First day at work and moving day

Today was both my first day at work and moving day to my new place - I love cramming everything into one day! Work was great. I was supposed to be there at 8:30 so I was my usual punctual self and showed up at 8:15, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Feeling confident in where I was going I walked up the stairs one floor to the second floor. I waited for 1/2 hour, my boss did not show up to meet me. So then I made several trips down to the first floor, up to the fifth floor, etc. After an hour we found each other and she told me that one floor up is the 1st floor because I started on the ground floor - jeesh! Today was more of an orientation day, I printed several articles, began using my computer, and watched a video. After a few more weeks of paperwork/ID badges (you have to swipe to get out of some places; fire hazard if I ever heard of one), I should be settled. There are a few more critical pictures I want to take, but these will do for now.

I actually work at the Melbourne Children's Research Institute but it is housed with and affiliated with The Royal Children's Hospital. There is also a partnership with the University of Melbourne. 

They just re-built the hospital. It's less than a year old and they put in a lot of 'extras' to make the hospital as fun as possible for children. They also have several indoor/outdoor playgrounds within the hospital, an aquarium, and a meerkat habitat. I bet (and hope) that all these features were inspired by research that says "children's development [and recover] is supported by outdoor play, creative exploration, and animals." I'm sure it's out there somewhere.

 

My desk! It's sort of like a cubicle but bigger. I have this really big nice Mac computer that I don't know how to use, my own phone, file cabinet, and my own 'spice rack' which is actually a me-size drawer to hold stuff. Perhaps I shall put 1,000 spices in it.

And I get a view! This is actually of the demolition of the old hospital. It's kind of cool to look at, really. At the very least I am SO lucky to have a wall full of windows and natural light. Four years of graduate school and my office was surrounded by 4 concrete walls.

My new place! I will get pictures of the outside soon but here is my room. It's on the second story and has a big beautiful window for more natural light. My friend Alyssa and her soon to be father-in-law helped me move in this bed I just bought and all of my things from the last place I was staying. All I had to do was assemble everything by myself..

Look at that wall of closets!

All I had to do was put an IKEA bed together with no tools. Except...

I did have tools! Thanks to Brendan (Walsh) and Natale, I had my very own screwdriver and knife. 

 

All put together! I'm slightly concerned that it will collapse beneath me as I sleep tonight but I think we can say that for most IKEA products. I guess I'll just wake up to another adventure.

Still a little messy but this is it. I have a bed, a desk, a comfy lounge chair, and more bookshelf space than I will ever need. Oh, and a space heater, VERY necessary. Did I mention it's very cold here?

If Forrest Gump can run for 3 years, I can run for 30 minutes

Ok I stole that line, but it's true. I was running regularly in Athens and have let it fall to the end of the to-do list with all the moving/transitioning. I will say, however, that I walk almost everywhere here so I am getting some exercise everyday. My goal is to get back to running, maybe even sign up for a 5k or two while here. Heck, maybe I'll even push myself and go for my first 10k. A good friend, Ali Watts (a person so amazing to deserve both names when mentioned), is visiting soon; bet I could convince her to run a bit. I had set out to run today but by the time I ended my usual chats, it started to rain again - and its cold! No excuses though, I will run this week!

Australia, welcome to Mexico!

So my biggest complaint about the wealth of food possibilities available here is the absolute lack of Mexican food. I have yet to pass a Mexican restaurant and a girl needs good nachos now and then. So tonight, I made my own nachos. The grocery store didn't make it easy, there is a severe deficit of cheddar cheeses (mostly only parmesean or other white cheeses), corn chips are only sold in the Mexican section (not in the general chip population), and guacamole doesn't exist (but you can buy $5 avocados). It wasn't quite the same as La Fiesta, but it will do.

Sweet new phone

Thanks in large part to Brendan, I've been able to accomplish a lot while here. I found a place (post on that soon), got a new phone, got my public transit card (Myki), and did a tour of my work (post on that too; REALLY nice facility). Today I'm going to try and set up an Australian bank account and get some things in order for starting work on Monday. As a teaser, I thought I'd throw in a picture of my super awesome new phone. It is brand new, cost me about $40 and has the original snake game that all nokias came with. If you want to call me internationally (don't do that, its expensive), I'll give you the #.

Longest bike ride ever

In search of an adventure, Brendan and I decided to take a bike ride around the city. Melbourne is pretty bike friendly so in addition to the regular bike lanes on the road there is a paved path that does a complete circle around the city (Capital City Trail). In the end, it was great fun and we saw a lot of cool things. BUT, when we started it was really really cold and we got lost several times, often ending up on busy roads or backtracking a bit. The entire trail was supposed to be 30km (almost 20 miles) but as I said we did some paths twice and we took a side path down to the beach so we estimated we did closer to 25-30 miles. It also took us 5.5 hrs included lunch. I'm still sore but glad I went!

Fully equipped for the ride. The trail took us along the Yarra river for most of the way. 

Sneaking into Bren's picture.

One of the things we passed was a children's petting zoo. We didn't stop to see all the animals but I did see this furry thing, sheep maybe?

A delicious picnic lunch: ham & swiss sammys, dorritos, pears, and cookies. 

Trying to figure out where we are. We had no idea. 

