Is that me?

About a two months ago on UK-Yankee, Erica and I came across an opportunity to be extras in a feature film. The film was being directed by Madonna and filmed in London, except that a certain scene was going to be set in New York and Madonna was insisting on real American extras. Erica took a few nice headshots of the two of us and we sent them off. A few days later they contacted us and said they could use us. Long story short it eventually fell through and we forgot about it; until last month when the casting agency contacted me and wanted to know if I was available the next day to be a driving double in a different movie.

The movie's working title is My Week With Marilyn and is based on a book written by Colin Clark during his time on the set. My role as driving double had me showing up at Saltwood Castle in nearby Hythe at nine in the morning. I was given a costume and then was told to wait until called. I sat around and read a book until one; then we broke for lunch. After lunch I was given a quick driving lesson. The car in question was a 1934 MG coupe convertible (The car in the picture). After my ten minute lesson I sat around again until three then drove off with some camera guys to a rather remote location of Kent where a road had been closed off for us. They then proceded to have me drive up and down a road twice while they filmed, probably 500 feet of driving total. Then they took the car to another location and filmed the owner of the car driving it. The shot was from a distance so it didn't matter who was in the car. Then at six I went home. My fee for twenty minutes of work? £120

Since my face wasn't seen in the car scenes they asked if they could use me again in another scene at a later date. About two weeks later I was asked to be at the Rivoli Ballroom in Lewisham near London at 6:45 in the morning. This meant leaving home at about five, but a job is a job. Once they had costumed, fed, and made-up everyone it was a little after nine and we were ready to film. The scenes to be shot featured Eddie Redmayne (the actor I had doubled for) and Emma Watson (Hermoine from Harry Potter) who plays a small but important role. Starting at nine we shot three scenes. We finished the first minute and a half scene at three...In the scene Lucy (Emma) and Colin (Eddie) are dancing, return to their table, and end the scene by kissing. The table that I am sitting at should be in the background of the shot. The last three hours of filming was spent on two dance scenes. I quietly opted out but may be seen in the background at a table taking to a waiter. We finished off the day with a short scene of the ballroom band playing and people crowded around.

All in all both days were enjoyable and the £120 a day was nice. I have not been contacted for any other work. (Guess I'll have to wait until Mr. Redmayne is in another film). I won't be rushing out to see the film, but might check it out on Netflix eventually. I won't be taking anymore work unless my lovely wife is offered a part too. It seems that attractive pregnant moms would be in high demand.

We're Cottagers Now

Erica and I have always been soccer/football fans. We both grew up playing the sport and have followed it at various levels since. The summer we got to know each other was 2006 and we both were watching the World Cup. One of our first dates was to a Chicago Fire v. Columbus Crew MLS match in Chicago. So naturally when we decided to move to the UK deciding upon an English side to support was a priority.
Erica was pretty much open to supporting anyone barring Manchester United. I had a few more criteria that I wanted met.

• London Club
• Reasonable chance of attending a match, and affording said match.
• Not Sponsored by gambling company
• Kits manufactured by a company other than Adidas or Nike
• Have some emotional attachment to the club.

As we planned on moving over here I consulted different friends and acquaintances who followed the Premiership and asked them who they rooted for. The overwhelming majority of them vouched for Arsenal a London based club that is consistently in the top ten teams. I considered Arsenal but never felt any emotional connection to the club and quickly realized that attending a match would be nearly impossible financially.

While working at JJB, I discovered the nearest Premier League club, Tottenham Hotspur. I was intrigued. Here was a normally mid-table team that was on the rise (plus they have a cool logo). Yet my emotional attachment to Tottenham was nil.

I had become a bit frustrated. Watching the 2010 World Cup however, I recognized that there were more Usonian athletes playing in the Premier League than I had realized. My appreciation for Landon Donovan increased and I was prepared to jump on the Everton bandwagon even though they are a Liverpool based club. When the MLS declined to renew their loan of Donovan to Everton though I turned my attention to the second most prominent member of team USA Clint Dempsey. Dempsey was sold to the Premier League club Fulham for an MLS record $4 Million and last summer signed an extension with Fulham through 2013.

Here was the emotional attachment that I needed. We had a player to support, a London based team, outfitted by Kappa, Craven Cottage a fantastic old small stadium on the banks of the Thames (Think Fenway except situated in a PNC type local), and a team that while finishing in the top five just a year prior was still affordable to go see in person.

