Plans for the holiday weekend--Labour Day

Next weekend is Labor Day weekend here, a public holiday. It's always the first Monday in March. I'm taking off this Friday as well and Brendan and I are driving the Great Ocean Road-- basically the coast of Australia heading west from Melbourne. We were going to go camping, but the place we were planning on staying had a sudden cricket infestation...

So now I've booked us in to a 4-star hotel in Torquay (the only option left at the last minute holiday weekend) Yippee!

In food news, I had an awesome veggie quiche for lunch today with a heaping side of roasted veg, 10 minutes from my house (in the Italian shopping strip) and only $8! Of course it was loaded with pumpkin. Fridge arrives tomorrow, so dining out will subside-- a little.

In Sydney, they're going nuts at the Opera House (pun intended!)http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/factsheets/article/-/article/6868806/nude-art-gets-grant-excited/

Morning After and Brunch w/Expats in Prahran

Here is a good article on interval training (shorter workouts at the gym for better results!)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35581793/ns/health-fitness/
Speaking of working out, I can hardly move my arms today after yesterday's yoga class. Upper back is on high alert at well, but a good kind of sore.

The Greek church across the street woke me up with bells at 9am. Just in time for me to jump in to the shower and whack some clothes on to catch the 9:20am tram to the American Expat brunch. People here say "whack" for everything. (Whack some fish on the grill, whack some knickers on, etc.)

Two tram rides and an hour later I was at the brunch. Big place called Amici in a neighborhood called Prahran . Nice space, hardwood floors, leather chairs, very open. Typical brunch food--pancakes, eggs, salmon, pastries. One thing that cracks me up is the "fruit bread". I've ordered it before out of curiosity. For about $8 you get raisin toast. That's it. This time I knew better and had some fab salmon with dill creme fraiche, always a good choice here. Anyway, about ten girls showed up, all very nice, all young professionals and only one with a kid. Will definitely connect with them again, though none live in my hood. Seven of them were here because they had hooked up with Australian guys and were engaged, married or living with the guys. The rest, including me, were here because of work and cultural curiosity.

The flies in my apartment are driving me mad!! I mention this because I've been waving my arms like a lunatic trying to keep them off of me the whole time I'm writing this post. Very distracting. Typically, I run around chasing them with a plastic cup fitted with ventilated top so that I can catpure and re-deposit them safely outside. Great mental picture, huh?! Not sure how long I'm going to have patience for that. The bizarre thing is that if I do nothing, they buzz around in a panic whacking in to walls (trying to find their way out, I assume) and eventually I find them dead on the floor.

My horoscope: A high impact love affair ignites dormant feelings. What starts out as light flirtation reveals hidden depths and you learn truths about your relationship needs. Throw yourself in to creativity and you will do extraordinary things in the arts. A charitable cause will also provide you with a warm inner glow. It all sounds very exciting!! Yea!

And, to end the day, a link to Australia's hottest Tradies. Tradies (short for tradespeople) are what blue collar guys are called here. http://www.theage.com.au/photogallery/lifestyle/people/whos-australias-hottest-tradie/20100225-p5it.html
Notice what the girls are wearing. Now you see why I'm confused about fashion here. 1980's?

Junk and Titanic Asanas

Woo hoo! Looks like Australians like girls with a little junk! And that is good news for me!
Australian model Jessica Gomes is capitalising on a trend towards healthy classic beauties as she follows in the footsteps of Elle Macpherson.The curvaceous 24-year-old stunner - who is half Singaporean and half Portuguese - has just had her third shoot for the famed Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.

And in other body-related news, I went to yoga for the first time since arriving in Melbourne. Really nice Iyengar style class about a 15 minute walk from my house. Frank, the teacher, had us do something he has named The Titanic Asana (pose). This is not a typical Iyengar pose. Basically, standing with straight legs, heels against the wall, grab the wall ropes behind you, one in each and, with straight arms, let your chest and body come forward, completely letting your arms hold your weight--as if you are leaning out over the bow of the Titanic. Talk about a shoulder opener. Wow! Also did a supported head stand with two partners: one person sat facing me with her feet woven over my arms so that her shins supported my shoulders and the other guy held my legs up. Talk about an intimate class! Anyway, great to be moving again and in touch with the ole bod.

Found a little Italian village (retail strip, really), where everyone spoke Italian, about 10 minutes from my apartment: caffes (italian spelling), enoteca, groceries, pastries, etc. Very cool. I will buy my veggies and bread from there. Oh, and a teeny-tiny salvation army shop--woo-hoo!

Brunch tomorrow with some Americans I met through meetup.com, the Melbourne expat group.

