I have vivid childhood memories of my father's reaction to bare feet. He used to hate it when we would run around in the great outdoors without shoes on. As an adult, I can understand his concerns... we lived on a farm and there were all manner of things you could step on or that could step on you. It was just dangerous and stupid to run around barefoot.
But, as a kid, there is nothing better in the summertime than running around barefoot. I admit, to this day, I hate wearing socks, and I refuse to wear them unless it's COLD. I'd much rather throw on a pair of flip flops and tough out the cold weather as long as possible.
Here, it's easily warm enough to wear flip flops a good 9 months of the year, if not longer. And you could probably get along just fine without even owning a pair of socks. But, it's the craziest thing here... people go barefoot... everywhere! On the bus. On the train. On the city sidewalks. In the supermarket. In the library. I am not kidding. I have seen people (both children and adults!) barefoot in each and every one of those places.
Today I am standing in the lobby of my office and I look out to see 3 guys walking by without shoes on. Just walking down the street. It's chilly here today. And raining. And these guys are wearing shorts, hoodies, and no shoes. Just strolling down the sidewalk. And I thought to myself "now THAT would make my dad nuts."
Monday, April 21, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Potato, Potahto
We finally bought a television today. We are back amoungst the ranks of those who are overinformed. We are telling ourselves it's ok to spend 7 straight hours in front of the television... after all, we are just catching up after not having one for 3 months. And, it's winter, so it's ok. Riiight. Whatever.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Like herding turtles
And life continues. I feel like I am in a black hole as far as communication goes lately, so many apologies to those of you suffering from blog withdrawal. Just realised I have lived here for 3 months now and no one has called us from "home," not once, and that is a bit of a depressing thought.
We have been apartment hunting. Sigh. I don't know if you recall Jonathan's frustration during his first round of apartment hunting... but I can assure you that it.is.not.fun. Hard to believe that our 6 month lease is up already, but it is. So, we have been considering moving. Which, I must stress to you is no easy decision.
We have had some maintenance issues with our current property manager. We have been 5 months without heat or air conditioning, and over 2 months without a working dishwasher. We cannot seem to get them to fix these items, and it's a bit of a pain to constantly be wondering if or when it's going to happen. Not to mention, it's a bit of pain to keep paying rent each month when they aren't being fixed. And since we are now heading into winter without heat... well, we are considering a move.
So, here is how apartment hunting in Oz works. You go onto the website www.domain.com.au. You search by suburb for the areas you want. You narrow it down to the price range you can afford, and then you spend about an hour writing down or printing out all the remaining properties the fit your criteria. Then you call each and every agent and get the OFI (Open For Inspection) time. Which is a 15 minute period on a random day... usually Saturday. Then you fill out an application for each property. EACH one.
Then, you get up early on a Saturday, dress to impress, and race around like a crazy person to each of these 15 minute OFI sessions. Here's where it gets fun. Since you are not the only one looking for an apartment like this, you get to stand in line at each OFI with about 50 of your nearest and dearest rivals and then you ALL traipse through the apartment at once, trying to decide if you like it. It doesn't really matter if you like it though, since you only have the opportunity to get into about 10 or 12 each Saturday (and that is if you have a car!) - you basically have to apply to ALL of them. Whether you like them or not. And so you drop off an appplication and speed off to the next OFI.
If you DO like it, and you might even want to live there, you have to bid at least $20 over the listed price... which is PER WEEK, by the way, for those of you who actually looked at the website. No, those lovely 1 bedders listed for $500... those are not monthly rates. They are weekly. Heh.
Anyway, so after you have run all over kingdom come trying to view a dozen properties in a span of 3 hours, you sit back and wait. And sometime in the next week, you may or may not get a call telling you that your application has been selected and you are the lucky new tenant with a hideous purple bathroom, shared laundry, dodgy neighbours and (if you are really lucky) a balcony.
We saw 10 apartments today. I hated them all. I am exhausted.
We have been apartment hunting. Sigh. I don't know if you recall Jonathan's frustration during his first round of apartment hunting... but I can assure you that it.is.not.fun. Hard to believe that our 6 month lease is up already, but it is. So, we have been considering moving. Which, I must stress to you is no easy decision.
We have had some maintenance issues with our current property manager. We have been 5 months without heat or air conditioning, and over 2 months without a working dishwasher. We cannot seem to get them to fix these items, and it's a bit of a pain to constantly be wondering if or when it's going to happen. Not to mention, it's a bit of pain to keep paying rent each month when they aren't being fixed. And since we are now heading into winter without heat... well, we are considering a move.
