Knareseborough

I used to think that a two hour drive is quite a long drive. When I was little I used to think that going from Lviv to Dubno by car (that takes about two hours) was a BIG trip.  Even when we were in dental school, living in a Minneapolis suburb for four years, and Robert’s cousin living in Rochester, MN, 1 hr an 40 min away we only drove ONCE to see her…yeah, our perspective has changed.

Robert’s brother and his family live two hours north of us. Two hours does not sound like a long distance at all any more compared to how far away we are from the rest of the family.  So one Saturday in March we went up to see the other Watsons, just a few weeks before their new baby was born.

Robert has been up here, near Harrogate before, but this was my first time visiting this area.

I fell in love with their town of Knareseborough (you just pronounce half of the letters written and you’ll be fine)…..It must have been the hills or something, but I just loved looking at all the cute houses and old streets.

This is all the bridges and castles and beautiful houses that I used to see on TV and now I get to see it person!

We spent our morning at the sight of the very ancient (12th century) Knaresborough  castle. Cousins just wanted to run around together.

Our prisoners.

As I mentioned above, the area is very hilly here compared to Cambridgeshire where we live. The castle is standing on a hill, and so is the city centre (yes, I am trying to spell in British).

The other Watsons took us to the best fish and chips in town. Oh, it did not disappoint! Massive pieces of fish, breaded in perfection with some malt vinegar on top….Yum! Although I am sure eating it more than once a couple of months can do no good for your body, and that fact that it is FISH inside does not help-haha.

Mark—fed and happy.

After lunch we drove half an hour pass Harrogate to Yorkshire Dales (at first I thought it was Dells, like in Wisconsin Dells). 

Sheep and ancient stone walls were everywhere.

It was a lovely view.

Finally we got to the Yorkshire Dales Ice Cream Farmhouse.  This place was not simply an ice cream place. It was a giant barn with hay, swings, ropes and play structures. Katya, Alex and Everett had a blast in the “big kid area”.

While the little guys enjoyed all the play equipment on the other side.

Outside, they had a great playground as well.

Katya, the best “pusher” in town. Or what exactly is she doing?

Love their faces in this picture.

So fun to be with cousins!

And waiting for promised ice cream.

It was Robert’s brother’s birthday, so we after all the fun in the park, we headed home for some yummy dinner and cake. It was a great family day! Now we need to make a trip up north again to see their new addition.

Lyana

Six Months Later...

March is here which means yucky weather is here, with some gorgeous days in between. Early this week, I did not even need my coat going outside—it was so nice and warm and sunny. And it is snowing outside now—it’s wet snow though. The weather here is definitely BETTER than what I expected but still gloomier than what I am used to (and hoped for). 

Does Britain feel like home yet? It does and it does not. Come to think of it, every time we move, I sort of forget what “home” feels like for a while.  That “homy” feeling has to be acquired every time and comes in small dozes, in particularly smaller ones this time around.  It does feel like home in a literal way of thinking such as we know how to get around more freely, 80% of pictures are hung up, closets are organized and we have summer plans for our back garden. But in many things, I still feel like we are in a “just passing by” mode.  We know how long we’ll be here and therefore, I have composed “the big plan of things to do while we are here”…and that doesn’t feel very “homy” to me.

One thing we have had to adjust to is how the way of our life changed in terms of how children spend their free time. After I pick them up from school at 3:30, normally, I would have them get a snack, do homework, practice the piano and tell them to go outside and play (if the weather is particularly nice, they would go outside first, actually, since it’s sort of like a special occasion). The problem is that there is no one in our neighborhood that is my big kids’ age. We have a busy road separating us from the other side of the village where a few more kids from school live. That has been a challenge. Although we have had kids over to play (without parents) for a couple of hours and my kids have gone over to other people’s homes to play, things are not the same as they used to be. Friendships have been much harder to form for the kids. In fact, Katya, in particular, has been having a really difficult time to find a close friend that she would get along with. The friend she went to the disco is great, but, she says, she cannot bond with anyone like she did with her friends in Japan. To her, those girls are her “best friends forever” still.

So the kids end up spending a lot of time inside, reading, playing (not always nicely by any means though), begging me to watch a movie, get on pottermore.com, watch another “disaster documentary”, or playing board games.  I do love when they all go outside to jump on our weird trampoline or climb trees or look for golf balls (Robert decided our back yard is a dangerous place to be since it seems that golf balls can attack you from any direction, apparently).

As to our grown-up relationships, things have been developing really slowly. We find ourselves gravitating towards American friends for some reason, although we are not giving up at all at making friends with the British. Everyone is very kind and very helpful, I just need to be more proactive, I guess, at making myself noticeable as “in need of friends . I can say I have made one great British friend so far. I can tell the difference between a natural and  a forced friendship—I have experienced both in many years of us moving around and meeting new people. With this friend, despite cultural differences, I feel very much myself and relaxed, never looking for a subject discuss. And that is what I need. Going for days without actually talking to any grown up besides Robert (sending messages on facebook doesn’t count) is depressing to me. Talking is good.

Anyone who knows me, remembers that I love to go places during the day—in Misawa very rarely did I stay home when the big kids were in school. But here I have a very different feeling, a bit of lack of motivation to go anywhere while Mark is in preschool from 9:15 till12:00.  In fact, I have not been shopping for anything other than groceries for at least four months now! A 20-40 minute drive to Peterborough or Cambridge seems like such a big ordeal. Life in Misawa was simple—you go to the commissary, BX and Shimoda Mall, that’s all. I need to work on that.

I have great hopes that this slow beginning in getting settled will not make our whole three years “gloomy”. I also hope that I don’t just live in England spending my days looking forward to my next trip to some place outside of my village (I say this a lot).  And I hope every day that all Katya, Alex, and Mark will find great friends to help them cope with missing Japan.  

No more complaining…
Wishing you a very sunny week!
Lyana (obviously. Robert doesn’t write such emotionally charged posts).

Disco 2013

Oh yes, it’s that time again! Bury Village school is having  a DISCO!!! This time, the theme is “Famous people”.  Weeks before the dance, Katya and her friend Qugao (pronounced 

Chigao) decided that they wanted to be Ginny and Cho Chang from Harry Potter. They were determined to make their costumes themselves.  So that’s what they did—they sewed their robes and made their ties.

Originally, Alex was hoping to be this famous seismologist, Costas Synalakis.  But later he realized that most 7 year old wouldn’t have a clue who that guy is.  So THE NIGHT BEFORE the disco, Alex changed his mind and decided to be Harry Potter.  After a few emails to friends, I was able to locate a Harry Potter robe, and all was well.

Qugao came to our house after school and played for a while with Katya. Because she lives 20 min drive from the school, her parents usually did not drive her home after school and then back to the dance. So this time I offered to keep Qugao so she could actually go to the dance with Katya. She is such a polite guest! She enthusiastically ate my green Kale and Potato soup and never argued with Katya-haha.

We had to take a couple of pictures before they left (they kept asking me every ten minutes when it would be time to go finally).

“STUPEFY!”

Oh yes, they had a lot of fun at the dance!

I do like this tradition of primary school kids having dances. I always loved those when I was younger. Although, this school’s choice of music definitely needs to be reviewed…but that’s another story.

Lyana.