Another gorgeous day in Melbourne.

Bellydancing, Crickets vs. Trams, Oven and Fridge

In Mont Albert, the suburb where I was staying with Heather, I went to sleep with the sound of chirping crickets and woke up to the sound of weird birds making all kinds of bizarre noises. When I moved to Dallas from my studio apartment on highly traffiked Second Avenue in New York City I was horrified at the racket the damn birds made every morning. The birds jolted me awake while the trucks on Second Avenue were calming white noise. In Carlton North where I live now (a short walk to downtown Melbourne--CBD)I go to sleep and wake up to the sound of trams and traffic. Ahh, home sweet home at last.

OK, so I want to use the oven. Well it has three buttons, no words. One button has five different images surrounding it: ovals with pictures of tiny fans inside each. Maybe this is a convection oven? What is a convection oven? I'll have to Google it. The middle button appears to be a timer with the numbers 30-60-90-120 around it. The third button is the temperature. Ok, so what the hell is 180C? Thank goodness for igoogle and google gadgets where I could quickly convert. What did we do before the internet??? Oh yes, I remember being in London back in the day: we burned stuff and learned from experience. OK, pizza successfully reheated (how glamorous, I know). That oven kicks a*s! Powerful and fast! Mental note: buy potholders (which I'm sure are called something else here.)
By the way, most awesome pizza and just $7.90 for a size large with everything on it. Fresh, crunchy red and green peppers (or "capsicum" as they are called here), freshly cut mushrooms and onions, and juicy kalamata olives. And of course the people who made it and served it were incredibly friendly and kind!

Ordered a fridge today. Not very exciting. Very simple. Wanted stainless, but for the size space that is allocated for the fridge, choices were limited. Basically one choice: white, Kelvinator (an old Australian brand recently purchased by Electrolux). Bought it over the phone. Delivery next Tuesday. Done. Not the most fun I've had spending $1k, but it is what it is.

What was fun was Belly Dancing at the Lebanese grill up the road. Yes, Jen and I were having dinner there and suddenly there was really loud Middle Eastern music and dancing. Belly Dancing. I felt really awkward when the I-Dream-Of-Genie clad girl (jewels, belly chain, the works) walked directly to me and started gyrating her hips in my face. There were plenty of guys to choose from, why pick me? Anyway, I felt so awkward that I had to say something/anything, while the entire restaurant looked on. "I'd like to take lessons one day", I said. "Do you teach?" Then an awful thing happened... she extended her hand to me. I was completely confused and my face showed it. "I'd like to give you a lesson now", she said. Me and my big mouth. Gulp. So, there I was shaking my giant hips to some happening Lebanese tunes in front of a restaurant full of strangers. That was my Friday night. Happy Thursday to those in the US; in case you are wondering, tomorrow is another good day.

Bullets, Baramundi and Obscenely Short dresses

When I was looking for the supermarket the other day, a girl helped me with directions; she happened to be going there herself, so we chatted a bit as we walked there together. She announced to me that there was a Kmart there too. "Oh yes!", she exclaimed, "That's American. But we don't sell bullets here." Oh my, the things we Americans are known for!

Lunch. Fish and Chips. Not the fried fabulous kind you get in the UK, but a fishy version. The fish and chips shops here give you the healthy option of grilled fish. I liked the idea. Now, what in the heck were the fish types? Baramundi? Flake? Silver something or other? I did recognize snapper, but they were out of that. I asked for help understanding what the fish were and learned that flake is shark. Very popular. They deep fry flake and put it in a bun like a hamburger. I tried the Baramundi and won't go there again. It was very fish-like. Not smelly-fishy, but texture-fishy. Like I felt the flesh in my mouth and knew the whole time very clearly that the little guy at one point was moving and had eyes and I was biting in to his flesh. Really grossed me out. I lost my appetite and left. But not before buying a "lemon fruit drink" made by Coca Cola. So psyched... real lemonade without any added crap. Why doesn't Coke do that in the States? The other night I wanted a Sprite, so I ordered a lemonade. Just like in the UK when you order a lemonade you get a a Sprite/7-up type drink. Great stuff when you have a cold and are feeling dehydrated.

Clothing observations. A few people have asked me about styles here. I haven't seen any fashion statements other than some 80's looking stuff including leggings. Not sure what that is about. I will say that the 20 something girls wear these t-shirt dresses that are floaty and uber-short-- as in one more inch/centimetre and no need to guess. Bad enough when they are standing, but what happens when they sit down? Peep show for all, not to mention that their stuff must be directly touching the chair or tram seat or whateva. eew.

