Banbury Cross

Today I went to an interview with a recruiter in Banbury. Yes, the same Banbury as in the Banbury Cross you remember from the nursery rhyme. I had initially thought that Banbury Cross was something like an intersection of two roads, but it turns out that while it is an intersection, it's also actually got a real 54-foot high cross in the middle of the roundabout! However, the original cross was destroyed in anti-Catholic rampages in the 1600s, so it was rebuilt in the late 19th century. Just a few years ago, they added the statue of the "fine lady on a white horse, with rings on her fingers and bells on her toes". (she's to the left of the cross - click on the picture to enlarge if you're curious).


The town itself is really cute, with many small shops, restaurants and windy pedestrian-only roads. I plan to go back to explore the shopping some more, as it seemed to be much less expensive than in Oxford. And it's just 15 minutes away by train!




And one funny sighting in Banbury - the Blues Brothers outside of this record store!






The interview went much better than the last. Perhaps the last recruiter was just having a rough day. But, we'll see if anything comes of it. In the meantime, I've got plans to go to London with the girls on Thursday (we got those 1 pound fares on Megabus). I think I'm going to be checking out the aquarium, which is great since I can stare at fish all day!

The smell of a currency in decline?

Overheard in a restaurant on Sunday:

(college aged guy) "Have you ever even seen American money? It all bloody looks the same! I mean, you can't tell any of them apart. You get your ones mixed up with your twenties! And it smells terrible!"

Just had to share that one!

Millet's Farm

On Thursday I went out with Danalisa, Owen, Amanda, Millie and a new friend, Alisha and her two girls to Millet's Farm, near Abingdon. We had to take 2 buses, and it took an hour each way, but it was totally worth it! Not only did we get to see the beautiful English countryside on the way there, but the farm itself was really nice! They had all kinds of animals to see, like alpacas, goats, cows and miniature horses, as well as several country shops.

The food shop was really special. Their fresh produce looked great, and prices were even better! What really impressed me was the freezer section - they had the kind of freezers where you slide the top back and look in to get food, only the freezers were divided into sections where you could just scoop out loose frozen veggies. It was kind of like a candy store! They also had all kinds of neat kitchen gadgets (it was so hard not to buy a bunch!), nice meats, fresh fish and a bakery. If it wasn't so far away, I would definitely go there instead of the grocery store! I wound up with some fresh veggies, meringues and a pumpkin to grace our table!

They also had a huge garden center, and a clothing shop. We all got some great bargains at the shop - most notably the 5 pound fleece jackets me, Amanda & Danalisa got. They only had them in green, but we all like green, and for that price, who cares if we're triplets?

I forgot to take my camera with me, so a special thanks goes to Danalisa for letting me use hers for some great pictures, like this one with the animatronic polar bear!

Churches

We've been here for 4 Sundays already, and we've been to 4 different churches. Each has been a Church of England (there's not much else around here), but they've all been incredibly different. Two were super traditional (very formal service, organ music, clouds of incense swung around in a procession), and the other two were reminiscent of a Midwestern megachurch (full band with drums, lots of singing about Jesus and no gospel readings). Both have their draws, but neither is what we're looking for. We've sort of liked the traditional ones better, but they seem to have about a dozen members in attendance each week, whereas the megachurch types have a couple hundred people each week. It will be interesting to see where we'll end up

Waterperry Garden

Last Tuesday I joined a group from the Newcomers Club here to visit Waterperry Garden. The garden was originally established for a women's horticultural school, but now it's mainly run by volunteers who are just interested in gardening. They have a rose garden, fruit trees, knot garden, sort of French style flat section and a national collection of "saxifrage" that includes every species of saxifrage plants (they're the type you'd probably find above the tree line in a cold area).

You can see more of my pictures from the garden at http://picasaweb.google.com/kristina.simacek/WaterperryGarden

I bought some herbs from their garden shop, so now we've got some extra ammo for cooking.

Honeymoon Pictures!

Many have asked, and finally I've put our honeymoon pictures up! You can view them at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kristina.simacek

I split them into three albums: France, Italy and a sort of Eastern European one for the rest of the countries we went to. I haven't finished labeling the pictures yet, but it's still nice to look at. Let me know if you have any questions about the places in the pictures!

Blenheim Palace

Today I went with my friends Danalisa, Janick, Amanda and Jodi to Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Winston Churchill (even saw the actual bed where he was born, 2 months early, during a dinner party). It's about 20 minutes from Oxford by bus, and is a spectacular palace with beautiful gardens. The whole place is 2100 acres, so needless to say, we didn't walk the whole thing! We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but the weather was in our favor for some great outdoor shots!


The water terrace garden where we had lunch (above) and the rose garden overlooking the lake (below).

Another apartment picture

In case you were wondering where we sleep....

We had to buy a memory foam topper for our mattress since it was pretty uncomfortable. Now the bed is nice and comfy, and we still have the pleasure of enjoying the curtains just like in the living room!

Vegetable Box Delivered!

At 8AM on Tuesday morning, I heard a strange buzzing noise that I figured was a new alarm clock. After a few minutes I realized it wasn't, so I got up to investigate. As I was still in my PJs and Paul was ready for school, I had him go outside and see if it might have been the doorbell. Well, now we know that our doorbell sounds like a dying electronic device, and we also got our first vegetable box delivered!


