3 Months

Exactly 3 months from today we'll be moving back to the United States. I'm excited to finally know where, as it makes it much easier to plan the move. Although Milwaukee wasn't our first choice, financially it just made more sense, and there are a lot of positive aspects to living in Wisconsin. For example, Chris already has Ironman plans :)

We just returned from four days in Prague and in a little over two weeks we leave for our 12 day U.S. visit. We're both very excited to visit home but at the same time it's overwhelming how much we have planned in our short time remaining. In June and July, we're spending 11 days combined in Athens, Berlin and Paris, in addition to spending a weekend at Exmoor National Park in SW England.

Being Adventurous

Some people say I'm adventurous for living abroad but I certainly don't feel that I am. Especially after chatting with my friend Becky over dinner last night. She was recently accepted onto a summer program in Madagascar to study lemur behavior for 8 weeks and was all set to go until his she got a call with questions about her health check. It turns out she's allergic to an important medication she'd need to take in order to live there, so she's now looking for alternate programs. The most recent application she submitted is to teach art in Thailand. I'd admire her courage, as she would be doing this with just a couple other English speaking volunteers.

I would say it's Becky's young age (23) that gives her the freedom to be a world traveler, but an even more adventurous friend who's exactly my age (29) has been teaching in China for the past two years. She doesn't speak Mandarin and had never even been to China before accepting the job. I'm referring to a British girl named Claire who we met on our France and Italy tour last summer. We've kept in touch and she's told me that she's ready to move back to Europe but not the UK. So she'll continue to live in a non-English speaking country.

I, on the other hand, am most looking forward to returning home to all the familarity and comforts of the United States. Granted southern California may feel foreign at first, but I think I'll quickly adapt to the warm, sunny weather :)

Awaiting Reimbursement

I'm annoyed at the moment regarding the fact that we have to pay for all of Chris' expenses this week up front and wait to be reimbursed. It's not as though post-docs get paid the type of salary that allows for large disposable incomes. kk

I just got an e-mail from Chris saying that two big things which were suppose to be paid for ahead of time were not. Total cost = $750 (conference registration and hotel room). So I quickly transferred money tonight but it often takes a week for our pounds to be transferred into dollars, so hopefully it goes through in time. We can't use our UK debit card because it's a Maestro card which is accepted nowhere except the UK. The whole situation is extremely frustrating!

Another annoying factor is the fact that Chris had no choice in where he stayed, so for example we're awaiting reimbursement for the $300 per night hotel he stayed at in La Jolla, CA. At least Chris got to stay in a beautiful oceanside hotel for that price.

On My Own

I'm enjoying being on my own this week. It's like a mini-vacation because I can eat cereal for every meal without having the protein policeman after me :) I don't like being on my own at night though. Our flat doesn't feel very secure and also our friend Dario was attacked this past weekend. He was out running during daylight hours in a very busy part of the downtown area when two guys jumped him. Luckily he got away with just bruises. It's so senseless, they didn't even take his Ipod, so what was the point?

Chris' interview in San Diego went well and he has been offered a post-doc position at The Scripps Research Institute. It's his first choice, so unless he's really impressed with the Milwaukee guy tomorrow I foresee that we're moving to California.

I did some calculations today to determine how we'll be moving and was surprised that it would be quite a bit cheaper for us to fly. To rent a minivan and drive to California would cost $3141 versus $1575 to fly, taking into account all of the related costs. Although we'd have to replace some things like my bike, it seems it would still be worthwhile to fly.

One More Day

Just one more day until Chris leaves for the U.S. We're both so excited that the time has finally come. We badly want to know where we'll be living and Chris is excited to meet the men that he might be working for. He put together a very impressive looking poster for his conference in Atlanta. It's huge (3x6 feet), so he had to unroll it on the floor for me to see it. I, of course, understand nothing on the poster, but his data does seem to be presented well :)


It'll be a long, quiet week at home without Chris. My co-worker today was asking me if I'm going to have a girls' night at our flat while he's away. She wants to drink cocktails and watch Sex & the City with two other co-workers. I reminded her that we have no TV and it'd be a bit cozy for the four of us to watch it on the laptop, so she's coming up with an alternate plan :)

Obesity Postcards

While waiting for a friend at a movie theatre last weekend, I came across some very amusing postcards in the lobby. I was especially surprised to see the first postcard below considering the amount of junk food sold at movie theatres.

By the way, I was at the theatre to see 27 Dresses which is a great chick flick. My friend and I both loved it!

We'll Know Soon!!

Chris has arranged his San Diego interview and it's in 10 days! He will fly to San Diego from Atlanta for a quick interview on Monday April 14 and then be back in Atlanta on Wednesday for his lunch meeting for the Blood Institute (Milwaukee) job. Of course, he'll also be attending the American Heart Association conference, which is the reason for his trip to Atlanta :)

I am so excited that we will soon know where we're moving!! Warm, sunny SoCal would be a shock to our systems after living in rainy England for two years. I think I could easily get used to 70 degree temperatures year-round :) Of course, Wisconsin would be wonderful as it's home to me and Chris loves the Wisconsin landscape for cycling, camping and sailing.

UK Coins

I was surprised to read a news story today that new coins are being released into circulation because at first I thought they meant additional coin values. However, it turns out they're just introducing new designs.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3666992.ece

For those who are unfamiliar with the insane number of coin values we have, there are eight in total...one pence, two pence, five pence, ten pence, twenty pence, fifty pence, one pound and two pounds. I find the image below, which I found online, amusing because I'm not sure why a US penny is in the picture? Perhaps as a size comparison? Anyway, it shows all the coins, minus the 2 pound one.

Of course the reason for so many coins is partially because the lowest note (bill) is 5 pounds, so the one and two pound coins are used quite frequently. I've noticed that women's wallets here have a much bigger change part and most men's wallets have a zippered change area. Incidentally, I should also mention during this little British lesson that women's wallets are known as purses, and purses are known as handbags. Men still carry wallets though :)