New Digs

Well, it may be a new world record -- perhaps a new galactic record.

4 and 1/2 hours.

That was the total amount of time that it took us to move.
This morning, at 9:15, we picked up the moving truck. At that point, I would like the people at Guiness World Records to note that we had not packed...anything.
This afternoon at 2:45 we returned the truck. That even includes a stop to fill the tank with diesel. I have practically dislocated my shoulder patting myself on the back.
I also practically dislocated my shoulder carrying the mattress, climbing over the bed frames, and hauling one of the world's heaviest privately owned dining room tables.
All of this was made possible through the understanding, willingness to help, and strong back of our friend Kirk, here from Rochester just in time to help us move. In fact, it is on his computer that i type this update, since he chronicled the event and has most of the photos.
So...without further ado...

Our new home!

Merry Christmas!

Oh christmas blog, oh christmas blog,
that's how we keep in touch with y'all
Oh christmas blog, oh christmas blog
herein's news which will you enthrall.

A letter to the folks who freeze,
from the heat of the antipodes

oh christmas blog, oh christmas blog,
we're constantly thinking of you all.


I know that it's still Christmas (or, as the nickname-mad aussies say, "Chrissie") back in the US, so this should get in just under the wire as a holiday blog, but here, we've cleaned up the wrapping paper, made all the phone calls, slept as long as we could in the heat, and now it's Boxing Day.
Either way, we're enjoying a couple of days of relaxation before things get a little busy next week.

The only problem is that it is hot. I mean, really, really hot. Today it is predicted that the mercury will top out at 43 degrees C, which doesn't sound like much until i punch it into the unit conversion feature on my phone (the only feature that gets used much), and realize that this is a whopping 110 degrees F. Even if I wasn't feeling hot before, now I do. Luckily, we've made friends with a couple 2 houses over who have a swimming pool.

The other solution is to head to the beach, which we have already done. At 10am, it was over 90, and we sat roasting on the beach with the rest of town, occasionally splashing in the Indian Ocean to cool off. Then, if you can believe it, it became too hot for the beach. So now we're back home, watching a little of the boxing day test cricket and trying unsuccessfully to ignore the list of things that we really should be paying attention to.

Such as cleaning out the guest room. Kirk (a friend from Rochester) arrives tomorrow morning, and his room is where all of our hockey equipment is currently spread out, drying over the break in the hockey schedule.

Or getting ready for Nathan to start a new job. Tired of driving an hour and a half a day, I've taken a new job a little closer to home. Theoretically, I will be working fewer hours and driving fewer hours, which has the result of being able to see some of this huuuuuge country that we are trying to explore, but the early indications are that I will be working just as much. Hmmmm.

Or packing. Our lease is up, and we found a great new place in a very cool part of town, but it is going to mean moving this weekend, and even then our lease will only be for 6 months, and we may have to move again at the end of that time. Sometimes i think that in the last few years, all i've done is load moving trucks!

Luckily, during this busy time, Kris is required to take a 10 day break while the university shuts down -- which is a nice benefit to the position -- and it couldn't have worked out nicer in terms of having time when Kirk is here and moving and stuff.

I hope this finds you all in good spirits!
Merry Christmas.

house-hunting again!

So, for the last few weeks we have been house-hunting again. Our lease expires 24 January, but our landlords wanted to be in on the 7th if we could move earlier. With Christmas, that means a pretty tight turn around. We've looked at lots of places. Mostly we've focused on the neighborhoods that near the beach, the river, or Fremantle--which coincidently are almost all out of our price range. What I've been able to find in our price range, in those neighborhoods, either doesn't allow pets, doesn't have air conditioning, or was last decorated and cleaned in 1967.

Then last week, as I was leaving work, I noticed the price had dropped on a house near Fremantle. I called the agent, she would be able to show it to me in 15 minutes. I saw it and fell in love. Leaded glass windows, high ceilings, dark polished wood work, air conditioning, and A DISHWASHER!!!(this is a luxury item in Australia--and much needed in our house). Only thing is it had 2 bedrooms instead of 3. I went home that night, desperate to show Nathan. That evening, we pulled up to the house to look it over. He said it looked good enough from the outside to rent (interior unseen). As we walked from the prospective property to a nearby restaurant, we began making plans to put in a deposit on the place tomorrow. As we walked back from dinner, we came across someone moving into OUR HOUSE (we just hadn't told the landlords yet). I was devastated (we had already lost another house a few weeks ago). The next day Nathan went to the real estate agent to ask about the property--knowing I had my heart set on it. Surprisingly they took our money (we still don't know who these people were!). The next day, we got the call that we were accepted, but the original lease would only be for 6 months, with a possibility of renewing after that (of course, there's the possibility of house hunting again in 6 months, ugh!)

After some debate, we agreed to take it, in faith that this would work out and this is the place for us. We'll be moving over new year's weekend, and luckily will have an extra set of hands. Our friend Kirk from Rochester is coming to visit (and see the round the world clipper race). We'll post new addresses, and pictures when the lease is signed. We'll be getting mail at our current address for at least 2 more weeks, and set up forwarding after that. So don't worry about mailing presents--we'll get em!

Someone's out there!

Hey--the power of google strikes again.

Blogging is kind of weird. Its this diary, where you tell NO ONE (specifically) about your life, but have to be circumspect about what you say because ANYONE can read it. It's been great to get comments from friends and relatives that have been reading--periodically getting our random thoughts on life in Australia. But, when friends' post--its not interactive, I can't easily comment on what they say...even though I want it to be a conversation. I had begun wondering if just doing a periodic mass email to my friends would make more sense, at least then I could respond quickly when someone puts up a smart aleck comment about my spelling, or is awestruck by the size of the mighty koala. AND, it would probably be easier for them to keep up to date.

AND then...the internet does its magic.

Out of the blue, we are contacted by old friends. Jess and Ellis--googling us for our overseas address they came across the blog. I've tried searching to see if they have a blog, but all I get for those 2 are publications (since they are biochemistry professors). Jess was my college roommate at Gustavus (a genius), somehow we lost touch while she was living in California, exchanging Christmas letters for an annual update. It feels good to know that she is able to look across this whole year and see what's been happening. I guess it makes me feel connected to all of you just a little bit more.

Anyway, thanks for reading this every now and then. Kristin

Summer's arrived!

On Friday 30 November, the Vet School celebrated Registration Day. Registration Day is the day students recieve their marks from the Veterinary Surgeon's Board, and if suitably high, they become registered as veterinarians. Its far more important than graduation day which is the school's official recognition of their degree, because this literally says Australia gives them license to work as vets.

