Last Post!

This is a bittersweet post to be writing. And to be honest, I have started writing it a few times.  How do I conclude this great hobby I had over the last two years?  I have thoroughly enjoyed writing about our adventures, near and far.  I guess you'll have to keep up with our lives by visiting with us in real life! ha!

Overall, we have been getting acclimated pretty well.  We are super busy, with something going on almost every weekend from now until the end of the year.  No complaints here, as we like to be busy. But who are we kidding, hopefully we can squeeze in a couple days where we lay on the couch and watch TV all day long.  It is needed every once in a while.  And American T.V.---enough said!

We are back in our house, and boy does it feel amazing!  We got possession back on August 29th, and spent the next two weekends moving all of our things.  We are pretty much settled, but a few little projects around the house are on the agenda.  The joys of home ownership! 

I have been working on creating the blog into a book.  You never know what will happen with the internet and technology in the future.  Jeff and I have a friend that was abroad earlier in life, and made a Angel Fire website.  Many of you may know what I am talking about---others may not.  Either way, it is no longer an active website, so all of her posts about her travels are gone.  I don't want that to happen, so I have decided to make my blog into a book! I have been trying out many websites, so if anyone has a great suggestion--please let me know. 

Other updates---My job as a first grade teacher is going well.  I love teaching that age, and my students are so sweet.  It is a challenge at times, but I am definitely glad I made the switch to a younger grade.  I have quite a few funny stories to share.  Feel free to follow Mrs. Becker's Class on Twitter to see our learning in action! Jeff worked really hard and interviewed for a promotion at work within the last month.  He is now the Component Engineering Manager.  He hasn't been on the job too long, but seems to enjoy this new position a lot.  Very proud of him!

Check out our map on the right side of the screen (if you're on a computer).  Check out all of the places we visited.  It is exhausting just looking at it! We are hoping to put a map up in our house with all the places documented that we visited while abroad. 

A big THANK YOU to family, friends, and even the complete strangers around the world who read about our experiences.  My blog was viewed over 16,500 times since it was created (And no, my views were not counted in this total), most of which were read by people in the US (duh), UK (duh), France, Russia, Germany, & Poland.  Although, there were about 25+ more countries represented in the count.  I really appreciate all of your support, kind words, and encouragement to write 151 meaningful posts throughout the last two years. Many people have asked me if we plan on going back to do another secondment.  My answer is that we are ready to stay in one place for a while.  But never say never!

I want to leave you with a song by one of my favorite bands, OneRepublic, that really made me reflect on our experience abroad, especially with the lyrics:

"I, I did it all
I, I did it all
I owned every second that this world could give
I saw so many places, the things that I did
With every broken bone, I swear I lived."

 

It really made me stop and think about how blessed we were to be able to see and experience what we did, as life is short.  Take advantage of the time we have on Earth.  We tried our best to take advantage of every moment we had abroad.  And now for the last time ever....


On to adventures after Us in the UK....

So Many Updates from America

So many of you want a bit of an update on our adventure over the last few weeks months in the United States.  I have started writing this post a few times, but then was distracted and never finished...  Most of you know that Jeff, Mackey, and I all headed back on the same flight.  Unfortunately, Jeff had to go back for the month of July.  But we sure did accomplish a lot in the 3 weeks he was home.

Our home for the first two weeks was the Omni Hotel.  We enjoyed our stay here, and it definitely started feeling like "home".  Although, we absolutely were over the whole eating out thing.  It is difficult to eat out and still stay healthy.  I think we did pretty well with our food choices, given what we had.  But I'm not going to lie, we had Mexican food three times (2x was Taco Bell alone).  Haha!  We enjoyed seeing family and friends.  We also enjoyed picking out an apartment the first day we were back.  I had planned on living with my parents and couch surfing while Jeff was back in England, but we found a great deal on an apartment downtown...so we went for it.

