Wednesday 31 May 2017

America: 30th May 2017

Today we were too tired from the previous days walking to get up too early. However we did eventually decide to walk to the nearest hardware store (north from here) in order to get an allen key set. This is because our table was put together using one, and in the process of tightening all the screws it became rounded and shot. We have to now take back the new table because it arrived badly damaged on two corners. The amazon seller gave us two options, either we take it back and they ship a replacement, or they give us a discount of $20. $20 for a $200+ table and chair set is an insult. Thats like two fast food burger meals or the equivalent of 10 tomatoes. Its a joke. So we are going to be table-less once more, and need a working allen key to take it apart. :(
Back to what I was saying; at the complex of shops, we went into Crown Ace Hardware to get the allen keys, but we also decided to buy a Hummingbird Feeder with a line so we can hang it up. Its all set up now as I type this. I hope the tiny Buzz Buzzers find it! :3 <3
At this same shopping area we went into an organic food store and looked at the overly ridiculous prices and walked out again.
Later we went to the uni to get a nice Subway sandwich with as much tasty veg as possible. They don't charge you for any of the salad so you can ask for a bit of everything and they will do so. So yummy!
Other than that we went to the local park once more and saw 9 turtles siting on one rock. lol, then we went to Albertsons for some (long lasting) cookies and Ice cream.

Tuesday 30 May 2017

America: 29th May 2017

Today we went for a huge walk to an estuary called Upper Newport Bay Nature Reserve. The walk itself was very long (6km) just to get to the place, however the enjoyment of the walk actually started much earlier when we reached the cycle path stretch along the creek.
We saw an unusual bird called a Black Skimmer which looked weird. A cross between a Cormorant, a Pelican and a Seagull.
The Nature Reserve matched the sunny weather, barren and dry, with there being no way to walk among the river beds out in the estuary, which was sad. Also we were in the flight path of planes taking off overhead from John Wayne Airport. So seeing those up close was pretty cool. We saw hairy caterpillars and big looking snails on the cacti. Sabine had issues taking close up shots using her camera, but my smartphone worked out.
Once back in the University town We bought milk from Albertons, then came home. My poor back and feetys :(
Sabine was eager to go to the park soon after so we did that. She spotted a new unusual duck like bird we haven't spotted before.
Tonight we tried the turkey mince for dinner. Not bad really. We mixed it with the usual veg.

Oh, one more thing I've been wanting to say for a while now: the sound on fire trucks / police cars is EXACTLY like the toy ones. Like, exactly. Its like hearing a bunch of toys in the distance.

our flat

our flat zoomed out

Ambrose Apartments 360˚

Ambrose Apartments 360˚

Ambrose Apartments leasing office

San Diego Creek by Jamboree Road

At Upper Newport Bay Nature Reserve

overhead planes

fuzzy caterpillar


caterpillar


another funny creature




Monday 29 May 2017

America: 28th May 2017

Just after 8am we got ready to walk a very long way to our nearest Walmart. 6.6km or 4.1miles just to get there. It was sunny, as per usual (pretty standard around these parts) so lugging the meat home in our backpacks was tough in the midday sun. But it was do-able. The choice at Walmart is the cheapest around for what you get, and America is damn expensive so we have no choice but to shop there often enough. Once home we divided up the meat and put it into bags ready to cook with. We have previously made the mistake of freezing whole packets of meat directly into the freezer which made it impossible to divide afterwards. Also, America has this weird type paper underneath their meat which makes it nigh on impossible to take off when frozen. But we bought chicken, beef mince, turkey mince and pork chops. Each of them being the biggest packets possible (you get a decent rate if you buy the largest packets).
Once home we had lunch then headed off to Albertsons for a walk. She bought decent rice that doesn't take 50mins to cook. After that I suggested we have dinner at a burger restaurant in the same area. It was called "The Habit Burger Grill". Sabine had been here previously when I was still in England. This meal was much more like it! Nothing like the Bland Burger™ with Floppy Fries™ that "In and Out Burger" served us a few days ago (never again!). This one was tasty and really delicious. I had the "Tempura Jalapeno Charburger" with sweat potato fries, and Sabine had a "Teriyaki Charburger" with sweat potato fries. I had fun trying out all the different drinks. American Coca-Cola tastes the same as in the UK, Diet Coke tastes slightly different to Coke but with more of a twang (yet no aftertaste sadly), and there was one called 'Root Beer' which tasted a bit like cough medicine. Sadly no 7UP, I REALLY need to know whether the taste is different over here, though I can say that Sprite is the same. We cant afford to go out to eat but yeah I know, we did today. It was actually my suggestion. But that was our dinner (well it had to be, the bill came to $21 (£16.38). For fast food. Mega Youch.)
We walked back to drop off the rice then directly went out again to the park for a walk. We were back after 6:00pm.
Tonight I want to try the hot chocky Sabine bought. I hope its tasty like the Cadburys one from the UK.

our walk to Walmart!