The ceremony was simple. Students meet with the Surgeon's Board. If approved, they pick up a pack from our alumni officer saying "Congratulations your a Vet!!!", then a 45 min ceremony with a brief address, and awards for top marks in the class. Then back down to the Vet School for the traditional celebration luncheon--snaggas (sausages) and champagne! It's a pretty busy time for the admin staff (I'm touring with parents, getting prizes ready, hosting VIPs, and helping to get materials ready), but some of us celebrated by attending the graduation dinner (a black tie event to meet more parents, say goodbye to the students that we are close to, and celebrate the end of a stress-filled week).

Registration day also marks the unofficial start of summer at Murdoch. Suddenly, we all expect to get caught up with the things we've been putting off. People start working regular work weeks--instead of all the overtime. With almost 6 months of being short staffed, my backlog is longer than I'd like but with 3 weeks til the long break I'm hopeful I'll get it done. We prepare for a long holiday break--the University closes from 21 December until 2 January. (I hope I'll be able to stay away!)

Sitting on our back porch, it seems like summer has arrived overnight. The weather today is beautiful, a golden sunset but still cool. You'll never hear me say this--but it would be a perfect night for a run along the beach (actually its easy to say it, hard to do it. I sprained my knee a few weeks ago in hockey practice, so I know I can't possibly follow through).

Suddenly, our lemon tree is overburdened with ripe lemons, we can't make lemonade fast enough to use them all. The figs are coming in, but aren't quite ready yet. That doesn't stop the lorakeets that have moved into our backyard and are making raucous noises getting fat on our figs. At dusk, the kookaburras start up, with their laughing call (sort of a musical cross between monkeys and loons). If we walked down to the lake, we'd hear the frogs making their alien love calls. (they have a frog here called the moaning frog...its freaky).

I've been working too much the last few months, and am determined to relax and enjoy this place. I'm starting now...anyone for lemonade?

Give Thanks...somebody made green bean casserole!

Last Wednesday, Nathan and I hosted an orphans' thanksgiving for the North American vet students at Murdoch. All of the Americans and Canadians who had no place to go were invited to our house for a thanksgiving eve celebration. Nathan and I would provide the turkey, each student would bring one of the side dishes. I sent around an email, and quickly had 30 hungry, stressed vet students signing up to bring their traditional side dish. It only seemed fitting we'd host these North Americans in our house on Pilgrim way.

As a party it sounded pretty easy...I'd clean the house, Nathan (who had Wednesday off) would throw the birds in the oven, and a thanksgiving feast would magically appear.

Well, first you have to find a turkey. For a while, Nathan and I were cruising the supermarkets and butchers to try and find a decent size turkey. (Particularly unusual for our vegetarian Nathan). But all we could find were 5-6 lb birds--the turkey equivalent of a cornish game hen.

As the week before the event approached, we began worrying that we would be serving cold cuts or those pressed turkey breast slices that you get in Swanson meals and school lunches. Luckily, Aussie carry on the English tradition of planning for their holidays a long time in advance and the Christmas turkeys started arriving the Sunday before thanksgiving. We snatched up 2 15 lb turkeys.

Since we didn't ship any of our household items (just stowaways with a couple of bags), Nathan faced the daunting of trying to find meat platters, a turkey baster, and a gravy boat. Let's just say there isn't as much on offer in the kmart, target, walmart range of shopping here, and Nathan had to head to the gourmet cooking shop on the day of our party to find the items we needed. Just what he wanted to do on his day off--buy a gravy boat!

When he returned, he faced the dilemma of cooking 2 turkeys. We have a European size oven (read tiny), and an Aussie size BBQ (read enormous) so we cooked a turkey in each place. Nathan monitored them carefully since we had no idea how they would and he turned out two gorgeous Martha Stewart-worthy turkeys that had our guests oohing and aahing. We used Tim Carnahan's suggestion of cooking them breast-side down for part of the time, and everyone had compliments about how our turkey wasn't dry like their mother-in-laws! My job was to turn out the gravy, and I can't testify to the quality but we definitely had quantity...I made almost 2 liters.

Guests started arriving, bringing dips, deviled eggs, olives and cheeses, home-made corn fritters, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, roast veg, broccoli salad, green salad, rolls, chocolate mouse, lemon cheese cake, and lots of pumpkin pie. It looked beautiful--but I was heartbroken--no green bean casserole. It's my favorite--green beans, mushroom soup, and Durkees fried onions. I had lobbied several of the American students knew to bring it, but no one could find the Durkees fried onions. Just when we had gotten ready to give thanks for our food, there was a knock at the door. Christina Webb (one of the 3rd year students with whom I've been working on a few projects at the Vet School) showed up with a small precious dish of green bean casserole. She knew it was my favorite, so she made the Durkee's fried onions.....from SCRATCH! For friends like these--you have to give thanks.

It was a great way to spend our first thanksgiving away from home in long time. As thanksgiving isn't a holiday in Australia, it would have been difficult to head into work knowing our friends and family were celebrating far away without us. Several of the students said the same thing. Somehow sharing turkey leftovers with my coworkers for lunch on Thursday made it seem like home.

Remember, Remember the 5th of November

Okay. I know I missed the boat, but after I posted our update (and list of excuses) I realized that it was Guy Fawkes Day (the guy who tried to blow up parliament for because of religious oppression in England). and I just want to say the movie V for Vendetta rocks.

In Australia, remember, remember, the 6thof November.
The other thing I want to say is that they don't celebrate Guy Fawkes Day here, because its so close to the MELBOURNE CUP. Its a horse race that is sort of like the Kentucky Derby. Except for this year it was on a Tuesday. And everybody watches it. I mean everybody! In Victoria (where Melbourne is) its an official holiday--banks close.

We shut down our emergency hospital (okay some people had to stay and save the animals but like 1/4 of the usual staff) so that the hospital staff could watch the race. Just like in My Fair Lady the tradition is formal attire, with big hats. We had a few people dress up, but mostly people made hats out of X-RAY film, those big cones that dogs wear, and gauze. We bet on our horses, cheered the race on the big screen TV in the equine hospital, and then toasted the winners of the betting--yet another obscure fun tradition.

Time Flies! So does Gretchen

Wow. Okay, its been a month since our last blog, but its been a jam-packed month.

