Crossing the Pond

Well, we made it over. Not that it was an easy process, mind you - moving to another country brings up all sorts of considerations you never thought of before. For one thing, it costs a lot of money, which leads you to work at your summer job up until the last minute, which leaves you less time to pack everything you'll need for a year into two suitcases, which leaves wondering why perhaps your parents couldn't have been oil tycoons so you could have been packing all summer, which leads you to begin contemplating interdimensionality and time paradoxes. You know how it goes.

Though I lived in the small town of Pittsfield, IL for most of my life, it still surprises me. The lady at the post office who had to deal with my large amount of flat-rate boxes, who I don't think I've ever seen except at the post office, knew I'd just been married and that I was moving. The lady behind me in line at the post office not only knew I was moving, but had just stopped by my mom's office to give me a card (I don't think I'd met her in my entire life). Then, on the last day in Pittsfield, I'd transferred a prescription to Wal-Mart to get it filled before we left, because I don't want to bother with it in England for a while. The girl at the counter (who I didn't know, either) not only knew my name and knew why I was coming, but proceeded to tell me that they were out of the prescription and would have to order more, which would take a couple of days. I was about to tell her not to bother, since we were leaving town the next day, when she said, "But I knew you're leaving soon, so I checked at County Market, and they have it, so I can transfer it over there if you'd like." Sheesh. Everybody doesn't know everybody, but it seems like they all know you.

Anyway, on Sept. 2, we were driven to Chicago, where we had a very gracious checker-in lady from Aer Lingus who coolly ignored the fact that all four of our suitcases were overweight. We flew to Dublin, then to London Gatwick, where we met our friend Jon for lunch - small world. We then took a long bus ride to London Stansted, where we met our friend Tobi, who by some miracle lives 15 minutes from Cambridge -very small world. Since we're flying Ryan Air, we wanted to avoid checking bags (very expensive), so Tobi picked up our excess bags and we just took carry-ons with us to Germany, where we'll stay until the end of September. It was a long journey, and not one either of us would care to repeat soon, but we made it safely to Germany and met my brother Zack, who is so graciously putting us up (and putting up with us) for three weeks.

Hope things are good in the old country.