Elsja Down Under

I’m Back… and I’m Married! September 6, 2010

YAY! I am SO happy to inform you all that I am a married woman. I know my month long hiatus from blogging probably means no one will still be around to read this but now that I’m back to reality I plan to be blogging more. In the coming days/weeks I’ll be posting all about the bachelorette party, wedding pre-party and wedding as well as the post-wedding sadness. But for today – just to get my self acclimated back into the blogging world- I will post a quick little 101 in 1001 update of all the things that were fulfilled while I have been away. There’s lots to share!

#3 Have a spa day with the works. I got a massage, manicure and pedicure the day before the wedding at a proper day spa. While I didn’t get EVERY treatment imaginable, I got all the ones I wanted and it was damn expensive so that’s all that matters right? I also did it with my bridesmaids, sisters and flower girl. It was wonderful.

#36- Go on a girls weekend away. Well my amazing bachelorette weekend cruise definitely counts for this one. I will post all (well, not ALL) of the exciting details in a future blog.

#53 – Go on a cruise. See above.

#59- Go home to CA at least 6 times. The trip out for our wedding was trip #6.  I might even top this one and go back 7 times by the end of the year. Time shall tell.

#64- Take photo booth pictures with Andrew. Here’s another one that was conveniently crossed out due to fun wedding festivities.

#78 – Be able to eat something cooked with beef. While in CA there was a delicious looking pizza placed in front of me. It was sausage and pepperoni and it looked delectable. I don’t know what got into me but I decided to willingly eat meat (albeit a combo of beef and pork, not just “beef” as the task calls for) for the first time since I was 15. Granted I did take one piece of pepperoni and one piece of sausage and break them into small pieces to sprinkle over the slice but the point is I ate it!! I willingly ate and enjoyed a piece of pepperoni and sausage pizza.

#89- Start a recipe book and write down all of my mom’s recipes that I like. I made sure to do this right when I arrived in CA since I have forgotten the last two times. My recipe book is is filling up quickly.

Over 50 tasks down, and many, many more to go. Better keep it up, I only have a few months before my time is up!

Is it Weird? May 15, 2009

Today I ventured out of the apartment for a few hours to meet up with some fellow ex-pats. Is it weird that I’ve never met these people in person (until today), never have even talked to them at all (until today) and yet I still know so much about them? No talking on the phone, no emailing, no texting… yet I still know tons of details about their day to day lives. Welcome to the wonderful world of bloggers! Today I met fellow ex-pat bloggers Daisy and Lindsay (and her friend Emily). I missed out on meeting Erin at lunch but there’s always next time right?

I only started reading Lindsay’s blog recently, so I’m not totally up to date on her life, but is it weird that as we walked around the Botanical gardens, I had conversations with Daisy about the guys she’s dated and her uni program? Is it weird that I knew all about the horrible blister on her foot? Is it weird that she was talking to me about the birds that visit my apartment everyday?

Is it weird that a foreign guy stopped us and asked us if  we would mind standing on his back as he laid on the grass while someone else took a picture?

Huh?

Yes, that actually happened. Here was how the conversation went:

Weird guy: Excuse me, are you all travelers? (detected our accents I suppose)

Us: ummmmm uuhhh yeah (hard to answer that one because yes, we are foreign but no, we’re not really “travelers”).

*** we suspect he is about to ask us for directions or something normal, but no… no such luck.***

Weird guy: I’m wondering if you might be able to help me. I’m trying to get a photo (pulling out fancy camera) but it’s kind of hard to get.  I basically want the photo of me lying on the grass with 2 people standing on my back.

Us:    …

Weird guy: You know, like I’m “down under”

Us:    …

Weird guy: I’ll give you $20 between the  four of you.

All of us: Uhhh ummm… ok???

Elsja and Daisy: Oh they can do it (pointing to Lindsay and Emily), they are the smallest!!

Weird guy: Oh how about one of you  (Lindsay/Emily) and one of you (Elsja/Daisy)

Daisy: She’ll do it (pointing to me), she’s shorter! (thanks by the way)

So, we decided to help the guy out. Either he was a really artsy person who genuinely wanted to get a shot to send back home of him “down under” OR he was a complete freak who gets turned on by REALLY weird things. Either way, it wasn’t going to hurt us to help him out. At least we have a funny story to tell now. Oh… and all of us were quite curious- why did he ask us if we were travelers? Wouldn’t local Aussies be better candidates if he wanted to be “down under”? Maybe he’s been told off by too many of them already. Seriously, have any of you out there ever had a weirder request from a stranger? If so, I’d love to hear it!

