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.