Silly questions
By Y | November 29, 2011
Whomever said “there are no stupid questions…” was full of it because along with “Why isn’t Thanksgiving (or the 4th of July) celebrated in Australia?” comes these doozies….
Topics: What the...? | No Comments »
Bombing Magpies
By Y | November 6, 2011
And I’m not talking about the AFL team.
I’m talking about the bird. We were at the park. LJ was riding his new bike while CJ was running around like the maniac he is. The next thing we know a magpie swoops down onto LJ’s head. Good thing he had his bike helmet. MJ went to check on LJ and sure enough the magpie swooped down on him too!
As we were leaving another magpie joined in the swooping. MJ had to scare the birds away so we could get through safely!
Another to add to the list of when birds attack.
Topics: What the...? | No Comments »
It’s a start
By Y | November 5, 2011
Amazon.co.uk ships to Australia! And books qualify for Free Super Saver Shipping! And the prices aren’t too bad. For other stuff, the shipping costs a fair bit and may not be worth it but boy, is it a start! Now I can’t wait until Australia has it’s very own Amazon! Maybe one day…in the near future???? Until then, I already placed my order at the UK site. Let’s see how long does it take to get here! Will let you know!
Topics: Shopping | No Comments »
Something I didn’t prepare for
By Y | November 3, 2011
One of the things that you don’t think about when you decide to move to the other side of the world is what will happen when a family member is ill – at least I didn’t think about it.
About two years ago, my uncle was diagnosed with cancer. However, with chemo, he seemed to have beat it as were the updates that I was given via email, Facebook, and phone calls. When I visited the States last, he seemed to be doing well. Then early this year, we were making plans to go back to NJ sometime in September. I checked the flights around April and yes September was going to be the time because the fares were more affordable but we didn’t have the money to book so we figured we would wait until we got our tax return back. Shortly after, we were told that my uncle’s cancer had spread and that he had less than 6 months to live. I quickly checked the fares again and the cost had nearly doubled. Nearly every day I checked, hoping for a break. Hoping that there would be an astronomical sale and we could put the cost onto the credit card and worry about it later. As I received updates on my uncle’s health deteriorating, I frantically searched VAustralia, Qantas, Delta, and all the other international airlines to no avail. During this time, other family members began suffering health problems including my mother who had heart failure and needed to have a bypass. I was desperate to get home but the airlines were against me going by having increased their fares. While we got a decent tax return, it wasn’t enough, plus, we had car repairs and other living expenses that needed to be taken care of as well.
September came and went and we never made it back home. Then the dreaded day came.
It was exactly a month ago today. My uncle Steve, who was more like a brother to me, died. I was devastated. While I was able to say goodbye to him on the phone and tell him that I loved him, I didn’t get to see him and he didn’t get to see me or the kids. The guilt nearly ate me up alive. I beat myself up by telling myself that I should have been there. I should have been prepared but I wasn’t. I never thought about what would happen once I moved and close family and friends became sick and what that would mean. I’ve known people who have died but I’ve never had a close family death so it never crossed my mind. I took it for granted that people do get sick, age, and die and that I won’t be able to be there all the time because I decided to live not only in another country but on the other side of the world.
I come from a large family and while they truly get on my nerves most of the time, I love them more than words could describe. And because I come from a large family, a realization hit me. I will not be there when they’re sick…when they get bad news, like cancer…when they die. I won’t be able to sit at every hospital bedside and offer words of comfort. I won’t make it to every funeral. So while I mourn my uncle’s passing, I prematurely mourn my living loved ones eventual passing as well.
But what can I do?
I now call Australia home and I do not foresee a move back to the US and even so, my husband and children would be in the same position I’m in by not being able to be with their Australian family, if we were to move back. So I ask again what can I do? What can anyone do who is in the same situation – living far away from many of their loved ones? I suppose, the first thing to do is, we must start saving so we could visit as often as we can. We must also have an emergency travel fund in which we could tap when in need. In the meantime, we must talk to our loved ones often. Tell them what they mean to us. Send pictures, videos, emails, letters, cards, whatever, and do it often. Don’t wait for bad news to call that person you’ve been meaning to. Do it now. Don’t wait because you never know if tomorrow will be the day you get a call at 5am that it’s too late, you can’t go home…your beloved uncle has died.
Topics: Homesick, Just one of those days, People to see, Places to go, Things to do, Travel tips | No Comments »
Just something I noticed
By Y | July 27, 2011
We spent a couple of days in Melbourne this week mainly because I had an appointment at the American Consulate but we did some sightseeing as well. One thing I noticed in the CBD (central business district) a lot of Melbournites (if that’s a word) walk, take the train, etc, plugged into their Ipods or phones or sometimes both. Must be a big city thing. Just found it interesting and I wanted to tell someone of my keen observation.
