Countdown

In five days time we leave this house and end up where we started - the Courtyard Marriott at San Bruno. We farewell the pets on Thurday and, unless we visit them in prison, a.k.a. Quarantine, we won't see them again until August. It's going to be difficult - visiting times are Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:30pm-3:30pm. At least their long stay in Quarantine will give us time to find somewhere to live and ensure that the yard is Mitzi escape-proofed.

I'm sure the next week will be a blur - dropping off donations to local charities, cancelling utilities and insurance, verifying travel arrangements, selling the car. I'm looking forward to our trip home and then, arriving home and (hopefully) settling in one spot for a while.

Meanwhile, my saga of "Life In the U.S." has expanded. That's the problem when you break your material into separate blogs : you find more material.

Life In The U.S. - Part 3

Applying For A Californian Driver's Licence

To get a Californian Driver Licence you need a social security number. If you don't have a social security number you need a letter from the Social Security Administration (SSA) explaining why you do not have one. However, before the SSA can provide you with the letter they require confirmation from the DMV that you are eligible for a driver's licence.

So, to apply for a Californian Driver's Licence I have to:

1. Turn up at the DMV with my identity documents and obtain a letter that confirmed I had all the documents required for a licence except for a social security number.
   
   
2. Take the DMV letter to the SSA and obtain another letter explaining why I couldn't have a social security number.
   
   
3. Show the DMV my identity documents and the SSA statement so I could apply for my licence.

I can only assume that this procedure was put in place because people were falsely applying for licences. However, it seems like a lot of red tape and a waste of time. If you can get a licence without a social security number why is a social security number required?

A Visit To The Doctor

A visit to the doctor was just as difficult to arrange as a Californian Driver's Licence.

I rang up the local Medical Centre to set up an appointment for the following day or the day after that. The Medical Centre staff member who answered the phone asked for my Health Insurance Membership number and then told me that she would ring back to arrange the appointment when the Health Insurance Company confirmed my details.

Five days later I rang back because I had not received a call and was informed that my health insurance coverage had been confirmed but, because I was a new patient, that I could only have an appointment in the afternoon.

The Medical Centre comprised a patient waiting-area, a large administrative area, 6-8 consulting rooms and a laboratory. Unlike the situation in Australia, the doctors in the US do not have their own offices and they do not perform preliminary checks such as blood pressure.

At the appointed time, a nurse asked me to follow her to a small alcove near the waiting room where she checked my blood pressure and weighed me. I was then escorted to a consulting room to wait for the doctor.

Outside each consulting room there are a series of coloured "flags", each colour denoting a single consulting doctor, and each attached to a hinge on the wall. If the room is unoccupied, the flags all lie flat against the wall. If there is a patient in the room, the flag corresponding to the consulting doctor is turned away from the wall. My doctor was running behind schedule so there were:

1. No consulting rooms available for me (the nurse had to leave me in the waiting area until one was free).
2. 4-5 rooms with a white flag indicating that the room contained a patient for whom my doctor was the consulting doctor.

When I was finally shown to a consulting room and while I was waiting for the doctor there, I discovered I could view short videos on a TV monitor installed above a desk in the room. On the desk was a remote control that let me select the video I wanted to watch. Alternatively, there were magazines on the desk for me to read.

In the end I had to arrange a second visit - the first visit was only to "establish care". I had to make a second appointment for my checkup. The best news : my blood pressure was the lowest I have ever known it to be. I hate to think what is like now - the physical was the week before my Virtual University exams and before we found out we could start arranging the move home.

Waste And Recycling Service

Recycling seems to be a relatively new practice on the Peninsula. There are strict rules for what can and cannot be recycled. For example, only #1 and #2 plastic bottles can be recycled, which means that #1 and #2 plastic yoghurt tubs must be thrown out with the general rubbish. In Australia there does not seem to be this distinction - it's all #1 and #2 plastics, and in some cases also #3 and #4 plastics.

Composting does not seem common. Instead, people use a garbage disposal in the sink or throw their food scraps in the general rubbish. Because the landlord has provided a garbage disposal unit, we use that. Garbage disposals are illegal in New York because the garbage pollutes the water system. At least what goes down our garbage disposal is biodegrable. It's also kind of fun to watch how it handles different food stuffs like leeks (spins it around splashing water everywhere), corn cobs (makes a lot of noise grinding it up) or lemon rinds (fills the air with a tangy aroma).

The disposal of prescription drugs has been our biggest problem. Australian Customs requires us to declare our prescription drugs and provide letters from our doctors saying that we require the drugs. It seemed easier to get rid of those we no longer required.

I was referred to a Medical Waste Company who advised that they did not pick up medical waste from residences and suggested I find out if a local doctor or pharmacist would dispose of them. When I checked with the Medical Centre I was told that they do not take old medicines and that I should flush them down the toilet. As much as I hate to do that it looks like our only option - I don't want to risk throwing pills in the general rubbish.

One recycling program here that I do applaud is the recycling of computers. Anything that can be reused or recycled is stripped from the computers. To encourage people to recycle their computers, one computer store recently offered a discount on a new computer or other merchandise in their store to anyone who brought in an old computer.

