Day 1 - Arrival and Brighton

We flew out of Sofia.  Our flight was at noon, but because Bulgaria is an hour ahead of us and we didn't know how long it would take us to get across the border, we drove up Thursday after Mike got off work.  We stayed at the Hilton and ordered Pizza Hut.  We were able to sleep in a little the day of our flight, and made it through check in, security, and passport control with plenty of time to spare.  We flew on Easy Jet - a no frills airline where you pay for all the extras.  Since I was flying with the 3 kids by myself, we paid the fee to be able to board in the first wave.  I think half the plane paid for this priviledge.  However, we worked it just right so that we were the very first ones on the plane!  Aubree and Chris sat in the bulkhead row in the middle and window seats, and Nick and I were a row behind in the middle and aisle.  It was nice.  The flight was 3 hours and very "boring".  Nick slept almost the whole time because he was bored, while Aubree and Chris read and played games.  I finally started reading the "Hunger Games".  When we landed in Gatwick, we breezed through passport control, picked up our luggage, and found Buzz, Hannah, L'eah (pronounced El-ee-ah), and Xander all waiting for us!!!  I got to hold Xander right away!  L'eah was SO happy that Nick Bob was there, but was a little miffed that she wasn't coming to Macedonia to see us.  We loaded the car up with our luggage to head to the house, and Buzz and L'eah took the train. We got to the flat that Hannah and Buzz share with her dad and got situated a bit, ate some lunch, then headed into town.  It was nice to be able to walk almost every place we wanted to go.  We saw the sea, bought Nick a lightweight jacket, saw a lot of cool buildings, and the highlight for the kids - ate at Burger King.  Ugh.  At least it didn't make me sick like it does in the States.  It was so much fun wandering and being able to see where Buzz and Hannah have lived the last 7 months.  I absolutely LOVED seeing all the cool old houses and buildings and churches that are so OLD.  Some are in better condition than others, and almost all have been divided up into multiple flats.  It's sad.  I'm sure Buzz got sick of hearing me start a sentence with, "Could you imagine living there?!?".  After we'd eaten, Hannah and I left the kids with Buzz to go grocery shopping.  In a real store.  With lots of food.  Fruits and vegetables not in season.  Real milk that tastes good.  I was in HEAVEN!!!  We bought tons of different fruits that we ate all week.  Han's a bit of a chocoholic, so we also had sweets to eat all week.  It was a nice balance.
Also, Flat Stanley came along with us on our trip (I'm glad he's flat and could come in the luggage!) so there are plenty of pictures with him.  Here are pictures from our first day!


Flat Stanley in front of some flats.



Cool houses.

Post box.



Same post box.

 

Phone booth.



Same phone booth.  Note that nobody is pictured inside the phone booth.  It smelled quite awful.

Cool clock tower in Brighton.

This was a cute building we passed.

The Royal Pavilion in Brighton.



The Lanes Armoury.  SOOOOOO AWESOME!!!



Dueling pistols for sale at The Lanes Armoury, made by Napoleon's personal gunsmith.

 

Cool uniform and swords.



Aubree with baby Xander!!!



Fun in England!!!

We are currently spending Spring Break in England!  We are having tons of fun so far, and Aubree and I are taking lots of pictures.  Today we visited Windsor Castle, Costco, and the London Temple.  All were awesome!  Tomorrow we're hanging around Brighton, then Wednesday and Thursday we're heading into London with Wicked on Wednesday night!

This is a bragging post - fair warning!

My 7th grader loves math.  She is also very good at it.  This year she is doing Algebra I.  It's the first high school math class, and she is able to do it with a couple of 8th graders that are in her class (7th and 8th are combined).  NOVA High School (one of the other English language schools here) sponsored the CEESA Math Competition this year, and QSI sent 2 teams of 3.  The junior team consisted of 9th and 10th graders, and the senior team was 11th and 12th.  Aubree had asked to be on the team when they were first put together, but was told no, because she's only in 7th grade.  3 days before the competition, one of the boys on the junior team was sick and pulled out.  Mr. Vadah, the teacher in charge, went back to the coordinators of the competition and again asked if Aubree could participate - this time letting them know that she was taking the same math class as the freshmen.  This time they said yes.  Aubree was really excited to go!  I think part of it was because it took all of Friday and she was with friends, but also because she loves math!  They competed individually and in teams against schools from Moscow, Kiev, Bucharest, Warsaw, Helsinki, Belgrade, Prague, and Skopje.  It was a little weird, because 85% of the participants were Korean!  The QSI teams didn't win any awards, but Mr. Vadah was impressed with how well Aubree did.  Amongst the kids that competed at the junior level, Aubree scored at the exact middle individually!  We are so proud of her!  Because of how well she did, Mr. Vadah told her that next year for math, they will figure out the schedules so that he can be her geometry teacher, and she can still be in math class with the kids she's been with this year.  We are so blessed to be at a school that is capable of catering so well to our children's needs!

Change is good!

Just realized I never posted this.  I wrote it in January.  I thought I'd post it rather than delete it.

The kids went back to school this last week after 3 whole weeks of break.  It was long.  It was BORING (or so I heard every few minutes).  And it made me realize what a difference 5 months can make.  For 12 years, I had a child home with me at least part of every day.  It was fun and not hard to find things to do and keep us occupied.  We had play dates, we went to the library, we wandered stores.  When the big kids had breaks from school, we'd go visit family in other states.  It was FUN!
Several things happened this past August.  One - we moved across the ocean to Macedonia.  Two - my baby started kindergarten.  Having all three children in school has given me freedom to do whatever I want during the day.  I can go back to sleep after they get on the bus.  I can clean the house in the morning, and it stays clean until at least 3:00.  I can go out to lunch, or the market, or sightseeing with friends.  I have more adult conversations during the day than ever before!  It's incredible!  And when they get home from school, I love helping them with their homework and hearing about their day.  On the weekends we go out as a family, and explore and have fun.
We had a one week Fall Break, during which time we drove to Istanbul, had TONS of fun with the Donadieu family, and saw a part of the world I NEVER would have thought I would see.  We've been to Greece a couple times.  We have met some incredible people over here that will be friends forever.  I love that we are able to live the kind of life that most people only dream about.
But there are some things that are hard.  While we were able to share Christmas with good friends, we didn't have any family around, and had to wait until late afternoon to Skype with them.  It's difficult to keep in touch regularly when the time difference is so big.  I miss talking with my sisters whenever I want to.  Also, we go to church in someone's house.  Luckily, there is another family with kids around the same ages, but there's usually only 10-15 people that attend each Sunday.  It's really hard work being in a church group that is so small, but I know that all of us have grown spiritually since we've been here.  (Going back to a 3-hour block this summer, though, is going to be HARD!!!)
The new year has started, and we've got a whole year to look forward to.  Nick is starting to read.  Chris is working on his Bear in Cub Scouts.  Aubree is blossoming into a beautiful young woman.  Mike enjoys his job overall, and I love that I get to be a part of it all.  I am looking forward to the experiences that are yet to come, and can't wait to share them with the people I love!

I love reading!

But more importantly, my children love reading.  You know what one of the coolest things there is about being a mom?  Listening to your kindergartner read a book.  The next coolest thing?  Listening to your kindergartner, 3rd, and 7th grader read Macedonian.  It's so fun to watch them grow intellectually!!!