Merry X-mas!

We've had a few very relaxing days so far, yesterday was Swedish Christmas with meatballs, pickled herring, salmon, saffron buns and ginger bread... and opening the presents from Sweden. Today we're just playing games and reading books, and packing for the rest of the holidays. Tomorrow we're picking TP up from the airport, and going out to Rosewood for a two day Aussie Christmas bonanza, and then we're going to Mooloolaba. It's a little place up north by the coast, M's mom has rented an apartment there for a few days, 2 minutes from the beach, a pool and spa at the complex... Iiiih! Good thing we just got rash wests and sun hats... My first ever beachy Christmas!

Some pictures from the place we're going.

 

Well, if I can't have a snowy Christmas, this is a pretty nice alternative.

We'll probably be home again for New Years, we might just have some bubbly on the roof terrace.

Now, it's time for me to get back to my book and my saffron buns...

//Leets

New apartment!

What’s happened since last time?

• I’ve started my job, and I love it.

• We’ve moved into our own apartment! 

      The job is as a receptionist at Carrick Education, and it’s similar to what I did back in Swedland. So far, the days have been passing rather fast, although it’s calming down a lot now that Christmas holidays have started.

The apartment is great, it’s a lot closer to work, and it’s pretty perfect for us. It’s a one bedroom apartment, with a balcony, large-ish living room, a roof terrace and AIR CONDITIONING! The last one I’m especially grateful for, since it’s super warm here now!

On Sunday (Lucia) we went to a pool nearby, and I did somersaults for the first time in my life! And I’m learning to stay under water for longer, without pinching my nose… All good practice for when we go camping on Moreton Island! Unfortunately I got Urinal Tract Infection (urinvägsinfektion), and spent Sunday night at the hospital… But I’m all better now, got some antibiotics and stayed home and slept yesterday.

Now I’ve just baked the years first gingerbread cookies (thanks mom for the “pomerans”!), they taste really good! I’m gonna bring some for work tomorrow, gotta show people some Swedish stuff.

Otherwise we’re just taking it easy, preparing for Christmas, unpacking the last stuff, and just enjoying our new home!

If I don’t update over the next couple of weeks: Merry Christmas! God Jul!

I'm staying

Yesterday was The Big Day that I've planned and prepared for for months... The day when I finally applied for my permanent Visa! They tell you that it will take about 6 months to get it processed, but guess what? I got it straight away! It took maybe 15 minutes, then I got the Visa glued into my passport. So now I can stay for 2 years (as. long as Mick puts up with me...), I can work full time, study, travel, get Medicare... everything! And once those 2 years are up, I might get my permanent Visa! Such a big weight has been lifted from my shoulders, I can start planning my life here, without having to wonder if I'll have to leave in August.

Oops, Mick just came home, I'll go be social now...

Bye

//Let

I have a job!!!

I am so happy right now!
For the last couple of weeks I've been to interviews for three different jobs, two temporary and one permanent.
The permanent one is for an education center, with courses mainly in english, cooking and tourism. It's located just a couple of blocks from Mick's job, and the people there seem soo nice! And I got it!
Not quite sure yet about what day I'll start, but in the next couple of weeks... I'll be the second receptionist, but since they aren't fully staffed yet (they just had the first students start), I'll be doing very many different things.
From their first phone call, I just felt that this would be the perfect job for me, something that I've only gotten more convinced about every time I've been in for interviews.
Life is good!
Now I'm gonna vacuum, do the dishes and laundry, might as well use this adrenaline rush!

Happy!
//Let

Heatwave

It's seriously hot here right now, 33 degrees today... Last night I couldn't sleep, it was so warm, so after a while I put the air conditioner on, on 22 degrees... In Sweden, i it was 22 degrees in the bedroom, I would have thought it soooo warm, here it was really nice and cool. Makes me wonder what temperature it was before I turned it on!

The temperature (and humidity!) makes it a little hard to go running, but I've been good for the last day, following the schedule Sussi sent me (thank you, btw!). Today was a really good day, first day since... well, feels like forever, but probably two weeks, that I haven't had a cough! Finally rid of this stupid cold.

