First week in Arlington

Since I have a slew of "free" time since I'm unemployed, I thought it would be good to update on our first week in Arlington. It was truly quite eventful for me, and I think it's rather funny, so away we go.

We moved on Thursday the 23rd. Steven hitched a U-haul trailer to his 1999 Lexus ES 300 (a sedan), packed up both of our cars, and away we went! I've never lived anywhere else but State College (and I really don't like change), so I knew it would be a little emotionally rough for awhile. It was a tough drive. But we arrived in our little 600 square foot apartment and took the rest of the day to move things in, which was a little tough considering we are both under 5'6" and under 150 pounds. Small people aren't meant to carry queen sized beds and couches without assistance. God knew this, so someone named Christian offered to help Steven carry the queen size mattress. I was a little leery at first, but he didn't linger and made it clear that he wasn't an ex-con or anything, so that's great. Side note: since State College is not ethnically diverse in the least, it is a bit of a culture shock to only have one other Caucasian couple in our building.

Steven started work on Friday the 24th, and it was my job to go buy things for the apartment and unpack. Since we had over $200 to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, I went there. I missed the free parking, and thus started my realization that they charge you to park EVERYWHERE here. If you want to go grocery shopping, be prepared to pay because you just may have to. So those of you in State College, be happy. I stopped for a cup of coffee at a gas station, and when I paid they asked for my ID. I should read the signs before I go into places- it was NEX (Navy Exchange), so I needed a military ID to buy a cup of coffee. I wondered why there was so much cheap liquor in there...

That night, Steven's roommate from college, Sam, came over and we went to Gainesville to get a TV stand, long dresser, tall dresser, and nightstand from Steven's relatives. They said it would be heavy, and they probably couldn't have stressed that enough. The TV stand, the biggest piece, is about 500 pounds (no joke!) because everything is made out of real wood. Um, blessings!

The majority of the time that weekend was spent unpacking/getting settled/buying things for the apartment. As we were doing that on Saturday, Steven was standing by the door with an odd look on his face. "Alisha, come here!" he said. So I went over to the door and we both stuck our heads out. We heard lots of clapping and singing from two doors down. "What is going on?", Steven asked. I listened a little more and could make out that it was in Spanish, and that they were worshiping God. They were having church! After that, I've felt a lot more safe and have put more trust in my neighbors. I'm pretty sure that Christian goes there.

Sunday morning we started our home church shopping marathon. We headed to a United Methodist church down the street and suffice it to say that their doctrine was more... emotional, experiential, and free then we were used to. Not to mention that there were only about 15 people in the service, so the pastor said things like, "We are so happy to see some visitors here!" We totally got called out. Onto the next church...

Monday came and went and I just ran a bunch of errands. I once again went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and once again missed the free parking so I had to pay. I really gotta get better at this. At least I didn't purchase coffee without the proper identification this time. I started to feel pretty lonely and started missing all that was familiar (a routine moreso then actually State College. I don't think I'll miss State College for a bit.) I broke down in Steven's arms pretty much as he walked right through the door. Poor guy- he's stressed and exhausted from his new job and his wife is a puddle on the floor when he comes home.

Then Tuesday came. We were going to go to the Navy Yard to get me a dependent ID (which would make shopping at NEX okay.) We left Arlington and drove into DC at 6:30 (am. AM. Driving. In DC.) We missed our turn so we were headed to Anacostia, which is absolutely the WRONG place to be for people like us. We finally made it on base (we had to pay $10 for parking across the street because we forgot the pass), entered, walked for 20 minutes, and ended up where we needed to be by 7:30. When we got called into the office, the guy asked to see our marriage certificate, my driver's license, and my social security card. Well, there's a couple of problems with this. 1) Steven was told we didn't need any of that because the paperwork was cleared, so we didn't bring the marriage certificate. 2) Although my name is legally Alisha Brodie Holdcroft, I have zero pieces of identification with that name on it. So we did it for nothing and had to leave.

So I drove back, took a wrong turn, found a road that could get me where I was going, and turn a wrong turn on the right road. So I went to turn around, but by the time I was in the turning lane I read a sign that said no left hand turns on Monday-Friday from 6 am- 9 am. I was so flustered that I did it anyway, and what do you know? A police officer was sitting right there waiting for me. Nice. I got slapped with a $100 ticket. And when he asked how long I've been in the area, I started bawling, which is slightly embarrassing (and I still got the ticket. Forget that.)

The rest of Tuesday was uneventful because I refused to drive anywhere for the rest of the day. I tried to for the rest of the week, but by the time that Wednesday came, I had to go to Target. Steven and I are very familiar with where Target is, so I felt confident that I could get there. I left at 8:30 and traffic was nuts, so I was a little flustered. When I turned on the road to get to Target, I turned too early and ended up into oncoming traffic. Now, I've seen this happen in State College on College Ave and Beaver, but I never thought I would be the one to do it. That was humiliating.

I got to Target in one piece.... and I forgot my debit card. So I went home and cleaned. I had to go back and the second time was quite successful since I drove on the correct side of the road and had a form of payment- both very handy when going to the store. I also went to Giant, which was successful as well, so I was quite pleased about that. I also put together half the pantry that we got, so I was proud of myself for that as well. I got a postcard from Ashley in the mail, which lifted my spirits more, and for dinner, Ian and Brenda came over which was exactly what I needed. (And they got a place! I'm so excited!)

Thursday came and I was determined not to 1) make any wrong turns, 2) get any traffic tickets, 3) drive into oncoming traffic, or 4) forget any necessary items of payment because I would probably need to go to the store. And I exceeded those goals with flying colors. However, as I was making coffee in my sweet new French press, I stupidly dumped the grounds in the sink without thinking and clogged the garbage disposal. I tried to fix it with Drano, but that didn't work.Another $100 out the window to get it fixed. While baby sitting the garbage disposal, I also wrote and sent out about a million Thank You cards- my arm was sore and I was brain-dead at the end, but I felt accomplished.

It's definitely been an adventure so far, and even though a lot of things have gone wrong, it's been an okay week. I have some exciting things in the future, so hopefully they will pan out. Thank you for all of your prayers! I can definitely tell that they have been working :)