Photos Part 1, Writtle, United Kingdom

More pictures less words! Here are some recent shots of some of the surrounding area of the school. Enjoy~

this is my "heroes" pose

First Impressions Part A

Its been a week and a day since I moved here to Writtle and everything has gone better than expected. I believe I was still smarting from the debacle that was my Visa application and once that was sorted out everything else seemed to fall into place. My plane ride over was really nice but I think I psyched myself out of sleep when the whole time I was trying to psych myself into sleep. I had a nightmare of a plane ride from L.A. to New Zealand, 14 hours, of me sitting in between Jamey on one side and a family of four on the other. The whole 14 hours i just stared at Jamey who was soft asleep in slumber land and I wondered why i couldnt reach that point. When I finally arrived to New Zealand I was so jetlagged I was slurring my words and coming down with strange infections. All I can say is the kiwis have got the whole socialized medicine thing under control. But I digress. The plane ride into London was actually pretty spectacular. We arrived in London just as the sun was coming up over the horizon and it cast an orange and red morning glow over the city. We flew over the Tower of London and the ferris wheel thing, all of which were still lit from the evening before so it was this beautiful light show from the sky and from the city. It was quite and introduction. I've never really been excited to visit London, I have to confess. Nothing about the whole cliche europe trip ever convinced me that I should visit. When I flew over I did get this moment of excitement however, realizing that I will again have the privilege to see some of the most beautiful architecture in the world. I have been lucky to travel and see some beautiful things but I've never seen those wonders of the world type things like the Tower of London, or Great Pyramids or the Taj Mahal etc... I figured I would save those trips for when I'm 80 and Jamey and I are wearing matching terry cloth jogging suits and we visit the Parthenon on a diesel bus and we have to turn our hearing aids way up to drown out the city noises. For some reason I think this is the best way to see the wonders of the world and while I'm young I should stick to underdeveloped and depressed countries with ineffective and difficult governments.

Anyway, England is good. I arrived and sat through 3 hours of immigration, which was smelly and in the basement of Heathrow and amazingly slow. I then decided to haul 100+ bags of luggage on the Tube, half asleep. Then, on random peoples suggestions I went to the street and hailed a cab to the train station. When I hailed the cab a nice gentleman got out and made several references about how I must be crazy to be carrying all this around in mid town London during rush hour but then ushered me into his cab. I still had my back pack on and as i stepped into the back of the cab the top of my pack caught the low roof of the car and knocked me backwards onto the sidewalk something to the effect of an upside down turtle, flailing and kicking in the middle of the busy city sidewalk as I struggled to right myself and appear cool and collected. Did this really just happen? I asked myself a million times. Hello London, Kate Lynch is here. Long and painful story short, i made it to the train that would take me to my final destination, 100+ pounds of luggage and all.

I am staying temporarily with woman who has been renting rooms in her house to students for over 9 years. Her father was one of the original graduates of Writtle College in the 1930s. She is a gardner and general lover of the land. She has free roaming chickens in the backyard and grows her own veggies. My room is a good size and will suit me fine until I find a permanent place somewhere in the larger town of Chelmsford. Until then I am biting my cuticles and hangnails trying to figure out how to get an 80 pound hound dog to the UK without paying my lifes fortune away. One scheme involves Paris, trains, ferries and rented cars. We'll see about that.

As for traffic here, I am still adjusting to looking the correct way when i cross the street. I will be surprised if I dont get my foot run over sometime in the near future. Most of the time I cross the street and I am confused and experiencing mini panic attacks inside about which way the cars should be coming but I appear calm and collected on the outside, which is all that matters right? And I definitely think that cat that lives here has a british meow. I swear, its different.

I've taken some pics around town, not much so far because i have slow internet connection but this should give you an idea of where I am. Love to you all....

Chelmsford Cathedral

down the street in Writtle

one of our gardens at school

our froggy pond at school

one of the only pubs in town, pretty flowers!

Thank You Mr. Kennedy

As an AmeriCorps Alumnus, specifically and proudly an AmeriCorps Cape Cod Alumnus, I want to pay my respects to Ted Kennedy. While I was serving in AmeriCorps in 2002 and 2003 our funding for our program and other programs in Massachusetts were threatened and may have been cut if not for the ardent support and belief in AmeriCorps from Mr. Kennedy. We received the funding for the following year and just this past May AmeriCorps Cape Cod celebrated its 10 year anniversary. We were lucky to have the lion of the senate on our side. While the funding for AmeriCorps was debated across the country, Ted Kennedy held a rally in Boston for support of the AC programs and a few of us traveled up to the city to hear him speak. He was a sincere and charismatic speaker and I am lucky to have been in such a great event with him for a great cause dear to my heart.

On September 11th this year my dad and I visited Arlington Cemetery to pay our respects to the Kennedy's but especially to Ted in light of his recent passing.

