On Friday, one of the girls at our work, Tash, had her car broken into. Nigel was driving by the office and saw a guy standing by her car. He thought it was her boyfriend. As Nigel was walking to the office, the same guy (who ended up not being the boyfriend) was walking down the street looking into car windows. He walked by Tash's car and saw that the window was smashed in. He ran into the office, told her that her car was broken into, and then ran down the street after the guy. He didn't actually chase him down, but he followed him to his house and called the cops. He gave the cops the guy's id, but the cops couldn't do anything - Nigel didn't actually see him breaking into the car. Since Tash's i-pod was engraved, the cops did go back to the house to see if they could do anything...haven't heard anything yet.

Some of the girls in the office are so funny - they seem to be in awe. Nigel is currently the office hero. He was even told that he should become a PI. It's cute.

For my wedding anniversary present, Nigel gave me tickets to Christina Aguilera. When she first came out, I have to say I didn't like her too much. I thought her videos made her unattractive/dirrty ;) But, over the past few years, I've really started to like her. I've only been to a few concerts (half of which were country and are hard to compare to), but she was the best live concert I've ever been to. She has the most amazing voice. She sounded better in person then on cd. She had a lot of costume changes (most of her costumes were hot pants). She had some really cool stage set-ups and her dancers were amazing. Nigel even liked her (I'm thinking the hot pants helped). Close to the end of her concert, she strapped some footy player to a large target-painted circle and pretended to hit him with a whip. I expected the audience to be full of teenage girls, but I was surprised - there were so many families there for a family day out. It just confirmed to us that having a teenager would cost a lot of money. I'd think anybody would enjoy watching her concert.

But, that's about it. I'm a little sleepy tonight - spent last night speed networking (like speed dating, you just have 1 minute to talk to every new business client). It was interesting to see the type of people that would go. Hope everyone's enjoying the heat in Edmonton - I can't wait til it's 30 here again! Oh, and I added Nigel's and my Simponized pics - enjoy ;)

There's been nothing too exciting happening with me, so I thought I would make this blog about things/people around me. :) With all the rain and cooler weather, we've been hiding indoors. One of the storms the other night was so big, 7 houses were flooded by the tide. The wind was so strong (100 km) that 3 garbage cans flew out in front of our car, almost causing an accident. I spend most of time time at work, taekwondo, or cooking. I'm trying about a billion different recipes for two reasons - you can't cook too much in the summer here with the heat and I'm a little bored. If I don't find more people to do things with, I'll need two airplane seats for the flight back to Canada (with all the cakes I'm making).

I'm trying to meet people in two new ways. I 'volunteered' to be on the committee for the Asia Pacific Business Council for Women. Actually, I thought I was volunteering to be on their Gala Dinner committee (I in fact volunteered to be on the overall committee...looks like a couple committee members have resigned). It's a lot more work and time then I was ready for, but I think it'll be good. I'm also starting belly dancing in a couple weeks - gave up on pole dancing with all the bruises I got when I flung myself into the pole a billion times. We'll see how that goes.

I'm still at taekwondo. To see how vicious I am, go to the World Taekwondo website. Wouldn't you be scared of me? The pigtails, the wet hair from walking in the rain, the strong arm in my knife-hand strike, the lobsided grin...wow. I'd be scared of me too ;) Wahid (my dad-in-law and 'the Master') put this website up a few weeks ago and it's quite popular. It's such a big organisation and is great centre for Adelaide self-defense training. Just thought you guys might enjoy the pic of me ;)

In addition to the career changes, weddings and babies (seriously, how many other people could get pregnant?) other major things are happening for people I know in Edmonton. My friend Jen has qualified for the World Triathlon competition in Germany. Go Jen! My cousin Brent has opened his business Living Bliss in Edmonton (he was running things in Calgary for years and now moved to Ed to be with his honey). If you know anybody who needs physical or emotional training, check him out.

And, just for your information, I found out some crazy things about the Sydney Opera House today. Did you know that they pretty well made the architect resign? He was so mad, he left the country with his family and went back to Denmark (his home country). They did such a bad job finishing it (changed a lot of his original designs, especially for the insides) that the Opera House is in serious danger of becoming unusable (on an international scale). The bad design includes a super-small stage where they have to employ people to catch ballerinas when they come off stage so they don't slam in the wall (and if there aren't employees, they put up mattresses). The orchestra is below the stage in a very tiny space - it gets so loud that they have to give people days off to rest their ears so they don't go deaf and the people in the back can only see the conductor's feet. It's ridiculous. They have now recommissioned the original architect (who is now 89) and his son to draw up plans for a renovation...a $600 million renovation. Poor architect though - due to poor health, he will never see the Opera House in person.

We went camping this past weekend (long weekend because of the Queen's bday). We went to Flinders' Ranges (specifically Wilpena Pound). It's is usually quite dry there, but is prone to flash flooding. It is one of the oldest mountain ranges on earth. They are quite eroded now, so they are quite low, but you can definitely imagine how big they must have been!

