The first day was kind of a tired blur. Straight from the airport, Jodie drove me to Target to pick up some extra clothes. Their Target is located inside a shopping center that looks similar to a mall. I ran in and picked up a summer dress, undies, a bra, and flip flops.
Side note: Driving on the opposite side of the car and opposite side of the road is SO weird! It feels like we are going to crash every second!!!! With my visa, I am able to drive over here, but I will be getting lessons before I hop behind the wheel by myself.
We drove up to their beautiful 4 story home and I immediately got into the shower. After a 24 hour travel, I just wanted to get cleaned up. My room is large and beautiful and over looks their gorgeous backyard! I have a floor to ceiling wardrobe that covers an entire wall and fits all my clothes. And a private bathroom with a nice shower. Although I was extremely tired, I refused the urge to sleep knowing I needed to try to get on Aussie time. Later in the evening the entire family and I went to dinner at Jodie's sister's house, who lives about 15 minutes away. We had a delicious meal of lamb roast wraps with lettuce and tomato. After a quick dinner we quickly went home to get everyone in bed early. I think I was asleep by 8:15pm and slept straight through until 9:30am! I needed to catch up on good sleep.
DAY 2
In the morning I face timed with everyone in my family :) the time change is still throwing everyone off a bit! For breakfast, I ate a piece of cinnamon toast (they eat tons of toast here!) and a banana. And I looked outside and knew it was going to be a gorgeous, HOT day. My luggage was still not here and so I borrowed another sun dress from Jodie and went outside to hang by the pool with the girls. Jodie's parents came over in the afternoon for a swim and Jodie's step father began to explain to me the world of Australian Football - which is a HUGE deal over here. We watched a game and it seemed to be a mixture of American football, rugby, and soccer. I am still trying to figure it out! All I know is it looks extremely tough to play.
By the early afternoon.... MY LUGGAGE FINALLY ARRIVED! So I spent the afternoon unpacking and getting my room organized. Yes mom and dad - it IS clean! Madd (the 8 yr old girl) thinks is so funny how I have all my stuff monogrammed with my initials or my name! I guess that is not popular here. For lunch Jodie made us homemade pizza on wraps (tortillas) and those were delicious. For a carb lover like myself, I am making sure I am conscious of my carb intake!
Blake (the 12 year old boy of the family) asked me, "How many times do you say 'y'all' in one day?" Haha they think my accent is pretty funny. I just love the Aussie accent and I am starting to hear it less and less and just get completely used to it.
Everything here is in the metric system which has been something to get used to. Kilograms, Kilometers, etc... it is all a bit confusing!
That evening we ate a yummy dinner of chicken and a delicious salad with cucumbers, red bell peppers, celery, and lots of other goodies! After dinner, Jodie and I went for a 5k walk around the neighborhood. She is quite the runner and walker, and so I am trying to get up to her speed. Their neighborhood is extremely hilly and so I am feeling extremely sore today! Blake (the 12 yr old boy) told me that every Au Pair that comes just wants to get in shape haha! I told him that was the exact reason I was there haha. I showered and quickly drifted off to sleep.
DAY 3
Blake went to work with his dad in the morning and Madd went to her grandmothers for a couple of days and so it was just going to be Jodie, Zoe, and I for the day. The kids are all on "Summer Holiday" and will begin school again at the beginning of February. Jodie owns her own business called Meridian Travel and so it allows her schedule to be flexible, which I have completely appreciated so she can help show me the ropes!
I woke up feeling so great because it was going to be my first day in my own clothes! I facetimed with Amalia. I think by making FaceTime just apart of my every day life it will make things feel less weird and sad when I miss someone. After talking to Amalia, I went downstairs to have breakfast. I served myself some yogurt and fruit. The house was so quiet because Zoe had slept in a bit! Today Jodie was going to take me on a driving tour into the city, to help me get my bearings a little bit and understand where I was a bit more.
Us three girls loaded up into the car and headed for the city. They live about 15-20 min away from the city in a suburb. There is an extremely good public transportation system here and so when I want to go into the city, I will hop on the train right by their house and 20 minutes later I will be downtown! I am excited to venture out on my own this weekend and see if I can figure it out. Big learning lessons here!!!!
We entered the city and it is fairly big and reminded me of a mixture of Downtown Austin and Downtown Houston. Lots of people everywhere! Beautiful stores, restaurants, hotels, and more. She showed me where the train would drop me off and also there are free trams there to take you up and down different parts of the city.
There are a couple Facebook groups I have become a member to that are for new people in Melbourne. They set up meet ups, pub crawls, dinners, going out functions, etc! I am so excited to meet people and explore! The weather is supposed to be bad this weekend, but I am planning on heading into the city to try it out.
One of the coolest parts of the city to me was the athletic district. This is where all the athletics are held: Tennis, Australian Football, Cricket, and Soccer. Etihad Stadium is where I will see One Direction perform in a couple weeks and MCG Stadium is another massive stadium that holds over 100,000.
