Our Puppy Nova

Meet Nova

If you would like to send Nova a puppy shower gift here is the link to his wish list on Amazon...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/registry/wishlist/1ZD3BAWUDCC9F

          This is it, our newest addition to the family Sir Nova Edmund Turington, Duke of Middle Street.   The name was inspired by science as all of our pet names are, and more specifically after an astronomical phenomena where a star collapses in upon itself in a large explosion called a Supernova.  We adopted this little boy September 30th, after only settling in for 5 days.  Adopting this little boy was not easy.  We were set on getting a dog from a rescue shelter because we wanted to give a dog that's had a hard life a new chance at a happy home.  So, once Trevor got internet at the office and since his professor gave him the first week off we looked up local kennels.  We called the Kennels to ask if they had any small dogs and it just broke Trevors heart when they told us a story of a Chihuahua and Jack Russel Terrier mix that has had a hard time.  This dog ended up in the kennel because in his previous home he was "tormented by children".  Trevor got the directions and we caught a bus and a taxi all just to get there to see this little dog.  And there was Nova, in the very first kennel, desperately begging for attention.  We asked if we could take him for a walk, the kennel obliged, and only a couple steps later Nova was rolled over onto his back looking up at us waiting to get his belly pet...right then I knew the deal was sealed because Trevor looked up at me with big sad eyes and I knew he had totally fallen in love.  We told the kennel that he was the one we wanted, they reserved him for us, however we had to go home empty handed.

          It is a requirement of the kennel that the dogs that are adopted out go to the best home possible.  They assure this by sending a dog warden out to check the property is a safe living space and has a closed in garden that can not be escaped from.  The dog warden made it out to the house by the next day, he took one look at the garden and at us, and told us to go get our dog.  This is usually not how quickly the process goes, I mean they like it when the dogs get out as quickly as possible, but the warden usually does not tell you directly their decision, they usually tell the kennel, and the kennel does or does not arrange a time for pick up.  But, the kennel and the warden knew how bad we wanted to get him home.  After the warden gave us the okay, we put our shoes on and ran towards the bus station...by the time we arrived at the kennel they had just been informed by the warden that the dog will be going to us so they were really shocked as to how quickly we got there.  We filled out all the forms, and bought him a ridiculous amount of treats and toys, along with the necessities like shampoo, and food bowls.  They helped us fit him with a harness and collar, which took them a while because at that time Nova was so scared of any touch around his neck that he would nip at you.  

          We called a taxi to come pick us up, and gathered our garbage bag full of Puppy treats and toys while the kennel employee was sneaking additional toys into our bag...it was very sweet.  The taxi took us all home, Nova thoroughly enjoyed the car ride, tongue out and all.  Once we got home we set him down in his new house and he ran and explored every single room.  He loves his new house!

          Lastly, we had to give him a bath to get the kennel smell off of him, even though the kennel advised us against it because they told us we would not be able to get his collar on again after we take it off for a bath.  The bath went well, and we had no problems putting his collar back on...he is adjusting very quickly.  Now when he sees the harness or collar he just can't stop wiggling in excitement because he knows its time for a walk.  He even let me dress him up as a devil for Halloween, he is a good boy most of the time, although we are still working with him extensively to make him comfortable and to train the instinct of nipping out of him, and to get him to stop barking.  It's a process.  The only thing that gives us some comfort and a much needed break from our little bundle of energy are puzzle toys.  I will bow to the genius that created those.  

          Here is our picture homage to Nova...enjoy!  

Bath Time

This is how he dries off after bath time!

A gift Nova left me that I found when I opened up my bag for class!  Silly boy.

He Loves to cuddle.

Nova taking a nap by his toys.

Happy Halloween!

