Nancy's KL Journal July 23, 2007

Time has evaporated the last few days. My first two days were spent helping Doug and Tracy get into their place.

I signed the papers for my condo and paid tons of money – 3 months rent, utility deposit, tax, registration fees, etc. It was fairly clean, the furniture is OK and the refrigerator is new and decent size. The washing machine is tiny.

The view is spectacular and I’m thankful that I have the place because many of the new staff are scrambling to locate homes and their stress level is high. There is a wonderful breeze it’s comfortable on most days not to use the air conditioning.

Friday was very hectic – it was moving day for Doug and Tracy. They are moving into a brand new house in an area up in the hills about 15 min. from the HS. So on Friday AM they checked out of the hotel and loaded their car with as much of the 11 suitcases as possible, and another teacher came and loaded the rest in his car (both were jeeps with lots of room.) The shipping company was there to unload their shipment and right in the entry way was a large pile of sand and a worker who was transporting it into the laundry room to lay tile and finish the house so they can get a washer. It was wonderful chaos and Doug and Tracy were very calm.

Then at 1 PM on Friday IKEA come and delivered beds and set up all the furniture. The tile worker kept bringing in sand throughout the day. Their maid began cleaning and we found their sheets and the beds were made so they was ready for sleep.

We all went to the local Burger King for dinner and then Doug took me to get my last dollars changed and to get money from an ATM. I’m going through money – teachers who know the set-up costs say you “bleed money” the first year. So far that seems to be the case.

The thing I might remember most from Doug and Tracy’s moving-in day was jumping into a swimming pool fully clothed to get Reeve. He swam out from the steps of the pool and when he came up for air he couldn’t touch the bottom and started flailing in the water and his eyes were huge. He was embarrassed but my life guard instincts kicked in when I saw him. Unfortunately, I had on my money belt with my passport. Everything dried out OK and all was well.

All for now – I’m off to my first visit to ISKL and to set-up my bank account.

- Nancy