On the way to Walmart

Sabine running after Egrets again

Two decent Burgers!

...with equally decent fries!

the park behind the back

our neighbors

The amphitheater

Monarch Butterfly

Sunday 28 May 2017

America: 27th May 2017

I moved the new table to the corner and set up my computer on it this morning.
Today we had an appointment at another apartment complex that is a little bit further out but not too bad really. Its about a 30 minute walk to the university and is a bit closer to Walmart. The complex was called Toscana. We were seen by the leasing agent who had Sabines information. He lined up a 1 bedroom flat for us. It was almost exactly the same price as what we are paying for now in our studio flat but the square footing was 939 square feet, which is actually DOUBLE than what we have now. He took us around the site to show us the perks that would be included. Simply put: Outstanding. There was a huuuge lounge area where residents can go that has free wifi. I saw a student using it for his work. It reminded me of the type of massive space you would get in an academic  library. It even had closed rooms for if you wanted to hang out in complete silence. Next there was an outside swimming pool which was 25m in length, perfect for me! This even comes complete with locker facilities. There was even a Jacuzzi, gym and sauna. Next the guy showed us around to a flat that would be the same size footing as the one that we would be having. It was massive!!!! HUGE even. More than enough for everything we could need. After that he took us (via a golf buggy) to see our proposed flat from the outside. The view wasn't perfect but to be honest I'm really not bothered. The living conditions would be ideal as it is. We agreed to proceed with the place. Its such a no brainer.
We walked back home and ate our lunch. Sabine filled in an online form for Toscana but got stuck. I have to say at this point that a LOT of apartment complexes out here require you to prove a lot of information. It was nearly impossible to even get the place we are now because everyone looks at how much you are earning, and if you don't have the income, you don't get the flat. But now that we are here in America, and have an American bank account, it becomes slightly more doable. Sabine wisely decided that we should walk back there with all our documents and paperwork. We had to wait a while but were seen by the same guy. In fact when we walked back into the office he saw it was us and said right away that he had some good news for us. We had to wait in the residents lounge area but he saw us and took us back to the office where all our paperwork came in really useful. He dealt with us and was tinkering away at his computer and it started to dawn on me that maybe we might stand a chance after all? After he was done he said that we most probably have passed the clearance system to get the flat. Oh my god really?! He did say though that the final decision is with his manager that is in the office on tuesday. I really really hope so. In this place we have seen a much better flat for the money where you actually get your moneys worth. So yeah Its a no brainer. We technically haven't signed anything for the one bed apartment at Ambrose that we agreed too last week. In fact that isn't much of a deal breaker. We had to do that last week because our future isn't set in stone and we have to prepare. Even today with this new flat, its preparing for a future. Its not even impossible that Sabine does well with her applications for Australia and we end up ditching America altogether, but you cannot rely of 'Maybes'. Never. If we did rely on a 'maybe', the possibility of being kicked out on the street is very high indeed.
After Toscana, we walked the very short walk to the wetlands and enjoyed the rest of our afternoon there. It really is a great little place to go for a walk. Sabine loved taking pictures of all the cuties around. She adores the egrets and herons. e even saw 3 pelicans today and Osprey Eagles circling around. Also Monarch butterflies are present. Not to mention our "buzz buzz" hummingbirds.
After that we walked along the main university road to Albertsons, the superstore. I love how all of a sudden I'm getting used to the area and getting to places just by guessing. We bought Ice cream as it was relatively inexpensive. As we have the computer now set up on a table, I'm hoping to watch some Once Upon A Time tonight with rocky road ice cream! :P
I took Alex's advice to heart today and decided to have my phone on flight mode but with wifi turned on. Sure enough, the battery was fine. It seems the culprit to my woes is the radio band T mobile/American networks is using out here. My phone hates it! Oh, and Sabines phone credit is used up. Nearly completely used up on receiving text messages and phone calls. RECEIVING them.

Saturday 27 May 2017

America: 26th May 2017


Sabine got ready and was out the flat by something Like 8am. She wanted to walk to our 'local' Walmart to collect a few things we bought online to be shipped to the store. Its over an hours walk to it by the way.
Me however, well I listened to my music and had a bit of a dancey sing song whilst trying my best to understand my phones battery drain. Its not 'Knox', its something in the Android system itself. I still have no clue but I'm now running a Battery Doctor that, when initially opened for the first time, told me that my phones draining FAST. I pressed a few buttons to help me but we'll see tomorrow. So far it seems like its not doing much help.
I got my bank card through the post so I walked to the nearest ATM to get it unlocked.
Some of our things arrived by post later today. We bought a nice table and chairs however only the chairs arrived. That was a bit weird. Also the shipment information on Amazon says its still being processed.
Walked around the park yet again. Talked to a ranger who explained that the concrete section near where we live is actually a storm drain. But it was designed with an artistic look to it.
Our dining table arrived around 8pm. It had bad knocks on 2 corners from the way it was shipped. However we put everything together including 2 of the 4 chairs. The table is a bit small, but its a table. I should finally not have to stand up in order to use my computer any more! woo!