Took a giant walk tonight to check out the town. The Carlton Gardens by the Melbourne Museum are GORGEOUS! And they were packed with people playing music, sports, picnicking, reading, etc. Everything here is really geared to being outside, which we know that I LOVE! Houses have screen doors that lock so you can leave them open, gyms have outdoor spaces for stretching or whatever open year round. Very good.

All for now. Bon soir or Bon Jour, depending on your side of the world.
Another perfect weather day here in Melbourne, sunny and 70F. LOVE it!

No fridge. No phone. No hot water. All is still good.

Sunday morning, the first morning after sleeping in the new digs, I wake up with a raging sore throat. The dang thing had taken over my entire body. And my ears were aching.Wow. Ow. Ow. Had been invited to go to croquet at Mount Macedon that day, so had to cancel. Bummer. Anyway, there was a hot shower and hot tea to look forward to and I could laze around in my own new, wonderful space... or so I thought. My new electric tea kettle wouldn't fire up, nor would the gas stove light. I could hear the gas coming out, but there was no click of the starter. The apartment is pretty modern, so I couldn't imagine that I was supposed to use fire to light it, but one never knows. I tried plugging the kettle in to different outlets, but no luck. The vacuum cleaner that Heather had loaned me was plugged in and had worked the day before, but now it wasn't working. I tried plugging the portable fan in to a few outlets, but nothing. No power. Yet, the lights were working and there was hot water from the sink, so that meant that the hot water heater was working (electric). Hmmm. I checked the fuse box and the switches were all flipped in the same direction, except one. I flipped it and tried the vacuum again, it made a little noise, but didn't turn on. When I went back to the fuse box, that same switch was flipped down again. Meanwhile my throat had decided that no further action could be taken until it was attended to. Maybe the water in the sink would be hot enough to make tea? I ran water as hot as I could get it, but the throat didn't approve. I would go out for tea and throat lozenges , but first, a shower. Yea! Healing hot water. Washed, dressed, but not ready to go. Why would the vacuum work today and not yesterday? Was I doing some stupid American thing or dumb girl thing with the electricity? Before making the Sunday emergency call to the electrician, I called Jen to see if I was missing something. She said that I had tried everything she would have tried. Then I called Heather. She said it was fine to call the electrician. The guy was super nice and said that the vacuum was faulty. He instructed me to unplug it from the socket, flip the switches and try again. Voila! It worked. The stove, by the way, uses and electric starter. Hot tea at last. The throat was content, temporarily.

Off for throat lozenges. I looked online and found the nearest grocery store, about a 20 minute walk from the apartment in a neighborhood called Brunswick. Another gorgeous Melbourne day. I donned my hat and sunglasses as usual. (As soon as my phone is working you will see pics of this spectacle!) Did I mention that the sun is ri-donk-ulously strong here? Everyone wears a hat all day long. When you walk by a schoolyard, every single kid has a hat on; it is the law. Australian style hats are the ones with the flap over the back of the neck, just like the pink hats the ball-girls/boys wore during the Australian Open. I believe they are called Legionnaire style hats. It is not a joke here. When I asked what to bring to croquet, they told me: a hat and sunblock. To protect my eyes I spent $800 on prescription sunglasses. That is the one thing that I didn't buy before I left the US.

Guess what is in the shopping center with the grocery store? Kmart. No kidding. And Mcdonald's, of course. By the way, there are always two grocery stores Right next to each other in every big shopping center. Bizarre: Safeway and Coles. Yes, Safeway like we have on the East Coast; same thing. Got the cough drops, lemon and honey. Happy that some things are open on Sunday in my new neck of the woods. Bought a vacuum cleaner. Why this emphasis on vacuuming you might ask. The landlord had new carpet installed the day before I moved in and no one vacuumed or cleaned up when they were finished. Loads of carpet fluff and debris all over the place.

Bought the vaccum from a really nice guy named, Ali, at an independent store. When I mentioned to him that I was really hungry and not a fan of McDonald's, he pointed to an AWESOME cafe called Green's which is now my favorite spot to eat. Ginormous, fresh sandwiches and salads, just-baked bread and not expensive. Very chill atmosphere with some communal tables and great reading. Yea!

Once home I collapsed. Too tired to vacuum. Mostly napped and unpacked the few things that hadn't yet been put away. Monday I struggled through work. Tuesday I took a sick day. Am feeling somewhat better now.