As you can see, it's not a huge box, but it's got a decent amount of stuff. We got 4 bananas, 5 or 6 apples, 5 or 6 pears, an eggplant, 2 beets, 3 cukes, a handful of potatoes and a bunch of carrots. I had requested no onions, so I was happy to see that they didn't include any. I also like that they have recipes for all of the items they carry. I already made a version of their beet soup!

The box cost 10 pounds, which is probably more than we'd pay in a supermarket, but then again a supermarket doesn't deliver to your doorstep. We're happy with the service overall, though we're considering perhaps ordering a bigger box every other week rather than a small box every week. Either way, we're eating healthy and it's still a lot cheaper than eating out!

Box Scheme

Tomorrow Paul and I will be getting our first delivery in a "box scheme." What's a box scheme you ask? It's a program set up by a number of local farmers where they bring a box of organic fruits and/or vegetables to your doorstep weekly for a set price. You can't choose what will be in your box, as it's based on what's fresh on that day. All produce is local, whenever possible, and it earns the farmers more money than they would get if they sold their goods to a grocer. So it's mostly a win-win situation.

Because there are so many box schemes in the area, it took some time to find one we thought we'd like. We decided to go with Abel & Cole because they let you exclude items from your boxes. In our case, that'd be onions because they don't get along well with my stomach. We ordered a £10 box of mixed fruit and veggies, to be delivered tomorrow. Hopefully this will encourage us to eat healthy foods and to get our vitamins!

Recipe Blog

This year I intend to do a lot of cooking on a small budget, so I've started a second blog for recipes I've created that are low in cost but high in taste. It's called "Cooking on the Cheap". You can find the blog here.

So far I only have one recipe, for a hearty vegetable soup, but as I come up with any new recipes, I'll post them there. The weather in Oxford tends to be cold and dreary, so I'll likely be cooking a lot of comfort food and warming dishes.

Bicycles

Today Paul and I looked for bicycles. Oxford is full of them, and they are quite frequently stolen. However, the average bicycle costs roughly 200 pounds, or $400. That's a little steep for something we'll use for just one year. But, we managed to find some student deals at a small bike shop where you get a bike, lock, light (required by law) and 1 year of maintenance service for about $200. We should be able to resell the bikes when we leave, so it's not a total loss. Still, most of our expenses are up-front, which is not fun at all!

Duvets

I'm going to try to note all the funny cultural differences I notice as we get accustomed to life in the UK. Most things are the same, like the language (mostly), but there are definitely some differences, both good and bad, and some are just plain funny.

So one cultural difference between Americans and the English is that in England, people don't use comforters on their beds, but rather use duvets. That means that you have to buy the duvet itself, as well as a cover for it. I thought I would share an example of what happens when American students (guys particularly) come to the UK, as illustrated by the following conversation I overheard at a shop today:

American guy: Excuse me, I've got a question about duvets.

English woman: What's that?

American guy: (sheepishly) Well, in America we don't have duvets. This is my first time ever dealing with one.

English woman: OK

American guy: So do you really need a cover for it? I mean, once you buy the duvet, isn't that all you need? Couldn't you use it just like that? What do you need a cover for?

English woman: (stifling a laugh) Well, I suppose you could use it without the cover. You'd just have to, um, wash the duvet more often.

American guy: So you can use it without the cover then?

English woman: Yes, you could use it like that, but it's much easier to wash the cover than to wash the whole duvet.

American guy: Ah, OK. So you don't need a cover.

it comes furnished with style!

Some of you have heard about the furnishings that come with a student apartment. Well, here's the curtains what our dining area looks like. Note the hunter green vinyl seat cushions - that added touch of class!


And then it also came with this great "sofa".

And in case you missed it in the larger picture, here's a close-up of the curtains. Perfect with any decor choice - as long as it include the peach sofa!

Here's Paul in front of the Said Business School. Yes, the green hat-like thing is part of the building. And somehow, we caught the 5 minutes of sunshine we've had since we got here.

The first week

As many friends and family have wanted to know how Paul and I are doing as newlyweds in a new country with new occupations (no I don't have a job quite yet), I figured it would be nice to start a blog. I'll try to update it regularly!

Paul and I have been in Oxford for a week now, and our apartment is slowly coming together. We haven't had much chance to explore the city as tourists yet, as our time has been spent mostly shopping for necessities. This week is Paul's orientation to his MBA program, and next week classes start. We haven't taken pictures yet, but as soon as we do, we'll post them.

We've been meeting lots of nice people, mostly couples, which is just great for me. I wasn't sure how many wives would be along for the ride, but there are really quite a few and I think we'll all make some great friends here. Already I've met many of my neighbors, and they've all been very friendly. They come from all over the world, many from India and the USA, but also some from Asia, Africa, Australia and throughout Europe (though I haven't met any school-affiliated English people yet!). It's a great melting pot, especially since it's full of intelligent, ambitious people, whether they're students or not.

Today I joined the Newcomers Club, which is set up for the spouses/family of students to keep active in the Oxford community. I'm looking forward to some upcoming events, like an afternoon tea and a garden tour that I've signed up for. I've been really impressed at the number and quality of activities available for spouses of university members. I was afraid I might be bored here without a job and with Paul busy with school things, but it seems that won't be the case!