The Learning Curve-Bleeding Radiators

 

The dish was actually white under
layers of grease!

I heard a voice from the other room yell, “Hey, Laura, make sure…bleed…” I didn’t catch all my friend said, but I heard “blood” and that was enough for me, I put down my cleaning rag and quickly came into the kitchen where my mate was helping me. He looked fine, I was confused, there didn’t appear to be a medical emergency. Then my friend again said, “Laura, make sure you bleed your radiators.” Now, as a nurse, I know a fair bit about bleeding, but most of the time we don’t want it to happen, we aim to stop it. I didn’t know radiators bleed, but apparently they do. I had no idea what my friend was talking about so he tried to explain to me that to get my heat working better in my flat that I needed to “bleed” the radiator. When I still didn’t catch on to what he was saying, he said, “Where’s your radiator key? I’ll show you.”



I don't understand?



Oh, goodness. I didn’t even know what a radiator key was; I had keys to my flat, but no other keys that I was aware of and I hadn’t seen anything like that in my process of going through the drawers in my flat when I moved in. I did find the drawers and closets in this flat full of unopened mail from the last 5 tenants, moldy sheets, and piles of junk, but no radiator key. But in reality I wouldn’t have known what a radiator key was if I saw one. I did show my friend two random pieces of equipment that I found when I was cleaning the kitchen and he politely, while trying to hold back laughter, informed me one of the items was a knife sharper and the other was a snazzy bottle opener. Everything looks so different here in England! I put a radiator key on my list of things to buy.

Much of my time since arriving in the UK has been spent in class, studying, and securing my food supply and shelter. Securing a food supply and making sure you have shelter are two of the most important things you must do when moving into a “new village”. I was so thankful that at least this time my “village” for the next few months had a clean water supply, included in the rental fee, unlike my time in Bolivia and Chile. My shelter is pretty much set, now that my friend has helped me with the heating, but I am still in the process of turning my mere shelter into my home. I have become quite good at making a home out of nothing; considering my home changes frequently and is limited to the weight of 2 suitcases (100lbs). Old laminated calendar pages make great, inexpensive, easy to pack, wall décor! I have a few specific calendar pages that have moved with me for at least a few years!


Securing my food supply has been an interesting process. Everything comes in really tiny containers, so one must shop frequently. There is no concept of Costco as far as I can tell, which is good, I guess, because the fridges are even miniature too. Also a small factor that I didn’t consider, but have quickly learned is that because of my posh location, food items come with a posh price tag as well, not to mention the fact that $1 USD only gets me £.63 GBP! I am not in a 3rd world country anymore- that is for certain! The food staples that I found in the cupboards when I moved in had expiration dates from a few years ago and most had to be discarded, so I am starting from scratch. I already told you how saddened I was that I was not able to obtain a satisfactory supply of peanut butter and grape jelly, but I have also found it difficult to locate Ranch dressing, pickles, and popcorn of all things! I consider those very important food items. If I am to eat vegetables, I need something to camouflage their flavor and popcorn is an essential study snack because it has very few calories per quantity of snack.


I was in a store just today and asked one of the clerks if they sold popping corn. I believe I only said 5 words total to the clerk and didn’t think my American accent was that apparent, but the first thing he said was, “you Americans sure love popcorn, don’t you?” I want to know how he knew I was American; I had even tried to disguise my accent. Maybe it was the fact that I was wearing flip-flops and a sweatshirt and no one else does! I told you I stood out! Either way, I have not secured a supply of popcorn yet and I have been in over six different grocery stores (not just looking for popcorn, I am not that obsessed with the product, but I am trying to find the cheapest place to shop as well). And just so you know… pickles happen to be called Gherkins here and they taste about as good as the peanut butter from here.

The toilet is in a small closet & there
isn't a sink in the same room...
 the sink is in another room...

After seeing the prices of items in the local grocery stores, I finally asked someone if they have anything like dollar stores here in the UK. The person I asked looked at me like I was crazy, but kindly informed me that there are some POUND stores here. There are no pound stores in my neighborhood, but with some careful searching on Google maps. I located a few and noted that it would only take me an estimated 1 hour and 20 minutes to walk to one (I am too cheap to pay for public transit and figured I could use the exercise anyway), so I put on my lovely tennis shoes and went in search of a pound shop. After 2.5 hours I still hadn’t located the shop, so I gave up and took public transit back to my flat.


Speaking of public transit, the London Underground is an amazing subway system. You can get almost anywhere in this city by the tube and in a relatively fast amount of time as well. Considering where I grew up, in the villages of Paul and Rupert, Idaho, I have not been highly exposed to public transit. In Paul and Rupert, we didn’t even have a bus system, or taxis, let alone a subway system. So, I didn’t really compute how far underground, the Underground is. There was a long line at the elevators to get out of the tube station the other day and because I have eaten a few too many cookies lately, I decided it wouldn’t hurt me to take the stairs. 176 stairs later, and totally out of breath, I realized that they call it the London Underground for a good reason; you are really, seriously, a long way underground!

Thank you London!

The learning curve of living in my new village continues, but I am enjoying myself. I thank you for your prayers and support. I am certain the learning curve will continue, but for the moment, I will leave you with one final thought. It is important to look both ways when crossing the street. I have not totally figured out which ways cars come from here, but it is opposite of what I would expect. Apparently, I am not the only one who struggles with this concept considering the city of London has been kind enough to paint… Look right --->… <--- Look Left… on the pavement at many street corners. Unfortunately, this helpful hint is not painted on every street corner, but that’s okay, I will survive by remembering the little phrase my loving parents drilled into my head when I was little…”look both ways when crossing the street.” Is that what the Bible meant when it says…"train up a child in the way they should go and when they are old, they will not turn from it…”???