I still have no fridge and no phone. Somehow the mobile phone company screwed up the administration of the contract. So, not only do I have no landline (which I knew to expect since it takes two weeks to get it set up), but now my mobile is only good for recieving calls. I have no fridge because I couldn't measure for it until I got in to the apt and I've been too illin' to shop for one (not to mention the fact that I've spent all of my Aussie dollars until next pay day). All good though. People are calling me. I'm shopping like a European, one meal at at time. Fresh vegetables for each meal. Pumpkin. I haven't mentioned the pumpkin. People here eat pumpkin all day every day year round. It is so popular. I was really surprised. Lentil and pumpkin soup, pumpkin in salads, baked pumpkin, fried pumpkin, pumpkin bread, you name it.

Time for bed.9pm Australia time, 5am US time. Have a great day/night.

The Move. The New Pad. Far Out.

I'm in the new apartment and it is AWESOME!!! Love it. Wonderful light and great breezes moving through. I sleep with the door open. It is not as crazy as it sounds because it is a two story apartment with bedrooms on the ground floor and the one I'm sleeping in has a private courtyard off of it via sliding glass doors. The courtyard is surrounded by walls that go all the way up to the top floor of the apartment so it is totally private and secure. Love it!
Am also loving the fab futon that I purchased. Seven layers of cotton and wool heaven. The frame is Japanese style and the color of dark rosewood, though I think it is oak. Will send photos when my phone is working... one day soon, I hope.

The move itself was actually really fun and laid back. Heather and I picked up the keys at the realtor around 9am, then dropped off an initial load of stuff at the new apartment and cased the joint. Remember, I had only seen the place once, about three weeks ago, for 5 minutes with about 50 other people crammed in checking it out as well. Based on that, we applied for the apartment. Whew! It is even better than I remembered! Yea!

Heather and I then headed back to the burbs where Brendan met me to fill up his red station wagon for trip number one out to the new pad. It is about a half hour drive between the old place and the new pad. Brendan is a totally chill kind of guy, so it was more of an enjoyable morning than a stressful moving event. We had healthy snacks and good conversation in the car. I brought donuts, apples and muesli bars. You know I always have to have the food as a priority no matter what the occasion (ha!). Brendan is Mr. Healthy, not to mention a vegetarian who doesn't eat eggs, so he ate the fruit and left the donuts for my ever-expanding self. I opted for an apple.

After we unloaded round 1, Brendan and I headed back to the burbs for the second and final pick up of stuff. Everything fit perfectly. Brendan masterfully mounted and secured the table on to the roof rack while I fluffed my hair (just kidding about the hair). We then took another relaxing, drama-free ride to the new apartment and unloaded the goods. Then off to a cafe lunch. We don't know the neighborhood yet, so we picked randomly and ended up at a place run by an older guy named Mike who was a real character, full of "piss and vinegar". He kept calling Brendan a "vegematarian" and cracked jokes with all of the customers. We shared three kinds of salads: tabbouleh, dill potato and Greek, and a freshly baked ciabatta. Yummm. Then headed back to the apartment where my bed was just about to be delivered. Everything happened like clockwork.

Brendan left to go to choir practice (he's learning to play the Ukulele)and I stayed and put things away until my friend Jenny came by to pick me up and take me back to her place where we had stored all of the Ikea household goodies we bought a week ago, including a flat-packed desk. By the way, both Brendan and Jenny say "far out". They say "far out" when they are expressing surprise (in a good way)about something I've said or they find something bizarre. Anyway, Jenny and I loaded up her Audi wagon and headed back to my new apartment where we unloaded everything. We then scrubbed the table and chairs that Heather had loaned me. Jenny introduced me to Gumption-- a Clorox brand product they sell here. I can't really think of a US equivalent, but it had a wax-like consistency, came in a jar and did an excellent job cleaning. Love the name "gumption". She also turned me on to Eucalyptus oil to remove old tape and sticky stuff. Worked wonders! By the way, my adjustable wrench is apparently called a "shifter" on this side of the world.
Then it was off to fabulous Indian food and fun conversation.
I slept great that night!

WORD WONDERS
Rack-off: get lost
Yonks: long time, ages
Pull you up: call you out on something
Going off tap: busy, really happening
Taking people off: immitating someone

Getting Ready for the Move. First Purchases. Manchester

GOT STUFF

SO excited about the move! Yea! I ordered a top of the line futon mattress made of a zillion layers of cotton and wool. Thick and fabulous. Everything here is made of wool. The duvets ("doonas") are even filled with wool, although I found and purchased one made of down. Also bought a dark oak bed frame, sort of a Japanese style. I'll post pics as soon as I get my new iPhone working. Heather is furnishing the office, so I'm packing up a giant Ikea desk of hers to take with me as well as some Ikea chairs she has. Her accountant donated an old TV. Very nice, but should I be worried? LOL There is some kind of city clean-up going on, so I of course sifted through all of the stuff the neighbors had put out on the curb ("nature strip") and scored: two nice door mats (for my deck and my front door), two short sold wooden stools to use as temporary bedside tables and a small two-shelf bookcase that can be used as a TV stand. My old friend Rich would be horrified.