Sept 28--Jaymi flies to MN,
Sept 30-- last blog post.
Sept 30-Oct 1 Nathan works last weekend at Murdoch (really this time he means it!)
Sept 30-Oct 1 Kristin and Gretchen attempt to take a ferry to Rottnest Island, but are attacked en-route by a crazy Magpie which leaves Gretchen bleeding, shaken, and not really in the mood to cycle past the magpie on the way home.
Oct 2-5 Nathan starts new contract position 45 minutes from home. Kristin continues to work like crazy. Nathan and Gretchen explore around Perth--like Wave Rock, and the Wildflowers of Western Australia.
Oct 5-7 Drive to Cervantes for the weekend. See some amazing coast, are attacked by swarms of Australian black flies, and then are awestruck by the Pinnacles desert. p.s. For those of you who do not realize black flies here don't bite, but do enjoy climbing in your ears, up your nose, into your eyes, onto your tongue etc. Everyone thinks Australians are so friendly, mostly they are just waving away the flies.
Oct 8-12 More work, Gretchen the house elf, weeds the garden, cleans the house for the upcoming home inspection, and cooks more lemon curd and pavlova (yummy!).
Oct 12--Finally trip to Rottnest Island! We head out to the beach to check out the snorkel trails (underwater guided tours of the local reef). Camera dies (again, this time permanently!). The morning isn't very warm. Nathan and Kristin snorkel for 20 minutes, battling hypothermia. Gretchen wisely waits for warmer waters. In the afternoon, we travel to another beach where the snorkelling conditions don't require a parka and Nathan and Gretchen snorkel through some coral beds.
Oct 13--Gretchen and Kristin hit the bikes along the coastal path, a bike path that runs past the best beaches in Perth. Nathan drives ahead, and jogs back to meet us on the bike path. After a breezy beach barbecue we head home from our last weekend together.
Oct 14-17, Gretchen, Nathan and Kristin play our last games of rook, sample the local fine dining, and help Gretchen find her passport.
Oct 17 Gretchen heads back for a marathon flight to Minnesota, the house suddenly seems very empty.

Oct 18-21 Life slowly returns to normal. We do laundry, pay bills, do the grocery shopping, and finish the week with a frenzied cleaning of the house to prepare for our house/garden inspection.

Oct 22-27--Kristin's new admin starts! Hurray! Unfortunately, there's still lots of backlog of work, so another week of crazy work. Nathan is working Saturdays at his locum job, but uses some of his time on call to buy a fishing pole. Sunday we golf--first game of the year.

Oct 31--Halloween--We participate in a costume run for our running club (Fremantle Hash House Harriers). Nathan's spends all day developing a "spider-pig" costume for Kristin, that he doesn't get a costume for himself. Completely selfless!

November 3-4 Nathan and I have a full weekend with nothing planned. No guests, no work, no appointments. Saturday we drive our little 4X4 to a secluded stretch of beach and fish/read for the entire afternoon. Sunday, we more golf to prepare for a tournament next week. They have a lot of sand here...we got lots of practice at getting out of the traps.

November 5--Finally remember to put an update on, and feel horribly defensive about not posting for ages, so provide day by day excuses for why we have been too busy to post, email, write, call, or anything. Do you think its too much?

Jaymi in Perth

My good friend Jaymi came to visit--meeting us in Fiji to the completion of her MBA. Having guests is great...it makes us feel like locals (because we know more about the city than SOMEBODY!), it gives us a great excuse to explore things we have taken time to do, and we get to spend some time with people who make everything fun (including upacking up my office, and quiet nights in for cards). Jaymi's an independent traveller so while I was working she was scouting. Gretchen's visiting too, (while celebrating her 60th) but she's scouting different things.

So we now have 10 new things we've learned:

10--Jaymi knows everybody who spends anytime at the pool bar (and has their emails).


9-- Karaoke bars in Australia play the same songs as in the US.



8--The parking garage closes at 1 pm (so if you are planning to stay at the club until 4 am, park on the street--or you have to ride the bus back the next day).



7--Cirque du Soleil really are as good as they say.



6--Kris doesn't get to navigate, she talks too much and gets car sick reading maps.



5--Bring extra camera batteries, they always run out when you want them (e.g. the snorkelling in Fiji, the dolphins in the river, the nature park, the beach).



4--The tree top walk is less scary than climbing the Gloucester tree, and the view is better.




3--Gretchen's conquered her fear of birds and reestablished it within a week (after a dreadful magpie attack).













2--No matter how many times Nathan has been sailing, make him take the dramamine. He'll enjoy the whale watching much more.








1--Koalas=cute.




0--Everything is more fun when you share it with friends.














Thanks for coming to visit Jaymi...we loved having you. See you in Italy!

BULA! from Fiji!

Fiji is gorgeous. Beautiful flowers, azure waters, palm trees waving in the breeze, everything you pictured in the guide book. Somehow they neglected to include you sun-burned, sweat rolling down your back, contemplating the air conditioning in your hotel room. Somehow, when I picture tropical paradise, I left out the tropical.



My friend Jaymi offered to meet me half way for a celebratory vacation. (Celebrating her MBA completion, and our moving). Since her timeshare has lots of room, Nathan's mom agreed to meet us here to celebrate her 60th birthday as well. The 4 of us have been traipsing around Fiji in a rental car with no shocks (maybe at one time, but the rough roads finished them off a long time ago).

We visited a village where the women's primary income are the few tourists that stop by to buy pottery. We bought a lot (not a lot of it was attactive, but most souveniers aren't!). The tourist trade is really important income for everyone here, but it is hard to enjoy it because of the disparity between the customer and producer sometimes.

Nathan and I went to our running club, and got to meet quite a few locals. They really understood the tourist industry as part of the economy, and nobody seemed eager for it to change. Of course they were talking to a tourist so maybe they are too polite. We will need to post more about the HASH club when we can post pictures.

Anyway, need to head out of the air conditioning soon. We are planning a snorkelling trip tonight, and a sail to some of the uninhabited islands on Friday. Then back to reality. It has to happen sooner or later.

city to surf 2007

What could possibly attract 29,000 runners and walkers to cover 12 k (7.5mi) out on a rainy, blustery, morning at 7:30 am? I was there and I still don't know. There were no T-shirts, no race packs, no fans, no bands, 3 big hills, too many people, not enough bathrooms or garbage bins. There were no freebies at the end, no bananas or bagels, no powerade.

Despite the rain, the wind, and too few amenities, and too many people...it was a really good time.

