Yay!!! So I found a place to live. It's fairly close to work, church, and friends I've made from church. It's also close to a park, shopping center, and train station to get to the city. It's a 2 bedroom townhouse and just the right size for me. The complex it is in is gated and very quiet. I ended up with a 7 month lease since a 6 month least would put me at Christmas. At that point I'll make a decision about staying there or moving else where or what.
Since it wasn't furnished, I've been spending a lot of time looking for deals of furniture/appliances. I just bought a fridge today, thanks for a tip from a lady at church! It's new to me and in good shape and was much much cheaper than buying it brand new. I found a package furniture deal for a really really good price that will pretty much furnish the whole place (except for a tv and furniture for the spare bedroom). After I get all that taken care of I'll worry about buying a washing machine (there is no room for a dryer, so all the laundry gets hung up outside).
A guy at church said something to me this morning that is so true. He and his family are Australian but have lived overseas and he said that it's great being a Christian if you move overseas because all you have to do is find a good church and then it's like having an instant family. I have definitely found this to be the case. I've very much enjoyed the church that I've been going to here. I wouldn't say it's home yet, but it's a lot closer to being home than the other churches I visited.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
WARNING: rant ahead...
I spent the better part of the day Saturday looking at apts/townhouses. The whole process of finding a place to live here makes me want to kick and scream and yell and throw punches like a little kid having a temper tantrum. :P
So first off all the prices are quoted weekly, but you pay (at least for all the places I looked at) every fortnight (every 2 weeks). To actually find places you end up being pretty much reliant on the internet to discover what's available... no calling up a real-estate agent and getting them to do the job for you (ok that's similar to the US). Then you have to make a million phone calls to actually see all the places you want to see (cuz there are a million different real-estate agents and one can't show you the place that a different guy has listed). Then go look everywhere and hope you find a place you like. So all this isn't really what bothers me though... it's what happens after you find a place you like.
First you have to put in an application. They want all the usual stuff (id, personal info) and then pay slips, bank and credit card statements, 2 business references, 2 personal references, and current and previous addresses and occupations. You also have to have 100 identification points, I think I might have 60... but really how the heck am I suppose to have 100 points when I just moved here. I've never been given a rent receipt, I have no clue what a tenancy history ledger is, I don't have any bills in this country currently, and I don't own a vehicle.
So I did find a place I would like to live... but I haven't gotten past the application yet. There were things it asked for that I didn't know the answer to so I'll be asking about those at work. Hopefully it all works out!!
Rant over... I guess it wasn't really too much of a rant :P
So first off all the prices are quoted weekly, but you pay (at least for all the places I looked at) every fortnight (every 2 weeks). To actually find places you end up being pretty much reliant on the internet to discover what's available... no calling up a real-estate agent and getting them to do the job for you (ok that's similar to the US). Then you have to make a million phone calls to actually see all the places you want to see (cuz there are a million different real-estate agents and one can't show you the place that a different guy has listed). Then go look everywhere and hope you find a place you like. So all this isn't really what bothers me though... it's what happens after you find a place you like.
First you have to put in an application. They want all the usual stuff (id, personal info) and then pay slips, bank and credit card statements, 2 business references, 2 personal references, and current and previous addresses and occupations. You also have to have 100 identification points, I think I might have 60... but really how the heck am I suppose to have 100 points when I just moved here. I've never been given a rent receipt, I have no clue what a tenancy history ledger is, I don't have any bills in this country currently, and I don't own a vehicle.
So I did find a place I would like to live... but I haven't gotten past the application yet. There were things it asked for that I didn't know the answer to so I'll be asking about those at work. Hopefully it all works out!!
Rant over... I guess it wasn't really too much of a rant :P
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
the weekend!
Friday before leaving work, I was given a car! with a gps to help me find my way! Yay!!
Sat. I started looking for a possible permanent place to live but between not knowing where I was going and driving on the wrong side of the road it got to be very stressful so I decided to go have a little fun. I had been told about Mt. Coot-tha, which was a lookout over all of Brisbane, so I went up in that direction. It was quite pretty up there, although pretty crowded since it's a big tourist area. After taking a few pics and eating some lunch, I went driving around and found a spot to do a little hiking around. The I stumbled across the botanical gardens, which were super pretty!! You could easily spend a couple weeks there.
Sunday, I was planning on going to one church in the morning and a different one in the evening. Unfortunately, I had difficulty finding the church in the morning... and finally found it by a very indirect route, but since it was a small church and at that point it was almost 30 min after the service had started I decided that I'd just go to their evening service instead. So I spent the afternoon hanging out and went to a local park with sorta a mini zoo with a bunch of native Australia animals. That evening I went back to the church. It was a super small crowd (maybe 20 ppl), but ppl were friendly. Once I get a better idea of where I'm actually going to be living I'll be able to better decide on a permanent church too.
