A list of stuff.
So here I am back in the USA, in good ol' Wisconsin, two days after the Packers beat the Vikings in the Metrodome. It snowed yesterday morning, and surprisingly stayed all day. But that's not the purpose of this entry; the purpose of this entry is to update what the hick I'm doing now that I'm back in America.
- I have a job. After filling out only TWO applications, I had ONE interview, and the next day they offered me work. Now don't get me wrong, I like Adelaide and quite enjoyed my four months there, but when a town of 13,000 people has more work prospects than a city of 1 million, there's something terribly wrong.
- Darrin (beldin) and I are engaged. We're getting married in January and I'm moving back to Adelaide. So those of you who've been holding your breath for that to happen, you can breathe again. And those of you who've been harassing me about getting married over the last several years can shut up now.
- The whole trip back was a pain in the butt. I got stuck with a window seat on the 14 hour flight, so I had to wait till the 2 people beside me woke up & moved before I could visit the lovely toilets in the back of the plane. And I'd had zero sleep for over 24 hours before that, so as much as I wanted to read, I couldn't because my eyes wouldn't focus on the words. So I resorted to watching movies, which were good movies as I mentioned previously, but I was way too tired to concentrate on Matrix Reloaded. And then when I got to LA, I went through immigration and had an agent who was a little uptight, but I got through, and I picked up my bags, and I went through the long line at customs, and I dropped my bags off just outside with the rest of the bags to be rechecked, and that was the last I saw of my laptop. So I've had to make copies of things and fill out paperwork and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the airline actually pays me without a hassle. Anyway. I got out of customs and walked all the way from the international terminal to terminal 1, where America West flies from to change my last ticket. And when I told them so, they pretty much said "Huh?" and sent me to terminal 2, where I'd be flying from. And I checked in there, and that was that. No hassle, no extra ticket change fee. And it was 3 hours before the flight, and I was dead tired, so I found a bench to lie down on while I waited. But I couldn't fall asleep, which is probably a good thing, otherwise I might've missed my flight. But when I was sitting in the chair waiting for them to call my row, I was very nearly nodding off. And I think I actually slept a little on the plane, which is rare for me. And when we landed in Minneapolis, it was warm. 70 degrees when I was expecting under 50.
Uh, what number was that, 3? Then the next one is 4.
- Because of the events in #3, I've ordered a brand spankin' new laptop from HP. The processor is 4 times as fast, it has 4 times the memory as what the old one had when I ordered it, the CD-ROM drive is 3 times as fast, and the hard drive is over 3 times bigger, all for $1000 LESS than I paid for the Dell three years ago.
- There were 3 deer in the field across the road the other day, most likely a doe with her half-grown twins.
- I'm gonna miss watching Gilmore Girls & Ed every week when I move to Adelaide in January.
- I'm broke. Send me money.
- Okay, I'm kidding about #7. Actually only half kidding. I AM broke.
We have good news, and we have good news.
Sort of. Depends on your perspective.
First of all, my flights (at least the Qantas ones) are changed and booked. Flight numbers and times and everything are on the itinerary page.
And secondly, I just checked Qantas's web page to find out what movies are playing on the flight, and of the seven, six I've heard of, four I've seen (and liked all of them). The ones I have seen: Pirates of the Carribean, Finding Nemo, Matrix Reloaded, and Bruce Almighty. The two others I've heard of are Legally Blonde 2 and Johnny English, and I've been told the latter is funny and the former probably is because its predecessor was. The only one I haven't heard of is an Australian movie called The Night We Called it a Day.
But anyway, I won't be bored to tears like the last flight, where I tried so hard to fall asleep and couldn't, even though I'd taken sleeping pills. Engines are too loud. And I honestly tried to watch Just Married and Kangaroo Jack, but the more I saw of them, the dumber they looked, so I watched the flight map & details most of the time I had my screen turned on.
And the Weird Al concert is TOMORROW NIGHT. 7th row. A far cry from the nosebleed seats I had last time I saw him.
‘Cause I had my tray table up, and my seat back in the full upright position.
