Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Andy & Christy, Ray & Marcia!

In 1897, Francis P. Church, an editorial writer at the now defunct New York newspaper The Sun, received a letter from a girl called Virginia, questioning the existence of Father Christmas. Here is her letter and his famous reply:

Dear Editor,

I am eight years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth: is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O'Hanlon

Dear Virginia,

Your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age.

They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little.

In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias.

There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus? You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart.

Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance can push aside the curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all the world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God he lives and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, 10 times 10 thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

On a lighter note, here are some Aussie-style lyrics to the classic Jingle Bells:

Dashing through the bush

in a rusty Holden ute

kicking up the dust

esky in the boot

Kelpie by my side

singing Christmas songs

It's summer-time and I am in

my singlet, shorts & thongs

Oh, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells

Jingle all the way

Christmas in Australia

on a scorching summer's day.

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells

Christmas-time is beaut

Oh, what fun it is to ride

in a rusty Holden ute

Engine's getting hot

dodge the kangaroos

swaggy climbs aboard

he is welcome too.

All the family is there

sitting by the pool

Christmas Day, the Aussie Way

By the barbecue!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Love, Christy & Andy

Various Pictures since Ray & Marcia's arrival

Hi everyone. Finally I am getting around to posting some pictures - good thing it's been raining for a few days, providing us with the opportunity to sit around the house a bit and take it easy.





Andy is officially on vacation as of Thursday at 5pm. We all celebrated by having EggBake for breakfast on Friday, followed by 90 minute Thai Massages, followed by afternoon tea. Ray & Andy then picked up a variety case of wine on their way home, so we continued to celebrate and live the luxurious life by popping open a bottle of Sparkling Shiraz. So, we are all doing just fine over here - don't worry about us.

The only minor hitch in our week was that we had a few rain downpour episodes here in Melbourne, which revealed a hidden bonus about our classic apartment: our kitchen window serves not only as a window, but also as a small interior waterfall, and the cupboards above our stove serve as an additional water feature. :) :(
We will see how this situation resolves itself in the coming weeks.

Enjoy the pictures, and we'll post again soon. Safe travels to everyone, everywhere, as you head off in all directions to spend the Holidays with those you love and cherish. We are thinking of you all, we are missing some of our Christmas traditions, but we are celebrating some old and new traditions as well. Cheers!

Love, Christy

MaSweany cookies pass inspection into Australia!

Hello, Hello everyone! My apologies for the long delay in blog posting; I've been busy hanging out with my parents :) We are having a fantastic time - the weather has been gorgeous, we've done a lot of walking & sightseeing, ridden a lot of trams, trains, & buses, eaten more than our share of good food, planned an incredible getaway for January, talked & laughed, laughed & talked, sneezed & blown our noses a lot, and installed a window air conditioner unit in my and Andy's bedroom. I am quite sure this installation is entirely against our apartment building policy, considering that we had to remove a pane of glass and slightly 'alter' (aka: carve away about 1/8 of an inch of wood) the wood window frame to get the unit to fit through, but hey, it was my dad's idea, and the incredible relief of sleeping in an air conditioned room last night and in the nights to come will definitely make up for the loss on our apartment deposit that is nearly guaranteed. We all think our work looks quite professional and will only lead to raising the value of the apartment, if only the owners will just keep an open mind about our alterations.
he he

Our 1st Christmas package from America arrived this week from Deb & Larry Sweany. The MaSweany cookies passed Australian Post quarantine checks, much to our relief and 'bites-of-MaSweany-cookies-straight-from-SD' bliss. They also sent 2 boxes of Fruity Pebbles for Andy and a South Dakota t-shirt and hat for us to represent SD while we are down here. Thanks so much, Deb & Larry!

It is with overflowing excitement that I tell you about our January getaway that we have planned! Andy and I and my parents fly to Sydney on January 6th, where we'll stay until the 9th. We've scheduled a Blue Mountains day trip, and also purchased tickets to see the Spanish Harlem Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House! On the
9th, we board a Princess cruise ship, and will spend the next 12 days on a New Zealand cruise, docking in Melbourne, Hobart (Tasmania), Fjordland National Park, Dunedin, Christchurch, Tauranga, and finally Auckland, New Zealand on January
21st. We'll spend 2 days in Auckland, and fly back to Melbourne on January
23rd. Every time I think about this trip, I pretty much want to start jumping up and down!

So, as our morning news puts it - only 10 more sleeps until Christmas. I continue to feel like I am not in any month in particular, but rather living out some dream/not-quite-real life. I think the combination of time, working, continuing to feel more settled, and having my parents here has helped in lessening my sadness about missing home, family, & friends. I feel like I've gone over an invisible hump, where when I think about home and family and friends, I'm not quite as sad as I was there for the first couple of months. I'm finding that I'm more excited and happy about our time here, a feeling that for a while I had to almost keep repeating to myself as one of the main reasons we had come. Andy and I had a 'cleansing' conversation with my parents last weekend, recapping that last busy month in Portland; packing, organizing, partying, being exhausted, crying, leaving, and then our first 6 weeks here in Melbourne and everything that that involved. It was weird to talk about it, knowing that it wasn't that long ago, but also feeling like it has been much longer than 4 months. Anyway, it is hard to describe in writing, but I am happy, and I feel like the original ideas & adventures that were the foundation for our wanting to live abroad are again revealing themselves. Thank goodness!


The pictures are of us with our SD gear and goodies, and also a shot of our mantle as we get ready for Christmas. We'll post another slideshow of photos soon of more pictures of my parents' visit so far.

Happy Holiday season to all! Be well.

Love, Christy

What I learned on my trip to Adelaide by Andy Sweany

Hi boys and girls,
I took a trip to Adelaide (in the state of South Australia) for a computer conference last Wed. to Friday and stayed in the nearby beach town of Glenelg Friday and Saturday night. Here are a few things I learned:



1. Don't believe everything that you hear - Adelaide is a fun city with a happening night life (anyplace does if you try hard enough)

2. Australians cannot understand me when I order a water but they can always understand me when I order a beer

3. When you stay at a hostel with a big beer company's logo on the sign, it will sound like Mardi Gras outside when you try to go to sleep at 10pm on a Friday night

4. I am too old to stay at a hostel, even when I have a private room

5. Wildlife never ceases to amaze me, and seeing dolphins swim underwater is incredible

6. Beer will always help you make friends with total strangers (see first and last pictures)

7. No matter how much sunscreen I wear here, I will undoubtedly get sunburned (also see last picture)


Cheers mates,
Sweany

Ray & Marcia in Melbourne!

Hi all.
Sorry about the picture quality - I took it on my mobile phone camera.
My parents arrived right on time Thursday morning, and then it only took them about an hour and a half to get through customs (we're blaming the Rice-a-Roni). My crying (a combination of excitement/happiness/relief/3 months of sadness all mixed into one) was contained to a brief half minute or so, and then they had what I'm sure was a whirlwind of a day, as one's day usually is after traveling for over 24 hours in a row, sitting on a 15+ hour flight, and landing on the other side of the world from where you started. They got checked into their hotel, I introduced them to our apartment, and then we walked down to a local bakery for their first Aussie pie (recall from an earlier blog entry that Andy and I absolutely adore the fact that nearly anything you would like to eat can be found in perfected pie form down here). We all rested a bit at the hotel, they got unpacked, and we browsed travel books, pamphlets, and booklets trying to determine where we shall spent some of our time throughout their stay. So much to see - so little time!
We spent some time back here at the apartment, walked around a bit at the botanical gardens, and went out for a late dinner. I could have chatted the night away, but then I looked over and saw that my dad was literally falling asleep sitting up at the table; and I had the nerve to ask him, "Are you tired?" I'm sure they felt lucky that I had to go back to work today, so that they could actually get some rest!
It definitely seems somewhat unreal that we are in Australia together. I am so happy they are here.

