Back from York!

Last weekend we had a bonnie adventure to York, one of England's most famous medieval cities with so much incredible history you can hardly take it all in! As a short recap, York was first established as a military fortress by the Romans in 71 A.D. due to its prime location at the confluence of two rivers. In time, the fortress developed into a true city and became second only to London in population and importance. In 867, the Danes conquered the Romans and ruled the city for 200 years, until it was won back by an English king. Stone walls were built around the city in the 13th century to fortify the city, reflecting its importance and strength among the competing cities in England. ... Where did I learn all this useful knowledge?? From our Britain guidebook (generously given to us by our church family!), in the early morning hours as we made our way, via train, from Cambridge to York!! Although, as you can possibly detect from the picture at left, we may have done more sleeping than reading, as we were both exhausted from the week. I worked until 1am the previous night, only to get home at 2am, pack our bags, and groan at the sound of our alarm ringing at 6:15am. But the imminent adventure helped to pry our heavy eyelids open and we began our journey to this fascinating city...

Upon arriving to the York train station, we looked up at the blustery blue sky overhead, shook the sleep from our groggy heads, and set off with great anticipation. With a map of the city in hand, we dropped our one small bag off at our hostel, and proceeded to FREEZE from the incredible arctic wind that whipped through this city as through a windtunnel! And we thought Cambridge was a windy city! Neither of us had brought "wooly hats" (one of my favorite British terms), so we jerry-rigged our scarves to protect both our freezing heads and necks. Thus protected, we made a beeline trajectory for the city centre. The first thing we happened upon was the impressive wall (remember, it was built in the 13th century!) that wraps clear around the city. There are about four main entrances to the city... the one pictured is called Micklegate Bar (a "bar" is an opening) which used to exhibit the heads of executed criminals. You can imagine walls, equally as beautiful and massive, stretching out to the left and right of this main entrance. Once inside the city walls, we allowed ourselves to roam with no particular destination, just to get a feel for the city. Before long, however, we found ourselves rounding a bend in one of York's many windy roads and what came into view made Chris and I exclaim in unison "Hoooollly Shhhniiiikeeeeess!!!!" York Minster is definitely one of the most impressive man-made structures I will ever see in my lifetime. The pictures don't even begin to do it justice (so we figured we might as well ruin it by taking a self-portrait with it as our backdrop... don't we look super-imposed as in a cheezy 50s film??). Of course, we wasted no time in paying our reasonable entrace fee and began to slowly take in the beauty of the cathedral. Stunning stained glass windows surrounded us on every side, framed by intricately carved stone arches. Behind me is the Five Sisters Window, named for the five 50-foot tall windows of awesome medieval stained glass (though you can only see four in the picture). As we continued to explore, we came across a wall commemorating 16 prominent English kings, carved into stone and so lifelike that you practically expected them to jump out and yell "OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!!"... not to mention that they measured about 10 feet tall. It seems pointless to try and continue to describe the grandeur that surrounded us, but it is something we will not soon forget. In the largest picture shown here, you can perhaps grasp a small understanding of the magnitude of this cathedral, for at the very bottom of the picture is the row of stone kings.

When we emerged from the Minster, we felt that we could've gone home and been completely satisfied. But instead, we listened to our stomachs and ate a classic pub lunch at Ye Old Starre Inn. The food was less than superb, but the cozy atmosphere and respite from the cold was absolutely perfect. To round out the day, we decided to take a tour of the York Brewery. All we have to say about this is that if you want a brewery tour where you can actually hear the tourguide, actually see the process instead of imagining it in your head, and actually stay awake and interested instead of nodding off at the tourguides random tangents, go to the Redhood Brewery in Redmond! Tired and happy, we walked back to our hostel as night settled in and decided to balance out our truly "English" day with an American finish... so we put a frozen pizza in the oven, and watched Mission Impossible.

