I have been in England for 2 months. Well, Pearl and I have. Dan got here 3 months ago. We continue to be amazed at the friendliness of the people both in our town (Ely, Cambridgeshire) and the military family!
The adjustment so far has been average. I have been finding it hard to not compare "this place" to "home".
To start w
ith, the trip here, with Pearl and myself, was really difficult. It started with a ten hour drive from Minneapolis to St. Louis, MO. Going thru several tornados, hiding out in tiny town courthouse basements,
and lots of tears as I tried to figure out just how I was going to get from my hotel to the St. Louis Airport with Pearl, 6 large bags, a carseat (and base!), stroller, and a pack and play.
We had a horrible experience with United's front desk people, if you want to know the story, let me know...I'll be glad to share what I have emailed United. But lets just say that Barbara Greenup was HORRIBLE. I left her counter on 3 occasions CRYING!!! That was after she YELLED at me telling me (and every customer in line) that I was the most high maintenance customer she has ever had. hmm. Was that because I requested to be seated NEXT to my nursing two month old? I'm not sure! So far, United has given us some free travel vouchers to make up for it! Dan was furious. you can imagine how a husband feels while his family is being treated really badly, and he couldn't do a thing. He was already in England, it was about midnight there.
We had a horrible experience with United's front desk people, if you want to know the story, let me know...I'll be glad to share what I have emailed United. But lets just say that Barbara Greenup was HORRIBLE. I left her counter on 3 occasions CRYING!!! That was after she YELLED at me telling me (and every customer in line) that I was the most high maintenance customer she has ever had. hmm. Was that because I requested to be seated NEXT to my nursing two month old? I'm not sure! So far, United has given us some free travel vouchers to make up for it! Dan was furious. you can imagine how a husband feels while his family is being treated really badly, and he couldn't do a thing. He was already in England, it was about midnight there.
We did make it, thanks to some nice people in the USO as well as a guy I met on the plane who ironically would be working in Dan's group. He helped me carry all our stuff to meet Dan after customs. I think he liked that we got to move to the front of the line in customs because we had Pearl!
We were glad to be united together. Dan sure missed Pearl, and she had changed so much since he last saw her! Two months to three months!
We lived in Temporary Lodging at RAF Mildenhall for about 2 weeks. While there, I ruined 3 loads of laundry. I can't believe this!! I'm 31 years old and have never ruined a load in my life. I still can't figu
re out what happened. I washed one load of COLORS (nothing was new...all several years old!) and everything turned pink from a pair of Dan's work out shorts from his first year of college!
Dan found a house for us in Ely. It is about a 25 minute drive for him to work. The house has what in America we would consider 3 levels. In England, its like this: Ground Floor, First Floor, Second Floor.
Its a bigger home than ours in Colorado Springs, but because it is taller, the living space is smaller than we are used to. We have been frustrated with that, and I think the dogs have been too.
Its in a great area, its only a mile walk to the town centre, and we love that.
Thats all for now, will write more to catch up later!