MANCHESTER
"Manchester" is what bed linens/towels are called. I asked someone where the sheets were and they said "Manchester is that way" and pointed to the back of the store. I thought maybe there was a separate store called Manchester or perhaps he simply didn't understand my accent. When I first met my friend Jenny here she told me that she sold Manchester in her store, but at the time I was so overwhelmed with apartment hunting, meeting someone new, etc. it didn't register with me. Anyway, I of course had to Google it. Are you ready... linens came from the mills in Manchester England back in Victorian times and "Manchester" was stamped on the packing crates. That's also why plates/cups/bowls are referred to as China; they were imported from China.

SOME GLITCHES
There are a few glitches that I'll have to deal with regarding the move:
- I couldn't get in to the apartment to measure anything-- the rooms, the space for the refrigerator or the washer/dryer closet. Apparently no floor plan was available either. So, I will not have a fridge or a washer dryer until??
- It will take two more weeks before my home phone and Internet can be installed.
- Surprise. The realtor just informed me that in this apartment, water and sewer are metered separately so I'm responsible for both bills. Ugh.
- There is some funky processing glitch holiding up the mobile phone contract I signed last Sunday so the service is not yet live. Interesting challenge for moving day as I try to coordinate deliveries, etc.

All is okay though. I will use a mobile broadband stick for Internet access for the first couple of weeks. The cell phone contract will eventually work itself out and in the meantime I can use a prepaid card. Regarding the water bill, I plan to deliver amazing results for the new company and make enough money that I won't even think about the water bill. As far as the fridge goes, I'll hope that the law of attraction will help me locate the perfect size, stainless steel, quality, working fridge that is quickly deliverable and free. Well, it is the law of attraction...

WORD WONDERS
Nature strip: the bit of grass between the sidewalk and the curb.
Manchester: linens/towels
Doona: duvet
Brolly: umbrella

macchiato at mack-uhs

McDonald's. Or "Mack-uhs" as they call it here for short. I don't eat at McDonald's when I'm in the US, but... there is something intriguing about checking it out in other countries. Glad I did. The early Greek and Italian immigrants have clearly influenced the coffee culture here. McDonald's uses a manual Barista espresso machine and steams the milk for your coffee. So do convenience stores. The local 7-11 store (yes, they have 7-11 here) boasts Illy coffee. "Flat white" is popular: a cappuccino with most of the foam. Back to McDonald's...I admit to indulging in some fries, which I am thrilled to be able to call "fries" rather than "chips" as they are typically called here. Oh my they were yummy! In Australia they don't allow the scary processed oils that the US allows, so it is easier for me to get fat here. i.e. donuts have no partially hydrogenated oil, nor do cracker (which come in amazing bbq flavors!) or cakes or anything else. Oy, look out hips. One saving grace is how outrageously expensive things are here, for example, 1/2 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts are $16 and a single can of Pringles is $7. Not that I smoke, but there is currently a proposal in the State of Victoria to tax cigarettes so that one pack will cost $20. Does that mean that fat people who smoke are really rich?

WORD WONDERS
Bickys= short for biscuits=cookies
No dramas= used as an alternative to "no worries"= no problem
I won't be a minute= hang on a minute (and it almost always means way more than a minute; why lie?)
Have a play= play
Have a go= try
Have a bath= take a bath
Have a walk= take a walk
Moyne= mine
Good on you= great for you, or great of you. i.e.-I did a great job with my presentation. Good on you. OR I cleaned the entire kitchen for you. Good on you! Thanks.

Shopping Mania, Kiwi and Koori

Australian Aboriginal Art

I'm moving in to my new apartment this Saturday. Woo hoo!! I've been shopping like a mad woman, burning through those Australian Dollars. My friend Jenny, whom I met when I was apartment hunting (she was looking for a roomate) drove me to Ikea and we were there for a zillion hours. That was my first Ikea trip and what an event. Super smart to have a restaurant in a store like that; you can power up with food and shop for hours and hours more. Plus, they have giant $1 Swedish milk chocolate bars for sale at the restaurant cashier; more fuel.

