Around the World and Back: December 2012

Happy Belated Thanksgiving! I have to admit, I was depressed about Thanksgiving this year. Last year it passed by relatively unnoticed (we were WWOOFing at the Barley's, busy and surrounded by friends), but this year I worked a double at my two jobs and in between shifts wandered around in the hot sun by myself feeling sad about missing my family and wishing I could at least hang out with Brian for an hour. But then Thanksgiving was 100% saved, by an amazing Saturday night dinner we all prepared together in our new apartment! Roasted veg, mashed potatoes, brown rice stuffing, pesto & bread, mint sauteed peas, shallot-dijon gravy to drown everything in, and a vegan roast. There was even a homemade pumpkin pie with coconut cream! And it was just the Thanksgiving I hoped for; we spent a few hours in the kitchen together, shared good times with great people, and overstuffed ourselves into food comas. Special thanks to Casey for the wonderful vegan Thanksgiving menu and recipes (the brown rice stuffing and gravy were a huge hit!)

I knew it was a good idea to wait a little while longer before updating… Things are going really well right now. After a bit of a delayed start in our settling-down process in Melbourne, we have found a nice niche here and are getting more comfortable. When we first arrived we were very excited about the public transportation system here, with its extensive network of trains, trams and buses for easy commutes. After time we've realized that although there are lots of options, sometimes it can be costly and timely to get around, and it's obvious that biking is a superior way to get around. So, first on the list of "things to buy once we have money" was bikes.

During our squatting period, we happened to stop into a cafe/bar for a coffee while waiting for clothes to dry at the laundromat, and the girl working there started chatting us up. She was so friendly and we talked about travel, our thoughts on the city, and how we were looking for bikes, and she told us she had some we could use. Just out of the blue, such kindness from a complete stranger… she (Louise) had a women's bike that she rarely used which she said I could have the combination to and borrow any time I liked ("I'll just assume you have it if it's not locked up at my house," she said!!). Even luckier for Brian, her flatmate had a men's bike that he never used and "needed some work," that she said Brian could use the entire time he's living in Melbourne! We stayed and talked to her for awhile longer, and she invited us to come back and see live music at the bar the next night, and we left feeling really positive about humanity. When we went to pick up the bike, it was in really good condition and just needed new tubes… that was it. Brian went to the bike shop, replaced the tubes, pumped up the tires, and he was good to go, a perfect tall-guy bike, just what Brian needs (and for free, to boot!). I got a bike the other day as well; it's old and rusty ("Trusty Rusty") and needs a lot of TLC, but it's easy to ride and gets me from A to B much faster than my usual tram-bus commute. Feels so good! Melbourne is a really bike-friendly city, with tons of bike lanes and parks with bike paths to ride through. Brian accompanied me on my first commute to my job at the pub, which was slightly terrifying in rush-hour traffic, but we were able to map a route that is almost entirely off the street and through parks.

Our living situation has a lot to do with our newfound happiness. After a few weeks of living in a huge empty house without a scrap of furniture, a fridge, or anything at all minus our clothes and air mattress, being moved in and unpacked (well, sort of, although we don't have a real bed or dresser yet) feels amazing. After we found out we couldn't stay in our other house, we were given about a month to vacate, but our other 2 flatmates moved out 2 weeks before we did, and they owned everything in the house. We tried to have a "camping adventure" in the house to keep our spirits up, but it didn't really work. It was prettttyyyyyyy depressing. But now, our squatting days are behind us and we've moved into a sunny, cozy apartment right on the edge of Princes Park in Brunswick. It is a dream! Although we were sad to leave our other house, I think we were really just into it for the amazing back yard/patio and the fact that everything was nice and new in the house. When it comes down to it, this apartment is much more our style, and this part of Brunswick is even better than the part we were in before (although we're missing living 2 blocks away from the grocery outlet). Our new flatmate (Abbey) is the same age as us, is awesome, vegan and shares my interests in nutrition, organics, etc, and loves to cook. She's really friendly, easy-going, and made us feel right at home. Her long-distance boyfriend (who was just here visiting) is from Vancouver, BC, and we've had an awesome time with the two of them in our sweet new place. We've lucked out again, roommate-wise… our flatmates in NZ and Australia have all been pretty much too good to be true. I think we're long overdue for a flatmate from hell at this point. :)

