So here you go ... more to come :)
Sunday, March 28, 2010
New pics
I don't know about you but I am really more into pictures than reading about some chick who has too much time on her hands. ... *ahem*
So here you go ... more to come :)
So here you go ... more to come :)
Ok NOW it has hit me
John always jokes about my having to do everything 110%, sometimes to my own detriment. On the flip side this has been part of the basis for a pretty good work ethic on my part if I do say so. Sometimes I slack, like everyone else, but it doesn't last long. I've always had at least one job, if not two and classes like I did in high school. The longest I have ever been without a job since I was 14 and a half was 2 weeks in 2000 when I discovered I was only hired to run my boss' business for a month while she went on holiday in Cambodia. Fortunately she put me in touch with PromoShop which I then stayed with for the 10 years following while Dj'ing or finishing my AA degree.
Needless to say the present moment is a new reality for me.
Here I sit in our hotel room preemptively tidying up while waiting for the maid to come by (my cue to go for a jog) after John went off to work. Can you say you are a housewife if you are still staying at a hotel? Not sure. Either way the fact that I didn't head off to my own 9-5 (or 8 - 9) this morning was a little weird.
Up until this point it really has just felt like we were on vacation. John's been off and aside from the whole finding and apartment thing which was a real bear, we haven't had to do much besides go explore our new city. Now that he's back at work I feel like I duped everyone into thinking I was sick or that my own work is on some company specific holiday. I feel like I should be back at PromoShop sitting at my desk, sipping my third americano, and listening to Pandora. Which, by the way, you can't listen to in Australia! ARG! Apparently there is a licensing issue. I'm so pissed but that's another story...
So yeah ... PromoShop. So friggin strange that I am not there right now. It was such a part of my life for so long I don't know if I have totally separated my brain yet. I mean I didn't do anything in my whole life longer than I worked there. Not grade school, not Dj'ing, nothing. I watched everyone's kids grow up, people get married, clients pass away, it was really like an alternate family in a way, and really you can't just resign from your family. I am sure there are a few people there who think I bailed for an adventure and they will never see me again but its not that easy. I still keep in touch with Carlos daily and have been sending emails to a bunch of my other peeps. It just doesn't feel right not to talk to them every day.
I am pretty sure I will be looking for work down here in a month or so. Something part time or even volunteer maybe. I had grand plans of reading in the park every day and being a "lady of leisure" as John likes to say, but I think at some point that little voice in my head will tell me I need to be more productive. However, in the meantime I am on the brink of finishing two books I had been working on for over a year. Ah free time, how I have missed you :)
Needless to say the present moment is a new reality for me.
Here I sit in our hotel room preemptively tidying up while waiting for the maid to come by (my cue to go for a jog) after John went off to work. Can you say you are a housewife if you are still staying at a hotel? Not sure. Either way the fact that I didn't head off to my own 9-5 (or 8 - 9) this morning was a little weird.
Up until this point it really has just felt like we were on vacation. John's been off and aside from the whole finding and apartment thing which was a real bear, we haven't had to do much besides go explore our new city. Now that he's back at work I feel like I duped everyone into thinking I was sick or that my own work is on some company specific holiday. I feel like I should be back at PromoShop sitting at my desk, sipping my third americano, and listening to Pandora. Which, by the way, you can't listen to in Australia! ARG! Apparently there is a licensing issue. I'm so pissed but that's another story...
So yeah ... PromoShop. So friggin strange that I am not there right now. It was such a part of my life for so long I don't know if I have totally separated my brain yet. I mean I didn't do anything in my whole life longer than I worked there. Not grade school, not Dj'ing, nothing. I watched everyone's kids grow up, people get married, clients pass away, it was really like an alternate family in a way, and really you can't just resign from your family. I am sure there are a few people there who think I bailed for an adventure and they will never see me again but its not that easy. I still keep in touch with Carlos daily and have been sending emails to a bunch of my other peeps. It just doesn't feel right not to talk to them every day.
I am pretty sure I will be looking for work down here in a month or so. Something part time or even volunteer maybe. I had grand plans of reading in the park every day and being a "lady of leisure" as John likes to say, but I think at some point that little voice in my head will tell me I need to be more productive. However, in the meantime I am on the brink of finishing two books I had been working on for over a year. Ah free time, how I have missed you :)
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Photos on Facebook
I will be posting photos on here but in case you are antsy and on Facebook I have posted some there as well. They are in my photos in the album called "Aussie Adventure"
Strange Cultural Differences: Part 1
I have a tendency to notice things that are off, out of place, strange or unusual. John does too and between the two of us this move has produced some great commentary.
Here are some of the things we have noticed.
- They print things on different size paper. Prints, photocopies, all of it. Seems to be about 8-1/4" by 12" instead of 8-1/2" by 11". This has rendered the few folders I brought with us obsolete.
- I have heard that cops in the US have to "hide in plain sight". Like they will radar you and catch you for speeding but they have to be where you can see them even if just around a bend in the road otherwise its entrapment. Here they will straight up hide behind a building and sneak up on you. The under-covers don't drive cars that look like cop cars either. We saw a few busting someone on the street who were driving a beater.