Andy has been in Adelaide for a work conference since Wednesday, and will spend the weekend there exploring. He and our friend Ash are scheduled to do a swim with the dolphins on Saturday morning. I'll be excited to hear all about this from him.

I'm still subbing with that same 4th grade class, and it is going so well. I taught a lesson today on 'Hard Yakka' (Aussie lingo for hard work) which was a pretty funny experience for me. I don't know for sure who has learned more since I've been subbing in this class - me or the students!

Guess that's about all the news from Melbourne. With December just around the corner, Happy December to everyone! Love and missing you all. Cheers!

Love,
Christy

Happy Thanksgiving

Hi everyone - Happy Thanksgiving from Melbourne!
As Andy and I sat down to our own little turkey feast tonight, we discussed various items that we are thankful for:
*That we have such wonderful families and friends, which have helped to make this adventure both possible, yet difficult. Possible through all of the support and assistance; difficult because it is harder than we had predicted to be so far away.
*That Buddy is with people that love him, in a location which we are sure he loves.
*That even when we are feeling 'broke' we are actually far from it in comparison to some.
*That we have had this opportunity to live in another country, thus allowing us to appreciate all of the things the United States offers to its citizens. We discussed how neither of us has ever been particularly patriotic nor unpatriotic, but that living abroad has allowed us the opportunity to view our home country from a very different perspective - certainly a more appreciative perspective.
*That we are both quite healthy (Andy put a vote in for his knee feeling better).
*That our move so far has gone quite well. We reflected back upon the past 3 months and all that has happened and all of the emotions that we have worked through.
*We are thankful for each other and to be here together.

I'm positive that Andy would be thankful if some sort of NFL game miraculously popped up on our TV right now, but there's only so much you can do, right?

We wish all of you a most wonderful Thanksgiving. Don't hesitate to tell those that you love that you love them, and if they are there with you, give them a true hug.

xoxoxo & gobblegobble
Christy

Our trip to French Island, or 'I will put up with 8 million flies to see koalas in the wild'

Hi folks,
Christy and I had another surreal weekend in Australia, this time taking a trip to French Island and camping at a place called Mcleod Eco Farm. French Island is about 60 km SE from Melbourne and we got there by taking the train as far as it would go and hopping on a ferry. The people who run the eco (organic) farm picked us up at the ferry drop-off and took us the last 20km to the farm.

The farm is a former prison, originally used by the state of Victoria to grow and provide food to other prisons. The current owners bought it about 12 years ago, and at that time the builings were so run down that they bought the whole thing for the price of the land only. After 2 years of repairs they opened up the place for guests, which can stay in the guest house or the prison cells that have been renovated (as they pictures show, many have not been, and these are probably the ones that are the most haunted :)

The folks that run the place were super friendly and let us utilize their kitchen and living room area although we were only camping out front. This was more than appreciated as the mosquitos and flies were both quite intense (understatement, anyone?). The main farmer had an interesting view of Americans - he basically said, "Who else do you want running a bunch of the world - the Germans? the Japenese? All things considered, I think the US is not doing a bad job at it." I had never thought of things quite like that, but I guess different perspectives are par for the course when you move 10,000 miles away :)

Here is my attempt at using the new slideshow funtionality.


If you want to see descriptions for the French Island pics and other great shots (if I do say so myself) from our trip to wine country and my 'work' trip (if you can call it that) to the tropical paradise of Townsville, click here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8437412@N03/

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!
--Andy and Christy

Flat Stanley in Melbourne!

Flat Stanley riding a tram on Chapel Street.

Flat Stanley is so cool - Chapel Street is super trendy!

Flat Stanley visits Luna Park in St. Kilda.

Again, Flat Stanley is hip to the popular St. Kilda scene.

Flat Stanley nearly takes a dip in Port Phillip Bay.

Flat Stanley checks out the Victoria guidebook while taking a break

on the steps at Federation Square.

Flat Stanley shows off the Yarra River with the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the background.

I almost forgot that I promised a few photos of Flat Stanley visiting Melbourne. Megan, I think we had nearly as much fun with Flat Stanley as you and Brendan did dressing little Riley up for Halloween and taking photos! The main difference, obviously, is that your child is real. My visitor could be folded up and fit into my address book quite nicely.

Cheers!

My Good Fortune Treasure Chest

Greetings from Australia! It seems like I haven't written in a while, so I've a bit of catching up to do. I warn you - lots of random thoughts to follow.

My application with the girls school 'didn't go my way' which was disappointing, but I did begin a long-term substitute teaching position in a 4th grade classroom last Thursday, so I've been keeping quite busy with my 1-hour each way commute and trying to keep this classroom running. It has been a wonderful experience so far - the staff at the school have been beautiful with welcoming me and helping me get settled, and the kids are fantastic. It is so interesting for me to experience teaching in another country - interesting/challenging/scary/fun all mixed together. I feel very lucky to be at this school right now.
The kids are really funny in responding to me and my American way of talking. The younger kiddos kind of just look at me weird and then are quick to warm up - I had one boy yesterday straight up say to me, "You talk weird." The older kiddos just want me to keep talking and saying things. They also always ask me if I know any movie stars. One girl asked me the other day if I had met P-Diddy. I think she was genuinely disappointed when I told her no, I had not met P-Diddy in person.

The countdown for Ray & Marcia's arrival has begun - 2 weeks to go! I've got them out purchasing much-needed American things to stash in their suitcases; items such as Beef Flavored Rice-a-Roni and a 20-pack of Irish Spring Bar Soap. You know, the necessities.

Andy and I hosted our little apartment-warming party last Friday evening by serving way too much wine and cheese. We had a random mix of people: a few of Andy's co-workers, one of our neighbors, and Meghan from Seattle. Andy met Meghan last Wednesday night at ultimate frisbee - she was in town for a week for work, and I think she must be an ultimate frisbee addict to be out playing on the night she arrived in town, but anyway they 'made friends' and it was fun to have her join our evening. I had a blast talking with someone so familiar with my home, and when she whipped out her REI credit card, I about had a good cry right there at the dinner table. Amazing how those little things can affect me. Andy and I then came home and decided that we had better drink some more of all of that red wine we had left from the party. Since we've arrived in Australia, Andy and I have had more than 1 night where we just hang around our place, and end up watching the pictures that are on our computer screen saver flash along. Between the red wine and all of the pictures from home, I got a good cry out of my system, a few tears on Andy's shoulder, and then managed to get myself off to bed.

On Saturday night we saw Eddie Bo at a local venue. Mr. Bo is an old-timer New Orleans soul/funk master - the show was packed and impressive.


I can't quite believe that Thanksgiving is next week! I don't have that Thanksgiving excitement feeling going on at all. Of course, they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in Australia, so neither of us will have any days off work next week, we have no plans for attempting a turkey in our oven, and the days keep getting longer and the weather warmer, so I think it is normal that it just doesn't feel like Thanksgiving. Andy and I have been discussing how amazing it is that we spent Thanksgiving last year in Brazil and this one will be in Australia. I would never have dreamed at this time last year that I would be living in Australia now.

