Taking the Long Way Around...

So, it’s been an inexcusably long period since our last blog post….it turns out that all that free time I thought I’d have after finishing grad school has not yet materialized. At this point, I’m relatively certain it never will! I’ve been sick the past few days (working in a school will do that to you), and since I’m not up for much more than the occasional trip between the couch and the bed – now seems like a perfect time to update our blog.

So, a lot of everything and nothing has transpired since our last update…part of the reason we haven’t updated. It turns out that one of the inglorious things about living and working in another country is the “working” part. It’s a fantastic opportunity to see the world, experience other cultures, see what there is to see….when you’re not working. Since I work long hours most days, our weekdays usually consist of me working while Lucas and Avery find various things to do with their day. Then we eat dinner and go to bed….much like our lives could be anywhere. It’s one of the things that has taken some getting used to because I don’t think we considered how mundane life could be in a foreign country – because the idea of living in a “foreign country” seems so romantic, adventurous, etc. But in fact, during the work week, it’s business as usual…except for the part where when we get home at the end of the day, all of our friends and family are still on the other side of the world. So, we’ve been missing our family and friends a lot lately – especially as it has been difficult for us to meet people here so far. We have realized (as hindsight is always 20/20) how much we (unintentionally) took for granted all the friendships and support systems we had in place in Nashville and in PA. It definitely has us thinking pretty hard about what our next steps will be when it comes time to move on from here.

Another thing we really miss about home, as silly as it may be, is just knowing our way around, where to eat, where to shop, etc. Of course, we know our way around Washington, PA – as that is where we both grew up and most of our family lives. We definitely miss our families, and for that reason and many others, Washington will always be home #1. But we also spent 6+ years in Nashville, and somehow, someway – despite our best efforts to deny it – it became our home as well. I never thought I’d say that, as Nashville was a place that really REALLY had to grow on me…but grow on me it did. There is something to be said for striking out on your own and then turning a new place into your second home…it sort of feels like something that is yours and something that you find comfort in a different way than home #1. We reminisce about all the places we love to go in Nashville, all the places we miss eating at (especially since we have yet to find a place we really love here…and in fact, with the strange business hours Australia keeps, it’s sometimes hard to find places open past 5p – unless you go closer to the city), and of course, we miss our friends most of all.

Another sobering fact that continues to remind us of the various pros and cons of living so far away from home is the exorbitant price of plane tickets to come home. When we first started planning this move, we had to promise to make it home at least yearly to avoid unleashing the wrath of our families (especially my mom – the newly minted “grammy”). We would have done this anyway, but a promise always feels nicer. =) Now that we’re looking at the price of keeping that promise, it makes us cringe a bit. The price of three round-trip tickets between Sydney and Pittsburgh at peak travel time (i.e., the Christmas season) is no small amount of money. We think of the fabulous trips we could take for that money if we lived in the States and didn’t have to spend it on making it home for Christmas. But that is the price (literally and figuratively) of the amazing opportunity we’ve been given here in Australia. It’s also worthy of mention here that we’re both frugal to fault…so the sticker shock is all the worse for us! That said, we know it will be worth every penny to see our families, meet our new nieces (!!!!), see my sister and her husband taking on their new role as parents, see how Avery does with her new cousins, etc.

Now, before you start to think that we’re regretting our move here after the discussion above, I can assure you that we are not. Although Australia is currently in the middle of an especially cold and wet winter (thank you, weather makers), we are spending all of our free time making the most of it. We try to get into the city every Sunday (because Sunday Funday family passes on public transport are only $2.50 all you can ride all day – and Avery is free), and we’ve really enjoyed that. We usually catch the bus (which stops practically right in front of our apartment building) and head in mid-morning (after our weekly Skype session home) and spend the day roaming the city. We’ve explored Darling Harbour, Circular Quay, the Opera House, Manly (beach and town), various neighborhoods, Paddy’s Markets (a massive indoor flea market), the Powerhouse Museum, and a few other places. We still have a long list of places on our “to do” list. We usually spend our Saturdays, on the other hand, making the most of the car we bought. When we moved here, we had initially decided we weren’t going to get a car…but it became quickly apparent to us that once we considered where we lived and the fact that we had a toddler, public transport just wasn’t going to cut it. So, the deal we made with ourselves in purchasing a car was that we would not just let ourselves sit at home on the weekends – we’d use it to explore as much as we could. And we’d use to go far and wide during any extra time off I had from work (long weekends, etc.). So far, we’ve been to the Blue Mountains (a mountain range just west of Sydney) twice, gone out to Wiseman’s Ferry, we’ve taken some scenic drives, and gotten lost on purpose a handful of times. (Thank goodness for GPS!) We plan to do many more day or weekend trips like this and have just purchased a “all you can do within 200 km of Sydney” book (or something like that).