The Cottagers (after their stadium) have proved to be a very enjoyable diversion. With the season having just reached the quarter way point, Fulham sits 10th in the 20 team league and are showing signs of moving up the ladder. At the end of the year the top five teams in the league qualify for various European leagues. Two years ago Fulham finished 5th and did well in Europe. This year 5th looks possible, but unlikely. On the flip side the teams that finish 18th, 19th, and 20th get kicked out of the league and have to work their way back into the premiership. (Imagine your whole baseball team getting sent to AAA). I dare say that Fulham is regulation safe.

Clint Dempsey has turned into the leader of the team. He scored both goals in a victory yesterday and has filled in well as the main striker on a team that lost their leading scorer just a month ago to a broken leg. Erica and I saw Fulham take on and beat Port Vale 6-0 a while back in a driving rain and we'll be going back as often as we can in the future.

One Good Saturday

This past Saturday was an enjoyable day. Here is why:

The sun was shining when we woke up.

We made pancakes and ate them with maple syrup.

We went to Tenterden (a port town without a coast)

There happened to be a folk festival going on.

The folk festival featured Morris Dancers (see scary picture above)

We found Scrabble and carpet croquet at a charity shop (read thrift store)

We had a fantastic lunch. (Erica had the best fish here yet)

Stopped in Headcorn on the way back.

We had a great dinner.

And ended the day with Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince.

Bee Fightin'

"When I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees."
--Abraham Lincoln

This quote used to be one of my favorites on the topic of preaching. The alleged context was someone asking President Lincoln (an normal attender of a Presbyterian church) why he often visited the local Methodist church.
I often reflected on this quote before preaching as a sort of self pep-talk to remind myself that I should be enthusiastic because that is what people who come to church want to see passion and enthusiasm.
I do not really think that anymore. When I go to church I don't look for bee fightin'. Bee fightin' can be staged and often can be used for a cover-up for poor study and preparation. I find myself being drawn more and more to a studied and thoughtful preaching of scripture that allows oneself to consider and savor the text being presented. I find the analogy of champagne helpful. Sure it is exciting to shake up a bottle and let it rip, but I would much rather open a bottle slowly and really taste what has been crafted.

I get up every morning From my 'larm clock's warning

Back in July our Church started advertising for a vacancy for their administrator position. I (Zac) applied and ended up with a second job. There are a lot of things we like about the position. First-off it is a second job (that pays more than my first job) takes me from 24 hours a week of work to forty! I also have the privilege of working once again in a place where I feel I am making an eternal difference and not just allowing a rich corporation to get richer. The position will also not be limited to office work. The church is undergoing some organizational changes and the leadership is going to be forming into more of a ministry team and while I will be more responsible for administrative tasks I will also have some opportunities to eventually do some preaching and other pastoral type tasks.
I worked for a week and a half before we left for Ukraine and will really start-up in earnest once we get back. Thank you for all of you who have been praying about our job situation and continue to pray for the work that God is doing at All Saints' Loose.

Brit Bars Vol. 2

One of the great things about the UK is that these are available from the first of the year until a month after Easter. Another great thing about the UK, is the Cadbury Twisted which is available all year round. The Twisted is the classic Cadbury Egg fashioned into a twisted Twix bar shape. Very nice for those times of the year where one is missing the gooey goodness of the egg.
A surprise sweet that I am really enjoying are Starbursts. The fact that everyone in the UK uses real sugar instead of HFCS as a sweetener makes these moderately enjoyable candies extraordinary over here. The downside however is that one of the original fruit flavours over here is Blackcurrant. which tastes extraordinarily like a raisin. No good.
The last candy bar that I love is a Cadbury Double Decker. Named after London's famous bi-level buses. This treat is best described as a combination of two of my favorite American sweets. A Three Musketeers bar and a Crunch bar. It is a bit thicker than your normal candy bar and is a thing of beauty.
Though, since we all know about British dentists and their handiwork, I'll try to lay off the sweet stuff.

It's Like The Internet In Newspaper Form or Oh my-I-O

My (Zac's) local paper back in Ohio has a section entitled "Readers Tell Us". Readers Tell Us is an editorial that allows folks to call the newspaper on the phone and leave a thirty second anonymous message with whatever they have on their mind. This can range from thanking a good Samaritan for returning their keys at the mall, to asking for help in getting rid of earwigs, to (as most often occurs) complaining about the government. It is probably this feature of the paper that keeps it profitable as many only read the paper for it. As Garrison Keillor once said, "A good newspaper is never nearly good enough but a lousy newspaper is a joy forever." So without any further ado, a few swatches from the Alliance Review.