Andy and I are beginning to inch dangerously close to using some local Aussie lingo - I actually said, "I reckon..." last week, and then this week I asked some students at school how they were 'going' with their assignment. I think Andy has already given in to "No worries." I've also succumbed to spelling things at school the appropriate Aussie way, for example organisation and colour. Weird, weird, weird.

Well, that's about it for now I think. I'm going to close with a little bit of writing that I did on Monday morning on my way to work. The students in my 4th grade classroom are in the midst of a Pirate-themed Integrated Studies Unit right now, so Monday was Pirate Day. For a writing activity, I gave them the following writing prompt: If you found a treasure chest, what would be inside and what would you do with it? The following is what I wrote as a model for them:

My Good Forture Treasure Chest

by

Mrs. Sweany

If I found a treasure chest today, and opened it up, my dog, Buddy, my friends, and my family would all jump out! We would hug and laugh and probably cry a little bit in our excitement of being all together in Australia. We would all go to Healesville Sanctuary to feed the kangaroos and to see all of the other amazing animals that live there. Then we would go to the beach and have dinner all together as we watched the sunset and celebrated our good fortune at my finding just the right treasure chest.

I love and miss you all. My heart and my thoughts are with all of you much of the time.

xoxoxoxo

Christy

More

More

Russell Plunkett

There is more to life - Than just a chance to live.

There is more to love - Than just a chance to give.

There is more to work - than just a chance to earn.

There is more to life - and life's your chance to learn.

From birth to death there is a need to grow.

To learn each day - something we did not know.

To think each night - when all the lights go low

What did I do - where did I go - what did I sow.

Seed must be sown for a harves to reap

Life's fields need tending - like a shepherd tends his sheep.

a careless day - a lesser time to know.

The fruits of life need more than chance to grow.

There is more to light - Than just the break of day.

Light is life - it should not waste away.

Sight - a gift - that in this light we see

The fruits of life - To be picked by you- by me.

Waste not the time that is your chance to taste

The joys of life the careless seem to waste.

Short lived - our turn to live this life at hand.

Think deep and make the world

Your Promised Land.

__________________________________

Hi everybody. I found the poem above yesterday at a thrift store. A little bit cheesy, but I appreciated the main idea overall, especially the final line.

Andy and I have been watching episodes from the TV series Long Way Round with Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman. It is the documentary of their motorbike adventure around the world, from London to New York via Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia, the USA, and Canada. It is some of the best TV-watching I've done in a long time. Not since watching Little Miss Sunshine have I been so impressed with movie/TV versions of entertainment. I recommend it to everyone I know. Thanks to our friend Tim in Portland for the recommendation of this series some time back.

Andy and I are going to stick around the apartment quite a bit this weekend. We're hosting an Apartment-Warming Party next Friday night, so we've got a few things to finish unpacking and some arranging to do. Plus, my friend Liam has sent Flat Stanley to Melbourne to visit us, so we're going to take him around to see some of the city's best sights. For those of you wondering, "Who the heck is Flat Stanley?" - Flat Stanley is a 2-dimensional character in a young reader book series. Liam's class back in Portland is studying geography by sending Flat Stanley to people they know all around the world, and requesting that information and pictures about Flat Stanley's destination be sent back to the class to learn from. I am super excited that Liam chose to send Flat Stanley to visit us! I'll be sure to post at least one picture of Flat Stanley in Melbourne on this blog soon.

Have a great weekend everybody! Cheers!

Love, Christy

Happy Halloween!

Hi everybody. Happy Halloween from Australia! A special thank you to my little buddies Liam & Rowan for sending us a Halloween card - and one that even arrived all the way over here on just the right day! (Nice work, Anastasia :)
I took candy along today for all of my fellow Department of Education Refresher Course mates and I just saw 2 young kiddos dressed up walking down our block, but other than that there wasn't much around to signify that it was Halloween. It was kind of weird.

Your basic update on what we've been up to:
Andy spent last Monday - Thursday in Townsville on a work-related trip. Maybe he'll add some detail at a later date about this.
I had a brief interview with a Casual Relief (aka: substitute) Teaching agency last Tuesday morning, which went very well, and I actually ended up surviving my first day of subbing in both a Grade 6 and a Kindergarten classroom last Friday! It was fairly intimidating, but overall I think it went well, and it was great to get out and working and back in the midst of the energy of a school setting.
I volunteered at a school on Wednesday morning, then made my way to that musical that I wrote about earlier - it was superb! The music, the costumes, the stage props, and the actors were all amazing, and I was lucky to sit by some really friendly women that almost made me feel like my Portland theater girls were right there next to me. I was really struggling for a while that day with the mixed emotions of, "I can't believe I'm here for such an amazing event with nobody that I love" / "If we hadn't made this decision to come, I wouldn't even be experiencing this amazing event." Whew! Good thing I had scheduled a massage for that night to help me feel better :)

We attended our first 'Via WebCam' Party back in Portland on Saturday afternoon for us/ Friday night Portland time. It was marvellous to see so many familiar faces (amongst other things- he he) and to hear so many familiar voices. I was crying when we first got it up and running, but I regained control of my emotions fairly quickly and went on to really enjoy being able to still be a part of the Portland Old Man Frat scene. A big thanks to Jason Brabec for ensuring that it happened, and to everybody that hung in there while the technological difficulities were worked out! Cheers!

I've been attending a 3-day class sponsored by the Department of Education this week, I interviewed at a private girls' school for an assistant teacher position, and I have an interview tomorrow at a camp/outdoor store (similar to REI) that I had applied for in desperation a few weeks back. I've pretty much decided to hold off on applying for any Lead Teacher positions for the 2008 school year - I just do not want to commit to the amount of time I know I would spend in striving to be an excellent teacher my first year here, nor do I want the stress that would come along with it. But we'll see what happens - sometimes you never know where you were meant to be until you're there.

Think I'll end on that thought. Hope you enjoyed all of the pictures and video clips on the previous entry. Have a frightful Halloween! Love and miss you all.

BOO!
Christy

Badger Creek Camping & Healesville Sanctuary Pictures

Wombat!

We learned that koalas sleep approximately 20 hours per day. They are so cool.

Tasmanian Devils

Echidna - the way these guys waddle around is pretty cute.

Andy feeding a kangaroo.

Christy petting a kangaroo for the first time.

Roos!

Koalas, Kangaroos, Wombats - Oh My!

Greetings from Australia. So, we survived our first Australian camping excursion, although it wasn't much of a threat - Badger Creek Caravan & Holiday Park is pretty much the Aussie version of many KOA Campgrounds found in the US. We had a nice shady, quiet tent spot next to the stream and spent a gorgeous Saturday afternoon relaxing, sipping white wine, sitting by the pool, walking around the lake, playing ping-pong in the rec. room (ok- Andy beat me, but not by much), playing frisbee at dusk, and listening to all of the interesting and amazing sounds that a new camping environment brings. I must admit - I was a little bit nervous throughout the day about encountering some sort of venemous creature(s) and was taking the necessary precautions, such as poking around on the ground before I would pick up any firewood and keeping my hiking boots on as opposed to wandering around in sandals. I gently reminded my husband to do the same - I think most of the time he was wise and just turned away from my comments, rolled his eyes so that I couldn't see him, and thought to himself, "We're never going to get to go real backpacking over here." :) Maybe someday.

