Getting Settled

I got to move into my new apt the night before my birthday...what a great gift to wake up in my own place! after a couple of weeks, i got approved for an awesome one bedroom apt with lots of light and a balcony. i bought most of the living room furniture from the guy who moved out AND the bbq (grill) on the balcony, quite convenient.
It was a busy work week but was topped off with an afternoon golf session on friday with ebay. I guess the media perks don't only exist in NYC :)
Today I got a bunch of kitchen stuff from a co-worker - I have more stuff in my kitchen now than I did in my 6 years in NYC...you guys would get a kick out of that. Pots, pans, rice cooker, wok on and on and on. I have a washer/dryer unit in my place which is awesome so testing that out today as well.
No internet at my apt yet (killing me along with the fact that I haven't unlocked my iphone yet). So I'm at a friends updating all of you before we head off to a Rugby Union game...my first. I will be cheering (not rooting) for the Waratah's - the Sydney team.
Happy birthday Leah - have a fabulous weekend of celebrating :)
I hope to be back on skype soon and with a webcam. MOM GET ON SKYPE! someone help her...
cheers :)

Making Progress...

I am moving into my own apartment tomorrow!! As irony would have it, after 2 weeks of trolling the streets of Sydney begging for apartments, the realtor from the first apartment I saw (and also my favorite) called and said my application had been approved. After a second look to confirm, I went ahead and put my deposit down. It is a modern, wood floor, one bedroom with a lovely balcony and washer/dryer. Good light and space. I bought most of the living room furniture and the grill from the guy who is moving out so now I just need a bed. Really excited about the grill though...called a bbq here.

I also had a great weekend of beach and sun and meeting new international friends which involved a lengthy political discussion with some new dutch friends about obama and healthcare...luckily we agreed on most points :) I am totally wiped out from sun and sea and lawn bowling (it is actually quite tiring when you over-exert yourself running and walking beforehand!). I'm looking forward to a relaxing Sunday night and a busy Monday of work, lease signing and moving.

I'll leave you with some funny dutch anecdotes of mis-communications in english. one guy was leading a training at work and at the end of the day he said, 'ok day's over...drop your pants'. of course he had meant to say 'drop your pens'. this story of course led us to repeating drop your pants all night and discussing possible merchandising and URL buying to coin the term. :) another good one...one dutch girl who waits tables in bondi referred to potato wedges as 'wedgies' for several weeks and couldn't figure out why everyone giggled. 'anyone want some wedgies?' ha - no thanks :)

Oh can't forget that my visa came through on friday just in time for the 23rd of the month payment cycle...very happy about that.

sounds like the weather is shaping up back home...love springtime in nyc!

One week down under

It's been one week in Sydney and I can't decide if it feels like 3 days or 3 months...a whirlwind of personal and work life. Right now I'm sitting on my bed in a spare bedroom of a colleague I just met. She rescued me from a possible homeless fate and I am most grateful! Work is full-on...a new aussie (pronounced auzzie my american coworker tells me repeatedly :) term that feels very appropriate right now. My office is kind of like the UN, with people from countries all over the world and a few Aussies mixed in. Sydney in general is very very multicultural which is great.

The benefit of my extensive apartment search is that I have walked a lot all over the city and so now know my way around to a decent degree. The city itself is pretty small and so it's easy to walk from neighborhood to neighborhood, potts point to paddington to surray hills and then a quick hop and skip on the bus to bondi.

I also made 3 friends this week. I met a British girl for a lovely night out in potts point for dinner and drinks (thanks vaness!). I met an American guy who has connections to softball and other sports leagues (thanks doug!). and tonight I had dinner with a friend of my sister's and her friend. Of course with the world being as small as it is her friend who joined us for dinner has only been here 1 month and already knows 3 of my co-workers, including the girl I am currently staying with. Nuts. She also has a birthday coming up so I may do a joint Sunday afternoon lawn bowling birthday party with her overlooking bondi beach in a couple of weeks.

So I definitely feeling like I'm settling in to the city even though I haven't found my own place yet...fingers crossed for tomorrow. I really love Sydney so far...it seems to be the best possible combination of LA and NYC. Great weather like LA with tons of outdoor cafes and bars and balconies and terraces...pretty tree canopy streets. But it is a small walking city like NYC, but smaller and surrounded by water that you can actually swim in. Just an awesome place.