Unbelievably weird. Also it didn't die 16mins later. It was actually 2mins later. Siiiggghhhhhhh....

Friday 26 May 2017

America: 25th May 2017

I tried my best to figure out what the hell is wrong with my phone this morning. It was fully charged at 7am and dead flat at 11am. After scouring the internet I found this page http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s7-edge/747372-how-do-i-disable-knox-battery-drain.html which I think helped. The app I installed cost £1.50 but I was able to properly disable Knox. The phone had just enough juice left for me to deal with it before leaving the flat for the day.
Phone-less, we walked to the nearby wetlands. Its only a short walk away to the north west, just across the river.
It was a nice walk around. We talked to a lady who was staff in the information centre type hutt before we walked around. We nearly had the place for ourselves. We saw Pelicans and Hummingbirds up close as well as what I'm going to be calling the Red Finch from now on.
We spent the afternoon there. The day was overcast and not too hot. We walked back via the main park we always visit only to witness two college looking students releasing ducklings to the lakes. They claimed that the mother duck was hit on the road. For ages we watched these poor thingies beg off the other ducks, only to be bitten by them. In the end they were all abandoned apart from one that was missing. A walker nearby saw what was happening and we told him the story. By this point it was over half an hour later. The guy went to speak to the ranger who came out to inspect. He called the animal rescue people to come and collect the poor ducklings and left us kinda in charge for wayyy over an hour before they turned up. We didn't have to stay but Sabine felt motherly towards the poor thingies. Even a woman dog walker stopped to help out, and even she was crying.
In other news during all this, Sabine picked up a turtle who was on the grass and helped him back to the pond (probably against his will) and we both held a trembling butterfly that was initially on the ground and might have been in pain. Poor thingy.
My phone was charged back to 100% when we finally got back. But the problem is still there. Knox is mostly eradicated but there are still some packet data files lying around that are sapping the battery. I cant delete them.
I could have gone into a lot more detail but im trying to save my phone! sorry!

Thursday 25 May 2017

America: 24th May 2017

So today we stayed in while waiting on the delivery of her 3 suitcases that were shipped from the UK. They arrived around midday.
After that Sabine and I walked to the superstore to replenish bread, milk, bananas and oats. We took our time looking through all the aisles. Nothing is reasonably priced. Absolutely nothing. $11 for a regular block of mild cheddar? Tampons at about the same price? To think woman are so outraged at the prices within the UK that they took on the government about it. They should see the prices here!! Approximately 4 times the price!
Even a normal cucumber or even 1 big tomato costs $2! Why?!? We left the store outraged and scared for our future. We literally cant afford to eat. No exaggeration.
The dinner tonight was the leftovers of the past two nights only tonight we added rice with it. However it took forever to cook the damn stuff. On the packet we read 'cooking time 45-50mins'! Hu?!?!
My phones battery life is draining mega fast. I researched it to see its the 'Android System' thats drained 40% of todays battery life. I go to the internet which says its something called 'Knox' thats draining the battery. So I then head to the apps area to located this 'Knox' and sure enough, its drained 40% of it today. So I research some more and apparently Facebook, Fb Messenger and Twitter are the causes to make this app run rouge. So now I found alternative apps to run these three social media sites in one go. Its an app called 'Metal'. Fb messenger seems to run shit on it so I dunno if I will keep it. I will give it a go for a day to see how the battery life shapes up. Fingers Crossed.

Wednesday 24 May 2017

America: 23rd May 2017

Today I walked to the T mobile store that offers Pay as You go. The closest store doesnt offer it for some dumb reason. The walk itself was the same distance as walking from one end of Seaford beach to the lighthouse at the other end. Its mostly in a straight line heading north too. Americans love spreading out their locations. It took me about an hour to walk it, maybe longer. I wasn't timing it.
The cheapest Pay as you Go is a bit crap. Its standard over here to have to pay for INCOMING calls and texts. How rubbish is that. The other thing is they charge you 3$ of your credit every month before it runs dry. why? America...
The deal doesn't come with mobile internet. The cheapest deal on that is $40 for 4Gb of data for the month. It would be ideal if there were a $10 for 1Gb but there just isn't.
However I can add 1Gb of data for $10, for ONE WEEK OF USE. Lame.
I wondered around two shopping areas along my walk. I have yet to see a Denny's, McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hutt, KFC or anything you would expect to see. Nothing! Not even in LA along the way by taxi.
Sabine and I went for another walk around the park. Its getting a bit samey now. On the way back a few resident workers of this apartment complex were driving around in their golf buggy. They stopped next to us to hand out free sweats, saying its something they usually do on Tuesdays. Sabine chose Skittles, I chose Starburst/Opel Fruits. Opel Fruits was a better name. Why did they re-name them?
We reheated the dinner food from yesterday. There is some left for tomorrow too. But we might have to add pasta to it. We cant afford any flavourings like pasta sauce.
Im getting very lonely. I miss talking to people. I tried talking to those in the T Mobile shop but the conversation didn't last. Sabine is all I have :'(
The letter box was full of junk mail/ superstore offers. The funniest thing I saw was an ice cream named 'Fat Boy'. lol On a more interesting note, there was a picture of Boysenberry yogurt. Might need to check that out! As for my jar of the jam, I find it best to eat a (clean) teaspoon of it every now and then rather than use the bread up.

