Article

http://doc.mediaplanet.com/all_projects/4827.pdf

This link leads you to a neat series of articles on Celiac's Disease that USA Today put on. Good for them!

Celiac Coping

I've been gluten-free for almost a year and a half. That's almost enough time to be good at something, right?
Not so much.

I still struggle when I go out to eat, fearing what I should order. I still struggle when I have people over for dinner, and they want to make something. I have this irrational fear that the world is out to get me occasionally.
I know it's not. I know my friends love me. I know they don't really want me to get sick, even if they do fight over who gets to use the epi-pen if I have a peanut reaction (thanks guys...).

But how do you fit in, when everyone in your social group can just eat anywhere? Eat anything?
Well, they may not be perfect, but I've come up with a few coping techniques:

1. Carry a snack. It doesn't have to be big, but you should have one. I ended up staying at a friends house for several more hours than I expected the other day, I was really happy I had taken along some carrot sticks and hummus to munch on. "Just in case"

2. Suggest where to go. Most people will take suggestions. I did that just recently in London when we were on a day trip. Just quietly steered the group toward a place I knew about. Worked out fairly well, if I do say so myself.

3. Be ready to talk to a cook. I'm still getting over my fear of asking people what is in things. But I've noticed no one else seems to mind when I question someone, so why should I?

4. Play the host/hostess. I've found most people are willing to pitch in a little money if I play hostess and do the cooking. I've also discovered that Mexican goes over well, which is made so easily gluten-free. Plus people can contribute things to a Mexican night super-easy. "Go grab four bags of tortilla chips". Was that so hard? Not for them. And it's much less stressful for me!

5. Visit ahead of time. If I know our group is going to eat somewhere, I try to pop in before the night of the event and ask the wait staff questions. Usually someone can help me out, and then I know precisely what to do, I don't hold up anything, and I don't have to feel awkward. It's a win-win scenario from my point of view.

6. Be honest. I sometimes get so self-concious that I hate talking about my health problems. But when people ask questions, I think it's because they're genuinely curious, not because they're "being nice" or about to be mean. I love it now that I have a group here who knows what's what, because they tease me a lot, and I feel very normal most of the time despite my glaring difference from everyone else.

Continually learning, striving, coping. Wishing I didn't have to, but thanking God I've had the opportunity to learn more about me, and to help others occasionally. :)

King Lear, All-nighters, Brighton, and more...

Well, another week has rolled around, and considering I'm at a moment of lull between my two projects (due back to back) I thought I would write a quick post on life in Oxford.

Due to the fact that I had friends here right before 4th week, and my minor tutor having to move our 4th week meeting to 5th week, and keeping Charles and Erin's boys for three days... I got behind. Majorly behind in ways that are never good.
Normally around here we have something we call "5th week blues" or "the 5th week slump". That would have been last week. Unfortunately, I had no time to have a slump, as I have had so much to do so close together.
However, I'm on the cusp of being finished with everything, minus one composition project due tomorrow afternoon, that I should finish at some point.

So backing up a little,
Last week, I had a paper due on Wednesday, and a Composition project due on Thursday. I screwed up my own life by not starting my paper fast enough since I lost two days of research being in London, and ended up pulling an all-nighter that Tuesday night to finish in time. When I was visiting Penelope later on Wednesday morning (as opposed to 7 am, when I finally finished my paper and decided bed wasn't worth my time...) she invited me to go to St. Michael's with them for an Ash Wednesday service. The service was really interesting, considering all I had ever heard about Anglicans was that they were like Roman Catholics minus the pope. Similarities could be drawn for sure, but they are vastly different from what I could tell. Obviously I have been to Evensong services, but that's sort of different from going to a full blown service like that one.

