Rounding out our Aussie adventure

Well we've arrived back stateside and the feeling is bittersweet. While I was very, very sad to leave our friends, especially after a fantastic farewell dinner at La Spaghettata on Lygon (my favorite street), we were also very excited to be heading home to our families.

We had a very busy final week in Australia. We were fortunate to be able to go caroling with our Salvos brass band and songster team to a retirement village in Thornbury. I love Christmas and especially Christmas carols, so this was a great treat that the residents really seemed to enjoy.

The Saturday evening before we left, Grattan and Glenda gave us tickets to see the annual performance of "Our Christmas Gift", which is a concert put on by the Salvos to thank the citizens of Melbourne for their generosity and kindness throughout the year. The night is filled with big name Australian artists, carols, comedy acts and of course, a nativity scene (with live camels!). I was so excited to go and really enjoyed the 2 hours of non-stop Christmas carols!

The next day was Sunday and I knew that it was going to be a tough one. It would be our final service at the Thornbury Salvation Army Church and we've really enjoyed our time as part of the congregation. We've met some truly amazing, kind and generous people who went out of their way to welcome us into their church and for that we are eternally grateful. Before the service started, we went back into the band room and shared a moment of prayer with the band members and then they started to wish us best of luck etc., at which point I broke down and started crying and had to leave the room. Marvelous.

I had requested that the songsters sing O' Holy Night because that is my favorite carol. Well not only did they sing it, they had Hyatt and I come up and join in too. I haven't sang in public since show/competition choir my senior year of high school so this was a little nerve-wracking but nevertheless, truly beautiful moment and a lot of fun!

During the last march, band leader (George) called Hyatt up to play the drums. Bravo for Hyatt because he has never played a musical instrument before (except for recorder in 5th grade) and some would say he is rhythmically challenged. I say "Ha!" - he did fantastic!

Look at him up there keeping the beat on the bass drum. And looking so dapper while doing so :)

Since I'm a picture fiend, I asked the whole congregation to stay after for a picture so you could all see the fantastic people we have had the pleasure of calling our friends.

After some tearful goodbyes at church, we only had a mere two days to pack our things and get ready to leave. We ended up having to ship home about 40 kg of stuff (80 lbs) and that cost a pretty penny but at least we didn't have to throw too much away.

Our last night in Melbourne, all of our Uni of Melbourne family (because we're tight like that) came out to dinner with us at La Spaghettata. FANTASTIC FOOD! I forgot to take pictures on my camera that night but Surinder was snapping pictures left and right.

Vickey on the left, Will on the right.

Kristy and Ryan

Kristy, Ryan and Fiona

The whole group getting ready to enjoy some fab Italian food.

Hyatt, Surinder and I.



After dinner we said our 'see ya laters', because I HATE goodbyes (with a passion - I think Hyatt needs to write a post specifically about how much I loathe goodbyes). It was a mix of laughing and crying and generally just sucked. The next morning we headed back to the good ole U.S. of A. with a year full of memories.

To all of our Aussie friends, we sincerely appreciate the kindness that each and everyone one of you showed to us during our stay in Australia. You will long be fondly remembered and hopefully we will see you all again in the relatively near future.

To our American friends and family - if we haven't already seen you we are really looking forward to getting together with everyone! Hope to see you soon!

Cheers and Merry Christmas!
~ FroBuzz ~

Not Art

You may or may not have gathered that Melbourne is a little more artsy and cultured than FroBuzz. So on our trip to Tassie, a museum tour proved rather interesting and to say the least, unimpressive. I've provided my well-educated interpretation of the following exhibits.

Ball on A Wall - because the floor isn't good enough for his ball.

Gunk on the table - the real work of art was the table but the artist's kids spilled their Gak on it

Le Shelf - all the things that didn't fit into a category of boxes when the artist moved

Car trouble - because you're in trouble if your bumper isn't on your car

Le Table - an extension of Le Shelf

and if you can't laugh at this then you need to stop reading my blog. See below, pervs:

And that has been Buzzard's art interpretation for the day. I hope you learned something about Australian art.

