Real Life Begins

Well Andrew has officially begun medical school!  It's exciting that we can get on with this portion of our lives, but it's also scary because I am losing Andrew to school for the next 4+ years!!!  It will be interesting to see what Charlie and I can find to do here on our own...

Andrew DID NOT want this picture taken!  But I like it!  And FYI his hair isn't really this big, there's a shadow!

But I need to backtrack a little and catch up on the past week and a bit!

Wednesday Andrew had a few seminars in Brisbane, so our new friend Raymond drove us in - so nice of him as it's at least a 1/2hr one way drive!  While Andrew was at his first seminar Raymond showed me around the campus (he went to school there) and I must admit it is a very pretty campus -it even has these little small lakes with paths around them!  Andrew wanted me to come to the second seminar on accommodations (the rules for renting are a little bit different here than back home)  but it was pretty boring and somewhat useless.  Oh well!  That night there was a huge thunder and lightning storm with some of the loudest thunder I have ever heard!  Before it got too bad we walked up to the campus again, but by a different route that doesn't require crossing the scary roundabout.

Thursday our POD came!  It was so exciting - like Christmas - because we didn't know what was going to be in it (other than the big stuff)  So we spent the day unloading the small things and unpacking/organizing things.  I also tried making some banana chocolate chip muffins and they were a success!!  I was a bit worried since I've heard you need to change recipes around a bit coming from overseas, but this one needed no tweaking - they were delicious and a little taste of home!

Friday Andrew had another orientation thing in Brisbane, so again Charlie and I went with him.  This time we went off on our own to explore since Andrew was going to be busy from 9am till 2:30ish.  So from the campus we took the ferry down to SouthBank, where we went swimming for a short time, because it started raining on us!  Now it was still warm, but Charlie's little legs and feet were getting cold because the water we were in hadn't had time to warm up throughout the day!  So I went and fed him (FIY - all public places here have these amazing mothers rooms with changing tables and couches to feed on - it's so nice!!!) 

On the CityCat ferry

Hanging out in the park

City view!

Then we walked around for the next hour or so until we went to meet Michelle for lunch!  (For those of you who don't know, Michelle was one of my roommates in Melbourne when Shannon and I lived there)  It was nice to see her and visit for a bit during her lunch break!  I was intending to take a photo but I forgot!  Next time...

Saturday we unloaded the rest of the POD.  It was SO EXCITING to finally get a washer and dryer and be able to do laundry!  We were running out of clean clothes...  It was also Charlie's 4 month birthday!  He is getting so old and big!

4 old months already!

Charlies first high chair!

Sunday was AUSTRALIA DAY!  Not sure what that means (like if it's equivalent to our Canada Day), but it is cause for celebration!  Raymond and his wife Holly invited us over for a good old Aussie dinner!  We had kangaroo sausages with mash and lamb and veggies, with lamingtons (my fave) and Milo for dessert - it was delicious!

On Monday Andrew had a BBQ for all the UQ Ipswich med students up at the campus.  There was a little scavenger hunt so the students could get to know the campus, and an aussie bbq with sausages, grilled onions, tomato sauce and bbq sauce on a folded up piece of bread - they don't do buns here!  But it was still pretty good.

Tuesday was his first official day of school, but really it was just more orientations!  Today the classes started, and we have high hopes for good grades and an Australian citizenship in the near future!  Charlie and I spent those two days walking to and from the mall to get groceries, as we still are carless!  It's really quite annoying to have to just get what we can carry when it's a 40 min walk one way!  So here we are - real life is settling on us!

Settling In

Well we've been here a week now and things are starting to get organized!  We've spent a lot of time going back and forth to the mall trying to get everything we need (We're also looking for a car - I'm sick of taking the bus while trying to pile groceries into the stroller!!!)  We've gotten bank accounts and phones as well - we're almost into real life now since Andrew starts school in a week.  

Walking to the mall (30 mins) then we bus home

Charlie likes shopping!

We found this little fish and chips shop close to our house, where Andrew tried his first Aussie burger!  He LOVED it and told me he dreams about going back there to get another one!  It was pretty good - for those of you who don't know, an Aussie burger has the patty, cheese, bacon, pineapple, beet root, a fried egg, tomato, lettuce... I might even be missing some things from that list! It's massive and delicious.

The Aussie burger - it's delicious!

We also went up around campus one evening to see how far away it was etc.  It was pretty close but you have to walk through a scary roundabout to get there!  The campus itself is really pretty and there was an awesome huge mango tree!  We took some home but I'm not sure how they're going to taste... We're just waiting for them to ripen right now!

MANGO MANGO

Yay for school!

Sunday we took the bus to church and met heaps of nice people!  There was one family in particular that took good care of us and even gave us a ride home!  There are 4 girls in their family just like mine and one of them was MTC companions with my cousin, and also one of the missionaries serving in our ward is from Magrath!!!  It's a small world in the mormon culture...!

