JET LAG IS REAL!: I've always heard people talk about jet lag, but I've never been affected it by it too much. We arrived on Friday morning, and I think Monday morning 3 of our kids slept until 1pm! That is UNREAL!
MY ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER: I have to learn a whole new number pattern for making phone calls. Day one, I tried to make a phone call from a phone booth, and could not even figure out how many numbers were actually included in Jason's new #. And our home address is a bit different to figure out too! The whole zip code thing is so different!
HOW TO USE A KEY: And not just any house key. Our house has a gazillion keys. Each bedroom has a key: like a long old fashioned key! And that's what you use to actually insert and lock or unlock the door. The front door has a key, the back door has a key and like 4 pins. AND every window has a key! I just don't quite get it. I can say, since Jason left town this morning, I did finally learn how to lock the front door with the bloomin' thing. But it took a concerted effort and help from A.J. of course!
CONVERSION, CONVERSION, CONVERSION! From the exchange rate, from Farenheit to Celsius (that was a burnt dinner), from feet and inches to centimeters (that's why Emily's mattress is a wee bit larger than her bed), and Gallons to liters. It's safe to say, I have had to find an app for all of this!
COINS ARE VALUABLE: My current wallet doesn't have a coin purse. So, over the past 6 months or so, I have given all my change to whatever kid is standing beside me. Well, they don't have a dollar bill like we do, so anything under 5 pounds you get in coins, or pence. Including a 1 pound pence, if you will. Needless to say, it's time to invest in a coin purse!
HOW TO FLUSH THESE TOILETTES!!! I still haven't quite figured out how to flush my toilettes successfully. There's like a #1 button and a #2 button, but sometimes you have to press soft, or no, was it press fast, or hard? I don't know. I mess with it for a while until I scream or something happens!
HOW TO FIX MY HAIR WITHOUT A MIRROR: So our house has mirrors over the bathroom sink, brilliant! Right? Well, yeah, if there were an outlet that would work nearby. Don't worry, I've replaced my hairdryer, curling iron, and flat iron since I've been here. That's not it! But these plugs in the bathrooms only support a man's electric shaver. So, I'm stuck sitting on the floor in one of the girls room with a mirror to fix my hair! Lovely!!
HEALTHCARE: YIKES! Is all I have to say right now. A.J. has been sick for a week, and is complaining about his breathing. He's been using his rescue inhaler too much and needs some help. So, I ventured to an instant care with him to behold a scene we chose to turn around and walk away from. There was this waiting room with a good 50+ people, it reeked of smoke, and it reminded me of the DMV. I just thought, no way! So we found a pharmacy where we were equally surprised at what we found (or did NOT find) on the shelves. All the stuff you want, like Sudafed, Ibuprofen, Tylenol, you name it, it wasn't out. It was all BEHIND the counter. We had to talk to the pharmacist to even get a cough syrup. It was totally discouraging. Hopefully we can get a good Primary Care Physician referral from someone at church and avoid a scene like that in the future!
MY ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER: I have to learn a whole new number pattern for making phone calls. Day one, I tried to make a phone call from a phone booth, and could not even figure out how many numbers were actually included in Jason's new #. And our home address is a bit different to figure out too! The whole zip code thing is so different!
HOW TO USE A KEY: And not just any house key. Our house has a gazillion keys. Each bedroom has a key: like a long old fashioned key! And that's what you use to actually insert and lock or unlock the door. The front door has a key, the back door has a key and like 4 pins. AND every window has a key! I just don't quite get it. I can say, since Jason left town this morning, I did finally learn how to lock the front door with the bloomin' thing. But it took a concerted effort and help from A.J. of course!
CONVERSION, CONVERSION, CONVERSION! From the exchange rate, from Farenheit to Celsius (that was a burnt dinner), from feet and inches to centimeters (that's why Emily's mattress is a wee bit larger than her bed), and Gallons to liters. It's safe to say, I have had to find an app for all of this!
COINS ARE VALUABLE: My current wallet doesn't have a coin purse. So, over the past 6 months or so, I have given all my change to whatever kid is standing beside me. Well, they don't have a dollar bill like we do, so anything under 5 pounds you get in coins, or pence. Including a 1 pound pence, if you will. Needless to say, it's time to invest in a coin purse!
HOW TO FLUSH THESE TOILETTES!!! I still haven't quite figured out how to flush my toilettes successfully. There's like a #1 button and a #2 button, but sometimes you have to press soft, or no, was it press fast, or hard? I don't know. I mess with it for a while until I scream or something happens!
HOW TO FIX MY HAIR WITHOUT A MIRROR: So our house has mirrors over the bathroom sink, brilliant! Right? Well, yeah, if there were an outlet that would work nearby. Don't worry, I've replaced my hairdryer, curling iron, and flat iron since I've been here. That's not it! But these plugs in the bathrooms only support a man's electric shaver. So, I'm stuck sitting on the floor in one of the girls room with a mirror to fix my hair! Lovely!!
HEALTHCARE: YIKES! Is all I have to say right now. A.J. has been sick for a week, and is complaining about his breathing. He's been using his rescue inhaler too much and needs some help. So, I ventured to an instant care with him to behold a scene we chose to turn around and walk away from. There was this waiting room with a good 50+ people, it reeked of smoke, and it reminded me of the DMV. I just thought, no way! So we found a pharmacy where we were equally surprised at what we found (or did NOT find) on the shelves. All the stuff you want, like Sudafed, Ibuprofen, Tylenol, you name it, it wasn't out. It was all BEHIND the counter. We had to talk to the pharmacist to even get a cough syrup. It was totally discouraging. Hopefully we can get a good Primary Care Physician referral from someone at church and avoid a scene like that in the future!