Hello Mates!

Number of things to look forward to: A bazillion
Number of Months Left in Oz: 5
Number of pending lawsuits:1

Ok, I know that this is seriously delayed but the internet in this country is just appalling - and Australians are blissfully unaware of this problem. At this point, I only go on the internet at work. So apologies for this late late post and the lack of photos - I need to figure out a way to post them without anyone at work noticing. Clearly I am a great employee.

I'll try to catch you up without boring you. So we are settled in our new place. We just love it here - its in such a fun location and we haven't had one episode involving automatic weapons or someone similar to Bollywood. However, our old place is still haunting us. Last week we recieved a letter from the real esate agent taking us to court over the state of the apartment. Long story short, the lease of the old apartment had been turned over about 14 times in the last 4 years and unfortunately for us, we are the ones getting hit with charges for all repairs/damages/wear and tear for the last 4 years. 6 months in a new country and I'm already getting sued.

We had our first visitors a couple weeks back - Kristin and Brianne. What a wonderful visit. We had a lot of fun - here are just a few things that we did: played tour guides in Sydney, spent a couple nights in Byron Bay (GORGEOUS!), another night in Surfer's Paradise (unimpressive, is identical to South Florida), played with kangaroos and koalas, frequented all the local pubs, convinced half of Sydney that we were an American girl group on a reunion tour, went on a beautiful hike to the most Eastern part of Australia, saw Justin Bieber in the aiport....I could go on and on. It was great to see some familiar faces!

My work contract ends in about 6 weeks. I'm not sure if this is good or bad. Its been a good job to have but I am currently working on zero projects and have run out of things to google for 8 hours a day. On average, I go on about 3 coffee breaks a day and I'm starting to worry that I'm going to give myself an ulcer.
We have about 5 months left here and I know they are going to be quite exciting - we have a ski trip planned for 4th of July (how bizarre is that?!), Kerry's family is coming in a couple weeks, 2 more of our girlfriends are coming in July, we are planning a trip to the Great Barrier Reef and Whitsunday Islands, my Ma comes in October and we are going to New Zealand on the way home. I feel like my last months here are going to fly by and I am going to be quite sad to leave...I have taken to proposing to every single male I meet here so I could stay a bit longer...I can't understand why nobody seems to accept this offer (I kid, Mom and Dad!)

I promise, I will figure out a way to post some pictures and videos soon. Ta ta for now!

We're Moving Up in the World!

So my big news....we are moving!!!! We are getting out of crappy Marrickville and moving to a suburb that is smack in the middle of Bondi Beach and the city. Kerry and I could not be more excited! This opportunity sort of just fell in to place. Our new flat is a fully furnished 2 bedroom apartment in a beautiful, leafy neighborhood called Woollhara. Its furnished with all the luxurious items we've been missing; a coffee table, a dishwasher, and even a T.V.

We decided to check out the new neighborhood on Saturday morning and it immediately became clear that we are moving up in the world. In Marrickville, a typical Saturday morning would consist of me being woken up at 7am by the succession of 747s (since we are adjacent to the airport here), stumbling into the kitchen with a sneaker in one hand, and killing a roach on the wall and turning on the coffee maker all in one fell swoop. Whereas this past Saturday, in beautiful Woollhara, we had breakfast in a quaint little outdoor cafe where I was served a very delicious breakfast as Michael Buble was crooning in the background. Centennial Park is a 10 minute stroll and the beach is a 20 minute jog from our new place. It would be impossible for life to get better.

We spent the rest of the weekend packing up and cleaning our old place and saying our goodbyes to our neighborhood friends - the girl at the used bookstore, the Asian baker who makes the best chocolate croissants, our neighbor downstairs who bares a striking resemblance to the unabomber and the SWAT team who feels the need to randomly aim machine guns at innocent bystanders.

Moving day is Wednesday....I will post pictures!!

Tidbits....

I am officially the worst blog write - I am sorry I have been horrible about updating! I think my life has gotten to be pretty routine here now that I'm employed - which probably is to blame for my lack of stories...maybe I should quit working!

Just thought I'd catch you up a bit...

• Kerr and I have finally been able to start traveling! We went to Melbourne a couple weeks ago and it was just awesome. It is a wonderful city - excellent shopping, fabulous food, and very interesting people. The thing I liked the most about it, was all the hidden gems there. You would walk down an alley way and there would be some little hole-in-the-wall looking place that would have the best cocktails and friendliest staff.

• We have a road trip planned for Easter weekend - this should be an interesting experience since neither of us have driven over here yet. Somehow, I managed to initially reserve a manual car - I can't even drive one in the States....thankfully, Kerry noted my mistake. I'll be sure to let you know how that goes....

• Work is going great - they extended my contract so that I am working until mid-July. Its the best job I could possibly have while here because there is zero stress to it.

• Bollywood is engaged. The idiot accepted a friend request from me on facebook (I'm pretty sure he doesn't remember who I am) so I can keep up with his antics. The girl he is engaged to is the "prostitute" who was drinking red wine with him at 7am on a Sunday.

• I made a complete fool of myself at the gym we just joined a few weeks ago. I was working out (struggling, more like it) on one of the leg machines when I noticed I had caught the attention of half of the patrons there Thinking I must have been looking particularly good that day or something, I then realized that I forgot to convert pounds to kg and was doing almost 120 pounds on the leg extension machine - no wonder I could only do about 2 repetitions. My legs felt like noodles for about a week.

• I got to see Kelly Slater surf in a competition at Bondi a couple weeks ago - how cool is that??

• I am completely numb to the fact that life is so expensive here. We paid $8 for 2 waters yesterday and didn't even flinch. I'm sure all of our upcoming visitors are going to be shocked.