So, here is how apartment hunting in Oz works. You go onto the website www.domain.com.au. You search by suburb for the areas you want. You narrow it down to the price range you can afford, and then you spend about an hour writing down or printing out all the remaining properties the fit your criteria. Then you call each and every agent and get the OFI (Open For Inspection) time. Which is a 15 minute period on a random day... usually Saturday. Then you fill out an application for each property. EACH one.
Then, you get up early on a Saturday, dress to impress, and race around like a crazy person to each of these 15 minute OFI sessions. Here's where it gets fun. Since you are not the only one looking for an apartment like this, you get to stand in line at each OFI with about 50 of your nearest and dearest rivals and then you ALL traipse through the apartment at once, trying to decide if you like it. It doesn't really matter if you like it though, since you only have the opportunity to get into about 10 or 12 each Saturday (and that is if you have a car!) - you basically have to apply to ALL of them. Whether you like them or not. And so you drop off an appplication and speed off to the next OFI.
If you DO like it, and you might even want to live there, you have to bid at least $20 over the listed price... which is PER WEEK, by the way, for those of you who actually looked at the website. No, those lovely 1 bedders listed for $500... those are not monthly rates. They are weekly. Heh.
Anyway, so after you have run all over kingdom come trying to view a dozen properties in a span of 3 hours, you sit back and wait. And sometime in the next week, you may or may not get a call telling you that your application has been selected and you are the lucky new tenant with a hideous purple bathroom, shared laundry, dodgy neighbours and (if you are really lucky) a balcony.
We saw 10 apartments today. I hated them all. I am exhausted.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Catching up
Once again, I am sadly behind in the blogging department. So much going on, and I keep saying I am going to update, but one day leads to another - you all know how that goes.
We had a lovely Easter weekend, 4 days off work and some good times with friends. I think it was officially the last weekend of summer though, because it has really cooled off and started to feel like fall. My brain is a bit wacked by the reversal of seasons. I am having trouble with Easter bunnies and fall leaves at the same time. It is definitely Autumn though, and we are enjoying the cooler temps, I guess. While I was secretly hoping it would just stay summer year round, I am sure my body will appreciate the time to recover from many recent sunburns.
We spent Easter Saturday in Wollongong (about 1 hour south of Sydney) with some new friends we met on a website for Yanks in Oz. Mike, Jenifer and their two boys Liam and Nevin. They are also expecting son #3 in about a month. Mike is Aussie and Jenifer is from California. They are good fun and whomped us soundly at 2 rounds of Cranium. We had a bbq and enjoyed the company. (This is after the men/boys assembled the bbq and bought charcoal, only to find that there is no lighter fluid to be found in Oz, so they got "creative" in lighting the coals. Oy.) We have lots in common and had a great time.
We have discovered an outlet mall not too far from here and finally did some shopping for shoes and clothes that fit. Jonathan has lost some serious weight here, and all of those new pants we bought back in November, yeah, they don't fit anymore. Oh well. I have also been losing weight, while not as quickly as Jon. (It might have something to do with the fact that I eat chocolate and he doesn't.)
Anyway, we were psyched to find an outlet store with a good selection of shoes at normal prices, and ended up buying 6 pairs between us. We own more shoes now than anyone ever really should have. But when you have an opportunity here to buy 6 pairs of shoes for $200... you jump on it, because ONE pair here is usually $100. Crazy.
The price of stuff here is completely outrageous. Seriously... that is a blog all on it's own, so I'll just leave it at that. It's bloody expensive to buy anything here.
Jonathan has been travelling for work quite a bit lately. In the next 3 weeks he will be in Parkes, Tweed, Bega, Nowra, and East Maitland... in case you wanted to look those up on a map. He generally flies to these places and stays a day or two. But he's always home on the weekends, which is nice. He's been working on a lot of court projects, so he's generally flying to a remote city to work in their courthouse. Good way for him to see the country AND earn frequent flier miles.
My job is going well. I had a meeting with my boss a week ago, in which I complained that I feel underutilized. I think I may live to regret that. We'll see how it goes. I have accepted the fact that I am not meant to work in a boring job. Call me a stress-aholic if you will, but it's far worse to sit around with nothing to do. Anyway, I work closely with a 21 year old girl with no work experience, which is a challenge for me. Mom would call it "an opportunity to learn patience."
