The Why Not? Trial of a Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber

Hi Gang!

I am in love with Living Social. I hope you have Living Social in your lives too but if you don’t, please allow me to explain. I get emails, sometimes two or three a day, that offer me 50% or more off of different services around town. I’ve gotten unlimited hot yoga for a month for $50. I’ve gotten organic lunch and coffee for two for $10. Soon I will be taking a camera course that I got for cheap. Before you know it I will be trained barista, capable of amazing foam art!

So when I saw that an hour in a pressurized oxygen chamber (normally $97) was offered for $29, following a friend on Facebook touting the benefits of these sessions, I said why  not?

Raised oxygen levels in your blood is good for all sorts of healing, but most noticeably it helps your body fight viruses. As a mild germaphobe, I like to think that I am sanitary enough that I don’t have much to worry about. I eat healthy and listen to my body for it’s rest requirements so I rarely get sick. However it is flu season here in wintry Australia and in the spirit of being emphatically anti-vaccine, I have chosen to try this out instead.

I arrived at the Glebe Healing Center about 20 minutes early and no one was at the front desk. The chamber was right there in plain view so I stealthily turned off the sound to my iPhone and started snapping pictures. After 10 minutes later of still no one in sight, my stealth pride left and I started my usual “YooHooooo” in order to get attention at an establishment. A woman came down, signed me in, and gave me the run down of the rules. Cell phone had to be turned off and I had to promise to clear my ears. It’s like being on the plane except there isn’t a tropical paradise waiting for me when I walk out. So I went in and sat down.

I declined the in-flight movie since I would only be there for an hour and I pulled out my book instead. She showed me the safety buttons in case of (!) and locked me in. It was a lot noisier than I thought it would be. I imagined more of a spa experience with soft music or at least quiet but the constant psssting of the system was a little nerve wracking. There was no clock in there, I wasn’t wearing a watch, and didn’t dare turn my phone on in case of bringing armageddon to Taylor Street. I tried to relax, read, and enjoy the experience but I ended up tensely forcing myself to read and not care about what the time was, only to finally give in and try to press my head far enough to the side of the peep hole to see the clock on the side wall. Whew 20 mins to go.

I noticed several times that my breathing was more shallow. I don’t know if this was from the self induced stress or the general environment, but I did find myself yawning quite a few times. I tried to force myself to take in big breaths to get the most benefit from the added oxygen but I can’t say that it made a difference. In the end I was very glad to get out of there and felt no difference in my overall well being. I didn’t feel bad when I went in, so maybe any benefits were on the inside where I couldn’t detect them. I sort of half expected a surge of energy when I got out but I didn’t feel the urge to race home and pack for the Himalayas.

Oh well.

So here’s another thing I can cross of my list of things to try. If you were curious and are healthy, now you know. If you are unhealthy and curious, why not try it for yourself? The ad read as:

“If you need a pick-me-up to put an end to niggling health issues and want to try a new-fangled approach reminiscent of a Jules Verne novel, this is it. The highly-experienced health practitioners at The Glebe Healing Centre offer you the chance to experiment with the amazing healing power of hyperbaric oxygen treatments. Oxygen is essential in the air we breathe, but it’s also the fountain of youth stimulating collagen production, helping injuries heal faster and boosting immunity and the regeneration of nerve cells. And it helps get rid of stubborn infections, sinus, bone and chronic skin disorders. This is accelerated in the chamber as the controlled pressure forces oxygen to where it’s needed making you feel better, faster.”

Maybe I didn’t do it right? I certainly didn’t come out looking like the woman in the ad.

Stay classy (and healthy) America!

 

Amazingly Still Alive

Hi Everybody!

We have been quiet for almost a year and we missed you all! It’s was really crazy with school and homework. I started cleaning apartments and checking people in for my landlord so that kept me overloaded especially once it started to get warm. For a few months I was on a dead run it seemed like but then I got a handle on it. Then school ended and I went right into a job with a travel company. It was the craziest thing too, it was the one and only company that I have traveled with, Grand Circle Travel/Overseas Adventure Travel. I had a great time, made some money and new friends, and even perhaps have a job offer for the future! They are an American company mainly for 50+ but no matter what age you are, they are an excellent bang for the buck. I highly recommend you checking them out, especially the Overseas Adventure Travel portion. It’s small groups and lots of fun.

http://www.oattravel.com

My student visa allowed me to work but when that was up I had to find another way to make money. I still had the work coming in from my landlord, which was good all but one hitch. I’ll tell you right now that I have a new found respect for anyone who cleans for a living. I will never leave a mess in a hotel ever again for, I have seen messes that require an exorcism. People are pigs! So before you leave a hotel room or a short-term apartment with dishes in the sink, toothpaste smeared from one end of the bathroom to the other, unidentifiable viscous material on the bed, or furniture moved/stacked in the wrong place, please, just please think of me with my shoulders slumped over in defeat. AND for God’s sake, if your child has “made” on the bath mat, CLEAN IT UP YOUR DAMN SELVES… You know, now that I have aired my grievances I feel much better, but that won’t stop me from threatening people who check into our building with hefty cleaning fees if they don’t clean up after themselves. I feel that it’s the key to my sanity, along with rubber gloves and industrial bleach.

I put it out to the universe that I would like to do something that was clean, fabulous and paid well. So I networked a little and sure enough I found a job with a jeweler. I am mostly doing a little admin work and some girl-friday stuff but it’s a lot of fun! Learning a lot about the world of pearls and letting my inner princess revel a bit.

JD is still teaching at Garden Island when they need him and has taken quite the active interest in himself. My man has been hitting the gym and we eat mostly veggies and rice now. We of course still have pizza and movie night on Fridays. Sunday has been nominated as “Calories Don’t Count” Day and we enjoy a big breakfast that always includes pancakes. Our breakfasts during the week are always fruit until lunchtime, thanks to reading “Fit For Life”, so come Sunday I have to lay down to digest.

It makes the week tolerable if you can dream about what you are going to make on that one cheat day. Or so I’ve been told. I love my veggies (Thanks Mom!) so I am in heaven regardless. JD has found that a little curry powder and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese will go a long way. He looks amazing these days and from what I hear, he is getting ribbed about how much time he is checking himself out in the mirrors at the gym.

Well that’s the basic update but I will be back tracking and covering some of the tales that you have missed while my blog has been on the mute setting.

I trust you have remained classy, America?

 

The JD & Jen Show

Hello Everyone!

Time for a little update of the JD & Jennifer Show.

It’s winter here, so JD hasn’t been able to do much motorcycle riding with the Aussie blokes. Too cold for them to ride and the roads are too confusing for JD to go alone. So the blue monster sits. Work is kind of slow for him at the moment. There aren’t any students to teach so his days are filled with surfing the internet and checking emails. All the guys take turns being the one to babysit the office while the others clear out, so a lot of days he comes home early. He reads books at a terrific rate and we wander around the city from time to time in search of whatever. Life is simple and worry free. Life is good.

