It’s always Autumn in England

As of this morning at 11:45am, I officially have a job at E91st Church in Indianapolis and I start Monday.

I interviewed just over a week ago and was offered the position as Global Outreach Coordinator working alongside the Global Outreach Pastor, Gary Rowe. Today, I went and got all the paperwork and talked to the administrator, Kevin.

I will have my own office and be in charge of organising & administrating missions trips; getting to know missionaries and travelling to see them; and all the other things listed on my 5 page job description.

We bought a car this week. Here are some pictures. It is used, but in excellent condition.
It is a Chrysler Concord, with every gadget and button you could want to play with inside!

We are now taking name suggestions to name this beautiful car that will drive me to Indy and back 5 days a week.

Secondly, I didn’t really say too much about our time in Chicago the first couple days we were here, but we couldn’t have picked a better hotel. It was called The Hotel Monaco and was in downtown Chicago just a couple of blocks from the Taste Festival that was going on. I told Evan to take some pictures, but until I looked at the camera a few days ago, I didn’t realise he had, so here they are!

And Evan’s favorite part of the hotel room was this masterpiece!

We sat in bed every morning and watched a couple of hours of TV because we were waking up between 4 and 5 each morning due to jet-lag.

Yesterday morning, I let out the cats as I usually do and then sat down to read the newspaper. Every few minutes I would look up and see what the cats were doing. Chica doesn’t usually wander too far away and generally just sits on the patio and sunbathes. Well, all the sudden she is no where to be seen, so I step out and call her name. Nothing. She doesn’t come and I can’t see her. I don’t worry too much, but I did tell Evan she was no where to be seen. About 5-10 minutes later Evan went outside and then came and told me he had found her, but to come and see her.

This is what we found:

Chica had found a tree and was at least 25 feet up. I guess she must have been even higher when I first called her, because I could not see her at all. I think when I called her, she started making her way down and it took at least another 10 minutes for her to get all the way down.

Here she is a bit lower:

Following on from my sisters blog a few days ago about TCK’s I have a few more thoughts.

First, let me define a TCK or Third Culture Kid: 
A Third culture Kid is someone who’s parents are from one culture (America) and you live in another culture (UK) so therefore create your own culture - a blend of the two - a third culture.

Now, let me rant for a while and excuse me for it, but I need to vent.

Here are some things you should never say to a TCK when they re-enter their parents culture:

1) Welcome "Back Home"
2) Welcome "Back"
3) Welcome "Home"
OR
1) Are you glad to be "Home"
2) Are you glad to be "Back"
3) Are you excited to be "Back Home"

The answer I have been dying to give is simple. NO. This is not home and I am not BACK HOME, I have never lived here before in my life.

The one thing you can guarentee about a TCK and the one thing that no-one other than a TCK can understand is a TCK never feels at HOME anywhere. I realised this again today, when my 16 year old brother who has been back in America for 6 or 7 years now, told me that he still is referred to as the English kid at school.

Or, when my 25 year old brother who has lived in California for the last 5 or 6 years told me, I am not FROM California, I just LIVED there.

In three weeks of being in America, today for the first time, someone asked if we (Evan and I) were ready to be back in England. I wanted to kiss the man…and I had never met him before. Of course I want to be back in England (and I want to be here). Both places are home and both places are where I am from, but I have spent a great deal more time in England than in America, so to assume that in 3 simple weeks, I would be feeling "at home" that is just not going to happen. I expect in three years, I still won’t feel like this is home.

My home, I must say, is where Evan and I live together. Because I never feel quite as at home as I do when Evan and I are most comfortable and I know without a doubt that for the rest of my life that will be the one thing that remains consistent.

Saturday we got to hang out with my dad and brother, we had loads of fun swimming and just hanging out. We played on the Wii and watched a movie too.

Today we got to see our friends Craig & Kelly and Tim & Angie and all their kids too. Again, lots of fun and more playing on the Wii.

Now we are waiting on a friend who happens to be driving through Lafayette on his way to TN. Brad is going to stop by and maybe even spend the night. He just called and is nearly here, so I better go.

We are safe and sound in Lafayette now. We spent Sunday unpacking and then celebrating Evan’s sisters birthday. We saw the movie ‘Get Smart’. I had never heard of this show but Evan and Sarah grew up watching it and wanted to see the movie. My verdict was that it wasn’t the worst movie I have ever seen. There were 3, maybe 4 scenes that got me to laugh out loud, but the majority of the rest of the movie was simply tolerable. I think if I had watched the show as a kid, I probably would have enjoyed it more.

We have also sorted out a few banking issues and bought a few essentials for living here. But, we are being careful with what we spend our money on, because we only have a set amount to get us through to when we start earning.

We are all packed up and moved out of our house. We are now staying with our friend Heather. I worked with Heather at Mercy and she was also in our Life Group for the last couple years.

I am feeling pretty rough at the moment. I have a sore throat, stuffy nose and feel really achy. But for the first time in a while I actually slept until 9am and then had a leisurely soak in the bath!

Now I am watching House and Evan just came back with lunch.