We were up pretty early on Sunday and were at Healesville Sanctuary by 9:45am - the pictures and videos pretty much speak for themselves. It was an incredible experience to see so many new animals - Andy and I both loved it. It was appropriate that it was also the warmest day we've had over here yet- about 31 degrees Celsius/ 88 degrees Fahrenheit.

Andy will be in Townsville for work today - Thursday of this week. I begin volunteering in a 1st/2nd grade classroom at one of the elementary (Primary) schools close to our house on Wednesday, which I am very excited about. I'm also going to Priscilla- Queen of the Desert- The Musical, on Wednesday. (From the first note to the finale, Priscilla is a musical extravaganza featuring classic disco hits including: Don’t Leave Me This Way, I Will Survive, Finally, I Love The Nightlife, Colour My World and Shake Your Groove Thing, all brought to life by the big sound of the live Priscilla band. http://www.priscillathemusical.com/index.php?id=4) How was I to resist? Andy is VERY happy he got out of this one! I only wish my Portland theater girls were here to attend with me!

Hope this finds everyone very well. Hugs to all. Cheers!

Love, Christy

Due to our internet access being "throttled" I'm unable to upload any of the photos or videos right now. I promise to post them as soon as I can - I think we return to regular internet speed on Oct. 26.

Ray & Marcia are on their way to Australia!

A triple cheers to my parents, Ray & Marcia, for they have purchased their flights and will arrive in Melbourne on Thursday, Nov. 29! They will be in the area until Feb. 1st. Along with spending time here with us, they are hoping to embark on a variety of explorations of their own- for some reason they keep mentioning the word 'cruise' over and over again. :)
And there is that one cruise that I've been eyeing for them- the 28-day jaunt that circumnavigates the country...

I guarantee that their arrival will be a joyous one - and probably one overflowing with tears. I am very happy that they will be here to help us celebrate our first Christmas in Australia - so far from home.

So, the next question is...Who's coming at the end of February to help celebrate a true Leap Year? :)

Cheers!

Love, Christy

One-Sided Conversation

Cheers to Jason Brabec for installing Skype within about 10 minutes today!

Sadly, he didn't have a microphone on his computer, so I had the very bizarre experience of sitting and talking in front of our computer while Jason had to type all of his responses back to me and I had to sit and try my best to imagine how great his laugh over in Portland was sounding. Definitely a weird experience- I was even joking with Jason about how not being able to hear him kinda made me feel like I had gone off the deep end over here and was just going ahead with my own imaginative conversations with people back in P-town. :)

So it's Friday morning here. The weekend weather is looking fantastic, and Andy and I are headed to Badger Creek Caravan & Holiday Park on Saturday for our first Australian camping experience, then to Healesville Sanctuary on Sunday for what is guaranteed to be our first sightings of some kangaroos, koalas, dingos, etc! We're very excited! We'll be taking the train from downtown Melbourne for about an hour, then taking a bus for another 40 minutes over to the Sanctuary. From there we'll walk with our camp stuff to the campground (I think only about 1.5 km). It will hopefully be a fun adventure.

Hope you are all well and happy. Happy weekend!

Love, Christy

"Wata!"

G'Day mates! This entry is going to cover a variety of topics - we've had an eventful week and we've lots to share, including some quirky and humorous things about our continued Australian life.

Where to start- guess I'll give you the basic update on what we've been doing. I attended a 2-day First Aid/CPR class on Thursday and Friday of last week. Most of it was the same as in the US, except for that they call their ambulances "Ambos" over here and they don't teach the Heimlich Maneuver, simply b/c not everybody can perform the maneuver safely and/or effectively on every other person. I taught the class what I knew, and then my instructor instructed them that they could never perform this method. We also spent a significant amount of time on the Bites & Stings topic, considering that anything from a jellyfish to a snake to a spider over here can easily and sometimes rather quickly send you into shock, cause your flesh to begin to rot, or simply kill you off. Many of my classmates got quite a kick out of my obvious fear of many of the native critters.

We enjoyed Friday happy hour and dinner out with some of Andy's co-workers at a Belgian Beer Cafe, dangerously within walking distance of our apartment. Saturday morning we took the train a short distance and met up with another of Andy's co-workers, Rosemary, and her husband and daughter. We spent the entire afternoon and early evening with them driving around the Yarra Valley, about 45 minutes outside of Melbourne. This region is well-known for its beautiful views, beautiful wine, and beautiful fresh produce. We visited 4 wineries, sampled delicious wines and cheeses, had a late lunch in Healesville, and came home with some delicious goat's cheese for me and bleu cheese for Andy. Sunday we slept in and woke to a warm and sunny day, so we enjoyed a slow and lazy morning of drinking coffee, reading the paper, and eating pancakes out on our patio in the sun. We finally walked over to Prahran Market (amazing fresh produce, meat, seafood, coffee, flower, wine, etc. market open 5 days/week- and only a 10 minute walk from our apartment! I'm a bit addicted already!) around 1pm and purchased some fresh pumpkin cannelloni and bread. Completed a couple of errands, came home for a quick late lunch, then walked to the park across the street to play Frisbee, nap in the sunshine, and watch (and try to figure out!) a game of cricket. We will definitely need some assistance in figuring out the details of this game, I believe. So that was our weekend. Oh, and we also got to speak with our friends Steve & Marnie for a little bit- :)

I received an email asking about, "the boys and the beer" over here, so I figured there might be more than 1 person interested in these topics. The boys seem about the same, except that the dress appears to be a bit more formal over here. I'm always seeing lots of guys in full suits or looking very stylish in general. I know that Andy has felt a bit of pressure to dress up a bit more for work here than he did in Portland with Intel.
The beer is pretty good, but we were so spoiled in Portland with our endless variety of microbrewery options! We've been exploring the common options, like Victoria Bitter (fairly standard lager), Carlton's Draught (pale lager), and sticking with an old favorite, Stella (Belgian pilsner). I am quite fond of the Belgian Hoegaarden, which I proved just this past Friday night :) The Victorian Microbreweries Showcase is this week at Federation Square, but on Wednesday & Thursday, so I think this provides some insight in how they view their microbrews over here. I'm interested in checking it out. And the beer is expensive- we paid $64 for 2 cases of Victoria Bitter bottles (on sale) one of the weekends that we had a car. Wine seems to be similar to the US, varying in price and quality. I'm drinking as much as I can to provide y'all with as many details as possible :) he he- just kidding. They do sell some funky wine bottles over here which have no label- just the black and white label with the nutritional value info. I'm told this is to save money on labeling, thus allowing me to purchase the bottles at a much cheaper rate. We think they're called Clean Skins, but we haven't quite determined if this is a specific brand, the generic term, or possibly both.

We have seen very little evidence of Halloween over here yet- just a small bit at the craft stores and a few party fliers. We're told they don't really celebrate Halloween over here, but many of Andy's co-workers were very interested in hearing all about the custom of Trick-or-Treating in the US- they didn't know much about it and found it an interesting concept.