A rather handy comparison map I created.

Tuesday 23 May 2017

America: 22nd May 2017

A bunch of stupid loud American teenagers were partying outside at 3am laughing and shouting at the top of their voices for over an hour. Our balcony faces a strange concrete section of the park that some americans decide to use as a skate park. Its more of an irrigation pathway with steps yet Im now worried that these bloody idiots will be down there most nights.
Today Sabine took me into her bank to upgrade her account to a joint account. Luckily the guys were willing to do so. After that Sabine took me one floor up to the International Center so I could sign in officially with the USA. This was needed as without this, I cannot apply for an EAD card / work permit. Because we are organised, we then walked directly to the post office with the correct paperwork and sent off my application to the EAD organisation somewhere in Arizona.
We came back home. Sabine cracked on with some important paperwork and I got on with my English TEFL studies. Twice for a break we visited the park behind our flat. The second time being this evening.
Tonight we cooked together for the first time here in the states. We were going to divide the massive packet of mince we bought the other day, but it was impossible due to it being frozen, so we had to cook the lot. Wont be doing that again. I don't mind buying huge packets of meat as its cheaper to do so, but only if you ration the portions. Next time we will divide the meat before freezing it.

Monday 22 May 2017

America: 21st May 2017

For the first time I actually got a decent night's sleep, though I did wake up around 4am but still got back to sleep again.
I had a long skype chat with my parents after breakfast.
We have ordered online a table and chairs set from Amazon, and two bikes from Walmart that can be assembled in our local store for pickup on wednesday. We have a garage so no problem storing them.
We went for a walk around the park located just north of our apartment complex. It's so beautiful! There are woodpeckers in the trees and turtles in the ponds that neither of us suspected would be here.
There was a rally happening today in the park. Many people doing some sort of sponsored walk with a lot of wooping and yelling going on. I asked some people what it was in aid of and they said it was a kiddy rally to raise awareness of exercise for children. Fair enough. However when the guy said it was just two laps of the park, I kinda facepalmed as It's purely flat land around here.
We visited the main leasing office to apply for a years contract in a one bed in Ambrose Apartments for September. There were two people working there. We signed our contract for the years lease from September and afterwards had a huge chat with them both regarding Irvine and California in general.
The guy recommended us to have lunch at a burger restaurant just across the road called 'In And Out Burger'. We tried it but the chips were floppy and the burger was meh. So much for an 'awesome burger bar!'. I had a far superior burger at the restaurant at Beachy Head the other week. The weird thing about this restaurant though was the family sitting on the adjacent table. It was a dad and 3 kids but it felt like watching an American sitcom with me being the camera. They werent doing much, just being highly American, but somehow I just felt like I was watching Malcolm in the Middle or something.
We visited a different superstore to look for salt and pepper. The background music was on very low, but the song reminded me of Feed The Tree by Belly. Walking closer to the speaker, it was. Thats pretty cool. The pepper was expensive so we visited the better one just up the road. I bought myself some Boysenberry jam. Im sure this will make dad jealous. We haven't got a toaster so i can't toast my bread for the jam. Oh well.
Later today when the sun was lower we walked back to the park for a longer walk this time. Sabine took many photos of all the interesting Californian birds.
We didn't bother with a dinner. It's too hot to eat much. Kinda ironic really for America.
Our flat is the one on the top floor in the middle of the photo
The park next to our flat
<3
Hummingbird!
Turtle!
We've started a new company producing salt! XD
I have finally got myself Boysenberry jam after many years
We went bird hunting this evening

America: Settling In

20 Sat-
The bed is too hard. Don't get me wrong I'm pleased we have one, but its going to cause me back problems for sure. Even our spare new airbed may be more comfortable. Maybe.
Im spent. My illness has taken hold big time. I was awake for hours in the night yet somehow managed to sleep at around 7 got 1.5 hours.
I plucked up just enough energy to join sabine and her new work colleague who has a car. She kindly drove us to the nearest Walmart, miles away. We bought major essentials for the flat including cooking and eating stuff.
Im really worried that foods are made with either too much sugar or salt. So far we have found decent oats, a semi decent bread, butter spread thats slightly more salty, and some type of processed ham that tastes sugary. Errgh.
The internet guy from Cox phoned Sabine when we were at Walmart that he had arrived to the flat already, when his booking slot was between 1-3pm. He had the audacity to explain that he emailed her to say he was arriving earlier than expected. What a dumb ass. He should have just phoned her originally in this case.
back home I was exhausted again.
Sabine unpacked our stuff from Walmart and I conked out on the bed.
Cox, the internet providers, arrived around1:30 and sorted that out. Next, servicemen arrived to sort out the shower. I'm actually pretty pleased about both things being sorted today.
Pizza tonight! Though hers had some weird cheese in it so she didn't eat it. Cream cheese maybe? Didn't work on a pizza. I tried to eat it myself yet I felt like I was just eating fat, so I gave up on it.