The job hunting... isn't going that well, but I suppose I've only been here for, well, a month exactly today! So I guess I should be patient, but I just want a job now now now! Hopefully we can lodge my new visa application soon, and then I might have a better chance. I have this theory that since most people on Working Holiday Visa (the type I have) are here to travel around and work just a little bit here and there, they might not wanna hire me, cause they think I won't stay for long enough for the job. Oh well, at least Mick has a job now, so we'll survive, and I will get one eventually, or I'll just have to start studying again.

As for pictures... I'll try and be better, I just never take any, I'm too busy experiencing! I haven't been into the city too much, I stay around the house when Mick's at work, if I go into the city I'll wanna buy stuff, and until I get a job, I really shouldn't!

Well, that's all for now, I miss you back in Sweden!

//Let

Little update

We're slowly getting more acclimatized. Mick has a job that starts tomorrow, we've been filling out form after form after form for my Visa application, I'm still applying for all the jobs I can find... 

Last week we had a few birthday dinners to go to, all really nice. Both me and Mick have gotten colds, so a fairly large chunk of last week was spent in bed (me) or in front of the computer (Mick). Also, we've been starting to plan what to buy now that we'll be getting money, making budgets, looking up prices of things, that stuff. I really like it though, all the planning and browsing, that is more than half the fun!

We did take a quick trip to IKEA as well, we bought a dresser (it was getting a bit old to keep our clothes in piles on the floor), "påsklämmor" (things you use to seal plastic bags) and food... Lingonberry jam, cream sauce mix, caviar and Daim.

Now I just have to figure out what to do when Mick is at work...

Night night!

//Let

The beach!!

Today we went to the "real" beach, and it was sooooooo nice! 

White sand, blue sea, HUGE waves (Mick disagrees...) nice warm sun, cool barbecue area... I love it! 

Me, on the beach...

Also, remember that spring started 6 days ago... imagine doing this in the beginning if March in Sweden...

Unfortunately I forgot to put sunscreen on my legs, so the back of them hurt a little now... Tomorrow I'm gonna try and buy some aloe vera!

Now it's bed time, we got up at 7 this morning, so I'm a bit sleepy.

//Let

Living in Taringa

Sorry about the lousy updating...

We've been keeping fairly busy, and are now living in Taringa with Stefan, Olga and Andre, sooo much closer to the city!

Our main "job" right now is applying for jobs, and, in Mick's case, going to interviews. I have so far not had any calls, but I'm waiting patiently.

Everything is getting settled, we've got our bank accounts and cards, we've gotten some furniture and life is getting back into normal mode.

I have a goal, to get out of the house for a bit everyday and do something I enjoy, and so far we've been doing good. 

On Tuesday we went for a long (9 km) walk into Southbank, in the middle of Brisbane. Wow, there are some steep hills around here! There we went to the man made beach, I thought it was soooo nice, Mick didn't really agree. So tomorrow we're going to the "real" beach!

Other days I've joined Olga to the mall, and for the last two days I've been running/jogging at the little oval near our house, it actually feels OK! Yay!

Yesterday we went for "late night shopping", the stores in the city stay open until 9 on Fridays, so we went in and had a look, shopped for some birthday presents, had dinner, and when Olga got off work at 9, went for dessert at the casino café.

Right now we're having pizza and I'm watching my first ever game of Australian Football, it's actually quite easy to grasp, a lot easier (and faster) then American Football!

I'll try to write some more tomorrow when we've been to the beach.

Bye for now!

//Let

First impressions of Australia

Now I've been in Australia for a bit over 24 hours, adn thought I should write down my first impressions. The weather: very warm, apparently unusually warm for this time of year. I think I'll die when summer comes around... but honestly, it's really nice! The people are awesome! We just had a bbq with a lot of Mick's mates ad some of their girlfriends, and I really liked all of them! They seem just like my friends back at home; a little weird, fast speaking, and generally just good people. Oh, and I saw my first newborn calf today! There's a lot of animals here, both Charlie Cat and Carby Dog are very friendly and like a got petting. Still a bit tired, slept 12 hours last night, but could go for a few more right about now. //Let

Update from Hong Kong

Haven't written in a while, been busy with moving houses, finishing work, saying my good byes and packing. But now we're almost there! And by there, I mean Brisbane, Australia.

