Settling in to the job

Day two at the job and all is still going well. I got my name plate today for my cubicle and later on I got my laptop! It's not the IBM ThinkPad that I was hoping for :-( It's a Dell, but I guess contractors cannot be choosers.

We had quite a downpour this afternoon and it affected the highway traffic on the way home. You know that there is a problem when you see not one, but two news helicopters hovering over the highway.

Liesel went to a doctor today for her earache. The doctor saw that her face was swollen and prescribed her an antibiotic. Please pray that the medicine kicks in soon and relieves some of the pain soon. She will see the doctor again in 2 weeks for a checkup. On the bright side, Liesel got her medicine from the pharmacy at our local grocery store. As I explained before, the store gives you a 10c per gallon discount for every $10 spent. So far we have accumulated 60c per gallon off the next time we fill up a car!!! Nie te sleg nie!

Hi-ho, hi-ho its off to work I go

This morning I woke up all ready to head off for my first day of work. I packed my laptop and was ready to leave at 8:30. I was meant to meet my colleagues at 9:30 and I have no idea what the traffic would be like in Cleveland, so I gave myself an hour. Well, the traffic was an anti-climax (which is a good thing). It took me 25 minutes to get there - no hold ups whatsoever. What a pleasure if it would be like this every day!

The people I met today seem to be good guys! I was given a cubicle and told that I will be getting a brand new IBM ThinkPad (WOOHOOOOO) and a pager! Then I was also told that the manager's policy is that any new person that starts in her department shouldn't have to buy their own lunch, so I get get a free lunch every day this week! Not a bad start I would say!

While I was at work today, Liesel was at home with Nathan. She is suffering from a terrible earache, and she couldn't take it any more so she has made an appointment to see a doctor tomorrow. Please pray for her, and that the doctor can do something to take the pain away!

Below are some pics from our apartment

All good things must come to an end

Today was my last day as an unemployed US resident :-( I suppose I have been rather spoiled by having a 3 month vacation. It was Memorial Day here in the US, so I was not the only person enjoying the 33C weather. We went to a mall today, as we chose an air-conditioned environment over the scorching summer outside. This afternoon, we needed to do a "cleaning & chemicals" shop, as we still did not have a vacuum cleaner yet. Before heading out to Walmart, Liesel decided to try something new out. She uploaded some of our favorite photos to the Walmart website via the wireless internet we have in our apartment. She paid for it using her credit card - $1.80 for 19 photos! Then, a hour later, we picked up the photos from Walmart!!!!!! That is one of the many reasons I love it here! Convenient, cheap and SIMPLE.

When we got home at 5, it was still 30C outside, so we decided that we would take Nathan for his first swim here! He absolutely loved it!!! Even when we got out of the pool he said "Gagain (again)!! FUN!!" So how could I turn that request down and we climbed straight back into the pool for a few more minutes!



And thus ends my vacation ......

Leases, Licenses, Lakes and Lighthouses

Lease: On Friday, I got a phone call saying that I have been approved for a lease on a brand new Honda CR-V 4x4! This was fantastic news since I start work on Tuesday and without it, Liesel would be stuck indoors all day - which is not recommended with a 19 month old boy!! I signed all the paper work and drove home in my all-new Honda CR-V. It is great car, that looks good and has lots of pep in its 2.4 liter 4-cylinder engine. The reason I chose this particular vehicle is that it has ABS Brakes, traction and stability control, which all play a huge role in helping you drive in icy or snowy conditions. Obviously, being a South African boytjie, I need all the help I can get.

License: Liesel went to do the written portion of her Ohio driver's license on Saturday morning. She kept up the family tradition and passed with 100%! That's my girl!!!! Next week she will be doing the driving part of the test in my CR-V, since its quite a bit smaller than the Buick. As part of the test, you have to reverse through a set of cones, and it really helps having a smaller car to do that in. We watched some teenagers attempt that part of the test, and they knocked the cones over which means an immediate fail!!!

