hontodesuka?! SUGOIDANE!

Lindsay has plane tickets. In her physical possession. I know, I can't believe it either. It's been a hard and long road, and I just want to thank all who have supported me through these trying times. And to all the dumb people who irritate me: BOOYAH.

Atlanta to Los Angeles. Los Angeles to Nadi. Nadi to Sydney.
I leave at 17:30 on August 5 and arrive at noon on August 7.

WAHOOOOOO! Let's get this started.... oh wait, well, I guess I still have eight days. So be it.

eat, drink, and be merry

Nina loves to eat American food.


And I love to drink (preferrably, non-American) beer.

So we are having just a very merry time together.

In addition to all this merry-making, we are also joy-riding and just trying to make it through each day.

We have the house to ourselves for the rest of the week-- which means, I get to drive the big D's car!! Mwahahahahaha...AHHHHHHH!

For the sake of my father's car, please keep us in your prayers.

Alrighty, that's it for now. I'm gonna get an hour of work in before I start partaking in being merry. Enjoy your Monday/ Tuesday/ whateverday it is for you.

For starters, tackling jet lagged dutch people in the Atlanta Airport is not the best idea. I thought it was at the time, but Nina told me it wasn't. Eh. Live and learn. OH RIGHT! Nina came to visit me!!! YAY! She's going to stay this week and we are going to hang out in Georgia, because it is the only cool place to be. So far, we have been very busy swimming in the lake and eating fancy food and going to movies. Later today we are sea dooing (jet skiing for all you other folk) to the Savannah River. BOOYAH.

Also, to help Nina practice for her upcoming drivers license lessons, we decided to practice around the neighborhood.

Lily kept patrol and I held on for dear life.

So, I think it's safe to say that when Nina gets back to The Netherlands, she will be oh-so-ready to take on the mean streets of Nijmegen. WORD.

More later, IF I feel like it.

Chow.

the delightfuly wretched world of e-commerce

Let's just get to it. I am frustrated and tired. All I really want to do is flail my arms about in rage and pout. You know, like a two year old. Unfortunately, it's not so flattering for a twenty-six year old to throw a temper tantrum, no matter how absolutely justified it is. So be it. I will deal with this the adult way and drink a lot of beer.

I, apparently, still do not have airplane tickets. Although, I'm not really sure -- it's hard to know. I talked to the ridiculous people who run this horrible website for a total of about 2 hours today. (You know, because I have absolutely NOTHING else to do). And yet, after my THIRD phone call they still have not confirmed that they booked my new tickets (“Just to let you know, it takes a long time to exchange paper tickets ma'am”) That's fine-- but each time they don't send me new tickets, it gives them a few minutes to charge me more money... which has happened THREE times already. It's a vicious circle. I ask for a price quote on a new ticket for a certain day. They email me two days later with the quote. I call to confirm. They confirm my confirmation of the old quote. But that is two days old, so then they send me a new email with a new quote with a different price. And it starts ALL OVER AGAIN.

Actually, now that I think about it. Jager might be more appropriate.

On top of this, they charged my credit card wrong the first time and the third lady I talked to yelled at me because I didn't know why the first lady did that. Then when I asked if she could tell me where they would send the tickets, she condescendingly replied “to your billing address in Washington, DC.” Sigh. This was after I checked twice (with the first two phone calls) that my shipping address would be to my father's house in Georgia, because, you know-- I don't live in DC anymore.

I can only foresee that this will end well.

It's the little things in life like this that put people on anti-depressants—or gin.

But, just for you, I will end this blog on a positive note—however daring that may be. I have a special friend coming to visit me tomorrow who is flying quite a long way to say hi. (I will give you a hint, she's the shadow on the right.)



Check back to find out who it is!! We might even get around to making a vlog. So the next few days we will be very very busy. After all, there is a beaver to swim with, a friend to teach how to ski, and a lot of beer to drink (maybe all at the same time). Don't call me, I won't answer. Emails are acceptable.

recent developments...

I am pleased to advise that you have successfully been assessed against OFFSHORE Postgraduate Research Sctr (Web) (TU 574) and your electronic application for a Student (Temporary)(Class TU) visa has been approved.

for some reason, i am a magnet for annoying situations. Or maybe they are annoying to me because I hate it when other people waste my time and money. Whatever. You may be asking yourself why being approved for a student visa is annoying to me. Let me recap for you my recent journey through the world of government bureaucracy and immigration--if for any reason as I need to let off steam before I go postal and ransack my mother's house. my poor mother.

