Pounds, Sheep and Apple Cider

We have now been in England for four days and it already feels like I got off that airplane weeks ago. The plane ride wasn't too bad, but we were told to sleep as much as we could and that was only about two hours for me.  Getting off the plane was when our adventure began.  Five college students lugging around two 50 pound suitcases each had to be a humorous sight to see, I know I was laughing the whole time.  From the airport, we arrived at RAF Lakenheath, which is the big base, and got our military IDs and some groceries at the commissary.  Then, we headed to our base (RAF Feltwell) which is a smaller base with an elementary school and middle school on it.  On our way here, we saw many beautiful fields and fields full of sheep! The students are pretty much the only people we see.  Ever. Besides the guards at the gate.  It is pretty deserted here, but it is beautiful and there is a lot of history behind it.  We each have two dorm rooms that connect, although one of my rooms is used for storage, so I only have one, but that's okay! 

On Friday, we went to all of the schools to visit with everyone's principals and mentor teachers.  I have to say, I have never met more friendly, welcoming people in my life.  We were told earlier this year that the DoDDs (Department of Defense) community is like one big family, and I definitely felt that after one day of meeting all of these people.  We had so many people offering to give us rides anytime, have us over for dinner, and even let us use their classrooms to watch OSU football games during the weekends! After we visited the schools, we did a big grocery shopping trip to the commissary and Dr. Buckner dropped us back off at our dorms while he went out to dinner.  We decided to take a little adventure to Feltwell village, which is a small town right next to our base, but takes about 45 minutes to walk to.  We went to a restaurant called "The Chequers," where we had our first experience of being fully submerged in the British culture.  We had some yummy food and paid with pounds for the first time.  We are still trying to figure out the currency here, but so far I know they use pounds and pints. Today, one pound is equal to $1.58. We went to the pub next to the restaurant and stuck out like a sore thumb (our new favorite phrase).  It was a local pub, so everyone new everyone, except us. 

Yesterday was probably the longest day and jet lag got to me.  We got up early and one of the principals took us to a small cafe called La Houge.  It was in the middle of a field of beautiful flowers and they had something comparable to a farmer's market going on around it.  The food was amazing.  Everything was made with fresh ingredients.  I had quiche and coleslaw, and I'm not a coleslaw lover, but this food was so delicious!  We then walked around tasting many different things such as wine, fudge, posh pop (carbonated juices), and apple cider.  The apple cider was organic, but we were warned that it was different than American apple cider..the difference was that it had 7.5% alcohol, it was strong! 

From there, we went back to RAF Lakenheath (the big base with everything on it) and left our professor and began the adventure of being on our own.  We decided to stay on this base all day and get a ride home from someone.  We took a tip to the exchange, which is like Dillards, Best Buy, and Walmart mixed in one.  There is also a food court and some little shops inside.  I actually met the mother of one of my students there and she offered to give us rides anywhere because she has a SUV and lives on our base.  When it got later, we headed to a place called the Liberty Club, which is a bar that had football games on! Unfortunately OSU started too late for us to see that game. It got really busy and we met lots of men in the Air Force and we ended up dancing the night away! It is great to have a "home away from home" on the base.  To end our night, we met some nice British military men, and of course we had to get our picture with them.

They look pretty fashionable, huh? The even have spurs on their boots!  When we asked them if we could take a picture, they responded "It's because of our trousers, isn't it?" Gotta love the British culture.

Sorry for the long post, hopefully I'll update more often so that my posts aren't this long!