Around the World and Back: I got some wild, wild life

Hello everyone from sweltering Melbourne! Summer is upon us and it is slowly killing me. Just kidding! But we have had some horrendously hot days and I've realized how low my level of functionality is in the heat. 100 degrees is just too hot to do anything but sit in an air conditioned room. Instead I've been trying to spend the hot ones at the Fitzroy pool; reading, swimming, and trying not to get burnt to a crisp (successfully, so far!). My main method of transportation being my bike, I've spent a few days riding to work in a hair dryer/oven, the hot wind sending tears streaking down my face and rendering me nearly dead after my 25 min ride. I factor in an extra half hour on those days so I can sit in front of the air conditioner, chug ice water, and try to regain consciousness. I'm sorry to most of my readers who are in cold weather climates at the moment, but trust me, the hot weather isn't as enjoyable as you're imagining it to be (cuz I'm really selling it)! But then again, being from Seattle, it's a character flaw of mine to whine about the weather no matter what it is, so… take my complaints with a grain of salt. :)

We haven't gotten out of the city nearly as much as we'd have liked to in our time here. Not having a car in Australia proves to make it slightly more difficult to get anywhere beyond the train line. However, I'm still REALLY glad we don't have a car, as it would cause so much monetary and mental stress. However, we have had a few train adventures! We took a train and bus out to the Healsville sanctuary about 2 months ago in hopes that Brian would get to hold a koala (an Australian right of passage… for tourists, that is). It was a great day; lovely weather, no missed connections in transportation, and plenty of cute animals to see and photograph. As koalas tend to not be used to being held and cuddled by humans in nature, holding one at a sanctuary seems to be more and more frowned upon these days, so Brian missed out there. But we still had a great time!

An hour's train ride will also get you to the hiking track mecca that is the Dandenong Mountain ranges, which we did last week. There are tons of options for hiking, for all different ability levels and distances. That day we just had a short time since I had to work, so we hiked to the top of One Tree Hill and had a little lunch before descending. Lots of stairs, great workout, and we lucked out with weather again as the temperature was perfect! Next time we go out there we'll get an early start and see if we can get in a long hike. It was so nice to get out of the city and into nature again and made us so excited for our upcoming trip to Tasmania in March!

While living in a big city, it's so easy to get caught up in the daily grind, and I forget to update my blog as nothing really jumps out at me to document about day-to-day life… however I now realize that our work situations have completely changed since my last post. Brian was hired a few months ago for a cafe that is opening this upcoming Monday, and in the meantime has been working at their sister cafe on the weekends. It's called Two Birds One Stone and is in the posh South Yarra district. It's a wonderfully successful cafe; well-run, delicious food and coffee, and is constantly busy in spite of having opened just over 6 months ago! It's been a really great place for Brian to work after all the disorganization and haphazardness he's been used to in some of his past jobs in the last 16 months. :) Of course, working two days a week hasn't been the best (or has it…?) in a city where there's lots to do but most of it will cost you, but after a very long wait the new cafe (Top Paddock) is nearly opened and Brian will have full-time hours! I don't know who's more excited, him or me, but either way it is going to make things a lot less financially stressful for us.

And as for me, I'm still working at the pub 3 nights a week and really enjoying myself there. I quit Residential Kitchen and am SO happy to be free of that place. My quitting ended up being slightly more dramatic than I would have liked, as my boss suspected I was unhappy, and in a passive aggressive way pulled the I'm-breaking-up-with-you-before-you-can-break-up-with-me thing… but after a heated conversation he finally admitted that I was a great worker and that he'd be sad to see me go. I could write some nasty things about that place but we'll just leave it at that. :) Working three days a week hasn't been as great on the pocketbook, but my happiness levels are higher. It's been nice to have extra time off to ride my bike, go to the pool/gym, read, cook, etc. Even though I've known I need a second job for awhile, I've been very lazy about actually looking for one, as much of the city shuts down for a significant portion of December/January. Brian's been looking out for me though, and landed me a trial as a server at Top Paddock when it opens, and my trial was a success! We have training next week at the new location and then when it opens I should have 3-4 shifts a week, which will be perfect! **Update: I drafted this blog post a few days ago, and since then we have had training sessions and been given our roster… I was signed on for five 9-hour shifts a week!! Needless to say I was shocked and had a mental debate about what to do. The loads of cash this could make me in conjunction with my 3 shifts at the Retreat is very enticing, but in the end I had to be honest with myself and cut one of shift back at both jobs. Our Melbourne experience is officially going to be turned upside down come Monday morning, with Brian going from easing into the day and having too much free time to know what to do with, to working 45+ hours/week at what is sure to be a manic pace. And I'll pretty much be working all the time (think of the money, think of the money…). I hope to update you in a month or so about how things have changed for us, because I think it will be pretty dramatically. As I get more involved in the opening of the new cafe, I'm realizing how much of a big deal this place is and starting to feel extremely lucky and excited about some new doors it could open up for us… stay tuned :)

Brian's parents are coming in a week and we couldn't be more excited! It will be so nice to see family and get that little taste of home after being away for so long. I'm looking forward to putting on my tourist hat a little bit while they're here, as we've really spent most of our time so far just doing the same things over and over again. Breaking out of the routine and showing someone around our city will be really fun. We've been making a list of all the things we might do while they're here and it's getting pretty long! Having the holidays away from home was hard for me this year, but it's been refreshing to know that the Quists are coming soon and we can just spend some quality time with them. Can't wait!