<3  This blog is dedicated to the loving memory of Bailey one of the sweetest and most loving dogs I have had the pleasure of knowing  <3

Facing Our First Few Weeks

          There were some serious difficulties settling in. For example, not a lot of stores accept our money or check cards, because they use chip cards. When we arrived here our first priority was internet because I needed it to study from home, but when we go to the store to get our internet hooked up they tell us we need a bank account here first, so we said fine and we go to the bank to get an account, but they say we need more than a passport we need a letter from the school proving our address, so we go to the school to get the letter and we bring it back and apparently our zip code was wrong and in addition to that we need a letter from my school to prove I am studying and staying here as well. I guess proof of marriage is not enough! It was insane and makes absolutely no sense because I am his dependent, in other words most people don't go to school on a dependent visa (how would a wife that is just coming over here with her husband get one?). Anyway, finally Trevor was allowed to get a bank account, but I unfortunately have not yet as my University has just now officially enrolled me...yup, it took a total of 4 weeks and 4 trips for them to get coordinated. So things move a little slower here than we are used to. The first few weeks we had to be sure to keep cash on us, which I am still very slow at counting it out considering they have different coins and different values like 2 Pents. I admit I have been pretty close to tears a few times when I went to a store to pick up food and they would not accept our money.

          On our second day we went to purchase sheets and a comforter, and the store clerk actually had to “make our bed for us” and tell us everything we needed to buy for it because we just did not understand. The stuffing inside the blanket and the decorative cover are sold separately (called a duvet and a duvet cover), they have the sheet that ties tight to the bed but not a flat sheet. It was hard enough buying the stuff and even more confusing to put it on the bed...I am still not sure we have it right. I wish I would have had an English “Mum” to teach me.

          Anyway, back to the internet. That was an entirely insane process, once Trevor got his bank account here we went back to the internet provider, waited a week and they finally said that they would not be able to offer us internet as we failed our credit check...which was kind of like a “No Shit We Failed Our Credit Check” moment as we obviously have no credit here. Would have been great if one of the clerks saved our time and told us they do not give internet to people who haven't lived in the country for at least 3 years. We had to end up searching, and of course paying more for a provider that does not require a credit check, which as it turns out is what we should have done at the start, and now we had to wait an additional 3 weeks to get it installed. Not even kidding, 3 freaking weeks when we already have a phone line? I am pretty sure all they had to do was push a button on their end and we would have internet. So...we waited.

          Our home has been another thing, I don't think the previous tenant actually cleaned the place, and repairs clearly have not been made in a while. We found out our fridge was broken so had to go a whole week without it until they brought a new one, this time luckily it came with a freezer because I am not sure how anyone would live without one of those. The garden had to to be completely destructed it was full of weeds, spiders, and slugs. One of the hobs on the oven doesn't work and instead of fixing it they put a little sticker on it telling us it doesn't work, our stair railing has fallen off, the last tenants items were left in the cellar for us to deal with. The water does not come out of the shower right, there are cracks in the walls and stains on the carpets, and the painting is the sloppiest thing I have ever seen...they just painted without caring where it ended up, its on the floor, the light switches, everything. In America there is certainly a different level of respect and diligence in keeping up with home cleanliness and repairs.

          It sounds bad, but it isn't all that bad. There are upsides...for instance, Trevor gets the day off pretty much whenever he needs it...we have free health-care...and we never really have to see our landlords because they pretty much just leave you alone. I would rather fix it myself than have someone at our house fixing things all the time. When I think about it, it's kind of rare that I liked a landlord in the U.S. so I guess there hasn't been that much difference here.