Even if you are not an economist, you can understand economies of scale. Population of Australia is approximately 21million. Population of US is 304million. Population is 15 times bigger in the US. Goods and service are accordingly 15x more expensive here. OK, not exactly, but you get the idea. Buying a smaller volume and having to import = cha-ching.

Kiwi Bird of NZ

My friends, Jenny and Brendan, both have station wagons and will help me move on Saturday. By the way, cars are another way that Australia and the US are more alike than the UK and the US. People here also have big cars. Not so in London. Nowhere to park in London. Anyway, Brendan is a guy whom I met at a Vipassana meditation sit. A group of us went out to eat afterward and we sat next to each other at the table and hit it off. Super nice guy from New Zealand. People from New Zealand are referred to as "Kiwis". Why not "bananas" or "apples"? I Googled it and apparently the Kiwi is the national bird of New Zealand, only found in New Zealand. The bird is either extinct or endangered; I read both facts. And, the bird is hairy and flightless-- barely has wings at all. My friend Jeanice suggested that perhaps the kiwi fruit is named after the kiwi bird because it is small and brown and hairy like the bird.

Aboriginal Art

Brendan and I went to the Melbourne Museum together last weekend and saw a visiting exhibition called Koori Voices. "Koori" are indigenous Australians that traditionally occupied modern day New South Whales and Victoria (two of Australia's states). The exhibit tells the story of the aboriginal people of Australia since the British arrival in 1830, the impact of colonization and the way the aboriginal people have struggled to maintain their culture. Something else the US and Australia have in common: appalling treatment of Natives. Sad and depressing. A positive thing about the exhibit was that it was curated by the aboriginals themselves, so the exhibit was what they wanted to show about their story. There were beautiful portrait photos and native music as well.

I've got loads more to write, but have to get ready for work.

WORD WONDERS

- chuffed: pleased, delighted

- ta: thank you

- winge/winging: whining

- arvo: afternoon

First Biz Networking Event/What Not to Wear

WHAT NOT TO WEAR
Attended my first business networking event. A luncheon at Comme restaurant in CBD (downtown Melbourne, Central Business District) sponsored by one of our alliance partners. Gorgeous restaurant-- the food, the space and the service. http://www.comme.com.au/
Met some nice people, made some good connections, including one solid sales lead. Yea! Got invited to croquet and coffee (separately).
The most surprising part of the day was when Heather saw what I was going to wear--wide-leg navy slacks, a blue silk blouse and a coral colored blazer-- and immediately urged me to go back and change. Apparently, people here dress very conservatively for business. I ended up wearing a brown knee length skirt, caramel colored ruffled blouse and a chocolate brown silk blazer. I snuck in my chunky silver tiffany necklace and had to give a firm "no" to the pantie hose and pumps suggestion; an American girl has got to draw the line somewhere. Besides, it's 90F degrees here right now.
But I'm glad that I listened and changed my clothes. Everyone there was wearing navy and white or black and white matched suits or dresses. Yikes. The one exception was the speaker, the CEO of a popular company here. I won't say her name or the name of the company but you can ask me offline. I will tell you that she wore an all red suit accessorized with creme colored patent leather pumps smothered in a pattern of blooming red roses and giant green leaves. And get this... a matching handbag. Really. And, I kid you not, the compliments were flying. Wow. I guess I have some adjusting to do...


WORD WONDERS
Mozzies= mosquitos
Brecky= breakfast
EFTPOS= debit card (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale)
doyz= days
type= toype
toyme= time
payple= people
rye-n-ge= range

Good news! Deidre has an apartment!

Woo hoo! I've got a two bedroom apartment in a good neighborhood! Very cool split level! Downstairs: two bedrooms and a bathroom. Upstairs: kitchen, lounge room and awesome deck. Check out the pics!
My move in date is Saturday, 20th February. I'll have to buy a refrigerator and washer/dryer since those "white goods" don't come standard with an apartment. My thrift shopping and scrappiness skills will be well utilized when it comes to furnishing the joint.

I'll be working from home, so one of the bedrooms will be an office. The commute will be tough :o)

Speaking of tough, if anyone knows how to easily (and artfully) position photos in google blogs, please let me know; I'd love to learn.

That's all for today!

Box Hill and Chinese New Year

Happy New Year to all of my Asian friends.