Lastly, while I’m on the topic of all things weird, I’d like to comment on this tree.  Amanda and Stephen took these photos last week and I didn’t think much of them until I actually went and saw the tree today.

First of all, this tree really DOES mysteriously drop random branches, I saw it happen with my own two eyes. Weird. But what’s even weirder is the sign. I hadn’t really thought about this until some guy pointed it out today. “This tree may drop branches without warning.”

Without warning?

Really? 

Is there any OTHER way this may occur? Like would the tree have some branch dropping alarm to notify you of falling branches? Would some guy sit in the tree all day to yell at people when one was about to fall?

Wouldn’t “This tree may drop branches” suffice?

Now I’m back to my normal apartment where I am doing normal work and am about to eat a normal dinner. Maybe later one of my neighbors will come ask me if I would mind putting on some rollerskates and helping them paint their living room. That wouldn’t be weird at all.

One is Silver and the Other’s Gold May 11, 2009

Tonight as I was sitting down to blog, I was reminded of that old song I learned in Girl Scouts…

“Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other’s gold. A circle is round, it has no end. That’s how long I will be your friend.”

Ok, so does this mean new friends will never be as precious as the old?? That kind of sucks.

Every time I go back to California to visit , I remember what it’s like to have my best girlfriends there by my side! I love it and miss it and wish I could have my friends with me always. When I come back to Sydney, I kind of settle back in the comfort zone of hanging out with Andrew and his friends 98% of the time and that longing for my friends sort of dissipates. Of course I have made some friends here and they are all great, but the feeling just doesn’t compare to the feeling I have when I’m with the  friends I’ve known forever. It’s hard because some of my new friends live a bit too far to make it convenient to hang out… or, because some are really great but already have their established circle of besties that you only really join in on for special events. 

New friends are great, but do we sit on the floor in the hallway and do each other’s make up? Do I sit on the toilet while one of them does my hair and shows me how to wear my new hat? Do we sip cocktails for the fun of it as we’re getting ready to go out while we laugh and reminisce about things that happened 10 years ago? Unfortunately we don’t. I would love to… but it just doesn’t happen.

Having Amanda and Stephen here this last week reminded me what it’s like to have a best friend around. Sure I remember what it’s like every time I go home, but it’s different when your old friends come and visit you and take part in your new life. Until this week, none of my friends had ever really met any of Andrew’s best friends (with a few exceptions). Until this week, none of my friends had ever seen my apartment or my city for that matter.  Until this week, I had never had a best friend around to go shopping and compare accessory choices with. Having a boyfriend is great and all, but he doesn’t know how to french braid my hair! 

I look at my sister who is 7 years older than me and I know that some of her best friends are friends she’s made in the last  few years. So I know it IS possible to become super close to someone you meet later in life, but I just don’t know how it could ever feel the same as the closeness you share with the friends you make in your teenage years.

I miss my friend and her wonderful boyfriend. We had a great week (which went by way too fast). Now it’s back to reality. Reality of knowing that I will never have my old friends here with me by my side. Sometimes reality sucks. I am now completely dependent on new friends, the silver friends, but hopefully some day silver can become gold.  

And yes, I will give an update on what we did and where we went and all that fun stuff… but I’m waiting for Amanda’s pictures since I seem to have only taken some on 2 drunken nights. I’ll at least post 1 pic for the time being. One of me and my friend Amanda. It was a great week

Love / Don’t Love – Down Under April 14, 2009

I actually got my first ever (and possibly only) blog request! I’ve been asked to post about the top 10 things I love and don’t love about Australia, so… here it goes. I don’t know if I can come up with 10 each at the moment- so I’m just going to post about as much that comes to mind as possible. I know I’ve posted some of this at other times, but think of it as a re-cap! Everyone loves a good re-cap!

Things I don’t love so much (in no particular order):

Shopping carts/trolleys. They have a mind of their own. They are impossible to steer. While I’m on the topic of shopping trolleys, I also find that the aisles in grocery stores seem to be a lot smaller here. I find myself in grocery traffic jams WAY more frequently and people just don’t seem to have the courtesy to move out of the way. They park their cart right next to another cart without considering the fact that people can’t squeeze through them. Let me tell you, my road rage is just as prevalant in the shops as it is on the streets!

Customer service. It blows! Servers in restaurants don’t work for tips, so they really don’t make any effort to keep the customer happy.