This is one of my favorite topics to encounter over here so far-- the way they finish many of their words with the "a" sound and spelling. The title of this blog entry, for example, "Wata!" for water. "Supa" for super, such as the store we visited yesterday, Supa Bargains. "Cuppa" for cup, and my absolute favorite that I saw last week, "Hangova" for hangover, as seen at a coffee shop advertising their, "Hangova Brekky" (breakfast). Andy and I are easily amused, as many of you know, and all we have to do right now to totally crack ourselves up around the apartment is to simply shout out, "Wata!" As an incentive to all of those Portlanders who have yet to get a phone call off to us or their Skype and a microphone hooked up yet: if you call within the next 7 days, I promise to shout this out as many times as you like while we chat! :)

Let's see- what else. My job search continues this week. Andy is traveling to Townsville, way up on the northeastern coast, next week for a few days for work. We're hoping to travel to Adelaide and Kangaroo Island toward the end of November- Andy is attending a work conference, so we're hoping to add another couple of days and do some exploring over there. Andy is thinking about joining an ultimate frisbee spring social league that is starting up next week. We miss Buddy.

OK- enough for today. Hope this finds everybody very well and happy. To my sister-in-law, Michelle, Happy 40th Birthday this week!!!

Cheers!
Love, Christy

New pics on Flickr - be the first on your block to collect all 37!

Some new pics from the last few weeks of moving and enjoying our new location in the city:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8437412@N03/with/1531252243/

A big shout out to the Flynns - I finally got our webcam hooked up and it works great. For those of you who are adventurous with technology, a buddy of our pointed out some free software called oovoo that allows you to do video conference calls for free. You can also use a webcam through the standard Windows Messenger as well (in case you were wondering...).

For those who need a little encouragement to install Skype and call us:
Step 1 - go to this site to download: http://skype.com/intl/en/download/skype/windows/

Step 2 - once you've installed Skype, follow the directions to do a test call to test your mic and what not - it's super easy and it will guide you through all the steps

Step 3 - to add us as a user, do a search for my skype name: andrew.sweany - on the Contacts tab there is a search button on the top if your not prompted to add contacts when you install it.

That's about it - give it a whirl :)

Lastly, I once again have hope for Bears after a triumphant victory over the Pack. Sorry to hear about your loss of $20 Steve - one thing I learned long ago was not to bet for or against the Bears - ever.

Cheers,
Sweany

Bears Beat Packers vs. Christy's Teacher Registration

Hello, loves! Greetings from Australia~

The battle is under way over here today in regards to which event holds more significance in our lives: the fact that the Bears beat Green Bay or the fact that I received my Victorian Institute of Teaching Registration Approval letter in the mail :)

Cheers to my brother, Steve, for being the first person to call us on our Australian landline phone and leave us a message. It was awesome to talk to you and Michelle today.

We had a fairly eventful weekend. Friday night we took it pretty easy around the apartment as I wasn't feeling very well. Saturday morning we were up and off to take possession of yet another rental vehicle- this time a Thrifty Cargo Van. By late afternoon we had collected quite a load: a couch, 2 chairs, a TV, a small desk, a table and 2 chairs bistro set, a portable heater, a portable evaporative air cooler, & 3 plants. We thoroughly enjoyed sitting comfortably at home on Saturday night, watching a movie and eating microwave popcorn. I've posted a couple of pictures of our now furnished apartment above.

Sunday we returned the van to its rightful owners, ate a leisurely breakfast out, and spent most of the rest of the day wandering the city. We walked up Bridge Road, visited Fitzroy Gardens and St. Patrick's Cathedral, explored and snacked at Queen Victoria Market, and finally made our way to Crown Casino for a beer. A quick stop home, and we were off again with Ash, one of Andy's co-workers, on our way to a bar for dinner and to see a friend of his whose band was playing. Our new friend Julia gave us a ride home after the show - I think it is so funny how great a 15-minute car ride home can seem on a Sunday night at 11:30pm when I really thought we'd be taking the 1-hour tram alternative. Andy and I seriously got out of the car and were saying, "That was great. Our first drop-off at our new home!" :)

I had my first Australian doctor appointment this afternoon- nothing wrong, just establishing myself as a patient. It went well, and he seemed genuinely concerned when he asked if I was feeling well emotionally since our arrival, if I was experiencing a lot of homesickness, etc. For all the rest of you that are wondering as well, Andy and I both think that we've been dealing with this issue quite well. I am getting a little bit bored and I am excited about the prospect of now being able to apply for teaching-related jobs with my registration finalized, but overall we've had quite enough going on to keep us busy and we've actually been enjoying a bit of a quieter life. This is not to say that we don't miss many people and things/routines terribly ~ I just find that it does me absolutely no good to dwell upon these feelings for more than a little while. Technology has helped in this area tremendously as well ~ the opportunity to exchange multiple emails, visit friends' blogs, and chat via Skype has helped in not feeling all that far away. If I start to feel too badly, I just locate and study the most recent Sunday newspaper Travel Section and envision all of the beautiful and amazing places Andy and I are going to get to visit during our time living here. :)

I had a great time visiting that Child Care Center that I went to last Friday. I found it to be so much fun listening to little Aussie accents, and I was approached by and introduced to more humans in 2 hours than I had been in 6 weeks. I absolutely love the way young children interact with such honesty and simplicity.

OK- now I'm starting to go a little overboard. I hope this finds all of you very well. We love and miss you all. Cheers!

Christy

What the heck is a bunyip, you ask-

Bunyip (1935)- Artist Unknown

Good evening, mates. Andy was checking out a camping book tonight and was drawn to the section describing Bunyip State Park, 65 km. east of Melbourne. The entry encouraged readers to, "...go bunyip spotting." What the heck is a bunyip, we thought? Being the inquisitive people that we are, we immediately did a Gooogle search on bunyips, located the above picture, and have the following specifics to share (possibly much more than you would ever have thought you yourself might learn about bunyips!):

The bunyip (usually translated as "devil" or "spirit"[1]) is a mythical creature from Australian folklore. Various accounts and explanations of bunyips have been given across Australia since the early days of the colonies. It has also been identified as an animal recorded in Aboriginal mythology, similar to known extinct animals.

Descriptions of bunyips vary wildly. It is usually given as a sort of lake monster. Common features in Aboriginal drawings include a horse-like tail, flippers, and walrus-like tusks or horns. According to legend they are said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds and waterholes. At night their blood-curdling cries can be heard as they devour any animal that ventures near their abodes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunyip

Cheers to Bunyips! :)

Christy

Possibly the best version of 'Oops- I Did It Again!'

Even the Australian papers seem to have a daily article about Britney, so no worries regarding keeping posted on her life. :)
Most of you know how I love this song- check out this more chill version that I just heard today- just scroll down a bit and you'll see it under the Studio 4A Performances Section:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1506843

Andy and I are hoping to rent a van this weekend to run around and pick up some furniture that we've agreed to purchase- a couch, 2 chairs, and a corner desk. Ah, the possibility of real furniture in our apartment is very appealing!

I'm going on a 'Professional Tour & Observation' of a Child Care Center tomorrow. I think it will be nice to get out and involve myself with professional activity of some sort.

I've been doing a lot of wandering and taking various trams around the city this week. Andy and I continue to be amazed at our good fortune in finding our apartment in such an amazing area of the city.
My parents have begun suggesting that they might be headed our way as early as mid-December this year, which I think would be wonderful.
We received word that Buddy and Zach have made it to Alaska and are busy getting themselves settled. I definitely give Buddy more credit than I'm sure his dog brain deserves, but I can't help but wonder if he has been thinking, "What the heck is going on?" for the past 6 weeks. :)

Cheers~
Christy

Royal Botanical Gardens video 9-30-07

Here's an intriguing video from the Royal Botanical Gardens ~ Sunday, Sept. 30. We've no idea yet what animal was making that interesting sound.

