Some Pics

Genna enjoying looking at her toys in her bouncy chair - she doesn't last very long in it yet - but is happy for a little while if she has something to look at :)

I got a lovely bouquet of flowers this week (and chocolate!) from Murray's work!

The card said:
'To Monique, A big thank you for letting us steal your husband for a while. From xxx bid xxx company'

How nice :) He has been working like crazy - looking forward to seeing him a bit more from next week :)

Half a Year in Oz

Today is exactly 3 months since I started working, which was 3 months after I landed in Oz.
Gosh where have 6 months gone? Time flies!

It's a terribly cold winter day today - the forecast on the radio said 23 Celsius (76 Fahrenheit) this afternoon.

Really?!?!? ?Is this winter? WOW.

I'm glad I didn't get my warmer coat out today! Since July is meant to be the height of winter I thought hmmm maybe I should break out my slightly warmer 3/4 length jacket - but no - no need - my short jacket + pashmina was even too warm this morning!!

Busy busy

It has been a busy week - that is all there is to say really.

Tonight we took advantage of late night Thursday shopping (the mall stays open late - which is great for those of us who are stuck at a desk all day long).

We picked up a nice warm winter duvet, dooner, comforter, whatever you'd like to call it - as it is getting chilly here at night.

I am SOOOOOOO glad tomorrow is Friday. Looking forward to the weekend & catching up with friends:) I just hope the weather is as nice as it was today. I didn't actually go outside today from 8:20 am to 5pm - but I heard it was 24c (78f) - NICE!

Work work work

Sorry it's a little blurry - but it's the best I could do. I LOVE the Dilbert calendar Murray got me for my b-day - I thought this one explained why I never talk specifics about my job on this blog!
(don't forget you can click on the above pic to view it bigger)

Oh and some Monday good news - I drove for the first time - by myself - to the gym tonight YAY! It was GREAT to go to a body pump class - I really enjoyed it:)

TGIF

WOW what a long week - work was very very busy - I am still getting up to speed, but starting to understand enough to help out so that's good!

Although I have worked at the 'other' site at least?? 10 times? I have NEVER driven home. That first day, after getting confused by the exit signs, I ended up going through the harbour tunnel - which meant I just popped by to pick up Murray from work as well. From then on, every time I have had to work at the other site, I went and picked Murray up, the he drove home.

But tonight - I did it. I took the right exit - and it all went fine. I even stopped at the grocery store (thanks to Helen's directions over the phone!!!).

I know these do not sound like big things - nothing to talk about - but to me it is a BIG step. It means I am starting to figure out where things are and it means I am starting to feel more and more confident about driving on my own.

Anyhow, I meant to go to the gym tonight, even brought my bag of stuff, but then my throat was sore all day today...... and I just thought hmmm I don't want to get sick.

Since I didn't go to the gym I thought hmmm maybe I should clean tonight. But you know what - I'm tired - and I don't want to. So I will do it tomorrow!

So home it is - bring on the weekend - and fingers crossed for NICE weather!!! :)

Friday Friday

Tonight after work we went to see the movie 'Love the Beast' - Eric Bana's movie about his love affair with a Ford GT Falcon Coupe. It was a cute movie - except for Dr. Phil's boring commentary (yawn). I liked seeing the inside of Jay Leno's car/bike garage though - well more like a warehouse - AMAZING!!!

Also - I found a little desk calender in the stationary cupboard this morning and it said each day had a quote - so I set it up on my desk! I read every quote from January 1st up to today and picked out a few I really liked.....

*The Happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.

*Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching?

*The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessing. - Eric Hoffer

*I dislike feeling at home when I am abroad. -George Bernard Shaw

Oh I can do it :)

I added value at work today - finally - it felt good to not feel totally lost - hooray!

Also- good things
*I fly back to Minnesota a week from tomorrow
*tomorrow is casual day at work
*and my Dad arrives on Monday

Happy Thursday!

:)

Back to the grind

Today in the little kitchen on my floor (where you can heat up lunch & get a cup of tea) I noticed on the bulletin board a very creative sign.

It was a piece of paper set out like those ads with little tear off strips at the bottom - which usually hold a phone number regarding the item for sale.

It said 'FREE - strips of paper for writing down phone numbers, or to dispose of your chewing gum, or for spit balls - up to you - price - FREE!

LOL - and most of them were gone - that made me smile - how silly!

p.s. I love that here like in the UK they have a couple of cartons of milk in the fridge & free tea bags & coffee for your afternoon fix (tea with milk hold the sugar for me thanks!) And best of all - free cookies!!! I think I may grow to like this place:)

other good things today - they finally got my badge working so I can go to the restroom without having to buzz the doorbell to get let back onto my floor and they installed a phone at my desk so I don't have to go sit in someone else's desk to make calls - fantastic!