There are definitely quite a few differences between shopping in Canada and Australia. First, it's popular to go camping in the middle of winter here - not summer. In the Rockies, we had to worry about snow, mosquitos, bears, and cougars. Here, there weren't any mosquitos. There were many kangaroos bouncing around and emus running across the hills. The emus really don't look like the brightest creatures. We scared a group of emus once and they ran in a few directions before ending up right back in front of us.

We ended up camping with two other couples, a five year old and a two year old. Camping with kids is very different...really good, but definitely different then our regular camping. I was able to see everything...and eneded up looking at things I probably would have missed if the kids weren't around.

Since kangaroos were all over the place, some of the people camping talked about how roo poo is supposed to be a great igniter for the camp fire. A couple of the guys collected a bag of it and tossed it in the back of our car. Nigel found it while he was unloading some wood and threw it over a tree, so it landed by the fire. It missed my head by about 3cm. After we got back from camping a girl in my office said that the last time she went camping a kangaroo jumped into her tent in the middle of the night, knocking it down. Crazy huh? We didn't have to worry about putting our food away so that a bear wouldn't come into our campsite, but there is nothing to do to stop a hopping kangaroo from knocking over the tent.

The one bad thing was that it did get really cold on Saturday night. It was -4 on Friday night and I certainly didn't have enough warm clothes to keep warm on Saturday - we left all of our 'cold clothes' in Canada to go skiing. I was, however, able to bring the best Canadian camping tradition here - s'mores! Can you believe that these people have missed out on s'mores? It's shocking. They don't have graham wafers here, though, so plain cookies (biscuits) had to be used. It's funny seeing all the differences with 'normal' activities like camping. I'm definitely upside-down. Alex (the 5 year old on the trip) even asked if I was from a different world or planet (we saw venus in the sky, tried explaining it to him and I was using a lot of different 'Canadian' words). Canada is just that different. :)

Winter has definitely arrived here. It's been raining almost every day for the past two weeks. I don't really mind it - like I said before, they are in a pretty bad drought right now and all the rain is quite nice. Watching people in this weather is quite funny, though. Everyone owns umbrellas and they're HUGE. When they walk down the street, two people can't pass each other without moving their umbrellas out to the side. I've hit a few people and poles with the one I borrowed from the office to go on meetings, so I just walk around getting wet now. Only if it is some type of downpour do I use it.

The city/weather stations keep putting out 'extreme weather condition warnings'. On days like this, the freeway's speed limit is lowered, roads are monitored, there are many accidents...it's crazy. The craziest part of it is that it (compared to Canada) really isn't 'extreme' weather. Think of a spring thunderstorm without the sheets of rain...sure, the roads are wet and it windy and some parts might even get hail (up in the hills, usually), but it's not too bad. The worst thing that happened to us was the mass of pine cones (or something that fell from the tree) that hit our car when we stopped at a light. It's also 15 degrees...not really extreme ;) Nigel, however, told me today (as I walked along the beach in my lulu pants and light sweater) that it is AS cold as it is in the middle of January in winter (in Canada). I think he's lost his mind.

I finished all my exams (and passed, thankfully) and handed in my assignment. I messed up a little thinking the assignment was 22 pages in total. 54 pages later, I felt like if I saw one more spread sheet, I'd lose it. I find out if I passed in the next few weeks. I will then be able to tell people what to do with their money. eep.

We ended up going to the Polish cultural centre for lunch the other weekend. I was looking forward to perogies and things like that. There was some good food..some I could have done without. We introduced some of our friends to Polish food - nobody (except a friend from Canada) had tasted perogies before. The perogies were great - the other food wasn't as good as my aunties' or my mom's cooking. Every single person in the place spoke polish fluently. It was like being in Poland. They sang 'happy birthday' (in Polish) to a couple of people - the signs, the information was all in Polish too...no English at all. One of the girls who came with us can't eat certain types of meat, so she asked the lady serving if it was beef, pork, or chicken. The lady said 'meat'. The girl asked again...the lady (more sternly) said 'meat, meat!' It was definitely an experience. :)

You know - when it gets cold outside and you breathe and you can see it? Well, I saw it. I moved to the land down under expecting more warmth. I'm not really complaining...it was only 6 degrees and I have been through -50 windchill degree weather, so there really is nothing to complain about, but I'm in Australia. The whole stereotype of this country has left me. I had a friend email me the other day asking if his dreams of blonde-haired, lean, toned, bronzed Australians is true or not. Growing up, I probably believed this too...isn't everyone here supposed to live at the beach? But, like so many other stereotypes, this one is also not true. They do get snow in this country (in a few parts), they have ski 'mountains' (more like hills, I think compared to the Rockies) and not everyone is blonde, tanned, and built. Sigh ;) haha. Not to offend any of my new Ozzie friends here...I like the country. I just think the whole idea of central heating needs to be developed further.

