After the big move, arriving July 26th, we have FINALLY settled down enough for me to write a blog. It's been a pretty adventurous few weeks.
First of all, the move was MUCH better than expected (although the cats may disagree). We went the first couple of days
without the laptop, because the powercord we were hooking up to the Penske's battery charger was lost. The first day, we went through Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and a LOT of Nebraska. That state seemed to go on FOREVER. Very unexciting. Second day was Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois. The third day was Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The fourth day was Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. We drove an average of about 11-12 hours a day, which sounds worse than it was. I found it actually
enjoyable to just sit and watch the road as we drove. The cats of course were
terrible the first few hours, which was not surprising, but would sleep it all off. They got more upset the bumpier the road was, and they didn't like to hear the engine, so going uphill in a Penske towing a Honda was not fun. But otherwise, it was fun. We stayed in hotels that provided a breakfast, we had packed lunch in the car each day, and we stopped somewhere quickly for dinner. It's hard to imagine that we basically made a drive across the United States--it didn't seem like it when it was all said and done. Four days really does go quickly.
When we arrived, we signed our paperwork with our apartment, and drove up to our cute little Townhouse. Walking in, we immediately LOVED the layout. Not the largest place, but a great layout. The downstairs has the living/family room when you first walk in, along with the stairs near the door. The kitchen and dining area are behind the living area. There's a 1/2 bathroom downstairs also. Going upstairs, there's the full bathroom and the bedroom. It's a very nice place--but not such good luck with our neighbors. We have an interesting lady, Barbara-Ann, living right next door to our right, and some people who only speak Cambodian living on our left. Barbara-Ann has already given us some trouble. The apartment management warned us about her when we moved in, that if she is any kind of trouble we let them know. She has
completely taken over our front porch area with her flower pots and greenery, which is okay except for its unorganized way of taking up space. We went out and met her the first night, and she came across very nice, with the exception of her "bluntness." She first says "You know, management gave me a letter asking me to move my flowers away from your front porch if you'd like me to. In my mind, this is my only real space to personalize, and
you guys have a back porch." So, it seemed, that was that for now. Then, she made several other blunt comments, which I will tell you about if you ask me. Then...the air conditioning.
We didn't have air conditioning provided in the apartments, to begin with. Which is very normal for this part of the United States, since warm/hot months are so short. A.C.'s really only needed during some of July, August, and a small bit of September. The rest of the year is cooler to cold. When we moved in at the end of July, it was
steamy, sticky hot in the apartment due to the lack of AC. That, on top of just heavy-duty moving those first few days made for some miserable times. My parents came the second day, and noticed how miserable it was in the apartment, and were nice enough to buy us an AC wall unit for a late 2nd anniversary present. We put it in the wall area downstairs, since we'll spend most of our time downstairs anyway. WELL. This air conditioning spot the apartments had set out just
happens to be placed right outside the door to Barbara-Ann. So, wonderfully blunt Barbara-Ann, points out all of the hot air blowing into her front door area from the AC exhaust. I understand the inconvenience, but that's where the apartments have the unit opening! I do feel bad, but it gets
so hot in the apartment. Whenever we would turn on the AC, she would come outside, grumble a few words,
look in our window, and eventually put in a piece of
carpet to the side of the exhaust area, pointing the hot air away from her front door. Well, not good, considering the carpet would be
flammable, so wonderful husband of mine was nice enough to replace the carpet with a flame-resistant cutting board of our's. She seemed very thankful. But still, to this day, we see her, and all of her visitors, constantly peeking into our front window. Can you say...creepy?
