Wahoo! Nathan slept through the night last night! It was such a relief and I’d love if it continues!! He woke up this morning around 8am and today almost felt like a normal day with him again. I keep thinking that I am almost over the jet lag, but I was so tired by nap time that I slept too! And I am tired again this evening.
Our flat is slowly getting organized and cleaned out. I can’t wait until everything is in place and in order. Not that it will stay that way for long with two kiddos afoot! Still, it’s easier to semi-maintain cleanliness than to deep clean in the first place.
It was sad to have Jeff gone today. I hadn’t realized how spoiled we had been the past week and a half until he had to suddenly go back to work. Nathan cried when he left this morning and kept asking for him all day. I think he is a little bit scared that he will disappear again. Sadly, he will! Jeff heads back to the states in just over a week and I am not looking forward to it. Five days alone in a foreign country where I pretty much know no one. I sure hope that we have a phone and Internet by then!
This morning we walked to the beautiful park near our home. It was my first time venturing out on my own. I felt so self conscious about having a baby strapped to me, a toddler riding in the HUGE American stroller, and having my American accent. Hopefully I’ll get over all of that soon. It’s still SO weird to think that I am the one with the accent! On our way to the park, an older English gentleman saw me and said, “You could always strap one to your back too!” I just kind of laughed and so he said it again, trying to get my attention. Of course I was too self conscious about the fact that I was shuttling around “so many” kids in such a silly way and don’t have a British accent and so I just said something like, “Yep!” When we got to the playground, Nathan was so excited. The park was very busy and I was surprised how many random older English men there are with nothing to do during the day. I was really self-conscious about even talking to Nathan while I was in public because of my accent. Stupid, I know. Nathan had fun playing with some of the other kids and running around. He is so oblivious to them not wanting to play with him or the fact that he may not know them. He loves the merry-go-round (here it is called a roundabout) and so before we left I was pushing him on it with another girl. Her mother was also standing nearby. The little girl kept saying, “Mah-me, I wah-nt to go fah-stuh!” in a British accent so I sped it up a little. Nathan though it was AWESOME and kept laughing and laughing, which then made the little girl laugh. Then he was kicking his legs and laughing and so she kicked her legs and laughed. It was really really cute. I decided to go out on a limb (for me – this is really stupid I know - but for ME it was a huge deal) and ask the mom how old her daughter was and of course she then asked how tall Nathan was and commented on how tall he is. Yes, I was PROUD of myself for sharing a very brief conversation with a stranger since I am in a foreign country. Oh well, it’s a start and hopefully I’ll get better!
After the park, we came home to eat lunch. We still don’t have a lot of food and so I decided we would eat leftover scrambled eggs for lunch. (Which, by the way, came from brown eggs, since that is all they sell here). Unfortunately I couldn’t figure out how to turn on the gas stove. There are so many weird switches you have to flip and I wasn’t sure which ones I needed to use to get the lighter to go (Jeff has always been here the other days and we don’t have a microwave). So we ate cold scrambled eggs and apple slices for lunch. I must admit it wasn’t my most favorite meal ever. Luckily Nathan ate the eggs and kept saying, “Yummy! Yummy!”
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A random thought: The spelling and grammar of English here is different, in addition to some of the words. It has made me ponder a little bit about “proper” grammar because really, grammar is different in every language it seems. It’s kind of strange to think that the people here would think I am the one that talks funny!
Funny story: Our fridge is in our “lounge” because there isn’t room in the actual kitchen. Well, the first night we were here, Nathan wanted a drink of milk and so he ran into the kitchen looking for the fridge and saying, “Milk! Milk! Milk!” He was so confused when there wasn’t a fridge there! Haha
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