What's an international move without a few hiccups?

The last few days have been fun, in a few different ways. Some things have been surprisingly easy, while others have been, let's just say, special. But one observation has remained the same during the last few days. Australians are so friendly and helpful!

Getting Queensland Drivers licenses - Relatively easy, even with a trip to the immigration office for Visa stickers. Fresh off the plane on Friday we decided to see what we would need to get our Queensland drivers licenses. In actuality we aren't required to have them, our Canadian licenses are fine, which seems weird given that we drive on the other side of the road back home, but we needed to get a certain number in order to register our car, and the helpful girl at the transportation office said they would be handy to have. We had most of the required documentation, but needed a few additional things... One being a Visa sticker in our passport, which we could get at the immigration office a few streets over. When told of this, I just pictured endless line ups, and miserable people, but we went to find the immigration office and after about a 10 minute wait and a pleasant chat about Saskatoon and Winnipeg with the guy working there, we had them! So, back to the transportation office we went. 20 minutes longer there, and we were done. It took 90 minutes at most. And we dealt with two of the most friendly ladies I have ever encountered on the other side of a desk. Seriously, they were lovely.

Getting our mobile phones arranged - Given our experience on Friday getting the licenses, we pictured this task being a breeze. We brought our unlocked iPhones with us, so all we needed was a service plan. To Telstra we went! As it turns out, it was quite good that we arranged the drivers licenses, because the staff at Telstra said that having them usually meant that the credit check required to initiate a service plan wouldn't be a problem... But they were actually quite wrong. So, not only would they not set up a service plan on the phones that we brought, but this also meant that we were "locked out" so to speak, from having another credit check for 6 months. And the only thing they could set up for us in the meantime was a restricted home phone service. We are currently in a temporary apartment with a phone, so we don't need one at the moment. And the kicker is that with this restricted home phone service, we would only be able to make local calls. So, we don't have a credit history in Australia because we arrived 24 hours ago from another country, and in being denied credit, the only product you can offer us is something we don't need, and can't even use to call the country we came from? Awesome!

Getting bank accounts set up - Pretty straight forward, but Alan had applied online a few weeks back so everything was all set up for us. There's no money in the Australian bank account we have set up, but it's there and ready, so that is good.

Getting car insurance - Super easy. All done online.

Getting car - Sigh. This has been (and continues to be) a gong show! Went to dealership with bank draft. Saw our shiny new car, touched it. Went to business managers office and gave him bank draft. Big problems ensue. Dealership cannot accept international bank draft, even though it is drawn on an Australian bank. They would have to keep the car until the funds clear, ~4-6 weeks. They suggest we go talk to a branch manager at this Australian bank, and there's a branch just up the road. So, away we go. Talk to branch manager, who is absolutely lovely, despite us opening our accounts just that morning at another bank. And in a very lovely way, she tells us there really isn't anything she can do to help us. Back to the dealership we go, feeling very dejected and sad. Friendly dealership people feel bad for us, and instead of calling a cab, one of the employees drives us home. Try to talk to Canadian bank to see about cancelling draft or other options. This goes surprisingly well given that it's a holiday in Canada and it's past midnight. That's about all I can say about this for now. We still don't have our car. :(

Will keep you posted, and hopefully post some pics of the new wheels very soon!

And so it really begins...

Well, we are on our way. Sitting in Auckland right now and still wondering when everything will seem "real". I keep thinking "When we fly home, I can watch this movie" or I find myself thinking and trying to plan our vacation. Trying to figure out what we should do, and how long we have to do it... And then I realize... We aren't actually on vacation, we are moving, so the end of our "trip" is in two years, not two weeks or two months. It is so strange!

I can't even sum up how I'm feeling in words. Everyone asks "Are you excited?" and I don't really know what to say... There are so many emotions and not one of them is really in the forefront. I'm excited, scared, worried, happy, sad, nervous... It probably depends on the precise time that you ask me! I suppose the overwhelming emotion prior to leaving Calgary was a bit sad. I mean, I've never left Calgary before, and by that I mean, I've never left my parents and family before. So that presents it's own unique set of challenges for me. Luckily, the world is a smaller place due to technology like Facetime and Skype, and I am so very thankful for that. We also had to say a "so long for now" to the dog. It had us both a misty eyed (me more so, but that's par for the course). He knew something was up when we left for the airport, didn't really want to go in his crate, and gave us the puppy dog eyes (see previous posts for photo evidence).

