Originally sent: May 30, 2005
Dear all,
As I type this, I'm just remembering that I'm missing out on yet another U.S. holiday (Memorial Day), but I've grown accustomed to all of the Australian holidays, such as the Queen's birthday, Anzac Day, Australia Day, and Melbourne Cup Day. However, we go through a dry spell without any holidays between mid-June and early November, which makes the winter seem even longer! So I hope all of you have done something exciting over the long weekend and relaxed a little bit.
Speaking of long weekends away, B & I went on a road trip over Anzac Day weekend from Melbourne to Sydney, stopping in Canberra (the nation's capital) along the way. The trip from Melb to Syd is typically about 10 hours, but we added a few hours on the side trip to Canberra. Because B had his footy game on Saturday, we didn't leave Melb until 1am!! And, with the 8 hour trip to Canberra, if we had left at 8pm, we would have arrived at 4am and there would have been nothing open. So, needless to say, we were a bit delirious for a while after the long drive in the middle of the night. B was fasting for Greek Easter, so he made a "homebrew" which was basically REALLY strong coffee with rice milk instead of cow's milk. I never tasted it, but it certainly smelled lethal! He was so wired the entire trip up, I didn't worry at all that he was going to fall asleep.
Once we got to Canberra, we made a quick stop at Parliament House and went on a guided tour. It was interesting to be able to park underneath what would be the equivalent of our Capitol Building, and walk straight in with minimal security checks. I enjoyed learning more about how the Australian government works and have posted photos on the web.
We also took a trip to the War Memorial, which was also interesting, but by that point, I just wanted to sleep! When we finally made it to Sydney, we crashed at the hotel for a few hours before going out for a nice dinner. On the way back to Melb, we picked up B's best mate G who was up visiting is girlfriend in Sydney, and he rode back with us. We stopped in the Blue Mountains for a quick peak at the Three Sisters lookout and also drove through Bathurst, which is a country town that is home to Australia's biggest road race. The track is actually a public road, so of course B had to take the car for a few laps around just for the thrill! Overall a memorable trip - if not for the sights that we saw - definitely for the delirium that we were experiencing with minimal sleep!
There have been several birthdays over the past month or so since my last email. And continuing with our tradition, we go out for girls nights when one of the girls has a birthday. The last one involved about 15 of us going to a Spanish restaurant for tapas & sangria (yum!) and then to a club for some dancing. It was good fun :-) We had another impromptu girls night that involved dinner, drinks at the Vodka Bar, then dancing at a venue that is probably meant for 18 year olds. But all of us, being in our upper 20's, had a ball anyway, and my friend KD even won the podium dancing competition!
B's birthday was also in May, and I planned a surprise party for him at a restaurant. He had never had anything like that done for him, so I thought it was about time! It was good because I was able to gather all of his mates from the different "areas" of his life - footy mates, uni (college) mates, his brothers, work mates, and others. He had absolutely no idea and was genuinely surprised when we walked into the restaurant and there were 20 of his closest friends & family there for him. I scored big points for that one :-) B & I actually went to see Star Wars on the night of his birthday and were both pretty happy with Episode 3. B especially loves Yoda so was very excited every time he saw him with the light sabre!
Another night out involved a secondee dinner with 7 couples (B was the only Australian!) at a nice Chinese restaurant where we had a feast and probably drank way too much. We then headed to a local pub to complete the evening. It must have been very interesting to other people to see a large group with 6 Scottish people, 3 Americans, 2 British couples, and 1 poor Australian. I'm sure that they were wondering what we were all doing together. Good ole work for bringing us all together :-)
One of the British couples (actually from the Cayman Islands) is expecting their first baby at the end of June, so a few of us from the office (we work with her husband) threw her a baby shower. Luckily, her mom is living in Melbourne at the moment, so she has a bit of family here. Basically the shower ended up being a time for all of us to eat, drink, talk about girl stuff, and watch LR open all of the great baby gifts! I'm sad that I have had to miss births back home during my time in Australia, but at least I don't go through too much withdrawal of being around kids.
B resigned from our company and as tradition has it, everyone who leaves has a "leaving lunch". They are typically held on Fridays, as those are most peoples' last day, and also a better excuse to not return to work from the lunch. B would have definitely not had it any other way but to go out big, so we had lunch, then we stayed at the restaurant/pub until about 4pm, then went to the bar downstairs from the office to meet up with the others that actually did go back to work for more celebrating. It was a loooong afternoon, and was then topped off with a co-worker inviting everyone to come to a club and listen his band perform that night.
B's footy team is not doing so great this season, but he has managed to get "Best on Ground" for a couple of games so far. He's playing really well this year and still manages to be the favorite of all of the old men at the footy club. That means that they love me, by default, so I get treated very well around that place! We had the Ladies Day Luncheon again a couple of weekends ago. Another great afternoon of hanging out with all of the ladies (I seem to do that a lot lately!) and voting on such things as which guys on the team had the "Best Arms" or "Best Overall Package". B came second place in the "Guy that you would most like your daughter to bring home" survey! I was very proud - and you should definitely like that mom and dad :-) The footy club also put on a "Booze Cruise", which means that they hired a boat to drive up and down the Yarra river for 4 hours while we ate, drank, and danced the night away. It was good fun as well!
My belly dancing classes are going really well, and we are putting the final touches on our performance that happens in mid-June. The costumes arrive this week, and I am getting very excited (and nervous) about showing off my belly in front of about 350 people! Luckily, only about 10 people will know who I am, as I have banned anyone from work other than my CLOSE friends from coming to watch. It would just be too strange……
I'm also leaving for my Hawaiian holiday with my sister this Saturday, so hopefully I'll have a bit of a tan by the time the performance comes around. I was just thinking - Hawaii is about as close to half-way that you can get between Australia and the U.S. It takes A about 8 hours from Houston, and me about 9 1/2 hours from Sydney, so anywhere closer to half-way would be in the middle of the ocean. We are both very lucky to be able to do this, and are definitely looking forward to it. I'm ready to get out of winter for a bit and soak up some sun!
I learned again what a small world it is when I was telling B about a Greek girl that works out at my client and whom I have to deal with for the audit. Once he heard her name, he instantly asked more about her, as he thought it was a girl that he went to Greek school with for 10 years. It turns out he was right! And even wilder than that is that she also knows B's best mate G because they are both from Crete and used to take Greek/Cretan dance lessons together! They were amazed that an American was the link between all of them, who had not seen or heard from one another in 10 years. So we all met up for drinks one night and they were able to catch up and talk about old times. What a small world indeed.
A few more tidbits:
- I finally made it to the Immigration Museum and the Melbourne Aquarium. The Immigration Museum was especially interesting as it taught me heaps about the history of Australia.
- The leaves have fallen and the weather has finally turned cold & dreary. I love it! On my (almost) daily walks around the local footy oval, I really enjoy the cool dry air and the crunching of leaves. Sounds cheesy I know, but I strangely reminds me of fireplaces and hot chocolate :-)
- We are currently planning a weekend away in the snow, so I'll keep you posted…...
- Have I mentioned lately how much I love Australia? Being that I only have 8 months left here, anyone else who wants to come visit better make plans soon! I haven't had a visitor since last September, so am definitely up for some company. And you really shouldn't pass up the opportunity to see such a wonderful place when you have a free place to stay! And if a trip to New Zealand, Egypt or Spain interests you at all in about Feb/March of next year - let me know!!
I hope everyone is well and even though I may not always respond with a personal email, I love hearing from all of you and keeping up to date with your lives. Enjoy the summer! (And sorry for the long email. If I was more diligent, they would be smaller and come more often!)
Sunday, December 6, 2009
HFDU - 22nd Edition
Originally sent: April 20, 2005
G'day everyone! Well the past month has been pretty busy, both from a work and social perspective. There were 4 weeks straight where we had 4 day weeks due to public holidays and our FOS Group Retreat. Hopefully after the first 21 emails, I can still make this one somewhat entertaining :-)
As the "chairman" of our group's Teams for Dreams program, I coordinated a FOS Group Trivia Night that raised over $1,100 towards our goal of $5,000. It was a great night, with over 80 people participating, but it certainly was time-consuming for me and the lady that was helping me. I didn't realize how many trivia questions there are on the internet, and of course, I had to find the fun and interesting questions to use rather than the boring ones, so it took me ages to get just the right set of 60 questions to ask on the night. I'm currently working on a Wine Appreciation Night to also raise money for our Starlight wish child, so in the next HFDU I'll hopefully have some good results to report on that event as well!
Easter weekend is extra long for us as we get Good Friday and Easter Monday off. I spent the weekend with B & his family down at their holiday house at Lakes Entrance. The weekend consisted of fishing, eating, fishing, eating fish, playing cards with the oldies, and generally relaxing. It was a great weekend and I caught some great fish and spent come quality time with B's family. I learned how to make several Greek dishes and that when in doubt, always add more olive oil and garlic, as they apparently make everything better! We have another long weekend coming up for ANZAC Day, so B & I are taking a road trip to Sydney, stopping through Canberra (that nation's capital) on the way.
This past weekend was a busy one with our end-of-season softball party on Friday night, B's first footy game on Saturday afternoon, and the International Rodeo on Saturday night. Our softball team ended up losing the in the Grand Final, but spirits were certainly high on Friday night and lots of sushi and pizza were eaten! It was a bit bittersweet for me though as it reminded me that I would not be here for next year's entire season :-(
B's footy team moved up a division from last year since they won the Grand Final, so they will be up against more fierce competition this season, which of course, he is thrilled about. They lost their 1st game on Saturday by one point, but put forth a valiant effort. My Scottish friends, KD & CD, came along to cheer on B, and it was good to catch up with all of the wives and girlfriends of the players as I hadn't seen them since the Grand Final bash in October.
