Oklahoma City

We arrived in Oklahoma City on the 21st of June 1997. We were accompanied by Nico Taljaart, a (then) recruiter for CPL WorldGroup (now Software AG), who joined us in Boston on our way from Cape Town. I already had a job offer at American Fidelity. Efforts to find Vanessa work would start once we arrive. Nico was very helpful in our efforts to get a social security number, opening a bank account and looking for a place to stay, but once he left on Sunday, we were pretty much on our own.

We were provided with one week hotel accommodation and car rental, so that left us with 5 days to find an apartment and to buy a car and since I started work on Monday, the task was left to Vanessa to at least find an apartment. She eventually found a place in the northern part of OKC, near Lake Hefner.

	On the Wednesday we were referred to a car dealership by a fellow South African colleague. We had no idea what we wanted or what we could afford to buy, since it would all depend on how soon Vanessa would land a job. Within a couple of minutes we settled for a Chevrolet Cavalier, since our rental car was a Cavalier and we were quite happy with it. Pictured to the left is our car (complete with male model), taken at Lake Hefner (Lake Hefner Golf Course was the closest golf course to our apartment and we played most of our golf there).
The picture on the right is one of the entrance to our apartment complex. It's was located north of Oklahoma City on the corner of Pennsylvania and 122nd Street.
	In terms of furniture, we started off from scratch. We each brought the amount of luggage we were allowed by the airline. I even gave up one piece of luggage, just to bring my golf clubs with. The picture on the left is from the inside of our apartment and was taken a couple of weeks after we moved in. Although it might look like we had lots of furniture, what you see is about all we had. The two black leather couches was purchased with our South African credit card and if you translate the dollar amount back to South African Rands, it sure wasn't cheap. But this is what Vanessa always wanted, so this is what we got!

After having settled in, it was time for Vanessa to find a job, or to be more correct, it was time for CPL to find a job for Vanessa (since they were the visa holders). Things didn't look to good in that department. Our recruiter said that she had seen many jobs advertised in the papers, but once we started to apply for them, it was obvious that the people in Oklahoma wasn't very comfortable with appointing people with visas. Most of them didn't know what their responsibilities was towards the visa and didn't bother finding out. Things didn't look too good at that stage, and since my contract was for 6 month until the end of December, there wasn't much we could do. Vanessa did eventually find a job on her own, but it was only for 5 weeks. It was obvious that we would not extend our contract in Oklahoma City and told CPL that we needed to move elsewhere, preferable to a bigger city where the job opportunities was much greater.

In the meanwhile, we decided to explore Oklahoma, since we knew we weren't going to be around for much longer. Naturally, we visited places in and around OKC. The biggest tourist attraction in OKC are the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and this was where the picture on the right was taken. Although it was very interesting, one visit was more than enough.

We also visited the site of the Oklahoma City bombing. To the left is a picture of Vanessa next to one the fences surrounding the site. People that visit this site put notes, pictures and stuffed animals on the fence in memory of those who died in this terrible act of terrorism. Although it happened more than 2 years before we moved here, it was still very fresh in the memory of the people in OKC. What made it worse is that the trial was underway while we were there.

It was during this time that I met Mike Taylor. I was introduced to him when I acquired about people playing golf at the company. Mike is a good golfer and we became good friends by playing on a regular basis. This was about the same time that Vanessa started to play golf. She became tired of staying at home during the week and then waiting for me to finish golf over weekends.
	Mike and his wife Shele invited us to see a pro bull riding competition. The event was held at the Lazy E Arena, just north of Oklahoma City. This was the first time we've ever attended something like this and we enjoyed it very much.

During the month of September, we visited the Oklahoma State Fair at the State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City. We were amazed at how many people there were as well as all the different variety of people. It seems that people from all over the state flock to the fairgrounds to visit the fair. It was really something to see. Here, on the right, is me (in the middle) with the Berry family, Padraic, Michelle and little Tanica.

2 Months before my contract expired, I was contacted by Nico from CPL about a opportunity for work in Chicago. Vanessa and I was needed to work on CPL's Year 2000 readiness team. This worked our perfect, since now we were both able to work. Unfortunately, they needed Vanessa immediately, so during the month of December, Vanessa was in Chicago, while finished my contract in Oklahoma City.