Every few days we were moving things from our storage unit into the apartment.  We didn't take too many loads, and we only have the bare essentials in the apartment.  It still looks nice, and will be a great home until our renters move out of our house.  We get possession back September 1st  August 29th (things change when you start and don't finish posts).  We had a great location for the fireworks on July 4th! It is fun being a resident of another part of downtown.  We also just picked up all of our UK belongings.  They arrived at my parents house 2 weeks after Jeff returned from England.  Lots of boxes to move into our apartment, and move back out in a few weeks. Moving. Moving. Moving.

Moving Day in our apartment

 Our lazy spot to watch fireworks.  Still pretty good view, but it would have been even better on the parking garage to the right in our community. 

Our boxes from the UK. They are still just sitting there. Other than finding a few pieces of clothing, those boxes are staying there until Move #3 of the year! 

I also was able to move things from my old elementary school and storage into my new classroom.  I love my new classroom, as it has so much storage!  I hate when clutter sits out, so it allows me to hide all of my teaching materials.  I have also been able to meet a few members of the staff, which has been great. Update: I have been in school now since July 30th, and I am loving every minute of being a first grade teacher.  The kids came in so small and clueless on Day 1, but we are already seeing some improvements and growths..which is awesome!  I'll try to add some classroom pictures before ending the blog. 

We also bought a VEHICLE! We test drove quite a few small SUVs, and ended up purchasing a 2015 Jeep Cherokee, which I am in love with! It is the perfect size for us, and has all the new features we were looking for in a vehicle.  No pictures to post, as Jeff and I don't want to jinx it! ;)

Jeff has a rental property he owns with a few buddies. We also spent a late night cleaning that place from top to bottom.  We put in a new microwave, did some painting, heavy duty cleaning, and made sure it was all ready for the new tenants to move in the next day.  This was one of the reasons Jeff had to come back for those 3 weeks. 

We even had time to go on a mini vacation to Cincinnati, Ohio for a wedding. We were able to catch up with close friends and have quality time to catch up on things we may have missed.  The wedding was beautiful and we had a great time.  Jeff and I were also lucky to be able to fit in a small vacation with Jeff's family to French Lick, Indiana.  His family go almost every year, and we missed out last year---so we were looking forward to that quality time with his family.  We had a great time hitting up the casino (and winning a little money!), golfing, tennis, and some pool time (although the sun was not being our friend that week).

French Lick, golfing (I won!)

Jeff headed back to England for the month of July and even did some traveling (a few posts to come on that...and no he is not writing them).  Are you surprised!?  During the month of July, I was in my classroom almost daily setting things up and preparing for my new adventure in a new school/grade.  My mom was a huge help, as always.  She spent a couple days downtown with me to help with my classroom and spend some time together!   I spent lots of time with my nephews, niece, and sister...making up for lost time.  I also had the pleasure of going on a small vacation to my family to St. Joseph, Michigan to get a little beach time in! We had a great time and beautiful weather.  I enjoyed the quality time with them all.

 Indianapolis Zoo day with my sister, nephews, and niece. 

 Spending time with my wonderful parents

 The construction site. This kid was literally rolling in the dirt at one point. I think there was even some snow sand angels....

 Covering Daddy with sand!

 And Miss. C. had the best place in the house with her own personal tent!

 My sister, Mom, and I

Sweet baby, Corina

Let's see...what else. Well, Jeff is now home from England, as of July 29th.  It is great to have him home and be on the same page.  We have been really busy getting back into the swing of things at work, packing for our next move, and continuing to see family/friends.

A few more posts to catch up. I am trying to finish all of these posts that have been sitting in my Drafts section of my blog now for, well 2 months.  Whoops! I guess people were right when they say Americans are always go-go-go. No time for anything! I know you are all patiently awaiting closure to our amazing experience abroad.

On to the next adventure...

Preparations for the Big Move

Many people have been asking "What does your next two weeks of living in the UK look like? It has actually been a whirlwind this entire month [of May].  A few updates, and things that I have been doing.