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

Haggling

Lygon Street in Carlton is famous for it's great Italian food. There are over 20 Italian restaurants on a four block strip and it's all authentic.

Because there are so many of these fine dining establishments, patrons can haggle with the owner/server over what they can get for free by dining there.

Example - We (Vickey, Kristy, Fiona, Will and I)  walked down Lygon looking for dinner. At restaurant #1 they offered us one free drink per person. Meh - not good enough. So we passed.

Restaurant #2 offered two free drinks per person - good deal. The next step is to hedge this against another restaurant to get more. If no one takes the bait, we can always fall back on option #2.

Restaurant #3 wanted us - really bad. Here's a picture of Vickey haggling:

This restaurant gave us two free drinks AND free garlic bread/bruschetta. Score! That's how we make decisions down unda ya'll.

Until next time,

~ Buzzard ~

p.s. in case you were wondering, we come home ONE WEEK 

Dear Gangstas

To the so-called 'gangstas', hoodlums and hoons of Melbourne,

1. You live in Australia; a country in which it is illegal to peel out ANYWHERE and it's easier to get a date with the Queen than it is to get a gun - you are not a gangsta.
2. That shaved head and rat-tail of which you're so blatantly proud? Australia is the only country in the world where people think that's even remotely cool. The rest of the world thinks you look like an idiot, including me.

gross

3. Skinny jeans that only come to the bottom of your buttcheeks are even more stupid-looking than baggy jeans that rest at a similar level.
4. I shouldn't even have to tell you this but gangstas don't wear skinny jeans.
5. You cannot be a gangsta on a skateboard - have you never heard of the Crips and Bloods?
6. I am NOT your baby - stay the eff away from me before I judo chop your ass.

Sincerely,
Brandi L. Buzzard

It's Bloody Hot

That's my way of saying it's hot as hell here - it was 90 degrees (F) on Wednesday and guess what - the ole flat doesn't have A/C. It does have windows that open about 3 inches but no wind = no air movement.

My darling husband knows how much I LOATHE being hot (seriously, the thermostat in our house is never above 60 in the winter) so he surprised me yesterday with a new friend:

Meet Phan. She's neato - not only does she keep me cool at night but when she is whirring away on "High", she drowns out the sound of the extremely near-by four lane road that connects two highways.

For privacy purposes, I cannot reveal her origin but she too will be leaving the flat in approximately seven weeks.

I foresee a beautiful, short-lived friendship in the making.

Peace out!
~ Buzzard ~

Caviar and Tentacles

We had an amazing night out last Saturday. We didn’t stay out very late,

because we’re lame-o, but we did have a great time.

We had dinner at Little Creatures (sound familiar? There was one in Perth, too) where I tried caviar, WHICH IS DISGUSTING, but even more unusual was that my pan fried calamari was not breaded and therefore looked like this at dinner:

 

If you can’t see very clearly, that is a ball of tentacles and the SUCKERS WERE STILL ON THEM! I tried a bite of it but the texture was too much for me. So I threw it in the traveling garbage disposal, aka Hyatt. Also, if you look closely you can still see the scar on my chin from the stupid boar attack during Hyatt’s trial.

As the evening progressed, so did the weird-ity.

We found Waldo, in case you had lost him.

And Vickey made friends with a pseudo pregnant guy…

And finally, I know I’ve been telling you how expensive Australia is for

quite some time but I thought you needed a visual aid:

Yes, one shot of Jagermeister is ten freakin’ bucks. Also, one bottle of cider is $7.50 (not a big bottle, but a normal sized drink bottle). That is ridiculousness in its finest form, folks (try saying that five times fast). 

And last but not least, the ying to my yang, Vickey.

She’s lovely and I love her.

Until next tiiiiiiiime,

~ Buzzard ~

p.s. YKWRGMG update: I am so ticked off at Blogger right now for not allowing me to cut and paste in the funny pictures I had edited directly from Word. I'm never doing that again. I might stop blogging for awhile, I'm that mad.

Side Kiss Greeting Thing...Awkward

Today marks the completion of this goal "98. Post every day for 1 month on From Oz to Aus" from this list. So yay me (and Hyatt helped too)!