And then there's my family. Tuesday night was rough. I was, to put it nicely, a wreck. We had a big hug session in the drizzle on Stephen Avenue after the "last supper" so to speak. I did a bit better at the airport, but it was definitely tough. It helps that Meghan, my sistah, has plans in the works to come visit in October (hooray! yahoo! yippee!) and Mom and Dad are already talking about February or March. And we should have the pupperton by December. So, that helps.

Anyways, looking forward to getting to our apartment in Brisbane, then we can relax just a little, until we have to start our home search, get our drivers licenses, figure out how to purchase the car that we have arranged, await our air and sea shipments and so on. Should be fun, especially since Alan's starting work pretty much next week. And I am going to learn tap dancing. Haha!

Hooroo for now!

It's the Final Countdown

We've both been humming or whistling this song over the last two days.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyggY_R3jU8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

We are out of our house and in a hotel until we leave on Wednesday. Our sea container has been packed and our air shipment should be shipping out any day now. I thought it might feel more real once we got to this point, but it still doesn't. I can't really explain why either. It's all just a little surreal.

It does feel a bit like the ball that started to slowly roll down a hill in February, is now more like some sort of missile. There aren't enough hours in the day to do everything we need to do and see all the people we'd like to see. We're into the "lasts" too. Last Friday in Calgary. Last day of work. Last time driving our car. Last sleep in our house. It all makes me a bit emotional (of course!) so I keep telling myself it's only the "last" for a little while. Which helps a little, I suppose.

My last day at work was on Wednesday. It was, let's just say, emotional. No offense to anyone else, but I think I have the best group of coworkers out there. Their generosity and support over the last little while has been amazing. I really hope that when we come back in 2 years, I'll be able to work with them again because they really are the best.

My cake... Thanks Lexi!

The dog has totally picked up on the fact that things are changing, even before they came to pack the house. So the poor guy is a little out of sorts. He climbed into one of our empty suitcases as we were trying to cram all of our stuff into them and he just lay down and looked at us, as if to say "this one is just right for me". It broke my heart a little.

Doesn't it break your heart a little too?

However, we heard back that his rabies blood test came back, and he's good to go (in 4 more months), so now begins more paperwork in order to get his AQIS import permit, and arrange his stay in quarantine. Sigh. Poor little dude.

Anyways, just thought I should update all my faithful readers, or at the very least my only reader. (Hi Mom!) That being said, if you want to leave a comment, go ahead. I would love to know that there are people reading my ramblings, and now that I'm gainlessly unemployed, I have lots of time to respond!

A few of the many boxes destined to float, fly or go in storage. And the dog, who is sad.

Consternation

con·ster·na·tion/ˌkänstərˈnāSHən/

Noun:

Feelings of anxiety or dismay, typically at something unexpected

3 weeks away now. What WHAT? We've been knocking things off the to-do list pretty quickly these days. Cars are sold, house is rented, visas are approved, plane tickets are booked, temporary accommodation in Brisbane has been arranged. There are a few items outstanding on our list... Permanent accommodation in Brisbane is one of them, as well as a car (although we are working on that). We also need to pick up some convertors in order to run our kitchen appliances and other small electrical items. I still need to send in my nursing registration and get the ball rolling on that.

So, obviously I'm turning into an emotional basket case again. Grrrrreat. I was doing okay up until now, but now that we have a confirmed departure date (not "sometime in June or July") and it's only 3 weeks away, it's causing a wee bit of consternation.

A big source of this consternation? The dog.

If you know us, you probably know Jasper. Our fur baby. We had a hell of a time deciding what to do about him. Is it fair to put him on such a long flight if it's only for two years? What if it ends up being longer than two years? Are we being responsible dog owners if we leave him? Or if we bring him for that matter? Will he eat something poisonous and die? This was pretty representative of our thought process...

It always seemed as though anytime we talked about our options to leave him behind he would turn on the sad puppy dog eyes a la Puss in Boots.

Sad face...

See! The resemblance is actually quite uncanny I think...