          In summary our first few weeks were quite hard...we had no idea it would be this difficult to move to another Country. I kind of just assumed the hardest parts were over because we had gotten the visa, and somehow managed to get all our luggage over here, which was clearly not the case. Thankfully, things are getting to a point were they are beginning to run much more smoothly...we have our necessities taken care of, our home renovation projects are almost complete, and we can now officially say we have a dinning table to eat on. I know where to get groceries, as they have an Aldi's here!!! That makes us really happy, we love cheap food.  I am getting more familiar with the town and what stores to go to in order to find something, as they don't have anything like a Wal-mart superstore. It's all a learning experience, yes I get a little annoyed and emotional about all the challenges sometimes, but then I make my self step back and realize that this is why we are here, and the harder the challenge the more you realize you are growing and learning.  I can't help but think if I have struggled as much as I have moving to a culture fairly similar to my own, I cannot imagine how the other international students feel. I have so much respect for them, for example I met a girl from China who goes to my school, she had to look up words on her translator to communicate effectively with me, but somehow it was the most refreshing conversation I had in my first few weeks here. Why? Because I understood what it was like to work really hard to find the words that everyone here is familiar with, while trying to mask my accent to the best of my ability to make it as clear as possible. I remember being at UW River Falls with the international students, and some individuals who speak English as their first language would complain that the Foreign Exchange Students would form their own group and speak their own language because they are stuck up and/or were saying bad things about you. I disagree with this completely and finally have an answer as to why they did it. It's because the familiarity of what they have known for their entire lives comes back for a brief moment when they can speak to someone who shares the same words, accent, and dialect...it's a tremendous feeling of comfort like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. For example, there is an American Professor at Trevor's campus, and I could talk to that women all day because she gets it. She knows what I am saying if I say band-aids and she can help me translate it to the English version which is plasters, so she knows exactly what I am going through. It's not because I like Americans more than the English, it's because I want to have a conversation where I don't have to plan out what I am going to say and everything just naturally falls into place.

          These last few weeks have been our challenges and our successes. While we really did learn a lot, we are glad the first few weeks are over. We are now hoping to transition into a more stress free life.

Here are some of the pictures of the home projects that we have been working on.

This was the first project we took on because we really enjoy having a living space.  We did a lot of work to this room, we tiled around the fireplace, painted that wall as a Mocha colored accent, had the tv mounted, and bought that area rug to bring the room together.  We still have to buy some mini trunking to hide the tv cords, and re-upholster what turned out to be our ugly purple couches.

This is our new master bedroom, it still needs some work, but we painted that wall a nice teal/turquoise color, added a Chinese symbol that stands for Love, we bought new curtains but they have not arrived in the mail yet.  We still need to add some accent pillows and a couple decorations but it's looking a lot better than before.  And of course Nova wanted to be in the photo...he is such a goofball, my next blog is going to have to be about that little boy.

Our Journey Home

It's been quite a few weeks since Trevor and I have been in England so let us catch you up. While our flight left Sunday the 25th of August in the evening, we did not arrive until late Monday night. We were driven to the airport by Mary and Dave, then with all of our luggage in hand proceeded through security. Turns out when you pack everything you own to transport to another Country they are inclined to go through your luggage pretty thoroughly...especially since the bulk of what Trevor packed was electronics. That and neither of us had specific bags with our own things in them due to the weight restrictions...things were shoved where they fit, and every bag we had was exactly 50 pounds. 

We were hoping to catch a flight straight to the local airport, however because the trip was last minute and money is tight this did not happen, although we were lucky enough to get an insanely good deal of $290 per person.  The first flight we had to catch was to Chicago...thankfully with all this waiting a couple wise people told us to pack food...we did not really think they would let us through with it, but they did even with the food that was opened. I tend to get flight sick and never much enjoy what they serve on the plane so it was especially helpful to me. When we arrived in Chicago, we had to go through security again...same spiel...they totally emptied out our bags and it took us forever to put them back together and then we found our gate to London. Unfortunately, our flight to London was delayed an hour because the flight previous to ours had their plane struck by lightning, so they are obviously required by law to do an evaluation on the plan to make sure its ready to fly. But, not really what you want to hear when you are making an 8 hour journey over the Atlantic Ocean.