Just skyped with Deb and the Hughes fam which was great...going to crash for the night since I have an early and full day of apt hunting tomorrow. Goodnight!

First few days in Sydney

It's been a busy few days thus far. I spent the afternoon in the office on Friday meeting people and getting my paperwork ready for possible apartment applications. It really felt like old ave a style - the office is very similar, with a totally open layout and only 2 floors of people. At beer o clock - around 4:30 I was asked to stand up and answer 10 questions as quickly as I could...the first one being 'name something you never told your parents'...actually almost stumped me! It was great to meet people and get a feel for the office here - very multi-cultural with representation from england, france, germany, canada, usa and of course a few token australians :) I'm sure there are others I haven't met yet. After a few post-work drinks I was ready for bed with a full day of apartment hunting planned for Saturday...

Up bright and early today (Saturday) - it has been quite the productive day. I caught Leigh and Alix on skype which was awesome...love the new couch Leigh! Got to see some night train action on letterman via skype - gotta love technology. I also saw several apartments and had help from my awesome American buddy (also from Jersey AND her sister goes to VaTech!) getting around Bondi beach for appointments. It was hot and a bit harried but I did find one apartment I like and have definitely been able to determine my criteria based on others I have seen. I've decided I'd like to live near the beach (walkable) and want a balcony and light coming into the apartment...even may give up the one bedroom and do a studio if need be to get my balcony. It is just so amazing here in terms of beach views and weather - I need a balcony to fully enjoy it :)...we'll see what I can find.

We spent the afternoon on the beach - I am by far the whitest person in Sydney so I will be working to change that over the next few weeks. It is really stunning...we climbed 'the rocks' and hung out with the fisherman and some adorable puppies playing in the wake. Then we went on a run around a few suburbs and I actually recognized some streets from the apartment hunting and was able to find my way back...major accomplishment. Now for dinner on the balcony with wine...yum!

Oh and I have also been mistaken for Australian twice already...once I was actually able to give directions but the second time not so much.

May be a rainy Sunday...hopefully I'll catch more of you on skype in the morning :)

Made it to Oz!!

I arrived at the airport in Newark to be told by the nice porter that my large duffel (one of 5 bags I was checking) was over 90 lbs and there was no way they would fly anything over 70 lbs...joy. So he took me over to the weigh station and I rummaged through and took out clothing after clothing and put it into another bag until I got it down to just over 70 lbs. Luckily nothing too embarrassing fell out. Then I stood at the Continental counter for an hour while they decided how much the would charge ONE person to check 5 bags, one of which was still 20 lbs over weight (50 lbs is the actual limit). $350 later they 'gave me a break' and I was off. Good thing I can expense that. :)

I made it through one bag of sour patch kids and 4 magazines in my effort to stay awake on my flight from Newark to LA (thanks girls!). I slept like a baby after 2 lovely tylenol pms from LA to Sydney, waking up for meals of course. On my way off the flight I heard a flight attendant refer to Adam Lambert being on the flight and I noticed him with a small entourage once I got off the flight. His entourage had been in coach with me. Then I ended up standing next to him in the line at immigration...he was hiding in a knit cap and huge black sunglasses and either no one noticed or cared. I considered snapping a pic with my iphone but decided against it.

Immigration was totally smooth - no issues with the visitor Visa. My bags came pretty quickly and luckily the dog came sniffing around before my large duffle where some paraphernalia may or not be hiding came around. :) I wanted to take a picture of my one cart loaded with all my luggage but I couldn't manage it. I was wheeling one bag with one arm and pushing the cart with 7 bags with the other and it was quite a process. The guy at customs took one pitying look at me and didn't even make me unload for the xray machine! He just told to me to go the exit! Love Australia already. Then a nice Canadian guy helped me push out to the taxi line.

So now I'm sitting in the lobby of my hotel while they clean my room. It's hot here! Had to change in the bathroom into summer stuff and cannot wait to get into a shower after 24 hours of traveling. Hoping to stay up for the day but the jetlag is starting to hit already...hopefully this post makes some sense.