Lake: After going to a new Church on Sunday, I took Nathan and we went down to the beach. It was 30C here today with no wind or clouds. The lake was very calm and the beach was populated by locals lapping up the glorious weather. Nath played at the waters edge and laughed at the people brave (stupid?) enough to venture into the 13C water for a swim!

Lighthouse: This afternoon we took a drive to Lorain (a town) to see its landmark lighthouse. The lighthouse itself was pretty impressive, but the rest of the town is not worth writing about!

Tanning and Tornado watches

Another good day for Cleveland, weatherwise. We went out for a drive to have a look at one of the area parks (yes, it's playground comparison time again). Its a lovely playground that is divided into a section for 2-5 year olds, and another for 5-12 year olds. Nathan seemed to love it and spent half an hour in the swing and then some time at the steering wheel and the slides. After we pried him away from the steering wheel, we headed back home.

It was the warmest it has been in Cleveland today, and after playing on our basketball court with Nathan this afternoon. I went for my first swim in the USA! It was wonderful! Our complex has a heated pool which was at a perfect temperature. Not too cold that causes body parts to go blue, and not too hot.

Then this evening while we were watching TV, another Tornado Watch (less severe than the Tornado Warning which we had in Raleigh). It seems that these things follow us around. But the good news is, all we got was a lot of rain and lots of wind....... nothing to lose sleep over (I have even put my car in the garage here for the first time!)

Have a great weekend and don't get too cold!!!!

Finally - its shorts and T-shirts weather!!!

This morning when we were ready to go out the temperature was already 17C outside. This is a vast improvement over yesterday, in fact a 13C difference! When I left to get my Driver's license yesterday, the cars were all covered in a thin layer of ice! So I am extremely happy that the Spring weather has returned to something that I am more accustomed to!

It was a slow day in our household. We wanted to see where I would be working, and so drove to my office building. It was quite an easy drive, mostly on the highway. Shouldn't be too difficult...... After that, we drove to a nearby mall to look around. We found their play area, and because the mall was so quiet, Nathan had an absolute ball! He was crawling through tunnels, sliding down little bridges and spinning wall-mounted wheels! He would have stayed there all day if he could!

5 down - 1 to go

1 - Green Card - got it!
2 - Social Security Card - got it!
3 - Bank accounts and credit card - got it!
4 - Job - got it!
5 - US Driver's license - got it!!!!!

All that is left for my to-do list is US Citizenship which is at least 4.5 years away!

I left home this morning at 7:15 to get to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles at 8am. There were very few people there and I could get started almost immediately. I passed their vision test and they told me to sit down in front of one of the computers to do the written test. I got the first 30 questions correct so that gave me a score of 100% :-D I was then asked to schedule my driving portion of the test, and I asked if I could of it today and they said I could be on "standby" - if anyone doesn't show up for their test, then I would go in their place. It only took about 10 mins before I was told to go outside for the test. The first part of the test, you have to drive through some cones, and then reverse back through the cones - similar to alley docking. As I drove through the cones, I realized how big my car was! It was as if my car was the hand and the cones were the glove. There was very little free space for error. In fact, when I was reversing back through the cones, my side mirror missed one of the poles sticking out of the cones by a few millimeters!! But the examiner didn't seem to pay any attention to that... phew! Next she took me on a short tour of the neighborhood. It was very relaxed and we were chatting most of the way. When I got back to the bureau, she told me to take a form to the licensing department and they will give me my license! WOOHOOOOOOOO!

After returning home and sharing the news with Liesel, we went to the Westlake public library. The libraries here are soooo much different from South Africa's. They allow you to take out 49 different items consisting of books, magazines, DVD's or videos. In the kiddies sections they have different books for different age groups. For Nathan there were two bookshelves filled with books with cardboard pages! We didn't even see this kind of variety in Exclusive Books in SA. Then there were tables with wooden puzzles, another table with a wooden train set all laid out, a section for kids to play dress-up and another one to do puppet shows. There were computers loaded with kiddies software. Simply another world. They also organize programs for different age groups and they have a play group for Nathan's age, that Liesel said she wouldn't mind coming to when I am at work. See the link in the right hand column -->

So all in all - a productive day for us!