It's the largest competitive run in Western australia, and may well be the largest run per capita in the world (we'll have to compare it to the Great North Run), and what Kris wrote up above is all true -- and this morning is a different story. Our quiet afternoon post-race was quieter than most. A pan of shepherd's pie, a half a glass of wine, 2 episodes of Firefly, and then crashing into bed by 4pm for a 16 hour sleep. Well, we'll see what it's like next year.

nathan

Decision--new job!

It's been a decisive month. First a car. Now, a job.

Yes, after much deliberation, Nathan has decided to stop working emergency clinic, and join me in the 9-5 world.

It's been a difficult decision. Nathan wasn't going to start working emergency here, but Murdoch has a lot of great learning experiences, fantastic specialists, doing work noone else does, and an incredibly persuasive hospital CEO, Phil Payne. In March of this year, Nathan told the CEO he didn't think emergency hours were right for him. Phil was persuasive, and promised they'd be adding more vets to free up the schedule. Despite Nathan's reservations, he signed up at the Murdoch and has been working heavy hours, mostly weekends.

When we came back from our trip to the States, Nathan discovered he'd been assigned every weekend from August 1 to October 1. They promised they'd rearrange the schedule so he'd get some time off, if he would offer some suggestions about which weekdays he wanted to work. In trying to make those suggestions, he discovered he really didn't want to give up any weekdays either.

The truth is, despite all the excitement, cool medicine, and prestige that comes with ER, we are ready for the good ol' 9 to 5 rut. Sleeping in the same bed, dinner out, weekends off.

They've asked Nathan to stay on as a casual employee (that's what they call temps...but it describes people who get to wear pajamas/scrubs to work) until he finds a permanent job or a better locum position. So, Nathan's last official day as a Murdoch employee is September 13...when we are in Fiji on vacation. Nathan will have the option of picking up some extra shifts after that day (to pay for our travelling) but will mostly be able to look for something great...and enjoy a long visit with his mom, and our friend Jaymi.

Two big decisions in 2 weeks. It's a Mannix record.

Woo Hoo--Let it Rain!

For those of you that we have been trying to entice to visit us, we've probably neglected to tell you something. "Winter in Perth is Rainy". July averages around 19 years of rain per month (I meant days). Last year was the driest July on record, this year is making up for it. On the sunny days, its gorgeous...75 degrees, sunny, the world is alive with shockingly bright flowers, and everyone is smiling.


Everyone is smiling because they know any minute, the weather will change. Out of sunny skies, a cool drizzle will start to fall. Within 5 minutes, the wind has picked up and the rain is blowing horizontally. Umbrella's collapse in the 20-25 mi per hour gusts. A sudden deluge overwhelms gutters until its just pouring off buildings.

So why do I say let it rain? Nathan and I have finally bought a second car. For most of the summer and fall, I rode the bus to work in the morning or evening, with Nathan picking me up on his way to or from his overnight. Then the rain started. I rode the bus a few times, but its a 15 minute walk to the first bus station. Its a 10 minute wait between bus transfers. Its a 15 minute walk to my side of campus. Let's just say after 5 minutes of horizontal rain standing in a bus shelter, none of my suits looked too sharp on arrival. And let's face it, its hard enough to go to work somedays, without the additional demotivation of gray clouds, hurricane winds, and pissing down rain. So for the really wet time, Nathan has been acting as my chaffeur or has volunteered to be carless at home rather than get up after 5 hours of sleep to drive me to work. We promised ourselves when we sold the house, we'd buy another car.

TA-DA! (Debbie we need the cape!).
















Within 10 days of being home, Nathan and I decided on what car we were going to buy, visited 3 dealerships, and purchased one that met our needs. And we both think its a sporty little number! So, all you would be visitors we are ready for you...we'll take the top down and cruise the beach. Orhead into the bush with our camping gear for a little bushtrack camping. Or if that's not your style, or if its raining at least you won't have to take the bus to the pub.

Kristin

Home again?

When you work overnight, conversations with your co-workers cover alot of ground. After talking about growing up in Alaska, living in London and MN, then moving down to Perth, one of the nurses asked, "so, where do you consider home?"

Now, I'm sure that she did not intend that to be a philosophical question, but just something polite to keep the conversation going. Something along the lines of, "and how's the family?" To be fair, i didn't wax philosophical until a couple of hours later (3am is a good time for retrospection), but then I gave the question some serious thought.

See, I had just come from a trip back "home." That trip included California and Minnesota, both of which could arguably claim the title, but in this case "home" was just a handy and concise way of explaining that it wasn't a vacation, but rather a visit. You vacation in Fiji or the Christmas Islands, but you visit back home, and you rarely get a great tan visiting.

It was a really good visit, though. At the California "home," we got to visit grandparents, in-laws, sister, cousins, neice, and father (in no particular order), catch up on the gossip, eat at IHOP, and clean up some of the generations of accumulated treasures behind grandpa's house. At the Minnesota "home," I got to keep grandma company after her surgery, hang out with mom, stay with some friends in rochester, catch up with church folks, and hear the rochester concert band in the park. I even drove past the "home" that we recently, and with much rejoicing, unloaded in this soft market (only to see a boat parked in the driveway -- I knew he could have paid more!).

Then there are the homes that I didn't make it to on this trip. I didn't get up to the ranch in Mendocino county, I didn't make it to Alaska, I didn't get to visit with friends in Washington, a "home" where i've never lived, but claim it as something familiar and loved. It seems that I would claim every place west of the Mississippi as home, and some parts of London as well. But when I was on the plane out of San Francisco, at the start of the long flight to Sydney and then to Perth, my neighbor in the row asked where I was headed. "Going home," I replied without thinking, "Perth."

I guess that home is many places, many people, and a wealth of experiences shared with folks that you love. So come and visit us...wherever we happen to be.

Make yourselves at home.

Sold! At Last!

Yes. The House is SOLD! papers signed, money in the bank, no more bills to pay.

It was a hard 15 months, between the nail biting wait for prospective buyers to view the house, the difficult decisions to lower the price, the gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair as we negotiated (and renegotiated)3 seperate offers and finally the last flurry of activity with the new buyer who changed his mind almost weekly. Our realtor Curt Britson is a SAINT!

As I am in Minnesota visiting family, I stopped by the house to say goodbye. If felt strange, there was nothing to move out, nothing personal left there (except a coffee mug in the microwave that Curt found 3 months after we left--ugh....science project). Curt opted not to leave that moldy cup of coffee for the new buyers. After several difficult negotiations, I was on the fence about our little housewarming present.

Part of the change was the new buyer had asked if he could have a contractor start work a day or two early.When I walked through the place, there was a big gaping hole in the wall between the kitchen and living room, new tiles laid out for the floors, and new carpet on the way.

