Jip the hunter

Last Monday, Jip came running into the house with a gift for me: a chip munk, which is like a small squirrel. He proudly presented his catch by dropping it onto the carpet in the living room. The chip munk, still alive, thought luck was on his side and tried to escape, but he might have been better off just staying put there on the carpet because now the hunting game was on. Every time the chip munk moved, Jip went after him, tried to hit him or catch him. Driving the chip munk into a corner was the best. I felt sorry for the small squirrel, but was not sure what to do: they have sharp little teeth, too! Anyway, the game ended quite fast, by Jip dropping the chip munk in a plastic container for me and me taking the present to the burial grounds at the far end of the garden. And off the cats went outside. Literally 20 minutes later, Jip came back with a new, fresh one, again! Pictures say more than a 1000 words, so please see for yourself. FYI, this one ended up in the same corner of the garden as the first one.

Busy unpacking

Now that our stuff has arrived, there is work to be done. Some big pieces are easy to unpack, but the books and smaller pieces will take more time to find a place in the house. Also the toolbox comes in handy again since some small adaptation are necessary to existing pieces of furniture. Give us a few weeks and our new home will be ready.

Drive-in movie theater McHenry

Staszek came home and asked if I wanted to go out to the movies with him. What a nice thought, how romantic. This is where we went: the drive-in movie theater in McHenry, about 20 minute drive from Mundelein, together with Staszek's colleagues. We thought these things only existed IN the movies, but it is for real! Everybody goes: families with kids, groups of friends, people on dates, couples. And to make sure everybody can see the film, there are rules for parking according to the size of your car. You pay 6 dollar per person make sure you bring enough beer/coke and food and you're set for a whole evening of entertainment with two movies. The sound comes out of your car radio on frequency 81.5!

The container has arrived!

Thursday 15 June was THE day: our container with furniture and other posessions arrived. After almost 6 weeks we would be able to sleep in our own bed, sit in a comfortable chair and drink from our favourite wine glasses again. The operation of unloading all the boxes took about 5 hours, but then all our stuff was inside and now the unpacking can begin.

1352 Huntington Drive Pics

We are online again on Huntington Drive so we have some catching up to do on the news from our side. Here are some pictures to give you an idea of the place we are calling home now. There is a lot of green around the house and the grass has to be cut every week this time of year. Fortunately we don't have to do this ourselves, but a team of 3 comes in on their lawn mowing scooters and does it in 20 minutes.

Andersonville Midsommarfest.

Andersonville is an old Swedish neighborhood in Chicago. Although most of the Swedes are long gone, it still has kept some of its ethnic flavor and each June, nearly 40,000 people find their way to Andersonville's Midsommarfest, for two days of eating, dancing and music. When we arrived, we were just in time to see the performance of the 'big band' in the pictures: a very entertaining mix of big/showband with very good music and fun acts.

Staszek's new car

Staszek came home on Friday afternoon in his new automobile. A very nice all-leather-inside family car: a Volvo XC70 turbo Cross Country. Now we both don't have to worry about getting stuck in the snow this winter!

We moved!

Yes, we moved last weekend to the house on 1352 Huntington Drive. Unfortunately we don't have internet there yet, but that should change next week. Now it's taking the Apple to Panera lunch cafe where they have free WiFi: I have become a regular customer! The new house is great with the big garden and lots of space inside. The cats are very happy too and they wake us at 5 am everyday because they want to go outside, which they can, but at 7.30 am. So far, they have always found their way back home, but there are of course a lot of interesting places to be discovered in our neighbourhood, not to mention a lot of intrigueing animals like, chipmunks, ground badgers, skunks, racoons, rabbits and according to the neighbours even deer and coyotes!

The only thing we are waiting for now is our furniture. It has arrived in New York and should be on its way to Chicago, where the customs clearing will take place. A little bit more patience and if all goes well, we should have our stuff in about 2 weeks. In the meantime, the IKEA sofa bed and wooden garden set are the only items in the house so it's a bit like indoor camping, but this should all change soon!

Chicago Botanic Garden

Because we had the Monday off as well, a visit to the Chicago Botanic Garden was on our list. Opened to the public in 1972, it's a 385 acre area of woods, greens, prairies and waterways and it's the second most visited botanic garden of this size in the US. We especially liked the fruit and vegetable gardens and the English walled gardens. Recommended when you come to visit us!

