Let the fur fly!

Following their 30 day mandatory incarceration, I was able to pick up two little fur babies today at Canberra Airport.  I could hear Jackie protesting the minute they wheeled the crates through the doors.  Franklin on the other hand was as far back in the cage as he could get, quiet as a church mouse.  The drive home was fairly quiet and I dropped them off near the elevators while I parked my car in the assigned space.  Once I rounded the corner, I could once again hear Jackie.... MEOW!!  MEOW!!! How dare you!!

When I finally got them in the house, I opened the cages and let them out.  Both were very hesitant at first and both had their noses going 90 miles an hour to take in all the smells.  Neither wanted anything to do with me.  They got brave and went up one flight of stairs in my apartment to the guest room/office/laundry room floor.  Franklin seemed entranced by the bathroom, while Jackie conducted a full and complete inspection.  Rather than venturing further up stairs, Jackie went about halfway back down to the front door and got comfy on the stairs.

But it has not taken Jackie too long to adapt to her new place.  She has decided that she is happy to see me and has followed me around, demanding the cuddles she has not been getting this past month.  Franklin on the other hand...

Please pet me....

 Once he figured out where my room was, it didnt take him long to determine where he wanted to spend his adjustment period.....

Is there anyone looking??

How dare you, mom.  How dare you.

I am not coming out until you apologize.

So, so far so good.  They are going to be fine.  Jackie has taken to our new place quite quickly and has already tested the food to ensure it is of high quality.  The drinking fountain is properly hooked up and full of delicious H2O and the potty box is sufficient.  Franklin will also check out that stuff when he decides to come out from under my bed.  I hope its before I have to move back.

To Petrol or not to Petrol, that is the question.

Having been a licensed driver for 21 years now, there are certain elements associated with vehicular operation which I feel pretty confident completing.  Parking, stopping, driving, all very uncomplicated tasks more or less.  However, change one *tiny* thing like the location of the steering wheel and it all goes out the window.  Yesterday was a unique experience for sure.

As I tooled around the mean streets of Barton, I noticed that my petrol (gasoline in North America) gauge was nearing the empty mark.   Not bad considering that it was full when I bought the car like 2 weeks ago.  So my first challenge was locating the petrol station.  Good thing there was one near the Maccas where I picked up dinner so challenge one-check.

I pulled into the station, on the correct side, and checked the gauge for the little pump to tell me what side the  tank was on.  I parked and got out of the car and tried to pay at the pump.  Only they dont do that here.  At all.  As a matter of fact, the pumps are pretty old school.  They look like the pumps they had when I was a kid with the white numbers on black background.  (For those of you from the cliff, like the pumps they had FOREVER at the Fina station at the corner of Cockrell Hill and Kiest---near the little grocery store for Gina).

So I was already a bit confused and went inside to pay for the gas in advance.  Both clerks looked at me like I was mad because I had not pumped any gas yet.  So I went back to my car and tried to pump the gas.  I put the pump in the tank and could not get it to come on.  There are no big rubber nozzle covers here.  I pumped approximately $.12 worth of gas.  Then it cut off. So I tried again and could not get the pump to start. I did this dance for about 2 minutes when the lady clerk actually came out to my car.  Im sure she wanted to see what type of idiot I was that I couldnt pump gas.  I told her that I just moved here and this was the first time I had to put gas in the car.  She was very sympathetic and helpful.  She wanted to know where I was from and I told her.  Then I told her that back home we had to pay in advance for fuel.  She told me that it was a pretty good idea and they didnt do that there and had many drive offs.  As a matter of fact they had a drive off just before I got there.  Once I figured out how to pump the gas at more than twelve cents at a time, I was off and running.  Falling back into old habits, I started surveillaling the remainder of the parking lot and not paying attention to my fuel amount.  I happened to look back over and the pump was still going strong at $60.  Then it mercifully cut off.  Its a Ford Focus, not an F-250 for crying out loud. I can only imagine what it takes to fill up a van or truck.  UGH.  There will be no joy riding for me.  Good thing it takes me exactly 5 minutes to drive to work.  WHEW!!!

Starting to get the hang of this

So, its been a month on Tuesday since I touched down here in the land of Oz.  I have to say it is getting progressively easier but not at the rate I would like.  I finally have wheels.  I have named my car "Oscar" because when I was making a folder to keep paperwork and stuff in, I wrote "OZ car" on it and if you run it together...well you get the idea.

Ive been to a couple of events now, the first was a screening of the movie Lincoln hosted by the Ambassador.  I thought the movie was fantastic, a little slow in some spots, but overall very wonderful and I did cry a little (DANG YOU STEVEN SPIELBERG!!).  Unfortunately, the emotion of the movie was completely lost on the Aussies.  It did help that I knew what was going to happen though...they were totally lost.

My next fun thing was a party at the New Zealand High Commission (they are called that rather than an Embassy because of their British heritage) for Waitangi Day.  That was super interesting!!  Waitangi Day is the commemoration of the signing of a treaty between the Maori people and the English settlers.  It is similar to our 4th of July...sort of.

These are the "attack cows" that are outside of the NZHC. They are supposed to be art, but as you can see from the photo above, I think that is their security system as they don't have a gate.  Much different than our building, that's for sure.

We also had the privilege of seeing a Maori group perform at the function.  I only recorded the first performance which is a love song.  The last one was really cool, but I had a moment of "Ugly American" panic and decided that I should put my camera away. I will work at posting the video.

