My first step through the doorway

Here we go!!! I am only four days in the UK on a 3-year employment assignment and I know absolutely NO ONE here. Yep, that's right, I stepped out of my semi-comfort zone to place where I never thought I would travel. Now, here I am in this lovely counrty, and one of my close girlfriends gave me the idea to blog my journal entries so I can share them with all who care to read them. Well, as most you know it is chilly & wet here in the UK; however,the sun does show itself every now-and-then. This weather is not condusive for someone with curly, frizzy hair. Needless to say, I have yet to have a good hair day. Reading is a very lovely place -- I have had the opportunity to walk around a bit, especially since I have not driven here yet. That will change, since my position calls for travel well outside the Reading area. Back to the topic at hand -- I am trying to familiarize myself with the British "lingo" here. I knew that some words are different than what we use in the US, but, HOLY CRAP,trying to follow a conversation here is harder than I thought. I now know the reason for all the small cars in England -- the streets are as wide as a single lane in the US. And getting familiar with looking "right" first before crossing the street is extremely high on my priority list!!! Then there is the bus system -- sure it is great from getting from point A to point B, however, "hold on to your seat!!!" Those double-decker buses swing aroung those streets & "roundabouts" like they are fleeing the scene of a crime. My family calls them "one-cheekers" since you are only holding your butt to the seat on one cheek. Speaking of things being smaller over here, the room I am renting is a closet!!! Thank the Lord that my landlord just got finished re-modeling another house of his, and he is letting me a much larger room closer to Town Center for less $$$. What a sweetheart of a man -- a social worker, no less. I will let it for one month while I look for a more permanent place to live. Even the refrigerators are tiny!!! I am hoping that most of you from the UK are laughing hysterically or at least smiling because I am. I remembered that most of warned me about things being smaller here, but I had no idea it would be this small. I am just loving the whole experience even though it has been only four days. Or, it may be just the jet-lag getting the best of me right now. As far as my first day of work, I could not have picked a nicer group of people to be around. I just get a charge out of the British humor over here. I will be working with "at risk" children over here, so I must be very generic when talking about a work experience. Basically, it is the same job I had while working with Children, Youth & Families in Allegheny County Pittsburgh, PA, USA). My collegues warned me of the difficults cases that may arise, but little do they know that I had extremely difficult cases at home. NOTHING could surprise me when working in child welfare. Well, the rest of the two weeks I will be in a classroom setting for training. Mainly learning statutes, laws, proceedures, local & regional social services, and all that good stuff. This coming weekend, the 8 of us new candidates will be heading into London to do some sight-seeing. I have already seen many very old churches in the Reading area. St. Thomas Church (formerly The Reading Abby) has a wonderful hisstory to it, and is quite magnificent. The Abbey was built in the 11th Century but destroyed during the Reformation. There was a second Abbey built on the old one; however, that got somewhat destroyed during WWII by without ever hearing the choirs and voices who filled its walls close to 1000 years earlier. Makes me want to say: Man, they just don't know what they're missin'." I am just thankful that I can hear those voices and smile at the continuous praises to God throughout the centuries here. I am truely blessed to have this opportunity with my eyes wide open, my ears fine-tuned, and my heart resting upon God's grace and mercy. Today stands a beautiful monument for praising and worshiping Our Lord, Jesus Christ with so much history hidden underneath and so many people overlook or just walk by I will try to post at least 3 a week -- maybe nore, but rarely less. So here is what I an writing for my first blogging attempt.