Saturday night I took B, KD, & CD to the International Rodeo that was in town :-) It was great fun, especially since none of them (and probably most of the other Aussies who were there), had never been to a rodeo before! It was complete with bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, bull riding, and barrel racing. No calf roping or steer wrestling, but considering that it lasted for over 4 hours, we were relieved that there weren't any more competitions! The bulls were mean indeed, and only a few of the cowboys were able to stay on for 8 seconds. However, there was a ride at the end of the night that was not part of the competition, that involved a cowboy trying to ride the son of "Chainsaw", who was called "Chain Reaction" - who was a bull who had never been ridden and would earn the cowboy $100,000 if he stayed on. Chainsaw is apparently an infamous bull like Bodacious (for those of you down south who know him), and this was his only son. Well, the cowboy did it! So at least one cowboy walked away happy & rich from the evening, but I'm guessing it wasn't the one who got knocked out, then trampled by the bull that had just bucked him off! Anyway, no rodeo is complete without animal activists sharing their beliefs, and it even happens in Australia. About 5-6 of them ran onto the arena floor carrying signs before they were escorted off by the venue security and pummelled by one very angry cowgirl who thought that they were ruining her evening!
I just started my second round of belly dancing classes this week, and have actually registered for two classes a week so that I can maybe actually become good at it and be part of a performance. I really do enjoy it, and it's also great exercise and is providing me with a challenge. These classes are definitely more complicated than the beginners class, so they'll keep me on my toes for sure! KD & I took our men to a "Middle Eastern Night" a few weeks ago to watch our belly dancing teacher dance. We were all really impressed by the show, and were amazed that the men in the show could rival the women in hip movements! I would much prefer watching the women, but it was interesting anyhow.
The International Comedy Festival just ended and B & I managed to catch a couple of shows. I haven't typically been a huge fan of comedy (mainly because of the foul language involved), but some of these guys were actually really, really funny! For about 2 weeks, the city was full of comedians, both local & international, performing at theatres all over Melbourne every day and night of the week. It was a bit crazy for a while around here, but at least everyone was laughing :-)
What's been going on at work……we had our annual FOS Group Retreat a couple of weekends ago in a beach town along the Great Ocean Road. We went down on the Sunday morning and came back to Melbourne late on Monday afternoon. B & I actually took the bike down as it was only about a 2 hour ride from the city. It was great fun, as expected, and the theme for the dinner/dance on Sunday night was "The Decade You Were Born", which means that 95% of the group was dressed in 70's and 80's attire. It was hilarious to re-live our youth, especially seeing the 80's clothes that I used to wear! B dressed as "himself" in the 70's, so you can guess what he was dressed as, or check out the website for a photo. As part of this, within our various levels, we had to create a performance matching our decade, so there were such performances as Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Family Feud, Michael Jackson, etc. They were hilarious! We also did group activities (choice of golf, surfing lessons, mountain bike riding or horseback riding) and a scavenger hunt around the city. And we played team tennis, soccer, beach volleyball, and beach cricket. Try getting an American who has never played cricket before to "bowl" (cricket's version of pitching) without making a complete fool of herself! It was a good experience anyway :-)
We also had a firm wide social club event at a bar called "Backlot", which was designed after a Hollywood movie set. It was very cool, with different city scenes and set props. Speaking of movies, Nicolas Cage's new movie Ghost Rider is currently being filmed across the street from my office building. On the streets of Melbourne are American police cars, which look crazily out of place, but it was a bit nostalgic to see "Department of Public Safety" written on the side of a black & white Chevy Caprice! And maybe I'll actually run into Nicolas Cage…….
G'day everyone! Well the past month has been pretty busy, both from a work and social perspective. There were 4 weeks straight where we had 4 day weeks due to public holidays and our FOS Group Retreat. Hopefully after the first 21 emails, I can still make this one somewhat entertaining :-)
As the "chairman" of our group's Teams for Dreams program, I coordinated a FOS Group Trivia Night that raised over $1,100 towards our goal of $5,000. It was a great night, with over 80 people participating, but it certainly was time-consuming for me and the lady that was helping me. I didn't realize how many trivia questions there are on the internet, and of course, I had to find the fun and interesting questions to use rather than the boring ones, so it took me ages to get just the right set of 60 questions to ask on the night. I'm currently working on a Wine Appreciation Night to also raise money for our Starlight wish child, so in the next HFDU I'll hopefully have some good results to report on that event as well!
Easter weekend is extra long for us as we get Good Friday and Easter Monday off. I spent the weekend with B & his family down at their holiday house at Lakes Entrance. The weekend consisted of fishing, eating, fishing, eating fish, playing cards with the oldies, and generally relaxing. It was a great weekend and I caught some great fish and spent come quality time with B's family. I learned how to make several Greek dishes and that when in doubt, always add more olive oil and garlic, as they apparently make everything better! We have another long weekend coming up for ANZAC Day, so B & I are taking a road trip to Sydney, stopping through Canberra (that nation's capital) on the way.
This past weekend was a busy one with our end-of-season softball party on Friday night, B's first footy game on Saturday afternoon, and the International Rodeo on Saturday night. Our softball team ended up losing the in the Grand Final, but spirits were certainly high on Friday night and lots of sushi and pizza were eaten! It was a bit bittersweet for me though as it reminded me that I would not be here for next year's entire season :-(
B's footy team moved up a division from last year since they won the Grand Final, so they will be up against more fierce competition this season, which of course, he is thrilled about. They lost their 1st game on Saturday by one point, but put forth a valiant effort. My Scottish friends, KD & CD, came along to cheer on B, and it was good to catch up with all of the wives and girlfriends of the players as I hadn't seen them since the Grand Final bash in October.
Saturday night I took B, KD, & CD to the International Rodeo that was in town :-) It was great fun, especially since none of them (and probably most of the other Aussies who were there), had never been to a rodeo before! It was complete with bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, bull riding, and barrel racing. No calf roping or steer wrestling, but considering that it lasted for over 4 hours, we were relieved that there weren't any more competitions! The bulls were mean indeed, and only a few of the cowboys were able to stay on for 8 seconds. However, there was a ride at the end of the night that was not part of the competition, that involved a cowboy trying to ride the son of "Chainsaw", who was called "Chain Reaction" - who was a bull who had never been ridden and would earn the cowboy $100,000 if he stayed on. Chainsaw is apparently an infamous bull like Bodacious (for those of you down south who know him), and this was his only son. Well, the cowboy did it! So at least one cowboy walked away happy & rich from the evening, but I'm guessing it wasn't the one who got knocked out, then trampled by the bull that had just bucked him off! Anyway, no rodeo is complete without animal activists sharing their beliefs, and it even happens in Australia. About 5-6 of them ran onto the arena floor carrying signs before they were escorted off by the venue security and pummelled by one very angry cowgirl who thought that they were ruining her evening!
I just started my second round of belly dancing classes this week, and have actually registered for two classes a week so that I can maybe actually become good at it and be part of a performance. I really do enjoy it, and it's also great exercise and is providing me with a challenge. These classes are definitely more complicated than the beginners class, so they'll keep me on my toes for sure! KD & I took our men to a "Middle Eastern Night" a few weeks ago to watch our belly dancing teacher dance. We were all really impressed by the show, and were amazed that the men in the show could rival the women in hip movements! I would much prefer watching the women, but it was interesting anyhow.
The International Comedy Festival just ended and B & I managed to catch a couple of shows. I haven't typically been a huge fan of comedy (mainly because of the foul language involved), but some of these guys were actually really, really funny! For about 2 weeks, the city was full of comedians, both local & international, performing at theatres all over Melbourne every day and night of the week. It was a bit crazy for a while around here, but at least everyone was laughing :-)
What's been going on at work……we had our annual FOS Group Retreat a couple of weekends ago in a beach town along the Great Ocean Road. We went down on the Sunday morning and came back to Melbourne late on Monday afternoon. B & I actually took the bike down as it was only about a 2 hour ride from the city. It was great fun, as expected, and the theme for the dinner/dance on Sunday night was "The Decade You Were Born", which means that 95% of the group was dressed in 70's and 80's attire. It was hilarious to re-live our youth, especially seeing the 80's clothes that I used to wear! B dressed as "himself" in the 70's, so you can guess what he was dressed as, or check out the website for a photo. As part of this, within our various levels, we had to create a performance matching our decade, so there were such performances as Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Family Feud, Michael Jackson, etc. They were hilarious! We also did group activities (choice of golf, surfing lessons, mountain bike riding or horseback riding) and a scavenger hunt around the city. And we played team tennis, soccer, beach volleyball, and beach cricket. Try getting an American who has never played cricket before to "bowl" (cricket's version of pitching) without making a complete fool of herself! It was a good experience anyway :-)
We also had a firm wide social club event at a bar called "Backlot", which was designed after a Hollywood movie set. It was very cool, with different city scenes and set props. Speaking of movies, Nicolas Cage's new movie Ghost Rider is currently being filmed across the street from my office building. On the streets of Melbourne are American police cars, which look crazily out of place, but it was a bit nostalgic to see "Department of Public Safety" written on the side of a black & white Chevy Caprice! And maybe I'll actually run into Nicolas Cage…….
