What a difference a day makes…

Well, we got the phone set up which was fabulous as we received a call to say our air freight is being delivered tomorrow (Fri) and the shipping container on Monday. This is wonderful as it means we will have furniture (5 weeks sleeping on mattresses on the floor is beginning to take its toll) and, most importantly (if you are under 7 years old) the Christmas decorations so we can go out and buy a tree. I was contemplating buying one this morning as I passed a seller next to the El stop and then dragging it home through the snow – not an American Christmas cliché at all!!

It was my turn to head downtown today to the Social Security and Driver’s Licence Offices and as I caught the El (‘elevated train’) for the few short stops to central Chicago, I actually felt really excited. Absolutely freezing, but excited all the same. As expected I ran up against problems with the paperwork – I couldn’t apply for the social security number as I didn’t have my original marriage certificate (arriving tomorrow) and you can’t apply for a driver’s licence without a social security number which is a real pain as that will take 5-6 weeks. As you can’t insure a car unless you have a US licence that means we can’t buy one either and so will have to pay through the nose for a hire car until the SSNs come through. Hey ho! At least we now have gas, electric & phone accounts set up so we have proofs of address.

We are starting to buy all the bits & pieces we need for the house (none of our electrical items will work here due to different voltage). I seem to be spending the bulk of the relocation allowance on ‘furnishing’ our bathrooms. We have 3 full ones and one cloak room so that means 4 toilet brushes, 4 bottles of hand soap, 4 hand towels, 3 bath mats, etc, etc. It made me laugh when we discovered there are 2 hoovers here – one upstairs, one in the basement. It’s obviously too much to lug one up and down the stairs (and the landlady must presumably have more at her new house if she can afford to leave 2 behind!)

We are making progress on the jet lag front – D & I managed to stay awake until 9:30pm last night and the kids woke up at 6 this morning. D goes into the office on Mon am and I have just spoken to the school about arranging for I & E to go in for a half day next week so we would appreciate your prayers for positive first impressions for them...