English week...

This past week has seen the arrival of 160 British Majors from Shrivenham to Fort Leavenworth (something that happens twice yearly). A few old faces from the past have appeared and new friendships have been forged. It is a little weird to have this English invasion, so soon after leaving Blighties dusty (?wet) soils, but nice all the same. We were invited to a traditional Kansas 'smoke-out'/BBQ on the Brit's first night in town, 2 Americans and about 15 of 'us'! Jeannie, the quilting queen, hosted us beautifully and even the burnt baked beans tasted good. Thursday night saw us lording it up at some cocktail party hosted by the Brits, and then down to the High Noon Saloon, our local drinking establishment, for some local beer and Kareoke! Our bank manager is also the barmaid there! It is a great place from where to people watch, but I was suffering from very sunburnt legs, and when we tumbled out into the street at half ten I was expecting to see some tumbleweed come whisping down the dark alley and some drunk rednecks to pounce on us! We eventually found a taxi and made it home.
Since then the course, for J, has really started. We had an International students Ice Breaker BBQ on Friday night and wandered round with name tags on trying to make friends! From a quick glance the Aussies seem great fun, the Spaniards, the French canadians and the Danes. The Bangladeshis also seemed lovely and I can't remember many of the others, we met most of the African students in one go, all the men, didn't seem to have any wives present. I think it's going to be a fun year getting to know them all better. This seems to be just the beginning of the gettin' to know ya functions!
Sunday was spent with our sponsors at the Kansas Royals v St Louis Cardinals baseball match - the local derby, so to speak, and we won! It was a great experience, our sponsors could not be nicer and we were with her Rotary Club, so were well looked after!
J has gone on a tour of Kansas City with his class mates today and I am home alone... prepping for a barbie for some Brit mates and doing some work!
p.s. Tomato plants coming along nicely, no real tomatoes as yet!