Jodie drove us down to South Yarra and St. Kilda Beach, where her in-laws live. This is a beautiful beach that I plan to spend some time on!
We stopped for a quick coffee in the Village (I had water haha) and made our way back to the house. We put Zoe down for a nap and Jodie needed to get some work done and so I am up in my room writing this blog! Tonight we are eating a pasta with a homemade Bolognese sauce - yummmm!
I know this blog is a bit rambled and random, but I want to keep everyone informed as to what I am doing. I have been feeling really great and welcomed and not homesick yet. I think everything is still so new, it feels like I am on vacation. How could I not while I am laying by the pool in 95 degree weather???!
Random things I noticed:
-the toilet DOES indeed flush the opposite way
-to turn the light switches on you flip them down not up
-the AC is in each room and you only turn it on if someone is in there
-The accent never gets old... I just love it
-they LOVE coffee here, I am going to have to try some different kinds
-Most of the same TV channels, Zoe loves to watch Dora the Explorer
As always, thank you everyone for your support. It means the world.
xoxo,
Tomi
Blake went to work with his dad in the morning and Madd went to her grandmothers for a couple of days and so it was just going to be Jodie, Zoe, and I for the day. The kids are all on "Summer Holiday" and will begin school again at the beginning of February. Jodie owns her own business called Meridian Travel and so it allows her schedule to be flexible, which I have completely appreciated so she can help show me the ropes!
I woke up feeling so great because it was going to be my first day in my own clothes! I facetimed with Amalia. I think by making FaceTime just apart of my every day life it will make things feel less weird and sad when I miss someone. After talking to Amalia, I went downstairs to have breakfast. I served myself some yogurt and fruit. The house was so quiet because Zoe had slept in a bit! Today Jodie was going to take me on a driving tour into the city, to help me get my bearings a little bit and understand where I was a bit more.
Us three girls loaded up into the car and headed for the city. They live about 15-20 min away from the city in a suburb. There is an extremely good public transportation system here and so when I want to go into the city, I will hop on the train right by their house and 20 minutes later I will be downtown! I am excited to venture out on my own this weekend and see if I can figure it out. Big learning lessons here!!!!
We entered the city and it is fairly big and reminded me of a mixture of Downtown Austin and Downtown Houston. Lots of people everywhere! Beautiful stores, restaurants, hotels, and more. She showed me where the train would drop me off and also there are free trams there to take you up and down different parts of the city.
There are a couple Facebook groups I have become a member to that are for new people in Melbourne. They set up meet ups, pub crawls, dinners, going out functions, etc! I am so excited to meet people and explore! The weather is supposed to be bad this weekend, but I am planning on heading into the city to try it out.
One of the coolest parts of the city to me was the athletic district. This is where all the athletics are held: Tennis, Australian Football, Cricket, and Soccer. Etihad Stadium is where I will see One Direction perform in a couple weeks and MCG Stadium is another massive stadium that holds over 100,000.
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| Etihad Stadium |
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| MCG Stadium |
Jodie drove us down to South Yarra and St. Kilda Beach, where her in-laws live. This is a beautiful beach that I plan to spend some time on!
We stopped for a quick coffee in the Village (I had water haha) and made our way back to the house. We put Zoe down for a nap and Jodie needed to get some work done and so I am up in my room writing this blog! Tonight we are eating a pasta with a homemade Bolognese sauce - yummmm!
I know this blog is a bit rambled and random, but I want to keep everyone informed as to what I am doing. I have been feeling really great and welcomed and not homesick yet. I think everything is still so new, it feels like I am on vacation. How could I not while I am laying by the pool in 95 degree weather???!
Random things I noticed:
-the toilet DOES indeed flush the opposite way
-to turn the light switches on you flip them down not up
-the AC is in each room and you only turn it on if someone is in there
-The accent never gets old... I just love it
-they LOVE coffee here, I am going to have to try some different kinds
-Most of the same TV channels, Zoe loves to watch Dora the Explorer
As always, thank you everyone for your support. It means the world.
xoxo,
Tomi
Some Pictures from the last couple days!
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| Aussies have Aldi's too! |
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| Embry and Zoe facetiming! |
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| Sweet kisses to Embry! |
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| Doodle Bug Facetimes! |
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| My first experience with Vegemite! |
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| Blake's selfie I found on my phone |
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| Zoe and me at the coffee shop |
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| Cute girl! |
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| Cute coffee shop in St. Kilda |
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| FaceTime with Mom and Bug! |
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| oh... and with Kevin the cat |
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| View from my bedroom - LOVE! |
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| Calendar my sisters' made me! |
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| My giant wardrobe/closet |
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| Adorable dresser in my room! |
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| My bedroom! |
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| My bedroom! |
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