More Sports

We went to our first footy game of the season last night (Bulldogs vs Hawks). It's still just the pre-season but we figured we may as well go (Glen's favourite team was playing his BIL's favourite team so we went with Glen's sister & her family).

There were 17,222 people there.

AFL is THE thing here and most people have a team they say they support even if they aren't really into it (there are of course people that hate it or don't follow it at but it's pretty rare - at least around this family!). There's no way I could explain it properly so here's a quote from answers.com explaining it:

"Variety of football played between two teams of 18 players. The field is oval, 145 – 200 yd (135 – 185 m) long, with four goalposts at each end. A six-point goal is scored when the oval ball is kicked through the two central goalposts. A one-point "behind" is scored when the ball is kicked over the behind line extending between the central and outer goalposts. The game's finest spectacle is the "mark" in which competing players leap, sometimes riding on the back of an opponent, in order to catch the ball directly from the kick of another player. The player making such a catch is awarded a mark, an unhindered kick from behind the spot of the catch."

If that intrigues you, you can read more here . If you think Canadians are passionate about their hockey, Australians (especially Melburnians) are even more passionate about their football (and it can kind of be scary to be sitting around some of those people at the game... A lot of them yell abuse at various players which can be amusing until they start yelling their abuse at you because of the team you support).

3/4 time strategy meeting.

Depending on what Glen's work schedule is like, we'll be going to as many games as we can this season. Should be fun.

And if you're curious the team we support won (yay!).


Temperature: +17C
Sunrise: 7:02am
Sunset: 8:03pm

Good News!

We got the apartment!

I got a phone call from the real estate company on Tuesday saying that they were reviewing our application and we'd hear back that afternoon or the earliest, the next morning. Well the girl called back a few hours later saying that we had been approved! (how efficient! The last place took AGES to contact us and then SMS'd us to say that our application had been unsuccessful. Which I thought was terrible and impersonal).

We arranged to go for a second viewing since Glen was working when I went and looked at the place. There was INSANE traffic and I was REALLY sick yesterday but we made it (late). Thankfully the girl was able to wait for us. Glen had a look around, asked a few questions, I took a few pictures and we agreed we'd take it. I'm going in tomorrow to sign the lease (and pay the damage deposit and first month's rent) and then we get the keys! It all seems pretty simple and straight forward (compared to the application and waiting process which was STRESSFUL).
Glen has Monday AND Tuesday off so we'll be able to start seriously taking stuff over.

The two bedrooms (We're thinking the first one will be the main bedroom - the closet is bigger)


The kitchen. Super funky tile but I love it.


Livingroom and laundry room


Looking down the hall (from the bedrooms/bathroom) towards the livingroom/kitchen/laundroom and the front door.

Glen's commute to work is going to be a little bit longer but we're close to the train station now and won't have to worry about parking (finding a space or paying) if we want to go into the city. We'll also be in a better area for me to find a job (which is next on the list).

I'm looking forward to getting my things unpacked!!!


Temperature: +21C
Sunrise: 7:00am
Sunset: 8:06pm

Two week sporting events = life suck.

The past month has been taken up by watching A LOT of sports. First the tennis was on (Australian Open) and now the Olympics and pretty soon the footy will start (we're actually going to a pre-season game on Friday).
We ordered a special package through the cable company and have AWESOME coverage (they're really promoting the winter Olympics over here. A few years ago I doubt we would've gotten more than a highlight reel during the evening news).

Other than that, we've been looking at apartments/houses and just sort of hanging out. The weather is slowly starting to cool down and we're having more days of weather in the mid 20s (Celsius) rather than in the 30s. I'm sure we're in for a few more days of heat (it got pretty hot when we were here in March/April 2007) but I think the "worst" is over.

Glen's dad found a praying mantis is the flowers the other day and brought it in to show us (Glen's niece and nephew were here too). I've never seen one before so it was pretty cool.

So yeah! Life is just sort of chugging along as much as it can. Hopefully I'll have some exciting news about our first place soon (waiting to hear back about a place we applied for yesterday).



Temperature: +20C
Sunrise: 6:58am
Sunset: 8:09pm