The cost of everything. From Coke to ketchup to clothes to alcohol- everything costs more! Well, ketchup doesn’t ALWAYS cost more, but seriously- some restaurants make you pay 30-50 cents for a little container of the stuff! At home I could get half a bag of ketchup at In & Out for free! There are NO free refills and you could pay up to 4 bucks for a TINY bottle of Coke, I’m not even talking about the big ones. Cans can sometimes cost 3 bucks. Such a freaking joke! And then there is the cost of drinks in bars… 9 bucks for a drink with one lousy shot of alcohol? You end up spending $50 bucks to achieve the same level of booziness that $25 would get you in the states. Did I mention the cost of the tolls on the roads here? Ugh don’t get me started on that. P.S. can you believe that “booziness” didn’t get flagged in spellcheck. Is that really a word??

Weather. Ok in all fairness, it HAS gotten better this year. The first year I was here the summer was CRAP! And coming from California, I’ve been a bit spoiled in the weather department, so I have really high standards. I wasn’t too disappointed this year so hopefully this won’t stay on my “don’t love” list for much longer!

Holidays. People don’t get nearly as into the holidays here that they do at home (maybe with the exception of Easter). Christmas is less festive, hardly anybody puts up lights in my area. Halloween isn’t big at all, and if you try to celebrate, you risk being yelled at by some Aussies because it’s a stupid American holiday. I happen to know a few Aussies who would LOVE to adopt Halloween into the Aussie culture… it’s FUN! And then there’s the simple fact that Thanksgiving just doesn’t exist here… oh how I miss Thanksgiving. 

Building quality. It seems as if most apartments here don’t come with screens. So, if you open your windows, you allow bugs (and lizards in my case) to enter your apartment at their leisure. Many have thin cheap windows that allow EVERY tiny noise to flow through. Annoying. Walls are brick or cement and it makes nailing anything into them nearly impossible. Annoying. Shower doors don’t go all the way across so water leaks out all over the floor… you get my drift. Ok- maybe this is just MY apartment, but I’ve heard the same from many other Americans who live here as well, so I think it’s a common feeling we all have.

Parking. This country doesn’t believe in parking lots. I really don’t like having to park down giant hills to get to where I need to go. And I REALLY don’t like having to pay $5 per hour to park at the bottom of a giant hill to get to where I need to go. I miss my big, easy parking lots.

The Internet and Cell phone plans. Both suck. Both are expensive. The internet is slow, has download caps and drops out all the time. Cell phone plans still pay by the minute! Both of these things are so behind the times!! Time for a technology update!!

The postal service. While I must say- my letters DO arrive VERY quickly, I really really don’t like that my packages are NEVER delivered. Evidently the couriers are too lazy to walk up the stairs in my building to deliver anything that doesn’t fit in the box. So instead, they leave little cards saying we weren’t home when they tried to deliver. Clearly these are bullshit since I am ALWAYS home since I work from home. This was especially annoying when I had a broken foot and was DEFINITELY always home. And this isn’t just a problem for us, we hear it’s VERY common here. Also… I don’t like that mail doesn’t come on Saturdays and I can’t mail a letter by putting it in my mailbox, I actually have to find a big red postal box to drop it into.

So now for the good stuff…things I DO love:

The location. I love that I have the beach and city both so close by! I can walk to the beach in 15 minutes (drive in about 3) and lay out or rent a kayak or have a picnic. I can get to the city in about 20 minutes by bus (less time if we’re driving). It’s the best of both worlds. The harbour is beautiful, the Hunter Valley only a few hours away and a 10-20 minute drive takes us to so many awesome bars and restaurants with great views and atmosphere. Plus my apartment has a few little shops right across the street- a grocer, fruit and veg shop, tailor, dry cleaner, chemist, deli and pizza shop! While they all seem a bit overpriced, it makes it very convenient when I forget an important item for dinner.

Public transport. I love that I can just hop on a bus and get where I need to go. The city is super accessible from busses near my house. I don’t use trains all that much, but when I do- those are just as convenient.

The scenery. There are SO many beautiful beaches and walks and picturesque areas around Sydney. Of course there are beautiful areas in California too, but usually they involved a long drive to get to them. Here we can drive or take a ferry to places 30 minutes away and you feel like you’ve been whisked away to a tropical island or some rainforest or something. It’s just beautiful. I REALLY need to get out and explore more!!! I definitely haven’t taken advantage of all that Sydney has to offer.

Thai food. Thai food has quickly become my favorite cuisine ever since moving to Australia. I never even knew I liked it until I came here and now there is SO much Thai all around and it makes me very happy.

Air quality. I really can’t prove this one, but I can say that my allergies and headaches have subsided a lot since I moved here. The lower amounts of headaches could just be because I’m happier… who knows? I do know that while I still do have issues from time to time, my allergies don’t bother me nearly as much as they did back home.