The plane ride to London was exhausting, there was no sleep, we had movies and games in front of our seats on our own tv, but that can only keep you busy for so long.  Despite this our flight did make it to it's destination only to find more waiting. We had to wait for an hour in a enormous line for the Border Agency to check us in. They looked at our Visas, and scanned our thumb and index finger on a little digital machine to make sure the visas were indeed ours. This was cool but a little frightening. The whole time we were waiting there Trevor was repeating to himself “please, I don't want to take the London underground”. The London Underground is pretty much a very cramped subway, you have to roll over peoples toes with our luggage. Instead we were able to take a quicker rail for a higher cost of course, but it was not cramped. At the second rail station we found out we would not be able to take a direct rail to Worcester as we had planned as it was Sunday, so the rails are slower, and if we wanted to get home within the day the next rail was leaving in 5 minutes....so all the luggage dragged as fast as we could to catch that rail, then a 10 minute run to catch the bus, and another 10 minute run to catch another rail. We would have been very lost and in trouble if we hadn't met two very nice people along the way. One was a middle aged lady who actually helped carry our luggage and made sure the bus would not leave without us, and she knew the lady that managed the rail and was able to make sure they waited for us. The other was a young guy who happened to also study at Trevor's University whom also helped us carry our luggage and make sure we got off at the right stop. Finally we had arrived to Foregate Rail Station, only a few blocks from our home.

The first thing we did when we arrived to the final rail station was to call Trevor's work colleagues, they came to pick us up and take us to our house since they also picked up the keys for us. Not that we had that much luggage, but they could not fit it all and the 4 of us in their English sized car. So, Trevor and his professor walked home while I rode with the luggage and the driver...absolutely horrifying. It was so very hard for me to get into what is supposed to be the drivers seat and the twists and turns of the street, the small width of the street, seriously scary...I will not drive here. By the time the car arrived to the house Trevor and his professor were already there...its much easier to be a pedestrian than a driver. This was so surreal...we had seen so many pictures of the property but it was so much different when we actually got here. The home is actually organized really oddly. Doors close off every room, there is a switch for every plug in, the rooms are smaller but there seems to be more of them. It's hard to explain, we will have to post pictures later on. When we got here our fridge and cupboards were filled with food and we had all of our necessities taken care of...this was so nice. The first thing I did was crash on the bed and sleep for many hours. Trevor stayed up cleaning and re-arranging the house.

   

Anyhow, for your enjoyment here are some pictures from the journey.

Last minute packing...making sure we have everything before we load it up in the car.

In the car cuddling the blanket...early mornings make me cold.  At least I was not hungry as we had a good breakfast of donuts that Auntie Virgina brought us over and demanded we needed.  We <3 her.

Mother in-law Mary already playing on her phone...it looks like she is bored.

All of our luggage out and ready to go.  I even stuffed my sweatshirt pocket with my things.

Mmm...beef jerky.  The food that kept us sane on our journey.  Don't ever go to the airport with food...I know for a fact you can get through security even with an open package of food like this.

The view over London.

Touching ground in London.

The insanely long line for immigration.

Taking our luggage off the spinning thing and trying to compact it so we can get to our train quickly.

Nice and compact...but it didn't work and the brown bags wheel died in the journey.

If we would have just looked 2 feet away we would of noticed they had trolley's.   

You can not tell me you are not thinking about Harry Potter right now.

My first train...notice the words "mind the gap" at the bottom.  lol

Trevor looking exhausted...this was our last train we had to take and we are only minutes from home.

I was so excited about the train it gave me a good adrenaline rush to get the luggage home.

Unfortunately I gave up on taking pictures at this point...I got too tired.  After this picture I slept for a very long time.


