The paperwork for my Duel Citizenship has come through! I now go to a ceremony to accept it, which I will be doing at the end of October. Then I can get my British Passport! I am excited. Duel Citizenship is kinda fun to think about.
Even though on a day to day basis, it doesn’t make much difference to my living, it does mean Evan and I have the choice of living in the UK or America and travelling in the EU will be much easier!
Our container is being delivered today!
It arrived in the US on 1sts August and took about 2 weeks to clear customs. So, since around the 14th August, it has been sitting in a warehouse somewhere in South Carolina. I am glad it is finally being delivered. the only answer we ever got when we called the company was that they didn’t have a truck available to send up here to us. Last week, I sent an email to EuroUSA saying that a month was far too long to wait for it to be delivered. I also emailed PSS in England to complain. PSS is who we hired in England, and they use EuroUSA on this side. I don’t have a complaint for PSS, they were always very prompt, very friendly and always followed through on when they said they would call or be there. They were excellent at keeping in touch with us to let us know what was going on.
EuroUSA has not been that way. On August 1st we called to see when it would be through customs and delivered. Their standard answer was always, ‘we will call you back’. We would wait a week and hear nothing. Call them again, and their answer would be, ‘we will call you back.’ My complaint to PSS about them was that, if on the 14th August, they would have told us, it will take a month to get it here, because that is the next truck they have, at least I would have known what was going on. But just telling us that they would call us when they had an answer was very frustrating. They never once called us back, by the way. The only call we ever got was from the driver of the actualy delivery truck. On Monday he called and said it would be delivered today. He called again last night to let us know where he was and to tell us he would be here around 10am today.
So, now I only have about 30 minutes before all of my stuff arrives. It is very exciting!!! It kinda feels like Christmas. I don’t remember exactly what it is I have in there!!
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.
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.
Our shipping company comes today. They should arrive in an hour or so. We have all our of our stuff stacked in three rooms. I put a post it note on each door saying what could go and what couldn’t for the movers. For example, in the living room it says, "everything to the left of the fireplace"
Our friend Alice came over last night and she took one of our big chairs, our coffee table and lots of small kitchen stuff.
I got up this morning and realised we don’t have a single mug in the house for a cup of tea. I found one travel mug at the back of the cupboard though, so I got my tea fix!! I don’t know what we will serve the movers in. I might have to run to co-op and buy some paper cups.
I do have some pictures of what the house looks like with everything waiting for the movers to come. I will put some up later, because this morning I am meant to be going to Mercy for the graduation of one of the residents. I plan on being there for about 30-40 minutes and coming home again.
This week we have had our good friends Samantha and Shane visiting us. Today we headed to York. Towards the end of our day there, it seemed to hit me that this was my last week to get in everything ‘English’. I kinda panicked, thinking I somehow needed to represent my life in England with something I could buy. When I couldn’t find anything, I started taking pictures. I got a few shots that I thought were pretty good at representing some of the culture and/or typical scenes in everyday life.
This first shot is of two lads in school uniform, throwing a ruby ball back and forth to each other while waiting for the bus. They are standing right next to a post box…how much more ‘English’ can you get??!!
The next is a shot of a row of terrace houses with their brightly coloured front doors.
Next, is a tea room I spotted as we waited to catch the Park n Ride bus back to the car.
Lastly, is this ultimate classic scene. Around 4 in the afternoon, the sun came out and it got really warm outside. As we crossed the bridge over the river Ouse, I spotted The Slug and Lettuce, the great pub chain. Outside, it was packed with late afternoon sunbathers. In the English summer, sunbathing outside a pub on a river/canal is all you need!
