Young John

John is much younger than this wall:



















England has many spiders. I've tried a couple of times to take pictures of them, but my camera always focuses on the shrubbery! This one looks a lot like garden spiders I have seen before but it is kind of fuzzy.

Lazy Day

John and I went back to the Cathedral today. The building was closed yesterday when we were there because it was so late in the day. I snapped a couple more pictures of the outside but there was a charge for taking pictures inside, so you'll have to some visit if you want to see what it looks like! There are small sculptures all over the ceiling where the beams intersect. We walked up a very tight winding staircase to see a collection of items that have been used for communion and alms. Outside there is a labyrinth that was added by the queen in 2002.

We took a long nap this afternoon. I think we are both worn out from our big move and looking for a place to live. John is listening to the Georgia game on the Internet tonight.

Them Apples

This morning John and I rose and shone early enough to get lunch with Ashby and his wife. Ashby is the other Samford student who is studying at UEA this year. They are quite nice and I expect we will see a lot of them.

This evening we walked to the Cathedral.

Here is one of the walls on the outside of the grounds.















This Cathedral has the second highest spire in the country.
































It has been a while since I watched Nightmares and Dreamscapes, but this pass under the bridge reminds me of "Crouch End."





























We finished off our day by visiting a pub that has come with good recommendations from multiple sources, Adam and Eve.

Hooray for Today!

This morning I looked out my window and I saw two pigeons fly from the roof of the hotel and alight on a statue of Victory. The auspices were favorable.

Okay, so that didn't really happen and there isn't a statue of Victory near the hotel, but our day did have an auspicious beginning. While I was getting ready for my interview with the librarian, and John was getting ready to view another flat, we got a call from the rental agency that the owner of the flat we viewed yesterday has agreed to let to us!!! John hurried over to the rental agency to pay application fees, and I proceeded to my interview.

I am very excited about volunteering at the 2nd Air Division Memorial Library. There is another American working there through an agreement with the University of East Anglia. She and the librarian were both very nice. I had tea with them before the interview and chatted about a few different things. They started talking about pubs and I told them the story about our cab driver the other day. As soon as I mentioned the Romany they both made a face. I pressed on with the story about how the cab driver said people would tell us not to go there, but...etc. etc. They seemed quite amused.

When we got back to the Memorial Library, one of the other librarians was waiting with a message. She said Anglia News had been by. They have learned that Sarah Palin has ancestry in Norwich and wanted to interview an American at the library. The librarian asked me and the American library employee if either of us wanted to talk to the news. Now, before I moved here I had some concern that people might try to talk to me about American politics and I would look kind of stupid because I just don't follow politics too much. It never occurred to me I might have the chance to look stupid on television. I told her "no." The other American was also not interested.

Once we got down to business I learned that the kinds of things they are interested in having me do include: creating a small collection of American children's books for the Memorial Library to use in programs for children at the library and at schools, and presenting programs for children at the library and at schools. I should get to do some storytelling and some great librarian work that will keep me current in the profession.

Of course, John and I could use an income. So I've started applying for some part-time jobs at the University.

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John and I viewed another flat this morning. Three bedrooms (well, one is a sitting room with a bed stuck in it), two (TWO!!!!) bathrooms, a kitchen that has a refrigerator and washing machine, and full furnishings.

Possibly even more exciting, on the walk back we stumbled upon the pub our friendly cabby recommended to us the other day:















We purchased a printer today so that John could print off lots of fun documents proving that we have money and are not sketchy. Walking back to the hotel with a printer and two packages of printer paper was a good work out.

We took said documents to the rental agency and asked them to plead our case with the land lord.

After all of our excursions we were pretty tired, and didn't do anything else noteworthy.

Here are some pictures of the staircase leading up to our hotel room:

Norwich Rhymes with Porridge

John and I went back to campus this morning to talk to the bank, Barclays. We now have a bank account, which means we are one step closer to getting a flat! Another stupid American moment: when John handed back the forms he filled out, the young man who was helping us looked confusedly at the phone number. He said, "Is this supposed to be a mobile number? Mobile numbers all start with 077." We got a pay as you go cell phone last Saturday and still haven't learned our number. When we talked to one of the rental agencies a few days ago we called the agent's cell phone to give her our number and she kindly read it back to us so we could write it down. Unfortunately, the page John wrote the number down on, also has other phone numbers on it and no notation as to whose numbers they are. We have been referenceing this page when giving out our number ever since then, but we have been giving out the wrong one! We gave it to another rental agency yesterday and were wondering why they never called us back!

Later on in the day we walked around town again. Our objective was to see Origins, a place in the Forum with interactive displays of Norwich's history. Unfortunately, part of the Forum is being rennovated and so Origins isn't there right now.

Here are some more sights from the city center area:

A Busy Life

John and I viewed a flat this morning. It has three bedrooms, two reception rooms, a kitchen, and an outhouse in addition to a regular bathroom. The bedrooms are upstairs. Everything is a little smaller than we are used to, and we are pretty sure that there was no refrigerator (we are unsure whether there were hook-ups for one). And no, there is no dishwasher either. But there are hook-ups for a washing machine.

We tried to get a bank account today and were unsuccessful. Maybe tomorrow. We need an international student account and only the branch at the college can set one up (we were told by the branch in the city center). We took a taxi to campus because it is rather a long walk from our hotel. The branch there can indeed set up our account, but there is one employee who handles those accounts and he had no appointments open today.












































































We made the most of being on campus by walking up to the law school (Earlham Manor - pictured). We also sampled the Union Pub.

Our taxi driver for the ride back was very amusing. He started talking to us about his kids, and at first I thought he was just a family man, but then...
"I've got two little boys just down that street there. 19 months and 5 weeks. Down the next street I've got another boy, and around that corner is where my 6 year old lives, by another mother of course. I've had a busy life."
He was also recommending pubs, since we are new in town and all. He highly recommended the one he works at occasionally. Most people would probably tell us not to go there, but if you make friends with the right guys at the pub you can get into wrestling matches in Yarmouth for cheap.

Back at the hotel, I have set up an appointment to meet with my contact at the Memorial Library on Thursday. I also e-mailed the museum to try and set up an appointment next week.