Road woes, credit cards, and The Langtry

Jordan and I both passed the driving test on Thursday, so we should be receiving our USAFE driving permits soon. (Believe it or not, I actually scored slightly better than he did!!) We are both becoming more comfortable driving on the left hand side of the road. The main thing that gets us is that the blinkers and windshield wiper controls are switched on our little car, meaning that the windshield wiper is on the left and the turn signal control is on the right. You can always tell we're Americans when we enter a round about with wipers on full speed on a sunny day! Yeah, it's embarrassing. In addition, I am constantly fighting to stay in the middle of the road. You wouldn't think that sitting on the other side of the car would make such a big difference, but I constantly feel like I'm too close to the center line. Jordan always has to remind me to stay away from the curb.

Before puting a deposit down on our new house, we had to set up a bank account at a local bank. We sat down for a meeting with the banker last Wednesday, and she helped us set up what they call a Pounds Account. We will get a new ATM/debit card with an electronic embedded chip, which the local population affectionately refers to as "pin n chips". They begrudgingly refer to our lowly American cards as "swipeys". What a difference a swipe makes!

We received the keys to our house on Friday, and have since brought in some of our belongings. We bought a new tv, and then went to the thrift store on base and found a green chair that we instantly fell in love with. So for now, our beautiful house contains a few suitcases, a tv, and one chair. We bought some primer today, and plan to begin painting a couple of rooms tomorrow. The movers are scheduled to deliver everything on Monday, and we couldn't be more excited! We cant wait to make our new home "ours". Oh, and Cooper absolutely loves it too! We brought him over last night, and he ran around like a child on Christmas morning. He thinks the back yard is the best thing since t-bone flavored treats.

Unfortunately, we will be without internet in our home for a while... For some reason it takes about 3 weeks for everything to be set up in the UK. For a country that's obsessed with the superior quickness of pin n chips over swipeys, you'd think the could find a better way to get internet in your house.

We love and miss everyone back home, and we'll try to keep you updated as often as possible!