Objects in apartment are smaller than they appear

Our apartment is at least sparsely furnished now, hurray! Our entertainment system is also up and running and I again have access to Walking Dead, hip hip hooray! 

The couch is only loveseat size, but it's still comfy enough to fall asleep in (this is a standard we set for every couch we buy).

Our mini garden was left behind by the previous tenant. 

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This week we got to taste a lot of New Zealand wines for our friend (and former flatmate), Liz's birthday. I've gone wine tasting a handful of times; I am far from an expert. Usually I can pick one I like best, but this time I was not wowed by any of the wines I tried. There was one table that had Waiwera still and sparkling"artesian water" and it was exceptional (how often to do you hear someone say that about water?). Supposedly it's from a source that hasn't been touched for thousands of years until now. Even the bottles are fancier than your average glass bottle. So yeah, the highlight of the wine tasting was the water. 

Because we can never have too many hobbies, tonight we checked out the climbing gym at St. Leonards. We met up with James there, a friend of our DC climbing friends who lives here now. One thing that's nice about climbing there is that all the ropes are set up with ATCs and carabiners already anchored in, so to rope in you just have to clip in instead of tying any knots or setting up to belay. It significantly reduces the amount of time it takes to switch from climbing to belaying your partner and vice versa. I'm not sure if this is a standard climbing gym thing around here, or just how they run things at the one at St. Leonards - I guess we'll eventually find out. 

After all the climbing, or the fact that I'm sinking into our comfy loveseat, I'm sleepy. Goodnight.

The Settlers of Paddington

We are still getting settled into our new apartment. For some reason, here a fridge is an appliance that does not come with an apartment, like it does in the states. You are expected to get your own and move it into your place, which is really annoying. Luckily, Michael's coworker has one he is getting rid of, so we just have to arrange to have it moved over.  We have been living without a fridge for the last week. It mainly has consisted of us changing our breakfast habits, not buying or cooking anything with leftovers, and drinking warm drinks. This no fridge thing is tolerable, but not optimal. I can't wait to have refreshing cold things to eat and drink again, especially since we have no AC. It's almost like when I worked at camp again, except I even had a mini fridge at camp!

In other news, there is a pub that hosts trivia on Monday nights just a block away and we went last night. It's even closer than the trivia we used to have across the street from us when we lived in Ballston. It was quite fun, and we did decently well teaming up with another random couple. I didn't realize we knew so much about People's "Sexiest Man Alive" recipients, the Indian subcontinent, word meanings, and Woody Allen/Scarlet Johansen movies. The host was pretty fun, and he recognized and pointed out more than once that we were the only newbies there. I think we'll end up going again.

I leave you with a few pictures of Paddington Reservoir Gardens, a cool park about a 15 minutes walk from our new place that they've made out of/around old building ruins.

One More Time (...we're gonna celebrate, oh yeah, alright...)

I received lots of nice birthday messages this year, which is pretty key when you're far away from most of your friends and family. My previous co-teacher sent me a sound bite of all the kids in my class singing me "Happy Birthday" off-key, which was a pretty awesome surprise. 

Michael and I had dinner at my new favorite local restaurant: Mickey's Cafe.

The place was packed with locals (usually a good sign), but not so packed we couldn't find a table. The atmosphere is relaxed and they have boardgames to play while you're waiting for your food. My favorite, favorite thing we had was the dessert: Nutella and banana toastie. 

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Friday, my real birthday if you go by American time, Michael surprised me with an elaborate "whereigo", which is an interactive scavenger hunt that one needs a GPS device to complete. I had to first find several envelopes hidden in our apartment and then bike to different locations in the city completing little tasks to collect little gifts. Michael would periodically disappear and reappear like Batman, and we had some gelato along the way. The adventure culminated in us riding the ferry to Luna Park where we had dinner and went on rides while the sun set. And Michael claims he is not creative.