Monday I had to wake up and go to my induction at school a 4 hour train ride there and back, Trevor's professor gave him the week off so he went with me to help me navigate the rails which I still don't get by the way. That went well, my professor was really nice and really excited about having me on campus.  We got home at 9 pm and then I had to wake up and do it all over again Tuesday for my first day of class. There are only 13 other students in my program so its nice and small like I am used to, everyone is really nice and they were all very fascinated by my stories about deer, and bears being in my backyard back in Wisconsin. It was funny hearing my professor teach a class and use the phrase, “like a rabbit in the headlights”, blokes and lasses, etc. I had to do everything I could to hold back laughter. One of my professors, whom I am very glad is not teaching any of my classes, I could not understand a word he was saying. Then I had to do the train ride back, the rail system is so confusing and they use military time (which of course they don't call it that here), and their train schedules are impossible to read...I usually just ask the people at the information desk, then follow the towns I know back. Hopefully this is something I learn so I don't get so worked up.

We then followed all this craziness up with some more exhaustion by going to town and purchasing things that we needed for the house.  There was no rest for us the first week we arrived.  Stay tuned for more updates on how we are settling in.  

"All of Our Bags Are Packed, We're Ready to Go"

We have yet to really grasp the full reality that we are flying to England TODAY! I am not really sure why it feels so odd, I mean we have had at least 4 months of anticipation to get used to the fact that we are really doing this. Maybe it was that the Visa process was so horrible and we thought it would never come through, or maybe it was just that it was easier to focus on all of the positive aspects of moving to another country rather than dwelling on the “not so good” things about moving away from everything we have ever known. Either way...a truly discomforting feeling...the best way we can explain it is that it feels like being on a roller coaster, looking down from the highest peak while sitting in the very front cart, just hanging there looking down at the very steep plunge and preparing yourself to race down it at any second. A very wise women in my life described it better then we could, she told us that it is much like “being thrown into the deep end...you don't have the time to ease your body into the depth of the water, and you don't have time to get acclimated to the temperature”. There are definitely butterflies, and certainly mixed feelings.

So, the “not so good” is we will be missing a lot of humans and a lot of animals while we are gone. It was very sweet that on very short notice all of our friends and family came together to wish us well. My brother and sister-in-law brought over a bon voyage cake to my sisters house where she supplied the food, and some of my best friends stopped in to say “goodbye”. The cake they picked out was hilarious, it read “Have a Jolly Good Time”. The company was truly the best part, it was great to see everyone and we shared some laughs, some memories, and some cotton candy! In addition to this, Trevor's birth family made a very long drive from Minnesota to take us to lunch and sneak in one last hug. Then, the Tomesh Family threw us another party tonight with the whole spread...any one that knows my mother-in-law will know you don't leave her house without being served a four-course meal. You could tell that she really put the time into cooking us a meal that was special, and we very much appreciated it. We had to give our last hugs and goodbyes to our nephews whom will likely be 3 years older by the next time we see them...making Quentin 6 and Cayden 3! We have also grown rather attached to our niece, a 5 pound Chihuahua named Tinky. We have been staying with my sister most of the summer, so we have spent a lot of time around her little dog. Tinky is a very special little dog, my sister adopted her last year from a shelter that found her on the side of the road, very skiddish and fearful of any human interaction...we suspect she had been abused in the past because of this and her twisted paw. Tinky doesn't let people in...this is extremely hard for her, but after relentlessly trying to gain her love, she loved us back after many months. We hope that we can get a dog half as wonderful as this little girl...she did not deserve the life she had the previous 6 years before my sister adopted her. Well...what we are trying to say is you all know who you are and know you will be missed, we just wanted to take a brief moment to thank you all for being there for us.

The awesome cookie cake from my brother and sister in law!

Look, it's our visas!  They do exist!

On a rather sombre note, this week we stopped by to visit uncle Joe at the nursing home where he has been waging what will probably be his final battle with his cancer. While we were very glad to see him again (we hadn't been by since he'd been admitted to “Alcatraz”, as he calls it), it was a sad meeting as we know it will most likely be our last. While he's been doing relatively well for a man in his late eighties dying of cancer, it seems that his long battle with the specter of death has left him very weak and tired. We'll probably never see him again. This stark realization has hit us rather hard, and not just for uncle Joe, but for other loved ones in our lives as well. By the time we will be able to return from the UK, it is hard to say what familiar faces might be able to greet us. After all, three years is quite a long time especially when time may be short for some of the ones we love. However, we cannot let this hold us back. We've tried our best to give our farewells to everyone, and that will have to do well enough.