18 again?

It feels like I am 18 again, because today I am going for my driver's license. I am not too sure how they treat people with licenses from other countries. SOme people I know in the USA said that they just walked into the Department of Motor Vehicles office and did a vision, written and a simple road test and got their driver's license, while others say you first have to apply for a learners, then 2 days later can apply for your driver's. Each state is different in how they handle it, so I am not sure what to expect. Just pray for me and hopefully I will have some good news for tomorrow!

A little taste of South Africa

Well - the weekend has come and gone! On the bright side (literally) the sun came out and the rain stopped. We decided to explore our neighborhood. On Saturday morning we drove around looking for parks and playgrounds for Nathan. We also went to fill up with gas. There is a grocery store in the area that gives you 10c per gallon off (=17c per liter in SA) for every $50 that you spend on groceries. We spent over a $100 on groceries, so that qualified us for 20c per gallon discount! This means that when the price of gas for normal people is $2.79 per gallon (R4.75 per liter), we pay $2.59 per gallon (R4.41 per liter). So as you see that is a very good incentive! once we had a full tank, we carried on exploring and we found a World Market store. This store sells products from different countries including South Africa. We walked out of there with a bottle of Mrs Ball's Chutney ($6) and an Aero!!!!! The chutney was put away for special occasions but Nathan and I loved the Aero!

In the afternoon, Nathan and I went looking for a park close to us and we found one just down the road. It wasn't as nice as other's but it had swings and slides - which is Nathan's staple playground diet. Much to my surprise, Nathan had more fun with me on a beach volleyball court running after a ball! This may just be the start of something..........

After the playground, we took a drive along the lake front! It really is beautiful and the houses are incredible!!

On Sunday we tried our first church here - about 8 mins from our place. It was quite small compared to the churches we have frequented, with about 50 - 60 people in attendance. But what I liked was the music they played before the service. Upbeat, modern Christian artists -my kind of taste! The praise and worship band consisted of an electric guitarist, bass guitarist and drummer, 2 backing vocals and the worship leader. Trevor Basson would love this church because we sang a Newsboys (Contemporary Christian band) song as one of our praises songs! It was a good service, but Liesel and I will still visit another church next week to see what they offer! After lunch today, we headed back to the lake-side beach. It was quite windy and cool, so we didn't stay too long, but long enough for me to feel the water (not freezing!) and taste it too. It is very weird when you have waves breaking and rocks and beach sand, but there is not a hint of salt anywhere. Quite strange!!

Pics that I promised

Our time with Gustavo in Raleigh

Brrrrrrrrrrrr -- again!

One thing that really irritates me, is that we are supposed to be in Spring, but South Africa's autumn weather is warmer than here! But I guess it's one of the things I will have to accept! Can't wait for winter!!! ;-) Because of the weather, we didn't do much exploring today and we wanted to keep Nathan indoors as he seems to have a slight cough. We did however, go to a Toys R Us to buy Nathan some much deserved toys. We really felt sorry for the little guy that he had to play with his small selection of toys day in and day out. Well, now he has a few more things that should keep him happy! Although, we will only give him one toy at a time, and only when he is completely bored with his other ones..... but don't tell him that! I also looked at some new cars today, as when I start working, Liesel and I will need separate cars. My only downside is that because I have only been in the USA for 7 weeks, I have no credit history/record established, so the companies don't want to give me any special rates or discounts that they advertised on television. They rates are fantastic...... if you qualify! For example, I could drive a Honda S2000 sportscar for only $249 per month! Or the Honda CR-V for $149 per month, and they throw in a free Ipod for any car you get from them! Now if there are any Americans out there who are willing to co-sign me........ I will be forever indebted to you ;-)

PS: The photos that you see here were taken yesterday, when the sun was shining!

Yay.... Sunshine!