We have been having some issues with our proprty management company (the people who work for our landlord to maintain our apartment.) Our AC hasn't worked in over 4 months. And the dishwasher broke over a month ago. Neither of which is fixed yet. I have had to get a bit cranky with them. If we don't get some service soon, we may not be renewing our lease next month... which means moving. Ugh. Not my fave. We'll have to see how it goes. We would like to have a balcony and a second bedroom (for an office) but we are so close to my work right now... it's going to be hard to find something we like enough to move. More to come on that, I suppose.
I am under the weather today and have been taking it easy. Hopefully it's just a 24 hour thing so that our weekend isn't totally wasted. This Wednesday is our FOUR year wedding anniversary... crazy to think it was that long ago already. Seems like just the other day.
We had a lovely Easter weekend, 4 days off work and some good times with friends. I think it was officially the last weekend of summer though, because it has really cooled off and started to feel like fall. My brain is a bit wacked by the reversal of seasons. I am having trouble with Easter bunnies and fall leaves at the same time. It is definitely Autumn though, and we are enjoying the cooler temps, I guess. While I was secretly hoping it would just stay summer year round, I am sure my body will appreciate the time to recover from many recent sunburns.
We spent Easter Saturday in Wollongong (about 1 hour south of Sydney) with some new friends we met on a website for Yanks in Oz. Mike, Jenifer and their two boys Liam and Nevin. They are also expecting son #3 in about a month. Mike is Aussie and Jenifer is from California. They are good fun and whomped us soundly at 2 rounds of Cranium. We had a bbq and enjoyed the company. (This is after the men/boys assembled the bbq and bought charcoal, only to find that there is no lighter fluid to be found in Oz, so they got "creative" in lighting the coals. Oy.) We have lots in common and had a great time.
We have discovered an outlet mall not too far from here and finally did some shopping for shoes and clothes that fit. Jonathan has lost some serious weight here, and all of those new pants we bought back in November, yeah, they don't fit anymore. Oh well. I have also been losing weight, while not as quickly as Jon. (It might have something to do with the fact that I eat chocolate and he doesn't.)
Anyway, we were psyched to find an outlet store with a good selection of shoes at normal prices, and ended up buying 6 pairs between us. We own more shoes now than anyone ever really should have. But when you have an opportunity here to buy 6 pairs of shoes for $200... you jump on it, because ONE pair here is usually $100. Crazy.
The price of stuff here is completely outrageous. Seriously... that is a blog all on it's own, so I'll just leave it at that. It's bloody expensive to buy anything here.
Jonathan has been travelling for work quite a bit lately. In the next 3 weeks he will be in Parkes, Tweed, Bega, Nowra, and East Maitland... in case you wanted to look those up on a map. He generally flies to these places and stays a day or two. But he's always home on the weekends, which is nice. He's been working on a lot of court projects, so he's generally flying to a remote city to work in their courthouse. Good way for him to see the country AND earn frequent flier miles.
My job is going well. I had a meeting with my boss a week ago, in which I complained that I feel underutilized. I think I may live to regret that. We'll see how it goes. I have accepted the fact that I am not meant to work in a boring job. Call me a stress-aholic if you will, but it's far worse to sit around with nothing to do. Anyway, I work closely with a 21 year old girl with no work experience, which is a challenge for me. Mom would call it "an opportunity to learn patience."
We have been having some issues with our proprty management company (the people who work for our landlord to maintain our apartment.) Our AC hasn't worked in over 4 months. And the dishwasher broke over a month ago. Neither of which is fixed yet. I have had to get a bit cranky with them. If we don't get some service soon, we may not be renewing our lease next month... which means moving. Ugh. Not my fave. We'll have to see how it goes. We would like to have a balcony and a second bedroom (for an office) but we are so close to my work right now... it's going to be hard to find something we like enough to move. More to come on that, I suppose.
I am under the weather today and have been taking it easy. Hopefully it's just a 24 hour thing so that our weekend isn't totally wasted. This Wednesday is our FOUR year wedding anniversary... crazy to think it was that long ago already. Seems like just the other day.
Monday, March 10, 2008
The Job
To answer the many questions... my job is going well. I work with some great people, and the average age in the office is about 30, which is fantastic. (Let's not mention that I am hitting the big 3-o this year! Yikes!)
It's definitely a change of pace for me...I am not used to having such a low-stress job. But, it's been good for me as well, and I am settling in. I have made some fun acquaintances that I hope will turn into friendships, and I am learning a completely different aspect of real estate, which is always good. Never thought I'd be doing marketing full time... and I never thought I'd admit to missing the accounting work. I am hoping to tie some of that back in eventually. We'll see how it goes.