Our view of the city. 

Although none in this picture, we passed hundreds of working people presumably on their lunch breaks. The city seems pretty healthy as a whole, probably because most people walk everywhere. It was quite a site to see all the men in their suits or women in fancy dresses with tennis shoes getting their walk in.

Picture break in the middle of the city.

We made it to the water! I believe we were in St. Kilda

Oh, there are 2 cruise ships that go to Tazmania from Melbourne. Maybe I'll get on that one day... 

Had to mark my spot on the beach! 

On the way home we passed this lovely art piece. Its a cow in a tree.

Goals for Oz

Of the many fantastical things Tamar made me for my trip, one was an "Australian bingo." Essentially, she wrote out 36 things for me to try and accomplish while here. Some I'm still not sure what they mean and others I'm excited to try. Her rules were that I had to take pictures and get a signature of a witness for proof. I'll keep you posted on my progress. In no particular order they are:

1. Hold a Koala (bonus if the koala is a baby)
2. Go to a football [soccer] game and cheer for Aussies
3. Visit the Queen Victoria Market
4. Try 3 different types of Aussie amber fluid [bonus points if you like it]
5. Eat fairy bread
6. Walk on the Harbour Bridge
7. Play cricket
8. Visit an aboriginal art community
9. Make 5 new Aussie friends [bonus points for remembering their names]
10. Spent some time in a cave
11. Take a picture of a wallaby
12. Eat kangaroo
13. Speak with an Aussie accent all day
14. Go to an outdoor cinema
15. Visit the Great Barrier Reed (bonus points for diving down)
16. Put some shrimp on the barbie (prawns will do)
17. Drink in 5 different pubs
18. Pet a roo (bonus points for getting inside her pouch)
19. See a tassie devil (bonus points if it's in the wild)
20. Sit in front of a bush telly
21. Visit the Praire Hotel, the oldest pub in the country
22. Take a picture with the rock art on Shelly Beach
23. Go to Philip Island Nature Park
24. Ride a train
25. Catch a Sydney ferry from Circular Quay, Sydney Harbour to Darling Harbour and return
26. Go sandboarding
27. Have a barbie with friends on the beach
28. Visit the Sydney Opera House (bonus points for seeing an Opera)
29. Visit Kangaroo Island
30. Surf it up (bonus points for staying up more than 15 seconds)
31. Buy a bohemian purse
32. Visit the Royal Botanic Gardens
33. Do the Sydney Bridge climb
34. See then natives surf on Pebbly Beach
35. Spy a platapus in the wild
36. Run with the penguins

#3 Visit the Queen Victoria Market - check!

I saw it, but didn't buy it...scary. 

Ordering the most expensive noodles to make spaghetti. The woman did not understand what I meant by 'marinara' sauce. I looked later, none of the tomato sauces here are called marinara. 

In awe over something spectacular, I'm sure. 

The outdoor portion had a wide array of cheap clothes and goods to choose from as well. I thought these pants would be particularly suitable for you, Tamar.

First impressions and early adventures

As you might expect, we've been doing a lot since we arrived. I mentioned in the previous post that we woke up at 4am on our first day here and started to explore the city. We were staying downtown so the city "woke-up" shortly after we did. We've been consistently waking up around 6:30 (which should be a huge surprise for anyone who knows Brendan or myself) and wandering around. We're staying a little north of the central business district (CBD) so we've gotten a taste of a different part of town as well.

Our 5:00am breakfast - Chai tea and a ham and cheese toastie (or breaki sandwich, I can't remember). 

Chinatown, before it woke up.

An important building and a fun fountain, I'm not exactly sure the names.

Some green space! I was very excited to see grass amongst all the buildings.

The biggest cupcake I've ever seen.

Mt. Dew is not common! Actually, Pepsi products as a whole are not common and Mt. Dew is even harder to come by. They only have this 'energized' version which tastes about the same.

Lunch: cous cous, shredded lamb & chicken (for Bren) and chicken/avacado sandwich (for me).

As far as first impressions go, here's what I've found:

1. Crazy weather. It's winter here so in general it is cold. However, Melbourne has this weird pattern of weather where it will be mid 50s in the morning, with overcast and rain, then brighten up for an hour, then bring in a rain flurry that will drench you in about 5 minutes. Needless to say, we always wear jackets, scarfs, and bring an umbrella.

2. Very diverse. I've seen quite a mix of cultures here, mostly represented in the food selections. I would guess that almost half of the population is Asian (which makes sense, given the location). Tamar will be very excited to have her choice of Chinese, Japanese, Nepalese, Sri Lankan, Indian, Thai, Turkish (I'll try some for you, Grant), and a handful of European options. I have yet to see anyone that resembles a Latin or African culture, again probably the location.

3. Expensive. Everything is very expensive here. Each meal is at least $10 AUD/person (about $10.60) and that is pretty cheap. We have gone to the grocery store a couple times to try and save money but even there things are pricey! I almost bought a $5 gallon of milk. Almost. We will be drinking water.

4. Friendly. Everyone here is quite friendly. Even in the rush of the big city store keepers and restaurant owners seem to be genuinely nice. This also extends to everyone we've met so far, including potential roommates in my search for a place to live. (More on this later).