Yes, it's true! After a gloomy start to the day, the sun broke through the clouds and warmed us up a bit. However, after temperatures of around 20C today, the maximum for the next week's weather will be around 13-14C.

This morning, we opened up some local bank accounts, and then went grocery shopping. This store has a promotion where if you spend more than $50, you get 10c off per gallon of gas (petrol) from selected gas stations! This is very important to Americans who are constantly complaining about high gas prices even though it's about R4.65 per liter!

This afternoon we drove down to the lake! Let me tell you, it is HUGE. We found a playground for Nathan close to the lake and spent some time there in the sun! Now we need to start our hunt for other playgrounds in the area. This could take weeks!!!!!!!

Safe and sound and wet in Cleveland

Just to let you know that we arrived safely in Cleveland at 11:30am today. We drove up in rain most of the way. Our apartment is very nice, and our rental furniture had arrived and was there waiting for us! We rented kitchen crockery, cutlery etc, as well, and everything that delivered was brand new! Later on in the evening I went out and bought a down duvet as well as our first TV! So far we can pick up all the local stations with the bunny ears, but we may get cable once we finalize the budget. I will try and post some pictures of the apartment here tomorrow, once we have gotten rid of all the boxes......

Closer to Cleveland

I am writing this from my hotel bed in Marietta, Ohio. It is about 3 hours away from our destination. It was a tiring day for all of us. Liesel worked like a Trojan in our apartment, cleaning and tidying most of the morning. I packed our car (and amazingly everything fitted in!) and Nathan was walking around with a bit of uncertainty. We left Raleigh at 10:30 when the temperature was about 20C and started our 7 hour trip to Marietta. The temperature has dropped significantly and was 8C when we got here! The major part of the journey is over and hopefully the 3 remaining hours will fly by tomorrow........ because we are tired of traveling and moving. All we want is a place to call home and God-willing, we will have that by 12pm tomorrow................

Trek Two

We have had quite an exciting night! We have been sitting through some thunderstorms, when the TV was interrupted with a TORNADO warning! There was a thunderstorm in the area, but there were reports of tornados about 30 miles away from us and they were headed in our direction. You know its serious when they postpone the final Survivor episode by 30 minutes. They are on the ball here in the US, and we could watch radar images of the storms and different tornados around us. Quite exciting, but also nerve-wrecking!

After all that excitement, the reality of the next big move looms! We are all packed and ready to hit the road. We will travel just over 6 hours tomorrow to the Ohio, West Virginia state line. Then on Tuesday we will travel for 3 hours to Cleveland. Not looking forward to the traveling but can't wait to settle down for at least 7 months! Please pray for us as we travel and that God will make the transition easy for us, and that I would enjoy my new job.

Back to the weekend, and it was another enjoyable one. We had fantastic weather and could go to the parks a number of times, so that Nathan could get his daily swing fix ;-) On Friday, we went back to Southpoint mall as we think its the best mall in the area. It also brought back stacks of memories as the last time we were there, was in the middle of winter 2 and a half years ago. On Saturday, we went shop exploring again and found a fantastic Christian Family bookstore. I wish there were stores like these in SA. It has everything from music, Bibles, fiction, references, DVD's, Greeting cards and even Christian toys for children! Sunday was Mother's Day and Nathan gave his mom a present which she loved (and so did her husband). We had a good church service, but then had to say goodbye to two good friends, who were sad to see us leave! Then the rest of day was spent tidying, cleaning and packing up (again). As I said, hopefully this is the last time for a long while!

Redbook authors unite!!

Last night while I was updating my blog, someone signing on to MSN at around 10:30pm caught my attention. It was my friend Gustavo, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. But his name said "Gustavo Pecly, in Raleigh, NC". so I immediately sent a message to him. It turned out that he is up in Raleigh for a business meeting and was flying back today. We arranged to pick him up after his meeting at 2pm and what a great time we had.

