Settling In and Making Observations

I filled out a job application today right before I went into an interview. It asked for my current address and my previous address, then for any other addresses that I have lived in the past five years. I was very happy that I officially have my new address memorized! Then it asked how long I've lived there. "4 days," I answered. I put in the address for my parents' house in Nebraska. It asked how long I lived there. "15 years," I answered. The recruiter looked over my application and she said, "So, what brings you to Coralville? It looks like you've been in Nebraska for most of your life!"

Let me tell you about our apartment! It's all hard-wood floor--buckling in places and not totally flat. Except for the bathroom, which has actually a pretty nice linoleum floor, and the corner of the kitchen behind the trash can and stove, where there is about a square foot of space that is peeling black and white checkered linoleum. There are archway type things from the kitchen to the dining room and then from the dining room to the living room. These archways are not straight. The doors aren't quite aligned correctly, all but one of them has some kind of fascinating, quirky problem. And my favorite window in the apartment is the one at the end of the living room... that sits at almost a 45 degree angle. I love the place! It's got character and personality and attitude! (Daddy calls it a dump... He missed the potential!)

But moving in has been going smoothly. The little apartment is starting to feel a little bit more like home, after learning its various quirks and how to deal with them, and some much needed deep cleaning. My rubber gloves and I have become very close friends! My roommate and I are slowly putting everything in its place and finding places for everything, adding our own colors and personal touches to the place, and it's looking pretty good, all things considered! Still waiting on Internet, so I may be blogging and facebooking from Starbucks for a while.

Driving around here is fascinating. There is no shame in tail gating or cutting people off, but I've been warned that cops around here will write tickets for going 1 mph over the speed limit. And parking? Holy cow! I'm hoping that with time I'll learn where I can park, where I can't, and perhaps I'll find a few places where it's free. And you have to check the meters before you start feeding them... Some of them have a 1 hour limit, and if you give it more than that without realizing the limit, it eats your money and won't give it back, but will still expire in one hour. And driving through campus is a nightmare! And seriously, anybody who complains about motorcyclists has never experienced moped drivers in Iowa City. One of them almost took off my driver's side mirror this morning!

On the job front, I had an interview this morning (as mentioned above) that went pretty well, and another tomorrow. I'm desperately hoping to be working by the end of next week, I don't like this unemployment business! I'd rather know when my next paycheck is coming, and while the time off of work has been kinda fun, it isn't quite worth the uncertainty. But where God leads, He provides, so I'm trying to not worry too horribly much about it. Trying. Really hard. *whimper*

I've got a few places to go meet people, I have several names and faces now, so perhaps this "new friend" gig will start progressing soon, too! Church was hard on Sunday, simply because it wasn't MY church. It wasn't home. I missed MY church family. But I really think that the church I visited has the potential to be my new church family

One step at a time, things are moving forward and looking up. Every day feels like a step in the right direction!