I just arrived in Raleigh/Durham, the airport. There is an internet terminal I can use, very nice.


I planned to arrive here around 1 pm, but a cancelled flight and 2 delays made that I'm here now, around 7 pm. I'm on my way to pick up my bag and rent a car. I just bought a map of the area, let's se if I can find the hotel at once.

Friday was my last day at work. I've had two really nice years, learned a lot and formed a number of very good relationships with great people.

It's sad to leave, but the relationships will remain.

Friday afternoon we went to Reston, to look at the company's new office there and we had lunch in Champs, a nearby restaurant.

I have my license!

After a long morning at the DMV with the usual paperwork and long lines, I passed the road skills test easily and I am now the proud owner of a Virginia driver's license.

Just in time of course for my move to Durham. There is a mandatory waiting period of 30 days between getting a Learner's Permit and doing the road test, so yesterday I had 3 big events: my last day at work, the pick-up of our belongs by the moving company and getting my driver's license.

Yesterday morning early I went to the DMV with my instructor and his car. We arrived at 8.00 am at the Four Mile Run Drive DMV, and the line was still short. I was the 7th person applying for a road skills test, and I filled in my paperwork at the counter. I gave them my learner's permit, passport and the car's registration papers.

Around 9.30 am they called my name (they just said "Bosman" -- they don't dare to try my first name like they do for other people). A DMV representative went with me to the car. She asked me to get in, switch the engine on so she could confirm that all the lights on the car were working correctly. The moment I stepped in the car, she asked me to come out again. I wondered what I could have done wrong. It turned out that there was something not in order with the car's registration papers: the expiry date didn't match the stickers on the license plate. The lady said I couldn't take the test in a car without the right papers, and she told me to go back to the instructor to see if there was another (older) version of the registration form. She said she would call my name again later.

My instructor found the other registration form quickly. The next name the lady called was of the girl that also came with my instructor. She had a driver's license from India but needed to take the road test for a U.S. license. She took the (right) registration forms, and went to the car. She came back 5 minutes later -- she failed the test, by leaving the emergency lights on when driving backwards. Not exactly what I wanted to hear -- somebody who already had a (foreign) license failing the test that I was about to take.

It took another 30 minutes before the lady called my name again. I was glad I had brought some coffee from our apartment and a magazine. There's not even a vending machine at the DMV for a cup of coffee.

When we came to get car again and I was a bit relieved to see that the girl had parked it in an easy place. I got in and the instructor stood outside. She asked me for the left signal, right signal and the other lights before she joined me in the car and told me drive out of the parking lot.

We made a right turn, onto the public right (30 miles per hour), and made a right at the traffic lights a little further. Another right a few minutes later brought me into a 25 miles per hour zone, where I obviously did not go any faster than 25 miles per hour. The car behind me disagreed, and honked, twice. I said to the DMV lady: "I don't think that that car needs to honk at me". She said, "I agree", so that was that.

We had one 4-way stop intersection and a small turnabout, and made another right to head back to the DMV. We entered the parking lot, and the lady told me: "that was very good". I had made it! A big relief.

Then she asked me to let her out of the car and told me to find a parking spot, so for the first time in my life I was driving a car alone. Technically speaking illegal because I did not have my license yet, but I suppose with the DMV's blessing it was okay. I parked illegally too, in a spot with a big "towing at your own risk and expense" sign because there was absolutely no place to park at the DMV's parking lot. I went back inside and my instructor saved the car while I did my paperwork.

Not that I'm complaining, but the test was really easy. I didn't have to do any of the non-standard procedure such as a 3-point turn, parallel parking or a U-turn.

Anyway, I'm very happy I have my license.

We started packing for our move to Durham well on time, and did most of the small items over the weekend.

The larger items, and the things we still needed we left for the evenings.

Except for Wednesday we packed every evening till midnight. It took a lot of time to pack everything but we finished on time. Friday morning the house was full of boxes and furniture parts, ready for the movers to arrive on Friday afternoon.

Packing.

We were packing till late at night for a few nights.

For many years I lived without a car.

I never held a driver's license, and actually never drove a car. This is surprising to many people, especially in the U.S., but ever since I was 18 I have lived in cities where public transport, walking and bicycling were enough to get around.

A few weeks ago I did a knowledge test at the DMV in Alexandria, and got my Learner's Permit. A Learner's Permit allows you to drive a car, as long as you have somebody next to you. The past few weeks I have been taken driving lessons. Driving with an automatic transmission is a lot easier than with a stick, which I learned when I was learning with my father.

When we went to the summer house I drove for a few hours in Rosa's car also (thanks Rosa!) and saved a fox and a groundhog's life by twice breaking on time. I drove a couple of times on the Beltway, the highway around Washington D.C.

I'm ready for the road skills test now.

Yesterday evening I had a goodbye happy hour with my colleagues.

It is sad to leave the company I have worked for the last two years. I have had a good time and enjoyed working here a lot. At the same time I am looking forward to my new job in Raleigh, North Carolina. More on that later.

We celebrated in Four Courts, an Irish bar at Court House. It was a fun evening and we stayed out long.

The moving company called and confirmed our pick up date: they're be there between 3 pm and 6 pm tomorrow.

Last night I went to Sasha's work and I was at Federal Triangle around 6.00 pm, rush hour in the metro. A nice chance for some last D.C. metro pictures.

Our moving is going well; we've packed pretty much everything. I packed the computer last night and took the harddisks out to carry those as hand luggage this weekend.

The movers are coming on Friday.

This weekend we packed most of our belongings in preparation of our move to Durham, North Carolina.

It's a lot of work to pack everything, but it's fun to get ready for our move. We have packed the content of all cupboards, and the small items and papers that take a lot of time.

Tonight we're packing the remaining kitchen items and start dissembling the furniture.

We ordered moving boxes online at U-Line.com. Thanks to good advice we also ordered a tape dispenser.

Boxes.

First steps.

In progress.

Our house getting empty.

Today we brought our coins to the bank.

For two years we have been storing our spare coins in a drawer in the kitchen. The last months it's been harder to open and close the drawer because it was so heavily loaded.

We carried two bags of coins to my local bank where they used an automatic counting machine to determine how much is was.

The final count was just over $200 -- quite a bit more than two years ago when I changed my remaining euro coins. We had over 1350 1-cent coins, but the biggest value obviously came from the quarters.

It's a very busy weekend, with a lot of preparations and packing but we are well prepared and making good progress.

Today Ettie is graduating from the Van Hall Larenstein institute in Environmental Science (Milieukunde). Congralutions from both of us!

After graduating in Delft three years ago, and now completed a study in Leeuwarden. She has found a job and started last Monday with her new employer.

Ettie has a website with her final thesis.