England is...Great?

I really don't know how we managed to last for a whole year on dial-up internet. Suddenly having a slow connection sounds FANTASTIC!!! In case you don't get my drift, we have no internet. Even if we wanted to get internet (which is a possibility) we would have to pass the installation by our landlord, who would be contacted through our contact at TimePlan, who is on holidays for the next week. So, basically we are lonely. We have so many stories to tell, and no one to tell them to!! Currently we are sitting in an internet cafe. It'll do for now, so be patient!!

Ok, so let's talk about our place. First impressions were not too good. It is a place that has not been really well maintained, so it was really dirty, and it looked like the last tenants (whether they were teachers or not, I don't know) didn't clean the place before they left, so it's pretty gross. After cleaning our apartment from top to bottom before we moved out, and helping April with the one place, having to move in and clean all over again wasn't really a pleasant welcoming gift. We did talk to the people at TimePlan and they said they would send the person who is supposed to clean (yes, we have a cleaning lady) over asap to get things in order.

The house itself is super cute. It is a great layout, and we will have to make sure we get blueprints or something because we may want to recreate it when we get home!! We have the biggest and nicest room of the bunch. There are two single rooms, and two other double rooms in the house. Count with me...that's seven people all together. It could be eight, but one girl has a double room to herself. SEVEN PEOPLE!!! So much for not living with roommates. We are going to give it a try though, and hope for the best. The best part though, I have to say, is the fridge. It's a tiny little bar fridge. To share with seven people??? And even better than that, we had to take the shelves out because our milk jug doesn't fit in any other way. This should be fun.

We talked to a guy from Sky Service today. (That's like Bell Express Vue) He offered us a good deal on a cable package, which would include our internet router, for only £15/month. That doesn't include the tv licence of £11/month, or the tv itself, or the phone line for £11/month. So the good deal may not be such a good deal afterall. We will have to figure out if the budget can hold it. If we are sharing with a pile of other people it won't be so bad, but I don't know how I feel about being the person who is responsible for collecting everyones share.

We went for a nice long walk today, and we found a MALL!!! So exciting!! Even Ryan was excited to see it. We found a travel agent and booked flights home (not because we are homesick, necessarily, but because the planes are already almost full!!!) So, we are going to be in Ontario on Dec. 20th and BC Dec 24th. More details will come later.

I hate to end it here, but I don't think I have much time left...so we love you all, and we will talk to you as soon as possible!!