Richmond Top 10

This will be my last blog entry for London Life. Amazing. It has been almost two years exactly since I joined Lenny in London. I moved here on August 8, 2008 and we are leaving on July 30, 2010. I truly thank all the amazing people who have shared this journey with us. I feel blessed to know you and I will cherish the wonderful memories we have together.

As a final hurrah, I thought I would do a little top 10 list. Is this a top 10 of my favorite things? A top 10 of the things I will miss the most? Hard to say. They feel very similar at the moment.

10. Wagammama. They have one in Heathrow if you are ever flying through. I will have to find a noodle house in San Francisco. I am sure we must have something like this. Yummy is all I have to say about that.

9. English Breakfast. Toast, fried egg, beans, mushrooms, & baked tomato. I have grown to love this and you are likely to see it if you come to stay with us! Lenny and I especially love getting English Breakfast at the little Red Café across the road from us.

8. Terrace Gardens. Terrace Gardens is like one huge hanging flower basket. It is beautiful, relaxing, and gives lots of room for Chula to run around after squirrels.

7. The Architecture of our street. Our street is lined with stunning Victorian houses. Many of them have been chopped up and made into several flats, but on the outside they still look at grand as ever! London architecture is beautiful. We don’t have anything like it in the states. I will miss all the brickwork ~ houses, walls, and pathways.

6. Public Footpaths. What a wonderful idea! Why don’t we have these little guys?? Public Footpaths wind all over England. I took one everyday to my bus stop. They remind me of secret short cuts that kids take through a neighbor’s yard ~ except that they were put there by the Queen!

5. The Richmond Bridge (including the waterfront area & little boats on the river)

4. Pubs (especially the Beer Garden in the Marlborough or having a pint on the Green) What makes pubs different from bars? I have been asking myself that since I got here. I still am not sure I can put it into words. It is an attitude difference. When you go into a pub, it is like you are going into a public living room in someone’s house. You might be offered a drink or something to eat, but you didn’t go there to drink… you went to be social. At the heart of a pub is a intermingling of people in a relaxed “at home” environment.

3. The view from the Roebuck. Thank goodness we were smart enough to buy a huge picture for our first anniversary present. The bend of the river, the grassy hill, the … hotel. I love you all and will miss this beauty.

2. Richmond Park. Breathtaking. If I ever find another place like this I will move there in a second. I will miss sunrise, sunset, and everything in-between in this mini Eden.

1. Friends. I can’t even begin to say enough here. You know who you are and you will be in our hearts for the rest of our lives. Please come and visit & we hope to do the same. xoxoxo

Mallorca - Puerta Pollenca

I grew up vacationing in Mexico. I have very stong memories of the pools and the fruity drinks. Without intending it, I now believe that sunny beaches, fruity drinks, and baking in the sun means "vacation".

For the past few years we have been taking "sight-see" vacations. We have been buzzing around Europe, England, Ireland, Scotland, etc... trying to make the most of our time here. These trips were wonderful. I am so glad we did them. But, they leave you feeling a bit exhausted!

As our final hurrah, Lenny booked us a wonderful holiday to Mallorca, Spain. We are staying at one hotel the whole time. We have breakfast and dinner right at the hotel. And most nights they even have post dinner entertainment on the side patio of the hotel. It is so relaxing I can't even begin to say enough for the experience!

Lenny has taken the opportunity to learn to kite surf! It is a really difficult sport to learn because you need to be very skilled with the kite before you start learning about what to do with your feet. I was proud as a peacock watching Lenny work so hard to become a Jedi Master of the kite!

As for myself, I can only say that I started one book.... decided it was not worth reading 900 pages... switched to a new book. :-) That is my big accomplishment of the week.

Today my agenda looks like this...... 1. put on suntan lotion 2. read by the ocean 3. take a swim when I get hot 4. nap... begin at step 1 again. Hope I can handle such a tough day!

Leaving Picnic

It would be ideal to get 1:1 time with everyone before leaving, but that just isn’t practical. It can be difficult to arrange a leaving-do. We were lucky to have expert advice from Karen White (a wonderful friend from ILOG) who has event planning in her background. She suggested a BYO picnic! Brilliant! Couldn’t have thought of anything better. We really lucked out and the finicky British weather cooperated. Looked like it would be a cold, wet day but then at the last minute the sun came out and really heated everyone up!

