Golf Fridays

Hi All,

This Friday evening finds Bill and I packing to head to Melbourne to spend some time with Nicole, Steve, Maddie and Lily - our first opportunity to see them since arriving in Australia. It has been a busy few weeks of trying to understand what my co-workers are saying (they have the accent, not us - I swear!) and getting to know the area and customs of a new place. I have to admit a few days with people who know and love us is right up my ally at the moment.

I couldn't go into the weekend without another adventure though - today I made my 3rd attempt at golfing. I got roped into a work event at an extremely nice course in Sydney (NSW Golf Course) even though I warned them I had only played twice and was terrible. Nonetheless there I was at the course at 7am for breakfast and registration. The weather was amazing and the course one of the most beautiful around so I figure at the very least it was a nice excuse to be out of the office.

We started our round a little after 8 and were playing 4 ball Ambrose (otherwise known as "best ball") and I did not get off to a very strong start. I managed to hit the ball, but only a few feet and very much in the wrong direction. The second shot I hit pretty well and we ended up using my ball for our attempt at par (you can imagine my excitement). My first putt was no good and I feared I peaked too soon. We carried on that way for the next hole and the one after - only to have a game changing event happen midway through the 3rd hole. I was retired and replaced by a latecomer. Now, I would have been devestated with this except I had just managed to regain control over a severe laugh attack (almost to the point of tears, by the way) caused by 4 complete misses in my attempt to hit the ball (picture me whiffing it 4 times in a row, I blame all those years of softball) followed by a successful hit, but again only sending the ball a few feet from me. It seemed best for everyone that I hand over the clubs and take up the "event photographer" roll. I ended up crusing all around the course with the pro - getting the locals' tour of all the most picturesq spots and getting to heckle the other players. This proved to be a much better spot for me.

We ended the day with a great lunch at the clubhouse and prizes for the most successful teams of the day. I came away from the event realizing I am absolutely terrible at golf, but that I will probably need to learn (at least to play passably) if I am going to continue in the profession I have chosen. Bill is excited (being that he loves golf) with this result so I sense many more embarrassing golf outings in my future :-p

While I endure, I mean enjoyed my latest adventure, Bill has made some positive progress in his job hunt. He had a good meeting with a headhunter this week who thinks he has some options for Bill in terms of jobs - one he is really excited about. We will keep most of his job hunt updates pretty lite, since we have no idea how many there will be and how they will go - but I promise to keep you all posted once he lands one he loves.

Welp - off to bed, I was up at 5am today and just can't hang like I used too. More from Melbourne :)
Steph

My First Post

Hi World! Those of you who know me are going to laugh, but in an effort to keep everyone updated on our new adventure, I thought I would attempt to keep a blog. I know, I know - I can't even keep my Facebook page up to date - but people can change right? Anyway, I figure this is a good and easy way to share my and Bill's adventures with our friends and family around the world. So wish me luck :-)

For anyone who doesn't know, my husband Bill and I moved to Sydney, Australia at the end of February. I was offered an amazing opportunity to work for a company I had become acquainted with over the past 18 months and Bill was more than ready for the adventure of living in a new country. The trip over was easy - the lead up to it not as much. Packing your life into 1 of 3 places isn't super fun. We had the "don't need it in the next few years" pile, the "pack it to travel overseas" pile and the "not sure what to do, so let's keep it around" pile. Pair that with giving up our condo in early January and bunking with our dear friends Kelley and Jason (you guys are the best!!!! Luv Ya!) as well as invading the Barbee condo in Long Beach and you can imagine the fun we have had :-p

We are here now though and working on adjusting to our new life. Being that Sydney is a pretty decent sized city with a large metro area, we are staying in serviced apartments (just a fancy way of saying a small 1 bedroom apt where they come and clean once a week) until we find the neighborhood we want to call home. What this really means is we are still living out of suitcases and without all of our worldly possessions. Those who know me are aware of how Type A I can be, so this part of the journey has been a learning experience, one I won't miss once it is over :-)

There really isn't much to complain about though - everyone we have met has been awesome and very helpful. My new job started in 5th gear and hasn't let up yet (which I love) and Bill is getting to take his time finding the next step on his career path. We definitely miss our friends and family back home but know we will see many of them over the next several months whether here, the US or elsewhere. Thank god for Skype :-)

I am going to do my best to keep posting once or twice a week so as to keep current and may even get Bill do try it (I know, more laughter) so check back if you are interested in our adventures in Oz!

-SB