Thursday, 16 May 2013

The life of an expat


In the last two weeks we have experienced a school ‘lock down’ and an earthquake.  We’re not in Cambridge anymore Toto.
To be the fair the earthquakes measured 3.4 – not exactly the stuff that will bring down houses.  It moved the sofa by about a 1cm.  And only I (in the Mole family) felt it.  But still.
The lockdown thing was all a storm in a teacup really.  Still frightening nonetheless.  Reading an email titled ‘URGENT – PLEASE READ – SCHOOL IN SEMI LOCKDOWN’ is not good for your health.
A quick summary – a death threat was delivered to one of the Appleseed (preschool that shares it campus with Carden) teachers.  This meant the kids spent their day locked in their classrooms and then the armed police were sent to patrol the area.  As soon as the word ‘firearm’ was mentioned Sophia was out of there so fast her feet didn’t touch the ground.  This was on a Friday and we fully intended to keep her at home until all guns, in the hands of the police or not, had vacated the premises.  Fortunately by Monday normalness had resumed. 
Sophia was totally nonplussed by the whole affair but again something to remind us of exactly where we’re living.  That and Ste’s seeming effort to attend every American sporting event in the area – the Sharks and the Earthquakes have a tick.  Think it’s the Sabrecats next week – who??!
You live life so differently as an expat.  We had a Brit mum’s night out last week.  It was great fun.  We are all very different and yet exactly the same because we live here.  Only when speaking to a British person whilst living in America would you start a conversation, “so, what’s your life plan?” and then proceed to make a firm friend in about 5 minutes.  And sunshine or not, there’s no way I would have survived without my wonderful fast friendships.

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