Details....Details.....Details Part #1

Well, am sure you all have been waiting for the details - so here they are! Am going to split this into a couple of posts for easy readability.

Anyhow, as I had mentioned in my previous post - we moved into our apartment on Friday. Mayur & Purvi came back in their Lexus RX 350 (SUV) and picked us up at 9:45 am along with two of our big suitcases, two pieces of hand baggage and two laptops - boy that car sure has a lot of space. We drove to Ardenwood Forest and there met Emerald at the leasing office. After we managed to get the lease in my name ( as it was originally in Mayur's - since I didn't have a social security number at the time when we signed up originally), she handed over all the paperwork, and asked for a cashiers check(note - it's check here as opposed to the British cheque). Apparently a cashiers check is similar to a demand draft. 'Twas a learning experience for us, as I had no clue as to what a cashiers check was! Anyhow, we went to our bank "The bank of America" (drum rolls in the background!!!), and got that made for the requisite amount, and were back in record time. It was only after that, that she handed over the keys to us, at about 11:45 am!!

With the keys in our hands, we drove up to the apartment, and had the first look.Another learning lesson: Ground floor is known as first floor here, while the first floor is known as the 2nd floor, and so on. So as per US terminology we were on the 2nd floor. Mayur and Purvi help out in moving the luggage in, and then left in a while, as technically, it was a working day for both of them. We started to unpack as much as possible, as Anil, Vikas, and Kiran were due to arrive by 1:30 pm in his Toyota Sienna Van to help us move the remaining stuff.

By the time they arrived we had managed to fill in the cupboards and ended up emptying most of the suitcases from the first trip. We then went back to the guesthouse to pick up the remainder - two more suitcases, the cookwares, dining table & chair, and a couple of cardboard cartons. Stopped for a quick bite at Taco Bell en route, and reached home by about 3:30 pm.

After moving everything in, the first thing to do was the milk boiling ceremony. Mahi carried it out perfectly and then also made some Kheer. As is evident from the photographs, all of us enjoyed it immensely. Anil, Vikas and Kiran, left by 5 pm as Anil still needed to get back to work. If there is one thing that I can say about Anil, it's this: "He goes out of his way to help you out - and it's very hard to come by his kind these days. The amount that he has helped us out is no small feat - I wonder if I would ever go to that extent myself."

Anyhow, once they left, we kind of settled down a bit, and unpacked some more. We finally crashed out in the night, looking forward to Saturday.

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