But I feel like posting that above paragraph doesn't really count as a post so I better come up with something real, right?

Ok - random thoughts and events for the week.

1 - Australians greet people with the side cheek kiss thing. I think it comes from the British influence. Regardless, it makes me feel super awkward. If you still don't know what I'm talking about, here's a visual:

This lady looks much happier than I am when she's being greeted.

I feel like this is a semi invasion of my personal space but I go along with it because it's hard to avoid an incoming kiss-greeting and it's also a little bit rude to turn it down, I think. But it still makes me feel weird and I never kiss back. Next time you meet someone new, speak with an Australian accent and do the side kiss greeting - you'll freak people out. I think I'm going to do it when I return to stateside.

2 -  Tonight while on our way to dinner at our friend's house, I started walking a pipe fence. I made it 16 steps without falling off - woo. Big life accomplishment. So on the way home, Hyatt decided to try his hand. **Sidenote**: Hyatt is NOT coordinated. Although he tries very hard. Anyway, for 20 flippin minutes he tried walking the fence to beat me. Unsuccessful - personal best 11 steps. I wish I had a video of it, because you would have peed your pants from laughter. I love him but wow.

3 - Tomorrow (Saturday) marks the first weekend that I haven't had to get up early for a conference, meeting, work or to catch a flight. Amen to that.

4 - Two months from today (Friday) we will be doing some major life changes..... drumroll............................................. We will be returing to the states that day. Only two short months left and we've got them jam packed - trip to Tasmania, trip to Alice Springs/Uluru/Coober Pedy, two research projects (not Hyatt's) and a conference in Adelaide where Hyatt and I will both be presenting. Time will fly by and we're going to try to fit as much time in with our friends here in Melbourne before we leave. :(

Ok- that's about all for today. Thanks for reading and commenting. I noticed that commenting has started to drop off towards the end of the 30 day goal so I/we must have been annoying you. No worries, you can expect to only have 2-3 posts/week from here on out. Much more manageable I hope.

Lastly, at the conclusion of this little adventure, what would you like to see done with this blog? Should I add the phrase 'and back again' to the original title? Continue with our random life happenings? Cease the blog? Looking for some comment love here, folks

Holla,
~ Brandi ~

A few of my favorite things

I've been getting a lot of questions from native Australians about my favorite (and least favorite) Aussie things. I want to share some of these answers with you:

Fave food - Chicken & chips -- not completely an Aussie thing but better than any I've found in the states

Least fave food - Vegemite. Sick

Fave street - Lygon in Carlton

Fave place we've visited - Seeing the Sydney Opera House was awesome. So was Cairns. Cairns wins because I held a koala there.

Fave drink - Cider- it's not your mama's apple cider.

Fave clothing store (that I can afford) - Cotton On

Fave clothing store (that I can't afford) - Review

Fave thing about Melbourne - the rain and the large variety of shops

Least fave thing about Melbourne - public transport

I"m going to work on getting Hyatt to fill out a fave questionnaire and if you have any questions you'd like answered, leave them in the comments section!

Cheers!
Brandi

You Know What Really Grinds My Gears....

this may not be the perfect title for a post of this nature but this is weird and funny. Refer here for the origin of You Know What Really Grinds My Gears.

Tonight Hyatt and I celebrated one of life's little accomplishments - his project is over (well, the data collection part is over) and we've been married for eight months and haven't killed each other. Bravo for us.

 We had dinner at Green Field, our favorite Asian cuisine restaurant in Melbourne. They make calamari that is ta-da-fo. Although we've eaten there several times, I had never noticed this ship replica until this evening. Have a look...

Cool, right?  But, ahoy there! What's that wording there on the helm (I don't even know if that's the right ship part).....

Oh, look - it's the Santamaria. Proudly display-st (sound it out) in an Australia based Vietnamese restaurant. Makes absolutely no sense. 

And that is today's edition of "You Know What Really Grinds My Gears."

Is Your Husband Awesome?