On Thursday I had one of the worst days of the term, but only for all the little inconsequential things. Like being splashed by a car, and then a bus while I was walking to my tutorial. Being harassed by immature boys on the back of the bus, having had far too little sleep the night previous, and none the night before that. And on top of all of this, Tesco called that morning and informed me they couldn't deliver my order since my credit card had failed to validate.
You think Mastercard would realize I live in England now.
You would think.
After a terrible morning/afternoon (but a decent tutorial) I came home to realize I had so much homework, I wasn't sure when I was going to shower and sleep in the next week.
In retrospect, it wasn't as bad as I feared, but on Thursday it looked bleak. So I had to skip Bible study, which some know is the only reason I stay sane from week to week. Sad day.

Friday was spent studying, traversing to tutorial, and then my Friday night consisted of a hot date.
With my kitchen.
I scrubbed that thing from top to bottom. It was very pretty when I finished.
Although our fridge still smells like something crawled in there and died, and no one can figure out what in the world it could be. Ugh.

Saturday I studied. And felt like a loser since I didn't venture out of the house once. In fact, I only left my bedroom to reheat some leftovers and grab the salsa out of the fridge.

Sunday the Warners had a tea party at their house in the afternoon, which is always great great fun. Penelope always goes out of her way to make sure I can eat things, and she made her homemade fairy cakes gluten-free, and meringue cake with berries again. So great. During the tea it came up that some folks are doing a little traveling over the next couple of weeks. My housemate Chrissy, and I both caught the travel bug, and promptly sat down and planned a trip.
We're going to Brighton next week for three nights.
Because we can.

Monday night we journeyed to Stratford to see King Lear, a production put on by the RSC, Royal Shakespeare Company. Not anywhere near as gory as I feared, and an incredibly powerful production. Although, the set distracted me a little. As did their indecisiveness in costuming:
"Were we in WWI or pre-Medieval Britain? Did anyone actually know?!"
-Jacquie Rawles, the tutor who accompanied our trip.
Otherwise, a great production.

The last two days were spent in a flurry of paper writing and compositional exercises. After tutorial tomorrow afternoon, I'm catching a train to London to meet a group of friends so we can all see Love Never Dies, the "sequel" to Phantom of the Opera.
We plan to laugh voraciously at the ridiculousness it has to be.

That's my week.
I'm busy. Way busy.
Can spring break be here yet?

Stonehenge and Bath

The weekend of October 31/November 1 Rebekah and I visited Stonehenge and the city of Bath, both major highlights for me for probably my life, but especially for this year. 

We drove straight to Stonehenge on Saturday, and actually went in and walked around (it’s rather expensive normally, but we’re English Heritage members, and that’s one of the free perks to being a member). There was also a free audio guide for the site (like all good EH sites) that was mostly informative, although just a wee bit on the cheesy side. I have about a million photos of Stonehenge... i.e. a bunch of photos about rocks. 

After we left Stonehenge we drove into Bath, where apparently there was a big rugby match going on... hence no parking. In the entire city. We finally found a spot and headed into the City Centre. After a little debate and more than a little confusion, we found the Jane Austen Center, which was a blast. Jane Austen is one of my heroes in life (not heroin no... sounds too druggy...) so the center was absolutely fascinating for us. They talked not only about her specific life but also about what Bath would have been like during the Georgian era. Absolutely fascinating. 

We were going to stop and have a bite to eat there at the JA Center’s cafe, since they had a gluten-free sign on the cafe window, but oh my goodness it was crowded. So we decided to eat our packed lunch while walking to the Assembly Rooms. Now this is where the joke/dream/running gag of my Regency Era wedding started. I do however have my entire wedding mapped out now. 

All I need is a willing male participant now.

After the Assembly Rooms we headed down towards the Pump Room/Royal Baths/Bath Abbey area. There was a wedding in Bath Abbey and we realized we were still a little hungry, so grabbed a snack (yay for hot chocolate!) at Costa Coffee. When we did go to Bath Abbey they offered us one of two guides... the adult which had boring info, or the children’s activity sheet. Guess which was we went? Oh yeah... the children’s activity sheet! 