Wine. Ok, I loved wine back in CA, but I love it so much more here. Part of that is because I really enjoy having dinner with Andrew and sipping a glass or two on our balcony. Part of it is because I LOVE that it is SUPER cheap to order cases of wine online (one of the only things here that possibly IS cheaper than the states).

Internet banking. Seriously, the banking world here is miles ahead of internet banking in the states. It is SO easy to transfer ANYONE money regardless of their bank.

Sales tax (GST). Ok, I don’t like the tax itself, but I do like how it works. It’s just built right into the price so if something says $10.00, that’s what you will pay. There’s no guesswork involved when adding up bills at restaurants! So much easier!

Birds. I love the birds that come and visit me every day. It’s like having a nearly free pet without the commitment. If we want to leave for 3 weeks, we can and since the birds are wild, they can find food in other places… or at least on our neighbors’ balconies. They are so beautiful and entertaining to watch and feed. I also love the kookaburras. I used to hate them because they woke me up at 5am every day, but now they don’t. Now they just always provide me with a little chuckle every time they start “laughing” like monkeys. The cockatoos are beautiful as well, and so tame! Although I could do without listening to their loud screeching! 

Ooook… I’m sure I could keep going and going forever if I let myself, but this blog has to end at some point. Hopefully this has been of some interest to a few of you and possibly a way to cure boredom for a few others!

Weekend Updates March 29, 2009

Here are a few updates from my weekend:

1. My drive to Glebe was successful and my new Garmin GPS was very helpful. I must admit- it helped that I already basically knew where I was going, but it got the job done. I’m proud of myself that I made it! Driving across the bridge has been this big fear of mine since I moved, but it’s not even bad. It’s knowing which lane to exit into that is the toughest part!

2. My hair turned out great. I’d highly recommend Steve at Stevie English. Such a great guy and I didn’t even have to give him much direction, he knew what my hair needed and that’s exactly what I was hoping for.

3. Julz’ and Leighton’s wedding was great. Andrew looked very handsome in his tux and of course the bride and groom looked very nice as well. Julz’ dress was beautiful on her! There are some pictures HERE and HERE.

4. I have kind of a nice talent that earns me some cash from time to time. I chug beers. Now, to me this doesn’t seem like a great talent, but it has been known to make me quite a bit of money in my days. The best time was when a friend bet me 60 bucks that I couldn’t drink 3 beers in 10 minutes. Well, 10 minutes later I was 60 bucks ahead. It’s just so easy, but I guess not all girls think so. I’m particularly fond of the warm beer chug. This one earns me more because everyone always thinks it is SO much grosser. However, it’s actually MUCH easier. Cold beer is way harder to put down just because the temperature freezes my throat! So anyways, all of Andrew’s friends have already seen this once before, so when I tried to swindle some cash out of them at the wedding, they all said no. UNTIL they got drunker and really just wanted to see me chug the warm beer that was sitting on the table. So 1 beer chug later I was 15 dollars and 1 hangover richer. And I think it was quite entertaining for the table next to us who had NO idea what I was doing… until they saw me shoving 5 dollar bills in my purse Classy.

5. After the wedding, I told Andrew “This is the first time since I moved here in 2007 that we haven’t had one of your school friends’ wedding to look forward to.” (We’ve been to 5 now in the last 1.5 years). Yeah, well that lasted a whopping 18 hours or something. Last night his good friend John got engaged to his now fiance, Kalee. So congrats to them and bring on more weddings.

5. The birdies came back today. They were on a 2 week vacation or something. I really thought they were pissed that my parents left and decided they could never come to our apartment ever again. So imagine my excitment when I was lying in bed this morning and I heard them outside screaming at us. I jumped out of bed and ran to the balcony and there they were. I missed our birdies.

Hope everyone else had a great weekend… now on to a new week!

The Next Step March 26, 2009

I’ve finally decided to take the next big step in ex-pat living. It’s been a year and a half exactly (tomorrow) since I moved to Australia and so I do think it is about time.

I’m going to an Australian hairdresser. Well, technically I think he’s English- but he has a salon in Australia (Stevie English) and that’s what matters. You see, for the last 18 months I’ve managed to put off getting my hair done until each of my visits home to California. I always had two things going for me… one being the fact that I go home roughly every 3 months and the second being the fact that my hair is light enough that I can wait 3 months to get it done without having 3 inch black roots/regrowth. But seeing as how I may not be going home until the end of May- I really didn’t think I should wait 5 months to do my hair. So I’m taking the leap.