• Update on Jobs: I can officially say that a couple weeks ago I accepted a first grade position back in my school district (not the same elementary school).  I am so excited for this new opportunity!
• Packing: Yowza, this one is a pain!  As you know, the assessment company came a few weeks back to see how much stuff we had accumulated.  Now, we have decided to ship all of the items back when Jeff leaves at the end of July.  So, to make things easier on him as he will have enough loose ends to tie up when he leaves (closing bank, canceling cable, etc.) I have started filling our second bedroom with stuff that will be shipped back to the states.  It's going well so far.
  
  
• Friends: I have a couple more friends I'd like to see before heading back.  We  have planned a few lunches, tea/coffees breaks, and dinners with close friends before heading out next week.  Looking forward to seeing them before flying out. 
  
• Sorting:  We have been selling a lot of our UK-plug appliances and things we do not want to take back home.  I have been going through things the last several months, and look forward to giving lots of things away in the next week.  It is hard to believe how much you accumulate over time, especially because we don't have a lot over here to begin with.  We get a lot of the stuff from other Americans that leave...so needless to say I have a crazy amount of cleaning supplies. We live so much simpler.  But still---lots of junk.
  
  
• Cars:  A few of you have been asking about cars. No news there, as we are just going to have to do all that once we are there in person.  Pretty pumped to get a vehicle though! 
• Welcome Home Celebrations: I know many of you are asking "When can we get together?", and I thank you all for being patient with us as we are not sure what to expect when we get back.  Things may all fall into place nicely, and we may have tons of time on our hands.  We're not sure what to expect until we experience it.  We can't wait to see you all, so we promise we'll see each and every one of you as soon as we possibly can. Lots of hugs to give out!! 

That is pretty much it for updates and what my next couple of weeks will look like.  It sure will be busy, and I am still trying to soak up as much as I can.  Real world is about to come, whether I am ready for it or not.

On to the next adventure...

#30daysofappreciation {Round 1}

Tuesday, May 12th was officially our one month left mark.  In honor of that, I decided to post a photo a day on my Instagram account to show my appreciation of our amazing time over here.  Pictures include anything from food (shocker), daily life, and/or things for which I am very thankful.  It really made me stop and smell the roses one last time of those things I will miss when moving back to the states.

Since many of my blog followers are not followers on Instagram (*cough, Christin), I decided to share my photos of the last 10 days of appreciation.  I will post two more times to share the other 20 photographs.

#Day1: Relocation Assessment
The relocation company came by to assess how much stuff we have to ship back to the states.  It was kind of funny it landed right on our 1 month mark.  We chatted for a bit, and then he assessed our stuff. He said we were right at our limit, so I best not go out and buy anything over the next month.

 

 #Day2: Time to Cook

I have absolutely LOVED my time in the kitchen over here.  I could start dinner at 5:30 some days, knowing Jeff wouldn't be home until 7.   It really allowed me to play with recipes, explore, and have time to make healthy foods.  I know I am going to miss that, as I will be working, and the amount of prep time will be eliminated.  I have already been trying to think about ways to prep over the weekends, so I am able to cook more clean and healthy.  Wish me luck!

 

#Day3: Mackey

Although it has been expensive to keep him over here in terms of getting him to/from the states, I wouldn't have had it any other way.  He has become even more loveable! Who knew that was possible?  His personality has changed, but for the better.  I think he has enjoyed his time over here, watching pigeons and sleeping in every windowsill possible.  I definitely enjoyed having that "piece of home" with me.

#Day4: Friends

We have made some great friends (both Americans and locals).  We have been able to travel, have nights out, girls and boys nights, and plenty of time to chat about life.  That was one thing I was really nervous about when moving over here, as we both have amazing friends at home.  We will miss our local friends, but hope to still see our new American friends in the states once we all move back. 

#Day5: Beer

I should probably point out that these are in no particular order.  As you have yet to see a picture of Jeff, does not mean he is not my #1 thing I appreciate over here.  Okay, now that we have cleared that up...beer.  We have enjoyed trying all the different kinds of beer over here.  During the first year, we took a picture of every new pint we had.  That got old pretty quickly, so we stopped taking a a picture of each pint.  Jeff had a project envisioned.  We definitely enjoyed that part of England, but in the same sense, we won't miss the crazy amount of drinking.  

