by Laura | Apr 5, 2013 | Bradford, family, fitness, UK
Kagi and I had a really exciting week last week. There are lots of stories to be told, and although it is no longer lent so I probably won’t be blogging daily, I’ll try to tell them.
First, I’ll tell about the climax of our week. In the autumn,
+Kara and Forrest blessed us with a gift of a night at a bed and breakfast where they spent a night while in England. Kagi and I were looking forward to using it for months, but obviously needed to wait until I got back to use it. It worked perfectly to take a few days in the Dales during the university’s Easter break.
Kagi also arranged with Jako and Anneke and their family to visit and coincide with our trip so we could get a day out together. They stayed with us on Sunday evening and then Monday morning we headed out, planning to meet them at Bolton Abby.
We rode our bikes down to the train station about a mile from home and took the train to Ilkley, a beautiful town on the edge of the Dales. From there, we rode our bikes to Bolton Abby.
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| Our cycle route from Ilkley to Bolton Abby. It’s about 7 miles, and thankfully mostly down hill. |
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| On some of the Abby ruins, next to the main part and looking at the main house. I believe all of this belongs to the Duchess of Devonshire. We had a picnick here. It was nice but it was unbelievably cold. |
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| Kagi skipping rocks near the Abby. |
After our lunch, Kagi and I headed off on our bikes toward the bed and breakfast. Here is the route we took:
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| It was about 20 miles to our destination. |
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| I loved this — a solitary ewe with her lamb in the Dales. |
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| When we came upon this Kagi and I did a little exploring. It’s a very old ruined building. |
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| One view of the inside. |
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| We think this was a defensive tower from some of the signs we saw around. |
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| I thought the flower boxes in the walls were interesting. Between them and the fire places you can imagine what this might have been like. |
We continued cycling, and at one point were held up by the traffic:
Finally, exhausted but very happy, we arrived at the Tudor House. The owner served us tea with brownies and a dessert bar, and we decided to spend the evening in. We really enjoyed being there!
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| Our room. |
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| Fresh flowers on the window sill. |
In the morning, we had an absolutely wonderful breakfast made from local produce which included everything you could imagine. We enjoyed our time eating and then relaxed again before heading on our way.
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| The B&B owner recommended the scenic route back to civilization. It was beautiful… |
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| And then we came upon a little problem since we had bikes. |
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| But the only option was to keep going at that point! |
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| I know… looking cool! |
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| Eventually, we made it back to the main route. We rode along this canal for 10-15 miles before getting on a train toward home. |
It was a really nice trip, and it was also nice to get home and rest up:-)!
by Laura | Mar 27, 2013 | American, Bradford, Laura (me), UK
Today has been very busy, and very good. This is my first moment which hasn’t been very relational and/or active since waking this morning. It’s 10pm and I’m tired but happy and thankful for good food, great friends, and a good-crazy kind of day.
This morning Kagi and I woke up, had our breakfast, and prepared for a day in the city. We walked the 2.5 miles to the Discovery Centre (where Global Cafe is headquartered and Kagi used to live) through freezing wind and stinging snowfall. There, I helped Kagi with his weekly cleaning job. Because both of us were working quickly, we finished in about an hour and booked it down to the City Centre.
In the heart of Bradford, we met with our friend Ben who has been a very good friend to me since I first came here. He was even there the day Kagi and I met. Now Ben lives in Finland, and I am so glad we took the rare opportunity to hang out during his visit to Bradford this week. It was especially fun to hear how God has been answering prayers that we have been praying since meeting almost three years ago, and to share stories with someone whose journey of faith makes Kagi and my last few years look relatively simple. We are so encouraged by Ben and I am reminded what a blessing he has been to me. Although we have never seen him all that often it does seem that Bradford is missing something without him here.
After that meeting, we went back to the Discovery Centre for an amazing Spanish lunch prepared by our friend Juanma’s parents. It was so fun to meet his family and to spend time with international students and other team members. In our multi/inter-cultural lives, Global Cafe provides a community which feels more like home to both of us… sometimes even more than we feel at home in our countries of origin. For me, it is a reminder of my beloved International Friendship Club in Maryland.