Last week we've spent in London, walking, eating, walking, seeing friends, walking, going for bbq, walking and walking... My feet are a bit tired, to say the least! But it's been a nice little vacay, and the first time I've been to London and not bought a thing except food. Kinda nice to have a fully packed bag and not be able to spend any money... for a change. 

Btw, I've been awake for about 29 hours (yes, I nodded of on the plane, but only for about 10-20 minutes in a row, stupid turbulence waking me up!), so I might not be all comprehensive... I actually had to ask Mick how to get in to the toilet just now... :S Liiiitle bit tired maybe?!

So, now we have 3,5 hours left here in Honkers, and then we will be on our last flight to Brisbane... 8,5 hours... but I must say they have a lot of good movies, tv-shows and games, or at least they did on the last flight... and I really ought to sleep on this one, so I think time will pass rather fast.

Now I'm not making sense even to myself anymore, so good night!

//Let

Free haircut, bbq and nice people

Today has been an awesome day! Work is super quiet now, barely any people working, so I'm allowed to read books and play music all day long. Had a long lunch with M (McD and ice cream, yum!) out in the sun, and now I'm about to head out to a bbq and some games before we pick up M's sister tonight, she's visiting from London, haven't seen her since Christmas, so that should be great. Our plans for the weekend include drinks, ice cream and sitting out in the sun. Before lunch I was a bit bored and surfed some blogs, and one of them was asking for hairmodels to be cut, styled and put in a mag (the whole before/after thing), and since I'm in need of a haircut, I thought, what the hell, I might as well send them an email. And, lo and behold, they picked me! So, 8th of August I'll be going back to Stockholm for a whole day of pictures, haircuts and girly stuff... all I know is that they want me to get a fringe, let's hope it looks good! I promise, I'll put pictures up, even tho I suck at remembering. Time to pack up here at work and go enjoy the weekend. //Let

Eee-pc, friends and amusement park.

Great week so far.

Tuesday started with me running errands; I had to fix my glasses after cathing a footie with my face Sunday... Then I finally got my watch back, it's been in the shop for repairs for like forever. Also got my last (?) doctors appointment before we leave out of the way; I needed to fill up on some prescriptions before we go. The best part of the day was picking up my new netbook that I'd ordered; this post is being written on my new Eee-pc 1000HE (gold), which I absolutely love! I've been wanting to buy one since around christmas, but I've been putting it off, never finding the right time. Last week, however, mum called and asked if me and Mick were up for going up north to visit relatives, and then I wanted to bring a laptop, but not my big 3 kg lump... So I finally got my ass out of the wagon (great Swedish expression for not postponing stuff for longer) and ordered it. So far, it's better than I thought it would be, yay!

Tuesday night was spent with one of my oldest friends who was in Stockholm for a brief visit, Johan. Him, me and Mick went to dinner, then to the pub, just had a great night of talking old memories, recent stuff (he's been in France for a year, so we haven't talked very much), future plans and just random stuff. I don't have a lot of close friends left, since I've been travelling around for a few years, but some of them will always be there when you get back.

Yesterday we went to Stockholms biggest (only?) amusement park, "Gröna Lund", and enjoyed rollercoasters, crazy upside-down rides and other fun stuff. We've finally gotten something resembling summer here, with temperatures around 25 degrees(!), and the sun was shining, good day all in all.

Today is mostly about relaxing, doing laundry, packing and waiting for Mick to come home from his test (some Microsoft certificate, I can never remember the name of it), and tomorrow it's off to visit my relatives and experiencing northern Sweden in summer. We're not gonne see the midnight sun, but we should get close enough that it still stays light out all night, pretty cool, huh?

//Let

Salvation? Don't think so!

Yesterday we went to Eskilstuna to celebrate my neighbour that gratuated from high school, which is a fairly big hoopla in Sweden. He was almost like my little brother when I was a kid, and it was so cool to see him all grown up! Also got to spend a little time with mom before she goes into surgery tomorrow, always good. 

Today, I slept forever, and then spent the day on the couch until Thomas picked me and M up at 4-ish, to go see "Terminator: Salvation". It was just as crappy as I had foreseen (Yes Sussi, it really was!) but still a nice distraction for a few hours.

