Flashback, pt.1: Moving into Bristol

Thought I'd go back in time and catch you up on our move into the Bristol apartment. Our container arrived the end of August and the goods were delivered Sept 2. Ian was working so my in-laws came and spent the day helping out (thanks Mum and Dad!). Things were off to a promising start when the lorry (truck) driver arrived on time with the container. However, they had put a 20' container on a 40' truck bed, which meant the driver couldn't navigate the narrow roads to actually deliver directly to our building. So, the unpacking crew had to shuttle our boxes from the container (parked down the street) to the building using their small van. It took three trips in all, and amounted to much more lifting and carrying for them. But they did a great job and I was pleased. They unpacked everything except a dozen or so boxes of books/kitchen goods/knick-knacks and fragile stuff - as there was no place to put those items until I had put away the rest of the stuff. I spent the rest of the week unpacking the remainder. Here are some pictures of the day (well, at least of all the boxes) - enjoy!





Oh, I almost forgot to mention that our unfurnished apartment was lacking not only in furniture (as expected), but also in appliances!! So we had to buy a fridge (being delivered above) and washing machine in the first week as well. We decided not to get a dryer, so all laundry gets line-dried. There is a funky clothesline apparatus in the bathroom that is getting much use now that it's too cold to hang the clothes outside. And while I'm thinking of it... washing clothes in the UK is a bit different. First, all the cycles on the washing machine are _very_ long. 70 min is typical! (There is a fast-wash option which is only 50 min). Second, there are a million wash cycle choices!! I have to look at the list of programs before each load I wash 'cause I haven't gotten the hang of it yet. But, the best feature is by far the delay timer. I can delay the start of a wash cycle for 2 h, 4 h or 9 h. This comes in very handy as I don't have time for the long wash cycles most weekdays, and I don't want to spend an entire Saturday just doing laundry. So I've found that I can load the machine at night (by 9 pm), delay it for 9 h, and the wash will be done by 7 am. Then it's just hang the clothes to dry and head out the door for school. Not bad, eh?

Cold ! ! !

Well, it is officially winter here in England. Woke up yesterday to the first frost of the season and by the end of the day the temperature had dipped to below freezing. Spoke with Ian while I was waiting for a bus home and he said it had snowed (!) in St. Albans. (I didn't believe him, but he sent a picture from his iPhone to prove it.) So this morning I dutifully turned on my central heating. The apartment is a bit drafty, which we will try to sort out this coming weekend, but it's not too bad as I can shut the doors to all the rooms and sleep quite comfortably under my duvet. :)

Hope it's warm where you are!
cheers.

I finally have internet!!

Hi friends,

My apologies for not updating this blog in the last month, but sadly it has taken that long to get internet into our Bristol apartment. And I haven't wanted to use internet at the university for personal stuff too much. But I can now start posting all these fun things that have been happening to catch you up on life across the pond.

A couple quick things that you may or may not be aware of....

First, it was brought to my attention that not everyone reading this blog may be aware of why exactly I have moved to England. Ian and I moved here so that I could pursue a PhD in Chemistry at the University of Bristol with Varinder Aggarwal. The program is three years long and should be quite challenging. My initial project is applying the Aggarwal group's lithiated carbamate/ boronic ester homolgation methodology towards the total synthesis of the natural product kalkitoxin. Translation for the non-chemists: the group has developed a methodology, or way of making, new carbon-carbon bonds that I will use to make a particular molecule (named kalkitoxin). This will demonstrate how useful the method is and we will publish the results in a chemistry journal (if all goes well). For those of you who are keen to read all about it, here is a journal reference that explains the methodology: Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2007, 46, 7491. Another reason for studying in England rather than in the US is that Bristol is close to both Ian's parents (Weston-super-Mare) and his sister (Glouster). Ian's brother is just a short plane ride away in the Canary Islands. So we are looking forward to spending time with the Hallett clan over the next three years.

Second, Ian was working for the now-bancrupt Lehman Brothers firm in London. His division has been bought by the Japanese bank Numora. Ian received a contract with Numora, so we have some stability short-term with that. Obviously, things aren't settled in the financial industry, so we are trusting God for provision with this whole situation. Ian keeps sending me emails about job openings for snowboard instructors ... alas England is not known for its mountain ranges! (There is an indoor ski slope in Milton Keynes - we may just have to check it out for a laugh. I'll definitely post something if we do!)

More posts and pics soon!
Cheers! :)