Once we found a house to live in, "real life" began, whatever that is...
The children actually started school two days after we arrived, and the bus picked them up at the hotel until we moved into our house a week or so later. They are attending an American-based international school, which we chose so that their curriculum and credits would be disrupted as little as possible and they will be able (hopefully) to transition easily back into school in the states when our time here is over. We actually had quite a time getting their applications and everything taken care of before leaving the states, but we feel quite blessed that they all were accepted. School is held in an 150-year-old mansion. The campus looks like the front of an ivy-league postcard, and the school comes complete with a world-class chef and its very own ghost. Their classmates are from all over the world, everyone is very friendly, Jess says there aren't even any cliques, and our kids absolutely love it.
Kyle also started work two days after we arrived, commuting by bus into Uxbridge from our hotel. It was about a 45 minute ride by bus, but now that we're in the house it's a 5-10 minute walk and then a 10 minute train ride on the "tube" (London's underground). Work has been challenging because it's a new project with all new people and many, many details to iron out, and Kyle's working long hours.
The strangeness of starting school and work without really living anywhere yet aside, London was SO INTERESTING those first few days (heck, it still is!). Everything was different--the vocabulary, the buildings, the plants, the people, the streets, and the entire feel of the place, like something really old that had been given countless facelifts and you're not sure whether it just had one or whether it already needs another one.
After just over a week in the hotel (complete with trying to find and buy school supplies, figuring out how to eat without spending $200 a night, trying to get bank accounts set up, etc.), we moved into the house. Our first mistake, er, challenge was furnishing it. We rented it unfurnished (a mistake we'll not repeat), and completely furnished it ourselves with the "help" of IKEA. Not the best experience ever, to say the least, but most of the furniture we purchased arrived the day we moved in. The next few days were spent assembling furniture, most important pieces first, of course, and life slowly started feeling more normal. Though the battle with IKEA over the items we paid for but were not delivered still rages, we were pretty happy when the last assembly screw on the items we did receive was turned, let me tell you! (We also learned some very important lessons about making sure up front that you actually get everything you pay for when you make a huge furniture order...)
The next challenge was figuring out how to live. This involved little details like setting up utilities without a bank account, trying to get access to our money (which took almost four weeks), figuring out where to buy food and how to get it back to our house without a car, contemplating where to put your stuff in a house with no closets, etc.
After buying a pay-by-the-minute cell phone and finally having some account information, We have learned first hand how many trips it takes by train and on foot to get basic groceries for seven people and then how often you have to shop and with how big of a backpack to maintain it. I did discover that if you take a large rolling suitcase with you to the store, it makes it easier to get more groceries back to the house--you laugh, but it worked! It's a character-building experience, too. (I've since discovered that lots of people have their groceries delivered here--would have been nice to know...)
After our first few weeks here, I've decided that having a place to live and having food to feed your family is very high up on my "like it" list!
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