Sushi Time! (+update)

Ben is helping me write this blog! Yay!!

When we first got back, we had some crazy weather--it made the paper! We were going to try to get a short video of the humongous waves here, but our camera was dead (and Ben was afraid we were going to get carried away, haha). I'm sure if you google it you can find some info. It's calmed down a lot more now, but it has been pretty cold out-- probably about 40 when we wake up, and not much higher than 45 throughout the day.

Here's an update on our work lives since being back (Ben wrote his all by himself :) )

Julie---I LOVE my job. I think this is the first time when I have felt truly excited and happy about a job. I look forward to going. I enjoy the immense responsibilities! I feel like I'm going to be good at it, and that it is an important job, like I'm being challenged AND making a difference. I'm meeting with amazing artists, setting up tours and floor talks, running workshops and programs, making contacts, doing networking, writing media releases, talking to the media, and the list goes on and on an on. I feel like I'm finally in a job where I FULLY belong--in short, I am blessed.

Ben--- For the time being I don't have a lot (anything) going on at my job. Two days after we

landed Nancy and I had our annual external quality audit to maintain our ISO 9001 certification (A big deal, basically international standards to ensure that we put out a quality product). It went about a million times better than Nancy and I expected. Now we are officially certified again for another year, when I hope to pass this duty to some unlucky sop. That is the extent of the excitement for my job for now. We find out if we get another airport project (Albany Airport) on the 16th. For the time being we do have a little work to do for the Bunbury Airport but I am only minimally involved because it started before we got back. Nancy had a meeting with the State Department of Transport and the Shire of Cunderdin this past week, and the SDoT is basically using a bunch of our report for the Cunderdin Airfield in their Aviation Strategy for the State. So, pretty cool there.

Today we filed our Australian taxes (thank GOD we're FINALLY done with taxes!), and did some yard saling (we got a vase, a sweet spikey plant, an ice cube tray [you laugh, but those are hard to come by here], and chopsticks. We walked around some of the shops in downtown, and decided today would be the day we would try to make our own Asian cuisine--specifically sushi :) We've been wanting to try to make it for a while, and just put it off. But today we were in the mood, so prepare yourselves for pictures!

Here are the ingredients for our Asian cuisine:

These are the SWEET chopsticks we bought from a yard sale for $2.50. It's a set of 5, and the

weird shaped things on the right side of the box are little things to set them in so you don't get your tablecloth messy. They're from Singapore.

Ben cutting chicken for the stirfry

Mmmm...black bean chicken stirfry with pad thai noodles

Julie stirring the powdered vinegar into the sushi rice

Sushi ingredients: crabmeat, avacado, cucumber, and tofu



Ready to be rolled!


ACTION ROLL SHOT! (Look how determined Ben is)

Up close action roll shot

Cutting the roll into six pieces



Not bad for our first try. Ben says it's sexy sushi. Inappropriate, Ben! (That's wasabi and soy sauce on the plate to dip it in)

OH NO WE WENT CRAZYYYYYY

Sitting down to our Asian cuisine feast. We forgot to light the candles, though.

Random yard sale plant

Back in Oz!

Hello readers!

After two very...very...long days of flying and waiting, we are back in Oz. We had a wonderful time seeing all of our family and friends, and feel so blessed to have been able to take such a long time to do so much travelling. Here is a link to pictures from our adventures at home:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.926011982459.2424027.5800571&l=9f17ab05aa&type=1

(You don't need to have a facebook account to see the pictures, just copy/paste the link)

The flights back were okay. The layover in LA was pretty much unbearable. 10 hours of waiting to get on a 15 hour flight is dreadful. I mean, you are dreading the 10 hours in the airport, and then on top of that, dreading the next 15 hours of wanting-to-sleep-but-having-a-hard-time-sleeping-because-airplanes-are-uncomfortable. Ben and I could barely keep our eyes open by the time we boarded in LA, and then it seemed to take FOREVER to get our dinner. All we wanted to do was sleep, but we were afraid that if we did fall asleep, they wouldn't give us food and we'd wake up starving. After we ate, we managed to pass out for a long time, although we're unsure of how long. Time warp! Melbourne was no big deal, and flying from Melbourne to Sydney was like a piece of cake! It's only about an hour and a half of flight time. Then we had about four hours to kill in Sydney. This is where the interesting part happened. Instead of booking our whole flight through, we booked Perth to Sydney and Sydney to Perth separately. It saved us a few hundred dollars, and we didn't think it would be a big deal. WRONG. Once we got to Sydney, we had to pick up our luggage and re-check it, because we had booked separately. When you fly internationally, most airlines let you check two bags per person, instead of one. We thought we might have to pay an extra fee for our extra bag (we managed to have three instead of four, whoohoo!) like $50 or $75. Worth it, because the cost of shipping is ungodly. When we got up to the desk, the girl tells us it's an extra $15 per kilo...our lightest bag weighed 18 kilos. (That's $270 for all you that are too lazy to get your calculators). She wouldn't budge. We told her we were coming from Boston (remember at this point we had been awake for about two days, were emotional from leaving home anyway, and got crappy sleep on the airplane) and could they please do anything else for us. She told us we could talk to Customer Service, but they would tell us the same thing (she said that this happens all the time). So I started crying because I was so stressed. We got to Customer Service, and talked to equally non-budging girl. We told her our situation and told her how far we'd come, and could they please just do it this one time? She finally called some guy over, and we talked to him and told him the same situation. Then they had this weird little code-y talk with each other and took us over to "Counter 1". When we told the woman at the counter our situation, she didn't even hesitate. She said, "Oh no, I'm not going to charge you guys". And really, why should we be charged? We booked one flight separately (and it was all the same airline, mind you! It's not like we were trying to get away with it and had switched to a different airline!) but we were still coming internationally. Thank God we stuck to our guns, our else we could have been almost $300 poorer.