And I have finally heard back from my travel agent in River Falls, and she tells me there's flights still available October 18th. So I'll be leaving the day before my visa expires, provided they're still available when I visit the airport ticket counter this week (which she said shouldn't be a problem). The whole process of changing my tickets is less than ideal. First of all, it'll cost me $125 at the Qantas desk (I'm not sure if that's in American or Australian dollars; I'd hope it's Australian because it costs less that way). And the only flight from Adelaide to Melbourne that day leaves at 6:05 am. Which means if I want to be at the airport the requisite 1 hour before departure, I'll have to get up by at least 4. And the flight to Melbourne arrives just over an hour later, which gives me nearly three hours before my next flight. True, this gives me plenty of time to find the gate, and use a REAL toilet, and get a drink & maybe a snack, and a Melbourne T-shirt or something, but when I'm done with that, what do I do? Hick, all that won't take more than an hour, 90 minutes at most. I guess I'll end up wandering around the terminal endlessly since I won't get a chance to move around much on the 14 hour flight.
And once I get off the plane in LA, at 7:30 am, after getting off the plane and through immigration, picking up my luggage, going through customs, and making the customs agent's eyes bug out by the dollar amount of chocolate listed on my customs form, all in terminal 4, THEN I have to get on another plane. But it's not that simple. Since my tickets were booked through America West, I then have to go to the America West ticket desk to get my last flight changed. Which means I'll probably have to lug my baggage on the bus around the terminals. So I'll go to terminal 1, which handles America West flights, to change my tickets (and possibly be charged another $100 for changing THAT ticket). And then, because my last flight isn't actually an America West flight, even though it's booked through them, then I have to drag all my stuff over to terminal 2, next door, to actually check in for my Northwest flight.
And have I mentioned that in doing all that, I'll probably miss out on the flight leaving at 8:50, because everything I have to do between after arrival will take longer than that? Assuming the flight actually arrives on time (most of my Qantas flights have arrived a little early though, so who knows), at 7:30, just getting off the plane takes about 10 minutes. Then another 10 to get through the immigration line, 5-10 more to pick up my luggage, 10-15 to go through the customs line, another 5 to get out to the front of the terminal to catch the bus (and who knows if the bus will be *right there* waiting when I get out there), then riding the bus to the appropriate terminal could be 10 minutes, getting the ticket changed at America West, checking in at terminal 2, going through security...yup, I just missed the 8:50 flight to Minneapolis. So that means I have to stick around there till 12:15 for the next one. Yippee. And terminal 2 at LAX is the most boring airport terminal I've ever seen. It's small, there's nothing there to do or explore, and the floor moves. I don't know if it's just the way the building is built or seismic activity, or the fact each time I'm there I've just gotten off a plane, but it moves, and I don't like it.
Okay. So now it's 12:15, I've gotten on the plane to Minneapolis, and my journey is almost over. And I land in Minneapolis at 5:15, and I grab my luggage, and (presumably) meet my parents there (and let my dad carry the suitcase 'cause it's so huge), and I step out the door into the parking ramp, and IT'S FREEZING! (note to Mom & Dad: please bring my winter coat if it's going to be under 50 degrees when you pick me up, or I may not be able to move further than the door.
And that's only the flight part of it. I visited a Telstra shop today to find out about getting my phone disconnected, and I can't schedule it ahead of time. I have to go see them the day I want it turned off, which will probably be the Thursday or Friday before I leave. Of course it all depends on when I'm able to move out of the flat. Time will tell...
And I started my Christmas shopping today too. Can't say what I bought, 'cause it's possible the recipient(s) of said gifts may read this.
And I wrote seven paragraphs in this entry, and started all but one with the word "and."
And every English teacher I've ever known would say not to start a sentence with "and," but I don't care. Part of writing well means knowing when you can get away with breaking the rules.
And that's all I have to say about that.
Tie me kangaroo down
So now that I'm faced with having to go home to Wisconsin early, I'm learning a whole 'nother set of interesting bits of Australian life. First thing is, four weeks notice is customary when moving out of rented property. Four weeks. At the last two places I lived in River Falls it was more than that (one 2 months, one 90 days). Not that there's anything wrong with either of those.
And then Friday I decided I'd better start letting other people know I'm leaving, like the electric company (who still haven't sent me a bill). Funny thing is, I went to their website, and followed a few links, and look! you can connect, disconnect, move your service FROM A FORM ON THE WEB SITE. Why didn't they tell me this when I signed up for the service in the first place?!
