Back in Perth

December 31, 2008 - A-life & Australia & ENGLISH - (1) COMMENT

We still don’t have internet at home and haven’t had the chance to go online lately. We won’t have internet for another few weeks (at least), but we might use the library nearby once in a while to check emails at least.

This will be the last entry of the hectic year 2008!!!

A happy and great new year 2009!

Holiday Greetings

December 19, 2008 - A-life & Australia & ENGLISH - (2) COMMENTs

I just discovered the public library in Floreat, which is the next suburb over from our new home, where we buy our groceries. They have internet here, yay, and I can quickly check my emails without driving 20 minutes to the university to do it there.
Internet usage at libraries is generally free here, one only needs a membership, which is also free. The usage is limited as one hour per person per day or so. But that’s enough if I need to check something really quick only. I could only get a guest card, because I could not show that me is me, so I could not set up the free membership. Why? Read on.

I won’t be able to use the university’s internet from the 25th of December until the 8th of January, because the whole university will shut down for that time. Bummer. I might be regularly at the library here…I’m not sure. If there is something urgent better sms me.

Two days ago my wallet just got stolen and so I’ve lost all my (bank)-cards and stuff, which really sucks…right before Christmas and no Cola-ID (how to show that me is me?) and no cash flow and just a daily complication. Argh!
Luckily no money was used with my cards (I also had my German VISA card in the wallet). I could block all cards before the evil theft used them. Now I’m waiting for the new cards to arrive….takes at least 10 days. And the VISA card will go to my parents in Germany who will send it over then. Damn, I wanted to transfer some Euros over with that VISA card, because the Australian Dollar is very low at the moment, which means for every Euro I would get 2 Aussiedollar.
Well, now I probably need to wait until end of December or even January…
No mattress also until then either…because no money. Too bad. 2008 really needs to finish…it was a quite stressful year…I want 2009!!! Immediately!! Please!

Oh, I need to hurry, because my hour is almost over.

Very quick: Here a recent photo from us on a very hot day on Perth’s roads:

Happy Holidays to everyone!!!!
We are awaiting 40 degrees for Christmas…whew!
Better get the fridge filled up with cool drinks.

Still no internet but successfully moved!

December 15, 2008 - A-life & ENGLISH - (0) COMMENTs

Just a quick post to let you know that we are still alive and well.
The last weeks have been very hectic and since we still have no internet at home it is difficult to stay up to date with friends online.
Here is the list that I wrote in an earlier post…I copy it in here to let you know what we managed in the last weeks:

* a refrigerator/freezer (this is priority one)
We borrowed a small/old but working one until we find a good deal

* a queen size mattress (at least priority two)
We slept on our ground pads for the first days and sleep now on a cheap very thin single foam mattress..ehm, both of us sleep on it (yes, it is a single mattress, probably only 90cm wide)…either we find a good queen size (158cm wide) mattress deal before Christmas or we wait for the after Christmas sale…

* two pillows (well, we can sleep on our pullovers first)
We got them after two very uncomfortable nights on our pullovers and towels…at “Harvey Norman” (which is a popular store for furniture, beddings, and electronics)

* a tall boy (zu deutsch: eine hohe Kommode mit zahlreichen Schubladen)
Nothing found yet

* a dining table with chairs
Got a foldable table with 6 drawers included from Ikea (name: NORDEN) and four free modern wooden chairs from a colleague from Nathan

* a washing machine (urgently needed, I hate public laundry places)
Got one, from gumtree, only 3 months old with receipt and 1 year and 9 months warranty left, top condition (like new), less than half price, the good old Bosch (best rated water usage, very low kwh) that I was aiming at, yeah!

* pots and pans (yes, we need to cook with something…anyone experience with IKEA’s pots and frying pans???)
We bought the 9 piece Baccarat set that I mentioned in the comments earlier. We both agreed that we never had such nice pots and pans before…saved $250 on the regular price.

* cutlery (Besteck..)
I couldn’t believe it, but Nathan (hooked?) preferred a set from Ikea, stainless steel mat brushed, heavy quality, but weird looking spoons…well, I gave in. 24piece set for $50. For a starter set it is ok. We can get a bigger set when we are rich. Haha.

* lamps
We bought two rice paper lamps from Ikea and more to come soon.

* a 3 seater couch (maybe as a sleep couch, if not too expensive / anyone experience with IKEA sleep couches such as BEDDINGE??)
I might get a used BEDDINGE sofa in January. Am in contact with a private seller. Seems to be a good deal.

* a lawn mower and some garden tools for trimming and maintenance
Nothing bought yet. Nathan wants to get something used…we’re still looking in the papers to find a good deal.

* curtains maybe (there are vertical blinds, but we don’t like them; feels like being at a doctor)
Not so important at the moment…other things are more urgent…like the mattress…

* a home phone
Ha! Last weekend we went to a garage sale and bought a UNIDEN phone (cordless) for $2!! It looked like it had never been used, but it works! Nathan said the battery was not in right and the people might have thought that the phone is broken. Haha! What a great deal! It could be this one, but ours is blue. $80 retail price…wow…can’t wait to use it when we get the internet set up.

You might not believe it, but yesterday was our first day on the beach since we moved in our new place. We just never had time for it, even that we live now so close by the ocean.

Only 10 days until Christmas and we still have so much on our to-do list.

We also didn’t order our internet yet, because we need to sort out other things first. So we won’t have internet at home before January 2009.
I hope to be able to use the internet at the university when I need to.

There will be more stories about our new place, like all the different kind of insects, bugs and little animals that like our home, too. What is a cocky and how to catch one or how to get rid of them? What are these tiny black jumping things that are only there when it is the morning shadow? Why did we buy one of these?

All these and other questions will be answered in the next post.

Sending you a hot happy pre-Christmas feeling at about 35 degrees! Yeeha!