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Blog 2 Wednesday 25th March 2009 |
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OK so there’s been a bit of a delay again! Funny how life keeps getting in the way!
Since I last wrote I have been mostly:
- Skiing in New Hampshire
- Getting a job
- Turning 30
- Passing my driving test here in the US
- Starting my new job
- Starting to house hunt for our next home here
- Catching up with old friends who I didn’t even realise were here in Boston!
So skiing was fun, if a bit cold. I definitely missed the warm European end of ski season sun! I had a revelation when someone took my poles from outside the lodge on our last day – it turns out skiing with no poles is much easier! Still waiting for a similar breakthrough with ski boots, they are soooo uncomfortable. We had a great time with Dan’s folks though and I think they enjoyed themselves too, although they were here for the coldest weather we’ve had this winter, so we were a bit frozen! My favourite bit, as always, was the lovely alcoholic hot chocolates (Amaretto + hot chocolate = heaven)!
While Dan’s folks were here I had an interview with a recruitment consultant, followed by another couple over the next week or so. All together it took 2 and a half weeks to find a job (once I put my mind to it!) which I’m quite proud of given the “current economic situation”! So I’m now a Senior Finance Analyst at Stride Rite (the US equivalent of Start Rite- selling kiddie shoes!). It’s fun as I’m now surrounded by shoes, they do own some adult brands too, so I’ve already investing in a couple of new pairs of trainers. I’ve been working for nearly 4 weeks now, and so far so good. Been a bit of a shock to the system to go back to work, after my nice lady of leisure time, but I’m slowly getting the hang of it again.
I had a great time at home celebrating turning 30 with my family and friends. So lovely to see everyone that came! Had excessive cake consumption (my Mum had made me two cakes!), lots of presents and generally an all round nice time. I managed to fit in lots of things, trips to the hairdresser, doctors, I even went back to work at Thomson to see everyone, and go for a yummy duck pizza at the Wyvern, just like old times! Got a bit home sick when I was leaving, just missing everyone, so I’m hoping everyone comes to visit soon!
The day after I got back to the US (from the birthday trip home) I sat (and passed, thank heavens!) my US driving test. To be honest I think a medium intelligence monkey could probably pass the test, so I’m not that proud, just glad I didn’t fail! The whole thing lasted about 5 minutes and involved me driving to a side street, doing a parallel park, then a turn in the road and then driving back to the start. I couldn’t quite believe it was over so fast!
Then the next day after the driving test I started at work! Jet lag was helping me out with the early starts, but I was wiped out in the evenings! The work is interesting, although I’ve gone back in time to Tesco, with retail jargon and looking at the same types of costs. It’s pretty good though as it’s not really like starting a new job were you haven’t got a clue about anything, at least I know something about the industry which is really helping. Team is nice, small, only 4 of us in retail finance (which when you compare to Tesco does make me giggle!). They have fun laughing at my accent, well really more the words I use, there have been some funny moments when I’ve used the phrase “going to the loo”, and called sneakers, trainers and other random things that I didn’t even think were particularly strange. Mike who I work with is starting work on an English to English dictionary, to help us speak to each other! Generally I think it’s going OK, the big bonus is being paid again (and every 2 weeks), so Dan and I can have fun spending money again, me on clothes and shoes, Dan on computer things!
We need to save some of the money though to pay for our next move in May, when our short term lease on our current place comes to an end. We’ve started to have a look, (3 places so far), and I’m hoping we can find something as nice as where we are now. My list of requirements is pretty long, but I think it should be possible to find something! I think the main challenge is going to be balancing my list of requirements with how much money Dan is prepared to pay! I’ll keep you updated on how the hunt is going, and hopefully put some pictures of the new place online, once we’ve chosen it!
Once the move is over I do think I’ll start to feel more settled in. I’m making progress, got a job, passed my driving test, and that’s really the last thing to get organised. Once we have our new place we can get furniture for it, and start to surround ourselves with our own things, which always makes somewhere feel more like home. I’m settling in and making new friends though, well more like catching up with old ones! I lived with a girl called Caroline in my first year of university, and it turns out that she’s here in Boston too, and friends with Kat (Dan’s sister’s best friend – who has been here in Boston for 18 months or so now). Through the amazing medium of Facebook, I see a picture of Kat on a night out in Boston, with a girl that looks very familiar . . . Caroline! We all met up for drinks last weekend, which was fun, if a bit of a frightening trip down memory lane!
So I think that’s us caught up again now, sorry for the gap! I’m going to try for once a month from now on, slightly more realistic now I’ve got a job! I’ve skipped over a lot of the dull stuff, housework, trying to complete our US tax return etc as it’s not massively exciting, but if you feel you need more gory details please do let me know!
Cheerio for now!
