Took My Chances on a Big Jet Plane

So....Surprise! I'm back in Aus! This has actually been in the works for about 3 weeks now (I finally got all of my paperwork sent in to the Embassy, got and passed my phone interview, celebrated Mother's Day with my family, and then booked my tickets down here), but we wanted to surprise our friends and Boyfriend's family so we've been keeping it a secret.

I arrived at 6am on Thursday morning after an empty and uneventful flight and stayed the night at Crowne Plaza Darling Harbour. Luckily, they had a good rate going for the night because I find staying at nicer hotels when I first arrive, they are more apt to let me in to a room as soon as I arrive, which is what happened when I walked in the door there at 8am. After having a nap, I walked down and met Boyfriend for lunch near his work. It was so good to see him again and of course he teased me for being awkward and nervous on seeing him again. I then sat along the harbor for a while and watched a guy catch 3 fish in not more than 15 minutes before going back to the hotel to sleep some more. Boyfriend came to the hotel after work, got changed and took me out for a special dinner to one of our most favorite restaurants- Malaya. At about 8:30 (0r 3:30 am CA time) I was ready to pass out. The next morning we got up, hit Starbucks, then walked the length of the harbor down to Boyfriend's work. I spent the day shopping at a little asian grocery store and in the fruit and veggie section of Paddy's Market, loading myself down with even more stuff to try and lug on the train with us later! I also brought Boyfriend the other half of my lunch and found a Medicare office to sign up for the free healthcare I am now entitled to. Overall, doing all that walking back and forth across the city, I did about 18,500 steps for the day...over 9 miles! Friday night I was exhausted by the time we made it back to our house on the Coast.

Saturday, I was wide awake from 5am so I started unpacking all of my luggage while Boyfriend slept. We then went to visit his Grandpa and bring him some American souvenirs. Arushed fter that we rushed to the grocery stores because Boyfriend had invited our friends over for a barbecue that afternoon. When they arrived, I stayed hidden in our room for 15-20 minutes and I heard the Teacher and the Hairdresser ask Boyfriend if there was any word on when I was coming back. Once they all got settled and weren't expecting it, I jumped in to the doorway and they all looked at me stunned for a few seconds processing that I was actually there. I think I yelled, "Surprise!" before everyone jumped up to hug me...only the Teacher had hypothesized a few days earlier that I might be in town. It was a really fun night, with much to celebrate- my return, our engagement, and I finally got to meet the Hairdresser and Soccer Player's baby and he is gorgeous! We even discussed the possibility of having our wedding in California because our friends said they'd love to have the excuse of a wedding to come out and finally see some of the U.S. It is all so exciting to think about and the boys are really pumped to come over and buy guns (OMG!) and start hunting raccoons, haha!

After we ate and the baby was asleep, we sat outside around our barrel fire. We weren't super loud, as there were only 6 of us (the other part of the group was at a motocross thing) and our fire wasn't particularly raging, when we heard fire trucks in the distance. They got closer and closer and we said, "Imagine if it was for our fire" when 2 fire engines and a police car pulled up in front of our house! When the boys went out to meet them, the firemen asked if they were at the right house because they couldn't see our fire, but someone had called 000 (the Aus version of 911) to report it. They came in to the backyard, took one look at it, and left. I just wonder which neighbor a) could see it to begin with and b) called emergency services without coming over to check it out up close? As I said, we weren't too loud because there wasn't a lot of us and we had a baby inside sleeping and it was only about 9:30 so I don't think we were bothering anyone. Oh well, it added even more excitement to the night!

Anyway, I am really missing my family, but it has been nice to be back with Boyfriend and to see my friends after so long. Later today, L.C., Lo, and Bob Marley are stopping in for a visit then we have Sunday dinner at Nan and Pop's and they nor any of the aunts, uncles, or cousins know I'm back so it'll be another fun surprise!

Tomorrow, I join the real world again and begin the job hunt.

Cause Every Little Thing Is Gonna Be Alright

Boyfriend respectfully rebuffed the naysayers and once again it is him and me against the world, although we really don't want to do battle with anyone. We say hop on board our happiness train and be happy with us, get on and sit there quietly and let us enjoy ourselves if you aren't on the same page, or get left behind at the station... it's really up to you at this point.