Handy time zone clock (and help needed)

Hi folks,
Here's a handy little time zone clock that you can add to your Favorites list (http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/custom.html?cities=152,202,75,627)

Now the help needed - the reason I was on the 'time and date' site was because I was trying to figure out when a talk radio show about the Bears was being broadcast online (there's a 'converter' on the site above that lets you put in a date/time and determine the equivalent in other time zones). However, unfortunately I can't figure out if and when the actual games are broadcast on the radio/online? If someone can find a website that streams that Bears real time you will be my her0 :)

Cheers,
Sweany

ps. by the way, the footy grand final was a blow-out - it was the biggest point difference in finals history, but it was still fun to watch our the local Melbourne team Geelong, which is actually a suburb on the west side of the city, win it for the first time in 44 years. Now if only the Bears could do the same :)

I love the library, but...

Greetings everyone! As the title of today's entry states, I do love the public library and certainly appreciate being able to use the public computers for 1 hour per day, but I am happy to report that I am writing this entry from the comfort of our apartment. It is nice to be able to stay in my pajamas while the wind and rain howl outside and still get my list of "Tasks for Today" completed. I hope this finds you all very well, and still possibly chuckling from watching the Driving In Australia video clips. If you need another chuckle, here's what our 'home office' looks like right now :)

Note the sweet beanbag chair- and let's just say that Andy and I are very lucky that we love each other so much- otherwise the putting-together of that chair last Saturday could have very well put us both right over the edge. You can use your imagination in deciding which 'edge' you would like to picture us falling off

Life continues forward down here- it is weird that tomorrow morning will have us living here 5 weeks already. Footy Grand Final Fever is at the forefront of every good Aussie's mind. I even walked past a few shops this week which had signs on the door stating that they would be closing at noon on Saturday due to the Footy game. We're looking forward to seeing what this tradition holds for us tomorrow.

Andy is managing his daily commute via 1 train ride and 1 bus ride. He got it down to just under an hour by Wednesday morning. I won't write too much about how on Tuesday morning he must have been zoned out, because he ended up missing his train stop, so had to go to the next station, wait for the next train going back the way he had just come....

Tuesday was an interesting one for both of us regarding trains. I myself got stuck spending nearly 2 hours completing what should have really been a 15 minute trip. But I certainly know which station that Target store is at now!

I heard back regarding a couple of the resumes I had send out a few weeks ago, so that is encouraging.

Here's a few fun things we learned this week:

*How to operate our stove!!! And you are only going to know all about it if you come see it for yourself- in our desperation, we finally had to ask our neighbor to come over and give us a visual demonstration. I don't know if I've ever wanted to cook a frozen pizza so badly.

*Hitting kangaroos is the #1 car insurance claim in this country. Followed by hitting dogs. :(

*The possums down here have bushy tails, like the tails of raccoons in the states. Andy and I watched 2 walking down the street and then climbing some trees from our front porch on Wednesday night, but had no idea what they were. Andy thought they were cats, but I wasn't convinced. Then some of his co-workers shed some light on the subject for us on Thursday.

*Some restaurants (pubs mostly) over here require you to go to the bar to order your food, and then they give you one of those table alert devices that you usually get when waiting for a table at a restaurant, and when that goes off, you have to go down and pick your own order of food up! I think this is pretty fun, but I've got some waitress experience backing me up. I wonder if a lot of food quite possibly never makes it back to the table on one's plate.

In closing, here's a description of the pictures at the top of the page taken within the past week: one of me biking at Fawkner Park (which is at the end of our block), one of Andy relaxing on his beanbag throne on our first Sunday night at our new apartment, and a shot of downtown from Albert Park- we biked around that park on Sunday afternoon last weekend. Be well- we love and miss you all. And you know, I was not joking when I posted our home phone number and wrote that we were hoping to hear from many of you soon. :)

Cheers!

Christy

Highway to Hell- Driving In Australia #3

You have to turn the volume on your computer way up for the full effect of this one to hit ya~ This took place on our first entrance onto an Australian freeway- I believe the significance speaks for itself. He He :)

Driving In Australia #2

My favorite part of this one is when Andy runs the windshield wipers when attempting to use the turn signal. This continued as a source of amusement throughout the weekend :) Well, amusement for me, but I wasn't the one driving. Not sure if Andy found it entirely amusing.

Driving In Australia #1

As promised, a few videos of our first attempt at driving in Australia :) Enjoy~

Our 1st Invitation to an Aussie Party :)

I know this sounds kind of dorky and totally desperate, but it is with great excitement that I write that Andy and I have received our first official Invitation to an Aussie BBQ Party for the AFL (footy) Grand Final game taking place this Saturday afternoon. Ok, so I admit that the invitation came second-hand through a co-worker of Andy's, and I also admit that I had to write this co-worker back to clarify a couple of items noted in the invite about which I had no idea what to think, but I am choosing to accept my desperate and dorky side. I know that anyone reading this blog knows just how dorky I can tend to be some days/nights :)

Cheers!

Christy

Home Phone Number

Hi all. Our home phone line is all set up - the number is 03-9867-8959. My dad called me this morning, and to reach us from the US he dialed 011-61-3-9867-8959. Thanks for doing the trial dialing, dad!
We got moved into our new place over the weekend and had some fun and scary experiences with our first 'Driving on the Wrong Side of the Car & Road' car rental. I have some snippets of video to share, but am currently without internet access from home for the next couple of days still, so will post soon.
Hope this finds everyone well. We look forward to hearing from many of you soon.

Christy

More Melbourne pics for your viewing enjoyment

Hi boys and girls,

I've added some more pictures of our travels around Melbourne to our existing Australia photo set on Flickr (the link below should take you right there). Another trip to the city last weekend reminded me what a fascinating city Melbourne is and the fact that it's a 'real' big city (like Seattle), not a pretend one (like Portland). The Portlanders will know what I'm talking about.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8437412@N03/sets/72157601794987955/

For those wondering about Buddy: I talked to Zach Halstead yesterday morning and he is getting ready for his road trip to Alaska. From Eugene, OR to his new place it is 2600 miles, so him and Buddy will have lots of time to bond :) However, the trip will be worth it - the place in Alaska basically has it's own trout lake and is surrounded by wilderness. The people renting the other portion of Zach's house have a 3 yr black lab so Buddy will have a partner in crime as well. All in all, Zach, Spike and Buddy are all going to love it.

Bon voyage Zach and Buddy - here's to new adventures all around!

Our Address

Andrew & Christy Sweany
3/14 Park St.
South Yarra- Victoria 3141
Australia

In case you need reminders of how to get ahold of us via our mobiles:
Andy's number is 043 051 0801
Christy's number is 043 051 0802

We've both upgraded our phones to include additional international minutes with the US. We're hoping to have our home internet set-up shortly after we move this Friday, so then we can begin using Skype.

