Arrival & Orientation

This is our first update from State College, US, which is also known as "Happy Valley". We arrived safely on August 1, after more than 24 hours of flight/transit. The first thing we did was to open our bank account; followed by checking-in procedures at Penn State University.

In addition, we have to "take over" the house from our landlord and lady. The house is cosy, has three levels and a nice guestroom at the basement (where we are currently staying) which opens directly into the back garden. It works out very well that we had a one week overlap because not only did we managed to find out firsthand the nitty gritty of how things operate in the house but more importantly, we get to know the Hunter family better. They have two beautiful and very well-behaved daughters, Molly and Betsy. The Hunters left for their sabbatical in Paris on August 7 . To follow their adventure in Paris,
http://lesaventuresdecdmb.blogspot.com/.

Before they left, we were introduced to the neighbors. The people here are really friendly. So far, we have attended two dinner gatherings hosted by our neighbors (by rotation every Friday – just like home cell gathering in Singapore). Most of our neighbors are somehow linked to the Penn State, which is not surprising since this is a university town. One neighbor is a professional artist, who specializes in outdoor oil painting. In fact, on the first week we meet, he had just won a regional art competition.

This is a very safe neighborhood. We are told that nobody locks their door even if they go out during the day. They only locked the doors at night.