First off I just want to say that I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and a happy New Year despite all the crap 2016 threw at us. We personally had a lovely, quiet Christmas just the two of us in our cozy home, and we managed to rearrange our schedules and take time off to fly over and surprise Stuart's family for a week just before New Year's Eve!
So 10-month update, here's what's happened since my last post in... June. :P I actually wrote a few posts that I immediately forgot about and left sitting in my drafts. It's been really busy, what can I say!
July/August/September were really more of the same - job hunting, weekend adventures with Stuart, still finding my way. I started going to a knitting group in the city at some point. I didn't really click with the group but I did make one friend!
October was BUSY! My parents came over for ~10 days which we split between Dublin and Northern Ireland. My dad bought a new camera for this trip, took thousands of photos, struggled with the food, and was very ready to head back to sunny NC at the end of 10 days haha, it meant so much that he came though - he's very much an indoor cat and he did enjoy several parts of the trip! My mom had a much easier time since she's a globe-trotter like me. She started planning her next trip before this one was even over and has already booked her (and my niece's) tickets for summer 2017. Stuart's parents came over for the weekend and we all got to spend some time together. We didn't do much for our first wedding anniversary (Oct. 17) because we had so much going on, but it was nice to have our families together in our first home. <3
And as soon as my parents went home, I started working! Finally, finally. Too many months of #housewifelife and I was so ready for a new beginning. I applied for a permanent, full-time position; got hired for a seasonal, part-time position; still ended up working full-time hours though. Such is the way of retail no matter where you are! It was a good, eye-opening experience. My boss was really nice and my co-workers were excellent! I got my National Insurance number sorted out (like a Social Security number - it's mine for life and I never have to go through this again) and I got some contacts I can use for references. Not really that different from retail work in the states, but I learned a lot about how people speak here - different words for things and where they put inflections. My mom says I talk a little funny now, my accent's still the same but my voice goes up in different places than before. I'm excited to hear how it changes when I've been here longer.
All in all it's been a great success settling in to life in the UK - not all sunshine and roses, but nothing I can really complain about too much. Job hunting in Scotland has begun in earnest now that the holidays are over. We're hoping to move sooner rather than later, so we certainly have our work cut out for us. I'm going to try and keep a better record of this new journey, and our belated honeymoon in April! 2017 is going to be a great year, I'm sure of it. :))
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