However, I am loving the 2 minute walk to work, I am completely spoiled with that. I can't currently imagine going back to a crazy commute. For now, it's exactly the right place for me.
It's definitely a change of pace for me...I am not used to having such a low-stress job. But, it's been good for me as well, and I am settling in. I have made some fun acquaintances that I hope will turn into friendships, and I am learning a completely different aspect of real estate, which is always good. Never thought I'd be doing marketing full time... and I never thought I'd admit to missing the accounting work. I am hoping to tie some of that back in eventually. We'll see how it goes.
However, I am loving the 2 minute walk to work, I am completely spoiled with that. I can't currently imagine going back to a crazy commute. For now, it's exactly the right place for me.
Wildlife
Just thought I'd share a few photos of the local wildlife. Since everyone enjoyed my giant-flying-cockroach story so much.
Housekeeping
I have noticed that the time changed in North America this past weekend. We are now 15 hours ahead of EST. So when it is 6 am in Michigan / Ontario, it is 9 pm here.
Our daylight savings time will occur in early April, and we will return to a 14 hour time difference... which is a bit easier to calculate. Look at the clock... and mentally go all the way around, and then add 2 hours.
Just in case anyone was to ever consider, say, calling us. LOL
Our daylight savings time will occur in early April, and we will return to a 14 hour time difference... which is a bit easier to calculate. Look at the clock... and mentally go all the way around, and then add 2 hours.
Just in case anyone was to ever consider, say, calling us. LOL
Life is a Highway
Well, I must apologize for the long silence. If I ever had any doubts about whether people are actually reading this blog, the last few weeks have answered that. Sincere apologies to those of you who have written to inquire if Jon and I are still alive. We are, and we are well.
It's been a busy couple of weeks and I have gotten behind in my posts. I'll try to catch you all up. Jon and I have been doing a bit of traveling lately. Jon has been exploring the small towns of NSW doing various work projects. Seems every week he is flying to some little town somewhere in the "middle of nowhere". He is getting all kinds of chances to see roos and I am honestly jealous. His job is going well though, and we are glad for that.
It's been a busy couple of weeks and I have gotten behind in my posts. I'll try to catch you all up. Jon and I have been doing a bit of traveling lately. Jon has been exploring the small towns of NSW doing various work projects. Seems every week he is flying to some little town somewhere in the "middle of nowhere". He is getting all kinds of chances to see roos and I am honestly jealous. His job is going well though, and we are glad for that.
A few weekends ago Jon had the chance to attend an AMX conference in Brisbane, which was fun for him. A good opportunity to network and meet some people in the industry. While he was gone, I got a chance to finally unpack the last of the suitcases, install a bookshelf, buy some throw pillows, and settle into the apartment at long last. I am happy to announce - we have a sofa! NOW it feels like home.
This past weekend we took a road trip to the Southern Highlands, an area south of Sydney in the foothills of the Blue Mountains. It was a gorgeous drive into some absolutely gorgeous countryside. We have had a long stretch of fantastic weather, lots of sun and an average temp of 25c/80f each day. We are heading into Autumn here though, and it's just nuts to see the leaves changing colours in March. The upside-down seasons still have me a bit topsy turvy.
A few photos from the Southern Highlands...
The long Easter weekend is approaching and we are planning another road trip to the Blue Mountains and the Jenolan Caves. Looking foward to seeing even more of this beautiful country.
God Save the Queen
February 24th was a bit of a historic day for Australia. On this day, both the Queen Victoria and the Queen Elizabeth II (QE2) were in the Sydney Harbour at the same time. Above is the photo of the Queen Victoria, which is circling the globe on it's maiden voyage. This ship is the largest in the Cunard line and one of the largest cruise ships in the world. It's a stunning ship. Unbelieveably large and state-of-the-art. Truly an amazing sight.
We planned a get-together for a group of fellow Yanks we had met in an online chat group and we all headed down to The Rocks to check out the ships and watch them pass in the Harbour. We were joined by a few thousand of our closest neighbours. It was a great day, beautiful weather, and we made some new friends. It was really something to see the ships together in one place.
As the Queen Victoria departed the Harbour, the QE2 was just entering... and as they passed eachother in front of the Opera House, they both blew their horns and the crowds cheered. We counted over 16 helicopters in the sky, catching the event on film. What an awesome memory - and one never to happen again in this lifetime. The QE2 was on it's final voyage, circling the globe for the last time. It has been sold to a businessman in the UAE, who paid $50million to turn it into a world-class floating hotel. The QE2 was visiting Sydney Harbour 30 years to the date after it's first visit, on it's maiden voyage. What an example of life coming full circle. 