Sunday morning came, and thank goodness it did! Because we spent 1/2 the night swearing we will never again sleep in a dorm-style hostel room. Not 12 inches from Chris' head lay a man who could snore for a living. Sometime around 3am, Chris and I switched bunks (because I can notoriously sleep in ANY kind of racket), but even I couldn't fall asleep! Twice, in desperation, I reached over and violently shook the stranger, intending to wake him and ask him politely (but firmly) to roll onto his side. However, in his drunken state, he simply moaned. Thankfully, he shifted positions enough to quell the snores. Needless to say, we were ready to check out and head back into the city for another full day of exploration.

Our first stop was the Jorvik Viking Centre. a historic exhibit intended to take you back in time to when the city was ruled by the Danes. In the 80s, archaeologists discovered the remains of an extensive and well-preserved viking village underneath a few city blocks of contemporary York. After a few decades of excavation, they turned the site into a historic exhibit intended to take you back in time to the Danish York, or "Jorvik" (mid 800s-1000s). Although thoroughly cheezy, it could actually be enjoyed... Chris and I sat in our underground "time capsule" (sort of like a moving gondola) and wove our way through reconstructed York as it existed in the viking era. The highlight was probably the dorky picture we took in our viking helmets.

The rest of our day consisted of walking the quaint streets of York. In particular, two famous streets called "The Shambles" (pictured at right) and "Stonegate" are lined with peculiar asymetric buildings that date back to the 13th century. To wrap up our blitz tour of York, we had a traditional meal - complete with yorkshire pudding (which is a sort of pastry thing that they fill with mashed potatoes, meat, and peas... not a pudding at all!) and famous yorkshire tea. It was a delicious way to cap off our time in York.

This past week we have realized that school is getting in the way of our social lives. Chris has been locked to his computer and is neck deep in reading and finishing his essays since the fall term ends in two weeks! Time flies. Although we will be lonely during Thanksgiving, we are eagerly anticipating the arrival of our dear parents (on the Clifton side) along with Joey and Tommy come mid-December!

We are a bit homesick, so if any of you fancy a quick (or not so quick) trip out to the UK, please take advantage of the fact that you'll have a place to stay and enthusiastic tour guides!

Ok, much love to you all, thanks for sticking it out through this epic volume and have a great Thanksgiving back home!!!

Love,
Mel and Chris

ps - hope them dawgs poop on the cougs today in pullman (love, chris)

Punting, Harry Potter, and Football...

hello again! we apologize for being a bit lax with our blog entries, but with chris blazing ahead with school projects and papers and me with my new job, it's sometimes hard to find time for our blog. anyhoo, here we are, with an update on the happenings of the past few weeks...

we have had an unusually beautiful autumn here in cambridge. the locals tell us this is a rarity indeed, and we should not expect this to continue much longer. with that in mind, we have tried to take advantage of exploring our new hometown and being outside as much as possible. one of the signature activities here in cambridge is called "punting," where you float down the River Cam in a long, narrow boat, or "punt." the appeal of this activity is that you can view the backside (or "the backs") of the massive and exceedingly impressive colleges. in fact, this is the only way to see this part of the colleges, as many of them are private and not open to visitors. so, last weekend we decided to rent a punt and make our way down the river cam to check out cambridge from a unique perspective. (**ok, i'm going to let chris take over here. i was trying to figure out a tactful way to tell about chris' punting abilities, but i'll let him do the honors!**) Ok, it's Chris here. Basically, I have discovered that I am a horrible punter, just plain bad. I swear these boats are harder to steer than they look. For some reason, everyone voted for me to start as the punt driver. After about 10 minutes, I had nearly capsized the boat 18 times, hit 4 other boats, and had managed to travel only 12 feet down the river. Thankfully, another brave friend of ours named Bashar (our palestinian friend from the gaza strip) took over and allowed me to relax, dripping with sweat, and enjoy the ride with Melissa and a few other friends. If any of you get out here to visit, we are definitely going punting! (though I might force you to drive.)

A few weeks ago, I was officially inducted into my college and given lifetime membership to the University by "matriculating." Basically, it means that I signed my life away to the college and that if I ever get in a car accident, they can use my organs for research. The whole process culminates in a very harry potter-esque dinner, with the gowns and all. It's a pretty funny deal (the picture shows me with my long sleeves, and you can't see it but the gown goes right to the floor - it's hilarious and very formal). You are addressed by the President, eat a seriously fancy meal, drink plenty of wine, and chum it up with fellows of the University.

