Our First Week - Settling In

On Sunday we had a lot of unpacking to do. Joel and Kezia had already made new friends and were out of the house the entire day. We met two families in the Court that have children. The Tanaka's have Shiki (7), Soh (4) and Kazu (2). The Hartono family have Clarissa (7) and Bryan (4). Bryan and Soh don't speak English very well, but by midday were already banging on the door asking if Joel could come out and ride bike, "JoJo Bike?". We were certainly thankful for the families and those without kids here in the Court marvelled at how many children were here now.

That night we went grocery shopping at Food Co. just around the block from where we live. It was quite busy and a bit overwhelming. I got the sense in the short time that we've been in California that everywhere is busy and crowded. And this was no different. Joel and Kezia were oblivious to the people all around and acted like we were at Northdale Sobey's; dancing, jumping, yelling, and chasing each other. We made our way up and down the aisles and reached over all the people to gather food into our cart. There was an entire aisle of different tortillas and of course it was almost impossible to find a bag of wheat flour. Man, I missed my Canadian flour at that moment! All we could find were shelves and shelves of corn flour. Well, the Mexicans are the majority here in California.

As we were packing up our groceries, Asha gave me her first unsolicited smile. She had smiled before for Joel or Auntie Judy, but this was the first time that she looked at me and gave me a huge gummy grin. It was awesome, especially after our chaotic shopping experience.

On Monday and Tuesday we spent time unpacking and strategically storing our things into every corner of our 600 sq. ft apartment. We also went to get a bank account and we attempted to get our phone hooked up. Carl started his classes on Tuesday evening. He was really looking forward to getting into his courses. I think it'll be a good semester for him. He's excited about his Galatians class and not too thrilled about his Interpersonal Communications class. But I'll let him blog about that another time.

Joel and Kezia were just thrilled with their new place. It took a few nights for them to get used to sharing a room and actually getting to sleep. I was amazed at how well they played together in their room. And if they weren't inside playing with each other, they were outside in the sandbox or on the playstructure (which is in full view of our bedroom window) or riding bike with the other kids. Kezia still can't get the hang of pedalling her bike, so she just chases the boys around.

By mid week we still hadn't gotten our phone hooked up (thanks AT&T) and we couldn't get any channels on our t.v. I was feeling pretty cut off from the world. Carl had his classes, the kids had their friends, and I had a lovely sleeping baby at home. This was a huge change from my busy social calendar. And with being in pastoral ministry, our phone was constantly ringing. Well, on Thursday I invited Beth over, whom I had gotten to know over e-mail before we came to Fresno, to have a visit with her two kids. It was so nice! That night Carl and I invited ourselves over to our next door neighbours, Ben and Alisa to play Wii. On Friday we got a supper invitation and even got to swim in the pool. On Saturday night we played our first game of Settler's with Nate and Maddy from B.C. and I actually won! So God has amazing ways of bringing friends to you when you have a need.

I went on Friday morning to register Joel and Kezia for preschool. The director, Lana, wasn't sure when I talked to her earlier in the week if they would have room for both kids to attend. But when I arrived, she told me they would accomodate our family. The preschool looks great and I think Joel and Kezia will love going there. It's about a 2 minute walk from our place and is located in a church. They will start on Tuesday and go two mornings a week.

The heat took a bit of getting used to. Joel spent the first few days sweating profusely from his head. Carl didn't spend much time outside and our apartment was just barely comfortable with the AC. But over the last few days, it's gotten better and as for me, I feel like I'm in heaven. I love the heat! It's funny to hear the people here talk about the heat like we Winnipeggers talk about the cold. It's been consistently 4o degrees here (that would be 104F for our American readers) during the day. But I'm certainly not complaining! It's been a good week, full of changes.