Yoga & Letters March 15, 2008

I went to check out a yoga place this morning after we had breakfast. They do pregnancy yoga (PY) and also “mums and bubs” yoga. There are 2 instructors who teach the PY class – one teaches the Wednesday morning class, the other teaches Saturday morning. Both classes are at 8 am and last approx. 45-60 minutes. The Wednesday morning teacher, Ree, is a doula, and Saturday’s teacher, Bianca, is an obgyn nurse. I spoke to Ree this morning, she must go to the class after the Saturday PY class. I told her that I just want to get more flexible and learn to breathe and relax. I have a lot of stress and am a very tense person, which is not good for me OR baby. Unfortunately, I told her I’d be there Wednesday, but forgot I’m working the next 2 Wednesdays. Wednesday is usually my day off and it completely slipped my mind. She also recommended Mike go with me on Saturdays, so that he can learn to relax and learn to breathe, and will be a bigger support to me when THE time comes. I think it would be good for him too, regardless.

In a few weeks we’ll be starting our birthing classes at the hospital. I’m sure there’ll be a video shown which will be tough to watch. I don’t want to see my own child being born, why on earth would I want to see someone else’s? But at least that should give us a better idea of what to expect. I am just going to expect the worst as far as mess and pain and everything else goes. That way maybe when all is said and done, it won’t seem “that bad”!

I have decided I’m going to write letters to Nicklas. I’ve written the first one, and am not sure when exactly I’ll write the second, but I’d like to do one every birthday at least, and then in between if there’s a special occasion or something I am thinking about a lot that I want him to know. I haven’t figured out when he’ll get these letters, but I figured around his 18th birthday, or earlier if I think he needs them then.  The first letter mostly talks about what I wonder about him, and what I hope for him for his life. We’re also trying to put a small amount of money away every week into a separate account for him. If all goes to plan, by his 18th birthday there should be a decent amount of money in there. If he’s been a good kid, maybe we’ll tell him about it. OR, we can say “For your 18th birthday you can have these letters from your mum from the last 18 years, or Door Number 2″, and if he picks the letters, then we’ve raised him right and he can have the bank account too! That will be an interesting day…hopefully it takes its sweet time getting here. I am in NO rush to see 18 years of my life fly by.

Anyway, everything is good in theory I suppose. Lets see how putting it all into motion goes. Next Saturday’s Yoga class would be a good place to start…

Australia Vs USA March 11, 2008

There are several differences between Australia and the US that we’ve noticed since moving here. Its mostly small things, but they’re small things that can take a lot of adjusting to. Here are some examples:

Cell phones are called mobile phones and their plans are completely different to those in the states. It costs more to call a mobile phone, but it doesn’t cost anything to receive a call on your mobile. Our plan is what they call a “cap” plan. Meaning I pay $49 a month for my phone and I get $300 worth of calls and txts for the month. If I go over the $300 worth of calls, etc. then I am charged on top of the $49. Seems complicated, but really its not. I don’t think I’ve gone over the cap since we’ve had them, so I’ve paid $49 a month. Mike is on a $29 cap, but he knows far less people to call, and his phone includes Skype and 4000 free minutes of Skype calls.

You can pay anyone directly from your bank account, regardless of what bank they’re with. We pay our rent by making a transfer from our account, to my mum’s account, once a week. We are with the same bank she is, but even if she was with another bank, we’d still be able to do it, so long as we have her account info.

Internet plans. Yes, you need a PLAN for your internet. Its not like you pay $60 a month and you’re connected and good to go. Internet plans give you a limited number of megabytes or gigabytes of data usage. You can get 2 gb of data usage over a slow connection, or over a faster connection, or you can get 50+ gb. You pay more the faster the speed and the more usage. We’ve found one provider who will give you unlimited access for as little as $50 a month, but its very slow, or faster unlimited for $100 a month.

We don’t have cable (or “pay” as its called here) TV, because we can’t really justify the expense yet. I’m not going to get my TNT with Law & Order reruns, so there’s not much point. Everything we watch is on basic TV.  But Foxtel, one of the providers, just got the tivo/dvr equivalent. They call it “PVR” (personal video recorder). I’m not sure if it works exactly the same or if its a little different.

Back on the subject of our bank, while being able to pay anyone or anything directly from our account is neat, it is NOT neat that there are practically NO stand-alone banks, and no drive-thru ATMs. It is a royal hassle to get cash out. Basically, you get it out when you get groceries, or if you go to the mall you get it out then. Because there’s no other quick place to get it from. And they charge you to make more than 5 bill-pays online a month, that sucks too. But you can open a sub account with them that earns 6.5% interest.

Fast food…it may sound GOOD that there are few fast food options, but it, too, can be inconvenient. The closest fast food to where we live is 15 minutes away and its McDonalds. Your fast food choices in Australia are Subway, McDonalds, Hungry Jacks, KFC, Red Rooster, Noodle Box or fish and chips, if you count that.  There is no Chick-fil-A, Taco Bell, Atlanta Bread Company or Wendys (well, there is, but its an ice cream shop).

Going out to dinner is a once-a-month occurrence, rather than a 3-times-a-week occurrence. It is nice to eat at home, though, and its much too expensive to go out to eat a lot here anyway. It will be especially nice when we move into the townhouse and Mike is 2 seconds away from work. This afternoon we sat in traffic and I was highly irritated by the time we got home. I thought we left Atlanta to get away from crap like wasting time in traffic!

I’m sure there are more things I could add to the list, but those are the ones that we’ve noticed the most so far.