4 years ago, in Boston, during the Soccer World Cup, we met, writing the IBM Redbook "Domino Designer 6: A Developer's Handbook." The team - Gustavo, Rune, Tommi, Pekka and I formed friendships that have stood the test of time. I felt out, being in South Africa, and far from everyone else. Rune and Tommi have met up a few times, and then Rune saw Gustavo and Tommi at the annual Lotusphere events. Although I have chatted online to the guys, today was the first time that I have come face to face with a fellow author ;-) Gustavo looked exactly the same as he did 4 years ago. Liesel and Nathan came with, and we went to the Southpoint mall. It was such a great time of catching up and remembering "the good old days." Gustavo bought us some Cinnabons (Rune/Tommi, remember them in Boston??). These were the first Cinnabons I have had since landing in the USA 6 weeks ago! They were still as good as I remembered. After taking a couple of photos on Gustavo's phone, it was time to take Gustavo to the airport for his flights back to Rio. The reunion we had was even sweeter than the Cinnabons!

Tomorrow I hope to put in the photos that Gustavo took today (once he e-mails them to me.)

New toy

If you read the title of today's blog, don't be fooled into thinking that Nathan is being spoilt. Nope, this time it's my toy. We went looking at laptops again this morning, and I am proud to be typing this on my brand new HP Pavilion laptop. I know it's not IBM, but the IBM models I saw were way overpriced for me and this was on a special! I got a 1.8Ghz processor, 1GB RAM, 100GB Hard drive, DVD writer, 128MB graphics card and a 15.4" Wide screen display, all for $900 (R5400). You got to love this country!!

Besides buying the laptop, we took Nathan out to an outdoor playground which you know he loves....... This tired him out, so after lunch he went down for a 3 hour nap, which gave me some quality time with my new toy :-D

Warming... slightly

After keeping Nathan indoors yesterday and trying to keep him entertained, we realized that we HAD to get out with him today, for his sanity and ours ;-) We decided to go explore the stores in the neighborhood and started at BIG LOTS. This store contains bargain prices for just about anything! Toys, toileteries, clothing, furniture, food, outdoor, hardware, crockery, cutlery, linen, bedding etc, etc. It will be a good place for Liesel and myself to start for our new place in Ohio! It was still a bit chilly to go to a park, so we went to a mall where they had an indoor children's play area. Called Curiosity Creek, it's is very well done with cute slides, tunnels, a row boat, and lots of other things made out of a special soft, rubbery material. Nathan enjoyed himself for a while, but I think he was soon overwhelmed by the amount of children there (mostly older than him), running around and screaming.

The clouds started breaking up slightly this afternoon, so after Nathan's afternoon nap, I decided to give Liesel some well deserved "alone" time. It was a boy's afternoon out at the playground. After that, I thought that I needed to get Nathan excited by the things that excite me, and we stopped at a Circuit City store to look at laptop PC's. Since I am a contractor now, I will need to provide my own laptop, so it made the perfect excuse to go browsing with my boy!

Later this afternoon, I heard that our apartment application has been approved for Westlake. :-D Now I am busy finalizing some furniture rental for us, so that we do not have to sleep on the floor in our new apartment! So far, so good, and the weather forecast is much warmer for tomorrow.

South Africans unite

It was another chilly, drizzly day today. Not a good day to take Nathan outside, so Liesel and I were trying our best to keep Nathan occupied inside the apartment. I spent most of the day filling out my new work's application forms. FUN FUN FUN. I also faxed off the apartment application forms to the apartment's leasing office in Westlake, OH. I hope to hear from them soon as I need an address to put on all my work forms!

Later on, I was surprised to get a phone call from my mom and another one from my sister. I think they were checking up on me to ensure that I am not picking up an American accent ;-)

Tonight we were invited out by some old friends of Liesel's (Mark and Tanya) who are studying for the ministry here in North Carolina. We went to Ruby Tuesday's and had a great time together. Tanya is the sister of the pastor at Florida Baptist (our South African church), Trent Eayrs. Its really great getting together with people who have so much in common as you!

