Back To Normal

Well, our lives are back to normal. Work, work, work, weekend. But, actually, my work for Thom is slowing down, so I actually have time. Time at my home. To do other things. Like I'm finding today, I don't know what the heck to do with this extra time. I always seem to have some inane task or hobby to occupy my time, but I think I'm all out. I'm sure I'll find something. We might be motivated to go out and do things, but it's pretty cold and cloudy every day since it's the dead of winter. It puts a damper on our already fleeting desires to go out and do stuff. If we had a car, I may want to, but public transport on a crappy day is just depressing.

Speaking of public transport, Kane had the pleasure of riding the tram to work with an outspoken drunk last Thursday. Yes, drunk at 8am; certainly a winner. At least the people on my tram route appear to generally be normal business people, so I have yet to be accosted by these unpleasantries so easily and often found on public transit.

We looked at a couple new apartments this week and so far we're not having any luck. Kane's commute is over an hour and mine is about half that, so we're trying to move somewhere east of the city that's a bit more central to where we work. We're also sort of looking for a car to buy for use on the weekends, etc. And by "looking", I mean Kane is supposed to look, which means that nothing is really happening. But still, we often say, "We need to get a car". So, maybe someday we'll actually make the effort and fork out the cash. Someday...

Other than that, not much going on. It's our birthdays next week though - whoo hoo we're getting older! We're thinking of going to see a play and maybe getting massages. And there's a rad bakery downtown with extravagant cakes, gelato, and other ridiculously delicious looking treats that I hope to patronize for a birthday binge.

Also, I'd like to give a shout out to Alana for giving me this Regina Spektor CD; it's so weird but it rocks. Thanks dude! And Happy 4th of July to all you Americans - we'll be patronizing the pride of our country in tribute - TGI Friday's - with the other American Expats in Melbourne. Yeay for mediocre food and atmosphere!

Whirlwind Friends

Well, I think that was the quickest 10 days of my life. Carissa and EJ got here on Sunday the 8th and then, BOOM, it was the 17th and I was taking them back to the airport. They say time flies when you're trying frantically to think of things to suggest to your visiting friends to occupy their vacation in the city to which you have recently moved, and sheesh, ain't that the truth.

The first Monday they were here was a public holiday called Queen's Birthday, which is not actually the birth date of any queen. And I'm not even sure which queen we're trying to celebrate anyway. But who cares: day off. So, we went around town a bit and saw the standard sights to see: Federation Square, Flinders Train Station, the mall, etc. It was a bit drizzly so not the best, but still nice. And this was one of the days that Angelica (Kane's friend's sister) was here visiting as well, so it was a nice group of 5 of us. Angelica left Tuesday (only to return the following Saturday) and Carissa and EJ continued touring around the city during the days while Kane and I worked, and then we'd all go out to dinner at night.

Over the weekend that they were here, we took a trip to Phillip Island, which is about a 2 hour drive south of Melbourne. Angelica was back that weekend as well, so it was the five of us again on a nice overnight trip. We saw the penguins as they flocked inland from the sea at dusk, then toured around a koala reserve the next afternoon. It was awesome to see some authentic Aussie wildlife - I felt like I was in a different country! I liked the wallabies the best (like small kangaroos - pictured above), they were totally rad.

I took Monday the 16th off of work to hang with Car and EJ on their last day (Angelica left that day to continue her Aus/NZ travels). We went to St. Kilda to see the "strip" of touristy shops/restaurants, walked the beach, and went to a sweet veggie restaurant on the water. Then we paid ridiculous prices to go up in the tallest viewing deck in the Southern hemisphere (don't even get me started on the stupid Southern hemisphere claims (biggest this, tallest that, etc), which are a totally bogus way of trying to make something in Australia or New Zealand sound impressive). It was very...tall...up there and I'm not excellent with heights, so I took some pics and was happy to have my ears pop as we whooshed back down to the ground below.

We walked through the Crown Casino (biggest casino in the Southern hemisphere...yeah, yeah, yeah), lost a few bucks on two cent slots, and made our way to the arcade. Carissa did managed to get carded however, and yes, the gambling age is 18. The irony is that we were on our way to the arcade when the attendant demanded to see her ID, but we kept that to ourselves.

The visit was a success and I encourage others to follow suit! It might be more fun to spend a few days here then check out some of the more exotic places like Queensland before coming back to see us before you leave, but Melbourne certainly has enough to do for a couple weeks. Also, I have posted some of the pics I took during their visit on my Picasa website, so please check those out as well: http://picasaweb.google.com/angiesommer

Thanks for tuning in and thanks to Carissa and EJ for visiting and buying us dinner every night (an act which we are heretofore making a relatively mandatory requirement if you're staying in our house, so budget that in, people)! ;-)

Father's Day

Ok, so Father's Day went a bit by the wayside, but at least I got to talk to daddy-o in the midst of my visitors. In true blog style, however, this is my tribute post to dads everywhere, albeit a little late. I love you daddy!!!

Guests!

We have guests. Kane's friend's sister, Angelica, got here today, and Carissa and EJ arrive tomorrow morning. Whoo hoo! Angelica only stays for a couple nights then comes back for another couple later in the week while Carissa and Elijah stay for 10 days. Should be fun!

In related news, we rented a car today, which I picked up and drove around solo while Kane waited for Angelica to arrive. Yes, me, gigantic Toyota sedan, navigating the streets of central Melbourne alone. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected - the left side of the road thing isn't actually the hard part. It's easy in urban areas since you just sort of follow everyone else. The thing that's quite the doozy is that the steering wheel is on the right side of the car. This means that everything is backward and that the bulk of the car is to my left rather than my right. So when I try to deftly swing around the car in front of me who is waiting for a parallel parking space, I need a significantly larger berth than my car-brain is allowing. I didn't hit anyone, but the first time I passed someone like that I proceeded to make a mental, if not verbal, actually, note to not get so god damn close on the left side.

The other thing that's funny is when I'm on a street turning onto another street with no light or stop sign. I look for cars both ways like normal, but I realize that I have no idea which way I'm supposed to turn or which way the cars are supposed to come from. It's funny what's ingrained in you and what can adapt easily. I also actually laughed out loud when I looked up to see the rear view perched on the "windscreen" (windshield) facing the wrong way! It's obviously angled such that the person in the driver's seat can see, but it looks backward to me, as thought it's facing the passenger.

Anyway, no casualties so far and I managed to pick up the car, get to Marc and Alana's, go to work, go to the grocery store, and come back home. All without getting lost, confused, or denting the car. Excellent. Carissa and Elijah arrive tomorrow at 9:30 am, bless their hearts for arriving at a reasonable time of day, and then the week of Aussie tourism begins. I'll try to post some pics next time of all of us. Until then, wish me luck on the left side of the road!