This is big for 3 reasons:

1. I don’t like going to people who I don’t know/trust to do my hair. I’ve been going to the same girl for years and I don’t like change. Luckily, I’m going to the husband of a friend- so it’s not some random stranger, that puts me at ease

2. I have a wedding to go to on Saturday so if it turns out cruddy, I’ll be hideous in all the photos. I’m sure it will be fine though, in fact I would put money that Andrew won’t even notice I got it done.

3. The salon is in Glebe. For most of you, that means nothing- but for me, it means I need to drive over the bridge to get there. Now, I could just take a bus to the city and then another bus to glebe and then walk a ways and then do it all again to get home. OR, I could just suck it up and drive across the bridge for the first time in my life. My driving has been limited to the north side of the bridge up until this point and since I am being brave and trying new things- I’m just gonna go for it! (By the way… this means I will be reaching another of my 101 goals. #92- drive myself in the city or to and from the airport). YAY

But I think I lshould eave 1 1/2 hours early (it’s 25 minutes away) to allow for traffic, getting lost, missing turns and having to drive around 5 blocks to find my way back to where I want to go, road rage, panic, and parking.

Wish me luck.

American Food Makes me Happy March 21, 2009

Almost exactly one year ago, I was looking forward to going home to visit family and friends and I was also looking forward to trying this place out -The Counter. I even wrote about my excitement in this post. So we did go once while I was there… and it was good. I wouldn’t say it was the best place I had ever been in my life, but definitely good and I loved the concept that you can pick whatever the heck you want to make your burgers. They even had sweet potato fries. YUM.

So imagine my excitement last night when my friend Val told me that The Counter opened up in Australia. And not only did it open up here… it’s located about 10 minutes away from me!

What a glorious day!

Not only did they open one close to me, they also have *almost* the same menu! Of course they did change some things to cater to the Aussie customers, but they have American cheese!!! I don’t even want American cheese on my burger- but it’s still cool that they have it!! Sad they don’t offer the pepperjack though Oh well, can’t win them all. But they DO serve the sweet potato fries (“chips”) and chicken burgers and turkey burgers and milkshakes!! and while it is a bit more expensive than in CA… it’s not TOTALLY ridiculous like a lot of restaurants here.

Who’s hungry?

Saying Goodbye March 17, 2009

I had to say goodbye to my parents today I am lucky that they did stay an extra few days (they were originally supposed to leave Friday) but it’s still hard to say goodbye. The place feels so empty without their bags and clothes and stuff. We had such an amazing time with them here! In addition to the stuff I already posted about- here are some more great things we were able to do while they were here…

• We went to the markets at the Rocks and Andrew’s dad and sister came with!
• We all went to Manly for lunch and to show them where Andrew and I first met.
• Mom & dad went for a walk around Watson’s Bay to see the oldest lighthouse in Australia while I worked (thanks Daisy and MC for the suggestions)! Now I really want to go on this walk with Andrew. My mom literally said it was one of the most beautiful places she’s ever been!
• I took them to Centrepoint tower for an overpriced (but yummy) cocktail.
• Mom & dad visited the Sydney museum (they weren’t impressed) and they Hyde Park Barracks (they were impressed).
• We all went to breakfast at Balmoral beach with Paul and Veronica!
• Mom & Dad went on a dinner cruise around the Harbour while Andrew and I were out at pre-planned parties on Saturday night. They said it was great!
• We went on a walk and took them to middle head to show them all the old navy stuff.
• Andrew and I took my mom to an early “mother’s day tea” (since we took my dad on the bridge climb for a bday/father’s day gift). It was at Gunners Barracks and it was really nice! They even “refilled” the sandwiches for free and the views were great. The weather was beautiful and calm.

I really don’t think we could have packed too much more into the 2 weeks they were here. Well, maybe not without passing out from exhaustion. Having them here made me realize just how much there is to do in this city! There is so much that I just don’t do! LIke taking a ferry to cicular quay… it’s so easy and it’s a beautiful ride. WHY don’t I do this more? I moved here and haven’t even taken advantage of all the things this place has to offer. It’s actually pretty sad

Anyways… we had a wonderful time and I was really sad to see them go. They must be somewhere over the Pacific (a little past Hawaii) right about now. Hopefully they’ve had a good flight.

We have over 200 pictures and since my internet is so slow, I decided to just upload 60 of them for now. I’m sure I’ll upload more at a later time. Here are a small sample for anyone who is interested.

Week in Revew March 9, 2009

We’ve had a great first week with my parents! We’ve managed to stay pretty busy with just a few days of relaxation here and there which is always good.