So, the first week was unpacking. Lots of heavy things. The funny part is, the upstairs getting into the bedroom is
very small, so when they were going to take up some of the larger items, like the mattress and the box-spring mattress, it was a little difficult. We were able to bend the mattress to fit through the door, but the box-spring was a different story. So, the third night when we weren't able to get the box-spring up, we went out to Home Depot to buy two large pieces of plywood to put under the mattress instead of the box-spring. It seemed as it it would be uncomfortable, but would work okay. We went to bed that night, and the second I lay down on that bed, I knew it was going to be the most uncomfortable night's sleep ever. First of all, every slight weight on the bed made a HUGE creak from the plywood. The more we went through the night, the more the mattress was bending in the middle. The two pieces of plywood were bending inward to the middle, and so I was
so worried for my two kitties, who sometimes like going under the bed. I was
sure the bed would collapse. Sure enough, 3:00am that morning, we both awoke to a collapsing bed. The wood had slipped from the guides, and so the plywood collapsed through. So, that next day, my dad and Rodney spent a good five hours or so taking apart the box-spring. We HAD to get it up with the bed. In order to do this, they had to remove the fabric covering from the box, saw the box in half, and take apart all of the springs one-by-one. "Imagine being in a sauna-like room, getting your fingers pinched by crabs with rusty nails and tools all around you, and then five hours later getting it done." <- Quoted by Rodney. BUT we finally got our bed set up, and it's
almost perfect.
After the bed drama, it was just about getting everything into the apartment. After days and days of unloading, unpacking, we decided it was time for fun. My dad was leaving in a couple of days for marching band camp back in Idaho, and my mom would be there another week. Rodney's mom got there the last day of unpacking, and she came with some great family friends of Rodneys' side, Rod and Glenna. We went to Northampton Friday, which was a
very cutesy town, with lots of fun shops and things to do. Although it was raining so hard we could barely walk outside, it was a fun day. We walked around the Amherst area, getting more and more excited about where we're living. Lots and lots of bookstores and libraries for me, and an enormous amount of musical possibilities in the area for Rodney. Emily Dickenson and Robert Frost were raised in Amherst, along with many other great authors. It also is FULL of fresh produce stands, and some great local restaraunts. There's a Whole Foods (which, for all you Top Chef watchers, is the shop they go to for their food supplies). More to come on Amherst itself.
Sunday, we went to Saratoga Springs, which is a FABULOUS horserace park in New York. We spent the day watching horse races, which is my dad's FAVORITE thing to do. The great part is, these places are only a few hours away from where we live. New York, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire...all just a driving distance. I love that part of living out here.
Monday, my dad left. :( It was very sad, hard to watch my first family member go back to Idaho. We picked up Aunt Robin, David, Hillary and Andrew, and went to Andover to stay with them for a few days. We went to Boston and Maine for some great shopping and outdoor things to do. Then, we headed to Virginia (via plane) to stay a few days with my 2nd cousins Laureen and George. To try to describe their home would be...impossible. They live on
500 acres of land, including mountains around the home so they can have a very private area. They have about 150 Texas Longhorn cattle, including the #2 bull and #2 cow in the world. Their home...is incredible. They have a mansion of a home, with a kitchen featured in Spaces magazine, a cabin for visitors, a guesthouse they call "The Crib", a chicken home for the goats and chickens, a stablehand home, etc. Three ponds...endless. It was NOTHING like I'd ever seen, even on television shows and movies. I'll post pictures as soon as I can.
After those few days, my mom went home. :( Both parents now back in Idaho, it really hit me about how we were now just us two. It is, however, very exciting to be out here in this big adventure with Rodney. When we flew back to Boston, we drove back to my aunt's house to get the car. The fun part was--when we went to drive it back to our home in Amherst, the engine was revving (sp?) every gear we tried to shift. We slowly drove it back to Andover (since we'd only left about 5 minutes before), and parked it in the driveway. The next morning, we took it to get serviced and found out--the bad news. New transmission and new radiator. Ouch.
After getting the car fixed, we drove back to Amherst. I love it here. So many things to do, such
nice people all around us, and I've already gotten a job interview in Springfield Massachusetts for English 6 teaching. What an exciting place! Much much more to come, I promise! Now that I have the time to be able to sit and write, I will update everyone as much as possible.
We miss everyone, and hope you'll all keep in touch!
XOXO
Angela and Rodney
Amherst Regional Middle School
This is the front of the Fine Arts Center from the side -- if you can tell, it's shaped like a piano!
The inside of our apartment the first day. Lovely. :)