"Dry eyes. Does anyone have any solutions for dry eyes? It would be really appreciated."

"All right people of Alliance, here's your challenge; on July 4 between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., somebody set fire to a building in Alliance. Look around your house. Who wasn't home with you last Sunday at that time? Who came home smelling of smoke and fire and was a little bit dirty? Whoever that person is in your family needs to be turned in. Stand up for what's right. Stand up and do what you need to do--turn this person in."

"Black and white need to stand together against illegals becoming citizens. We are going to become the minorities. Spanish and Muslim populations are growing very, very fast."

"This week we need to pray to open the eyes of those who would destroy this country as our founding fathers envisioned."

The Big House

As you may have heard we moved house (as the Brits say) three weeks ago. The lease on our cottage was up and we had not seen anything a) in our price range and b) that was not located in downtown Maidstone (NorCal people think Vallejo, Ohio people think Canton, all others think rundown town area).
We were fortunate enough to have the curate (read associate pastor) of our church offer us a few rooms in he and his wife's home. A few rooms? you ask.
About a year and a half ago Chris, his wife Ruth, and their two teenage sons Johnny and Peter moved into a turn of the 20th century grange house. The house was formerly publicly owned as a residence for visiting judges from London who would preside over court cases in Maidstone. I have not gotten around to counting the rooms, but someone at church said it is at least nine bedrooms. There is an area that was formerly the servants quarters that Erica and I have been allowed to set up shop in. It is four rooms and a bathroom. One of the rooms used to be a kitchen, but that room had been renovated before we moved in. In exchange for rooms Erica and I have been doing work specifically on our area of the house. The whole house is in a bit of disrepair and work will continue on it for the foreseeable future. We scraped wallpaper and painted the room we are now using as our bedroom and are scraping wallpaper on another room.
The property sits on a large piece of land and we have been enjoying the outdoors. As with the house the garden (read yard) needs a lot of work. Much of it is being left to grow for now, but the back yard is clear and is home to a croquet lawn. (Lawn being a relative term). We challenge Johnny and Peter on a regular basis and fair pretty well.
The only downside to all of this is that we will have to be out sometime in early September. The church is taking on an apprentice who is hoping to go into ministry and the space has been promised to him. We are enjoying it for the time being though.

Zed is for...

I was under the impression that zed was only to be used in France, Quebec, and language confused parts of Canada.
The first trouble came when we called a company over here looking for car insurance. While we often outsource our customer service lines to various Asian countries, England outsources theirs to...the Scots.
The exchange between Erica and the Scottish gentleman on the other end had gone smoothly until it came to getting our names down.
"And what is your husbands name?"
"Zachary, Zee-A-C-H-A-R-Y"
"Sorry, what was that again?"
"Z-A-C-H-A-R-Y"
"Um...okay, we'll put that in the post shortly"

Upon receiving our newly purchased insurance we discovered the confusion. The policy had been made out to Erica and Vachary Neubauer. Ah, Zed is bigger than we thought...

I was reminded of this confusion today at work when I had to take inventory of the letters that we iron onto the back of England football (read soccer) jerseys. "We have six Zeds? What is the plural of Zed?" Between my five co-workers who were standing there they could not decide.

For a fun look at Zees, Zeds, izzards, and uzzards, take a look here.

