Work, Eggs, & Walking...

Well, it's been a few days and we continue to settle in to our new routine.  I have officially started work and it is off to a great start.  This past week was filled with three days of mandatory training which was about three days too long.  Speech therapists are not wired to sit in a lecture hall for 8 hours at a time : )  The end of the week was much better and I have a long list of patients to see first thing Monday morning.  The hospital has been without a head and neck therapist for over a month so although that means the service is a bit backed up with patients, that's what I came here to do...so bring it on : )

The rack of freshly-laid eggs in the kitchen.

Since the house that we are renting won't be available until next weekend, we are currently staying at a Bed & Breakfast a few miles from the hospital.  Being that it is located just outside of town, we are quite cut-off from the rest of civilization out here.  The woman to runs it (Annie) could not be any sweeter and we continue to marvel at her sincere hospitality.  It's basically like we are staying with a family-member who has given us full use of her fridge, kitchen, laundry, etc.  Since she has free range chickens that roam in a fenced area adjacent to the property, the eggs we eat for breakfast were actually laid the day before.  So, the only way it would be fresher is if the chicken actually laid the egg directly into the frying pan, but you get the idea : )  Although we are loving the quiet solitude that comes with this place, we are definitely ready to be living in town where there is much more going on.  My walk to the bus stop in the morning is about a half mile and our walk into town is just over a mile.  Since our feet continue to be our sole means of transportation, we have become quite fond of the various routes and short-cuts that lead into town.

Katie sporting some lovely "Wellies" while hanging up our laundry in the field.

Katie's job search officially began first thing Monday morning.  Thus far, the apparent shortage of jobs in this area has been a bit discouraging, but the search continues.  We continue to joke that as time passes, Katie's standard for the job she is hoping for continues to lower : )  The one thing we do know is that Katie is not one who can sit at home all day.  Every day this week, when I returned home after a long day of training, I was met with "Hi, what do you want to go do?"  So, we are hoping that her restlessness can result in gainful employment, but what exactly it will be is not yet known.

This week was punctuated with a happy hour at a local pub with a few of my new work friends, Gilly and Julie.  Katie and I met up with the two of them as well as Julie's boyfriend for drinks and dinner and had a lot of fun.  Since they were all born and raised in southwest England, they had loads of suggestions for great weekend trips in Europe.    Everyone we meet continues to be incredibly nice and it seems my colleagues are no exception.  I don't think that anyone here will even come close to the speech therapists and audiologists I have called my friends for the past five years, but they seem nice none the less.

The fact that cars can legally park in any direction here...definitely
 a contributing factor to the already confusing driving laws. 

At least the walk into town is filled
with beautiful views of the countryside.

So, as you can see, we continue to adjust and settle into a routine here.  There is an odd sense of familiarity that comes with resuming a regular work schedule.  It's kind of comforting in a way to get back to doing familiar work in such an unfamiliar place.  At the end of the day the fact that I love what I am doing and the fact that the people we meet have been exceptionally welcoming certainly makes all of this easier than we expected.  We miss all of our friends and family but Katie and I both look forward to having you all visit : )