New House!

We have signed the lease for our new home! It is in a beautiful suburb right near the uni, the train station, and the shops. The suburb was voted the top third best place to raise a family in for Chicago. It has four bedrooms and a study, a lounge and dining room, and a rumpus room downstairs in the basement. Fortunately, it comes with fridge, washer and dryer. Unfortunately we don't have one of those cute letterboxes where the red flag goes up when you have mail (See movie "The Lakehouse" set in Chicago), but we do have the American Flag! There is a guest bedroom - so you are welcome to visit!

Snow fall

Angie and Kate watched from the hotel window as the snow flurried down. Afterwards we cut out snow flakes from paper. Outside it got whiter and whiter. Then, at 7pm when it was dark, we had eaten our dinner, had baths, and put on pj's, it was time to go and pick up Daddy from uni. Of course, being 6 and 4 means that you have to pick up the snow and put it in your mouth, just to find out what it is really like. Fortunately we had brought the snow brush to scrape the snow off the windscreen. Another adventure!

International Snow Kiddies

First Flurries

We have been here for nearly a week, and today we had our first snow. We walked out of the hotel to hop in the car for church, and there were light, white, tiny little snow flakes whirling out of the sky. It was beautiful, and exciting for the kids. Needless to say, we got to our first service in Chicago late (but not by too much).

It has been a full on week, and feels like we have been here a month at least. Some things we have done are:

• Shopping - fun for Kate, but no-one else. We have brought some snow gear, and some late Christmas toys for the kids.




• Rental car - a 7 seater Chevrolet, which I love driving. So far driving on the wrong (right) side of the road has gone really smoothly. Only a couple of beeps, because I keep forgetting I'm allowed to go through a red light to turn right. Fun! I'm slowly learning all the main roads, though they are all named after American States, so it gets confusing. They are also referred to by a route number, which you also have to commit to memory.




• TEDS - Scott started his lectures this week. He had a meeting with one of the professors, who added an extra subject or two to his workload - not great!




• Eating - I can really understand why they have an obesity problem here, and actually find it hard to believe how people can keep from being overweight. Everything has sugar, or cheese, or chips or all three! We had dinner in a hamburger place which was fun and NOISY - quite an experience. I think Angela will get a job there if we stay in Chicago too long. On offer for breakfast in the hotel is bacon, waffles with maple syrup, potatoe in some form, pancakes, fruit loops, etc. Each day I vow I will eat more healthily tomorrow, but it hasn't happened yet.




• House hunting - Our friendly real estate agent, Mary, showed me some places on Friday, and we are going to look at some more tomorrow. Once we get a house, we can really get organised.




• Socialising - We have made friends with Adam (another PhD student), his wife Katrina, and their two sons Reuben (3 yrs) and Nathan (11mths). They have amazingly coped with our family for dinner twice this week, and we have really appreciated their warmth.

Otherwise, I have spent heaps of time on the computer. I am setting things up on Scott's laptop, and it is a bit too complicated for me. Still trying to get Skype working, and do group emails that make it to everyone on the list. But - we will get there.

Here is a link to our church:

http://www.redeemernorthshore.org/

The service was more formal than we are used to, but done really well. The music was great, the kids were happy in the children's program, and the m-tea was awesome (included pumpkin pie). There seems to be a good mix of ages, and people were friendly to us. We were invited back to the pastor's house for lunch, which was great. We ate proper Chicago pizza! We are looking forward to going back next week.

Overall -a busy week. We are tired (still suffering from jetlag) but really happy to be here, and excited about what is to come.

Snowy Christmas

There isn't any snow (yet), and we missed Christmas, but there are still Christmas trees and decorations around, and it is always nice to have an open fire and a hot chocolate.

We've arrived!

Wow! I can't believe we are finally here. It all seems a bit surreal. The plane trip went really smoothly.
Back track - We were a bit worried, as Dante had the gastro bug, and was feeling pretty terrible. So he boarded the plane with an ice-cream buckets, and spare pairs of undies. But fortunately he didn't need them. By the time we got to Chicago, he was feeling much better.
Also, at 11pm two nights before we left, Scott received a phonecall to say that his dad was in hospital after being bitten by a snake. It was an anxious wait till we found out he was all OK the next afternoon.
After these two blips, everything went smoothly. We arrived at the hotel, and got to bed by midnight.

First day
- episodes of friendliness-
* Ben is an ethics lecturer at the university. He lives next door to Graham Cole, and met Scott when he visited last year. He picked Scott up from the airport in Chicago with all our luggage, and brought them to the hotel. He had also done some grocery shopping for us, which was fantastic. Amazingly, it included a box with my favourite tea in it - lady grey.

* Kate woke up at 11am, but couldn't work out how to get the shower working. Woke up the kids, and called for the maintenance man. He came, and after showing us what to do, chatted for a while about the local attractions, the history of the area, and the chance of seeing deer outside our window. He said we could call for him, or stop him in the hallway if we had any questions.

*We went to the shopping centre (Westfield) to pick up a few things. I thought it was huge, but apparently it is a small one compared to others. Fortunately we quickly encountered the info desk. The children were all given balloons, and we were pointed in the right direction. The man wanted to know what kangaroo meat was like. I did a raving add for it (even though I've only eaten it a couple of times myself). When it was time to go home again, we went back to the info desk, and they called a taxi for us. All the kids were given an extra balloon (not so good thought the parents). They said if we have any questions about anything, just to ask them. Didn't quite give us their personal phone number, but close to it.

- what's different so far-
* The light switches turn on and off the opposite way
*McDonalds sells iced-tea
* American flags everywhere
*Driving on the wrong side of the road
*Kettles (see below)

In the hotel there is a coffee percolator, but no kettle to make a cup of tea. At the shops, we asked the lady for a kettle, and she showed up some saucepans. No, we wanted something to boil water in, like a jug. She showed us an old-fashioned kettle that you put on the stove. Hmm, closer, but do you have anything else? "Oh, do you want a tea-pot?"She dubiously said that they have electric tea pots. "Yes"we said, very enthusiastically. She showed us where they were, and tried to pull out the switch that you flick to turn on. She obviously had never used one before. We bought the tea-pot, and I enjoyed my lady grey tea this evening.

- memorable quotes-
*Dante, disappointed because "The trees have no leaves on them. I thought they only fell off with the snow."
* Angela, on spotting a man with a cowboy hat on in the shopping centre, "Look, a cowboy, from Western Australia"

That's probably a good summary of our first day in Chicago. The landscape so far is very flat, and pretty bleak and wintry. Fortunately, they have been having a warm spell, so it wasn't too cold. Snow is forecast for Friday. Our hotel is wonderful. They provide breakfast, and dinner four nights a week, hot cider with cinnamon and cloves, and an open fireplace in the lounge. It is very much like an American postcard. Tomorrow morning I go to pick up a hire car - so that will be a new adventure!

Christmas Fun

Christmas this year involved lots of animals, and visitors from Argentina. The children loved going to church in Kingston, where Peter Adlem is the minister, accompanied by the donkey and ferrets. Dante proudly said to another girl, "The woman who brought the animals, I'm her Grandson." The church service involved lots of singing and dancing, which the girls loved, craft, and even a lego DVD with the nativity story. Very creative.

For Christmas lunch, John and Gayelene had invited two girls from Argentina who are in Tassie for six months learning about children's ministry. We spoke some spanish, and heard about the ministry that is happening in the church Scott grew up in. It was great to chat with them, and be reminded of all the good things of Argentina.