Oh man, all this flowery language and vagueness in the last 2 pots. You're probably thinking who is this chick? What happened to Little D, this isn't how she writes at all? Well, I can assure you that it is still me and I am on a natural high right now and am choosing to focus on the positive things and trying not to let others' negativity bring me down.

Super tired after a big 2 days in San Francisco. I was also bummed to have to drop Boyfriend off at the airport tonight because it meant our time here in California had ended. It flew by! I'm so glad that things fell in to place as they did so we had this opportunity to spend 2 whole months together out here and with my family. I'm going to miss them and all of us hanging out together, but I'm excited to see all my friends back in Australia and also to see what this year has in store for us.

I'll probably get a chance to write again before I leave, but just in case I don't, wish me luck and wish Boyfriend good luck on his flight because it is sprinkling in San Francisco and he's flying back in to some pretty bad thunderstorms in Sydney- not fun!

Red Sky in the Morning, Sailors take Warning

This is the world I woke up to this morning...pretty weird, huh? I knew it had to be some kind of weather related phenomena and I was hoping it didn't mean we were going to get a freak tornado or something blowing through. Turns out the middle of Australia is made up of lots and lots of red dirt (who knew? ;D) and we got a massive wind system blow through last night and it has brought all that red dirt eastward. It was really eerie to wake up to an orange sky and no birds chirping...normally at 7:30 they are deafening!

The reddish-orange has pretty much faded- it now looks like when you add just a dab of orange paint to a bunch of white paint and mix it together, rather than a mixture of orange and red paint like it did earlier, but the wind is still howling and things are still battering against the house and the birds still aren't game to come out.
Thanks to Boyfriend for getting out of bed to take some pictures so I didn't have to!

The Recluse

Rich over at fourfour was talking about how people our age have been bombarded with ad campaigns, school programs, and afterschool tv presentations all centering around kidnapping since we were little. He jokingly talks about how he was afraid to walk to the bus stop by himself until he was 12 because of it and I totally know what he means. I was born in 1984 and by the late 80s I was in school, too, and I remember stranger danger being drilled in to my head. Mix that with some Unsolved Mysteries and America's Most Wanted (my parents didn't allow these shows, but we snuck them in, thank you daytime cable tv) and I was a basketcase! I would dwell on the fact that it was only a matter of time before I was kidnapped or someone would break in to our house and murder us all. TV and school had me convinced every grown up I didn't know was a monster just waiting til I was alone to snatch me from the playground and take me far away where I would never see my family again. Luckily, I'm still here and I was never kidnapped or murdered while I slept, nor was anyone I knew, but I do think it was those early exercises to learn how to always be hyper-alert that have led me to be the panicky person I am today. I still find myself convinced that every bump in the night is a murderer/rapist waiting outside my window just waiting to get in, and that every new, slightly creepy, older person that I meet is formulating a plan on how to kidnap me as they shake my hand. I also panic when it is time to book my flights, as if it's a game of chess and if I pick the wrong one out of a set of dates and times, I will be punished with a plane crash...kindof like Final Destination or something. Anyway, thanks crappy 80s after school specials and "very special" episodes of Save by the Bell and Punky Brewster for screwing me up so completely! ;)

Edit: Another sign those 80s Specials screwed me up and turned me in to a panicky person-I thought the world was coming to an end when I woke up to an orange sky this morning. (Not really, but a good way to segue in to my next posting about the massive dust storm we had all across NSW today. Hopefully photos will be up later today or tomorrow.)

I Wonder What They're Doing (In Sydney Today)

Yesterday Boyfriend had a meeting with a recruitment agency down in Sydney and asked if I'd come down for the ride with him. I said sure and got excited because only the week before I had gotten a coupon for 30% off of lunch at Tony Roma's down near Darling Harbour (I think the area is technically called the King St. Warf area?) so we decided he'd do the meeting and then we'd go eat some ribs. Once his meeting was done we had about a 10 minute walk up to King's Cross Station and stopped at a convenience store to see if they had any Reese's products. They did and we got a standard back of peanut butter cups (i.e. 2 cups) for nearly $3! I couldn't believe it! While we were in the area, we decided we might as well stop in at Gomez y Guerrero and pick up another pack of tortillas in case we weren't back in the area for awhile. Then we hopped on a train to Town Hall to walk down to the restaurant.

