5 Months down the track

After more than 5 months (and 4 days), it's about time for another review of how we are doing. I've gotten some comments asking me to blog more frequently, but I promised myself that I would only write if I had something worth reading to post, to prevent things like; "again no mail today", "trimmed the shrubs", "grocery shopping time" and "went for a walk" polluting your screen. Life in Australia is just not that spectacular that I can write a post every week now that we are settling in.

It is winter in Canberra and we keep forgetting, because in our minds it us July and thus it is summer. And then I step outside to go to work and realise that the skies are blue and the sun is out, but it's really just -2 degrees, brrrrr. Canberrans do not complain about much, but man do they complain about the weather when it is cold! Okay, the nights can be chilly, but during the day it is still a nice 10-14 degrees, no need to call the national guard into action and start coming to work dressed for the next ice age. But you can stand at a street light waiting to cross standing next to a person dressed like an Eskimo (I think it was a woman, could be wrong) and someone dressed for the beach at the same time. Only in Canberra.

Preparing to leave, we had some expectations on what would be different and what would be the same. The most important realisation I had so far is that you can take the man out of Rotterdam, but not the Rotterdam out of the man.Meaning that we are basically still the same person, even though we live on the other side of the world. I'll let you make up your own mind if that is a good thing.... Let's take a look at what remains the same and what has changed for us.

What remains the same

• I still wake up at all hours of the nights (it's 4:35 now) for no reason, unable to go back asleep, well at last I get a lot done every day (Please Sony, speed up the launch of new PS4 games, what else am I supposed to do, read a book?!)
• Work is still work, although we are very happy with what we are doing, work people are the same the world over I guess. I have to say though, I cannot remember working such long days and being so focused as I am right now in the last 5 years. Being a public servant is hard work! 
• I still do not like public transport. I guess it is just a fact of life that we do not get along
• Smelly people in supermarkets. Anybody missing theirs, because they seem to have followed us here
• Spike still meows like a nutcase (which he is)
• Dieting is just as hard in Australia as in the Netherlands, but with the portions being either "ÿou sinner you are on a diet, here's 257 grams of pasta and be happy you get that"or "hey, you only live once, you can have this 800 gram lasagna made of nothing but dough and cheese, yeah buddy, long live cholesterol! Here's a "non-surprising fun fact: Australia is one of the most obese countries in the world.

Of course there's also plenty of change

• There's kangaroos everywhere. The longer we live here, the better we get at spotting them. Still cool to see them every morning driving into work though. Nothing says "welcome to Oz" like a roo crossing the highway at full speed giving all motorist a good break test.
• I now actually have more vegetarian options than in the Netherlands, Ha! didn't see that one coming now did ya?! Neither did I, took me 4 months to find the right department in the supermarket....
• Car pooling to work every day is a real improvement. Better company, no smelly people and I know this driver very well so I get to comment on the driving style without being told to get off the bus....
• Three months with the ACT Government and we've just went through a major reorganisation an fusion of 10 into 7 departments. Did someone call for a Change manager?! Normally this happens six months after I join the company, should be interesting times coming up.
• We now have a payday every two weeks, which is a great reward system, even though you get the same amount in the end, still feels like Christmas every two weeks
• No free online music radio (OMG). Media laws are a bit different in Australia, preventing radio stations to stream their broadcasts, which sort of sucks, but hey there's always Spotify
• Kung Fu is very different, basically putting me back all the way at grass-hopper level again. It's a bit challenging at times, but this new system has its benefits and I do not miss the bruises and injuries too much.

As you can see, our lives are starting to become nice and routine, so do not expect too frequent updates, life's just not that exciting right now. Next cool thing we'll be doing is going diving with sea lions in three weeks, which we'll probably post on Facebook. Be well, have fun