H xxx |
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Blog 1 Friday 9th Jan 2009 |
Hello Everyone!
I'm feeling v guilty that this is my first blog posting, I will try and work harder on this going forward! In my defence things have been a little manic! It turns out that moving continents is a little harder work than I had anticipated, but I'm getting there now.
First things first - Happy New Year! I really hope you all had a lovely festive season!
So brief update to where we are: Dan moved over on the 22nd of October, and started his job on the 27th. So far he's definitely enjoying it, the combination of a much shorter commute (he walks for about 25 mins) and not having to be in work until about 9.30am seem to be suiting him. He was here by himself for 3 weeks, while I was still in work back in the UK, waiting for a date for my visa interview, it was a bit of a shame that I wasn't here to move into our new house with him, but there wasn't much we could do and at least I was still earning money! The visa date came through with the worst possible timing, just over a week after I was due to finish work, so I had a big debate, should I stay at work, leave work but stay in the UK and wait for the interview date, or go to Boston for a week and then come back. I finally went for the latter, after getting a sign when British Airways put flights to the USA on sale (your know how I'm a bit of a sucker for a sign!), which meant the flight was so cheap I had to go! (This turned out to be a very good decision).
I finished work on Tuesday the 11th November - which seems like yesterday! I had an great last day in work, with such amazing presents (including some engine blades mounted on this wooden plinth, with a little gold plaque, just the most perfect gift, and it even made it through customs to the US!!!), and a really fun leaving do in London, at Cheers Bar (it seemed kind of appropriate!), I still can't believe so many people came into London to say bye, it was quite emotional. Lisa and I had a lot of fun on the journey home, we met this random guy who'd been to a "Corner Shop Awards Ceremony" (strange but true) who proceeded to hand out packets of crisps to everyone in the carriage on the train. It could only happen to me! I then got talking to the guy sat next to me once Lisa got off the train, who happened to work for Airliner World magazine, so I had geeky conversation about planes for the rest of my journey. It's been weird, I haven't really thought about the fact I haven't worked for weeks, but everything has been so busy I don't think I could have fitted work in. Now that its the new year I've started to have a bit of a look, so fingers crossed I'll be gainfully employed soon. I haven't found any airlines, or aircraft manufacturers in Boston yet though, so I'll have to pick a new type of industry, not sure what to try next!!!
I flew out the next day after finishing work (although I managed to fit in having a haircut and picking up dry cleaning and packing - I know how to squeeze the most out of every day!), and landed in Boston at about 10pm (US time, so about 3am UK time and was generally a bit exhausted!!). It seemed really weird to be here, and definitely didn't seem real, felt like I was here on holiday (which I kind of was I guess), so it was all a bit strange. It didn't help that I got a bit of a grilling by the immigration guy - I said I was here to see a friend, after horror stories of people coming to visit their husbands being deported, and I think they are generally a bit suspicious if you travel by yourself. I made it through though, but was too scared to hug Dan when I saw him in case they were watching - it was quite funny! Also very funny as when I came back with my visa, they were so lovely and welcoming - a complete turn around!!!
I had one week here which was totally manic, trying to sort out the flat (apartment), buy stuff we needed (vacuum cleaner, hairdryer, bedding - thank you work for my $200 Macy's voucher - it really helped!), and trying to settle in and then flew back again for my visa interview. Now that I think back I don't really remember a lot about that week, I think I was too exhausted for anything to sink in! Was good to see Dan again though (although he kept complaining that every time he got back from work things had moved round so he didn't know where anything was any more, so I'm not too sure how pleased he was to see me!!).
Visa interview was a bit of a pain - they were pretty pedantic about everything (the fact that Dan's a dual national seemed to complicate things) so instead of leaving the embassy with my visa on it's way, I left in a bit of a state having been told I needed to provide more evidence. I was a bit stressed out to start with, but still had to head home and pack again to fly to Scotland that afternoon to stay with my folks for a few days, but the calming influence of Dan sorted me out and we got together everything they asked for (mostly tax and proof of residency stuff, oh and a new police records check for me, as I'd provided the old format check) and had it couriered to the embassy as soon as I got back from Scotland. So I missed Thanksgiving, and Dan's birthday, in Hitchin waiting for my visa, so that I could leave the country. That was the downside, but on the positive front I managed to spend time with friends again before I left, got to celebrate Gabs' birthday, and finish my Christmas shopping! My visa finally arrived on Friday 5th December, just over 2 weeks since I flew back and I was straight on the British Airways website to book my flight for that afternoon! I was so glad I'd been out for the week before my interview though, otherwise it would have been over 6 weeks since I'd seen Dan, so that was definitely a good decision!