Just recently, I had a took a bit of a break from work (some much needed time to clear my head – as there is a LOT going on at the school…all very exciting but merits a mental break now and then) while the students were on their term break, and we decided to take a drive up the coast to Surfers Paradise, Queensland. The trip was amazing. It is difficult to describe, particularly to our fellow Americans, how much nothingness there can be. The trip up to Queensland was just over 500 miles, but it took us over 12 hours to make the trip – because it wasn’t all highway (not by a long shot!) and you could drive literally for an hour or more and never see more than a gas station or the occasional half-dilapidated house. I could count the number of real towns we drove through on two hands. It’s hard to describe…in fact impossible to describe…to those of us who are used to interstates that have an exit every 2-3 miles with a McDonald’s (or Mackers, as they call it here) at nearly every other one. And this was the main way up the coast that we took – it wasn’t as though we’d taken back roads. But there was something really amazing about all that nothingness. Amazing to think what Australia must have been like before no one was here at all, amazing to think of all the untouched wildnerness and wildlife that still exists in Australia, and amazing to think that though our trip took us several days and over a thousand miles – we have barely scratched the surface of this amazing continent. It definitely got us even more excited for all the traveling we plan to do while we’re here. We’re already planning what we’re going to do at the next term break (just over two months and counting!).

So, if you’ve seen the pictures, you’ve seen that we followed the coastline most of the way up on our trip. The coast (as least the part of the Eastern coast that we saw) of Australia is breathtakingly gorgeous. You can see right away why this continent was so intriguing and beguiling to the early explorers. And when you spend an hour on the road and see nothing but trees and water – you can see why they might have found it so terrifying at the same time! It definitely brings a whole new level of concern about breaking down! At any rate, we took two days to make the trip up. We got a bit of a late start on the first day (as is customary for me, it seems…despite my best efforts), and so we didn’t get to be as much of slow pokes about stopping and sightseeing as I’d hoped. The first night, we stopped in Coffs Harbour – apparently a beautiful place in its own right – but all we saw was the inside of our hotel room and the Big Banana on the way out the next day. We’ll have to make a special trip to that region on its own sometime, as it really was beautiful and more laid back than Surfers Paradise. The hotel we stayed in at Coffs Harbour was clean and nice – but room décor and the mattresses were almost certainly older than both Lucas and I. That said, it served its’ purpose, and the antiquated nature of this hotel and many others we’ve seen is likely a reflection of the preservation of small businesses in Australia. You’d be hard-pressed to find a chain hotel outside of a big city, and the same holds for most restaurants – although you still see McDonald’s most places (all though not in anywhere near the frequency as in the States). I am happy to support this culture of small business, often family-owned (like the hotel we stayed in), because the disappearance of small business in America is something I find troubling – for our economy as well as for our culture.

Anyway, enough about that, we stopped outside of Coffs Harbour at a little town called Woolgoolga on a whim. We followed a half-falling apart sign that said “whale-watching headland”, and soon enough, that is just where we found ourselves. And then we couldn’t tear ourselves away from the beauty of the spot for over two hours! We watched whales migrate by, watched waves roll in, watched the way the position of the sun seemed to change to color of the water, and ate a snack all by our glorious lonesome as we watched out over the great wide ocean. It was, by far, one of the highlights of our trip for me, and we’re already talking about going back there for a long weekend sometime.

After leaving there, we made our meandering way up to our destination: the Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise, Queensland. Surfers Paradise is an admittedly overdone beach resort town, complete with high rises and tons of touristy things (Ripley’s Believe It or Not included) – but I think it was just what we needed just then. It was also not too far away from the Queensland Hinterlands, a series of national parks full of rainforests, rolling hills, and wildlife that we spent two of our days exploring. We didn’t do anything groundbreaking on our vacation – we walked on the beach (the water was warmer than the air, the sand was freezing cold when the sun went down, and there were nearly always people surfing), we explored the main drag of Surfers Paradise and ate some good food (including some excellent Italian…three times), and explored the rainforests and took pictures of the rolling hills. It was just the sort of vacation that reminded me why it is we wanted to come to Australia in the first place. And it had us already making plans for all the things we want to do in the next few years. So, aside from Lucas getting an ear infection, Avery suddenly having to do battle with her allergies, and me taking care of the lot =), it was exactly the vacation we needed. If you want to see pictures from our trip (and couple other random explorations), here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.797627341298.2267580.4706570&l=5feb64eaa7&type=1