Moi?

Oh, I stay busy no matter where I am. As you read before a lot of my time is spent on everyday stuff. On the 19th I will be embarking on a new adventure. School. Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, last time I was a trash picker and now I’m a student. The Australian Immigration department says even so. I thought it might be fun to be a travel writer but the school I chose doesn’t offer that, so I picked Tourism Wholesale. They teach you how to put travel packages together behind the scenes and other tourism stuff. This I think it will be a great way to learn a couple of things and gain some great contacts for when I want to travel and travel cheaply. Because I will have class 4 days a week ,I am going to have to go back to my more American way of life and be diligent about being efficient with my time. I will plan out all the meals for the week on Sundays and do all my housework on Saturday. I won’t get as much pleasure reading done and naps will become even more rare. However I want to stay in Australia and this is the easiest way to do it. I’m looking forward to expanding my brain and knowledge base.

Hank is well settled in his home and we have moved onto helping other dogs. We had “Shadow” for awhile until he found a great home last Saturday. At the moment we have “Coco” who looks just like Hank but a female version and is our current center of attention. In the short amount of time that she has been with us, she got very attached to Shadow, a male German Short Haired Pointer, and she is spending her recent days moping around looking for him. We have decided that this weekend we will take her up tot he kennels to look for a new buddy. It’s just too sad not to.

I get up every Sunday morning and am out of the house by 8:15am to take whoever is senior to an obedience class in Tempe, a few towns over. Normally you have to join the club, pay annual dues, and pay for each class, but since these are foster dogs the instructors and club members have decided to help out. I get to go for free and the dogs learn their manners with some extra help. I started going because Shadow was so much to handle, anyone who has had a GSP knows what I am talking about. These dogs are not just full of energy, they bounce every where they go. If he was waiting for a treat and trying his best to be good, he would dance in place, tremble. and get ready to explode into exuberant joy. If we took him for a walk, your arm would feel like it was going to pop off with all the pulling. I tried on many occasions to rent him out to tow cars. Why not put his strength to good use? Coco went with me last Sunday since Shadow was gone with his new family and she was a perfect angel. Whoever had her before hand must have taught her all this stuff. I think the instructors were very impressed with her. Hopefully they will spread the word about how fabulous she is and she will get a new home soon.

I don’t leave the house these days without a flyer of some dog we are trying to place. Joe was placed because of an ad in the paper. Hank was placed because of the normal pet rescue website we use although he had been on there for two years. I think the new pictures and updated description set him apart. Shadow we placed on a pure breed website and got lots of attention for him. Coco we haven’t had any nibbles yet but looking at the pet rescue site she has already been viewed 104 times. It’s only a matter of time. (http://www.petrescue.com.au/view/76561)

The future is on our minds a lot and I’m dreaming of what life has in store for me next. I know that JD will retire after his assignment here and we will go where ever his new job takes us. We are hoping to have enough money by then to buy some land outright and put a house or two on it. I looking forward to having a big garden and maybe even some fruit trees.  He’s looking forward to not having to look at neighbors. I’m looking forward to installing solar and wind power and seeing how much we can sustain ourselves without help from the outside world. He’s looking forward to not having any bills. I am looking forward to having our own cows and chickens so we don’t have to eat the diseased and tortured carcasses that look so innocent behind shrink wrap. He’s looking forward to meat that doesn’t taste like cardboard. After the experience of rescuing dogs, I would say that maybe even a kennel would be in order. You just never know. I don’t know how all of it will fit into my world traveling but I’m sure will work something out.

In your wanderings, if you come across the Imperial mandarin, get as many as you can. You can always tell you have  good one because it seems like the fruit has shrunk inside of the rind. We both agree they have to be the best citrus fruit we have ever had and I’m looking forward to having a few even if I have to grow them in a greenhouse. Oh yeah, that’s another thing I want on our future land!

Stay classy America! As for me, I’ll just be in class.

 

Staying In Shape and Polishing Turds

Hi Everybody!

Life is zipping along here in a glorious fashion and as usual, dull moments are hard to find. I have noticed that when you walk and take public transportation everywhere, your day fills up pretty fast with stuff that used to take you half the time or less. I helped a friend start packing for a move today and I stepped onto the train 4:30pm. I was on that train for approximately 10 minutes but after ducking into the grocery store, waiting for the next train, and walking home from the train station, it was 6pm before I got home. However the roads are apparently hideous so this is actually the fastest way for me to get home. The ones that I have experienced in a car are so confusing, one way, twisty-turny that only someone with Garmin-like instincts could make it from point A to point B. I suppose you eventually get used to it, but I’ve never seen anything like it.

However I am not going to complain about my lack of automobile because not only is the train a fraction of the cost, but I am in the best shape of my life since I was a young wood nymph in the mountains of Vermont. Plus I get a lot of reading done. You do have to be careful to not load yourself up to heavy, when grocery shopping however. I learned that valuable, back breaking lesson the first time and now stagger purchase dates of items such as detergent, dog food, or a bulk bags of potatoes. On the weekends, I have JD with me and I load him down like a rented mule.

A few days ago I was taking a movie back to Civic Video and I came across a table that someone had put to the curb for the trash man. It was dark but it looked serviceable to me so upon my return trip, I hoisted, puffed, dragged, pulled, cursed, and carried that table back 4 blocks. When we first moved in here in January, I had asked our landlord if we could have a table in the kitchen so we could maximize our counter space. It was promised but never delivered and I have given up asking. This seemed to be the perfect size so I took advantage of my opportunity. Ladies and gentleman, I am officially a trash picker. But now I am a trash picker with a table so that makes it ok in my book. JD wanted to know what my plans were for it and when I said I wanted to fix it up, he said “You can’t polish a turd, baby”. I wanted to try anyhow and bless his heart, he helped me.

I should have taken before pictures but didn’t think of it. The top was stained and had various amounts of paint on it. It looked as though perhaps it was used for plants with all the water marks. The bottom part was metal tubing that was rusting and painted that horrid institutional tan paint that you see on the old metal teacher desks. Well they were old metal teacher desks when I was in high school and that wasn’t exactly yesterday, so I am sure that they don’t even exist anymore.

JD spent about a half hour sanding the metal part to get rid of the rust and helped me sand down the wood until most of the marks were gone and wood grain appeared. We painted the metal part black and rubbed wood oil into the top. I was given a great table cloth from Indonesia today when I helped my friend pack and I think the whole thing looks great. The table isn’t going to be auctioned off at Christie’s or anything but I am delighted to have a place to put all the dog treats and other things that don’t need to be up on the counter.

Stay Classy America

 

Hank the Tank

Hello everyone!

When we got back from New Zealand last month, we gathered ourselves, and went in search of a new foster dog. Joe had left a giant hole where all of our love and dog attention went to and it was time to bring in the next recruit. I had decided to let JD pick out our newest focus since I was having trouble choosing. I had been up to the kennel with my friends Robyn and Sue who run the rescue group that we got Joe from, 4 Paws Rescue, the weekend before we left town. There are so many great dogs who need homes and as I was finding out, some of these dogs have been at the kennel for a long time.