Because mine is :)

A few days ago I may have alluded to the fact that Hyatt was happier to get Cap'n Crunch than he was to see me. I stand corrected. On a scale of 1 - 10; 1 being feeling like a negative amount of money and 10 being the Buckeyes win the BCS Title (Hyatt's scale, not mine), I've been told that seeing me again was a 9 and the Cap'n Crunch was 6.5. I'm feeling pretty good about myself right now - goooo me!

My flight arrived at Melbourne International Airport at 9:30 a.m. I was through customs, luggage pickup and the food quaratine/questioning station by 9:50 and very ready and excited to see hubsy after 31 hours of traveling in order to be reunited after 6 weeks of separation.

**Sidenote: I have never gotten through customs so quickly! There was no line, my luggage was first off the conveyor and the snide food lady didn't make me open up my suitcase to show her the extensive confectionary (read: candy) collection I had. I probably could have gotten beef jerky into this joint. Rats**

At about 10:10 a.m., I'd been walking around searching for said hubsy when I saw a tall, handsome man leaning against the wall. Hooray! I wrapped my arms around him, teared up (I've turned into a crier since we started dating way back in 2008) and gave him a well-deserved smooch. Why well-deserved?


He brought me these!!!!!

In case you didn't know, yellow roses are my FAVORITE! He knows me so well and must love me a lot.

If that wasn't enough, when we got back to the Flat, hubsy had another surprise for me.  I've always wanted to be classy and cultured and go to an opera but Manhattan, KS and Colony, KS don't exactly make that opportunity available. However, Melbourne is the arts capital of Australia and I was delighted to find out that we were going to an opera that night.

IT WAS FREAKING FANTABULOUS! I was in awe the entire time. The opera singers just blew Hyatt and I away - they had some pipes, let me tell ya. If you have a chance to go to this opera, do so because you won't be disappointed. Bonus: it's in English, unlike this one.

**Sidenote #2: Hyatt says it was a musical. Yes, it was a musical play but they belted out some high notes so I say opera. If you google it, the know all genius Wikipedia says musical but I"m sticking to my guns and saying opera because it makes me feel fancier.**

Bonus #2: I can now mark #70 off of this list.

All in all, it was a great day back in Melbourne. I have an amazingly thoughtful and kind husband who made my bittersweet return to the driest continent very spectacular. I'm very lucky  :)

The next day we went to Dookie and started feeding pigs and cleaning pig crap up again. Oh joy!

Until next time,
~ FroBuzz ~
p.s. Let Hyatt know how awesome he is. I love to brag on him and he always brushes me off. ;)

What I learned today...

We recently got our bond back from our previous landlord. You know, the landlord of the ML? To get caught up read this, this and this. I'll wait.

Ok - back to business. So after a long drawn out process of rescheduling the 'court' date about 3 different times, we got approximately $950 back. That's about $750 less than we wanted but at least the issue is resolved and we're through.

The reimbursement checks came to Hyatt and I. Since we don't have the same last name (yet) they had to send half of the money to me and half to Hyatt. The only problem is that they addressed the check to Brandi Frobose. I have a couple of issues with this:

1 - That's not my name.
2 - If the reason for splitting it up is that we don't have the same last name, then why does the check I received say Brandi Frobose? Stupid.
3 - It's extremely difficult to deposit a check made out to Brandi Frobose into an account held by Brandi Buzzard. See the issue?

I made the 30 minute walking trek to the bank, which was rougher than usual because while I was in the states I reverted back to my lazy American self and drove everywhere, and finally got the issue sorted out thanks to the lovely staff at The Bank of Melbourne.

In closing, I've learned that you can do one of the following things if you're ever in my situation:
 A - don't move to another country 3.5 weeks after you get married unless you can magically fast track the name changing process on your visa and passport

-OR-

B - wait to get married until you get back from said country.

C - Confirm with authorities your name before the checks are issued

D - Make friends with a friendly bank teller named Darin who will vouch that you are Brandi Frobose (even though you're really not) and will deposit the check anyway.

I chose to follow through with option D.

Have a great day!

Until next time,

~ FroBuzz ~

Sorry for my/our absence!