After church, I was invited to dinner and the young adults bible study on Monday and so I went. Dinner was amazing, especially since I have only been eating sandwiches and pastries pretty much since I got here. Bible study was good too, though a little different than what I'm used to. It is good to know that the sunday school answer to any question no matter what country you're in is always Jesus :).
Sat. I started looking for a possible permanent place to live but between not knowing where I was going and driving on the wrong side of the road it got to be very stressful so I decided to go have a little fun. I had been told about Mt. Coot-tha, which was a lookout over all of Brisbane, so I went up in that direction. It was quite pretty up there, although pretty crowded since it's a big tourist area. After taking a few pics and eating some lunch, I went driving around and found a spot to do a little hiking around. The I stumbled across the botanical gardens, which were super pretty!! You could easily spend a couple weeks there.
Sunday, I was planning on going to one church in the morning and a different one in the evening. Unfortunately, I had difficulty finding the church in the morning... and finally found it by a very indirect route, but since it was a small church and at that point it was almost 30 min after the service had started I decided that I'd just go to their evening service instead. So I spent the afternoon hanging out and went to a local park with sorta a mini zoo with a bunch of native Australia animals. That evening I went back to the church. It was a super small crowd (maybe 20 ppl), but ppl were friendly. Once I get a better idea of where I'm actually going to be living I'll be able to better decide on a permanent church too.
After church, I was invited to dinner and the young adults bible study on Monday and so I went. Dinner was amazing, especially since I have only been eating sandwiches and pastries pretty much since I got here. Bible study was good too, though a little different than what I'm used to. It is good to know that the sunday school answer to any question no matter what country you're in is always Jesus :).
Friday, June 4, 2010
i made it!!
I made it!!
So I guess this is the morning of my 3rd day in Australia. I’ll count the first day at the day I got here since my flight landed at 6am. The flight went well… there weren’t many good movies, but thanks to a couple Benadryl I slept at least half the flight so it didn’t matter.
The first day was pretty uneventful. I was picked up at the airport and taken to a motel, where I’ll be staying for a few days while I find a place to live permanent. Luckily the motel is a couple blocks from a large shopping center so I walked down there to get some food and wander a bit. Otherwise I just chilled and watched tv and went to sleep at 6pm when I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore….
Day 2 I was up at 4am… way too early… and made even earlier when the wireless internet apparently gets turned off at night…. I was picked up at 9am to be taken to the office to meet people and be shown around. I then went to Wivenhoe dam, where the control center for the seismic network is currently (it’s in the process of being moved to where my office will be) to be shown around there and meet more people. It was really pretty out by the dam and I got to see wild kangaroos!!!! Unfortunately they hopped away before I could get a good picture, but I was told that kangaroos are everywhere so I should have plenty of opportunities to get a pic. Everyone I met was super friendly so that’s good. After all this I was taken to a grocery store so I would be able to eat in my hotel room. Yay for food! And I found kinder bueno for an even bigger yay!!! I managed to stay up til 9pm.
Day 3 up at 4am again… ugh… I’m supposed to be picked up at 8am today, I’m not really sure what all will be going on today though… I do know that Fridays are social lunch days at the office so someone makes lunch for everyone and everyone hangs out.
Although my body is still completely screwed up to the time differences, I don’t mind the doing stuff cuz it’s better than sitting in the motel room watching tv. I did find a pretty good tv station from the limited number at the motel. It’s a very random selection of old and new American shows… everything from NCIS and Law & Order to Get Smart and Bewitched.
So I guess this is the morning of my 3rd day in Australia. I’ll count the first day at the day I got here since my flight landed at 6am. The flight went well… there weren’t many good movies, but thanks to a couple Benadryl I slept at least half the flight so it didn’t matter.
The first day was pretty uneventful. I was picked up at the airport and taken to a motel, where I’ll be staying for a few days while I find a place to live permanent. Luckily the motel is a couple blocks from a large shopping center so I walked down there to get some food and wander a bit. Otherwise I just chilled and watched tv and went to sleep at 6pm when I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore….
Day 2 I was up at 4am… way too early… and made even earlier when the wireless internet apparently gets turned off at night…. I was picked up at 9am to be taken to the office to meet people and be shown around. I then went to Wivenhoe dam, where the control center for the seismic network is currently (it’s in the process of being moved to where my office will be) to be shown around there and meet more people. It was really pretty out by the dam and I got to see wild kangaroos!!!! Unfortunately they hopped away before I could get a good picture, but I was told that kangaroos are everywhere so I should have plenty of opportunities to get a pic. Everyone I met was super friendly so that’s good. After all this I was taken to a grocery store so I would be able to eat in my hotel room. Yay for food! And I found kinder bueno for an even bigger yay!!! I managed to stay up til 9pm.
Day 3 up at 4am again… ugh… I’m supposed to be picked up at 8am today, I’m not really sure what all will be going on today though… I do know that Fridays are social lunch days at the office so someone makes lunch for everyone and everyone hangs out.