Along the school theme of things, I had my first assignment due -- an essay on education in Afghanistan -- and I'm neck deep in reading and other class projects. A few people are pretty confused on what I'm studying, and I've apparently been horrible at describing it... so check out this link. The engineering department actually ran a story on our program and for some reason decided to highlight my classmate from Kenya and... me. Check 'er out to hear about what I'm up to (and see if you can tell which one is me):

http://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/news/stories/2006/MPhil_Sus_Dev/

Melissa and I have had a relaxing weekend. The weather here has been beautiful and cold, and we have been able to go on some great walks. There are a few nature preserves in Cambridge that are seriously unbelievable, and we're beginning to learn about all of the cool random connected trails that weave in and out of the city and through the countryside. (By the way, Melissa was riding her bike the other day and got hit by a cow! Yup, that's right. She was super nervous to ride past this ginormous cow, although she didn't have much option because it was directly in the middle of the bike path. And just as she was trying to sneak past it, the beast threw its head right into her shoulder -- nearly knocking her off the bike, where is the hidden camera when you need it?!).

So, today we explored the amazing botanical gardens here in Cambridge. Even though it's wintertime and most everything has died off, we still had a great time wandering through the maze of ferns, flowers, foliage, and ... can't think of any more f's ... but its a really cool park with amazing benches that overlook ponds bursting with plants/trees (I promise it's way cooler than it sounds).

And today was Melissa's very first concert. The Wolfson College choir sang in Great St. Mary's Church during this morning's service. Great St. Mary's is the old University church that houses all the important University ceremonies. This morning was the tribute to the benefactors of Cambridge (guys like King George I, King Henry VIII, some cool guy named Richard Sheepshanks... you know, no one important) and there was a lot of history as to how the University has evolved and come to be what it is today. It was a typical Cambridge event -- everyone was in gowns and afterwards there was a time of mingling with wine and a chance to challenge the pastor on his sermon, a pretty cool idea. Anyhoo, the choir was wonderful and much better than expected (they look pretty bush league during practice, but really threw it down for the concert).

Also, yesterday was Guy Fawkes day - a big day in England (look it up in wikipedia if interested). So there were fireworks, a huge carnival, and drew 25,000 people to a huge park in the middle of the city. We couldn't believe how many people were there... it was quite a site - like the Puyallup Fair x 10. So Mel and I, along with a couple of our new friends from Jamaica, Trinidad/Tobago, China, Guyana and the Gaza Strip, biked out to the fireworks. Pictured here are two other guys from my program. On the left is Duane from Jamaica (who is incidentaly the reigning national chess champion of Jamaica) and Abdel from Trinidad. They've become some folks we hang out with quite a bit... same program, same college, and they are hilarious.

I have been playing a fair amount of soccer, and joined the college team. I have to admit, the competition here is less than impressive -- but its still really fun and gives me a chance to stay moderately fit (or at least run off the beers and crumpets). Our team is doing pretty well in the league so far (we're in second) and I have managed to steer clear of any red/yellow cards -- a miracle by any standard. (**this is mel here... just have to let you know that despite chris' position as sweeper, he scored a goal in the last game!! everyone calls him "the big man" or "big chris" or "the really good guy on our team" ... needless to say, i'm so proud.**)

Back to Chris. All in all, things have been going pretty well. We're still a bit unsettled as we haven't found many folks we really click with. We've met some amazing people that are incredibly diverse, but we've yet to get in and make close friends. But we're hopeful. Maybe we aren't as cool as we think??

We are heading to York next weekend for a little trip away from Cambridge. It's a beautiful walled city with castle, cathedral, and a bunch of viking history / ruins. Should be fun and we'll be sure to update our blog with pics documenting the experience.

Thanks for reading, hope all is well back home (or from wherever you're reading this) and please make sure that Seattle replaces the viaduct with a tunnel.

Love,
Chris and Mel

Our first visitor!

