special delivery from australia

I got a package in the mail today from Australia! Well actually it came yesterday but since we weren't at home when it came, USPS left a note saying I had to come get it at the post office. When I went yesterday to retrieve it, the postlady still hadn't gotten back in from her route so I had to wait til this morning to get it. So I had been promised a "care package" from the boss over there that would give me more info about the project, the area, and cost of living. That's pretty much what I got. It cost $50AUD to send express mail and was in an envelope that required it to weigh less than 1kg (2.2 lbs). That's just a little pricey!!

I got a few maps, detailed and not so detailed. The more detailed ones had places of interest located, such as my office, shopping areas, and important places related to the job. There was also a tourist (road) map of the state of Queensland. I knew the area was big... but it didn't really sink in until I saw the paper map! There was also info about Brisbane and living there and some touristy info.

There was a grocery store sale flyer so I could get an idea of food costs. Several things seem about the same price and some are more expensive.

Info about the project was included, along with a station map and list. There was also an eq epicenter location map, which was really cool. Actually there wasn't really that much info about the project, just a lot of station lists (apparently there are several different kinds of stations).

sometimes fortune cookies are right!

So we've (my parents and myself) have been eating a lot of chinese here recently of the takeout variety. They like it and it's cheap and I don't want to fend for myself so I go along with it. (not that I really mind :P) Well you of course get a fortune cookie with every meal. So this has meant a lot of fortune cookies for me recently! As y'all know most of the "fortunes" in fortune cookies these days don't seem to be really fortunes, just some random saying that may or may not make any sense. Well of the last few fortunes I've gotten a couple seem to be actual fortunes and what's even cooler is they are actually kind of relevant! :P So here goes... (though I must admit that one of them is actually kind of random)

1. "You look pretty." That's seriously all it said. It's like the fortune cookie that builds up your self-esteem.
2. "A new relationship is about to blossom. You will be blessed." hmmm...
3. "The time is right to make new friends." I've actually gotten this one twice! It really must be true :P

It's kind of unfortunate that they don't have learn chinese on the back of them. And another side note, the fortune slips make wonderful bookmarks for my small bible.

life getting ready to leave

So really there's not too much new going on, although I feel like there ought to be. I'm lucky since they're taking care of plane tickets and the visa process, so that leaves me with more free time. :)

Things that have happened in the last couple weeks:
1. The visa process was started!! An immigration lawyer was hired to help with this process and I've sent them all my paperwork. Hopefully I will have my visa soon.

2. Plans are being worked on for my trip to Ithaca and then onto Canada for instrument training. (Though if I had things my way plane tickets would have been bought already, hotel room reserved, and I'd get more time in Ithaca but since I'm not paying for anything I can't complain too much especially since it looks like I'll be in Ithaca on my birthday!)

3. Plans are being worked on for the move over there via SF for a wedding. It wouldn't surprise me at this point if I end up in SF a day earlier than I would have if I were making my own travel arrangements.

4. I went on a grand tour of the southeast to see just a few of the awesome people that I know! I started in GA, then onto TN, and finally SC (I also drove through NC, but didn't stop). I did the whole trip in a week and had a wonderful time! (but was glad to be home and not driving long distances for awhile)

5. Baking/making sweets... most recently fudge, but I want to make nutella ice cream sandwiches before I leave and another cheesecake or 2.

On a side note... There have been a few people that I thought knew that I was moving and it turns out that they didn't know... and these are people that I see and interact with often!! whoops!!! It is interesting to see those reactions though :P

what to take when you're moving to the other side of the world...

Here's what I'm planning on taking with me as of right now. Some of this will probably change depending on how much actual costs are to ship things. There are the usual things that you would take with you no matter where you move. Then there are some slightly more unusual things that are going with me because they are either impossible to find in Australia or very expensive! Other things will probably be added as I get closer to leaving and continue learning about things that are available.

1. Clothes and shoes - mostly things for spring, summer, fall weather as winter weather can be warmer than summer weather in NY. I'll stock up on a couple pairs of extra jeans and make sure I have all the shoes I could need as both are $$$ over there.
2. Toiletries - including extras of anything that I couldn't live without. This also includes makeup even though I rarely wear it cuz that's $$$ over there too.
3. Sheets, blankets, towels - things that will make it feel a little more like home.
4. My silicon pans - I like to bake :P
5. Semi-sweet chocolate chips (and maybe some other flavors) - see above. Generally all that is available is milk, dark and white chocolate chips.
6. Laptop and accessories - for skype!
7. Very clean camping gear - customs doesn't like foreign dirt and I like to camp :P
8. Climbing gear - I like climbing too :) and there's lots of rock
9. Camera
10. Dvds
11. Dominion and maybe other games - maybe I'm a little nerdy :P
12. Reese's pb cups - not available
13. OTC drugs - some things not available, others just very $$$

That's about all I can think of for now... as I said though earlier, I'm sure more will probably get added. :P

what will I be doing anyhow??

The title for my new job is the state seismologist. But what exactly does this mean? A seismologist at an oil company, USGS, and university can do very different things. So here are a few of what my main responsibilities are going to be (along with translations in the () for some of y'all).

1. Management and Operation of the Earthquake Monitoring Network - 65 stations (all the stations are connect to a network so I can see if they're working on a computer screen, I'm suppose to make sure they're working.)
2. Undertake routine seismic data analyses (figure out what all the squiggles mean when there is an earthquake and for some past earthquakes)
3. Maintain Earthquake Data Base on a monthly basis (catalog/list of earthquakes and basic info about them needs to be updated)
4. Assist in field operations (field work!!! not all those stations have been installed yet)
5. Assist in extended analyses of all seismic data relevant to earthquake hazard assessment (what's the chance of an earthquake happening in X years)

There was a whole long list of stuff in more detail than this but these are going to be my main tasks.

So what should I talk about next??

blog title!

I just wanna say thanks to Alvina for the awesome blog title!! She gets a cookie! (well actually a bunch of cookies =P)

Here's the story...

So I promised y'all the story of how I ended up with this job...

When I started grad school, I had it in my mind that I was going to get my PhD. However, I decided after being there awhile that the whole PhD thing maybe wasn't quite for me or at least not at that point and last winter I switched to getting a masters. About a month after making this decision, a professor in my dept came up to me and said he wanted to talk with me. All I could think was that I was in trouble =P. So we went to his office and he started telling me about this job that a guy he taught in grad school a long time ago was trying to find somebody for. It was a position as a seismologist, installing and managing a new seismic network for a couple years and the job was in Australia. The guy specifically wanted someone from my school and someone with a masters degree. It pretty much sounded like my dream job and I was the only one that really fit what he was looking for so we started talking. At that point I was suppose to be done by May and August at the latest and the people in Australia thought they would be ready for me to start mid to late summer. Then they started having some funding problems so it became sometime in the fall. I didn't get done by August and my timeline for being done was pushed back to Dec. and Australia was going to be ready for me in Jan. Well neither of those things happened. So I finally finished at the beginning of March and a week later I get a phone call from the guy in Australia saying that I should have an offer letter within a week. Two weeks later I get an email with the offer letter attached! and in just over two months I'll be moving out there.

It's been totally amazing just how faithful God has been through this whole process. So many times I thought I would never finish or they would be ready for me before I was ready to go and then say that since I wasn't ready they would find someone else. But I did finish and they finally are ready for me and now it is time for a new adventure!