Donations

When you make a monetary donation to a U.S. charity you are given a receipt for tax purposes, as is the case in Australia. However, in the U.S. you can also obtain receipts for non-monetary donations such as cars, clothes and furniture based on the estimated value of the donation.

This seems so strange to me. The reason we donate our goods is because we don't want them or can't use them - they have no value to us. So how can you give a receipt for something that has no value?

Jelly And Jam

I always thought that the American  jelly was equivalent to the Australian  jam. That was before I discovered I could buy jam. What Australians know as jam can be:

Jelly	A spread made using fruit juice
Jam	A spread made from fruit pulp or crushed fruit
Preserves	Jam that contains whole or large chunks of fruit

Marmalade in the U.S. has the same meaning as marmalade in Australia - it is a jam containing citrus fruit.

What I know as preserves, that is chunks of fruit sitting in syrup, is also referred to as preserves in the U.S.

As for the gelatin dessert that we Australians know as  jelly, the Americans call it  jell-o.

And we're suppose to speak the same language ... I wonder how people who do not have English as their first language decipher ours.

Big Cars

We have never seen so many big cars on the road as we have here in the U.S. - station wagons, executive sedans, recreation vehicles (that is, 4-wheel drives) and trucks (utilities). The smallest car I've seen is probably the VW Beetle. People peer down at you from their recreation vehicles and trucks, you drive down the centre of the road to avoid cars angled-parked against the kerb and everyone drives so fast seemingly secure with the fact that their car is bigger than yours. We're thinking of hiring a small car on our travels ... maybe we should rethink that ...

Leaving Burlingame

It's funny - five months ago it seemed like there was plenty of time to settle down and explore the area. When time is limited I start to notice the little things that make an area unique. The Peninsula is a lovely part of the world. Six months is a bit too soon to leave - I feel like I am just starting to find my way around. So what will I miss?

• Our Garden
  This garden is like having your own private wildlife sanctuary. With Spring in the air, the trees are blooming, bulbs are flowering and the garden is full of wildlife. Squirrels play in the backyard unafraid of both our pets, robins and jays gather on the lawn, finches splash in the birdbaths and puddles and hummingbirds fly from tree-to-tree gathering nectar.
  
  
• Hummingbirds
  I don't know what attracts me to these little birds. When I first saw a hummingbird sitting on a branch, I thought it was a finch. I love watching them gather nectar. When they are gathering nectar you cannot see their wings; they are just a blur of constant movement. The hummingbirds' bodies are only 2-3 inches in length and they have long, slender beaks.
  Last November I was sitting out on the patio when I heard this great buzz and a flock of hummingbirds landed in a nearby rose bush (more like a rose tree). Usually you see 1 or 2 birds, not a flock but it was getting close to Winter and I think food was scarce.
  To me, hummingbirds are the clowns of the bird world. Twice now I've heard a buzz close to my ear and looked up to see a hummingbird hovering in mid air looking (or is that laughing) at me. The other morning I finally managed to photograph one - I just hope the photos turn out.
  
  
• My Own Time
  Although I didn't accomplish as many things as I hoped, at least the time was my own. I'm not looking forward to getting back to the grind - how am I going to fit all that I want to do into 8 days a month?
  
  
• Not Having a TV
  Strange - but true - we don't have a television. We were planning to buy one but it was low on our list of priorities and then we found out that we were going home. Surprisingly, I haven't missed it. If anything, I have had more time to do other things such as work on our web sites, crochet (I'm still working on the throw rug I started in Melbourne), read, write letters, play cards (we're challenging Darren, Gina and my parents to a game of Five Hundred when we get home).
  We are planning to get a television when we get home. There are times, for example when you're ironing, that it would be nice to have the television.
  
  
• Summer
  Because we left Australia in September last year and will arrive back in Australia in May of this year, we will have our third Winter in a row. San Francisco is as far north of the equator as Melbourne is south, so I was looking forward to long summer evenings and walks with Mitzi. I'm just making sure I enjoy all the sun I can before we arrive back in Australia.
  
  
• Other things I'll miss:
  • Sitting on the patio for a meal and watching the activity in our garden
  • Raspberry sake, chocolate fortune cookies and Ghirardelli chocolate
  • Views of the Bay from the hills in our area
  • Seasons - the change of seasons is very distinct here, as it was in Melbourne, but not as it is in Sydney
  • Having the time to settle down into everyday life

Our Trip Home

Tony created the following map to show our trip home:

We are carrying a laptop with us on this trip so that we can keep the web site updated with news and photos.

We arrive in Australia on the 18th May and will bunk down with my parents (and Darren and Gina) until we find somewhere to live. Our Mums will be happy to have us home - especially my Mum. This Christmas will be the first Christmas in 4 or 5 years that she has had all three children in the one city. I believe that there are plans to celebrate a Financial Year Christmas and New Year on June 25th and July 1st and that Mum and I are attending an opera in June.

It's going to be great to be back home.