 It's pretty common for fast food places to have collectible toys that come with their meals. For some reason at Luna Park the current toys they have are relatively large Game of Thrones Action figures (you can see in the picture how large it is compared to Michael, not the size of your typical Happy Meal toy), and they come with pretty big meals (not kid-sized meals). I'm confused by this marketing, but enjoy it. It's funny to look over at a table of three little girls sharing a meal next to their new action figure that, little do they know, is from a show with tons of gratuitous violence and sex.

I wanted Jon Snow, but we also got Robb Stark. Maybe next time.

Ferris wheel view of the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House.

They also have sexy/creepy clowns.

My birthday is now complete.

Happy Anniversary

Michael and I have officially lived in Sydney for one month as of today. I celebrated by picking up the keys to our new apartment, even though we won't actually be staying there for a few more days, and doing a run to IKEA. 

Moving is a pain. I suppose I don't need to go into great detail about it because everyone already knows that. Moving without your own car is trickier. We have accumulated a few more things since being at Liz's place (like bikes), are having some furniture delivered, and actually set up the utilities, so it's a multi-step process. It will be good to not wake up to the sound of construction every morning though, and it will nice to be more settled. We will miss hanging out with Charlie and Liz all the time, though. We'll hopefully still see them, just not as much.

Looking back, I think we've accomplished quite a bit in one month. Michael has adjusted well to his new consulting assignment. We have already met some new friends and joined an ultimate frisbee league. We've already been able to meet up with some friends who have been traveling through. We're on a streak of having been to a beach every weekend in the last four. It's strange to think 1/24 of our theoretical time here has already disappeared  (assuming we stick to our original plan of staying for two years). Here's hoping the next 1/24 is even better.

Not Feminine

Today, Michael and I took the ferry over to Manly Beach to see part of the Australian Open of Surfing. We saw some good professional surfers do what they do best, although I couldn't tell you any of their names. As far as sports go, the pros were very accessible. A lot of kids just ran up to them after they got out of the water to have t-shirts signed, which was nice to see. 

One thing that's different at Manly compared to other beaches is the giant pine trees that line the sidewalks and buildings close to the beach.

After the spectating we took a walk out to Shelly Beach. I think it's only named that because there are more tiny broken shell shards leading into the water than sand, and not because it's named after a person named Shelly. We went on a nice walk around the little peninsula and saw a little water dragon.

On the way back we also saw a pod of at least five dolphins, but didn't get an opportunity for a good picture of them. 

The only casualty of the day was my Surf Camp Australia baseball cap that flew off while we were on the ferry. RIP. I've learned my lesson - don't wear a hat when you get remotely close to the side of a moving ferry. 

All in all, a successful Saturday.

Happy Commercial Holiday About Love!

Happy Valentines Day! Have some wonky looking donut holes.

Nothing much to report here. We are prepping for our move to the new apartment - hopefully it will be our last move for a while (a year at least).

I went harbour sailing again this week, so here are a few pics of the Razors Edge crew. We came in 10th, but who's keeping score? The wind wasn't very good that day anyway.

Customer Disservice

I spent two hours this morning mostly on hold and getting hung up on dealing with Comcast/Xfinity. Even though my Michael called to cancel our service before we left, there was some dispute and they were claiming we owed them money and were still not disconnected. Thank goodness for google voice - if not for them I would have a very high international phone bill.

At one point towards the end, I was both on hold with a customer service representative over the phone and speaking with one via the online chat help service. This was the end of my conversation with the chat representative:

Ana: Okay I'm hoping too Veronica.Is there anything else I can help you with?

VERONICA: yes you can stay on the line until i have received my help

Ana: Oh yes I can stay for 5 minutes only Veronica, we do have our time cut off.

VERONICA: we have been talking longer than 5 minutes

VERONICA: that's funny you don't want to wait on hold as long as you make your customers wait on hold

To which I received no further reply. I can't imagine why. Even though Comcast/Xfinity wasted 2 hours of my life I can't get back, I feel slightly validated for turning their crappy customer service against them, even if only for a passive aggressive moment. The issue was resolved very shortly after this chat conversation, I wonder if there is a correlation?  I need to find ways to do this more often with companies that give their customers the customer service runaround. 