I went to the backyard to dig up St Joseph, who was supposed to help sell the house, but instead sensed our Lutheran guilt over the iconographic saint and refused to help. I was ready to dig St Joseph up, and repent. The flowers in the backyard had grown up over his burial spot, and I didn't have the heart to ruin the flowerbed. (I didn't have a shovel either).

Leaving the house felt strange. Part of me was still looking at this as an escape hatch (if everything went wrong in Australia, we wouldn't be homeless) but part of me felt that worry over selling and the on-going bills meant we weren't really free to fully enjoy Australia.

Despite our intentions of being footloose and fancy free, Nathan and I put down roots here. We were nourished by our friends , rewarding work, a welcoming church community, music and theater. But, the longer we stayed the more we realized that these roots would only grow deeper, making it more challenging to transplant ourselves later.

So, with joy and a little nostalgia, we are ready say goodbye to 5559 Fairway Dr. NW, Rochester MN. Thanks for all the memories! Kristin

Visit to Minnesota.

Wow! What a whirlwind. I left for MN July 4. Nathan wasn't able to get leave from work, so I was travelling on my own, straight from one of the most hectic days at work I have had to date. With my pulse racing and adrenaline rushing, Nathan and I raced across town to get me to the plane on time. After a hurried goodbye, I checked my luggage, and I rushed into catch my plane. Which was delayed by an hour. Still in suit, I started thinking about my comfortable shorts and flip flops sitting somewhere and checked baggage longingly.

Finally boarded the plane, where I was finally able to relax (sort of). After a couple of drinks and a couple of movies, I fell asleep to awake in New Zealand, where I had a 12 hour layover. I took advantage of the day to walk, and walk, and walk around Auckland (still in my suit and dress shoes), arriving back at the plane for our 5 pm take off, I thought about my luggage again. If only I'd had the sense to change out of my SWEATER, I was dying. A girl from MN in the seat next to me, kept my mind off of my overheating by chatting with me about her Australia trip.

I arrived in San Franscisco, caught an airporter to Alan and Masami's house, and finally changed clothes. 38 hours in the same suit...time to find a dry cleaners. After a little nap, and dinner, the boys demonstrated their prowess with the Sony Wi, I was sore from tennis, golf, bowling, and finally 2 bouts of boxing (of which I emerged victorious in the second bout).

Alan's family and I had the same flight to Minneapolis, so Gregory and I played cards all the way from SFO to MSP. War and crazy eights makes the time fly...After arriving we split up, my best friend from high school Connie (Jansen) Kells picked me up for a whirlwind 18 hours together...talking the whole time. We packed an entire year of talking into one day, and we were both exhausted.

The next day Connie drove me to meet up with my parents, who took me the rest of the way to my brother Brian's cabin. We had a great family reunion from Saturday until Tuesday, Julie & Scott brought their camper, Taylor, Emily, and Layla stayed, Brian, Jen, and his kids, Mom and Dad, Alan and his family. 20 of us tubing, waterskiiing (okay some of us only attempt waterskiing), kneeboarding, wakeboarding, jetskiing, fishing, swimming, bonfires, pingpong, cribbage, biking, and LOTS and LOTS of talking. If was so great to be together, I think we've started a new tradition...Sorry Brian, you are hosting!

After the activity of Brian's cabin, we spent a few days recovering. It was really nice to have a couple of quiet days with Mom and Dad. Dad had been in the hospital for 10 days because of a very serious infection. The fever and side effects left him several pounds lighter, and not well rested, so we enjoyed a few more relaxing days together.

On Sunday, I headed to visit Nathan's mom and Grandma (Emily is having surgery on Monday, July 22 say a prayer for her speedy recovery)...It was really nice to visit, even for a little while. She was able to bring me up to date on all the events of each of her grandkids spread across the country.

Sunday night, I drove down for a whirlwind tour of Rochester. I didn't give people very much notice, but was still able to visit with Jaymi, my friends from the Diversity Council, a visit to Curt Britson (who is wrapping up on the house) and Dave & Cheryl Smith. I didn't get a chance to visit church, Larry & Rebekka, Kirk, or so many other great friends we made while we were in Rochester. I saved Rochester too late, and just didn't have enough time.

I fly tomorrow to California, where Nathan and I will get to spend a week together before he flys to MN. It just wasn't enough time. No matter how much time I spent with mom and dad, my siblings it wasn't enough time to catch up on all I had missed. There was so much to say to my good friends like Connie and Jaymi that we were up all night. There were so many people I didn't really get to talk to, or see that I wanted to know more Not enough time.

Why do I get the feeling that I am going to feel like that after every visit?

See you soon!

Every time I sit down to write an entry, I am first startled by how long it has been since I've written, then apologise for not writing, as though the internet is an elderly aunt with whom I promised regular correspondence but she, knowing better, just shook her head, but I insisted that, no, this time I would write regularly, and she just smiled an irritating smile and said, we'll see, and now it turns out that she was right and knew me better than I thought and I've got to come up with a great excuse for not writing but I'm not going to try to have an excuse, just that I didn't write, but that I've been really busy...dang, that was an excuse, and we can't have that, now can we? So, what's been keeping us so busy that we couldn't add another 20 minutes of computer time to our day? Fruit.

We've decided to try new fruits. There are more things in the market that I don't recognize than I would have ever thought possible. Ever heard of a custard apple? It's about the size and shape of a nerf football, but with seeds. How about Fuyu? We had to ask how to eat it -- like an apple, they said, knowing that we would be miles away before we tried it. It looks like a tomato and tastes like crystallized pineapple, also called a Japanese Persimmon. Now we're waiting for the loquat tree to get ripe (I have NO idea what they're like, but there's a tree in the yard).

See?! We've been busy!

That's it, you ask, you've been busy with (scornful pause)...fruit?

Well, that's not all! We've also, um, been packing a lot of other stuff in, like work (did we mention that Kris has been promoted?), hockey (Kris plays at least twice weekly, me once), and running (with a club called the hash house harriers...you'll hear more on this later, no doubt), but I thought what would catch your interest was...fruit.

And now...more fun signs from Australia!

Gl-aus-aury v 2

scunted: v to be told off, or chastised.

arvo: n afternoon

journo: n jounalist

muso: n musician

rego: n registration (like license plates)

exxie: adj. expensive

guzzies: n globs of splittle, ooze, slime.

marching orders: fired, canned, sacked.

House--not just a TV drama, Kristin

Okay. So its been a week since I sent out a frantic email about our house sale falling through. Needless to say, we are continuing on our fine streak of bad luck. The timeline so far.

