More Life. *

Life in Clementi...Settling so far...

This morning, I looked to what in my email box was urgently overdue. I ordered Cameron more football gear from the SACAC office here. What he needed was a new protective mouthpiece 'cause he's lost a tooth since fitting the first one, and tailbone pad because I found out yesterday that this item was missing. Later, upon questioning, I learned that he'd dropped this particular pad on the train the first day he got all the pads. At that point, he didn't have his big sport bag yet. He was juggling all the gear in a plastic shopping bag whose handles had broken while he was walking in the rain! SO PITIFUL. 

Oh yes, and I did a few more loads of laundry. 

(WITH A DRYER THAT WORKS! YEAH! My 3rd dryer in 4 weeks!)

I forked out $14 for the convenience of a taxi to downtown and went to Carrefour to return a toaster oven that didn't work and a vaccuum I decided I didn't want.

Then I spent the next 2 hours and $320 (S) to purchase groceries and household supplies at the same store. They deliver for free if you have over $150. IT IS SO NICE to know the ropes about where to buy things! My heart goes out to the families who are new. It's a rough learning curve whenever one moves to a new city!

Yes, I "Know the ropes." For instance, I know that the big giant store called Carrefour has just about everything you need and a no questions asked return policy. OKAY.... what I didn't know is that you need to return within 15 days…I thought it was 30 days... so had to talk to the manager and beg his mercy for the item that was purchased 26 days ago! I'm so grateful he was merciful! Then I was grateful again that the clerk gave me a cash refund for the item purchased with Jim's credit card! PHEW! I could just see myself trudging back to the apartment with both items: one past the return date, the other because I didn't have the original credit card.

OH I AM SO Thankful for the small things!

Right now, at 3:30 in the afternoon I'm grateful for air conditioning in the hall area. This is the first time we've had that in our 8 years and 4 homes. I'm grateful for a glass of iced tea, and that I've made this outing into town SUCCESSFULLY without getting sweaty or dehydrated - which is partly because the $320 worth of groceries is being delivered and carried up to my apartment by the wonderful Carrefour delivery guy! YEAH!

However, having it delivered also means I have to be home waiting for them and I'm not at school to see Cameron. So my friend Lori Webb's passed an important message on to him. 

As I write, I trust that he is following her instructions and currently looking in his locker for an important Physical Health Exam form he'd had filled out by a doctor a few weeks ago. 

I took him to this doctor the night before the move to get it filled out on time. I just went to any old clinic doctor near where we were staying that week. I'd kept the form in my purse for the next week while moving in, hoping to make a copy of it somewhere along the way, or make a copy of it at home, as soon as we could unpack our printer back and get it up and running. For a few days I'd lost it in the piles. I found it again a week+ ago, in a bag I'd been using to cart the stuff around that didn't fit in my purse. The very next day I had sent it into school with Cameron. 

But the school nurse called today to say that no one in the office knows where it is and Cameron must have it on file to attend school. So, if he doesn't find it, it's back to another unknown doctor in a new neighborhood to get another physical, or he's not allowed to go to school!

This ranks right up there in my THIS IS NOT MY PRIORITY BUT I MUST DO IT ANYWAY files - like spending 7 hours last week to have my photo taken with the faculty for the TCA College's yearbook. I left at 7:30 am to get my hair cut and colored, and borrow a suit jacket (This is required for the photo and I don't own one anymore. I'd only just given mine to the Salvation Army in Pasadena, after not wearing it for 9 years). I arrived at what I thought was on time for the photo, only to realize that 12:45 was the FINISHING time. I jumped into the last of the group photos (completely humiliated) then grabbed a bite to eat before hopping back on a bus to get home by 3:45. Over 8 hours after I'd started, it felt like pointless day.

In all these things, I'm feeling like the earth is falling away beneath my feet as try to get a handle on things and I keep losing or forgetting details. I keep telling myself to enjoy the journey… So i did have a nice chat with the hair dresser, and a nice time catching up with one of the other faculty. I learned of a bus that picks up and drops off only an 8 minute walk from school on one side, and goes right by our place an hour later on the other. Up until today, I'd been going on another route, walking longer and changing from the train to another bus. So finding a direct bus makes for a less stress filled commute!

Another plus is that in all this walking in the muggy weather, I'm quickly shedding the weight I'd put on in USA. At first I thought I'll wait to get a car until I'm back to my target size, and am fit again. But...I'm rethinking that idea. Let's get a car as soon as we can find one!