“Hank” was one of them. This cutie pah-tootie grabbed my attention right away. He had been there for two years, ever since he was a pup and watched all his litter mates and his mother get homes. I can’t imagine why he didn’t get a home before we came along since I have never seen such an out-going, happy little soul. Every time you came up to his cage he was so glad to see you, like you had been his best friend forever. He would lick your hand like his life depended on it and maybe he knew it did.

The volunteers at this particular place have a lot to do, so not a lot of time is spent with each dog. They are let out into a run for approximately 10 mins a day while their cage floor is sprayed down with disinfectant and the waste is removed. Then they are fed and put back in. When we first got Joe, he was scared to death to be out of a cage and he was only there for two months. I find it a miracle that Hank has the personality that he has. However 10 mins of the chance to get exercise a day doesn’t help keep you fit. Hank is a Staffy cross or Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Smaller (and in my opinion cuter) than a pit bull and bred in Australia to be family dogs. These guys are low to the ground and pack on weight quickly. Most of the ones I have seen trotting around Sydney are like little sausages with short legs. Hank is no exception. Although he is taller and bigger boned than a true Staffy, he is as round as Buddha and just as happy.

Are you my new mom?

After JD had a good look at all the dogs, we agreed that Hank had the best chance of getting a home quickly. So we found a collar that would fit over his neck rolls and away we went.

From the start I couldn’t believe what a champion this dog was. He had never been in a car or if he had it had been a very, very long time, but he acted like it was no big deal. He was just as happy and accepting in the back of the car as he had been in his cage. We drove to a pet store to get food, toys, and bones and he followed around on his lead like he knew exactly what to expect. It wasn’t until we pass by some large refrigerators that he showed any sign of uneasiness. We had to remember that EVERYTHING was going to be a brand new experience for him. We let him go in another direction and tried him a little later going by the same place. This time he stayed with JD and walked past it, although he gave it the evil eye as he went. We stopped again later on to get a bite to eat at an outdoor restaurant and he made friends with everyone that passed by our table. When we got out to the car he hopped into the back without any help, like he had always been doing it.

Over the next few days, we found that he was nothing like Joe. I didn’t need to lock him in the bathroom when I left, because he didn’t have any anxiety about being alone. He wouldn’t seek out things to destroy while I was gone and would wait patiently on his blanket until you came home. He has never once made a mess in the house. If he chewed on something you only had to tell him “No” once (maybe twice a few times) and he would leave it alone whether you were home or not. He learned to sit and lay down on command very quickly.

The personality that we saw at the kennel was just the tip of the iceberg. JD taught him to jump up on the brick railing on the front balcony so they could do neighborhood watches together. Where ever I go, he trots behind me like we are on the best adventure ever. He has taken to wriggling around on his back when the mood strikes him. He dives and rolls over shoulder first and then twists his body back and forth, all the while growling and snorting with great relish. Case in point:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmbAriOz09E . If he catches you watching him, he gets sort of a sheepish look on his face as you can see in the video and he pops up right away.

I've got my eye on you!

He loves walking to the beach to eat ice cream and knows that Friday is Pizza night. He will cuddle with you at the drop of a hat and knows not to lift his leg on the tomatoes. He doesn’t bark at anything or anyone and very gingerly will take his treat out of your fingers. This is no ordinary dog. He is one in a million and JD and I are beside ourselves.

We recently had to make the decision that Chubby is not coming. It’s heart breaking, especially to JD who feels he owes his life to that dog. When he was going through rough times, Chubby was the reason to get out of bed and go to work. Chubby loved him unconditionally when he needed it the most and made him whole again. When I first met him, it was apparent that she was indeed this man’s best friend. Our original plan was to have her go through the 5 months of tests and then come on over to be in quarantine for 30 days. Chubby is a Bull Mastiff and 8 years of age. That’s kind of old, especially for a mastiff, to be on a trip that lasts roughly 24 hours. Then you have to think about her being even older and having to do it all over again when we come back. When we started running into one problem after another with her transport plans, JD started to second guess his determination to have this dog come over. When he talked it over with his parents, his Dad insisted that she continue to stay with them. Like father, like son, he has gotten attached to having the old girl around. After all how do you think she has learned the term “Snickerdoodle”? It’s tough to be without your dog but JD knows that she is loved just as much there as we could here.

I talked to JD about keeping Hank since we are both so attached but the experience of trying to get Chubby over here has him scared to death to keep Hank. What if we can’t take him back with us? It’s better to find him a great home here before a few years pass and we are that much more attached and have to scramble to find him a new home. No, this is for the best.

Sunday we went to the Sydney Olympic Park to participate in the 2010 Million Paws Walk to raise money for the RSPCA. We plunked down our $15 a piece and took Hank on a 5K walk with Robyn and two of her three German Shepherds. JD took Hank, I took Katie and Robyn took Kane and off we went. There were roughly 5,000 people and their dogs and we saw every possible breed and mixture. Some had on cute little costumes and some just had a balloon tied to their collars. Kane and Katie started out with leis but Kane broke his early on, so Katie had a pink lei and Hank had a cute bandana. We walked the 5K like a bunch of champs and then milled around amongst the vendors. We saw beds and toys for sale. We even saw a doggie ice cream company who gave us a few free samples for our pooches. I think an ice cube has a longer existence in hell than this ice cream did. We got dog tags that said “I did the 2010 RSPCA Million Paws Walk” and were handed tons of flyers by each vendor. Hank got lots of compliments and pats like always and although they all look longingly at him, no one that we have run into has been ready to take on a dog.

Keep those doggies rollin…

That may have all changed today, as I got a phone call from a very nice couple in New Castle. They are going to come down on Thursday to look at him and it looks like a perfect home from what I can tell. I hate to part with him but it would be selfish on my part to not share a dog this great with the world.

Stay classy America and please consider adopting a dog or cat from your local shelter. They need you!

 

Time to renew the Visa

Hello everybody!

As you may know, every three months I have to leave Australia to renew my tourist visa. You will get absolutely no complaints from me about this. I will never say, “Crap. We have to go to Fiji again?” or “I have no new places to go to now.” I will always be up for new adventure and the world is too big to run out of places that make my heart pound. As my luck would have it, I found a partner who loves to travel as much as I do and this time is no exception. We choose New Zealand as our first.

The main priority was to get the visa renewed which can be done online in about 60 seconds.  We had a relatively short amount of time to be here since someone has to be back at work but we chose to go to the Fox Glacier for a trek. I bought a few books, made my reservations for hotels, car & guide and eagerly awaited the day to hop on the plane.