So I filled out their form to get disconnected October 18th. And then I went to the Australia Post web site to find out what it takes to forward my mail after I leave. And here's the weird thing: you get different service levels depending on how much you pay them. For one month's forwarding, you pay $9; three months, $22; six months, $33; twelve months, $66. Totally bizarre when you're from the USA and they do it for free for a full year.
And on today's agenda is: 1. visiting a Telstra shop (again) to get my phone disconnected, 2. visiting the GPO to see if my mail has arrived there yet, 3. visiting Darrell Lea again to get more chocolate. And I might have lunch at Subway since I haven't done that in a while.
Oh yeah, and I have to get my plane tickets changed too. So I emailed my travel agent and asked her what I'd have to do, and she said she'd look into it and get back to me. It's been over a week now and she hasn't gotten back to me yet. Since it's Sunday evening there, I'll give her till this time tomorrow before I do anything else about it.
Six days till the Weird Al concert. Eight days till we board the train for Broken Hill, NSW, to visit Darrin's mum & stepdad. Five days later we come back to Adelaide, and a week after that my visa expires and I have to go home. Where it's getting cold, there's no Tim Tams or Darrell Lea, the closest Wetzel's Pretzels is at Twin Cities International Airport, and you have to pay at least twice as much for a leg of lamb.
Yeah, I’ve been lazy, so sue me.
It's been 3 months & 7 days since I posted any news here. Figured it was time I posted SOMETHING, even if it's just silliness. But it won't be silliness.
So here's an update on my situation. I am in Adelaide, South Australia, living in a "granny flat" in the suburb of Campbelltown. I came here to work, but even though I've looked just about everywhere I can think of, I've had no success. I've had only one interview, I've filled out paperwork at several places, and still nothing. Saturday I'm going to an "assessment" at a Big W store with a bunch of other hopefuls (basically they want to find out how well we work together, who can work unsupervised, that kind of thing). And after that hopefully I'll find out if they want me to go to an interview. But since my visa expires on October 19th, I'm starting to wonder what the point is in looking for work anymore. Five weeks and four days. I can't even get hired for things that backpackers normally get hired for (seasonal work like fruit picking) because I'm too old, and the younger you are, the less they can pay you.
But anyway, the trip hasn't been a total loss. Sure, I'm living off my credit card, and AGL (the electric company) still hasn't sent me a bill, and Telstra (phone company) has been a pain in the neck, and don't get me started on my IEP mail situation, but I can get Tim Tams whenever I want them. And I've discovered the wonders of hanging clothes outside to dry (I'd say rediscovered, but any time my mom made me do it when I was young I hated it). And I'm getting really good at cooking lamb roasts. And I've gotten used to not having a job somewhat, so I don't get as bored during the day as I did.
Funky colors.
I've messed around with my itinerary and color coded all the time zones. So anybody who's interested, go look.
Itinerary update
Anybody who's paying attention to my itinerary, please take note that there have been a few minor changes with flight numbers.
another trip to aussie land
I'm going to Australia again.
I read a page last fall about a program which allows Americans (and people from a few other countries) to work in Australia for up to 4 months. I thought it was a neat idea, but no way was I gonna apply to work there till I'd actually seen the country. And then I went in October to visit for 11 days, I liked it. And when I got back, it was cold, and my job sucked, and my 15-year-old dog had died while I was gone, and my car had a flat tire, and I wanted to go back. I did some math and figured out that I could indeed afford to go on this program if I really worked at it.
So I sent my application on a Friday in January, received an affirmative reply after the weekend was over, mailed in my visa application with supporting documents and my passport the first week of March, and received all my materials, including my passport with a big visa sticker on page 10 authorizing me to work from June 19, 2003 until October 19, 2003, two days ago. So everything's official now, except I still have to pay off a credit card and buy a few supplies for the trip (mostly stuff for my laptop, like a new CD-ROM drive, modem, and possibly a spare battery). Anyone interested in my itinerary can go look at it. All that's there right now is flight information. Probably won't be much more than that for quite a while, since I don't know where I'll be working or what hours or even what kind of job.