Hi Ho Hi Ho, It's off to work I go....

After a number of interview with recruiting agencies (which is how most employers hire staff) I found a job with a medical practice (without a recruiter).  It is a husband and wife practice, she is a neurologist and he is an endocrinologist. It's a super flexible job, in fact I was able to pick my start and end times so that was nice. One of the nice things about working in Australia is the "benefits" of the job. I say "benefits" because everyone who works get the same benefits, so in the Australian sense not really benefits but in the US sense we would consider them benefits.  My work hours are 8 to 4pm...with a lunch break and tea breaks (so I see that as 7 hours of work a day), there is 4 weeks of annual leave, 10 sick days and 10 public holidays and if that were not benefit enough, employers are required to contribute 9% of your base salary to superannuation (like 401k)! In the office that I work in, they close for 1 month at Christmas so they prefer that I take 2 weeks of my annual leave at Christmas time (ahhhh..no problem) and they ask that I take 1/2 day off per week or 1 full day after 19 days worked! I think I'm going to like this job! 

I have been told that in Australia they work to live, where in the US we live to work...so it will be interesting to see the differences in the work culture. I will post more as I observe things.  For now...I have to get out of here and catch a tram to work!

Apartment secured!!!

After many weeks of searching, applications and disappointments we finally have secured an apartment! The apartment rental market is very tight here in Melbourne. There are many more people looking for apartment than there are apartments available, therefore it becomes very competitive and the owners can get large amounts of money for their tiny 2 to 3 bedroom apartments.  In addition the process is very complicated. You inspect a property (in a 15 minute time frame along with everyone else interested in the apartment) then you submit an application along with a number of supporting documents (bank statements, passports, proof of employment, and previous rental history, in our case mortgage statement records) and you wait to see if the agent chooses you to rent the apartment.  So it's important that you are nice and personable with the agent as they have a say in who rents. Nic will tell you that I laid it on thick when there was a place that I liked. The average cost for a 3 bedroom apartment in the CBD (central business district) ranges anywhere from $750-$1100 per week! CRAZY! Our apartment is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath apartment on Russell Street at Little Collins. It is right on the north end of the city, know as the Paris End. It is a half a block from the 5th Avenue or Michigan Ave of Melbourne CBD. I can see the Louis Vuitton and Gucci from our balcony! I'm very relieved to have found a place and now can get that off of my to do list! Now all I need is our container to arrive and to find a job! I'll post pictures soon!

Oh the ways around things...

I have found many work arounds to get things that we got in the US here in AU.  First there is the Magic Jack...the BEST $49.99 US I have ever spent.  I am able to call the US for 19.99 a year and my family and friends in the US can call us for free!  I love the Magic Jack.

Apple TV, another wonderful item. I purchased it in the US for $99 US, I could have purchased it here as well for about $25 more but I wanted to insure it worked before coming to AU. I have maintained my US iTunes account, therefore I can download US television programs, pay US prices and watch all my US tv shows.  The television programming in AU is not so great. There is one AU comedy/drama series that we've started watching but for the most part there are a lot of old US programs on TV.  My dad would be a happy guy here as all the old westerns that he liked to watch are one TV here all the time (The Big Valley, Gunsmoke, etc).

Lastly something I recently discovered is Hotspot Shield. This is a free program that shields your internet IP address so that you can do things you otherwise would not be able to do.  For example, Nic can download books from Barnes & Noble to her Nook, we can even watch TV programs on US websites (Hulu, etc). I haven't tried it with Netfliks yet, but I will.

For now...off to watch Big Brother (I know...poor tv)!

Busy days

Been a long time since I've posted. I've been quite busy looking for jobs and places to live and of course continuing our exploration of the city!  On Sunday we visited the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne. I love living in the city where everything is just a short stroll or tram ride away. The gardens are about 15 minutes by tram from where we are living.  Although it was winter, there were still many beautiful flowers in bloom and lots of pretty birds flying around. We did spot some black swans and some parrots but they did not land so I could get their pictures.

The apartment hunting continues to be frustrating. Nicole and I run all over the city and get to the 15 minute inspection times to find out the apartments are too small to fit our furniture, or we find one we love that is too expensive to fit our budget.  We still have time before we need to find one. We are in the serviced apartment until the middle of September and can extend that if necessary and our container is not due to make it to Australia until August 22 and not scheduled for delivery to us until September 4. We can place our things in storage if necessary...but I really want my stuff!

Job hunting has been interesting as well. I'm trying to figure out exactly what my job is called here and what the appropriate pay should be.  Also most employers use employment agencies to find their employees. I have had 3 interviews with 3 different recruiters about positions. I am waiting to hear from 2 of these recruiters about interviews with the actual employers.

Rich has been traveling quite a bit the last couple of weeks. He's been to Perth, Canabera, Sydney, Brisbane and who knows where else. It's strange I know where he is but I have no clue where he is. These places are all foreign to me. I could not even pick out on a map where they are all located!