Following lunch, Shell, the leader of Global Cafe, took me with her on her trip to Costco! I blogged about strangely missing Costco way back in this post. Finding out there is one near Bradford was very exciting news for me, and I was not disappointed on my trip there today. It was really nice to hang out with Shell, first of all. She shares my love for Jesus and for cultures, and is someone I have really enjoyed getting to know over the past few years. Today I found out that her husband who is also from Southern Africa is a “meatetarian,” like mine. She has offered to help me find ways to feed Kagi without going broke, which (especially after recently instituting a new budget) I am very excited about!
Costco was also much more similar to the Costco in the States than I was expecting. They have most of the same items and kept the prices about the same as they would be in USD but just made them in GBP, which makes everything about 1.6 times more expensive. Compared to importing these items myself or paying the supermarket price for these American staples which are considered luxury items here, the prices were great. I bought things like Kirkland almonds, a big tub of crunchy peanut butter, a big tub of salsa, and Costco bagels. They also have the big bags of Crasins and affordable vanilla which was a thrilling discovery even though I decided to hold off until I have a little more in the budget another time. It was laid-out and looked just like it does in the States.
As we were leaving the store at about 4, I glanced at my iPhone to see a message my dad sent me about the staff meeting I was prepared to join at 5pm via Skype. I had told Shell about it and planned to be home in plenty of time for it. However, while reading my dad’s email I realized that I forgot that the daylight savings time changes earlier in the States than in England. We are only 7 hours ahead instead of the usual 8. While kicking myself for being late, I realized that, not only had I not realized the time change, I also had mis-calculated. 8am is 8 hours before 4pm, not 5pm. I was both sorry and embarrassed about this clumsy mistake. I sent an email as we headed home.
To keep this story from going on forever, I’ll just say that Kagi and I ultimately got home at about 5:30 after traffic and a few other delays. We unexpectedly had a few of the guys from church come home with us, which was a lovely surprise. I figured out that I had totally missed my call and set to hanging out with them, preparing dinner, and having some great conversations.
There is more, but I guess for today I’ll leave it at that!
by Laura | Mar 25, 2013 | American, business, conflict, culture, England, UK
I’m not sure if the
Starbucks Tax Scandal has made the news in the States, but it is a big deal here in the UK. It won’t surprise many of you that Starbucks comes up in my conversations fairly frequently (since I love coffee and like Starbucks a lot). So, for the last six months, every time it comes up I have heard a little more about the scandal. I actually don’t know tons about it, but apparently Starbucks took advantage of a tax loophole and has not been paying income tax in the UK. There have been protests and boycotts. It’s big news.
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| What my siblings and I call the “Green Circle of Pleasure,” just the sight of which gets the serotonin flowing! |
My immediate question the first time I heard this was, “So wait, did they do something illegal?” to which the answer was, “No.”
Americans think very differently about taxes than Brits do.
This difference is something I am convinced is deeply true, and this is just one small example. American companies’ first obligation is to their stakeholders, particularly their customers, employees, and shareholders. They are, obviously, bound to obey the law, but I don’t think many Americans would consider it immoral to not pay taxes which are not required by law.
In England, though, this is a very different thing. In the UK, taxes are used for things which people highly value, like the National Health Service (NHS) and benefits meant to create equal opportunities. There is an expectation that the State can and should care for its citizens and a high value for government programs.
We (typically) feel so differently about this in the States. I realize that I come from a conservative background in America, and I also realize that I live in a particularly liberal part of the UK. But even with this acknowledgement, I think that there are longstanding cultural value differences stemming back to the founding of our various nations.
In a monarchy, there is an expectation for the king or queen to take care of his/her people. My theory is that this translates much more easily into a state with large and strong social services, because whether or not it works perfectly the people have a value system which allows for this. And because the system is relatively consistent with the values of the population people feel comfortable making it work. Paying taxes is a huge part of making the system work. Starbucks, therefore, seems to have committed a moral wrong in the perspective of the British value system.
