Wednesday 26 January 2011

Blogging: the hardest part.

Well, so far, the hardest part of blogging is coming up with a title, and then choosing a font that you like. I chose "Merriweather", as a kind of prayer, I guess. It did take me the better part of Elizabeth's nap to choose the font. Matthew helped me come up with the title; the other front runners were: Jamaramadingdong.blogspot.com, CambridgeHawkeyes.blogspot.com, and WTFisSaladCream.blogspot.com.


Our actual move was pretty ridiculous - Air Canada allows one 50lb bag per passenger, and a second 50 lb bag per passenger at a cost of 50$ each. So we took one large suitcase, three huge MEC duffel bags, and one large tupperware container (of Elizabeth's toys!!), as well as 3 carry ons which were all over the allowable size. And a carseat. Oh, and a jogging stroller. And a baby. The flight was uneventful for us, but the highlight was definitely the poor woman across the aisle from us who was traveling with a sick toddler and an infant - and she was by herself! There was a point before takeoff where the sick toddler was screaming so loudly that the flight attendant told her if she couldn't calm her child down they would be taken off the plane & to an emergency room. At that point, the woman mixed up the first of about a thousand bottles of formula for her kid, and basically force fed her until we landed. I'm not kidding, in an 8 hour flight, I think those kids had about 10 bottles each.  But they were quiet and happy, so ten points for that woman!!

It was pretty exciting moving into our new place. It is a 2 bedroom, 2 story house, in a complex of houses & flats that are owned by Cambridge University. Our unit came furnished, but nothing else - no kitchen stuff or bedding or whatever. My aunt Angela & cousin Emma saved us with gifts of pots & pans, and dishes & cutlery, but there was nothing else. So my other cousin Laura & her boyfriend Ollie, as well as my aunt Jenny & uncle Graham took us to the British version of Superstore. It was soooooo much fun!! We went down every aisle and got something from every single one!! :) Pillows, and measuring cups, and a food processor, and a kettle, and toilet paper, and light bulbs, and an alarm clock, and a mirror, and and and and and!!! 2 and a half hours, and 4 carts later = enough for a home!!  Then we had to wait a whole week for internet connection - and let me tell you, a week with only a phone connection was long enough. I was shocked by how disconnected we felt! It was almost a little embarrassing how much we missed the internet - at one point we needed information about buses, and as we were waiting for our phones to load up Google.co.uk, I said to Matthew, "hey!! We have phone books here!!" We both had to re-learn how to use a phone book . . .

We have been here for 13 days so far. I still don't really feel like we live here - since all of my extended family lives in the UK, we have been on lots of holidays here in the past, and two weeks isn't that long to be away from 'home'. I wonder how I'll feel in another two weeks, when a normal holiday would be over, and we'd be headed back to Canada. I'll let you know.

What perfect timing: Elizabeth has just woken up and I can hear her babbling away to her Winnie The Pooh mobile - better go and rescue her.

6 comments:

Greg Loveday said...

Awesome. Glad to hear you are settling in :)

Sapna said...

Hi Georgina! Long time no chat. Glad to hear you started blogging - warning, it's addictive :) Sounds like you and your family are off to an adventurous start!

mere said...

So excited for you guys! What an adventure. Can't wait to hear all about it.

Gina said...

I am so glad you decided to write a blog! It will be the new number 1 on my Favorites list, replacing the "current time in Cambridge".

HerMamma said...

Yay a blog :) I like the WTFisSaladCreme title too... but being English (enough) I do actually know what it is, lol... and used to have it on my salad all the time when I was growing up!

So glad to hear that you are getting set up, and excited to hear about your adventure :)

Jeanette

David said...

I never understood why you have to take lightbulbs with you when you move in England.