August 23d

Why do I always feel I am doing things wrong. We were looking for the number of a house we were supposed to be at, had been for 10 minutes. SO I find a letterbox without a house number, and think, well letters have numbers. And in my houses everyones letters just land on the same doormat, so I open that letterbox and try to read the adress. I get the strong impression from the reactions of my fellow travellers that that is not done, definitely not done. ANd I feel so embarrassed the rest of the evening, because I realize when I think about it that it is not done, and I probably would not even have done that with a Dutch letterbox, but everything is new, and I don't seem to think much these days. Take the car insurance. Insure myself with lowest liability because L said that should be ok -they can't sue you. Well not if I never want to enter the states again. So I have spent the whole afternoon + yesterday telling this agent I urgently need my insurance by the end of the day - which I did. And everything is faxed through on time (once I have got L out of the swimming pool to help me) - and only then, at 4.15 pm do I think,no, this is no good,I need different liability. And we start the whole process again! And of course it does not work on time. So tomorrow again I cant go to work because J will have to leave before I have received the fax + managed the dmv. I really want to go to work and meet people, not be stuck here working. The funny moment of the day, when even the insurance agent laughed was: I have a new US mobile which has keys that are the opposite to my Dutch phone's ones - otherwise the phone is exactly the same. SO instead of picking up the phone when she finally calls me I press 'ignore' - realize it and start swearing loudly, only to hear someone calling down the phone - the agent was in fact on the phone, listening to my swearing. We had a moment of mutual understanding when she said "sounds like you're having the same kind of day as I am". That helped - until I realized I did not have the buyer's agreement I need for the dmv. THe guy who sold me the car should have left it with J, but he didn;t. HEadache. Luckily a run and a beer and J's bouncy very nice Israeli graduate student helped. AND, she's said we should do something this weekend which made me very happy. NOt that I mind being on my own here, but I also feel it would be nice for L if she had the house to her own every now and then and I am not sure she banked on having someone occupying it day and evening!
SO, shoudl I also tell the disgusting Bailey dog story to end the day? L came up to me yesterday handing me a pair of undies which felt somewhat soggy, saying: "I think they may be yours". They were, and I could have sunk through the floor, wondering how I could have dropped them in the middle of the house, very embarrassing. Whether the explanation was better than thinking I had dropped my own undies I don't know: Turns out B likes to take underwear out of clothes baskets (used only) and lick it. I have felt very different about being licked by him (in the face!) today!
GOod night.