This is our little "main street." It's got everything we need from the grocery store to the post office to a handful of bakeries and take-away eateries.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Pier Street
This is our little "main street." It's got everything we need from the grocery store to the post office to a handful of bakeries and take-away eateries.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Seaholme Station
This is our closest train station, which is about 1 kilometre (or a little over half a mile) away
Strine (Australian slang)
Here's today's guide for Strine-
Breaky = Breakfast
Potato Gems = Tater Tots
Full Stop = Period (at the end of a sentence)
How ya goin' = How's it going / How you doing
Gorgeous = Nice personality
Buggy/Trolley = Shopping cart
Car park = Parking lot
I reckon = I think
Tele = TV
Mobile = Cell phone
Sunnies = Sunglasses
Schoolies = School aged Children
That's all for today class!
Breaky = Breakfast
Potato Gems = Tater Tots
Full Stop = Period (at the end of a sentence)
How ya goin' = How's it going / How you doing
Gorgeous = Nice personality
Buggy/Trolley = Shopping cart
Car park = Parking lot
I reckon = I think
Tele = TV
Mobile = Cell phone
Sunnies = Sunglasses
Schoolies = School aged Children
That's all for today class!
Our "backyard"
This little reserve is just on the other side of our block. We are surrounded by the reserve, Cherry Lake, the ocean (ok... it's a "bay") and the Mobile Refinery :)
New Prime Minister
This is one of the many polling places that popped up around town last Saturday. John Howard was officially dumped and Kevin Rudd is the new PM.
Noordenne Avenue
It was a little hard to believe... but someone actually rented us an apartment. Interior photos coming soon...
Our first shopping trip
In a country where everything is so expensive, at least you can rely on the Coles brand to get you through!
DEET
I bought some bugs spray today in the FOOLISH attempt to keep the flies out of my eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. I think they all took this as a personal challenge to penetrate the layer of DEET and attack me anyways. I don't know what I was expecting. In a land where everything is venemous... I shouldn't let a few dozen harmless flies bother me!
Monday, November 26, 2007
Some famous guys
(Aussie Rules Football players- I believe from the championship team the Geelong Cats)
Walsh 27
This is the tram stop where we found the nice gentleman who sold us our car. We felt like our name and anniversary had to be a good sign! Stay tuned for photos of our 1994 Ford Falcon... she's a BEAUTY!
Burgers anyone?
Here we find a Hungry Jacks (Burger King) and a McDonalds/McCafe. At this point it didn't feel like we were that far from home!
Friday, November 23, 2007
Speaking American vs. speaking Australian
There's a common misconception that moving to an English speaking country is easy. This is indeed... False. We seem to do ok interacting with people face-to-face, but over the phone is a whole different story. Today I called to set up our TV and the poor Aussie and I could barely understand each other (he quietly giggled every time I spoke). I soon realized that the bulk of what he was saying was, "There ya go," "No worries," "Good on you," "No problem at all," and "Yes, thanks." Once I established that he was going to thank me for every utterance, we were able to move forward with relative ease. This kind gentleman also wanted to make sure I felt at home by proclaiming - "We may be in Australia, but we have heaps of American shows! Heaps of Hollywood and red carpet!" He also wanted to let me know we'd be able to watch "America's Next Top Model" and "American Idol" (which I was secretly happy about). We both survived talking to each other, and now all that's left is waiting a week and a half until a technician can come out and flip the switch.
A new car too!
What a week... we now have a car AND an apartment!!! I went and picked up the beauty last night in a part of Melbourne called South Yarra. Driving from South Yarra to our apartment in Altona was like driving in Chicago with a few added obstacles...
1) trams EVERYWHERE (sharing the lanes with cars)
2) roundabouts
3) a big bridge
4) the steering wheel on the RIGHT side of the car
5) and... driving on the LEFT side of the road
I made it home in one piece though, then went and picked up Megan. She drove us home in a successful first attempt at driving on the other side of the road. The car is a bit of a boat, but again... it's OURS! Yeah! I'll be sure to post pics soon.
1) trams EVERYWHERE (sharing the lanes with cars)
2) roundabouts
3) a big bridge
4) the steering wheel on the RIGHT side of the car
5) and... driving on the LEFT side of the road
I made it home in one piece though, then went and picked up Megan. She drove us home in a successful first attempt at driving on the other side of the road. The car is a bit of a boat, but again... it's OURS! Yeah! I'll be sure to post pics soon.