I don't really eat red meat or pork, but when I was back home at Christmas time, my Mom and Nae made ribs one night and it smelled so good that I decided to try a bite. That bite turned in to 3 or 4 and I've had a craving for ribs ever since! Figuring I shouldn't push my luck too far with my stomach not being used to meat, I ordered the half slab of baby backs (in my Dad's opinion the only ribs worth getting and I certainly like how they taste) with french fries on the side. Boyfriend went for the full slab and while he techinically only got 3 ribs more than me, his were all a lot bigger and meatier than mine. He got his with mash potato and the cole slaw. The sides were all just "Meh"- the french fries were undercooked and cold, the mash doesn't come with any gravy or anything and is fairly bland, and I'm not a coleslaw person anyway, but their's looked pretty watery. But we weren't there for the sides, we were there for the ribs, and they were AMAZING! Haha! It was a really good lunch and if you're a local, I'd say to definitely sign up for the Tony Roma's website because you'll immediately get a coupon for a buy one get one 50% off meal and then quarterly they send out emails with good deals, like the coupon I got last week for 30% off lunch or 15% off dinner, Monday-Thursday.

Rather than walking back up George Street and just passed stores and businesses, I suggested that we go for a walk along Darling Harbour since it eventually ends down near China Town and a short walk from where we needed to get back to-Central Station. What a great idea that turned out to be! It was a beautiful and sunny day, with just enough heat to make walking comfortable. I always have to run to the side of the walk and peer into the water and yesterday the view was gorgeous-you could see down all the way to the bottom-probably 10-15 feet in some spots! We saw some fish and it was just pretty to see the seaweed swaying on the pier pilings underwater. There were also a bunch of tiny jellyfish swimming around and they looked so neat doing their funny, undulating little swim that they do. They were clear and seemed to be glowing from even far depths from just the little sunlight they could pick up from down there. Further down on the walk, the water was still clear below but on top there was lots of gunk. I thought maybe someone had chucked over the side or had let their bilge out, but as we saw more and more of it, I'm thinking it was an algae bloom. It was red and red algae blooms are neat because at night, if disturbed, they glow, but aren't cool as well because they are a neurotoxin to animals like dolphins.

I remembered that their was a Starbucks before you start walking in to China Town and got a craving just to go in to the place. Boyfriend said let's go pick something up so I got an ice tea and he got a Grande 4 espresso shot carmel macchiato...I think I'd have a heart attack! Then we continued on our walk and came across a mother duck with 9-10 little, fluffy babies swimming with her. I have been looking for ducks with chicks for the past couple of weeks, hoping I'd see some and know that spring was finally, nearly here and now I've seen them! They were so cute and darted across the water so quickly. You can see one little one has the cutest, tiniest wake behind it.

Directly behind the ducks was a huge ferris wheel, with completely closed in buckets. We contemplated going on it, but figured we should get going to our train, plus they set it up kind of dumb, the buckets face in towards the city, when I think they should've faced them so when you are at the top you are looking straight out over the Harbour. Oh well, it was still really big and

would be a fun ride.

After that stop, we figured we should hustle to the train and the gods were on our side because we made it on to an express train with about 4 minutes to spare! All in all it was an awesome day out in the City. Boyfriend has a couple of meetings next week with companies and other recruiters and I said, Ok, I'll come with you on Tuesday and we'll hit up our favorite spot Malaya, then Wednesday we can go back for Flying Fajita Sisters, then Thursday...Boyfriend just laughed and said let's wait til he technically has a job and money to spend...sensible that one!