We had a pleasant weekend- spent a bit of time on Friday walking around the area of our new apartment. Stopped for a celebratory Stella and snack. Visited an Irish Pub and felt more at home than we have since leaving Portland. Hhmmm...wonder why? :)
Saturday we trekked to a new part of the city and purchased Andy's bike, which we have already nicknamed 'Rusty.' Visited the local home improvement store to have additional sets of apartment keys made. Our for pizza and rented our first movie, which we watched on our computer. Sunday we biked and took the train downtown to Federation Square- met up with one of Andy's co-workers and a friend of his- saw a movie at the Australian Center for the Moving Image, followed by a couple of beers and snacks at a riverside bar and restaurant. I was really feeling like home then, because it was rather nasty weather and rainy, and still we kept sitting outside enjoying good beer, conversation, and views of the river.

Hope all is well. xoxoxo

Christy

Empty Apartment Pictures

Hi everybody. We signed the lease and got the keys for our apartment yesterday- here's some pics. We're not really moving in until next Friday- they are still doing some painting over there in the next week. The kitchen (particularly the stove and oven) leaves a little to be desired, but what can you do? I think the bedroom opening onto a little front patio makes up for the kitchen. It is an exciting location and we are more than ready to move down there. I'll send out the official address as soon as I double-check to make sure I am writing it correctly!Today we are off to try to find a bike for Andy, followed by some fridge and mattress shopping if we get around to it. Happy weekend! xoxoxo Love, Christy and Andy

Dare I write that we have an apartment?

Hi everybody. I hate to push our luck too much, but the meeting to hand over our deposit and first month's rent is scheduled for 2pm tomorrow, so I feel pretty confident in announcing that we have secured an apartment for ourselves for the next 12 months- Hooray! What a relief. I was beginning to feel a bit panicky with our move-out date quickly approaching on Sept. 21. We thought we had one lined up over the weekend, and then found out on Tuesday morning that there had been some sort of "miscommunication" at the rental office as to who was in charge of that account- one agent offered the place to us, another agent offered it to another couple. So as of Tuesday at 11am, we decided to start over and search both furnished and unfurnished apartments. We found that most of the furnished places were quite small, and you were really paying quite a bit for things that, in the long run, would be cheaper to just go ahead and buy and own ourselves for the next 2 years. I'm talking very necessary things here, like a mattress and a refrigerator. Weird- from what I'm told and from what I've seen, many apartments over here don't normally come with a fridge. Who knew?! The place we'll be moving into next Friday is an unfurnished 1 bedroom apartment located in the South Yarra area of town. It is a great location- we've got a tram running right down our street, the South Yarra train station a 10-minute walk away, parks at both ends of our block (the Royal Botanical Gardens happens to be one of them!), the bay a short distance away, and tons of shops and restaurants all within walking distance. So I guess Andy and I will be out looking at refrigerators and mattresses this weekend. We are excited to get moved and start making our own place an actual home for ourselves. Here's a picture of the building- our place will be the top floor on the left.

We're hoping to catch a Footy game downtown on Saturday night. The start of the NFL season prior to us locating a pub at which to watch the games has almost been too much for Andy to take :)

We ate our first Kangaroo on Tuesday night- Kanga Bangas- pretty much like hot dogs, but not very flavorful. After we ate, Andy admitted that he felt a bit bad eating kangaroo.

President Bush was over here in Sydney last week for the APEC conference- it was interesting to watch and read the news, and to see how the country of Australia prepared for and talked about him and his visit. I'll leave it at that on that topic.

Hope all is well with everyone. It has been another up and down emotional week for us, but we've been listening to a lot of Todd Snider's song, "I'm Just Happy to be Here at All" to remind us of the important things. Worst case scenario, we live in a sweet hotel for a week :)

Cheers!
Christy

First Friday Pub Visit Video (hopefully!)

Hi everybody. This was from last Friday- just now figuring out how to try to upload it to share. Enjoy. An extra "Cheers!" to the Daby family from us today- congratulations, Jon & Shana! Welcome to little Wilson Daby xoxoxoxo

Christy

Rebuilding

From You Can't Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe:
For he had learned some of the things that every man must find out for himself, and he had found out about them as one has to find out- through error and through trial, through fantasy and illusion, through falsehood and his own damn foolishness, through being mistaken and wrong and an idiot and egotistical and aspiring and hopeful and believing and confused.

So, this little quote really hit home for me earlier this morning as I read it. All over here continues to go well, but I feel like the reality of this move is really starting to sink in. I had a bit of a discouraging day out looking for apartments yesterday. Wasn't I just saying like 2 weeks ago how excited I was to get out there and see all kinds of different options for living again??? Amazing how taking public transportation and walking around a large city equipped with a map book, only to arrive at a rather dingy apartment, followed by another dingy apartment 2 hours later can so quickly get old and discouraging. On the bright side, however, at least there is a wonderful public transportation system available in this city, at least Andy and I had the foresight to invest in a detailed Melbourne map book our second day in town, at least we have the money for a deposit and rent as soon as I find that perfect place that I just know is out there waiting for me to come see it......maybe tomorrow. Oh, and wait- actually, we don't have the money because it is impossible to transfer money to yourself from your own United States bank accounts to your own Australian bank accounts without physically being in the US to sign to wire the money. This is a detail that would have been exceedingly helpful to know prior to both Andy and I boarding that very large plane taking us from LA to Melbourne. For future reference for all of you :)

Before we left, we had the discussion/joke a few times with various people about how our 2 years over here would probably be like one long vacation. Let me just tell y'all- we are definitely not on vacation! More precisely, I feel like we are attempting to rebuild huge chunks of our lives over here- establishing Australian credit, considering leasing a car, trying to find somewhere to live, starting and looking for new jobs, estimating how much we think we should spend on rent, etc. As I joked with my mom on the phone earlier this morning, I do none of those things while on vacation!!! I haven't even interviewed for any jobs over here yet, and I'm already looking forward to my first Australian vacation :)

Here's a few recent funny/weird things that have happened to us:
*We went to see The Bourne Ultimatum movie on Saturday night- the movie theater we went to had assigned seating. Amusing to us that the back 3 rows are entirely full, but every other seat in the place is open. I wonder- do people ever revolt once the movie has started and move seats??
*You have to pay for ketchup at most of the places we've eaten so far! The first time I went to get some off the counter and came back to the table, Andy asked me if I had paid for that. I said no, was I supposed to? He said he thought so- I went back in and asked the guy working- he laughed it off and told me to go ahead and take it. But sure enough, I had to pay $1.00 for some at the fish and chips place we ate at on Saturday night.
*There are meat butcher shops (yes, plural) at the mall!
*The bacon is really, really good! Bill Bryson was right.

Ok- enough for today. Cheers!

