Where has the time gone?

Not only is this my 407th blog post, it's also my first post from my new home: Sydney.

The last three weeks have flown by. We were stuck for about two weeks in Sydney waiting to get in to our new apartment with nothing better to do than scout out all the best prices for home stuff. Well, we found lots of good prices but the majority of it ended up being out of stock and we ended up paying twice as much for a lot of things. What a pain. That has really taken a chunk out of our monthly budget and now we won't be able to get internet hooked up for another month. Luckily Jeremy's parents loaned us plenty of "bridging money" so we wouldn't starve and could fill our place with basic things like a bed, microwave and vaccuum. It's coming together slowly but until we get internet hooked up in our place, it seems unlikely that I'll be posting photos.

What's life like in Sydney? It's pretty good, I must say. Saturday night, Jeremy's parents brought down all our stuff and helped us get set up. It was such a blessing to have an extra set of hands! And afterward, we sat down for a real feast with Thai Pothong--a local restaurant that was voted Best Thai in Australia 3 years in a row. Yeah, it's hard living in our neighborhood. If you're familiar with Sydney, we're living just on the edge of Newtown--Sydney's hottest and hippest suburb--where there are plenty of bands, coffee shops, dog parks, and Thai scented wind. (Yes, there are SO MANY Thai restaurants in the area that the wind REALLY does smell like Thai food.) We have excellent public transportation with a train station 10 minutes in one direction and a bus stop 10 minutes in the other. We're not super close to a grocery store but perhaps that will keep me remembering that not only will I have to wear those Tim Tams on my hips, I'll also have to lug it back on foot. (Tim Tams are Australian chocolate biscuit/cookies. Seriously, packaged in heaven.) There is cheap pool and gym about a mile away (nice bike ride) and we're right next door to Sydney University. The movie theatre is about 5 blocks away too. I feel like I'm living the glamorous life--finally! I heard that Sydney is one of the top 5 most expensive cities to live in in the world (aside NY, London, Paris, and Tokyo). And for now, living in Sydney feels like living in Paris... Well, almost. :)

However, until I get a job, I won't be enjoying many of those wonderful things.

Jeremy on the other hand, has started work. It's been a little hectic this week for him though. They have them doing exercises all week on short deadlines which means he's a bit stressed. This morning he left the house at 6:30 AM so he could make it to work and finish editting something before deadline. I know it won't be like this always but he's exhausted. It seems like the people he works with are nice though and things should be slower once he gets through the training week. (How does that happen? I thought training week was supposed to be the easy part?) One great part about his job is that the new head of his department is the Australian equivilant of a former Supreme Court Justice and hopefully--HOPEFULLY!--this will turn out to be the most amazing referee he will ever--could ever!--get on his resume. That would surely get him a second glance in any future law job application! Let's hope all things work out.

Me, on the other hand, I am starting the job hunt today. I've made a list of temp agencies and hopefully I can get hired and start working sometime next week. I've signed up for a library membership (thus my current internet connection) which is luckily free (it's odd to me that local library memberships might not be free--strange Australians...) and can print and fax here as well. I'm thinking of it as my personal office space.

Anyway, I guess that's it for now. I'll type more later.