10 and 10 on Friday

Ten Things I've Learned in England:

1. One word: Adapters. Someone told us this back in August when we knew we were coming. However, we forget. Nothing from the U.S. plugs in here. My hair has been looking pretty scary.
2. The countryside is absolutely beautiful.
3. It's expensive!! Seriously expensive.
4. Kids go to school when they are 4 and are done when they are 16. However, this week the queen announced that the age would be rising to 18.
5. The British know how to do desserts. Yummo! Ice cream and chocolate are much better here than at home.
6. They drive fast here -- in little, tiny cars. Fuel is over $8.00/gallon, so they all have to have little, tiny cars. I've seen one pick-up on the highway.
7. In America, a Christian, church-attending nation (at least where we live), the teachers and students cannot pray or talk about God at all. In England, where most families don't attend church (at least where we are), they say a prayer at the end of every assembly and school day.
8. They eat baked beans for breakfast. Ick.
9. The drinks are not cold. Okay, so I was warned about that one too ahead of time. That has not been so bad. What is harder to get used to is that the glasses are small and they don't do free refills!
10. The language might be English, but you still feel like a foreigner! A queue is a line, a lift is an elevator, a jacket is a baked potato, and a boot is the car trunk. A wind screen is the windshield, a car park is the parking lot, and chips are fries. When someone says they will "collect you" that means they will pick you up. They use the words "nice", "smart", "lovely", and "beautiful" when we would say "good" or "great". There were so many other words we heard, but I can't tell you exactly what they mean!!

Here's my husband's 10 list for this week. You have to remember, this hasn't been much of a vacation for him this week! He's been working!

Ten things his body misses after a week in England:

1. His stomach misses American food.
2. His fingers miss American computer keyboards.
3. His butt misses American toilet paper!
4. His mouth misses ice in drinks.
5. His ego misses feeling like he understands things and "belongs" in the culture.
6. His body misses our showerhead.
7. His skin misses our water softener.
8. His ears miss American "accents."
9. His mental stability misses the American dollar.
10. His eyes miss seeing our boys!

You may not be able to tell by his list, but we really did have a great time. He just started rattling these off while I was doing my ten list and I thought they were funny.

Tomorrow we get on the plane and head home!