Australia

So, you may be wondering why I haven't yet talked about what it's like to live here.  There's a few reasons, some of which are big and require explanation, others are simple and relatively obvious (like, being busy with a little girl all day).   And I've written lots of great posts about living here.... in my head.  We'll see what makes it out today...

We've been in Brisbane 7 1/2 weeks, and some of the things that were shocking when we first got here are already things I've forgotten to be surprised by.  The first few times you see a car pull out and you glance in the window and only see someone sitting in the right hand seat, you kinda jump and say to yourself, "that car is driving itself!"  Then you remember and feel silly.  But since I haven't done any driving at all since being here, and have only been in a car a handful of times, and most of the roads around here are one-way, I've already forgotten what traffic is supposed to look like so it's no longer surprising.

Shopping is one of the one things that continues to bug me.  The biggest change is accepting that there's no such thing as "one-stop shopping" anymore.  Groceries are only at the grocery store.  Target is nothing like a Target in the States, though BigW comes close.  The grocery store has some non-grocery things, but very limited selection and extra expensive.  There's no Lucky Charms (or any of the sugary cereals I love), Oreos come in packs of 12, not 36 (or whatever 3 columns of Oreos add up to), and granola bars are... not so yummy.  I realize that this means I'm eating healthier, and should help me on my quest to drastically reduce my carb intake, but I MISS sweet things!!

Baby food is weird, too, and limited.  The basic purees are the same (though, there's crazyAustralian ingredients in some - like lamb) and lots of organic brands, which is good.  We'd heard that part of why we were finding a limited selection of baby food is that we're in the business/financial downtown area, not the family-friendly suburbs, but even when we did stop at a larger grocery store farther out of the city, selection was still not what a store in the States would offer.  Mostly, in terms of finger foods.  There's yogurt puffs, but no cereal puffs; and other stuff like that.  And, those things are all labeled for 6m+ in the States; here, it's 12m+ (not that stops me from serving them to Kaylee).

The last big thing that I'm still adjusting to is customer service.  It's kinda non-existant.  Since there's no tipping, there's not a lot of effort made to go above and beyond.  When we were visiting with a family friend of Dylan's (born Australian and lived here most of her life, and comes back to visit family every summer), she and her sister explained that there's an attitude that putting yourself out for a customer is demeaning, and since they've all grown up in an environment of minimal customer service, that's what they've learned to do.  Add on top of that the cultural diversity and language barriers that are common, and eating out or dealing with the front desk and housekeeping staff at the hotel can become an adventure (a frustrating one).

Overall, I'm adjusting. Our first intraAustralia transfer coming up in just three weeks, which may test that belief, but I'm hopeful.  The first few weeks were rough.  Physically, Kaylee and I adjusted to the time change quickly.  I would suggest, however, that if you're ever moving a young child from one hemisphere to the other, do it closer to an equinox than a solstice.  When you do it the week after the longest day of the year and are suddenly somewhere where it's dark by 5pm, it can be a tough transition.

It was the emotional jetlag that took longer to get over.  Our Brisbane apartment was the fifth living arrangement in as many weeks.  We were coming out of an emotionally stressful week in the Bay Area.  Dylan and I were hardly speaking to each other, having let a bunch of little things pile up over the course of the last six months.  And I was at a point where I was considering giving up trying to make another living situation work and just moving back home.  That's the real reason it took a few weeks to sit down and write about adjusting to Australia... for the first three weeks, I didn't think I would.  Then, Kaylee and I got our schedule figured out, I found a babysitter to give me a break one or two days a week, Dylan and I confronted the problems instead of ignoring them, and we settled back in to the circus' schedule.  Things got better, much better.  I'm enjoying Brisbane and looking forward to Sydney.