Work-wise, things have improved greatly, with the most important factor being a job for Brian! He's working 9-5 on the weekends at a cafe in South Yarra (which is the ritzier part of the city) called Two Birds One Stone. Although it's only 2 days a week, he's getting paid well and with 16 hours a week he's doing pretty well for himself. The best part is, he was hired there because he applied for a job at a new restaurant the same company is opening in January, and after a successful interview for that restaurant, they offered him this weekend job in the meantime. So, he's got his foot in the door and if all goes according to plan he'll have a full-time job when the new restaurant opens in January. I think Brian's been dealt some really unlucky cards in Melbs but they've been followed by some super lucky ones!

On my end, day shifts at Residential Kitchen are going pretty well, and I got a second job at the Retreat Hotel (a pub) in Abbotsford where I work 2-3 nights a week. It's an alright job, the owners (a couple) take really good care of us (even though the pay is laughably low) and are good people. The pub is kind of suffering; it's old and run in a stale way, doesn't attract the right young, hip crowd and is therefor not doing well financially. The owners are obviously really burnt out on all the long hours they've put in over the past 20 years, and it's kind of sad to see. However, the job itself is pretty cruisy, since there isn't much going on there and we are always really overstaffed. I really like all my co-workers so I feel lucky in that way. And now that I have my bike, going to and from work is much more exciting and takes less time (although I'm still feeling pretty insecure about my biking abilities and very nervous about traffic).

It's starting to get HOT. When I was younger I loved hot weather, but as I get older I get less and less fond of hot days, and days above 80 are usually pretty unpleasant for me (unless I spend the whole day pool/beach/lakeside with the ample swimming breaks). Well, it's not even summer yet, and it's already hitting the high 30s. Last week it was 38 degrees (100 F).... which pretty much rendered me useless. Our apartment gets a nice breeze, but we're on the 3rd floor so it can get pretty toasty in here. Everytime I tell a Melbournian that the heat is beginning to kill me, they laugh and say "Wait till it hits 40! This is nothing!" and then I get worried that I'll never survive the summer. I need to start spending all my free time at the beach, swimming in the sea and trying not to get eaten by sharks.

Future plans are very up in the air. Because it took us a lot longer to get settled here than we imagined, almost 2 months has already passed and we feel like we've just kind of "started" our time here. Coming home next summer is still in my plans, but the dates are a lot more up in the air… we have a great apartment and feel like we have a lot to experience in this city and I don't want to limit my time here so much. When people ask us how long we plan to stay or what we're going to do after we leave here, we don't have an answer… but that feels ok. If there's one thing I've learned in the past 14 months it's that the future is incredibly unpredictable, and sometimes you just have to wait it out, expectation-free, and see what happens. That's what we're doing now, and the next year or two will happen how it happens.

Still, it must be said, as we're away from home during the holidays, we're missing everyone and feeling a bit homesick. Once again it feels nothing like Christmas over here; time is passing by without my knowledge of the current date or month (still!), and Christmas decorations and music feel wildly out of place and tacky. It kind of makes me wonder if expats from cold-weather climates ever get used to Christmas in the southern hemisphere. Our plans are still undecided; we've been invited to Adelaide for Christmas with our friends Caitlin and Sean and Caitlin's family, which we are looking into flights for. We may try to celebrate during the day with a feast and then perhaps a little get-away (as Residential Kitchen and most other restaurants/bars are closed between Xmas and New Years). We are really looking forward to visitors in the new year; Brian's parents in Feb, Angela in Feb, and (fingers crossed!!) Ryan in March. Any other takers? We have an air mattress (that we will hopefully not still be sleeping on by the time we have visitors)! :)

If anyone wishes to send us letters or love notes, we would accept them with open arms and return them with something equally special!! Our address is:

Unit 11, 837 Park St

Brunswick, Victoria 3056

Australia

We are also researching internet options and hope to be on the interwebs soon for plenty of Skype dates/chats/more regular email/blog updates.

Missing you all, big hugs and kisses from Oz!