Seeing my breath this morning did make me think of Edmonton, and the fact that Nigel and I left the country one year ago today. Can you believe it? We've been gone a year. A lot has happened in a year. We've seen a lot of things, met a lot of people (including new-found family members). In some ways it seems so much longer then a year. In others, it feels shorter. Leaving Canada didn't really hit me until we got to Australia. Even then, I don't think it hit me until we moved into our own place. I'm just confused, I think. People say it takes 12 months to really feel like you're starting 'new'. I am definitely not in my 12th month. I think my 12 months probably started in January.

In other news, I passed my second last exam. I have one more left (the hard one, I think) and with all the days of work and lack of studying, I'm a little nervous about it. It's on Thursday...we'll see how it goes.

We're trying to think of a present for Nigel's mom. Ideas? I really want it to be good, but the whole thinking thing isn't happening. We'll hopefully come up with a fantastic idea tonight and shop tomorrow. Have a great Mother's Day weekend - especially to the new moms!

PS: there haven't been anymore spiders in the apartment. I can now go to sleep without checking under the covers for something the size of my hand.

It's been raining for four days. It's dreary outside and our place is really dark, so it's kind of gloomy, but the rain is fantastic for Adelaide. We were on level 3 water restrictions (goes up to 5) and that usually means that people can only water their gardens on certain days/times, not wash their car (unless it's on grass) and things like that. The news was threatening higher levels if we didn't get rain. One of the radio shows was talking about ways we could save water - not running water while brushing teeth, 'mellow when it's yellow' (y'know...the whole not flushing for #1), and things like that. One crazy woman phoned in to talk about how the 'immigrants' are the biggest problem - the 'immigrants' are using the water meant fo Australians. Funny thing is that since Australia is like Canada, it's full of immigrants ;) Sigh. Weird people. I guess I'm to blame for the lack of water in this country.

Anyway, the rain is good, but it also causes some of the bugs/spiders to find places to hide...like our apartment. I've included a picture of the 'Huntsman'. It's this MASSIVE spider that lives here in Australia and was crawling around the apartment the other day. The problem? It was SO disgusting. I HATE, HATE, HATE spiders...especially ones that are as big as my hand. They also jump, so if they feel threatened, they can jump on you and bite. They have big fangs and their bites hurt. The good thing? Their venom can't kill you.

Just thought that those of you who are planning on visiting might want to see this guy up close without actually being in our apartment.

With two exams done (and passed, yay!) and my first seminar out of the way, I'm starting to relax. The fact that both exams and seminar fell within two days made the other week quite long. I ran a seminar called 'Media Influence on Investor Behaviour' - I researched newspapers from major market/property crashes and analysed how newspapers tried to influence people. It was crazy. Australia newspapers are owned and run by two main companies - one which was started here and now runs out of New York. The guy in charge is Rupert Murdoch and he also has interests in FOX in the US and the FOX program here (among many other tv/radio stations). He owns the only paper here in Adelaide and there is SO much crap in in. The first 5 pages are full of celebrity gossip and all other news has a definite right wing slant. When John Howard (our *wonderful* prime minister) stated that if the Democrats won in the US, it would be another victory for Al Queda, it wasn't reported on the news here (at least to the point where nobody here ever heard about it). Rupert Murdoch has huge political and business influences that actually alter what's shown on the news. I was even trying to find current articles from a variety of newspapers across the country - the EXACT same newspaper article would show up in Melbourne and Perth newspapers with a few lines changed and a different journalist listed as the writer. Free speech, my a**.

So, I have two exams left, an assignment, and montly seminars to plan. Should be ok. Kind of want to do something else other than study, but since the days are getting shorter, it's making it easier.

Nigel may have a good contract out of Toronto. He has been hired by a consulting company who is doing a proposal to a large US-based company...they have the meeting on Thursday and if the company likes what the consultants plan to do, Nigel gets to do the IT bit with Shawn (their company is OpenRadical).

I've decided that I'm never going to be a pole dancer - I mean the aerobic type. After all the bruising, don't think I can go back. The group has a really good marketing plan, though...they text people at approximately 5:00 and say 'What are you doing at 7? How about body conditioning tonight?'. (They run many diff classes). It would work great if I used the mobile (cell phone) but Nigel uses it. I wasn't with him when he got the message and he didn't know who it was from. He responded - 'I'm planning on stuffing my face at 7. Who is this?' He didn't get a response. It was from my instructor. Sigh. Almost too embarrassed to go back to any class. The woman would think I just stuff my face every night ;)

I'm getting worse and worse at updating this thing. Time just seems to go by so fast. I have a test every second week and it seems like all I'm doing right now is working and studying, so spending time on the computer is not exactly enticing.

The last few weeks have been interesting. "Maria" is back. By that I mean that the klutzy part of me is back. Since I've been here, I haven't fallen on stairs, bruised myself extensively, gotten stuck on an escalator, slipped in mud or anything like that. Two weeks ago, it all started happening again. I was punched in the face at Taekwondo (it was actually palm hand strike to the face, but the feeling was the same.) On Wednesday, I felt like I had something in my eye. When I went to look in the mirror, I thought it was a piece of white string. When I pulled on it, my entire eye moved - it reminded me of chicken ligament (the stuff on chicken legs). After almost fainting numerous times in two different offices (I was at work), it came out... it was skin from INSIDE my eye. Ugh. On Thursday, when I went to write my online exam, I ended up with a total of 20 min...for a 60 min exam. There were major technical difficulties, that, according to the help desk manager 'have never happened before'. After being told that I failed because I didn't have enough correct answers, the manager called back to apologise and tell me that the office will make it so it is like I've never written the exam. So, I have to write it again on Wednesday. I have my second exam on Thursday. We'll have to see how those two go.

