Where have you been!?

After the fog of jet lag lifted, another wrench was thrown at my blogging efforts. Our brand new $80 power supply for our laptop broke. We finally have internet at home...and now no laptop. No email and no phone.

So the last few weeks have been spent awaiting the arrival of the replacement part. Everyone back home heard me say this and I'll say it again...don't buy a Compaq laptop. We've had two now and BOTH have busted power supplies after less than 2 years. After buying another new power supply and a soldering iron for the old laptop we have it rigged up and working...for now.

Good news is, we have a television now. Granted, Virgin Media has made three, soon to be four trips out to get our cable installed right. (We only have 5 of the over 100 channels we are suppose to be getting.) I've been surprised at the amount of American TV shows that are very popular here and am looking forward to watching the programing here and the familiar things from home.

Lacking a TV and a computer for a week was an interesting experience. Luckily, I was back at work for the most part. In the meantime, I read two more books and have been working on a children's picture book idea I've been kicking around. Ben has been doing what work he can, sans a computer, reading, and doing lots of Japanese number puzzles.

Excitement eh?

The rainy season has defiantly arrived- it has rained 9 days out of 10 it seems. There have been precautions about flooding and people seem to be more prepared than this past summer. So we've not been able to go for many walks or to feed Ben's feathery friends.

We did venture over to The Raddy last weekend. It is a VERY typical English pub with very good food. It is right up the street from us (though a little hidden) and will surely become a regular place for us. (Check out the link: http://www.raddy.co.uk/Oxford/) Other than that we are recovering (financially) from the trip home but are hoping to do some more sightseeing soon.

As for our visit back home...

The pictures are of course posted at: http://picasaweb.google.com/amypvaughan/Christmas2007

Getting back was an adventure. We left Heathrow an hour or so late due to a leaking loo in the First Class cabin. We arrived in DC literally 15 minutes before our connecting flight left. We had to go through customs and recheck our bag then RUN through the DC airport to our flight. I am glad to say, the DC airport isn't all that big. But after seven hours of sitting on a plane your legs don't really agree with running. However, we made our flight and landed safely in Cincinnati where Ben's parents, as well as, my Mom and Brother were there waiting for us.

It all seemed so surreal, being back, it was as if we'd never really left-like we hadn't been living in England for nearly three months. Though my father-in-law liked catching me saying "pounds" instead of "dollars" and "till" instead of "register".

Christmas and New Year's were hectic but fantastic. We were so happy we could come back, it wouldn't have been the same if we couldn't have. Plus, I couldn't miss Ian's first Christmas...and of course you'll see loads of pictures of the little cutie. My sister was up from SC and Dad was in from NE, as well, which made it all that much nicer. We brought lots of goodies home for everyone and had loads of fun watching them open them up.

Coming home to Oxford felt just about as strange as coming home to Cinci. Very surreal. Getting over jet lag was the worse bit! Of all the trips we've made that we the WORST case we've ever had. If anyone is planning a trip out to see us (and I hope lots of you are this summer)- here are some tips for avoiding it!
- Set your watch to the destination time as soon as you board the plane
- Request your meals for the appropriate time of the destination
- Sleep when you should sleep, eat when you should eat (for your destination)
- Drink lots of water
- Take along an eye-mask, ear plugs, pillows...whatever it takes to make you comfy
I was a bad girl and did not really do any of these things and certainly paid for it. It was a full week before I could go to bed before I could sleep when I should, most nights we were up till 4 am.

But now we're back safe and sound. Fingers crossed, we'll have some better luck with the computers and I'll be writing on a weekly basis again.