Finally getting settled [non-work]

Back on August 24th, we finally got internet at the apartment.  That was kind of like the last missing piece.  It wasn't a very critical one, though, so more like icing on the top.

So let's back up a bit.  On the 18th we bought a car.  That was definitely a big missing piece of the puzzle of our life here.  Going back further, Ruthie moved us into our apartment on the 4th of August.  It's been a bit of a process, that's for sure.

Continuing with the backwards trend, let's just recap: plane lands, stay one night in Sydney, drive to Canberra, keep going and stay over night in Gundagai, arrive in Melbourne, and begin our stay at the hotel.  We only had a few days before the in-country-travel portion of our trip stopped and switched to temporary quarters status, and our compensation from Uncle Sam reduced.  So the onus was upon us to find a place reasonably quick.  Got that done.  Short story of that one is that they do things different here about how they put things on the market, and really without Ruthie, I don't know how I would've found a place.

Then came the car.  We debated quite a bit about that one.  And during the debate, I bought a bicycle.  [Actually, before we even moved into an apartment, I bought a bicycle - it was very obvious from the moment we got here, that the city was pretty bicycle friendly.]   Weighing in on the debate was the fact that we got an apartment that is roughly 4km from work, and with the bicycle, it's an easy trip to/from work.  Plus there is actual public transit here, and I could even use it to get to/from work if necessary.  Also weighing in were the facts that our apartment is two blocks from the Port Melbourne shopping district, where you can get just about everything you need for day-to-day life.  Oh, and then the motorcycle will eventually be here.  But with all that going against the need for a car, then came the considerations about what to do when we wanted to go outside of the city?  So we looked into the occasional car rental.  There's a few car share programs that are around here, so we looked at those, too.  But then we realised we were kidding ourselves and we wanted to do more than just the occasional road trip.  So the selfish American in each of us won out, and the comfort of having a car was filled.

Then it was like suddenly a weight had been lifted off our shoulders.  Suddenly we were settled.  Sure we were missing some luxuries, like half our furniture and regular access to the internet.  But it definitely felt good to be here then.  No longer were we burdened with trying to make some pretty huge decisions.  And so since then, we've just been kinda cruising into life here.  A couple road trips since we bought the car, Ruthie's driven me to work on the mornings it's been wet out, and life's been pretty good.

Bringing this full circle, getting internet at one's abode is also very different from home.  This country is not built on an infrastructure like it is in the States, and so we've technically got a dial-up connection.  Regardless, I'm online and posting again.  Like I said, icing on the cake.

-EP

Finally getting settled [work]

So I actually have a list of things I have thought of that I want to blog about, but I left it at work.  [It just so happens that I have big boring meetings in Australia, just like home, where I doodle and come up with things that are more useful in other aspects of my life.]

But since I'm already on the subject of work, let's start there.  Today I actually surprised myself when I uttered the following words: "I am having fun."  I even caught myself just as the words finished their journey from my grey matter to my lips and took a millisecond's worth of a pause to realise the weight of what I was about to say.  I think it's been a long time since I've actually had fun at work.  Sure, over the past couple years, there have been plenty of times where work was, say, "less suck" - but it's been a while since I've actually had fun.

It hasn't been all fun since the day I got here, though.  Day one was usual administrative stuff.  Day two through seven-ish were full of panic as I realised I was in waaaaay over my head, surrounded by a bunch of people who are smarter than me [I think 7 of the 10 people I work with have their PhDs].  Here I am, a chemical engineer who almost failed the chemistry part, being shoved head first into a bunch of scary chemistry.  And I don't mean scary because there's going to be a test - scary because of the nature of the chemistry.  Fortunately, I haven't been forced to show how utterly inept at lab work I am because I took a different project by the horns and have run with it.  And that's where the fun has kicked in.  Sure it sounds boring when I admit I've been calibrating a fan bank, but trust me, it's been a pretty good time.  And hopefully it stays this way.

-EP