Arriving in Cambridge

Firstly, I appologize for the lack of photos in this post.  Having finished our summer of wandering Europe, our time recently has involved many other "real life" tasks that have distracted me from capturing the beauty of this city.  I promise that once my camera is fixed (which is happening now!  I had to send it away), I will venture out and take loads of pictures.  I can already tell that this city offers some great photo opportunities.

I can't believe we're here.  I can't believe that the summer has passed and that we've made our way up to England.  It's crazy to look back on our lives these past couple months and think of all the places we've been and all we've seen.  What a great summer!!  However, I do have to admit, when we finally arrived in England we were completely content with the fact that we'll be staying here for a while.  And though we of course have been welcomed already with a fair share of rain and cloudy days, we already feel like we have really arrived "home".  For one, English is the first spoken language here.  Secondly, we've already connected with some people that have made us feel like this is where we should be.

Now, where to begin.  Since being in Cambridge (it's now been over two weeks!  Well, that went fast), we've found a place to live, accumulated two flat mates Tom and Emma, purchased bikes, have met a handful of wonderful people, and Zack has begun his teaching career.  Pretty good for two weeks, eh?  We've also been sorting out other details such as bank accounts, UK phone numbers, national insurance numbers, etc.  FUN stuff (but really not at all).  I had this picture perfect view in my mind that moving to Cambridge would be all fun and lovely.  We'd find a flat right away (with victorian charm and a garden to grow our vegetables. Obviously.) and be able to enjoy the last bit of our summer exploring our new city, picnicking in parks and taking photos.  Yes, we've been able to explore, and did have a picnic one day, but the stresses of not having anywhere to live and realizing that our rent will essentially cost double than what we were paying at home definitely had some negative pulls on our emotions.  On top of that, setting up bank accounts and insurance numbers (so that I can legally work) were other small tasks that made me wish I could go back to being a nomad.... 

We started our apartment/flat search immediately once getting to England.  I can't say I enjoyed this.  I felt like we were always racing to make appointments to see a flat, and then we'd find out either it was snatched up already, the landlord didn't want a couple living there, or it was just a dump.  Who knew that an entire kitchen could be enclosed inside one cabinet?  Or that a room can be classified as a "bedroom" simply if you can slide a single bed in there.  Yes, this happens.  Cambridge is a very sought after place to live, so you can find some dives of places that still cost a pretty penny.  We had broadened our search to not just one bedroom and studio flats, to sharing a house with others.  This seems to be more common here, for working professionals to share living accomodations.  So, in a moment of desperation, I fired off a reply to an online ad posted by a girl named Emma.  Her and her boyfriend, Tom, were looking for a place to live in Cambridge.  She had posted a photo of the two of them, and a brief description of themselves.  Turns out, we hit it off quite well, and after meeting up for coffee, we decided we'd search for a two or three bedroom flat for the four of us.  A few days later, we found the place we are now living in (though we still weren't able to move in right away.  Leaving us yet again, homeless for the next week).  The location is perfect- right across the train tracks from the train station, so it is perfect for Zack's commute to work (he is actually working in a small town 30 minutes north of here).  It is in a newer building, and the flat is more modern than what I had envisioned, but I think we'll really like it here.  Though the view from our balcony isn't very green or lush, we get to watch the trains go by (and through the cleaning station.. how exciting!) and watch people get on and off the platform at the station (we will be avid train spotters by the end of our time here, haha).  There is also a cycle bridge that goes over the tracks to the station that we were told holds a guinness world record for the longest cycle bridge!  Pretty cool.  Below is a photo of our balcony:

During this time of apartment searching, we bounced around living in different places around Cambridge.  We first stayed at an Airbnb, with a man named Richard.  Richard immediately immersed us in the English culture by handing us cups of tea and sitting down with us to chat while he waited out the rain (so that he could go to his cricket match.  Go figure).  During this time we discovered the cows of Cambridge.  There are literally cows roaming in small pastures right in the city. It is not uncommon to pass a cow just munching away on grass while you cycle into the city centre, and we found this quite amusing.  

After bidding our farewells to Richard, we were lucky to have our friend that we met in Austria host us for the next 5 days or so.  As we continued our search for housing, we enjoyed her garden and she even showed us the way of making Yorkshire pudding.  And the last place we stayed, was a small Inn above a pub here in town, where we were lulled to sleep by the bands playing downstairs.  Zack actually went in for his training day while we were still living here, and so at this point we were just dying to get into our flat.  We finally moved in on Zack's first day of teaching (the timing really could not have been worse), and spent the first night with no running water, and since then have been struggling to get hot water (showers have not been the most enjoyable).  But hey, it's all in the experience right?  Tom and Emma are super easy going and we seem to mesh really well in our living situation.  We are working on the small issues, but other than that we are really liking our flat.  It came mostly furnished, and Tom and Emma have equipped our kitchen with dishes, pots, pans, etc.  It is a weird feeling going from having all of that stuff at home (and having our own apartment) to coming here with nothing more than our clothing and small personal belongings.  We are so thankful to have met Tom and Emma.

We've also checked out a church since being here, which has opened so many doors.  We've already connected with many people of all different ages, and even found ourselves at Stuart and Sues house (a sweet couple older than our parents age) on the edge of town, picking berries and playing with their pooch, Cassie.  We've met people native to Cambridge, and also people from the US, Germany, Scotland, and even a couple Canadians!  We were invited to lunch a number of times, and have recently connected with a German/Canadian couple who share a lot of similar interests.  Never have I met so many people open to beginning new friendships.  It is so refreshing and inspiring all at once- it assures me in knowing that this is where we are supposed to be this year.

As for Mr. Reimer, the Mathematics teacher...  I can't be more proud of him.  I have not had the time of day to even start my search for work, and he is already right there in the classroom, teaching 8 different classes ranging from ages 11-18.  It is definitely a challenge to not only begin his first year as a full time teacher, but to get used to an entirely different school system.  The system here is quite rigid, and there seems to be a right and wrong way to do everything (there are even guidelines to how he decides to assign homework).  The kids are still kids though, and I think Zack is the perfect fit to make the classroom just a little more exciting :)

So there you have it, what we've been up to for the past couple weeks.  There's no way I could just let my blog writing slip through the cracks.  We are already planning a few little trips to other places we've never been to on Zack's term breaks.  Weekends also hold the potential for more adventure... you'll just have to wait and see where this chapter of Zack and Sarah's life will bring them. :)

Here are a few photos I've snapped around the city (of course I have at least a few..)

This is the River Cam.  To the right you see part of Cambridge University.

You can see many "punters" out on the river.  You can rent these boats, or pay for a guided tour.  I have yet to experience this.

Part of the University of Cambridge.  Our friend Cat gave us a nice little tour :)

We used these telephone booths before we had our UK phone number, haha.

The downtown market.

My bike :)