I can barely believe it. Will and I have been here six months today. In tribute to this momentous occasion, I thought I’d take stock of all of our accomplishments and more significant experiences during this time. So without further ado…
Six months and …
- We learned the ropes of renting, sighted a mythical real estate agent, and found our lovely apartment—all in the first two weeks of being here!! (sidenote: the apartment downstairs from us is in the process of being rented out, and, just like any metropolitan citizen worth her salt would do, I discovered that they’re charging $20 less a week than what we pay—and they have a courtyard!!! Stupid one year lease.)
- Visited
- Said travels have brought our number-of-countries-visited tallies to 22 (Kim) and 13 (Will)… and they’re still growing! (sidenote: my countries-visited tally now surpasses my American-states-visited tally: 22 countries to 20 states.)
- Walked at least
- Ridden hundreds of trams and trains… again thanks to our lack of automobile status
- Paid out $400 dollars in fines to the
- Driven a manual automobile on the left side of the road on several different occasions (that was Will, not me)
- Seen little penguins, koalas, kangaroos, and really weird-looking possums, all in the wild
- Eaten many meals of fish’n chips
- Drank hundreds of lattes, cappuccinos, and flat whites
- Driven the
- I have read over 100 books since arriving in
- Will has read about 30 books since arriving in Australia (Will would like to point out, however, that the average page count of his books is over 800, while mine hovers around 350. I find that highly irrelevant.)
- Written four different versions of the first four chapters of my novel and have not been satisfied with any of them, so am now taking a break. Maybe I will revisit novel writing at a further date.
- Eaten kangaroo! This past weekend we grilled out in the park with our neighbors, and kangaroo fillets were part of the menu. See picture below for further proof:
Kangaroo on the barbie
Americans enjoying a delectable Australian icon
- Will has been with his company for six months now, and has designed a subdivision, figured out what Tim Tams are (and that they’re hidden in the conference room, which comes in handy whenever he wants a snack), and what to expect from morning tea.
- I have been working at a café for over four months now. The accomplishments are few, but include serving many pizzas and pasta; figuring out that entrees mean appetizers, lemonade means sprite, serviette means napkin (napkin means diaper), and stubbies mean bottled beer; and learning how to make good coffees (what, the foam on a cappuccino is supposed to be creamy? Bubbles mean that you’ve burned the milk? Oh Bread and Co., you allowed me to serve some truly lousy coffees).
- Got a job at
- Brought Darcy through quarantine.
- Taken Darcy to the dog park many, many times. And if we miss a day without taking her to the park, beware of any loose articles left alone in the house. Most recent victim: my retainer that I’ve had since tenth grade. Victim before that: Will’s prescription glasses. Things on our to-do list: schedule visits with the orthodontist, optometrist, and obedience school.
- Made many acquaintances, some good friends, and a couple of enemies (just kidding about the enemies part… hopefully).
- Been to an Australian Rules Football (footy) game, and pretended like we understood the rules.
- Had a lovely visit from my parents, and hope for many more… from them and others.
- Have added “How you going?” (instead of “how are you doing?”), “lead” (meaning “leash”), “uni” (meaning “university”), and “Dahhhcy” (instead of “Darrrrcy”) to our vocabulary.
- Have started introducing Will as my “partner” because, well, that’s just what they say here. I’m really hoping it becomes so ingrained that I go back to the States and keep using it!
- Have loved the last six months, and can't wait for the next six!
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