After that we did a little bookstore shopping on our way to the car since it was beginning to get dark. When we started out we pulled out the Sat Nav to figure out where Grosvenor Lodge, our B&B for the night, was located. Unfortunately the Sat Nav decided to spazz out on us, so after a long time of trying to decide what to do, we ended up driving around in the dark with me using the Blackberry’s built in Sat Nav, constantly refreshing the Maps application. Now we laugh, but then we definitely did not. Upon finally arriving at the B&B we found Colin, who runs the place, and has Celiac’s Disease. In our opinion this place deserves a 5 ****** rating... it’s rare for me to go somewhere and feel entirely confident that they aren’t going to screw up my breakfast and secretly kill me. I’ve had more meals remade because it’s come with toast on the side and I’ve had to give them the evil eye. Colin however, having the same disease understood all the issues, and even had some amazing toast and sausages (special treats for me!) in the morning. It was absolutely wonderful. If you go to Bath and you have CD, I really do suggest you stay with Colin, it’s well worth the visit. 

On Sunday we went to the #1 Royal Crescent House Museum, which was completely furnished the way it would have been in the Georgian era when Bath was at the height of it’s popularity. After that we went to the Roman Baths and did a little time travel back 2000 years, from there we ran through the Pump Room to try our free glass of sulphur water (oh so gross) before heading back to Reading. A full and busy weekend by any standards! 

Photos of us being crazy can be viewed here!

Baking Gluten-Free in a new country

Okay, I've been gluten-free for about 11 months now. And baking is a scary, scary, scary, awful, horrible thing if you're not familiar with what you're doing. Which I'm generally not. I'd tried it a few times (unsuccessful mixes aside) and kinda had an idea in the states.

But Thanksgiving is around the corner. And as the main representative for America in my bible study, I feel a need to share my culture with them. Since Bible Study is on Thursday's, this works well. If I could just figure out how to bake over here...

I e-mailed family to request a pumpkin cookie recipe (thinking that would be nice and easy) and lo, and behold: it requires a yellow moist cake mix.
So after internet research, maybe I have a substitute:

1 1/2 cups white rice flour
3/4 cup tapioca flour
1 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp xantham gum
1 1/4 cups sugar

Does this sound right? Anyone? Anyone at all?

Musings on being a Celiac/Coeliac

I’m spoiled. I can own up to it. I have an amazing support system at home. I have my mother, who went gluten-free with me (although she thinks she’s seeing an improvement now, no wonder, Coeliac’s/Celiac’s is genetic). I have the rest of my family who are there when I need them, for a phone call, cup of tea, or a weekend brunch. They’re also very serious about making sure I stay healthy. I have my little circle of friends at school, who are not only supportive, but nag to make sure I keep my blood sugar steady, and never choose a restaurant that I can’t eat at, and in general are adorable/a nuisance. :) I also have my friends at church, who pray for me on a daily basis (something I’ll be eternally grateful for), the administrative staff at Jewell who go out of their way to help me, and the list goes on and on. 

I guess what I’m saying is, I didn’t realize how much I would miss that support network. From the casual cups of coffee, to the ranting to Shelly King (you knew you’d get a shout-out eventually) to 2 a.m. Steak ‘N’ Shake runs, I didn’t realize how much of my mental sanity as I’ve dealt with these health problems has been dependent on the people around me and the support they provide.

Now the real thrust of this post, I miss my support network. I miss people who get just as excited as I do because a package came from the UK Coeliac Society, or not feeling awkward at a dinner party because the hostess made sure I have something, or just not feeling like I have to explain everything to everyone all the time. I also hate feeling like I’m boring people by explaining things, but I’m having trouble finding that happy balance. Does such a thing exist?

Preludes

So I’ve been a bit remiss in the updating realm. I promise it hasn’t been purposeful, I have plenty of excuses involving being ill, not having working internet, and Word eating my documents. I’m now switching to the Mac Word Processing program – Pages. Obviously far superior. :-P

But this is an actual update, not just a post to antagonize PC users out there. 