My Achilles heel is lack of sleep. When two people who share a bed are excited about the next day and one of us can’t sleep because of a late nap then this does not bode well for the next day. We got up at 5:30am and shot out the door to take the train to the airport. I have zero personality at that time of day and I stood there on the train in my own little world till we got there. All went very smooth when we checked in and I sashayed over to an airport cafe to have a cafe latte and scarf down two ham & cheese croissants. The character defect of that morning was gluttony but I was hungry, so there. JD almost never eats breakfast and this wasn’t an exception. He wouldn’t even have coffee since he didn’t want to have to get out of his seat to pee on the plane. I am not a desert animal used to arid conditions so I gleefully drank my coffee and had plenty of water in flight.

I have to give two thumbs up and a high five to Air New Zealand. What a WONDERFUL flight. The food was actually GOOD. I watched The Hangover on my personal LCD flatscreen that picked out of 15 other possible movies, 5 games, and 30 or so other assorted shows. Even the presentation of the safety regiment was out of the ordinary. They run a small clip going through all the normal stuff but every one is NEKKID!!! All their clothes are painted on and they are  positioned just right so no bits and pieces are actually shown.

We flew in to Auckland, on the north island, where the customs officers are located. We went thru the normal routine of declaring nothing, waiting in a bunch of lines and then walked next door to their domestic airport to take another flight to Christchurch on the south island. We arrived safe and sound in Christchurch and after being pointed in the right direction, phoned the rental car company. It was about 6:20pm and they had closed at 5pm! After a curt and short discussion about customer service and common courtesy notifications with the after hours person, I also found out that the cell phone place also closed at 5 so I wouldn’t be able to procure a NZ sim card for my phone. My facial expression was approaching something akin to Cruella De Vil from 101 Dalmatians but we managed to flag down a taxi and get to the hotel, $40 later.

I had chosen the Hotel So because of it’s modern decor and fun look. No the hotel isn’t the important part of the trip but with so many to choose from in a great price range, why not book something fabulous? Of course, we must remember that JD and I have differing opinions  on what is fabulous or not. So when we were placed on the PINK floor (see photos) he was less than amused. I heard some muttering about he really needs to take control of the reservations but I was too busy soaking up the pink glow from my room to notice. It was tiny as well which didn’t allow for much privacy. There was a curved sliding frosted glass door that sectioned off the bath chamber (too small to be a bathROOM) that was right up next to the only night stand next to the bed that was taking up the rest of the room. We had roughly a four square foot area for moving around in and the luggage slid under the bed with the blue neon lights and ironing board. As my friend Margie, used to say, there wasn’t enough room to cuss a cat in there.

However I skipped downstairs to used the computers and check up on Facebook and answer emails while, JD talked to a man about horse. Privacy issue resolved. Once he joined me, we went off in search of somewhere out of the ordinary to eat. We both enjoy really great food and although I would have settled for Japanese, we pressed on. We ended up finding an adorable one woman operation that offered Swiss food called Le Pot Au Feu (see photos). We started out with a cold potato soup with a strong buttery taste that had a hint of a few herbs that I couldn’t quite name. Regardless, I could have had another bowl for desert it was so good.  JD had some sort of a pork and mushroom dish that disappeared faster than an ice cube in hell and I had a beautiful salmon dish in a caper and butter sauce with little pastries to imitate the head and tail of the fish. Both dishes were delicious, were consumed with great fervor and our chef/waitress/owner took one look at JD and brought out bread just so he could mop up the rest of the mushroom sauce. Talk about knowing your customer! With our tummies full we headed back to Hotel So and crashed. I will say this about the hotel. It may have been a small room but the bed was very comfortable and they had great pillows and sheets.

The next morning we got up early and made our way back to the airport to pick up the rental car. I waltzed into the place and bemoaned a long tale about being abandoned at the airport by their company. They humored me, made sure I got a sporty red car that got 100 miles to the gallon and a GPS and away we went. JD had said over and over that he didn’t want to drive but I think he wondered about the wisdom of that choice the whole way to the glacier. It was difficult to not only drive on the wrong side of the road which was mostly switch backs in the mountains, but also to SHIFT WITH MY LEFT HAND… I found that to be the most difficult part of it.

When first starting out I was a bit confused. I had only heard about how lush and green New Zealand was and it looked a lot like the Rockies to me. Brown tufts of grass everywhere and trees that were tough and windswept. There were large expanses of dry river beds several meters across that only had a small trickling stream making it’s way thru. We passed cattle and what we assumed to be elk that were being grown for food. And sheep. Lots and lots of sheep. Some shaven, some not, some shaven a while ago but don’t have their full coats back. All cute, fat, and happy.

Finally our red beast chugged it’s way up to the top of Arthur’s Pass which is the turning point. Arthur’s Pass is up in the clouds at 9,924 feet above sea level. After that it was the green green green that everyone talks about. We stopped at one point to look out at a ravine and there were these birds called Kees that attacked the cars and chewed on the rubber seals around windows and anything else they could their beaks on. One woman couldn’t get one of them off of her car so she just drove off. It finally hopped off of the car and then walked briskly back to another car to resume. They had wings so I don’t know why they chose to walk a lot but they were very comical looking.

After adding a few new grey hairs to JD’s head and countless swerves, following the road, JD made the comment that they must have followed a drunk snake when laying out the road. I have to agree with him but none the less we made our way to the Sunset Motel at the town of Fox Glacier. Thank goodness for GPS! Most of the roads are marked, and ALL of the creeks, culverts, streams, rivers, and bodies of water are labeled correctly but having it eased a lot of worry about getting to the motel without any drama. Our room was perfectly adequate, providing us with everything we needed including a towel warmer. The best part about the place was the views of the mountains! It wasn’t much when we first got their but the blue skies were out for a bit the next morning and it was quite a sight to wake up to (see photos).

We dined on New Zealand steaks that night and headed off to bed early. The following morning after looking at the mountains I picked my jaw up off the floor and got ready for the day. We grabbed some brunch at  one of the small local restaurants across the street from the company we had signed up for the guided tour. After eating and doing some souvenir shopping we and a few others gathered at Fox Glacier Guiding and were provided with instructions, warnings, threats, boots, wool socks, clampons, and waterproof gear. There was even one girl who was there from Washington DC!

They took us in a bus to the face of the glacier where it was very cold. The wind came down the mountains and glacier and made my face hurt. I started to wonder about whether I was going to make it since when my ears get cold from wind they hurt really bad. After making some adjustments to my clothing I was once again a happy camper and learning all about glaciers. New Zealand is one of the wettest places on earth receiving 9-10 meters of rain a year! There was a mini ice age back in the 1700s that the glacier reached much farther than it does now making it almost all the way out to the sea (see photo). This glacier is a fast moving one, moving about 5 meters a day and a snow flake that drops at the top only takes 50 years to travel down to the bottom and join the rest falling into the glacier river (see photos).