This past week was ok. We spent the long weekend hiking, swimming at the beach, eating a lebanese feast for Easter lunch, and relaxing. I made pumpkin pie (from scratch by roasting a pumpkin since the lady at the store thought I was crazy when I asked for canned pumpkin - they don't have that here). Everyone seemed to like the pie although they were super apprehensive. They only eat pumpkin as a savoury here - like squash.

I went to pole dancing. I have a new found respect for pole dancers. The class wasn't what I exactly expected. We just swung around the poles like monkeys on trees. Well, I felt like a monkey on a tree...well, maybe not even that good. Monkeys are probably a lot more graceful ;) I have bruises on the FRONT of my foot, the inside of my thigh, my knees, my elbows, etc...it's crazy. Not sure if I'll go back. Have to think about it...

It's weird being here on my bday. I miss going out for dinner and dancing with everyone. Girls at work knew I was a little sad, so they dragged me across the street to the Polish hall where one of the workers gave me frozen perogies for free to make me feel at home. Yay perogies! Nobody in the office had ever tried them, so we cooked them up - they were yummy! Miss perogies...sigh. Melissa and Richie surprised me yesterday. We were going for dinner and they planned a 'surprise' ahead of time. They booked a gondola ride down the Torrens river. (not like the gondolas in Banff...the gondolas in Venice). It was so pretty! We had sparkling shiraz and snacks before going to a thai restaurant for dinner. It was so pretty! Loved it. Made for a great birthday night out. After dinner, we went to a circus themed club (felt like you were in a tent - it was actually pretty neat). More things for me to show people when they visit!

Should run...have to make 'tea'...

I've attached pis of our house (apartment) and surrounding area. I tried to put captions on the pics, but it won't work on the Mac today. So, I'll explain the pics a little:

1. Clock tower, which is now a private residence. It's around the block, on the way to the beach.
2. Beach shots - from all views. The one with the jetty (really long dock) is where there is a really popular tourist spot with many restaurants, stores and cafes.
3. Two of the streets that pass our block.
4. Little Australian bungalow house - really popular here.
5. Bathroom & shot of shower (almost everyone here has a separate shower.
6. Master bedroom.
7. Small study room (with IKEA chair and rug...planning to put plants, bookcase and stereo.
8. Living room (lounge).
9. Kitchen and breakfast bar (which is now the dining area). ;)
10. Dragonfruit rug...black and white. It's in the lounge.

I didn't add pics of our second bedroom, hallway, and robes. The second bedroom is our office, but still filled with some boxes and things. It's a bit of a mess. See, people can come visit - there's lots of room!

...well, not exactly. I did pass to my yellow belt, though and I've already started to learn the two forms that I will be tested on. Wahid wants to take a pic with me in my uniform to put on his website. Only, like, 10 more tests (or more) til I get my black belt. Will take a while. The white to yellow goes pretty fast - it's a lot slower after that.

I'm still trying to find another activity to do. My mom will probably want to kill me for my next interest - I'm looking into aerobic pole dancing. PLEASE note the aerobic part - I'm not going to be dancing around in a G-string and high heels or anything. It'll be track pants, singlettes (tank tops) and socks, in a room full of women, and, well, dance poles. It's supposed to be a fantastic workout. I tried to go on Thursday, but the class was canceled. I'll try again next week. The FUNNY thing is that Nigel's sister wants to do it with me. All Nigel wants is for his wife and sister to be pole dancing together...eep.

Yesterday, there was the first hurricane warning in the gulf (Southern Australia gulf). There are not very many waves in Glenelg, where we live, because Kangaroo Island blocks the swirl. People usually go down south for bigger waves, but yesterday, surfers were jumping off the jetty (a really long dock that sticks out into the ocean) and catching the waves in. It was crazy. The wind, the waves...storms on the coast are amazing.

That's about it. I booked my flight to Canada. It's way too expensive to fly at Christmas. I was quoted prices up to $4000 AUS. I managed to get a price for less, but not too much less. I'll be in Edmonton and area for 3 weeks. I'll email people the dates.

I had my first grading in Taekwondo yesterday. I was so nervous. I watched the kids being graded while I waited for the adult tests. There were quite a few kids going for their black belts...it is so crazy to watch. Some people make contact and it looks like it hurts.

When the adults lined up for the grading, we first split into groups - black belt people came around and gave us a 'warm up' (push ups, jumping jacks, stretches, punches, etc). Master Carol (my mom-in-law) walked up to me and asked me to do a demonstration - break two boards with a round-house kick. Ha. I told her no...funny thing is that the rest of my group didn't know I even knew Carol and they were surprised to see me answer 'no' right away. AS IF I could break boards...I barely know how to turn and punch at the same time.

