A Week in Review

Ahhh!! It's officially been a week since our departure from the motherland into the land known as AUSTRALIA. And, if I must say, I think we've done did good for ourselves so far. Despite the close calls with the right-sided car drivers or standing a bit too close to the incoming trams, we are all still in one piece and enjoying every moment. Let's see...in 7 days we have managed to: become official card holders of Commonwealth Bank, stay connected with the world via cell phones (tho we have yet to memorize the 703 digits in the phone numbers! well that's how long they seem), watch 2 movies in the grandiose theaters (one was Iron Man 2!!), find a cute apartment and decorate it with goods from Target, visit the Melbourne Zoo, more or less memorize the tram system, and still find time to eat, sleep and use the bathroom. Wowzers, it's been a wild ride so far. Now that the foundation is set, we can really start the adventures :)

And for the moment you've all been waiting for...THE CRIB:

Before the magic:

Xtina's room!

The WC

Theresa's room!

After the magic at Target and Big W (aka Walmart)

Video to come soon....

happy birthday! (in australian)

Alexi!! We wanted to show you how special you are to us so we wrote and composed a masterpiece of lyrical pleasure and melodic hypnosis. Happy birthday!!....we wish you were here. Love Theresa Christina and Marko

Emergency Exit Row Please

So as stated before, the movie theaters are genius here in australia. When you buy your ticket, you choose your seat on a computer, kinda like you are picking seats for a plane. Why can't America do this? It's just so simple, they make us seem like complete idiots. This way, you know ahead of time if the theater is too full, if you can't sit together, maybe even if there is a poorly placed railing on the stairs. No more waiting in line for three hours for a seat just to watch New Moon...not that i've done that.

By George, I think we've got it!!!

Guess what peeps??!?!?! Theresa & I finally found an apartment!!! Woo woo!!!! So excited!!! We are now residents of Brunswick, Victoria (a suburb of Melbourne). This area is super cute, reminds me of Northpark/Hillcrest, with lots of character. It comes fully furnished, which means yes it does come with a refrigerator and washer & dryer, which apparently isn't a standard, as well as beds, couches and a fully equiped kitchen (yes mom this means wine glasses as well :)), etc. Pics will of course be coming shortly after we move in and give it our own little personal touch. Its also a straight shot down the tram to our hospital with a tram stop literally right outside our highly secured enterance (thats for you mom as well :)) So after almost an entire week of running around looking for an apartment I"m going to end with one last.... WOO WOO!!!

Biebah Fevah Down Undah!

This Justin Bieber fellow is simply a worldy being! He was in Sydney today, as a first ever visit in Australia and his concert got canceled due to crazy fans..it was all over the news this morning, and this is why he is mentioned in this blog. Rather than getting the weather updates, we received repetitive clips of this feather haired boy singing and dancing on stage. So by 12 noon, all three of us had his song stuck in our heads. Thanks Justin, thanks alot.

Anywho, we did something fun today!! (Not that house hunting hasn't been a blast :P ) We went for a run through a beautiful park near our place and also visited the must-see Melbourne Zoo. It was definitely a sight, from wombats to elephants, we saw bunches of animals. We even had our first looksy at kangaroos -- even if they were behind barriers it was still cool okay?! Haha, but we will see them in the outback, just you watch.

Look at their zoo menu!

We also found Target and watched a movie today, two things that remind us of the motherland. And can we just say that their movie theaters are amazing here??!! You choose a seat when purchasing a ticket, kind of like when you choose one for an airplane flight. The seats are crazy big and movie screens even humungo-er. The malls are pretty huge as well.

Glorious!!

the ceiling of the mall

The Mall (aka Melbourne Shopping Center)

Today was definitely a good day, and tomorrow, we're back on the grind for apartment hunting..wish us luck!

The Poop Shoot

Just an FYI...we have yet to confirm that the toilet water swashes and swirls in the opposite direction...as this is the most important thing on inquiring minds, i wanted to make sure you knew we were on it and we'll keep you posted.

Tri

The Melbourne Identity

Today is ANZAC Day!! What is that you ask?? Good question, and here's a link to tell you what it is -- www.google.com.au. Muahahaha... It's a day of recognition for the first time Australians really went to battle in WWI in which many of the soldiers died. It stands for Australian New Zealand Army Corps. It was really neat to see the city on such a honorable day. Everyone was out to pay their respects and take part in the memorial, including the three confused Americans...

Every day is definitely a different experience. Even though this is only day 3, we've already gotten accustomed to some things - which tram lines to take, that to get things "to-go" is to get "take away", drinking is legal in public and so is dressing like you're in vegas when going out at night. However, some things we have to remind ourselves about like looking right instead of left when crossing a street, and walking on the left side of people on the sidewalks. We've received many a shoulder bump from not knowing the ways of the road. Good thing we're not driving!

People here are so stinking nice!! We've talked to so many strangers who are always willing to help us out. Because we are always pulling out maps and looking confused when looking at them, so many aussies have approached us to see if we needed anything, even without us asking. This one lady gave us her number after finding out we just moved here and another old man stayed on the tram with us past his own stop just to talk and show us directions. It's so refreshing to be surrounded by such welcoming people.

Apartment hunting has still been a bit tough, especially with the city being shut down for the holiday. We've seen multiple neighborhoods though, like Kensington, Fitzroy, Carlton, St. Kilda and the main city itself. Each has it's own characteristics, with Fitzroy reminding us of Hillcrest/Northpark, Carlton like Little Italy, and Kensington like an older Julian sans apple pies. We saw our first glimpse of the beach complete with a Sunday crafts market at St. Kilda which was a nice change from being in the city so much.

Some jemmies we've captured so far on this crazy adventure:

Xtina with a "flat white" (aka espresso with milk)

Australian breakfast yum...

The CBD- Central Business District

Haha suckers! We get to see it April 29th!!

A huge coin purse!!??

Marko in deep thought

"Spanish Donuts"

The oldest church in Victoria

The City

Federation Square

Or as Aussies say, Fed Square

This one's for you Dotti!! :)

Day #1: Intro to 3 Cs - Continent, City, Culture

After many sad goodbyes, 19hrs of travel time, and completely missing April 22, 2010 -- we finally made it to Australia!!! Woo woo! It's so crazy and surreal to finally be in Melbourne, our new residence for the next 1-2yrs. The journey over here, however, was not that bad. On the flight, the airline provided the hits such as Avatar, Asian Kung-Fu movies (according to Marko), Blind Side - the works! Air New Zealand was a great experience, so y'alls should look into it when you come visit :)

Stepping off the plane, we were surprised at how warm and humid it is here. 20*C!! Oh don't you worry, we're having a blast converting all *Fs to *Cs, inches into cms, US dollars to AUS ones... so much fun (and we're doing it all without iPhones!! ahhh). It's a weird thing leaving the spring season and entering into fall. Australia is quite diverse and very similar to America with small differences here and there. Everyone is super nice and helpful. Today was a big step - we opened bank accounts!! Funny what we get excited over nowadays, haha. Tomorrow we're apartment hunting and attempting to get cell phones. Transportation is another issue we need to figure out. It took us about an hour to get back to our hotel because we got lost on the bloody tram. It was definitely an experience and don't doubt it will be the last!

Our day in a nutshell:

Departure from San Francisco, CA 4.21.10 9:00pm

Layover in Auckland, New Zealand 4.23.10 5:20am

Final Destination: Melbourne 4.23.10 10:00am

Settled in, walked around, had our first dinner!!

Lastly, and most importantly, found cupcakes :)