It was quite a sight to see and far from over. We were then led into the rainforest that crowds on either side glacier where it was hot, wet, and buggy. We hiked up over 800 stairs peeling off layers and guzzling water the whole way. Sometimes we were surrounded by trees and giant ferns, sometimes we were clinging to chain and rock to keep from falling down into the ravine. We finally made it back to the glacier but now we were back quite a ways and up on top. All the layers were quickly added again and we put on our clampons. You have to walk very flat-footed across the ice because the clampons are in your instep so walking with your normal heel to toe gait won’t help you. You must also stomp your feet to be sure that you have a sufficient grip on the ice. Our guide earned her money swinging a pick axe reforming the steps up and over the glacier. There were lots of gaps in the ice that we were warned not to get close to. At first it I thought the glacier was dirty looking with all the debris that would fall on it from the mountains but in the gaps you could see the clean blue ice that dipped way down, sometimes farther than you could see. We moved around up on the ice taking pictures and getting generally frozen until it was time to go. We made our way back down carefully and then went thru the same routine of getting hot in the rainforest and removing all layers to only put them back on again when we got down the face. We had a wonderful time and I recommend as an experience not to be missed!

The next morning we made our way back to Christchurch with just mild whimpering about our calves. We stopped at the Bushman Centre so I could get a roadkill sandwich (venison salami = heaven) and view a few wonders such as the rare giant sandfly (Pteradactyl Legpullus)(see photos). Apparently they had hunted down this poor creature who now graces the front of their establishment. I guess it just wouldn’t be a proper vacation without a classic tourist trap.

After we got back to Christchurch, we wandered around for more souvenir shops, grabbed a bite to eat, and listened to music of the Maoris, the native New Zealanders. We got up very very early to allow for plenty of time for a 7am flight which had us back into Sydney by 8:30am Australian time. Worn out and bodies aching we were back home. We left to renew my visa but in the end needed a day to renew ourselves and I’m now ready for the next three months of G’Days and Cheers.

Stay classy America!

Welcome to New Zealand!

Hotel So

We’re on the pink floor 🙂

Pink in the hallways!

Pink on the doors!

Pink box with the coffee supplies!

Pink on the phone!

Pink in the wood grain!

Pink in the comfortor!

Here is the bath chamber starting with the shower that is next to the bed.

Here is the toilet that is next to the shower.

And the counter next to the toilet.

The sink and the end of the bathroom which is right next to the door. Well of course I am wearing a pink sweater!

Pink on the ceiling!

Under the bed.

Le Pot Au Feu

Somebody is hungry and happy…

Delish!

The Red Beast!

We saw a lot of these wide river beds that only had small streams running thru them.

Choo choo!

I got to go 100!

This rock formation is called Castle Hill

Sheep, sheep, everywhere.

Arthur’s Pass ~ almost over 10,000 feet above sea level.

Up in the clouds at Arthur’s Pass

Attack of the Kees!

“I got places to go and cars to chew”

Home sweet home

Our room at Fox Glacier

Our patio

Our garden

New Zealand beef! Delish!

A New Zealand sunset at the Sunset Motel

My view that I woke up to. Breath taking eh?

Closeup of the snow capped mountains.

Where we ate brunch.

Where the guides are.

The wall the glacier built.

Not without dangers…

Over 800 of these bad boys…

Rainforest

Our guide said that you can always tell when a glacier makes a cut into the land rather than running water because it will be U shaped.

The end of the glacier

Our guide Malisa worked very hard to make sure each step was safe. Her arms were as solid as that ice!

Up the glacier view

We are now officially glacier trekkers!

The sandflies are pretty big around here…

The Maoris

 

St Patricks Day, Worm Farms & Dancing Hari Chrisnas

Hello my friends,

There never seems to be a dull moment around here, but that is how my life goes. I enjoy every minute of it.

A couple of weeks ago I made a new friend, Anna, who is involved in the same positive thinking lifestyle that I strive for and reads the same material that I do. We met for lunch the other day at a small place called Funky Cafe.

I really like eating at cafes and people watching from the outdoor tables. This was no exception and it being in one of the more eclectic parts of town there were plenty of people to watch. Anna is a “Kiwi” meaning from New Zealand and has been here for the last 10 years. Since JD and I are visiting New Zealand at the end of the this month, she has been an invaluable source of information. I had a “Dipper Plate” which was all sorts of humus, garlic spreads, spiced spreads, and something made out of minced beets. It came with a bowl over flowing with sliced breads and I ate every last bite. So good and on a hot day, the perfect light lunch.  Anna had the roast beef salad which she said was delicious as well. Say hi Anna!

Anna, Kiwi Extraordinaire!

On Wednesday, the world celebrated St Patrick’s Day and just to say it with style, Sydney lit up the Opera House in green lights. JD had heard on the radio that they were planning to do this so of course we trucked on down there! I read that the architect cut pieces out of a globe to get the right shape for each section. It is a beautiful, fascinating structure that is immediately recognizable and the green light doesn’t change that.

The Sydney Opera House

I have recently started a garden club in Sydney to help surround myself with other green thumbs and have a way to gather plant tips for this harsh growing environment. While doing some research I read over and over about how every self-respecting gardener owes it to themselves to have a composting system. Since we don’t own the place and there really isn’t a good place to start a compost heap, I thought it would be great for us have a worm farm. Sounds easy enough, you get this plastic thing with a few levels, throw in your scraps, water once a week, use the drainage for fertilizing and voila! You now have plants that everyone envies. I looked around online at what worm housing units cost and look like. I found that they have a wide range of sizes, shapes and costs. The most popular one for this area is the Can-O-Worms which I knew they had down at Bunnings (Aussie Home Depot).

Casa de Worms

I only found one guy who was selling worms over the internet here in Australia and he wanted an arm and a leg for them. The good thing was that he guaranteed live delivery and a generous over count. I noticed that Bunnings also carried his worms and although he was the more expensive of the two brands I thought it was more important to have that guarantee. So after signing over my rights to my first born, I went home, gleefully, with my Can-O-Worms worm farm and a bucket of 1000 worms. I set up my worm farm and had to wait for the bedding to hydrate before I could add the worms. I thought maybe I should check on my new charges and opened the lid. It seems that the seal had been broken and the bucket was only half full! After a thorough search thru the bucket including dumping the whole mess out on a piece of newspaper I realized that I had just purchased very expensive dirt. Not one worm. I rang Bunnings and they told me to bring the bucket back and they would swap it out.

Thank goodness for my new flip-flops because any extra walking doesn’t affect my feet in the least. Bunnings is a good 15 min walk so off I go again. I arrive and explain that yes I was the woman who called about the worms. I gathered my new sealed bucket and left the premises. When I got home, JD and I had to scamper off to somewhere so I didn’t look at my bucket again until the next morning. I opened it up and found that it was also only half full. Perhaps I was mistaken! However when I dumped it out, I only found 5 or so worms. I was thinking that perhaps I had gotten the before mentioned over count and someone else got the 1000 worms. I emailed the supplier directly and didn’t get a response.