A few more tidbits:
- B resigned from our company and his 4 weeks are up the first week in May. I think he'll be much happier for it!
- I've become a train girl rather than a tram girl. I decided to start taking the train to/from work to change up my routine a little bit. It also means a 15 minute walk to the train station (so more exercise), and although Flinders Street Station isn't quite Grand Central Station, it still feels a bit more like America to me.
- I'm picking up two American secondees from the airport tomorrow morning who are coming over from New York for 2 years. It will be very exciting to have other Americans in this group as I've been the only one for almost 2 years now.
- Someone the other day told me that I didn't sound like an American. Oh yeah? So what do I sound like then?!?!?
- I bought Hooters wing sauce from the USA Foods Store the other day and can't wait to make them!
It’s not too late to come for a visit. Considering that I'm saving up for my travels on the way home, after Hawaii I won't be going anywhere so come over & see me!
Well, summer is fading away and autumn is creeping in. The leaves have started changing and the AFL footy season is upon us. This only means that winter is around the corner, which means that there are no more afternoons in the beer garden of the Belgian Beer Café, no more afternoons strolling along the Yarra River, no more weekend evenings spent sitting outside at a café for hours, and no more long rides on the back of B's motorbike. But, the good news is that in 5 1/2 weeks, I get to forget about winter and head to Hawaii for 10 days to meet up with my sister for her 30th birthday. Just the two of us, and we are both really looking forward to it! I have a few Aussies here that are very jealous, but then again, why shouldn’t they be?!?!? :-)
I hope everyone is well and not completely bored of this email. Because they are coming less frequently now, I find that they are longer, but you've at least got more time to read it :-) Keep in touch please and I'll see you all stateside in less than a year!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
HFDU - 21st Edition
Originally sent: March 3, 2005
Hi everyone! I've been so slack lately with my HFDUs (haven't sent one since before Christmas and my trip to America!), that I'll have to resort to bullet points this time around. Hopefully this will somewhat relieve what would otherwise be a very painful read…….
Hi everyone! I've been so slack lately with my HFDUs (haven't sent one since before Christmas and my trip to America!), that I'll have to resort to bullet points this time around. Hopefully this will somewhat relieve what would otherwise be a very painful read…….
- My trip home was fantastic! I caught up with lots and lots of people, did a whirlwind your of Houston, Dallas, and Austin, and caught up on all of my Mexican food cravings. I had a great time driving around again, and flew up to New York to spend New Year's Eve with a girlfriend who lives up there. I enjoyed the time with friends and family, especially Christmas and all of the shopping afterwards. My trip was the perfect length - enough to get everything in, but not too much to where I got bored and wished I was back in Australia again;
- When I returned home to Australia, B was of course waiting with open arms and I was glad to be back and start my normal life again. Strange that I say now that Australia is my normal life, but I suppose that would happen after 1 1/2 years!;
- I flew up to Sydney for 2 weeks to work on a special project and really enjoyed my time up there. We spent Australia Day (National holiday) working, so we got treated to dinner by the partner at the Top Restaurant in Sydney. I ate many things that I had never eaten before in my life, but it was a great experience and a well-deserved treat;
- The Australian Open was the last 2 weeks in January and B & I had grounds passes with C & B (our Scottish friends), so basically, that means that we got on to the grounds but not actually into the arena where the tennis is played. Instead, we sat in a beer garden with hundreds of others, eating, drinking, chatting, and watching the match on the big screen. It was a perfect day and I actually preferred to be out in the beer garden where I could breathe out loud, rather than in the arena where I would literally have to hold my breath in order to not distract the players;
- B & I drove along the Great Ocean Road (I did it once in Nov 2003 in my car) on his motorbike. It was a test for me as it was a long time on the back of the bike, and I had to pack extremely carefully so that everything we took could fit in the bag that sat on the back rack of his bike. I LOVED IT!! It was so enjoyable on the bike, even though I suffered from helmet hair and a sore bum most of the weekend. We stopped for 2 nights along the Great Ocean Road and did some amazing walks through rainforests and played around in the cute towns along the way. It was a completely different experience from when I drove in the car, and B was having a ball driving the bike the entire time;
- Other weekends have been filled with friends BBQs in the good weather and catching up on movies in the bad. We even went to the drive-in theatre one night! I have only been about twice in my life during high school, so it was great fun. The sound actually comes through a radio station rather than outside speakers, so you actually have a lot of privacy. We've also caught a movie at the Moonlight Cinema (outside, under the stars, at the Botanical Gardens). It was a great experience and B's first exposure to Ferris Bueller's Day Off!;
- We took C & B (the Scots) down to B's holiday house in Lakes Entrance for a weekend of fishing and relaxing. The mornings were full of fishing in the surf and the lakes, the afternoons were full of naps and reading the gossip in magazines, and the evenings were spent prawning (big shrimp) in the lakes, having a BBQ, playing Cranium, and enjoying the fact that we were out of the big city. I caught 2 fish on the weekend, one of which was a 9 lb trevally! You can bet the photos of me and the big guy are up on the website, as well as many others. We ate the fish that we caught in the morning for lunch, the fish that we caught in the afternoon for dinner, and the prawns that we caught at night for lunch the next day :-) Talk about being self-sufficient!;
- I just celebrated my birthday (for those who don’t know how old I am I'm not telling!) and C and I had a nice joint birthday dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse (like Fogo de Chao) with all of the girls. The boys were a bit jealous that they weren't invited, and looking back, it probably didn't make much sense that we ate that much meat without the boys! B & I went to a comedy club and dinner for my birthday and out to dinner at my favorite Nepalese restaurant for Valentine's Day. Let me just say that I'm feeling very old these days……..;
- I've started a belly dancing class and absolutely love it! I really didn't know what to expect, but I'm taking it with a couple of girls that I know, so it makes it social as well as a chance to get a bit of exercise. We’ve been to 5 classes now, and actually have a bit of a routine started. We have a recital coming up at the end up class that we are all a bit excited about!;
- As part of my New Year's resolutions, I decided that I would begin donating blood on a regular basis. Sooooo, I stayed true to my resolution and had an appointment at the Red Cross at the beginning of February. It was a bit of an ordeal, but after I recovered from the needle injection, I enjoyed watching the blood being sucked out of me and going into a nice little bag. Unfortunately, what normally takes about 8-10 minutes to donate the specified amount of blood took me 15 minutes! The nurse said that I must have small veins or something. I must say that I was not amused.;
- This past weekend a group of 10 of us went up to the Grampians National Park to enjoy a weekend away. It's about a 3 hour drive from Melbourne and we rented a huge house that slept 13, so it was fully furnished and stocked up for us with the basic necessities. We spent the weekend horseback riding, bushwalking (hiking), riding bikes, lazing around, playing board games, and enjoying the ever popular Aussie BBQ. Unfortunately B couldn't go as he had a weekend away at footy camp for pre-season training, but I had fun with the others anyway.;
- A couple of long weekends are coming up - I think a Labour Day, Easter weekend, and Anzac Day, so hopefully I will have a chance to get some more fishing and relaxing in. This weekend is the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix, so I'll be hearing the buzz of the cars driving around the track all weekend as I'm only a few kilometres away;
- Our softball team has made it into the finals, so next time I send an email, hopefully I can say that we have won the Grand Final! The season has gone by so fast, but I guess time flies when you're having fun. There is always the end-of-season softball party to look forward too…...;
- Most of you probably don't know that I'm coming back to the States at the end of the year or beginning of 2006, or at least that's the plan. I'm not sure exactly where or when, but Australia will have to put up with me for a while longer. That being said, everyone who intends to visit needs to make plans soon as I'm not here forever and I would love for you to come over!
Okay, that's it for now. I'm sure I've left out heaps of what's been going on, but that's what I get for waiting nearly 3 months since my last Edition. I'll try to be better about it, but no promises! I would love to hear about what's been going on with each of you.
HFDU - 20th Anniversary Edition
Originally sent: December 13 ,2004
Hi everyone - just one more email before I head home for the holidays. It's the 20th Anniversary Edition, which means one of two things. Either I have provided all of you with some entertaining stories and information over the past year and a half that I have been in Australia, or I have nothing better to do with my time than act like what I do in my life is important to all of you. Probably a little of both, but at least you have all learned bits and pieces about Australia and me that you didn't previously know!
The last month has been quite busy. I started it off with a hens night and wedding. A girl that I work with got married to a guy who used to work for my company, so there were lots of work people at the wedding. The hen's day/night involved a group of ladies bused out to the vineyards for the day and then back into the city for going out later that evening. It was a great time! The boys had their buck's day/night on a chartered boat fishing in the bay, and I trust that they enjoyed their time as well. The wedding was very enjoyable as well. There are actually a lot more differences in "wedding etiquette" than I would have thought, so it was a learning experience for me. Customs and traditions are just different, for example, there are wedding cars (typically old Rolls Royces, mustangs, etc.) that take the wedding party all around town to different spots for photos in between the wedding ceremony and the reception. There is usually about 2-3 hours between the wedding and the reception to allow for this, but then the reception offers a full sit-down meal and plenty of dancing late into the night.
