Week 1

So we have completed and made it through our first week in Canberra. It was a busy week and I think it was pretty good.

We had a lot of meetings this week, so I was at the embassy a good bit. I like busy weeks, I don't do well with idle time and either drive myself crazy by doing too much or completely shut down and do nothing. Even in high school every summer I worked at least 2 jobs to keep myself busy.

Our air freight came Tuesday, which was great timing. Our plan of moving out of the house early to get our things here faster worked. The air freight had Caleb's crib, toy box, lots of toys, and clothes. So Caleb was very happy he had lots to play with. But, the movers were not allowed to put the crib (called cot here) together. Of course we have no tools yet, so we called our sponsor - who happens to be very handy, and he came over that night to "help" Brian put the cot together. (If you know Brian, you know he is not handy at all, so basically our sponsor told Brian what to do and Brian followed him.) Anyway, our house is littered with toys again so it feels a little more like home now.

On Thursday Caleb and I had our first Aussie playdate. They have a whole playgroup system here, where you sign up with the playgroup association and they they have tons of playgroups to choose from. So I emailed the group for Kambah, the suburb we live in and they said they had a vacancy on Thursday mornings. Well, it turned out that they playgroup only had one other mum and bub (baby). So we went to the cottage, a small 2 room house filled with toys for the kids and couches for the mums, and an outdoor space when it is warm. The other mom is right around my age and super nice and her daughter is couple of months younger than Caleb. We played for about 90 mins and made a date for the following Thursday. The other mom gave me lots of good tips for stuff to do and them emailed me later to give me websites to check out and her number in case I wanted to go to coffee sometime. So sweet! I don't think she knows my love for coffee! Anyway, it was really nice to get out and meet another mum and bub and maybe potential friends for me and Caleb!

I also found out about an embassy playgroup that is on Mondays and we signed up Caleb for swim lessons on Tuesday mornings (that will start in 2 weeks). So I have 3 days of things for us to do! I am excited about that!

On Friday Caleb and I went to Lake Tuggeranong, where they have a walking path around the lake and a few playgrounds. I am learning that Australians really enjoy being outside and active, so there are a lot of nature reserves and playgrounds. Caleb really enjoyed exploring the new playgrounds and watching all the new birds and ducks!

Today I got a cell phone. So far I cannot activate it, but things here tend to take a lot longer get started than in the States. For example, it takes 1-3 months to get internet service here. Right now I am using a broadband mobile card. Hopefully my phone will activate today so I can actually use it!

Tomorrow we are going to start looking for a church home. We are going to try a Baptist church. It will be interesting to see how Baptists are here compared to the church I grew up in. On Monday we are going to the zoo with our sponsors wife and 3 year old. I am excited to see new animals!

I got a cold this week, I think from the change in weather and stress of moving. So when Caleb was sleeping I would lay on the couch and watch t.v. They import a lot of U.S. shows. Some interesting choices were:

Bewitched

I dream of Genie

Murphy Brown

Judge Judy - really?! I am really embarrassed of this one!

some late version of I love Lucy - she has teenage kids?

Get Smart (not sure if this is a show or movie)

They have other shows too like Oprah, Ellen, The View, Bones, CSI, that 70's show, Seinfeld, How I Met your Mother, The Ghost Whisperer, and Modern family (yay! we love that show!). At least I can keep up with some of the shows I like.

Anyway, it has been a productive week. I think I only had 2 breakdowns where I wanted to look up planes to come home. I didn't want to go in to details about those - but I think they are pretty normal when you live in a new country and at home with a toddler all day, right?!

Let me know if you want our address or phone number. I can facebook message it to people or email. I love all of you and miss home a lot!

We're there!

So we finally made it to Australia after traveling for 30 hours we made it. I will recap the flights first. . .