I think this is one of the moments that will stand out for us as being truly Australian. To see such an event amoungst thousands of people who all came out to sit in the sun and watch something simply momentous... and to experience the feeling of community and excitement together, it was really a fantastic event.
At the end of the day, the QE2 docked in the Harbour. What a difference in design between a ship built over 35 years ago and a new ship! Sure would love to see the inside someday... maybe when I have a spare $15,000 lying around.Sunday, February 17, 2008
Pancakes and Patchouli
What a great weekend! Saturday we finally got a day without rain, and so we decided to go exploring in an area of Sydney we hadn't been to yet. Glebe is an older part of town with a bit of a seedy past. Today it's a funky, eclectic neighborhood filled with shops, restaurants, and backpacker hostels. It is also home to the Glebe Market, where you will find all things hippie and funky. It was quite a fun market to browse in, even if the smell of incense was a bit strong. By the time we left, I was almost convinced that dreadlocks were the way to go. LOL
After a ramble up Glebe Point Road and a short tram ride, we arrived at the Sydney fish market (www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au) only to find it closing for the day. We were a bit disappointed and decided we needed to make a trip back soon to stock up on some fresh fish and seafood. Nothing compares to the fresh stuff just pulled out of the ocean. We are getting quite spoiled here with all the yummy fresh fish available.
From there, we ended up walking to Darling Harbour. We sat and ate an ice cream while watching the finals of the dragon boat racing contest. There is always something going on in Darling Harbor and it's fun to just hang out there and people watch.
Today (Sunday) we set out early and started our day at Pancakes on the Rocks (www.pancakesontherocks.com.au), which is now my new favourite thing in Sydney. Check out the menu. To.die.for. Yum. You have no idea how good those pancakes are until you take that first bite... and then you are hooked. The best part - they are open 24 HOURS. I see a lot of pancakes in our future.
Of course, after that, we had to walk off breakfast, so we wandered through The Rocks Market for a few hours. This is by far my favourite market here. It's a great mix of arts & crafts, fun and funky, and amazingly unique. It's chock full of tourists, as the cruise ships dock just blocks away, but it's fun to hear all the languages and accents. Before I visit the States and Canada again, I will have to make a huge shopping trip to the Rocks and stock up on all the cool stuff I want to buy as gifts.
It started raining again this afternoon, so we headed home. I just have to mention however, that Jon made The Best Dinner Ever this evening. Marinated lamb tenderloin with a salad of mixed greens, snow peas and avocado. And he even got dessert at the Patisserie next door. MORE than made up for a crappy Valentines Day. I am a lucky woman.
Back to work tomorrow. Sigh.
After a ramble up Glebe Point Road and a short tram ride, we arrived at the Sydney fish market (www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au) only to find it closing for the day. We were a bit disappointed and decided we needed to make a trip back soon to stock up on some fresh fish and seafood. Nothing compares to the fresh stuff just pulled out of the ocean. We are getting quite spoiled here with all the yummy fresh fish available.
From there, we ended up walking to Darling Harbour. We sat and ate an ice cream while watching the finals of the dragon boat racing contest. There is always something going on in Darling Harbor and it's fun to just hang out there and people watch.
Today (Sunday) we set out early and started our day at Pancakes on the Rocks (www.pancakesontherocks.com.au), which is now my new favourite thing in Sydney. Check out the menu. To.die.for. Yum. You have no idea how good those pancakes are until you take that first bite... and then you are hooked. The best part - they are open 24 HOURS. I see a lot of pancakes in our future.
Of course, after that, we had to walk off breakfast, so we wandered through The Rocks Market for a few hours. This is by far my favourite market here. It's a great mix of arts & crafts, fun and funky, and amazingly unique. It's chock full of tourists, as the cruise ships dock just blocks away, but it's fun to hear all the languages and accents. Before I visit the States and Canada again, I will have to make a huge shopping trip to the Rocks and stock up on all the cool stuff I want to buy as gifts.
It started raining again this afternoon, so we headed home. I just have to mention however, that Jon made The Best Dinner Ever this evening. Marinated lamb tenderloin with a salad of mixed greens, snow peas and avocado. And he even got dessert at the Patisserie next door. MORE than made up for a crappy Valentines Day. I am a lucky woman.
Back to work tomorrow. Sigh.
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