Ben went into work at 8:30 the morning after we got back (it's okay because we were up at six anyway!) and worked a full day. He is at work today doing a big Quality thing. We are still adjusting our internal clocks, but I find it really convenient. When you are 12 hours off, you are able to choose what you want your internal clock to be like. You get to reset yourself! So my plan is to start normally waking up at 6:30ish. Instead of it being painful for me to wake up that early, I will naturally get up at that time, which will give me the extra time I'll need to get ready for my new job at the Art Gallery! (Here is my new place of employment: http://www.brag.org.au/ )

Oh yeah, I am the Audience Development Officer at the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery. It's 72 hours a fortnight (36 hours a week) and I'm on a great salary! I promote the gallery, set up events, work shops, tours, write grants and find sponsors. I'm so excited for such a different career path.

We are thinking about doing Sydney for New Years this year...will keep you all updated on adventures in Australia. Can't wait to be home for good!

Nearly a year

So many people ask, "Why Bunbury?" It reminds me of what I asked people up at UMaine, when I'd meet someone from out of state. Why do we always ask this question? Just because Bunbury isn't Sydney, or Melbourne, or Brisbane, doesn't mean it isn't a gem in it's own right. The fact is, at some point, someone decided Paris, Sicily, New York City, Sydney, etc. etc. was going to be the next greatest place. Then someone else went along with it. And then another person. Until before they knew it, a big, beautiful city was built, known for it's romance, high life, etc. Millions of people flock to it. Young adults yearn to live there, before they know anything other than the pictures they see and the movies they watch.

I've learned that people don't appreciate their home and their hometown, no matter where you go. Maybe sometimes, at a sports event, or if something flipping sweet happens. I mean, obviously not EVERYONE is like this. But as a teen, I didn't appreciate Wells, or Maine at all, really. I wanted to get out and try something new. I'm glad I did. Because now that I have, I know all the reasons why I love Maine and New England so very much. And I don't know that I would've been able to appreciate it's beauty and awesomeness if I hadn't left it.

Catch ya on the flip side.

April update!

I know, it's been a long time since I've posted. There has been too much and not enough going on to post. That's a weird excuse!

Ben and I have been busy with work, the gym, and...that's it. Ben's been working a lot of hours. They started a new project a little while ago that involves inspecting 500 kilometers of rail that barely exists anymore because it's so old.

We have been dealing with many, many, stressful situations involving our property manager and our apartment. I don't want to get into it because I'll just go off on a tangent, but it has settled for a while. We can breathe again!

We are saving like mad people to come home in 41 days! We are SO excited. We had a bit of trouble with our flights, so we had to move them around and pay a little extra. But it's okay, we are just happy to see everyone and do fun things and eat yummy things and be in beautiful, beautiful Maine. It's never seemed like such a wonderful place to be!

It's been almost a whole year since we've lived here (more like 10.5 months, but I'll round up). I'm glad we came, even though it's been hard to be away from family and friends. Especially since it seems like EVERYONE is getting engaged, getting married, or having babies. I hate missing out on all of that, but there's not turning back now. Thank God for the Internet and Facebook and all those wonderful social media tools that keep us updated with pictures and videos. Oh, and where would we be without Skype? I don't even want to think about it!

As many struggles as we have had throughout this past year, we have learned a lot, and stuck together. Ben and I are just so happy to be together and to be doing this together. Western Australia is not where we want to be forever, but we would have never known if we hadn't come. We've met some really wonderful people, and are making more money than we would have at home. By the time we come back, we'll be in a financially good place, and it will make our transition a lot easier. There's still two years left, but the first year has to be the hardest, especially those first few months.