The Great Evangelical Pastime: Church Swapping

Being discontented with the church we were attending by default, Erica and I decided to give church hopping one more chance. I talked Erica into visiting a C.O.E. in the nearby village of Loose. (I've mentioned Loose before here) While church hopping initially we had heard the curate (read associate pastor) of All Saints Loose speak at a different church and I was impressed so we decided to give them a chance.
We are so glad we did.
Our first visit was Palm Sunday and was the kickoff of a week known as Passion For Life week in which the church was very intentional about welcoming outsiders. They had a quiz night the night prior, the first session of Christianity Explored the next night, and other events for the non-churched public. We were warmly welcomed (there's a first time for everything) and ended up meeting the vicar (read head pastor) and his wife and chatting for a bit after the service. We told them why we were in the UK and that I had been looking for a job. We mentioned the church we had been attending and Steve told us that All Saints was probaly more "text based" than the church we had been attending and then proceeded to use the term "expository preaching" as the method the church followed in teaching scripture. I have never in my life been to excited to hear that term.
It turns out that Steve (the vicar) just took over the post in September and that All Saints is his first head pastor position. He is a graduate of Oak Hill Seminary which is one of the seminaries I was considering if we stay over here long term. There is certainly an enthusiasm and life to the church started by the previous vicar and now really taking off with Steve. The church isn't a one man show however and that is another aspect that we are excited about. There seem to be four or five other Godly men who preach on a regular basis and wise believers of both genders who make up the church along with a lot of newer Christians.
Erica is jumping right into helping the church do some branding and establishing itself graphically. We're still considering what exactly my role might be, but it sounds like we'll at least be helping out with youth group a bit.
With All Saints as a home base we are really beginning to contemplate being over here long term. If we can play a role in a growing body (and get Erica or I a decent job) we'd love to do it and there are so many opportunities in the C.O.E. for followers of Christ to step forward into a society that is suffocating without Christ both inside and out of the church.
We have been so blessed in our two months of being a part of the body.

Europe Road Trip, Part 2

After 3 days in Paris we said goodbye to Erica's cousin and drove to Geneva, Switzerland. It ended up being the sunniest and warmiest day of our trip, and we spent it in the car for 6 hours! The countryside was beautiful but the toll road was not: over 55 euros to get from the top of France to the bottom!!! We made it to Geneva, met up with Zac's sister Anna, and went out to "The Swiss Chicken" for dinner- sounds like a diner but it was actually a charming bistro sort of place with big salads and of course chicken. The next day we walked around Geneva, seeing the cathedral
the Reformation Memorial, the Reformation Museum (we didn't go in as it cost money)
and the iconic Geneva fountain, here pictured with the lovely Anna.
Then we head 2 hours north into the Alps and visited the beautiful little village of Gimmelwald.
We had to ride up a gondola to get there (no cars are allowed). The weather was sunny and warm and we hiked in the Alps and drank the fresh mountain water that pours out of the village's taps. We would love to return there sometime!
For our next outing we returned to France (just minutes away from Anna's place) to the town of Annecy, where we played Frisbee next to a icy-cold lake (the weather was again fairly warm and we got hot, so I stuck a toe in to cool off- and my toe nearly froze off!). Annecy's town centre has a series of canals and cobblestone streets which we walked along, it is very picturesque.
From there, we spent one more day in Geneva checking out the great collection at the Museum of Art and History (or something like that) and then headed to the Black Forest, Germany!
Erica's favorite thing in Switzerland: hiking in the Alps at Gimmelwald!
Zac's favorite thing in Switzerland: good cheap chocolate!

Europe Trip, Part 1: Paris

Here is the long awaited Europe trip post, sorry for the delay.
We started out via ferry from Dover to Dunkirk and drove into Paris, arriving at 12:30 am in the morning. Prior to leaving, we had bought a European road atlas, which was actually useless, as it only showed where the major cities were and those are easily locatable via road signs; when we got into Paris, we spent 1 1/2 hours driving around, trying to use Zac's high school French to ask directions to my cousin's studio flat, which we finally and gratefully found. Our first day in Paris was Easter, and we went to a Easter brunch with Americans studying in Paris (very nice people) before setting out on our own to explore. The weather was slightly rainy but the sun did make an appearance later. We came out of the metro station and immediately in view was the Eiffel Tower, incredible! Also incredible was the size of the line at the Louvre Museum; sadly, we weren't even given the option of waiting in it, as they closed the line due to overcrowding.
We then walked all around along the Seine, to Notre Dame, and the Musee d Orsay (also ridiculous long line) and anything else we could stumble across.
Easter also happening to be Zac's birthday, we went out to celebrate at a Breton cafe (the sort of Britishy region of France) serving buckwheat crepes and cider- an interesting but delicious pairing.
The next day, as advised by my savvy cousin, we rented bikes to cruise around the city. Its a great deal: you pay 1 euro for 24 hours access to bikes all across the city; the only catch is that you can't keep any one bike more than 30 mins.
We hopped on and rode to the Eiffel Tower, where we enjoyed a picnic lunch of cheese and bread on the lawn beneath. The flowers were all out and it was a beautiful Sunny Day. However, it being Easter Monday, which is a public holiday in France, the line to go up had about 400 people in it, so we decided to forgo that pleasure and contented ourselves instead with attempting to get far enough back from it to get the whole tower in our camera's viewfinder (no small task).
After seeing the Tower, we rode across the river (riding next to it was miserable as it is mostly cobblestones) to the Arc De Triomphe and the Champ Elysees (the avenue that runs through it). We dodged traffic ala "Frogger" in order to walk underneath it; it was hard to imagine what it must have been like to see the Nazis marching through it.
The last thing we did was the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, a huge place with loads of famous people buried, including Oscar Wilde. As we showed up minutes before it closed for the night, however, all we saw were a few pretty mausoleums of no one in particular.
Erica's Favorite Part: Riding bicycles from place to place.
Zac's Favorite Part: Eating buckwheat crepes