#Day6: Traveling

The bag below barely made it over the one year mark before being thrown away.  I thought for sure that when we were in London a couple weeks ago it was going to completely break.  It made it home before saying my final farewell to it.  It was the perfect size, as you have to have a fairly small bag to fly on budget airlines, like we do.  It would fit in the top bin or under the seat with no problems.  I never had to worry about it! I definitely got my 12 pounds worth out of this bag, as it traveled to many amazing places around Europe.

 

#Day7: Beautiful Spots

This one goes along with #6, but all of the beautiful places we were able to see during our time abroad is something I will never under appreciate.   I will speak on behalf of Jeff (I geuss I always do that, but...) and say that were very appreciative of how many trips, whether big or small, that we were able to go on.  We were so glad we spent our money on traveling, as we will have those memories, pictures, and video forever. 

#Day8: Visitors

We had so many visitors over the last year and a half! Seventeen, but who's counting?   We have loved every visit, and each one was unique in its own way.  We tried to do something a little different with each visitor, whether it was a local restaurant, new European trip, or a tourist attraction we had never been to in our own city! We enjoyed showing off "our world"

#Day9: Tea

In the states I would NEVER drink tea. Not iced tea, hot tea, flavored tea...etc.  My friends here continued to "bully" me into liking tea. I tried it each time we were together.  Now, I can officially say I drink a cup of hot tea every morning and no longer drink coffee at all.  What a transition!

 

#Day10: House/Flat

I definitely do not spend enough time appreciating the house, which was converted into 8 flats that we live in. It is in a fantastic location with a beautiful view from every window.  If I want ice cream, I can have it in hand within 5 minutes. Amazing! It is definitely an English feeling house, which is nice.  We want to embrace the culture as much, and I think our single pane windows that make our flat colder than it is outside is embracing it! Ha!

Life Post-Fairytale

I always joke with people (although there is some seriousness to it all), that we live the life of a fairy tale over here.  Being so removed from our daily life in the states makes us feel like we just live in a different world...it is a really odd feeling.  And obviously our life over here will be nothing like our life back in the states, given we travel or are busy every single weekend.  Also, never spending time with family over here makes it feel like a different world.

My dad suggested a blog post for what life after this experience will be like when I asked for suggestions in my "Your Turn" post.  I do not have all the answers in terms of jobs, plans, or even housing quite yet...but we are getting there.

Jobs

Many of you have asked if my position in my former school district will be held for me, and the answer is no.  Although I was developing curriculum online for the district when I first moved over here, it was a contracted out position and I am not considered an employee of the district as I do not receive regular checks.  I have talked with my district at home, and that is my priority to get back into the same district, especially the same elementary school.  But if any of you have experience with getting a teaching job, they become available quickly and not very long.  I never thought I would be applying for jobs, as many of you know, I loved my job before moving over here.  So send good vibes and prayers that I will be able to find a job when I get back.  Also, that I don't lose my mind when applying to all these districts again. Yuck!

As for Jeff, I know it surprises many of you when I say he has to interview for jobs when he moves back.  Yes, he will have a position at Rolls-Royce, but it won't necessarily mean he is going back in the same position. After having international experience, we hope this opens new doors for him in terms of positions when he moves back.  I mean, that is the big reason we moved over here, that it would provide him with new opportunities. 

Stay tuned for updates on our future jobs in posts later on. I am hoping I can report back good news to you all very soon.

Housing

I also posted about this "issue" in my "Surprise! It's Me!" post when I went to the states for my impromptu visit.  For those of you that missed that post, we have a townhouse in Downtown Indianapolis, but we are renting it to expats who work for another Indianapolis company.  We allowed them to sign a 2-year lease, therefore they will not be out of our place until February 1, 2016.  This means...we are homeless. Ha, in all reality we haven't quite figured out where we will be living.  We had debated another house to live in for the 7 months and we have thought about apartments downtown for the time being.  Either way, we have a lot to think about in the upcoming months. I think Jeff and I both want to get things planned and figured out before we move back.  Easier said than done...