- The bums sound like pirates. YARRRR got some change mate YAAAAARRRR
- All of the dogs look just a little bit different. I can't totally describe it. I could say "yeah that's a pit" or "that's a cocker spaniel" but the cocker spaniels have longer legs and the pits have more of a dingo-ish face. All of them are just a little bit elongated.
- You don't tip here, which is one part cool and one part guilt-inducing. It makes for this really awkward but cool thing where you go up to the counter (even in nice places) at the end of your meal and somehow they magically know everything you ordered even if the person ringing you up has never been to your table. I think we discovered tonight that in the really nicer places you should still tip a little, but I don't really know ... insert guilt ridden confusion.
- The value for your money here is way low. Its pretty much the only bad thing I can say about it. We have been looking for apartments and it is just insane how much people will pay for zero space in a so-so building here. And we are coming from west LA, we are used to paying a ton for no space.
- On that note hunting for apartments is different here too. You don't set up appointments with the landlords or managers here. They send a third party realtor out to open the unit and about 40 people flood the place to take a peek. I felt like I was at a cattle call for survivor this morning. The hardest part is that they only do these "inspections" on Saturdays usually and the units are only open for about 15 min. Then you have to haul ass to the next one before it closes.
- They seem to really be into fashion here. Not in the glitzy LA look-at-me-and-my-money kinda way but in actually appreciating the design. Fashion TV is everywhere. Even in bars as if it were ESPN. I've seen tons of cute little shops and the shoes! OMG the shoes!
- They really like cars that are one part one thing and one part another. I think I described this in my previous post. I am still trying to catch a pic of the weird sedan/minivan combo.
- The vegetables that come from Australia are HUGE. I mean HUUUUUGE. The green onions are the size of celery. But then you will look at the apples that aren't from Australia and they are half the size of what they are in the US.
- They love lawn bowling. I have seen it on prime time television and we have seen many courts (or whatever you call them) around town. They also have lots of grass tennis courts. Not something you see in the states much.
- They don't have a penny. Everything we have bought has been in whole increments. I am sure these things are connected.
Ok more to come I am sure. But for now that's what I could think of :)
Here are some of the things we have noticed.
- They print things on different size paper. Prints, photocopies, all of it. Seems to be about 8-1/4" by 12" instead of 8-1/2" by 11". This has rendered the few folders I brought with us obsolete.
- I have heard that cops in the US have to "hide in plain sight". Like they will radar you and catch you for speeding but they have to be where you can see them even if just around a bend in the road otherwise its entrapment. Here they will straight up hide behind a building and sneak up on you. The under-covers don't drive cars that look like cop cars either. We saw a few busting someone on the street who were driving a beater.
- The bums sound like pirates. YARRRR got some change mate YAAAAARRRR
- All of the dogs look just a little bit different. I can't totally describe it. I could say "yeah that's a pit" or "that's a cocker spaniel" but the cocker spaniels have longer legs and the pits have more of a dingo-ish face. All of them are just a little bit elongated.
- You don't tip here, which is one part cool and one part guilt-inducing. It makes for this really awkward but cool thing where you go up to the counter (even in nice places) at the end of your meal and somehow they magically know everything you ordered even if the person ringing you up has never been to your table. I think we discovered tonight that in the really nicer places you should still tip a little, but I don't really know ... insert guilt ridden confusion.
- The value for your money here is way low. Its pretty much the only bad thing I can say about it. We have been looking for apartments and it is just insane how much people will pay for zero space in a so-so building here. And we are coming from west LA, we are used to paying a ton for no space.
- On that note hunting for apartments is different here too. You don't set up appointments with the landlords or managers here. They send a third party realtor out to open the unit and about 40 people flood the place to take a peek. I felt like I was at a cattle call for survivor this morning. The hardest part is that they only do these "inspections" on Saturdays usually and the units are only open for about 15 min. Then you have to haul ass to the next one before it closes.
- They seem to really be into fashion here. Not in the glitzy LA look-at-me-and-my-money kinda way but in actually appreciating the design. Fashion TV is everywhere. Even in bars as if it were ESPN. I've seen tons of cute little shops and the shoes! OMG the shoes!
- They really like cars that are one part one thing and one part another. I think I described this in my previous post. I am still trying to catch a pic of the weird sedan/minivan combo.
- The vegetables that come from Australia are HUGE. I mean HUUUUUGE. The green onions are the size of celery. But then you will look at the apples that aren't from Australia and they are half the size of what they are in the US.
- They love lawn bowling. I have seen it on prime time television and we have seen many courts (or whatever you call them) around town. They also have lots of grass tennis courts. Not something you see in the states much.
- They don't have a penny. Everything we have bought has been in whole increments. I am sure these things are connected.
Ok more to come I am sure. But for now that's what I could think of :)
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
We have ARRIVED!
Well we made it! After a very long flight we are now in the land of Oz.
