Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Oxford - Week 2 Update!

Hello lovelies

This will be a quick update, mainly with photos cause I really dont have much time to write long posts! My stay here in Oxford has been absolutely amazing and I have a feeling that the last 2 weeks is going to fly by!

On Tuesday I went to watch Ruth, the lady of the house play hockey! 'Our' team won 2-1! Go Pilgrims! It was freezing out but the hockey was quite enjoyable!


On Wednesday, I did a presentation about our project to 45 heads of schools and that was intimidating but exciting! On Thursday, I did an assembly at this school below about the the project and South Africa and the World Cup! The most embarressing moment happened when I could not blow the Vuvuzela in front of the children! It took me 5 tries!! I really need to practice!



On Thursday, the staff came over for a barbeque (braai!) and it was good fun. This is a pic of 2 of my new friends from the office!

This is the newly acquired fire pit! Bear in mind, this is not where the meet gets braai-ed, its essentially for heat and socialising! The meet gets cooked on the gas braai. Cool idea actually...


This is what we had for supper which they call 'tea' here. Confusing...I know! It was delish!



Loads more pics but not enought time to share...Will try and do a week-end past post soon.


XOXO

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Week-end Update! Days 4 & 5

Hello Friends

Yes, I know this is a delayed week-end post! Please bear with me, I'm not getting to my internet as often as I do at home.

This past week-end I spent most of my time in Oxford City. I went in on Saturday and on Sunday! Ben gave me a ride on Sat morning and showed me how to use the bus system, so I am now capable of going in and coming home all by myself!

Oxford City is soooo BEAUTIFUL! I can literally just spend the whole day there! Here are some photos of the city. All the colleges as in Oxford University are like different buildings in the city! It was freezing and raining a bit when I was in on Sat, so I wasnt keen on being outside and taking my hands out of my coat pockets to take pics! lol.
Everyone is Oxford rides bicycles!! They are everywhere. And then they just leave them on the sides of the road unlocked!! Imagine that in SA! Oops, where'd my bike go??

This is just a pic of one of the stores that sell the Oxford merchandise! I like those hoodies! They also have a purple one ;)



These signposts are very handy when you get lost!
This is Carfax Tower. One of the famous touristy things to do in Oxford. I still wanna go to the top on a sunny day to get a view over the whole city!


Oxford is not known as the city of Spires for nothing!


This is one of the schools colleges, the history college I think?

Its going to be freezing here tonight. -2 degrees I think!

I'm off to bed. have a presentation early tomorrow morning!

XOXO

Day 3 - Oxford

hello friends

Today was a passive day spent in the home office working on presentations! this is the view from my desk today:

Ben cutting the grass!

Then I went into North Oxford with Ben & Ruth. One of my favourite things about the UK is all the cherry blossom trees! I love how pretty it is! I really can't get enough of it.


In the evening, the rest of the family was busy, so Ben, Luke & I went out for a pizza at Cafe Coco! I'm proud to say that I am starting to eat olives now! I'm officially a grown up! I finished off my pizza with chocolate brownies & a cappucino! yum!



I think I may be eating far too much here in the UK!! I need to do some more jumping on the trampoline!!

XOXO

Friday, May 7, 2010

Day 2 - Oxford

Weather started off just a little chilly today but then got all colder as the day went on! I left the house with Ruth to drop the kids off at school and then we went to the office which is in an industrial area called Abingdon just next to Oxford. This is what the office looks like from the outside.



I had a meeting in the morning to talk through the format of some of the presentations that we are going to do next week and then I was left by myself to work on the presentations for the rest of the day. The office is a open plan with lots of people working in it. They were all really friendly and helpful and we might go out for listen to live music some time. This is the view from my desk.




This is what I had for lunch today! My favourite drink back home is Coke light but here in the UK they have this citrus zest coke light which is even better. I only ate half of this Milky way bar as it was a bit sweet and I didn't like it too much, bit like a bar one I guess.


Today is also voting day in the UK and everybody is nervous about the outcome as it doesn't seem as if one party will have an outright majority and the voting system is actually very confusing. Apparently, if a party does not have an outright majority, the current Prime Minister still gets to be the Prime Minister even though his party didn't win? Huh? I'm like, you didn't win, get out of the way! What kind of democracy is that?

I know I promised a post about the inside of the house, I might do it later!

Have a lovely week-end!!

XOXO



Thursday, May 6, 2010

Oxford - Day 1

Hello everyone!!

This is the first of my updates on my stay in Oxford!

My flight over on SAA was nothing to write home about. Quite cramped actually and no individual tv's! how ridiculous!! The food was good though! Anyway, my prayers to sit next to someone nice on the flight was answered! I sat next to a wedding photographer from Cape Town called Monica Dart! We basically chatted the whole way through! If you want to check out her work, click here. The best thing is that we are on the same flight back and we're going to try and sit together again!

My first day in Oxford was pretty laid back. I planned to take a nap for 1 hour and ended sleeping for 4 hours. I was rather tired from the flight over! Below is a pic of 'my home' for the next 3 weeks. This is the Prior residence and home to Ben, Ruth & the kids, Freddie, Madeleine & Luke who are fast becoming my new best friends!


The 2 windows right at the top (on the 3rd floor) are my room with my own bathroom and the kids also have a 'lego' room on my level. Its all really nice and comfy and warm when the heating is on!

The house has really nice grounds on the outside as well with a chicken coop, guinea pigs cage and trampoline in the backyard. I've already found my first egg in the chicken coop, had to explore the garded extensively and jumped on the trampoline several times! At least I am getting my exercise!



Thats chicken coop on the left & the guinea pigs on the right

Thats my first egg!


Hope you enjoyed the pics of my 'home' in Oxford. Maybe I'll show you around a bit inside tomorrow!

XOXO

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

I'm off on a jetplane!



Hello Everyone!

The day has finally come where I have to head off to Oxford for 3 weeks and to Northern Island for 6 days! So I'll be leaving the sunny shore of Cape Town for a month in the UK!

I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers as I endeavour to be part of a fundraising drive to raise money to send poor children in South Africa to camps as well as to support holiday projects that will keep them safe during the Soccer World Cup happening in SA next month!

I would like to let you all know that my blog will become a bit of a travel blog as I document my time in the UK and countdown the time to come home! I will miss my hubby and all of my family and friends so much!! eek!!! This blog and your comments will be my only sanity!!

You'll be happy to know that my bag is packed and ready to go with coats and boots as well as I've checked and the average temperatures in Oxford at 2 degrees in the morning and 13 degrees in the afternoon! help!



I'm off!! Will keep you posted on my UK travels!

XOXO

*pics from weheartit.com