One weekend we had Corporate Games, which is a weekend event that gets all of the large corporations from around Melbourne together to complete against each other, with the proceeds going to a selected charity. My company had over 100 people participate and we won in several events. I participated in the 5k run, and was honestly just happy to finish! Our footy team won the premiership which was exciting, even though it meant that I was at the field until 6:30 that night cheering on B & the boys. B & I also spent a weekend at his family's holiday house in Lakes Entrance, about 3 1/2 hours away from Melbourne. We sent the weekend surf fishing (which required us to get up at 5am), boating & fishing in the lakes, fishing in the river, and playing cards with the family at night. At our campfire at the river, I made B s'mores for the first time with ingredients from the USA Foods Store. He was impressed :-) I caught one fish (an Australian Salmon) and 2 crabs, so I was pretty excited. We ate them for lunch!
Our softball team is going okay, but we have already lost 2 games, which puts us at just over .500. We look really good this year though, as we found a sponsor and have some great shirts and caps to play in! I still really, really enjoy playing and definitely will for as long as I'm in Australia. I took at business trip to Adelaide for a couple of days, which was really pretty uneventful, but it earned me some more Qantas frequent flyer points which is always a bonus! I don't mind getting away from my normal life every now and then, and the hotel that I got to stay in was fabulous!
Myself and K from Boston cooked a Thanksgiving dinner for 8 and it turned out really well! We made roasted chicken (turkey is REALLY expensive), mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, salads, homemade dinner rolls, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. It was yummy and the Australians and Scots enjoyed it as well. I didn't expect it to affect me as much as it did, but it made me happy, and a bit sad, that we were celebrating Thanksgiving. It made me realize that I was away from my family and friends who really understand Thanksgiving, but I did made everyone go around the table to say what they were thankful for, and they actually all participated! It was overall a great evening and the weather was perfect for drinking wine on the balcony.
I've just completed the granting of my second wish for the Starlight Children's Foundation and it was so rewarding! My little "D" wanted a motorbike, so we arranged it for him and we threw a BBQ at his grandparents house where he had his bike delivered and got to ride around on it. He was a natural! Because he doesn’t have full use of his right hand, they had to modify the bike so that the throttle was on the left side, as well as the brake, so it was perfect for him! He was so excited and was riding around making motorbike noises. I have also kicked off a Teams for Dreams program for Starlight within my group at work. We are aiming to raise $5,000 to sponsor a wish child as a group, so I've organized a trivia night, auction, and other smaller fundraising activities so that we can grant a wish together. I was surprised at how involved the group has gotten as I thought everyone was pretty apathetic towards helping out, but I have been pleasantly surprised!
This past weekend we had our Group Christmas Party at a local pub. We started at 12:30pm with lunch and awards/announcements, etc. and most people didn't finish up until 3am! I must admit that I left early with a few people to go to dinner for one of our friends birthdays, but the energy in my group never ceases to amaze me! Of course, the stories once back in the office are always entertaining :-) I had a bit of bad luck last week when my handbag was stolen at a restaurant by an old lady. It was more of an inconvenience than anything, except she's got my mobile phone with everyone's numbers programmed in there. It also had my Texas driver's license (luckily not my passport!), but a lady called from a town about an hour away on Friday saying that she found my wallet in her garden! Strange, but at least I'm getting back my driver's license.
At this time next week I'll be home, shopping, catching up with everyone, and eating plenty of Mexican food! I'm actually a lot more in the Christmas spirit this year, and Melbourne seems to be more in the spirit as well. It'll be strange to be away from the home that I have known for the last year and a half, but I'll try not to miss Australia too much while I'm back in the States :-)
I wish each of you a happy holiday season and best wishes for 2005! Hopefully I'll have the chance to catch up with many of you in the coming weeks.
Hi everyone - just one more email before I head home for the holidays. It's the 20th Anniversary Edition, which means one of two things. Either I have provided all of you with some entertaining stories and information over the past year and a half that I have been in Australia, or I have nothing better to do with my time than act like what I do in my life is important to all of you. Probably a little of both, but at least you have all learned bits and pieces about Australia and me that you didn't previously know!
The last month has been quite busy. I started it off with a hens night and wedding. A girl that I work with got married to a guy who used to work for my company, so there were lots of work people at the wedding. The hen's day/night involved a group of ladies bused out to the vineyards for the day and then back into the city for going out later that evening. It was a great time! The boys had their buck's day/night on a chartered boat fishing in the bay, and I trust that they enjoyed their time as well. The wedding was very enjoyable as well. There are actually a lot more differences in "wedding etiquette" than I would have thought, so it was a learning experience for me. Customs and traditions are just different, for example, there are wedding cars (typically old Rolls Royces, mustangs, etc.) that take the wedding party all around town to different spots for photos in between the wedding ceremony and the reception. There is usually about 2-3 hours between the wedding and the reception to allow for this, but then the reception offers a full sit-down meal and plenty of dancing late into the night.
One weekend we had Corporate Games, which is a weekend event that gets all of the large corporations from around Melbourne together to complete against each other, with the proceeds going to a selected charity. My company had over 100 people participate and we won in several events. I participated in the 5k run, and was honestly just happy to finish! Our footy team won the premiership which was exciting, even though it meant that I was at the field until 6:30 that night cheering on B & the boys. B & I also spent a weekend at his family's holiday house in Lakes Entrance, about 3 1/2 hours away from Melbourne. We sent the weekend surf fishing (which required us to get up at 5am), boating & fishing in the lakes, fishing in the river, and playing cards with the family at night. At our campfire at the river, I made B s'mores for the first time with ingredients from the USA Foods Store. He was impressed :-) I caught one fish (an Australian Salmon) and 2 crabs, so I was pretty excited. We ate them for lunch!
Our softball team is going okay, but we have already lost 2 games, which puts us at just over .500. We look really good this year though, as we found a sponsor and have some great shirts and caps to play in! I still really, really enjoy playing and definitely will for as long as I'm in Australia. I took at business trip to Adelaide for a couple of days, which was really pretty uneventful, but it earned me some more Qantas frequent flyer points which is always a bonus! I don't mind getting away from my normal life every now and then, and the hotel that I got to stay in was fabulous!
Myself and K from Boston cooked a Thanksgiving dinner for 8 and it turned out really well! We made roasted chicken (turkey is REALLY expensive), mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, salads, homemade dinner rolls, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. It was yummy and the Australians and Scots enjoyed it as well. I didn't expect it to affect me as much as it did, but it made me happy, and a bit sad, that we were celebrating Thanksgiving. It made me realize that I was away from my family and friends who really understand Thanksgiving, but I did made everyone go around the table to say what they were thankful for, and they actually all participated! It was overall a great evening and the weather was perfect for drinking wine on the balcony.
I've just completed the granting of my second wish for the Starlight Children's Foundation and it was so rewarding! My little "D" wanted a motorbike, so we arranged it for him and we threw a BBQ at his grandparents house where he had his bike delivered and got to ride around on it. He was a natural! Because he doesn’t have full use of his right hand, they had to modify the bike so that the throttle was on the left side, as well as the brake, so it was perfect for him! He was so excited and was riding around making motorbike noises. I have also kicked off a Teams for Dreams program for Starlight within my group at work. We are aiming to raise $5,000 to sponsor a wish child as a group, so I've organized a trivia night, auction, and other smaller fundraising activities so that we can grant a wish together. I was surprised at how involved the group has gotten as I thought everyone was pretty apathetic towards helping out, but I have been pleasantly surprised!
This past weekend we had our Group Christmas Party at a local pub. We started at 12:30pm with lunch and awards/announcements, etc. and most people didn't finish up until 3am! I must admit that I left early with a few people to go to dinner for one of our friends birthdays, but the energy in my group never ceases to amaze me! Of course, the stories once back in the office are always entertaining :-) I had a bit of bad luck last week when my handbag was stolen at a restaurant by an old lady. It was more of an inconvenience than anything, except she's got my mobile phone with everyone's numbers programmed in there. It also had my Texas driver's license (luckily not my passport!), but a lady called from a town about an hour away on Friday saying that she found my wallet in her garden! Strange, but at least I'm getting back my driver's license.
At this time next week I'll be home, shopping, catching up with everyone, and eating plenty of Mexican food! I'm actually a lot more in the Christmas spirit this year, and Melbourne seems to be more in the spirit as well. It'll be strange to be away from the home that I have known for the last year and a half, but I'll try not to miss Australia too much while I'm back in the States :-)
I wish each of you a happy holiday season and best wishes for 2005! Hopefully I'll have the chance to catch up with many of you in the coming weeks.
HFDU - Travels around Tasmania
Originally sent: November 13 ,2004
Hello everyone! As mentioned in the 19th Edition, this is a separate email covering B & I's trip to Tasmania. I wanted to make this separate so that I could spend some time explaining the interesting things that I learned about Tasmania, which is one of the seven states/territories of Australia. Just so you can get an idea about the size of Tassie, you can drive from the northern tip to the southern tip in about 5 hours, and probably the same driving from east to west. Tassie is well-known for its variety of beautiful landscape and with a population of only 473,000 people, most of it is untouched. Approximately 1/2 of the state is National Parks, so Tassie is very well preserved.
First of all, I did take a trip to Tasmania last December, but I was only there for a short time and didn't get to do any of the tourist things and driving around the entire state. So B & I decided to make the most of a long weekend and took the ship (the Spirit of Tasmania) from Melbourne for our 10 hour cruise along the Bass Strait between Victoria and Tasmania. The Bass Strait happens to have the largest concentration of great white sharks in the world! This is because of the seals and penguins that reside in large quantities in the area.