The flight wasn't too terrible. I have a problem with turbulence. It kinda freaks me out. But we were on a very large 747 which made the bumps and jolts more of a rocking and rolling motion. Not too bad. In fact afterward I kind of had sea legs even. Well, that and sticky legs considering I went and knocked over an entire glass or apple juice into my lap about an hour before landing.
When we got off my pants were dry but a little sticky and uncomfortable. Thankfully I wore black. Customs went quickly and they had a very efficient line for taxi service but by the time we got in the car we were feeling pretty disgusting after lugging our bags around in the heat. It is hot here. Not scalding but definitely still summer. Its more humid here than LA but temperature-wise about the same.
Driving on the other side of the road is a trip but like most people will tell you, you kind of get over it after a couple of hours. We had a little trouble finding our hotel. Our cab driver ended up backing down a one way street in front of our hotel and because there were lots of bags in the back he didn't notice the giant pole in his way. He slammed right into it. We thought he had hit another car which would have been worse. Its kind of funny now because every time we leave the hotel we are reminded by the shrapnel laying in the street.
The worst thing (which really wasn't that bad) is that when we rolled up to our hotel tired, oily, disheveled and sticky they didn't have our room ready yet. We had to wait another couple of hours because we got there before checkout. Fortunately we were in a brand new place with plenty to see so occupying our time, even when looking like crap, wasn't too hard. The area we are in is very cute an Euro looking. It seems like kind of a venice-capitol hill type of area. Lots of young people and travelers. Our hotel is really nice and plenty of room for us for now.
As you can see from the above image they REALLY like cars that are one part car and one part something else. At the airport we saw a straight up chop lob where the front was a sedan and the back was a minivan. So weird.
Ok gotta run. Will write more tonight. Time to go get a bank account and new cell phone :)
p.s. there is lawn bowling on TV right now. WTF?!?!?
The flight wasn't too terrible. I have a problem with turbulence. It kinda freaks me out. But we were on a very large 747 which made the bumps and jolts more of a rocking and rolling motion. Not too bad. In fact afterward I kind of had sea legs even. Well, that and sticky legs considering I went and knocked over an entire glass or apple juice into my lap about an hour before landing.
When we got off my pants were dry but a little sticky and uncomfortable. Thankfully I wore black. Customs went quickly and they had a very efficient line for taxi service but by the time we got in the car we were feeling pretty disgusting after lugging our bags around in the heat. It is hot here. Not scalding but definitely still summer. Its more humid here than LA but temperature-wise about the same.
Driving on the other side of the road is a trip but like most people will tell you, you kind of get over it after a couple of hours. We had a little trouble finding our hotel. Our cab driver ended up backing down a one way street in front of our hotel and because there were lots of bags in the back he didn't notice the giant pole in his way. He slammed right into it. We thought he had hit another car which would have been worse. Its kind of funny now because every time we leave the hotel we are reminded by the shrapnel laying in the street.
The worst thing (which really wasn't that bad) is that when we rolled up to our hotel tired, oily, disheveled and sticky they didn't have our room ready yet. We had to wait another couple of hours because we got there before checkout. Fortunately we were in a brand new place with plenty to see so occupying our time, even when looking like crap, wasn't too hard. The area we are in is very cute an Euro looking. It seems like kind of a venice-capitol hill type of area. Lots of young people and travelers. Our hotel is really nice and plenty of room for us for now.
As you can see from the above image they REALLY like cars that are one part car and one part something else. At the airport we saw a straight up chop lob where the front was a sedan and the back was a minivan. So weird.
Ok gotta run. Will write more tonight. Time to go get a bank account and new cell phone :)
p.s. there is lawn bowling on TV right now. WTF?!?!?
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Now for something completely different
So! ...
Where to I begin?
Here's the short of it and I will continue from there.
Basically John got a job working on a movie in Sydney Australia. We have wanted to live abroad for a while now and have discussed the possibility many times so when this came up we went "well... no kids, no mortgage, why the hell not??!"
Why have I not posted about this sooner you ask? Because basically we have only had 2 weeks to quit our jobs, pack up our life, throw everything into storage, and move to another country neither of us have ever been to. haha
Wheew! Do yourself a favor. When moving to another country give yourself more than 2 weeks to pull it all together.
So as of now we are in Seattle to drop my car off with my parents who have generously offered to store it while we are away. We had a great little road trip that we do not care to repeat (exhausting) and fly out from here on Sunday.
More to come...
Where to I begin?
Here's the short of it and I will continue from there.
Basically John got a job working on a movie in Sydney Australia. We have wanted to live abroad for a while now and have discussed the possibility many times so when this came up we went "well... no kids, no mortgage, why the hell not??!"
Why have I not posted about this sooner you ask? Because basically we have only had 2 weeks to quit our jobs, pack up our life, throw everything into storage, and move to another country neither of us have ever been to. haha
Wheew! Do yourself a favor. When moving to another country give yourself more than 2 weeks to pull it all together.
So as of now we are in Seattle to drop my car off with my parents who have generously offered to store it while we are away. We had a great little road trip that we do not care to repeat (exhausting) and fly out from here on Sunday.
More to come...
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