Wastin' Away Again in Margaritaville

Saturday afternoon Boyfriend and I got ready and headed down to meet Stylez and Turk for a fun night of Mexican and booze, or as we call it: a Mexibooze night, and karaoke. We were running late and so was Stylez so once we got there we started our walk to find a cab into Glebe and to the restaurant- The Flying Fajita Sistas. Once there, we met up with another friend whom Stylez, Turk, and Boyfriend had all worked with waaaaay back in the day and his girlfriend. Stylez and I immediately ordered margaritas and the boys ordered Dos Equis (XX) in honor of my Dad because that is what he always gets when he has Mexican food. The drinks came and they were fantastic. I feel like I probably gulped mine down but it was the best margarita I have had in a long time. We ordered an appetizer for the table and I really liked the cheese dip (top right yellow), smokey salsa (top left red), and the bean dip (bottom right white and brown) which was just like beans you'd get as a side dish at a CA Mexican place. Of course the lighting was awful in both places we went so I've had to borrow other people's pictures

that I found online.

After that we ordered our dinners and Boyfriend and I shared a fajita platter for two. He chose snapper and I chose shrimp for my meat. We also decided to order a litre of white sangria for the table. The snapper and the shrimp were so delicious, like "WHOA" they were so good! The tortillas were just "Meh" that came with it, Guzmen y Gomez has better ones, and I wasn't a fan of the black beans or rice that came as part of the meal. I really wished they would have served more of the "bean dip" instead. The waitresses were really, really dumb and would come to ask if we needed water or anything and then when we asked for more booze were told someone else would have to come and get our drinks (this wasn't a bus person or a person under 18 so I dunno why she couldn't have) and they didn't know basic stuff like they threw in a bunch of tortillas in to two warmers instead of 4 for the 4 of us who got fajitas but didn't tell us that and handed them to the people with two single orders rather than one for me and Boyfriend and one for them to split and then couldn't tell us how many tortillas we were each supposed to get with our meal when we were then trying to divy the tortillas out. I thought the sangria was just "Meh", as well. I had wanted to try sangria and now I have, but I wish I would've gotten another margarita instead. If you go on a warm night, I'd suggest asking to sit out back; they've got the cutest little patio area to sit out in. Tuesday is Taco Tuesday and they do $3 tacos and I'm pretty sure $3 shots of tequila. All in all I can't wait to go back for margaritas, the snapper, the shrimp, and the bean dip. Check them out at http://www.flyingfajitasistas.com.au/ or they are located at 66 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe.

After dinner, we hopped in to another cab that took us in to the heart of the city to the karaoke place- Echo Point. It's run by Japanese people and has lots of Japanese snacks and drinks to buy from the front desk. It isn't like normal karaoke because you order private rooms to sing in, rather than do it in a room full of strangers. We had about 10 people hanging out in ours. There is just a tv, a karaoke machine, coffee table, a black light, and some comfy seats built into the walls in the room and you punch in the songs you want to do and go for it. I had fun watching everyone sing. I did not take a turn on the mic. Some of the girls sang love songs, the boys sang a bunch of random stuff from Prince to Metallica to the Prodigy, and Stylez, Turk and Boyfriend normally sang as a threesome and chose cool punk/alternative songs like GreenDay, Weezer, and Blink. I even got Boyfriend and Stylez to sing me a duet of "I'm the One Who Wants to Be with You" by Mr. Big! It was $16-$17 for each of us for a 3 hour session, I think. It's a fun way to spend a night every once in awhile. If you are a karaoke fanatic then you should take a group of friends to Echo Point. They've got all their songs listed on their website (I think they've got over 1,000 to choose from) (http://www.echopoint.com.au/), too, so you can have your set list picked out for the night before you arrive like Boyfriend's one friend did!

I don't normally keep track of Boyfriend's drinking because I'm not his parole officer (before you ask, no, he doesn't really have a parole officer) and I figure he can handle himself and he knows his limit, but I maybe should've been a little vigilant on Saturday night because he was drinking sake, which he's only had a couple of times before and always during a meal. He ended up getting drunker than I realized on that and beer and when we headed back to Turk and Stylez's place and went to bed, he immediately had to get up and be sick. All in all he was probably up about 6 times puking through out the night, but at least he was really neat about it and didn't get it all over their super cute house!

