Arrival

Hey, Mates!  I'm sorry it's taken 3 days to get a message back home, but as you'll see below, we've been a bit handicapped on the technology and internet end of things.  Suffice it to say, we've been safe and happy, and we're having the time of our lives!

We had a safe flight to LA, followed by the most incredible first-class flight experience of my life.  I've flown first-class before after my studies abroad on my way home from Europe, and I had no idea it could be better.  My airplane experiences are forever ruined.  We flew a Boeing 747 with 2 levels, and when we boarded the plane, we were asked to go upstairs.  When looking out the window, the other airplanes and vehicles looked like miniature toys.  It was a lot of fun.  Each seat was encased in back with a plastic hood that made the whole thing incredibly private.  We each had our own television that we could independently control, and we were fed and fed for the entire 14 hours.  I ate my first sample of vegemite for breakfast on the plane, and my first thought was ... "how could anybody have ever invented this and thought, 'this is delicious, I bet you I can make a whole lot of money selling this to the entire population of Australia.' "  It was salty, bitter, and pungent.  Yuck.

On our first day, we first spent a few minutes settling in.  The apartment is gorgeous.  It's right downtown, and it has an incredible porch spanning the entire length of the apartment overlooking the beautiful downtown area.  It has all the amenities (including a washing machine! - I'm learning the more we research homes here how lucky we are). 

Then, I walked downstairs for coffee, and quickly discovered that even though we speak the same language, some of the words are jumbled up.  Here's how my first attempt at ordering coffee went:  (first, I looked at the wall, and it said "Regular Coffee - $2.50").  Me:  "Can I please have a regular coffee?"  Her:  "................"  Me:  "Like, regular drip coffee?"  Her:  "But what kind?"  Me:  "Just your house blend."  Her:  "House blend?"  Me:  "Well, what kinds do you have?"  Her:  "Um, like, espresso, cappuccino ... well, just, do you want milk in it?"  Me:  "No, just black drip coffee."  Then, my order arrived - it was straight espresso.  I still have yet to discover if drip coffee exists here.

Then we were directed to the Queen Street Mall for phones & bank accounts.  Okay, now let me tell you something.  It's very easy to forget how dependent we are on our phones, until you move to a different country and temporarily have no email, telephone, internet, or google maps abilities.  We got lost on a 3-block walk.  Literally.  We circled a block at least twice, and had to stop for directions a few times.  I felt really silly when we found it - it's so close!  Then, after wasting Bob's time at Chanel, Hermes, and Tiffany, we opened a bank account.  Everybody we have encountered so far is incredibly nice, and our account lady was no exception.  We still wanted to research "mobile" plans (they don't call them "cells"), so we forewent the phones then.

Next, lunch.  We were a little disconcerted at the prices for everything here (my Blistex was $6.80!!!), so we went to Subway.  We debated the entire way there whether the sandwich would be called a "one-third-meter" or a "26-centimeter," and were interested to find that it's still a "footlong" and "six-inch."  We also learned to ask for "salad" instead of lettuce.

I really can't remember what we did for the afternoon, except I do remember an episode of "MacGyver" in there somewhere, and we went and picked up an "Internet stick" - a dongle that gives us internet access.  However, at that point, my laptop's battery was so low we couldn't do anything substantial.

We tried our hardest to adjust to their sleeping schedule, but Bob failed miserably and fell asleep at 6 pm after an episode of Modern Family.  I lasted about an hour longer.

On Tuesday, we woke between 4-5 am, and watched "The Incredible Hulk" until our air shipment arrived at 7:30 am.  This contained our transformer, desktop computer, and many of our work clothes.  We were finally able to plug in our electronics.

At 9:30 we walked a block to Bob's new office and were given a tour of the building.  We met Bob's boss, a very nice man named Don.  Two women that have been helping us coordinate our travels also joined us, and they gave us a tour of the building.  I wish I could give you all a tour of this building (especially Laura!) - it's absolutely incredible.  They only moved into the building 3 weeks ago, and it's done in a very modern style.  They first took us to the 16th floor, which has areas for dining and relaxation.  They even have rooms where yoga classes are conducted!  When I asked if I could hang out there, they said yes, but I have a feeling they weren't being serious at all.  Then they took us to the 27th level, the top level, where they have a variety of meeting rooms that are acoustically designed so you can speak at a normal level, and be heard perfectly at 60 feet away.  We got a great view of the city from above.  Next, we went to Bob's floor - the 25th floor, and met a few coworkers - Daniel (just moved from Washington State last week), and Nick, who invited us to a barbeque this weekend.

Then, with the grand idea to get phones, we returned to Queen Street mall, and were told that in order to obtain a cell phone, we must first provide (no joke), (1) our passport (okay, np); (2) our visa (just have to go back to the apartment for that); (3) our ATM card (which will not arrive for 1 1/2 weeks), (4) a bank statement (which will not arrive until January), (5) an Australian driver's license (omg, this is getting ridiculous), and (6) our Medicare health insurance card (which we are not even eligible for, because we're not citizens).  I think the only thing missing from that list was a DNA sample.  We still don't know what we're going to do about the phones.

The only remaining interesting thing we did yesterday was go to the grocery store to buy Kangaroo meat and watch "Letters and Numbers."  I made penne pasta served with "minced" (not ground) Kangaroo meat and tomato sauce for dinner, and it tasted like gamey beef.  It was great!  "Letters and Numbers" is Bob's new favorite game show.  The players unscramble 9 random letters, and the person who can make the longest word out of the 9 letters wins.  They only get points if their word was the longest, and then they get an amount of points equal to the length of the word.  Then, before every commercial break, the beautiful girl chooses 6 random numbers, and the players have to combine those numbers in a mathematical operation to reach another random target number.   For example, the 6 random numbers may be ... 25, 75, 100, 10, 3, and 4.  And the target number might be 338.  The solution might be (3 x 100) + 25 + 10 + 3.  The best I can tell, the loser wins a dictionary, and the winner wins the opportunity to appear on the next episode.  I think I would intentionally lose if I were a contestant.  Bob, on the other hand, is in heaven.

It's now 6:15 am, and I have a scheduled meeting with Rio Tinto's recruitment lady at 9:30 am.  She's going to introduce me to her husband, who is a solicitor here in Brisbane.  He's going to give me some advice about the legal market here.  Bob is going to also go to Rio Tinto to have his ID card made.

Since we’re still phone-less, we can only communicate via email or skype, and we’ll have to be home to do it.  If you’d like to catch up, send us an email, and we’ll schedule a skype session.  Love you all, and miss you!