Day 2

So I drove to work this morning.

I left REALLY early and still got caught in traffic (that was surprising!) and made my way there fine. I took all my exits perfectly and followed Murray's fabulous map that was like 3 feet long - a bunch of pieces of paper taped together. I got there an hour before work started (hey - but it was my first time - I wanted to make sure I had LOTS of time). It was good to be early anyhow since this was my first time working at this work site.

Work was fine - I sat in a meeting and understood SOME of what they were talking about, then I read manuals - fun fun fun! Oh the best part of the day was when the guy on my team noticed I had a Dilbert calender and asked if he could look at some of the cartoons (Murray gave it to me as part of my b-day present) :)

Driving home was ok until I got about half way - then I missed my exit (I saw a sign that was my exit, but then just before the exit the sign changed and I thought that exit would mean I was going the wrong way). SO I didn't take it, then got lost, then ended up in the city - opps! So I ended up just picking Murray up at work and we drove home together.

THIS is the thing that I don't like about driving here - the other side of the road - I am getting used to, the roundabouts - fine, but the fact that if I take a wrong turn - most of the time I cannot easily turn around and get back to where I went wrong is SO frustrating!

Anyhow, I looked at a map and I now know where I went wrong and it won't happen again:) And thankfully tomorrow I am back at the site with Murray so we can drive together whew (i.e. he an drive:)

And our little home made pizza was SOOOOOO fabulous tonight - we were too hungry to take photos! :)

B-days and back to work

Saturday night we went out to dinner to celebrate Murray's birthday
My mother-in-law Lyn & I

We were treated to a lovely meal at our favourite place - Ribs & Rumps!!!
Lyn, Me, Helen & the birthday boy Murray

And yes we tried something new - Murray had the double burger - WOW it was huge (and yummy!).

I had the fresh barramundi which was lovely as well!

For dessert they surprised Murray by bringing out this lovely little chocolate mousse which had sparklers in it! They came to our table singing Happy Birthday and Murray looked around and nearly said 'whose birthday is it?' Ha ha - he was totally surprised! The dessert was Fabulous as well!

The next day after a lovely wander around Manly we came across the local Manly-Warringah Scottish bagpipe band performing down by the beach! They were raising money for their trip to Scotland to participate in a bagpipers competition!


They even had a group of girls dancing the Scottish fling! Fantastic!

I also finally took a picture of this sign - the beach closest to us is North Steyne (it is just down from Manly - basically the same piece of sand though). I think it is pretty darn fantastic that they won cleanest beach in NSW (our state - New South Wales)!!!

AND so today was my first day of work. Our commute driving was fine (we actually work at the same place here - bizarre I know)! It was a normal first day - lots and lots of information - too much to process in just one day. Also lots of unknowns - like where do they keep the extra printer paper? how do I release my laptop from this desk thingy it is connected to? And how ODD is it that they have signs in the restroom telling you to check the color of your urine to see how hydrated you are..... bizarre! My little team and I went out to a very nice lunch with a great view, then we walked to a place that had fantastic views of the bridge and the opera house - I only wish I had had my camera!!!

Only bad thing - I already have to go to the other work site tomorrow (my job will be split between these sites). SO I have to drive. I have checked out every public transport option - and they are all at minimum two hours - yuck. Driving should only take 50 minutes - but I am leaving MUCH MUCH earlier than that tomorrow (like - giving myself 2 hours cause it is my first time driving this route) because
1. I want to go before the traffic so that I can drive a bit slowly and take in the route and not be freaked out by packed rush hour traffic
2. past a certain point I haven't driven this route before - so the less traffic the better
3. this is only my second time driving outside of our little area - so I am of course a bit scared

BUT my lovely husband has spent the last half an hour printing me out great maps, and highlighting them, and explaining them to me, and taping them together so it is nice and easy for me. I know I just need to get out there and do this to gain some confidence - and I know it will be just fine - I just need to practice practice practice! WISH ME LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh and tonight at work the power went out at 4:45 - we heard that the city's power was out as well, so I asked if I could go home and my boss said that was fine. The traffic was a bit busy, but we got home alright. We saw on the news tonight that power went out in all of downtown Sydney causing 2 hours of traffic chaos - some tunnels to closed, people got stuck in elevators, and tons and tons of terrible traffic. We actually saw a view on the news of people sitting at the entrance to the tunnel we took earlier tonight - eek that was lucky!

Now - here's to the good driving luck extending to me tomorrow!!!