Hello!!!

I have made it a full week now in Reading, so I thought I would sit down to share some of my thoughts and experiences so far.

01/14/17 (Saturday) I successfully made it to London-Heathrow airport at 10:45am, went through border control, claimed my 3 checked bags, and started on my way to look for my taxi driver. I found a man with my name on a small sign like in the movies and away we went to my flat (apartment) in Reading! I had a little time to drop my things off, look around, and take a selfie in front of my door to share I had made it safely with family and friends. Then, it was 1:30pm and my manager stopped by to take me on a walk around town. He walked me through places like the grocery store, train station, shopping mall, and library. There was no way I was going to remember how to get back to the places without the help of Google Maps because the city centre streets do not make pretty grids like you usually find in the US. We stopped and ate a late lunch at Sweeney & Todd. Ring a bell to any of my Alburnett friends? My high school has performed Sweeney Todd, the musical. I had a pie, chips, and a cider. No, that is not a dessert pie. For my pie, I had steak and mushrooms filling and then the outside was kind of like the texture of a thicker Pillsbury crescent roll in a way. I should have taken a picture! (And chips are what they call fries - potato chips are crisps) Also, it's humorous if you know the musical because it is located right next to a barber shop, ha! I'm sure there will be pictures to come when friends visit. After our touring, I went back to my flat and thought about unpacking but was exhausted. I don't think I slept a wink on the plane rides over so I fell asleep at 5:30pm. I woke up at 11:30pm and stayed up for 4 hours before falling back asleep until almost 10:30am. I spent Sunday getting situated and trying to shake off the jet lag.

(Monday-Friday) I took the train to work this week. To do this I leave my flat a little before 8am and it's about a 10 minute/.7 mile walk to the train station where I buy my ticket and ride 10 minutes to Winnersh Triangle where Rockwell's building was moved to. From the train station it's only a 5 minute/.3 mile walk to my desk. I started work on Monday and was happy to meet so many new coworkers. I learned most of the names of the finance team pretty quickly, but it will take a bit longer before I remember so many others that I've met. We have another Christmas dinner this coming Friday for those who could not make the first one in December, so that will be fun to mingle with coworkers then.

Thursday on the way to work, someone asked me for directions LOL. Apparently I'm already looking European! ;) Although today in church I looked around and could not spot a single redhead. Now I'm going to be on the lookout for another redhead because I honestly don't know if I have seen anybody else that is yet, and I found that surprising.

Friday during the lunch hour, one of my coworkers, Katie, who works in human resources gave me a ride to another town to pick up a document I needed within 10 days of arriving. The walk from my flat or work was going to take an hour so I appreciated the ride. (Riding in a car here is so much more thrilling since it's on the "wrong" side of the road!) The post office where we stopped was connected to a grocery store and Katie insisted that I needed to try some UK candy. I shared a short video of what she bought me in the video part of this blog. :) She has promised that next week she will teach me how to have tea and biscuits. Something about dipping them into my tea and maybe even needing a teapot to do it properly, lol I'm learning. Next, around Easter apparently the hot cross buns are a must! I'll keep you posted as I experience these things! :D

Friday night, my manager, Jim, invited me to dinner with a group he is a part of and helps organize for internationals living in Reading. I was so tempted to stay in my warm flat when it came time to go but knew I should seize the opportunity to be social and meet new people. I ended up sitting next to my manager's wife and a few others through dinner and I thoroughly enjoyed it! My manager's wife, Julia, is from Germany and has lived in Chicago and I can understand her well, and on my other side was her friend Barbara who was also from Germany and I could understand. Next to Julia, was a man that I never could understand what his name was ha so I will ask Jim at work tomorrow, but he was very nice and had a lot of suggestions for me on where I should travel to. I believe he was born in the UK and then lived in Syria most of his life before returning to the UK for college and working here. Julia and I both agreed that he spoke American English, as I could not detect an accent at all. He shared that his mom and siblings fled to Virginia not too long ago to escape what was happening in Syria. Events happening around the world are coming into a much closer perspective for me after the leaving the US. The man next to this man was very interesting and nice as well - he loves skiing in Switzerland! The last man in our conversations was Paul and he was born in the UK but worked in Ireland for the last 30 or so years I believe before very recently moving back to the UK. It was interesting to hear the differences he found in Ireland's and the UK's work culture. At the end of the night, I was very glad I attended and I will look forward to going again. Oh and I met one American couple that was from Denver, Colorado! They moved to Reading a year and a half ago for work and they seem lovely but I didn't have the chance to chat to them too long. I definitely had to be one of the youngest in the group but that's okay.

(Saturday & Sunday) I wanted to spend this weekend in Reading getting organized and catching up on sleep before the weekend travels begin. I went to St. James church this morning and loved that mass was still very familiar to me while an ocean away from home. They started mass with the song "Gather Us In" which we sang at home and in Waverly. The 1st Communion students were so involved at mass today and Father called them up to the front after his homily to explain it to them and ask questions. I couldn't believe how eager the students were to answer his questions and how many answers they knew from the bible. After church, I walked through the mall and grabbed doughnuts at Krispy Kreme. I'm not a huge doughnut lover but I was so surprised they had a Krispy Kreme after living with the closest one to Cedar Rapids being 2 hours away. I can't wait to return and get them when the "hot and fresh" sign is on. Lastly, I stopped by a store to buy hiking boots before returning home. I booked a trip to Iceland at the beginning of February and the tour guide was adamant that we needed hiking boots for the ice cave tour and could not wear tennis shoes or my mock lumberjack boots haha. I got a great deal on the hiking boots I found and they will just give me another reason to go hiking in the US again when I return. Now, I'm wrapping up this blog and then I need to go change into my Packer jersey. I am so excited that I think I found a way to watch the game and I am really hoping we can pull off the W after making it this far!

I have loved video chatting with some family and friends this week and weekend - don't forget to keep me updated on your lives as well! :)

Challenges: time difference (everyone is at work when I am off work)
outlet knowledge (can I plug my electric toothbrush into the converter or will it fry it?)

Vocab lessons: crisps = chips, boot = car trunk, carriageway = interstate, child minder = daycare provider, roll = subway style sandwich

Sorry this blog was so long and not very eventful - more excitement to come in February!!

Also, if you want to see a tour of my flat check out the first video uploaded in the video tab towards the top of this blog. Lastly, if you want to be notified every time I post a blog or vlog you can hit the subscribe button towards the top of the screen and I think you will receive an email notification once you fill out your information.

Best,
Jill