So on Friday 5th December 2008 I became a registered alien! I even have an alien registration number and everything, it's very Men in Black! And I'm here and this is where I live and where I go grocery shopping, and go to the post office and clean and cook and iron, so it's not so very different to my life back in the UK! I'm not sure what my expectation was, I think it was that things would seem the same - but its still sort of fun, trying to figure everything out, and definitely enjoying being a lady of leisure, although I don't think that will last for much longer! My green card came last week, so there are really no more excuses for not getting a job! I had just over a week before my parents arrived for their 3 week Christmas holiday with us, so it was pretty manic on the cleaning and trying to get the apartment organsied front. We had some fun too though, walking round Boston sight seeing on my first weekend, and watching CSI marathons! I also had fun getting the flat Christmassy, including putting up fairy lights all round the deck - it looked so cool, especially in the snow!
So my parents arrived for their 3 week stay, their first weekend we had about a foot of snow, which was fun (although I can see how the novelty might quickly wear off!) we seemed to spend a lot of Saturday shovelling!! Mum and I went to the ballet at the Boston Opera House, to see the Nutcracker which was so Christmassy and full of little girls in their best party dresses (complete with snow boots) which was cute! We had a fun Christmas - we managed quite traditional British - turkey, gravy, roasties, parsnips, sprouts and even a homemade Christmas pudding (although I did have to free style with some of the ingredients - imagine a country with no glace cherries - weird!!). I had great Christmas presents, the most practical being some snowboots from Dan, so I'm now ready for many more feet of snow!!! On Boxing Day (although they don't have that here!) we walked part of the Freedom Trail round Boston, to try and work off some of Christmas Dinner - cold but fun, watching people ice skating on the pond on the Common and walking round Beacon Hill looking for the house with the best wreath on the front door!
We hired a car at the weekend, and went to Best Buy (the American equivalent of Currys or Comet) to buy a new television in the sale. We now have a flashy flat screen number, for me to enjoy the Food Network and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on!! We also went to Rockport, where we nearly lived (when I was having this idea about renting a holiday home for the winter by the sea), which was quaint, but definitely glad we ended up here. From my house to Macy's takes about 15 minutes door to door (7 minutes to walk to the tube station, 7 minutes on the tube and a minute walk at the other end) from Rockport this would be about 40 minutes and involve a car journey (which seeing as we have no car or no US driving licence to allow us to buy a car (you need a US licence for the insurance) could be a bit of a challenge). So far Rockport is in the lead for the place where we've had the yummiest fries, at the Portside Chowder House on Bearskin Neck.
We went to Plymouth, in search of some Founding Fathers, but instead found a British shop, selling lovely delicacies from across the pond, even Cadburys Buttons, which as you know was a major concern with the relocation, but it seems as though I might make it after all! I still have some left over from my initial supply, I discarded a winter coat in favour of as many bags of Buttons as I could squeeze into my suitcase in it's place - perhaps a slightly foolish decision seeing as it's gone down to -16 degrees C since I arrived - but not all bad as I just have to stay in the warm eating Buttons (every cloud as they say!!!). Plymouth was great though, full of antique shops, and a lovely bakery called Blue Blinds, where I had the most delicious pecan pie!
New Year was a bit of a let down, I was feeling really ill, so went to bed at 6.30pm, so missed midnight, and all the celebrations. It was a bit disappointing, but not so bad, it had been snowing all day, so no one was particularly up for going out in the cold, and there is always next year. I'm very jealous that I missed the New Year's party at Karen & Paul's though, it looked like it was fun!
We finished off the Freedom Trail - in the freezing cold, walking across to Charlestown, which is a really nice place (on the list of places I might like to live, although I don't know how the commute would be) so we've walked loads, my calves are rock solid now - but I think it must be good for me! Working off the amzing fries from Rockport and the pecan pie from Plymouth, and my Legal Seafood addiction. I really do need to get a job though so we can afford to eat out more, there are so many restaurants, especially in the North End, you've never seen so many Italian restaurants in your life!
Mum and Dad flew home on Tuesday, it's funny being here by myself, but not for long, Dan's parents are arriving next Wednesday, and then we are hitting the slopes, fingers crossed I manage to stay intact!! In the meantime I'm entertaining myself by walking along the Charles River, although it was -6 degrees so perhaps not the best idea, I was frozen! I've also joined the library, and got myself out books on resume writing and interview skills, to motivate myself with the job hunt! I also took out a cookie cookbook though, so its not all work and no play!
I'm going to add some new pictures to the website, Christmas ones, and also Boston sights, mostly from my Dad's camera (he's got a flashy digital SLR!), so you can see what we've been up to!
I think that is all for now, other than to say I'm missing everyone so much, and hope you are all planning your visits for very soon. I've updated the calendar so let me know when you are coming! We'll be back in Feb to celebrate my 30th, so hopefully we'll see as many of you as possible then!
Love H xxx |
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