Today I visited Bunnings today with the bucket of worms.  The lady at the counter thought it was pretty funny that I was complaining about worms and she and the manger had a good chuckle about it. The manager thought I wanted her to count out 1000 worms and seemed confused when I said I was looking for a general mass at the very least. However 5 more buckets later of the three of us dumping them out in the store with not a worm in sight, they were a big more understanding. I finally asked to check the other brand who has theirs in a cardboard box with a plastic bag liner. As soon as you moved even a little of the compost you could see worms galore! They are now home and stretching their little wriggling bodies out in my worm farm that has properly hydrated and drained bedding and wet newspaper on top. Just heaven! I already have some zuchini and cooked rice for them to have for breakfast tomorrow! I would take it out to them tonight but in my efforts to stay away from any poisonous night creepies I’m staying indoors till morning.

Friday night we had pizza night with some other couples from America. Two of them were also Navy couples and one was a gentleman who works for one of the local papers and his wife. We all had a lot of fun and the pizza was great. They had several very different types of pizzas and JD and I wanting to try different things, we each ordered a small pizza. JD got something called L’Inferno which he didn’t read had anchovies on it and was over all not excited. He does want to go back and try some others as he could see it was a really good place, he just didn’t make the wisest choice. I think he just thought it would be super hot and spicy which he is always up for. He never mentioned if it was hot enough. I got the Champignon pizza that had pesto, walnuts, button mushrooms, and feta cheese on it. Wow! What a different pizza and I would definitely order it again. Not for the traditionalist though.

While we were eating pizza and gabbing about adventures in Australia living, I saw my first Hari Chrisna. I realize that this isn’t exactly a momentous occasion but since there was a bunch of them, men and women I thought it was picture worthy. They came skipping and dancing down the sidewalk, singing at the tops of their lungs. They all seemed very happy to make general fools of themselves and my hat goes off to them. They certainly have more brass than I do. I wasn’t quick enough with the camera the first time but when they started coming up the other side of the street I managed to get one that was almost in focus. It was getting dark and I had to use a setting that let in more light. They of course kept dancing and bobbing around so most of the pictures they are just smudges. Fine. Be that way. See if I care.

Celebrating the Hindu god Krishna!

On another note I am saddened to hear about the passing of the Health Care Bill that we know so little about except for the parallels to socialism. None of this feels to have the spirit of America that I was brought up to know, but what does anymore? I know I know, something had to be done, I just wish it wasn’t so darn expensive. Too bad we couldn’t force the health care system we did have to stop paying $30 per aspirin and $45 for a kleenex.  Just seemed like logic to me. We didn’t need socialized medicine, we needed affordable health care and medicine. If it gets too bad, maybe I will just run away and join the Hari Krishnas. They seem welcoming.

Stay classy America. And healthy too.

 

How Time Flies!

Hey Everybody!

I know, I know, where have I been? Well I had to take some time off from my adventures due to my flip flops (or thongs as they are called here). One of those things about getting older is that you find that you aren’t invincible any more. I can not walk infinite miles a day in flops, with no instep support and expect that everything will be ok. My mistake and I can promise you it won’t be repeated. For anyone who has had plantar fasciitis (http://www.drpribut.com/sports/heelhtm.htm) you can attest to how painful it is. I am not a wimp. I will rub dirt on it and move forward with the best of them. Course in saying this, I realize that not too long ago I was complaining about my thighs from the Capoeira class but this beats that hands down. I finally had to throw in the towel and accept that there was something very wrong with my foot and stay off it for a while. I called the doctor but it was a week wait time. So I did internet research and took better care of myself. I found that it was very helpful to wear a boot or aircast at night or whenever I was resting so that the tendon stayed stretched while I was out. I also stopped leaving the house for any reason. A few weeks later I was much better and resumed my normal schedule very carefully. While I was laid up, I meditated, wrote in my journal, and did A LOT of reading. Other than that I didn’t do much so I didn’t really see the point of blogging.

But now I AM BACK!

And thankful to be out of the house again! Can you believe it is already MARCH? Sometimes I feel like I just got here and sometimes I feel like I’m just down the road from home and have been here forever. It’s a surreal existence to be sure but I am still enjoying every minute of it.

I will have to do a post of going back to some other stuff that happened since my last one, but I think for now I’m going to hit a few recent things.

We found a home for Joe. That poor dog was still trying to chew his way out of the bathroom, even the day before we drove him out to his new home. I have documented the final state of destruction the door was in as he left it.

Joe's Handy (or should I say teethy) Work

Good thing JD is so good with wood putty huh? The maintenance man, Steve was rather fond of Joe as well so if we need help he has offered to make sure that the damage stays a secret. Joe had really come out of his shell in the last few weeks he was with us. He played all sorts of catch-me-if-can games with JD especially in the mornings. He had a routine of dragging all of his stuff outside during the day. If he wanted attention he would just wander up and lean on you. He some how knew when it was pizza night and was right there for a crust or two. He always thought 3am was a great time to pee.

Cutest Foster Dog Ever!

Thursday they ran an ad in the local paper. We got a call right away from a woman (Gloria) about 1.5 hours away who was retired and had a 2 yr old Great Dane named Empress and 2 cats. She sounded perfect so we invited her and her dog over for a play date for the next day. They came and the dogs had a great time playing and bonding. I had a feeling that she would be make a great mommy to our Joe so we planned to get him to her after the house inspection. We said our good byes and she gave me a hug. Then she walked over to JD and slapped him on the butt! I thought to myself, look lady, you are already taking my dog. Let’s not push it.

Gloria and Empress

Sunday the woman who we had gotten Joe from (Robyn), her German Shepard (Kane),  Joe and I drove out to Gloria’s house. Robyn did the inspection and we had a cup of coffee with her and the dogs all milled about and getting re-acquainted. A few hours and lots of dog conversation later Robyn and I left. It was really sad to see Joe there pacing at the fence like, “Wait for me!” but I knew that he would bond to Gloria quickly and be just fine. I spoke to her the next day and he seems to be settling in well. Empress is apparently being bossy but that will pass.

We had really gotten used to have the big booger around and the house seems really quiet these days. JD had originally said no more foster dogs because we get too attached and it’s hard to say good-bye. However I know he is really glad that we were able to help Joe find a home and now he is thinking of getting another one. We let Robyn know and now we are waiting for “Chopper”, another Mastiff to be delivered. Apparently Chubby has finished her shots but we are waiting on her paperwork to be finished before we can fly her over. I believe we are still looking at May.

We went furniture shopping the week before to attend to the lack of closets in this apartment. We were supplied with two small, narrow wardrobes when we rented the place but since the rest of our clothes have arrived,we desperately needed more space. So off Cheapbastard.com and I went to the Salvation Army. We had heard there was a really big one a few suburbs over so we located it and rode the train to get there. It was huge! Lots and lots of everything you can imagine. The most startling thing about the place was a giant fan in the middle. I swear I saw the couches starting to lift off the ground…

Biggest. Fan. Ever.

We picked out a nice big wardrobe that just needed a little love and a chest of drawers. JD has been busy with the wardrobe rubbing it down with oil so it has really started to shine and look pretty. I love the detail of the handles and the solid feeling of the wood. They just don’t make them like this anymore!

