oops...long time between posts isn't it??
Ok fresh new start! I'll try not to leave it 7 months next time.
Here's a really quick update on things that have happened since August last year:
Our recent travels:
Cotswolds and mid-England with Jo, Kath, Steve, Ben, Linda in Sept 07.
Scotland for our 3 yr anniversary in Oct 07.
Krakow in Poland with Jo and Steve in Nov 07.
The Netherlands, Belgium (Bruges) and Germany (Cologne) with Celia, Julian, Linda, Grace for Xmas 07.
The Netherlands (Utrecht, Leiden) with Gerry, Helene, Bruce, Eduarda for New Years 07/08.
Verbier Ski Resort, Switzerland with 8 friends in Feb 08.
Paris for the Paris marathon to support Mathilde, Boyd, Gerry, Helene in April 08.
Pwhlleli, Wales for New Word Alive conference with some church friends in April 08.
Di's news:
Full time position teaching Yr 4 at an East london school in Essex. Really loving it but very tiring and demanding. I prefer supply but having own class is very special. Kids are great, staff are great. Weather is not great.
Ed's news:
Still working for insurance company in Essex. Enjoying work, great workmates. Applied for HSMP visa, waiting for it to come through. Sick often, please pray for health!
In general:
We miss everyone back home, miss Aussie weather, aussie food, aussie people! Not sure how much longer we will stay here but should be back by the end of this year.
Settled into a great church in which we are really enjoying being part of. Have made some fantastic friends. Good thing most of them are Aussies so it means we'll see them again one day! For those that aren't, well we're trying to persuade them to move to Oz.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Friday, August 03, 2007
Ed's Oz trip
I know this was ages ago but we thought we'd show you some photos of Ed's whirlwind trip back home! It was only for 7 days and that included travelling. But it was worth it because it was to help celebrate a wedding of some very close friends of ours. Here are some pics!
The night before the wedding
Gorgeous!
Our very dear friends S,E and J!
Di's mum and sister Loosh
Ed's fam
Kath and Rosco
Other close friends of ours Dan and ElThursday, August 02, 2007
Kath's birthday!
Kath turned 21 again on the 21st of July and we celebrated with a picnic in Golders Green park. Lots of antipasto, fresh bread, nice cheese, wine, olives, and a homemade carrot cake. It was pouring down rain so we had the picnic in a bandstage pagoda area but we got busted as the public weren't allowed there. The guard tactfully pointed out 'that's why there are chains on the gate'. But even using all our Aussie charm and inviting him to have some cake did not allow us to stay there so we had to move to another area which was much dirtier and smaller! But after some quick cleaning by Jo, we laid out the picnic once more, shared the cake around and had lots of fun! We also went a bit crazy doing some jumping shots...I promise it wasn't my idea....
Our first spot..
The second spot
Beautiful Jo!
Kath and I getting some serious air!
Hip hip hooray!
After about 15 tries, the only photo of us all off the ground!
Our first spot..The second spotBeautiful Jo!Kath and I getting some serious air!Hip hip hooray!After about 15 tries, the only photo of us all off the ground!Out and about in London
The Queen's Birthday parade
The view we got after 10 minutes...
Who can spot the Queen?? hint: she's in green!
Kath will kill me when she sees this photo!
Visiting Kath in Golders Green
A bap is a bread roll! (at the Borough markets)
£1 bag of cherry tomatoes at the Borough markets - bargain!
Ed with his favourite coffee place at the Borough Markets
Jo and Steve having brekky at the Organic cafe in Greenwich
Tea break at the Slug and Lettuce
Chinatown, Leicester Square. Brissy is better!
Some really interesting pub names in England!
Linda riding a horse in Hamleys (biggest toy store in London)
Hyde Park
Linda with her book in Hyde Park
With my miso soup and sandwiches in Hyde Park
The line at Waterstones, Piccadilly Circus for the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at midnight
The boys with their Brandy Alexanders
Cocktails in the bar at the Mandarin Oriental hotel
Dinner at Satsumas in Chinatown - yum Jap food!News
Lots of things have happened! Sorry again for the delay, I haven't been busy, just very lazy.
First of all, we are both currently not working. Something happened with Ed's job (not his fault, and not his company's fault! The company who contracted them..) and therefore he is looking for another one at the moment! It's getting a bit stressful so please pray as our finances are worrying us at the moment. But we trust in God and know He's in control. Ed hasn't had much luck so far in getting a job but he job searches day and night so he's very determined.
It has been a bit of a blessing in disguise because it means Ed is able to rest and relax with me as I'm on school holidays for 6 weeks! I've been trying to find work as well but it's hard to find people to employ me for such a short time since I'm going back to Oz in September for 3 weeks.