So, now we’re back at home, I’m back to work, and we’re back to the grind. We’re still waiting to hear who’s going to take the leap and become our first visitors! In the meantime, even though we’ve lived here almost 5 months now, we’re still trying to do your basic everyday things….like figure out where is good to eat, where we should buy clothes (especially since they all seem to be really expensive!), how to file Australian tax returns, etc. Lucas is on the hunt for a job, which seems to be going not as well as we’d hoped at the moment – but that said, he and Avery love spending their days together, and we are fortunate enough to be in a position where we can afford for him to do that and still have a little money left over to travel and explore. We also started Avery about 6 weeks ago at an occasional care (a one day a week day care) on Tuesdays just down the street from where we live, and after a few minor anxieties on her part, she is LOVING it. We’re excited for her to go back to a more regular daycare situation when the time comes because she really loves being around other kids, playing with all the different toys she doesn’t have at home, and doing the arts ‘n crafts type things that her mommy unfortunately is terrible at. =)

While we’re having a good time so far, we’re really looking forward to when the weather starts to turn nice again. Although the lows here are only in the 50’s, it’s really difficult to describe just how cold 50 can be in Australia. I’m not sure whether it’s the humidity, proximity to the ocean, or what… but 50 here can be bone-chilling cold, and we did not come equipped (mentally or clothing-wise) for this type of cold. So, we’re taking the seeming attitude of most Australians and putting our heads down and just trying to pretend it’s not cold until it actually isn’t. We’re SO looking forward to the warmer months when we can take Avery out to the beach (she LOVES the beach…especially playing in the sand), we can explore all the parks in the area, and spend our weekends frolicking in the sun minus all the coats and long-sleeve shirts. The Australian sun and the Australian sky is like no other we’ve ever seen, and we can’t wait to enjoy it when it’s warm. Of course, we’ll be leaving all that glorious warmth in the middle of December to come home to the cold snow – that should be a shock to the system! =)

Well, that should do just about do it in for the blog catch-up. There’s not much else to report…we’re missing home, making the best of the time we have here, and looking forward to getting some visitors. Avery is getting bigger, smarter, and crazier by the day – she is talking a lot these days and getting to be quite the seasoned traveler. We’re hoping that makes for a somewhat easy trip home at Christmas…especially since it looks like we’ll be traveling home by way of Seoul, South Korea. It’s an 11 hour flight to there from here and then a nearly 14 hour flight from South Korea to Washington, DC. And we still haven’t figured out how we’re getting from one Washington (DC) to another (PA). As long as we have “Finding Nemo” and a few “Kerbit” movies/show on hand, we should be alright.

I hope anyone reading this enjoyed the lengthy update, and hopefully we won’t be so long in posting the next installment. We hope all is well with each of you, and stay safe in the heat wave!

Love & peace,

Jill, Lucas, & Avery

Australia does what?!

Well, here goes. This may take awhile. As it turns out, moving to another country, starting a job, looking for a place to live, and essentially starting all over again in the furniture and home good department (no pun intended) can be quite time consuming. That said, it has been a whirlwind adventure so far, and now that we have all of the aforementioned mostly accomplished -we finally have some time to slow down. So, now I can attempt to address to myriad of questions that have been asked of us so far.

So, first of all – we had a corporate rental for the first month…which sounds like it should be refreshing. And it was…for the first few days. And then I started my job and we came to experience firsthand the absolute insanity that is the rental market anywhere within a 50 mile radius of Sydney. Let me just fill you in. Basically what happens is that the rental is listed online, and an open inspection is scheduled – which is Australia speak for an open house. The inspection is usually scheduled for a 15 minute window. And the favorite thing of agents to do (as we learned) is to list the rental a week or so ahead of the day they plan to show it – and then they post the date/time of the showing 24 hours or so prior to the inspection. So, as you may imagine, you pretty much have to be attached to the website nonstop to make sure you don’t miss inspections on the place you want. And if you do manage to get to the inspection on time and on the right day, you’ll be there with the 50+ other people that are interested in the place….and you all take a look at it in the 15 minute window. Then you submit an application – which you have to have looking like you’re the best tenants in the world to even be reviewed by the real estate agent. If you pass that hurdle, your application gets sent on to the owner with any other “acceptable” applications (as determined by the agent), and the owner then picks who they like best. So, as we learned, you have to be pretty aggressive and for really competitive places, you basically have to offer something extra. Like for our place now, we ended up offering $20 more per week (because rent is per week here) than asking price…because someone else already offered $10 per week. But that’s what you do when you want a place here. It’s a little bit madness, but we’ve got a really nice, roomy place, and we’re happy. We were also handicapped by the fact that we had such a narrow time window to work in – normally people are looking for months for a new place here. We had about 3 weeks.

