Lovage

Just got back from a craft group at the University. It was a fun group of women who were mostly knitting, I myself am finishing a crocheted blanket that I've been working on for over a year. I was told by one of the older English ladies that I will knit next since I will have people to learn from-sounds like a good plan. There are other new mothers there too.  Fun mix of women from around the world. I love that there are older English ladies there.

One of the best parts about traveling (maybe not the right word for my situation) is sitting around with others talking about cultural differences (guess that is why I enjoyed studying Anthropology). Well gee, half of my blog is about these differences...anyway today I learned about lovage, a herb, very often used in soups. Tastes similar to celery. It is grown here, a couple of the English women said they grew it in their gardens, but you won't find it at the store. My friend Tina said it is widely used in Germany. So when I got home I got good ol' wikipedia out to read up on it.  Which led to learning about the spice ajwain which lead to ghee which lead to anglosphere, oh wiki. 

Back to lovage and ajwain, and all the herbs and spices in the world- so complex. There are different names for the same plants, but then names that are similar for different plants (this was the case in the southern Appalachians for rhododendrons and laurel plants- very confusing). Then the uses of plants in cooking and for medicinal purposes, internationally- wow what a neat world that could be to drive into. I'll be lucky to remember lovage and that it is only second to capers for the amount of quercetin (a flavonoid). If I could see the wizard of oz about a new hippocampus, maybe herbs would be what I'd venture into or maybe even later when mommy life is calmer.

Walking to the Walker

Our big adventure yesterday was to pick up (collect) a walker I saw for sale on gumtree.com, which is used here instead of craig's list. Juniper, Kirby and I walked an hour (2.5 miles) across Cambridge to an area I hadn't been yet. It took a bit longer than planned because we tried to turn a block early to avoid a busy intersection, but you have to be very careful with such moves here as to not end up on a dead end or blocked by a gate. This has happened on a few occasions, particulary when roaming around one of the colleges at the university. Side note: Cambridge University is made of about 33 colleges. You become a part of a college for social life, the pub, housing, sports, formal dinners, and this kind of thing- just like Gryfindor or Hufflepuff in Harry Potter. Kirby is in Darwin College which is all graduate students, about 650 of them. Some colleges are as small as 50 or 200 and have mixed undergrad and grads. Then depending on your program of study you are a part of a department, like US colleges, but these are seperate than the colleges- unlike the US. Kirby is in the Dept. of Land Economy. I explain this because it took me a while to get it, and I explain it now because each college has its own buildings and grounds.  The big ones such as Kings College, have guards (men in robes) at the gates only letting particular people through. Sometimes University students can get where visitors can't and other times only college members are allowed in. Anyway we have gotten lost and trapped in them and asked to leave.
Getting back on track, we took a long walk to get this walker. We had almost rented a flat even further from the city center than we went that day. Good thing we didn't because it is really far away! Then it started to heavily rain as we reached the person's house and Juniper was waking from her nap, so we needed to take a break. Where else to go? Pizza Hut. Kirby hadn't had pizza since he left, so we had a nice, expensive pizza. We had it while we were in India once too (Pizza Hut is a fancy restaurant in India). Actually that may have been the last time I had been to one- six years ago. British Pizza Hut has only two sizes- individual and share. "Share" is like a medium. They serve beer at Pizza Hut here and we wondered whether they do that in the states.
It was time to head 2.5 miles back home. I've got to get used to walking in the rain anyways. The walker was well worth it and most of the walk was through various parks. Juniper was immediately excited to play with it. And the next night, she figured out how to cross the room to get to her mama!

Runny Nose

Nothing different about having a cold in England :( Harder having a little one that wants to eat (or just suckle, not sure which) all night long so as mummy gets no sleep on top of a cold. At least her beautiful smile can make me forget.

Washer Dryer

Do people in the US have machines that both wash and dry? Or what about renting washing machines? I am not quite sure the answer to either. My guess would be yes and yes, but not frequently.
Well we got a washer dryer installed in the kitchen today, one machine that does both. In the kitchen is where people that live in flats have their washers, which is many of the folks here. It ain't cheap to rent, but it beats lugging dirty diapers (nappies) in the stroller to the college to do it. Cheaper than buying diapers also, barely- in the US it might not be, but diapers cost more here at least where I looked. 
You have to take out half the clothes to do the drying. It doesn't have a vent like a normal tumble dryer as they call them here. The washing and drying cycles take a lot longer, which makes me curious how much we are using in electricity. We will find out in the next bill, but I won't have a bill without it to compare to, maybe that is good.
It sounds a bit like a jet and shakes the whole kitchen. I bet the people down stairs are cursing us now!
Kirby is right, this a bit of a boring second post, BUT I am excited to have this washer especially since we started feeding Juniper today AND she started blowing bubbles- two things that are already creating lots of laundry. Mummies gotta have the right equipment to do their job and I must do it Cambridge style.

Arriving In Cambridge

Overall,  travelling alone with Juniper wasn't bad. The flight was empty and the airplane noise muffled any little cries she had. At 4 1/2 months she is happy just being in mama's lap, awake or asleep, which is actually starting to be a bit of an issue. From what I hear from other mothers, I should enjoy it while I can. That is part of the specialness of this year in Cambridge for me: to give my full attention (as much as a person can) to Juniper.
At the end of the 7 hour flight I got a few comments on how they never heard a peep from her. I managed to use the airplane toilet with her in my lap a couple times. Yeah, I could have asked a flight attendant for help, but we were already in there to change her (one toilet had a changing table in it luckily). She did a big poopers right after takeoff so we had to wait 45 minutes to reach 30,000 ft and the silly seatbelt light to be turned off.
I didn't really manage to get any sleep from 3am that morning until 3am the next morning. (Thanks for joining me at 3am and bringing me to the airport Dad!) Still didn't get much the night we arrived either. After we met up with Juni's daddy at the airport (so happy to see his little girl after three weeks), we had fun carrying a baby, a stroller (pram/buggy), and three large pieces of luggage (only one with wheels) up an escalator and onto the Tube. We traveled an hour on the Underground to Kings Station.We then ran to catch the last train to Cambridge with 2 minutes to spare, and only because a customs agent at Heathrow let all the people with children skip the hour+ line(queue). On the train a really nice lady gave us her seat, and then later she handed me a note of all kinds of info to help me get around Cambridge with a baby (she was a mother of two young ones). Then another couple hours on the train and taxi to our guest room at Darwin College at Cambridge University.  This is when our good little pumpkin realized she was overtired and in a foreign place and decided to cry and scream inconsolably. It would have not been so bad, except we weren't suppose to have a baby in the guest rooms!  She finally fell asleep. I slept in some strange position as to not disturb her. All-in-all, not too bad. I didn't feel stressed until maybe a little that last moment, but what is a mother to do? Welcome to Cambridge mum!