Anyway! Lots of fun things have happened too and I'm going to do a HUGE photo dump on you guys which I'm sure you'll love so you can see what we've been up to :)
First of all, we are both currently not working. Something happened with Ed's job (not his fault, and not his company's fault! The company who contracted them..) and therefore he is looking for another one at the moment! It's getting a bit stressful so please pray as our finances are worrying us at the moment. But we trust in God and know He's in control. Ed hasn't had much luck so far in getting a job but he job searches day and night so he's very determined.
It has been a bit of a blessing in disguise because it means Ed is able to rest and relax with me as I'm on school holidays for 6 weeks! I've been trying to find work as well but it's hard to find people to employ me for such a short time since I'm going back to Oz in September for 3 weeks.
Anyway! Lots of fun things have happened too and I'm going to do a HUGE photo dump on you guys which I'm sure you'll love so you can see what we've been up to :)
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Photos of our place
Sorry for these late photos of our little temporary home in London. We have been meaning to put these up for a while because people keep asking about it! So here it is, we are located on the River Thames in the Isle of Dogs. I'll take some outside pics so you can see what it's like on the outside. We live in the Docklands area and our block used to be a warehouse. There are tram lines outside our door where the trams would stop and deliver goods.
Happenings
We will be updating soon with things that have happened recently. It's just a case of downloading the photos onto the computer and minimising them all. Ed has just bought a new camera when he went back home and has been going crazy on it. So things that have happened:
Ed's trip back to Oz, the opening of the O2 Stadium here in North Greenwich, the Queen's Birthday parade, Summer bbq at Ben's place. I'll try to make it this week sometime!! Just need Ed to teach me how to minimise and do all that computer stuff. We are also going to Belgium next weekend from Thurs night to Sunday so we are looking forward to all the chocolate shops!! Gaining weight again...
Other than the events above, we haven't really been up to much. Just both working everyday and seeing friends and family at night. It has been WONDERFUL to see Jo and Steve here as well as having Kath back. Sad not to have Rosko back too. So we have spent as much time possible with them and I will post photos of them up as well!!
We have settled into a church now and it's called 'All Souls'. We were starting to go to one called 'St Helens' but realised we preferred All Souls. Tuesday night is the Newcomers evening there so will let you know how it all goes. I will be on holidays in 3 weeks and it will be my summer holiday (6 weeks long! - Poor Ed!) so I'm doing some volunteering with a local church for a kids club two mornings a week. It will be fun as it's work with under 5's, one of my favourite age groups. I'll also try to do some part time work so I feel like I'm making some sort of contribution to our finances! I guess I could be the dutiful wife and have dinner cooked every night, send him off with a healthy breakfast and make sure the house is nice and clean...but there must be more to life than that!!
Time to get ready to meet Jo, Steve, Katty and Ben (with Ed and Linda) at an Indian restaurant up the road from us for dinner. Kath is about to start an 8 week placement in North London so we won't see her for a while. Photos coming soon!!
Ed's trip back to Oz, the opening of the O2 Stadium here in North Greenwich, the Queen's Birthday parade, Summer bbq at Ben's place. I'll try to make it this week sometime!! Just need Ed to teach me how to minimise and do all that computer stuff. We are also going to Belgium next weekend from Thurs night to Sunday so we are looking forward to all the chocolate shops!! Gaining weight again...
Other than the events above, we haven't really been up to much. Just both working everyday and seeing friends and family at night. It has been WONDERFUL to see Jo and Steve here as well as having Kath back. Sad not to have Rosko back too. So we have spent as much time possible with them and I will post photos of them up as well!!
We have settled into a church now and it's called 'All Souls'. We were starting to go to one called 'St Helens' but realised we preferred All Souls. Tuesday night is the Newcomers evening there so will let you know how it all goes. I will be on holidays in 3 weeks and it will be my summer holiday (6 weeks long! - Poor Ed!) so I'm doing some volunteering with a local church for a kids club two mornings a week. It will be fun as it's work with under 5's, one of my favourite age groups. I'll also try to do some part time work so I feel like I'm making some sort of contribution to our finances! I guess I could be the dutiful wife and have dinner cooked every night, send him off with a healthy breakfast and make sure the house is nice and clean...but there must be more to life than that!!
Time to get ready to meet Jo, Steve, Katty and Ben (with Ed and Linda) at an Indian restaurant up the road from us for dinner. Kath is about to start an 8 week placement in North London so we won't see her for a while. Photos coming soon!!
Switzerland!!
Finally I am sitting down to update you all on our Switzerland trip that happened a while back! Maybe a month ago now. We went for a weekend from Friday night to Sunday night.
We flew with Easy Jet (you can't come to London and NOT experience Easy Jet and Ryan Air, the two budget airlines - Virgin Blue are fantastic compared to them!) to Geneva and the airport was about 10 minutes from the city centre. We left it till late to book accommodation and when we rung around, realised everything was booked out due to some big convention going on in the city. So we had to stay over the Swiss-French border in Annemasse,France at a nice cheap hotel about 800m walk from the border. Here is a picture of the border which we walked to every day and back.
