JULY 2023

By Sil - August 01, 2023

Hello my darling girl,

I can’t believe that you have been in the US for a whole month already. I still feel as though you have gone on an extended holiday and will be back soon!

On 1^st July you collected Ruby. Mark sent a message: "Very nice to have Rubes with us. We got back from fetching Ruby in LA at around 8.30pm and then missioned at Avis in San Diego until after 10.30pm (long story) so we only got to sleep after midnight. Still tired but going to have a more chilled day today. We have an apartment viewing at 1pm, we're doing grocery shopping and we're buying a crate for Ruby. Oh, and going to the bank to see if we can open bank accounts."

You took Ruby to breakfast with you, pets are welcome in most places. On 4^th July you went to breakfast at 1HOP where you ordered drinks and got three huge 1 pint glasses of juice – you said that they were the size of your head! And your blueberry pancakes were also extra-large!

I was pleased to hear that your snack basket arrived at the hotelt. The tops I sent to your apartment didn’t arrive though but I contacted Amazon and they did a delivery the other day. Neither of them fitted but Tammy was able to return them so that you could exchange them for something you could choose.

On 5 July Mark started work. You and Tammy went shopping and this was the size of the packet of Doritos you were given when you asked for a packet of chips! A week later your folks managed to get a rental car with an adapter for Mark, so that he could also drive the Chevy equinox Lidl SUVs.

On 15 July you were able to move into your apartment – you sent us a video of the rooms and balcony. Two days later Tammy sent us photos of the pools where you guys were relaxing and one of you trying to assemble your IKEA beds. When Tam sent photos of the front of the apartment I replied with this meaning of the number 105: Can you believe the meaning of 105 in numerology. "Angel number 105 is a powerful message from your guardian angels. This number carries the energies of new beginnings, fresh starts, and personal transformation. Your angels are telling you that it's time to let go of the past and embrace all that lies ahead of you." (Serendipity)

This is the message your Mom posted on Whatsapp:

We have been here now just over 2 weeks. It’s been a hectic 2 weeks but we have gotten a ton of stuff done.

Ruby arrived all happy and full of whole-body wags from her 3-day 1st class trip to California. She settled really quickly and is loving her daily visits to the amazing dog parks. We get to meet different people and chat it’s lovely and social.

We were in the hotel till Saturday and we moved into our first apartment. It’s beautiful and light and bright and had lovely amenities. There’re 2 pools, a gym and yoga studio, club house and screening room.

We have had some lounge furniture and beds delivered so we are pretty comfortable and it’s starting to look like a home.

We’ve opened bank accounts abs gotten our social security numbers. So we are acclimating

People love our accents and I’ve had at least 2 people try and impersonate my accent so far

Em and I are off to the art museum today while Mark works extremely hard to earn all the dollars.”

At the end of the month you finally bought a car - another Mazda, just like Snowflake! We are so pleased that you are all settling down over there and now have a home of your own instead of a hotel room and a car.

Your Dad sent us a message on 28^th July that his office was broken into. They tried to get into his office using a crowbar but luckily they didn’t get in. He said “I came all the way to the US to have my office broken into for the first time!” He also told us that Tammy had seen a guy smoking crack at 11am outside one of the shops! And I said, “Come back to Umhlanga Mark, much safer here!’

I know that you are safe over there but I am missing you, knowing that you are nearly 17000 km away from us.