Aussie animals

On my last Aussie weekend before heading home for Chrissy, I hung out with more work friends on Friday and did some touristy activities on Saturday. Beer Friday at work turned into heading to a nearby pub with a group of people from work and a good time was had by all! It was a beautiful night and was fun to sit outside to share drinks and lots of laughs!

Several people from various other teams in Cerner are here on business trips right now and a girl that I have met a few times from the Marketing/PR team invited me to be touristy with her on Saturday! She did a few things that I have already done in the morning, but I took a ferry over to meet her in Darling Harbour for the afternoon and we went to Wildlife World and the Sydney Aquarium! We had a blast seeing all of the animals and fish that Australia has to offer.

Australia is actually home to something crazy like 10 out of the 12 most deadly animals in the world. Quite a few of them were featured in the Wildlife World...and we probably would have spent much more time in there, except that we were hurrying through some of the creepy areas with the spiders, snakes, bats, etc. Of course, we loved seeing the koalas and kangaroos though and I think my favorite was the enormous crocodile, named Rex. We did actually get to see him swim around some and then we caught the keeper talk about him...he had a fascinating story. Here are some fun pics from the Wildlife World!

The Sydney Aquarium was beautiful too and was kind of mesmerizing to watch all of the fish in the beautiful displays! Saw some very unique fish and of course, lots of sharks too!

We had a lovely early evening dinner in Darling Harbour and sat outside where we got in some good people watching. Was a fun day out as a tourist...too bad we didn't see the Oprah crew though!

I can't believe that I only have one day in the office and them am heading back to Kansas for Christmas...my time over here since my October trip home has just flown by! I am super excited to get back to see all of my family and friends and to celebrate Christmas and then will be equally excited to head back to this side of the world...because my parents will be coming back with me! I am so so so excited to have them here and show them all of these amazing things! We will have the best time and then it will be a short time before my adventure here comes to an end...

If I don't blog again before Christmas, I wish you all a very Happy Chrissy!!

Happy Chrissy!

Had another great Sydney weekend...and am still finding this balance between Christmas and Summer a little odd!

I was somewhat excited to come back to my apartment after Beer Friday at the office and have a relaxing night in...and I was going to watch 'Elf' on tv! I only ended up watching the last few minutes though because I went out to dinner with my friends, Luke and Lisa. We went to an awesome Thai restaurant that I hadn't tried yet and had a great time...it was worth missing 'Elf' on tv to go out and have a fun, social night!

On Saturday morning, I headed into the city on the train to meet my work friend, Sarah, for a day of shopping! We started at the beautiful Queen Victoria Building again and made our way through the city down to my favorite part of town, The Rocks. It was a kind of gloomy day and was raining on and off...but it was really fun to walk through town and see all of the different Christmas decorations on the buildings, the streets and in the stores. One difference I noticed a lot is that all of the signs here don't say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays...but Happy Christmas! I think that is a fairly British saying, so to make it a little more Aussie, a lot of the locals say Happy Chrissy...so funny!

Sarah and I had a great time shopping and got to enjoy a lovely lunch and some wine at a darling Italian restaurant right in the heart of The Rocks. Even though it was raining a little, we still got to sit outside at some tables that were covered by umbrellas, so we got to enjoy the surroundings too. We both had quite a bit of success shopping and managed to check several items off our Christmas gift lists.

Speaking of my Christmas gift list...I keep this little book of all of the Christmas gifts that I buy for everyone each year and how much I spend. It really helps me to look back at previous years and what I have bought so far each particular year...really helps me stick to a budget. Umm, so this year, I am having some trouble with that...and next year, when I try to look back at the previous year to see how much I have spent, it will be nearly impossible! You see, usually I know exactly how much I am spending because I am only dealing with one currency. This year, I am dealing with this...

Yes, four different currencies...Australian Dollar, US Dollar, Malaysia Ringgit and Singapore Dollar. So, my organized budget in my little book is pretty much shot...oh well, Happy Chrissy!