We had a good sleep but on Saturday I woke up with the works of the flu virus. Fever, sore throat, blocked chest, sore ears, muscle aches and pains...everything! So using my high school french, we went to the closest pharmacy to buy all the drugs we could find to limit my symptoms! I thank God for the invention of Nurofen which I was on constantly during our trip...maybe more than I should have taken but it helped me through!!
We had a nice start to the day with a french buffet breakfast in our hotel and then we wandered down to the border and stumbled onto some markets on the way. It was interesting to use a combination of euros and swiss francs on our trip since we were staying in France but sight seeing in Switzerland. Lots of converting to and fro in our heads all the time. Anyway, we always knew it was cheaper than pounds so that helped!! French is the main language spoken in that area of Switzerland so it was fun trying to communicate with the locals. On the way to the main train station in Geneva, a busker got on our tram and started singing! It was a bit strange. But we gave him some money so we could get a photo of him... he didn't look happy!
At the main train station in Geneva, we bought a 48hr ticket that enabled us to go to all the towns around the lake (70 km long) either via ferry or train and also to travel for free in Geneva with their public transport system. It cost us about 78 swiss francs each and it sounds like a lot but it was worth it! We got to visit so many places on the one ticket that would've been so expensive otherwise.
So we started our journey first to Lausanne, one of the most beautiful cities around the lake. It is built on a hill so there was a lot of uphill walking which is great for your bum and thighs!! Lovely cobble stoned paths and cute little shops lining them. We reached the top and found some beautiful old churches, electric buses that run on tram lines, markets everywhere and nice views. We stayed in Lausanne for most of the day till about 3pm then we made our way to Evian by boat(yes it's where the water comes from!!)
The playground in Lausanne was a typical one that we saw around the different towns on the lake. Wouldn't it be so cool if you were a kid again? I was tempted to have a bit of a go but too many little kids and parents watching.
We then caught a boat over to Evian and it was also a lovely little town but one you could probably see in about two hours! We went to the Evian information centre where we were taught about how Evian water was collected and bottled. And how it had cured some guy of his diseases! Interesting... We also went to this cute pub where a small band was playing outside (we think they were Italian) and the lady singer would give everyone at the pub these fake coloured roses. It was so sweet!
After Evian, we caught a boat back to Lausanne then the train back to Geneva where we wandered around for a bit (it's sort of just like another city though) and we had dinner at a place where we had cheese fondue!! (A national dish). They gave us some bread to dip into it and we also had some cured meat with it (sort of like prosciutto). The cheese had a really strong taste though and it was a bit more-ish for me and didn't give me a taste for fondue again...unless it's chocolate!
We had an early night as I was starting to feel really exhausted! The next day we were walking to the border and stopped in a patisserie for breakfast. The shopkeeper was really encouraging me to use my french and loved it when I said 'Pain au chocolat' correctly! She was lovely. We were on our way to some other little towns around the lake roughly 2 hours by train from Geneva. Our breakfast consisted of 3 different types of pastries (yes we gained weight that weekend). Croissant, almond croissaint and pain au chocolat..mmmmm!!
We went to see Montreux which is a beautiful seaside town that's quite touristy. We only spent about an hour there because we were just stopping over to catch our next train to Gstaad, a town in the mountains. Ed drank from a water fountain in Montreux that we weren't sure was used for drinking! But we saw other people do it and there were similar fountains everywhere we went so now we know they are for drinking!
The train trip to Gstaad was just so nice! I am running out of words for nice, lovely, beautiful. Sorry about that. As we got higher and higher into the mountains, we started to see some mountains that were still capped with snow! Gstaad is a ski town and it made Ed really miss skiing. It was our favourite town around Lake Geneva. We will probably come back one day although most of the runs looked like they were 'black runs' so I suppose Ed will just have to come back by himself! Since it took a while to get to Gstaad, we spent most of the day there walking around, drinking from fountains (the water was so pure), and having the most delicious meal that we had in Switzerland! I wasn't feeling well so I had a nice beef goulash soup while Ed had a steak cooked in garlic and herb butter served over heat with some really yummy chips. We finished the day off with some mouth watering pastries at a cute cafe. Then headed back to Geneva and to the airport.
After arriving at the airport early to check in we found out our flight was delayed and instead of leaving at 9:30pm, we left at 10:30 and we didn't get home until 1:30 in the morning! So next time we will be catching the plane much earlier as it was such a nuisance catching a cab home from the city!!
