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