More differences...

Mallory pleased with her pockets!

OK, so one big disclaimer for our British friends --any offensiveness is purely unintentional and due to American ego-centricness OR our own immaturity :).

In 2 week-ends we have begun to connect with people at church and in Aaron's program--what a blessing! I'll let Aaron talk about his program. We are so humbled and thankful to be here and meeting all of these amazing people. They are inspiring.

We wanted to show a few shots of our apt. inside.

This is mostly Mallory and Wendy's artwork--we are homeschooling Mallory on the days she doesn't go to school and so, we paint. She was pretty down today about not going to school, so we are prayerfully considering adding a day.

Here is the Hob and stove. It is smaller than in a house, but I think typical for an apt. Our apt. is furnished--think beach condo. It is through a company that has many short term internationals coming through, so, we are very happy with them. Two shouts out for the landlords who just rock! They have been so accommodating and welcoming. We are inspired by the handyman who just got back from holiday in Spain--he owns a house there--wow! These guys know how to save and invest. Also, we have been tipped off to Ryan Air and Easy Jet which fly out of Liverpool to various spots for really cheap. We had to look up half the locations--amazing and very tempting... Did you know Jersey is a French island under British control?

Anyway, back to the stove--the top is called the Hob, which I found out from reading directions when I cooked some rice. On the Hob...

Our first electric tea kettle--it came with the house. The French press we bought second hand after we couldn't do instant anymore and didn't want to get an electric one. Back to good coffee, although I am missing flavored creamer--whole milk all the way!

I tried to make Cornish Pasties tonight. I substituted ground beef for the stew meat and didn't have a rolling pen and just didn't get the dough thin enough. But, thankfully, they have prepackaged veg (that's a common term) AND just what I needed--carrots, leeks, swede (turnip, I think?) and potato. Simply value is the brand below the store brand which is Somerfield. That is a small supermarket chain where we can walk to and we just love it. They have great specials, esp. when you are picking up things every one or 2 days. So far we haven't gotten sick off any of the meat that is expiring that day :). We have made eggs, bacon and toast for quite a few meals while I am still getting used to planning ahead.

Here are a few other favorites--I think that's a honey monster... Apple and Elderflower juice and black cherry yogurt--yea!
OK, Aaron is super into the biscuit (cookie) and sweets specials--he is always coming home with something he got dirt cheap--go Cadbury on the chocolate Brunch bar and we did find tiny salad dressing bottles--even something like ranch, though not very thick--probably more like homemade. And then I accidentally bought the family of 12 Irish Catholic sized porage--it is so good! I love the picture. Oh and black currant jam for under a dollar! Food prices are pretty good--esp. with the clearance and Simply Value :).

One thing that tickles Aaron is the sinks--this is true almost everywhere. 2 faucets--one hot and one cold and the spicket is right up next to the edge, but then there is a large bowl--what is that about? He noticed it more than me, I guess bigger hands. I just notice it at night when I am trying to wash my face and I fill my hands up with cold and then hot water trying to get warm :). You have to put your hands right up against the back of the sink to get any water--then there is all the room in front of it...
This is the recycle bag for papers--I just love the please and sorry--they are so polite. I called to get one of these bags because our recycling didn't get picked up the first time. First of all, got a person right away (wow) and secondly, she asked, "Did you present it well?" I replied, clearly not :). I love these people. I later found out that they don't recycle plastic bottles, so we must have grossed out the recycle dudes.

OK, so this is cute--bags with the day of the week that we put our trash out--so, awesome. Of course I had already asked my neighbor, but he never said a word--they have def. not seen Napoleon Dynamite.
We are learning all kinds of things about outlets and voltage, which is great, b/c Uganda is the same, being a former British colony. Another reason to buy local. One trick is you have to turn on the outlet first--I was so proud of myself for remembering to charge our phones one day, but Aaron gently pointed out that I didn't turn on the outlet....
Here's the one outside of the kids bathroom--Emma Shae quickly caught on to that and she taught me about it--the red one turns on the heat (she's a good little survivor!) and the white is just the light.
Ok--this is so dumb of me, but hey, let me just put myself out there anyway--I totally bought man sized tissues just b/c it made me laugh--nice purple box, too. Manly

We have a compact washer in our kitchen, like where a dishwasher could be. I think this is a small space thing, b/c we went to a friends and they had a dishwasher in their kitchen and I didn't ask where the washer/dryer was. I guess typically they must double as a dryer, but our doesn't. So, our landlord bought us a compact dryer b/c he had mercy on the family of 5! It is so damp here, that 3 days later, our clothes were still a bit wet and we didn't bring that many! It is a condenser one, so we didn't have to cut a ventilation hole. You have to empty water out and clean a separate filter every 10 loads. What tickles me here is the settings--bone dry, extra dry, cupboard dry, iron dry--hee, hee
Here's our row of appliances--dorm size--we do have a freezer on the other side of the kitchen. We brought magnets from home :).
Our bedroom and yes, Virginia, laundry purgatory is in every country. I am terrible at laundry, which is a shame b/c my mom is so good at it. She did tell me recently that they don't make clothes like they used to and even she can't preserve them. Her secret--she reads labels! what a concept! I do like to read labels here, but it hasn't transformed my bad laundry.

Here is our dining room. I can't get away from mirrors--there is a floor to ceiling one here--so unfair b/c this is where I have coffee and read my Bible first thing--I even look like Keith Richards in the morning :) and I have to look at myself.

Here's our living room and play room. We put all the TVs away b/c there is a TV license here. We got a notice that we were under investigation, but if we would call and either pay or let them know that we weren't watching the TV, we could end the investigation (come to think of it, sounds like a hazing joke...hmmmm). So, Aaron called and it was too expensive for our short stay here. We are not TV watchers, although Aaron would get a kick out of watching soccer--he is a true fan. Now, he HAS to go the pub. We have to disconnect the TVs b/c they will come around to check on us and if they can tell we were watching TV, then we would be fined. wow.

Kids bathroom.
Our beautiful front room and gorgeous windows looking out to the street. Our landlord was really sweet and put 1 double and 2 singles in for the kids! It's pretty sweet and they are used to sharing a room, although this is bigger than the one they had in the U.S.