Health Care... To pay or not to pay???

I personally feel really lucky to have this opportunity to live abroad and experience a different culture. Had I lived abroad for a semester in college I don't think I would have gotten this same kind of experience. I would have probably gotten to know every pub in the area and how to stumble to my classes.  But what I really appreciate is now at 30 learning all the in's and out's of being in a different culture, a different way of life and different perspectives of the world. 

So do we cancel our US Health Insurance or not?!? This is what I'm faced with at the moment. I have always had health insurance. It's always been very important to me to be covered. We are paying over $3K a year in US Health Insurance costs.  (That's a trip to a far away land) So why aren't we using the US Health system?  Well mainly because they told me on the base that if I wanted to have a natural birth that I would have to go to the British system. So since we were sent (kinda forced) to the British system (the NHS) we have just been getting all our care from there.

On the NHS, my daughters birth was FREE! All our pre-natal care was FREE! My dental while pregnant and 1 year after her birth is FREE! All her prescriptions are FREE! (We got 1 ointment on the US and that costed us $129 and we didn't even use it cause it was too aggressive and the NHS doctors recommended not to give it to her and turns out the problem just went away on it's own) All her shots (they say jabs here) are FREE! All our check ups are FREE! 

Now we're pretty lucky cause we're not really sick people. (knock on wood) But that means that we don't really know what would happen if we got super sick. (We have been to the ER once and that was FREE)  However, I do have the worst teeth ever and I did need a new filling and the experience was definitely better than I've had in the US. ( Only took 30 minutes, only had to give me 1 needle, and no pain afterwards). I was a little wary though. The dentist is like 25 and eastern European so I couldn't really understand everything he was saying. But it all turned out awesome. 

So is free healthcare better than paying for healthcare?  I don't know but I can say that I have gotten better attention with Free Healthcare than I ever got with paying for it.  So I guess the grass is just a different shade of green... And we will be using that savings to travel to a far off land of amazingness. 

Canterbury Tales

What is a trip to the UK without an English lit stop in Canterbury. After all that's what our blog is named after.Did you have to read the Canterbury tales? I did. Famous for it's multiple themes and for being written in Middle English rather than Latin. A story of a bunch of peoples journey to Canterbury to a holy spot.

lighting points to the death spot

The story goes like this: Henry II needed a priest that would do what he said so he turned to his drinking circle of buddies. There he found Thomas Becket. Thomas agreed to be the archbishop of Canterbury.  He found holy inspiration in his new found position and so went against the King in his decisions. At some point the King said "will no one rid me of this priest"?  Well 4 knights over heard him and took him seriously. They headed to the Canterbury Cathedral and murdered the Archbishop right inside the church. Christians were stunned! The Archbishop was buried and that's when the miracles began! The Pope made Thomas a saint and pilgrims began to flock to the cathedral to gain a little miracle for themselves. The Canterbury Tales are about these pilgrims. All walks of life went on this journey just to pray at Thomas Becket's memorial.  Well then good old Henry VIII got rid of the body of Thomas Beckett so that pilgrims would stop coming to the Cathedral. But they still come! Even to this day!

Black Knight

Amazing and interesting! The Cathedral isn't that grand in my opinion. I would say the York Minster is way more impressive but the history and lore is enough to bring me in. Canterbury is now the head quarters of the Anglican Church. Inside the cathedral you can feel the importance of times gone.  The tomb of the Black knight is there. The original knight in shining amour. Yes, he was a real guy! And the place where Thomas Beckett took his last breath.

For our home-town Marylanders... there is a plaque to the 1st bishop of Maryland who came from Canterbury and his relatives became the mayor of Canterbury. Go Maryland!

I'd say on a trip to the UK, Canterbury deserves 1 day.  PS - we had the best Indian food there on the high street. And the Tourist information center is incredible helpful. Visit the Canterbury Tales story show. Totally worth it!

Olympic fever!

