the Boyd Family set out on an adventure which was meant to last only 14 months ;).
Here are some of my thoughts shortly after we arrived.
April 25th
All rented property over here is unfurnished so we have had to purchase all of these items, such as washing machine, dryer (why I wonder when they have almost constant sun),furniture and beds. Fortunately the company is paying for all this so I don't feel to bad about. In addition we have had to contact all the utilities, cable companies and telephone companies. All of them seem to need your social security number and driver's license number and are baffled when you say you are from out of the country. But surely the American system is worldwide? One official I spoke to didn't even know where Britain was and assumed it must be in Canada.
The schools were probably the worst in that respect
May 2000 to friend in the swimming club
To be honest at this moment in time I would give anything to be back in Scotland. Alan has never been easy to deal with but at least I knew where I could go to get help when I needed it. This situation only reinforces the feeling that I am utterly dependent on others to do things for me. My house has never been so clean because I have nothing else to do at the moment. It currently 10.06 in the morning and I have already done the vacuuming, washing, drying and all the bedrooms. I am holding off doing the ironing so that I have something to do later on. Interneting has been my life saver recently because that way I can keep up to date with the news at home but even that has its limit. I even have to rely on Gordon to give me money each week because of some bureaucratic cock up which means I can't get a tax identification number. Without that I can't even have a joint account with Gordon or get a state driving licence. Unfortunately the swimming has had to go to the wayside as I have no car and Pflugerville has no public transport, so my bike has been well used in the past week since we moved into this address
Still its not all doom and gloom. Yesterday, for a brief time Alan was his usual affable self and he spotted a water snake and a lizard when we were out walking yesterday. Before that we had spotted wild deer just gazing in people's gardens. Alan has always loved being outside, spotting the wildlife and there is certainly a lot to spot over here. The other week we saw black swans, terrapins, white swans, squirrels, numerous birds and our first water snake which attacked a terrapin as we were watching. Apparently the day before Elisabeth and her friends came across a baby rattlesnake on the cycle path they were on.
We are also trying to see as much of the country side as possible and in July we have rented a beach condo for a week on the North Carolina coast. Instead of flying up there though we are going to travel by car and stay in motels along the way. That should be a good trip
May 2000 to my youngest sister to my youngest sister
Not that I can see that the education system here is anything to rave about. Apparently the teachers don't mind if high school students sleep in class because if they wanted to learn they would be awake!! Actually high school is just like a further education college because you pick 4 subjects for a semester (six month period) and all ages are mixed together, so Elisabeth is in classes with 18 yrs old. Elisabeth wasn't that keen on school at first but in the past few weeks because she has been told she has exceptional talent, she now wants us to stay for 3 yrs so she can graduate.
Alan has had no problem adjusting to the American way of life, so much so, he had to attend Saturday morning class this morning. He also feels he doesn't need to work and this only came to our attention because I enquired why he had Saturday detention and was he having any problems settling down in school. Within hours I had a phone call, a couple of emails to say Alan was settling down very well socially in class but seemed to think working wasn't in his remit. Just after that Alan's 3 week report arrived, only one teacher mentioned he was failing. Some school!
As you can guess we have come down hard on Alan and I have ordered a couple of CD-roms with the British curriculum for maths and English on it. I have also discovered a couple of homework pages he can use for other subjects. At least that way, when we return next year he wont be too far behind in his subjects and if necessary I suppose he could always go back a year. Knowing that Alan absolutely loves it over here, I have also threaten that if he continues in this vein, then I would return him to Scotland early and its not an empty threat
So far I haven't heard anything but good from Emily so hopefully when she goes to middle school in August she will continue to progress. Believe it or not, she is graduating this week from elementary school, you know the whole speech and song thing that I thought only happened on American TV
Their summer holidays start on 24th May and they don't return until 14 August!! Its going to be a long summer especially if we can't get some form of transport for me . Unfortunately, the company only provides one car and when you live in an area without any transport whatsoever, that can be very limiting. Gordon is already fed up with having to spend his weekends shopping and is saying we need to shop in the evenings when he comes home. Unfortunately, ( or as usual should I say) Gordon is rarely in before 6.30. So once we have had dinner, tidied up and socialised, its too late to go out.
As you can see the warning signs were all there. At the time, they didn’t seem insurmountable as we were returning to Scotland in June2001 he last 6 yrs have seem both interminable and short.
Elisabeth graduated early from high school and is due to graduate from university next summer. In the summer of 2002, she was involved in a serious car accident which effected her in many ways, including her decision to study science at university rather than art.
Alan has been to hell and back. Looking at the letters I wrote back then, I realise all the signs were there but somehow we missed them.
Emily has grown into young woman and young American.
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