And today, some things remind me that it is Christmas, while some remind me that it is Summer...after getting some sun outside this afternoon, I came in to listen to my Glee Christmas CD (thanks to my sister for sending me that!) while making dinner. While most of you are probably making chili and taco soup these days, I made taco salad! And now I am watching an oldie Christmas movie, but a goodie, on tv...Scrooged! In just a little over a week, I will be heading back to the other side of the world where I won't be confused between Christmas and Summer any longer!

Thanksgiving

It is really amazing to me that Thanksgiving can be pretty much the same, no matter where you are in the world and who you are celebrating with. Although on the actual 4th Thursday of the month, I was in Kuala Lumpur for work and the only somewhat holiday-ish thing I did was sit in a Starbucks in the airport to enjoy a peppermint mocha and listen to the Christmas songs that they were playing, I was still able to enjoy a Thanksgiving in a different, but surprisingly comfortable way.

On Saturday afternoon, I went over to the apartment of my work friends, Sarah and Jeremy. Another American in the office, Yvelle, joined us. I took over my few cute Fall decorations that my mom had mailed to me and Sarah had a few Fall-ish candles, so the apartment looked the part. Most people know that my mom is an absolutely amazing cook, so I certainly missed her Thanksgiving meal...and all of the fun that we always share during the prep of the big meal! However, I must admit...we were able to pull off a really awesome Thanksgiving meal here in Sydney! We didn't actually have turkey, we had roast chickens instead...we did have almost everything else...mashed potatoes, corn bread stuffing, green bean casserole, collard greens, candied yams, corn, deviled eggs. The only thing that was really different was that we didn't have a pie or anything pumpkin flavored for dessert...but we did have a red velvet cake, which is one of my favorites, so was ok by me!

Again, it was just amazing to me that we can make the same kinds of food, fill our plates to the brim like normal, get stuffed with all the great food and wine, have great conversation...all while being half-way around the world from America. I was truly thankful this year for all of my friends and family, and for my amazing job that has given me this opportunity to live in Australia for 6 months! Happy Thanksgiving...and here are some pictures of my fun night!

Worlds away...

Well, hello friends and family! Long time, no blog! Sorry that it has been so long, but I have been busy on this side of the world! And I am sure you all haven't had anything going on and have just been waiting patiently for my next post...ha ha!

As I had mentioned, I got a once in a lifetime opportunity last week to go on a business trip to Singapore and Malaysia! Wow, definitely an opportunity I didn't want to pass up! And just to clear up any confusion...Singapore and Malaysia are two different places. Singapore is actually what is called a city state...basically its own city, state, country all on its own. It is located on the same island as part of Malaysia...Malaysia is actually split between two different pieces of land. Confused yet? I was!

The unfortunate part about this trip is that it was very quick and very busy with work. And the really unfortunate part is that I don't have many pictures and really no very good pictures. I may be able to swing another trip to introduce the new HR Partner once I get her hired, but I am not going to bank on that. So, my few stories and few bad pictures will have to do!

I went on this business trip with the head executive in the Australia office, Rick. I am very thankful that I got to travel with him, as he has been to these places several times and I would have been lost without him. So, we headed to Singapore on Monday...about an 8 hour flight. It was still day-light when we arrived, so I immensely enjoyed the car ride from the airport to the hotel. The first thing I noticed about Singapore is how absolutely beautiful it is...extremely clean, some different and unique architecture, very lush and full of trees, bushes and flowers everywhere I looked! I later found out just how much Singapore prides itself on being clean...chewing gum is actually banned from Singapore because they don't want it to get on the streets or sidewalks. I think I chewed some guy while I was there...oops! Our hotel was on one of the main streets in Singapore and was definitely surrounded by lots of shopping and restaurants. After settling in at the hotel, Rick and I walked down the street to grab a quick dinner. To my delight, Singapore was ready for Christmas...there were so many Christmas decorations everywhere, so it was very fun to walk around and look!