Greetings! Mel and I were gladly reminded of home last weekend when our good friend Kyle Cressman came to London on a business trip. We of course trained down from Cambridge to spend the weekend with him running around London and exploring the many sites the city has to offer. Kyle had meetings through Friday evening, so we met up with him Friday night and had a marathon walk along the Thames, highlighted by Big Ben, the London Eye, the Millenium Bridge, and of course routine stops at fun little pubs along the way. On Saturday, we basically re-traced the steps that Tommy, Melissa's brother, took us on when we first visited London a year ago. We hit up the famous Portobello Market, Hyde Park, the quaint little shops of Notting Hill, and finished the day off with a evening walk along the London canals (used to serve as primary commercial trasport routes back in the day) and a delicious meal at a cool upscale restaurant off Piccadilly Circus. After a Starbucks breakfast on Sunday morning, Kyle took off to the airport while Mel and I hopped on a train back home to Cambridge. The quick visit inspired us to inspire you to visit us. Cambridge is only 45 minutes north of London by train, so if any of you are close, let us know!

Aside from the nice weekend reminder of home, I have been busy at school, trying to stay afloat with all the reading while adjusting to being a student again. My first 3 weeks of school have been a really exciting time, as I've been able to dive into some really diverse material and interact with some really cool and focused people. And I've quickly learned that this program is not at all limited to the environment, it deals with development as a whole. I've been tossed into economics, education issues in Afghanistan, energy efficiency in buildings, management of technology, the relationship between cell structures and public policy (really random, but super interesting), entrepreneurship...the list goes on and my head spins after leaving each lecture. Nonetheless, I am really valuing my time here and am encouraged by my choice to learn here for a year.

But onto more important things...I need to tell you all about my darling little wife. I could pour into how grafeful I am for her encouragement and confidence in moving to a new continent with me and jumping head first into a stuffy and intimidating academic culture, or how she is slightly timid to admit to new folks that she isn't actually studying (what a humongous dwingie), but I'll stick to updating you all on what she's been doing since we got here since her humility would restrict her from telling you herself.

First off, she got a JOB! Not just any job...after briefly entertaining the heinous thought of pushing coffee at starbucks, she perservered and finally found a great little cafe/lounge called the Snug and is now their newest waitress! The Snug is slightly upscale -- which is perfect for Cambridge because it keeps out all the undergrads naively experimenting with cheap alcohol, while not overpricing everything as to exclude the normal person looking for a beer and good food. Its inviting charm includes dark wood, dim lighting, comfy leather chairs/sofas, and great service (something super rare her in England). She just finished her first week and and is encouraged by the cool folks she works with, and I'm stoked because it is right around the corner from the Engineering Department, and is the perfect mid-day coffee oasis.

Aside from her new job, she is the cutest little active member of Wolfson College. She joined the college choir (with her first concert in less than two weeks at the huge University Cathedral in the center of town!), the aerobics group (with the most ridiculous and endearing instructor named George), the yoga club, the wildlife society, and is still finding time to learn SPANISH!

Dwingie, dwingie, dwingie. Aboslute dwingie.

Hope this posting finds you all well, and know that while we are soaking up the experience, we certainly miss the connection with family/friends/community back home. We are looking for a little church to attend while we're here and hopefully a little community to plug into.

Love,
Christopher

Tidbits of life

hiya friends and family ("hiya," said in a high-pitched sing-song way, is a classic british salutation... and despite my valid attempts to not be one of those Americans who come away from their year abroad with a fake accent, i've ashamedly been caught once or twice saying hiya to the locals),

