At Long Last

Ok, Ok – so we haven’t updated the blog in a little while. Things got a little crazy with a big move and the start of school and work.  That and the internet hasn’t been easy to come by – working on it!

Welcome Home!

Side note on the Internet here – gone are the American days of “unlimited wi-fi” or “unlimited data”. Internet here comes at a cost and with a set limit of data available. Overage charges are not something you want to deal with (as my friend Alissa G can attest). Seeing as we are in grad school (think research), two of us work from home (DK & DS) and we all want to be in touch with friends and family at home (photos, blog, skype) we went big with a 500 Gig plan and instead of overage charges our internet speed will drop to the snail pace of 128kbps… let’s hope to never see that! Even at school, we have internet accounts that come with set usage limits and charge for overage. Prior to the big move, we all picked up portable wi-fi devices based on cell service – not super speedy and low data limit, but helps us limp along and use internet on the go. It’s what we are relying on until the household internet is set up.

 

THE HOME

But I digress! The BIG NEWS is that we have a house! I’ll send address via email so let us know if you want it. Thanks to all of you who sent up prayers, talked to Buddha and/or crossed your fingers! Whew! It was a huge relief to find a pet friendly home. It also meant getting Mr. Eko back in our lives again and that was something both David and I struggling with – missed that guy so much!

The "Couch Nest" - No bed :(

We spent some of our lead up time prior to move shopping for the basic necessities (wow – talk about starting from scratch). We hit up IKEA, Amart, Harvey Normans, Target, etc.  Much to our dismay we discovered that here you provide your own washer, dryer and fridge when renting a place – talk about unexpected expense. Not to worry, we discovered an outlet where we could purchase floor model appliances at a discount – yeah! Sticker shock everywhere for most things – including IKEA, but we did manage to pick up some much needed kitchen supplies and a bedroom set (our attempt to get it all into a small Getz rental car was interesting, but we did it).  The only problem we encountered was that our mattress wasn’t delivered from Amart until two days AFTER we moved in, so the first night in our new home David and I slept on the floor – ugh! And, the second night our couches had arrived so we made them into a nest and slept there. Oh the adventure! Happy to say, we now sleep soundly.

Mr. Eko loves his new backyard!

A bit about the homestead – it is in a new neighborhood which means the house is also new. It’s clean (this became super important after seeing some of the other rental properties in our search), has three bedrooms (come visit), two bathrooms (crucial for 4 adults), a huge garage, a nice open living area/kitchen and a small backyard. The other big benefit of the new digs is the proximity to a large play area/field/community BBQ (the latter we’ve already used often, and will continue to until we are able to buy our own). We are also a few short blocks from a huge green belt area so Mr. Eko is getting lots of play time which makes life at home much easier! I tired dog is a good dog ;)

Neighborhood BBQ

THE COMMUTE

The Park (Our House is on the left)

Probably the biggest drawback to the homestead is that we are totally in suburbia (although it is a nice quiet neighborhood) and we live at the top of a giant, in your face, hill! Being as we are bike commuters/bus riders (very limited system here)/walkers this can be a bit of a challenge. Right now, for example, I am biking about 12-13 miles RT for work (unless I make a wrong turn and add two more miles – yeah, done that) and then about 6-7 RT for school plus any stops or side trips along the way. I am going to be in some seriously awesome shape soon, but right now I have never been more exhausted!  Wow!

Nearby Green Belt

In the end, I think we will all have to succumb to the reality that we need a car to really enjoy where we live – DK & AM are thinking of a truck (more practical for dog, shopping, surf boards, etc), but I know DS has his sights on a Land Rover. We still plan to bike commute as much as possible (fuel is $$ here), but it will allow us more options for weekend getaways and bad weather.  Right now we rent a car when we need it, but that is too expensive to do forever.

SCHOOL STARTED

School has started for DK, DS & me! The first day of school was Monday, July 25 (this was also the first day of work for me). I have to say, so far, I am very impressed with my classes and my. DK and I have the same core classes (Marketing Management, Accounting for Mangers, Corporate Finance and Business Economics) for the MBA program. DS has two classes with us (Accounting and Econ) and two on his own for the IMBA program.  I have to say I am a bit nervous as three of the four subjects are out of my wheelhouse, but the instructor for accounting eased my mind and so far I love econ – super interesting! Corporate Finance on the other hand feels like it’s being taught in another language, but it’s probably the class DK loves the most. Hope we can help each other out.

WORKING WORLD

The fun never ends as I also started work on Monday. So far, I love the job and the team. Wyndham welcomed me back in the fold with a part-time Marketing Coordinator position.  I am working a bit with Travel, the publications, the mobile web app and the resort guide –some of which I am very familiar and some things brand new. At first I was set to work 4 days/week, but after doing the regular commute (8:30-1:30 M-Th), then going to class (6-9 M-Th) I was exhausted and not really getting much time for study. My supervisor and I spoke and she suggested I do three days a week and possibly start later so I can ride straight to school instead of all the back and forth. We are still tweaking things, but I think this will be a great alternative plan and give me an extra day to study.

THE END

Sunset on our street.

So, this was a “catch-up” moment in our blog and some insight into our day-to-day, but likely not nearly as interesting as it could be and way too long. We’ll try to do a better job keeping things updated more frequently, more concise and certainly more entertaining.  

Cheers!

AM

PS. More photos here!

PPS. You are correct, I do not know HTML so our formatting sucks! Sorry! Best I could do with the tools I have. Maybe I'll figure it out sometime soon.