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!
Meg! Yay for playgroups and swim lessons! I knew that you'd be great and that you would find lots of things to do as a SAHM. Don't forget, I'm here if you need me. Love you lots and I'm glad things are starting to come together for you. As far as breakdowns go, just go with the flow. I wanted to do the same thing after we moved to Chicago last Summer...but that was also because I lost Wm on an elevator in our new condo. Long story. Love you lots! xoxo Heather
ReplyDeleteYes please give me your new contact info! You're totally right about those feelings being normal, you just made a MAJOR move! If you weren't freaking out at times I'd be worried about you ;) Your new play outlets sound awesome, be sure to post pics of the zoo - and I want to see your house too! Love ya.
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