30 August 1999

Howdy all you dudes!
Here is the letter you have all been waiting for breathlessly, no doubt. I am in Malcolm's office at the moment, it is 18:30 and he is about to go and test drive a Rav 4 four door. We have also gone to see the Grand Jeep Cherokee Loredo and the sales guys have phoned Malcolm 10 times today, begging him to come and sign on the dotted line! No jokes, they are desperately trying to get rid of their '99 models. We are going to stay in Rye on Friday, September 3 at the Courtyard Marriot until our house and furniture are available. Jessica starts school next Tuesday or Wednesday, I still have not received the forms so I am not 100% sure of the date.
We have still been doing some of the touristy things, but the kids are also getting tired of running around and we spent most of last week at "home". We have been to the American Museum of Natural History, which Jess thoroughly enjoyed, Kirstin got bored after a while, all she wanted to see was sharks and whales. We went to the N.Y. Aquarium and watched the sharks being fed, not all that thrilling, the sharks had to be coaxed into eating by having their food (fish on a skewer) shoved right under their nose.
We have also walked down to the East River, it is only 2 blocks from our hotel.
My favourite spot, and the kids' is still Central Park, there are lots of different playgrounds for the kids and lots of different paths and walks. There is "the Reservoir", where you can hire model sail boats for
$10 per hour and sail them around the lake. We have been to the Great Lawn and Shakespeare's garden both of which are really great. The Central Park Wildlife Centre (a Zoo) is another of the kids favourite places.

Yesterday we went on the Staten Island ferry! We caught a bus on Staten Island and went to a place called Richmodtown. It is a town from the mid to late 1800's which has been restored. They have people their living like they lived then, housewives, a basket weaver, a tinsmith, a carpenter (who really makes butter churns, buckets, baths etc.), weavers and the like. The general store was amazing, it still had some of the original items in it. Some of it was destroyed by a fire and they redid it. Apparently the husband and wife who ran it died of Scarlett fever and their daughters took over the running of the store. They also had the original court house and school house. It was a really interesting place.

Another place which got me really excited was the Lexington Candy Store. It is a diner which has been going since 1925. The establishment has been passed down from father to son, never sold. They have refurbished but have maintained the decor and furnishings, the diner was used to shoot a scene in Three Days in the Condor, or something like that, with Robert Redford and Farah Fawcett. Since then it has been used in numerous photo' shoots and "old" (new) movies. The kids and I had a great lunch there and I am determined to take Malcolm there for breakfast sometime.

A lot of people have asked me about making friends. Living in a hotel makes that impossible, considering everybody is coming and going. People are generally friendly, I get on really well with the doormen and bellhops and they are great with the kids. I am sure that once we have settled and life gets normal I will start meeting people.

I have met Robin and Darotta, who also hail from S.A. and now live in Rye. They invited us to their place for a ... braai!!! We all got on really well, and they have 2 boys aged 7 & 8 who got on rather well with the girls. Robin drove us around our new town, not bad. Brookville was prettier but I am sure that I will be very happy in Rye, the beach is 5 minutes away, the school about a mile and Connecticut about 20 minutes, where I can shop and pay no tax. We went past our new home and seeing it for the second time I found it to be more attractive. I cannot wait to move in and get settled, I can't wait to get new curains, which are about $20 a drop.
We are going to get a computer at home, and then I will have e-mail, and I can answer all your e-mail personally. Thank you to all of you for all the e-mails, I will let you know my address asap. Miss you all stax.
Oh! Melanie or Tracy, Please make sure our folks get copies of my letter, Tracy maybe you can fax it, or if Melanie e-mails her folks please send my mom a copy!!
Tons of love and lots of misses to you all,
Natalie