Random thoughts

Hey Everyone, I’m back!!! I know it seems like it has been a long time but trust me, a lot has been going on in our new life. Here are updates and some random thoughts on my new homeland.
· We are getting settled into our new home and it is starting to feel like home thanks to the kindness of our friends. My dear friend Shylady and the crazy bearded one ( you know I love ya) donated 2 chairs and a sofa, a tv and a vcr to our lovely home. We love the sofa and it is a great place to kick back on days that are so hot that we can’t go out til after the sun goes down. We have a futon mattress to sleep on and the kids have an air mattress. Of course Sarah thinks the mattress is a trampoline.
· Christmas day never quite felt like Christmas to me. We put up a tree and pulled out all of our ornaments that we trucked over with us. We set up the Polar Express around the tree and read it on Christmas Eve. But 40 C is much different than 40 F. On the day after Christmas, Boxing Day as it is known here, we were living smack dab in the middle of the hottest city on the planet. Literally. The temp that day reached 43.something which is about 111 F. So let me tell you, when someone tells you it is not bad because there is know humidity, I say this, if you stick your head in a convection oven, it is still HOT. Nuff said.
· Ants. Ants. Ants. I have never seen this many ants in my life. I am getting use to waking up and having them on my pillow though. I have started calling them the housekeeper because they will clean up any crumb that they find. Very cheap labor and luckily they don’t bite the employer, me.
· Evaporative cooling. I have many mixed emotions on this way of cooling a house. It is very efficient. And it works very well as long as it is not a day that is over 35C but if it is over 35, forget it. Then it is like pouring gasoline on a fire. For those that do not know what evaporative cooling is, google it.
· The Doctor. I love the Doctor. No, not a medical doctor but this wonderful “breeze” (if you can call 20+ knots a breeze) that comes in off the Indian ocean, usually in the evenings, and drops the temp about 10 degrees in minutes. The way that our house sets, it comes right in our veranda and gets trapped. Very nice. But I think come winter, I will be cussing the doctor.
· The Indian Ocean. I have never seen such a beautiful ocean and such beautiful
Beaches in my life. The sunsets are like something out of a painting. The sun and the ocean create so many effects together and I could watch it everynight of my life and NEVER get tired of it. I can not put into words the way it makes me feel inside but I have seen sunsets over mountains, desserts, beaches and oceans and nothing compares.
· Black Flies. Hate them. Blow flies. Hate them. Flies up my nose and in my eyes. Hate it. Nuff said.
· Mossies. Hate them. I have 23 mossie bites on me from when I went to a picnic yesterday in the day time. Even my husband who never gets bit has mossie bites (Mossie= Mosquito). But my husband still says they are worse on the Eastern Shore of VA than here. I trust his word on this and do not want to give up a pint of my precious blood to find out.
· Now a word from our sponsors~ Foods and products that you only get in Australia that we love. We love TimTams. Traditional chocolate TimTams. We love the marshmallows. Vanilla and raspberry. We love Cadbury. Lots and lots of Cadbury. We love WA Bananas. We love Kirks passion fruit soda and lemon mash. We love chicken salt. We love chicken chips. We love chicken crackers. We love Mia bread. We love that almonds and cashews are so cheap. We love the cheeses and yoghurt here. (Especially honey yoghurt). We love Chooks chicken. We love Tassie Salmon and blue fin tuna. We love Jesters meat pies. We love sunscreen by the GALLON people! We love red Australian wine. We love VB.
· Things that I miss~ my friends. I miss cheap beer. All be it the beer is better here but you have to pay the price. I miss snow. There I said it. Not lots of snow but I do miss snow. Snow is one thing that I always loved and I know I will never see it here. I miss Krispy Kreme. That is about it.
· Drinking in Australia is a big pass time. I am not a huge drinker but I do like my spirits from time to time but since being here I have had more beer and wine than I have had since my college days! I feel like there is always a good reason to drink. And it is so easy to get. There is a bottle shop on every corner and all you do is drive up, tell them what you want and give them the money. They go get it for you and carry it to you and you drive away. We are not talking about a Brew Threw, we are talking about big time here. 2 lanes at most of them and any beer, wine or liquor you can think of. But again, not cheap.
· Some things are just odd to me. It is odd that many super markets keep eggs on the shelf and not refrigerated. It is odd to me that there are parks EVERYWHERE. It is odd to see kangaroos and emus running wild. It is odd to see the lorikeets, ring necks, Galas and cockatoos flying everywhere. It is not really odd but amusing to listen to ravens talking. It is odd that we live in the second largest city in Australia but everything closes at 5 or 6 every night except one. It is odd not to get mail on Saturdays. It is odd to watch free uncensored TV and to see movies entirely uncut on FREE TV! It is odd to watch Bob the Builder and he has an Aussie accent. It is odd to see kids in pubs. It is odd to see the world stop for a cricket match and for that to be the top story (see India vs. Australia). Cricket is odd. It is odd not to have any heat in your house.

Sorry to have gone on for so long but this is just a few things that have been going through my head over the past few weeks. I am sure as we get settled in, I will have more thoughts. I am not whinging or complaining about life here at all. If anything, I love it. I feel at home. Finally. And I love my new Aussie family.
And on that note, G’day mates.