The first people to go were two red belts going for their black belt. They went first because they are tested throughout the entire session - Master Wahid (my dad-in-law) calls them up and asks them to do different things. The first thing they had to do was spar. There was a guy (named Guy) and a woman going through the test. Guy was super-aggressive and kept hitting the woman. When you're sparring, you can make contact, but it has to be controlled. He hit her pretty hard a couple times. It just looks so painful (no padding, head gear or anything).

The next group was the white belts (me). I was called up third...this meant that I was front row, centre, right in front of Wahid's table. Sigh. I was then partnered up with a black belt I had never met before. While I was trying to punch him in the face (what I was supposed to do), he said things like 'I know who you are' and 'don't mess up in front of your father-in-law'. Nigel said my face turned red and I didn't look as 'in control' as I did in my other forms. Worst test ever. I don't know if I passed...I find out tomorrow. So embarrassing.

Anyway, I tried taking pics of the apartment and the area today, but my camera is dead. I will take some soon and put them up. OH, and you get to see our new dragon fruit rug...you'll know what I mean when you see it. And, I have internet now...wooohooo! Oh and one more thing - Nigel's coming to Canada! Yay! He booked his flight (with points) to come back for Christmas. I don't know when I'm coming yet. Weird that it is my country (yes, 'my') and he gets booked first. Boo.

So the trip to the Gold Coast (for the financial planning course) was interesting.

The airline lost my bag on the way there and on the way back. On the way there, they couldn't get my bag to me until the next day. I was happy that I had taken one set of 'business clothes' in my carry-on; however, I really didn't have much else. My shampoo (I had a self-serve apartment booked) was in my other bag. When I arrived at the apartment, there was no reception. After calling a few numbers, I finally was let into the building and found my key in a box. A group of guys were watching porn on the public computers. It was *fantastic* (note the sarcasm).

Since I arrived at 10pm I couldn't buy shampoo anywhere. In the morning, I had to decide between dish soap and a bar or chemical-smelling body soap to wash my hair. The bar of soap won. I had told people in the course what I had to do to wash my hair and the guy sitting next to me said 'THAT was the smell...I get it'. He could smell the soap.

The Gold Coast was beautiful! Everyone should go there. There was a cyclone warning (downgraded to a tropical storm) so it rained a lot, but there were some sunny breaks. The water was pretty dangerous though (the rips and holes). The lifeguards saved 90 people the day I arrived - mostly tourists who 'didn't want to let the weather ruin their vacation'. Crazy. I saw one person saved...I couldn't believe people were even in the water!

The course was full of people with a lot of exposure to the financial industry. There were 4 accountants, 1 paraplanner, 1 financial researcher, 4 people whose parents owned/managed financial planning businesses (many of them worked there), and me. I was a little lost, but not too bad. There were a few girls (3). When we were put in groups (usually min of one girl in each group to go over problems and present different scenarios/cases to the rest of the class), I was told to present first for the 'cuteness factor'. By 'cuteness factor', they meant that I could 'wow' the crowd and get them interested even before any relevant information was discussed. Ha. By the end, I had them realizing that I wasn't there for the 'cuteness factor'. It's definitely a different industry compared to recruitment. I love the material, but it will take some time to get used to the environment. I was also told (when they found out that I had moved to Australia with two boxes of things) that the boxes must be filled with shoes. Shoes. I told them they were actually filled with camping gear, sports gear and pictures. They didn't know how to react. Stupid boys.

The craziest part of the trip was when I met our friend's cousin. Our friend, Hamish, lives in Edmonton and his cousin's (Mel) friend was in my course. Mel came to pick up her friend after the course was finished and offered me a ride to my hotel. She told me she had relatives in Edmonton - and I know them! How crazy is that!

I was wrong about getting internet soon. There aren't enough 'ports' in our area or something like that and it may be a few weeks until I get something running. It's also our account for international calls, so it may be a while until I call too. So, I hope everyone is doing well and I'll try to get in touch asap!

Sorry for the lack of blogging. We have moved *finally* and we don't have internet yet. :(

On Friday (last week) we went to a Chinese New Year's dinner with my entire office. There were 9 courses (or more...I don't even remember). Three hours later, we were practically rolling out of the restaurant. For the Chinese New Year, it's the Year of the Pig. When some people in my office found out that I am from a pig farm, they were impressed. Year of Pig & new employee from pig farm = good luck. Let's hope they're right.

I'm doing some research on what newspaper articles tell people to do with stocks and houses before major housing or market falls. I've spent tonnes of time at the state library reading old newspapers and doing some stats. On Friday, I went to my first seminar on risk. I have to admit that one of my larger fears about this job is what some older clients may think of dealing with someone as young as me - especially since I'm still ID'd. I won't let it affect my job or anything, but it's something I'm aware of. Anyway, 20 seconds into the seminar the presenter was talking aobut how he has been in the industry since 1971. He looked around the room and said 'wow, I bet some of you weren't even born yet'. Then, he pointed at me and said 'you...Marie (I was wearing a name tag), how old are you?'.