I'll be the first to admit that I have really been slacking in posting on this blog. Things have been really busy lately, let me catch you up.

-- Hyatt's trial started, stopped and has recommenced.
-- Andy, Mandy and Kristen visited June 25-July 6 - we had an epic roadtrip. Several posts on this to come.
-- Lindsey, Candace and Jenny K. are visiting us right now so we're busy having fun around Melbourne and are going to Cairns in three days.

I've been busy working on my thesis, writing columns for Grass and Grain and Farm Talk and of course, blogging on Buzzard's Beat, Food For Thought and NCBA's YPC Cattle Call. Hyatt and I have also been very busy planking - get excited.

So, in short - we've been busy but I'm planning to blog my brains out so you guys can see what's been going on.

See ya on the flip,
FroBuzz

p.s. -who wants another post from Hyatt?!?!!? I do! I do!

Vocabulary Lessons

As expected, terminology for certain things differs between countries. Even when both countries speak English. For example:
Lesson #1:
"Wow - that shirt is too dear!"
Meaning: wow - that shirt is so expensive.   Expensive = too dear. Got it?

Lesson #2:
"Ok - get in the ute it's time to go."
Meaning: Ok - get in the truck it's time to go.   Truck = ute

What is a 'ute' you ask?  This is a ute - and they're everywhere. They look like a 1970's El Camino except they still make these. Fahri has one and it's badass.

Other fun vocab words in Australia
Tasty cheese - apparently it's ok to use adjectives interchangeably as brand names. Tasty cheese is supposedly cheddar cheese. But it's not yellow. Also, there is no American cheese here. Go figure.

Mackers - McDonalds. Duh. That should have been an easy one.

Capsicum - this is a pepper. I think most people already knew that but I was oblivious to the fact that a pepper could have another name. Stupid American.
Fairy Floss - cotton candy flavor. Hyatt loves those cheap icee pops and they have a flavor called fairy floss. It took us quite some time to get the courage up to try them.

I'm sure there will be many more vocab lessons but right now I'll answer the one question I'm sure you're all asking about this post....No, tasty cheese is NOT tasty.

Cheers,
~ FroBuzz~

The BIG two-five

Yep, I turned 1/4 century old on the 28th but it was awesome because I got TWO birthdays - one on the 28th here in Australia and the other on the 28th in the states. Yessssssssss.

It was a great day - I got to sleep in, Hyatt took me for a picnic lunch and for a shopping trip. I got a new purse and some sweet new earrings. No picture of the bag but here are the new lobe ornaments.

Yes, they are PURPLE FEATHERS. boom.

Vickey, Kristy and Hyatt organized dinner at a local pub so we got all dressed up....

and went to dinner with the gang



From l to r: Joanna, Hyatt, me, Vickey, Kristy, Ryan and Fahri.





We had a great time and I am so blessed to have such great friends here. Thanks to everyone who sent cards, emails, packages and tweeted birthday wishes.  Your kindness is much appreciated :)

Cheers
~ FroBuzz ~

Starting to Enjoy the City

Don't freak out - even though I'm starting to like city life we are still definitely coming back. Can't take the country out of the girl (or something like that).

Why am I liking it so much? Let me count the ways...

-- I can walk to the grocery store in 10 minutes
-- There are tons of GREAT boutiques and shops within a few short blocks.
-- I have never seen so many restaurants in such a few short blocks (bars, yes. restaurants, no). Greek, Italian, Indian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese - it's all just a 10 minutes from our comfy apartment. There is actually a shortage of fast food here - only McDonald's (Macca's), KFC and Hungry Jack (Burger King).

I guess the best thing about city life is that it's just so much quicker to walk somewhere than drive.

We're so excited that quite a few of our friends are coming to visit soon! Mandy, Kristen and Andy are coming in June and Lenny, Candace and Jenny are coming in July! On top of that Doug Albright is probably coming in the fall, just not sure of the date yet. And last, but not least, Hyatt's parents are coming in late October - the rest of the year is going to fly by!