We should be so grateful for his time and his amazing courage to his convictions and fighting for the dispossessed and under served. He often made speeches about privilege and responsibility and how his public service was his way of giving back. He was born into wealth and privilege but was a true politician for the people and i think we will all miss him very much. Well maybe not everyone, but I sure will.

our AmeriCorps crew kicks ass, still. Some of us but not all of us stopped carrying axes around.

In honor of the September 11th victims of the Pentagon we also traveled to the memorial on the grounds outside of the building. My dad lost a friend and colleague that worked with him at Dulles Airport for many years. It was tough to stand in this place of loss and destruction but i thought the memorial was beautiful and stark and a simple tribute to the people that lost their lives. Here are some of the pictures from that day.

Speaking of loss, I would like us all to take a moment to say goodbye to something dear to my heart. My Chacos. What are Chacos some of you may ask? Well they are amazing all terrain sandals. Not convinced they need to be mourned? And what happened to your sandals Kate? Well, I bought my Chacos in college and they were purple and now they are this sickly gray color. I wore them religiously on every trek and travel overseas, every jaunt through a stinky sulfur swamp and into every body of water you could think of. And now, 3 years after they started to stink and 1 year after they started to really really really stink, its time to let them go. They are dead but not forgotten. 80 bucks well spent. 8 years together and now we must part.

Dont worry, I will be recycling them in the Chaco recycling program and sending them off to some town in Africa where a young boy will wear them and then he will be made fun of for stinking just as I was. I am happy to make this child's life better. I put African kids first.

And on to simpler matters; I received a "refusal of visa" from the UK Consulate in LA because I had the wrong paperwork from my school. Long story short the immigration rules changed mid application and preparation for entry and so I got the old stuff and the immigration officers wanted the new stuff and I paid. But after a brief meltdown I finally reapplied and was issued my Visa yesterday. Immigration paperwork is really fun. I have been doing it since May. I am now an expert. Please consult me if you have any immigration questions. And no, I don't agree with Joe Wilson, Obama's health care will not cover the guys waiting at 7-11 for a full work day.

I am leaving on Sunday for England thus ends months of immigration issues, until next year tier 4 student visa officers, I simply can not wait.

And for good measure, here is a picture of Alfie trying to wake up in the morning. He has trouble, he's a sleepy hound dog from Arkansas. Life is tough....

London Calling

We've had a busy summer, hence the lack of posts and furthermore the lack of interesting posts.

So if you havent already heard from Jamey or I- we're moving to England! Yes, you heard correct, we're moving to another foreign country and we're leaving with more than a backpack full of knives and mosquito nets. This time we actually have a plan. And we dont have to speak Spanish, unless of course we want to. This has been in the works basically since we moved to Little Rock a year and a half ago. I have been accepted into a Master of Landscape Architecture program at a University outside of London. We will be living in Chelmsford England for at least the next two years while I complete my degree. Everyone is invited to come play!

So these last few months have been filled with plans and setting things in motion to make this move to England happen. While working to make this happen Jamey decided to jump off his Vespa at 30 miles an hour and now is nursing a broken arm and many road rashes. This is Jamey before his accident and when he loved his Vespa:

This is Jamey when he doesnt love his Vespa anymore:

It turns out SUV's and Vespa's are not a good pair, especially while entering into a busy intersection. Jamey has successfully broken this arm three, count em, three times. A week later he went into surgery and had a plate and 8 screws placed in the radius. In Jamey's right arm we are at a total of 10 screws. Good Job!

Its been amazing to hear all of the unsolicited and gruesome motorcycle stories from complete strangers when Jamey tells them how he broke his arm. He was wearing a big wrap cast for two or three weeks and was limping around town so a lot of people had questions about his well being. My personal favorite is the deli guy at Kroger who sees us about three times a week (we like turkey) and talks to us each time like we've never met. I know the Kroger deli counter is a popular place but come on man. Especially after Jamey broke his arm and had this big cast on it you'd think he'd remember. Really, you dont remember him? The second time he asked what happened (after having gotten the story the day before) he proceeded to tell us about seeing a woman crash her motorcycle and her head bust open on the pavement in front of him when he was 11 years old. "Man, that was gnarly."

And as we were leaving the deli counter he said " ok man, get better soon, be a Wolverine about it."

oh yes he did. he just referenced a comic book hero from X Men. and now, with a few more surgeries jamey could definitely have metal claws and regenerate a la Wolverine. We'll keep you updated.

So in light of all this metal claw/ broken arm business Jamey will not be joining me right away in England because he needs to finish healing and rehabbing. So he will be stateside until about October.

Since we'll be moving overseas I'm sure we'll have some interesting stories so stay tuned. Dont give up on us yet. it may not be as interesting as getting thrown into a Panamanian jail but you gotta work with what ya got.

And here's a picture of Alfie looking at himself in the mirror. He still checks himself out every night. He's progressed from fear to merely admiring himself. At first it started out as" holy shit, there is another dog in my bedroom" and then on to " wait.. is the dog behind this mirror?" and then "i think its me, i look damn good."

just a giant bone he found, i'm gonna go ahead and assume it was a cow and not a giant human.

Cheers!

Buy my book!