It's time to transition into the positives...while, we know this whole experience is going to be new this is very exciting. We have always wanted to travel, on top of that we are going for our graduate degrees, and we are finally at a point in our lives where we feel our lives are appropriate to support a dog! These are big deals, well I mean at least for us. I mean, what doesn't sound exciting about this...date nights for us could be more than just a dinner and a movie which is a common practice for us being there is not a whole lot to do in...well...anywhere in Wisconsin. I am so interested in learning how people on the other side of the ocean live...what is it really like? I have so many questions, and I am excited to learn. For us, we feel this is a transition into true independence. I feel like we are really finding ourselves, taking the time to learn about ourselves, staring any fears and misconceptions straight in the face and bettering ourselves through it. Anyhow, you know where this story is going...remember...this is our journey. The Adventures of Jessica and Trevor. Stay tuned.

P.S. Don't be concerned if you don't hear anything from us until Monday. We have 2 separate flights, a lay over, a 5-hour train ride, and no phone, and potentially no internet access until school starts on Monday. We will be fine! :)

This is how the last few days have been spent.

Packing all of our luggage up for the final time.  Hopefully this will be the last move for a while.

Making all of our luggage that goes under the plane exactly 50 lbs, quite the challenge!

***Special thanks to Amie Kohls for providing and taking these pictures at the party***

“I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends”

The final necessary documentation has officially arrived...and at least for now a disaster has been averted. This allows us to finally submit our Visa application for approval. But, we are not totally out of the clear yet. We are still asking for quite the miracle. According to the average statistics on the UK VISA website the table below shows the processing times, which does not include the time it takes to have the Visa mailed to the New York Visa office and back.

Points Based System Visas	2 days	3 days	5 days	10 days	15 days	40 days	60 days	Total decisions made
PBS Tier 4	13%	21%	63%	93%	98%	99%	100%	2452

So, if we get the Visa application mailed off tomorrow morning the 10^th of September we have...about 5 working days for it to process and be sent back to us in order for me to make my September 20^th Induction (Trevor's is the 19^th, but he has been given permission to be absent). In other words, about a 63% chance of having our Visa by that time...and I have never been much of a gambler, I mean I don't even buy scratch off tickets. And my education is not something I am interested in gambling with. But, hopefully, now that I can tell my school it should really in all statistical likelihood not take more than 10 days for the Visa to come in, maybe they can be a little more lenient. Plus, even if I can't make it to Orientation I can make it to classes starting the 27^th. To me, this seems as though it should be negotiable with my University, so cross your fingers.

Also, with the time crunch comes short-notice flights. So when the visa gets here, we leave. It may mean we will only be giving everyone, and ourselves, about a 24 hour notice if that. So, we are going to have to keep everything we own packed up and ready to fly.   

Putting all logistics aside though, while this Visa process has been painful to say the least, we are so lucky to have such incredibly supportive friends, and family. They are the ones that are truly making all this possible. We have received notes from so many people checking up on us along the way, and encouraging us while we are down, which has been 99% of this Visa process. Additionally, some of Trevor's very adamant and wonderful work colleagues and friends that have been pushing, emailing, and calling ALL those in charge of the Visa's to get our applications pushed through as quickly as possible, they have been absolutely invaluable to us. Not to mention, Trevor's “research group” are providing us with a very generous “welcome package”, with some necessary items for the house like bedding, a toaster, and food. Which I have personally been stressed over...since I am kind of the over-thinker of the two of us (well that and I cannot personally live without a toaster...ask Trevor, I am a toast freak). So, a special thanks to all of you who have been reading the blog, giving us hope, and sacrificing your time and money to make life that much easier for us...we are very fortunate to have you in our lives.   

