  Whew, here we are! Our flight left Saturday, July 3rd, due to a long wait for our visas. The flight was fine except for a little turbulence over Greenland which freaked me out.
The townhouse we are staying in is really cute! It has a cute back yard (back garden as they say here) and lots of windows which equals lots of light. Our room is tiny (English bedrooms are classified as "double" or "single" and we have a single). Our luggage takes up the entire floor. Last night we found that we could indeed squish both of ourselves into a single bed, but it wasn't the most lovely sleep I've ever had.
:) Today I came to work with Ben (we slept 10 hours and I think we're beating jet lag pretty well! ) so I could learn the bus system and see the city and I've been reading People and Time while he works. A lot of his co-workers have gone out of their way to come up to me and chat with me for awhile.
Most of them are around our age so I see some friend potential! Yay! So far my experience of the English has been that they are incredibly nice and welcoming. Ben and I met with Human Resources today and one of the ladies is going to drive us around tomorrow and help us find a flat or home to rent.
I feel relieved that we will have some help! So far today I've managed to: put my money in the wrong slot on the bus so the driver had to ask me which transfer I wanted but I couldn't understand what he was saying so I just stared at him like an idiot and finally he printed out the wrong transfer for me; I spilled a pop all over the floor by Ben's desk; I tripped up the stairs; and I met one of Ben's co-workers who he bought Cinammon gum for in the US.
She came over to introduce herself and thank me for getting her the gum. I said, "So you can't get Cinnamon gum over here? " and she said, "No," and I said, "Well, where did you have it that you found out you liked it if you can't get it in England? " and she stared at me and said, "I'm from Canada, can't you tell that I don't have an English accent?! " and then I felt like a total and complete idiot because it was obvious she didn't have an English accent but somehow I hadn't registered that fact.
Nice first impression I made! (Marie, she's from Surrey. I thought about asking her if she knew my friend Marie from Canada, but I figured I'd already made a big enough blunder for one day). I left my puppy on Friday evening and I'm really sad about it (thanks Craig and Rochelle for taking my little bundle of insanity). I lived with my sister and her hubby for over a month before I left so I got really attached to them and am missing them like crazy, and the rest of my family and friends too.
But I just have to get through that time of adjustment where I grieve the loss of leaving my home and I know that in time I will get used to it. I'm absolutely THRILLED to be here. As soon as I adjust to living in Nottingham, we are going to start visiting Euope! But I feel like I want to settle in here first before we start going all over the place. Ben's work has a learning center and I found out I can use their computers, so I'll be able to come in to work with him and e-mail.
They also have a gym we are going to join and a bar where I just had a beer with my lunch. Fun fun! The HR lady thinks that I can get a job as a work-permit dependent. I hope she is right! I'm going to look into the possibilities. She sent me some links to some employment agencies that she thinks I should look up.
So we shall see! 
