Greetings from Down Under

Hello All!

As I write this, you are all fast asleep in your American beds. As I'm sure you've all surmised, I've made to Australia safe and sound.

Much to my dismay, my plane didn't crashland onto an uncharted, but largely inhabited, island somewhere between LA and Sydney where time and space experiments are conducted and polar bears run rampant. I did, however, lose 10 September 2009. I will never know such a day....

To make things easier, I will categorize my first few days.

Flight:
14 hours, which actually wasn't so bad (except when I had to watch an Eddie Murphy movie-yikes). I am quite good at sleeping on planes, as I am able to curl up into a little ball. I was lucky enough to get an isle seat, so I didn't have to lean on anyone. I also purposely didn't drink a lot of water because I always have to pee a lot (what?! you all already know this about me) and those airplane bathrooms are pretty much MRSA heaven -among other horrible things- (especially after 14 hours of airplane food...). Yuck.

*Funny insert* I wore my no-traction-having plastic turquoise flip flops, you know the ones, and when I took them off for take-off, one slid back 5 rows and I couldn't find it for half the flight. Awkward.

Airport:
Those customs jerks confiscated my baby carrots and my unpopped popcorn. Sure, I anticipated this, but I did still shed some tears as they threw it in the garbage. I contemplated jumping the divider and going for it, but getting arrested in a foreign country isn't really my thing. A lovely lady from work, Linda, picked me up and gave me my first semi-tour of Melbourne (FYI- people here pronounce it 'Melbin').One day I will get used to this....

The 'Burbs:
I live in a place called Donvale and work in Doncaster, both of which are lovely! They remind me of an LA suburb sans palm trees with English looking houses. At some point I will add pictures to this post and show you.
On Saturday, Chris (from work), took me to lunch by the Yarra river. The weather was very pleasant and the scenery was fantastic.

Housing:
I live in a very nice townhouse with my own bedroom. I have a slightly nice view from my window. It's mostly house, but I can also see sunrise-ish and the storm clouds rolling in. The sky seems so much bigger down here (maybe it's that large hole in the ozone...). The people who live here are still on honeymoon, so it's just me (which is kind of lonely and sometimes scary). Speaking of scary....

Things that may kill me:
So, surprise surprise, less than 10 hours in the country and I have a run in with a very large and scary looking spider that probably wanted to eat me. There I was, taking a harmless shower (sans my glasses which help me see) and in the corner of the ceiling I see this black spot. I didn't need to see it clearly to know what it was. After I got out I attempted to throw things at it to get it down so I could smoosh it (I'm making myself sound much less terrified that I actually was). After my first attempt, which just pissed it off, I repeatedly threw a towel at it (as I write this, I am getting all paranoid and jittery). I finally knocked it down, but onto the towels, so I had to lift them up to try and find it. So scary! I finally did -thank goodness it wasn't a runner!- and hit it a few times with my shoe. When it was thoroughly smashed, I put it in the toilet. -However, Chris later told me not to pick them up with tissue because they can still kill you. Fantastic. Thank you everyone, mostly Peter, for prompting this experience by not knocking on wood.

Grocery store:
Aside from it being ridiculously expensive, I love it! They have so many fun and tasty looking products! Yes yes, I'm doing the gluten free thing, but I'm thinking I will suffer the....side effects... at least a few times to get a chance at trying some of this stuff! So yummy. I will also bring tons of it home for you all to try. Let's just hope the customs people in the US aren't jonesing for some sweets (Mom, you get what I'm refering to).

Melbourne:
The weather this Sunday was pretty crummy, so I didn't head into the city this weekend, but I can see the skyline from bits of Doncaster and it is absolutely beautiful! I will make another attempt this weekend. I will also start planning my trips to other places in Australia and New Zealand and such. If anyone wants to contribute some money to the cause, feel free! :)

Doncaster Shoppingtown:
OMG. Wow. Quite possibly the most wonderful place I have ever been to. Sure, I can't afford a thing there, but it was still excellent. It was so big, I didn't even know where to start! This was my Sunday afternoon activity. I think it was a day well spent, and I'm sure that many a day will be spent there.

Work:
I had my first day of work today. The first day jitters didn't last long. The people I work for are funny and nice and great to work with. Plus they have fun accents. I am very much looking forward to the next 4 months.

Lame internet:
I am definitely getting screwed over on this one. I attempted to access a trailer for a new movie on my msn-america link and guess what- I can't watch in Australia yet! What is that about!? I'm American! Give me my movie trailer! As if that didn't suck enough, I don't even get the bonus of being able to watch Doctor Who episodes on BBC like I thought I might. Blast! *side note- Liz, I found one of those fan books on David Tennant. Merry Christmas, you little weirdo. Now you can stop googling pictures of him.*

Right now:
As my southern hemisphere bedtime is fast approaching, I should wrap up this post.

Love you and miss you all! Postcards will be arriving soon (like maybe, two months?)!

Cheers! (I'm in Australia now, so I can say this)