LAND DOWNUNDER

[Rings 10]

YAY KATH!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awe I knew you could do it. I am so glad for you. I hope Loke has the same luck here. He is going well and his cold seems a lot better finally. Poor guy, the American's musta had it in for him giving him their damn germs lol.

Anyway I hope you are doing well. I have a HOT date tonight with my husband. We are going to go to the Broadway show "The Little Mermaid" and I am sooooooo excited!! eeeeeeee.. and god I have a hot date *melts*

[jezz85 0]

Question for all the Aussies

What are some of your favourite sites for Aussies in America and/or living abroad? Anyone have any good ones that they would like to share? I'm looking to hear about forums or websites or recipe pages or just about anything interesting!

Edited August 12, 2007 by jezz85

[Niphredil 0]

The one I visit is http://www.matesupover.com/index.php . It has a map where you can enter your details and find others living in the same area, and I think they sometimes have 'meet-ups', but seeing as I'm still stuck in Australia, I haven't really contributed much

[Rings 10]

Loke actually visits that site too.

[Kath 0]

thanks for all the congrats...took me all day to get over the shock of it lol...

hi rings how did the hot date go...was the show good? i'm sure Loke will pass with flying colours...you guys down there have a better set out driver's handbook than Ohio..they are so behind in the times no imagination on how to set out a good handbook whatsoever...

hi jess

how you settling in over here....what's the most you miss about oz...and what are your complaints about your area..just interested to see what other aussies find annoying or love about where they live now...

going to look at a friends house today...jeff has been trying since i got here to get us in a house lol...then were going to look at the house they have bought 11 rooms too massive for my liking..but from what i have seen on the net it is a beauty...

talk to ya'll soon

kath

[Elle 0]

CONGRATS KATH!!!!

What I dont like about here so far is there is no blooody public transportation!! I want to go to White Marsh (has lotsa stores) and instead I have to wait for E to have a day off and I feel bad that we just mostly run errands on his days off. Apart from that... I likes it here. I do get cabin fever sometimes. And Eric has a 10 day strecth coming up in a couple of weeks so Im sure Ill be pouting then lol.

Jess -- is that job fair and resume class free? Ive recently joined Facebook to keep in touch w/ friends from Oz. Ive also visited that matesupover site. Also http://www.simplyoz.com/

Vylex hope you have a safe flight and enjoy ur time with the wifey!

Hope everyone is doing well!

[Moonie 0]

Congrats Kath on passing your driving test!

Funny how bacon was mentioned my husband! He was like this bacon is full of fat. lol. He is eating it though so I guess it isn't that bad. I am not really big on eating alot of pork anyway. Just not my favorite meat.

I went to matesupover.com a while ago when me and my husband were first starting the process and I did not have a good experience over there. I made one post introducing myself and explaining out situation and then next thing I know I banned. The admin of the site said I said I asked about doing something illegal which I did not. Then she said they thought I was a former troublemaker because of my screen name. And then she accused me of using a IP scrambler. I was pissed off. She was like well you can come back if you change your name.

Because I thought it would be a good site to me other couples in a similar situation as mine I went ahead and changed my screen name just so I can see what info I could find out but it left me with a bad feeling about that group. Then I saw a couple of comments that I deemed a bit prejudice and racist and that was it for me. I haven't been back since. Some people were nice but how I was treated was a bit much to me.

[Tamzo27 0]

Hi Kath!!

Sorry to hear about your horrible experience..I can definitely relate..the exact thing happened to me a few weeks ago when I needed to take SuperShuttle to the airport for an early morning flight...

I get a call , an automated message at 5:15 am saying that my shuttle will be there in 10 mins..so I'm all ready, and waiting.

2 mins later, the phone rings again - another automated message - saying that the shuttle is waiting outside for me...so I go outside...wait 10 mins, then come back in - get the landline to call them and see where they are...they say they're 1.5 miles away, this is at 5:30ish.

At 5:40 it still hasn't come, I call again..am outside..calling again...now the operator pages the driver and the driver says he's 1 mile away.

5:45 - still not there...I call a 3rd time.. same story..the driver will be there soon, he's under 1 mile away. Keep in mind, I have the phone in my hand and I'm outside waiting.

5:55 - still not there!!!! I call a 4th time..this time the operator puts me onto a supervisor who advises me that the driver couldn't find our place, tried calling me several times and left.