The house in Mont Albert where I've been staying is about a 15 minute walk from an all-Asian suburb called Box Hill. Every sign in the shopping center is in Chinese or Korean (at least those are the languages I can recognize). It is the only substantial shopping centre within close walking distance, so I go there often. A section inside the shopping centre is a dedicated market--as in fresh fish stands, fresh chicken stands , vegetable stands-- all competing for customers. It smells awful to me, but I'm fascinated by the vendors trying to out-shout one another in alternating Chinese and Australian: "big sale fresh fish", "get your chicken here", "cauliflower only $5", "best papaya in town"

There is a whole section where you can get take-away sushi (sushi to go) or sit down and enjoy it. I ate a couple of California handrolls ($2.50 each) and they were absolutely delicious. Super fresh. With each handroll, one gets a miniature plastic fish about the size of your thumbnail, filled with soy sauce. You pour the soy sauce out of the fish's mouth after unscrewing the miniature red cap (a bit bigger than a pin head) closure. Really cute, but throwing those fish back in the water does nothing good for the environment.

I also like going to Box Hill because I am truly a minority there and it is such a bizarre experience. When I walk in the bank, tellers and personal bankers greet people by saying "nee how" (hello in Chinese). I expected that people might not be nice to me, but every time I've asked directions (it's a big center and my sense of direction is less than perfect) or needed help with something, people have literally turned around from where they were going and walked me to my destination. When I didn't have the right change, the person behind me in line simply gave it to me. When I needed help with getting my mobile phone pre-pay card re-charged, the girl was immensely patient; I had to keep asking her to repeat herself because of our different accents and the speed at which people here often talk (fast!). One other interesting point about the bank experience...On the train one day I asked an Asian girl about being greeted in Chinese and she said that she is Chinese and didn't like it at all when they greeted her that way because she doesn't speak Chinese and thought it was an inappropriate assumption that she did. Interesting cultural perspective.

After work the other night I walked to Box Hill to go grocery shopping and have some dinner. There is a strip of restaurants outside of the shopping centre: Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese. Because the weather is so wonderful here right now (sunny and 77F during the day / 68F in the evening) there are loads of cafe tables outside and they were all packed. I asked two women if it would be OK if I joined them and they welcomed me with big smiles. Both Cecilia and Iris were Chinese, former was an SAP consultant and the latter was Iris' niece who is studying at RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), a top rated school in Australia. Both were drinking a cream colored beverage from straws that they had punched through the clear plastic seal that acted as the top for their drinks. I asked what they were drinking and they said "soy milk". I ordered a vegetables and tofu and while I waited for my food to arrive, their snacks arrived: deep fried turnovers (giant dumplings??) filled with scallions. They proceeded to tell me that they were on a diet. Anyway, we had a lovely dinner together and I walked happily back to my temporary home in Mont Albert. The end.

FUN FACTS
Restaurants and grocery stores are open after 5pm during the week, but the regular retail stores close at 5pm Monday to Friday. That means you actually have to think and plan ahead if you need something and it means that if you work 9a-5p , you have to wait until the weekend to do a lot of things.

WORD WONDERS
"reckon" = to figure, to suppose
Rine= Ryan
doynt= don't
Pay-d-f= .pdf
give me a hoy= holler at me/call me
eetz a goah= it's a goer= yes, let's do it/ all good
A-D= 80

Vipassana in Brunswick East

MEDITATION
Went to a Vipassana meditation one hour sit today in East Brunswick. http://www.dhamma.org/ Excellent! Lovely people. Great energy. Afterward a group of us went out together for Indian food. Actually, just me, three guys and a girl. All of the other girls left so quickly after the meditation that I didn't even get to introduce myself. Alicia, is the one who stayed. She is here from Ireland for a just a couple of months to help her brother who is here in Hospital. A fourth guy, Simon, is considering renting a room in his house, so after dinner, Brendan (a Kiwi --from New Zealand) drove me to Simon's. The house was gorgeous! Beautiful wide pine floors, bedroom big enough to fit a king size bed, very minimalist, organized, great sunlight. By the way, they advertise "northern exposure" here rather than Southern. We are on the opposite side of the world. That took me a minute to wrap my head around. A little bit out from the neighborhood I ideally thought that I wanted to be in, but a good place. Simon and I will talk more about the apartment this week. In the meantime... Brendan (the Kiwi) and I are getting together next Saturday to check out the Melbourne museum. Yea!
Another sunny, 70 something degree day here in Melbourne. Love that.

FUN FACTS
Eggs are not kept in the refrigerator section of the grocery store. They are simply on a shelf. Not refrigerated. This is true in every grocery store I visited. I inquired (of course) and apparently the turnover is so high that they don't feel there is a need for refrigeration. I guess that people here don't sue if they burn themselves on their coffee.

Butter. Butter goes on all sandwiches. Yup, ham and cheese. Chicken, fish, Peanut Butter... you name it, it gets butter.