We went into the (very small) office on Tuesday and had a day full of meetings. We literally didn't get to go outside for lunch and I wanted to take a few pictures from the office before I left, but was being rushed out to the cab to get to the airport. Sad. Rick had a meeting at the airport once we got there, so I had some time to walk around the airport for a while...and also did a little shopping there! Again, the airport was very decorated for Christmas and even had live performers that would put on little Christmas scenes and sing! There were also gorgeous gardens all over the airport, so I had fun looking at those.

I loved loved loved Singapore and cherished the cab rides, so that I could look all around. I would love to go back there, whether for business again or on vacation, so that I could actually explore a little more.

On Tuesday night, we headed to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...also known as the 'KL'. It was less than an hour flight, but was dark when we got there. As soon as we landed, I could tell...this was the first time in my adventure over here on the other side of the world that I TRULY felt like I was in a completely foreign country. Malaysia has the largest Muslim population in the world, so that makes for a different culture right there. The airport was huge and crazy and felt like we walked forever and took buses...again, I would have been lost without Rick. We then took a 40 minute train ride into the city. I kind of felt like I was on The Amazing Race...trying to navigate in a foreign country, all of the signs were in multiple languages, etc...was kinda fun!

Another busy day of meetings on Wednesday and a team dinner that night for the whole team. We went to a buffet type of place that had lots of different cuisines...Japanese, Chinese (which is pretty different than the Chinese we all know), Indian, etc. I tried to be a little adventurous and everything I tried was pretty good! The team dinner ended pretty quickly...it isn't a part of the Muslim culture to have long dinners and enjoy drinks...in fact, they don't even drink at all! Rick had been telling me about a place he wanted me to see and experience, so we headed to Chinatown after the dinner. Oh my, we had fun! Chinatown is basically a long block or two crammed with lots of stalls of Asians selling knock-offs of all sorts of stuff! Definitely the kind of atmosphere where they yell out at you as you walk by to try to get you to come to their stall and they expect you to bargain with them. Rick had told me of some of the good items and some things to steer clear of. Some of his favorites were movies, jewelry/watches, ties, purses/bags, perfumes/colognes, etc and some of the ones to steer clear of were clothes and shoes. I did make several purchases, including some Christmas gifts...we'll see if you all can tell the knock-off gifts from real gifts!! Every once in a while, we would pass a little food spot or alleyway that had some food. There was one that we passed that was the most foul smell I have ever smelled. Rick turned to me and asked if I was hungry, ugh. I couldn't even look, but he said there was a women that was stirring a large pot and it was probably some type of fish soup, where they put the whole fish in. I don't know what it was, but it was disgusting. We had a great time there, although it was so hot and humid, it got a little uncomfortable after a while...

Rick and I just worked at the hotel on Thursday morning and had a nice lunch outside by the pool area. Our hotel was gorgeous and had very nice views. I took some pictures from my room to try to show the surroundings...there are low, pretty mountains in the distance and again, quite a bit of foliage around. KL was nice and it was fun to experience Chinatown...but I don't think I will be rushing to make any vacation plans to head back there any time soon!

Rick and I had a quick flight back to Singapore and then flew overnight back to Sydney. In fact, I was probably close to the end of my overnight flight when most of you were eating your Thanksgiving meals! I certainly did feel worlds away this Thanksgiving, but am very thankful to have had the opportunity to visit 2 new countries in Southeast Asia! And I was also very thankful for Rick...and I know him on a whole different level now...after sitting right next to him on all of the flights except the first one...eating every meal with him for 3 days...working in the hotel together...and walking around Chinatown where one of the stall workers said "Stop and buy your girlfriend a necklace and I guarantee she will kiss you!" We got a good laugh out of that one, ha ha! This was definitely a different Thanksgiving week, but one I will remember forever!