Last night, we went to an Australian League baseball game!  It was "normal" and I needed a dose of normal. The Canberra Calvary are playing the Perth Heat for the league championship.  We (CC) won the first game of the best of three series last night.  They play again tonight and if needed tomorrow but those games are all sold out so I only got to go last night.  I will definitely go back next season.  The only draw back to that was, it made me miss my dad something fierce.  Thats our thing to do together and it was kind of strange without him.  He would have had a great time.  Maybe they can come visit me during baseball season some time...

Some of my new friends here in Oz.

The Cavalry WIN!! 6 to 4 over the Heat!

 So, thats it for now.  Im sure there will be more antics to come once the fur babies arrive from their incarceration.  Enjoy!

One week down....

So I have officially been here for a week.  It has been quite a week...

First, I arrived last Saturday, tired and cranky from the 14 hour plane ride but happy to have made it across the Pacific in one piece.  I cleared customs (nice bloke, and he didnt pick a random page in my passport to stamp!  I hate when they do that...) and went to get my baggage to get them through customs.  Only Big Blue and Blue Jr didnt make it.  In fact, when I alerted the baggage guy that my bags were not there, he said "No worries!" and took my claim tickets and wrote "MISSING" across them.  What?  Then he told me to go through since I had nothing to declare.  Um, what if I wanted to declare something?  I wanted to declare that they better FIND MY FREAKING LUGGAGE!!!.  So instead, I went through customs at Sydney to catch my domestic flight to Canberra.  When I exited customs, I realized I was hungry so I stopped at the only place available....McDonalds which here is called "Maccas".  Six chicken nuggets and some fries and a coke later, I was slightly less cranky.

Then my wait began.  I had a six hour layover in Sydney (so I had plenty of time to clear customs.....pttthh) then a 20 minute flight to Canberra.  I wandered through every shop in the airport.  Then I did it again because I only burned up an hour.  Then I decided to watch some of my downloaded shows on my kindle.  What a life saver that was!  As Im waiting, I hear "HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!!!!" being screamed throughout the terminal.  I didnt get up to investigate because it was echoing down the hallway but these are not good impressions to make on someone who just arrived here.  The flight to Canberra was like any Southwest airlines flight.  Up, hand out drinks, land.  I was grateful for that.

When I got to Canberra, my sponsor S was waiting to pick me up.  That too was a great relief.  Unfortunately I had no baggage to claim.  I filed a complaint with the Qantas counter and she took me to my new apartment.  It is pretty nice and I will post pictures once I get some of my stuff here.  What a relief to have my bed made, some food in the pantry and such.  That is one thing they really do well here.

I checked back with Qantas and they told me my bags were not coming today but probably tomorrow so they gave me a "comfort kit" with shorts, a t-shirt, toothbrush, soap, deodorant, stuff like that.  I thought "how nice!" but by day 4 with no clothes I thought "how cheap!".  They did give me a voucher to buy some clothes and I ran out trying to find something that 1) fit, 2) didnt cost a fortune and 3) looked halfway professional. I ended up with a little sundress and some flats but I doubt I will wear it again.

Work has been challenging.  I dont know what Im doing yet so thats fun, and I dont have access to everything yet so until I get it I cant work.  When will they learn to do this stuff in advance of a new arrival????   The upside is that the people are super nice and I will get along with them for sure.  I still get lost on the compound but thats to be expected.

Trying to buy stuff here is crazy.  Every single thing is about 3 times what it costs back home.  It is shocking. I bought dishwasher tablets yesterday.  There were 40 in the pack and it cost me about $15...chapstick was $4.  Its just nuts!

I did get out and see the sights a couple times and I have to tell you, it is a very pretty town. There is a really neat little market called the Old Bus Depot Markets.  It has little crafts, food, and all kinds of stuff.  Then one day I walked to the National Library of Australia and saw the lake, the carillons and the ANZAC parade.

These are the carillons.  They chime often and you can here it throughout the city.  Very peaceful.

This is the National Library of Australia, and possibly my favorite place here so far.  Its very warm and inviting.

This is the ANZAC parade and the National War Memorial.  As you can see, its on the other side of the lake so I havent been there yet.  But its cool!

So boys and girls, thats all I have for now.  Tune in next week for your next installment.  Until then, G'Day.

This is the great adventure......

Well after seemingly two full days on a plane, two lost suitcases, culture shock and frustration I have finally arrived.  I am starting to get acclimated to this environment.  My sponsor S. took me to the market, grocery store and Costco today.  I started the adjustment to Australian foods, which wasn't too terrible.  Potatoes are SMALL here as compared to the US.  But, perhaps the most exciting discovery today......get ready for it....its legend -because its so tasty I cant wait anymore-DARY.

COSTCO CARRIES DR PEPPER.

It costs a fortune but I am willing to pay for some comfort.  Its not a knock off either, its the real, honest to goodness Dr. Pepper.  Made in Texas, for Texans.  And now, apparently, for Australians.  This place might actually be tolerable.  If I could only find some decent chili.....

The money is interesting here.  Every bill is a different color and there are one and two dollar coins.  The biggest problem is the conversion rate.  I think I may come up short on this deal if I don't get a game plan together soon.

Time has come today....

The time to move is drawing near.  I have so much to do!  Yet, the thing I want to do the most is just spend time with my family.  I know that it is important to get things in order before the movers come, but it will likely be three years before I am able to spend time with my family.  If only I had a twin....or a clone.

The Olympics may be over, but my head is still swimming!

My what a difference a few months makes.  Just December I was needing a break and going quietly mad.  While I am still not out of the woods, it is ironic that I mentioned going to Australia in my last post.  I found out two short months later that I am being transferred there for work!  How very exciting.  I still have tons on my plate and should be working on my SECOND proposal for my dissertation after the first was rejected but I just cant.  I am overwhelmed at the prospect of the adventure before me.  So G'day everyone.  ;D