After a day at Darling Harbour and Wildlife World we relaxed a bit and then got geared up for the Bridge Climb. This was a surprise for my dad and it turned out to be a good one since one of the first things he noticed as he drove in were the people climbing the bridge. He had no idea you could do that- but of course he quickly became interested. I knew my mom would want nothing to do with climbing the bridge- she’s afraid of heights. While they market the climb as good for overcoming your fears- I just don’t think my mom really has any desire to overcome her fears on this particular vacation. The climb was a lot easier than I expected. The incline is so slight that it wasn’t tough at all. I have no fear of heights so the “looking 400 feet down” didn’t bother me. I used to have a fear of bridges though… clearly that is no longer a problem. It was a great experience… and it means I get to cross off  number 37 from my 101 list (again). I’ve already crossed it off because it states “Do the Harbour Bridge climb or at least walk across it”- well, now I’ve done both!

On Friday my parents had breakfast at Pancakes on the Rocks and enjoyed a day riding around on one of those big red busses that takes people all around the city. They could hop on and off whenever they wanted so they were able to see the Opera House, the Botanical Gardens and a few other touristy places. 

Saturday mom, dad and I ventured out to Paddy’s markets near Chinatown. I had never been there so it was a first for me as well. After about 5 minutes I could tell my dad was miserable. I guess the whole “shopping for souvenirs” gene is just missing from all males. We stayed for about an hour and then found somewhere to eat lunch which was not easy. Food courts in Chinatown mainly consist of some bad Chinese food and gross looking ocean variety fast-food…I think I’ll pass on the Salmonella today thanks! So to avoid more shopping misery, my dad took off to go jump on that red bus again and my mom and I continued at Paddy’s. I must say- if you want cheap souvenirs- that is definitely the place to go!! Evidently, it’s also the place to go if you want wigs, trashy underwear and slutty costumes *making mental note*.

Saturday night we all met Andrew’s dad in the city and had a great dinner at Wagamama and then grabbed a coffee at a place in King Street Wharf!

Sunday we drove to Andrew’s dad’s for tea and scones…yum…and my parents got to meet the rest of Andrew’s family. We then headed over to his Mum’s to enjoy a wonderful BBQ lunch/dinner with the family.

Monday we cleaned. I’m sure that was the highlight of the whole trip so far!

Or maybe the highlight has been feeding the birdies every day and then watching them go make out. Yes, you read that right! Birdies go into the tree to make out sometimes and my dad nicely pointed this out to me (thanks). I actually find it more comforting to imagine that one just might be regurgitating food into the other’s mouth. That would be more pleasant to me than to imagine these birds getting it on in plain sight. I guess it does confirm my theory that these two are in love. Oh and boy birdy is much nicer to girl birdy these days- he doesn’t get all pissed when she tries to steal his grapes. Maybe they went to birdy counseling. 

I think we’ve had a good first week

Before I go… I’d like to wish a very HAPPY 81st Birthday to my grandma Bonnie! love you!

Parents Down Under March 4, 2009

So they made it They did miss their connecting flight to Sydney since their flight into Brisbane was late- but luckily it only put them back an hour. The first day they got here we just all settled in and talked and I took my mom to the grocery store so she could experience the miserable shopping trolleys for herself. She didn’t seem to mind them- I’m not sure why she found them tolerable because every other American (and many Australians) in this country HATE those damn carts!

Yesterday we spent the day at Darling Harbour. Andrew’s mom/mum and brother Paul came along too. We walked around the Harbour (it was a beautiful day), had lunch and then headed to Wildlife World. Even though you can’t hold a cute, cuddly koala in NSW, my mom was pretty stoked that she got to pet one. I really think they are the cutest animals ever. We also saw many animals in the not-so-cute spectrum. Lizards, snakes and the deadliest spider in the world… yeah not so cute. Fun fact: did everyone know that the deadliest spider in the world is only found right here in Sydney? It is actually called the “Sydney Funnel Web.” So yes, not only do we have the deadliest spider in the world living in this country, it literally could be right in our back yard…if we had a back yard. And they are aggressive so they chase you! Nice right?

I was really sad that my favorite of all the animals at WW wasn’t there anymore!! Where did mr. thorny devil go? So SAD

Last night we headed to dinner at the Mosman Hotel and my dad was pretty impressed with the $7.50 steak! Too bad he didn’t order one- so we’ll probably be going back eventually for another.

Today has been a very lazy day… well, lazy for my parents- I just worked all day and so did Andrew. It was really cloudy and nasty out so I think they were happy to just have a day to relax after our long day of walking yesterday. Tomorrow will be more eventful

Here are a just a couple of pictures from our day out yesterday. I’ll post more pictures once I get a good amount going.

