Six years ago today…Detroit hosted Superbowl XL…and on that same day, our little family of 4 landed in France to begin our great journey through international life. William was just four years old and Abigail 15 months. I accused David of taking us along for his mid-life crisis (as he was about to turn 40) and wanted nothing more than to be safely in my American home, enjoying my American life…or at least to be on the other side of the Rhine River, enjoying a German life instead of a French one. We were wide-eyed and stricken by the extent of what we had ahead of us. At the end of the day, though, I made some amazing friends, had an incredible experience, and it all makes sense. France was a walk in the park. I’m sure that day will come here too.
Fast forward exactly six years, and a new adventure begins. We’ve been here a week. It’s been a simple 7 days: Sleep, School, Work, Learning the ropes, Making new friends, Finding the right food…and dealing with it. For those of us in this family who eat fresh food (William excluded of course) dealing with it has not been as easy as one would like. I’m sure there is a local term for Montezuma’s Revenge, but whatever it is, we have our own name for it around here…and I won’t repeat it. I’m sure my waistline is more favorable after this week, but I was happy to wake this morning, feeling ‘normal’ again.
I’ve been blessed with meeting some wonderful people this week and finding a great support system, whether they be GM spouses or school families. There is no shortage of people with tidbits of great information and willingness to show me the ropes. I asked one woman how she had the idea to venture out and find new places, and she said, “No. You don’t go finding new places alone. Someone shows them to you, you take a card; then you share it with the next person.” Everywhere we go, there are business cards. I’ll need a file for my purse to carry them and hand to my driver when I want to revisit!
David sent an e-mail to me Thursday afternoon, asking if I could find a babysitter for Saturday. As I haven’t really met families with teenage girls, I wasn’t sure where he expected me to find a sitter within 48 hours (a task difficult enough at home, where I do have a list of eligible prospects). I dropped a word at school that afternoon, and people were suddenly willing to have the kids come to their homes for the evening…one family, even in a hotel with 4 kids, offered to take mine in as well. As it turned out, D’s boss’s boss is repatriating in a couple of weeks, and she’s looking to find her maid a new family. Lily came for an interview and stayed to babysit for us…win-win for all involved!...Not to mention how spotless the kitchen was when we returned at the end of the evening! She’ll be starting a trial period with us once we’re in the apartment on the 20th.
The week hasn’t been without its challenges, though. Grocery shopping is, easily, one of the more difficult parts of international living. Understanding packaging labels was hard enough in French, at least they were written in Roman letters. Chinese characters are another matter. I was happy this week, while holding a bottle of spray cleaner, a store clerk came up to me, pointed at my find and gave me a thumbs up. J Choosing rice is a different matter. There are MANY different varieties!…I guess it’ll be trial and error on that one. I took the kids’ lead on the milk when they pointed to the brand they are served at school, and we keep trying different sausages, trying to find one that we all like with our breakfast or between buns for hotdogs. I’ve brought my own meat grinder, so hamburger will be easy once our sea shipment arrives.
Also, as you can imagine, there’s no shortage of hoops. David sent our passports off on Tuesday to have visa’s pasted into them. After I panicked in the middle of the night, remembering that I need mine to clear the dog through customs on Monday, I found that I should have it back in time for that. What I found on Wednesday, though, is that I need it to open a mobile phone account…and exchange cash, and he needed his to activate his new bank card which will give us access to our money in HIS bank account (note the emphasis as I will not have my own access but carry his card instead). Tomorrow, we’ll all have our papers back, and I’ll feel more complete. Then I’ll give mine away for 3 days to process Zebra’s papers.
In two weeks, we’ll be in our home. We’ll settle in…wait for the rest of our stuff, and unpack. Breathe. It’s all good. I think I’ll go take an online Rosetta Stone lesson…need to learn more Mandarin!
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