Week three of Asha’s stay in the UK started with a visit to Oxford to meet Prakhar again and start planning Asha’s trip back to India (it’s such a short stay, I could not believe we were talking about that already). Prakhar showed us around the Oxford Union so Asha could get a sense of Oxford University. She also experienced heavy rain! We popped into the cinema and watched La La Land! – great fun for music and dance fans, like her;)

Back home in Wantage it was all about meeting Dawid’s school friends, studying English and walking Poppy to the allotment. Asha really enjoyed playing with the dog and walking in the field!

The week was busy – both kids spent it learning – so on Friday, I took them both to Oxford to the Ashmolean Museum (historically the first private collection open to the public in the UK) for their open evening. Just the trip to town on the bus was fun! Then walking around, chasing pigeons, enjoying noodles and meeting up with Dan.

The Ashmolean Museum is quite big so it took us two hours to walk around and participate in various evening activities. Despite being really tired, all of us enjoyed it. Even the rain on the way back home!

For the third weekend of her stay, Asha travelled up to London and stayed with Ulrike’s friend, Anne-Marie. Anne-Marie showed her around London so I think Asha has a very good understanding of the capital now.

Tired but happy she came back to Wantage and the very same Sunday joined us for supper at Dawid’s friend’s house. We had a wonderful supper topped with a home-made cake with strawberries and cream and a dose of Dobble – brilliant game for learning English.

Asha’s third week was more focused on learning English and a lot of about the UK. I am really grateful to all out friends who stepped up, joined in and helped us make this week so lovely.

And so Asha’s story continues. On Tuesday Asha had her first English lesson with Bethany which resulted in post-its left all around the house – even on the dog! 😉 We also visited the Butler Centre – the school that invited Asha to study English through playwork. Later on, for a little bit of fun and relaxation, Dawid introduced Asha to an Xbox version of Fruit Ninja (games she likes to play on Ipad). Well, it was a lot of fun!

On Wednesday I took Asha shopping – just for a little bit of ‘girl-time’, but also to involve her in celebration of Poppy’s Birthday. Poppy was four years old so we showered her with toys and tennis balls, of course.

On Thursday Asha had another lesson, another visit to the Butler Centre, and a little bit of skateboarding – we managed to sneak out to Faringdon skatepark. We were so impressed with Asha’s skating skills!

Knowing that Asha likes to dance (and remaining realistic about my own lack of dancing skills) I have ordered the Just Dance 2017 Xbox game for the kids. Asha rocked both Bollywood dances (something we were rubbish at!) and hardcore rock! Well, I tell you – we all had so much fun – our legs, hands and bellies (from a number of giggles) were hurting in the end and Poppy looked at us in amusement!

On Friday Asha and I went to Oxford to check in with Prakhar – our friend who helps us translate to English. I just wanted to ensure that Asha is happy with us and all her needs are met. We fine tuned the ideas for food – both Indian and English and showed Asha around Oxford again – this time in the gloomy, almost rainy atmosphere.

Our landlords are currently away so I was asked to water their plans – this gave me the opportunity to show Asha the main house which is actually full of Indian furniture and artwork – my landlords spent some time working as medics in India and always feel very attached to their memories of those times. I also found out that parrots are Asha’s favourite birds;)

At the weekend we took Asha to Leicester to visit my best friend, Krysia, and her husband, Zoli. They are lovely, kind, warm people so I really wanted to show Asha a different part of the country. Leicester is more industrial and historically very familiar with Indian culture. Saturday was dedicated to shopping in Indian areas – Asha finally got to enjoy some really good food:) In the evening we wnet out to the More Indian Restaurant where Asha’s stay was celebrated with a complimentary non-alcoholic drink. It was such a nice gesture!

Sunday was a real treat for Asha – turns out that Leicester is a key location for skateboarding in the UK! We took Asha for a few hours to the Broom Skatepark. I know that skateboarding, just like coding, comes with a certain collaborative, tolerant, inclusive and supportive culture, but it was so nice to see Chris Straw (as it happens one of the owners of the place!) stand next to Asha and help her skate down the higher platform – just when she was hesitating before that first jump. I tell you – that gesture of “hey, can I help, give me your hand and go!” moved all of us so deeply. It’s the simple things! Chris and his friends were really welcoming, told us a few facts about the place and the city. It was really lovely to see Chris recognise the fan page of Janwaar Castle! We quietly hope to be back there sometime! Asha was the only girl in the place and she rocked it!