"It Takes All The Running You Can Do, To Keep In The Same Place"

I just can't shake the feeling that I have been running as fast as I can, but just can't seem to get anywhere. You know...where you feel like you're just spinning your wheels and you are just totally and completely stuck? Yup...I feel as though we are stuck in the same spot we were 2 months ago when the visa process started, I am actually pretty sure we may be going backwards. While we are waiting for that ONE piece of paper called the Academic Technology Clearance Scheme (ATAS), my worst nightmare. The humorous thing is that this ATAS certificate is to clear Trevor from the possibility that he is coming to the UK on this visa to be a “terrorist” or build Weapons of Mass Destruction. Anyone that knows Trevor I am sure would find this absurd. So, we have been waiting over 50 + working days for this required document (what is normally not supposed to take over 20 days) in order to send in our visa applications, two of the supporting documents have expired! Ugh...you work so hard to get all the documentation and you still end up short. If this were the only problem I would be totally fine, but it gets worse.

ATAS can only contacted by email...and they do not respond to our emails to know that they have tripled the time it takes to respond and process our application making me late for school...likely meaning I can not go to school this year if this document does not come in, well, by this Thursday the 8^th. Trevor can get there any time luckily because he does not have any classes to take to stay on a schedule. So likely I have an entire year to wait for my dream of beginning grad school (since this particular Msc does not have semesters), and will be doing something I don't enjoy to make ends meet because this means a 6 month laps from being in school = time to start paying back all undergraduate loans.

If you need a visual of how much work it really takes to get a visa...here it is!

Our Visa Binder- Everything contained in this binder is simply the explanation of how to apply.  Unfortunately, we had to gather all of this information ourselves as the only people that have advised us on this are limited in the information they are allowed to divulge as no one wants to be sued for some one not getting their visa on time.  

These are all the required documents to be mailed in to actually get the visa portion of the passport.

Our best friend throughout this process...our calling card, which is now empty. 

The whole stack of paperwork we have been through.

Trevor and I are feeling so hopeless and helpless with this whole process and wondering if it will ever end. We are really keeping our fingers crossed to get this ONE piece of paperwork by Thursday. I am starting to wonder if it may have been more wise to pay the $1,000 and have someone else do it! But who would have thought two educated individuals can not do a visa application alone. All is done now and we can not go back...so all we can do is hope that everything else stays true to schedule and there are not any hold ups or issues with our other documents. Please send any good and happy vibes you have because we could use them all. I hope all future blogs from here will be positive ones...and all you wonderful blog followers will get what you came for and not all this whining!  

Hurry up... and wait.

Hello world. This is my first blog entry (so far, Jessica has been taking the lead on this little project... but she's nudged me into it).

If you know me, then you know that I am not into small talk. Thus, I find blogging difficult. If it is not a theological debate, geeking out over the latest Ubuntu release, or talking about my robot Herbert... chances are, I am not contributing to the conversation. Anyhow, Jessica wants me to write a little update about where we are in our process of getting to England... so here goes.

The facts are these:

We are not yet in the UK. We are still waiting for a single piece of paper work to come through... and of course, they are taking their sweet time getting it to us. This is, of course, a bit worrisome for a couple of reasons.

First, we have a bunch of time sensitive documents that are supposed to be sent in here soon, and we cannot send them in until we have ALL of our documentation.

Second, we are already paying for a place... six months in advance. So, we are paying for a place overseas that is currently standing empty... sigh.

Third, school is starting soon! I start my PhD on the 19th of September, and Jessica starts on the 20th. Now, it takes on average ten days to sort out a visa... so, you do the math! We're bumping up against the clock here!

As an understatement, this has been a pain in the ass... but live and learn, I suppose.