The Spirit of Tasmania offers daytime and night-time sailings, and carries your car over as well. B has a love for water and boats, so we decided to take the daytime crossing on the way over so that we could actually enjoy the trip over and see the water as we were sailing. If you remember from my last trip over, I got a bit seasick, so I was determined not to this time! I was well-equipped with motion sickness tablets and B's theory of keeping our stomachs full seemed to help as neither of us got sick in the slightest. The daytime crossing was enjoyable and relaxing. I think we spent about a third of our trip over outside on the decks watching the water and enjoying the pleasant weather. The rest of the time we wandered around the various decks, watching a bit of tv, reading, snacking, and chatting.
We arrived about 7pm and spent the first night about an hour from the port in Launceston, the 2nd largest city in Tassie with only about 70,000 people. The next morning we went just outside of Launceston to a place called Cataract Gorge. Cataract Gorge has the longest single chairlift in the world (or at least that was the claim) so B and I hopped on and rode across a little valley with a lake that ran in between some beautiful hills and cliffs. When we made it to the other side we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of several wild peacocks. The males were strutting their stuff with their tail feathers fully extended and dancing! It was quite a sight. We made it back across the little valley over a suspension bridge. Overall a beautiful little excursion before we were off to the country for the day.
Freycinet National Park is supposed to have some of the most splendid views of Tasmania and it sits on the east coast. B and I made it there early in the afternoon and went for a bush walk (hike) up to the lookout over Wineglass Bay. The hike consisted of pretty much straight uphill steps for about 40 minutes and proved to be a bit difficult for me! But, we made it there and the effort was well worth it. The water was bright turquoise and you could see to forever! Photos of Wineglass Bay have been added to the website. After our visit to Freycinet National Park, we headed down to Hobart for the evening, which is the largest city in Tasmania with 128,000 people. It's situated on a bay and has a quaint small-town feel, but the amenities of a medium-size city. We took ourselves out for a Greek tavern meal and definitely enjoyed the nice weather. At this point, we were still stunned at the natural beauty that we had seen so far in Tasmania.
The next morning we headed about an hour south of Hobart, about as far south as you can go in Tasmania, to Port Arthur. For those of you who don't know the history of Australia, it was originally settled by the English and used as an island prison basically for all of the English convicts. They were sent over on ships from England, and a lot of them were dead before they even arrived in Australia because of the conditions on board the ship. Port Arthur was set up as a place to keep the "worst of the worst" as there was virtually no escape from there. The prisoners were told that the waters surrounding Port Arthur were shark-infested, and the only escape was a piece of land called EagleHawk Neck that connected Port Arthur to the mainland but was only 100 meters wide. So there was a chain of dogs that spanned across this 100 meters so that the convicts could not escape. Anyway, B and I headed down to Port Arthur's complex (on Halloween - which was a bit eerie), took some good photos of the old penitentiary and learned a lot about the history of the place, which was actually quite fascinating. We took a boat cruise around the area and were told that if we headed about 6,000 miles further south to the closest piece of land, we'd be at the South Pole!
Later that afternoon we headed back up towards Hobart to Mt. Wellington. The views from the top of Mt. Wellington were incredible. We were lucky to have a sunny day so that we could to forever (again!). The drive up was a bit windy, but we tolerated it with some Halloween candy that mom had sent over for B and I. The Aussies don't really celebrate Halloween, so no one would have noticed by little black t-shirt with orange pumpkins that I was wearing. I felt quite festive! From Mt. Wellington, we were on our way to try and get to Lake St. Clair by sunset so that we could see it with a bit of sun left. We made it, and it was such a stunning sight. It's basically a lake that was created up in the mountains by a dam, so it's full, and full of life. In fact, as we were walking back to the car, we saw a Tasmanian devil crossing our path! It's very rare to see them in the wild, so we were quite excited once we realized what it was. The rest of the evening consisted of a long, windy drive to Queenstown, which would be our stop for the night.
Queenstown is a copper mining town situated in the middle of barren hills. We literally just slept there, and made our way to Strahan in the morning. Strahan is a little town on the east coast of Tasmania. While we were there, we went on an adventure jet boat ride that included a drive up the mountain in a 4-wheel drive. B & I had a great time, enjoying the fast ride, the spins in the water, and the climb up the mountain. At the top we walked around a bit and stood in a lookout station that displayed the vast pine forests below. It was eye-opening to ride up the river in between the large mountains and hills, and not see a single element of life. The river was biologically dead because of the mining waste that had contaminated it. The history of the region was very interesting and our guide was certainly good at portraying images of the past.
After our morning in Strahan we headed up to the highly popular Cradle Mountain National Park. Again, along the way there are many different landscapes so the scenery during the drive never gets boring. Once at Cradle Mountain, we did a couple of bush walks around Dove Lake and enjoyed the lovely afternoon. During one of our walks we saw a native echidna (Australian version of a porcupine), which again, are very hard to spot on the wild. We were just lucky, and the little guy was busily digging for worms, and absolutely adorable! We then headed back up to Devonport where we hopped back on the ship for the evening crossing back to Melbourne.
Overall, an amazing trip from a nature and history perspective.
There are a few other tidbits of information to share:
- Due to the low population in Tasmania and the vast expanses and variety of nature, there is a huge population of wildlife. About every 1 kilometer, there was a piece of road kill on the side of road, usually wallabies or possums.
- Driving at dusk, we probably saw about 20-30 live animals along the side of the road, including wallabies, possums, another Tasmanian devil, and other unidentifiable creatures. That requires a lot of caution and quick reactions when they come hopping across the road. B's reflexes were tested when a wallaby hopped in front of us and he managed to avoid most of it, only nipping it's tail!
- The roads are extremely windy in Tassie, which made B very happy, but me very carsick. So, in order to let him have his fun around all of the corners, I just took motion sickness tablets the entire trip. It seemed to work most of the time, and everyone was happy :-)
- There is no mobile phone coverage in most of Tasmania because of the many hills, mountains, plateaus, etc. It was sort of nice to be separated from the rest of the world for a few days!
Well, this email has certainly been longer than expected so I hope it was at least a bit interesting. I realize that these emails are time-consuming to read, so feel free to request that you be deleted from future editions - I promise my feelings won't be too hurt :-) Take care everyone and enjoy the upcoming holiday season!
Hello everyone! As mentioned in the 19th Edition, this is a separate email covering B & I's trip to Tasmania. I wanted to make this separate so that I could spend some time explaining the interesting things that I learned about Tasmania, which is one of the seven states/territories of Australia. Just so you can get an idea about the size of Tassie, you can drive from the northern tip to the southern tip in about 5 hours, and probably the same driving from east to west. Tassie is well-known for its variety of beautiful landscape and with a population of only 473,000 people, most of it is untouched. Approximately 1/2 of the state is National Parks, so Tassie is very well preserved.
First of all, I did take a trip to Tasmania last December, but I was only there for a short time and didn't get to do any of the tourist things and driving around the entire state. So B & I decided to make the most of a long weekend and took the ship (the Spirit of Tasmania) from Melbourne for our 10 hour cruise along the Bass Strait between Victoria and Tasmania. The Bass Strait happens to have the largest concentration of great white sharks in the world! This is because of the seals and penguins that reside in large quantities in the area.
The Spirit of Tasmania offers daytime and night-time sailings, and carries your car over as well. B has a love for water and boats, so we decided to take the daytime crossing on the way over so that we could actually enjoy the trip over and see the water as we were sailing. If you remember from my last trip over, I got a bit seasick, so I was determined not to this time! I was well-equipped with motion sickness tablets and B's theory of keeping our stomachs full seemed to help as neither of us got sick in the slightest. The daytime crossing was enjoyable and relaxing. I think we spent about a third of our trip over outside on the decks watching the water and enjoying the pleasant weather. The rest of the time we wandered around the various decks, watching a bit of tv, reading, snacking, and chatting.
We arrived about 7pm and spent the first night about an hour from the port in Launceston, the 2nd largest city in Tassie with only about 70,000 people. The next morning we went just outside of Launceston to a place called Cataract Gorge. Cataract Gorge has the longest single chairlift in the world (or at least that was the claim) so B and I hopped on and rode across a little valley with a lake that ran in between some beautiful hills and cliffs. When we made it to the other side we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of several wild peacocks. The males were strutting their stuff with their tail feathers fully extended and dancing! It was quite a sight. We made it back across the little valley over a suspension bridge. Overall a beautiful little excursion before we were off to the country for the day.
Freycinet National Park is supposed to have some of the most splendid views of Tasmania and it sits on the east coast. B and I made it there early in the afternoon and went for a bush walk (hike) up to the lookout over Wineglass Bay. The hike consisted of pretty much straight uphill steps for about 40 minutes and proved to be a bit difficult for me! But, we made it there and the effort was well worth it. The water was bright turquoise and you could see to forever! Photos of Wineglass Bay have been added to the website. After our visit to Freycinet National Park, we headed down to Hobart for the evening, which is the largest city in Tasmania with 128,000 people. It's situated on a bay and has a quaint small-town feel, but the amenities of a medium-size city. We took ourselves out for a Greek tavern meal and definitely enjoyed the nice weather. At this point, we were still stunned at the natural beauty that we had seen so far in Tasmania.
