6472 Crystal Springs Drive
San Jose
CA 95120
408 323 9624
27 Feb 2000
We have now been here for a couple of months and I thought that the time was right for a progress report on our American adventure. We are now settled in and the house feels like home. For the first few weeks it rather felt as if we were living in an hotel. I think that there were a few reasons for this; it was all so new to us; the house was only partly furnished and it felt so empty. Over the Christmas period there were nine of us sleeping at 19 Murray Ave, to find only the three of us here felt quite strange at first. For years you dream about the children leaving, well we left the boys and its a very odd feeling!
Helena has settled in at school, we were rather concerned about this as she is the youngest in the school by 18 months but she has coped (and the school has coped with her!). Her work is coming on fine and she is making lots of friends. A couple of weeks ago she went was asked to go to Lake Tahoe to the "place in the country" of one of her friends. This little place is on five levels with its own lift, by the shore of Lake Tahoe with its own jetty (the boat is in storage for the winter). For those who don't know Tahoe is in the Sierra Mountains and is a great ski resort - in the summer its water skiing and hill walking. Helena had a great time, making her parents very envious.
Last night was a special evening - I took Helena to a dance! It was the Father-Daughter Dance at her High School, I could not have imagined this happening in England. It was a great evening which we both thoroughly enjoyed. We started out by meeting up with some friends of Helena's (with Dads) in a Chinese restaurant and then going to the dance. It was semiformal which meant party frocks and suits (for the men). It was the first time that I had worn a collar and tie since we have been over - business dress is rather less formal than in England. I haven't yet worn shorts to the office but no doubt I will when summer comes. What impressed me most was how friendly everybody was, they made us feel very welcome. When we got to the dance other friends of Helena introduced themselves to me and then to their dad's, even if we had gone by ourselves we would have ended up in a big group. The other impressive thing was how determined everybody was to enjoy themselves, we were dancing the whole time. Helena even managed to overcome her embarrassment at my dancing abilities.
Helena has joined the Track and Field team, and on Saturday she had her first race which was also her first run since she had been here. The school advised
us that she settle in before doing any sport - there are no regular PE lessons. We went along to the track to watch and meet up with the team and Helena was persuaded to run - I was proud of her as she was very nervous and is very unfit. On Monday she will start training and will soon be back to form as they train six days a week. School sport is taken very seriously here - I guess its because of the number of sporting scholarships that are available at university.
Work is going OK, I am running my first project, there are three residents; from Germany, Australia and the Czech republic. It all seems to be going well. We had a get together here on Friday night with a colleague and his project team. We thought it was great success I just hope the others did. Mark (my work colleague from Australa) brought his wife and boys - the children spent most of the evening in the hot-tub with Helena and her friend from next door.
Julia has not yet ventured into the tub, she is waiting for the air temperature to rise, but I think its great. Last Monday was President's Day,(Washington's birthday) and I took the day off work and we all went on a drive through the mountains and ended up at Santa Cruz - lunch on the beach followed by a walk in a coastal nature reserve. When we got home Helena and I spent a hour in the tub - not a bad way to spend a day in February. We have booked a trip to go whale watching - the whales migrate twice a year and go along the Californian coastline, so next Sunday we will be leaving Santa Cruz harbour to see these great mammals. We are hoping that the weather will be nice. At this time of year its very changeable, one day pouring with rain and very windy, the next clear and sunny. We did have one spell of 60 hours continuous rain, so its not always sunny in California. The good part is that once summer starts it doesn't rain for about six months, well that is
what the locals say we will have to wait and see.
Last week we held our first dinner party, we entertained Peter and Mildred Woods and two friends of theirs. Peter married my cousin Sheila (they lived in Canada) who was tragically killed in a car accident 20 years ago. We had not seen Peter since the accident. Peter and his second wife Mildred were visiting friends in San Jose, hence the dinner party. It was a great evening, Mildred is a lovely person, I just hope that we meet again before another twenty years are up. We are now in touch with Peter's three children via e-mail - the web is certainly a way to keep in contact as its very easy to knock up a few lines and send them. Peter's son Fred is getting married on June 24th. I am Fred's Godfather - I must confess to not being very diligent in my duties. We would like to get up to Canada for the wedding, but I am not yet certain if I will be able to get time off from work as it’s only a couple of weeks after Andrew's wedding.
We have also had our first house guest, a friend from work who spent six days with us. We went to Alcatraz. Although it poured with rain we had a good time, it is a fascinating island and the guided tour (on tape) is very good. I had been before in the sun when it seemed quite a nice place to spend a few years. In the cold and damp it did not seem so inviting!
Julia has settled in and made some friends; when the weather clears they are going to explore the local countryside - there is a Country Park complete with quicksilver mines a mile from the house. She has been busy making marmalade, from oranges in the garden. They look lovely but have a rather sharp taste, not nice to eat but the marmalade is lovely. There is an olive tree in the front garden so we should be having home-grown olives in the dry martinis. She is also venturing onto the Californian roads, if you saw the way they drive it is a venture as indicating is an optional extra.
I cycle to work, its five miles which is not too bad excepet that the in the last mile the road climbs 400ft! My waistline is slowly recovering shape although I have not yet lost any weight.
Helena is recovering from having had four teeth removed, this was as her mouth is too small (though to her here talk you would doubt this!). She starts the orthodontic treatment when her mouth is healed. We have also bought the bridesmaids dress for the wedding in June. A totally unbiased opinion from her parents is that she looks lovely. We now have to buy Julia's outfit.
The excitement of moving in and settling down is fading and we have to start the realities of everyday living, keeping to budget etc. The first few weeks were expensive buying all the staples etc. for the larder, gin, tequila etc. and the luxuries like herb's, flour, sugar etc. etc. In general things are cheaper over here although herbs, spices and things like that are dearer. Meat is cheap, well beef is,lamb is very expensive. I am not sure what they do with sheep or is it just that they don't have any? I must finish now as we have been invited out to Sunday tea to some Australian friends - its very cosmopolitan out here.
We hope that life is treating you all as you deserve (or perhaps somewhat better than you deserve)
Love
Barry, Julia and Hélèna
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