Oh and the birdies were back today. They hadn’t been back in 4 days and they finally showed their faces for about 5 minutes. Only enough time to have a few nibbles. At least mom and dad got a quick peek and said hello

Lastly, I would like to point out to my dear friend Amanda that no, this is not Andrew’s first time meeting my parents. I actually hope you were joking in that comment because Andrew has been to California at least 4 times and stayed in my parents’ house each of those times

A Few More Hours February 28, 2009

Until my parents get here!! They arrive tomorrow morning around 11:45am (that’s 4:45pm for you in California). Captain Hancock… hehe… is picking them up from the airport since he’ll be there already finishing work. Convenient, right? Since they connect in Brisbaine, they will have already gone through customs and all that cruddy stuff, AND since you can still go to the gates without a boarding pass in this country Andrew will get to meet them right when they get off the plane. Woohoo. I’m looking forward to showing them around Sydney and getting to spend some time with them here on our turf.

I really hope the birdies come visit while they are here. Birdies haven’t been back in a couple of days. Maybe they found better food somewhere else. Who knows? I still never named them. I decided to just call them boy birdy and girl birdy (or just “birdies”) for short. I can hear them out there in the trees… or maybe it is their friends- but I wish they would come back. Even though they have pretty much ruined our table by peeing their birdy pee onto it.

So what all will we be doing while mom and dad are here? I’ll start a list… anyone else have any suggestions?

• Visit the Rocks
• Tour of the Opera House
• Walk around Darling Harbour
• Go to Wildlife world
• BBQ @ Andrew’s mum’s house
• Dinner with Andrew’s dad in the city
• Go to Manly
• Centrepoint tower
• Maybe Taronga Zoo??
• Breakfast at Balmoral Beach

Happy Thanksgiving November 27, 2008

Things I am thankful for at this moment in time:

1. My family and friends. I miss them tons but I am so lucky to have them all healthy and well.

2. Andrew and I both have jobs. Many people are not so fortunate right now.

3. Thai food. My yummy dinner tonight.

4. Thanksgiving dinner. I’m missing out on the big one in the US, but I’m attempting to make a mini feast tomorrow night. It will be my first attempt ever at making a pumpkin pie all by myself, I’m even using real mashed pumpkin.

5. Andrew. He’s my favorite

6. Yoga. I went for the first time in a LONG time on Monday and I could tell I really needed it. I plan on going once a week from now on. I’d go more if it weren’t so expensive!

7. Online shopping. It’s great for my family and friends back home but oh I WISH they would start offering better online shopping in this country. Seriously… get with the times people!

8. Wine. It’s good.

9. A strong US dollar. Its one of the only perks (for me) of this horrible economy.

10. Organizing and cleaning skills. I’m SO glad I’m not a messy, dirty person. I love my clean house!

Happy Turkey day to all my loved ones (and even those people I just kinda like) back in the US! For all the Aussies who wonder what Thanksgiving is all about… read THIS.

Applying for Residency October 20, 2008

**See Update at bottom of post**

I’m applying for Australian temporary residency today! Woohoo. Temporary residency means I can stay here for 2 years, work and get medicare. Then after 2 years is up, they reassess my case, make sure Andrew and I are still in a relationship and then hopefully I’ll be here legally for good. I’ve spent the last 3 months preparing for this appointment. Scanning documents, printing documents, filling out a million forms, getting fingerprinted, getting medicals and x-rays. getting things certified. Now it all comes down to this day… oh, and to $2000 bucks… ugh! So expensive.

I really hope I didn’t forget anything… but looking at this stack of paperwork that I have to bring- I’m sure I didnt!! Wish us luck

**UPDATE**

My visa was granted!! Right there… on the spot… sticker in passport… GRANTED! She didn’t even want to look at half the stuff in that stack of paper up there… but hey, it said they required it so better safe than sorry right? She said it was good I already did my medical and got FBI clearance because that’s usually what holds things up. She asked us a few questions, asked for a few pieces of information and documents and then told us to give her 30 minutes to review our statements and photos.

30 minutes later she told us that we should break out the champagne because it was granted, right then and there! Now I am legally here for at least 2 years, at that time they will reassess to make sure Andrew and I are still in a relationship and then I will be granted permanent residency. Happy happy day!

AND… I get to cross one more thing off my list-

#90 Become a resident in Australia (get a visa)

I’m So Happy September 28, 2008

Reasons to be happy…

1. FINALLY (after nearly a year) we found a patio table for our balcony. I thought we’d have to settle on something crap, but it’s not even ugly! We can now enjoy dinners by candlelight in the warm Sydney summer. All I need are some twinkle lights and I’ll be totally set. Although, I do think those might be a bit much. Maybe my green citronella mosquito repelling tea light candles will be sufficient.