We flew with Easy Jet (you can't come to London and NOT experience Easy Jet and Ryan Air, the two budget airlines - Virgin Blue are fantastic compared to them!) to Geneva and the airport was about 10 minutes from the city centre. We left it till late to book accommodation and when we rung around, realised everything was booked out due to some big convention going on in the city. So we had to stay over the Swiss-French border in Annemasse,France at a nice cheap hotel about 800m walk from the border. Here is a picture of the border which we walked to every day and back.
We had a good sleep but on Saturday I woke up with the works of the flu virus. Fever, sore throat, blocked chest, sore ears, muscle aches and pains...everything! So using my high school french, we went to the closest pharmacy to buy all the drugs we could find to limit my symptoms! I thank God for the invention of Nurofen which I was on constantly during our trip...maybe more than I should have taken but it helped me through!!
We had a nice start to the day with a french buffet breakfast in our hotel and then we wandered down to the border and stumbled onto some markets on the way. It was interesting to use a combination of euros and swiss francs on our trip since we were staying in France but sight seeing in Switzerland. Lots of converting to and fro in our heads all the time. Anyway, we always knew it was cheaper than pounds so that helped!! French is the main language spoken in that area of Switzerland so it was fun trying to communicate with the locals. On the way to the main train station in Geneva, a busker got on our tram and started singing! It was a bit strange. But we gave him some money so we could get a photo of him... he didn't look happy!
At the main train station in Geneva, we bought a 48hr ticket that enabled us to go to all the towns around the lake (70 km long) either via ferry or train and also to travel for free in Geneva with their public transport system. It cost us about 78 swiss francs each and it sounds like a lot but it was worth it! We got to visit so many places on the one ticket that would've been so expensive otherwise.
So we started our journey first to Lausanne, one of the most beautiful cities around the lake. It is built on a hill so there was a lot of uphill walking which is great for your bum and thighs!! Lovely cobble stoned paths and cute little shops lining them. We reached the top and found some beautiful old churches, electric buses that run on tram lines, markets everywhere and nice views. We stayed in Lausanne for most of the day till about 3pm then we made our way to Evian by boat(yes it's where the water comes from!!)
The playground in Lausanne was a typical one that we saw around the different towns on the lake. Wouldn't it be so cool if you were a kid again? I was tempted to have a bit of a go but too many little kids and parents watching.
We then caught a boat over to Evian and it was also a lovely little town but one you could probably see in about two hours! We went to the Evian information centre where we were taught about how Evian water was collected and bottled. And how it had cured some guy of his diseases! Interesting... We also went to this cute pub where a small band was playing outside (we think they were Italian) and the lady singer would give everyone at the pub these fake coloured roses. It was so sweet!
After Evian, we caught a boat back to Lausanne then the train back to Geneva where we wandered around for a bit (it's sort of just like another city though) and we had dinner at a place where we had cheese fondue!! (A national dish). They gave us some bread to dip into it and we also had some cured meat with it (sort of like prosciutto). The cheese had a really strong taste though and it was a bit more-ish for me and didn't give me a taste for fondue again...unless it's chocolate!
We had an early night as I was starting to feel really exhausted! The next day we were walking to the border and stopped in a patisserie for breakfast. The shopkeeper was really encouraging me to use my french and loved it when I said 'Pain au chocolat' correctly! She was lovely. We were on our way to some other little towns around the lake roughly 2 hours by train from Geneva. Our breakfast consisted of 3 different types of pastries (yes we gained weight that weekend). Croissant, almond croissaint and pain au chocolat..mmmmm!!
We went to see Montreux which is a beautiful seaside town that's quite touristy. We only spent about an hour there because we were just stopping over to catch our next train to Gstaad, a town in the mountains. Ed drank from a water fountain in Montreux that we weren't sure was used for drinking! But we saw other people do it and there were similar fountains everywhere we went so now we know they are for drinking!
The train trip to Gstaad was just so nice! I am running out of words for nice, lovely, beautiful. Sorry about that. As we got higher and higher into the mountains, we started to see some mountains that were still capped with snow! Gstaad is a ski town and it made Ed really miss skiing. It was our favourite town around Lake Geneva. We will probably come back one day although most of the runs looked like they were 'black runs' so I suppose Ed will just have to come back by himself! Since it took a while to get to Gstaad, we spent most of the day there walking around, drinking from fountains (the water was so pure), and having the most delicious meal that we had in Switzerland! I wasn't feeling well so I had a nice beef goulash soup while Ed had a steak cooked in garlic and herb butter served over heat with some really yummy chips. We finished the day off with some mouth watering pastries at a cute cafe. Then headed back to Geneva and to the airport.
After arriving at the airport early to check in we found out our flight was delayed and instead of leaving at 9:30pm, we left at 10:30 and we didn't get home until 1:30 in the morning! So next time we will be catching the plane much earlier as it was such a nuisance catching a cab home from the city!!
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