Sunday 21 May 2017

America: Day Two

19 Fri-
It took me a while to fall back asleep but I managed to get 1.5 hours more sleep. I woke up to the sun having risen and a few interesting birdies chirping outside! Also Sabine has finally read my messages! <3
Regarding the toilet paper issue, the lady has nail varnish remover tissues by the side next to the empty toilet roll holder. But I worry about how you shouldn't flush something like that. I'm using my own loo roll I brought with me from Seaford.
The lady i'm staying with has a singing kettle. It took forever to boil. But it's still interesting.
I went for a walk around after I plastered myself with suncream. Everything is so tropical! There are Hummingbirds that chase after each other and even one cutie flue up to me as if inspecting me!
There are palm trees and eucalyptus trees that give off a smell that reminds me places abroad.
There are even trees in bloom that are purple!
Even the skies have an exotic shade of blue.
I even thought i saw a NZ Pohutukawa tree. This was a tree in a golf course area where I first spotted the hummingbirds.
I had to go back to my AirBnB. The lady was willing to drive me to Ambrose Apartments however she was not yet back from her run.
Dad weirdly tried to record a video using his smart phone but instead pressed a fb call button. I answered it straight away. It was a good opportunity to talk with them both, face to face over the internet, not that we both had much to say. I was worried because i wanted to get a move on to make it in time to join Sabine for our 10am induction. The lady finally arrived around 9.55 and she drove me to Ambrose in her open top mustang. Lol
She dropped me off at the Ambrose complex residence center.
I was met by a guy who told me that Sabine was already being shown to the flat. He took me there himself where i was greated by a very happy wife just outside the flat. Soon we were both alone to unpack our belongings together.
We went to get some things from a nearby supermarket which had very expensive stuff and no decent museli for her. :(
When came back to our unfurnished flat and lied on the floor, there was a bit of a thud against the door. Sabine opened the door to a huge package. Our bed had arrived! I placed the order on Tuesday and it said it would likely take a week to arrive. Anyway we were both ecstatic to getting the bed here on day one!
It comes with a base and a mattress. A package that turned up yesterday was the bed sheet so we are preety sorted. The only thing is, Sabines future supervisor had our airbed package which we needed to collect today. So after setting up the bed we went to the university and to her labs.
We waited a while for her superior to appear in order to pick up our package, but he wasnt around. Instead we ate at a Subway and had a nice sandwich. Turned out to be our dinner too.
We went back and met the supervisor. He was a nice chinese guy. I watched a live experiment happening with a mouse which was pretty cool. The live camera on the nerurons was awesome to see. Every now and then white dots appeared on the screen.
Sabine has just read that last bit and laughed. Apparently its something to do with calcium.
Sabine was supposed to meet a woman at 5pm around the lab to look at a bike. Well that took about an hour for her to turn up. Sabine and the lady went to her place to look at the bike, and the supervisor drove me back to my apartment with the package.
Alone again at the apartment, i tried to have a shower but the bloody thing wasnt working. I had to walk to the leasing agent building to tell them about it.
Sabine came home kinda unhappy because USA has done another thing shit. Luckily she was told beforehand, but she now needs to get some more paperwork sorted to not have to pay tax. Her situation isnt automatically recognised as having not to pay. So yay, more things to do!
Things were sour this evening as my cold + jet lag were wearing me down. We had to walk back the shopping center to deal with somehow showering using a sponge. Bloody hell.
No dinner tonight. We were both completely fed up.