Michael's Surf Camp Movie

Surf's Up

Michael and I went to a two day surf camp this weekend. Basically we stayed at a hostel run by surf instructors. 7-Mile Beach is a pretty undeveloped naturally beautiful beach right next to a town of less than 500 people. I was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of Sydney. Michael and I can now officially call ourselves intermediate surfers because we know the basics and can pop up onto our boards. 

False Sense of Security

Americans tend to have this view that all Australians are easy-going surfer bum types. After my experiences getting started in Sydney, I couldn't disagree more.

Whether it's getting a phone contract, applying for a background clearance to work with kids, trying to transfer money between bank accounts, apply for a rental, or simply use a credit card, everything requires jumping through more hoops than it is in the states. I'm sure these things are all easier if you're a permanent citizen, but they really make things difficult sometimes, to a seemingly paranoid degree. Obviously there need to be some systems in place to keep people's information secure, but all this added "security" doesn't make me feel any safer. The added "security" just makes it more difficult for ordinary people to do what what they should be able to do. 

If I have to carry my passport around more regularly, it is more likely to get lost or stolen. The more I have to send companies and agencies a copy of my documents electronically, the more likely my information will be intercepted by a third party and then used without my knowledge. I don't give my private information to any company that is not a legitimate agency, but that being said, it's very easy to make a website or fake company look authentic. 

Just the fact that people are expected to have access to all these private documents in electronic form means that if someone were to simply gain access to my computer/phone/iPad, they could potentially have control of my documents and funds. Obviously I use passwords and passcodes, but it could happen somehow. 

Also, unless you already knew to scan every document you've ever needed before you came here, I don't know how they expect people who are new to the country to necessarily have access to scanners and faxes and all this technology. It just leads to these situations where in order to get A, you have give them B. In order to get B, you have to give them C. In order to have C, you have to give them A. 

It is very common to need a key fob to get into one's apartment building. This is normal in the states and here. However, here you also need the key fob to use the elevator, and it will only take you to your floor. On the one hand, this limits access so that only people authorized to be on a floor are the ones who live there and their immediate guests. On the other hand, forget about getting to know anyone on any other floor. I wonder if this added security has prevented as many crimes as benefits. It's just a new level of distrust that I am not used to. The company that has checked my background to approve that I live in this building does not trust me enough to give me access to most of the building. My neighbors don't trust me or want to know me. Not that I want to be everyone's best friend, but it's strange.

People don't bend the rules ever either, even in the name of common sense. The rule is the rule and you have to follow it exactly or your head will explode.

Okay, rant over. I have just had to deal with so many issues regarding security lately, it's driving me crazy. For all I know, people entering the US or other countries for the first time have to always deal with this kind of thing. 

Perhaps once our lives are finally set up and we have a normal day-to-day flow, we won't have to deal with this kind of thing very often. I'll forget how annoyed I was with all this.

If nothing else, all this makes me appreciate where I'm from a little more. Things are just easier and simpler at home.

Maybe my view of Australians will be restored after a weekend at surf camp, where we literally will be surrounded by easygoing beach bums. I hope it is. 

Contrary to popular belief, it rains in paradise

It's the first day since we've moved to Sydney that it has been overcast and misty/drizzly all day. Usually if it's overcast the clouds burn off and it's sunny by the afternoon, but not today.

I have a mild cough. I spent today doing laundry, on the phone for a long time with utility companies, and running a few errands. Not very interesting, I know. I just thought I would provide some contrast to all the other posts that make it seem awesome here most of the time. It is awesome here most of the time - except when you need to do chores, apply to jobs, and deal with call centers and inefficient processes. 

All that being said, today is not bad. I think people need rainy or boring days to kind of reset and appreciate the nicer more exciting days. Even as far as rainy days go, this rain is really wimpy. I wouldn't mind a good thunderstorm to shake things up and water the plants. You call this rain, Sydney?