After our visit to the Broom Skatepark we took Asha around the centre of Leicester. We walked around the old and modern part of the city….

…we ate very English food in a small, lovely, a family owned bar, and we talked a lot. We tried to keep Asha busy as it was the Mother’s Day in India (she sent me a lovely message over Messenger in the morning for which I am really grateful!) – we just worried that it might be a day when she would miss her parents more than ever. So we took her for longer walk and later on recorded a group greeting from us to her Mum.

We came back to Wantage on Sunday evening exhausted! With a new week ahead we used most of the evening to do…nothing!

Asha is here. As I said in my previous post, it’s been a long journey for us, but much longer for her. The welcome at the airport on Sunday was very emotional and full of smiles. Asha and Ulrike were exhausted but put on a lovely smile for us. Our and Ulrike’s friends joined in the welcome – some appeared at the airport (thanks for the sign! I was so excited I forgot to make one!;)), others sent us photos in their Indian clothes (how very sweet of you!). Dawid, our star, instantly jumped on the skateboard and showed Asha around the house and their shared room. Linda and Bethany came to visit us and discuss the English lessons. Prahkar came from oxford to help us with initial chat – just to make sure that Asha is clear on all the little details of our life here and feels safe and welcome.

Our approach to Asha’s stay with us is very British: we just carry on! Asha is here to learn English but also to experience the local way of living, so we have originally planned to basically treat her like our daughter and show her our weekly routine. We were planning a very quiet week of adjusting Asha to the local temperatures, food and weather but life – as always – is a bit different. We did not know until the last days just when Asha would travel so her first week coincided with my Polish family’s visit to the UK. They arrived on Tuesday and I think our week was actually quite intense, focussed on sightseeing. We tried to give Asha as much time to rest as possible but also make the most of our time with family and show her around major locations in the area. I think it was really nice to have my brother and his partner over because Asha got to meet more of our family too and the week was cheerful. Tuesday afternoon we walked around Wantage and had a meal with Ulrike, before dropping her off at the train station for London. After weekend rest we took Asha and our guests to Oxford.

After the longer weekend of initial rest, on Wednesday we took Asha and our guests to Oxford.

She’s wearing a hat but trust me – the weather was actually getting much better than the week before;) We have walked around the city, enjoyed some local food in the Covered Market and visited a few colleges. It was a quick walk but I think we have seen quite a lot. My family really wanted to see the UK from many angles, not just the typical tourist attractions. Asha seemed to like the architecture so we took plenty of photos of interesting buildings.

On Thursday my family went to London, but Asha joined us in visiting Letcombe Regis (I work there twice a week) for the set up of Oxfordshire Exhibition – an exhibition of local artists. Asha went for a walk to see some of the beautiful green paths, and then on the way back had a quick look at some of the works prepared for the exhibition. She also got to meet some of my co-workers.

In the afternoon, when Dawid got back from school, we took the kids to the Faringdon skatepark. I am so impressed with Asha’s skating skills and I hope Dawid will learn a bit from her – she already inspired him to get on the skateboard and experiment a bit!

On Friday Asha came to London to spend some time with Ulrike and to go to the Southbank skatepark. Below are her photos from the trip, which was really tiring – we think we might have to make more time for London and take it easy. By Friday it did feel like a long week;)

We rested on Saturday morning but in the afternoon we took our family (their last full day in the UK) and Asha to Blenheim Palace near Oxford. She was quite astonished when I told her that it is a house for one family, really. She really enjoyed the art displayed at the palace and the palace gardens.

Sunday was a day of rest. Asha stayed at home and Dawid joined her for some time on the blanket, playing with dogs, relaxing. We were so lucky that the sunshine allowed us to come out of the house and enjoy the garden. We did nothing, finally:)

On Monday I was feeling poorly so Dan stayed and worked from home. Asha spent time with us, with Dawid and Poppy in the garden and at lunch-time went to the skatepark again. We had our first English lesson in the house – we talked about the items in the room and just warmed up for more English to come. I had my own studies in the evening but Dan and Asha decided to cook Indian food, so I arrived back home to a lovely meal and kids in beds!

The first week of Asha’s stay was busy with travels so I think she must be very overwhelmed but I like the fact that even if tired she is always smiling and gradually speaking up more and more. She has a good connection with Dawid and Poppy and probably thinks we (me and Dan) are a bit crazy. Well, we are just happy to have her over so I think we are a bit crazy indeed;)

This week we will be back to our normal work/school routine with Dawid passing his SATs exams, so I hope Asha will see how our normal life looks like and will join in again.