Settling In

I'm sitting on a wicker couch at the end of the hallway in our TLF (hotel) uploading pictures from the last two weeks. The fact of the matter is that I take WAY too many pictures. And the sad thing is that I've deleted a TON that were blurry, or had people with closed eyes, or just turned out boring. And still it's taking me hours to upload these. I wouldn't mind so much if I could do it from the comfort of our room and watch a little TV, too, but what can you do?

Our first week in England has been very educational. We're so fortunate that Tom met some guys from our base during his deployment in Iraq. One of the guys and his wife have been so helpful. They've driven us around to look at cars and houses, and even drove us to Cambridge last night for dinner. We ate at a Portuguese restaurant called Nando's, which was very good! Plus the bathrooms were clean and spacious, which is not always the case in Europe!

We've found a house that we're in love with, but we haven't signed the papers yet. Tomorrow morning, we have to put some money in our Pounds Sterling account so we can write the check for the admin fee and deposit. It's a gorgeous, brand new house that was just built in the town of Thetford. Thetford is about a 20-30 minute drive from base (depending on traffic), and it's so adorably British I could squeal. It has a little river that runs through the town square with geese floating along. Very story book!

If all goes well tomorrow, we could move in within a week or two, depending on how everything goes with the housing office. We've heard some housing office horror stories, so we'll just have to see how that goes!

We've picked up cell phones. It's nice to have some means of communication, even if it's not reasonable to call back to the states on them. We've also looked at some used cars and will be test driving at least one of them tomorrow.

I miss my family, and I miss my dogs. They should be joining us a few days after we move into the house, which is perfect. The house does have an enclosed rear garden (Brit-speak for fenced-in back yard), so they'll love that! Hopefully their trip will go smoothly.

We had a chance to go to Bury St Edmunds, a market town about 20 minutes from the base. Tom and I had our first real British fish and chips. I also bought a pair of gloves at the market. It's been chilly since we got here, and we've even had a few very light dustings of snow.

I guess that's it for now. Hopefully by the end of this week we'll know our moving date for sure, and may even have a car! Of course, I need to pass the driving test first. YIKES! I'll keep you guys updated. :)