Some things, however, seem to be constant across the world…like bad drivers. There are some major IDIOTS on the roads here, just like in Atlanta!!  People are still inconsiderate, kids still have poor manners, companies still treat their employees like crap (but most have decent holiday plans!), and really, no matter where in the world you live, you have problems. I thought moving here would be the answer to everything, but it has come with its own downfalls. But being so close to my family with baby Nicklas on the way more than makes up for it all. Its just interesting to think that I had the Gold Coast and Australia in general on this pedestal, and it hasn’t quite lived up to it. We’ll see how the next 6 months go, maybe it can still make it up to me!

Dinner Theatre March 9, 2008

There is a dinner theatre in town called Dracular’s. We went last night – a group of 15 of us – for a good friend’s birthday. You are told to get there by 6:30, so you go in on a ghost train, get shown to your seats, and they serve you a 3 course meal (drinks not included) and put on a “show”. The current show is called Fangs & Fetish so you would expect vampire stuff and maybe some slutty/sex-related stuff. But really it was just 5 people (talented people at least) singing and dancing. They must have picked about 10 different random songs from any particular era they felt like, and then just made choreography for it. But there was no “theme” and it was just all over the place. I didn’t get it.

They also did some magic (1 little trick) and some stand-up comedy. The stand-up comedy wasn’t even funny. It was mostly just making fun of people from Tasmania or from New Zealand, and rehashing over-used, corny, one-liners that everyone has heard before. It was groantastic.

Tickets were $80 each, a jug of bourbon & coke was $43, bottle of win $34. Thankfully I am pregnant and not drinking or it could have been a very expensive night. Hell, at $160 just for the 2 tickets, it already WAS an expensive night. But if you consider you get a 3 course meal and 3-4 hours of entertainment, I guess that doesn’t seem too ridiculous. Its just a shame it wasn’t a better show. It was all just very random stuff.

The best part of the whole night was that they ended the show with a medley of Aussie rock songs and the whole crowd sang along. Next time we’ll find dinner elsewhere and find a cover band at a pub or something! Would be money much better spent.

Moving & Big Bellies March 7, 2008

The good news is the pest and building inspection both came back good. There are a few very minor things that we’ll do when we move in, but nothing that is urgent enough to be done before we move in. The body corporate inspection came back with a couple of “concerns” but I think its typical stuff any small complex of 11 townhouses would have (people driving too fast, turning the gate off to keep it open, etc). The financial stuff has all gone through, so the contract should go unconditional this/next week. Settlement should be April 1, which I believe is a Tuesday, so hopefully the Saturday/Sunday after that we’ll be moving in!!

Mike is going with dad up to Ipswich to pick up a 3 seater leather couch and 2 leather recliners from my aunt. They were going to give them to the Salvation Army, but thankfully and generously they thought of us and we said we’d take them. One recliner will go in the nursery, with the other one and the 3 seater going in the living room. All we need is a TV/entertainment stand, a computer desk, a bed for the spare bedroom, and an outdoor patio set. We’ll probably eat most of our meals outdoors. When we move in I’ll post some pics and you’ll see why!

I think we’re going to go and find me some maternity PJs tomorrow. Or just a big t-shirt dress/nightgown thing. This belly is getting bigger and harder. I’ll have to post some pictures of THAT soon too! Today is 24 weeks…just 16 more to go! He has been moving quite a bit lately, but still not enough that anyone else can feel him. We went to see the Outback Spectacular, a dinner/show thing here in town that is supposedly about the Aussie Outback. It’s a little cheesy, to say the least, but the horses were awesome! They did a grand finale where they all came out and the riders were carrying Australian flags. The music was vibrating through the walls and the floor, and Nicklas just started dancing. He was so active it was unbelievable! I think I read somewhere that they start responding to music and light and sounds, etc. I’ll have to start playing some music for him to listen to.

That’s about it, just glad it is the weekend. We’re celebrating a friend’s birthday tomorrow night with another dinner/show thing, then I think that’s enough of them for a while! They’re not cheap!

And a 24 week preggers pic, just for fun:

An Update! March 3, 2008

Well, none of the places from last week’s post worked out. The Parkwood House, which I thought would be the one we ended up with, had another contract put on it before mum could get one on there. That one fell through only to have someone else sneak in there and beat mum to the punch.

Not sure WHAT was going on with the townhouse that was going to auction, its a long, seemingly shoddy story. Needless to say, it didn’t work out.

We set off again Saturday morning, this time with hubby in tow. We looked at about 5 or so places, I think, and mum put an offer on the last one we looked at. She figured it would either not be accepted or it would be countered. Sure enough, 45 minutes later the agent called and made a counter offer. Mum said she’d get back to them, but I guess after an hour of not hearing from her, they finally accepted her initial offer!  My mum the real estate wheeler and dealer!

Sunday she signed the contract and today the freaking out started. In Australia they get a 5 day “cooling off” period, so if you have a change of heart you can back out of the contract and pay a .025% penalty fee. The contract will go unconditional in 7 days following a building & pest inspection, as well as a body corporate inspection.

The place she has the contract on is just a couple of kms from hubby’s work, even less than that to the hospital I’ll be giving birth at, close to mum’s work, about 5 minutes by car to the beach…so its in a great location. Its a townhouse that has 3 beds, 2.5 baths, 1 car garage, a lovely paved back patio with a small garden. No yard, but we figure we won’t need one for a few years anyway. The best part is, if/when we move out, its in a great location for re-rental.

Keep your fingers crossed that everything works out. I’m not too keen on going back to the drawing board and trying to find somewhere to rent!