I went ballistic and crazy...I said "I am going to miss my flight..get a driver to me now, I dont care what it takes, I have paid already..it is not good enough that he couldnt find me and left..and obviously some lying is going on..because I have been outside with the phone in my hands the whole time, and it hasn't been ringing at all..I'll tell you what happened, your driver looked probably for 5-10 mins, got lazy and left. You can't do this to people..I am going to miss my flight, I have relied on you to provide a service..and you CANNOT let me down like this, I have paid already.I want a refund!!!"

Her (the supervisor's) response "Sorry Ma'am, there are no available drivers, I suggest you get a cab, and yes..you will get a refund" So..I did get a refund in the end..but I agree with you Kath..the thing that pissed me off the most was that they didn't give a ######...it was "my problem" not theirs..anyway..lesson learned; always have a backup.

Am slowly settling into NYC life...very fast paced..but it's really exciting and great...my mom's friend from high school runs her own ad/marketing agency here and offered me an internship..which will be an amazing opportunity for me!!

Congrats on your license Kath and the job..both awesome news. I filed my AOS on July 30th...suck that I had to pay $1020 ...but if I had filed earlier I would have only had to pay $580..so that was really shitty!! I had no choice really...the doc was taking ages to get my TB Skin test results- still think that is outrageous..considering we already paid for a TB chest x-ray in Australia!! I am getting a bit worried..cos the USCIS still hasn't cashed our check and we filed nearly 2 wks ago...wondering why this is? I tracked down the package and it was delivered..just wondering why they're taking so long! Any input is welcome!

PHEW! That's enough from me!! Hope you're all well!!

hi ya all

sorry to hear ya not well loke...probably the different altitude your in now that you caught some bug ... hope it gets better for you mate..hate being sick...but you have to sleep to get well also mate so if your tired just sleep your body needs it ...

hi ya pris how you going mate.. hanging in there...is it getting any warmer for you there...i still that image of you walking to work all rugged up lol

ohhh that bacon ... now ya know what i have been compalining about.. and the american bacon is alot more fatty and streaky lol...i took a similar photo for my daughter cos she coudlnt understand what i was complaining about first thing she said was where is the bacon lol....and i took photo's before i left oz cos the american friends coudlnt understand how wonderful our bacon was they were like wow that looks nice lol

sharyna..get your fiance to ring the drivers place cos im thinking that you might have to pass the learners test then you can drive on your aussie licence for 30 days.. but it all depends on the state mate...get ya fiance to ring up only way really to find out unless you go on the website to look but then you might not get the answer...

work is going well.. i went on the registers for the first time on tuesday went well pretty much the same as oz but they use coupons and they process the cheques themselves at the registers...ohhhh by the way.. if you do get a job or go out to the mall by yourself and your relying on public transport or a cab..

A) make sure your bus does go passed to pick you up at the time told by the bus company..

B) if your ordering a cab...ask someone who is the best cab company in your town...

now the reason for the above hints is this is what happened to me on monday...

my shift ended at 6.30pm...i asked to start early an finish early to catch the bus at 6.35pm..

i rang the bus company on monday explained where i wanted to go and where i would be catching it from

she told me the time but failed to tell me that the bus runs along jackman ave .. i was sitting at the bus stop on the corner of jackman and alexis where it will run along alexis..needless to say i was cheesed off no other buses for the rest of the night .. i sat there waiting just in case till 7.15pm

at that time i walk back over the road to work.. looked up a cab in the phone book... i booked in a cab she said to me i will try (bells should of rang at that statement)...

8.20pm i rang again a bloke said another half an hour...

i was getting quite distressed...rang back at 9.35pm and was practically called a liar because he reckons he didnt have a booking for alexis...he said to me why have you been waiting 2 hours i said to get home its the only way i can get home....with that steamy conversation i decided to start walking home...

i walked for about 20mins and there comes my husband (and me thinking oh robbie please come and find me not home ) he turned the corner and first thing he shouts is you ok.. he pulled in the car park near the intersection i got in and i just spilled me guts about what happened.. it took me ages after we got home to settle down...

so please either have a contact number of a friend that could pick you up .. or get the number prior of a good reliable cab company and learn from my experience...at the moment im writing a letter to the company involved i know it will do no good but they need to be told off..what really got me was he couldnt give a shiet about what had happened to me he just kept stating he is backedup tonight.. nothing about ohh sorry to hear that m'am will get there immediately..nothing

hi to all that i hadnt mentioned...keep ya chins up

kath

[SharynY 2]

hi everyone!! wow the board has been busy!!!

densusan thankyou so much for the link!! i'll check it out today.

and jezz thanks for the idea of the international license!!

congrats kath!!!