Christy

Some pics from week #1

Here's some pictures from the past week. Sorry for the short message but my computer is running out of juice :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8437412@N03/sets/72157601794987955/

One Week Down

Hello everybody. I find it hard to believe that we've been here for nearly a full week already. It has been a weird, productive, overall fun week. We've been taking pictures to post along with these writings, but our shipped packages just arrived about an hour ago, and the cord connecting our camera to the computer was packed away. So we'll try to get some pictures posted over the weekend. Otherwise, here's what we've been up to all week:
-Lots of walking around. We've visited a variety of restaurants, grocery stores, bakeries, liquor shops (they only sell alcoholic beverages of any kind at specific beer, wine, and spirits shops), Monash University campus, the Immigration office, a large mall (which even had a Target!), our bank, the cell phone place, and even a KMART.
*My most amazing discovery related to restaurants here so far is that some of them are BYOB! I tried to order a glass of wine with dinner at this little Italian place on Sunday night, and the waitress very kindly informed me that they were a BYO restaurant. Lucky for me, there was a liquor shop right next door and my loving husband, seeing the desperation in my eyes for a glass of red wine, jumped into action and went and bought us a bottle. And sure enough, the next people to walk into the restaurant were each carrying their very own bottles of wine and beer. Shocking!
-I've been taking the bus a lot, and am proud to say that I have pretty much mastered Route 703 that runs directly in front of our apartment. I've also spent a tremendous amount of time in the Monash Uni. library computer lab (kinda illegally- I have to use Andy's staff log-in to use the computers. Hopefully I won't get busted).
-Andy started work on Monday at the lovely (aka: nearly sleep-in late!) hour of 9:30am. His office is just 2 buildings down the street from our temporary apartment, so he currently only has about a 5 minute walk commute.
-I've been searching out possible furnished apartment rentals for us and saw my first one yesterday. Not exactly what we're looking for, but not a bad start for a brand new city. We're hoping to see a few more this weekend. We're definitely feeling somewhat unsettled and wrinkled still living directly out of our luggage, and are looking forward to getting our own place with a land-line for making and receiving phone calls, and some home internet access. As always, my hope for a pool wherever we reside lives on :)
-We've been catching up on some good evening couch time and watching a variety of Australian TV.

I guess that is about it for now. We are well, happy, and headed to go purchase some bikes, followed by our first Friday night trip to the local pub (hopefully- if we can find it :) Oh, which reminds me- we shouldn't have any trouble at all finding it b/c Andy is the proud, relunctant owner of his very first cell phone! And his came loaded with a bunch of Navigational maps. Our cell phone numbers are: Andy 0430510801 Christy 0430510802

Happy Labor Day weekend there in the states! Cheers! xoxoxoxo

Christy

It's perfectly normal here.....

We arrived in Melbourne at 8am this morning safe and sound. Since we've left Portland we've lost a day of our lives crossing the international date line, had a total stranger welcome us to Australia and proceed to give us her phone # offer to drive us around to run errands, got checked into our oddly shaped student housing apartment and fried our alarm clock because we don't have the right adapters, ate at a place called the Pinewood Chicken Bar (which was great by the way), bought weird stuff at the grocery store, and watched Aussie Rules Football on campus. Besides that is been a perfectly normal day.

All joking aside, we are here safe and sound, and surprisingly enough the flight went pretty quick all things considered. Tomorrow it's off to get phones and take the train into downtown for some real action.

Cheers,
Sweany

Oh My Gooodness!

Andy seems to be much more reflective and calm than I feel as we sit here at PDX. I feel ok, but I feel pretty freaked out as well. I am a little bit scared. As we came through security, Andy and I looked at each other and I said, "I don't know what we're doing." Good thing it is too late to turn back now. Thank you to everyone that has made this move possible, easier, hopeful, bright, etc....... I love you all.
Christy

Melbourne, here we come!

Hi boys and girls,
Well, Christy and I are currently sitting at PDX and getting ready to head to LAX and on to the wonderful city of Melbourne. A while back Christy asked me if I thought there was something wrong with us since we could move and leave all the people we love and cherish. At the time I laughed it off but I'm beginning to think she was on to something. As we've gone through this entire process I have truly come to realize how lucky we are to be surrounded by such fun and loving people. It has also made me realize how much of the little things we all take for granted - a roof over your head, a warm bed, lots of friends and family and how these things are what's important, not the junk that we spent days moving, packing, selling, etc. :)

Next time your crabby because worked sucked or its cold and rainy or some guy cut you off in traffic, just do me a favor. Take a step back and think about how good life really is. I'm a little sad about leaving but mostly I'm grateful that our life is so good its so hard for us to leave.

Cheers - we love and miss you all already

--Sweany

Words of wisdown from Keith Richards

Hey kids,
I am assuming Christy's identity to share some wisdom from Keith Richards that Ifelt was similar to my feelings about this move to Oz and life in general. Enjoy :)

Question: Any life lesssons you'd like to pass on to the younger generation?

Answer: First off, don't do anything if there's not joy in it, a sense of exhilaration. A day is a day, and each one is going bye-bye, and you've only got so many more in front of you. Friendship is probably one of the most important things in life. Apart from your immediate family, it's about friends - the ability to make friends, the ability to forgive friends. And their ability to forgive you. It's just the ability to enjoy other people's company, really. Then you've got it all, man. The rest of it's gravy.

Cheers to that Keith.

--Sweany

A More Humorous Note

These are just some funny tips that we've been receiving from people who have lived in Australia. Enjoy!

A rubber is an eraser.
A cooler is an ESKI.
The weather in Melbourne swings wildly (kind of like Denver). It can be 80 degrees one day and 50 degrees the next.
You will find graham crackers in the "International food" section.Eggs are on the regular store shelves. Not refrigerated.
You will, one day, master the daunting task of navigating the 'shopping trolleys' (carts) that have all 4 wheels swiveling.
Pay attention to the unique sport of surf lifesaving.
The teachers at my kids' school had beer with lunch on Fridays!

Moving On

Well, hello and welcome to the first entry of the Sweany Australia Thoughts & Happenings Blog! I'm hoping this medium will be one of the many fun and easy (and inexpensive!) ways for Andy and I to stay in touch with everybody throughout the next 2 years. This is my first blog experience, so we'll see how it goes.

I feel that I must preface this entry's thoughts with the fact that I spent approximately 2 quiet and contemplative hours this morning finishing the book Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. For those of you who have read this book, you will understand why this entry will probably one of the most, if not the most, serious entries you might encounter from me. For those of you who haven't read this book, I highly recommend it to all females. It is probably a little girly for most of the guys I know.

A friend of mine said to me last night, in a very drunken state (which for me I usually equate with as close to total honesty as you can hope to get from most adults) that he respected mine and Andy's decision to go ahead with this move to Australia, but that he also wanted me to know that he was, "...moving on." This phrase was stated multiple times actually, and multiple references to how he and his life would be, "...moving on while we were gone" were offered for my thorough understanding. I was quite at a loss for words and finally responded, "I got it. Really, I got it."

Initially I was saddened and hurt by these words, but as I considered them further later on in the evening and today, I found myself thinking, Why do I find the idea of his moving on to be saddening or hurtful? Aren't we all, ideally, moving on all of the time, no matter what we're doing? Isn't moving on something that we should constantly be striving for in our lives?? And what can we really do to stop it? Absolutely nothing- the world and universe move on constantly- I just happen to be positioning my body in Australia for the next 2 years. My heart, my thoughts, my feelings will be with me, obviously, but they will also be scattered around the globe, with everyone I care and think about, as they are right now.

Am I struggling with our decision to move? Yes- particularly as the departure date (August 23)continues to approach. Yes- particularly when I wonder, "Is there something wrong with me that I can voluntarily move myself so far away from everyone I love?" Yes- particularly when I worry about the health and wellbeing of all of my family and friends during the time that we will be away. Yes,yes, yes...

And no. No- because I'm going with Andy, and we made this decision together, and we're going together, and it is a wonderful opportunity, and we love to travel, and we love to see and experience new things and meet new people. No- because I can't wait to live there and feel what it is like. No- because it will provide an opportunity for many people who might not otherwise have traveled to Australia the opportunity to come see us and this amazing part of our world. No, no, no...

So, here's to moving on.

Cheers!

Christy