Maybe in Oz

When I was taking Spanish in high school I got to the point where I could think in Spanish rather than have to translate in my head before speaking.  At that point I had a pretty good grasp of the language.  Of course I've lost most of that now, but lately I've started to notice a similar thing happening. Recently I pulled some yogurt out of the fridge and the voice in my head said, "How many serves is this?"  Then it said "Serves?!!  It's called servings silly." I've noticed a few other things like that lately.  I have been pretty stubborn with keeping my accent and vocabulary.  I figure this might be the only time in my life I have a cool accent so I'm going to embrace it.  But words are slowly starting to creep into my vocabulary.  Contact details, no worries, how'd you go... small little phrases that don't seem like much but together add up to speaking a different language. Phil has long since given in to the dialogue and I laug...

Last weekend we headed north to explore the Blue Mountains West of Sydney.  It was just over an hour drive from the airport to a mountain town called Katoomba.  It was right on the edge of the cliff looking over a valley stacked with gum trees.  In fact, that's supposed to be how the area got its name - from the blue haze created by eucalyptus oil being emitted from the trees. The Three Sisters First we went to a lookout to see the Three Sisters and took a hike along the surrounding cliffs.  While the scenery was nice, we found it disappointing because the place was absolutely packed with tourists.  One of the things we enjoy the most about travelling in this country is the surprising lack of people, but the Blue Mountains felt Americanized with overcrowding and charges for parking and maps that would normally be free.   We spent the rest of the day doing the must-do attractions like riding the Skyway (the highest cable car in Australia!), C...

Today we enjoyed a day off for Anzac Day.  Kind of weird having a Thursday off, but not going to argue!  If only I had looked at a calendar before I booked our "long weekend" trip to the Blue Mountains.  I'm so used to holidays being on Mondays in the US that I just assumed we had next Monday off.  I realised my mistake just after I purchased the plane tickets, so now in addition to having today off we are also taking Monday off.  Oops :) I am guessing that most of you have never heard of Anzac Day before, so here is an explanation courtesy of Wikipedia : Anzac Day marks the anniversary of the first campaign that led to major casualties for Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. The acronym ANZAC stands for  Australian and New Zealand Army Corps , whose soldiers were known as Anzacs. Anzac Day remains one of the most important national occasions of both Australia and New Zealand, a rare instance of two sovereign countries n...

By far the most complicated part of living in another country is the taxes.  For the US, April 15 is tax day, the day your 2012 taxes are due if you are a US citizen who earned income in the country.  Unfortunately, that includes us because A. we were renting out the condo and B. one of Phil's 2011 pay checks was paid in 2012. Doing US taxes is not a simple process to begin with.  But then try throwing in some foreign income.  On top of that add a different tax year because the Australia tax year runs July 2011- June 2012.  Then consider that in Australia everyone files individual returns and our return in the US is filed jointly.  Because of all this confusion Ernst and Young took nine months to finish our 2011 return.  It was 163 pages!!!!  This meant we didn't get the return until December last year, 5 months after our June 2012 Oz return was due. I was told Australian taxes are a lot easier to do so I started trying to do them myself. ...

Australia by an American

March 25, 2013 Thank you both for the opportunity to visit with you.  What an amazing country this is.  Thank you for sharing your time to show us around.  It was great to watch Phil finish his second Ironman.  You are the best!!  We love both of you and are unable to express our gratitude for this chance to be here. Love you always Mom & Dad Ready for the big race Hunting for Roos 12 Apostles from the helicopter Mom, Dad, and their adorable baby boy at Wilson's Promontory Jana on the Great Ocean Road Koala! Waiting for Phil to finish the bike leg Phil and his pit crew after the Ironman

For the Labour Day long weekend in March we made a repeat trip with our running friends to a great little island between mainland Australia and Tasmania called King Island.  It's a quirky little place with a population just over 1000 known for its beef, cheese, and suicidal wallabies.  It takes just over 50 minutes on a 10-seater plane to travel back in time to this funny little island. Our little group filled up the plane We went for the King Island Imperial 20, a 32-k run across the island.  Phil and some of our group did the solo 32k run and the rest of us did 8k legs as part of a relay team.  Last year it was the longest run I'd ever done.  This year it was a piece of cake.  Or rather cheese.  While I have no intentions of ever running 32k by myself, it's nice to know that I can easily run an 8k coming off being sick.  Who knows, there might even be a 10k race in my future. The group (minus Bruce) This long weekend was basically th...