In the morning he was still feeling crappy, but felt a little better because Turk and Stylez hadn't heard him being sick or been kept up by it like I thought they might have because it seemed to echo all across the downstairs of their house, where their spare bathroom and guest bedroom is. We decided to go to a local place for breakfast and they thought maybe it was best to just bring us breakfast back or to at least drive over, but I thought the walk in the fresh air might do Boyfriend some good. Right before we left, he had to make a quick dash to the bathroom to be sick again and then he said he felt lots better. The walk through their neighborhood was really nice. No one was out, it was a quiet Sunday morning and the view if you turned and looked was of the Sydney skyline, CentrePoint Tower, and the tops of the Harbour Bridge. We sat inside because all the outside seats were taken and Boyfriend made it through breakfast feeling just ok. We walked back to Turk and Stylez's place, chatted a bit longer, then hit the road.

Boyfriend's Dad's birthday is this week, so is Nae's, and Bob just moved in to his new place so we figured while we were close, we might as well hit up Ikea...the only one in NSW, I think. I was in heaven once we got inside! Boyfriend seemed to pick up a bit, too, and we had fun looking at all the neatly designed furniture and bedding and stuff they had. Boyfriend especially liked all the kitchen designs they had displayed. We came away with some office and home stuff for Boyfriend, a funny little present for Nae, lots of new kitchen stuff for Bob, struck out on stuff for his Dad, and got me a vase for $4 and a couch cover that I had wanted when I bought my couch 3 years ago since the couch is white and was the cheapest one they had, but didn't think I could afford it then (in the last year my couch has suddenly looked thrashed so it was awesome that we could buy a black cover for it that would better hide stains). We also had to have a look at all the good Swedish food they had at the food shop past the registers and bought some yummy cookies, blueberry concentrate drink, a non-alcoholic pear cider, a Daime chocolate bar that Stylez recommended, and some salted black licorice (yuck!) that Turk recommended, as well as the meatballs, at the last minute, because everyone else in line had at least one bag of them and Turk had said they were delicious, too.

We got back on the road and Boyfriend was not feeling so great. He asked if he got us out of the City could I manage the drive on the freeway home? I have never driven more than about 10 miles maybe and never on the freeway so I was a bit nervous, but said if he just rested and didn't fall asleep on me, I'd do it. Once I got going, it was as easy as driving on the regular side of the road, and soon, I was passing slow pokes. The drive took about an hour and we got home just as it was getting dark. We basically had time to unload the car, go to the bathroom, and then we were back on the road to Nan and Pop's for Sunday dinner...this week a bbq for Boyfriend's Dad's birthday. Lots of the cousins were there and they brought their babies with them and it was good to catch up with the girls and have a cuddle and a play with the babies. The one little girl is about 1 and a half years old and is so smart- she remembered my name after the first time I played with her and still remembers me months later and always calls out "Little D, Little D" to get my attention and get me to come play with her. For some reason she was afraid of Boyfriend last night and would run away or hide her face in my shoulder anytime he came near! Don't they say that kids and dogs can sense when someone is evil? Haha, just kidding Babe!

It turned out to be one of those weekends that are so jam packed you don't feel as if you've had a real weekend, but I love those and had a great time! Today I put my tutoring ad in two of the local papers and one will run on Wednesday and Friday in the one paper and the other will be delivered in to people's mailboxes in the area later in the month. I'm so excited and can't wait to see how many calls I get! Fingers crossed for me guys because I really could use the income.

Oh yeah, and check out Stylez's stuff at reJENerate (link up the top) she's got a blog, a website, and stuff on Etsy. I saw some of her bags lying around at her house and their are some cute ones right now. She also has been doing custom bridal and bridal party clutches that are cool and fun and match without being too matchy, if you know what I mean. She will have an order from me if I ever take a stroll down the aisle!

