The wheels are turning but we're not moving (forward)

The past month has been like treading water--a lot is going on, but not too much progress is being made. Lots of little things keep creeping up which eventually hinder something we need or want to do (for example, two broken watches, parking tickets, lost car keys, a maxed-out credit card and no Dell laptop to show for it, etc.). The biggest annoyance for me is misplacing my day-planner, which has absolutely EVERYTHING in it. So while I would like to talk about what has happened the past several weeks, I can't be too sure of the details and dates. This is probably good, because I can now only provide the more memorable events :P

The week (or two) we spent in New York was such a breath of fresh air that it makes me already really want to go back. Though Seth was busy as usual, I spent heaps of time reading, going for walks to the end of the road with Seth's mom, eating lots of very delicious food, watching the Amish buggies ride past the house, wandering around Wegmans, petting the multitudes of friendly cats, and picking corn. Though it was early August and sweltering hot down South, it was cool and crisp every day in New York. Could a person want anything else?

We eventually had to leave New York and spend a day driving down to North Carolina, where we took just a few days packing and visiting wonderful friends and colleagues in Chapel Hill. We then piled back into the car and made the 14 hour drive up to Boston, hitting every major city on the east coast along the way (that day, we woke up at 3am to go for a short run then managed to leave the house just after 6am, which allowed us to avoid at least some DC traffic and NYC traffic). The drive should have only been about 13 hours but we got stuck in a small town called Perryville, where we had a very hard time finding an ATM to withdraw cash to pay for the last few toll roads. If you every find yourself in Perryville and in need of cash, don't waste your time with gas stations and go directly to the Food Lion!

Since arriving at Chrissy's apartment in Boston (well, Brighton, to be specific), we have been spending nearly all our time between Brandeis and Brighton, but we did manage an afternoon outing to Harvard Square in Cambridge. It wasn't as bustling as we were expecting, probably because classes were not yet in session. I still haven't been to downtown Boston, so I will need to make a point to see it sometime soon.

Yesterday Seth taught his first class--he did not start with any introduction and just launched right into full lecture mode and passed out the syllabus in the last minute or two of class. For each undergraduate to be paying over $36,000 a year in tuition, at least they will get their money out of having Seth as their professor! He will be teaching Classic and Romantic Music, a graduate proseminar in Music of the Renaissance, and doing lots of his own research. And until I find myself a job, I will be sitting in on Introduction to Economics (that's right, econ), and Art History (post-1945).

Besides this, we have been doing lots and lots of apartment hunting, attempting to wrap up more loose ends in Australia (like Superannuation, taxes, etc), and last week I got poison ivy down my lower legs. I have never gotten poison ivy and I thought I was resistant, especially considering I have a hard time identifying it and Seth always catches me before I wander right into it, so in theory I should have had it many times before. However, where we go running, near Hammond Pond, it is like an entire forest of the oily stuff. At least it doesn't really itch.

The past week and a half the Meyers were in New York, and Jens returned early. It has been nice to stay with them during this time. However, this evening Mark and Gina will be leaving for the Outer Banks for a week, and we will be dog-sitting for them out in the 'rural' part of town (about 30min west of Brandeis, or about 60min west of Brighton). This afternoon we cleared out of Chrissy's house and once again, everything that is important to us is in the car.

As nice as it is to be staying in comfortable homes and not necessarily have to pay rent (which can be ludicrously high), I do wish we had a place of our own to live. Since preparing to leave Johns in mid-December, we have moved approximately 12 times (in less than 8 months):

Johns --> Stephen and Kim's house --> Johns --> New Zealand --> Nick's house/Office --> Share house on Fenner St --> (*Seth goes to the US --> *Seth returns to Fenner St) --> Northern Territory --> Vietnam --> Hong Kong --> (Seth goes to New York --> Seth goes to Boston) --> (I go to Rochester, MN --> North Carolina --> *Boston) --> *New York --> *North Carolina --> Boston/Chrissy's place --> Boston/Mark's place

* = these are not moves, they were just big trips

The rest constitute a 'move' and not a 'trip' because we carried a significant amount of our belongings with us. At each move, we did not have a more permanent 'home base' or address or phone number where we could be reached.

New Home!!

Seth and I finally got to move into a house last night! We are now living in Downer, which is the neighborhood just south of Watson (where we used to live with Oanh). I heard about the spare room through people at BoZo but I didn't want to get my hopes up--but on Monday they wrote back and said I was set to move in this week. I asked Jon (whom we met at Johns last year) to help us, and we piled everything into his big red van (it all just barely fit--there wasn't even enough room for Seth so he had to bike up!). We hadn't seen Jon for several months so it was good to catch up with him--he is probably one of the most intriguing people we met at Johns and I will try to make more of an effort to meet up with him in the future.

I couldn't believe how much crap we had accumulated in the past year and a half. Though a lot of it is kitchen stuff, which will be easy enough to use up or get rid of, there are also just boxes and boxes of other things that we wouldn't notice if we didn't have. Especially after travelling and always being aware of what is necessary and valuable enough to carry wherever you go, it makes me really want to just give everything away (or, in my case, I would probably have to be wasteful and throw it away because no one would want my stuff). For example, in the past six weeks Seth and I have only worn just a few changes of clothes, which we hand-wash every few days, and we never missed our other boxes of clothes we left at BoZo. Particularly when we get ready to head back to the US, I don't think the Australian Postal Service offers very cheap rates for sea mail, so we will have to go through everything we have and just start getting rid of anything we don't really need.

Before we showed up at the house, I had never even spoken with any of the house-mates. I was VERY relieved to see they are very friendly, and based on their DVD/CD collection they seem to have a similar style as me. Jordan, the girl I was in contact with, is a new honours student at BoZo (I think her office is next to mine!). Alex, the other house-mate, is also an ANU student (psychology). Since it is a 4-bedroom house, the fourth person to fill it will arrive on Saturday. He is a new PhD student at BoZo who just arrived from the US.

The house is a bit chaotic at the moment since Jordan and Alex just moved in on Monday--they previously lived a few houses down the street but were 'evicted' (ie. it was being remodeled), so they also have boxes everywhere and are in the process of unpacking.

Good news is that Seth was planning to leave for the US this morning but he found out a couple days ago his flight was rescheduled. I think he was annoyed by that but I don't mind :P It will be nice to have this weekend with him, and it is also great he can see the house and meet the girls before heading home.

It felt great to unpack what we could, but it is a very small house for so many people--at least it will encourage me to get rid of unnecessary things, haha! It is also strange to move out of BoZo--Seth had worked out quite a nice routine of playing guitar in the rock garden (which he will continue doing), lifting weights in my office, etc, and I was getting used to showering, cooking, and doing everything else there. It will also take getting re-used to biking a bit further to Uni (Nick's house in Lyneham was only a 10min ride, Downer is nearly 20min). But Jordan drives in everyday and she offered a ride this morning, so I imagine if I ever don't feel well or if the weather is poor I can bum a ride with her.