Anyway, on that topic, our new apartment is great. It’s not quite as close to the city as we’d hoped – but that was the trade-off we made in the end to be close to my job. It was either a long commute to work and a place close to the city – or the opposite. So, we ended up deciding a long commute wasn’t the way I should be spending my valuable time away from work – especially when I was so used to spending so much time with Avery. I think it was totally the right decision. We’re only about 20 minutes from downtown on the express bus (which stops pretty much at our front door), and I get to walk to work – also 20 minutes. Plus, I get a great workout walking to and from work every day. Our place is two bedrooms, two bathrooms, plus a study (which is kind of a thing here, it seems – essentially the same as a bedroom but without a door). We have TONS of natural light and two balconies. We have a nice big kitchen, laundry in our apartment (for which we had to buy a front loading washer – yes!), etc. One of the less desirable elements is a neighbor on this floor who is a big fan of curry, but it usually doesn’t waft into our apartment – just out in the hallway. The building has a great rooftop deck with a pool…although it’s headed into autumn here (they definitely do not call it “fall”!), so we’ll be waiting a few more months to try it out. Right now, we’re still waiting on most of our furniture – we have a couch, a mattress, Avery’s bed, and tv. That’s it. I thought it’d be a bit tough for me because I like things to be together and comfortable – but I’m kind of enjoying the minimalist thing we have going on at the moment….at least until we get our furniture in this week. Lucas is super excited because our furniture was all purchased from a local retailer who markets locally made 100% wood furniture – and it is all really nice. Plus, we got to pick the stain color. So, it’s kind of like we designed our own furniture – certainly an improvement over all the hand me down stuff we had in Nashville (not that we weren’t appreciative of that stuff….I loved it too…but it’s just funny how different this place will be furniture wise).

As far as actual Australian adventures, so far we’ve mostly been limited to downtown Sydney, the inside of buses, and grocery stores. I started work a week after we got here, and as I said, our other time was occupied with the rental search. Lucas and my mom got out a bit more than I did. I’ve been to Bondi Beach so far – which was beautiful, Darling Harbour, the Opera House and surrounding area. Lucas and my mom also went to Manly Beach with Avery, did the Sydney Aquarium, and some other places that I can’t think of at the moment. We really need to post some pictures – which we will soon, but we just finally got the internet up and running this past weekend. Internet is strange here – rather than unlimited downloads for a monthly fee, they max out here at some many GB per month. While we were in the short-term rental, we only had 2 GB for the whole month – and we sucked that all up looking at rentals. So, that’s why no pictures, limited facebook updates, etc. Anyway, the weekend before my mom left, we rented a car and took an absolutely AMAZING trip down the Grand Pacific Highway – driving along the beautiful coastline south of Sydney. We came back up the inland route through Kangaroo Valley, Bowral, etc. We ate lunch at a lawn bowling club (which seems to be a big thing here…but for old people). We have really awesome pictures of the trip we need to post. It was awesome and the best way to spend the last weekend with my mom.

We were so grateful to have my mom here to help us get settled in, watch Avery while we were rushing around Sydney searching for a place to live, figuring out how to grocery shop without a car, and the many other things we’ve started to get used to that come with living in another country. As soon as we returned from that trip, we spend Sunday evening (while we still had the rental car) moving into our new place….which should have taken only one trip because we only had our luggage to move…but we had a Hyundai Getz! Google that if you really want to see a small car. =) So, we moved in to our place and spent our first official night here on Monday night. My mom had to go home on Wednesday – and it was really sad to see her go because it was great to have her here. But now we’re on our own…and how did we spend our first weekend in our new place (because we just moved on Sunday night/Monday night last week), you ask? A glorious little bit of nothing. After about two months of nonstop movement, it was nice.

Anyway, we’re settling in nicely. Avery really likes our new place and seems to have adjusted with almost no problem at all. Lucas is enjoying the stay-at-home daddy role for now, and he will probably start looking for a job in about a month…but for now, we both like not having to rush it. Lucas hasn’t had the chance to stay at home with Avery for an extended time since she was born, and he’s really enjoying his time with her. We’re adjusting to the big differences….I don’t know that we’ve really had a lot of time or perspective to notice the smaller, more subtle things yet. So, what big differences have we noticed, you ask? Allow me to list some for you. =)

1.) Food is more expensive, as everyone says. But it’s not really that expensive. Certain things are really expensive you wouldn’t expect – like shaving cream, hairspray, cereal, cheese, and condiments. Some things are even more expensive than we expected – a case of Coke cans is over $20. But those are really the sorts of things we don’t need to spend money on anyway. Other things aren’t so bad or are even cheaper than home – like steak (we had three big t-bones the last night my mom was here for $17).