My apologies for the delay in writing. There is a lot of exciting stuff coming up so I know I'll have stories to share!

Also a possible exciting change is in the works.....you will have to stay tuned :)

Apologies for the Delay...

Jobs: 1 (Hooray!!)
Weeks since Bollywood as left: 2 (Hooray!!)
# Near death experiences in past week: 2 (hmph..)

I have not been able to keep up with my blog - our internet was down for about 3 weeks, thanks to Bollywood. His departure was nothing short of major drama. My real roommate, Kat, returned at 7am on a Sunday and called me so I could let her into the apartment. As I was going to get here, I saw Bollywood in the living room drinking red wine (at 7am!) with a suspicious female. I'm 90% sure she was a prostitute. I smiled as I slowly realized that he had no clue Kat was returning that day. When Kat came in a discovered the disgusting mess that he had in her room, she completely reamed him out. Not only had he not paid Kat any rent money, but he has also stolen $100 from her. It was so funny to watch him getting in trouble for using Kat's room as his personal brothel in front of his lady friend - I had to wake up Kerr so she could hear him getting in trouble. It was one of our finer mornings.

Both Kerr and I are now employed. It happened so quick. I met up with a friend of my Dad's who was able to set me up with a temp agency. I met with the temp agency on a Monday and 24 hours later, started working. I'm working at the corporate office of one of the major banks here. I guess I can describe my job as doing clerical work. Basically I forward emails all day. I'm usually done with my actual work at about 9:30 am so I spend the rest of the day helping people in my department with odds and ends. I have no idea how they came to the conclusion that my position requires a full time worker. But I'm trying not to lead on that my work only takes me 30 minutes to complete because I want them to extend my contract.

So my first near death experience was walking home from the train station the other day. I got stung by something (no idea what) and realized that it possibly could've been one of this country's killer insects. The only have about a million. I've recently learned they even have a killer snail - that would be an embarrassing way to go if you ask me. Anyways, I spent the entire walk home, keenly aware of how I was feeling and praying that one of my limbs wouldn't go numb or I would get dizzy and pass out. I think if I was laying down in the street in this neighborhood, any passer byer would simply step over me and ignore the fact that there was a lifeless body on the ground. Fortunately, it didn't come to that point.

Our other near death experience happened the other night as Kerr and I were walking home from a shopping center. All of a sudden this SUV comes tearing down the road and stops immediately in front of us. Out jumped four guys in bullet proof vests and automatic weapons and run to a car that was 10 feet away from us. One of the guys opened the driver side door and all four pointed their guns at the dude in the car. They then realize that they were aiming at the wrong guy, jumped back in their SUV and sped off. The whole time Kerr and I were paralyzed, gripping each other in a scared and rigid embrace and not sure whether to run or duck from the rapid fire that we thought was about to ensue. I called the police station when I got home and the operator told me they were "just running drills". If that was in fact the case, then I find that completely inappropriate. The poor guy they aimed at must have pooh-ed his pants. Anyways it totally ruined the evening for poor Kerry who had finally found Goya Black Beans at the shopping center after 3 months of searching.

Anyways, will make an honest effort to blog more frequently. Toodles!

And the Bollywood Saga Continues

Jobs: 0 (are you surprised?)
# of Tootsie Roll Pops consumed in last 4 days: too many
# Days Left with Bollywood: 12 (ughhh)

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone had a lovely celebration and has a blessed new year!

My friend, Kathryn, from UF came into town for the holiday. She goes to grad school in Melbourne and has an Ozzie boyfriend. Kerry and I played tour guides for 4 days and took them to the opera house, the bridge, Manly beach, Bondi beach, etc....unfortunately it rained almost everyday they were here. We were lucky enough for the rain to hold of on New Years Eve Day where we went to a park with a good view of the bridge and fireworks. Strangely enough there were no Australians there. There were people from Scotland, Ireland, America, and even Iceland. Needless to say no one could understand each other but after a few champagnes, dance was the universal language.

Our situation with Bollywood continues. And yes, it is a situation....
We've learned this kid has no reservations about anything. We came home on New Years to discover that he drank a bunch of booze that our guests brought (how embarrassing for Kerry and I) and he ate a bunch of our Tootsie Roll Pops (imported from America). The next morning I caught him trying to be sneaky and use my laptop and then a few minutes later asked me for $60. He told me that he needed money to be wired over and he was out of cash. I told him that I wasn't able to help him out and good thing because he ended up going to the Cricket match and gambling all day. I think later he must have thought I was annoyed because he walked into my room and told me I looked like a hand model. I'm not sure if that was supposed to be a compliment or what. I just looked at him blankly and he walked out singing some Mandy Moore song. Oh and thats another thing, he calls Kerry "Mariah Carey" and me "Mandy Moore" and is constantly singing the musical stylings of each artist. Clever, no?

Here was the kicker though. The other day he went and asked Kerry if we had any extra toilet paper (fortunately we don't have to share a bathroom with him. If we did I think I'd move back to the hostels). Kerry, excuse me, Mariah Carey responded that all we had was the one roll we were currently using in our bathroom (which was true). I later am using the restroom and go to grab the toilet paper only to discover that Bollywood had stolen our single roll and took it to his bathroom. All I can say is that he is lucky I only had to wee.

Other than Bollywood, things are good. Our social lives have improved, we have discovered the little gems on our street (the $1.80 chocolate croissants at the bakery downstairs and the Chinese dollar store that sells paper towels for half price as the super market), we have found the perfect beach amongst rocks and cliffs, and we've discovered we can watch all our American shows on iTunes. It is down to the nitty gritty for job searching now. I'll keep you posted!

PS : Bollywood also makes kabobs at 7am - an unruly scent to wake up to each morning.