Greetings dear family and friends,
Next week we will have been living in the UK for five months! This is now officially the longest contiguous period of time either of us has been away from friends or family.
Looking back over this time in England, we are very pleased with how well we have adjusted. We recently received a care package from Rachel’s mom containing cherished food ingredients from Los Angeles. (It was sent before Christmas, but due to the wonders of the international postal system arrived at the end of January). We were amazed at how we had learned to find substitutes as we unpacked jalapeño peppers, salsa, and milk chocolate chips (although there’s nothing quite like the original). Probably the funniest food revelation of the month, was the discovery
that cilantro (which we have not been able to find) is actually the Spanish name of coriander. We cook with coriander seeds and leaves extensively here, and found it very funny to realise that by planting a few, we might soon have the makings for Pico de Gallo. A blinding glimpse of the obvious we’re sure to the gourmet chefs among you, but we had no idea!
Since we last spoke, the predominant change for Rachel has been the start of second term at college. This term is particularly gruelling because she often finds herself is in classes and meetings from 9am to 6pm straight with rarely more than a 15 minute break in the day. This is due, in large part, to the human rights festival mentioned in our last update, which now includes the world premier of a film. Coordinating the
logistics for 2 weeks of documentaries, feature films, and discussions is a lot of work! She is really grateful, though, for the wonderful team she is a part of.
Additionally, this term is filled with a lot of extra seminars and workshops to attend. Rachel is amazed that the wide variety of subjects she is being exposed to! Two weeks ago she survived a 3-day seminar on financial management for non-profit organizations, and she happily reports she now knows what accruals are! This week she’ll participate in a day long workshop on Participatory Rural Appraisal (a facilitation technique to help communities identify development issues of concern to
them and agree on possible solutions). At the end of the month she’ll be in a crash course on managing teams in emergency interventions and a two-day lecture series on the psychological ramifications of forced migration. It really is quite the breadth of topics!
Brian is really enjoying life in Oxford and is especially finding the weather to be a great change of pace. In addition to working for World Vision and continuing to search for a job here, he is extensively involved in an enthusiast modification project of one of his favourite computer games. He thoroughly enjoys this project because it enables him expand his C++ (programming language) skills. January also brought the second round of interviews with a computer consultancy company here in Oxford. Although the company choose a candidate with more web design background, it was a good development. Most other prospects have been 1.5-2 hour commute one way, so the possibility of a concrete opportunity within 15 minutes from home was encouraging.
Brian is also making good strides at finding guy friends to hang out with. He has lunch regularly with several different men from church. Rachel has also been hearing rumours that Brian is getting to be a pretty decent snooker player.
As we race towards spring, our thoughts are with each of you often. While we enjoy our new experiences here, we are also acutely aware of the birthdays, meals, laughter, and wealth of experiences we are missing with all of you.
