The house is a great find. I'm very relieved that Mark is as enthusiastic about it as I am, as I found it and pretty much committed us to it without his ever seeing it. It's a sweet little place in spite of the peach cabinets in the kitchen, and there are lots of really nice Victorian details throughout. Plus the real estate agent seems to think that a dog will be no problem.
I'm off to the States in a week to check the next tick off our to-do list.

Another check for the checklist over on the right. We've put down the deposit on a house we'll be renting in Albert Park. Nice little two bedroom place, hardwood floors, big kitchen. Location, location, location -- we have a nice little cafe that's spitting distance away, plus a pizzeria, video store, convenience store, etc. etc. About three blocks up the road is another nice row of stores and restaurants, and a library. Eight blocks from the beach too, and a half a block from the tram. Sweet!

So last night we attended a meeting of the Melbourne Chapter of Democrats Abroad. There was a banner turnout; where they would typically have five or so, about thirty showed up. Interestingly enough, I ended up sitting next to this guy. I didn't even know he was an ambassador until he got up to speak. I'll bet he's got some amazing stories (judging from some of the details in that article); I wish I had more time to speak with him.

Anyway, so we volunteered for some things. We also met a lot of great people, and had some great conversations; at our table, in addition to the ambassador and his wife, were an ornithologist, a student working on the neuropsysiology of cochlear implants, and the regional manager of a local conservation volunteer group.

While Mark is busy getting paid to program, I've been keeping myself busy trying to find us somewhere to live. This would be a much easier task with a car, but I'm doing okay on the trams. We've found a few places that are rather nice, including one in Albert Park that I would especially love to call home. Now we just need to convince the landlords of Melbourne that we're desirable, and that the dog we don't yet own is a good idea too.
One more check in Melbourne's favour: We found a good Mexican restaurant that understands that margaritas should be lime, not lemon, and also serves several varieties of good Mexican beers. It's called Bluecorn and it's in St. Kilda. The food is a very yummy Cal-Mex fushion, and, like apparently all restaurants here in Melbourne, they too are fond of the pumpkin.

First day. At some point today at my new job I looked around and thought, wow, I work with a bunch of Australians.

Actually, there's two irish women (both named Joan), a Sri Lankan, and a Chinese guy, who I'll be working closely with for three weeks. And he lived in Singapore for five years. The more things change, ...

It seems like it'll be a fun place to work. Everyone seems cool. I'm right in the middle of the CBD (Central Business District), twenty-two floors up, with views out in every direction, if I get up from my desk and walk a bit. I'm in a room with four other developers and testers. For three weeks I'll be helping develop a website, then moving onto another project that sounds really cool, involving Bluetooth and tablet computers.

The price of living abroad is to do without. Nowhere has everything.

Melbourne lacks orange juice. Sure, they sell an orange liquid in the supermarkets and convenience stores. It's even labelled "Orange Juice". But don't let that fool you.

I miss you, Harvey's Groves.

I leave it to Marjorie to tell you about the tomato soup.

(If we end up back in the US a few years down the line, watch for a similar post about vegemite or something.)