Little cards with a big impact

Det er torsdag, kl er 11:30 og jeg sidder her I vores store blå lænestol I en helt stille lejlighed, hvor stilheden kun bliver afbrudt af snorken fra hund I sofaen og undertegnedes hoste og snøfteri. Jeg betaler af på en sindssyg dag I tirsdags, der toppede med cykeltur I regnvejr efterfulgt af 2 timer I gennemblødt tøj I bygning med heftig aircondition. Øv! Men ikke spor overraskende desværre.

It's Thursday's 11:30 AM and I am sitting in our big blue armchair in an absolutely quiet apartment where the silence is only broken by the snoring dog on the couch and yours truly coughing and snorting. I'm paying for a crazy day on Tuesday, which peaked with a bike ride in the rain, followed by two hours of wearing soaked clothes in a building with hefty air conditioning. Ouch! But not surprising at all, unfortunately.

Som overskriften hentyder så er der kommet små plastic kort til husstanden. 3 af de grønne :-) og eet af den slags, der giver lov til at køre bil. Eller det vil sige, indtil videre må jeg nøjes med en papir version af sidstnævnte, før det rigtige kort lander I post kassen. Jeg fik køreprøven overstået tirsdag morgen, og føj, hvor har jeg været nervøs. I  nogle stater herovre kan køreprøven klares på en bane bagved DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) mens man I Michigan skal regne med 3 kvarters tæsken rundt I bakning, parallel parkering, bykørsel, rundkørsler og – gisp - motorvej med baneskift. Især sidstnævnte har jeg det noget stramt med, da jeg er helt vildt bange for, at der sker noget. Indtil videre er det gået godt, og de andre billister er gode til at gi plads, men det er stadig ikke noget, jeg har lyst til at begive mig ud I på egen hånd. 

As the title hints there has been little plastic cards arriving in the household. 3 of the green kind and one of the those that allows you to drive a car. Well, so far I have to settle for a paper version of the latter before the actual card lands in post box. I had my road test Tuesday morning, and I have been a nervous wreck about it. In some states the test takes place on a track behind the DMV while Michiganders have to do 45 minutes of reverse driving, parallel parking, city traffic, roundabouts and - gasp - expressway with lane shifting. Especially the latter, is something that I really fear as I am scared that I will cause a crash. So far it has gone well though, and the other drivers are good at giving you space, but it's still far from something I would feel confident doing on my own.

Det er Kristian, der har ageret kørelærer, og han er helt utrolig tålmodig heldigvis. Jeg valgte dog at hoste op med betaling for 3 køretimer her til sidst for at få helt styr på det der parallel parkering (hånden på hjertet: hvor mange af jer, der har haft kørekort I mange år, kan forklare med ord, hvordan man bedømmer hvornår man skal dreje rattet hvilken vej?). Det havde så den bonus at jeg fik lov til at træne på selve banen, hvor slaget skulle stå til køreprøven. Udover at det var rart at prøve det “on location” havde det også den fordel at jeg blev helt sikker på, at jeg IKKE skulle tage prøven I vores minivan – den havde jeg simpelthen aldrig fået bakset ind på de små pladser. Kørekortet har endt mig at koste mig den formidable sum af 285$ alt inclusive, og sammenlignet med dansk standard er det ret OK.

It is Kristian, who has been my driving instructor and I am more than lucky that he is such a patient guy. However, I chose to cough up payments for three hours of real instructed driving towards the end to be able to nail the parallel parking (Honestly: how many of you who have held a driving license for many years, can explain with words, how to assess when to turn the steering wheel which way?). It was an extra bonus that I got to practice on the actual “battle field” for the road test. Apart from it being really helpful trying the maneuvers on site it also had the advantage that I was quite sure that I DID NOT want to use our minivan for the test – I would have never managed to squeeze it into the assigned spaces. The license ended up costing me a mere sum of $ 285 all inclusive, and compared to Danish standards it is more than OK.

Kristian startede arbejde I mandags. Det var lige et par dage tidligere end ventet og det er noget af en tilvænning så’n lige at være to fuldtidsarbejdende voksne igen og de første dage har føltes som at løbe en marathon hver dag med stram oprydnings/lektielavnings/madpakkesmøring/madlavnings/hundeluftnings justits. Luca har fået sin egen nøgle, så han kan låse sig ind om eftermiddagen, og han er heldigvis pavestolt af den, selvom han nok ville foretrække at blive kørt til og fra skole. Kristian skal køre til Dearborn hver dag ca 3 kvarter væk. Da han skal ha en del telefon møder med Indien skal han tidligt afsted, og lige nu er det mig, der står for at få hele flokken I gang om morgenen I etaper. Jeg står op lidt over 6, lufter kort hunden, vækker Teresa og spiser morgenmad med hende, hvorefter vi tager Bailey med ned til bussen kl 7:22. Jeg fortsætter på en lidt længere tur med hunden og så er det hjem at vække drengene, der begge har busser, der kører omkring 8:30 (Ulrik møder først ind til 2. time I år). Når alt er klart når jeg at være på arbejde ca 9:30. Kristian henter Teresa fra sport kl 5 om eftermiddagen og er derfor først hjemme halv seks. Der kører heldigvis en sen “sports bus” et par gange om ugen, og vi regner med at hun kommer til at bruge den ind I mellem, da tøsen jo dyrker sport non stop lige for tiden. 

Vi glæder os til weekenden OG til den første paycheck for Kristian (som han lige pt kommer til at få een gang om ugen som en god gammeldaws check – suk).

Kristian started work Monday. It was a few days earlier than expected and it is quite the process morphing into both of us working full time again. The first few days have felt like running a marathon every day with strict clean-up / homework / lunch packing / cooking / dog walking schedules. Luca has his own key so he can get in when he comes home, and fortunately he is very proud of it, although he probably would prefer to be delivered and picked up at school. Kristian needs to travel to Dearborn every day about 45 minutes away by car. Because he has a lot of conference calls with India to begin with, he has to leave early. So these days it's me who is responsible for getting the whole pack out the door in the morning. I get up a little past 6 taking the dog for a short walk, then Bailey and I wake up Teresa and eat breakfast with her, after which she has to catch a bus at 7:22. I continue on a slightly longer walk with the dog, before I head home and wake up the boys who both have busses leaving aound 8:30 (Ulrik meets in for second class this year). When everything is ready I can then manage to be at work around 9:30. Kristian picks up Teresa after sport at 5 in the afternoon and is not home until half past five. There is a socalled “late” school bus running a few times a week, and we expect that she's going to use it once in a while as she will most likely be playing sports non stop this school year.

We REALLY look forward to this weekend AND to the first paycheck for Kristian (which he will be getting one once a week as a good old-fashioned check, at least for now - sigh).