Make It Last

Last night Boyfriend (that’s what I’m calling him now instead of S) and I met up with his friend Turk (cause he looks like the guy from Scrubs, Donald Faison, except white) and his wife Stylez (cause she’s got amazing style, that looks so effortless and so wow on her, she also makes handbags-I might ask her if I can put a link up to her stuff on here: http://rejenerate.blogspot.com/). They just moved in to the coolest house. It is three levels and the top level is Stylez’s work studio and from the windows there you can see all of Sydney and the Harbour Bridge. The view is breath taking. We caught up with them about their recent wedding, that unfortunately Boyfriend had to miss in order to come to California for Christmas and about what’s been going on since the last time we had seen them. Stylez is awesome because she’s not afraid to say, “Food, I need it now, and lots of it,” I obviously appreciate a girl that doesn’t just sit there eating celery while everyone else has a real meal. We decided on Mexican because I’m always down for it and Stylez and I were both in the mood for margaritas. Turk called around to all the Mexican food places we could find online, but they were all booked out. We were pretty disappointed until Boyfriend said he knew a little place we could go to. We ended up in King’s Cross at Guzman y Gomez, which was near where the show we were going to was anyway. Here’s a link to it (http://www.guzmanygomez.com/)(the picture is an example of their burritos, but the rice is something I made) because if you are ever in Sydney and in need of cheapish, fast Mexican food, this is the place I’d recommend! The place had real Mexican people working (I’ve never seen a Mexican in Australia before!) and it tasted like legit Mexican food, and although they didn’t have authentic Mexican style red rice, it was still good. We got margaritas even and you could tell there was alcohol in them; I think they’ve just gotten their liquor license so they are fairly liberal with their shots. Also, the guacamole was spot on, spicy with chunks of avocado and cilantro and tomato in it. Really good food, other than the minor rice gripe I have, the only thing I was like “What the funk?” about was that they use corn tortillas for their quesadillas. You can also get flan and those fruit juice drinks in a can by Goya. I think they also did rice bowls. The guy at the corner was super nice and really talkative. The Aussies had trouble understanding him, but it was nice to hear that accent again. I’m going to get Boyfriend to start either bringing me burritos for dinner on Friday nights from there or just bring me a few of their tortillas, because they taste authentic, not like the too thick, cardboardy things that are available here. Probably too much information, but on the drive home way later that night I was burping a lot and it all still tasted like awesome Mexican! Haha! So once again, if you are in Sydney and craving decent Mexican food, go to Guzman y Gomez. They also have locations at Bondi Junction, the CBD at the Australia Square food court on George St, and Newtown so look them up!
From there we walked over to the venue, it wasn’t very far, but the night was muggy so I was sweating away and felt so gross. We had a little hill to hike up, and it didn’t make me huff and puff or anything, but it did make me sweat a bit more and then we were at the venue. So I get in and I’m already sweaty and there’s no air conditioning and a million other people standing around so I kept sweating. I put my hair up and that helped, but then my bangs were falling apart from the humidity, and I thought I had started the night looking half-cute and by that time I felt like a gross beasty. We missed the first opening band, but came in just in time for the second. They were from Sydney and the lead singer was this chubby, obnoxious guy. Boyfriend said he looked like Meatloaf. His voice was all right: nice but generic, and he was all about posturing- constantly trying to clap to the beat of his own songs, doing all these “cool guy” moves with his hands and it really took away from his music. I think he’s been watching Saosin or Anthony Green videos too often and was just trying to copy them. Also, his cut off jean shorts were about 2 sizes too small so he had a full on muffin top and his gut hanging over- I thought that was something only girls did. Not in Sydney, not when you’re a cool guy! Stylez started not to feel well and went out and got some air. I desperately had to pee, but the venue had a lame design, where there was only a double door space between the stage and the bar to get through to the bathroom and it was packed at that end of the bar and people wanted to be next to that part of the stage so it was nearly impossible to get through everyone. Frustrating! Kris Roe (do you think his parents spelled his name that way? He was born in Indiana and they aren’t known to be really happening there. I bet he changed it from Chris so he could be “different”) the lead singer of the Ataris came out looking like Ben Folds. He played a lot of really old songs and it was just him and his guitar and that was pretty awesome. He then decided to “rock out” and got the Sydney band to come up and play some songs with him. The Meatloaf look-a-like was yelling over Kris’ singing in some spots and it kindof ruined it. We then walked in to the city and caught a cab back to Turk’s and Stylez’ place. From there, Boyfriend and I drove home (yay for no trains for once!) and we blasted the music the whole ride home and I sang and danced in my seat to keep Boyfriend awake and entertained while he drove. It was a really fun night!

