Maybe moving.....Day 19

Interview Day.

We got up early, well, I got up early.  The crazy thing about all of this is that Drew is sick.  He came down with a few symptoms on Monday.  By Tuesday at his judges' meeting, he was exhausted.  I did the driving down (mostly).  Mornings are the worst for him.  Nights are best.  So he drove last night, but this morning, before the interview, he is wiped.  Poor guy!  But he managed to make it out of bed.  We tidied up the hotel room and went to their continental breakfast.  Not bad.

Ya..I know, I used this one three times, but it goes with this:

We got back to the hotel room and my sweetheart went over his application and wrote down a few of his thoughts about things they might ask to just clarify his thinking.  Then it was time to drive him over there.  We stayed just 3 minutes from the interview, but remember that whole timing thing my sweetheart struggles with?  He wanted to leave the hotel and be at the interview building by 9.  We didn't leave the hotel until 9:20 and then there was zero parking.  So I had to stop in the road and let him out.

As I drove back to the hotel, I decided to get gas.  Where I stopped, they only accepted cash and debit card.  No gas there.  And I was the only white person there.  Not that it matters, because I really don't care, but it was interesting to look around and realize that everyone else were different nationalities.  That doesn't happen in most of the places I live, or even visit.  If we make this move, life will be different.

I went back to the hotel, called a girlfriend.  Talked about our experience up to that point, sat down and read my journal and realized some of my significant growth over our time in Northern California.  When my sweetheart had about 1/2 an hour left, I decided to go and get him.  I found a sweet parking spot next to the courthouse!!  I parked and just sat outside on the bench in front of the courthouse, waiting for Drew and doing my favorite thing: watching people.

It was 11 a.m., 72 degrees outside, and people were wearing sweaters.  If it gets to 72 degrees where I live, we all go to the beach and play in the water.  That is HOT!   But here, it is cold.  So strange.  That means, if we live here, we are going to roast!

Anyway, Drew finished the interview.  He felt like he did really well.  He said it was one of the best interviews he has had.  And he felt like he did well on the practical part, as well.  Because of our discussion about where we would live on the way down, we decided not to waste our time looking at housing in the 'work' city and to make the drive to the 'housing' city and look around.

We ate lunch and changed our clothes, or Drew did.  Poor guy.  He has only been eating potatoes since we left because he is feeling so lousy!  Then we drove up to the new city.  As we arrived, Drew had the thought to check out the high school.  We decided to drop by.  It was a good thing we did too.

I hadn't felt the need to reach out to them by phone.  When we arrived and explained the reason for our visit, the receptionist, kindly but firmly, told us there was no way our child would be able to attend their school.  They only accept freshmen and both their freshman and their sophomore classes were full.  End of story, no exceptions.  So I just clarified.  "You mean, even though he is currently enrolled in an early college high school, and we might be moving, you wouldn't accept him?"

She thought for a moment and then said, "Well, I would have to run that by the principal.  And she is in a meeting right now."

"Great, we'll wait."  Then she asked us if we had taken care of parking.  We hadn't, only because we didn't see the parking permit boxes.  Parking was an entire dollar, and only accepted quarters.  We had one quarter between the two of us and zero cash.  At this point, we hiked over to the security office to explain our predicament.  We are from out of town.  We didn't plan on visiting.  We stopped by on a whim.  She laughed and gave us a parking permit.  Drew put it in the car and I went to talk to the principal.

We had a great talk.  She was totally supportive and reiterated the secretary's original position, but said they do accept individuals with unique circumstances, and this would be one of those circumstances.  Then she told us all of the things she would need from us to talk with her supervisors about admitting Speedy to their school.   It was a huge blessing!!  I know if we had not been there in person and if we had just called on the phone, they would have told us 'Sorry, but no'.   There would have been no more discussion.  Stopping by and talking to them in person was definitely the right thing to do.

Then we went and got all checked into our hotel room.  Definitely a down-grade from the night before.  In hotel staying, you definitely get what you pay for.  Pay the extra money.  It is worth it, trust me.  But it worked.  So that was OK.  We hung out in the hotel room and did a little more educational research, just looking at schools for the littler kids.

About five o'clock, we met with one of the bishops from the area.  He gave us a tour of the building and then took us around town.  It was too funny.  He drove us all over his ward, told us he would take us to the other side of town and show us that ward, but took all of his time in his ward and then encouraged us to go and see the other side of town.  He was trying to be fair and that was his honest intent.  He was just so excited about his area of the vineyard that we didn't see the other side.  Driving around gave us a definite feel for where we should live.  No specific houses, but a definite feel for where to look.

After our time with the bishop, we drove half an hour north for dinner.  By now, I was starving!!  I hadn't eaten since 11 and it was 7.  I needed food.  I was grouchy.  I had told Drew I was tired of hamburgers and I wanted to eat something nice.  Even though we didn't arrive until 7:30 ish, Drew took me to the Olive Garden, one of my favorite restaurants!  I think it has been 16 years since I have eaten there because we don't have one where we live.  Anyway, after a yummy dinner, we made the drive back to the hotel, to sleep.  We were both exhausted.  At least the bed was soft.