Sunday, April 28, 2002

Diary: 4/28/2002

Dear friends and family

This is just too important not to put at the top. If you want our new address and phone number, here it is:
The Adato Family:
34091 Summerset
Solon, OH 44139
phone: 440-542-9659

OK. Back to the regularly scheduled weekly letter....

It was another exciting week, but relatively positive all around.

On Monday, Leon was able to finalize his return date to the US: May 17 will be the last working day, and he'll return after that, probably on Sat. the 18th. This was possibly only through the brilliance of Martin, who continues to soak up new information like a sponge. While it is "only" two weeks closer, every minute matters.

This week Leon worked with Martin via phone and email from the UK. This was because Leon would be out most of the week packing the house, and so it didn't make sense to have him out for just 2 days or to work without guidance. Also, this way Martin can tell his son Charlie more stories about oompa loompas and making chocolate!

Monday also saw the sale of Debbie's Swiss car, the Opel Zafira. Nestle purchased it back from Leon and the two parted ways in the afternoon.

Our friends from Solon, the Knox's, helped sooth Leon's sorrow and loss by feeding him to overflowing with dinner and then driving him home (since he was carless for the moment). These are the friends that welcomed us on the weekend we arrived, and have stood by us through everything. We can only hope that our families will get a chance to get together again.

The movers arrived on Wednesday morning, and by Thursday night the house was packed up into a remarkably small number of boxes. In the meanwhile, Leon had done some of his own packing and was fully moved into a one-room efficiency in Vevey. By Friday at 3:00pm, he truck was packed up (all 76 cubic meters) and driving away.

The rest of the weekend was remarkably busy - some co-workers were in from California, and Leon spent Friday night and Saturday running around seeing/showing some of the sights. Everyone took a run up to Gruyeres on Saturday, took in a movie in the afternoon, and dragged around Montreux for dinner. In between all that, we spent time at Paul and Rory Saunders eating pancakes, or pizza, or whatever. Rory is due to deliver their first baby within the next 1 to 2 weeks, so how she kept moving is beyond me.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...
...OK, so Nancy's house is more of a bi-level than a ranch, but it was too good a lead-in to leave out.

Debbie spent the beginning of the week with the phone glued to her head. If it wasnt' contractors calling with quotes, it was Debbie making arrangements for the phone, gas, electricity, cable, and (most importantly) the internet access!

For those who like to keep track of things, our new phone number and address is (or at least will be):
The Adato Family:
34091 Summerset
Solon, OH 44139
phone: 440-542-9659

For those who have been emailing Debbie: Please do not take her lack of answering as anything more than the fact that she has had NO time to get to the computer. Leon is now printing and faxing her emails to her, just so she can stay up to date.

Next week
Monday afternoon is the dreaded "etat de lieu". For those who don't remember the last time we wrote about it in November, this is very similar to the Spanish Inquisition except that the Inqisitor doesn't even like their job, and a white-glove-test is thrown in for fun. Every speck on every wall, every nail hole, every smudge is recorded and compared to previous notes. Exceptions will be paid for by either the tenant or the owner, depending on the nature of the "issue". We've heard of people having to pay the equivalent of a new oven just because theirs wasn't clean enough. It can get pretty ugly. Leon has been busy scrubbing and buffing all week, and he believes we now have the cleanest fireplace on earth. No joke.

Aside from that, we'll just have to see how things pan out.

Love
Debbie, Leon, Heather, Isabelle, and Joram

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