After leaving KC I spent about 5 1/2 days with my brother in Chicago. We discovered that he has become old and boring, which suited me just fine, because I was born old and boring.  We mostly stuck to quiet pursuits, but we did have about 2 or 3 adventures.

First, the Sunday I was there, my brother had the cute idea to drive to Wisconsin to surprise his wife, who was staying there with her parents while they took care of a few things. This required us getting up at 5:30 am. He’s charming, non? 

Our other fun day came on Monday. Matt (brother) and I decided to head down to The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. This photo basically sums up that trip:

Yeah, I know. 

Tuesday evening was spent wandering downtown in Chicago while I waited for Matt to get out of his class. He’s working on degree number three. Clearly this need for school runs in the family. 

Wednesday kicked into high gear getting ready for the flight, which left at 6 pm that day. 

Oh yes, that flight. Here’s the ups and downs:

1. Virgin Atlantic in flight service rocks. 
2. One of few airlines that knows how to cater to the Celiac (or Coeliac) community. 

3. Heavy turbulence for five hours of flight = not a lot of fun. It was kinda like being on a roller coaster for part of the time. For those in doubt, I’m not the roller coaster type. 

4. Tea served two hours before landing is a great plan. Just saying.

5. Nasty customer service people who tell you despite your obvious injuries (I mean, I’m wearing a whiplash collar around my neck), you’ll have to manage your own luggage because she has no record of you calling to request help. Doesn’t matter that a call was made, if she doesn’t have a record of it, you’re still on your own. Fail Virgin Atlantic. Fail in large ways. 

Despite these ups and downs (literally in the case of the turbulence) I made it through Immigration and Customs without any issues. Leading up to coming over here, various folks made it sound like Immigration would be a nightmare. The following is my conversation with the Border Patrol Official:

Border Patrol: Where are you studying?

Me: Oxford

Border Patrol: What are you studying?

Me: Music.

Border Patrol: Great. Have a good time. *stamps passport*

Not really a big deal at all? 

However, I was greeted very enthusiastically on the other side of Customs by my older sister Rebekah. I felt fairly special. She then drove me to the other brother and sister-in-law’s place, on the outskirts of London. They live in between the last couple of stops on the Picadilly line. The other end from Heathrow. 

That was Thursday. I proceeded to nap and enjoy a fairly quiet evening.

Friday morning I babysat my nephews for a couple of hours, and then once they were down for their naps and my brother back at their house, I decided a bit of exploring was in order. I may be the only person to ever get lost in between their house and ASDA, but at least I have distinction. After finally locating ASDA (the English Walmart) I also located the gluten-free section and bought some of the most reasonably priced, and tastiest items I’ve had in awhile that are gluten-free.

Dear America, could you please catch up with England? Thanks, Karen. 

Saturday Rebekah drove over and she and I went sight-seeing in London. We decided to hit the Charles Dickens museum (long time obsession) and then the Buckingham Palace State Rooms. Obviously, you can’t take photos inside, but here’s the outside of the Palace, as well as a picture of me trying to get the Palace in the background. You can tell I wasn’t terribly successful. 

After the Palace we walked to Hyde Park (famed in storybooks everywhere) and took a few photos. This is where we learned, Karen really isn’t great at getting much beyond the people in the photo in the photo. I can’t get a monument or building in the background to save my life. 

Saturday night Rebekah spent the night at our brother’s place so we could get up Sunday and hear him speak at their church. He’s definitely the intellectual one. I’ll settle for being the artistic one in the family. :-)

If you think about it, keep a few folks from my program in your thoughts and prayers, they’re having trouble with the British Consulate. And that’s NO fun. 

Sunday evening we came back to Rebekah’s place, so I could catch a train to Oxford. Unfortunately, I picked up a flu bug and have spent more of the last 24 hours in bed than not. We’re going to drive up to Oxford tomorrow and see about getting me into the flat so I can go back to bed for portions of tomorrow. Another post is soon to come, with pictures of the flat, and hopefully of housemates. 

Stay tuned...