Navy Pier Chicago

Because of Memorial Day, we had a long weekend in de USA. One extra day to enjoy the hot weather predicted for that weekend. Everybody was leaving town to escape the heat and enjoy the country side. We decided to go into Chicago and check out the Navy Pier. It was constructed in 1916 as a commercial shipping pier and renamed in honor of the Nay in 1927. Today, the pier is multi-use complex and a docking site for large dinner cruise ships and Lake Michigan tour boats. The very welcome breeze certainly made our stay there pleasant as did the nice cold beer and great views of the Chicago Downtown skyline.

An Apple for Anita

Anita is a very happy woman. Staszek got her a new, cool laptop that she can use anywhere in the apartment because it has wifi. Now she can mail, skype and surf any moment of the day; she promises to do so and keep you updated on a more regular basis.

Our temporary place in Northbrook

In our last post you could see where we are going to live in June, but for the moment we are still staying in our 2-bedroom apartment in Northbrook. Just to give you an impression of the flat , here are a few pictures. It's quite spacious and light, but we can't wait to move on to our 'own' place and have our own stuff around us again.

1352 Huntington Drive

Afgelopen woensdag reed Anita er toevallig langs en zag het bordje 'for rent'. Eergisteren (donderdag) hebben we een principe akkoord gesloten en volgende week tekenen we het huurcontract.

Geen Evanston, geen Arlington heights, maar Mundelein (7 minuten verwijderd van Staszek's werk). Een klein dorpje, met maar liefst zeven golfbanen (!).

American life: een huisje met een kleine veranda voor, een groot houten terras achter in een hele grote achtertuin (die 's zomers elke week gemaaid moet worden). Binnen hebben we drie slaapkamers, een huiskamer, eetkamer en 'family room'. Keuken, toilet en badkamer zijn enigszins gedateerd, maar dat mag de pret niet drukken. Grote garage voor twee auto's en een wasmachine en droger al geinstalleerd!

Zodra het contract getekend is, gaan we adreswijzigingen sturen. Nog even geduld.

A new car!

Integration is important so when in America, when living in the States you'd want to have a big car: and voila -> today we finalised the adventure of buying a small SUV. A 4WD Hyundai Santa Fe, 2.7 V6, automatic. Anita is very happy she does not have to be ashamed of parking her car on the parking lot of the shopping mall and even more so that the engine of her car is bigger than the one of Staszek's car!

Together again

Anita and the cats arrived late afternoon on Friday 05/05/2006.
Staszek made it to the airport in time without problems (thanks to tomtom) and at 16:30 everybody was together again!

Jip & Janneke seemed to have survived their first transatlantic journey pretty well. Jip lost his voice a little bit and Janneke needed a bit longer to get used to her new home, but they were eating and drinking almost immediately.


We used the weekend to look for housing, a car for Anita and checked out the neighbourhood..

Goodbye Anita!

After one night in an empty house with the cats, it was time to get ready for the big 9.5 hour trip to Chicago. With the help of some valium, a relatively quiet Jip & Janneke were put into their temporary travel homes and off we went to Okecie airport in Warsaw. After a 'thorough' cage inspection by the Polish border police, they were taken away by a LOT employee to be taken to their reserved seats in the cargo area of the flight LO 001. With a delay of only 20 minutes we were on our way to the USA.

Packing...

With Staszek gone, it was time to pack everything and get ready for the big move. The moving company started the whole expedition on 2 May, which resulted in a living room and kitchen full of boxes. The finishing touch was put on 4 May: a 20 ft container filled with our stuff left ul. Pytlasinskiego at 16.00 for Gdynia->Bremerhaven-> New York -> final destination Chicago. If all goes well, we will be sleeping in our own bed again around the 9th of June, but where in or around Chicago that will be still has to be decided.

Goodbye Staszek!

Warsaw 27/04/2006, 10:00 AM.

On a beautiful sunny thursday it was time for Staszek to say goodbye to Poland.

We had a great time here in Poland, and we are sure that this is not a final farewell.

The last...

The last time I drive out of this garage;



The last time on Plac Konstitucja;



The last time I see the Palace of Culture;



The last time I park my car on a Warsaw street;



The last time I cross the tramrails to enter ul. Ogrodowa;



Chicago, here I come!