2.) Eating out is definitely more expensive. We figure this is a product of the fact minimum wage is over $17/hour…and just have adjusted our expectations accordingly when going out.

3.) Except for Thursdays, shops pretty much close by 5pm. Grocery stores are open later, but if you walk through a mall at 6p – you will see every single shop closed. It makes it pretty difficult when you’re trying to work and buy stuff for a new apartment at the same time! It is an interesting statement on the power of the worker versus the corporation in this country though. I mentioned Thursdays because that is “shopping night” – shops are open until later on Thursdays. So, the mall is a little insane on Thursday nights.

4.) Target here is pretty terrible compared to the US. It’s one of the things I definitely miss. On that note, buying non-food items at grocery stores here (which you would never do in the US because they’re overpriced) is not as ridiculous as it would be at home. So, things like crock-pots, Britas, cooking utensils, plastic storage containers, etc. that you would never buy in the US at a grocery store because you could get them for far cheaper elsewhere – here it seems that that is not the case. Unfortunately, we discovered that the hard way – after paying more money for a Brita and some kitchen knives at Target than at the grocery store. Can you believe that?

5.) Driving on the other side of the car and the other side of the road is not as hard to get used to as you’d expect.

6.) Nobody here ever points out “oh, you guys are from the States”. We really thought people would ask us or take an interest in it, but everyone just seems to accept that Sydney’s population is truly international and make no fuss over us at all - which is how we prefer it to be!

7.) TV here is not censored – for nudity or language. It is something to get used to hear swear words on regular tv.

8.) The culture here is a lot more similar to the US than we had expected. Of course, we haven’t had a chance to notice some of the nuances and subtleties yet.

9.) All four wheels on the shopping carts can turn in any direction – which makes for a very interesting trip through the grocery store. Steering has become a workout.

10.) People are generally as friendly as everyone says, the country is not as clean as everyone says (we see litter around just like you do in the States), and kids here really like their spray paint (tagging appears to be quite a popular pastime with teenagers).

11.) Girls wear the absolutely shortest shorts and skirts here I’ve ever seen. Seriously.

12.) Lucas already said it – but it’s so hard to get used to. Light switches are the opposite here – up is off, and down is on. It’s really been one of the hardest things to change habit-wise.

13.) TV here is moderately terrible sometimes. They still show things like “I Dream of Jeannie”, “Diagnosis Murder”, and the like. It’s free (there are about 16 free channels here), but most of them are terrible most of the time. One plus side – they have a channel that shows kids programming about 14 hours everyday (6a-8p or so). It’s really nice for Avery because they have a wake-up segment (which she watches), all the stuff in between (which she doesn’t because we don’t like to have the tv on all day), and a night-night segment. Her favorite is a show called Dirt Girl World. =) That said, sometimes good stuff is on – like right now, “Wedding Crashers” is on.

14.) And because I couldn’t end on #13, the pound key is called the “hash key”, debit card transactions are called “EFTPOS”, and they don’t call khakis khakis….still not sure what the word for that is here. And instead of getting your panties in a bunch, you get your knickers in a knot.

Well, as I sit here and breathe deeply in, smelling the deliciousness of the flowers in bloom just outside the balcony – I think that’s enough info for one little blog post. It’s nice to finally slow down after years of in limbo while I was in school…and then all the preparing we’d spent the last 9 months or so doing to get ready for this move. For the first time in years, I can come home and turn it off – no school stuff to attend to, no plans to be made, no last minute thing to complete…and it’s nice. Just really nice. Well, we’ll post pics soon. For now, I’m loving my job, we’re enjoying Australia, and our little family will keep all of you posted on our little adventure.

