The Yanks have landed

We're here! 22 hours of travel, 4 in-flight movies and several naps later. Worth it though. And we made it through our first week of "new" moments including words, lifestyle and foods... yes, roo was for dinner last night. ;) After a few nights of falling asleep at 8pm, out cold, we are finally adjusted in this city of fine weather and friendly mates.

                                   

We started our week getting applications for drivers licenses, which do NOT require a test...I'm still trying to figure out if that's advantageous for us or not. We also had our visas evidenced, bought some phones (expensive here, along with coffee, clothes and rent!) and started the apt. hunt throughout the city. Rent for a decent place averages $400 - $600/week!!! But the search has given us a great tour of the areas around the city and with the lack of a vehicle, exercise has been prevalent. So far we've eaten Thai, Middle Eastern, Portuguese, English, Chinese, Japanese, Australian and Italian food. There's a lot of diversity here...not only in the cuisine. They sell kangaroo meat at the grocery store, but no mustard to Brent's dismay. Coffee has been an interesting adventure as well. As some of you know, Brent has an iced coffee concoction routine from Starbucks. Starbucks is here, but the iced coffee has been a little bit of a struggle for him. So far he's received hazelnut flavored espresso with ice and milk, and one as a coffee/ice cream float with whipped cream and cinnamon on top. Ha! He's a bit out of his element in that realm. Thank goodness chai is the same across the globe ;) 

Some translations we've had to learn to use: sunnies = sunglasses, energy = calories (sounds so much better!), hamper = gift basket, Hungry Jack = Burger King, lift = elevator, trolleys = grocery carts, take away = to go, no worries = applies to everything. 

The weather has been absolutely amazing. We keep the doors on our balcony open all day and night. Great breeze all the time,which has made our exploring quite pleasant. I think it's brought some wildlife as well. This is one of the Water Dragons we met on our stroll along the riverwalk. The thing was about 2.5 feet long, a bit larger than Missouri's native lizards.

So apparently there are not many Americans down here because everyone keeps asking us if we're from Canada. Eh? Kind of comical. We made it to our first pro rugby league game. 

The Brisbane Broncos vs. the Melbourne Storm in a playoff game. The stadium was huge, it was a sold out game - 50,000 people that came to watch some guys slam into each other and throw around an egg shaped ball. Brent was in heaven, and he can't wait to get on a team! It was actually pretty fun -  hardcore, animated fans that are entertaining themselves :D Unfortunately they lost with 25 seconds left in the game. Good times anyway. I'm sure there will many games to see in the near future since the rugby union starts sometime soon. Rugby League half the year, Rugby Union the other half (similar, but some different rules for each). So yes, rugby is huge here and is on tv just about 24/7. 

Last night we ate kangaroo for dinner. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about doing that, but it was actually really good. I cooked it in a red wine reduction with broccolini and potatoes. Salivating yet?? It's very similar to beef steak, but almost fat free. They sell it in the grocery stores right next to the beef and chicken. Most are protected from hunting by law, but there are certain species that have large numbers and commercial licensed hunters are allowed to hunt a specific amount for population control issues. Similar to a hunting tag in the States for certain wildlife. Next on the "weird things to eat" list: Vegemite! 

So that's a bit of what we've been up to our first days here. We miss you all and love you. Write back soon!

Cheers,

Brent & Kristin

Email:

brent.papek@gmail.com

kristin.papek@gmail.com