Top Half

Bottom Half

Inside Left Side

Inside Right Side

Handle detail

I supposed that’s enough for now but I will write more soon. Between rehabilitating dogs and furniture, we stay mighty busy around here. No wonder time gets away from us.

Missed you guys!

Stay classy America.

 

Fun, food, and blue people in 3D

Hello again,

Just in case anyone was wondering, you can not replace shrimp with prawn in a typical recipe. I was pretty excited about this online recipe I found with lemon and cilantro. I’m sure its delicious if you have shrimp available to you but unfortunately they only had prawn at the fish shop. Ahhh the pitfalls of the culinary world. For the most part I have gotten a nod and a “It’s ok” with my attempts with the recipes. I need some more time before anyone marks me as the next Emeril but I have been lucky on a few dishes that JD really liked. Tonight was not one of those occasions. He finished his plate, bless his heart, where as I on the other hand threw in the towel and polished off a few rows of rice crackers smeared with Laughing Cow cheese…

Saturday we decided to do some exploring and meandered over to a part of town called Paddington. I was feeling like my thighs were going to fall off any second from the Capiero class on Thursday but continued put one foot in front of the other. Every Saturday is The Paddington Markets that they started in 1973, come rain or shine. We were expecting more of a flea market but it’s very upscale as it turns out. There are lots of designers who are trying to make a name for themselves and people with a new gadget that they are trying to launch.  Most of it was pretty expensive but there was this one sundress that I can’t get out of my head so we will have to go back! All the items had a laid back feel to them and everything I saw inspired my imagination. On the way home, we were feeling hungry, so JD mentioned stopping and getting a kabob. I loved them in England and I love them here so it came down to choosing between the two place across from one another. One was “The 5 star Kabob” and the other was “The Best Kabob”. We ended up going to “The Best Kabob” and an elder gentleman who looked to be the owner helped us. As I was looking at the menu hanging above us, I had a change of heart. There was a dish called a “gozleme” that is a Turkish version of quesadilla. I chose the one with feta cheese and spinach and he slapped it into a grill press. A little while later it came out, he cut it into 1″ by 4″ sticks and gave it to me. It was delicious and very easy to make! I will have to experiment with this at home…

We were supposed to meet up with a group of people for dinner that night but my legs had enough so I cancelled the plans and went straight home and crashed. Sunday I was supposed to meet with the lady who brought us Joe for a romp in the dog park and some obedience work. To my surprise she cancelled on me, having twisted her knee the day before. Although I was sorry to hear that had happened, I secretly rejoiced in another day of rest. Neither JD or I felt like cooking that night so we ventured out to try some of the local fare that had yet to be experienced. We had the word “pizza” in the back of our heads and since I didn’t want to walk anymore than I had to, we stopped at the first place we came to. The name of the establishment is Little Sicily and they have wood fired pizzas. It’s not very big only having 8 or so tables that are squeezed along the side of the counter. Up front is the oven that looks like a cement and brick igloo. I expected great waves of heat to be emanated out from it but it wasnt bad. Just a tad warm, but since we had the Joe with us, we sat outside at a table on the sidewalk. I chose the Italian pizza that comes with the toppings of salami, cabanossi, mushroom, olives and onion. I’m as serious as a disovered Narc at a biker rally, when I tell you that this is the best pizza that I have ever had. Ever. The crust was thin and gave just the right kind of chewiness while giving support to the ingredients. I had never experienced cabanossi before but I think it should be added to just about everything. Even the olives were not just your run of the mill black olives you find on most pizzas. They were those delicious kalamata olives that I can sit down and eat a whole jar if I’m not careful. Needless to say, there were no leftovers.

Yesterday was January 26th, Australia Day (see pictures). Similar to our 4th of July, everyone was off work and out of the house in red, white, and blue. The streets were covered in people every where you looked. There were bands of every genre playing in various portions of the streets. There was The Megaphone Project where several red megaphones of varying sizes and shapes were placed on the street so people could sign into them and take pictures. It looked like a good way to pick up the saliva of several thousand Aussies so I chose to take pictures of them and not me singing into them. We stopped and had lunch at Rockin Burger where I am happy to announce I, Jennifer Whitaker, have tried kangaroo. The burger was called “The Kanga” and was topped with some sort aboriginal salsa and bacon. De-freakin-lish people! You can tell it’s not cow and there was a lot of garlic powder mixed in but darn it was good! It’s not a flavor that I can compare to anything. Not cow, not chicken, not even deer. It’s just one of those things you have to try for yourself.

They had more stalls filled with more trinkets and clothes like in Paddington and I was hoping I would see the dress that I wanted. She wasn’t there so I am still planning on Saturday being reunited with the sundress of my dreams. We wandered around and came across a guy who was performing his ability to be able to spring over several people and not hit the kid who was in the close vacinity. Does he make it? Click here to find out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7bIwHKMrb8  After witnessing this incredible act (cough) we come across a bunch of guys painted in school or soccer colors and posing with the ladies. They seemed to be trying to raise more money for either boose or a cab ride. It wasn’t really clear at that point in the game and they seemed to be having a lot of fun with themselves. We then finally made it back to the train to get to the IMAX theater. We had tickets to see Avatar which I had been greatly anticipating. They had been sold out for awhile and these were the first good seats available that I could get. I really really enjoyed the movie and thought it had a great message that makes you think about the native americans and being in harmony with the land you live on. The 3D effects were great and the movie was well done. The plot was uber predictable but I loved the characters so much I didn’t care. I had read reports online that people are wishing to commit suicide since they can’t be in that made up world. I had chalked this up to the usual group of people who are nuttier than squirrel terds but now I wonder if this was blown out of context. I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone, so for those who are still waiting to see it, please skip down to the next paragraph. In the movie the main character wants to live in this alien world now that he has become one of them but since his physical body is in a parallel universe, he has to die and come thru to this other world. I think thats what they were talking about was mimicking the movie, not that this makes it any less nutty.

AND NOW ON TO OTHER STUFF – We emerged from the theater into a throng of thousands and thousands of drunk people. I’m not a big fan of being sandwiched in with 50,000 other people, but them being drunk gave it another demension. I just wanted out and the various people in front of me would stop all traffic to talk about the band that was playing or how cute was their outfit. I was less than amused. It took us a long time but we finally made it thru a break, up a flight of stairs, and down several streets before we found our way back to the train station. I was very relived to get home.

Thats all for now. I will try to come up with some new adventures for you soon.

Stay classy America!

Megaphones, megaphones!

All shapes and sizes.

The Kanga Burger

The mob at Sydney Harbor

Mobs at Sydney Harbor listening to the band on stage.

These flags were all over the city.

Blokes looking for a good time and cab fare.

Part of the massive throng at Darling Harbor.

It gets worse later. Much worse.

Aren’t we fabulous?

 

Getting the rhythm of things

Hello!