However, we Americans have a very high value for individual achievement and we tend to distrust large structures, especially the government or those mandated by the government. I think this goes back to the American Revolution, the outcry against “taxation without representation,” and the entire political system that developed out of that. We tend to think more about keeping it in check than in making sure it gets its dues. If there is a tax loophole, we all want to know about it so we all can take advantage of it. I think this is why tax accounting is such a huge business. We figure that it is the government’s responsibility to close up the loopholes (we probably would consider if immoral if they don’t). I have every expectation that the companies I invest in are not paying taxes that they don’t need to. I would be very unhappy if they were.
I find it interesting that a company like Starbucks, which has a reputation of taking the high moral ground on issues like health insurance for part-time employees and etc, has ended up in this scandal. I think that it is a very interesting matter of cultural value mis-match. I am guessing that they never saw the public outcry coming.
For me personally, it is another reminder of the difficulties of cross-cultural living. There are phenomenal opportunities to have our values and expectations challenged. Maybe what I’ve always thought isn’t actually right after all. Or maybe what I thought was an absolute is actually more a matter of opinion. Or maybe my culture is right on this thing or that, and I need to remain committed to it even when it’s not popular in another context.
It’s kind of nice to know that massive companies commit cross-cultural faux pas too. Somehow, it makes mine feel a little more understandable.
by Laura | Mar 20, 2013 | Bradford, business, UK
Today I spent most of the afternoon in a “charity shop” which one of the other young ladies from my home group manages. It was a nice afternoon in the fairly small, one-room shop.
I think this must be what Goodwill stores were like originally, but I’m not sure. Thrift stores in the States are very different than charity shops in the UK. This one is owned by a network of local churches who give out the proceeds from the shop as well as additional funds they steward to local charities. They provide a service to the low-income residents of the neighboring community by offering low cost clothing and household items.
The shop has one part-time manager and is otherwise run by volunteers. Most of them are ladies who volunteer once or several times a week.
This is definitely a part of the British culture. There are small charity shops all over. I find it interesting.
by Laura | Mar 19, 2013 | Bradford, fitness, UK
Today I took a walk in the late afternoon through some of my favorite places in this area. Here are some pictures from my journey.
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| I began my walk in the “Heaton Allotments” which are little individual gardens which I believe people rent and use. It is a beautiful area with paths and hedges on the top of “Heaton Woods” which are beautiful — more to come. |
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| I thought this fallen tree was really interesting looking. |
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| The view from the top of Heaton woods. You can see several nearby towns. |
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| Apparently this part of England is known for these special stone fences which were painstakingly built. Here, you can see only part of it is left standing. |
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| Walking back through the Allotments. |
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| Then I walked down through Lister Park. There are so many beautiful parts of it! |
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| I think this best captures the mood of the day:-). |
by Laura | Feb 26, 2013 | adventure, Laura (me), thankful, UK
Today I was totally and marvelously surprised!
I told friends this past weekend that I was fairly confident that it would be three weeks minimum before I go back to England. I finally have been resigning myself to the circumstances I’m in, beginning to make some plans in the States.
While I was waking up I glanced through my email on my iPhone. I saw an email from the visa agency and opened it before even thinking about its potential significance. Maybe my visa was finally assigned to an officer, which would be great.
When I read the words, “Your visa has been issued,” I was completely flabbergasted. I wish I could replay my facial expressions. Actually, I probably looked something like this girl… except in my case the confusion turned into delight instead of horror:
Much of today was spent looking at airline tickets and buying some for next week. I’ll make sure that they are still the best deal tomorrow — plane ticket prices change on a day by day (or sometimes hour by hour) basis.
I am thrilled that I get to go back to be with my husband. I’m also thrilled that I’ll have a visa which will give official status in the UK — I will be able to leave and return without concern about borders, can get a supplemental job, and etc.
I am thankful that God has sustained us these crazy six months. And I am really happy that from here on out, Kagi and I should be able to be physically together even as we make decisions on where to live and apply for visas together. God willing…
Thank you all for your prayers and for the myriad of ways you have helped and encouraged us through a difficult time. I honestly didn’t know when it would end, and today seems to be that day. Praise God.
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| So excited to get back to this man! |