Ok. What man, in his right mind would ask a woman of ANY age how old they are? I, of course, turned red and said '25'. The thing is that there were many males in the room around the same age. There were many males around the room, period. The presenter also talked about how advisors can give papers 'to the girls in the office to organize' or 'when clients come in, the office girls can greet them and give them coffee'...etc, etc, etc. 'Office girls'. Bleh. I know he started in 1971, but I would think he would have caught up with the times. Girls don't only get coffee anymore. Being part of this boys' club is going to be interesting.

I'm not going to Darwin anymore. I leave for the Gold Coast tomorrow for a week long course. I'm going through 3 different sections of my dimploma of financial planning course. I guess that some companies send people to poach new advisors. My boss already warned me that I (and other people at the course) will probably be approached. Fun ;) The cool thing is that I will be staying in Surfer's Paradise, in an apartment. I'm quite excited.

We moved in last weekend and are slowly getting everything we need. We moved ourselves in on Saturday, helped Richie move into his house on Sunday, and finished moving ourselves in on Monday night. On Monday, we tied our mattress to the top of Wahid's SUV to take about 12 km to our house. Carol and I were in the SUV and Nigel was in our car. The mattress started lifing pretty high, so Carol and I had to hold it down - stuck our arms through the window and held it down. Every red light we had to drop our arms and let the blood rush back. I hate moving.

But, our place is great. It's nice, 55 sec from the beach, a few minutes from Jetty Road (popular tourist area). We went there last night for fish and chips and sat on the beach to eat our 'tea' (their word for dinner). After that, this huge storm came in and we watched lightening hit the water again and again. It was crazy.

But, better go. At Nigel's mom's house...we need to get home and make some tea ;) Have a great week!

The whole naughty school girl/boy party was pretty funny. We arrived at the train station in our costumes - there was a group of 9 of us. Most of the other people, about 30 in total, were not dressed up, so we kind of stood out. We had some wine and found out what our 'parts' were. My name was Victoria Nera and I was a history teacher. I had fallen in love with and married another teacher, Charles (I didn't know the guy who ended up playing the part. The headmaster of the school found out and forced me to resign since relations between staff was against the rules. I moved away, and divorced Charles. However, I was still in love with him. When it was announced that the headmaster was killed, I was supposed to sing, dance, cheer and jump around. And, if anyone accused Charles of murdering the headmaster, I was to jump up and defend him.

We boarded the train, changed to a bus and finally arrived at our 'mystery' location - the golf club. We had a fantastic meal, had numerous bottles of wine and played out parts while working out the story. One of the girls from our group ended up being the murderer. It was pretty funny. Two REALLY funny parts included a guy who had to pretend he was raised by apes after he was abducted from the school and a girl who was an exotic dancer. The guy couldn't talk and had to jump around all the time. The girl had to dance every time there was music. It was crazy. I've included pics below. The outfit I'm wearing is an actual school uniform here. After the formal night, we ended up in a bar, drinking and dancing. Police officers actually stopped by the window to watch us...I'm not sure if they thought we were crazy or just under age. ;)

Funniest part of the night was when we got home. I wasn't doing too well (like I said, numerous bottles of wine). I was sitting in the car and Mel and Rich were helping Nigel make sure I get into the house (not one of my proudest moments). I was out of it until I heard Carol (my mom-in-law) yelling from her balconey to see if everything was ok (the dog was barking). My eyes popped open and I said 'uh-oh spaghetti-os...it's my mother-in-law'. I quickly got up and went to my bedroom. Hahaha.

Other than that, life is pretty good. We're going shopping for our apartment this weekend. We get the key on Tuesday, so it'll be nice to see. We probably won't move in until the weekend (until we actually get a bed and things). I'm excited :)

Work is going well. I am switching positions next Monday. I had an interview to see if I would be trained to be a financial consultant or the team lead (they're planning to hire a team of 3 between 12 and 18 months). The reviewed other applicants, but I was offered the job of Team Lead! It's crazy. I have to go through insurance, loans, and financial planning courses in the next few months...then more financial planning and other things... I'll be a little busy. I'm going to a seminar in March. It's in Darwin. I don't even know where Darwin is. Hmmm. I'm going to look at a map.

One more week of work done (that is now two weeks if anyone is counting). I presented a 2 hr marketing proposal and it went quite well. The next two weeks will be quite busy since we have to set up a whole bunch of things before I start on my next position.

At noon, Nigel and I went to sign the papers for our new apartment. We move on the 20th - on 11 more days! It's crazy. I still haven't seen it and won't be seeing it until we move in. I'm beginning to think of it as a present...I'll be surprised when I open it

I looked up our new address on Google Maps. My friend, Mark, had sent me a pic of my in-law's house when I moved in, so I thought it might be fun. I love the fact that I'm a few building away from the beach. The great thing is that we're walking distance to Jetty Road (a busy, touristy-type place with many cafes and hang-outs), but we're far enough away to enjoy the quieter bits. I'm including a picture (below) for you too see where we are!