May 5th- Lindsay receives an offer from Macquarie University to go study Auslan.
May 5th- Cecily and I fly to Rwanda.
May 23rd- Lindsay buys a one-way ticket to Australia.
June 2nd- Lindsay sends official acceptance of Macquarie offer.
June 3rd- Lindsay receives her Confirmation of Enrollment.
June 4th- Lindsay flies to France.
June 17th- Lindsay applies for a student visa online (WHO KNEW?!).
June 18th- Lindsay flies back to the States.
June 27th- Lindsay gets a chest x-ray and medical exam.
June 28thish- Crazy doctor man goes on vacation.
July 3rd- Mom picks up Lindsay and drives to Georgia.
July 10th- Crazy doctor man sends medical documents to embassy in Washington, DC.
July 16th- Lindsay frantically tries to locate documents and am told these things "take time."
July 17th- Lindsay cancels one-way paper ticket (for July 23)to Australia and sends it back to California.
July 18th- Lindsay is approved for her student visa (expiring in Sept 2012)
July 18th- Lindsay asks for new price quote for a ticket 3 weeks later.

There you have it. The timing for this whole journey seems to be about a day or two off. Sigh. Whatever, I'm still one step closer to leaving this place...or at least, I can only hope that is the case. Stay tuned. In the meantime, I am going to buy some new jeans.

Dehors à la recherche du réel

Il est temps d'insérer un peu de langue française dans ce blog encore monolingue. Un blog présente un intérêt supplémentaire aux deux décrits par Lindsay: un blog permet de partager des moments avec ceux qui ne sont pas partis dans le monde "far-away". Et oui, l'ouverture de ce blog vient du fait que Lindsay et moi avons décidé de partir quelques années en Australie ! Ce pays, très "far-away" de la France et des États-Unis pour être honnête, a beaucoup de choses à nous faire découvrir ! C'est pourquoi ce blog vous permettra de nous suivre dans notre périple inconditionnel.

Si Lindsay s'apprête à partir d'ici quelques semaines, je dois attendre la fin de mon stage, à la suite duquel suivra une soutenance de stage en novembre. Et c'est seulement après cette soutenance que je pourrais partir la rejoindre à Sydney.

j'espère vous apporter quelques photos de notre nouvel appartement d'ici peu. En attendant le vrai départ, peace out !

PS: Bravo pour la création et le design du blog à la linguiste :)

Let me just say, aquariums are .... AWESOME! Plus, catch a look at what lives in the ocean I'm moving to!



Who can tell me what this is?!! Come on-- we have the world wide web. No excuses!

how does a person in this day in age start a blog anyway?

The past few weeks have seen me slowly come to grips with the fact that I might start a blog. Trust me, it has not been easy. I mean honestly, it was only like a month and a half or so ago that I even fully understood what the dreaded things were. Cecily, being the great and smart and beautiful friend that she is, had introduced me to her blog before, but it was only when we went off gallivanting in Rwanda did I begin to see two of its most notable merits.

For one, it keeps emails at bay.
I mean, a full inbox everyday inquiring about the deaf orphans we were studying or the crocodiles we were slaying is no good. I know I would have just let them sit there-- and that's not an ego-booster for anyone. And in any case, time spent writing emails is a waste of beer.

For two, it helps bridge the time-distance vortex
I mean, we were in a far-a-way place and time differences were annoying.
And it's true that I'll be moving soon to a place most of you describe as "really, really far away." And while I more or less do not agree with you, maybe a blog would help ease your separation anxiety. If not, at least I'll feel less guilty about it.

And there you are.

Let's face it my friends, the world is big. Even if we convince ourselves most of the time it's of manageable size, the truth remains: There are too many people to meet and flowers to smell for any one person's lifetime.

But that can't stop us from getting out to find the real.

hehe, you like how I tied that in? I guess this impending move around the globe is one way to find the real, or at least the real to me. Can you blame me?

Alright, I have certainly rambled way more than I should have. I don't want to scare you off first go around. I promise, the next post will be more pictures and less words. Ooh, or even better, it might be in French! Vincent, you got anything to add? :)