there is so much that i could write about, as our days here are flying by and new experiences and adventures come knocking at our door each day. i'll start by telling you about our lazy sunday, which was most delightful. we awoke around 9:30am and quickly decided to postpone our morning church service plans to an evening service. after our typical breakfast of porridge and yorkshire tea (i'm convinced that tea tastes better in engand than it does in america... i think we're currently averaging 12 cups per day), we hopped on our bikes and rode into town. with no definitive plan, we stopped by a restaurant called Browns for a cup of coffee and a scone (see picture), just to celebrate the beauty of the day and the end of chris' first week of school. with the sunlight filtering through the windows, we cozied up on the leather couch and read from our Iona prayer book, a ritual we're trying to maintain. soon, chris was off to football practice, and by football, i of course mean soccer (he's joined the Wolfson college football team, and we'll have more to report on that soon!), and i found a quaint bench in the garden of our college to read my book, no doubt with a cup of tea in hand :) that evening, before church, we decided to try out a pub we have had our eye on since arriving here in cambridge. it's called the Granta, and it's situated overlooking the River Cam which is the famous river that winds directly through the center of the town. with weeping willows draped along the riverbank, elderly british men fishing, and the occasional punters gliding along the river in their long, narrow boats, chris and i were in a sort of heaven. we decided that anyone who comes to visit us here will share many a good pint with us in our new favorite spot (see chris, soaking in the beauty of the day... and his pint). to wrap up the evening, we attended a service in this old anglican church called Holy Trinity. when reading a bit about its history, we discovered that a church has been present on that very site for over a thousand years. our only disappointment with the service was that it was run by americans, with a very american style, including the pastor! alas, our hunt for a church we can call home continues...

in terms of settling in, we are really loving our location, and specifically our college environment, more and more. ignoring the outward facade and our heinous white-washed dorm walls, we have been able to meet some very fun people and enjoy how unique our college is compared to many other colleges. we have heard that many of the older, more prestigious colleges have a tendency to be a bit exclusive and stuffy, largely due to the importance of the "old money" culture that still remains. wolfson, on the other hand, ranked one of the "poorest" colleges at cambridge, has no pretense and feels very welcoming (that is, as long as you don't disable the fire alarm!!). i am, perhaps, being a bit too harsh on the outer facade of our college. i've included a few pictures of our grounds which make it look not too bad. the upper left picture is the library here at the college which is open 24/7, very nice for the studious type. the other picture shows the building that our flat is in. we are on the top floor, and we are located in the corner where the two buildings come together, but our windows face the other way. many of our new friends live in our same building, and even on our same floor. last night, we met some friends at a local pub called The Anchor, which is also situated on the River Cam. and if some of you don't believe us, we have proof! this picture was taken last night, and we have particularly become friends with the girl to my left, named Soraiya.

i really should be going now, so as not to lose all your interest. but i'll leave you with a quick update on my job search. i received a job offer from starbucks, but i'm leaning toward declining. after my second interview and OJT (on job training), i felt like i was in a factory assembly line, pumping out drinks with no real personal touch. it was a bit uninspiring. so i refueled my attemps for finding a job, and i'm pleased to say that i have a few prospects... 1) a tea and coffee specialty store located in the city centre (interview is friday), 2) a hip, swanky bar/pub with a lengthy and unique cocktail list (interview is tomorrow), and 3) the most amazing cafe in all of cambridge, and perhaps all of britain. i fell in love with it the moment i stepped through its doors. the building is a 15th century chapel, and the cafe is more or less managed by the church next door. with vaulted stone archways, stained glass windows, and delicious home-made food and coffees, it is an oasis from the busy streets outside. here's a little picture, to give you an idea. unfortunately, they're not hiring right now, but i gave them my resumee anyway! so, we'll see what happens.

loving and missing you all,
melissa (& chris)

A course introduction and first mistake by Chris (first of many no doubt)

Hello all! (or the 2 people who read this) Mel has been on me to write a bit about my experience to-date here at Cambridge. I just got back from a weekend fieldrip through the south of England to take a look at the relationship between road and landscape and to get to know the 35 interesting people from almost as many countries that comprise my program. The trip was highlighted by a visit to Stonehenge. As cool as it is, it was a bit of a dud. The stones are much more romantic on a Windows screensaver then they are in real life. Partly because, as seen in the pics, two roads run RIGHT next to the amazing historic site. A real tragedy. There is a parking lot and visitor's center two weiner lengths from the center of the stones (and by weiners, I mean hot dogs of course).

And this is what the year long course is about. Studying the relationship between development and living. The hope being that we are developing in such a way that our lives, communities, ecosystems, resources, etc are being strengthened for the long haul -- because the actual effects of most development are obviously realized far downstream. The roads that ruin Stonehenge have been around since before I was born and will probably be around effecting folks after I die. Point being that it is important to give the next generation a seat at the table when we act today.

