You Know My Name, Look Up The Number

   Technology has arrived at our new home. We have cable TV and more important, we have Internet. Thanks Al Gore!  And because we have Internet, we can Skype a bit easier, and we can use MajicJack. It's a pretty cool device that plugs into our PC via USB, and connects to a telephone. We get a US phone number, and can accept incoming or make outgoing phone calls. Our PC needs to be on, but at least we can call other people's land/cell lines for free, and others can call us without needing Skype. Email us if you want the number.
   Skype is still our favorite, since nothing compares to video. It was great to be able to see Pap and Gram's new dog, Ubu. Think: Sit, Ubu, sit! And as I type this, Aliya and Amanda are reading books to each other on Skype. Yesterday, the girls took turns Skyping the Ransoms. First Aliya had a laptop in her room, then Alanna got a turn in her room. We were even able to give them a virtual tour of the house by walking around with a laptop.
   All of this is so important to us because the females in the house miss their friends desperately. Andy is too busy with work to miss much, though he's happy about the Internet service because now he can work from home occasionally. While the trams is within walking distant and therefore convenient, the trip to the CBD (Central Business District) can still take an hour depending on the timing. He's quite anxious for his motorcycle to arrive, so he can take that to work. Unfortunately, the container hasn't left the States yet. Andy missed an email from the shipping company that said they needed the original title to ship it. We weren't aware of this until we were in Australia. Andy spent $40 to ship it via 2-day Australia post on the 12th. It's the 28th and it still hasn't arrived. He spent another $60 to get a notarized power of attorney, which he scanned and sent to his mom. She went to AAA to pull a title, which has to be mailed to our old address, which has to be forwarded back to his mom's, which then has to be sent up to Seattle to the shipping co. headquarters. It's a race to see which title will get there first. All in all, it's a disappointing 3 week delay in getting our container.
   Enough of the sob stories. What other interesting Aussie tidbits can I share? One thing that takes getting used to is the outlets. They call them power points here. Because 220 V is nothing to mess with, all of the power points are switched. So if you plug in your electric kettle (love that thing--heats up water so fast!) and turn it on, nothing will happen unless you remember to turn on the outlet switch. And speaking of switches, they are reversed. To turn something on, you press the button downward.
   Speaking of 220, I was thrilled that our PCs (two desktops) and monitor work on 220/50 Hz. Just needed to flip a switch on the back of the PCs, and use plug adapters for everything. We bought two used step-down transformers, but  probably won't use them until we get some of our small kitchen appliances on the aforementioned container.
   School starts on Feb 4th, a week from Friday. We're all anxiously awaiting that day. The kids are a bit bored, and can't wait to make new friends. I'm also a bit bored and can't wait to start doing some work. But before that can happen I need to register them, and to register them, we need immunization cards. The school application said we needed to contact the Medicare offices. I did and got a long complicated explanation of what I needed to do for each kid. It was different for each kid because of their ages, but the big issue was I'd need to find and go to a GP, general practitioner I assume. The next day though, we had a play date with two other expat moms, and they told me to go to the local city council instead.
   Fortunately, our city council offices are in the same building as our local library, which we had visited two days before. Alanna plowed through the suitcase of books we'd brought, and she needed more. So yesterday we went back for more books, then went to the city offices. We met with an "immunization counselor" who reviewed the girls vaccines. They met all of the requirements except the meningococcal one. She asked if I wanted the girls to have it and I said yes, if they needed it. I expected to have to go find a doctor but instead, she handed me a schedule of where I could get it. They have several sessions in various locations in our local city, several times a month. There was one nearby last night, so we took the girls to get their shot. Easy peasy, and surprisingly, it was completely free. We have private insurance through Andy's company, but they didn't ask any questions, just gave the girls the shots. They must be serious about immunizations here to offer them so easily, and for free.
   See ya next time, Cheers!