And news-wise I've been saving the best for last… Last Tuesday night we had the most magical night ever! Thanks to the ever-talented and gracious Carter Yasutake (a high school friend and amazing trumpet player), we scored free tickets and backstage passes to the David Byrne and St. Vincent show at Hamer Hall. Carter's talents have landed him a spot in their brass band which toured around the US and Canada in the fall, and now they're in Australia for 10 days. So, as much as I sometimes despise the creepiness and spy-like nature of Facebook (and the fact that autocorrect just goes ahead and capitalizes the "f" for me), I am thrilled that it reconnected me with Carter after all these years, and that Facebook subsequently allowed me to shake hands with David Byrne himself (twice!).

Some of you have probably been skimming this blog post to get to the good stuff, so without further ado… here's the story and every dirty detail:

We arrived at Hamer Hall and immediately our excitement grew as we picked up our ticket envelopes and saw the "after show" passes inside! I even bought the world's tiniest glass of wine for $10 because I was swept up in the excitement of it all (regret)! Our seats were on the balcony and it was great to be a bit above the stage as we could see all the fancy choreography of that talented band during the show. It was 10000 times better than I ever expected, with plenty of surprises! On top of most of their collaborative album, Love This Giant, they also played 'Strange Overtones' off his album with Brian Eno (my favorite song on that album), and… drumroll please… 'This Must be the Place (Naive Melody)' which is one of my favorite songs OF ALL TIME. I nearly died. (Any other super fans? I got really crappy videos! His dance moves are even more epic in real life!) Anyway, the show was perfection, and it was so great to see Carter out there on stage being awesome with Mr. Byrne. I suppose in some ways, the fun was just beginning, as the next thing that happened was pretty incredible. We entered through the stage door and waited in a lobby for them to call us back to the after party, and who should walk into the lobby but RIVERS CUOMO himself. and I kid you not, they couldn't find his name on the list; asked him to repeat his name, and then said, "…I'm sorry, you're not on this list…" ("is this a movie?" I asked myself about my life at that moment) to which he replied that it was no problem and he'd just wait. THEN, he sat down in the chair RIGHT NEXT TO US, where I was nearly peeing myself with excitement. He talked to the lights guy as we tried to get up the courage to say something, anything to him, but before we could he got up and was on the other side of the room. But then! We were able to go back into the room, where there were no more than 15 people, 3 of them being David, Annie, and Rivers. Carter had stepped outside so Brian and I just stood there, paralyzed, with these goofy grins on our faces, not knowing what to do. Rivers looked like he felt awkward and didn't know who to talk to (I feel ya, buddy), and I'm pretty sure my biggest regret in life thus far is not getting up the nerve to just go talk to him at that moment. Then Carter was back in the room and we caught up on our lives since high school while the VIPs stood a few feet away and I tried to keep a steady train of thought going. It was a weird "after party", I must say; a few of us in a big empty room, with an unstocked kitchen, no music, no food or drink, save the bottle of wine Carter had brought from the dressing room. The "party" only lasted 15-20 min, and then was moved to a local bar under the bridge over the Yarra River. It was there where we were introduced and got to talk to a slightly tipsy David Byrne. He is such a cool guy! He's so down to earth; as Carter says "it's like no one ever told him he's David Byrne"… just a really easy-going, friendly and funny guy. David (we're on a first-name basis by now) introduced us to Kimbra, and Carter introduced us to Annie Clark (St. Vincent) and we just chatted away with these stars as if we were old friends (Stars! They're just like us!). All the while I had my eye on Rivers, who was just being awkward and brooding by himself most of the evening, and I still couldn't get up the nerve to approach him. The night felt like an absolute dream…. I still can't really believe any of it happened. I really hoped the night would never end. I don't think I can ever thank Carter enough for such a special evening… but if you're ever in New York, please check out his band, Midnight Magic and buy him a drink (or 3) afterwards!!

I guess that's the gist of it here at the moment! As always we are trying to plan out the next year and failing. However we are patting ourselves on the back for finally sitting down and brainstorming possibilities for the future! The next month or two will be a "rebuilding of funds" period in our lives which I think will greatly help us to look toward future plans, where as right now we're just trying to have fun locally on a tiny budget. I predict soon we will have enough money to have plenty of fun yet no time to have any (hello, my life in 2007), but I am crazy excited about it anyway. I have a nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach about the uncertainty of the future, and as anxious as it sometimes makes me, sometimes I have to pinch myself when I think about the greatness of the possibilities! Here's to the unknown!

That being said, whatever happens in the next year, please know that I still miss you all TERRIBLY and have a Seattle-shaped hole in my heart. But at the moment I'm trying to fit Melbourne into that hole (ok, this is getting gross, let me stop while I'm ahead). Although it's uncertain when I'll be home and will probably remain uncertain for at least a few more months, know that I think about friends and family all the time. Many of you may have noticed my post on fb about this, but I do feel like it's very important for us to have and live out our experiences here while we have the chance. There are many magnets strongly pulling me towards home (babies, weddings, an unpretentious coffee culture), but in the end I don't want to disqualify my own experiences here with Brian for others' exciting experiences at home. I hate the thought of missing things (debilitating FOMO) but I can't base what I do solely on the fear of missing out on other peoples' lives. I have to put aside my fears that the babies in my life will never form bonds with me if I'm not there from day 1 of their lives, and that if I miss certain parties and events I will no longer feel as connected with my friends at home. I'd like to think you'll all love me the same whenever it is I choose to come back home. :) That being said, I have to emphasize that no firm decisions have been made about my next move and my aim is certainly not to depress or upset anyone. I change my mind almost daily. I just want to be honest about my uncertainty. I will do my best to keep everyone at home updated about plans but for now, if you miss me please send me an email or letter! Visitors are still very welcome and encouraged. Here's our address again in case anyone wants to surprise us by showing up on our doorstep one day :)

11/837 Park St

Brunswick, VIC 3056

Australia

BIG HUGS AND KISSES!