Squash

British mornings, while lovely, are also very difficult to wake up to. Particularly, the grey vault that covers the sky is not the most welcoming site.

Outside our apartment as the fog rolls in. This is for real.

In order to wake up and get started on our day, Emily and I have tried to go running several mornings because we are surrounded by some beautiful meadows and a river. Everything you thought about Pride and Prejudice is true. The fog is thick in the morning, with cows and green pastures, even in the winter. One morning, Emily just stopped in the middle of our run and asked me to go out in the fog and slowly walk up to her just to recreate the scene from the movie.

Welcome to our life…

But if we are being honest, we have not been very consistent at waking up so we decided to take up a new sport.

Here is Isaac making a violin

There is a Young Single Adult who lives in Oxford name Isaac Calvert. Isaac is getting his second, yes second, Ph.D. at Oxford. His first was at BYU in Instructional Psychology and Technology and now he is getting one in Education. His focus is on the sacred nature of learning. He is going to live in Israel and study with Jewish Rabbi’s for a year to see how they treat learning as sacred.

Yes, these are the people we live with. Welcome to our life…

About three weeks ago, Isaac convinced us that we are underutilizing our college squash courts and that he should be responsible for introducing us to this traditionally British Gentlemen’s game. We took him up on the offer and two squash racquets and three weeks later, we are pretty much professional. For those who don’t know what squash is, here is a clip of me playing. I am the one in the blue.

But seriously, here are a few pictures of us on the court. Squash is played with a racquet that is much smaller than a racquetball or tennis racquet.  The ball is also very, very flat. It is just a rubber ball that you have to slam very hard. Since there is a lot of lunging we spent our first few weeks pretty sore. However, we now consistently waking up at 6:30 and the grey skies are more beautiful than ever. Enjoy!

Emily showing off our new squash racquets. Look at that game-face.

Emily and our friend Robyn playing squash. Look at that lunge!