Cheers,
Jill

10 Things I've learned in a week in Oz

1. The weather is fantastic and most of the people are incredible friendly
2. The food is mostly free of preservatives, growth hormones, and artificial anything
3. Light switches are up for off, and down for on (and Crispy or seared is the translation for fried or grilled, respectively)
4. Australian TV is anywhere from a day to a decade behind America (but advertisements are few and far between; swearing is ok; brief nudity is acceptable; but ratings on shows such as Law and Order claim to contain nudity but do not)
5. Australian money is worth more than American right now dollar for dollar
6. Phone numbers can be any length from 6-11 digits without hyphens and double or triple digit repeats are said as so (eg. 611555 would be read as "six double one triple five")
7. It is hard to change habits of looking left, right, left, when crossing intersections when drivers are on the left side of the road
8. Australia was not hit by the recession like America. Unemployment is low, the dollar is strong, real estate is booming, and people are renting apartments as if they contain bars of gold (we would love to find a place that isn't already leased by the time we call the real estate agent)
9. Jet lag has taken a toll not only on our sleep schedules, but on our eating habits too. We are all feeling the urge to eat at all times and I cannot stay up past 10pm or sleep in past 7am.
10. Things are not as expensive as you hear from people who have visited. It is not $17 for subway, but it is $7 for a footlong. If you shop around, it is relatively priced to any American city for most goods.

Around the World in.....2 Days

So……..I know people have been waiting very patiently for an update. We are still getting over the jet lag, which I am frankly really surprised has taken so long – but I’ll blame that on our tardiness in getting around to blogging. Anyway, the terse nature of Lucas’ last post (coming from a guy who usually is painstaking in his writing when he knows it will be out there for public consumption) should be an indication of the frantic state that was our last week in the U.S. We got about 50% of the things accomplished in Pennsylvania with family and friends that we meant to, which means that we still have some random belongings in random places, a few friends that we didn’t get to catch up with and meant to, and missed out on enjoying some the things we felt we’d miss about home. It certainly was a whirlwind last few weeks in the States, between defending my dissertation, moving out of our house in Nashville a week later, and then spending a quick 5 days in PA before heading out entirely. Looking back on it, I’m not sure we actually had a chance to absorb the magnitude of the change we were undergoing.

Anyway, once we finally finished the “must do’s” on our to do list in PA….which basically included me purchasing a whole new professional wardrobe (none of my pre-pregnancy stuff fit anymore – it was all too big! – and I hadn’t made any effort to replace it while doing my dissertation), putting our stuff in storage at Lucas’ grandparents house, and selling our car. Well, those things did get accomplished – and that’s about it. We did very little visiting, zero relaxing, and almost no sleeping! Anyway, we did finally get off on Friday morning (2/25) after about four hours of sleep. We had a ridiculous amount of luggage, and Lucas exploded his Nalgene all over the security line…but we made it. The flight to L.A. went fairly well, as we managed to get Avery to nap for about an hour and then somehow magically entertained her for the remaining couple hours. We arrived in L.A. a little later than anticipated, and it was cold and rainy when we got there. We had planned on doing some sightseeing the afternoon of our arrival, but by the time we got the rental car, fought Friday rush hour traffic, and checked into the hotel, we were EXHAUSTED. We were jet-lagged on top of sleep deprived, so we grabbed a quick dinner at a place called Tacos Por Favor, made the obligatory stop at Ralph’s (must do circa “The Big Lebowski”), and then promptly went back to the hotel, showered, and went to bed before Wheel of Fortune was over (for those of you who don’t know what that means, it means we were all in bed before 7:30p).

The following day, we had breakfast at the IHOP beneath the hotel (on the ground floor) and after leaving our luggage in the hotel storage for the day, we headed out to do some touristy stuff. We drove by the Santa Monica pier and beaches….but we just viewed from the car because Avery decided to catch a wink, and we were not going to wake the beast! (As a side note, sleep deprivation combined with jet-lag does not a happy Avery make.) Then we headed up to Beverly Hills, took a walk up and down Rodeo Drive, and then headed up to Hollywood Blvd. Although we failed to realize it, Hollywood Blvd was a disaster area because they were busily prepping for the Oscars (which were the following night). Once we worked our way around all the blocked off streets, we managed to find some parking and get out to do some sightseeing. We walked on the Hollywood Star Walk, grabbed some surprisingly tasty lunch at a place at Hollywood and Highland called Mel’s Drive In (supposedly it was in a movie at some point), and then checked out the Chinese Grauman theater (where lots of major movie premiers are held). To get to the theater though, we had to walk through the Kodak theater (where the Oscars were being held), so we got to walk right next to the red carpet area and then through the foyer of the Kodak Theather – and saw a life size Oscar statue. I’m sure many celebrities were practicing the presentation on the other side of the doors, but I am sad to report that we didn’t see any celebrities. Well, unless you count Elmo – which made Avery’s day. =) After that, we made a quick drive by the Hollywood sign, and then we had to head back to the hotel to grab our luggage. For those who aren’t in the know, L.A. is massive, and one should not make the mistake of underestimating how long it can take to get from one seemingly adjacent area to another. So, we rushed back as quickly as we could to the hotel, grabbed our luggage, and headed to the airport. After returning the rental car, we checked in and headed to the terminal and then just tried to enjoy our last few hours in the states. Avery took advantage of this time by pushing her stroller all over the terminal area and staring out the windows while pointing and yelling “plane!”. I should say that, at this point, she was probably the most sleep deprived she has ever been in her young life, and we could not wait to get on the plane and have her fall asleep (….although, of course, it didn’t go quite that smoothly).

