Rachelle's Birthday, Teasing, and The New Americans

Rachelle's Birthday

Rachelle's first birthday in England was nice. She received presents from overseas, sweet cards and gifts from her kids, and perfume from her hubby. That evening, Kevin, Janet, and Kaidyn joined us for a fun birthday dinner, cake, and singing. Her bigger present is to spend the night in Wales with me and rock out to the Airborne Toxic Event at the Bar Fly in Cardiff on Sunday, February 1. The dynamic duo will sleep over with Kevin, Janet, and Kaidyn and Rachelle and I will take a train to Wales, slumber at a B&B, dance the night away, explore Cardiff, and then take a train back in time to gather our kids. Details to follow!

Teasing and The New Americans

A few months ago, I corresponded with Jim, a professor from Virginia who would be moving to Bath with his family for a brief sabbatical from January until May. Well, toward the end of December, Noah came home with his head low. His friends had somehow heard that a new 10-year-old American girl would be joining the school in January. Of course, all of the little Brit boys joked and teased Noah about his "new girlfriend".

Fast-forward to the present. Jim, Karen, and their two daughter, Katie (13) and Tess (10) arrived in January and Tess attends St. Stephens. Although she is not in Noah's class, his dear friends still joke with him and occasionally try to push Noah into Tess when they happen to be near one another. Noah does not see the humor in this situation.

On Sunday, we had the new Americans over for dinner and they are delightful. Really great. Surprise, surprise. Neither Noah nor Tess really talked the whole evening (I do not know if she is receiving similar kidding). Well, as it always does, the conversation rolled over to soccer. Jim mentioned that he would be interested in joining me at training as he has played some soccer. Gulp. Okay. I could just envision the teasing I would endure from my teammates, "Aw, you brought out a real player there Lindsey! You Americans should stick to throwing the football not kicking it."

Thursday night rolled around and I gave Jim a ride to practice. The guys were very curious that a new player was coming, and, since he was American, they assumed we knew each other. There were some whispers and smirks shared among the Brits and I broke an early sweat.

Drum roll. Jim rocks. He is a great player. He played in college and I would guess toyed with the idea of going pro in his younger years. He burned me for a couple of goals. At the end of practice, I walked around telling everyone, "Of course he is good. He is American! We are all great soccer players."

So, I skirted some jabs. I'll keep you updated on how Noah endures his plight.