Traveling

Well this one will definitely change when it comes to what we are "used to" now.  Jeff has already told me he plans on sitting on our big comfy couches and never getting up.  Ha! Myself, well I think I want to become more active on the weekends.  I am not saying I want to jump on a plane every other weekend to go to California or Texas...but taking advantage of festivals downtown or local state parks would be more of what I was thinking.  But I agree with Jeff, it will be nice to have down weekends where we can just relax in the comfort of our own home. I'm thinking we'll find a common ground somewhere...

Jeff and I both agreed that we would like to plan more mini-trips when we move back.  Once again, not every other weekend, but make a more conscious effort to head to Chicago, Cincinnati, or Nashville more often.  These places are not too far, and definitely do-able for a weekend trip.  But you won't be hearing about a big trip any time soon. I think we need to save some money and take it easy for a while. We will make sure to enjoy every second of our remaining trips.


Daily Life

One thing I am excited for is the return of a consistent daily schedule. As much fun as it may sound to not work, not all days have been that enjoyable.  It is fun to go to the gym in the middle of the day, walk around, shop, long lunches with girlfriends, and actually have time to complete projects & household work.  But there were days that I just wished I was working again and had that routine.  So, I am definitely looking forward to getting back to work, making plans with girlfriends in the evenings, and seeing family on a normal routine.  Jeff has a pretty good routine here as he goes to work daily (obviously), and then plays squash with a few buddies a few times a week.  He comes home to have dinner, relax, and head to bed.  He has a pretty consistent schedule, so I don't see that changing much for him, although I know he will miss playing squash with his friends.


Food

This one I have a love/hate relationship with...I am SO excited for the large grocery stores with an array of options.  I mean different types and brands of canned beans has me almost giddy.  I miss getting a shopping cart, looking at the new products in each isle, and taking my time filling up my cart with things we'll need for the next couple of weeks.  I enjoy grocery shopping.  Here in England, on the other hand, is fun to see all of the different products, but it is always so hectic in the grocery store.  With the grocery stores being so small, people are bopping around like crazy to get what they need and get out of there. Surprising that I am saying this about the locals and not about Americans, right? 

One thing I will miss when it comes to the local food is the lack of preservatives and junk in the products.  We have definitely changed the way we eat over here, as it is mostly whole foods, and very little from a box, can, or even items from the freezer section.  We have developed some great eating habits, so I really hope we can continue this when moving back home.  I have also heard from fellow Americans that the food back home was an adjustment to their digestive systems.  So...this should be interesting.

Vehicles & Driving

I, for one, will be so excited to start driving daily again. I didn't realize how much I missed it until my recent trip home, borrowing my mom's crossover. I loved the feeling of being alone (no offense, Jeff) and jamming out to my favorite tunes.  It was such a great, independent feeling.  Which this brings our next adventure...buying a new vehicle. Jeff and I sold my jeep before moving over here, therefore I come back car-less as well.  I am looking to get some sort of SUV or Crossover again, as I really like driving something like that in the Indiana winters. We have not decided, but will be looking into this our first week back over here.  Although we will have to rent a car for the first couple of days to get around.  Jeff still has his truck.  He left it at my parent's house, up on blocks with a tarp over it (see picture below).  He will have to do a little work on it before it is running again, but least we do not have to buy two vehicles when we move back.  I know Jeff is really excited to drive his truck and blare his country music! We have only seen a handful of trucks over here, so when we see one, we normally make a big deal out of it.

His poor, cold truck under the tarp on the basketball court. ha!  I'm sure my parents are ready to look out their back windows and not see this anymore!

