Getting settled takes a long time....

We have been in England exactly two weeks.

The trip here went fine and was pretty uneventful. The most stressful part of the trip was planning for Maggie but she did great and got here with no problems. I think she would be happy to never see the inside of her crate again after spending an entire day in it.

We are staying in the base temporary lodging facility and we can stay here up to 30 days. Hopefully it won't be 30 days because the walls are already starting to close in after two weeks. It is a four bedroom duplex, so the space is big and its in a convenient location on base. The base is smaller than Luke, and everything is pretty centrally located. From the lodging we can walk to the commissary, BX, library, gym, parks and playgrounds. The kids like being able to go out the door and find other kids to play with and we have seen lots of the family two doors down since they have kids the same ages as ours. I've met in person a few of the people I had talked to on-line about moving here.

The base is LOUD. People who complain about the F16 noise at Luke have never been to an F15 base. It wakes the kids up at 6:30AM every morning. You can't hear the TV or carry on a conversation when the jets take off. Crazy loud!

We've spent most of the time here so far finding a house. Base housing is full since they are tearing down a bunch and delayed building the new ones. They estimate a year or more wait for base housing. We've looked at hundreds on line, and probably 15 in person. The selection is slim... but we found one we like and hopefully will sign all the paperwork on Monday.

This part of England is pretty rural, with the villages spread out and linked together by winding, narrow roads. Apparently some of the roads are not usable in winter if its icy, so it limits where you look for a house. We decided to live on the outskirts of Bury St. Edmunds which is the larger of the towns near us. Its not the "perfect" location - I would love to be closer to the main walking area of the market town, but for commuting to work it is super convenient (20-25 minutes) and it is close enough to take advantage of the town. Plus it has a garage (mostly for bikes and tools I assume) and a place to park which some closer in houses do not have. The house we found is large by British standards, we think around 1800 sq ft. It has a laundry room (also rare). I was having issues with the idea of having to do laundry in the kitchen and having no drier. Once it is officially ours we'll post some pictures.

We have decided to send the kids to British schools. There is a DOD school on base, but we thought for the experience of it we would use the local schools. If its a total disaster we can always switch to the base schools, but hopefully that won't be an issue. The school is basically across the street from the house we are going to rent. Can't beat the convenience of it and its a great school. We took the kids to have a tour and they spent part of an afternoon visiting the classrooms with the kids who would be there next year. Andrew will be one of two American kids at the entire school. The school year runs September 1st to July 21st. Its a long school year, but they have 5 or 6 breaks during the year when we will travel.

My car arrived a few days after we did so we are in the process of getting it ready to meet British standards. We have to switch out the color of the lights and add a fog light and a few other things for it to pass the inspection. We are on the hunt for a second car - a small right-hand drive car for running around town. Again, not a huge selection. A lot of the cars have 100,000+ miles on them. Given that it is a relatively small island, and they seem to love public transportation, I have no idea how they end up with so many miles on the cars. We have been mastering driving on the left side of the road. We rented a British right-hand drive car for the first week so we got an instant introduction to left-side driving and roundabouts. Its not so bad when following another car, but when you are the only car on the road it takes a minute to figure out which lane to be in (and end up in) when you turn.

The area is beautiful here - green, vast farmland, horses grazing near the roads and old houses and hundred year old barns. Some of the houses we have seen are older than the US. Its been mostly sunny since we arrived with occasional rain showers. We got stuck in one heavy rain and Emily was not happy to be wet and cold in the stroller. I guess we need to pack umbrellas and coats to leave in the car.

The kids are adjusting well. The jet lag was horrible and some days I swear there are still remnants of the kids being "not quite right". They occasionally still fall asleep in the car at 10AM when we go out to run errands. They have enjoyed having instant friends in the base lodging. I am amazed how adaptable the kids are.

Andrew says England is a "crazy mixed up place" and lists all the things that are odd to him: driving on the wrong side of the road, lemonade that is fizzy, chips that are french fries, and ketchup that just doesn't taste right. We told him that is the reason we are here... to learn about all the things that are different. He does love the walking town centers and ice cream and candy stores in all the towns. He likes reading all the plaques on the statues and monuments. Emily seems totally unfazed that we have moved.

I've said to some people that it doesn't feel like we are actually living here. The suitcases are all piled up in a corner and we still need a map and gps to find just about anything. Its more like a really bad, and too long, vacation. I think getting into a house will really help us feel more settled and in place.

I guess the overall summary of the two weeks is "so far so good." My sense is that we will really like living here. It just will take a while to get settled.