Friday 19 May 2017

America: Day One

Dad drove me down to the station with mum. I said my goodbyes to them and caught the 10am train to Gatwick via Lewes.
I had 2x luggages with me but it's actually really easy moving them as each case has 4 wheels. I think the difficult thing is rather my backpack which now houses two pairs of jeans. I had to move them out of one of my cases as it went over 20kg's.
Anyway, directly out of the doors that connect the train st hallway to Gatwicks south terminal is the Norwegian Air check in desk. I decided to walk directly in the queue. I had no issues getting my boarding pass. The guy just asked me what visa I had and just scanned in the J2 visa attached to my passport.
After I was free of my cases I visited the sandwich bar upstairs to eat a bacon and egg muffin with my final taste of HP Sauce :'(
After that I was bored so I visited Cafe Nero for my final goats cheese sandwich with beetroot relish. Damn that thing is tasty.
I had an interesting time through customs. They got worried about a thing in my backpack. They couldn't work out what the hell they were looking at on their screen, then asked me if I had any electronics in my bag. I said to them that they could open it if they wanted too. However they didn't want too. After a few minutes of 3 people staring at the x ray scan they swivelled the screen to me to see if i knew what it was they were talking about. It was my riser they they were worried about! Lol. I got it out of my bag and showed them that it's just a stand for my laptop. They even used the detector on it just in case it had electronic parts on it. Lastly because of curiosity i think, they got me to unfold it. They realised then it wasn't going to pose a risk and sent me on my way. Lol. Aye yai yai.
Next was the boring duty free section that you are obliged to walst through. Not interested.
I visited Boots to get 2x meal deals as my evening dinner. The Norwegian Air flight is a long distance budget airline so no frills. Even though I did get a dinner on the plane later.
I had a huge whatsapp conversation with Sabine and Alex when I was at my gate, continuing it on the plane right through the half hour delays. It was suppose to take off at 2.10pm but actually was on the runway starting to take off at 3pm.
I played with the flight tracker program on the entertainment screen. Its powered by android its just like using a smartphone. Well actually it's more like a tablet stuck on the seat in front of you. No frills! But it does the job quite nicely.
I flew over Wales and used the flight tracker app to work out what i was staring at. Next was Ireland which looked nice with lots of dotted lakes everywhere.
I could even make out The Isle of Man using the program and a little bit of guesswork.
When we were firmly within the boundaries of the atlantic I watched an episode of Animaniacs and watched Austin Powers Goldmember. I've never seen this third film until now.
I'm now flying over Greenland typing this diary entry. There's just a blanket of white cloud outside. I wanna see the snow! Oh. . wait…
At some point soon i'm going to have to say i'm not travelling north anymore, but rather going south into canada.
I wanna eat but the lady next to me is really interested in her film. Damn it it's 7pm UK time and i'm hungry. Probably going Hangry soon too!
Ahh Greenland it was nice to have seen you. Or in this case, not. Booo.
Now we are back over water and it's still a blanket of white cloud.
Oh, As I said earlier, my food was served to me when I was watching Goldmember. I wasnt expecting anything. It was quite a nice chicken dish.
Ok it's time to write my Farewell England blog post now.
After writing that I slept for a bit. It's now 10pm UK time and I'm about to eat. I have a free seat next to me which I will use for diving into my goodies from Boots.
Yum, I ate a weird club sandwich that I assumed was 3 in a pack but actually 2. 'Smoked egg and ham club' is what it was called. Would have helped had I read what it was.
Ok its 10.26pm, its 2.26pm in LA. What shall I do now... There is still 3 hours to go… maybe sleep some more?
Looking out the window has been fun. I saw lots of snow and ice when the clouds cleared, then lots of squares as I flew over Canada. USA now, and again lots of squares. Flying over North Dakota and now in Montana.
I saw the rocky mountains and as I type this i'm staring out at the Great Salt Lake.
I'm not so sure I ordered my flight as budget? I got a meal earlier as I said, and then they got me a chicken wrap just now with a cup of tea. The lady next to me hasn't been given anything. She just orders stuff from the android entertainment screen. Hu.
I had a brief talk with her when first getting on the plane. She lives in Hawaii and was just visiting England. Lucky her.
Touchdown at 1.28am, otherwise known as 5.28pm local time.
I had a 2.5 hour flight lol.
LA is warm. Before picking up my luggages, everyone was directed to customs. I had to wait in a huge queue for a while before seeing the bloke who wanted to see a few of my papers and asked about my wife. Then I was in to collect my 2 cases that were waiting on the stopped conveyer belt.
Out into the world was bewildering. I asked a lady and she directed me to the information desk at the other side of the arrivals area.
I asked the guy at the desk about where to go for a good service to Irvine. I was thinking beforehand that Uber would be ideal. However this guy instantly said 'Super Shuttle' and pointed outside to follow the orange signs. I did that. There was a lady I spoke to at super shuttle who explained it would be $51 to get to Irvine. They do this service as a shared taxi idea.
I'm now in this huge mini bus type taxi, driving through the streets of LA. The environments are actually surprisingly very easy to describe what it's like. It's exactly like GTA 5, including that sunny haze that you get in the game.
Before I got into this taxi though I got the WiFi working and managed to have a quick messenger chat with Sabine. I also got the offline map 'HERE WeGo" to work with my GPS.
I shared the super shuttle with two other people who also wanted to go to Irvine. The trip by car took over an hour without any traffic jams.
It was around 9.30pm when the taxi pulled up close to my AirBnB for this evening. Though he circled around it for ages without finding the exact address. I told the driver not to worry and that I would search for it using the Here WeGo app. I got my things, paid him his $51 and used the app to walk deep into the apartment complex. I struggled finding it myself. I knew I was in the right area but there were no clear signs. Outside it was pitch black,  yet warm. I walked by a fountain surrounded by apartment flats and saw a guy just relaxing on a bench. I asked him if he knew the flat number. He didn't, but he checked it out on google maps and pointed to one directly opposite to us. It was the correct flat! I was so relieved! I went over to this ground floor flat and rang the doorbell.... I waited and rung again…. No answer. I rung again and again… nothing.
The guy sitting on the bench could clearly see that I was not getting anywhere. He walked over and offered his help, including letting me use his phone to log into Airbnb and finding this woman's phone number. I used this guys phone to ring the owner. She answered and was very nonchalant about her not being there. She described what I had to do in the pitch black to find her spare keys, which I did after some hassle. And she said she would be back in about an hour. Oookayyy?
She described which was my room. It is basically the mattress in the living room with sheets and nice pillows. Fair enough. She also told me in an airy fairy way that there wasn't any toilet paper. WHAT! Again, lucky I brought some. What she didn't say after hanging up and thanking the guy for his phone that other things were missing too in the flat, like basic soap, shampoo and towels.
I had to use all of my own. I hated the shower as it was fixed to the wall but still, I coped. Not a problem. After my shower I ate my remaining meal deal and drunk the rest of my water. Actually I think I ate before my shower. But whatever. The lady arrived back sometime later and actually she was a really nice person. She sorted out the towels (errr too late?!) And still didn't replace the empty toilet paper. Weird.
She got me sorted for internet access but it was far far too late to chat with Sabine. I eventually got to sleep at around 11pm. It's a really comfortable bed. I had to go to the loo twice in the night. The second time I was awake I couldn't sleep. Thinking it was early morning I thought I did well. NOPE! IT'S ONLY 2.30AM!
I wrote and published the remaining parts of these two diary entries instead of sleeping. I'm too awake.
I have had no more than 4 hours sleep total since seaford.
I'm about to publish this post then try for more sleep. The time now is 3.47am.

