The Chambers Park Place in Leeds, UK

Drivers in Britain are crazy! Especially taxi drivers. Getting from the airport to our apartment was definitely an interesting experience. Some of the two lane roads are the same size as our one lane/one way roads. And when another car comes in the opposite direction, they don't slow down and barely move over to pass. Emily, come ride in a taxi here and then try to tell me I'm an aggressive driver. hehe.

When I first walked into our flat, I came into a little entry way.

 They have key cards to open the door from the outside. When you come in you have to place the key card in a slot to activate the light switches. It's kind of cool actually, because you can turn on all the lights at once when you get in. Then when you go to bed you can turn off each light individually with the switch.

The bedroom is really small but cute.

 The comforter is soooo thick and soft.
There's even a t.v.

 and a teeny tiny closet with 5 hangers and only four 12 x 12 shelves.

The kitchen is the most interesting place in the apartment.

The refrigerator is the door on the bottom to the far right. The dishwasher is just to left of the oven. It's very small. There are some neat hidden drawers in the two smaller middle compartments. There's plenty of space in the upper cabinets. It's not as well stocked with pots and pans as I would like, especially for baking, but I will see if I can find some measuring cups and maybe a hand mixer so I can do a little baking while we're here.

Here's the bathroom.

This is all pretty normal except the way you flush the toilet. It's the silver buttons just above it.

The shower head is pretty good but the water doesn't stay warm very long in the evenings. In the mornings it will last 25 to 30 minutes but in the evening it only lasts 10 to 15, even if we haven't used it all day. We had them check it out but they said it's working fine. You have to keep the shower head pointed almost straight down otherwise water gets all over the floor. Even with it straight down water builds up on the ledge.

There's a towel warmer! You just have to make sure to turn it on before you get in the shower because it takes a little while to warm up.

The living room and dining room are pretty nice.

There's also a patio but I think its mainly for smokers. I doubt we'll be using it much since it's so cold.

Here's the two in one washer/dryer.

It's about 1/3 or 1/4 the size of our washers and dryers and it takes about 3 or 4 times as long to complete the washing and drying process. I can hear it in the background as I write this post lol.

My parents will be pleased to know we've been watching a lot of Top Gear. It's a really funny British show about cars. Sometimes they do strange challenges, like driving from Florida to Louisiana in really old beat up cars. We've also been watching a lot of Big Bang Theory. They show several American shows over here. Ronnie and Aimee were really nice to let us hook a Slingbox up to their t.v. That way we can watch their cable on the computer.

Overall I think this will be a great place to live for the next 7 weeks. There will be a few things we'll have to get used to but that's ok. We'll have to start all over when we go to Celle in December hehe.

Check back tomorrow for a post about our first day trip to York!

Janelle

Crazy Hectic... but Fun!

I never thought I would start a blog because I was sure I would be awful at posting consistently. Plus I'm not the most eloquent or witty writer. Well, enough exciting things have been happening in my and Daniel's life that I'll go ahead and give it a try. :)

Everything started last December when Daniel graduated with his Master's Degree from Texas Tech and accepted an engineering job at Cameron in Houston. I left my job as a teacher in Lubbock and we moved to Houston in January. One of the really exciting parts of Daniel's new job was that he would be completing part of his training in Europe. In April, when we found out that we would be going overseas at the end of October, I thought the time would never come. I didn't realize how busy I would be in September and October at the time.

The first big adventure was helping my sister, Emily, move to Washington D.C. She graduated from Tech in May and knew that she wanted to work in D.C. My dad, sister, and I took 2 and half days to drive up to there and move her in. We also went to a Husker watch party that night for the Wisconsin game but I'd prefer not to discuss how that went, hehe. The next morning, my dad and I left and Emily was all alone to fend for herself. I'm really excited for her and proud that she made the decision to go even though it's so far from home.

After moving Emily to D.C., I was faced with the daunting task of making my first wedding cake for one of my best friend's wedding. I'm so happy I got to be a part of Allyson and Billy's wedding. It was truly beautiful and I know they're going to have a lot of wonderful things to look forward to in New Mexico. I was really happy with the way the wedding cake came out and I'm looking forward to more and more practice for the bakery I'd eventually like to own.

The weekend after Allyson's wedding I went to Lubbock for a much needed visit with friends. I was so excited to see all my Mary Kay and teacher friends in Lubbock. I was really happy to be leaving the city when we moved but I was so sad to leave the people. Luckily, I came at the perfect time to help a great friend celebrate a milestone birthday. My wonderful friend and fellow Husker/Raider fan, Jessica, turned 30 and we had a great weekend hanging out and celebrating. I miss her and my other friends in Lubbock so much and can't wait for the next time I get to see them.

When I returned from Lubbock, Daniel and I had so much to do to get out of our apartment and put our stuff in storage. It was a pain to deal with banks, the post office, movers, the apartment complex, and the cell phone company, but we finally got everything in order for our long trip overseas.

Before I left for Europe I had two more important "side" trips to take. The first was to Indiana for my other best friends wedding. Brittany and Ernie's wedding was just as beautiful as Allyson's and I was so excited I had more time to spend with both of them. I also loved getting to know Brittany's kids even better. They are so cute and ridiculously funny.

I came straight to D.C. from Indiana to visit my sister before I finally head to Europe to join Daniel. I've had a great couple of days with Emily. Yesterday, we went to Mt. Vernon, the new MLK Memorial, and a delicious burger place called Good Stuff Eatery. Today, we saw the Library of Congress, the American History Museum, the White House, and got cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake (the place from the show D.C. cupcakes on TLC!). I'm sad to say bye to Emily tomorrow but can't wait to meet up with Daniel.

For the next 7 weeks, Daniel and I will be in Leeds, England. Then we'll be spending 6 weeks in Celle, Germany, followed by 8 more weeks in Berwick, Louisiana before we finally head back to Houston. I'm really excited about all the travel opportunities we'll have while we're in Europe. The main reason I'm starting this blog is to keep track of all the great places we'll be able to visit.

We hope that everyone will keep in touch with us even though we won't be able to text or call on our phones. We will have Skype (daniel.steves & janelle.steves), facebook, this blog, and email (steves772@gmail.com & janelle.steves@gmail.com) as ways to keep in touch.

Also, if you need any Mary Kay products while I am gone I will still be able to fulfill orders so please send me an email or place an order through the website, www.marykay.com/janelle.steves, and I'll contact you to iron out the details.

I'm really excited about our trip and blog and can't wait to share it with all of you!

Janelle