Feels like Home (soon we hope!)

A few good things from our end...

1. The spiders are slowly becoming less prevalent throughout our house (outside the house is a different story). Living here for a few days and a few professional and thorough cleanings have helped the situation overall. We have, however, encountered a fleet of moths in our bathroom. I left the window open ajar the other night before going to sleep and when Scott came up to use the bathroom before bed, the room was swarming with moths! I have learned not to keep the windows open at night.

2. Our things from the states arrive tomorrow! We are both excited to add variety back into our wardrobes and are excited about simple things, such as a trash can for our bathroom (rather than the hanging plastic bag from the door handle). I am excited to have my kitchen intact and baking tools at hand so I can start baking and cooking with some of my free time. I will be glad to have our things here in order to make this place feel more like our own home.

3. I took my first 2 hour driving lesson today. I have been driving some, but it is a nerve-racking experience for both me, as the driver, and Scott, as the passenger. Mr. Singeh, my instructor, did say I was a good driver and should be fine to pass the British driving test and exam with a few more lessons and quite a bit more practice. It is strange to drive here because there are basically no stop signs. Our county has 3 in total. The round-about is preferred here.

4. I joined the local library this week. I have not been to a library to check out a book in years. I have been going there each day to read the paper and then also have checked out a number of books. I have been checking out cookbooks and travel books, so I can plan both my future meals and trips in my spare time.

And the not-so-great things from our end....

1. Our experience with customer service for a number of services for our new house. The phone company is coming to install our line for our phone tomorrow, but they (the same company) cannot turn on the phone, cable, or internet service in our house until the end of September! I am not sure why it takes over ONE month to execute such a request, but I do know that EVERYTHING in this country works and moves slower than I have ever experienced before. I had been warned about this level of service before we arrived here and I thought maybe things had improved since these people were last here. It has not.

2. The Laundry Situation. We have a washer and no dryer. Due to the great number of bugs outside in our back yard, I am not keen on hanging our clothes out there to dry. So, I have drying the clothes on a make-shift clothes line in our kitchen. And since our internet is not working at the house yet, I cannot download the photo of my "laundry room" to my computer in order to post here. As soon as I can post it, the photo will explain the situation best.