At Gatwick

Ice over north Canada

Arriving into LA

Mallards! In America!


A purple tree......In America!




The apartment complex where the lady lives

No Toilet Roll?! Why?

My bed for the first day

Farewell England

It was on a walk with Alex around Stanmer Park a few months ago that it 'hit me' that I would be living in America. However it didn't come with a bang, more like a slight whimper and then fizzed away. It's been like that off and on these past few months. Im sitting in the plane now typing this and it's still not really 'hit me' properly yet.
Having said that I have left the UK after a gorgeous send off. The weather this spring has been back to its usual standard of decent warm sunshine. We didn't get that last year. It only ever stays nice around the spring and that's about it. But yeah this year was nice again. I got married on a nice day, had good weather for our Bluebell Walk and even stayed in a lighthouse with good weather. I have individually said goodbye to my friends including some from my past like Mikey. I'm really happy to have seen them one last time before this big move. I even saw people from Japan club one last time and individually spent time with Paul and Alex in my final week.
I started saying goodbye to my usual haunts. I started with Seaford's Kebab shop a few months back. The kebab was as bad as ever but I ate it knowing that this was the end. The trend continued with our cake shop in Brighton, followed by Dunkies, The Shore, Pomegranate, The Shahjahan, The Welly, The George, Goemon and finally Tangs.
Maybe it's just me being food crazy but i'm pleased I said goodbye to the owners of these establishments.
Seeing my friends off was not easy. Seeing my family off today was worse. My brain doesn't seem to want to compute the fact I won't be seeing them in a while.
I might end up going crazy when the culture shock finally hits me.
I was tearing up when saying goodbye to Alex. We had just enjoyed an awesome day out watching arguably the best film of the year (Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2) and an awesome meal at Goemon. When he drove me home I just couldn't quite picture the end of the era. Everything just seemed so naturally normal. Even the day before with a night out with Paul it just seemed like a normal night out. Definitely NOT a This-is-the-end-of-an-era sorta thing. EVEN this morning when leaving my empty bedroom, it still only looked like my bedroom. I couldn't see it looking 'empty' somehow. So yeah, i find it kinda hard saying goodbye because I don't 'feel it'.
One thing I will definitely miss is the bird life of England/europe.
I will miss the sound of the Wood Pigeons, Doves, Robins, Wrens, Chaffinches, Blue Tits and even the sound of the Herring Gull. It's been so normal to me. But I have found really good youtube videos of these birds, one video being 8 hours long 0_0
I don't know quite how to end this post but I will say this isn't a goodbye, just a farewell. That's how it feels to me in my heart.

Monday 15 May 2017

Seeing Sabine off to the USA

Sabine and I left Seaford at 8:30am.

Dad drove us with her two suitcases and hand luggage's to the station where we caught the 9am train to Gatwick. Today is a rather strange day with the trains. They are mostly going to London via Brighton, as the Lewes to Gatwick route is restricted to only running once an hour. All of this is due to Brighton Albion's street parade since they won getting into the Premiership.