April Good Friday 2006 put house on the market
July 2006 lower the price
September 2006 lower the price
October: recieve first offer--a contingency.
January: contingency expires, negotiate an extension
February: extension expires, put it back on the market
April: lower price.
April: get offer--woo, hoo, close date May 15.
May 12: engaged couple split up while measuring for hardwood floors, offer falls apart.
May 14: desperate plea for a miracle.
May 15: offer officially falls apart.
May 16: house back on the market
May 18: new offer recieved.
M1y 20: offer rejected for being to0 low.
May 24: new offer proposed, and accepted to close mid July.
May 25: FINGERS CROSSED!

Its been a real roller coaster, and I have to commend our friend and realtor Curt Britson. If he charged us for the over the phone counseling and all the extra hassle having us overseas has caused, we'd just sign it over to him. We might even be home in July during the closing, so we can dig up our statue of St. Joseph and swear off religious iconography forever.

Unfortunately, our housing luck seems to have followed us here. The timeline goes like this.

Jan 4: Stay in a hostel in a room 8 ft X 8 ft.
Jan 8: Move to Silver suite of holiday accomodation in S. Fremantle.
Jan 18: Move to Gold suite of holiday accomodation.
Jan 25: Move to rental property in Hamilton Hill.
Feb - Mar: Buy furniture, get to know the neighborhood.
April 18: Get a call from rental property agents, the owners want to move back in! Will we shorten our lease and find a new place to stay.
April 25: Agree to look at new rental properties, if they pay moving costs.
p.s. My boss hands in resignation, Dr. in Emergency Center hurts her back, we both start working like crazy.
Apr 25-May 15: Begin negotiating what moving costs will be covered. Start looking at properties.
May 15: Discover moving costs, meant paying for the truck. (get notice about house falling through), decide its too much all at once, decide not to move.
May 20: Receive notice that our rent has increased by 15%.

May 25: Nathan and I are following his original plan, living in a classic VW pop top camper van on the beach. Visitors are still welcome, you can use our tent.

Gl-aus-ary

So we all know that there are some words that are used regularly in australian lingo. Phrases such as "G'day," "Mate," and "I'll have another beer" have been long recognized as casual aussie speak. There were a few new words that have been used in an exam room situation that I had to stop the conversation and ask for a translation. Here are a few.

1. Bogan. (n) Person who is usually of a socioeconomically disadvantaged stratum of society who is not overly interested in grooming or appearance, spends days slacking and having a few stubbies (short bottles of beer).

2. Bluey. (n - various) In the consulting room, an australian cattle dog, so called for its blue ticking, very popular. Confusing because it is also the phrase used to describe a stinging jellyfish (portugeuse man o'war). Imagine the look of shock when asked to examine bluey in room one as it was vomiting. Also means a redhead, a traffic ticket, a backpack, or a heavy coat worn by miners. Very versatile word, bluey.

3. Dag. (n) An uncouth or loutish person. Is often used as an adjective, "She's so daggy, she just opens her lunch (farts) in front of everybody." Can have superlatives, e.g. megadag.

4. Stands out like a dog's balls. (adj) Meaning is obvious. It's obvious what the meaning is. The meaning is, obvious.

5. Ocker. (n) Unsophisticated person. Nearest North American synonym may be redneck.

6. Root. (v) Is synonymous with f*ck in every usage. "I hit a roo, and now my car is rooted." "He's so randy, a total root-rat."

7. Sook. (n, v) A softy, a mama's boy/girl. Used in the exam room to describe those pets that are in constant need of a cuddle. Can also be a verb, "She's going to sook," or even an adjective, "she's so sooky." The superlative is to be a sookie la-la. Really.

These are just a few of the colorful new words that we're adding to the lingo, and a selection based on what I've heard in the exam room. I'll leave you with a new favorite, used to describe a car that I was considering buying that evidently gets very good mileage.

"It'll run on the fumes of an oily rag."

When Nathan and I found out I was going to a training conference in Melbourne, we immediately planned to take full advantage of my free airfare and hotel accommodations. We decided to fly out after work on Friday night to give us maximum weekend. But of course we couldn't get on the same flights. Optimistically, we chose my flight leaving at 6:00 am. With increased security that meant being at the airport at 4:00 am. Nathan was supposed to get off work at midnight, but at 2:00 am I called the hospital and said I was coming to get him ready or not. After picking up Nathan, we rechecked our packing and decided to wait up for the cab scheduled to arrive at 3:30am. We shuttled off to the airport, took our seperate flights (Nathan's 1 hour later than mine) and arrived in Melbourne.

Because we would spend the whole week in the heart of the city, we decided to rent a car and go to the Yarra Valley, a wine region 1 hour from Melbourne. During our drive we stopped at a vineyard for lunch (I had tempura gator in honey eucalyptus sauce. Gator tastes good--but anything does when its deep fried). After lunch, we headed into Healesville for a leg stretching hike through a local rainforest. Yep. I said rainforest, in Australia. Its like Jurassic Park. Giant ferns, stringybark hanging down like vines, weird animal sounds, bugs.

That's when we heard something completely different. It was R2D2 after a severe electric shock. The bushes rattled, more strange noises. Then we saw the Lyrebird.
I am including a video for you to look at. This has got to be the strangest thing we have seen so far. Turn the sound up on your computer, you need the full effect.


If you want more of this weird bird, search www.youtube.com for lyrebird, the David attenborough video is awesome.

After seeing this amazing display, Nathan and I returned to our Bed and Breakfast for 12 hours sleep. We stayed among the vineyards, with a view of the mountains that reminded me of Nathan's grandpa's ranch in No. California. After more hikes through the rainforests and mountains, and trips for wine tasting, and cheese tasting (my favorite), we drove back to the airport to drop off the car, then went into the city.

Nathan's given you a picture of all that we did in Melbourne: Chinatown, Barber of Seville, 3 comedy shows, Miss Saigon, Immigration Museum, Melbourne museum, and food, food, food. We ate at Jamie Oliver's restaurant Fifteen (Jamie's menu, with a youth program that teaches disadvantaged youths to be top chefs.) and loads of other great places.

The city feels like Seattle, more overcast and rainy than Perth, with lots of little shops, alley ways, bars, restaurants, arts areas. The Central Business District is about 1 mile by a half mile, with a collection of ethnic and funky suburbs surrounding the CBD. Even though you can walk across the CBD in 30 minutes, Melbourne has a great public transport which combines several free “trams” (cable cars), commuter trams (pay for a ride), buses, subway, and trains.