Topics: Victoria | Comments Off
American’s Survival Guide
By Y | July 23, 2011
I was looking through this website tidying up any loose ends that had come undone as I had been absent from it for so long and I came across an Amazon link to Americans’ Survival Guide to Australia and Australian-American Dictionary
Topics: Hmmm... | No Comments »
A little sad
By Y | July 22, 2011
I was reading one of my favorite blogs from one an American mother living in Sydney and her latest post was about Costco opening in her area. And I became so sad. Melbourne has enjoyed Costco for at least the past year. Sydney just opened up their Costco and there are plans for a couple of more throughout the mainland. There are no plans for Tasmania.
One of my Melbourne readers has had the luxury of getting Monterey Jack cheese and some other American products from her Costco. While I would be in Heaven for just the American products being offered in Costco, I also want to get Australian bulk items too! Who doesn’t need a huge jar of Vegemite? Or what about great savings on basic necessities like milk and eggs?? Imagine the huge box of laundry detergent I could get at a fraction of the cost if a Costco was offered here!
So I’m a little sad that I can’t buy a 36 pack of toilet paper. Why have they forsaken our lovely little island? Are we not good enough to enjoy the Kirkland brand or the huge bottles of mayonnaise?? There’s plenty of land big enough to build a warehouse large enough to house your stacks and stacks of books for sale! Tasmanians love a good buy too!
Topics: Food, Homesick, Shopping | No Comments »
Friends
By Y | July 20, 2011
Someone once told me that making friends in Australia would be tough as Australians, especially females, tend to have their own close circle of friends that they’ve grown up with since childhood and rarely ever let others into that circle as adults. I thought that was true of anyone whether Australian or American or whatever.
Three years and a bit later, I find that I don’t have someone to call a true friend here. I know people here and I talk to people. I have some Aussie mates that I call friends as a generic term of endearment and thus have ended up being friended on Facebook. I may go into work and have a chit chat or vent or a gossip with my coworkers. However, of all these people I know in Australia, there isn’t a person that I would call on a Saturday and say “hey want to go to the movies?” or “there’s this awesome sale at this shop, let’s go together” or “the kids are driving me crazy, want to come over so your kids could play with mine while we just do grownup things?” And I miss that. I see my friends, my real friends from the USA, posting on Facebook about their day to day things and I wish I could partake in those things as well. While I’m not depressed or down or anything, I do feel like I’m missing something in my life. And I know that is just a friend.
Another person told me that once my boys were in school that would change as their growing social lives would force me to meet their friends parents and therefore form friendships with these ladies. So I waited eagerly for that inevitable day.
My eldest has been in school for 6 months now and I’m seeing that what I was told about Australian females and their circles may be true afterall. When I pick up LJ from school, I tend to stand apart from the other mothers. Not by choice. When I get there before the ladies, they don’t approach me and rarely offer me any greeting unless I make the first move. If I get there after the other ladies, I see they’re already in their circles chatting away about different things. I say “hello” “good afternoon”, “how are you?” and perhaps anything else that I believe may be of relevant as an icebreaker. One or two ladies are plain rude and look at me as if I have an extra head growing out of my nose but most are friendly enough to give me their one word answers and then resume their own conversations without me. I started to wonder if I smelled or if there was something off putting about me, like am I the obnoxious American that many people think Americans are. I don’t smell. I don’t believe I’m presenting in a negative way. While yes I am American, not everything that is on TV is true so not all Americans are obnoxious. I’m friendly and always offer a smile to someone. It is also a private school and I remember reading an article a few weeks ago about how some parents didn’t want “poorer” families to enjoy the same education as a more affluent family. I don’t want to believe that’s the case as I can be considered as one of those so-called “poorer families” since I drive a beat up 1990-something Holden something as opposed to a new SUV. Putting the article aside, I must assume that the reason I’m still considered an outsider is because that’s what I am. I am an outsider. I didn’t grow up with these ladies and haven’t been in their social circles since they could remember. So what can I do? Just keep on trying without it getting to me. I hope with time they will see that I am an awesome person to have as a friend and they open up their circles to me. In the meantime, I’ll just keep on trucking…and ask you:
Topics: Hmmm..., What the...? | No Comments »
So I’m back
By Y | July 16, 2011
Well I hadn’t gone anywhere, I was just busy with life, kids, work, you know all the crazy stuff. I was going to write a post about the health care system here but my 5 year old is jumping on me right now so I can’t write. I will try this again later. Maybe.
Topics: Hmmm... | Comments Off
This post is brought to you by the letter H
By Y | May 3, 2011
MJ has always made fun of the way I say “herbs” making the h silent and converting it to “erbs” meanwhile he pronounces the h. I didn’t care as that’s the way I was always told to say it when growing up. However, since I’ve been in Australia I’ve heard people pronounce the h in words that shouldn’t, such as “haitch r” for “HR”. So becoming obsessed I did a search to see what is the proper way to say H and let’s face it, the British take pride in their language so I had looked to see what they say and it’s official – the right way is aitch and anything otherwise is a sign of poor education. I also looked up the right way of saying herbs and apparently Americans say it wrong just like some Australians overdo it and pronounce an H where there isn’t.
Topics: Random Stuff | No Comments »
« Previous Entries