Continuing that theme, I am taking 4 classes that aim to tackle this problem from different angles. I am taking a course on (1) Community, Economics, and the Environment, (2) Sustainable Development Contexts, (3) Management of Technology, and (4) Sustainable Architecture. In addition to my four lectures, I am also taking a compulsory business track that is taught through the Cambridge Business School (called the Judge) and MIT.

I apologize for arrogantly assuming you all are interested in what courses I am taking, so I'll end with a story that will probably not suprise any of you.

Sunday, I was brushing my teeth and Mel was cooking some chicken on the stove. All of a sudden, the most unbelievable pounding came at our door -- such that I nearly swallowed my tooth brush and honestly thought I was going to collapse from the vibrations of the pounding. So I openend the door to find this over-sized English man yelling "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" at me. I really didn't know how to respond. Then before he could get another word out, the fire alarm rang and it suddenly re-occured to me that Mel was cooking something in the kitchen. I therefore closed the door to the kitchen and then turned to remove the smoke detector to turn it off -- big mistake. At this point, the not-so-nice large man continued his rampage and barely above the heinous ringing of the smoke alarm, I could hear him yell "CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT, MY GOODNESS..." So I fumbled and put the smoke detector back on the ceiling, and began to file outside to evacuate along with the other 50 residents of our building. On our way out, the alarm stopped, so we all slowly shuffled back into our rooms while Mel and I apologized carefully to the multi-national croud. When I got back into the room, our phone rang, so I picked it up and sure enough, the English guy wasn't done with me. He asked me to open all the windows and let me know how disruptive my removal of the smoke detector was. At which point, nearly reverting back to my tempter riddled elementary days but stiffling the instinct, I calmly let him know he didn't need to be so rude and he hung up on me. I got hung up on. That hasn't happened since I was twelve. Less-than-impressed by the maturity of the 70 something year old man, I dismissed the gesture as the casual side effects of viagra or some other senile drug. I thought the event was over.

Monday morning I got an email from the Dean and Senior Tutor at my college saying that I needed to go see him immediately to discuss the seriousness of tampering with fire and safey equipment belonging to the college. So I of course phoned him and went to meet him that second. And as it turns out, my actions were punishable as a criminal offense and worthy of a hefty college imposed fine. (Tommy, you are going to have to do some more convincing to tell me that Brits have reason to call Americans uptight) Thankfully, the dean was actually very reasonable, and after I explained the situation to him, he told me that I wasn't going to be prosecuted or fined. I said thank you to him, but am still not sure what for?! Very strange indeed. So the story ends with a rosy email I inflated and sent to the angry English man dealing with the situation.

Thats all, thanks for your patience in reading -- much love to you all!

cr

school has started!

we're back, and the past few days have certainly brought some change. for starters, chris is currently at his second day of school, and he's beginning to realize that the level of effort required for this year is going to be substantial. last night, when he arrived home, i (being the good wife that i am) offered to cook dinner while chris got a head start on this book he's supposed to read. for the first 20 minutes or so, i occasionally hear him cough or turn pages of his book, but soon after, i don't hear any noises coming from the bedroom (chris, in a moment of brilliance, decided to do his studying in bed, cozily tucked in). when i went to check on him, you can only guess what i found!

as for me, the realization that i will be spending a lot of time apart from chris has also begun to sink in. so i decided to get a jumpstart on looking for a job. well, i guess i really am a seattleite through and through, because not only do i wear patagonia and REI clothes for fashion, i can't seem to switch over from my raincoat to an umbrella, and i've just applied to a job at STARBUCKS! i know what you all are thinking... "she moved all the way to cambridge, england, to work at starbucks??" you'd think i could've found something more authentically british, but the reality (if i get the job!) is that it looks as if they'll be really flexible with my hours and not require me to work on the weekends -- we've got to leave some time for travel, don't we??! anyway, i'll keep you all posted on the outcome of this venture. otherwise, i've had a delightful time exploring the countryside while chris has been at school. because we are located on the outskirts of town, we have absolutely stunningly green, lush countryside within a few minutes from us (complete with cows and sheep!). this is a trail runners paradise, especially if you'd prefer a run with no hills :)

i'll end by including a little map of the cambridge area. there surprisingly aren't very good maps online, but this one will do. the area encircled by the hot pink road is essentially the city center, with the small black dots representing many of the old, traditional colleges. we (wolfson college) are located in the bottom left corner (almost precisely where the dotted black line intersects the bottom border of the map).