2. Alexis is in Sydney!!! Although she’s not here to visit me or anything, it’s still great that there’s finally someone out here from the US. The phone rang today and it was a number I didn’t know. This is always a huge excitement because I pretty much only ever get calls from Andrew. I’m going to meet up with her tomorrow and probably Thursday as well. It’s so exciting to finally have people out here!!

3. I just went on to Itunes and saw something wonderful. Grey’s Anatomy started!! It was such a wonderful surprise to see it there, ready to download. And there’s TWO parts. SWEET. Downloading has commenced.

4. The 26th was the 1 year anniversary of the day I moved to Sydney. it’s kind of exciting that I’ve made it a year in a foreign country In a month I’ll be applying for residency and hopefully not too long after that, I’ll have my visa approved!

5. Saturday we did the Spit to Manly walk with Kris, Tess and Ben. It is 9.5 km (5.9 miles) along the beach and through trails. It’s not always easy (up rocky steps, down sandy hills) but it was a good workout (even though andrew doesn’t think so). You can follow our trail on the map. It is supposed to take 4 hours according to the posted sign but we did it in 2. We started at the orange star and followed the yellow, red, blue and green lines to the end at Manly where we had lunch.The next day, of all things on my body that could possibly be sore, my back hurt the worst. Who knew walking was good for your back???

5. Saturday night was great as well. We first started at wes’ house for an awesome BBQ and then headed to The Oaks for dual parties. We were there to celebrate the return of Sinead from her long trip overseas and ALSO to celebrate Stu’s birthday. Some of Andrew’s other pilot friends came to hang out as well so Andrew had three totally separate, large groups of friends there (luckily all hanging out in the same area). It was great to see everyone all at once. The DJ played great music that everyone was singing and dancing to and the drinks were flowing! I had tons of fun until the DJ started playing “time of your life” which is the surest way to tell that a bar is about to close. Here is a great shot of Kimbo attempting the dirty dancing “lift” as the song played (turned out to be more of a tackle). Oh and what exactly is going on in that second pic?? All of the rest of the pictures can be found HERE.

Grey’s anatomy is almost done downloading… peeing my pants with excitiment right about now!

It’s Getting Warmer September 15, 2008

Thank goodness for the sun! While I don’t want to speak too soon, I think spring (and even summer) is coming! Today I planted my new little mini garden. Just the typical herbs- basil and cilantro (coriander). I think I’m even prepared for the bugs this time… I know they will come. Bring on the caterpillars and aphids. I’ve got my arsenal of soapy water spray and natural bacteria to kill you all! I also threw some lavender into a pot for some springtime color. Now all I need is a new little patio table and chairs and soon enough Andrew and I will be enjoying our dinner on the balcony in the warm Spring weather.

Unless it starts to get shitty and cold and rainy again. Let’s hope most of that crap is behind us!

Summer weather makes me happy. When I am happy, I get motivated. I plan. I DO STUFF! Rather than sitting around thinking about all the stuff I miss in CA, I actually think about the things I’d like to do here. Here’s a little story to illustrate that:

Andrew and I had wanted to move out of this place into somewhere closer to the shops and restaurants we often go to. But I think we’re probably going to stay afterall. While there are annoying things about this location, we really do like the apartment and I doubt we could find something as good for nearly the same price in the location we are after. Sooo…  I had an epiphany the other day. In exchange for living at the bottom of a hill, I decided I want a moped. I just want to be able to get to places in the town without always having a 20 minute walk to accompany my journey. Walking is fine sometimes, but sometimes I’m just not in the mood. So… since I’m lazy, I just end up sitting inside every day, hence I feel sad and bored. If I had a scooter I could get out and do stuff with my newfound motivation in the nice sunny weather!

Why not a car you ask? Well, A. cars are more expensive, and B. there’s no parking in this country so even if I could drive somewhere, I wouldn’t be able to park so it defeats the purpose. If I had a moped I could ride up to the gym and to the grocery store with ease. It would cut 20-30 minutes off of travel time to the city because I could just ride up to the bus stop, park my scooter and hop on the bus. The only problem is… I have to get a motorcycle license to legally ride a scooter. I have absolutely NO desire to learn to ride a motorcycle or to take a class on how to ride a motorcycle (which is required here). Why must there always be a dilema? Maybe I should just get a Segway. Look how cool this guy looks riding one!

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