No, I haven't yet tried marmite or vegemite. Though I have smelled it and what came to mind was miso paste. I happen to like miso paste, so one day soon I'll be reporting on my first marmite/vegemite experience. I don't yet know the difference between the two.

WORD WONDERS
"jocks"= men's underwear
"meant to"= supposed to I was meant to be there at 4 o'clock.
"rocked in" or "rocked up" = arrived, showed up
"neely"= almost she nearly got it right
"Zed"= Z (the letter)
"here"= hee ya
"troy"= try
"troy eet hee-ah een melbn at the bank coulled A-N-Zed" try it here in melbourne at the bank called ANZ (Australia and New Zealand Banking Group)

The Apt Search, My First Date and Dettol

Wow is it competitive to rent an apartment here! Fifty people show up for a 15 minute "inspection" (showing) and then everyone interested fills out an application form. The Realtors generally want a copy of your license, registration, bank statements, passport, birth certificate, tax form, fingerprints (kidding about that last one)....and on and on. Interestingly, the apartments don't come with closets or a refrigerator or a washer dryer (not kidding). A cheap two bedroom costs $400 per week (they quote in weeks over here), so it could be more than $1600 per month if a month has a few extra days in it. So after you pay $1600 bucks a month, you then have to go buy a washer and dryer and a refrigerator and have it delivered and hooked up. I guess it's not that weird if people rent for long terms, but it certainly isn't convenient. I saw two good apartments today-- both newer buildings with closets. Filled out applications, so we'll see. Am still also looking for a roomate situation where everything would already be set-up and ready to go.


OK, on to the juicier stuff... I joined an Aussie dating service. It is called RSVP. You can check out my profile here http://www.rsvp.com.au/ my screen name is "ddate". I've gotten about 100 "kisses" so far. "kisses" are basically short text messages from guys who are interested. Of those, three were okay, none particularly hot. I had my first date with one today. OY!! Soooo BORING!!! Thought I would die. Divorced guy, three kids, talked about how bad the divorce was, how he misses his kids, more about how bad the divorce was, about how his dreams were crushed. Blah blah blah. OK, so the guy was sad, I should give him a break. Well, he certainly wasn't making it easy. Between talking about how distressed he is from the divorce, he must have told me 100 times that Melbourne is THE best city in the world and Australia is THE best country--which it may be, but when I asked him if he had ever been to the US, he said "No". I said nothing in reply. Had he been to Europe, I asked? Yes, Paris. OK, we all know that I love Paris, so again, I said nothing. Then he kept insisting that the area where he lives now in the suburbs here is THE best and the ONLY place to live. He advised me (unsolicited) repeatedly that it is" mad" (crazy) for me to be looking in any other neighborhood than his. He lives in a big house in the burbs where he and his ex raised their kids. He insisted that there is no public transportation in the area where I've been looking at apartments, Carlton North-- where there are loads of cafes single people and nightlife, not to mention a major tramline running right through the center of it. I explained that I did not magically transport myself from Carlton to meet him; I took two trams. He said that he worked in Carlton for 20 years and is 100% certain that there are no trams there. I proceeded to pull out the tram map and show it to him. Oops, he didn't have his glasses with him so he couldn't read it. Whateva. On top of all of this fabulously enjoyable (not) conversation, he also looked as old as he apparently felt. I have an issue with dating guys who look worn out. I'm sorry if that sounds mean. To top it off, I'm not at all a fan of Aqua Velva yet I could not escape the aroma. OMG. It really felt like time to go and I had tell him six times thank you, but I am not interested in going back to your house for dinner. I was really practicing my meditation breathing at that point and decided that I would do the one hour walk back to the place where I'm staying rather than taking the train The walk was fabulous. It was a gorgeous, sunny 77F degree Melbourne day with a beautiful breeze. The neighborhoods here are thick with old beautiful trees creating an archway over the roads and bright flowers at sprinkled everywhere. Lovely. Ahh. Back to center.

I stopped at "the chemist" (pharmacy) to buy some hydrogen peroxide (small cut on my foot, no big deal) and guess how much a bottle was? I kid you not... $10. Yes, regular old hydrogen peroxide that you buy in a US grocery store for 59 cents. I understand import taxes, etc. but don't think you have to import hydrogen peroxide. If not, then why in the world is it so expensive here? No idea. What they use here instead is called Dettol. I've heard of people in the US using it to kill roaches or get rid of ants--no kidding. It is a product from Germany and the chemical name is parachlorometaxylenol. Check out this wki link that says it is poisonous and should not be ingested http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dettol
Needless to say, I spent the $10 for the hydrogen peroxide and moved on.