After a glorious day in Terrace Gardens, we moseyed over to the Marlborough Pub and sat in the beer garden for a few more hours. It was such a relaxed day and a wonderful way to get hours with the people we will miss most. Thanks to everyone who could make it to join us. We really appreciate you and your friendship.

Leaving BBQ at Ingrid's

Ingrid is one of my closest friends in London. Her friendship snuck up on me. It was one of my favorite surprises of the past two years. She is so generous and kind.

This year, 3 people are leaving the maths department at Orleans Park. Kevin and myself, after just a few years. And Clive is leaving after… 37 years!! Can you imagine? He worked at the school for 37 years… and that does not include the time he went to school there as a student! Yes, you heard that right.

As an end of the year party, Ingrid opened up her home and we all came over for a BBQ. It was pot luck. We brought a typical fruit salad (all melons this time ~ from the little vegetable stand across the way. Very delicious… and very hard to mess up!). Kevin was probably the culinary winner of the evening with some amazing pink bubbly and a salad to die for!

It was a really wonderful way to wrap up the year and we all felt like a little family. (At least for a few hours! He, he)

Wimbledon 2010

I got home from the Prom last night (funny to say that) and Lenny had a little surprise for me. He had managed to get us tickets to Wimbledon for the women’s finals and the men’s double’s finals at Center Court. How he does it, I will never know! This one seemed easy enough…. They release a certain number of tickets on Ticketmaster at 8:30 p.m. for the following day. The amazing part of this is that most Brits don’t even know about it!

Amazement aside, we got up the next day and headed off to Wimbledon! It was a really wonderful day. Not only was the weather amazing, but we got to enjoy all the best of the venue. The grounds at Wimbledon are amazing. They have gorgeous flower baskets hanging all over. It is hard to explain but it is just beautiful. Most of the women are wearing smart dresses and hats. Gentlemen have on button down shirts and pressed shorts or slacks. Everyone really looks like they are going to an event. I don’t feel like that happens very much anymore. (It used to be the theatre… but don’t get me started on people who wear jeans to the theatre nowadays!)

We were able to get a cool glass of Pims and settle into our seats just as Serena Williams and Vera Zvonareva headed into Center Court. I felt that the crowd was cheerleading for little Vera. And to be honest, it made me a bit mad. Lenny assured me that it was just their way of encouraging a good match. Well, maybe she needed it more because Serena whooped her cute little behind very quickly!

We headed out for some Strawberries and Cream and a bit of a stroll around the grounds. Good thing we headed back to Center Court quickly because basically the same thing happened again for the men’s doubles final. Melzer and Petzschner beat their opponents so quickly it didn’t feel like much of a fight.

But it was a really wonderful day and a great England experience.

Prom

When we go to Junior and Senior Prom we think it will be our only chance. I have been lucky enough to go two more times! Don’t worry! I went as a chaperone! Well, that is what I thought I was doing but once we got there most people seemed to get a drink and settle in for the show! We all line up to watch the kids arrive in limos or taxis and basically gawk at them. I took great pride to see my girls all gussied up and looking amazing! I even took a little pride in the boys (but don’t ever tell them that!) who also cleaned up very well and I really hope that they straighten up a bit and turn into wonderful young men. (But I won’t be holding my breath.)

As I was leaving for Prom, Lenny asked me if many of the kids are drunk there. In my blissful naivety I said, “I don’t really think so.” However, as Satveer declared how much she LOVED me for the 5th time and thanked me again for how much I helped her over the past two years I realized that I needed to change my answer for Lenny. As special as that moment was, all I was thinking was, “Is she about to get sick on me?!?”

Love aside, it was great to see all the kids having a fun night and enjoying themselves. This photo is of my girls - I taught them for 2 years.

(Cultural Note: The kids don’t come with dates/couples and they are not allowed to bring anyone from another school. I don’t know about your prom – but it was very different at my prom!)