The next morning we headed about an hour south of Hobart, about as far south as you can go in Tasmania, to Port Arthur. For those of you who don't know the history of Australia, it was originally settled by the English and used as an island prison basically for all of the English convicts. They were sent over on ships from England, and a lot of them were dead before they even arrived in Australia because of the conditions on board the ship. Port Arthur was set up as a place to keep the "worst of the worst" as there was virtually no escape from there. The prisoners were told that the waters surrounding Port Arthur were shark-infested, and the only escape was a piece of land called EagleHawk Neck that connected Port Arthur to the mainland but was only 100 meters wide. So there was a chain of dogs that spanned across this 100 meters so that the convicts could not escape. Anyway, B and I headed down to Port Arthur's complex (on Halloween - which was a bit eerie), took some good photos of the old penitentiary and learned a lot about the history of the place, which was actually quite fascinating. We took a boat cruise around the area and were told that if we headed about 6,000 miles further south to the closest piece of land, we'd be at the South Pole!
Later that afternoon we headed back up towards Hobart to Mt. Wellington. The views from the top of Mt. Wellington were incredible. We were lucky to have a sunny day so that we could to forever (again!). The drive up was a bit windy, but we tolerated it with some Halloween candy that mom had sent over for B and I. The Aussies don't really celebrate Halloween, so no one would have noticed by little black t-shirt with orange pumpkins that I was wearing. I felt quite festive! From Mt. Wellington, we were on our way to try and get to Lake St. Clair by sunset so that we could see it with a bit of sun left. We made it, and it was such a stunning sight. It's basically a lake that was created up in the mountains by a dam, so it's full, and full of life. In fact, as we were walking back to the car, we saw a Tasmanian devil crossing our path! It's very rare to see them in the wild, so we were quite excited once we realized what it was. The rest of the evening consisted of a long, windy drive to Queenstown, which would be our stop for the night.
Queenstown is a copper mining town situated in the middle of barren hills. We literally just slept there, and made our way to Strahan in the morning. Strahan is a little town on the east coast of Tasmania. While we were there, we went on an adventure jet boat ride that included a drive up the mountain in a 4-wheel drive. B & I had a great time, enjoying the fast ride, the spins in the water, and the climb up the mountain. At the top we walked around a bit and stood in a lookout station that displayed the vast pine forests below. It was eye-opening to ride up the river in between the large mountains and hills, and not see a single element of life. The river was biologically dead because of the mining waste that had contaminated it. The history of the region was very interesting and our guide was certainly good at portraying images of the past.
After our morning in Strahan we headed up to the highly popular Cradle Mountain National Park. Again, along the way there are many different landscapes so the scenery during the drive never gets boring. Once at Cradle Mountain, we did a couple of bush walks around Dove Lake and enjoyed the lovely afternoon. During one of our walks we saw a native echidna (Australian version of a porcupine), which again, are very hard to spot on the wild. We were just lucky, and the little guy was busily digging for worms, and absolutely adorable! We then headed back up to Devonport where we hopped back on the ship for the evening crossing back to Melbourne.
Overall, an amazing trip from a nature and history perspective.
There are a few other tidbits of information to share:
- Due to the low population in Tasmania and the vast expanses and variety of nature, there is a huge population of wildlife. About every 1 kilometer, there was a piece of road kill on the side of road, usually wallabies or possums.
- Driving at dusk, we probably saw about 20-30 live animals along the side of the road, including wallabies, possums, another Tasmanian devil, and other unidentifiable creatures. That requires a lot of caution and quick reactions when they come hopping across the road. B's reflexes were tested when a wallaby hopped in front of us and he managed to avoid most of it, only nipping it's tail!
- The roads are extremely windy in Tassie, which made B very happy, but me very carsick. So, in order to let him have his fun around all of the corners, I just took motion sickness tablets the entire trip. It seemed to work most of the time, and everyone was happy :-)
- There is no mobile phone coverage in most of Tasmania because of the many hills, mountains, plateaus, etc. It was sort of nice to be separated from the rest of the world for a few days!
Well, this email has certainly been longer than expected so I hope it was at least a bit interesting. I realize that these emails are time-consuming to read, so feel free to request that you be deleted from future editions - I promise my feelings won't be too hurt :-) Take care everyone and enjoy the upcoming holiday season!
Monday, November 23, 2009
HFDU - 19th Edition
Originally sent: November 6, 2004
G'day everyone. Welcome to the 19th Edition of HFDU! The last month has been action-packed and very busy. It must be the warmer weather that gives us here all the energy to keep busy! So what's been going on in sunny Melbourne lately???
We have had a large influx of secondees in the office here over the past couple of months, so there are lots of new faces around. I'm happy that one of them is another American from Boston, as I've been able to reminisce with her about all things American. It's been enjoyable seeing her first impressions of Australia as it reminds me of when I had first arrived…..over 16 months ago! We have another secondee from Scotland that has just come over with her husband, which brings our secondee count in the FOS Group up to 3 Scots, 1 Irish gal, 1 Swiss guy, and me. It's easy to bond with other secondees as we are all in similar situations and have the same desire to travel around, mostly to places that the Aussies have already been. But I also make a conscious effort to spend time with the locals.
I have spent some good quality time with a couple of other Americans - K & J are an American couple who have moved to Melbourne permanently (they've been here 6 years) and they just had a little boy at the end of May. I introduced B to proper fajitas and margaritas when the 4 of us got together one Sunday afternoon at K & J's house and had a bit of a Mexican fiesta on their patio. It was lovely! We had all bumped into each other the day before at the USA Foods Store as we were all picking up goodies for our "fiesta". Let me just tell you, it really increased my craving for proper Tex-Mex! I'll be eating plenty when I'm home in about 6 weeks :-)
B & I attended the Phillip Island Grand Prix a few weekends ago. This is the motorbike Grand Prix rather than cars, so you guessed it……..we took his bike down and were in the midst of hundreds of other bikes on the way down (about 1.5 hour ride) and on the way back. It was a memorable experience, being part of a whole group of motorbikes, and being around people who are "normal" like we are, but who enjoy riding bikes. There were also the hard-core Harley riders, who were interesting to be around :-) Sitting around the track, watching the motorbikes going around a lot faster than my eyes could keep up with, and being around this crowd, was fantastic! I felt like I was totally out of my element, but I enjoyed every minute of it. The World Champion Valentino Rossi won again, but the race was an "edge of your seat" one as he had to battle for his win. When I load up more photos to the website I'll be sure to include ones from the day at the track, one of which has me with the track (and Valentino Rossi riding in the background). I told B that if I ride with him too much more, I'll have to get my own leather riding jacket :-)
B's footy season ended with their Grand Final win in September, but we had the Footy Presentation night this past month, where they give all of the awards from the year and recap everything that went on. We got to watch a slide show of the many photos that were taken from the year, and B made the "Greek Team of the Century" - of which he was very proud (and so was I)! It was a bit sad for footy season to be over, as that's what had occupied my Saturday afternoons and evenings for 6 months, but it'll come around soon enough I suppose. On the subject of Greek, my Greek language class is seriously kicking my butt right now! It's become quite hard, not only because it's a hard to language to learn, but also because I haven't been putting in the time each week to practice and learn as I should be (the weather's just been too nice!). But, I only have 2 more classes in this course, and then the next course doesn't start until February so that'll give me a nice break. I'm still quite proud of myself for even attempting the class in the first place!
I was invited as a guest of one of my clients to a "Business Chicks Breakfast" which actually turned out to be quite enjoyable. Although it started quite early in the morning, it basically was intended for business women to network, win door prizes and raffles, and eat a great brekkie before heading off to work. The Spring Racing Carnival came around again, so Melbourne's been going crazy with all of the horse racing. It's probably the biggest fashion event of the year, with all of the ladies wearing the best frocks and the biggest and most extravagant hats to match. In fact, a lot of ladies by the hat first and then find a dress to match. I didn't attend the races this year as B & I went away for the long weekend (Melbourne Cup Day is a state holiday for Victoria) and the weather on the other days was rainy and cold. But it's still fun to have the races around because everyone is in a betting mood and usually quite festive when the races are over.
I had a bit of a hiccup this last month when I came down with a nasty case of tonsillitis. I honestly can't remember the last time that I was that sick, and I was out of work for a week. It was absolutely miserable! And B was out of town working in Sydney that week, so I went an entire week without seeing a single person that I knew, as I could barely talk and certainly wouldn't have wanted to make anyone else sick! The only time that I left the house was to go to the doctor's office to get my prescription and shots. But, I'm all better now and have decided that I would not wish tonsillitis on my worst enemy!
With the nicer weather here, I've been trying to think of things to do outside, and have come up with a list. So whenever I decide to do something outside for the day, I look at my list and select something from there. A couple of weekends ago, B & I spent the afternoon at Luna Park, which is an amusement park on the beach. It was basically us and all of the families with children, but we enjoyed ourselves and acted appropriately, eating hot dogs, fries, ice cream and cotton candy (which Aussies call fairy floss). The rides are the same as American rides, but the roller coasters here weren't all that great as the park is not a "big" one - more of a local one.
Now getting into elections……Australia just re-elected it's current prime minister John Howard. It was an experience being over here during the election. It's very similar to an American election with the tv advertisements, but the difference was that I really didn't care as I have no clue about Australian politics, or the issues that people are really concerned about. The other big difference is that voting over here is compulsory, and you'll get a fine if you don't vote. The Aussies are used to it, so it really doesn't phase them. The funny thing is that the government gets to decide on when the election is. The current prime minister can pick any time within a given timeframe (I think it's a 3 year term and they can choose the election date any time within the last year of their term) for the election day, so it usually ends up being when he's on everyone's good side. Very interesting…….
