Post Easter News

We have settled in comfortably into our new home!
Our new abode has quite a lot of character, being 400 years old..and it used to be a stable! We even have a door that opens to the back patio that opens in half! I can easily imagine a talking horse coming to the door and sticking his head in to see what's going on...and we have a few equestrian decors in our "sitting room" (aka living room).



We live with Patryk, Krzysztof (we call him "Chris") and Monika (we call her "Monica") - all from Polska! We have filled our little fridge with all the essentials (hot mustard, olives, tabasco, mayo, pickles, kim chee and sauerkraut...) and have been having great dinners with our "flatmates", as they call them here. We have been blessed with good cooks as flatmates and they have treated us to some amazing Polish dishes, not to mention lots of fun nights full of laughs and stories. Also lucky for Adam, the boys are big NBA fans and they can rant together about the ins and outs of the game



Adam has started teaching at one of over forty language schools in town and I will start at a different school next week. We never would have thought we would be teaching English in England!! Go figure. Apparently, our Canadian accents are an asset here. Teehee! Some more good news, besides both of us finding work, I have a gig this coming Friday at a local pub! It will be the best paying gig I have had thus far - especially since I will be paid in British pounds! If anyone happens to be free and can pop by this way, it would be great to have more support!

We had a great long Easter weekend - we got to hang with Darren and Nicola (glad to know they didn't get sick of us after we stayed sooo long with them!) quite a bit and spent some quality time getting to know Patryk and his best mate, Gregory as well. We went to a quiz night at Patryk's hotel (where he works) and gorged ourselves at the curry buffet, had our first BBQ here in England (as well as our first chicken with a half can of Guinness up its bum!) and a lovely Easter brunch with some traditional Polish-styled eggs. We were also lucky enough not to get hammered by the traditional "Smingus Dyngus" (aka "Wet Monday"), where you apparently get soaked all day long in Poland.



That's about it for now. Hope this finds you well and everyone is happy and healthy and enjoying life each day.
We miss you all and would love to have guests come visit - so start planning and get packin'!

Much love,
A&E xoxoxox

Post Birthday News

A day full of surprises started off with a birthday call from my sister - all the way from Indonesia!
Though it was pretty crackly, it was still wonderful to hear her voice. (Especially since she has such a lovely voice - as anyone who knows her would agree adamantly!) I must say, over the years of travelling and constantly having "itchy feet", I have been fortunate enough to have been able to reach my sister rather easily anytime I wanted - as long as it was during the "Woo hours" of the night, of course! :P Now that Little Woo has hit the road herself, it has been a good reminder of how much I miss talking to her frequently. Thankfully, there is always email.
(Anyone curious enough to find out more about an enigmatic "woo" thing, check out:
www.littlewoo.org)

Back to sleep we went since it was still early and we had no plans but to chill out...when we were brought back to reality with yet another phone call! (except this time, it was suddenly noon!)
Our dear friend, Jamie was making a trip with his girlfriend to see us here on the coast! Jamie is part of an amazing group of friends down in Tasmania - and we hadn't seen him since February 2006...the day before we left Down Under for good...and we had had a big party the night before, followed by a morning of snorkeling and eating oysters right off the rocks...and an abalone BBQ for brunch! Needless to say, we were pretty ecstatic for a chance to meet up with Jamie again before he left for Oz in a couple of weeks. Also, we would get to meet his fantastic lady friend, Berna. The crazy couple hopped on some trains and arrived in Bournemouth late afternoon, where we took a walk down to the beach and pier and came home to have a relaxing meal with some drinks. Before the end of the night, we popped over to the local pub for one more round where we were treated to the end of a disco/karaoke night! Seems even the Brits are ga-ga over karaoke...it's not just an Asian phenomenon!





My birthday was coming to an end and so we had a few more cheers and headed home for a nightcap. Before we knew it, it had gotten well into the "Woo hours" and we dragged ourselves to bed. A short sleep was had, as we were all anticipating a "Poach-Off" between the boys for breakfast! Adam displayed great skill and finesse, being a master of the morning meal and we decided we would have Jamie execute his version of the "perfect poached egg" next time we met. (Reasons were twofold: one being that they WERE our guests and secondly, we were too full to eat a bite more!)

Sadly, we had but a mere 23 hours with our friends. After an eye-opening walk down to the water (where we found million-dollar homes just blocks away), Jamie and Berna had to rush back to London to make it for work the next day. We had such a great time and I felt really blessed to have had some good people come celebrate with us!

"THANKS FOR COMING TO VISIT, JAMIE AND BERNA!!!
We look forward to meeting up again - be it in the UK or back in Tassie."

Back on our own, we took advantage of the many movies at Darren and Nicola's lovely home.
We had a movie marathon here and there and suddenly it was Adam's birthday!!!
(Adam and I get to be the same age for 3 days each year!)

We opted for a romantic dinner out to an Italian/Sardinian restaurant down the street.
We had great friendly service and revelled especially in the prosciutto e melone starter and the very decadent tiramisu dessert! No need for birthday cake when you can have TIRAMISU!!!
(Isn't it strange that "tiramisu" is an Italian dessert? I always think it sounds so Japanese...)

Since I can't seem to add any more photos in this posting, you will have to scroll down
to see a few more new pix!

All in all, Adam and I had great birthdays and we wish to thank the many birthday wishes we received by phone, emails and text messages!!! It's always great to hear from loved ones.

Now that the birthday celebrations are over (although Darren and Nic have promised some more revelry upon their return!), we have been back on the job hunt and finalizing our CVs.

Check in once in a while - once we move into our new flat next week, I will post some pix
of the 400 year old house we will be calling "home"!

Be good!!
xoxo