Thoughts from Mrs. Bingham, and the long-awaited photos

alright, alright. it's the other half of the Bing family here, and i know you've all missed hearing my side of the story so i decided to write the chapter wherein we finally post some pictures of the apartment we'll be calling home for the next 2 years or so. besides, Matt doesn't know how to post pictures so it's up to me to figure it out. *wink*

now then. i suppose i should give my feelings about the move and our first week in London briefly before the big pictorial reveal... let me gather my thoughts.

i feel as though the enormity of what we were undertaking in driving clear across the better part of the continent never really hit me quite like it hit Matt. often along the way he would look over at me and say 'are we crazy for doing this!? we're thousands of miles away from home!', and when he put it that way i would think that perhaps we were crazy. but for the most part i was able to just take things a day at a time and not think too much about how far away we were from both our origin and our destination. the hardest part for me was actually fending off boredom and chronic back pain- i found myself constantly fidgeting, and changing my position and the radio station. as ruggedly beautiful as the scenery across America is, when you're spending 12 hours a day watching it go by it doesn't take long for it to get a little 'same-y', to say the least. the most exciting parts of the trip for me were the junctures when the scenery changed significantly- from the mountains and lakes of Idaho to the rolling hills and plains of Montana and North Dakota, then (after three full days) from the plains to the thick forests which lined the roads through Minnesota and Wisconsin, and finally (most exciting of all) to the vast ocean-like expanses of the Great Lakes in Michigan. man, was it good to see shoreline again! the beaches of lake Michigan actually look really beautiful, with fine reddish sand spreading in dunes on both sides of the road as it winds along the shore, but as tempting as the water looked i wasn't about to risk contamination by stopping for a dip as some did. yes, i'd say that reaching the Great Lakes was the high point of the jourey for me. from there, the rest of the trip was sort of a denouement after the climax. it confirmed for me that i really am a coast girl at heart.

as for our first week and a half in London, i would describe it as distinctly up-and-down. it was a significant relief to get all of our worldly possessions out of a moving vehicle and into our apartment, although i'll freely admit that i was on the verge of tears several times during the three hours or so that it took the two of us to empty the contents of the UHaul into our new home. most other undertakings have been similarly double-sided; the excitement of setting up a new home tempered by the seeming explosion of 'stuff' from boxes without number and not enough storage space to fit it all; the fun of exploring a new city and campus sullied by the complications of an unfamiliar road system and the impatience of local drivers; in short, there have been definite highs and lows. the high this week was that i got a job offer from a formal dining club to be a waitress. the perks: full-time daytime hours, training, and from what i can tell the nicest boss ever. the drawbacks: an all black uniform including tie and tights, and the fact that minimum wage in Ontario is something along the lines of $6.75 an hour. let's just say the tips had better be good.

but anyway, here we are, and after a couple good days of unpacking and sorting and storing and tidying, our little place is beginning to feel like a home. the only thing missing now is pictures on the wall, but since most of the walls are concrete, that will take some more drastic measures than we're currently capable of.

so, without further ado, here are some pictures of our place!

here is the dining room:



and here is the bathroom- it's small but it does the job:



this is our palatial bedroom, complete with our new Rubbermaid (yes, Rubbermaid) 'armoire' in the corner. this thing has a CARDBOARD back, no joke. in the instructions it recommended that you affix the unit to the wall, but because of the concrete wall issue, we just decided not to put the doors on it in the hope that this would alleviate the likelihood of a sudden collapse. we shall see...



don 't blink, or you'll miss our kitchen. it's hard to find in this picture, in fact. it's more like a narrow hallway than anything else. but it's full of good stuff!



here are a couple of pictures of the living room from opposite directions. the first one looks towards the entrance to the dining room, the second is taken from just behind the blue and grey couch (which is secretly multicolored and covered with two fleece blankets, as you can just make out in the second picture. shhhh, don't tell!).





and last but not least, our neat and tidy little entryway, with shoe rack- and keyholder, so we don't lose our keys!



so that's about it for now. congratulations if you're still with me at this point. thanks to all for your thoughts and prayers! we miss home, but we're doing fine and things are looking up from here on in!

- Mrs. Bingham