Plus we were wrestling with the fact that we signed on to take care of this funny little creature for ~14 years, and we've only had him for 2 years. We couldn't fathom leaving him for 2 more years. The other thing is how do you ask someone else to look after him for 2 years and then just expect them to give him back at the end. That's not exactly fair either. And I want to give big kudos to Alan's sister who was willing to look after him for us. Thanks K!

Of course, now that we've decided to bring him, anytime I look at him I see this...

Money! (Google images even found me a dog that looks like Jasper)

It is not cheap to take a pet to Australia. That's all I will say about that. So hopefully he doesn't eat something poisonous or get attacked by a snake upon arriving in Oz. Because if I'm an emotional basket case now, I can't imagine what I'll be like then!

Jasper gets to stay in Calgary for what is predicted to be a lovely, hot summer and then he can fly down for his 1 month stay in a 5 star pet resort in Sydney, with private accommodation and it's all-inclusive! Oh who am I kidding... He heads for his month in quarantine before joining us in Brisbane at the end of November. Just in time for their hot, humid summer... Poor guy!

Photo courtesy of As I See It Photography

3 more weeks!

A little levity...

Holy Dooley

We will cease to exist for this day next month.

The countdown is on.

Holy crap, er, no, I mean Holy Dooley (need to retrain my brain for Australia).

I can't write anything more right now. My brain is pretty much consumed with the content outlined above.

Psychologically speaking...

We had our pre-departure psychology session last week.

"What is that?" you might ask.

Well, it's a 4 hour visit with a psychologist. For reals. And it was interesting, but in a good way. Alan and I had joked about this because being the emotional creature that I am*, I was worried that I might cry during the whole thing. And at the end of it, you are given a colour that represents how much support you may need whilst abroad (green, yellow, orange and red). Don't get me wrong, my personal belief is that "Red is Best" but in this case, Red is most certainly NOT best. And so the running joke was that Alan would be green and I would be red, as in "Code Red - She's not going to make it!". Haha. We joke about this, but I was a little concerned about our impending psychoanalysis. And I most certainly did make good on the promise of tears. We talked a lot about me, which was rather strange at first, I kept hoping the focus would shift from me to Alan, and it really didn't. It did foster a lot of awareness for both of us. We talked about culture shock, and dealing with homesickness and the pros and cons of going on this assignment. We talked about our families, and their plans to visit us. We talked about our hobbies, and whether we can pursue them down under (and yes, we can curl!). We talked about me, and what I plan to do, and how I plan to combat loneliness. (Apparently laying in the fetal position on the couch watching movies alone is not an appropriate way to help myself.) We talked about how Alan will have an easier time, given that he has his work and his colleagues and a ready made network, while I don't have that. And my lovely husband surprised the psychologist because he was so aware of this. We also talked about the impact that this could have on our relationship. In that, we will become more independent ourselves, but we will also become more dependent on each other. What I mean by this is that instead of us having our girlfriends and guyfriends to do stuff with, we will have each other. For example, Alan will come to yoga classes with me, and I will go to rugby matches with him.

You know, I was really dreading this part of the process, but in the end I really see the value in it. It validated us, and how we communicate, and it's good to hear someone say that our communication skills are good especially before we embark on this adventure. And we discovered a few things about ourselves, and each other, which is important. For instance, I think that I'm quite a shy person at first, and until I get to know someone, I tend to stay inside my shell, however Alan thought that this wasn't entirely true, and that I'm more outgoing than I give myself credit for.

The funny thing is that I went out to a movie right after we finished. I saw "The 5 Year Engagement" which was eerily applicable to our situation. Quick synopsis, a couple moves from San Fran to Michigan so that she can pursue her education. He quits his job in the culinary hot bed that is San Fran to move to the culinary cool bed that is Michigan, and needless to say, he goes a little mental. Here's a picture of him at rock bottom. Good thing I don't have a pink bunny suit or the ability to grow facial hair...

Visa application has been lodged. The household goods people will be coming soon to survey our house and see if our life fits into a 40 foot shipping container. I'm going to work on my nursing registration this week. We've found a property management company. And we've decided to bring the dog. More on that later.

So long for now!

*I just have to write a little sidebar to this... Yes, I am emotional and I cry (sometimes a lot, and sometimes for no big reason), but when we went to see "Up", the Disney movie, one of us cried, and it wasn't me.