This weekend should be fun. We're going to a murder mystery night on Saturday for Melissa's bday. It's a themed party on an old-fashioned steam train. We get our 'parts' at the beginning of the night, ride the train for a bit, get dropped off at a mystery location for dinner then continue the ride. Should be fun. Oh, and the theme? Naughty school boys and girls. I've borrowed an old school uniform from Nigel's sister's friend. I'll put up pics after.

Have a great weekend :)

Yes, we're making the big move. We're actually moving out of the in-laws house and into a nice little apartment of our own.

I'm really excited, but there are a few things concerning me:

1. I haven't seen the place. To look at most rentals, you have to go during the day. With my new job, I feel really bad asking for 45 min or longer to go and see an apartment/house. Nigel went to see it the other day. He showed up early and decided to walk around the area before checking out the place. He walked to the beach (yes, you lucky ducks...for those of you visiting me, you will get to WALK to the beach), decided he really wants to live by the beach and then went to the apartment. When I came home from work, he told me it was fantastic, a good size, close to the beach, close to the tram (to get to work), etc. We quickly filled out all the forms, applied, and crossed our fingers that we would get it.

2. I don't know where we will eat. As we got ready for bed, I asked him about the dining area. He's not too sure if there was one. Seriously. I then asked him about the size of the living area. There is a foosball table, was his response.

3. I asked about the size of the second bedroom. It has polished floor boards, was his response. I am SURE he walked to the beach, decided that this was where he wanted to live and then decided to apply.

The good thing is Nigel was able to pick all the good and bad points about every single place that we have visited (both beside the beach and in the city). He was able to point things out that I wouldn't have even considered...therefore, I am sure, subconsciously, he has picked a fantastic place. Hey, I have to hang on to some hope.

We move into our new place on the 20th. We have already purchased a lounge suite - red couches! We will be going shopping for our other household items (every single one of them minus the kitchen stuff I got for cheap after Christmas). I'm excited. :) I just KNOW that the fact we live a block away from the beach will make some people want to come see me...or the beach ;)

I started the weekend by celebrating Australia Day (January 26). It's the day that the country was founded by ships filled with convicts. I kind of think it's funny to be living in a country that the English thought would be fabulous for their criminals...

Ashley came to visit on Saturday. After having coffee with a girl I knew from Edmonton (who is now in Adelaide for a year of all places), on Thursday night, I've had my fill of Canadians ;) The best thing is when we start talking about the differences or the weird things we see. For example, on Thursday, Carolyn told me about this mouse-size, furry, brown spider (called a Huntsman) that landed on her friend's chest...the spider isn't dangerous (can't kill you), but it's big and hairy and gross. We also talked about the blunt sense of humour (somebody telling you 'boy, you've gained weight/look bad/look tired/look older' is not uncommon here).

On Saturday, we did the official one day tour with Ashley. We took her to Cleland (this awesome animal park where the animals run free and you can pet/feed them). After that, we stopped at Mount Lofty (the highest point in South Australia)...not really a mountain, compared to the Rockies. We went to Hahndorf (a cute little German town in the middle of South Australia...filled with restaurants that serve German sausages). Our final stop was the chocolate factory - a HUGE chocolate factory. I was in heaven. So, you know what to look forward to when you get here! Heaps of chocolate. :) Pics below!

I started work today. I have a pretty good work area. It's open space, but only open to one other person (Helen). I have natural light and work from 9:00-5:30 with a 1 hr lunch. I'm doing a lot of communications and marketing right now and will probably move in to a financial role at the beginning of March. It's weird to think that after 8.5 mos, I will probably not have a vacation that long again until I retire (eep). Unless, of course, we decide to move back to Canada by going to South America...hmmmm. At this point, I'm not thinking about that. I have a great office, nice people - there is even a pies, pasties, fish 'n chips, sandwich shop down the street. Tomorrow's adventure - getting to work on time...on the bus.

Three more days. That is the time I have until I start my new job. It's weird to think that after 8.5 mos, I'm going to be working. I will be working for a financial/accounting firm. I start out by doing a project for them, marketing for their company. They currently do no marketing - no website, no ads, nothing, so I will get to do a lot of interesting things for them. After that, I will work on their customer relations with the financial planning side of the company. For me to do that properly, I have to take financial planning courses. They will be hard, but I'm quite excited. Should be good.

Other than that, life has been ok. We went to look at a couple of apartments yesterday. The first one, I thought, was perfect. It was on the 7th floor of a building, facing the ocean. It had 2 HUGE bedrooms (for all of our lovely visitors), a large balconey, a big dining/lounge area, two bathrooms, a walk in closet, and an ok kitchen (kind of old). The problem? Well, there was a garbage shoot in the hallway. Nigel thought it made the place smell really, really bad. I didn't think that the smell was coming from the garbage - it was the BO from our realestate agent. She was wearing a sleeveless shirt and kept raising her arms in the air to point out fire detectors, shelves, lights, etc. At one point, Nigel leaned down and smelled his arm pit - I turned to him and said 'don't worry, it's not you'. Either way, it was too smelly for Nigel and we didn't apply for it.

