain we started our adventuring by hitting a pub for lunch. I know what you are thinking, no the kids were with us and not at home. It felt odd to us also but pubs here are family restaurants and so all are welcome. They section off the pubs into areas children are allowed and areas they are not, so just behind the wall from us were the serious lunchtime drinkers. Even knowing all this I couldn't help feeling a little like, "You have a baby.....in a bar." however the food was good and the atmosphere was inviting.  After we left the bar we headed to Stonehenge to tour the ruins. You get a radio looking device to carry around and they give you tidbits of information about the stones and how they were constructed and moved. The stones themselves are roped off with a large walking path that takes you all the way around the outside of the circle. We walked the loop twice once listening to our radio guide and once without. I found there mass and structure both impressive and awe inspiring. However as Randy pointed out to the kids, perhaps what made it most exciting was we were walking in place that was talked and written about all over the world. A bucket list kind of item to do.

The rest of Friday and all of Saturday were spent driving to and viewing other historical sights around our area, well within a couple of hours of us. We visited Old Sarum castle, Nunny Castle, Whitehorse, and Farleigh Hungerford Castle. Most castle sights are very much in ruin and it takes a great deal of imagination to see them as the impressive structures they must have been. I think that the kids thought that they would see castles like the ones depicted in movies and were a little deflated with the reality of what is left to view of these once great buildings. I however was moved to see the crumbling walls that were constructed so many hundreds of years ago. It is hard not to feel connected to the owners and users of the dilapidated stone homes as you walk over the fallen walls.  I was struck with how uncomfortable they must have been to live in and how cold and uninviting it must have been to be a guest in the drafty halls and bed chambers.  There are many more of these landmarks to visit and I look forward to comparing the differences and learning more about the history of this new country I find myself in.