Friday, August 22, 2008

Pictures: San Fran, CG-style

We visited the Bertholf just hours after its commissioning. We got to take a tour - in a group of people. Some were civilians, but there were two Captains (rank) and they asked good questions. It was strange to be in a CG setting with dh in civilian clothes.

The Bertholf is a pretty ship!





Me in front of the Bertholf


We got to see our Navy League friends from Hilo. They came for the ship commissioning, and would have given us tickets had we arrived in time. We went out for lunch with them and caught up on Hawaii happenings. They're the reason I joined the Navy League.

Pictures: Nana



We visited dh's grandmother (and great-aunt) before we left... these women moved over to the US from Australia to be with their American husbands.

Pictures: Quilt for nephew

The quilt, about 40"x 55"


The whole back is this surfer print - too cute!

Pics: Blueberry Picking

Before we left Michigan, my sister and I went blueberry picking at our friend's parents farm.




Different types of blueberry bushes... who knew?




Cannon to scare off the birds

Thanks guys!!

MMMmmm! These were some of the best blueberries ever!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Cheese!

Anyone who correctly guesses how many different kinds of cheese we have in our fridge gets a prize.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Go Bulldogs!

We visited with dh's great-uncle John today. We really like him. He's the "grandfather" dh never had, and we're really excited to be close to him. He is trying to convert us into Bulldogs fans. I'm a bad rugby fan (and have no idea what the difference is between Rugby LEAGUE and Rugby UNION) and I have no idea if the Bulldogs are in the League or in the Union... oops... Well anyway, he gave us each a Bulldogs scarf and they're kinda cute (the scarves, but probably the players too ;) lol).

Still have no idea about internet access. We're at an internet cafe now, which is actually really cheap. Heaps cheaper than the stinking mobile phone. I'm hoping to get a phone too one of these days. DH has one, and since we're together all the time now, it will suffice. But holy cow, his phone number is like 11 digits long. ELEVEN. We picked it because it ends in 411. Yeah, whatever that means.

We're hanging out with cousin Louisa and her uber-cool husband Reuben tonight at some art thing (dh's words, not mine). They're the godsends that are helping us here - we really have no idea what we'd do without them. Plus, Reuben has the best American accent when he tries. It's quite hilarious. They're a fantastic couple. Thanks Lou!!!

One of the funniest things about watching the Olympics in Australia is that they have nicknames for each of their sports teams. Like the "Kookaburras" are their fieldhockey team. The Opals are their womens basketball team. The Ollieroos are... I forget. Tonight, the Boomers are playing the US Dream Team. I find it funny that Aussies refer to our basketball team as the dream team. That still conjures up pictures of Jordan and Bird and Magic in my mind... ah, the good old days...

Hmm, what else? Oh, the best idea we had while traveling was to get a bag (literally like a plastic grocery bag full) of snacks at the commissary before we left the US. We got sweet, fruity, salty, and chocolaty snacks (not all in one, that would be gross) and had them to eat on the plane. But then, when we arrived, we had them to snack on throughout the first few weeks. We found ourselves to be really hungry in the morning (due to jet lag) and starving an hour after breakfast. We could just sneak back to our room and have a granola bar and not be rude to our hosts. It was one of the best things we did, I think.

We're slowly catching on to the Australian accent. I mean, we can understand all that they're saying, but I'm getting a little closer to being able to imitate it. Closer. Still a long way to go. But we went out with Uncle John today, and he and his wife were cracking jokes and we had no idea what they meant... we were just clueless.

Good news - we and both cats are still alive. We're pet-sitting, which gives us free rent. I had thought that I could be both a cat and a dog person. This has taught me otherwise. At this point, we're peacefully coexisting. Sometimes not peacefully. Like when I'm cooking and they're jumping on the counter. But, I'm slowly getting used to them, and who knows, if this continues at the same pace on the dislike to like continuum, I may like cats by the end of the few weeks.

Well, we're headed off to the gallery. One of these days I'll post pictures - it's pretty cool here. Beijos!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Alive... and apparently posing as faculty

Well, I'm currently posting from a lounge at dh's new business school. Fortunately for us, the sign just says "lounge" but I have the feeling that it's really a faculty/staff lounge, mainly by the looks we get when people pass by. (Ha! Little do they know I was a professor once.)

We have arrived in our new city, and are slowly starting to figure things out. I guess we're doing pretty well, as we arrived on Saturday and it's now Monday afternoon.

Things we have done successfully thus far:
- taken the tram to school
- found a good restaurant with a killer french toast breakfast
- gone grocery shopping
- gone out for a walk three times and found our way back to our flat
- made dinner ourselves

Things we have not done successfully thus far:
- figured out how to use the oven at our flat
- signed up for a cell phone plan/ gotten cell phones
- figured out where to go for internet access (we can't get on a wireless network at home and we hear it's crazy-expensive)
- figured out how to keep the cats that we're pet-sitting from making lots of noise at night

Oh, get this. Wombats are pretty cool animals. And by cool, I mean their poo is cube-shaped. And a group of them is called a wisdom. That's pretty nifty, eh?

It's really starting to sink in that we're living here, not just vacationing.

Well, we just got kicked out. More to come later.