There was also quite a bit of coverage of the American Presidential election, which was surprisingly pretty unbiased. I think the thing that irritated me the most was when the Aussies start talking about American politics like they know everything about it, or that it directly impacts them. Most people here seem to be anti-Bush because of the war, but that’s all they talk about rather than any other issues because that's the only bit that they are exposed to. I tried my best to avoid getting into those discussions as I'm not the most politically savvy person anyway!
Okay, I've just realized how long this email is, so I'll try to wrap up. Just a few things that I want to mention:
- softball season starts next week and I'm very excited! B's playing this year too, so that'll make it even better.
- we are 2 episodes away from the final Sex in the City (I know we're behind) and it's very exciting! People who have just come over from Europe or America already know the ending so we have to make sure to keep them quiet. We are also nearing the end of Friends as well, which will be a tragic day!
- I'm coming home in 6 weeks! Have made plans to squeeze in visits with as many people as possible, and have booked a trip to NYC for New Year's Eve. Woo hoo!
- B's got me watching the Simpsons now. I had never watched an episode before he came along. That's quite an achievement!
- I still love Australia and think the Aussies are fantastic people. I still can't emphasize enough that I think anyone who's ever thought about coming over here absolutely should. It's taught me a lot about people and life, and definitely has changed me….I think for the better. The funny thing is that the more I love Australia and feel at home here, the more patriotic I feel towards the States as well.
I've got to send a separate email covering B & I's recent adventures in Tasmania, but I'll give you a break from reading and do that in a week or so. I hope everyone is well and getting excited about the holiday season. I'm sad that I don't get to be home for Thanksgiving, but I trust that all of you will enjoy the holiday and the Christmas shopping the day after! I look forward, as always, to hearing from you, and to seeing many of you over the Christmas holidays.
G'day everyone. Welcome to the 19th Edition of HFDU! The last month has been action-packed and very busy. It must be the warmer weather that gives us here all the energy to keep busy! So what's been going on in sunny Melbourne lately???
We have had a large influx of secondees in the office here over the past couple of months, so there are lots of new faces around. I'm happy that one of them is another American from Boston, as I've been able to reminisce with her about all things American. It's been enjoyable seeing her first impressions of Australia as it reminds me of when I had first arrived…..over 16 months ago! We have another secondee from Scotland that has just come over with her husband, which brings our secondee count in the FOS Group up to 3 Scots, 1 Irish gal, 1 Swiss guy, and me. It's easy to bond with other secondees as we are all in similar situations and have the same desire to travel around, mostly to places that the Aussies have already been. But I also make a conscious effort to spend time with the locals.
I have spent some good quality time with a couple of other Americans - K & J are an American couple who have moved to Melbourne permanently (they've been here 6 years) and they just had a little boy at the end of May. I introduced B to proper fajitas and margaritas when the 4 of us got together one Sunday afternoon at K & J's house and had a bit of a Mexican fiesta on their patio. It was lovely! We had all bumped into each other the day before at the USA Foods Store as we were all picking up goodies for our "fiesta". Let me just tell you, it really increased my craving for proper Tex-Mex! I'll be eating plenty when I'm home in about 6 weeks :-)
B & I attended the Phillip Island Grand Prix a few weekends ago. This is the motorbike Grand Prix rather than cars, so you guessed it……..we took his bike down and were in the midst of hundreds of other bikes on the way down (about 1.5 hour ride) and on the way back. It was a memorable experience, being part of a whole group of motorbikes, and being around people who are "normal" like we are, but who enjoy riding bikes. There were also the hard-core Harley riders, who were interesting to be around :-) Sitting around the track, watching the motorbikes going around a lot faster than my eyes could keep up with, and being around this crowd, was fantastic! I felt like I was totally out of my element, but I enjoyed every minute of it. The World Champion Valentino Rossi won again, but the race was an "edge of your seat" one as he had to battle for his win. When I load up more photos to the website I'll be sure to include ones from the day at the track, one of which has me with the track (and Valentino Rossi riding in the background). I told B that if I ride with him too much more, I'll have to get my own leather riding jacket :-)
B's footy season ended with their Grand Final win in September, but we had the Footy Presentation night this past month, where they give all of the awards from the year and recap everything that went on. We got to watch a slide show of the many photos that were taken from the year, and B made the "Greek Team of the Century" - of which he was very proud (and so was I)! It was a bit sad for footy season to be over, as that's what had occupied my Saturday afternoons and evenings for 6 months, but it'll come around soon enough I suppose. On the subject of Greek, my Greek language class is seriously kicking my butt right now! It's become quite hard, not only because it's a hard to language to learn, but also because I haven't been putting in the time each week to practice and learn as I should be (the weather's just been too nice!). But, I only have 2 more classes in this course, and then the next course doesn't start until February so that'll give me a nice break. I'm still quite proud of myself for even attempting the class in the first place!
I was invited as a guest of one of my clients to a "Business Chicks Breakfast" which actually turned out to be quite enjoyable. Although it started quite early in the morning, it basically was intended for business women to network, win door prizes and raffles, and eat a great brekkie before heading off to work. The Spring Racing Carnival came around again, so Melbourne's been going crazy with all of the horse racing. It's probably the biggest fashion event of the year, with all of the ladies wearing the best frocks and the biggest and most extravagant hats to match. In fact, a lot of ladies by the hat first and then find a dress to match. I didn't attend the races this year as B & I went away for the long weekend (Melbourne Cup Day is a state holiday for Victoria) and the weather on the other days was rainy and cold. But it's still fun to have the races around because everyone is in a betting mood and usually quite festive when the races are over.
I had a bit of a hiccup this last month when I came down with a nasty case of tonsillitis. I honestly can't remember the last time that I was that sick, and I was out of work for a week. It was absolutely miserable! And B was out of town working in Sydney that week, so I went an entire week without seeing a single person that I knew, as I could barely talk and certainly wouldn't have wanted to make anyone else sick! The only time that I left the house was to go to the doctor's office to get my prescription and shots. But, I'm all better now and have decided that I would not wish tonsillitis on my worst enemy!
With the nicer weather here, I've been trying to think of things to do outside, and have come up with a list. So whenever I decide to do something outside for the day, I look at my list and select something from there. A couple of weekends ago, B & I spent the afternoon at Luna Park, which is an amusement park on the beach. It was basically us and all of the families with children, but we enjoyed ourselves and acted appropriately, eating hot dogs, fries, ice cream and cotton candy (which Aussies call fairy floss). The rides are the same as American rides, but the roller coasters here weren't all that great as the park is not a "big" one - more of a local one.
Now getting into elections……Australia just re-elected it's current prime minister John Howard. It was an experience being over here during the election. It's very similar to an American election with the tv advertisements, but the difference was that I really didn't care as I have no clue about Australian politics, or the issues that people are really concerned about. The other big difference is that voting over here is compulsory, and you'll get a fine if you don't vote. The Aussies are used to it, so it really doesn't phase them. The funny thing is that the government gets to decide on when the election is. The current prime minister can pick any time within a given timeframe (I think it's a 3 year term and they can choose the election date any time within the last year of their term) for the election day, so it usually ends up being when he's on everyone's good side. Very interesting…….
There was also quite a bit of coverage of the American Presidential election, which was surprisingly pretty unbiased. I think the thing that irritated me the most was when the Aussies start talking about American politics like they know everything about it, or that it directly impacts them. Most people here seem to be anti-Bush because of the war, but that’s all they talk about rather than any other issues because that's the only bit that they are exposed to. I tried my best to avoid getting into those discussions as I'm not the most politically savvy person anyway!
Okay, I've just realized how long this email is, so I'll try to wrap up. Just a few things that I want to mention:
- softball season starts next week and I'm very excited! B's playing this year too, so that'll make it even better.
- we are 2 episodes away from the final Sex in the City (I know we're behind) and it's very exciting! People who have just come over from Europe or America already know the ending so we have to make sure to keep them quiet. We are also nearing the end of Friends as well, which will be a tragic day!
- I'm coming home in 6 weeks! Have made plans to squeeze in visits with as many people as possible, and have booked a trip to NYC for New Year's Eve. Woo hoo!
- B's got me watching the Simpsons now. I had never watched an episode before he came along. That's quite an achievement!
- I still love Australia and think the Aussies are fantastic people. I still can't emphasize enough that I think anyone who's ever thought about coming over here absolutely should. It's taught me a lot about people and life, and definitely has changed me….I think for the better. The funny thing is that the more I love Australia and feel at home here, the more patriotic I feel towards the States as well.
I've got to send a separate email covering B & I's recent adventures in Tasmania, but I'll give you a break from reading and do that in a week or so. I hope everyone is well and getting excited about the holiday season. I'm sad that I don't get to be home for Thanksgiving, but I trust that all of you will enjoy the holiday and the Christmas shopping the day after! I look forward, as always, to hearing from you, and to seeing many of you over the Christmas holidays.
HFDU - 18th Edition
Originally sent: October 4, 2004
G'day all! I hope this email finds everyone well and looking forward to cooler weather. I, on the other hand, am absolutely ready for the sun to start shining and for afternoons on the beach and on the lake! It just doesn’t seem to be coming fast enough. My HFDUs seem to be getting further and further apart, so I must admit that I'm losing energy in typing about everything, finally, after 15 months. But, hopefully now that I've gotten around to it, it'll be a somewhat entertaining and informative edition.
