HFDU - 26th Edition long overdue

Originally sent: December 19, 2005

Hello everyone! This update is looooong overdue, as it's been almost 3 months since I last sent one. My intentions have been good, but the reality of it is that I have been too busy to get it out. I figured that it was about time to email all of you so please read on…….

Way back at the beginning of October, at the end of B's footy season, they had the annual Presentation Night. It was a bit bittersweet for me, because I was saying goodbye to a lot of the people at the club that I would likely never see again. B was awarded 2nd Best and Fairest, which is comparable to MVP in the States. He was very proud, and I was even prouder! It was a good night and I will definitely miss my involvement in that fantastic footy club! Shortly after footy season ended, one of the older ladies from the club called me and said that she wanted to organise a farewell luncheon for me and invite all of the ladies from the club. Because my schedule is going to be extremely busy after Christmas during my last few weeks here, we decided to have it a few weekends ago. So it was basically me and all of the old ladies from the club having a luncheon and afternoon tea and gossiping, as only old ladies can do. I ended up staying there all afternoon, sipping champagne and opening the nice thoughtful presents that they had given me. It was such a sweet gesture!

I spent the entire month of October in Sydney on an internal audit secondment at a large international bank. It was a really good experience, and was a nice break from the normal routine. While I was up there, I took advantage of it and saw a bit more of Sydney that I had not seen before. B came up for a weekend and we caught up with some friends, ate at our favorite Spanish restaurant, took a trip to Bondi Beach (the famous beach in Sydney), went to the fish market for the best fresh fish & chips, and then I took myself to the Taronga Zoo. The best part of the zoo was actually the views of the opera house and the harbour bridge rather than the actual animals, but it was a good way to keep myself busy on a bright & sunny Saturday afternoon.

I spent a bit of time with a U.S. coworker and her Australian husband, as well as a U.S. partner and her husband, who are all living in Australia right now. It was a Houston office reunion! After my time up there, it really confirmed the fact that I am a Melbourne girl and am quite happy to have spent my time down here. Sydney is too touristy and quite fast-paced compared to easy going and laid back Melbourne.

Softball season is in full swing and as always, our team is doing really well. I'm having to train up another couple of girls at 1st base to take over for me during the playoffs as I'll have left the country by then. The weather has been really good for us so far. Each Wednesday night after softball B & I head over to the local pub for our ritual trivia night. The only bad part is that I have to sit in the pub at trivia wearing my softball uniform, but everyone says that it just makes me look more American! Our team is still doing really well at trivia and we've won drinks cards and a couple of free pizzas lately. There have been lots of American questions lately, and I've managed to do myself proud by getting most of them right. It's really amusing when I think one thing, and M from New York thinks something else, and we are trying to decide who's right. While at the same time, all of the Scots and English folk are laughing hysterically at our indecisiveness!

We had to improvise for Thanksgiving this year. A group of about 8 of us, mainly Americans, decided not to cook this year, but instead took ourselves to one of the most American places that we could think of for dinner - the Hard Rock Café. It was actually a good idea because the Hard Rock has all-you-can-eat ribs on Thursday nights, and we definitely ate all we could. I had not had ribs (or really good ones at least) since I've been in Australia, so it was definitely a welcomed meal.

My friend KG from Boston had her parents over from the States for Thanksgiving and her mom cooked a proper Thanksgiving meal on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. That was the same day that I had the luncheon with the footy club ladies, so I only made it in time for the pumpkin pie. It was nice to be around a family though and sit around chatting for a few hours.

In recognition of the holiday season, the partners and managers in my group have been enjoying some well deserved celebrations. We had our Partner/Manager Christmas Party during the Spring Racing Carnival in November during one of the big horse races. It was a perfect day - complete with a marquee, catering, and plenty of betting on the races. The Aussies call betting "having a flutter", which I really find quite amusing. I think I was up about $90 on the day, so not too bad of an effort. I really enjoyed going to the races again, as girls get all dressed up in fancy dresses and wear either large (sometimes quite obnoxious yet classy) hats or what they call "fascinators", which are basically just clumps of feathers and/or flowers attached somewhere to your hair. Hopefully I can get some photos loaded on the website of the day soon - but no promises!

The partners and managers also had a Christmas dinner at one of the partner's houses. It was a lovely affair, and a good chance to catch up with everyone less formally. The house was huge and had a backyard fit for a wedding or reception, or whatever! One of my good friends here is getting married in February (just before I leave) and she never had an engagement party, so a few of us girls rented a beach house a couple of hours away and went away for a girls weekend to celebrate her engagement. It was great to relax, play Scrabble, read trashy chic magazines, drink champagne in the hot tub, and generally just laze about without the boys. We did manage to put on an authentic and very successful Aussie bbq without any boys around! Her and her fiancé just bought a house as well and have spent heaps of time renovating it and getting it ready to move in to. They threw a housewarming bbq a couple of weeks ago which was great.

The weather is getting so fabulous that bbq's are just popping up everywhere. I made my famous chocolate chip cookies and brownies and B took control of the grill, as he always does!
We had our group Christmas party last weekend and it also involved horse races. We took buses out to the "country races" way on the outskirts of Melbourne. We had a similar set up as the other race day that we went too with the partners and managers, complete with marquee, catering, and an occasional flutter. The only difference was that there were about 120 of us rather than 30 of us so there was definitely plenty of people to catch up with. My company sponsored a race that day too, so a few of us ladies got to go on to the race track and present the owner of the winning horse with the trophy and prize. The buses then took us back into town and we finished up at a local bar that we had booked out for the evening. Overall it was a fantastic night and a good one to remember as one of my last big company outings in Australia!

I just spent a weekend in Queensland in a town called Noosa. I went with my girlfriend HK who is another American in secondment in the Melbourne office. We took last Friday off and relaxed all weekend. We took a trip the Australia Zoo, home of Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter - the same guy that you see on tv in the States. It was like no other zoo that I have ever been to. The first sight that we saw upon entering the zoo were the dingoes being walked, then a wombat being walked, then a zoo keeper carrying around a kookaburra. You are able to get photos next to all of these animals - but the real treat will be in my Christmas cards, whenever I get around to sending them out. So those of you whose addresses I have updated will hopefully enjoy the card in the mail this year, even though it'll be a bit late :-)

The biggest attraction of the zoo is the main show. It includes a snake show, tiger show, bird show, and then the famous crocodile show all in one - about 1 1/2 hours long. It really was a sight to be seen! The area where the kangaroos are located is an open area, similar to a meadow, where all of the kangaroos hang out. The difference between this zoo and any other zoo is that you get to buy a bag of kangaroo food and walk right up to them. They are very tame, very soft, and very photogenic. I will try to get some photos loaded up soon from this latest adventure. The Crocodile Hunter himself was not there, but I don't think he is there very often with all of his commitments over in the States.

This week before Christmas will prove to be very busy too. The girls are doing a Kris Kringle dinner tomorrow night (similar to a Secret Santa), I have major client commitments that must be finished before the break, and the firm-wide Christmas party is this Friday, which basically means that everything has to be done by Thursday. But Thursday is a Christmas lunch with a client, and in the meantime, I have to pack for my trip to Western Australia with B that starts the day after Christmas. So, I wanted to take this time out now to say Merry Christmas to all of you and your families. I horribly miss the spirit of Christmas, which doesn't really seem to exist in Australia, but I try to create it with my 1 Christmas CD and my favorite gingerbread lattes from Starbucks :-)

I will be spending Christmas day having a bbq with my closest friends here in Australia, but I will think of all of the ones that I love and miss back home. I hope that Christmas is perfect for each of you and that you all appreciate being around your families!