The Weekend Edition

The end of the weekend has come and we enter our last week in Raleigh before we make our great trek up north to Cleveland, OH. It was a good weekend and it had a great start on "Family Friday". Firstly I "chatted" to my mom (as I do most days) on Skype. A bit later my sister came online, and we too had a "chat". Shortly after that, my cousin Ian called me on Skype and we had a face to face talk (thanks to Skype's video streaming). Then another cousin called me up on Skype too, letting me know that he also has high speed internet at home! I had to cut him short, because our home phone stared ringing! It was Liesel's folks from Botswana! It is really special talking to family back home and hearing the South African accent. Thank you to all of you who made our Friday special!

We went back to the park so that Nathan could go on his swings and slides again. It was a lovely day and we could spend more time at the park and even take a walk down to the lake. On the pathway to the lake, a lady stopped us and asked us if we were South African. Apparently she saw Nathan's t-shirt with pictures of lions and giraffes on it, and that gave it away. It turns out that she is also South African and her family moved here 5 years ago. She says there is a huge South African contingent in Raleigh! Its good being able to have a conversation with someone that has the same accent as yours!

Saturday's weather also treated us well. Liesel and I decided to go looking for yet another playground for Nathan. We found it and WOW!!! You can hardly believe how good the parks are here. Just read the description of this one taken from a website : "All Children's Playground was carefully designed for the enjoyment of children of all physical capabilities. It offers an elaborate wooden play structure of tunnels, bridges, towers, swings and rings built over soft sand. Laurel Hills Park includes a new recreation center, athletic fields and a paved basketball court with bleachers."
It makes me want to be a child all over again!

Today, we woke up and it was raining. It has been raining the entire day :-( Lying in bed at 7:30, a heard a number of explosions! Luckily it wasn't Osama's chommies, but rather a building about 1.5km down the road that was imploded. There was live coverage on the TV that Liesel and Nathan saw (I was still lying in bed). To look at the report and/or a video of the implosion, click here. Next on the agenda was Church. It was a good service and we will miss the Summit when we are in Cleveland. On the way home we stopped at Boston Market and bought ourselves a Sunday lunch. We had rotisserie chicken, roast potato, spinach and feta (Liesel did) and sweet potato. We bought the family of 3 size, but portions here are ridiculously oversized. This meal should last Liesel and my self, another 2 meals at least. Suppose there are some advantages to the huge portions here! Luckily I am married to a dietician ;-)

It was hot here today. Liesel decided that she needed a haircut so we drove out to a Wal*mart superstore where they have a hairdresser. Nath and I just browsed the store. I stood gob-smacked in front of 50" (127cm) Plasma TV's for under $2000. I really can't wait for my paychecks to start coming ;-) Anyway, I walked out of there with a set of Hair clippers (Cordless, nogal!) and Nathan got himself a Winnie the Pooh talking book. So we were both happy!

This afternoon we went to look at another park for Nathan to play in. This one is even closer to our apartment and is much better! It has his swings and slides and lots of other little things that he can play on. Pity we only have one and a half weeks left to come here :-(

This evening I think I found us the apartment we will move to in Westlake, Ohio. It has a gym, heated pool, spa, fitness center (USA spelling) and is about 3-4 km's from Lake Erie. Cleveland is looking more and more appealing every day. Especially when your family in SA are looking it up on the internet and telling you a whole bunch of facts that I never knew about my future hometown!!

Cheesecake Factory

Today, as expected, did not have the same amount of excitement as yesterday! But it was a good day nonetheless. It is a great feeling, knowing that I do not have to sit in front of the laptop looking for jobs, sending resumes and writing cover letters. There was definitely a lighter spirit in the McCarthy household. So my time in front of the computer was spent looking at Ohio driver's license requirements and apartments.