Nicole and a black swan

Back to 1990?

This is a total vent post...but I'm doing it anyways.  I am extremely frustrated today.  Sometimes I feel like I've gone back in time.  For example, I have a cell phone that has no key pad or camera, like when cell phones first came out.  Do you remember how hard it is to text?  Not to mention I pay a connection fee of $.39 per call and then $.89 per minute oh and of course no data!  Lets not forget the internet.  Seems we have used our allowed bandwidth for the month, so we are now on speeds similar to dial up!  Yippee fun times! Welcome back to the 90's.

Bait & Hook

otherwise referred to as "apartment hunting".

We have learned a lot in the very short time we have been here about apartment hunting.  Here is how the process goes.  You look on line for available rental properties, if there is an inspection scheduled (open house) then you simply go to the inspection, which only last 15 minutes (yes 15 minutes), if an inspection is not scheduled you can contact the agent (yes they use rental agents) and schedule a time to inspect the property.  When you attend an inspection they take your name/phone number and you and several other interested in the property view the property. If you are interested you take an application and apply for rental and you are notified if you are accepted.  Sounds simple right? Well it's not...here are the catches:

The apartment looks nothing like the picture on the internet.

Just because the pictures on the internet show a pristine and lovely apartment/house doesn't mean that is what you are going to look at.  I scheduled an inspection for a lovely 4 bedroom house, in our price range which looked beautiful in the pictures.  I am not sure I was even at the same property.  This place in real life was a dump. There were tenants living there and there was food on the counters, garbage piled in the bins, dirty laundry on the floor and not one made bed.  How can one look past this and see the potential?  Many places were not total dumps, but did not match the pictures on the internet listing.  For example one place we really liked was lovely in the photos and lovely in person, however the photos were not of the same apartment. The kitchen was a different colour (white bench tops vs. black; white appliances vs. stainless steel) and the rooms were laid out differently.

Just because the price is listed at one amounts does not mean its what they really want.

Rentals are extremely expensive in Melbourne so we have a budget on what we can spend.  When I've done searches on the internet I look only at properties within our price range.  We looked at one place (where the pictures did not match what the place looked like) that was listed within our price range to find out from the agent that the price was actually $75 more per week or $300 per month more than our budget.

It turns out that the agents use old or fake pictures and make up prices just to get you there! What a total waste of time (mine and the agents).  Then they tell you that all prices are negotiable as are the lease terms and the payment terms.  Ugh...

With that being said, we did find 3 places that we really liked and applied.  We were notified last night that we were "accepted" for one of the places...but now we're negotiating...ha!  Here are some pictures of the place we liked...of course they don't look anything like the apartment we saw and would get if we accept the offer of acceptance!

kitchen except the one we looked at had darker cabinets, black counters and was oriented differently

living area looked like this but again oriented differently

The outside actually looked like this!

Kiwi

ki·wi/ˈkēwē/Noun

1. A flightless New Zealand bird (genus Apteryx, family Apterygidae) with hairlike feathers, having a long down-curved bill with sensitive nostrils at the tip.

2. A New Zealander, esp. a soldier or member of a national sports team. 

3. The egg-sized, edible berry of the Chinese gooseberry, having fuzzy brownish skin and a slightly tart green flesh.

Kiwi

Kiwi 

Kiwi

Yes, an entire post dedicated to the Kiwi (kiwifruit that is).  I have always enjoy kiwi's so while shopping at the QV Market I saw these huge kiwi.  They were much bigger than any kiwi I saw in the US and they were cheap (5 for $2).  You don't get much here that is cheap so I bought them.  They tasted much different than the kiwi I am accustomed to eating.  They were super sweet, not sour or tart. Maybe because they are grown here and not picked as early. I don't know but I am going to become a fan of the kiwi (fruit and maybe of the New Zealander sport team bloke!).  Below is some of the fruit that Nic and I have been enjoying every morning for brekkie (breakfast in Aussie slang).

Brekkie

Smaller

Smaller….

One of my first comparisons is that things are smaller in Australia than in the US.  The size of packaging for household goods are sold in smaller sizes, the paper towel is smaller, the toilet paper is smaller and most annoying for me is the Barbie sized appliances.  I have provided some pictures of our appliances.  The fridge is about 5 feet tall.  I’ve used Rich as comparison (he is about 6 feet tall). I can hold about 2 days of food which means I’ve had to shop every 2 days for food! The stove is also tiny; I guess I did not need to bother packing my cookie sheets, pizza stone and turkey pan.  The most difficult is the washer.  I literally can fit one day of dirty clothes in there.  See picture below of washer filled with yesterday’s clothes.  I am doing laundry every day, good thing I’m a housewife for the next couple of months! Maybe I will get lucky and find an apartment or house to rent with full sized appliances? I can only hope!