Although my body is still completely screwed up to the time differences, I don’t mind the doing stuff cuz it’s better than sitting in the motel room watching tv. I did find a pretty good tv station from the limited number at the motel. It’s a very random selection of old and new American shows… everything from NCIS and Law & Order to Get Smart and Bewitched.
Monday, May 31, 2010
On my way, but stopping in SF first
This was also written from the LA airport waiting on my flight.
After a 2+ hour delay at DFW, I finally made it to SF. Originally the plan was to hang out with Tim and Alvina for a bit right after I got to town, but due to my delay I wasn’t sure if that was going to happen. But it all worked out! After having pho for dinner, Steve and I met up for dessert with T&A and A’s cousin to have these gianormous crepes that were super yummy. Then we played games at Alvina’s house.
The next day after having bfast at google (I got connections), I made my way to the city and wandered around, eventually finding my way to the Golden Gate Bridge. Since I had been to SF several times before I had done a lot of the touristy stuff but going on the GG was one of the few things that I hadn’t done yet. It was the perfect day for it, very clear and sunny. I walked about a 1/3 of the way across and then turned back cuz I had started to get hungry and I wasn’t sure how long it would take to get back to the train station to get back to my place of sleeping.
Saturday, I got to go to the Big Basin Redwood State Park for some hiking and to see redwoods!! Yay for big, old trees! Steve, Neela and I went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner that night. Yay for sushi!! Neela and I ate 5 rolls between the 2 of us. You should be impressed :P
Sunday was the wedding!! It was absolutely beautiful and I had a great time.
Today, I hung out with Neela and her family and then headed to the airport a few hours ago to catch a flight to LAX and then on to Brisbane.
After a 2+ hour delay at DFW, I finally made it to SF. Originally the plan was to hang out with Tim and Alvina for a bit right after I got to town, but due to my delay I wasn’t sure if that was going to happen. But it all worked out! After having pho for dinner, Steve and I met up for dessert with T&A and A’s cousin to have these gianormous crepes that were super yummy. Then we played games at Alvina’s house.
The next day after having bfast at google (I got connections), I made my way to the city and wandered around, eventually finding my way to the Golden Gate Bridge. Since I had been to SF several times before I had done a lot of the touristy stuff but going on the GG was one of the few things that I hadn’t done yet. It was the perfect day for it, very clear and sunny. I walked about a 1/3 of the way across and then turned back cuz I had started to get hungry and I wasn’t sure how long it would take to get back to the train station to get back to my place of sleeping.
Saturday, I got to go to the Big Basin Redwood State Park for some hiking and to see redwoods!! Yay for big, old trees! Steve, Neela and I went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner that night. Yay for sushi!! Neela and I ate 5 rolls between the 2 of us. You should be impressed :P
Sunday was the wedding!! It was absolutely beautiful and I had a great time.
Today, I hung out with Neela and her family and then headed to the airport a few hours ago to catch a flight to LAX and then on to Brisbane.
getting ready to go
This was written mostly from the airport waiting to board my flight to Brisbane, but I didn’t have internet then so it took awhile before it got uploaded to online.
These last few weeks in the states have been pretty hectic. I was sent by my new job up to Ithaca to retrieve a couple things. When I found out that I was going to be going, it made me super happy :D. It was great to see everyone up there again and hang out. I was lucky enough to be there for my birthday. The night before we went to Doug’s Fish Fry (I may have gained a reputation for liking fried food while I was there :P) and night of we played BANG! Neela and I were a team the last game we played and we won as the renegade!!
After leaving Ithaca, I drove up to Ottawa to meet the people we’re getting our seismic instruments from and get a little training. On the way up, I took a little detour to meet up with Jen for some rock climbing!! We had a blast!! Then it was onward to Canada. The folks up there were really nice and super helpful. I learned a lot about the instruments and the software we’ll be using. After 2 ½ days, they decided there wasn’t much more that they could teach me right then so I got a car and was left to explore Ottawa and the surrounding area on my own. I spent a day visiting a couple of the museums and the rest of downtown Ottawa and I also went to a safari-like park. The rest of my time was pretty much spent hiking in mosquito-infested forests.
After getting back to Auburn, I only had 4 days before I left to go to SF for Tim and Alvina’s wedding and right after that I was heading to Australia. That time was spent packing, hanging out with friends and family, and eating Jim Bobs (along with other food I thought would be difficult to find in Australia).Thursday, May 6, 2010
it's may already?!?!
Yes, I'm aware it's been May for awhile, but it actually sank in last night. Arrangements for me going up north for work related stuff has finally gotten mostly worked out and I'll be gone 1 1/2 weeks then and a plane ticket to Australia via SF has been booked. Counting today I only have 9, maybe 10, more days left at home... eeek!!! I should get packing now!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)