Return Date(s)

The subject many of you have been wondering about... I plan on moving home on June 12th.  My flight isn't booked, but the timing is right as we have a play in London on the 11th of June.  As of right now, I plan on moving back earlier than Jeff, as I want to get our house set up, find a job, and hopefully use the month of July to set up my classroom (fingers crossed).  Jeff needs to stay for the remainder of our allotted Visa time (July 30th, the VISA expires). He is filling in for a colleague who will be on a paternity leave.  Not sure his exact date home...either way he will be deported when it comes to July 30th. Ha, so funny to think about! Jeff is planning on flying home with Mackey and I on June 12th for 3-weeks so he can help get us settled before flying back to England for the month of July.  In those 3-weeks, we plan on finding a house, car, phones, and move out belongings out of the storage unit.  We also have a family vacation and a wedding during that time period...so we will be super busy for sure!

Mackey

As many of you know, Mackey has gained a few pounds (and I do not mean the currency!) while we've been over here. I am looking forward to him having a bigger area with stairs to run up/down to lose some of his weight.  Poor guy! He is still such an amazing cat, so loveable and sweet. I think he will transition just fine, once he goes through another awful 8+ hr flight as cargo.  I will be looking forward to him not being alone while we go on all of these long weekend trips. It is hard leaving him, so all he has to do is make it through the work days without us.  

He thinks he owns the place...annoying

Overall Adjustments

Overall, I think it might be a difficult transition back.  Jeff and I are just used to it being us, so although it will be very exciting to be around family/friends again...it might just be an adjustment for us.  I think another adjustment will be time management.  Our evenings are pretty boring around here, as when Jeff gets home from work, we eat dinner and relax.  I have a feeling our evenings are going to go back to the hectic late nights at work, dinners with friends, and projects around the house when we move back to the states.  But we both hope and will try our best to stay grounded.  I, for one, am a little nervous about moving back.  I know things will just go back to "normal", but it is nerve wracking when thinking about if things will be the same as before we left.   Another adjustment is going to be time.  Jeff and I have a great system right now, so when I go back to work it is going to change a lot.  AKA, Jeff might have to actually do the dishes!

So other than the whole get a house, buy a car, get jobs, new phones, and move all our stuff into a new place...doesn't sound too stressful at all, does it? It is like we are starting over from scratch! I promise to keep you posted in the upcoming months as we have updates.

On to the next adventure...

Facelift!

No...not me! 

Just wanted to share that I updated the "looks" of the blog. So "no" you're not in the wrong spot!  As I am coming up on my blogg-aversay, Yes, I'm making this a word... I wanted to give the blog a little bit of a new & fresh look. About this time last year we were telling family, friends, and my elementary school that we were moving overseas.  Hard to believe:

(A) We've been here for 10 months
(B)  It has been a year since we made the big decision to move over here.

Time flies when you're having fun, right? 

Anywho, for all my avid readers, let me know if this makes it better or worse to read from your device of choice!

Short and sweet post, doesn't sound like me, does it?

Onto the next adventure...

Man at Work

Least Jeff is getting things done around here. I don't know how he has all this energy. He is always good about making sure things like this get done...maybe a little too early for me. Such a go getter!

This storage unit is going to be full!

Try #2....Housing

Well, bad news bears....our first place we found in Nottingham fell through. They went back on what they originally said with having a cat in the place. We are basically going to pick our second place or look for a whole new place. Decisions. Decisions. Poor Jeff has received about 35+ emails from me "suggesting properties". There have been a couple pop up that were just listed within the last 16 hours. I always say "things happen for a reason"---I'm taking this stressful situation as one of those moments in life.

We have looked through some more houses via the internet (a site we used previously). We've selected two new houses, so someone from the UK is supposed to be checking those out for us on Monday. We hope they're in a nice area. It is a little scarier now that we're basically picking a place we've never been to before...and then living there for the next 18 months. AHHH!  I know it will all work out. Things always do. :)


I just had to post a picture of Mackey just to prove how cute he is. I am definitely glad he'll be joining us overseas. It's totally worth being considered a crazy cat lady. Have you ever seen a cat play fetch? Mackey does!