Looking forward to our holiday home! Can't wait to see you all! xoxox

February already?!

Where does the time go?! I cannot believe we've been here for almost 8 months. WOW. Here are some updates.

I know a lot of you already know about the break in, but you may not know the details. Ben and I went to a friends for a bbq and then out into town for a couple of hours. In that time span, someone broke into our apartment and took both of our ipods, our digital camera, the wii and all of the games, controllers, charger, etc., our laptop, as well as my jewellery. My wedding jewellery, the dancer necklace my mom gave me that my dad had given her (that's the worst of all for me), earrings Ben gave me for graduation..it's all gone. They broke in through a window in our spare room. This happened a few weeks ago. We've done absolutely everything we can--gone to pawn shops with detailed lists, antique stores (jewellery), video game stores, we look online, we have posted on a "stolen" database...you name it, we've done it. We are just trying to move on from this horrible situation and look to the future. So that's that.

This past weekend we went to Big Day Out which is this incredible music festival in Perth. We stayed in a hostel with some friends for two nights, our first hostel experience! Not bad, I've gotta say. It was $21 per person per night--beats hotels around here! It was kinda like summer camp meets college--Nat and I were in an all girls room and slept in bunk beds. We were hardly in the rooms at all, so I think it was smart to pay little for a hostel. We spent Saturday afternoon soaking up sun and surf at Cottlesloe Beach, and talking and laughing with friends. Sunday was the concert, which started at 11am. We got there at 11 and watched bands for 12 straight hours! There were probably about 8 or 10 stages set up all around these fairgrounds, with multiple bands playing throughout the day. The stages were set up far apart so you couldn't hear other bands playing. We heard so many great bands! Lots of new ones that we didn't know about that I can't stop listening to. Ben got to see Tool which he has been wanting to see for a long time :) Here's a list of music you should look up because these bands are amazing (some you probably know):
-The Vines
-Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
-John Butler Trio
-Washington
-Angus and Julia Stone
-Blue King Brown
-Little Red (one of my favorites, listen to "Rock it" and "It's Alright". During "It's Alright" thousands of people were just dancing in couples and smiling and singing together. It was one of the most joyous experiences I've ever had. It will honestly be a moment I remember forever because I felt such an overwhelming sense of relaxed happiness.)
-Operator Please
-Gypsy and the Cat

M.I.A. was surprisingly disappointing. It honestly sounded like she was just making noises and making up songs as she went along. Her dancers were decent but she was kinda weird and boring. Everything was just so, so awesome. It was exactly what we needed after the break-in experience.

We feel relaxed and happy after experiencing such a GREAT festival! Hopefully the line ups will always be that good and we can make it a yearly trip.

Ben's job is going very well. He's on a few projects at the moment and seems to be enjoying his work. They have a few more projects coming in that he will be put on as well, and they have a short-term intern at the moment so Ben has been able to defer some of his administrative duties to her. I've cut my hours and have an interview to start a nannying business through the Y tomorrow. Hopefully all goes well--it will be a much less stressful situation, equal or better money, and much more relaxed.

Moving and our First Aussie Christmas!

It has been a while since I last updated, but we have been very, very busy. We moved house and our now in a beautiful apartment on the beach. We've been taking advantage of walking across the street to the beach every weekend. It gets really hot, but it's dry heat and it feels surprisingly good. The water is so crystal clear and blue here, and the current is very strong. We haven't seen any dolphins, sharks, or jellyfish, so don't worry. We do frequently see fish swimming, though. The waves are so big and fun to play in. And because there is so much beach here, it's NEVER crowded. The closest people to you will be like 100 feet away. The water is warm but still refreshing--not like it was in the Caribbean where you would go in the water and it didn't seem much cooler than the hot, humid air. I love the dry heat here, and it hasn't been at all unbearable for us yet.

Our first Christmas here was nice, but it would have been good if we'd had some friends around. We skyped with our families for about 3 hours in the morning, then opened all of our presents. That was pretty fun because we had gifts from both sets of parents as well as to each other to open all at once! It felt like we were kids again. The amount of presents was overwhelming. I had a quick bout of homesickness, but we went and laid on the beach and tried to enjoy our time. It really was a nice first Christmas here, but knowing all of our friends from here were either home or with their families was kind of hard.

Here is a link to pictures of our new place and our first Aussie Christmas:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2375066&id=5800571&l=3589808097

Work is going well for the both of us. Ben got a permanent raise! Hopefully more work will be coming in soon so he can do more Engineering work. Although he hasn't done has much clerical work in the past few months as in the very beginning. I have been working as the Qualified in the Nursery on Thursdays and Fridays, which is really good money because I'm not on a contract. I really love the kids and have formed attachments with them and good relationships with their parents and families.