We did score a bassinet seat on the plane – which is a seat behind a bulkhead on the plane where a bassinet can be attached to the wall so that you can put a small child to sleep there. It seemed pretty great in theory…until they tell you that every time the “fasten seatbelt” sign goes on, you have to remove your happily sleeping child from the bassinet and sit with her until she can go back in the bassinet…that is, until the “fasten seatbelt” sign goes on again five minutes later. But the plus side was that we did end up with the seats with the most legroom – so that was nice. Anyway, the plane was HUGE, and the seats, etc. were more spacious….much different than the cattle car feeling you get from Southwest flights (not that I’m impugning Southwest!). We each had our own tv, which had movies, tv shows, video games. Actually, if you weren’t flying with a child and not through the night, it’d actually be enjoyable to just kind of sit there and totally veg out on tv and video games for several hours….because it’s one of the rare occasions where you have to because there is no house to clean, no meals to cook, etc. It was still nice nonetheless because I did end up watching a movie and catching a tv show here and there. Avery ended up sleeping for about 9 hours of the 15 hour flight. She was up for about the first two hours of the flight. We made the mistake of not feeding her dinner before we got on the plane (because we were served dinner on the flight) but by the time dinner was served, Avery was hungry and in full-on meltdown mode – which was the first time we’d ever experienced that – and my dinner nearly ended up on the floor. And Avery was so tired, she didn’t even end up eating. She ended up finally collapsing (nearly literally) while we were eating dinner, and she slept for about 9 hours. Although her usual nighttime sleep is about 12-13 hours, we were pretty happy with 9 hours given the circumstances. Lucas slept like a baby, and I was so tired I probably would have too had it not been for that darn “fasten seatbelt” sign. I think I ended sleeping about 4 hours of the flight. By the time Avery woke up, the plane was getting ready for breakfast. So, we only had a few hours left in the flight, and she was still so tired that she mostly relaxed with us and watched cartoons on the tv. All things considered, we were very surprised by how quick and easy the trans-Pacific flight was, and even though we felt gross, dirty, and tired, we felt like the flight had been much more enjoyable than we’d anticipated. So, that’s good news since we’ll be doing that flight several times over the next few years.

We cleared customs pretty easily and were picked up by the person I’ve been communicating with at the school I’ll be working at, and she took us directly to the corporate apartment we’re staying at now for the next month. It’s in an area outside of Sydney called Castle Hill, and it’s a nice area where we can walk to a large shopping center. The shopping center has lots of places to eat, a mall, a grocery store with a farmers market right outside (although still inside the mall), and a movie theater. It’s a great place to start out because it’s not too busy, and we can walk to the shopping center for anything we need. Our apartment is large and super nice. We’re only here until we find our own place, but it is furnished, kitchen is stocked with all the cookware and dining ware, beds are made, towels are stocked, etc. – so after almost 3 days of travel and the crazy two weeks of moving we had, it is a nice little respite. It was also nice because after the exhaustion and jet lag, we rolled our luggage in, took showers, and promptly collapsed. The jet lag hasn’t been as overwhelming as expected, but it strikes at weird times. In my case, I seem to get really tired in the middle of the day, and I’m not sure why – but since I don’t usually have that problem, I’m attributing it to jet lag. It’s been a nice place to relax the past few days as well, as it’s part of a big apartment complex that is more like an apartment garden – and there are amenities here for us to use, like a library, pool, fitness room, etc. There is also a grill that we’ve been unsuccessful in using twice. (As a side note, they don’t label appliances here with any type of informative words or symbols…so using major appliances has been an adventure.)