What else? Well, I've started to try and sell the rest of our furniture (most of it we're just selling to my friend who's moving in here after us), so far I'm getting a lot of good responses, so that should hopefully work out just fine. Really, I just don't want to have to get a trailer to bring stuff over to my parents place, I want a nice and easy getaway.

This week I think I'll spend running some errands, cosying up with tea and books and being with my better half.

Over and out, 

//Let

Bubblewrap and tape makes my day!

The last couple of days I've been working full time, leaving little time for anythin but work, sleep and fodder. That's quite OK tho, since it's been 10 degrees and raining... Might as well spend some time in the office! Our remodeling there is almost done, although I wont see the results until after vacay, wonder if I'll still find stuff? Yesterday I spent over an hour wrapping little packets of pens and toycars (!) in bubblewrap and a full roll of tape. Since we're rebranding soon, all the offices needed to get new merch, and even tho we're in the frickin' logistics business, we didn't have any boxes... But, as those of you who know me surely know, I L-O-V-E my tape, so I had a great day. Also I'm almost done with the vacay lists for the whole company, and the traditional early summer amusement park visit preparations. (In swedish, that would have been a reeeally long word!)

Kneebie's still hurting a bit, I feel supersilly at work when I take the elevator instead of stairs even when I'm just going up one floor... But it's definitely getting better, yay!

Tonight I decided with Sussi to go see the new Terminator movie on Sunday... From what I've read, it'll be absolute crap, but at least it will be a nice outing and hopefully a few laughs.

Now it is, once again, time for me to watch some crappy tv, and oh how I love it! (no sarcasm, really!)

Sun and Barbecue

Awesome day today; for starters, I'm feeling sooo much better! Had a nice day lying in the sun, reading and looking at boats. Tonight Emily, Anders, Lisa, Peter, two of Lisa's friends and Martin came over for a barbecue, and they just left. Oh, and Peter brought a dog that he was babysitting as well, such a nice dog! It was a Rottweiler named Atlas, and he was the most wellbehaved dog I've met, and soooo cute! 

Only slightly bad part about tonight is that I twisted my (bad) knee, so now it really hurts! Hopefully it will heal rather fast this time, so I can at least bike to work without too much pain.

Now it's time for a shower, and then bed.

//Let

Rain and fever

I hate being sick! Been home from work today, sleeping all day. Also it's pouring down outside, and the apartment smells like paint! Not one of the better days I've had in general...

Tomorrow should be better tho, at the very least weatherwise. Apparently the summer's about to get started for real here, 26 degrees on Sunday! W00t w00t!

We've also managed to fix a couple of SNAFU's with the tickets today, I love the feeling of crossing stuff off my lists! Feels like we're about to leave really soon now. 

//Let

Healthy vs unhealthy

Today has (so far) been a healthy day; a run/walk this morning, followed by a tuna sallad for lunch, and a bike ride to work. My legs hurt a little now... In an hour I'll get less healthy, when the last pub for the season (last one ever for me?) at Ellen is on, with ridicolously low prices and some friends I might not see again for quite some time. //Let

Towel day

One of my favorite holidays today; in honor of Douglas Adams, me and other crazy people will carry a towel with us wherever we go today.

To quote from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough. More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Hehehe... wonder what people at work will think of this? I'm currently working as a receptionist at a logistics company, so I probably ought to get a discreet towel.

It's nice and sunny outside, so right now I'm trying to figure out if we have any good picnic-type food at home for lunch. And then it's of to work.

//Let

Here we go!

On a request from Sussi, I've gotten myself a blog. Both for those Swedes that wanna know what's happening in sunny Australia, and hopefully also a way for all my new Aussie friends to know what it really is I do all day.

I don't promise to write often, but I will do my best to keep you updated on at least the big goings-on.

Right now I'm still sitting in old Stocky, first day this year that I wore shorts outside, is that something to celebrate or what? Otherwise I'm mostly futzing, a bit of packing here, a bit of sorting there, with a little bit of Friends and cheesy books in the middle.

I probably ought to go back to trying to get a nice layout of this blog tho, before this language mix drives me insane.

//Let