L & L Australian Adventures: Busy December!

We have had a very busy December! I’m not sure where the month has gone and I really cannot believe that 2010 is wrapping up already. I will give you a recap of our most recent adventures from the past couple of weeks and then do a separate blog about what we did for our Christmas and Boxing Day.

I’ll get the bummer part out of the way first! A few weeks ago, Luke woke me up very, very early to ask me about some random charges on our bank account. There were several random purchases, some worth thousands of dollars, and over $6500 was used from our account in only a couple of days. We spent the whole morning at the bank, working with a woman who was less than helpful but they were able to cancel our accounts and dispute all of the charges. They told us it would be a 21-45 day waiting period and we are still currently waiting. Apparently, someone was able to copy my magnetic strip from my debit card and make a copy that they were able to actually swipe and buy things all over without putting in a pin number. The bank said that it is unfortunately common and we just have to be mindful of where we use our cards. Well…I only used mine at a few grocery stores, a couple of restaurants, and a few taxis. Our guess is that it was the taxi but we don’t really have a way of knowing still. I’ll just add this to my “learning lessons” over here and pray it doesn’t happen again. It really creeped me out that someone was able to do that so quickly and easily. As you saw in my last blog, I requested this person be on the naughty list…I hope they were!

On to the better! J Luke’s work Christmas party was on a Friday evening at a great location that gave us a good view of the Harbour Bridge. At the end of the night they gave out prizes. Luke’s ticket number was called and we won a $50 I-Tunes gift card. Everyone was glad we won after the week we had had…again! J

We spent the weekend furniture shopping and looking around for all of the things we needed to fill our new apartment. We found some options but knew we better keep looking so I spent the beginning of the week looking for other possible options. On the 21^st we took possession of our apartment and I went back to several stores to purchase the furniture we decided on. Some of the stores were able to squeeze us in for a delivery before Christmas but we have a few things that will not come until mid-January, February, and March. I had to carry around wads of cash to pay for everything because our new cards had not come in the mail yet. Luckily, they all felt sorry for me when I told the story and accepted the cash! J Luke was able to take the next day off for us to move so we rented an SUV and moved most of our boxes and suitcases and then did more shopping since we had a car. We hit the IKEA store and had a lot of success there, too! So far we have a mattress, bed, couch, coffee table, TV stand, and an end table. Our fridge and washer/dryer won’t be delivered until the 29^th. Something I have discovered in shopping in the last couple of weeks is that they have a No Return Policy for “changing your mind” on items. I bet Christmas gift selections are very carefully chosen over here!! ;)

We were so happy to finally open up all of our boxes and suitcases! It really felt like Christmas when we opened each box and unwrapped the things that Luke tightly wrapped with bubble wrap and cellophane. It was fun to see what we had brought since the days right before we left KC became a blur and we weren’t really sure what ended up making it and what had to stay behind! We were very lucky because out of everything, we only had a handful of things that were broken and can easily be replaced. We’ve been cleaning, organizing, and figuring out where to put everything. Luckily, we both have our own closets!! We still have our temporary apartment until January 5^th so we’ve been using the fridge and washer/dryer which has been great.

Last week one of Luke’s coworkers had extra tickets to The Nutcracker at the Opera House. When they offered them to us, I was so excited because I haven’t been since high school. I was really looking forward to going…Luke was looking forward to finding out where our Jimmy Buffett concert tickets would be in January. We were in the theater part of the Opera House and the concert will be in the concert hall so Luke didn’t get to see! I think he still enjoyed seeing The Nutcracker – at least I hope so. J

The night before Christmas Eve we found a little fondue restaurant right up the road from our new place so we decided to try it out. It was very good and a nice change in our food options! The funniest part of the night was when our waitress scraped out the burnt cheese from our pot and told us to eat it because it was the best part! And we did…

I bought a little 150 cm. Christmas tree the second week of December. I found it at a little store and it only cost $14.90. They had very inexpensive and basic ornaments and lights so I got them there, too. In my pictures below you will see the ornaments with little strings that I had to tie on EACH one because they don’t have ornament hooks. It was a good thing I bought a couple of good Christmas CD’s to listen to the whole time I decorated because it took much longer than it should have! I’ll include a picture of the tree in the next blog.

Here are more Aussie’s words for you to practice:

pressie = present

Chrissy = Christmas

postie = postal worker

bedhead = headboard

tick = check or check mark (Santa “ticks” his list)

reckon = same way we use it at home but they say it a lot!

drink driving = drunk driving

Far Out! = WHOA, COOL!

Mozzy = mosquito

Cocky = cockroach

barbie = having a BBQ