The Day

Starting from where I left off in the previous post, Jenevieve and I arrived 30 minutes later than planned in Madison on August 1st. The main cause of the delay was a lengthy back-up of traffic on northbound I-90 just outside of Beloit.

We stopped at my mom's house to pick up our car and other things as well as to eat lunch. Our friend Nicole met up with us to drive the rental truck the rest of the way, while Jenevieve drove our new car for the first time. Nicole wasn't ready when we called her, so we waited for about an hour.

During this hour, the mail arrived. I was shocked that the mailman needed my signature instead of my mom's. After signing my name, he delivered the 3 packages I mailed off from Samara six weeks ago. Those packages were the only things left "unfinished" from my Fellowship in Russia. The last package I sent from Russia never arrived in the United States, so I was worried about the same fate for these packages, which contained hard to replace teaching materials from the US and Korea. The timing was impeccable.

Also in the mail was a coupon for Internet, telephone, and cable--it was just what we were looking for. All our previous attempts to find a good deal turned up with nothing. That's the service we're using right now.

Nicole drove up on her bike and carrier. It took another 30 minutes for us to get ready and refreshed, and we were on the road again by 3pm. We decided on the route of highway 12 to I-90 at Lake Delton. While driving through Baraboo, we left Nicole behind as the weight of the truck kept her from accelerating to the speed limit.

Jenevieve and I arrived at our new home at 5:30. For the next 30 minutes we signed our lease and got updated on the progress of the new apartment building.

• Only 8 apartments were still available.
• The storage facilities should be ready by the end of August.
• Underground parking should be ready by the end of August.
• The security systems were working.
• The Internet cafe won't be working for a while.
• The media center is functioning.
• The community center is not open yet.

By the end of those 30 minutes, Nicole arrived. So all 3 of us happily walked to our new apartment to find our refrigerator standing outside of our door. After complaining we found out that the freezer may have frost problems and we should give it a few weeks to see if it occurs. So far, so good.

Then we spent the next 3 hours or so unpacking the car and 1/3 of the truck. We all slept soundly on the floor of our new apartment that night.