The flight to San Fransisco was 5 hours and there was too much going on for Caleb and he did not sleep. He played, walked the aisles, and screeched for the sake of screeching. But in all was not too bad. Then we spent a few hours in the San Fransisco airport, mainly in the business lounge where I could send off an email to the family and Brian could eat some. Caleb still was running around like a maniac (it was 2am his time). The flight to Sydney had potential to be a lot better. The business class section was great, seats that lay completely flat and your personal t.v (it kinda reminded me of the pods on the plane in sex and the city 2) and Caleb fell asleep immediately. Buuuut, about 15 minutes later, we hear that the flight is going to be delayed, so our 14 hour flight turned into a 16 hour flight and Caleb was already asleep. He slept about 7 hours, woke up for about an hour and then slept another 2. He spent the last 6 hours walking the aisles, climbing the stairs (the business section was 2 levels) and playing. Since that flight was delayed, we only had about 1 + hours to get alllll of our luggage which was 6 large bags, stroller, a car seat, and 6 carry ons, go through customs, and get on the flight to Canberra. And of course the domestic flights are a 10 minute walk (for a normal person) across the airport. So here we are Brian is pushing a trolley with 7 bags with one hand and Caleb in the stroller with the other. I am pulling my enormous 70lb suitcase with one arm, and have 3 carry on bags, and the car seat with the other. So I am stopping every 2 minutes to adjust, brian is dropping f-bombs, and we are trying to go as fast as we can so we don't miss our connection. Luckily the Aussies are very efficient checking into flights and pulled people to the front of the line that had flights that were leaving shortly. So we made the flight. But by that time Caleb was done and had a meltdown on that plane (luckily it was only a 50 minute flight). I think I might have told Brian about 5 times I was never moving again so he better enjoy this one.

Our sponsor met us at the airport. He and his family have been great to us. They have cooked for us 3 nights, run to the grocery store for us before and after we arrived, taken Brian to work, and shown us around town really well. Only my large bag did not make it to Canberra, but it was delivered that night to the house.

Our house is wonderful! It has 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, it has a very large walk-in closet in the master bedroom, a spa tub in the master bath, a 2 car garage, and a really nice backyard for Caleb to play in.

It is a bit chilly here, it has been in the low 50's. The first 2 days we were here there were storms - just rain and strong winds, but apparently that has been the worst weather they have had in 12 years. So I guess that is good news for us.

Brian had to report to work immediately, so Caleb and I have been on our own. So we have been exploring our neighborhood. It is really nice. The scenery is beautiful, there are a good amount of trees and it is not overly built up the way that the DC/Baltimore area is. We face mountains on one side have a nature preserve right next to our community that we will explore soon. It has free ranging cows and kangaroos. We saw one of the kangaroos yesterday at the park across from the preserve. There are also a ton of birds here, cockatoos, parrots, magpies, and galas. They are all really pretty and very loud and apparently mean, during mating season the magpies will actually swoop at your head and bikers will wear spikes on their helmets to prevent attacks. Crazy!

Today we bought a car. I will be the main driver, taking Bri to work and back and driving around town. It was interesting driving on the left. But so far I have only hit the curb twice, and turned in the wrong lane once. Hopefully I will get used to it soon.

Wow, I just realized I have written a lot. So I will stop for now. I will try to start taking pictures soon. I really miss home, but it is exciting getting to know a new place!

One last story (at least for now :) In the Sydney airport we had to go through Aussie security as well. So we get to the x-ray and the security guards are helping us put all our luggage through the machine and the guard asks me if I have any bags on the pram. I look at him blankly and say "what is a pram?". He responds, "Are you from America?" I say "yes. . " and he goes "You are in Australia now, it is not a stooooooller, it is a pram, BLOODY YANKS!" I wonder how many more times I will be called a bloody yank?! haha

1 week

One week from this moment we will be on a plane headed to San Fransisco. We will have a short layover there and then head to Sydney, another short layover and we will finally head to Canberra. We will leave on the 11th and arrive on the 13th. It is amazing to me that it is only a week away now! We have known about this for so long and now it is almost here!

When we tell people we are moving to to Australia we almost aways get the same response - "I have always wanted to go there but it is so far!" and "that is a really long plane ride". And yes it is very far away and a very long plane ride. I am a bit worried about the plane, but Brian and I will work with Caleb together. We have a backpack full of toys and books and most of the flight is overnight, so we are planning on keeping him up during the layovers and running him around so hopefully he will sleep. We also upgraded to business class, so the seats will lay flat. Hopefully our plan of attack will work.

Since I last posted we have done quite a bit. We spent a few days in Glenwood with Brian's parents. Brian still had to go to work, so Betty and I spent the days taking Caleb to the pool, the park, and playing inside. Then we went to Chincoteague for a few days to spend some time with my family. Caleb loved playing in the sand and playing with his cousin Madi. It was really nice to have the family together and relax. Now we are in Bethany Beach with Brian's family. Kim came down from Buffalo and we are really enjoying our time here!

Caleb has adjusted really well to all 3 places and even adjusted to a new schedule, he is getting up around 7-7:30, taking a 2-3 hour nap at noon, and going to bed at 8. It makes me think maybe I can do this stay at home mom thing ok. I know I have a lot of help right now, but maybe I can do it on my own too. It really is the thing I am worried the most about. How will I adjust to being a stay at home mom? Will I get sick of Caleb? How will I do it without the help of Betty or my mom? I guess I will find out in a week!

I will add some pictures of our stays at the top.