Back in the USSR

I was back in Sydney. For the very first time I had to pay for our hotel in the city, no more putting it on Mommy and Daddy’s credit card. S and I went to Malaya. It is so damn good, that’s why we go anytime we are in the city together/can afford it. I was happy to be with him but sad about leaving my family again. I was also still worried about our future, as in-do we have one since my visa runs out for good at the end of this year? I was back to living at his parent’s place and looking for my own house or apartment to live in. The first day back on the Coast I looked at a place, it was right around the corner from my friend LC (called so because of her love for The Hills) and her boyfriend Bob Marley (he’s not black, just enjoyed the sensi lifestyle up until recently), but it was hideous. I think S agreed but didn’t want to get me upset. We went home and S’s Mom and I looked online for other places. We drove around to all the one’s in my price range that looked decent. There were two that were stand outs, one a 2 bedroom apartment right on the lake near D and his friends and the other a really old house in a family neighborhood with a huge backyard and air conditioning. My body was in shock from going from 54 degrees Farenheit through the day in California, to days that were nearly 40 degrees Celsius back here so the air conditioning felt like a necessity at that point. I called on Monday to ask about both places, the little house already had an application in and if it didn’t go through they wouldn’t be accepting another application for a week and I was really disappointed, but made an appointment to see the unit at the lake. When we got there, the lady didn’t look friendly, but once we got started talking to her she was super friendly and decided she didn’t want me living in the unit at the lake cause she didn’t think I’d be safe so she worked some magic and got my application to be looked at for the house. It took about a week and a half, but I finally heard that I got the house. Fast forward another week and I got the keys and moved in. Little did I know that I would be moving in to a house where possums party in the roof most nights, I couldn’t get any TV channels to tune in, and where the hot water heater would break after less than two weeks of living in the place. It was a possibility that I was going to have to move out so the owners didn’t have to get a new hot water heater, as they are only going to tear this place down soon to build their new house, but they decided to buy me a new one after all. Thank goodness for that!
In the mean time, all that money from Mom and Dad for graduation was quickly trickling away. I had to pay nearly $4000 Australian upfront for my house because my old property management company didn’t have my file anymore and I was considered a person without rental history, and therefore risky to rent to. Then I had to buy a refrigerator and washing machine and there went another $1600. All this time I had been trying to contact the Department of Education to see if there were things outstanding from my file that would keep me from getting my teaching number. They were so slow to email me back, like 5 days slow to say yes, we need this thing. Then another 5 days to say yes, we got it. So here it is a month and a half later and I am still waiting for my number. I thought I would’ve worked plenty of days as a substitute by now, instead I’ve been sitting on my ass, lonely, missing home, and worried about money and bills that will be coming up. I talked to the Department yesterday and apparently they have everything they need now and will get me my teaching number by Friday. Which didn't happen, they took another week before I got my teaching number. It was such a frustrating experience and I felt like they were really jerking me around. I was finally able to go out and put in resumes at local schools yesterday so now I am just waiting for phone calls for days of work.