[Rings 10]

Heya Kath! The show was so wonderful. loke and I hired some guy on a bike to ride us around as we sat in a trolly, it woulda been romantic if his butt wasn't in our face the whole time lol

anyway the show was wonderful and I think I enjoyed it more than he did, but we had a lot of fun. Today is Lokes birthday (yesterday in Australia) so we were out shopping to get him some new guitar toys to play with. He seems pretty happy with them. All in all, it's been a great weekend!

We hope you are all doing well and our thoughts are with you!

[Poi_n_J 0]

Yay! Congratulations Kath...!!!

[tonyr7 0]

hey all

congrats where due and hang in there to all still waitin

theres a store right across from the alamo in san antonio,texas

its called all about australia

i believe they have a web site by the same name

it has links to a bunch of aussie ex-pat sites

and you can even order vegemite on-line, amongst other things aussie-ish

[jezz85 0]

Thanks for all the tips about sites and things guys, I'm going to check them all out. I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience at Mates Up Over Moonie That doesn't sound right to me that they would treat you like that .

Elle, the resume class is free, but it is run through the Fleet & Family Support Center for active duty and their families.

The job fair has the following description "JobZoneOnLine is focused on bringing active military branches of service, former military, veterans and other job seekers from the surrounding area to its job fairs. Targeted attendees will be from varied backgrounds: entry to senior levels, technical intelligence specialists, telecommunications, networking, maintenance and repair, warehouse management, transportation, logistics, IT, electronics, EOD, anti-terrorism, combat and security. Many attending candidates will have security clearances (Secret to Poly). I don't know if it'll be any good or relevant to me, it seems like they're targetting people with my hubbies skills but I'm going to check it out anyway, it can't hurt eh?

Tamzo, that experience with SuperShuttle sucked! I'm amazed they jerked you around so much. I would like to say though that I used SuperShuttle to get to and from the airport in San Francisco and again to get to and from the airport in LA in 2006 and they were very good for me on all occasions. I sit in an empty shuttle for a while waiting for them to fill it up at the airport on one of my trips, but I didn't mind, it was MUCH cheaper than paying a cab since both in San Fran and LA I was a loooonnnng way from the airport. My shuttle drivers were very friendly too. The first one from the airport in LA was the beneficiary of a VERY big tip too by accident. OOOPS us Aussies and our lack of tipping skills! So I wouldn't discount using SuperShuttle completely but Tamzo, you are definitely right when you say a plan B is necessary for just in case!

Kath, I'm settling in really well. You know, I really love it here. Where I live it is mostly quiet and there are lots of trees and things which is nice since I lived in a more rural area back in Sydney. My "area" at the moment consists of being at home, driving to the base to go shopping, go to the doctors, do just about anything on base and driving home again (all 5 minutes it takes). The occasional drive up to D.C. to go to various places like the MVA (Maryland version of DMV), Social Security office and all that stuff. Everything of that nature is over an hour away which is a little inconvenient. What I miss about home? I guess it's the changing circumstances, like the fact that I can't drive anywhere by myself yet and as a consequence I haven't done anything by myself yet, which is strange for me. Other than that, I complain a bit about the foods hahaha, I could make a list of edible things that I miss from back home. Right now, at the top of the list is CHEESE! My husband loves velveeta cheese slices and when we go shopping next I will be searching for something more to my taste. Bread isn't doing it for me either, too sugary, my deli meat & salad sandwich just doesn't taste the way it is supposed to taste. I am considering attempting baking a bread loaf next weekend. It'll keep me busy too! I'm going to the drug and alcohol thing on Friday, that should be interesting. Yeah, no BIG complaints from me, mostly everything is great, just "foreign" sometimes. There is ONE thing, I've been making lots of phone calls to do this drug & alcohol thing and book for the resume course and things, and I'm finding it difficult to understand people I'm talking to on the phone at times. Anyone else suffering from that?

One funny thing about being here is the fact that my new last name has a Z in it. Which of course is driving me crazy since I ALWAYS get asked to spell my name an inevitably say Zed instead of Zee, and have to correct myself. I'm not sure whether I mentioned this one before. It never ceases to make me laugh, this morning I actually DIDN'T say Zed and I said Zee. I was so proud of myself. Crazy last name spelling.

Edited August 13, 2007 by jezz85

[jezz85 0]

I just had lunch and lemme tell you, a little red onion on the sandwich cut the sugary taste of the bread really well. YUM. DH won't be happy with onion breath but hey, I LOVE red onion.

[Poi_n_J 0]

Gosh I wish I had a pc at home so I can keep up with everyone!

I keep trying to get my housemate to get one but it will be a little while before he does that!

Good to hear you're settling in well Jezz.