I am meeting a friend from Edmonton tonight. She's moved her for a year! My other friend's sister who is living in Melbourne for a while is coming to Adelaide for a weekend. She called me and I was shocked - she sounds Australian already and only moved here in November. My Canadian accent is doomed.

And, to finish off this blog, a funny story about my baby brother on my sis-in-laws web site: I'm talking to my hubby and he just came back from the steamroom in his hotel in Winnipeg. He's sitting in there when this stranger asks him for the score in the football game. They bullshit for about 10 minutes before the Tragically Hip concert last night came up and Brian mentions he had the best seats in the house. This guy says "I dunno. Pretty sure, I had the best." Brian mentions he was in the press box but the stranger counters, "I was on the stage." The stranger was Gord Downie!! Brian had absolutely no idea. One, the guy had a towel draped over his head; Two, Brian's oblivious to that kind of thing. lol Too weird. They bullshit for a little while longer and now Gordie might become a Curl-TV subscriber! Who knew they were huge curling fans??

You know, you really realize that you are in a new place when you need to learn a new word every second day. We drove by the Adelaide Gaol the other day. I had no idea what it was. How am I supposed to know that 'gaol' is 'jail'? Seriously. The word red-neck is also not really popular here...they use words like bludger, dag, etc.

I've spent the past few weeks applying for many jobs, looking for apartments, going to gym, and hanging out. I do have a job now! Yay me! I will give you all the details when I get everything finalized. It's definitely a career change, but I'm super excited. I've been going to the gym with my in-laws. I think it's cool to be able to go hang out with them - at the gym of all places. Wahid and I are having a workout competition in 1 week 4 days. I do well on the sit-ups, but he's way better with the push-ups. We'll see who wins...Maria or the Master.

I went shopping for bras today...with my mom-in-law. It's the second time in 11 months that she's helped me pick out my bras. It's not something I thought my mom-in-law and I would ever be doing, but it seems to work. I was a little annoyed with the fact that I have managed to go up a size. Ugh. I hate bra shopping and this made it even worse. I sat there (in the dressing room) and just shook my head while my mom-in-law told me (and the whole dressing room) that it must be the soy milk I drink - the increased estrogen. Sigh. Stupid milk. I try to be heathly and now I can't fit into my tops. Should stop Nigel from drinking too much...who knows what would happen to him.

I've been having weird dreams - very, very vivid dreams that make me move around at night. SO many people have told me about the dangerous spiders (especially red back and white tails since they live in this area). You can die from the red backs...the white tails only give you a skin-eating disease. One night, I quickly moved to the bottom of the bed, on my knees, screaming about spiders on the wall. I made Nigel turn on the light. After he told me that there were no spiders, I crawled back under the covers. I don't remember anything at all. I also managed to grab some laundry in my sleep and cry about some scary dream. Must be the estrogen.

So our New Year's Eve was quite interesting.

We headed up to Normanville on the 31st. When we arrived at the cabins, a whole bunch of people were out playing Cricket - some crazy game that can last for 5 days. We packed our things into our bunk-bed room and relaxed with everyone. Nigel and I decided to go to the beach. As Nigel slept on the sand, I decided to take a swim. I was bouncing around in the water when a fin popped up about 6 metres away from me. I told myself that I was imagining things...ever since I got here, people have been telling me about the sharks. The waters have been over-fished, so sharks are coming closer to land to feed. I had kind of convinced myself that there wasn't a shark, but when I looked again, the fin was there. I freaked. I can't really scream, so I made some kind of incoherent sound, ran through the water and up the beach, calling Nigel. I had him look at the water and saw the fin again. He finally saw it after the 4th time. He calmly put his hat back on his head and told me that it was a dolphin.

How can he be sure it was a dolphin? He isn't. The next day, I told his friend's uncle about the fin. He asked how 'it behaved'. How does a fin 'behave'? He asked what it looked like - dolphin fins are more round while shark fins are pointy. I didn't know - I was too busy freaking out. I told him that I saw it pop up 4 times...Since it popped up 4 times, it must be a dolphin. Dolphins like popping up a lot while sharks pop up and swim for a while. Plus, there was a school of dolphins at the beach that morning. He did, however, tell me to be really careful. His daughter had seen a sting ray (the thing that killed Steve Irwin).

After my shark scare, we headed back to the cabins where we ate prawns, oysters and many other yummy things. We spent the night dancing (even had a dance floor) and enjoying the weather outside. We lit sparklers and popped 'poppers' at midnight. The teenager girls who were there (there were some families) were fascinated with the fact that I was from Canada. They started talking about hockey and how cold it was in Canada. At one point, they started talking about hockey players they had met and how macho they were. They laughed because hocky players must have small willies. Why? Because they shrink in the cold..especially if they have been in a hockey rink in Canada. Ahhhh...to be 16 again ;)

And, as you can see by the pics, we've taken down our Christmas decorations. Santa is done for another year. YAY! No more jingle bells...