Another Travelin' Song

I was so freakin stoked when my Mom told me at the beginning of May or end of April that there was a possibility she and my Dad might be coming to see me. They had sold their house and moved to Santa Cruz. My Dad had retired and now my Mom might have a trip to Singapore coming up so he would be able to go with her if the trip went through. They would do the week in Singapore then try and come down to see me for a week. I was so pumped because I had found out I wouldn’t be able to make it home for Californian summer for the year, as I had 4 weeks of practice teaching, a two week break in which I had assignments to do and an interview with the Department of Education so if they didn’t come it would be like not seeing them for nearly a year. They came and we had a great time…of course I had an itinerary because I’m anal and like to make sure that no one misses out on any of the good stuff I know about when they are in a new place. I didn’t mention it but I had one for Hawaii and one for each time S had come to California. We hit up Paddy’s Market, went to mine and S’s favorite restaurant on the Harbour-Malaya, did a day trip and a walk around Manly, had a BBQ at S’s parent’s place with all of his family over to meet mine, a whale watching trip in the rain-Mom spotted the whales for the boat, site seeing around Newcastle in the rain, Mom and Dad hung out with S’s parents and grandparents on the Coast for the day while I was at school/volunteering at a school, and then S and I took Mom and Dad to a really nice Italian restaurant at another part of the Harbour, near where we had stayed when they were last in Sydney. Saying good bye was difficult as always. This time we were in a taxi, it pulled over at a red light so I could get to Central Station so I quickly had to grab my stuff and kiss Mom and Dad good bye before the light changed. I cried the whole trip back home on the train.

Sun is Shining

Four months basically flew by. Bun started dating a friend of a friend of S’s and the Red Head’s, Gangles (because he is so tall and skinny). We were having fun, we went to class (sometimes), but mostly we hung out with each other, her roommates, or our new friends and boyfriends. S and I saw each other whenever we could. He was working at the movies at the time so we saw each other through the week and stuff, too. He would soon be getting a big boy job in Sydney, though, and that led to us seeing each other only on weekends. But before then, we went and saw Green Day in Sydney, we did day trips down to the city to see the sites, we went to the Reptile Park where Bun and I got to feed kangas, we saw our new friends perform in the air guitar championships, and S, the Red Head, and I went beach camping where there were kangas all around us and where I taught the boys all about the tastiness of S’mores.
S and I were having fun, really in to each other, but hadn’t said more than I heart you, no I love yous at this point, but I still knew I didn’t want to leave here in June.
June came and with it so did my parents and our whole travel group, as planned, to work our way up the east coast of Australia and then to take me home. I asked my parents if S could come with us on our trip and they were nice enough to say yes. Nae, my sister, came in about a week before my parents, and I feel sorry for her now because we mostly just hung out in my dorm room because I didn’t know my way around the town that well yet. My Mom flew in from Singapore the day before my Dad and the rest of the travel group were to arrive so S and I took her and Nae to the Reptile Park so they could pet the kangaroos, too. We all hung out in Sydney for a day or two, then went up to the Hunter Valley to do some wine tasting (S had to work and met us on the next leg of our trip in Queensland). Then we flew up to Cairns (say it Cans though) and hung out in a little resort town for a few days before taking a boat out to one of the islands on the Great Barrier Reef, Green Island. It was a fun, but interesting trip. My Mom and I teamed up to be pissed together because one of the family friends, who is like a cousin to me, flirted nonstop with S, while still proclaiming her love for her boyfriend back home and another of the family friends kept being waaaaay to flirty with my Dad! We snorkeled a lot and saw some pretty neat things. I freaked out the last day when I chased some parrot fish right up behind a reef shark that was probably the size of me! I flew up to the top of the water, I was probably imitating Jesus at that point and actually walking on the water, and yelled SHARK! Nae laughed and said she had seen it, but it wasn’t going to eat us or anything so she stayed in and Mom, being the good Mom she is, got out with me. We ended up seeing a few different sharks (though none again that big) and different sorts of sting rays. I think one family friend, A, said she saw an octopus. And her sister, J, got her hand bit by one of the giant clams. Yet another family friend, we’ll call him Glen, since he looks like Glen from the Tom Green Show, saw a sea snake while he was out snorkeling. We then stayed in tree houses in the rain forest for a week where we had dress up parties and celebrated 3 birthdays, got leaches when we went hiking, and learned waaaaay too much about some people in the group ("I’m going to dye my bush blue", for example). It was an adventure for sure! We all flew back down to Sydney and by this time I had told my parents I wouldn’t be going home with them, that I wanted to stay to finish out the year. Once again, they were cool enough to say go for it. Keep in mind, they were footing the bill for all of this so it makes it even cooler of them to agree. Bun had also decided she couldn’t leave her boyfriend, Gangles and was going to stay the year, too. It was a tearful good bye to my family but I was stoked that I could stay with S for at least a little longer.