It’s May. Shut the front door!

I still feel like it’s February, and March and April kinda zipped by. I’ve been here 8 months. I’m on my third (and best so far) Australian season. In three weeks, I’ll meet my 6 month cap at my current job. Winter’s almost here. We’re ready to submit my visa application. Seriously, this has felt like shortest and longest 3 months all at once.

So, what have we been up to in April?

• Decorating.
  We’ve been making our place feel more like home. This is code for rearranging nick knacks around and finally hanging our gallery wall–huzzah!

  

  Except yesterday the wall started coming down, frame by frame. Fack. So we are back to the drawing board for a while, and I’ll continue to look at white walls.

  

  

  

  

• Writing.
  In March, I wrote an essay. In April, I blogged. 15 entries! Heck yes. I’m getting back into the swing of word slingin’, even if it is at my own nervous, glacial pace. I’ve joined a writer’s group that meets on Tuesdays, and my first meeting is this week. We’ll see how it goes. I’m pretty happy about blogging more than twice a week, though. Even if a majority of the entries are wastes of bandwidth or me gushing about sunsets or a t-rex in my kitchen, the important thing is that I want to blog. I want to write. I’ve been feeling guilty about not recording awesome events down when I first got here, so I guess I’m making up for lost time. Regardless of where the motivation is coming from, I’m excited.
• Anzac Day.
  Anzac Day is a tribute to the soldiers who fought and died at Gallipoli in WWI. The day begins with a Dawn Service, followed by a march of survivors and survivors relatives. The biggest ceremony is in the city, but the different suburbs hold smaller versions. It’s like an Australian Memorial Day. And just like in America, the drinking starts as soon as the sun comes up. 2 Up, a coin game that seems impossible to win, is legal for the day, and all the pubs in the area hold 2 Up contests. There are also more bar fights on Anzac Day than most times of the year. It’s very America.

  I had big plans to go to the Dawn Service. But, at 5 AM, our streets were full of cars and buses (which doesn’t happen on a Saturday, ever) and felt my cramping uteruss and I decided “fuck that.” Although it would have been cool to see the ceremonies, I don’t think I would have made it through the crowds without losing my mind.

  Instead, we deep cleaned the apartment and listened to the throngs of drunks crawling between the 4 pub/hotels on our street. We also had a badass storm roll in while Joel made his famous Punch Drunk Chicken.
  

  

  

  

  Maybe next year I’ll get to play 2 Up. And get into a bar fight. /rowdy

• Immigration.
  ALL OF MY PAPERWORK AND EVIDENCE IS FILLED OUT AND COLLECTED! Hu-fuckin-zzah! I met with Legal Aid to go over my application, which was an interesting experience. I sat in the waiting room while a PD spoke to a non-English speaking woman about her son’s possible murder conviction. Another woman was near hysterics and shouting about how she didn’t know her mother’s estate had been liquidated. When I was called back, the lawyer handed me a brocheure (that I already had), and actually said “it’s nice to not have to give someone bad news for once!” As she politely sent me out the door saying something about refugees that need help. Really glad I got to experience that little guilt trip.

  The next week, I had an appointment with an actual migration lawyer. After a whacky misadventure in finding the office, he looked at every piece of paper I had and okayed everything. He gave me good news about my work rights and my access to Medicare, which I hope will be actual good news come September. We have decided to submit the application the first week of June, which gives us a month to get everything certified and in presentable condition. Then it’ll be a nice 12-15 months while it’s processed. Woooooo…

• Purging
  

  

  Anxiety = getting rid of shit

• Meal Planning
  We are two weeks into meal planning, and far, so good. We’re figuring out meals a few days at a time, and sticking to a food budget without too much hassle. I’m going to try to not spend any money on take away coffee or breakfast fast food this month. Wish me luck–the train station is basically a gauntlet of delicious smelling bakeries and flat whites and I’m so very weak.

• Work.
  Since I’m coming up on 6 months with my current job, I have to start looking for a new one. Even though my new commute sucks (see: bakery gauntlet) I’m pretty sad to leave my job. It pays well, I’m good at it, and looking for a job is so absolutely terrible. Hopefully now though I have enough Australian market experience. *fingers crossed*

• Sweet Jumper.
  I decided to treat myself to a new jumper, just because. I had my eyes set on this one since March:
  

  

  AND IT WAS ON SALE! So on Friday, I went to scoop it up, and it was woefully sold out. Seems like other people had the same brilliant idea I had. Womp womp. So I got my second choice, which is a bit more serious, but is actually way softer than the other, so it evens out.

  

• Mildew.
  I pulled down our big comforter/doona blanket from the closet shelf, only to discover it was covered in a thin layer of mildew. As were some of our shoes. So that’s fun. We’re on a mission this week to get heaps of Damp Rid and maybe some vaccum seal storage bags before anything has to be thrown away. Hooray for having no insulation! Rainy, cool weather had better be worth it.

That about covers our April. I know, it’s all way too exciting. Stay tuned for further adventures in May. Maybe I’ll fight a kangaroo or eat fruit or something else crazy.
Also, is anyone else just dying to know what Will and Kate will name the new princess? I’m only a little embarrassed at how much I’m dying to know.