Z is for Zed

Z is for Zed. 

26 letters. 26 days of blogging. From A all the way to Zed. I think everyone should adopt the habit of calling z, zed. 

And truthfully, I don't have any fun Z adventures for this post. So I'm leaving you with a few final thoughts about my time overseas. 

It was magical. And impactful. And life-changing.

It was challenging at times and eye-opening often.

It was full of growing and changing and learning and loving. 

It was a long time, yet MUCH too short. 

It was just yesterday...except it wasn't. 

It was one of the sweetest seasons of my life for so many reasons. 

And I have loved reliving so many pieces of it here in the last month. 

U is for Underground

U is for Underground

Living outside of London, one of the first things we had to learn was the London Underground, most commonly known as "the tube". Now let me tell you I have since ridden on public transportation in many major cities, but the London Underground (and above ground) trains are by far my favorite and easiest of them all. The maps are easy to follow, even for the most novice of travelers and as far as public transport goes- pretty clean and they always felt very safe.

And in the years I spent overseas, I spent a good amount of time hopping all over the city on the various tube lines. Early on in our stay overseas, a friend of mine asked me to go shopping with her in London- meaning both an above ground train trip and bopping in and out the tube once we were in the city. I was 13. And I think my mom was shocked at the idea that it was normal to just send your young teen off on the train by themselves, but she was brave and said yes and that began years of me developing independence, confidence and responsibility. 

The underground weaves you all around London, to all of the places you want to go and visit while you're there. Because while movie montages would imply they are all right next to each other, some of the best sights are spread out far across the city. 

You're of course going to want to check out Big Ben and the Parliament building. 

And then make your way across the bridge to check out the London Eye. A giant ferris wheel that gives you some stunning views of the city. It goes far slower than any ferris wheel you find at the fair, the "bubbles" you go around in are full glass-windows and giant. 

And occasionally at the base of the eye, you'll find some other fun things. Like extra-bouncy giant trampolines that require a harness. And maybe your parents will be cool enough to let you try it. 

One of my favorite tourist locations in London is the Tower of London. The tours are given by the "beefeaters" and they do such a phenomenal job- they're both informative and hilarious and its the most engaging tour. It's one of the tours, I didn't mind doing over and over with each visitor that came to see us. Plus the crown jewel collection is there...and that's obviously a can't miss!

Did you even go to London if you don't see Buckingham Palace? 

And a personal fave...stopping at Hyde Park to enjoy the gorgeous summer weather, with an ice cream cone and a Cadbury chocolate flake? The weather in London gets a bad wrap, and there are definitely dreary, rainy months. But the summers are just the best!

And sometimes, you won't ride the tube. You'll walk all over, down every street, or jump into an iconic London cab. 

But no matter how you get from spot to spot, in and around London...you're in London! Which is the best place to be. 

The Hodgepodge and A Bunch of Rocks

Participating in my mom's hodgepodge this week. You can head to her blog to join in the fun- it's not too late! 

If you're looking for my A-Z post, it is in the final question :) 

1. Find a penny. Look at the date and tell us something about your life or what you were doing that year? 

Well that was trickier than I thought. I rarely pay for anything in cash so I rarely have change in my wallet. But after digging around in my purse for a few minutes I remembered, hubby keeps a jar of coins on his desk. So! I found a penny and it was from 2001. In 2001 I was 10 turning 11 that September. I would have been finishing 5th grade and starting middle school in the fall. I believe this was during my basketball playing days. And we spent a lot of time on our boat that summer out on the river. 

2. Were you given an allowance as a child? Did you have to earn it in some way? Did you learn to save money when you were a child or is that something you figured out as an adult? 

I do believe we were given an allowance although I can't really remember how much it was or often we earned it. I know we did chores as a way to earn money. Example: pulling weeds for my dad- a penny per weed! Hah! But we also helped with doing the dishes, cleaning our room, dusting, washing baseboards etc. And we have always been taught to save. I feel like as a kid I was more apt to spend money quickly on little things but as I got older I became much more frugal. But my parents always taught us it was important to save your money and think about the future and I am so glad they modeled good money managing for us. 

3. April 23rd is National Take A Chance Day...what's a chance you need or want to take?

Well as I've gotten back into my blog, I have really loved the writing process and I'd like to do it more. So I'm thinking of taking an online creative writing class this summer to see how I like it. 

4. What's some outdated slang you seem to use a little too often? 

I would say all of my slang is outdated.  I don't really know what the "cool kids" say these days which tells me its probably not what I say... Right now I can't even think of slang I use although I know I use it regularly. But alas, this is what happens when you blog after a full workday. Your brain forgets words. I'll have to go scout out other people's answers and see if anything rings a bell. 

5. It's National Poetry month and I always like to make us work our brains a little...

Roses are red
Violets are blue
....you fill in the rest with something original...

Roses are red

Violets are blue

My class just started poetry.

Can't wait to see what they can do!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I'm going to use this space today for my A-Z Blog Challenge entry, which if you've been following along you know I've been taking you through some of my overseas adventures from my time living there as a teenager. 

R is for Rocks

Picture it. A family of four sitting in their favorite italian restaurant on a Friday evening talking about the upcoming weekend. The kids are teenagers bracing for  a weekend of some forced family fun. 