Life's Certainties: Death & (TV) Taxes

Erica and I have been married for a little over two years, and during that time we have not owned a (working) TV. Many people advised us before we got married to not have a TV for our first year of marriage thus forcing us to interact more with each other. We followed this advice and were so pleased with the outcome that after year one we were in no big rush to go out and get a TV. As we considered moving to the UK though we both considered the possiblity that we would get one once we got over here. Erica for BBC's period pieces, I for some football, and both of us for some quality Britcoms. (Remember, they created the office.)

Here's what we discovered upon arriving in the UK. The British government imposes a TV licencing tax//fee of £145.50/$216ish (only £48/$78ish if your TV is black and white) per year on each household that uses a TV to watch content as it is shown live. (Taxes for basic items? Didn't something happen in Boston Harbor because of that idea?) The proceeds from this fee go to funding three channels, BBC 1, 2, and 3. While the BBC is very much akin to PBS in the states, with the amount of funding they receive it is able to run three different channels and create such critically acclaimed period pieces as Pride and Prejudice.

Watching DVDs only is permitted as is watching a TV show on your computer after it has been initially shown, but watching live TV on your computer is not. If you are found to be watching TV illegally you can be brought to court and fined up to £1000.

Got that?

My first question was, how do they figure out if you are acting illegally in this regard? The answer...

TV Police

The UK government has a national registry of addresses that have paid the licencing fee allowing them to keep track. But it goes further. They have officers who can detect if you have a TV!

From the official TV licencing website:
Enforcement officers may use a hand-held detection device to measure both the direction and the strength of a TV signal. This makes it easy for us to locate TV receiving equipment in even the hardest-to-reach places. (i.e. hiding it in your attic) We also have a fleet of detector vans that can detect the use of TV receiving equipment at specifically targeted addresses within 20 seconds.

How exactly does all this fancy equipment work? Nobody really knows. Many have conjured, quite accurately I am now thinking, that these claims are a hoax to scare people into buying the licence.
http://www.bbctvlicence.com/Detector%20vans.htm

The detector van watch website and others are all part of an amusing anti-BBC campaign online.

All of this craziness makes not having a TV something to enjoy once again.

Marmalade Breakfast and Wedding Banns

A few Saturdays Zac and I went to a marmalade breakfast in the neighboring village of Otham (probably the most rustically picturesque village in our area of Kent). This "breakfast" (tea and toast, to be precise) was held at the parish church, and was essentially a sale of preserves- jams, marmalades and curds. We sampled the lemon curd and the marmalade on our toast, which was fantastic. I had been intending to buy some lemon curd there, but our money was otherwise engaged. That is to say, there was also a table selling one of the former church member's household items, and Zac and I got quite excited over the "20p" table. Zac's wonderful finds: old leather wallet, metal booklet for holding stamps, and an old-fashioned glass paperweight. My wonderful finds: a metal iron-worked tea pot, something else which I won't name since its a gift for Inga, and an antique wooden tray. Anyway, you may be thinking, "Why would Erica and Zac intentionally buy these silly old things" but consider, we paid hardly anything for them and now we've got what looks like the personal effects of C.S. Lewis to grace our desk with.

Our other exciting event was hearing banns read at church a few weeks ago. For those of you who don't know what this lovely ritual is, think of that moment in movies when the officiating clergyman says "If anyone has any objections to this marriage, speak now or forever hold your peace etc etc." In this case, banns must be read at the local church of both the man and woman (regardless of whether or not they attend there) three separate times before the wedding otherwise the marriage is considered void. The vicar today did say that if anyone had any objections they should discreetly mention them after the service, which I thought polite of him. (I can't remember if that part ever gets read in the US at weddings; I only know that I was not under any circumstances going to allow it at our wedding).

