To catch everyone up, we flew out on Saturday, but only made it as far as Atlanta. Georgia that is. Wonderful state from all that I saw. We stayed there one night in a Hyatt, and ventured out to a Wal-Mart because we knew they would have the snacks we needed for the long flight...for me that was Gardettos! Love em! Leigh's bestie, Kellie drove the 5 hours from Jacksonville (Florida that is...) to spend the night with us! We flew out of Atlanta with great ease! The guys at the ticket counter "helped" our luggage all get on the plane! Thanks guys!
The flight was long. I didn't sleep a wink on the plane, but the biggest disappointment was that we were on one of the older planes which does not have a personal tv on the back of the headrest, but instead plays only one movie for the entire plane. terrible. gosh we are so spoiled these days! We made it though, with minor irritation to my ears for those of you who know about my ear problem. That was very good news indeed. The massive cold sore causes by financial stress was horrible though. I eventually got up and asked for ice from the flight attendant because I thought that my lip was going to swell to the point of exploding!
Getting through customs took a weeee bit and explaining to them why Leigh and I had different visas issued to us was fun. We managed to confuse them with our own confusion and they let us through. (We both had this feeling that they were going to change there minds and "ring" us up to come back so that they can ship us out!
We were met at the Manchester Airport by Paul (minister of the Anglican Church that we live behind) and Barry, another member of the church. Good thing they brought two vehicles because we barely managed to fit all of our luggage in them as it was. Bethany and I rode with Barry and got to hear a little bit about the area and our neighbors that we were going to meet. Jet lag and a scabby lip make it hard to be very expressive. I feel bad meeting all of these new people with a giant green growth on my lip and a very non-epressive vibe about me.
Anyways, we made it to our cute little flat. It is like a duplex with two stories. The top one has the 3 bedrooms and the bathroom and the bottom one has the living room and the kitchen. It's small but cozy, and definitely big enough for the three of us and WAY bigger than we have been living the last month. We found out when we got here that the boiler was not working and we were preparing for a very cold night. Boy, did we get that one wrong....
Barry had the landlord come over an the boiler was fixed and it was turned up on high to heat up the place a bit. I woke up at midnight after not sleeping for 36 hours sweating! We couldn't open the window because you need a key to do so and we didn't know how to turn the heat off! It was so unbearable that I went downstairs where it was a bit cooler to sleep on the tiny couch. An hour later, I was joined by Leigh and we both couldn't sleep. We tried for a while, but on those couches, the circulation was being cut and it wasn't working. Leigh tried to sleep on the hard wood floor...didn't work.
After a while our deliriousness set in and we began to laugh so hard that we were crying. We just kept saying that it was a fire hazard because here we were, no key to open a window and we didn't know where the key was to even open the door to get outside. We had no idea was time it was and the best solution for us that we could come up with was to skype one of the girls from last year to ask them how to turn the heat off or open a window! We didn't do this. After a while, we had to unlock two doors to go outside to get into the boiler room and turn off the heat. After we relocked these doors (it is proving to be a giant task) we went to see if the heat was actually off. It still felt like it was producing heat and by then we were awake, so we watched a movie at 3 in the morning...My Best Friend's Wedding. Finally after the movie ended we went back upstairs and apparently we had actually turned off the heat because it had turned livable. Still hot, but livable. This morning (mean 2:00 pm) after I woke up I looked and it was still 79 degrees in my room and I can only imagine how hot is was before. I estimate 95 degrees at least.......This all happened with our flatmate Bethany still asleep......
Paul came over with a key to the windows and we turned the heat to low and I think we are all set now! BUT, Leigh and I will NEVER forget our first night here!
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