Rich next to our Barbie fridge

that is 1 day of clothes

Tiny oven...looks bigger in the picture; I'd show you how small but all the baking pans in the apartment are Barbie sized as well!

The Joys of Air Travel

What a travel day (actually 2 days).  The three of us along with our 8 pieces of luggage and 3 carry on bags and 3 personal items were picked up at our home in Alpharetta.  The driver was about 20 minutes late as there was a tractor trailer accident on the highway (Interstate 400).  Since that particular highway is the quickest way to the airport we had to find an alternative route.  The trip to the airport usually takes about 40 minutes but on Friday it took 2 hours!  Fortunately our flight was not for several hours so we were ok.  We got through our baggage check in (an additional $225 due to the weight of 3 of our bags) and security and enjoyed the Delta Sky Club.  Our flight was due to leave at 5:45pm so we made our way to the gate around 4:45pm to find out that our flight was delayed until 7:00pm due to the lack of a first officer.  They really had no idea what time a replacement would show up...but that did not stop them from boarding us on the plan at 6:30pm.  Once everyone was boarded they informed us that they did not know what time were were leaving.  Why would they put us on a plane to tell us they did not know what time we were leaving?  Anyways about 20 minutes later, we had a first officer!  Now it was about 7:30pm.  Our connection to Melbourne was scheduled to leave LA at 11:30pm (pacific time) so we were still ok and then the thunderstorms started!  So we sat on the plane for about 40 minutes while a severe thunderstorm took place.  We were finally cleared to take off around 8:30pm.  We arrived in LA and had to walk to another terminal, well run as we needed to check in 90 minutes before our flight and it was very close to 10pm.  We finally got to the terminal and were told that they closed down check in due to the weight in the plane. What??? They offered to re-route us through Sydney and then connect us to Melbourne. I said no, we would wait and see if we could check in.  About 10 minutes later they said we could check in.  We boarded the plane and were in the back of the Airbus 380.  What a nice aircraft, 2 floors (yes were were on the bottom level at the back in the cheap seats). It was a long flight but not terrible.  The crew was very nice and the food was decent.  We arrived in Melbourne at 9:15am.  We went through immigrations and off to get our luggage when we heard Rich's name being paged to report to the oversize luggage department to be told that 4 pieces of our luggage did not make it to Melbourne.  We went to pick up the remainder of our bags to find out that 2 of the bags were my things!  We went through customs and got in a cab to our temporary apartment.  We did some shopping and I cooked dinner and we were all in bed by 7:00pm.  It's good to be here safely, even if I don't have any clothes to wear!  Here are some pictures Nicole took out of the window of the plane as we were coming into Melbourne.

And there it all goes...

Well the truck with the container drove away with all our worldly possessions.  I'm sad that our time in Atlanta is ending.  We'll be staying in a hotel tonight, bringing our last car to the Honda dealer tomorrow and then being picked up by a very large (I hope) van to drive us and our 8 pieces of large luggage and 3 carry on's, 1 computer bag, 1 rolling computer bag and 1 backpack!  Our flight leaves Atlanta at 5:45pm Friday.

And so it begins...

The movers have arrived and are busy at work.   I've taken pictures of the container just incase anyone sees it floating at sea!

Atlanta

With just 4 days left in Atlanta I thought it was time to reflect on my time here.  Nicole and I drove to Atlanta on Mother’s Day weekend in 2007. I remember that very long car ride from NY (1200 miles).  I remember feeling very alone and lonely when we first arrived but soon our lives settled in and it became home. 

We met some wonderful people in Atlanta and made some good friends.

 We found a family in Camp Sunshine when Nic was diagnosed with cancer and we were fortunate enough to have the very best doctor and medical care to treat her and make her healthy again.  You all know who you are and know that you will continue to be loved and we will miss you dearly.

So our last couple of days we are enjoying our friends, eating at our favorite places and shopping at all the store we know we won’t have in Melbourne.

Blog Title?

The blog has been started but we are still kicking around names for it.  We don't want anything that has the words "down under" or "oz" in the title...but are open to other suggestions.  

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IT'S THE IN BETWEEN THAT COUNTS

I have been following a number of blogs of American expats living in Australia since we found out that we were moving. I did this so that I could get impressions, opinions and ideas, so I decided that I would create a blog for other expats considering a move to Australia and also for a way for our family and friends in the U.S. to see what were up to as we navigate our way through another country.

On one of these blogs that I have been reading (http://yellowbrickroad2oz.blogspot.com/) there a quote that I'm borrowing as it really summarizes how I am feeling right now. It goes something like this...

Someone once said that beginnings are scary, endings are always sad but it's what's in between that counts.

So as we say goodbye to our families and our beloved dogs (Missy & Izzy), pack up our stuff, have last minute dinners with our friends, stock up on the things we know we can't buy in Australia and move to a far, far away land we are scared and sad but we are also looking forward to what is to come.