For No One

well, maybe not no one...Random thoughts and comments for posterity and our four blog fans (you know who you are).

1. We got our visas! It's official, we can live in Australia until November, 2014.

2. "Three more sleeps" as they say in Australia, until Andy comes home. It hasn't been to bad for me, because we had a wonderful week together in Melbourne. The girls, however, are really missing their daddy. Skype is our new best friend, not to mention a great motivator: "Girls, get your jammies on and brush your teeth if you want to Skype Daddy..." and they're ready for bed in a jiffy! It's great fun for them to play checkers online while seeing him and talking to him. It's also fun for me to watch Andy's academy-award-worthy performances of shock and indignation when he realizes, too late, that he's about to lose the checkers game once again. It's also quite entertaining for Andy as they mug for the video cam, kiss the web cam, wave the web cam around, etc. Anyone know if you can record the video???

3.  Andy was able to snag a toaster, iron, electric kettle, small TV, DVD player, hair dryer, microwave, shop vac, 2 fans, and assorted cords, surge protectors and adapters, from some Americans who are moving back to the States. He got quite a deal. My mate Ben from work also passed along a few Aussie outlet strips, so we have got a nice little start on acquiring things we'll need. We do get an allowance for appliances, but a fridge, washer and dryer will take care of that. Speaking of which, many Australians apparently do without dryers! Shocking, I know. They hang laundry out to dry. As an indication of how rare clothes dryers are, some American ex-pats told me they were thrilled to find that Costco carried Bounce dryer sheets, and they also found themselves explaining to native Australians what they were used for!

4. Unrelated, but interesting (to me) is the fact that Australians actually drive the speed limit! Since they drive on the left side, I asked Andy if the right lane was the "fast lane." He said nope, all lanes just travel along at the speed limit. And no one zigs in and out, trying desperately to get ahead. Perhaps as a result, I saw no car accidents while I was there. Are Aussies just natural law-abiding citizens? Not so much. They apparently have a lot of photo enforcement. Speed, and you'll get a ticket in the mail. Frustrating if you're running late or just like to go fast, I suppose, but it feels a lot safer.

5. Andy just asked me to book his next flight. He has to go back for a week in December. We haven't booked our (one-way!?!) tickets for the family yet, but we're tentatively thinking about January 7th. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can try to find a long-term rental.

6. Andy went to his first movie on Sunday. He ended up in a theater in South Yarra. The good news is there was a full bar with couches in the lobby. Alcohol was allowed in the theater. The bad news is the matinee cost $18. We won't be seeing many movies at that price.

7. Tonight was the end-of-season soccer party for Thing 2. Everyone was starting to plan for the spring season, where the coach recruits his team. Normally Thing 2 would be on that team, as the coach is her best friend's dad. Unfortunately, we won't be around for it. The same thing for softball. Spring signups have begun, and we'll miss that. No more Bunco for me, after being a founding member of a group that's been playing for almost 7 years. And who'd have ever thought I'd be sad at the thought of not driving to Temecula at 5:30 in the morning anymore? I've really come to appreciate the quiet time to myself, to listen to podcasts or new music, and to watch a lot of fantastic sunrises. A lot of "last times" are coming up in the month ahead, and I'm dreading it. I know the flip-side is they'll be replaced with wonderful new opportunities and adventures in Australia, but at the moment all I see are the people and things we're leaving behind.