love and miss you all,
mel

the inaugural posting!

welcome to our new blog! -- an attempt to share with you our life and adventures here in the uk. feel free to come and browse at your leisure, and we promise to update the site with plenty of pictures and stories so you don't forget about us! at left is a picture of the king's college chapel, one of the most famous sites in all of cambridge (but really, the whole town and neighboring country villages are sites not to be missed!).

so we've been here a week and have spent most of our time so far just getting settled. our first day here, we had to buy sheets, a couple bowls and spoons, and some staple groceries (wine included, of course!) just to be able to function. every day since, we've started with a formidable "to do" list, and we come home at the end of the day exhausted but happy with the knowledge that we're slowly settling in and making this new place feel like home. we're renting a flat (apartment) here on the campus of wolfson college, which is just on the outskirts of town in a delightful, quiet residential neighborhood. we have a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and study/living room. compared to our little home in bellevue that we absolutely adored, this new "home" feels quite sterile with its white-washed walls, heinous 1980s curtains and furniture (see picture), and dorm-style living arrangement. nonetheless, we have MUCH to be grateful for. we are on the top floor, our windows look out onto trees, and after seeing some of the other students' rooms, we have by far the largest living space.

in cambridge, the bicycle out-ranks the car by a ratio of about 2345 to 1. the city is practically overrun with bikes! and it's no wonder, because cambridge is perhaps the flattest city we've ever been in. on our second day here, chris and i bought used bikes and have used them 4 to 5 times per day this past week (the heavy groceries in my basket made steering tricky). even though our bikes technically have 15 gears, we've really only used 2. night before last, we decided to be adventurous and bike across town to a pub that was advertising live folk music. as we were biking through the beautiful campus, we commented to each other how perfect the weather was and how we should really enjoy these beautiful nights while they last. not 5 minutes later, the sky opened and a torrential downpour unleashed its fury on our poor biking selves. drenched in a matter of 10 seconds, we ducked under a huge tree and waited for the storm to pass. within minutes, the rain had stopped and the skies were once again starry clear. a brit told us when we arrived, "it's been said that if you don't like the weather in england, just wait 5 minutes." so true!

tonight we have an orientation meeting, dinner, and party for all those who are new to wolfson college, cambridge. until now, we have spent 99.9% of our time with each other (which has been really fun, don't get us wrong!), but we're excited to begin to meet some new folks. wolfson college is one of the most international colleges at cambridge, with over 70 countries represented among the 400 students. last night we visited the college pub (each college has its own bar/pub where college members can hang out and share a really cheap pint, or 3), and met some truly fascinating people, with names such as Mumta, Duenbe, Friedman, Shariah, and Vikas. we've only met one american, named Tom (who went to UNC-Chapel Hill, ironically!), and although conversations with our new international acquaintances can be challenging at times (you might only understand 12 words in a 5 minute conversation), it is VERY VERY cool to be in such a diverse crowd.

ok, we should stop for now. we apologize for the length of this blog... and promise we won't be so wordy in the future. despite the excitement of all that's new here and all that's ahead of us, we really do miss home and all the people that make it so. we'll leave you with our contact info, should any of you want to contact us!

much love,
chris & mel

address:
Chris and Melissa Roe
c/o C. A. Roe
Wolfson College -- SF6
Cambridge, CB3 9BB
England

mobiles:
chris: 07726 421476
mel: 07726 421469
(from the states, however, you would need to dial 011-44-7726... etc.)

email:
we still have our good old gmail accounts, [email protected] and [email protected].

Mt. Rainier Labor Day Hike 2006