D-Day has finally arrived!!! Woke up at 3am to catch a 6am flight to DC. The boys got up really quickly even though they were really tired from the day before from partying. We all got ready and left with 8 checked in bags, 3 booster seats, and 7 carry-on in two cars to the airport. I hope all of our bags make it to London?
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| Our check in bags! |
Our flight from DC to London was very smooth. They boys did such a great job. They were so well behaved and did not have any meltdowns or even complained about how tired they were. We were glad that Ayan and Aayush took a nap on the plane. They really needed it because we arrive to London, it would be a long time before we would be able to go to bed. After arriving to London, we prayed all our luggage came on our flight. We didn't want to deal with the lost luggage drama. We have enough things to worry about as is. After passing customs, we went to get our luggage. We bumped into a family who had three young girls who had the same amount of luggage pieces as we did. While talking we found out that they were returning home after spending 7 yrs in the US. Our luggage did ARRIVE!!! We stayed in a hotel that night and went to get the house keys in the morning.
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| Our life in these bags for the next week |
My first order of business was to get a new cell phone! I have been without one for 4 days. I have realized how locked in we are with our phones. Have you ever gone a whole weekend without one? It's a challenge I don't want to try again. After we dropped off all our luggage and checked out the whole house, off we went to get my phone. I needed one since Gitesh will be off the work the next two days and I didn't want to be home without any form of communication. On our way to buy my phone, we stopped by the library, which is around the corner from our house, to get a library card. I'll need the library card since the boys will have to stay busy during their summer vacation or as they say in London, holiday. So, we get to the store and the sales person goes over the plan that would fit my needs the best. We are all ready to proceed when a couple of things don't go as planned. First, we need a bank card to buy a phone, which we do not have one yet. And the other thing was, they didn't have the phone I wanted in stock. So, getting a phone will have to wait till we get a bank card which is similar to a debit card.
Dealing with the bank is very time consuming. There was a lot of visits to the bank in the first five days of us getting here. The bank needed actual utility bills with our name on it in order for us to open accounts. How are we suppose to get that on the first day of residency? But we need money to go on living. It was a lot of going back and forth from the bank and home. Luckily, the bank isn't too far from home so that part was easy.
We also did a lot of grocery shopping on our first day. It was an interesting shopping experience. First stop was the produce section. All the produce is found in sealed plastic bags. It's already picked for you. You just pick up the package and go. You can't find mountains of individual fruits and veggies where you can touch and pick the ones you like. If you want to do that, you'll have to go to the fruit and veggie stands.
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| Prepackaged fruit |
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| Free standing produce stand |
So, I'm trying to buy some cheese that we normally eat at the Dubal household. They're so many variety to choose from. All I wanted was something that came close to the processed American cheese that my son loves for his grilled cheese. I couldn't find it and therefore, thought I'm going to have one little disappointed child. He'll have to do with a mild white cheddar cheese which he gladly ate up when it was given to him. Guess he started to realize things are going to be different here. On that note, we have started to tell all our boys long before we got here that things are going to be very different, especially food. They must have really listened to us since, I've noticed how they are eating new and different foods.
I really enjoy grocery shopping here. I come almost everyday with my bags and buy just what I need for a day or two. You can't really buy too much since you have to carry all back to your home. I don't drive yet. Everything I do is done on foot with three kids in tow. So, it's hard to buy things in bulk here. I was told before I got here, how everyone goes shopping for grocery everyday and buy only fresh items. Now, I understand why. The other thing I find interesting is how the freezer section is so small. They only things they have in the freezer is seafood and shell fish, French fries (chips), and ice cream. There is nothing else. Everything else is fresh. They even have ready made food from all over the world. All you have to do is take it home and heat it up in the oven.
For our first dinner in our new home, I was able to make pasta, garlic bread, salad, and green beans. We all enjoyed the home cooked meal. I was only able to make dinner because we packed a whole suitcase with just kitchen items. I hand selected everything we may need for the first week. We were told we would receive our air shipment on Friday of the first week. It's now been two weeks, and we are still waiting for our air shipment.
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| 1st dinner |
Gitesh needed to go to work the day after we arrived at our new place. But the boys and I were able to sleep in since we needed to catch up on our sleep. Those two days, we just stayed home and enjoyed our new place and the boys just ran around and were having fun going up and down three flight of stairs. They are also enjoying the small backyard (garden). It became a ritual that after each meal, they would go out into the garden and play for 10 minutes. It was nice to see them having fun and starting to make memories.
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| Playing in the garden after a meal |
I finally got my phone on a Thursday. It only took two hours at the store to get one. We quickly realized nothing is simple in the UK. To start a plan, Gitesh needed to go to the bank to get a confirmation that we have an account with them. I had to go home to get his passport for verification. But it was worth it! I went a whole week without a phone. It was very hard! I was home, alone with three kids, in a new country without anyway of getting in touch with somebody if I needed something. It was a very tough one week without a cell phone. Call me spoiled but, I can't live without one.
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| My first pic with my new phone! |
So, it's been a week and no air shipment in sight. So, we set off to IKEA to buy some basic dining set. We were running out of all the disposables we had packed that was enough to last us a week or so. While we were going there, we decided to buy a storage unit that would hold our shoes and stuff for the entrance of our home. It was only after we bought everything did we realize the box was not going to fit into the car. We had no idea what the rule and regulations are for having a trunk half way open and drive. Also, this was Gitesh's first time really driving in and around London. So, we asked around and was able to find out it was okay to have the trunk half open. So, we tied a thin rope around the trunk and hoped for the best. We got out of the parking lot of IKEA and the rope breaks!!! So, we stopped and was able to tie it differently. After about 8 minutes of driving, the rope breaks again and the trunk goes flying up. We stopped again. This time, the rope was completely broken. The only way to go was to break open the box and place each piece separately into the car. Only problem was, we now have sedan not a minivan. The wooden panels were not fitting in the trunk. The only way it would fit was put them in the back seat where the boys are sitting. Poor kids, they had to have the boards on their lap the whole way home. It was quite an adventure.
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| Someone doesn't look to happy |
Over the weekend, we went to the famous Wembely. It's a place where a lot of Indians live. When we got there, it felt like I stepped in India. We got there around lunch time so we went to this place called Sakonis. Gitesh and I had the buffet. The food was too good. The boys didn't do such a good job of eating there lunch. The best thing that came out of our lunch was Aarav tried sambar. He was really enjoying dunking his idlis into the sambar. We later had to get the boys some ice cream to fill there tummy. While we were there, I did a quick indian grocery shopping. Bought just the essentials to get started in the kitchen. But my favorite part of the Wembely trip was having pani-puri after lunch on the roadside. Talk about a spicy snack!
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| Are we in India? |
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| Roadside Cart |
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