Today consisted of going to the post office, browsing a Wal-mart and exloring the neighborhood. As I said yesterday, we decided to treat ourselves to a meal at our favorite (USA spelling) restaurants, the Cheesecake Factory. I had the:
B.B.Q. PULLED PORK SANDWICH
Roasted Pork Tenderloin Covered with Our B.B.Q. Sauce on a Brioche Bun. Served with Cole Slaw and Fries
And Liesel had a:
PASTA DA VINCI
Sauteed Chicken, Mushrooms, Onions and Garlic in a Delicious Madeira Wine Sauce Tossed with Penne Pasta and Parmesan
The restaurant lived up to its reputation and the food was delicious. Unfortunately, the servings were so big we couldn't eat dessert then but we ordered a Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake and a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake to take home with us. Did I mention I love chocolate chip cookie dough????

O Happy Day!!!!

Mark May 2, 2006 in your diaries as the day that the McCarthy family could sit back and start enjoying life in the USA. This is because today I heard that I have been offered the position in Ohio!!! We praise God for this answer to our biggest prayer. Donna, a former HR Manager here in the USA and family friend remarked that it was extremely fortunate to land such a good job so quickly. She said I must expect it to take 60 days and its only taken 32 days since we landed in the USA. God is good!

Then later on in the day we received a package in the mail. It was from Jacqui and Andreas in Detroit, and it contained our green cards and social security cards!!! This means that we can put our passports away in a safe place and use the Green cards as our formal US ID's now!

Tomorrow evening we will celebrate by going to the Cheesecake Factory - an amazing restaurant here in the USA. Have a look at the link on the right and just look at their dessert menu!

We plan to spend 2 more weeks in Raleigh until our lease runs out. During this time we will be doing some apartment research for Cleveland, and try and organize an apartment for us when we drive up there! So we have all breathed a sigh of relief and now plan to enjoy life until 30 May when I start working in Cleveland!

Lake Norman - not your average lake

When I talk about a lake, you need to take the image of Florida Lake and toss it out of your head. To put it into perspective..... Florida Lake has approximately 4km of shore line (or that's what they told me when I participated in big walks around it at primary school!) Lake Norman has 880km of shoreline!!!!! But you probably knew that because everything in the USA is bigger and better ;-)

We drove out to Lake Norman on Thursday and spent the weekend with friends who live on the lake front! It is such a beautiful place - especially since it is now spring here and all the flowers are blooming and trees are blossoming.

Nathan thought he was in heaven, as they had ceiling fans in their house (Wah-wahs) and swings in their front garden! Carl Martin (who we stayed with) took us out onto the lake in his boat a couple of times, which was fantastic! Even Nathan, after some initial hesitation, was sitting on Carl's lap and steering the boat! He thought this was the best - that he could steer the "car". His "uncle Carl" also caught a fish for him that he could touch and feel! Now you know why at the end of the weekend he had added the new word "Carl" to his vocabulary!

We really had a lovely time there, renew friendships and meeting new people! We will definitely being going back for some more visits, if Nathan has his way ;-)

Today (Monday) I woke up at 4am and headed to the airport at 5am for my 6:45am flight to Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland is a beautiful city, situated on the bank of Lake Erie (yes, another lake!) This is the largest fresh water lake in North America!!! Yes, its even bigger than Lake Norman! It was quite an awesome sight to see it from the air, yet not be able to see the other side of the lake, where Canada is!

When I landed I was picked up at the airport and taken downtown for my interview at Key Bank. I felt that the interview went off pretty well, especially since the lead developer seems to be a very nice guy and the two of us had quite a bit in common. One great thing about working for this bank is that you get 30 days of paid leave a year! That's more than I had in SA, and a LOT more than what most companies here in the USA offer (they normally give 10 days leave!!!) The cost of living here is also somewhat lower than Raleigh, and I would be working in the suburbs, which makes it even more appealing. I should hear tomorrow morning (when you are reading this) whether or not they will extend an offer to me. We are praying that if God wants us to move to Ohio, He will open all the doors for us, so that we know without a shadow of a doubt that this is what he wants for us.

I also have a phone interview on Wednesday for a bank in Charlotte, NC. I am speaking to someone about a job in Wilmington (on the coast of NC) and another one in Cincinatti, OH! That's all our news for now.

Please leave comments!!!!! I love hearing from y'all!