There is a river which runs through the center of Melbourne. With the Royal Botanical Garden south of the river, and a sculpture garden running along the north of the river. An amusement park sits on one side of the river with a shows, ferris wheels, and other entertainments day or night. Across from the amusement park, sits rows and rows of boathouses, where the rowing crews take their boats on the river, day or night. We saw several crews rowing in after dark with the coxn holding a flashlight.

Melbourne has its famous market (Great Victoria Market) where Nathan bought a didgeridoo (living up to our tourist stereotype. Getting good will require lots of practice. Its like nothing else. Until Nathan’s mastered it, we’ll spare you the demonstration.) Nathan wandered St. Kilda’s (The uptown of Melbourne) while I sat through lecture after lecture. The last day, we had pizza on Lygon street, famous as a “Littly Italy”. We decided Papa Gino’s was authentic, because the couple next to us ordered in Italian, and our server chatted to them in Italian for a long time. Authentic or not, the pizza was excellent.

Finally back in Perth, and settling in to life as normal again. Well, normal for now, our rental agency has asked if we would consider terminating our rental contract early—because the owners are moving back to Perth. We have the right to stay til January because of our lease, so we can keep our great location near the beach, and the park, and our great native bush garden. But we can trade up if wewant. We’ll see if we can find anything better. Otherwise, it would take some pretty big incentives to persuade me to go through moving and resettling again.

We have tons more photos, I’ll just add a few more for your viewing enjoyment.

Melbourne...

...it's like a baby London. As far as cities go, this one is great! Kris is busy all day in her conference, so I'm roaming the streets looking for things to do when she gets off work, and let me tell you, there's plenty to choose from!
It may be a mix of the best of Seattle and London, with some history, some classical and gothic architecture, but with a trendy cafe and bar scene, good arts opportunities, and seemingly infinite variety of restaurants. And, like both of those cities, it is considered to be more overcast than the rest of the country.
We've been to the opera, the pub, a stand-up comedian (did I mention that this is the international comedy festival site?), and tonight will go to Miss Saigon. The only disappointment so far is that the Percy Grainger museum in the Melbourne University was closed for building works. After all that, there's still all the sports facilities, more comedy, the casino (briefly the largest in the world), more museums (musea? museae?) than you can shake a stick at, and Captain Cook's cottage, transported here from northern England, which I actually find kind of odd. It's not like this city has nothing of its own, that it needs to bring an entire house 15,000 kilometers as a footnote for the guidebooks.
All of this is in a relatively central area -- I haven't even been to St. Kilda's yet, although that's today's adventure -- which is much more easily traversed afoot than is the sprawl that is Sydney. Yup, as far as cities go, this is a definite keeper!

I'm sure they are glad we approve.

Botanical Extravaganza!

Good Friday indeed!

This morning started pretty well, considering that the phone rang at 7:15 on our day off. There aren't too many things that will make me smile after a start like that, but it was a call from our Realtor, Curt, to let us know that there was an offer on our house. A long-awaited, much needed resolution to the Fairway Drive Dilemma is another step nearer. Ahhhh...

After church, we then went to a national park just north of Perth, and had a GREAT hike. A little over 10K of sandy, dirty walking amongst the Tuart trees and kangaroos, finishing off in time to watch the sunset over the water.

For those of you who are keeping score, that's two weekends with time together. This may work out, after all! Of course, I work all day on Easter, so we'll have to see how things go from then on. We'll keep y'all posted.

A weekend away -- Margaret River

Remember all those promises of frequent updates when we got internet at home? Yeah, we remember, too. The new excuse is, "There will be more frequent updates when we have wireless internet at home." This will give me some time to come up with a new reason for our poor showing at blog updates.
So, this is Nathan, and for this update, I want to share a little bit about our weekend away -- the first weekend that we have had free together to get out of town a little. We got a chance to spend some time in Margaret River, a sort of Napa Valley of Western Australia, and a great place to blow the diet.
We stayed at a B&B called Bewitched, whose proprietor was named (i'm not making this up), Samantha. They only have accomodation for one couple, so it was nice and cozy, and we ate roughly 8 squillion calories for breakfast every day. Which was nice.
We can still pass for tourists, especially when Kris wears that red hawaiian shirt that we picked up in New Zealand, so we felt okay about going on a canoe tour of the area. We felt even better when we found out that 18 of 23 were from Perth. We have now officially eaten Bush Tucker, from Tasmanian Pepper corns, to desert limes, to emu (Kris), and witchity grubs. Mmmmm. We even found out that there is an edible form of the ice plant, called a pig's face, or bain. Salty kiwi flavor, who knew?!
This last weekend was also a big international surf competition at Margaret River -- we got to see the women's finals and presentation of the trophy. Pretty cool, and something that we're not likely to get to see in Minnesota.
The rest of the weekend was spent in gastronomic bliss, doing wine tastings, cheese tastings, olive oil tastings, eating ocean trout and fennel, rhubarb brulee, and ending up having lavender and honey beer at the Bush Shack Brewery. A trip to Kent's glass studio in witchcliffe was a highlight, as was seeing the grounds and art collection at the Leeuwin Estate.
We had a special treat for Palm Sunday, though, when we went to the smallest church ever. Not just a small congregation (there were 7, including us), but we actually made the building feel full. Everyone was very pleasant, and we went up to the cafe as a group afterwards to talk about water rights and the new restaurant coming into town.
All in all, a fulfilling weekend.
(photos to share, just as soon as i charge the batteries!)

40 years! Happy Anniversary,--Kristin

40 years is a pretty significant amount of time. Its the time Moses and the Israelites wandered in the deserts. Its the amount of time it takes for a car or song to become a classic. Its how long my parents have been married. Wow.

Mom and Dad's marriage is pretty amazing. March 17, 1967. It wasn't an easy decision--Mom was 15 years younger and Dad was divorced--two items that put Mom's parents and Dad's kids (Julie and Alan) a little on edge. Mom tells me she was nervous. She wasn't sure until the day of the ceremony. Then she called her girlfriend said she was going through with it, and that her girlfriend should bring her good dress. But once the ceremony was complete, the decision was made, there was no turning back for either of them.

It's been an amazing 40 years. Mostly I remember the last 34...and it seems that they have been happy. They joke and tease each other. They talk about the big things and the little things. They have been through some difficult times--times when they fought, when the kids fought. They have celebrated birthdays for children, cousins, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. They have made it through illness, car crash, separation from family, money struggles, the loss of both their parents. They plucked chickens, painted barns, made horse-radish, danced through the all-night road trips to North Dakota, cheered countless wrestling teams, and endless rounds of golf.