We did get to watch the Superbowl (recorded from earlier in the day) at Michael's coworker's apartment last night. I'm not a huge football fan, but I wasn't about to turn down an evening that would remind me a little bit of home. Because it plays on one of the sport channels here, we don't get the same expensive commercials that show in the US. Oh well - no loss. Since we were north of the harbour we took the ferry back, which was very enjoyable with the bridge, city, and Luna Park lit up at night. It's no Rome at night, but it'll do for now.

Same vs. Different

I have been reflecting on how our lives here are the same and how they are different from how our lives back in Northern Virginia.

Same

Different

When it comes to popular chain stores, there are quite a few big ones that are the same, like Target and Ikea. There are many of the same designer retail brands. Men's fashion, although more men wear tank tops here. We eat pretty similarly to how we ate at home. I will cook pasta and simple dishes, and we have sandwich fixins lying around, most of the same common produce, etc. We live with at least one feline. We play ultimate frisbee (although there are some small differences within the game, like "the cup" is known as "the wall"). We have access to all of our other usual hobbies and then some. We are far from friends. Yes, the bulk of our friends were in the DC area, but we have always had some good friends that were far away, so I was definitely used to not seeing them everyday and communicating via the internet. At least for now, we have access to a lot of shows and movies we watch at home because of our roommate's TV setup. Michael has the same job, just with a different client. The language is obviously the same, with some different slang. Our technology is generally the same. People use all the same gadgets. Rush hour is the same. Lots of people in their fancy business clothes go from one place to the other.

Haggling is more common here. There are more places where it is commonplace like Chinatown, open air markets, gumtree (like craigslist), and even at retail appliance stores. Women's Fashion. Women wear really short shorts and skirts. When they're dressed for work, they still wear pretty tight or fashionable clothes.  There are generally more fit and attractive people out and about. There are more outdoor cafes and independent businesses; this gives some streets a more European ambiance. This is more personal choice than how things are here, but we don't have a car and so we have to walk, bike (we just got used bikes!), and take public transportation (trains, buses, ferries) everywhere. A big difference in biking is that drivers are a lot more aggressive here and less willing to give you right of way, or even a reasonable amount of space, so you need to just always be aware. At some point we will need to rent cars for moving and traveling purposes, but so far we haven't yet. This is lowering our carbon footprint and making us more fit. Hooray! Navigating the real estate system simply for a rental is tougher. I have to grocery shop with a slightly different strategy. While there are mostly the same foods available, in addition to some foods you can't get regularly at home (dragonfruit and lychees are available at normal grocery stores and not just asian grocery stores, you can get kangaroo steak, etc.), different kinds of produce are more or less expensive than they were at home. Apples are really expensive. Grapes are cheaper. Berries cost about the same. So I adjust what I buy to whatever is on sale or cheaper, kind of like I did at home, it's just different stuff. Along the same lines of food, eating out is more expensive. It's more common to find a place where a main course is $30+ than $10-20. This just means we have to seek out the cheap but still well-rated places, and instead of getting main courses maybe we split an appetizer or two and get a salad. Also, the word "entree" on a menu is actually what we think of as an appetizer. So, it looks strange to see "Entrees" and then below them, "Main Courses". We have a shared living situation until we move into our apartment. It's like we temporarily traded one of our cats for a human. Here we find ourselves a part of the "ex-pat" culture. We end up meeting lots of other ex-pats and not as many natives of Australia. We see and talk to our families less but make more of an effort to communicate with them online. The beach and harbor are very accessible. At home we would have to drive a couple of hours to get to a beach. Here we can ride our bikes or take a half hour bus ride and jump in the water. The city wildlife is a little different. No squirrels or chipmunks. I've already shown you guys a picture of an ibis. In addition, there are a lot of flying foxes (GIANT BATS) in the parks. We're not talking tiny little things that flap their wings so fast it's hard to tell if they're a bat or a bird. These are giant bats that glide on their wings and ain't afraid of nobody. Actually, we call the park where we play ultimate the "Bat Super Highway" because right around sunset a swarm of them flies north over the park. The weather is more reliably the same from day to day. The day is warm, the night is cool and breezy. Rarely, it drizzles.

OK, I have written enough.