A friend kindly reminded me yesterday that I’ve not blogged in a while, it’s nice to see that there are still some people reading my fantastically interesting day to day events when I post and all the hits I get aren’t just spam!

I’ve been pretty busy, the wedding is only 7 weeks away and pretty much everything I do is for the sole purpose of checking something off on my lists.  I’ve not blogged because it’s all ‘need to know’ and aside from Col and my bridesmaids, no one else really needs to know for another 7 (ish) weeks!

Today I feel fulfilled, touched and heartwarmed.  I can’t explain it really, but it’s a good feeling, a worthwhile kind of feeling.  Today was the SSA’s ‘Fall’ Newcomers Coffee, this time last year it was me who was the newcomer attending the coffee. 

Looking back at the group of ladies who were all new at the same time as me, I’m blessed to be able to say that I have since made friends with a number of them – some, I even see on a very regular basis.  It was a pretty important day for me and my transition into life here in Houston.

This morning was the biggest NC that I (and a number of the other board members) have seen and possibly one of the biggest the Chapter has seen.  We had a LOT of newcomers.  There was 7 or 8 board members and well over 20 newcomers (plus kids, poor Ness’s house was torn upside down!). 

There was such a great turn out and we had such a mix of cultures from various places across the globe with the largest numbers being native french or Japanese speakers or from back home with a number of people being from parts of the UK (I even had a fellow Norn Irish lady to chat to). 

How it works is, everyone grabs a plate of food from the spread, a drink and finds a seat around the room.  The hostess (Ness today) Introduces herself, welcomes everyone and then the board members take a turn around the room at introducing themselves to the newcomers. 

‘Hi, my name is ___, my husband works at the ____ office and has been with the company for ____ years.  We have ___ kids (if any), we have been here ____weeks/months/years.  This is our ____ transfer, before here we were in ____ (list places)’ and occassionally they mention one or two hobbies.

For the most part, the newcomers all know me as I am their point of contact when they arrive here in Houston so I don’t generally need to say a lot other than, ‘I’ve been in your shoes – only a year ago and I survived’.

Once the board have introduced themselves to everyone, it’s then time for everyone to meet the newcomers.  Each Newcomer stands up and pretty much gives the same speech that the board members do, they are given an SSA tote bag, welcomed to Houston and the person who has arrived the most recent gets a little bonus prize – Today’s winner has been in town 15 days.

This takes a while, particularly when there’s a language barrier, for a lot of these ladies, English is their second, or even third language and almost of the women ensure they speak in English (for practise) with only the occassional lady who doesn’t know a single word of English will speak in their native tongue with another of the ladies translating for them.

I was simply bowled over this morning, (and embarrassed – or, as we like to say at home, totally scundered!) a lot of the ladies stood up, said, ‘Hi, my name is ___’ (a lot of them spoke in broken English and some found it very difficult to communicate what they were trying to say, but stuck with it until they got their point across!) and in their next sentence they said, ‘Firstly I’d like to thank Las for helping me make this transfer go a lot more smoothly’, or a variation on that sentence. 

It warmed my heart to know that what I’m doing out here – although it doesn’t bring in a pay slip, it makes a difference at a ‘grass roots’ level to people’s lives, and, over the summer months in particular, almost on a daily basis. 

Which is something, like I told Col on my way home from the coffee morning, no wage can buy.

He’s a very sweet guy, when he know’s I’ve finished at events, he’ll call to see how they’ve gone.  Today, he told me that he was very proud of me and he wished people at home could see what I do out here, sometimes I do too.  The people I’ve met, even just passing through Houston have all left a dash of colour on my own life.  He then went on to say that he’d probably start receiving a whole bunch transfer requests through soon, but not for him, for me cause places would like to better their SSA! Heh, like I say, he’s a sweetie!

We had our 2nd West Coast Swing lesson last night, it’s in one of the SLB offices here in Houston and it’s run by another employee.  Surprisingly, I’m the only spouse who goes, the other people who are learning are all SLB employees but it makes no odds to me.  We’re having so much fun (so much more fun than we were having at that uppity dance studio that bullies people into forking out hundreds of bucks, but I shan’t mention that!) and are definitely considering signing up for Rick’s next WCS session next month.  We’re not good by any means, but we’re getting better and I think I’m going to have to cave and purchase some dance shoes, my trainers/tennis shoes/guddies are just not great when I’m trying to do a turn – I squeak and stick to the floor!

Ok, it’s time I stopped procrastinating and got back to my many to-do lists! Anyone have any ideas for what I could make for dinner?