Introducing our Adventure Abroad

I can’t believe that I’m here, but I am. I’m writing from a temporary apartment in the City of London, having used today’s bank holiday simply to take a long walk along the Thames with Tom and the kids. I’m here. In England. For the first time ever. And I’m going to live here for the next year.

The members of my family here with me:

Tom, software engineer for Google. His 40th birthday is coming up in three weeks. His company is paying for this crazy adventure because they want him (well, someone who works on the Chrome software) here in London working with the Android team. They’ve done all sorts of things to help with relocation, but we’ve really pushed to make everything happen as quickly as possible so that the boys can enroll in school before the start of fall term. Tom is looking forward to joining an amateur medieval music group in London, doing some rapier practice, and generally soaking up the history that the city has to offer.

Garrett, age ten. He’s been homeschooled thus far and is feeling nervous about starting at a regular state school next week. I have concerns about him fitting in — he’s introverted, deliberately looks different (long hair in a ponytail) and has decidedly geeky interests like Magic the Gathering, Minecraft, and Dungeons and Dragons. But he’s smart and I think I’ll be able to help him transition to normal schoolwork. It took a little while to convince him, but he’s now solidly on board with the idea that this move is a grand adventure. I think partly it is that he is so adult focused, and so many adults have said what a great opportunity this is for us, he now believes them.

Tallis, age seven. He is the most extroverted member of our family, and thus the most miserable, as he has just been plucked from the only home he remembers (we moved to Durham when we was two) and from his network of neighborhood and homeschooling friends. He is also extremely nervous about the start of school, because his reading is well below grade level. He loves listening to stories and has a great grasp of vocabulary and plot comprehension, but he doesn’t enjoy the mechanics of sounding out words and reading for himself. I hadn’t been pushing him because Garrett was also at this point at this age, and he is already reading above grade level, because some education philosophies (like Waldorf) think that 7 is still young to teach reading, and because Tallis has such a stubborn streak that fighting with him to learn something that he didn’t want to learn didn’t seem like a winning strategy. I think that sports will help Tallis stay grounded, make friends, and have fun, but I have to have a flat to call home before I can arrange that for him.

Weyland, at two. He is confused by this move, but thus far is staying true to his nature — bright and sunny and excited. He loves trains and buses and planes and noises. About a month before we moved here he was sleeping on my lap while my mom and I talked with Garrett and Tallis about things they might see and do in London. Weyland woke just after we’d mentioned the Queen. He slid off my lap, stood up, raised his hand and announced “see Queen too!” Ever since he has, multiple times a day and especially if anyone said “England” or “London,” announced with great joy, “ride train see Queen!” We have already taken him on the tube, and he wants more riding the train. We have yet to see the Queen. The many sounds of the city — most especially the church bells — fascinate him, and he is constantly asking what that noise it.

And there is me, Challe, who will be 36 next month. I suppose that it is really my fault we’re here, because I got so involved in researching and recreating the clothing and fashion of women in England during the time Elizabeth of York (Henry VIII’s mother) was on the throne (1486-1503) that I exhausted the resources at the University of North Carolina and Duke University libraries. To make a more comprehensive study, I had to go to England, and so, thanks to a lot of luck and an awesome husband, here we are. I hope that with the children in school I will be able to work on my research. Perhaps I can even amass enough useful information to write a book.