Cheers
FroBuzz

Queen Victoria Market

I may have mentioned that fresh produce is a really big deal here so we buy fresh fruits and veggies about 2x a week. Our most recent shopping trip was to the Queen Victoria Market (QVM) which is gigantic and not only has produce but meats, veggies and lots of bakeries for fresh breads.

Most of the produce is cheaper and fresher than what we could buy at a grocery store so this will probably become a weekly event. Check out these pics of our first Queen Vic Market experience.

Hyatt examining some kiwi - we bought 10 for $2!

The nut stand

My favorite - fresh strawberries!

Cheers,

~ FroBuzz ~

The Rental Saga Continues...

When we last spoke of renting and landlords, we were in the process of taking our 'landlord' of the ML to court.

The latest update is that since we moved is that we were waiting on the form from the court system to inform us of the date.
We waited. and waited and waited - finally, we got sick of waiting and Hyatt called the office yesterday while we were driving back from Sydney. Our meeting was Monday. The notice was mailed on March 30 - we left for Sydney on the 12th. We got back this evening (19th) and it's still not here. Never got the notice! Crap. Can we just catch one break while we are here? just one?
We are applying for a review of the case so we can have 'our day in court.' I'll let you all know how that goes.

The worst part is probably that Hyatt emailed our 'landlord' on April 13th to let her know that we hadn't yet found out when we'd be going to court but we'd let her know when we did.  She knew and didn't tell us. Awesome.
Cheers
FroBuzz

Clearing the Air

First off -we're not pregnant - thank God. And honestly, I'm a little disappointed at the lack of name suggestions on the part of you all. Thanks for nothing. Except Emily, who suggested Fred.

Other than that we had a fairly mild AFD - although the drama of moving to Australia continues in the next chapter titled:

Our New Car....That Died

That's right folks - we finally got a car so we don't have to walk all over this town. A brand new (to us) Hyundai Elantra and we were very excited to be rolling the streets of Melbourne in style.....and then Hyatt called to tell me that the car died after only driving 20km (12.5 miles) away from the dealership. Not a joke and not cool.

Awesome friends Maree and Dean picked Hyatt up and brought him back to the house and promised they would sort out the car problems with Tony, the car dealership owner (Maree and Dean suggested this guy so they were more than happy to jump in and make sure we were treated fairly).

So we left the car locked in a parking lot and went hiking in the Grampians today. Will find out more about the car tomorrow.

Cheers,

~ FroBuzz ~

Pics of the ML

Well, we're moving. Don't know the new address yet but we are definitely moving. So, before we head out of the ML forever (after 5 weeks of living here) I present to you..... da da da duh duh da DAH! Pictures of our ML. Once we get set up in the new place, I plan to decorate and transmit pictures of my HGTV skills but I didn't really have a chance to decorate the ML so these are pretty plain jane pictures. Enjoy!

Lounge room - the ML came equipped with everything you see here - yes, even the carpet was included (but not the laptop)

Another view of lounge room - stylish loveseat, mirror and floral pillows were part of the deal

If stand right up against the stove- I can put my foot against the opposite wall without straightening my leg. Did that makes sense? Read: it's small

For some reason I think I'm attracted to grey and orange bedding. We received orange and grey bedding from my aunt and uncle as a shower gift also (their gift is way way nice than what we have here). Check out our handy storage underneath the bed - the closet are next to the night stand on this side of the picture.

NOT AN AIR CONDITIONER

Will post pictures of the new joint once we get settled in - not sure what I'll name it. I doubt it will have as much character as the ML.

Cheers,

~ FroBuzz ~

Melbourne Nights!

We went to our first social event in Melbourne - Kristy, one of the animal production students, and her partner Ryan just purchased the penthouse in their building and invited a bunch of people over to celebrate.  We live about 5k (3 miles) from the party and don't have a vehicle yet so it took us awhile to walk there. We had also forgotten to buy grog (booze) before leaving so we were on the lookout for a liquor store. We found one about 2 blocks from Kristy's house and look what they make here!

Ah, so smooth and tasty. The party was a ton of fun and Kristy and Ryan's new apartment was great. We had a blast meeting some new Aussie friends and hope to meet some more in the future!

Cheers,

~ FroBuzz~