I'm an Alien

People keep asking how things are going? Are we settling in? Do you like it? Well, it’s hard to answer that because I still feel like we are in a holding pattern. I do like it. But I really want my stuff. I’m tried of our ‘corporate apartment’. And I want my stuff. Did I say that already? The good news is we have found a house. The plan is to move in on November 6th. Our stuff should come into port this week and then it will sit for a couple of weeks before it goes through customs. We will then be ready to move into our new home. Have I mentioned we are going to live by the beach? It’s crazy and we have a view. We also have room for visitors. After spending some time driving around, researching the suburbs of Sydney and comparing housing costs, we opted to do something a little crazy and move to the ‘Northern Beaches’. Jamie will have a longer commute than what we originally wanted, but in distance it’s shorter than what he was commuting at home. He’ll just need to plan accordingly because traffic can be pretty wicked. We think it will be fun to live The Beach Life for a couple of years. We’ve done the city thing, so we think this will be a nice change. And it will be even better once our stuff gets here. Have I mentioned I want my stuff?

Now that we have found where we will be living, I’ve been researching preschools and found one for AM to attend. Next will be to figure out all our medical stuff. But before finding our place and neighborhood it’s been hard to move forward and figure all this life stuff out. I yearn for the day when we have a steady schedule. And for my stuff to get here. In particular, my kitchen things, even though some of my appliances will probably not even work. But that’s ok. Good knives and a muffin pan would be great. Oh and my bed, I want my bed. And some different clothes would be nice. I look forward to signing up for yoga classes and figuring out what I will do with myself when Annmarie starts preschool. She’ll only be going two days a week, but it's an all day program. I’m sure I’ll have no problem filling my days up, but it’s a freedom I haven’t had in like forever.

When we first got here it took forever to get our internet connection working and it took a month for me to get my iPhone working. Thanks Steve Jobs. I had to go in and Jailbreak my phone and then unlock it like some criminal. All so I could use an Australian carrier. If I didn’t do this my phone would have been a useless peace of metal and I would have had to go out and buy a new iPhone (for $800 friggin Australian dollars!! No thank you). I took the risk, Jailbroke my phone and guess what...it worked! So Steve Jobs and AT&T take that. Let’s just hope Rick Astley doesn’t appear as my wallpaper. True story, apparently there was some worm going around on Jailbroken phones in OZ that this happened to. Anyway, if you ever need this done to your phone, I’m the women to call. And if you want dork out and a learn more about this subject here is a good article.

After we got the internet and phone thing worked out, we found out that we could not access Hulu or US MTV. Really? Why did we move here again? I kid. But seriously, this is what you get:
Also, OZ is not broadcasting the final season of Oprah. This to me is just flat our wrong. We’re talking about a country that just paid Oprah like $3 million dollars for her and some fans to visit and they don’t have the decency to air her final season, they are still on last season. Really, OZ, really?

Before coming here we knew that we would be unable to access Pandora and Netflix. OZ does have a similar subscription service to Netflix that we’ll sign up for, so we’ll be saved there. And Jamie has more than a sufficient music collection that Pandora isn’t really necessary. The other thing that is crazy is there is not an Australian Amazon.com. You can still use the US Amazon, but you’ll have to pay up the wah-zoo for shipping. The reason you use Amazon is for the free shipping.

I know I sound like a shallow spoiled brat but cut me a break.

It's pretty darn expensive here. We knew this going in. Things are fairly comparable to bay area standards. GST is included in the price of a good, so you have to keep that in mind when shopping. And Dude, limes, yes, those green little citrus things can be as much as 21.99 kg. This works out to be about $2.00 a lime. I don't get it. I think I will be become a lime farmer. Gas is more expensive, which goes for $1.25 a liter. I have a handy little ap on my iPhone that helps me with conversions. Here and there things just add up.

Here in North Ryde you can find everything you ever wanted in a mall. The mall includes; department stores, a Target, Big W, specialty shops, grocery stores, liquor store (you can't buy booze at the grocery store) butchers, chemist (pharmacy), movie theater, ice rink, Doctors (which I already have had to visit), banks and more, all under one roof. It’s a little overwhelming, I don’t like having so many choices. It’s not like this everywhere and where we will be living we don’t have a huge mall in our town, but there is one close by. We have a Wooly’s and some other necessary shops close by – this I am happy about.

So after that little rant, what do I like so far?

These!
Fabulous coffee. No Starbucks. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Starbucks, jeez I’m even a shareholder I believe them in them so much, but it’s nice not to see them on every corner. They’re here, there’s just not a lot of them.

There is no such thing as a penny. I love this. And why the US does not adopt this system is beyond me. The Aussies round, it’s great...even if they round up. I guess it’s the accountant in me that loves this.

Friendly people. What they say is true, just really nice people, with the exception of the Vodafone people, everywhere you go people are more than willing to answer your questions and help you out. In a really nice way.

We found Mexican food! We were under the impression that this was going to be a difficult mission. But it’s here and sufficient. Don’t get me wrong, it’s no Pancho Villas, but it will do. However, I haven’t been able to find black beans in the grocery store, and this is bumming me out. Jamie has found Cholula sauce, and he’s happy.

Really really cold beer. Need I say more?

Beautiful beaches, green trees, exotic birds in your backyard. Sydney is beautiful and I look forward to seeing more of the country.

(cockatoos at the park)