Robin and Llew making pasta. It was Robin's first time. We had a fabulous lasagne as a result.


Lugh, the dog, attacking a Coke bottle while Robin and I look on. We are sitting in Robin's loungeroom.


Robin lives in the Historic District of Lafayette. It is just a short stroll to town. These are just some of the neighbourhood houses.

Well, I finally felt well enough to go out of the house and we went for a walk. I have been really sick and we didn't make it to Orlando or my conference. We will have to visit DisneyWorld some other time because the tickets are not refundable. Oh well, I can't help getting sick.



This is Main Street in Lafayette in the middle of a Tuesday. Yes, it is really quiet. It has a lot of small gift shops and odd business shops. It has a few cafes and restaurants, but nothing main stream. We walked right round it in about 10 minutes.


This is the Lafayette City Hall.


Llew standing in Lafayette. It is still cold. At this time it is 32 F (0 C) with a wind chill of about 23 F. At least that is what the local weather channel tells us. (Yes, we find ourselves watching the weather channel sometimes when there is nothing else on. US TV is not the best, but there are some good shows on Food or Discovery.)


Now, look at this cement mixer closely. Had to take a picture!

Lugh - Robin's dog.

Llew - straight into cooking.

Well, we have been here for 2 days. I have had a cough so have been watching TV and relaxing. Llew went to a seminar at Purdue yesterday afternoon so is getting into the place.

Today we have been looking on the web for apartments and have applied to a few. This town really is small and we will be able to walk most places. The bus system is also really good and is free for Purdue faculty members and $1 for others.

We're Finally Here!!!

Well we have finally made it. After 12 hours to LA, a 3 hour stop over and a 3.5 hour flight to chicago, we stopped for the night to sleep. Waking up this morning we were tired but both realised that we don't feel any jetlag. We believe it is what time it is, so we are happy about that.

After a night in chicago, we made our way back to the airport to catch the Express Air Coach to Lafayette and Purdue. For those that don't know, there are two towns here, Lafayette and West Lafayette, separated by Wabash River. West Lafayette is tiny though and is dwarfed by Purdue university next to it (West Lafayette really functions as the University's town centre). We caught the coach to the Purdue airport and yes, they have their own airport, for charter planes only. On the way down we past through a lot of farming country, growing corn (of course) and soya. It was all, however, covered with snow.

Robin (my new boss) picked us up at the airport and went back to her house where we met her dog Lugh. He is a massive white puppy (pictures in the next post). After that we wandered around as Robin was teaching from 4:30. We have found a nice coffee shop with free wireless which is where I am typing this post from.

We are both fine and looking forward to the next few days getting oriented before we head off to Disney World in Florida.



Finally here in Purdue, and look, there's SNOW!





My future building, and more snow.








Here I am sitting in Robin's chair. Pictures from my office when I move in.

We are going!

The plane leaves in 3 hours! I am excted more than ever now. Actually feels like we are going somewhere now.

Our Farewell Party

Well, 13 hours later Miss Piggy was cooked. We had our farewell party yesterday and fed about 80 people with a whole pig on the spit. Special thanks to Jo and Am for staying up with me overnight to make sure it was cooked.




















Miss Piggy having a warm bath before her big date.

















Jo and I with Miss Piggy, finally ready to cook.

After 12 hours, she's looking good!




















Carving the pig. Mike (in the background) looks hungry already.




















In the end, not much left.

We are almost packed and ready for our trip tomorrow, just a few more things to go.

Last time in the US

This was taken last time we were in the states. I don't know if we'll get to San Fran again, but I guess we will see other sites.

3 days!

Well, at least it is getting closer.

We went to uni on Wednesday and said goodbye to the campus and office and a few people.
Wednesday night we took Peanuts for his exchange to Tineke. It was a bit sad and stressfull. We got a call on Thursday night saying he was OK and looking for food. That was good news. I just keep expecting him to come around the corner!

We are preparing and doing some cooking for the big pig day tomorrow. I have also packed and sorted out stuff. Welly has half packed. We will finish off on Sunday.