I know I have remiss in my attention to my blog. Things have been very Beaver-esque around here. JD started back to work on Monday and I have scuttling around going to meetings and introducing myself to everyone. I’m in charge of coming up with dinner and doing all the shopping, so it has been very calm. Very domestic. Unfortunately it’s not very blog worthy but a few fun things have happened.

A bug place was placed in my ear (figuratively thank God!) about working. I assumed that since the jobs really should go to Aussies first that it would be hard to secure work here in Australia. I was chatting with a bloke the other day who does recruiting for financial institutions. When I mentioned that I was a loan officer up until I moved over here, he got very excited. As it turns out, every other or every third call he has is a bank looking for loan officers. Needless to say this peaked my interest. JD makes a good living and we have plenty of money to save and travel while we are here. However if I were to work and we stashed all that money, think of what we could do! It would be nice to come back and pay off the mortgage or buy a rental property. The possibilities are endless but with my back ground I automatically think of real estate.

A week ago tomorrow, we became three. As I wrote in my last post, we had been sorely missing the wet nose and wagging tail that we normally have around the house. Chubby is one of a kind and her father, of course, is very attached. After agreeing with him for the hundredth time that I missed her too, I had a revelation! We can’t have Chubby until roughly May since she has her shot schedule to finish up and then quarantine here. Why not take that time to foster a dog? This way we get somebody to pat and love and they get a second chance to find a home. We were finally contacted by a lady who had a mastiff cross named “Joe” that had been rescued from the pound, but didn’t have anywhere to go. Poor fella had been in a kennel for the last two months.

So last Saturday she brought him over, stinky and scared out of his wits. First things first, we got him bathed and let him run around the yard. He didn’t do a whole lot of running though and soon he was laying down on the grass. At some point something about the people passing through the yard startled him and he ran behind the garage where there is a small cramp space that looks like a kennel. We finally had to blockade the area off with the garbage cans because he wouldn’t stay out from there. Of course now he is covered in sand and dirtier than when he got there. Oh well.

One thing we noticed about Joe, right off the bat. He is tired. He slept and slept and slept those first couple of days. He had almost no personality. Barely ate or played with any toys. I had to dip dog treats in beef broth for him to eat them and even then he acted like he was very suspicious of them. One thing he really likes is the really handsome dog in the mirror that is there everytime he walks by it. He spends a lot of time pawing the mirror and wags his tail like he is greeting a long lost friend. Come Monday I felt pretty secure about leaving him in the apartment by himself while I did some shopping and running around. That morning the beginnings of a personality were starting to come out but he still was acting very sleepy. I left, ran around and gathered what I needed for dinner that night. I had lunch with a new friend and made it home roughly around 4 pm.

When I walked in I could already sense that something was wrong.  Joe was slinking around like someone who knows he has been very, very bad. He had gone in the dirty laundry and had chewed on some of the clothes. They weren’t damaged, just wet so that was good. He had taken the comforter off of the bed and had apparently rolled around on the sheets. JD’s new sneakers had been chewed on but had suffered minimal damage. The article that really got it bad was the book I was reading at the time. On the lucky side, he only chewed up the parts I had already read so it wasn’t as bad as originally surveyed but I was heart broken. How could he do this to us! It’s been a long time since I had a puppy and Joe is less than a year old who hasn’t been in a home environment in a long time, if ever. JD reminded me that sometimes dogs chew stuff and not to get all bent out of shape about it.

I got over it quickly but now I have a problem. This apartment has been furnished by our landlord and we can’t take the chance of him chewing everything up. So I chose the bathroom. After you remove all the towels and hanging stuff there is very little that he can chew up in there. It’s bright and fairly roomy so I thought it was a wise choice. The next day I placed him with a chew bone and a blanket in the bathroom and left. When I got home all was quiet but as I approached the bathroom door I could see where paint chips had made their way under the door and out in the hall. This, ladies and gentlemen, is not a good sign. I opened the door to find that he had gone after this door like a fox trying to get into a hen house.

The door of destruction...

He had chewed up quite a bit of it but luckily these are the old style doors and it would take him a long time to actually make his way thru. For whatever reason this didn’t hit me as bad as I had processed this all yesterday and like JD said, dogs chew stuff sometimes. JD was not as calm about it as he was the day before. He said a couple of four letter words and told Joe how bad he was in a very calm low voice. Joe is already scared of men in general so it didn’t take much for him to understand that Daddy was not happy.

The next day I tried putting the Rescue Remedy in his water and the violation of the door continued but wasn’t as bad. His personality is starting to come out more and more now that he is getting comfortable here aside from the bathroom time. Each day has been a little better and he is spending more time chewing on his bone in the bathroom than working on the grand escape thru an unforgiving door. He has decided that JD isn’t as bad as originally thought although he doesn’t want to have anything to do with anyone else. Sunday I will be joining one of the ladies who was a part of getting Joe to me and we will go to a dog park and work on a bit of obedience.

Yesterday I went into the Immigration office to talk to an officer about extending my tourist visa for an entire year. Tourist visas are for true tourists as it turns out, so in order for it to be extended I would have to produce paid plans for traveling the country. Hanging around the suburbs of Sydney making sure my man has a clean house and dinner on the table apparently doesn’t count. The only option for me is to finish out my three months and then fly to New Zealand or where ever for at least a day. Then when I come back I can reapply for another three month visa. Although it’s not what I originally planned, this is not a bad gig. I don’t have to go home and can go take a vacation every three months. 

Then I bring up the working idea that I have running around in my brain. He tells me that I can stay in the country for up to 4 years on a work visa and that they are only a couple hundred dollars. This sounds very feasible and a good route to follow. My next step is to find a place to hire me and sponsor me. It sounds like they have a major shortage of my type of worker so let the games begin! Worse case scenario I don’t get to work and go on forced vacations every three months. Boo frickin hoo.

Also as I mentioned on the last post, there was a Capoeira class on thursday nights. After I made dinner last night I put on something that I would wear to yoga and trucked on down the street. I have never taken any kind of martial arts or anything relatable before so I have no idea what to expect. I walked into a church out building to be approached by a few smiling faces. The men are well muscled, shirtless and the women are trim and have buns of steel. We start out making laps around the large room followed by some sort of loping action. Then lunges intertwined with push ups and working on your triceps with your hands on a chair and your feet straight out in front of you. I had been here 10 mins and I already hurt. Three of us are beginners and we are quickly separated from the rest of the pack. The others go off to mock spar without any actual contact. We are taught first how to Jenga (sp?). It’s their base move and kind of like the two step with wide sweeping moves and your forearms in front of your eyes. I can feel the burn in my legs and back right away and it’s hitting me exactly how much I will suffer the next day. We learned four kick moves with names I can’t pronounce and in spite of myself, I actually had a lot of fun. I am not sure it’s something I want to continue as I would rather spend the money on yoga classes but it was a great experience all the same. If you want to sweat and get great looking buns, I highly recommend it! After the class was over some of them did some of the sparring which they let me film, so take a look!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfCHyItBdwY

I hope all is well with you back in the States.

Stay classy America.