We arrived at Gatwick extremely early. We visited South terminals bag wrap centre. She wanted her two suitcases wrapped after all. She got it done for £13 or so each. Thats her decision. She claims she had broken suitcases in the past, and this is true regarding when she went back to Germany with an empty case in order to bring back her wedding dress. So truth be told I kinda understand why she wants to wrap them. However, we didn't use South terminals service. The guy told us its self service. We both knew from experience that in the North terminal they do it for you, so we decided to go there instead. We had the time, so why not. Just as we predicted, there was a woman in the North terminal willing to wrap them herself.

Back at the South terminal, we used the lift to go one floor up to visit the amazing sandwich bar. They do an amazing Bacon and egg bagel which we have had before. This time however, I had a chicken bbq panini and she had a caesar salad one. Still really tasty.

Next we got her last English hot chocky from downstairs at Costa. Right next to the arrivals area. But they took their time serving us. After that we wheeled the luggage trolley awkwardly with our take away hot chocolates to the Norwegian Air check in desk.

Both cases through and done, we sat on a seat nearby to finish our drinks. She also rang her mum via Skype, using the doggy free wifi. Its mothers day In Germany today.

Eying a Cafe Nero upstairs from out seats, I suggested we should go there to see if they have the yummy Goats cheese sandwich that we love so much. So yeah we went there and ate one each! :p Its so damn good. Best sandwich in the world. Its probably only on a limited edition run though :(

After that I had to reluctantly say yet another farewell to her at the departure gate. I know its only 4 days until my turn however its still very sad to see her off without me in tow.

After that I caught a train, arriving home after lunchtime. I wasn't keeping an eye on the clock.
Around 2:30 I got text messages from Sabine saying her flight was being delayed for whatever reason. A faulty break light or something. I checked online to find that every 10 to 15 minutes they were pushing back the departure time. It got to 3pm and the website wasn't updating. It just said that the delay would last until 3. She had already been in the plane for an hour already. I phoned her up. She said people were getting annoyed. She was annoyed. not surprising!
I heard the tannoy call from captain while I was still on the phone. He finally said that they would be on their way. So that was that! I had to end my call with her.

Around 3:30pm she was in the air, traveling northwards. I kinda thought this was strange until I checked online. The fastest way to LA from Gatwick is to go north, up via Iceland and Greenland, into the heart of Canada and down into the heart of USA then south to LA. Interesting.

Friday 5 May 2017

My wedding to Sabine

Saturday 29th April was my wedding day to my beautiful wife Sabine.
The day started at my best mans house. I actually decided on two best men for my wedding as I have two really good friends that reflect two very different distinctive parts of my personality. I have never stayed around his house before, so I got to meet his mum and dad for the very first time that morning. His mum gave me a nice English breakfast with cups of tea. They have two cats, one who is shy and the other of whom is old and lovely.
We watched The Big Bang Theory on Netflix on the main TV, then watched a newer episode of Top Gear that I hadn't seen yet. It focused on Cuba. I had Paul's old cat on my lap the whole time.
We went to the church at 12:20pm.
31 people attended my wedding, including Sabine's German mother (of whom last went on an aeroplane around 45 years ago) and Sabines brother (who she hadn't had contact with in 15 years). The wedding was in Southern England where I have been mainly based now all my life. Some of my relatives went too that I haven't seen in years. Even some of my friends went that I haven't seen in a few years.

Sabine looked stunning. I know I have seen the dress before when she was trying on dresses in Germany, but still, it was different now with the completed train like veil, and her hair ornaments and the purple necklace/ earrings that I bought. She is a beautiful girl.
I didn't fluff my lines during the service, she missed one word but not a big problem.
The weather was gorgeous outside! Its been a crap week for weather and as I write this on Sunday 30th, its back to being crap again.
We got everyone sorted into cars after the service and the taxi I booked arrived on time. We all made our way to Deans Place hotel in Alfriston. Everything went according to our plan.

Sabines brother and Mother were talking for the first time in years, so they seemed to have repaired their relationship a bit.
We had reception drinks followed by photographs in Deans Place in the gardens.
After that everyone took their seats at the main room, then Sabine and I went in together. I said a speech thanking everyone, then Paul did his, then my other best man Alex. Alex's speech was from the heart. It was so touching. I have known Alex for 21 years. We have somewhat grown up together.

The afternoon tea was nice. it was sandwiches, cake and scones with creme brûlée things too.
We chatted with everyone for hours, until 8pm when we called it a day. The cutting of the cake went well. We ordered a two tier, off center, square cake. The lady we ordered it from did a really nice job of it too.

As Sabine and I were staying overnight at Deans Place, Mum and Dad left us the car and got a lift home with friends of ours. Another friend named Richard gave me a lift home because I needed my glasses in order to drive home tomorrow. Something I should have remembered to take with me! lol

Overall today was really nice. It went really well and we couldn't have asked for better weather.