Settling in

So we've been in our flat for almost 3 weeks now. The adjustment to city life has taken a little longer than we had thought, but we're getting there. As I'm writing this, some men are outside our window working on the side of our building with a jackhammer. Fun!

A number of people have asked me what the grocery stores are like here. Well, since we're in the middle of the city, there aren't any big supermarkets like a Publix or a Bi-Lo. It's mostly just a lot of little stores that have your basic things like bread, meat, milk, cereal, fruit and veg, and booze. You know, the important stuff. There is also a frozen foods store that has....you guessed it, frozen food. It's a good place to get chicken and veggies or microwave meals. We don't have a car, so we only buy what we can carry. We've found it's easier to order groceries online and have them delivered than it is to make multiple trips throughout the week. The online stores have more of a variety too. One thing that's kind of neat is that the fruit we get comes from other countries. We had some apples from South Africa, some grapes from Israel, and tomatoes from Greece. Cool eh?

Beth and Julian have both been fighting off a cold since last weekend. Beths has been worse than Julians, so that's good for him, but not so much for her. Since she is still nursing Julian, the chemist (pharmacist) said that pain releivers and inhalants would be ok to use. So, she's been inhaling menthal crystals (NOT crystal meth) for her congestion and taking some over the counter pain releivers for the fever. Julian hasn't had a fever or anything, but has been really snotty and has come to hate the "snot sucker". Poor little fella.

The weather has been pretty good lately. Julian and I walked to the park one morning this week to get some fresh air and spend some time in the sun. Beth met us there after class and we all got to hang out for a while together. The parks here a really nice. There are lots of them and they usually have a playground for kids. Once Julian gets mobile, I think he'll really enjoy going. He's taken an interest in books lately and so Beth and I have been showing him his Who Loves Baby book and naming everyone in it for him. He also picks up anything he can get his hands on. Our friends Mike and Maureen gave us one of those bouncy seats that you hang in the door frame and so we tried it out the other day and it was hilarious. Our door frame is really high so Julian's feet didn't even touch the floor. We had to put a stack of books underneath his feet so that he could bounce. He had a lot of fun. I have a video of it that I'll post when I have chance. Very funny.

Yesterday was my brothers birthday so in honor of him we introduced Julian to the Ramones. He seemed to like it. He's got the Rocker gene in him for sure.

I've been working on a new design for our site and I hope to have it up and running soon. The format will be geared more towards the blog, and you will be able to subscribe to the feed if you're so inclined. Also, we are posting our pictures on Flickr now, so if you have an account, you can add us as a contact to see all of our pics. If you don't have an account you can sign up for free.

Well, that about wraps it up. Julian and I are going to go for a walk now. Until next time....

We're back.....sorry, I just thought this was a really cool picture and wanted to post it. The castle is a little washed out cause it is so bright out today, but it's still cool.

Later,
Jonathan