hot!

The past two days have been HOT around here! Temperatures in the mid-30s. We tried a playground with sprinklers yesterday, but I learned on such hot days people just stay inside in the cool air condition rather than going outside. Over the last days we've been stood up for two apartments viewings. We thought we'd found the perfect place yesterday, and showed up half an hour before a scheduled open house showing, only to realize after a looong hot wait, the place had been snatched the day before. Today the manager never showed up although we had an appointment, but a sweet couple offered cold drinks and to show us their place. The rental market here is so aggressive, and we are currently spending both time and energy trying to find a place that suits our needs and falls within our budget (rent in Boston is supposedly among the countries' highest) . Over the weekend two different realtors will - fingers crossed - show us several places, and hopefully our next home will soon be settled.

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sunday

Celebrating Father's Day (which falls two weeks later than in Europe, or Denmark at least) and the Icelandic Independence Day with the Icelandic Association in Boston. I have a weakness for Icelandic hotdogs, and was happy to stuff myself with imported pylsur.
Curious George (or Peter Pedal as I know him) made a special appearance at the Curious George Bookstore at Harvard Square, and Silja who has taken a serious liking to the curious monkey gave him first a careful hug and then a big one. I think he liked it.

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saturday

Exploring a bit more of downtown Boston around the wharfs and picnicking by the harbor. It's so good to be back by the ocean!

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home alone and feeling at home

Bjarni had a meeting at Oxford University and left for UK over the weekend, and so it was the first time for the rest of us to be home alone in Cambridge. I know many expats are in work situations that require a lot of traveling, but I always find staying back a bit stressful, especially the first few times in a new place and even more so with a little one, who all kinds of things can happen to (yeah, my imagination never fails...). I know it's not much different than if we were two, and I know that most likely nothing is going to happen, but nevertheless I need to know exactly what to do or who to contact in case it's needed: If I lock myself out, if Silja hurts herself and needs to be checked, or if one of us needs to see a doctor after opening hours -- those kinds of situations. Having tried it before I know that I can relax with it if I make a list with all sorts of practical information and phone numbers, which I can pull out in case I need it. And luckily I didn't. However over those couple of days I realized that I've started to feel more and more at home right here. We kept running into people that we now know; at the  playground, on the streets, and in the library, and having this sort of familiarity with people, is so great. So much so that I don't think I'm interested in leaving this neighborhood, to start all over again, when we move to another apartment in September.
Now Bjarni is back. Back to play hide and seek with Silja, who runs to hide by covering her eyes. Although I can totally manage Cambridge and Boston alone, it's very good to have him back!

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rhode island

Bjarni's lab were going on a retreat last weekend, and family members were invited to tag along. So off we went Friday afternoon in a big old rental Ford (one of those, where there's an extra seat in the front between the driver's and passenger's seat), driving south through Providence and arriving at a big house by beach in Rhode Island, Massachusetts neighbor state. The house boasted one of those huge American fridges with ice cubes coming out of a dispenser and God Bless light switch covers. Oh, the charm! I like those little so-very-American details. Coming from Europe, there are so many things that works and are more or less the same here. Still it's all the little details that makes a world of difference.

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