I admire my parents for something that seems so rare these days...endurance and commitment. We live in a pretty disposable society now--Nothing manmade is built to last 40 years anymore. We update our cars, computers, blenders, clothes almost every 4 years, not 40. We seem to get bored quickly--once it loses that new car smell we suddenly can see the stains and scratches and decide we need something newer, better, faster. But maybe its a sign that their marriage isn't man made...

What God has joined together, let no man pull asunder.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad--your love for each other is a blessing from God and an example to all who know you. --Kristin

AT LAST! INTERNET!

okay, I know that I have been promising for ages, but FINALLY Nathan and I have an internet connection at home.

You don't know how much of a ordeal this was....internet was my planned life line to keep in touch with all of you, so to be limited to sneaking it in atwork was killing me.

Let me just say, there are some customer service issues here. I don't know whether its our provider, all internet providers or customer service in general but WOW.

We ordered DSL from Dodo at the end of January. They said we couldn't get it until we got phone service. It took 10 days to get phone service. After we got phone service, Nathan spent almost 30 minutes on hold to order DSL, they said they had to test the line. If it was okay they would install it in 2-4 weeks (!). After 4 weeks, (45 minutes on hold) we called and they couldn't find the order. I placed the order we got the modem within 10 days, but no supplementary documentation (such as how to set it up or what our user id etc would be to do security. 3 more times 30-45 minute sessions on hold. So, we figure to get online it has taken 6 weeks and at least 6 hours of personal time. We could have written you all letters and sent them by post and been faster than this!

But, we are hoping that they will be reasonable from here on out. Believe me you'll here about it if they aren't!

Topol in Fiddler on the Roof

Yes. That's the TOPOL. The original Fiddler on the Roof. As part of his retirement plan, he's committed to doing 2 world tours, and we were lucky enough to catch his one of his last shows in the southern hemisphere.

Topol was amazing--funny, sad, weary, proud. His "If I were a Rich Man," brought the house down! (although Nathan and I agreed Merle's cackling chickens were better).
Actually, despite having the biggest name possible for FOTR, we were amazed how favorably the Rochester Civic Theater compared. With the exception of the dancing (sorry Hilary, these were pros!), our cast stood its own--and managed most of the time to be funnier! In this production, Yenta stole no cookies, Lazar didn't seem quite as desperate to ease his loneliness with a cow, Golda never as strong a personality as Topol. The show was great, solid, professional, but somehow seeing Fiddler on the Roof in Rochester Civic Theater's production spoiled me for the "big show." I will clearly say, though some may accuse me of bias, that Nathan was a MUCH better Motel. Nathan found the comic moments of trying to emulate what a PaPa was supposed to be--Nathan's demands to dance with his wife at the wedding left the audience laughing, this one wasn't even noticed. Although we tried to meet the great Topol to introduce him to his younger protege we were unsuccessful. So we went home enjoying a good night of theater but even more proud of the great achievements of the Rochester Civic Theatre Fiddler on the Roof cast!

I just wanted to share some of the interesting,mysterious, and miscellaneous flora and fauna here in Australia. Nathan and I went for a wander in the Perth Hills (the old mountains east of the city). During our amble, we heard the laughing Kookaburra (the bird to the left). You know in jungle soundtracks the sound you think are monkeys....I think its really kookaburras. they sound just like that. Also, Nathan almost stepped on this little critter. I don't know what it is...probably a rat with big ears. BUT, since we don't have our guide to Australian mammals, (we mailed them in December and they haven't arrived...or they have arrived but the post office has sent them back to the US) we are going to count on it being something exotic.\

The plants here are amazing too. Here's a couple, I don't know what they are either. But believe me what I don't know about plants here outweighs what I do by a SIGNIFICANT margin. I've learned so far that if you don't know what something is, you guess it is a gum (like eucalytpus), a wattyl, or a banksia. So, um, its a banksia....yeah.















Parks are everywhere here, so there's lots to look at--lots of the Parks are great about identifying species (although they all seem to be gum, wattyl, banksia, so I can never remember). What else is great is that several of the parks have roving summer art exhibitions. One park near us has a "drive through gallery" with sculpture in the park. Or next week, there is a sculpture exhibition at the beach. Our next door neighbors are both artists and one of them is exhibiting at the beach. So, we are definitely planning to do a photo safari there. In the meantime, here is one of the sculpture peices at Mundaring Community Garden.

Indian Ocean

Okay...this is just a quick one. Most of you know the story behind my beautiful new SONY camera--which we took kayaking in 2002 and saved from a watery grave, only to have me drop it in the lake during a boundary waters trip. The camera still works...just never shuts off.

So, when we made the big move to Australia, we decided our Christmas present would be a new camera...WATERPROOF! Just wanted to show you the Indian Ocean.

Impatient for "Normal"

I know that Nathan and I left Minnesota seeking new experiences, breaking out of our "ruts", yearning for learning....but strangely I find myself impatient to reach normal again. I am impatient for our house to be "set-up," our paper-work finished, and our social and work networks in place. It's been just over a month, with a huge portion of that time dedicated to our to-do list and work. It took 3 years to complete the Visa paperwork, and 1 year to get our house etc in order to leave, why should 1 month be sufficient to get it all up and running again?

When I moved to London, Nathan had already been there for a year. He had friends, a bank account, knowledge of the city, school sorted out, essential paperwork done. When I arrived, he had already found a furnished place to stay and all we had to do was move in. We had Nathan's friends, but I was still lonely for my own the first few months. By November, I was working and had a social network of my own.

It seems harder this time, because it is. This time we are both starting from scratch. No furnished apartment. Everything is new--for both of us. So both of us are going through the emotional ups and downs at the same time (instead of a year apart).

Maybe because its our second time, I expected this move would be easier. The to-do list is harder, but the cultural adjustment is easier. I am embracing new language, friends, experiences much more readily than before. We are already travelling to new places (we've seen more than some residents who have already been here 1 year) and are talking to hockey, band, and church groups to develop our community connections.

I know that in 3 months, we'll be less worried about the "have-to-do" list (like health insurance, taxes, internet connection etc) and more focused on the "get-to-do" list (snorkelling, bushwalking, travelling) but I am impatient. We've been waiting for this for years, I'm ready to get to the fun stuff and stop working so hard!

Who knew that after a search for adventure that would take us half way around the world, I would be craving my rut?--Kristin