Fairy Floss

Hi, All!  So sorry I haven’t added a blog for several days.  I have been without Internet service which has been very difficult!  I’m going to try and catch up in a couple of blogs so hold on!  J

Luke and I spent the entire day last Friday with our relocation agent.  We had several appointments and were able to see many apartments but only found one that had some potential.  And by potential I mean LOCATION!  It is located in one of my favorite little areas called Kirribilli, right by the water, has a close up view of the Harbour Bridge, right by several great cafes, little shops, parks, a weekly market, a post office, a ferry wharf, a train station, and would be about a 10-15 minute walk from Luke’s office.   Let’s just say I really had my hopes up on this apartment because it was the best we saw for the day.  Now for the reason we could not live there…it is tiny!  We have no problem living in a small apartment but this place is T-I-N-Y.  So tiny in fact that the bathroom has a sink, toilet, and shower all so compacted in a space that one of us could not actually sit on the toilet correctly if you know what I mean!  Of all the applications we have submitted, they of course offered it to us!  We finally declined it because we couldn’t justify it with the other good options that have got to still be out there! 

That evening we went to dinner with a few other Americans from the Cerner office who have also recently made the move here to Sydney.  Most restaurants are BYO (bring your own) and you can bring your own drinks in.  If you bring wine they charge you to open it!  Pretty silly when over here they are all twist off and no corks!  Oh well!  It still saves us a little bit.  We had a nice time and a delicious dinner.  I finally branched out and got the lamb shanks though I have to admit that the mashed potatoes were my favorite part of my meal!  (I might have Thanksgiving on the brain!) Then everyone decided to order some desserts to share.  Luke and I got a chocolate cheesecake that came with Fairy Floss on top.  Never heard of it before so I knew this had to be interesting! The cheesecake ended up being very rich and tasted like thick chocolate fudge!  Now for the Fairy Floss- this is what they call cotton candy!!!!  That’s exactly what it was.  How weird!  I really wanted to peek into the kitchen and see some chef with his arm spinning the stuff around and around in a giant tub but I chose to wait until next time to do that.  ;)  The picture is below. 

After dinner, we walked across the Harbour Bridge.  It may not sound that cool, but it is!  J  They have a whole side for pedestrians that is fenced off with barbed wire at the top, security guards, and security cameras, all making sure everyone is walking or running across safe and sound.  It was a much longer walk than we thought it might be but it was a beautiful night and something new for us to cross off our list.  Luke took a great picture of the Opera House when we got towards the center of the bridge. 

On Saturday, Luke and I got up early and started the apartment search again.  We had a lot of luck and put applications in for 3 places that we really think will feel more like a home than a tiny one room apartment!  Our day consisted of nonstop walking from 9:00 a.m. until late into the evening.  We went up and down lots of steps, lots of hills, and got plenty of exercise.  We were exhausted!  Who needs a car, right???

Earlier in the day we were down by the water on a ferry wharf.  We saw a small sting ray close to shore swimming around and also small jellyfish!  I took a picture of one of the little jellyfish.  It didn’t come out as great in the picture but I tried for you! 

The highlight of the last couple of days so far is that I finally got a new phone!  I’ve been lucky that Cerner has let me borrow a temporary phone.  I was disappointed that my I Phone has been “locked” and I’m not able to use it here.  So we ended up getting the newest version which is ok with me!  If anyone knows someone who wants to buy a 3G I Phone at a very reasonable price, let me know.  J  I don’t really have anyone I can call but I’m feeling better to have Internet on the phone, my conversions app, and my Google maps app so I can figure out where we are going!  Update on the new phone…the plans here are very different than at home.  We are used to living in a world of unlimited text, Internet, and more minutes to talk than we could ever need.  Not here!  L  You are given a certain amount of data for Internet and I somehow used up 81% of mine in the first 2 days.  Oops!!  I actually went into the store to find out if there was some mistake and I found out that there are certain things that take up the data more quickly.  Since I was without Internet for my computer, I was using my phone to look up more apartment options…I guess doing that for an hour and a half straight where you are picking up pictures and other downloads wasn’t such a great idea.  Here we go again!  Another learning experience! 

Luke traveled again this week but he got to come back in time to celebrate Thanksgiving which is today for us.  We are very excited to go to Kyra and Sam’s tonight because they are having about 15 people, some who are American and some Australian.  I spent the morning cutting up vegetables.  Note: they don’t have ready to go, beautifully packaged veggie trays that save you time so I spent a lot of time working on that.  I tried to make my mom’s cherry coke salad recipe but had to use cranberry sauce in place of cherry pie filling…hope that tastes ok.  I also went to 4 different stores to find French’s French fried onions to top my green bean casserole- no luck.  So, I’m just going to add real onions and then I found some Funyon type chips that I might crumble on top.  I’ll let you know how they turn out!  I was able to locate 2 of my pyrex glass casserole dishes so I can at least serve them in something.  I’m a little nervous about transporting a hot casserole dish in a taxi to their house…I’m sure that will be another great learning experience!

We wish you all a Happy, Happy Thanksgiving and know we are thankful for you all!  We will be thinking about you and hoping you are stuffing yourself and enjoying a day of good football and napping!