One Year

   A little over a month ago we hit the One Year in Australia Anniversary.   The kids used it as an excuse to ask for every imaginable treat (gelato?  hot chips (french fries)?  Cadbury Creme Eggs?(Easter starts in January)).  Chris and I used it as an excuse to open a yummy bottle of bubbly left by our housesitting French friends.  Culinary celebrations aside, it did make us reflect a bit on an exceptional year.   We have learned lots.  A few tidbits -

 - The process of adjusting to life so far away from all things familiar and comforting is similar to a grieving process.  Everyone goes through it in their own time and at their own pace. 

- Almost everything in Australia is still way more expensive than America.

- Parents are only as happy as their saddest, loneliest child.

- Double-paned, insulated windows and window screens are never to be underappreciated again!


- Those who take the time/money/effort to send care packages to Australia are amazing.

- For some reason, the spector of Australia will scare off nearly everyone from calling you, even if your number is the same and so are the local charges.  This doesn't apply to random telemarketers who still call and get amusingly weirded out when you tell them they just called Australia.  Funny every time. 


- I'm still freaked out by that mammoth, hairy Huntsman spider.  I look for another one every day.  So far, only "babies" have dared to come into this house.  (I realize I just jinxed us!)


- Those Aussies who told us that we wouldn't miss ice and cold drinks for long were wrong.  Totally wrong. 

- Those Aussies who told us that Australian coffee was much better than American were right.  Totally right.  For 39 years I couldn't stand the stuff.  For at least a few more months, I will enjoy it!

- It's hard to strike a balance between acting like a tourist and creating a normal, everyday life in the span of 18 months. 

- With big changes come big challenges and yet huge rewards.

-  Australians, old and young (very young!), curse a lot.  Parents think nothing of dropping the f-word around kids.  And to think, Sam thought the f-word was fart when we got here! 

- Learning to drive on the left wasn't so bad, but driving too far to the left is a problem! (Only had to replace the left side mirror once so far.)

- American customer service is a thing of beauty.  Restaurants and retail have a long way to go in Oz.

- Those people who want to stay in your life will always find a way, despite changing time differences and 10,000 miles.

- After the challenge of adjusting to life here, and now the limbo of trying to decide when to leave and how to balance everyone's needs/wants, we appreciate those few months when we were just here, enjoying being here and wish that was a longer stretch of time. 

Then (January 20, 2011) - our first day in Oz

Now (January 23, 2012)