Hi everybody,

Just to warn you, this blog is pure and simple (and shameless) self promotion.

My Rough Guides book came out in February - I wrote the Introduction to the book and the Panama chapter in the Rough Guide to Central America on a Budget - so go to your favorite local bookstore or any of the online megamarts (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc...) and request that title! And buy one million copies! ;)

Actually, don't worry about buying in bulk, I don't see the royalties from that. However, I am a royaltied author on the Rough Guide to the USA, which comes out later this summer, so keep your eye out for that (and I'll send you a reminder).

And all you Cape Codians (and Cape Codians at heart) check out the front page of ESPN.com today (tax day, April 15th) - I've got an Old Man and the Sea kind of tale about a fisherman on Cape Cod that the front page editors picked up - it's at the bottom of the page in the "Inside ESPN" section, and it's been up for a while, so if it's not there by the time you get this, it'll still be up on ESPNOutdoors for quite a while - it's called "Fighting Giants".

OK, self promotion segment over... for now.

Bats in our belfry

Kate and I were attacked by kamikaze rodents last night. We were hearing noises in the walls that sounded like really big mice running a marathon – turned out it was bats.

So, here’s how it all went down.

11:00 p.m. last night, I’m climbing into bed after a long weekend in New York City. I’ve never been that happy to go to sleep.

11:05 – (Screaming from Kate downstairs) “AAAAHHH! OH MY GOD! BAT!... BAT, BAT, BAT!, Jamey, there’s a baaaAAAT!

Me: (lots of expletives) Walking down the stairs, turning the corner, bat in the face.

Kate’s laughing and screaming and pointing at the bat flying circles around the ceiling. Alfie has woken up out of a dead sleep and is barking at the bat.

11:15 – We open the door and run outside – I’m in boxers and a t-shirt and it’s 30 degrees. Kate’s fully clothed and wrapped in a blanket, which she gives me after a few minutes, reluctantly.

The bat can’t make it out the door with echo-location, so it’s just flying in a circle.

Kate: "Maybe we should whistle at it. No, bats are deaf right? Oh wait, are bats deaf or blind?"

11:25 – A homeless guy walks by and we briefly contemplate offering him $5 to catch it. (Is that wrong?)

11:40 – The bat flies upstairs.

11:45 – We crab-walk inside to make sure it’s not getting a running start to dive-bomb us, and we google “how to get bats out of your house.”

Step 1: Don’t Panic ---- (do you consider sitting Indian-style on the floor in your underwear and waving a broom above your head panicking?)

Step 2: Close all doors to corral the bat in one room and keep him from flying around the house. --- (the bat is upstairs now, showering and trying on clothes)

Step 3: Put your pets in a different room and close the door. ---- (we send Alfie upstairs and think he might render the bat deaf with his yelpping bark, making it easier to catch)

Step 4: Wait for the bat to roost. --- (check)

Step 5: Get a hand or dish towel and rubber gloves (optional). --- (OPTIONAL? - seriously?)

Step 6: Carefully place the towel over the bat. --- (what?)

Step 7: Talk softly to him. He is frightened and will make buzzing noises. This is his echolocation. --- (You want me to talk to the bat. What kind of a (@&%*!) website is this?)

12:15 – We chuck the website’s advice, grab the broom and a couple of giant pieces of Styrofoam board and notice the bat has crawled out from between the ceiling and the wall and is back in the same place where he started.

12:30 – I close off the doors to the rest of the house and Kate prods the bat until he’s flying around again. So, we’re both crouched down on the floor, Kate’s waving a broom and I’m waving two giant pieces of Styrofoam, trying to get the bat to echolocate the door. We’re yelling at each other and running into each other and the bat is flying like a drunken pigeon. It doesn’t work, but the bat gets tired and takes a break on the chair so I throw a dishtowel over it.

12:45 – I have a copper pot that I’m going to try to put the bat in, but all of a sudden another bat comes flying out from under the closed door. We run outside and it chases us and flies straight at my face. That’s two bats in my face in one night.

1:00 – We go back inside, thinking that we’ve got things pretty much taken care of, and we see two more bats coming from the ceiling. We give up, grab our things from the bedroom (where we see another bat) and let Alfie out of his crate (he runs straight outside and sits down by the truck – so much for any aspirations we had of him being a guard dog), drive to my sister’s and spend the night on the floor with a couple hound dogs.

Today:

I go home in the morning, after calling the landlord (who tells me that bats are friendly and good to have around when there’s mosquitoes outside) and a man is walking out of my front door holding a bat on one of our spatulas. Amazed that the bat is being so still, Kate asks, “Is he dead?”

The guy says, “No, he’s just cold,” and plops him on the tree in front of our door.

Turns out the guy was hired by the landlord. He gets three more before the day’s out using what appears to be a Swiffer sweeper with glue smeared all over it, applies caulking to the gap in the ceiling and calls it good...

But, as he’s leaving, he says, “Man, when there’s a colony of these things, there can be like 500 snuggled up in a tiny little corner – you never know.”

Great.