CHAPTER THREE: 1965
Marriage and Life in London
Elizabeth and Mike were married in a Quaker meeting in Brentwood, Essex on July 25, 1964. While adjusting to married life, Elizabeth had her first experience with a regular job, and in fact she had 5 different jobs including translation and teaching ESL. While the year was quite hectic, she enjoyed both married and work life, and developed a wider circle of friends. She learned that she was able to adapt easily to many different work situations and proved to be very outgoing and to easily make friends.
Getting Married
We were married at a Quaker meeting house in Essex on July 25, 1964 after knowing each other for 3 years. After the wedding we jumped on a train to Yugoslavia (the trip was financed with money we had received as wedding gifts, intended to buy an elegant dinner service). On arrival in Dubrovnik we found a sputnik office that helped tourists find accommodation. While in the office, we saw someone running off with our luggage. When Mike caught up with him, the man just nodded and pointed down the street. We finally realized he was taking us to his apartment. When we arrived, there was a hurried discussion among the household members, and the protesting grandfather was pushed out of his room to make way for the honeymooners.
Life in London
In London we developed a large group of friends, and we had an active social and cultural life with frequent visits to the theater and museums. We came to know London quite well.
After a great honeymoon in Dubrovnik, we moved into our apartment in Camden Town, in North London. During the course of the year, Elizabeth held several jobs: teaching ESL and translation, as an assistant to a company aiming to provide wider career opportunities for women, and as a telephone interviewer with a management consulting company where Mike was working.
Off to Venezuela
We assumed we would settle in London, where Mike already had a job, and Elizabeth would have time to decide the career she would pursue. However, we both wished to do some international travel before settling down in London. We received an invitation to work for two years with a voluntary organization in Venezuela, but with very little information on what they did. Although we were not quite sure where Venezuela was - other than being somewhere in Latin America, we accepted the invitation.
Mike was rushing to complete his doctoral dissertation, which was approved two weeks before we left. He was told he would have a job with the consulting company when we returned to England, so in July 1965, together with a large metal trunk - which included a bottle of diarrhea medicine, we boarded a plane for Venezuela, assuming we would be back in two years. Little did we know what fate had in store for us!