All dressed up for church - with a snazzy bow tie Grandma made!

Monday involved more grocery shopping and that brings us to today!  We walked to Queens park and looked around.  We only made it to the Japanese Garden and the interpretive centre/cafe where we got popsicles.  It is freaking hot here - 36 - which is nice when you're at a pool/lake/other body of water, but not when you're walking around!

At the Japanese Gardens - Charlie's neck looks broken!

And lastly, here is a little virtual tour of our apartment!  I apologize - it's messy!

living area

kitchen

one of the 3 bedrooms - we are waiting on our queen bed!

One of the 3 ensuites

we don't have air-conditioning so we have to go around with little clothing on!

Travelling to Australia

Well we made it to Australia alive on time and with all our bags, which since I've flown quite a bit, I know is a miracle!  We lost a whole day on our way here which it a weird feeling - I still think that its a day behind sometimes!  It was sad leaving home, we were spoiled living with my parents and sister and Charlie really misses them!  (And so do Andrew and I!)

We flew from Edmonton to LA on Westjet and they charged us $20 for each extra bag,which is their fee, instead of Air New Zealands fee (which is $150 for each extra bag).  We were so excited!  Unfortunately even though they could send our bags right through, we had to leave the secure area in LA and get our boarding passes for the second and third legs or our trip.  Charlie and I didn't go through the long line with Andrew, and when he got to the counter the ANZ guy asked Andrew if we had been charged for our bags yet.  Andrew said we were charged, but at WJs fees instead of ANZ fees...  they guy asked for a receipt but I had it with Charlie so Andrew tells the guy, not he doesn't have the receipt with him but he could go get it... Luckily the guy says no don't worry about it - so we narrowly escaped having to pay the extra $260 for our extra baggage - yay!  Small miracle!  Charlie was really good on his first flight, he just cried a little during taxiing at both ends.  We had a 9 hour layover in LA which I thought was going to be torture, but it actually went by really fast!  It helped that there was free wifi!

Charlies first flight!

From LA we flew direct to Auckland, and we had booked a bassinet for Charlie - best idea ever!  He slept probably 10 of the 12 hours of the flight which was so nice because that meant Andrew and I could get some sleep as well!  The plane we were on was super nice and they took really good care of us.

Charlie in his bassinet

We only had a 1 1/2 layover in New Zealand so that was nice, shortly after arriving and going through security again (where there were the nicest security people I have EVER encountered when flying!) we were on our final flight to Brisbane!

Welcome to New Zealand!

Final flight!  I look so tired...

All in all it wasn't too bad of an experience (flying with a baby)  We only went through 3 outfits and endured fairly minimal crying and fussing.  I am dreading the return flight home in November since Charlie is going to be bigger and more active!

The University offers a free airport pickup for first time international students, so we were met at the gate by a crazy old lady who drove us out to Ipswich.  We got into our apartment and then had to go straight out to find sheets, pillows, food, toiletpaper and all that fun stuff!  By the time we got back to our apartment we tried the sheets on the bed and they didn't fit!  I guess a king single is bigger than a regular single...  So we just cut up one set to make them fit and used Charlies blankets!  (We bought a bunch of stuff from some people who are moving back to Canada, so we're waiting on a queen bed, so we only needed the single sheets for a week or so.... but sorry to anyone who comes to visit- you won't get fitted sheets on your bed!)

Charlies current sleeping arrangements!

The next day we went back over to the main shopping plaza (called Riverlink - because it is right along the river!) where we got bank accounts, phones and more supplies.

Walking over the bridge from Riverlink

Thursday we had to go into Brisbane for an orientation thing for Andrew, so we took the train in, which takes about an hour.  We also got breakfast at it - bonus!  As part of the services the organization Andrew went through to get in to UQ offers is a shuttle around to get stuff done/see things around the city.  So we had them drop us off at SouthBank across from downtown Brisbane, where there is this cool little area with shops and restaurants and a inland beach!  We decided this would be the prefect place for Charlie to go swimming for his very first time!  He loved it!

SouthBank is so pretty!

Matching sunnies!

We met up with Amy and Brandon Steed (whom Andrew first learned about the program from - he's in his 3rd year) and they showed us around a bit and gave us tips about living here and about the program.  They were parked up by the temple so we walked up there with them and got a good view of the city!  

We had Matt (the OzTrekk guy who was driving people around) had offered to drive us back to Ipswich when we were done sightseeing, which was so nice!  I'm not the biggest fan of taking the train (it's so slow) and I like saving money too!  So he dropped us back home and that brings us to today!  We're just being a little bit lazy and unpacking and all that fun stuff.  So far we think we like it here!