Originally emailed on October 19, 2004. I had been in the UK for about 3 days at this point. It is hard to believe it's been 4 years! It's SO funny to look back on and read about my first few days. My, how things (and feelings) changed! If only I'd known about blogs... :o)I will put new comments in [brackets] to fill in some gaps. Enjoy this flashback! :o) I'll also include some photos.
Hi Everyone!
We are here, we are safe, we are enjoying everything so far! Things are different...for sure! I haven't driven...I'm still getting used to sitting on the wrong side of the car...don't make me drive yet! Forget every nice thing you have ever heard about UK drivers!!! What's that? You've never heard anything nice? Well, consider what you heard 'nice' and bring it down a few notches...these guys are aggressive, psycho, nutso, speedy...[I got used to them, and found them to actually be more considerate than many US drivers. Shocking, I know.]
(I'm sitting at the University borrowing an internet connection because we don't have it at the house yet, and the computer keyboards are a little funky...like the @ symbol is transposed with the " key...and other keys are moved on me, too...so if I spell soemtnhig wnrog, or there is a random \\\\\\\\\\, just blame it on the keyboard -- not me!!)
So let's see...what do you want to know? :0)
Well, first, the dog and cats arrived safely. They did not enjoy the plane ride over, but were very glad to see Dave and he said Daisy rode in his lap the whole way home from the airport! [You haven't seen any references to Daisy because she passed away in Sepember 2006]. The cats have been very busy exploring the new house...they've never lived in a 2-story house before, so they are going up and down the stairs like they are a novel thing! Dave said the first day Alley would slowly creep up the stairs, get to the top and start meowing like she needed rescuing, so he'd walk up, pick her up, bring her back down, and she'd turn around and creep up again! Now she's up and down all the time...it's Alley's little workout plan! She'll work off all that baby fat one of these days!
And...our stuff arrived safely on Monday (yay!!) They just kept bringing box after box after box in and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if I uncover a few boxes that don't actually belong to us! :o) I didn't find all the bedding, but I found enough to make the bed (using 5 different sheet sets!), and it was nice to sleep on the bed again...especially for Dave, who has been camping on the air mattress for the last month! Poor guy! He deserves a back rub for that! I could not have survived!
I haven't found all the dishes, so I haven't done much cooking...and, in that regard, there's no real hurry, right? At least not for me! :0)
We both really love the house. No offense, but Kathrin [the owner], I really hope you don't come back to Surrey for 3 years! :0) It is more eclectic than you would expect looking at the outside, and there is a lot of yellow for decoration (which I love), and it's a very bright, open, warm house. [I continued to love that house, even after Max and Kathrin returned after only one year and gave us the ole' heave-ho. I would gladly live there again.] I just hope our stuff can do it justice! :0) I'm still adjusting to the UKness of it...light switches go down to turn the light on, not up. There are no outlets in the bathrooms (but at least there is heat!). I don't really know how to work the oven (see above, shouldn't really be a problem for me!) The yard (a.k.a. "garden") is really neat. Daisy likes it a lot, although she can squeeze through the slats on the gate and get to the front yard easily...a little chicken wire will fix that! There are still flowers blooming...some roses, and some other things I have no idea what they are! But the smell outside the house is just so fresh! I guess it is the dampness on the soil, and the grass, and the flowers blooming, all combined into one yummy smell. I wish I could bottle the smell and send it to everyone!
(the house)
(Daisy in the garden)
We took a little hike Sunday near our house around the "North Downs Way". Daisy got tired fairly quickly into it...I got tired about halfway - but there are no options when you are in the woods halfway from home! :) There are many more hikes around that we'll take. I met one of the neighbors, she seems nice enough. She seemed extra glad to meet me when I told here we were generally quiet people and wouldn't cause problems! (except the moving trucks...those weren't a big hit with her!) All in all, it will be great to live here for as long as we can!
(the hike)
We went to the closest supermarket last night...kinda neat...kinda different! They have really nice looking produce, but I think it will take me a while to translate the regular food items into my language! :o) [And spent 3 years still trying!] Sadly, but not unexpectedly, the prices are hugaceous!! It's like getting half the stuff at twice the price! Thank God we can shop at the commissary!!! For instance, a 2-liter jug of milk (roughly 1/2 gallon), cost $1.45 at the commissary, but it was £1.61 at the supermarket in town (and the current conversion rate would make that $2.90 (Yipes!!) The meat selection wasn't that great at the commissary that we went to, but there is another one up the road about 2 hours (yes, 2 hours!) and it is much bigger, so we should have a better selection. This country is not for the faint-of-gastrointestinal-systems, though!! The cheeses are Y-ummy! And the chocolate is better than any I've had in many years....you've heard of Cadbury (right, "Bok, bok, thanks Easter Bunny!")...the Cadbury here is just scrumdileyicious!! (Way better than Cadbury in the US. One person compared it to Hershey's...he just doesn't know his chocolate!) One might wonder, though...with this great of chocolate, why are dentists so few and far between?
I haven't found a job, yet (I've only been here 2 days!), but my first priority is to get the house in livable order! Then I'll pound the pavement. There are quite a few temporary agencies in Guildford, and if I can't find anything permanent, hopefully they can at least keep me out of trouble!! If I can't get a job, then we'll need for me to not have a car...otherwise I'll do stuff like come into town and shop! Danger! Danger!
The weather was gorgeous yesterday for the movers! It didn't even think about raining! And it really hasn't rained on me at all. It was spitting a little when we went hiking, and it was spitting a little on me today as I was out shopping, but nothing that would drench a person (just ruin a good-hair-day, that's all). Which, by the way, I'm trying to figure out. I see all these snoochy hair-design places (Toni and Guy, etc.) ...but you go outside and it's windy and cold and the sky is spitting...why would anyone pay to have their hair styled when it's largely fruitless to do anything to your hair anyways???? (Which might explain the lack of power outlets in the bathroom...right?) And if you look around, all the women have disheveled hairstyles anyways! But maybe that's what they are paying for? I'm so confused! I've never been a fashion-maven!
And of course an immediate priority is getting the guest rooms ready for you! So far, the first week in April is booked...and I think we've got a couple of feelers out for June...so...start looking at your calendars and looking for good plane fares! [Obviously I was fishing for some visitors!]
So far, I'm having a lot of fun. Oh, and Dave is too :o) He has started his research, and likes the people he's working with. We expect he'll be busy, but not too busy to enjoy this opportunity. [ummmm, yeah.]
Well, that's it for my report after my first two days...we love you all!
Dave and Melissa
Look for our next flashback on October 26th.
this is awesome!!!
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