The past few days have consisted of recovering our sleep schedules, making a daily trip to the shopping center for food and exploration, and listening to the craziest birds in the world. One of the greatest things about this apartment is the massive balcony and three slide glass doors (so one whole wall of the apartment is essentially glass) – and so we get to listen to the crazy birds every morning. On Wednesday, I spent the day at Woodbury (the school where I’ll be working) and with the current executive director to start to get acquainted with the school, students, etc. Wednesday night, my future co-worker and fellow American introduced Lucas and I to the bus system and took us out to dinner in Sydney. Today (Thursday), we made our first real trip to the grocery store. Our past few trips have been just to get enough food for a meal, but today we went for a regular trip to get food for a week (like we would at home….I’m a one-trip a week person when it comes to the grocery store – I hate going multiple times!). We also wanted to get a good idea of what kind of budget we’re going to need to have for food here (as things are more expensive…well, some things anyway). So, there’s no doubt it is more expensive here for food, but if you are mindful of what you’re buying and willing to make healthy choices, it’s not that much different from the U.S. Some things are understandably more expensive – like processed foods. A box of chocolatey cereal is $7, hairspray is $6, laundry detergent is pricey. On the other hand, other things are the same as home….olive oil is the same price, milk is about the same, meat is about the same (well, if you bought organic like we do). Some things are even a little cheaper. Seafood is cheaper, certain cuts of beef are cheaper (like we bought three porterhouse steaks for $20). One of the biggest challenges has been figuring out how to convert kg to lbs – since they are on the metric system, I have to figure out how many grams or kilograms of lunchmeat to order. Outside of the grocery store, other things are different too – like today, I ordered a milkshake to share with Avery when we were down by the Opera House. Well, it was a lot of milk and very little shake, so it ended up being more like vanilla milk rather than a milkshake….but that is a learning curve. And it was still yummy. The other thing that is different here, both in the grocery store and elsewhere, are portion sizes. I’ve known that Americans have increased portion sizes in the last few decades by some ridiculous percent, but it is really obvious when you come here just how true that is.

Anyway, after the grocery store trip and Avery’s nap today, we went into downtown for the first time. We walked around the Wharf area, checked out the harbour and the Harbour Bridge, and walked around the Sydney Opera House. It is pretty impressive up close. I had to meet a colleague in town for to go to a meeting of the Association of Independent Schools (which is what the school I’m working for is…and “independent schools” are a very big component of the education system in Australia) in preparation for the sorts of things I’ll be dealing with in the coming weeks and months. So, Lucas, Avery, and my mom hung out in the Botanical Gardens (if you check out the facebook pics, it’s where Avery spent the afternoon chasing after ducks) while I went to that. We headed back on the bus after the meeting, and we had our tasty porterhouse steaks for dinner (cooked in the skillet after the aforementioned failed 2nd attempt at cooking on the grill). I’ve been meaning to update this blog for days now, so I apologize if all this seems mundane….but people have been asking about various details. So, I just included all the details. Future blog posts will be more exciting – I promise.

I start work on Monday full-time, and after spending all of yesterday at work, I am realizing how difficult this transition is going to be for me when it comes to spending the day away from Avery. For these last few months while finishing up my dissertation, Avery and I have spent so much time together. We had our little routine of getting up, watching Sesame Street while I make her scrambled eggs, and then she plays the morning away while I split time between playing with her and working on my dissertation. Now, those responsibilities will fall to Lucas (until he gets a job at least), and I will be gone all day. It’ll be tough for me to be away from Avery, and I know it will be tough for her to be away from me (as she asks for me when I’m with her and when I’m not). That said, I am happy that Lucas and Avery will get to spend this time together. I’m excited to hear what they get up to with their time – with so much to do and see.

Well, our plans for the next few days are to start looking at apartments and exploring neighborhoods. We have to be out of this apartment in about 3.5 weeks, and the Sydney rental market can be super competitive. We’re planning on our first trip to the beach on Sunday, and I’m super excited!! Monday is my first day of work, and although I know it’s going to be a big transition for the reasons mentioned above and other reasons, I am really looking forward to the challenge. I’ve spent so much time and effort accumulating knowledge, I am ready to put it to work now.
Anyway, that’s enough of an update for now. We’ll try to post regularly. Check out my facebook page for pictures – we promise to take more soon!

Jill

Leaving the homestead

After a more than hectic day, we struggled through getting our house packed up into two vehicles (thank you Stephanie) and gave away a bunch of stuff that we couldn't take (more than we wanted). Avery was saying "Bye, Bye" to everything including the empty house (tear) and we said our last goodbyes to the friends we won't see in quite a while (more tears). Well, suffice it to say that it was mentally and physically exhausting, but that part is over for now. It was strange to see our house empty. Now we need to consolidate what we brought home into my grandparents attic from their basement, pack our bags, do last minute shopping, and visit with friends and family until Friday. No pressure.--Lucas