We've been hitting the gym pretty hard lately, trying to go 4-5 times a week. It feels good to be a little more settled now and to just live our lives and make some money. We are counting down the days to visiting home (Juneish) but won't be able to buy the plane tickets until February or March. It's so hard to wait!!

There are so.many.bugs here. UGHHHH. We have LOTS of earwigs which are disgusting, and seen about 3 cockroaches just at this new apartment. One was in the toilet room WHILE I was using the toilet. Sorry if that's too much information, but it was a very terrifying, scarring experience for me and talking about it helps :) We have yet to see a Hunstman here, which is the big furry spider that you are all talking and wondering about. I have seen some pretty ginormous spiders at work, and I usually make an Australian kill them because they are used to it. And every time they laugh at me and say, "Wait til you see a Hunstman!" They carry their babies on their backs, they're black and furry and HUGE. Here is a link so you can see:

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRsuQScA6_M8HPy5odOl5YnuaVCDGi8-1vCbYzj8kbk7-zGaVPI

That's all for now. Miss you all :)

Almost 6 months...

I can't believe we've been here 6 months. It feels like it's been ages. Here's an update!

We've been really busy, both working full time. Lots of housewarming parties and friend time, which has been nice. Mark, Tyler, and Nat are ALL going to the States--Mark has actually just arrived. They'll all be there for over a month, which will make the holidays even harder, I think.

Luckily, we're moving in 10 days, and I think that will keep us pretty busy! I can't remember if we had gotten this apartment the last time I wrote, so I'll explain it again. It's a 2 bedroom, 1 bath on the beach! It has air conditioning, electric appliances, and water is included (no more gas or water bills for us!) It's the same price as what we're paying here, but everything is new and the beach is right there. Even though we're downsizing, I think we'll be really happy there. We really don't need this much room, and we'll still have a guest room for when people come visit. How can you say no to a beautiful beach apartment? So we start moving December 15th!

A couple weekends ago we had an "Anything But Clothes" party for my 25th birthday. It was so fun! Basically, everyone had to dress in anything but clothes. Here is a picture of Ben and me in anything but clothes:

Ben is wearing a golden box (note the cupholder) with electrical tape suspenders...and a trashbag budgee smuggler (banana hammock, speedo...) I am wearing a dress made completely of trashbags, a happy birthday banner, and gift bow in my hair.

Some of the girls from my work

Here is Ben trying to convince me that people won't see "the goods" when he sits down, thanks to his trash bag knickers. Turns out, this trash bag budgee smuggler only half worked. Yikes.

Sushi and cheesecake...my favorites!

Ben made sure I had the best birthday ever, since he knew I was homesick and missing family and friends. He booked an hour long scalp/back/neck/shoulder/hand/feet massage. It was absolutely wonderful. I'm going to go back in a month or two and have it done again. I honestly think even if you have no muscle aches or pains, everyone should have massages. They relax you and feel amazing. Then he booked a hair appointment for me to get highlights and a cut...my hair feels soooooo good now! It had been since March...an embarassingly long amount of time. I will also go back to that place because I loved the girl that did my hair and it's one of the best cuts and colors I've ever had! Then we went up to Mandurah, with the intentions of going shopping, but since all the stores close at like 5, we didn't make it. But that's okay :) We had dinner and went to a few nightclubs until about 2am. One of them played BAD '80's music until 1am. How annoying. And when I requested Love Shack, he didn't play it until we were leaving...extra annoying. If you're going to play '80's music, at least TRY to play un-bad '80's music...if it exists.

I look roughly this beautiful now:

The cake Ben made me...it was a lot prettier in person :)

Here's something off-topic. One morning, Ben went out to get a few ingredients for omelettes. When he came back, he said he had a surprise. I thought he had gotten me chocolate milk, or something else equally yummy. What was I thinking? I've been with Ben for 4+ years...of COURSE he got an ostrich egg, not chocolate milk. Silly me.

Ben with THE ostrich egg (did you know ostriches are a descendant of dinosaurs, and their eggs are very similar to dinosaur eggs? They have a coating on the shell that prevents bacteria from getting in and hurting the baby...so we basically ate a dinosaur.)

After Ben drilled a hole, he shook out the egg. This whole bowl was full. We called Mark and Nat and made omelets for everyone. The ostrich egg was equal to 12+ eggs.

So now we've had ostrich...or dinosaur, however you want to look at it.

Ben's job is going very well, and Nancy continues to be happy and impressed with his work. There are a few projects coming in that he's pretty sure he'll be getting put on! Work is going well for me, too. It's stressful, but I like the girls that I'm working with, and it keeps me busy.

We continue to look at ticket prices to come home next June-ish. We're hoping to buy them within the next couple months :) Miss you all!