It is Official

We arrived in England and managed to take part in the coldest winter in 31 years.
(deep breath) okay...we are done talking about snow.

Neighbourhood Breakfast Watch

Throughout the country there are neighborhood (or should I say neighbourhood) watch areas much like there are in the states. The logo for these areas looks like this:


As I pass these signs though, they looked strangely familiar. I could not place it until I remembered this from our days in Chicago:


Alas there are no bagel places around and Erica and I are now facing an unquenchable (wish that was on a triple-word-score) craving.

In Bruges (Don't Watch The Movie, Take Our Word For It)

The month of sisters draws to a close. Allie and Evan were with us from New Year's Eve until the third week of January and then Inga came in and is leaving for her mission trip to the Ukraine on Sunday. We took advantage of Inga's presence and headed to the continent yesterday. Our destination was the Belgian city of Bruges/Brugge. We awoke at four a.m. in order to catch our six a.m. ferry across the channel. We ended up going with SeaFrance for our ferry service and it was easier, cheaper, and more enjoyable than our previous experience with Norfolk line. The big plus is that was arrived in Calais rather than Dunkirk; Calais being much prettier. We made it to Bruges by 9:30 (losing an hour somewhere in the water) and proceeded to wander around the historical center of the town. We stopped in a cafe almost immediately. The girls ordered tea while I ordered a hot chocolate. Now in the course of my life, I have learned to not be picky about my hot chocolate. Whether it is Swiss Miss mix, Hersey's syrup heated up, or something better, you just drink it. Well this hot chocolate came in its own pot with a bowl of sweetened whipped cream, and sugar rectangles (to be geometrically correct). It was fantastic! (And I suppose it should because it ended up that it cost €6/$8.22!) In the course of the day we covered all of the historical part of the town at least once. The highlight of the day was a thirty-minute boat ride on the canals. The town has some beautiful architecture and the buildings were designed with the canals in mind. Many buildings had tiny doors that opened directly onto the water. We will be posting pictures in the coming days.

The Snow Has Returned

It had been snowing for a good portion of the day, and around 4 p.m. it really started coming down. I was at work unknowing and realized that things were going to be crazy when Erica called me at five when I got off saying that she was stuck in traffic. Three and a half hours later, we are home, and our car is sort of in the church parking lot a mile away. We were blessed by a mob of 25 people or so in Bearsted, (a town we pass through) who pushed people up the hill in the center of town. Our cardboard box came in handy again a few times, and we're home. Fortunately we don't have to be anywhere tomorrow. So after a cup of Mexican hot chocolate we're enjoying a quiet evening, and probably day tomorrow in.

It's Like Academic Challenge, Except With Alcohol

Our holidays were good. Erica and I woke up Christmas morning and opened a handful of presents (Her's including the complete works of the Bronte sisters and some silver earrings. My including an antique pocket watch). We then bundled into a car with a married couple we know to spend Christmas with family, albeit, not our family. The day was memorable. About 18 people and crazier than the Scott family according to Erica. We ate so much food that it should be a post in and of itself. Erica's sister Allie and Allie's husband Evan arrived New Years Eve with presents from the states, coincidently the same day that our Christmas package from my parents showed up. We got home from the airport and had Christmas morning all over again. Both sets of parents heard our laments about the lack of quality Mexican food over here. We ended up with three packages of real corn tortillas, beans, salsa (which is much better than its British counterpart that tasted suspiciously like bruschetta), enchilada sauce, and Mexican hot chocolate. Last night we had Erica's school buddy Lorna over and ate fish tacos. We stopped by our nearby fish and chips place and got a big piece of cod for the fish. Erica said they looked at her pretty oddly when she, a single girl, ordered a huge piece of fish and no chips. The tacos turned out real well.
Tonight we're headed over to the pub I used to work at for a quiz night. Quiz nights are pretty popular over here. You get a team together and try to answer trivial questions about a variety of subjects. The pubs put them on because it gets people in the door, and usually gets people laughing and drinking. It costs £1 for each person on the team and the winning team gets the kitty. Not expecting to show particularly well considering we know next to nothing about British pop-culture. I'll be happy if we do not finish last.
Inga should be showing up towards the end of the month/start of February and we're going to be taking some day trips with her as well as Allie and Evan. We'll keep you updated with pictures and such.
We love you all and miss you. Come visit!