"So where are we going tomorrow?" daughters ask curiously.

"We're going to checkout Stonehenge" the mom replies. 

"What's that?" they ask in return with puzzled looks on their faces.

"Pretty much a bunch of rocks."  dad chimes in. 

"Wait what? We're driving an hour to go see a bunch of rocks?"

Parents, should you ever want to take your teenagers to see Stonehenge and you hope to keep spirits high...this may not be the way to describe it. However, they weren't wrong. It is a bunch of rocks. We drove about an hour and we seemed to be in the middle of nowhere when all of a sudden as we came over a hill, in the distance, in the middle of a field was a bunch of rocks. But giant rocks! Arranged in a peculiar way. With a curious nature of how they got there. We parked and did a audio tour- the one where you hold an audio-set to your ear at different checkpoints to hear some info. There are a lot of different theories about the rocks- some more scientific than others but pretty much everyone is in agreement as to their position being related to the summer solstice and then also perhaps to burial grounds. It was a beautiful setting, the English countryside as the backdrop, with interesting information and we actually ended up thoroughly enjoying ourselves. And even went back with visitors without complaint on future trips. 

But I always love to tell the story of how our parents told us where we were headed because I assure you the looks on our faces were priceless. 

Photo Credit: My mom's scrapbook...remember when people had real photos in actual scrapbooks?

Heading Back to High School

Continuing along today with the April A-Z Blog Challenge and my travel adventures. Our family moved to England when I was just shy of 13 and spent the next 6 years across the pond. This month, as part of an A-Z blogging challenge. I am reflecting on the time I spent overseas during my teens.

H is for Hillingdon

I always struggle to put words to the feelings associated with Hillingdon, so you'll have bear with my rambling heart and mind today. 

We'd been in England for about 24 hours. Tired, still emotionally drained from the driveway goodbyes the day before and let's be honest, more than a little skeptical about all of the new that was now supposed to be normal. Nevertheless, on day 2 of living across the pond, we headed to our new school. Yep. Day 2. 

Alright, alright- they didn't actually make us start school that day but we did go and visit the school, as sort of a meet and greet, tour the building etc. And my poor sister was made to take a language placement test for her french class. If you could have seen her face when she was told it would be 2 hours. We actually started school on day 3 of our overseas adventure. Hah! A lot better than day 2 right? Thanks mom and dad :) But that's how our family is. We jump in and go, even when we don't feel like it, even when we're jetlagged, even when it's scary we jump in and go. And there may have been nerves and anxious wonderings about new friends and new classes and starting 2 weeks after the regular school start- but when I think about Hillingdon, I don't remember any of that because it turned out to be the best school ever. 

In a small world, we actually had family friends that moved to this very school just a couple of weeks before us and they had a daughter my age. We had not seen each other sine we were little- probably about 7 years or so but on that first official day of school, as soon as I walked in, she grabbed my hand and introduced me to my new friends and everything felt right. 

The school was K-12 and while the primary and middle school portion was an addition that had been added on, the high school was an old stone manor home that had been converted. It was stunning. The back wall was covered in ivy and I always felt a bit like we went to school in a Disney castle. The school was composed of kids from about 50 different countries. And everyone in the school being so different from one another was one thing that I think allowed for such a relaxed and inclusive feeling at the school. There wasn't the typical clique atmosphere I think you find at a lot of high schools. We all agreed to be who we were and love each other for it. And I don't mean to imply everyone was perfect and just 100% the best all the time, teenagers will be teenagers, but at the end of the day, we were there for each other. It was also a particularly small school which allowed all of us to know everyone well. My class, which was the biggest graduating class they'd had was 60 kids. And truthfully it felt huge although I know how ridiculous that sounds. 

Being an international school meant there was a lot of turnover each year. Parents got new jobs, in new countries and roughly 1/3 of the school would leave each year, being replaced by new faces from more places. When you have so much turn over and change, and you're already talking about a group of kids who has dealt with change, it becomes so much easier to be welcoming. And it forces you to be resilient, to be flexible, to make new friends, to learn to say goodbye to people you love, to adjust and push on. 

I lived a lot of life in that school. More than I could put in one blog post. But I'll try. There was the 8th grade play of "Guys and Dolls"- I was Adelaide. 

There was the field trip to Stratford Upon Avon, where a big group of us got into trouble for being up to late and making too much noise at the hotel we stayed in. 

There was 8th grade graduation filled with tears as what seemed like half my class prepared to move away.

There were welcome back to school picnics, seeing the old faces and being sure the new ones felt welcome.

There was the English teacher that made me love classic literature. 

There were dances in the auditorium that always seemed to have more drama than dancing. 

There was curry and sausage rolls served in the cafeteria. 

There were AP and IB classes that pushed me and stretched me as a learner. 

There were P.E. classes with cricket and rugby and soccer  football. 

There were team building trips to HOAC each year. With water too cold, dragon boats too full of spiders and the sweetest friends. 

There were volleyball games and swim meets for me. There were soccer matches and basketball games spent cheering for my friends. 

There were winter formals with fancy dresses and curled hair. 

There were a lot of hellos and too many goodbyes. And a piece of my heart will always be at home at Hillingdon.