Paul & Karen 1989 (May)

May 16, 1989

Hi everyone!

We thought we’d do a newsletter to start the correspondence off + give everyone a rundown on what we’ve been up to for the last few months. We have had a wonderful holiday, and are totally rested + ready to rejoin the workforce. We’d forgotten what it was like to really relax, so it’s been nice to be able to sleep in, stay up late, talk all night, eat any time of day or night, + be free from stress! We had lots + lots of fun with Rob + Andrew on the trip – their opposite temperaments made for lots of interesting situations. Well, we just love America + the people. We prefer the south (which is just as well, since we’ll be living there), + then California, + then the north-east. Life in the north-east is very fast, but pretty laid-back in the south (that’s us all over). The things that have struck us most about Americans are: their overwhelming hospitality + generosity – many people, both friends + strangers – have opened their homes to us so readily. Also the American people are not as easy-going as Aussies, in general, so it’s different relating to them. Every home we’ve seen so far has a microwave, dishwasher, clothes dryer, video, + hundreds of essential gadgets like humidifiers, de-humidifiers, leaf blowers, ice makers, garbage compactors, etc, etc. Believe it or not, even though Americans as a whole appear to be more outgoing, we’ve found that Aussies are more individual + confident to be themselves.

Mind you, after we’ve been here for a few more months, we’ll probably have different ideas again.

We’ve gotten to know all the U.S. relatives really well, + they all enjoyed meeting 3 real Aussies.

We are about to start job-hunting – next Monday we’ll begin by contacting some agencies. It should be pretty exciting seeing what’s around. Everywhere we’ve gone, people have said that Atlanta is a very thriving + exciting city to be in. We’ll also be church hunting starting this Sunday. We’d really appreciate your thoughts + prayers – we’ll probably start to feel really homesick once the holiday is over. We’ll be staying with Uncle Harold + Aunt Hildegard for at least 1 month. Hildegard is going to Germany for all of June, so we’ll keep Harold company and look for a place for ourselves.

Please write when you can. We’ll write whenever we hear from you, so let us know what’s happening down under. We don’t get any news at all about Australia here, so any news would be great.

Missing you a lot! Lots of love + prayers,
Paul + Karen
xxxx

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Paul & Karen’s Happy and Humorous Highlights of our U.S.A. trip

We almost missed the plane in Brisbane because of over-sized hand luggage + crabby flight attendant.
Our four hour wait in Sydney airport turned out to be just long enough – it took 3 hours of queueing to check in!
Andrew squealed with delight upon arrival in New Zealand
Immigration in Hawaii – Karen’s took 10 seconds (flashing passport like flashing your train ticket at Central station), Paul’s took 10 minutes, + Rob + Andrew’s took 40 minutes.
We were relieved to find a few very beautiful beaches on the east coast of Oahu after the drabness + commercialism of Waikiki.
The first American church we went to was very much like H.P. – met in a warehouse, have a building fund, lively worship, very warm + caring.
In San Francisco, a “pre-arranged stranger” (friend of a friend) met us at 5:00 a.m. at the airport, gave us unending help + kindness + took us out to dinner – our first real taste of American hospitality – very generous.
We were amazed + awestruck by all the beautiful landscapes in this country. Especially loved the majesty of Yosemite, the beauty of Sequoia, the incredible size + detail of the Grand Canyon. Every state is so different in the scenery it offers.
We had an incredible time buying a car in Anaheim – there is no “magic mile of motors” – they are very few + far between (car yards, that is). And American car yards don’t tend to stock “old” cars, “old” being more than 4 years old. But God was great and directed us to the place where we bought our Yank tank – an ’82 Chrysler New Yorker with power-everything – in only 1 day too!
We got enormously frustrated with the attitude that U.S. insurance companies have towards “aliens” – spent days getting decent insurance on our car.
We had a wonderful visit with Ray + Trace in L.A. – spent a day with them laughing, loving, + being homesick.
We had lunch one day in a genuine ghost town in the desert called Calico.
We made the big mistake of skimping on hotel costs one night in Albuquerque at a $25/night-for-4-persons dive. We couldn’t shower or sit on the toilet for fear of dreaded diseases. There were cigarette burns on the blankets + little crawly things in the beds . . . well, it felt like it, + it sure made Rob + Andrew jump!
We got super duper sun burn in Texas while tubing down a river. Two days later we were moaning about our sun burn in New Orleans, where it was 8 – 10 degrees (Celcius)! What a strange feeling!
We enjoyed meeting the dozen or so new relatives born or married since the last visit.
We had some interesting times with differences in the lingo. One time Paul said to Uncle Harold – “Do I put oil in the petrol to mow the lawn?” Harold looked very puzzled, so Karen translated – “Do I put oil in the gas to cut the grass?”
We experienced men in electronics shops trying to rip us off – slashing prices from $450 to $200 before we have a chance to start haggling for goods worth $50.
The cheese here are certainly different, to say the least – more than once we’ve mistaken grated cheese for grated carrot.
We were staggered by the number + size of shopping malls – a town of 30,000 has a mall bigger than Garden City!
It seems like there’s an infinite number of places to eat – with dozens of all-you-can-eat buffets.
We had a nice tour of West Point Military Academy, New York.
We had wonderful visits with our friends + rellies – all of them said, “We really like Paul – he’s so nice”! (Look’s like he’s “in”!)
We were asked 1,000,000 times – “Have you seen Crocodile Dundee?” + enjoyed watching the shocked looks on people’s faces when we replied, “What’s that?” So far there’s only a 10% gullibility rate.
We went to Canada twice in 2 days + had fun trying to trick the border guards.
We “did the rounds” on churches – charismatic, non-denominational, Pentecostal, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, + Presbyterian.
I think we’re suffering from lettuce + mayonnaise overload – the American staple diet.
We went from the “we’re having a great time” to the “we’re getting homesick” stage in just 9 weeks – overall rating 10 – we’ve had fun!