Probably the most significant thing that's happened since the last edition is B's footy team (the Bulleen Templestowe Fighting Bullants) winning the Grand Final in their division. It was a momentous occasion, as the Bullants had not won a Grand Final in 21 years! So as you can imagine, the mood was merry and there was much celebrating to be had (until about 6am the next morning to be exact!). I was so happy for the boys and especially B, who was absolutely over the moon. I've put a photo on the website of us just after the game. The weather on the day was horrible, raining for most of the morning, leaving the field a complete mud pit, but the boys didn’t seem to mind and just plowed right through. Then during the presentation on the field after the win, it started hailing. I guess I can be an optimist and say that at least it didn't hail during the game. So, the Bullants have moved up a division for next year and footy season is finally over!
I've also now attended my second company Ball, which I must admit, was a bit disappointing compared to last year. I think it's because I had higher expectations, but I still shouldn't complain, as it was a great night of dining, dancing, and hanging out with some good friends from the office. The theme was "Illumination" so there were lots of glow sticks involved, of which most ended up around people's necks. I've also had my second end-of-audit lunch, which I still must commend my company for. It's so nice to be able to take an afternoon off in reward for all of your hard work during the audit, and spend it with the other members of the audit team. At this particular one, we met up with a team from another audit on their lunch, and had double the fun! We ate at a restaurant that overlooked the bay, and it was a bright & sunny afternoon, so just perfect. I wish I could do that every afternoon!
I just had my 4th visitor come over and explore the great city of Melbourne. I feel truly blessed that I have friends and family who come visit me as it brings little pieces of home to Australia. She was very independent, did lots of exploring, and saw some of the most beautiful landscape in Victoria. I think anyone who spoke to her would be convinced to come over for a visit, as I know she had a wonderful time and is ready to come for another visit! Speaking of visits, I've got my flights booked to come home for the holidays (18th Dec - 4th Jan), so I'm definitely looking froward to catching up with those of you who I can. I think I'll be eating as much Mexican food as possible during my 3 weeks home, as well as iced tea, good margaritas, and several other food items that I've been craving over here. Strangely enough though, I'll probably miss going down the road here and picking up a lamb souvlaki. It's funny what you get used to living in a different place.
What else has been going on…….B & I took one of our friends little girls to see Shark Tale last weekend. She kept talking about it for about a week before the show and still talks about it. I don't think she really understood the movie, but she liked going with us as it was something fun & different for her. I also went to see the display of the Impressionists at the National Gallery of Victoria. Melbourne has had the pieces on loan from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris since June, and of course I put it off until the 2nd to last day that they were here so it was very crowded. It was neat to get to see some of the famous pieces in person though, although I must admit that other than the few that I knew, not a whole lot else appealed to me. I felt that I should go though…..since they were here.
I've officially completed my 5 years with my company, and was awarded with a choice of anniversary "gifts". After much thought, I settled on a telescope! I've wanted one for quite some time, and this was the perfect opportunity. The stars in the country down here are absolutely beautiful, and hopefully B & I can make use of the telescope on trips to his family's holiday house, and on our upcoming trip to Tasmania. We're going over a long weekend, and taking a couple of extra days off. We're taking the cruise ship over with the car, similar to what I did over last Christmas with my friend "M", but we are going for 5 days this time and are actually getting to do some exploring. Tasmania is supposed to have some of the most beautiful scenery around, and since there aren't heaps of people living there, most of it is untouched and unbelievable! I can't wait!
I actually just got back from a weekend in Daylesford, the spa capital of Victoria (if not Australia) with my friend C. We decided to leave our men for the weekend, and spoil ourselves at the spas. It was such a lovely weekend - lunch by the lake, a paddleboat around the lake, before our 2 hour spa session Saturday that included a massage and facial . Then we just relaxed until we went out for a nice dinner in town. Sunday was much of the same - a late morning with breakfast on the balcony, lunch in town, then another 2 hours at the spa consisting of a full body mud wrap and reflexology on my feet! I don't think that I have ever been so relaxed for such a long period of time. It was very hard to come back to work after being spoiled like that for the weekend! Funny thing is, B was probably just as happy and relaxed, spending 8 hours fishing on Saturday and another few on Sunday, and his would have been at a lot lower price than mine :-)
Well, I think that's about it for now. Softball season is just around the corner, so I'm definitely looking forward to that. B is playing this year too so that will be an added bonus! Busy season is starting to draw to a close, so I'm enjoying more early evenings and the increasingly warmer weather. Hopefully I'll have a nice Aussie tan when I come home for Christmas :-) I hope everyone is well. Please keep in touch and let me know how you are doing. I can't believe that I've been here 15 months already…..and that I'm supposed to come home in just 7.
G'day all! I hope this email finds everyone well and looking forward to cooler weather. I, on the other hand, am absolutely ready for the sun to start shining and for afternoons on the beach and on the lake! It just doesn’t seem to be coming fast enough. My HFDUs seem to be getting further and further apart, so I must admit that I'm losing energy in typing about everything, finally, after 15 months. But, hopefully now that I've gotten around to it, it'll be a somewhat entertaining and informative edition.
Probably the most significant thing that's happened since the last edition is B's footy team (the Bulleen Templestowe Fighting Bullants) winning the Grand Final in their division. It was a momentous occasion, as the Bullants had not won a Grand Final in 21 years! So as you can imagine, the mood was merry and there was much celebrating to be had (until about 6am the next morning to be exact!). I was so happy for the boys and especially B, who was absolutely over the moon. I've put a photo on the website of us just after the game. The weather on the day was horrible, raining for most of the morning, leaving the field a complete mud pit, but the boys didn’t seem to mind and just plowed right through. Then during the presentation on the field after the win, it started hailing. I guess I can be an optimist and say that at least it didn't hail during the game. So, the Bullants have moved up a division for next year and footy season is finally over!
I've also now attended my second company Ball, which I must admit, was a bit disappointing compared to last year. I think it's because I had higher expectations, but I still shouldn't complain, as it was a great night of dining, dancing, and hanging out with some good friends from the office. The theme was "Illumination" so there were lots of glow sticks involved, of which most ended up around people's necks. I've also had my second end-of-audit lunch, which I still must commend my company for. It's so nice to be able to take an afternoon off in reward for all of your hard work during the audit, and spend it with the other members of the audit team. At this particular one, we met up with a team from another audit on their lunch, and had double the fun! We ate at a restaurant that overlooked the bay, and it was a bright & sunny afternoon, so just perfect. I wish I could do that every afternoon!
I just had my 4th visitor come over and explore the great city of Melbourne. I feel truly blessed that I have friends and family who come visit me as it brings little pieces of home to Australia. She was very independent, did lots of exploring, and saw some of the most beautiful landscape in Victoria. I think anyone who spoke to her would be convinced to come over for a visit, as I know she had a wonderful time and is ready to come for another visit! Speaking of visits, I've got my flights booked to come home for the holidays (18th Dec - 4th Jan), so I'm definitely looking froward to catching up with those of you who I can. I think I'll be eating as much Mexican food as possible during my 3 weeks home, as well as iced tea, good margaritas, and several other food items that I've been craving over here. Strangely enough though, I'll probably miss going down the road here and picking up a lamb souvlaki. It's funny what you get used to living in a different place.
What else has been going on…….B & I took one of our friends little girls to see Shark Tale last weekend. She kept talking about it for about a week before the show and still talks about it. I don't think she really understood the movie, but she liked going with us as it was something fun & different for her. I also went to see the display of the Impressionists at the National Gallery of Victoria. Melbourne has had the pieces on loan from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris since June, and of course I put it off until the 2nd to last day that they were here so it was very crowded. It was neat to get to see some of the famous pieces in person though, although I must admit that other than the few that I knew, not a whole lot else appealed to me. I felt that I should go though…..since they were here.
I've officially completed my 5 years with my company, and was awarded with a choice of anniversary "gifts". After much thought, I settled on a telescope! I've wanted one for quite some time, and this was the perfect opportunity. The stars in the country down here are absolutely beautiful, and hopefully B & I can make use of the telescope on trips to his family's holiday house, and on our upcoming trip to Tasmania. We're going over a long weekend, and taking a couple of extra days off. We're taking the cruise ship over with the car, similar to what I did over last Christmas with my friend "M", but we are going for 5 days this time and are actually getting to do some exploring. Tasmania is supposed to have some of the most beautiful scenery around, and since there aren't heaps of people living there, most of it is untouched and unbelievable! I can't wait!
I actually just got back from a weekend in Daylesford, the spa capital of Victoria (if not Australia) with my friend C. We decided to leave our men for the weekend, and spoil ourselves at the spas. It was such a lovely weekend - lunch by the lake, a paddleboat around the lake, before our 2 hour spa session Saturday that included a massage and facial . Then we just relaxed until we went out for a nice dinner in town. Sunday was much of the same - a late morning with breakfast on the balcony, lunch in town, then another 2 hours at the spa consisting of a full body mud wrap and reflexology on my feet! I don't think that I have ever been so relaxed for such a long period of time. It was very hard to come back to work after being spoiled like that for the weekend! Funny thing is, B was probably just as happy and relaxed, spending 8 hours fishing on Saturday and another few on Sunday, and his would have been at a lot lower price than mine :-)
Well, I think that's about it for now. Softball season is just around the corner, so I'm definitely looking forward to that. B is playing this year too so that will be an added bonus! Busy season is starting to draw to a close, so I'm enjoying more early evenings and the increasingly warmer weather. Hopefully I'll have a nice Aussie tan when I come home for Christmas :-) I hope everyone is well. Please keep in touch and let me know how you are doing. I can't believe that I've been here 15 months already…..and that I'm supposed to come home in just 7.
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