Being in a new place thousands of miles away from family, friends, and all you are used to is a huge change. One thing that we have found to help tremendously is friendly neighbors. Our second day here, Saturday, one of the upstairs neighbors ran into us while unloading our IKEA stuff & promptly invited us to the barbecue they had planned for the next day where we would get the chance to meet him, his girlfriend Sara, and the other set of upstairs neighbors James & Charlie (another couple). Sunday came and with it some good ole' London showers (following two days of gorgeous sun) but the barbecue went on as planned (thanks to Simon's fore-planning of hanging a tarp) since they are all from England and are quite used to the showers.
We had a lovely lunch with the other two couples, who were all our age & in similar life circumstances so there was much we had in common. They also were able to give us advice on good places to camp, hike, sail, eat, local rules, etc. When they heard our stories of leaking showers, towels that wouldn't dry, trying to build furniture with a Swiss Army knife, and more they immediately brought us fresh towels of their own, electric tools, and let us know they were here if we needed anything. The afternoon passed quickly but by the end we felt at the very least we had some great neighbors and possibly even some new friends.
(Picture is of our communal garden and the rigged up tarp & tables where we had the barbecue)
That was quick! Congrats on being so friendable!
ReplyDeleteYes, I suppose neither of us could be described as wallflowers :-)
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