- The weather is fantastic and most of the people are incredible friendly
- The food is mostly free of preservatives, growth hormones, and artificial anything
- Light switches are up for off, and down for on (and Crispy or seared is the translation for fried or grilled, respectively)
- 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)
- Australian money is worth more than American right now dollar for dollar
- 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")
- It is hard to change habits of looking left, right, left, when crossing intersections when drivers are on the left side of the road
- 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)
- 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.
- 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.
Monday, March 7, 2011
10 Things I've learned in a week in Oz
Thursday, March 3, 2011
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
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
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