Watching the opening at the Ely Cathedral

Well the Olympics have come and gone. We never really cared about the Olympics until our home-town hero, Michael Phelps, made us Marylanders proud. But even still we had no plans in watching or participating in all the craziness in London. I mean... it's historic yeah... but so was the Queen's Jubilee and that was neat but we just didn't want to get all into it. Crowds and such are not our thing...

But being in England the Team GB spirit is infectious.  I found myself agreeing to take my 9 month old down on a crowded train and through the crowded tube and onto another crowded train just to go witness some kind of history. What can I say... I'm a sucker for history.

Luckily, when we went down to watch the cycling race the trains were crowd free. Kings Cross station had no crowds! And the only time I had to stand on the train was when everyone was leaving the cycling viewing area. We were able to walk right up to the road and stand anywhere we wanted. I thought for sure it was going to be a mad house but really it was as easy as it could be.

The Cycling was so exciting! And it was a really great experience for all of us. I only wish I had a USA flag for circumstances like this. I was actually wondering why we don't have a US flag?  Maybe I'll ask for one for Christmas. In any case, we represented well but Team GB ended up winning that race. But I still can't help but snicker a little when I think Team GB could mean Team Glen Burnie. =)

7 Day Irish Road Trip

Over the 4th of July Mike, Mike's Dad (Pat), Sophie and I all went on a 7 day road trip through Southwest Ireland.  We drove from our house in Ely, England across England and into Wales. From Fishguard, Wales we took a ferry across the Straight of St. George to Rossalear, Ireland. Once in Rossalear we drove through New Ross and stopped our first stop in Kinsale in the County Cork.

Kinsale is apparently the culinary capital of Ireland and the food was pretty tasty! The beer was better though. =) Kinsale was once a large port area but was silted in and since then has become a fishing town. Instead the city of Cobh became the main port town. In fact, Cobh was the last stop of the Titanic before sailing into the Atlantic. I really enjoyed Kinsale for the people. The Irish are amazing and funny. And many times we were told "you must know my cousin that lives in America".  Apparently, lots of American's say the opposite.

Any way, from County Cork we drove around the Ring of Kerry but didn't see much due to rain and fog and then we stayed in a cute little town of Kenmare. Usually the tourists hordes stay in Killarny but we decided to skip that craziness. In any case, Kenmare has a great old stone circle and I just love a good stone circle. From Kenmare we made the trip to Dingle. Oh, famous Dingle!  If your American your family probably came from this southwest area. I know mine came from County Cork so lots and lots of Americans. In fact, Pat said that he was "glad to come to Ireland and all the American's were really nice."

Dingle is amazing though. The Ring of Dingle takes you around to where the famine can still be seen. Since the population was so devastated they never re-plowed some of the fields and therefore you can see the lines of crop that failed all those years ago (1800's). Amazing! A crop that only failed for 2 to 3 years created so much damage. Mainly because a man would eat something crazy like 13lbs of potatoes a day in Ireland at that time. Hard to think that was all there was to eat.

Dingle Peninsula

From Dingle we drove across the country to Cashel for the ROCK! The Rock of Cashel looks like a big castle but in fact it was a church.  The place where St. Patrick baptised the King. It's said that during the baptism St. Patrick jammed his staff into the Kings foot and the King didn't say a word. At the end of the service St. Patrick saw his staff still in the Kings foot and asked "why didn't you say something?" the King replied "I thought that was part of the service." Apparently, he thought that was symbolic of all the suffering that Christians had been through. Oh the Irish!

On the way from Cashel we stopped in Kilkenney just to take a look at the Smithwick's brewery. Unfortunately  they don't allow sleeping babies on the beer tour so we skipped it and toured the castle instead.  Then we stopped in New Ross at the Dumbrody Famine ship but just a little more history on the plague and the hordes that left Ireland for the New World. The ship is a replica but it is really amazing to see how people would have made it across the Atlantic. Most would die on the trip but I'm still amazed at what Humans will do to give their children a better life. It's a testament that we will survive!

If you have a chance to go... then go to Southwest Ireland!