Our new apartment!
That's right... we're in our new place and loving in. Ok, so maybe we don't have any furniture and we have spent the last 3 nights sleeping on the floor, but it's OUR floor! We've been trying to make it feel like home until tomorrow when we pick up our furniture. On our first night we opened the windows to enjoy the nice ocean breeze... but we were quickly overrun with about 87 different species of flying, creeping, and crawling Australian critters. Note to self- buy a roll or screen from the hardware store and fix that! Since then, we've kept the windows closed... which works out well considering it dropped 20 degree Celsius in the past 3 days. It's an interesting country.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Ikea
You know you're getting settled when you take the pilgrimage to Ikea. I headed out there today on the tram (while Megan was off at her first day of work) and loaded up on everything I could carry back to the city on public transit. We move into our place tonight! Woohoo! It's ok that we won't have furniture til Saturday... right?
Oh, and BTW, swedish meatballs taste the same here. Good to know.
Oh, and BTW, swedish meatballs taste the same here. Good to know.
Election time
It's apparently time for a new Prime Minister - at least according to the TV ads that are running. I learned this week that if Rudd becomes PM he'll bring broadband internet to the whole country. Oh Australia...
(PS- voting here is mandatory. Just another Aussie tid bit for you)
(PS- voting here is mandatory. Just another Aussie tid bit for you)
Christmas in the summer
The Christmas commercials have started rolling and you'd think it's the 4th of July... people exchanging presents on the beach, sharing strawberries and watermelon, relaxing in the hammock, it's all quite funny.
Monday, November 19, 2007
"I'll have a long white please"
We've discovered that ordering coffee here is quite difficult. I asked for filtered coffee (after not finding anything remotely close to my Dunkin Doughnuts favs on the menu) and received black coffee. No problem... I asked for cream. They poured out a little coffee to make room, then filled the top of my black coffee with whipped cream. I'll learn soon. (In the meantime, it was damn good! Starbucks will hate me when I return!)
Pitiful Americans
We are officially the most pitiful people EVER. Everytime we turn around people ask us about our accent and ask if we are here on "holiday" or as a "schoolie." Then, a minor miracle happens... they start giving us things - directions, advice, milk, hair straighteners... hell, one girl is selling us all her furniture and she said, "Why don't you pick it up these weekend, it'll be easier on you and I'll be fine without my bed and fridge" (she leaves Australia about 5 or 6 days later). I think it's working out just fine for us. Being pitiful Americans suits us well.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Merry Christmas!
We were out and about today (searching yet again for a company that will give a couple of Americans a mobile phone*) when we stumbled across a Christmas parade. It seems early for us... but without Thanksgiving to kick off the holiday season I suppose now is as good a time as ever! What's at an Australian Christmas parade? Snow and palm trees apparently! Oh... and the Wiggles (of course!).
*Good news- we have a mobile phone (yes, just one) and will send out our number soon once we figure out how to plug it in. Ha!
*Good news- we have a mobile phone (yes, just one) and will send out our number soon once we figure out how to plug it in. Ha!
Friday, November 16, 2007
Our ugly new home
This is our new home. For those of you who plan on visiting, you don't have to patronize with - "oh, it's so cute." We KNOW it's ugly. It doesn't fit the block of this sleepy beach town. However... it is a half moon shape inside AND someone in Australia was willing to lease it to us. So... it's ours.
Risotto balls
We have discovered the world's most perfect food - Risotto balls. That's right, they're little balls of risotto and mushrooms that are rolled in something tasty and deep fried. Melbourne is great. And confusing.
Hello from Melbourne!
Hello everyone! We have arrived safe and sound in Australia. We are "living" at a backpackers hostel downtown right now, so access to email/internet is quite limited. There will be a little delay in posting photos until we are a little more settled and have unlimited access to the world wide web! In the meantime, things are going well. We are still hunting for an apartment, car, mobile phone plan, etc... but we're having a good laugh through it all. Melbourne is beautiful, although the Lonely Planet never mentioned the insane number of flies that flock to anything human. The food is great (Mmm... toasted cheese sandwiches and chips, dumplings, potato pizza, crepes, etc) but quite spendy. An average can of Diet Coke costs approx $3.00 which is creating an obvious moral dilemma. All in all things are going well though. I'll update this again as soon as I can!
Monday, November 12, 2007
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
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